My 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge; Week #2: Favorite Photo
My 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge; Week #2: Favorite PhotoAbout 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
So, I joined the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge this year, put on by Amy Johnson Crow, for the first time. The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge is a series of prompts that you get each week that gets you thinking about an ancestor and sharing about them, which also helps with you writing about them to preserve for future generations, one of the stressed objectives of Know Who Wears the Genes in Your Family. I have wanted to attempt it many times over the years, but I am flooded with work, and it seemed too overwhelming, so we'll see how it goes and if I can complete it or not. I had always thought that the challenge had to be done in blog form, but since I found out that it can be done in any form, even just a post on social media, I was in! They also modify the challenge to those that will find it overwhelming, to 12 Ancestors in 12 Months, which is what I may have to revert to if I can't find the time each week to continue with it. I will try to blog about some through the year, but many will be just a quick post on my Facebook Page, like the first one that I have already done, I'm sure. I am also not a very elaborate memoir writer, and more of a technical writer, so I apologize in advance.
#52Ancestors Challenge Week #2: Favorite Photo
I don't really have a favorite family history photo, but I do have many that stand out to me for various reasons, and this is one of them. This is a photo of one set of my maternal 2nd great grandparents and 7 of their children, including my great grandmother to the far right. They had a total of 9 children. One is not pictured because he's already off working in the coal mines at a very young age, and the last child wasn't born until a year and a half later.
My 2nd Great Grandparents and their Children, including My Great Grandmother, ca. 1901; ©Diane Henriks
Reasons This Family History Photo Stands Out to Me
*Note: Photo is copyright protected and may not be downloaded, screenshot, etc. You can check out my first week's challenge on my Facebook Page and below:
Are you intereseted in getting prompts to help you to begin jotting down more about your ancestors than just names and dates? Give it a whirl! You can sign up for Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks here!
Follow my #52ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge here, and let's see if I can accomplish it this year!
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 Genealogy Events: January Is the Month Conference Schedules Are Out!The new year is finally here! What does that mean for the genealogy world? January is a huge month for genealogy and family history beginnings! This is the month that most genealogy events are announced, and schedules are put up! Stay on the lookout for them! One of the places that you can find these events at is Conference Keeper.
Some of the 2023 genealogy event schedules that are out:
A lot of other events for the year have been announced, but schedules haven't been put up yet. Stay on the lookout for them at Conference Keeper or social media! Learn about more fantastic genealogy events, classes and presentations in Genealogy Events.  MyHeritage 2022 in Review: What a Year!What a great year MyHeritage had! They released DeepStory, Family Tree Timeline, Photo Tagger, and AI Time Machine! They added billions of new records, launched their Blast From My Past Podcast, and updated so many of their features! Some great 2022 highlights! Did you know that MyHeritage's core values are innovation, compassion, and the desire to have a positive impact on the world? With all they do for others, they definitely accomplish this! I looking forward to 2023 with MyHeritage! I can't wait to see what they come up with and do next! Read about some of their 2022 highlights below! DeepStory In March, MyHeritage came out with their innovative DeepStory, which was original called LiveStory, that brings your ancestor's photos to life by making them talk! You can have your ancestor give their life story in this state of the art photo tool! You can read more about it in MyHeritage DeepStory: Make Your Ancestor's photos talk and Tell Their Story, that I wrote about back in April of this year. Family Tree Timeline MyHeritage also came out with Family Tree Timeline back in March. This feature shows a timeline of an ancestor in a colorful, visual way. Timelines are very useful in genealogy and can quickly give you insights! Census Helper At the end of March, MyHeritage announced their new feature, Census Helper. The Census Helper scans your family tree and lets you know exactly who can be found in each Census! They launched this just in time for the release of the 1950 U.S. Census! This came in extremely handy when it was time to look for my family manually in the digital images that were released, that I wrote about in A Whirlwind of Searching the 1950 Census Digital Images! Photo Tagger In August, MyHeritage came out with their new mobile feature, Photo Tagger, where you can tag multiple photos of the same person, all at one time! This is suppose to make organizing your photos way easier! Unfortunately, I do not use any genealogy apps on my phone, so was not able to test it out, but I hear from many that it's a lifesaver! Later, in September, they came out with the web version, I have yet to test it out, as I've been swamped and the majority of my photos have already been tagged, but when I add more photos, I