Redlands Family History Center Newsletter June 2011

Millions of Civil War Records Now Available on FamilySearch Website
SALT LAKE CITY | 11 May 2011 | As the United States marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, history buffs and people who had ancestors involved in the conflict can access millions of records recently published on the familysearch.org website. And millions more records are coming, as volunteers enlist in an online campaign over the next five years to provide access to the highly desirable historic documents. FULL STORY
To help index Civil War records go to https://www.familysearch.org/civil-war

FamilySearch Adds South Carolina Genealogy Resources
FamilySearch has announced new South Carolina genealogy resources to mark the National Genealogical Society Family History Conference, going on now in Charleston, SC:
South Carolina Probate Records, Files and Loose Papers, 1732-1964 have been added to the FamilySearch record site (this collection hasn’t been indexed, so you’ll need to browse the record images).
South Carolina Probate Records, Bound Volumes, 1671-1977, also have been added (also browse-only).
A South Carolina section is now in the FamilySearch Research Wiki.
Probate records can be helpful in researching African-American ancestors, because probate files of slave owners often contain inventories of their slaves.

U.S. Social Security Death Index on FamilySearch.org
The U.S. Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is now on FamilySearch.org. The data is current as of October 2010. The most current updates will be available soon.
To search it, you can either search all historical records, and matching records from the index will be included in your search results. You can also search only the Social Security Death Index.
To search the Social Security Death Index without having to return to the blog for the link, follow these steps:
FULL STORY |
~”What’s New” at FamilySearch

FamilySearch as an Archive
The technical infrastructure necessary to provide access to FamilySearch’s digitized records is immense. FamilySearch is digitizing, providing access, and preserving the world’s genealogical records, said Ed Donakey in a session at the NGS Conference last Thursday. Donakey is strategic relations manager for FamilySearch.

Donakey briefly touched on one item, maintaining the Internet connection of the website’s four datacenters. FamilySearch uses redundant connections so that the website can continue to function even if an Internet connection fails. An East coast datacenter has six Internet connections. In case a particular Internet provider should fail, the six connections are distributed among several Internet providers, including Qwest, Sprint, and XO. If all six connections failed, website operations would transfer to a Utah datacenter. It is connected with three lines to the Internet. Even if eight lines failed, familysearch.org would still have full speed access, said Donakey.

“Digital preservation is imperative for us,” Donakey said. Preserving digital records has many unique problems not suffered by microfilm preservation. The ways in which you can lose digital records is hellacious. (That’s my word, not Donakey’s… We’ll, actually, it’s not my word either. But I digress…) Failures include media failure, hardware failure, software failure, communication error, network error, hardware obsolescence, software obsolescence, operator error, natural disaster, and economic failure.

The solutions are not targeted to archivists only. “FamilySearch wants to provide the tools, technology, and infrastructure for local, national, and international archives and end users to preserve their key data,” said Donakey. “We’re doing everything we can to preserve these records for our posterity.”
~Ancestry Insider

An Easy Way to Add Maps to a Genealogy Project
Would you like to include U.S. maps in your family history projects, but can't find what you want? The National Atlas is a map-making platform sponsored by the Federal Government that lets you build your own maps. You can create maps that capture and depict patterns, conditions, and trends of American life. You can use the National Atlas templates to create maps that cover all of the United States or just your area of interest. In the National Atlas Map Maker you can assemble, view, and print your own maps.
~Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter as reported in "Generations", Washington DC Family History Center Newsletter.

Get to Those Stones Now!
Are there any pre-1900 tombstones you have not transcribed, photographed, etc.? Look through your records, your database, etc. Put getting the transcription from the stone on your priority list. Old stones do not last forever and the information may literally fade away before you get to it. And be careful relying totally on published transcriptions. Sometimes in an attempt to be helpful, people added information to the "transcription" that really was not on the stone.
~Michael John Neill, GenealogyTipofTheDay.blogspot.com,

Naturalization Papers Finding Aid
US Naturalization records can be very helpful when doing genealogy research, but can frequently be very difficult to find. Naturalizations before 1906 could be done in any just about any court in the country, and were not standardized. After 1906 the federal government took over the Naturalization process and all forms became standardized nationwide. The locations of all Naturalization files post-1906 are generally in set locations based on where the person naturalized.
Some files will generally only be found if you do a search through the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services which holds the entire C-File (certificate file) for naturalized citizens (records from 1906 onwards). Ordering a search online is time-consuming process and expensive.
To access Naturalization records without going through such a long and expensive process, Mr. Trauring has created a chart of NARA's naturalization paper files which shows all the states, cities and date ranges. His blog entry and finding aid are found at: Naturalization Table
~Generations, Washington DC Family History Center Newsletter, May 2011, taken from "Naturalization Papers Finding Aid", by Philip Trauring, bloodandfrogs blog

Black Loyalist Web Site
Black Loyalist is a repository of historical data about the African American loyalist refugees who left New York between April and November 1783 and whose names are recorded in the Book of Negroes. In this first stage, the site concentrates on providing biographical and demographic information for the largest cohort, about 1000 people from Norfolk, Virginia, and surrounding counties.

Working on the principal that enslaved African Americans were not just a faceless, nameless, undifferentiated mass, but individuals with complex life experiences, this site seeks to provide as much biographical data as can be found for the individual people who ran away to join the British during the American Revolution and were evacuated as free people in 1783.

The project emerged from the research of Cassandra Pybus for her book Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and Their Global Quest for Liberty. The web site was created by Cassandra Pybus, Kit Candlin and Robin Petterd and funded as a pilot project in 2009 by the Australian Research Council.
The Black Loyalist Web Site is available at http://www.blackloyalist.info/
Irfanview
Irfanview is one program that can be used with graphics, saving images to your computer and then opening them up to crop as you want and make copies. It downloads for free at Irfanview.com and is on the computers at the Family History Library in SLC and on our computers at Redlands FHC (The desktop icon is a squashed red cat with a black mask.) Staff members can help you capture images at the center to save on your flash drive or print.

Once an image is saved in a file and Irfanview is on your computer:
Click on Irfanview - then the word 'File' - then open - then go to where you have the image saved and click on that - then click on the image - then put your cursor in the upper left corner, left click, hold and drag diagonally to the bottom right corner, which creates a box. You can trim the edges this way, or select just portions of the image you want either printed or saved (you can move any of the lines in or out, if you hover your cursor over the line, and when it becomes a double arrow do a left click, hold and drag in or out - then go to 'file' again and choose either 'save as' or 'print'. When you print, you have the option of making a header or footer to label the document image you will be printing. ~Family History Expos Newsletter

Bits and Pieces
Question: Where can I get blank Family Group Record forms?
FamilySearch Wiki - Search for "Family Group Record", select "Use Appropriate Forms". Under Family Group Record, click the blue "Family group records" link.
PAF - File > Reports & Charts > Family Group tab > Blank Form
RootsMagic - File > Print Reports > Reports > Blank Reports > Family group sheet
Legacy - Reports > Report Menu (charts) > Family tab > Blank Report
Ancestral Quest - File > Print Reports & Charts > Family Group tab > Blank Form
~Logan FHC Newsletter

Ancient Faces
Ancient Faces contains free photos of faces and places in history. Over 50,000 vintage photos. Search by surname or topic. You can also share your ancestral photos and help build the site for others.

