Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society (MTGS)

12/22/2025

Merry Christmas to all!

11/25/2025

11/23/2025

Now seems to be a good time to order DNA kits. Most of the testing companies are offering kits at the lowest price I remember seeing. FTDNA is offering Family Finder kits (their atDNA kit) that trolls for cousin matches on all your ancestral lines back several generations. It compares with the only testing that is done by most of their competitors offer for genealogical purposes. That kit is now $39. Prices on yDNA (male only) and mtDNA (matrilineal (both male and female) are also reduced.

Ancestry is currently offering kits for $29 and offers the largest "cousins" matching database.

MyHeritage is offering $25 kits and free shipping on 2 or more kits. That offer is listed as ending soon. If you order these kits, don't send them back to the lab until January when they will be processed by a new whole genome protocol. Instead of the current testing methods employed by most of the major companies in which 600,000 to 700,000 locations are read about 30 times; MyHeritage will try to examine the whole genome but will only read it 2 times. (Both MyHeritage and FTDNA test kits are processed by the Gene-by-Gene lab in Houston.

So far, I have not seen 23andMe or Living DNA join the Holiday cost cutting but stay tuned.

Dave Dowell MTGS member and genetic genealogist

11/21/2025

Ends 12/2. Excludes shipping.

11/16/2025

Yesterday was the 37th Annual Genealogical Seminar with special guest, Julie Merrill, AG. I hope you were able to join us in person or online because it had the "WOW" factor! Topics were Intetmediate Research Skill Building, Find All The Records - Alternative Methods To Documenting Your Family In A Burned County, How To Use DNA To Break Down Walls In My Family Tree, and Research Strategies For The Colonial Southern United States. There were door prizes including DNA kits, research guides, memberships, and two winners won 10 hours each of one on one assistance with Julie Merrill herself. The Tennessee Historical Society was there and offered membership discounts to attendees and we had valuable time with each other to discuss our genealogical research and findings. We had a great turnout but missed those that were not able to attend. We hope to see you next year!

11/12/2025

If you are interested in doing your DNA or obtaining a kit for someone else, here is a link to AncestryDNA for their best price!

AncestryDNA is the newest DNA test which helps you find genetic relatives and expand your genealogy research. Order your DNA test kit today.

11/04/2025

Be sure to register for this year's MTGS Fall Seminar! Besides having a renowned speaker (Professional Genealogist Julie Merrill from Ancestry Pro-genealogists), we are truly blessed this year with some wonderful DOOR PRIZES for attendees. Elizabeth Shown Mills has donated two of her books. Our speaker Julie Merrill is bringing Ancestry ‘swag’ and DNA kits, and will be offering a door prize of a few hours of her research time for one very lucky winner!

In-person attendees have great, worry-free parking at the Tennessee State Library & Archives, a boxed lunch from Honey-Baked Ham, and our traditional array of refreshments. As always, MTGS members can register for the Seminar, either in-person or on Zoom, at the Member rate, which has been the same great price for 20 years.

View the Seminar Brochure online and register at our Seminar web page:

https://mtgs.org/seminar.html

We hope to see you, in-person or online, on November 15.

11/02/2025

Best price possible for AncestryDNA kits!

AncestryDNA is the newest DNA test which helps you find genetic relatives and expand your genealogy research. Order your DNA test kit today.

10/21/2025

Set an alarm to join us tonight!

Join us for "Ask the Archivists" panel next Tuesday on Zoom
Oct 21, 2025, 7pm - 8pm
Come spend the evening with 3 well known Tennessee archivists and ask them your best archives questions. Have you ever wondered what archivists do all day? Need help with preserving your family photos or documents? Trying to find records to tear down your genealogy brick wall? What ghoulish things can be found in archives?

Bring your questions to this event sponsored by the Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society -- and hang out with archivists!

There is no charge to attend this event.

The Zoom link for this meeting is here.
https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fus06web.zoom.us%2Fj%2F82407060805%3Fpwd%3DHbZwmOMnN7ajcgj9H4dp0MlMeDxK2u.1&data=05%7C02%7C%7C3c49fbbaf6a849e1cfb308de0bdefa4c%7Ccdb191c8fc034343aead2808b21fd513%7C0%7C0%7C638961249505345077%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=blQ1gpAmQSfybx%2BnCw8dHV5uQEMy6XraXFz5Zjr326Y%3D&reserved=0

10/15/2025

Join us for "Ask the Archivists" panel next Tuesday on Zoom
Oct 21, 2025, 7pm - 8pm
Come spend the evening with 3 well known Tennessee archivists and ask them your best archives questions. Have you ever wondered what archivists do all day? Need help with preserving your family photos or documents? Trying to find records to tear down your genealogy brick wall? What ghoulish things can be found in archives?

Bring your questions to this event sponsored by the Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society -- and hang out with archivists!

There is no charge to attend this event.

The Zoom link for this meeting is here.
https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fus06web.zoom.us%2Fj%2F82407060805%3Fpwd%3DHbZwmOMnN7ajcgj9H4dp0MlMeDxK2u.1&data=05%7C02%7C%7C3c49fbbaf6a849e1cfb308de0bdefa4c%7Ccdb191c8fc034343aead2808b21fd513%7C0%7C0%7C638961249505345077%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=blQ1gpAmQSfybx%2BnCw8dHV5uQEMy6XraXFz5Zjr326Y%3D&reserved=0