will definitely use this organize my photos and save time! Family Statistics on MyHeritage In October, MyHeritage announced a major upgrade to their Family Statistics feature, that to be honest, I never really noticed before until this major upgrade. This upgrade definitely made it pop and certainly had my attention! This feature lets you see your family tree in a fun and engaging way! Not only can you see stats quickly, but you may get insights on things you may never even thought about knowing, let alone making it interesting enough that even family will want to get involved! You can read about it more in MyHeritage: Updated Family Statistics Feature for Your Family Tree! I'll also be giving a talk on it this coming year at Legacy Family Tree Webinars, part of the MyHeritage Webinars series, so don't forget to register for See Your Family in a Whole New Light! Come learn about this feature and how family analytics, statistics and visuals can enhance your family tree, while giving you tons of new insights, making it easy see your family stats quickly, and making your family tree more interesting to want to get others involved! See the full 2023 Webinars schedule at Legacy Family Tree Webinars here: Upcoming Webinars Sorting for DNA Matches In October, they also announced Sorting for DNA Matches, an invaluable DNA tool where you can view shared DNA matches based on the total shared amount of DNA with you or the amount they share with a particular match! A revolutionary, must have, DNA tool! AI Time Machine Just in November, MyHeritage announced the biggest innovation whopper yet, their AI Time Machine photo feature that went viral all over the world! This fun photo tool lets you see yourelf throughout history, while giving you an idea of how you may have looked during your ancestors' lifetime! It's also a great way to compare yourself to a certain ancestor for any uncanny resemblances! You can read more about it and see some of the outstanding results of this amazing feature in MyHeritage AI Time Machine: See Yourself or Your Ancestors Travel through Time! They have since added tons of new themes and a gallery for all your images! Blast from My Past Podcast In March, they announced their new podcast, Blast From My Past, where incredible, true stories of lives being forever changed through MyHeritage! You can follow or subscribe to MyHeritage's podcast here: Blast From My Past MyHeritage Core Values
Even though MyHeritage is a business, and a business' s primary goal is to make money, MyHeritage stands out for being more than just a business. They are constantly stiving to keep the customer, their team, and the world in their forefront, above all else. MyHeritage is a business, but they also believe everyone should have access to their family history, so they also provide many of their features, tools, records, webinars, their new podcast, and their new Introduction to Genealogy course for FREE, along with FREE heirloom family tree charts and family tree storage database (up to 250 people). They also help adoptees and their birth families reunite through genetic testing, offering them DNA test kits for FREE! You can read more about it at MyHeritage DNA Quest. They also just recently connected with Connecting Roots, a U.S.-based nonprofit that helps Chilean adoptees reunite with their families in Chile, and Nos Buscamos, a Chilean nonprofit that helps families affected by coerced adoption and kidnapping and helped them reunite with familes by providing them with FREE DNA test kits! They have shown tremendous compassion in helping their employees in their Ukraine office relocate with their families right before the war broke out, bringing them to safety, while still continuing to help them. Their employees are remarkable in the way they go out and volunteer in their communities, which highlights what MyHeritage is all about! I have much admiration for the compassion that MyHeritage shows and continues to show, while having a positive imapact on the world! They definitely hold true to to their core values! Way to go MyHeritage! You keep inspiring us with all you do! Read more about this year at MyHeritage in their blog post!  2023 Legacy Family Tree Webinars Series Registration is Open!MyHeritage's Legacy Family Tree Webinars, the leading genealogy and DNA testing webinar series in the world, has just announced the line up for the year and is open for registration! And, what a line up it is!
I'm honored to be a part of this fantastic line up this year of genealogy education at it's best! Come view the schedule and register for FREE now! Register for one or all!  2022 Genealogy Wish Grants Winner!The 2022 Genealogy Wish Grants Winner has just been announced! Congratulations to Connie Dexter Spicer of Ohio, who won this year for her decades long brick wall story! About This Year's WinnerConnie Dexter Spicer has been researching her family history and genealogy since she was 17 years of age, 45 years ago! She has been following Know Who Wears the Genes in Your Family for close to a year, while being an active participant. A Tough ChoiceThere were many entries for this year's first Genealogy Wish Grants! It was down to two compelling stories that made it a tough choice. The most compelling story was that of an unknown parentage, but a decades old brick wall story was chosen for all other criteria being met. This Year's Story Entry"So, my backstory is simple enough. I’ve been researching my family since I was 17 – a scant 45 years ago. I had my DNA done within a year or so after it was offered by Ancestry.com. I have it uploaded at FamilyTreeDNA.com, MyHeritage, maybe others. My brick wall is the parents of my