Don't Neglect the Online Trees
Ancestry.com, WorldConnect, FamilySearch and a variety of other sites have user submitted family trees. Virtually all of them contain errors. Some of them contain many errors. But don't ignore them completely. Sometimes even a very careless researcher stumbles upon something that we have overlooked. Don't take anything in the online trees without documenting it elsewhere, but consider the fact that one of them may have the clue that you need.
~Michael Neill, Genealogy Tip of the Day

Label Your Flash drive
Please label your flash drives if you are going to bring them to the Center or anywhere else you may go. They are so easy to leave in the computers. If we knew who they belonged to, we could call and let you know. One suggestion is to use a small mailing label. Another is to rename the actual drive. (Right-click the drive and select rename.)
~Logan FHC Newsletter

Check Out the Sponsors
If your immigrant ancestor was a member of a denomination that practiced infant baptism and you have not determined who the sponsors were for all of his or her children, you could be missing out. There's a good chance that sponsors were somehow related to the parents and if the parents cannot be traced across the pond, perhaps the sponsors can.
~Michael John Neill, Tip of the Day

Free Online File Converter
Bookmark this site. It converts files from hundreds of formats to any of hundreds of other formats. Want to convert a DOC file to a PDF file? Online-Convert will do that. Want to convert an audio MP3 file to WAV format? Online-Convert will do that. The site has many, many other formats available as well.
If you can’t find the conversion you need, you can contact the site owners and they will try to help you. Best of all, the service is available free of charge.
You can find it at http://www.online-convert.com/
Continue reading "Free Online File Converter" »
~Posted by Dick Eastman on May 16, 2011

War of 1812 -Preserve the Pensions
The Federation of Genealogical Societies, the National Archives, and the genealogical community have started a project to digitize the War of 1812 pension files—a fitting beginning to the bicentennial commemoration of this important war. These images will be available for free.
Contributions to this project have already made these files available.
This initiative seeks to raise $3.7 million. Preserve the Pensions! seeks to raise the bulk of the funds before the bicentennial of the start of the war and finish digitization before the bicentennial of the war's end in 2015. With 7.2 million images in 180,000 files, there is much digitization to do.
~Ancestry Insider

You'll Send Us to the Poor Farm!: Resources for Researching Poor Farms
by Gena Philibert Ortega
I thought I would provide some resources that might help you learn more about poor farms and what it was like for ancestors who were living there.
The first source you should check when researching poor farms is the website for The Poorhouse Lady, aka Linda Crannell at www.poorhousestory.com. Driven by the knowledge that her grandmother spent her early years in a poorhouse, Linda has developed a comprehensive site devoted to the history of poorhouses and references to poorhouses in various states. On her site you can read about laws governing poorhouses, read about poorhouses in your state, and peruse the bibliography she has put together on the issue of poverty. MORE
~GenealogyWise Newsletter

Google’s Picasa Tip by Gena Philibert Ortega
Google's Picasa software, available for the PC, http://picasa.google.com/ and the Mac, http://picasa.google.com/mac/ is a free photo editing software program that allows users to organize, correct and edit photos. It can be difficult to keep information with documents and photos but one genealogist told me that he uses Picasa's text option to add source citations to digital images of documents. He takes his digital camera to libraries, archives and the Family History Center and uses his camera to take photos of the documents and microfilm images. He then uploads them to his computer and uses Picasa to add source citations. You can learn more about Picasa's features by clicking on the link "Watch a video introduction" located on the homepage.
This is a great way to organize your research. Not only can you add it to folders on your computer. (I have surname folders and then folders in those surname folders for the couples or individuals I am researching) but you can also keep track of what that document is by adding a source citation right onto the digital image.
~GenealogyWise Newsletter


This Table at This Moment: A Providential Encounter
By Carol Kostakos Petranek, one of the Directors of the Washington DC Family History Center and a Volunteer at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
April 20 was a beautiful, sunny day and the public was streaming into the tents erected in front of the National Archives building in Washington, D.C. NARA’s annual Genealogy Fair was well underway, and this was the fourth year that I organized exhibits for both our Washington, DC Family History Center and FamilySearch.org.

Our laptops were humming with wireless internet, and FamilySearch.org was yielding an amazing number of “hits” as we searched for ancestors of the various people who stopped by our booth. As the hours elapsed, our volunteers talked themselves hoarse. Over 3,000 people came to the fair on that first day, and we talked with hundreds who were seeking to learn more about the Church’s most popular website.

Ron Able and Terry Willard, from the Washington DC Family History Center, assist patrons

The volunteers at our booths didn’t have a specific strategy for approaching or helping patrons; whoever was available would assist an individual. And that is what made my encounter with Michelle especially providential.

It was lunchtime, and people were standing two and three deep at our booth. After helping one patron, I impulsively left the back of our table and walked into the crowd, offering to answer questions or assist with a computer lookup. It was at that moment that a lovely African-American woman caught my eye and approached me. Her name was Michelle, and she had just started researching her family six weeks ago. She related, with great animation, that she was amazed at the amount of information she was finding online. “I’m descended from one of the first African-Americans who went west on the wagon train with Brigham Young,” she said excitedly. Stunned, I asked if she knew the name of that ancestor. “Green Flake,” she replied.

As she hurriedly sketched a 6-generation pedigree chart linking herself to this pioneer, I knew that our conversation was not happenstance. For six years, I had been the Chairperson of the Black History Month commemorations held at the Washington Temple Visitors’ Center. Among the many people who had participated in those events were Darius Gray and Margaret Young, historians who had delved deeply into the records and written extensively about the first black families to settle in Utah (see interview). Foremost among these pioneers was Green Flake, a former slave and convert to the LDS Church who rode in the first wagon to enter Emigration Canyon on July 21, 1847.

“I can connect you with the historians who have researched this family extensively,” I said emotionally. “They have photographs and a complete family history about Green Flake and his descendants. They have written books, a play and numerous articles. They can tell you everything about him. ” Her eyes widened as she threw her arms around me. “What are the chances,” I asked, “that you would come to this very table at this very moment and just happen to talk to me rather than anyone else at our booth?”

We stared at each other, speechless. And then she hugged me again.
~Thank you Marcia Green

Yucaipa Valley Genealogical Society could use your help.
Surveying Mt. San Gorgonio Memorial Park
We really are going to start up again this month! Would you like to help survey, take photographs and transcribe the local cemeteries? The Society is now in the process of trying to survey the Summit Cemetery District in Riverside County. Please contact Jamie Daniel or anyone on the YVGS Board if you are interested. We could use your help!
jamiedaniel33@gmail.com or 709 792-2962 or P.O. Box 32,Yucaipa, CA 92399-0032
New Website - Family Tech at FamilySearch
Technology tips for genealogists and family historians. Check here for new Technology to help with your family history. http://familytech.familysearch.org/ List this with your favorites.

New Records Added to FamilySearch.org
Over 30 million new records have been added to familysearch.org through indexing efforts in the last few months. Records from the following countries have been included: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, El Salvador, England, France, Germany, Guatemala, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, United States, Venezuela, Wales, and Zimbabwe. In addition, the 1881 England and Wales Census index has received significant enhancements.

Exciting Developments in FamilySearch Forums
We are excited to announce that beginning on April 12, you will be able to log into the FamilySearch Forums with your LDS Account. This is the last FamilySearch website in English to switch to the new user account system, so with this change, all of your English language FamilySearch websites and programs are accessible with this single user name and password. If you are a current Forums user, there will be a “merging” process so that the information in your old account can be merged into your new account, similar to how it has been done for other programs. If you have any questions or problems, there will be prompts on the website to help you know what to do. If you need more information, visit the FamilySearch Help Forum, or call FamilySearch Support.

Important Milestone for new.FamilySearch.org
In March 2011 the new.familysearch.org website registered its one-millionth user. Recently a limited number of members of the general public have been given access to the Family Tree. This number will gradually grow until access to the Family Tree is open to everyone. Free access to the Family Tree site will bless the lives of millions of people.

RootsTech Update
If you missed the popular inaugural RootsTech 2011 conference, you can now get a sampling of what all the excitement was about. The wildly popular new technology and family history conference held last month in Salt Lake City, Utah, made its keynote addresses and a few other popular presentations available online, free of charge. The six free presentations can be viewed at RootsTech.org. The RootsTech keynote videos are now available online through the RootsTech.org home page, or you can go directly to the video page: http://rootstech.familysearch.org/video.php

Important Indexing News Update
Since 2006, volunteers have indexed 548 million records! It has truly become a volunteer phenomenon and is the largest initiative of its kind. The records can be searched free of charge at familysearch.org. Additionally, FamilySearch indexing recently added its first project in Hungarian, which means projects now cover 12 languages. The new Hungarian project is for Magyarország, Szabolcs—polgári anyakönyvi adatok, 1895–1978 [1. Rész] records. If you can read Hungarian, or know others who can, please help rally the much-needed support for this project. Additional projects will be added as the active volunteer base grows. Register or find out more information at indexing.familysearch.org.

