The DAILY genealogy technology newsletter for genealogy
consumers, packed with straight talk - hold the sugar coating - whether
the vendors like it or not!
The following announcement was written by Findmypast.com:
Newly added records gives users access to unparalleled resources that cannot be found anywhere else
LOS ANGELES, August 31, 2012 –Findmypast.com, an international leader in online family history research, today announced the expansion of its U.S. records to include World War I Draft cards and outgoing passenger lists from the UK to United States, among others.
The Geni Blog contains an article about a great offer by the company: from now until September 3, you can add unlimited people to your family tree on Geni for FREE.
The article states, "Whether you’ve welcomed a new member to the family or discovered a new branch of ancestors, here’s your chance to add their place in your family tree. Add as many people as you can because you get to keep each new addition to your tree at no extra charge!"
This sounds like a great time: a long cruise and an opportunity to learn about genealogy at the same time! One of the most enjoyable learning experiences possible is to take genealogy classes at sea.
The following was written by the producers of Legacy Family Tree, a popular genealogy program for Windows:
The 10th annual Legacy Genealogy Cruise, to be held September 22 through October 7, 2013, starts in San Diego, California and ends in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and will feature speakers Megan Smolenyak, Karen Clifford, Geoff Rasmussen, Randy Seaver and others. It will visit the following ports:
I have written about Funium before. (See http://goo.gl/qMQqC for my previous articles.) It is an online game for the family that is based upon your genealogy. The company has issued a new announcement this morning here at the FGS conference in Birmingham, Alabama:
Players of Free Family History Facebook Game Now Have Access to a NGS Custom Tutorial
BIRMINGHAM, AL (30 August 2012)–Funium and the National Genealogical Society (NGS) today announced a partnership that will allow players of Family Village, Funium’s popular Facebook game, to further explore their family trees by accessing a number of NGS resources and research aids. The collaboration was announced at the Federation of Genealogical Societies 2012 Conference in Birmingham, Alabama.
Founded in June of 1988, the Scurry County Genealogy Society of Abilene, Texas, once had 60 members. However, the group's numbers have since dwindled away, now numbering between 10 and 12 active members. The society collected reference books and published their own copies of White Buffalo Tales, the Pitners' cemetery guide and cookbooks. Most of the reference material will remain where it has always been stored: in the Scurry County Library when the group disbands. However, the society plans to donate their original research to the Scurry County Museum.
You can read much more in an article by Ronald W. Erdrich in the Reporter-News web site at http://goo.gl/Aq4z0.
The following announcement was written by TheGenealogist.co.uk:
Speeding up accurate research, saving you time!
TheGenealogist.co.uk has launched a brand new all-in-one search feature, which allows users to do a ‘single search’ across the website. The new all-in-one interface also incorporates the unique and powerful ‘keyword’ search, and is the first time that these two features have been brought together to aid research.
The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com:
We are still excited about the 1940 US Census here at Ancestry.com. As you all know, the 1940 Census is available for free on Ancestry.com through 2013, but we wanted to share our excitement even more. We will be opening up 25 more databases from today through September 3rd to allow everyone access to Ancestry’s 713 million U.S. Federal Census Records. Below you’ll see a list of the 25 databases that are now searchable for free at Ancestry.com/census.
1790-1940 United States Federal Census collections
1850 U.S. Federal Census – Slave Schedules
1860 U.S. Federal Census – Slave Schedules
1890 Veterans Schedules
Non-Population Schedules 1850-1880
U.S. Enumeration District Maps and Descriptions, 1940
U.S. Federal Census – 1880 Schedules of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes
U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885
Ancestry.com has released a major update of the popular iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch application that communicates with family trees on Ancestry.com. Details are available on the Ancestry Blog at http://goo.gl/4mDYU while the app itself can be downloaded by starting at http://www.ancestry.com/ancestry-app.
The following announcement was written by Findmypast.com and was announced today at the annual conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies:
Partnership makes records available to findmypast.com and creates a vital source of revenue for local societies
LOS ANGELES, August 30, 2012 –Findmypast.com, an international leader in online family history research, today announced a national partnership with Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) to preserve, digitize and provide access to local records from genealogical societies across the country.
The annual conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies opened this morning at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex In Birmingham, Alabama. Co-hosted by the the Alabama Genealogical Society, this will probably be one of the larger genealogy conferences of the year in North America.
Everyone who planned to attend the conference had nervously been watching the weather. However, Hurricane Isaac cooperated nicely and veered to the west. When I arrived about noon yesterday, the day before the conference opening, it was raining lightly. However, the rain stopped an hour or two later and I haven't seen any precipitation since then. This morning (Wednesday, the first day of the conference) is overcast with temperatures in the high seventies. I am no expert on Alabama weather, but I suspect the highs this afternoon will only be in the mid-eighties, much cooler than many days in August in Birmingham.
In other words, the weather turned out to be a non-issue.