paternal great-grandmother, Josephine Johanna Swan: namely, her father, Joe Swan and (especially) his mother and father. Great grandma was a lovely lady – quiet but strong-willed, according to my dad. He felt as if Grandma Josie and his Grandpa Ed raised him, but he never really knew anything about her because, while she was an amazing cook, she wasn’t much for talking! Grandma Josie’s father Joe, who I later identified as Lawrence Joseph Swan, was the only son of one Arabella Swan. I have no other name for Arabella, other than she is listed in documents and directories as the “widow of Joseph Swan”. But I have no proof of any marriage, so she may have 1-taken the name of her son’s father, 2- made it up completely or 3-I just haven’t found the record yet. 1880 Census records from Tippecanoe County, Indiana, show her as born in 1827 in Canada to Irish parents. Not Canadians, not English or American. I have not found her in any other census in the US or Canada, thus, I suspect she was not a Swan when she immigrated from Canada. Her son, Joe Swan, was listed as a clerk in a railroad office in 1880 Lafayette, Indiana. Arabella was listed as 53 years old, which makes her born about 1827. I found them (earlier) in Fort Wayne, Indiana where his career began, and hers in taking care of him was keeping house. Later records show him in Tippecanoe, Indiana working the Wabash line and then after he married my 2 times great grandmother, to Detroit working the railroad there. My goal is twofold: Priority 1 - to try to locate additional clues for finding out the truth of who Arabella is or to confirm or refute my own hypothesis, and in locating some type of death or burial record or marriage record (or both) for her, should those exist…to try to determine her true lineage. I have a strong hypothesis based upon a name-only search as to who she “could be” or “should be”. There are tons of coincidences, but nothing that flags it down and says “yeah, here’s the end-go here next”. Priority 2 - I would also like to try to locate a death or burial record or something for Joseph, who apparently fell off the earth some years after the birth of his son, Joseph – aka Bud Swan. It’s possible he left the family by rail, abandoning them. It’s possible he died on the rail lines or elsewhere, effects unknown. He could have been in jail, though I never found any stories like that. Maybe he was a cad who ran off and started another family elsewhere? Or maybe he got caught in a compromising position by a jealous husband? Or maybe he did something brave and heroic on a train and was injured or killed? I know it would be quite difficult to break down these brick walls in a scant few hours of research, but I would offer all the documentation and results that I currently have to try to break it and build on my Swan family background. Isn’t it interesting, that like the story of the ugly duckling, the cygnet is born “ugly” and becomes beautiful with time? We might have that here in my Swans. And, regardless of the good, bad or ugly, I’m ready to know the truth. I hope you’ll agree and curiosity will get you involved! Thank you for considering my Grandma Swan's family."- Connie Dexter Spicer Thank YouThank you to all of this year's first Genealogy Wish Grants applicants! I hope you all continue to follow and participate! Don't forget to apply to Genealogy Wish Grants 2023, details coming soon! The entry start date will be posted on my Facebook Page, my Facebook Group, my blog, and on the Genealogy Wish Grants page, so stay tuned!
 Top 5 Family History Gifts for GenealogistsWhat could you possibly give to the genealogist that seems to have it all already?! Genealogy is expensive, to say the least! Just because one is a genealogist, it doesn’t mean they have all they need nor can afford to keep up with what they currently have. Here are my picks for the Top 5 family history gifts to give the genealogist in your family, even though you may think they have it all! Hint, hint!
Genealogy Software Genealogy Magazine Subscription Genealogy Database or Tools Subscription
Find more of the best of family history and genealogy under the The Best of Genealogy category.  Top 5 Unique Family History Gifts |
 One of My 6 Senior Photos Uploaded to MyHeritage AI Time Machine-© |  One of My Recent Photos Uploaded to MyHeritage AI Time Machine-© |
Some of the results...
 Me: MyHeritage AI Time Machine-Celtic |  Me: MyHeritage AI Time Machine-French Aristocratic Lady |  Me: MyHeritage AI Time Machine-1930s British Lady |
 Me: MyHeritage AI Time Machine-Aztec |  Me: MyHeritage AI Time Machine-1930s British Lady |  Me: MyHeritage AI Time Machine-1920s (B&W) |
 Me: MyHeritage AI Time Machine-1950s Illustration |  Me: MyHeritage AI Time Machine-1970s Hippie |  Me: MyHeritage AI Time Machine-1970s |
 Me: MyHeritage AI Time Machine-Cowgirl |  Me: MyHeritage AI Time Machine-French Royalty |  Me: MyHeritage AI Time Machine-Punk Rocker |
What do you think?
My Eldest Daughter, with MyHeritage AI Time Machine:
Some of the results, with the first picture of her now as a comparison...
I can tell you as her mom, they look JUST like Her! What do you think?
My Second Daughter, with MyHeritage AI Time Machine:
Some of the results, with the first picture of her now as a comparison...
I can tell you as her mom, they look JUST like Her! What do you think?
One of My Friends, with MyHeritage AI Time Machine:
Some of the results, with the first picture of her, a few years back, as a comparison (I had to use some pics of her during the last couple of decades, as I didn't have enough)...
I can tell you as her her best friend for over 30 years, they look JUST like Her! What do you think?