In 2010, FamilySearch indexing posted the following milestones:
· 100+ projects in 11 languages
· Addition of Portuguese and Polish languages
· 40,000 new active indexers (completed a batch of work), for a total of 127,000 active indexers
· Volunteer indexers averaged 2,169 records each
· Arbitrators averaged 17,803 records each
· 186 million records were double keyed and arbitrated

FamilySearch Indexing - Check out this excellent youtube video on Indexing. It is very well done and a great help to beginners. FamilySearch Indexing Quick Start
~Logan FHC Newsletter

New Online Course
A new course on finding and using courthouse records, featuring professional genealogist Christine Rose, is now available under the Learn tab in familysearch.org. Courthouses are places where you can find answers to genealogical problems. They are a rich source of written records created as a result of the laws then in use, the time period, and the personal activities of your ancestors. The steps delineated throughout this course will assist you to be more effective as you visit courthouses in your search for genealogical information. Click here to see the new course, or view a list of other courses.

Tips and Tricks
FamilySearch Research Wiki hint: Every page on the Research Wiki has a link that allows you to “Watch” the page. If you are looking for research hints in a certain place and the information is not complete enough to help you, you can click on “watch,” and you will then automatically receive an e-mail notifying you whenever anything changes on that page or when new information is added.
FamilySearch hint: If you would like to see what new collections have been added, click on the link on the bottom left of the home page called “All Record Collections.” Then just look for the asterisk (*) next to the dates in the “Last Updated” column. All of the newest record sets are flagged with an asterisk like this.
Sharing family names for the temple hint: If you want an easy way to instantly share family names with friends and family, don’t mail them the cards—instead, e-mail the FOR (Family Ordinance Request). It’s simple. As one of the last steps in new.familysearch.org for printing the FOR (part of the name clearing process), you have the option to save the document as a PDF. If you pick that option, you can then send the PDF file you created as an e-mail attachment. If this explanation is confusing or the process seems difficult, just ask a computer savvy youth, family member or friend to walk you through it. By e-mailing the FOR, you can get it to the people instantly, and with the new system they don’t even have to send the cards back if you don’t want them to. The completed ordinance information will show up immediately on new.familysearch.org.
~All info above from “FamilySearch News, Information and Updates” April 2011

Dropbox
Dropbox is a free file sharing program that allows you to share files with others and to sync your files among your computers and handheld devices. By using Dropbox, you will not have to wonder if you are accessing the most current copy of a file. There is a free webinar at Legacy Family Tree Webinars which will explain how to use Dropbox. The webinar description: Are you familiar with Dropbox - a program that provides 2 gigabytes of online storage for free? Learn how to sign up for Dropbox, install the program and get started ensuring the safety and security of your genealogy research data. Seems too good to be true, right? Two gigabytes of online storage for free? And storage that can synchronize files across your computer, your laptop and even your mobile device? It is true, and you can learn how to leverage the power of Dropbox - a free online program to back up your genealogy data and even share files with friends and family.

U.S. National Archives and Ancestry.com Post Civil War Records Online

As predicted in this newsletter two days ago, the National Archives and Ancestry.com have now announced that newly-digitized Civil War records will be available online for the first time, allowing users to trace family links to the war between North and South.

Ancestry.com is publishing the first in a series of Civil War records that have been digitized from original National Archives records on paper. This is a new collection, not available anywhere online previously. The new Civil War collection is highlighted by the Consolidated Lists of Civil War Draft Registration Records, 1863-1865. These nearly 275,000 records are among the most heavily-used records for research in the National Archives Civil War holdings and were previously only available by request in original form at the research center. The public will now be able to easily access these records online without having to travel to Washington, DC.
Continue reading "U.S. National Archives and Ancestry.com Post Civil War Records Online" »
~Dick Eastman’s Newsletter

Free Access to the Civil War Collection on Footnote.com

The following announcement was written by Footnote.com, a division of Ancestry.com:
Bombardment at Fort Sumter Launches US Civil War

When Abraham Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861, he feared that civil war was inevitable. Six weeks later, at 4:30AM on April 12, 1861, a mortar shell was fired at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, justifying his fears. On April 14, after a 34-hour bombardment, Fort Sumter surrendered and the War Between the States began.
Continue reading "Free Access to the Civil War Collection on Footnote.com" »

1911 Scotland Census now online + helpful additional info
HERE IS A VIDEO to help you understand the census and how the population changed dramatically from 1901 to 1911 in Scotland before WWI.
http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/2011/04/1911-scotland-census-now-online-helpful.html

Print Friendly - Makes any web page print friendly. Go to printfriendly.com and enter the URL for any website. PrintFriendly cleans and formats web pages for a perfect print experience. It
removes Ads, Navigation and unnecessary html code leaving just the content you really need. It is free and easy to use. You can print or save as a pdf file. You can also choose to add a bookmarklet to
your browser to keep PrintFriendly handy at all times. There is a little video that helps you use this tool.



Legacy.com to search for a death record.
http://www.legacy.com/NS/about/newspapers.aspx
Legacy.com collaborates with more than 800 newspapers in North America, Europe and Australia to provide ways for readers to express condolences and share remembrances of loved ones. As the leader in the online memorial and obituary market, Legacy.com is visited by more than 14 million users each month. It partners with more than three-quarters of the 150 largest newspapers in the U.S. and features obituaries and Guest Books for more than two-thirds of people who die in the United States.
View our complete list of newspaper affiliates.
~Treasure Maps Genealogy Newsletter

Hamburg Passenger Lists mburg Passenger Lists
Until about 1845 German emigrants generally chose Antwerp, Rotterdam, or Le Havre as ports of departure. By the middle of the nineteenth century, entrepreneurs in the north German ports of Bremen and Hamburg realized they could increase their income dramatically by filling ships with emigrants bound for America and other destinations....It is the listing of the emigrant's birth place that makes these records so valuable. How does a researcher learn if an ancestor is recorded in Hamburg departure lists? Read this article at:
Hamburg Lists
~ ProGenealogists Genealogy Blog,

Nonprofit Helps Jewish Families Trace Moravian and Bohemian Ancestors
Julius Müller started a nonprofit Jewish family history center based in Prague, the Czech Republic, called Toledot, the Hebrew word for "descendents." The organization's goal is to coordinate genealogy projects, develop Jewish genealogy databases and preserve Jewish heritage for future generations. The center offers research tools for people looking for information on their Moravian and Bohemian ancestors.
Continue reading "Nonprofit Helps Jewish Families Trace Moravian and Bohemian Ancestors" »
~Dick Eastman’s Genealogy Blog

Bits and Pieces
What Was There - This website encourages everyone to upload old photographs of any place in the world. Viewers can browse to different locations on a map and see photos of how that place used to look. With each photograph there are details that you can view to obtain further information. Sections of the photographs can be magnified to get a better look at those old photos: whatwasthere.com
~ Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter,

The Dead Librarian
http://www.thedeadlibrarian.blogspot.com/
Helping South Carolina family historians find free, online information

Tech Tip of the Week - Doing remote research at a family history center or library?
Don't forget that a small flash drive can save you time. By putting your electronic findings on the drive you don't have to make costly copies of documentation or microfilm print outs. These small drives can cost as little as $10 and are even storable on your keys you carry every day!
~Tony Bandy, Internet Genealogy Newsletter

Genealogy Gems YouTube channel featuring interviews with many of the experts who attended the RootsTech conference. Be sure and check all the other video’s by Lisa Louise Cooke.

Cloud Computing: What It Is and How It Has Been Used
By Brian Pugh of FamilySearch

A question about working with Ancestry and Rootsmagic:
Bruce Buzbee of Rootsmagic says: If only a few people are changing up on Ancestry, the downloaded file can be imported into a new blank database in RootsMagic. That file can then be opened side by side with the existing RM database. You can then drag and drop a modified person from the newly imported database into the existing RM file. If you drag a person from one file and drop them on the same person in the other file, RM will merge the two records, keeping only the unique information between the two (in other words it doesn't duplicate information that is the same in both records).