Microsoft will soon launch its new operating system, Windows 8. The company apparently is now aggressively clearing out inventory of its current operating system: Windows 7. If you have an even older version of Windows, now might be a good time to upgrade to Windows 7. This is especially true for this upgrade as those who already have the beta release of Windows 8 are not saying kind things about it. For details, go to Google and search for "Windows 8" or something similar. You will find hundreds of articles describing the new release. Indeed, now might be a great time to upgrade to Windows 7 as that release will probably become unavailable soon after Windows 8 is released.
Amazon is offering a Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade for $115. Best of all, you can legally install it on up to three computers. If you happen to have three, that drives the price per computer to under $40.
Planning to go to RootsTech2013? If so, you can save $100 by following the instructions in this announcement from the RootsTech organizers. Hurry! This offer is only good for a few days:
For a limited time, before RootsTech 2013 registration officially opens to the public, you can receive $100 off the full 3-day conference pass price (regular price is $219, exclusive Insider price is only $119). Exclusive Insider Early Registration is available only from August 29 to September 2, 2012.
RootsTech is a fast-growing conference with a unique emphasis on helping individuals learn and use the latest technology to get started or accelerate their efforts to find, organize, preserve, and share their family’s connections and history. The 2013 conference will be held March 21-23 in Salt Lake City, UT.
The following announcement was written by the Federation of Genealogical Societies:
More Than a New Look . . . An Engaging New Site for FGS Members and the Genealogy Community
August 29, 2012 – Austin, TX. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) announces the debut of its newly revamped website to better serve FGS member societies and the genealogical community. The new site, accessible at http://www.fgs.org, is ready in time for the upcoming FGS 2012 Conference in Birmingham, Alabama August 29 – September 1, 2012.
Gale, part of Cengage Learning, and Genealogical.com, parent company for Genealogical Publishing Company and Clearfield Company, have announced a major new genealogy research resource that appears to be a significant online tool for genealogical research. I haven't had a chance to use it yet but hope to do so later this week.
The new offering is not simply a database of names, dates, and places although you certainly will find much of that information in the new service. Instead, Gale Genealogy Connect is a huge collection of "how to" information of genealogical research along with source materials, many of which have not been available online before. Gale Genealogy Connect will serve as a complement to popular fact, date and people-based genealogy resources already on the market, not as a replacement.
Popular genealogy columnist James Beidler has written about the FamilySearch wiki. He states:
"One of the ways that FamilySearch is seeking to collaborate is by leveraging the power of its genealogy wiki - found at the URL wiki.familysearch.org - and encouraging societies, libraries and interested researchers to add to the already impressive store of knowledge on the wiki."
Ballinran Entertainment produced a two-part documentary for Canadian television several years ago that appeared on Irish, English, and Canadian television. The one-hour 34-minute program describes the Irish immigration to Canada during the potato famine. The story in the film is heartbreaking and at the same time commands respect and awe for those that made the trip in "coffin ships" and survived that their children and children's children might have a better life in North America. The film mentions John F. Kennedy, Bing Crosby, and Henry Ford as three that owe their existence to these Irish that chose Canada rather than death. The program won rave reviews and then seemed to slip into obscurity.
Thanks to computer technology and the Internet, anyone in the world can now watch this moving documentary.
While your DNA is unique, it also tells the tale of your family line. It carries the genetic history of your ancestors down through the generations. Now, says a Tel Aviv University researcher, it's also possible to use it as a map to your family's past.
Prof. Eran Halperin of TAU's Blavatnik School of Computer Science and Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, along with a group of researchers from University of California, Los Angeles, are giving new meaning to the term "genetic mapping." Using a probabilistic model of genetic traits for every coordinate on the globe, the researchers claim to have developed a method for determining more precisely the geographical location of a person's ancestral origins.
The RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City is still more than six months away but one hotel is already almost full. I tried to make reservations online to stay at the Radisson Hotel Salt Lake City Downtown, next door to the Salt Palace, site of RootsTech 2013. I wanted to stay there on March 21 through 24, 2013. I was surprised when the web site told me the hotel was already fully booked for Friday, March 22. HOWEVER, there is always some way of getting a room.
In the July 24, 2012 newsletter, I reported that Ancestry.com was in negotiations with unidentified companies to be bought out. (You can read that article at http://goo.gl/14uHV.) Last week, I reported that the negotiations reportedly had fallen through (see http://goo.gl/6qtqD). Now a report in Bloomberg News claims that the talks are ongoing but that Ancestry.com is holding out for more money.
Ancestry.com’s shares have jumped 34 percent since June 5, when Bloomberg reported that the company had hired Frank Quattrone’s Qatalyst Partners LLC to find buyers.
You can read the full article by Serena Saitto, Cristina Alesci and Mark Milian at http://goo.gl/Gr3ow.
Journalist Emily Bristol has written an article that probably should be required reading for all politicians and public officials involved in local budget issues. She writes, "Our public libraries are not just threatened this election season. They’re fighting for their lives — and with them, the livelihoods and well-being of hard-hit communities all over the country." She then goes on to give several specific examples.
She also writes, "But the truth is that the state of our public libraries is a kind of litmus test of not only our economic health but that of our democracy, too. After all, libraries are the free, democratization of education, unbiased research, and uncensored enlightenment."
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