How MyHeritage AI Time Machine Works:
AI Time Machine uses artificial intelligence to learn what one looks like and creates images of that person depicting how they may have looked throughout different time periods in history! Using your real photos, you can see yourself or an ancestor anywhere from prehistoric times until now, with an extra futuristic time period added in!
It uses many photos of one person, and it builds a model that can portray the same person in multiple poses and different lighting conditions from what is in the original photos that you have added. Then, it uses a set of themes, as it incorporates the model that was made, with designs from the different themes to create super realistic photo images that you can share and download!
It uses many photos of one person, and it builds a model that can portray the same person in multiple poses and different lighting conditions from what is in the original photos that you have added. Then, it uses a set of themes, as it incorporates the model that was made, with designs from the different themes to create super realistic photo images that you can share and download!
How to use MyHeritage AI Time Machine:
- Go to MyHeritage AI Time Machine
- Click “Try It Now”
- If you don’t have a MyHeritage account, then they’ll ask you to create one (don’t worry, it’s FREE and quick!)
- Upload anywhere between 10-25 photos of the SAME person, at DIFFERENT angles (They recommend 3 full-body shots, 5 upper-body shots, 10 close ups, and 2 side profiles)
- Enter a “Title” (first name of you or person, or any other title you’d like)
- Select whether “Male” or “Female”
- That’s it!
It takes about 30 to 90 minutes to generate the model and give you your first default themed images. I Know, a long time, but don't worry because they will send you an email when they’re ready, so you can go about your business and not have to wait on them, and it's well worth the wait! Once they’re ready, you can view them, download them, and share them to social media. From there you can also choose many, many more themes that each take only a couple of minutes to generate! There are 9 different images for each theme!
MyHeritage AI Time Machine Themes:
Females:
I did not create any for a male, so I didn’t get to view all the themes for them, but it is pretty much the same, but for males.
- Through the decades:
- 1920s
- 1920s Flapper
- 1920s (B&W)
- Aviator
- 1930s British Lady
- WWII Nurse
- 1940s
- 1950s
- 1950s Illustration
- 1950s Chic
- (1960s and) 1970s Hippie
- 1970s
- 1970 Hairstyle
- Punk Rocker (1970s and 1980s)
- Through the Centuries:
- Russian Tsarina
- 16th Century Royalty
- Baroque
- 18th Century Bride
- 18th Century France
- Victorian
- 19th Century Princess
- (1600s to 1900s) American Frontier
- (1700s to 1800s) American Pioneer
- US Civil War Woman (Daguerreotype)
- French Royalty
- Medieval Ages:
- Vikings
- Saxon
- Ottoman Empire Bride
- French Aristocratic Lady
- Noblewoman (Lady)
- Ancient Civilizations:
- Egyptian
- Ancient Greek
- Roman
- Celtic
- Mayan
- Aztec
- Rainforest Tribe Member
- Amazonian Shaman
- Other:
- Arctic Explorer
- Astronaut
- Cowgirl
- Greek Goddess
- Nun
- Pilot
- Pirate
- Race Car Driver
- Futuristic Cyborg
I did not create any for a male, so I didn’t get to view all the themes for them, but it is pretty much the same, but for males.
Tips on How to Get the Best AI Time Machine Results:
- Use a VARIETY of poses/angles
- Use photos with different expressions
- Use photos taken on different days
- Use photos taken at different times of the day
- Use photos that contain only one person (or crop out other people)
- Use photos where there is no makeup or very little makeup
- Use photos that are about the same age if you can
- Choose photos without sunglasses
What are you waiting for, create your MyHeritage AI Time Machine photos today!
Go to: MyHeritage AI Time Machine
Don't forget to share your results with others and on social media using the hashtags #MyHeritage and #AITimeMachine!
*The FREE usage allows you to upload photos of one person and then generate up to 400 images of that same person, using 50 themes, for a limited time. After that, it becomes a paid feature, and a one-time purchase allows you to upload photos of one person to create one model, and then generate images for up to 50 themes, with a total of 400 images. If you want more themes, you make an additional purchase.
* MyHeritage Complete Plan Members can upload photos of up to 5 people, to create 5 models, and generate images with up to 100 themes, for a total of 800 images.
Related Content:
MyHeritage DeepStory: Make Your Ancestor’s Photos Talk and Tell Their Story!
MyHeritage In Color: Updated Photo Color Restoration!
Genealogy Resources: Ancestry's New Photo Editor and New Look Updates
As of Today, a New Game Changer From MyHeritage!
The MyHeritage Deep Nostalgia Tool: Photos Brought to Life!
More Genealogy Resources:
Learn about more resources you can use in your genealogy research and to preserve your family history under the Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page!
#MyHeritage,#AITimeMachine
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