Immigration Tracker

Great resource via the New York Times, using U.S. Census information for tracking immigration patterns of most major immigrant groups! You can adjust the map by immigrant group and by year. Drag the slider across the timeline and you can see how immigration patterns evolved over time! Check out Social Explorer for maps and other demographic resources for exploring your immigrant roots.

Y-marker tests Really Work!!

Several companies have arisen in recent years that provide different types of genetic testing in order to further your genealogical research (ONGEN favorite FamilyTree DNA is one). Now, PhysOrg provides a summary of new research published this week in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, may help genealogists create more accurate family trees even when records are missing. It also suggests that the often quoted "one in ten" figure for children born through infidelity is unlikely to be true. From the article:

Dr Turi King and Professor Mark Jobling from the University of Leicester examined the Y chromosomes of over 1,600 unrelated men with forty surnames (including variations in spelling). Sons inherit both the Y chromosome and - generally - the surname from their fathers, unlike daughters, who do not carry this sex-specific chromosome and usually change their surname through marriage.

The researchers also looked at whether the Y chromosome-surname link could provide information about historical rates of children born illegitimately. People with a rare surname are very likely to be related as the surname is likely to have been adopted by only one or two men initially, so anyone now sharing this surname but with a different Y chromosome to the majority is likely to have an ancestor born illegitimately.

"People often quote a figure of one in ten for the number of people born illegitimately," says Professor Jobling. "Our study shows that this is likely to be an exaggeration. The real figure is more likely to be less that one in twenty-five."

1911 UK Census - For a Price

The UK has decided to make its UK census available to the public three years earlier than the statutorily required date. However, only searches are free. A typed transcript or copy of the relevant census page will cost "credits" that can be purchased online at the site. We'll see whether this fee lasts or if it is just until Ancestry gets it.