Episode 174 - California Genie Identifies “Jane Doe” From 1968

Fisher opens the show with David Allen Lambert, Chief Genealogist of the New England Historic Genealogical Society and AmericanAncestors.org. David shares big news for people whose ancestors were New England Catholics as NEHGS and the Boston Catholic Diocese are working together to digitize and index Catholic records from 1789 to 1900, which includes over 100 parishes. The boys then talk about the significance of Illumina announcing they have developed a technique by which each individual can map their own personal genome which has great significance for matching with cousins… and it will be at a comparable price to today’s DNA tests! Also, a historic figure from World War II has passed at 105. Hear who this person was and what she was known for. David then shares a very basic search tip that could help many beginners enormously. Next, Fisher begins his two part visit with Rita Hood. Rita is an amateur genealogist who ran across information on a woman found dead in California in 1968. The woman was listed as a “Jane Doe,” but Rita spotted a clue to help identify her in the public record and went to work. Rita will take you through each clue and each step she took to final identify the woman after 49 years! In the process Rita found the woman’s next of kin. Hear how her efforts have changed his life, and hers. Then Tom Perry, the Preservation Authority, drops in to talk about new products introduced at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. What’s out there to help genies discover, preserve, and share? Tom will tell you! That’s all this week on Extreme Genes, America’s Family History Show!