Discrepant Sources - If the sources don't match, don't assume that the information
they provide is incorrect. If you have two different dates of birth, is it possible there were actually two different people? There are many reasons records can give differing information, but keep yourself open to the possibility that records you think are for the same person are actually for two different people.
~ Michael John Neill, Genealogy Tip of the Day

How to Enlarge Text on Web Sites
Can't read a web page because the words are too small? Here's a quick tip to increase the font size:

· Click the Control (Ctrl) key at the same time you click the plus ( + ) sign. Each click will increase font size.
· To decrease font size, click Control (Ctrl) and the minus ( - ) sign. Each click will decrease font size.
· You can also enlarge the entire Web page or document by pressing the Control key as you turn the scroll wheel on your mouse.
Note that changing font size won't work for words that are part of images (such as company logos).
~This tip is from the Family Tree University

How to straighten out NFS after you have separated out the records you can do and also after you have contacted those submitters who have put in bad information to see if they will change it.

First, select feedback (sometimes in small print at the bottom of screen or in big print at the top on certain screens), and indicate the problem, i.e. two individuals combined, wrong parents, wrong information, computer combining error, or the father showing both as parent and son. The first e-mail response is computer generated with case number. When FS Support contacts you with a solution to the problem and you really need them to address it, send the scanned document or documents as an attachment. Some problems you can correct yourself by separating out the records--you need to do this one at a time. However if bad information has been combined all in one record, you will need
them to separate it.
~FHCNET- Thank you Dianna Rounds

Swedish Church Records on Ancestry.com
Last summer, Ancestry.com acquired Genline AB ('Genline'). This means that Genline including the websites, Genline.com and Genline.se, is part of the Ancestry.com family of websites.
Ancestry is adding the Swedish Church Records' archive to Ancestry's World Deluxe Edition for individuals. Most of the Swedish Church Records are now available through the Ancestry.com site as well as Genline.com. On the Ancestry.com sites, you will find the Swedish Church Records archive in the collection: Sweden Church Records 1500 - 1937. Although there are some differences in the search method between Ancestry and the Genline FamilyFinder, the records are the same on both sites. The Genline FamilyFinder platform will continue to exist and be supported.
Click here for more information about Ancestry...
~Thank you Dawna Lund

Family History Internet Sites
Kip Sperry has compiled a list of links to family history sites that would be very helpful in researching your ancestors. Check out this extremely helpful list of blogs, forums, libraries, archives, maps, records, technology, tips, etc.
http://sites.google.com/site/familyhistoryinternetsites/
~ Logan FHC Newsletter

Fun Simple Free Ancestry
Dan Smith has created a website, FunSimpleFreeAncestry, a basic collection of links, for beginners, to free ancestry resources with examples of how to use the sites.
http://sites.google.com/site/funsimplefreeancestry/home
~Logan FHC Newsletter

Redlands Family History Center Newsletter

REDLANDS-YUCAIPA
MULTI – STAKE
FAMILYSEARCH
CENTER
E-NEWSLETTER
Vol. 10, No. 12 December 2010
Phone Number: 909-794-3844. Located at 5th and Wabash in Redlands.
Hours: Tuesday thru Saturday—9:00 to 1:00 Tuesday and Wednesday Nights—6:00-9:00pm
Closed Sunday Nights. Open Thursday nights by appointment only.
The center will be closed for the Christmas Holidays Saturday, December 18 thru Saturday, January 1, 2011 (Christmas/New Year’s) Reopen: Tuesday, January 4, 2011

December Events
Yucaipa Valley Genealogical Society No meeting. Potluck
Redland Family History Center- No Research Class this month.

FamilySearchIndexing: over 160 Million records in 2010
FamilySearch volunteers have been busy–we have indexed 160 million records so far this year and more are on the way! New projects now available include records from Canada, England, Russia, and the United States. Completed collections will soon be available on https://beta.familysearch.org/

The Ancestry Insider: Los Angeles Family History Library Opens Thank you Marsha Green

Family Search Update
Wisdom from the Insider
One prerequisite of growing a family tree: matching.
Like a game of Concentration, genealogy involves finding matches. You must reliably match two mentions of one individual in two records. For example, you look at a John Johnson in the 1880 census and a John Johnson in your pedigree and decide if the two are a match. Records include information that identify and characterize individuals. For example, a John Johnson might be characterized in the 1880 census by his name, his age, his birth state, where he was enumerated, and so forth.

A definitive match requires that the identifying characteristics from both records must differentiate the individual from every other person that has ever lived. Reliably making a match is extremely difficult because of the amount of information that must be learned. You must learn how common each of the identifying characteristics is. For example, perhaps the name John Johnson was extremely common in 1810 Norway. You must learn how common the combination of the characteristics is. For example, you might consider it extremely unlikely that there are two 60-year-old John Johnsons with the farm name Vedum in 1810 Norway.
Short of unique identification, you must know—qualitatively if not quantitatively—the probability that the two mentions match.

You must learn and recognize equivalent values of a characteristic. For example, sometimes John matches Johannes. Sometimes it matches Jack. Sometimes Nevada matches Utah. Sometimes 1700 matches 1701. Sometimes Johnson matches Jonsen. You must learn to recognize non-matching values that probably should match. For example, sometimes typists transposed letters. Sometimes census enumerators rounded ages. Sometimes indexers read Lemuel as Samuel.

You must learn how to judge the trustworthiness of information in a particular record. For example, the length of time between an event and the recording of the event affects the trustworthiness of the information. In summary, one reason genealogy is hard is that reliable matching requires years of learning and experience.
Thanks to Marsha Green

FamilySearch Hosts Bloggers
The buzz in the genealogy blogging world is about last month's Blogger Day hosted by FamilySearch. At this Blogger Day, the discussion centered around the exciting updates coming to FamilySearch. To learn more about what will be happening check out these blog posts. You can also follow the tweets that bloggers posted on Twitter by using the hashtag #FSBlogDay.
Amy Coffin of We Tree Blog
FamilySearch Bloggers Day, Part 1
FamilySearch Bloggers Day, Part 2
FamilySearch Bloggers Day, Part 3
FamilySearch Bloggers Day, Part 4
FamilySearch Bloggers Day, Part 5
James Tanner of Genealogy's Star
FamilySearch Bloggers Day has arrived
FamilySearch Bloggers Day in Slat Lake, Part 2
FamilySearch Bloggers Day in Slat Lake, Part 3
FamilySearch Bloggers Day in Slat Lake, Part 4
FamilySearch Bloggers Day in Slat Lake, Part 5
FamilySearch Bloggers Day in Slat Lake, Part 6
Blogger's Day at FamilySearch—a summary
Reported in WorldVitalRecords Newsletter

Become a Friend with FamilySearch on Facebook

FamilySearch has just launched a new fan page on Facebook, where you can interact with a community of people who are interested in FamilySearch and the services the organization provides. Anyone who uses Facebook can simply visit the FamilySearch page and click the "like" button to become a fan of FamilySearch on Facebook.
>> Visit the FamilySearch page on Facebook.
Full Story
Taken from the FamilySearch Blog

National Archives Website for Genealogists www.archives.gov The easiest way for genealogist to gain access to the most useful features of the national Archives website is to select the Genealogists/Family Historians link in the upper right corner of the National Archives homepage (www.archives.gov) The resulting Main Genealogy Page contains most of the useful links in research tools, resource lists, explanations of resources, and descriptions of records available on the website, and they are grouped for your convenience.
Information about Universal Genealogical Sources and Other Topics
Guide to Federal Records
Microfilm Catalog
New Microfilm
Archival Research Catalog
Records Digitized by Ancestry.com or Footnote.com
Access to Archival Databases (AAD)
National Personnel Records Center
Genealogy Support Pages
If you have questions about Federal Records, or questions relating to Your Research, you may send an email to the National Archives at Riverside riverside.archives@nara.gov
This facility is the repository for all of Southern California, Arizona, and Clark Co., Nevada

They Didn't All Get Here By Ship: Border Crossing Records
When we think of immigration we often start wondering about which port our ancestor used to enter the United States. But not everyone came to America by ship. Some walked or perhaps rode in an automobile over the border from Canada or Mexico. Even though they entered a different way, they still left a paper trail.

What kind of information can you find on a border crossing record? In one Mexican Crossing record for a family member, I was able to see which family members arrived with him, what his occupation was, and the mode of his arrival (listed as afoot). When you find one border crossing record, don't forget to look for additional crossings. Your ancestors may have crossed back and forth numerous times due to seasonal work opportunities, visiting family, or returning to live in their home country.

While Ancestry does have Mexican and Canadian Border Crossing Records, they do not have all the records that are available. As you search this collection, if you don't find your ancestor don't assume that means they did not cross into the United States through a border crossing. To learn more about Mexican Border Crossing records, check out the National Archives (also email riverside.archives@nara.gov for California Border Records. MH) To learn more about Mexican and Canadian border crossing records, see Joe Beine's, US Ports of Arrival and their Available Passenger Lists 1820-1957 .
Tip from Family History Expos.com

Some Gems from Genealogy Gems (A Louisa Louise Cook Podcast)
New to Genealogy Gems?
For Answers to Frequently Asked Questions click on http://www.genealogygems.tv/Pages/Podcast/FAQ.htm

Question 1: Where can I go to find information on someone when Google doesn't provide the answer?
GEM: Next time you need to find a long lost relative, why not try Spokeo.com?
Archivist Nancy Loe came up to me after my Finding Living Relatives Class at the recent Family History Expo and said she'd had amazing results with it. "Do a search on yourself in Spokeo" she said, "the results are Spooky!"

Question 2: What's a quick way to find a funeral home located near an ancestor's home?
GEM: Check out www.iMortuary.com
From Lisa Louise Cooke, Genealogy Gems

Lisa Louise Family History Holiday Wreath
Incorporate your family history into your holidays and traditions with this gorgeous Christmas wreath. Genealogy Gems is the place for creative ideas for researching and sharing your family history. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsKWUab5RxA
Family History Christmas Wreath Part 1 - Genealogy Gems
Family History Christmas Wreath Part 2 - Genealogy Gems
Family History Wreath by Genealogy Gems Part 3
Family History Wreath from Genealogy Gems Part 4

Roots Magic - Our Best Special Holiday Offer Ever!
During this special holiday sale, you can order gift copies of RootsMagic 4 PLUS the book "Getting the Most Out of RootsMagic" for $20 (plus shipping). That's right, both the full program (on CD) and the book for just $20.

There is no limit on the number of discounted gift copies you can buy during this limited time offer which will expire December 22, 2010. You will receive the full program for each copy you order. To take advantage of this offer, just visit:
http://www.rootsmagic.com/holidayoffer Note: You must order from this page to receive the special discount pricing, or order by phone at 1-800-ROOTSMAGIC (1-800-766-8762).
Disclaimer: The Redlands FHC does not endorse or favor any particular genealogy software program (other than PAF). There are several different software programs on our FHC computers for you to try. We encourage you to use whatever works best for you. – Leslie Johnson

10 Ways to Use Twitter for Genealogy
Twitter isn’t just a place to exchange meaningless thoughts in 140 characters or less. For plenty of people, it’s a place to meet and learn from people who share your interests. Genealogy, for example.
Here’s how family historians can use Twitter in their research:
1. Find other genealogists. Click Find People to search for folks with genealogy in their username. If you regularly read a blog, look on the blog for a link to Twitter. Once you find people you like following, see who they follow (listed on the right side of the person's Twitter profile).
2. Learn about research resources. Many bloggers feed their posts to Twitter, so you click the "tweet" to see the whole post. You’ll also pick up tips in people’s tweets about the latest records they’ve found.
3. Get opinions on genealogy Web sites and products.
4. Ask questions. You can just throw it out to your followers, or direct your question to someone using @ and the user name, like this: @FamilyTreeMag.
5. Be heard by people who work at genealogy companies. Use Find People to search for the company name.
6. Get links to how-to advice. Tweets are 140 characters at most, but people often link to helpful articles they’ve found online.
7. Hear about industry news. It’s like having thousands of eyes and ears looking for even obscure and not-yet-announced stories. If you see RT in a tweet, that means someone is repeating the tweet of someone he or she follows—you can see how the news gets around.
8. See how funny genealogists can be. One to follow: @TheGenealogue
9. Find events. Genealogy societies, libraries, museums, and conferences often tweet upcoming events.
10. Get cheap stuff. Many companies use Twitter to publicize sales and giveaways (some are exclusive to Twitter followers). Online backup service @Mozy, for example, has regular Twitter giveaways.
To sign up for a Twitter account, go to Twitter.com and click Get Started—Join. Then follow Family Tree Magazine at @FamilyTreeMag.

Bits and Pieces
Ohio Obituary Index http://index.rbhayes.org/hayes/index/ An index to over 1,600,000 obituaries, death and marriage notices and other sources from Ohio from the 1810’s to the present day is available on the website for the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center. This index only includes obituaries for select counties, shown on this map. http://index.rbhayes.org/hayes/index/display.asp?id=934&subj=index and the referenced newspapers with information on years indexed can be found at http://www.rbhayes.org/hayes/index/list.asp If you have Ohio ancestors, check the index for them. Copies of any obituaries found in the index can be obtained for a nominal charge from the center and details are provided on how to do this.
Internet Genealogy Magazine, Oct.-Nov 2010

Video showing process used by #FamilySearch to make #genealogy records available online. http://on.fb.me/aPxrFZ

We are all cousins ~ Elizabeth Shown Mills, Video http://bit.ly/9TfiwB

Joe Beine’s websites. Before you embark on your vital records research, check out Joe Beines’s “Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records” http://www.deathindexes.com/ and his “Online Birth and Marriage Records Indexes for the USA” http://www.germanroots.com/vitalrecords.html These two websites are an updated list of what vital records are currently available online and save you the headache of wondering whether what you need can be accessed online.

Eastern European Phone Books Online
Did you know that the European Reading Room at the Library of Congress has European Phone books in their collection? A few of the phone books have been digitized and are available online, while many more are indexed.

According to their website: "The Library of Congress began systematically collecting residential and organizational telephone directories from many countries in 1937, but the records for these items are generally not included in the Library's online catalog. To fill that gap, the indexes (on the web site) list the Library's holdings of European directories, organized by country."


Create a Holiday Recipe Book
The holidays are the perfect time to play genealogy reporter. Grab your camera and a notebook to make a quick and easy memory book of your family’s favorite dishes.
1. At an upcoming holiday gathering, take a picture of every dish served. If possible, get a photo of the person who brought it.
2. Collect each recipe. Note who brought it and why, along with any traditions or family stories that go along with it. (If you can’t get all of this done during the holiday get-together, send follow-up e-mails.
3. Print the photos.
4. Gather photos and your notes in a scrapbook, binder or photo album. For example a 4x6-inch photo album with three pockets per page can hold a photo on top, a recipe card in the middle, and a family story about the dish or its creator in the bottom slot. Recipes and stories can be written on 4x6-inch journaling cards or index cards.
5. Create copies for other family members as keepsakes.
From Family Tree Magazine, Dec. 2010

Coming Events
RootsTech
February 10-12, 2011 at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, UT
RootsTech is a new conference focused on finding and applying technical innovations in genealogy. There will be sessions of interest to novice, intermediate, and advanced users of genealogical technology. For more information check out their website at http://rootstech.familysearch.org/.

Hemet-San Jacinto Genealogical Society and the Hemet FHC Library, Saturday, February 26, 2011, 9:00am until 3:45pm, presenter Curt B. Witcher, speaking on Historical Research Methodology, Mining the Mother Lode, Using Church Records and Roll Call (New Sites and Sources for Military Records). Pre-Registration $27.00, Catered Lunch $9.00. Registrations must be postmarked by 20th February 2011. To learn more go to http://www.hsjgs.org For registration form go to http://www.hsjgs.org/Witcher.pdf

The Twelve Days of Christmas
(Genealogy Style)
My true love gave to me
Twelve census searches
Eleven family bibles
Ten e-mail contacts
Nine headstone rubbings
Eight wills and admons
Seven miners mining
Six second cousins
Five coats of arms
Four GEDCOM files
Three old wills
Two CD-ROMs
And a branch in my family tree.
--Author Unknown

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

REDLANDS-YUCAIPA
MULTI – STAKE
FAMILYSEARCH
CENTER
E-NEWSLETTER
Vol. 10, No. 11 November 2010
Phone Number: 909-794-3844. Located at 5th and Wabash in Redlands.
Hours: Tuesday thru Saturday—9:00 to 1:00 Tuesday and Wednesday Night—6:00-9:00pm
Closed Sunday Nights except the 4th Sunday before the Research Class
The center will be closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday-Nov. 23-30

COMING EVENTS
Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010 Ancestry Novemberfest Seminar 9:00am - 12:30pm (registration at 8:30am) Redlands/Yucaipa FHC - 350 Wabash Ave, Redlands A variety of professional genealogists covering a wide range of topics including learning to use Ancestry.com, how to research your ancestry in Mexico, Ireland, Italy, France, Poland, Scandinavia and Russia; American Indian research, using census records and much more.
Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010 Yucaipa Valley Genealogical Society at Citi Bank 34580 Yucaipa Blvd. 12 noon to 3pm
Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010 – Family History Research Class in the Redlands Stake Center High Council Room. 7:00pm Subject: “Creating and Sharing Family Histories” Presenter: Marilyn Harrison

A Heartfelt Thank You to Dianna Rounds
Dianna has served as the Yucaipa Director for the Family History Center for 12 years. She has recently been released but will continue on ordering the microfilms and working on Wednesday mornings. She has done much for our center and has become a very fine genealogist. We love her and wish her the very best of everything.

A NEW DIRECTOR FOR YUCAIPA STAKE AND A NEW NAME FOR THE CENTER
Leslie Johnson was called to be the new Yucaipa Stake FSC Director. She is very knowledgeable on genealogy and will do a fine job. Her email is lesliebj@gmail.com
Family History Center names have been changed to FamilySearch Centers. The vision of the FamilySearch Center in the Community is spectacular and will change the way we all work in the Center. The implementation of this vision will improve our image in the community and enhance our public relations program in a wonderful way.
From FamilySearch

BYUTV to air “A Celebration of Family History”
This month BYUTV invites you to accelerate your curiosity for your ancestors with these special broadcasts that are sure to inspire you and draw your heart toward the stories of the past.
Tuesday, Nov.2, at 8pm
Saturday, Nov. 6, at 9pm
Tuesday, Nov. 9, at noon and 6pm
Sunday, Nov 28, at 5pm

FAMILY SEARCH UPDATES
FamilySearch Beta is being looked at and used. On September 14, 2010 they had 29,468 visitors from 17 countries. Enhancements are continuing and in particular the Family History Library Catalog is being re-designed to include drop down boxes which will enhance your search experience. All is on target to present to the Genealogical Community an early Christmas present consisting of the merging of Family Search and FamilySearch Beta. In the mean time help is needed: (1) Go often to the FamilySearch Beta site and look around. Click the brown "Feedback" button and tell the how they are doing. (2) Follow the FamilySearch Beta Blog (top menu on home page screen), https://beta.familysearch.org/ and learn and see the new updates to the web site. (3) Tell others about the site. This will be the future home of FamilySearch.org
In May 2010 eleven of the world's leading archivist accepted the invitation to meet with FamilySearch. Three very valuable pieces of information was gleaned from the meeting: (1) Each of these archivist's feel pressure to digitize their collections but feel under funded and feel they don't have the expertise to do it. (2) They feel FamilySearch is their leading alternative in solving his problem, which is why they came to Salt Lake. (3) However, for FamilySearch to do business with them - the archivist must maintain control of their records. As a result ~ Family Search is working out ways to satisfy the needs of all and work will be done to make these indexes available.
At the FGS conference in Knoxville, TN last month FamilySearch focused on creating relationships with Genealogical Societies. They met with officers of leading Historical Societies and showed the kind of work FamilySearch has been doing in the Untied States with societies. As a result work is being done to digitize and make available to the world via the internet the mortuary records from the pre 1906 San Francisco Fire. All records were lost in this fire.
BRANCHING OUT
Nathan Murphy a research consultant in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City was given the assignment to improve the FamilySearch Wiki content for Tennessee. He reached out into the community and asked many to contribute. The Tennessee Wiki went from 1 guide and 40 pages for the whole state to 95 guides, one for each county, and 1,000 Wiki pages to become the 2nd most visited Wiki page on the Wiki. Since the NGS Conference, attended by over 20,000 people - the largest Genealogical Conference ever held - Wiki traffic has increased 10% and a 75% increase in the number of Wiki contributors. All of this because of Nathan’s willingness to branch out into the Community and ask for help. Because of the success of this great effort FamilySearch is introducing the Branch Out Into The Community Program for Wards and Stakes. Here is the program:
The joy of family history is very real. We know that it can change lives of families and individuals. As the Family History Department strives to increase participation throughout the Church worldwide we often get asked, “What are others doing? Do you have examples?” While we do have some success stories and examples, we want to try to encourage success on a much larger scale. You can help as we try to establish family history catalysts in every unit of the Church.
Here is what you can do: (1.) Tell us about programs or activities that have worked in your ward or stake to increase participation in family history. Did your youth hold a family history week? Is your bishop calling indexing specialists? If you have a strong level of family history activity in your ward or stake, we want to know why you think it is so strong.
(2.) Are you just now implementing something new? We want to know what is planned for your wards or stakes. It may not be a success story yet, but you think it will be shortly. Tell us about approved plans that are in the early stage of execution or that will be started shortly. This will help us observe from start to finish.
(3.) Each of you has a calling, whether that is in family history or in another auxiliary like Primary, working with the youth, or in Relief Society. As you have pondered how to help those under your stewardship become more engaged, what ideas have you come up with? Please share them. Maybe we can help incubate them into something that could benefit more than just your ward.
(4.) Finally, are you in a position where you would be willing to help? Are you a bishop or a priesthood or auxiliary leader with a desire to try something out that could bless the lives of the saints under your stewardship? Would you be willing to work with the Family History Department Marketing Division to try new programs or activities in coordination with your priesthood leaders?
You may fit into any or all of the above categories. Send an e-mail to branchout@familysearch.org and let us know into which of these categories you fall, give us details, and how you would be willing to help. For the first 50 of those who fit into the first three categories we will provide a thank you Branch Out t-shirt.
Thank you for your diligence in family history efforts. We look forward to branching out with you! The Family History Marketing Division Thanks to Elder Mick Altmyer, World Wide Support Missionary
Los Angeles Family History Library Announces Reopening
Please come for the grand reopening of the Los Angeles Family History Library: Saturday, November 6, 2010 -9:00 a.m.–9: 00 p.m., with special tours at 12:00 noon, 2:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m. Sunday, November 7, 2010 3:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m.
Those who come to the open house will be able to attend some of the free 20-minute miniclasses, the schedule for which will be posted before the open house on the library’s website at www.lafhl.org. The library will not be available for research during the open house. During the open house, you will be introduced to our newly renovated and enhanced library, which includes:
· State-of-the-art technology: High-speed Internet, new updated computers, and virtual teaching classrooms facilitate genealogical research that cannot be accessed at smaller family history centers.
· Large collection of resources: Microfilms and fiches, books, and free use of fee-based websites such as Ancestry.com.
· Video conferencing: The computer laboratory is uniquely designed to support video conferencing technology. As a result, classes originating from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City or the Riverton FamilySearch Library and facility can be taught real time at the Los Angeles Family History Library. Conversely, programming may originate from Los Angeles and be distributed to distant family history libraries.
· Classroom facilities: Two large new classrooms will be used for training and for beginning, intermediate, and advanced family history courses that teach the most current family history research methods.
The Saturday tours start with a special presentation followed by time for questions and answers. All who attend the open house are invited to participate in the tours, but they are geared especially for priesthood leaders, family history center directors, and family history consultants.

NEHGS LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE: AmericanAncestors.org
Author: NEHGS
Boston, MA - August 19, 2010 - D. Brenton Simons, President and CEO of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), announced the launch of http://americanancestors.org/home.html , the organization's new website that will serve as the home of its growing regional and national genealogical sources. AmericanAncestors.org will contain all of the Society's New England and New York content, features, articles, and resources, as well as weekly updates and databases in a variety of regional and ethnic specialties, such as sources for mid-Atlantic, Irish, and African American research.

Allen County Public Library Launches New Genealogy Site
One of FamilySearch's valued affiliates, the Allen County Public Library, has launched a new website. The Fort Wayne, Indiana, facility has an excellent genealogy center and now you can access some of the library's helpful resources from the comfort of your own home.
For more information, visit:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/allen-county-library-launches-genealo...
The new web site, located at www.genealogycenter.org, includes several free databases and portals including the African American Gateway, Family Bible Records and Our Military Heritage that have been developed by the Genealogy Center.

The Genealogy Center’s website includes other resources, including full-text books that have been digitized by Internet Archives, the Center’s Pathfinders to various areas of research, and the Community Album, a collection of historical photographs for the surrounding area.

French Genealogy Records Online
Dave Velten sent a note after reading some earlier articles in this newsletter about various online collections of genealogy records. Dave writes: Along the theme of accessing digitized records online, some of the French archives are scanning and placing civil and church records online, for free. Check out the Bas-Rhin archives at http://archives.bas-rhin.fr/ and the Haut-Rhin archives at http://www.archives.cg68.fr/Services_Actes_Civils.aspx. They each have different interfaces you have to learn to drive, but it's pretty cool and and no need to order and wait for a film at the FHC.
Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

FamilyLink’s Facebook Application, We’re Related, Gets a Facelift
The following announcement was written by FamilyLink:
Provo, Utah — FamilyLink, the largest family social networking website with more than 50 million users, is re-launching its We’re Related Facebook application. This application is one of the top family applications on Facebook, and allows users to find and connect with their relatives.
The We’re Related application is an all-inclusive tool to connect family members through family trees, family photos and family updates. The new edition incorporates many features of the previous version, but includes new features such as an improved relative suggestion tool and the ability to organize relatives on Facebook profiles with a drag and drop feature. It also allows users to categorize relatives by groups.
“With the new version of We’re Related, we listened to our users and gave them what they wanted,” said FamilyLink CEO Paul Allen. “This version allows users to filter photos to only show relatives, view photos with an auto thumbnail expander, and gives users the ability to find articles, photos and historical records of themselves and family members.”

For more information on FamilyLink’s new We’re Related app, visit the web at http://wererelated.familylink.com.

NOAA Releases Free Civil War Map Collection
Under the auspices of the NOAA is the Office of the Coast Survey, which president Thomas Jefferson established in 1807 to produce nautical charts that would provide for maritime safety, defense and the establishment of national boundaries. By the start of the Civil War, the Coast Survey was a leading scientific agency, charting coastlines and determining land elevations. It still surveys coasts and produces nautical charts today.

In honor of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War in 2011, NOAA has gathered materials the Coast Survey prepared during the war years into a free, online collection called Charting a More Perfect Union.

The collection, which will help you visualize terrain, ports, and coasts as they were from 1861 to 1865, includes:
· 394 maps and nautical charts used for naval campaigns, and troop movements and battles. You can search the maps by keyword(s), state or region, year or chart number. If you click Search without entering terms, you’ll get a list of all the documents in the collection (not in alphabetical or chronological order).
· the Coast Survey publication Notes on the Coast, which aided Union forces in planning naval blockades. Browse Notes on the Coast here.
· annual report summaries by war-era Coast Survey Superintendent Alexander Bache. Download them by year using the links on the Charting a More Perfect Union home page.
Find more Civil War resources in our Civil War genealogy toolkit

Bits and Pieces
World Vital Records Top Databases
Social Security Death Index
Find A Grave
Ellis Island Passenger Arrival Records (1892 - 1924)
WWII Army Enlistment
Everton Pedigree Charts and Family Group Sheets
UK 1881 Census
Maine Marriage Records
Everton's Genealogical Helper
World Vital Records has some new databases. Go to http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/recentcontentlisting.aspx to view them

Nationwide Gravesite Locator - This US Department of Veterans' Affairs site lists
burials of military personnel and family members in US military cemeteries. Listings
date from the Revolutionary War to the present and usually include name, rank,
branch of service, and dates of birth and death.
http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1

Teaching the Next Generation - I have been holding weekly Boy Scout Genealogy Merit Badge nights at our FHC over the last month. I announce these at our District Round Table and have 3-5 boys and their parent come to the FHC for 3 hours each
time. During the 3 hour class we can cover all the requirements for the merit badge.
But the real benefit is when we let the boys go online to find records for their
ancestors. We talk about what the census record, marriage record, birth record, etc
tells them about their ancestor and occasionally we find out something real
interesting that the family didn't know. Last night we found a census record from
1870 listing a family’s property value at $10,500. That is pretty much for back then.
We were then able to find a biography for the family on Google Books (its always
good to check for county biographies for major landowners in the midwest). They
found new children who died early, immigration dates, marriage dates, etc, in just a
few minutes. The boys get interested and the parents return the next week. This is a
good opportunity for us to teach the next generation about research techniques in a
fun way that also allows them to progress in the ranks for Scouts. –
Miles Meyer, Jacksonville, FL, FHCNET 8/18/2010

Webinar on Searching Ancestry.com - This is an excellent way to learn some exciting ways to search for your ancestors on Ancestry.com more effectively. Go to http://www.ancestry.com Click on the Learning Center tab. Scroll down to "Getting the Most Out of Your Ancestry.com Subscription". Click the Watch Video button.

Requested Reprint
Church History Library and Archives The collections of the Church History Library and Archives contain materials chronicling the history of the Church from its beginning in 1830 to the present day. The collections contain manuscripts, books, Church records, photographs, oral histories, architectural drawings, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, maps, microforms, and audiovisual materials. The staff creates and maintains catalogs and indexes for accessing this wide variety of information.
Click on Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel (1847-1868) The most complete index of individuals and companies that crossed the plains to Utah between 1847 and 1868. Include transcribed excerpts from trail diaries, letters, and newspaper reports. http://lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompanysearch/1,15773,3966-1,00.html
If you have questions, at the bottom of the screen is an “Ask a librarian” link.


Deadline for articles for the Newsletter.
Third Sunday of the Month
If you have experiences, pictures or genealogy news you would like to contribute to the newsletter, please contact the editor, Marilyn Harrison, at harrison.marilyn2@gmail.com OR 909-797-1429

REDLANDS-YUCAIPA
MULTI – STAKE
FAMILY HISTORY CENTER
E-NEWSLETTER

Vol. 10, No. 9 September 2010
COMING EVENTS
Saturday, September 18, 2010 at 1:00pm at the Yucaipa Valley Genealogical Society at the Yucaipa Branch Library. Diane Wright will be speaking on "The 1930 Census Taker"

Sunday, September 26, 2010 at 7:00pm Family History Research Class at the Redlands Stake Center High Council Room Subject: “Google” Presenter: Dawna Lund
Granite Mountain Records Vault Videos Online
Many of us have heard of the Granite Mountain vault that is underneath 700 feet of granite outside of Salt Lake City but very few have ever seen the inside of the vault. FamilySearch has released videos that give all of us a view into the operations behind the vault door.
I was especially impressed with the comments that not only are microfilms stored and duplicated in the Granite Mountain Records Vault, but efforts now underway will result in all the microfilms eventually being digitized. Future plans include making all images available to everyone, worldwide, in the convenience of their homes.
Many of the images stored in the Granite Mountain Records Vault are the only copies left in existence.
The Granite Mountain Records Vault videos are available in two parts:
For video #1, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfXVvWb0qOQ
For video #2, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1OqEEbRTVw

Hemet FHC and Hemet/San Jacito Genealogical Society
The Hemet FHC has a fair size film collection and also many books. Their inventory is on the website at http://mysite.verizon.net/hemetfhc/
The Hemet/San Jacinto Genealogical Society also has a good collection and they are now located in the new Hemet Library at 300 E. Latham Ave. Hemet, CA http://www.hsjgs.org/Library_Collection.htm

Coming Event at the HSJGS Oct. 23, A seminar with Kerry Bartels and Lisa Louise Cooke. Speakers will be speaking about the National Archives at Perris, Calif., What You must know to save your research From destruction, Solving family tree mysteries with Google Earth, and the many facets of the national Archives Website. This event will take place at the Simpson Center, just north of the Hemet Library at 305 E. Devonshire Ave. 951-765-2372. You are encouraged to get your registration in before Oct. 13, 2010. There are only a limited number of seats available. Pre registration $20 At the door $25 For a registration form click on http://www.hsjgs.org/octoberseminar2010.pdf


FamilySearch.org Feature Update: Tennessee Page on FamilySearch Research Wiki The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:
The Tennessee page on the FamilySearch Research Wiki has recently been updated and now includes a wealth of new information and resources to help people find their ancestors in the Volunteer State. The link for this revised page is: https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Tennessee
The Wiki staff is currently working on updating all of the state pages; Tennessee is one of the first because the 2010 Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference will be held in Knoxville August 18 to 21. For more information about the FGS conference, please visit: http://www.fgs.org/2010conference/index.php.
Page Highlights
· A clickable county map on the main page
· Easy navigation at the bottom of each page
· How to find Tennessee sources in archives, libraries, in print, and online
· Information on substitute sources when records are lost
· Local lists of published family histories
· Links to published Tennessee county tax lists
· Audio files of locals pronouncing Tennessee county names
· Contact information for volunteers who will look up information in local resources

FREE ONLINE CLASSES
On the Home page of Family Search in the ”What’s New” section click on Family History Lesson Series provides useful guides . This will take you to several short lessons covering a variety of Family History topics which are available for download in convenient pdf format. The lessons may be used as self-study guides or as class supplements for Family History instructors. The first lesson is Lesson 1: Perform Descendancy Research

More New Family Search Research Classes On Line
(Family Search>Library>Education>Research Classes On Line)
Reading Handwritten Records Series New!
Research Principles and Tools New!
U.S. Research New!

NewFamilySearch Update
The dispute feature is being removed from the system. As a first phase, you can no longer add a new dispute. You can still see disputes that were previously entered. Eventually, all of the disputes in the system, including their notes, will be moved to the discussion boards.

Beginning Family History Research by The Nosey Genealogist
This video produced by The Nosey Genealogist, a researcher from the UK, is aimed towards beginning genealogists, especially those starting their UK research. From the video description, "The web has made Beginning Family History Research to find our ancestors so much easier to do. As more and more data finds its way onto the Internet many more lines of enquiry are opened up to us. But, with this, is the danger of information overload. The new family historian may become frozen in the headlights as the genealogical data juggernaut races on towards them. Here is some free advice about how to organize your family tree search so that in the long run you save yourself time and quite possibly money. It is also proposed that it is well worth continuing to learn as much as you can about this fascinating subject by taking courses or reading around the subject. The best family historian is one that thinks of himself as an advanced beginner. That is, they are always open to learning more skills. The more skilled you get, the better you will be able to find those elusive ancestors."
http://www.genealogywise.com/video/beginning-family-history?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GWNewsletter

See the world with Google Earth
Because land doesn't move, it's one of the few elements of our ancestors' lives that we can always count on. Consider an old photograph: Buildings may have changed but the surrounding landmarks such as hills, valleys and rock formations still stand today and can aid in identification. There is a great tutorial on Google Earth that will teach you everything you need to know to use this great tool. Google Earth for Genealogy DVD by Lisa Louise Cooke Only $11.95 + $2.50 U.S. Continental Shipping Only
Order at http://www.genealogygemspremium.com/Google_Earth_DVD.htm

Family Tree Magazines Best Genealogy Websites
Click on any of the following categories to explore this year's 101 Best Websites:
· Best Big Genealogy Sites
· Best Records Resources
· Best US Government Sites
· Best Sites for Eastern US Research
· Best Sites for Western US Research
· Best Canadian Resources

· Best Sites for African-American Roots
· Best History Sites
· Best Sites for Immigrant Research
· Best for Great Britain and Ireland
· Best Sites for Continental Europe
· Best High-Tech Tools
· Best Social Networking Sites
Or, you can download this printable PDF of all of this year's best websites.
(Right-click the link to Save As to your computer.)

Ancestry.com to Acquire Professional Genealogy Firm ProGenealogists, Inc.
The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com:
PROVO, UTAH (August 6, 2010) – Ancestry.com Inc. (Nasdaq:ACOM) announced today that it has acquired the leading professional genealogy research firm, ProGenealogists, Inc.
Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, ProGenealogists specializes in genealogical, forensic and family history research. During its 10-year history, the firm has become a trusted name in professional genealogy, finding great success with client research and expanding both its domestic and international capabilities. As a part of Ancestry.com, ProGenealogists will continue to provide premier family history research to its existing clients while extending the Ancestry.com reach across the genealogy value chain.
› Continue reading…

World Vital Records top databases- Free on the FHC Portal
Social Security Death Index
The Death Master File (DMF) from the Social Security Administration (SSA) contains over 80 million records of deaths that have been reported to SSA. This file includes the following information on each decedent, if the data are available to the SSA: social security number, name, date of birth, date of death, state or country of residence (prior to Mar 1988), ZIP code of last residence, and ZIP code of lump sum payment.
Find A Grave
Find A Grave database contains more than 16 million burial records, which are free to access online at WorldVitalRecords.com. More than 200,000 individuals have contributed lists of cemeteries, names, photographs, and additional burial information to the Find A Grave database.
Ellis Island Passenger Arrival Records (1892 - 1924)
The Ellis Island Passenger Arrival Records contains details for more than 24 million passengers and crew who arrived through the Port of New York at Ellis Island between January 1, 1892 and December 31, 1924. This index is provided in cooperation with FamilySearch and The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation and contains passenger name, residence, year of arrival, and age on arrival.
WWII Army Enlistment
The World War II army enlistment database contains more than 9 million records. NARA created the database in 2002 in conjunction with the Bureau of the Census. The World War II Army Enlistment database contains the majority of the Army enlistments during World War II from 1938-1946.
Everton Pedigree Charts and Family Group Sheets
Everton's family group sheets and pedigree files contain over 1,500,000 names ranging from 1700-1930, and a wealth of valuable family history research conducted over the past fifty years. The family group sheets contain records from all 50 states. Each record contains vital information such as birth, marriage, death, location, place, etc.
UK 1881 Census
The UK 1881 Census contains 26 million names and provides ages, professions, birth places, and other useful information. Census records are the number one resource for researching British ancestors. The census is used hand in hand with parish registers and shows families in groups, rather than single individuals.
Maine Marriage Records
The Maine Marriage Records database contains more than 1.5 million marriage records. The database has been provided by the Maine Department of Human Services, and contains the bride and groom names, date of marriage, marriage certificate number, and the places of residence.
Everton's Genealogical Helper
Everton's Genealogical Helper database contains 10,000 pages representing over 200 issues from 1947 to the present. It is the one magazine in the genealogical industry that emphasizes content, continuing education, and research resources, for both professional genealogists and amateur family history researchers. The Genealogical Helper magazine is content-heavy and has been the industry bible for over 50 years.
Gena Philibert Ortega, World Vital Records Bulletin
Bits and Pieces
Question: Is there a sure-fire way of getting two PAF files side by side on the screen at the same time? When I open the second one it closes the first one. I want to look at both of them side by side if that can be done.
Answer: Yes there is. In PAF, follow these steps:
Select File > Open and select the first database.
Select File > Open and select the second database.
Select Window > Tile Vertically and it will put them side by side.
Thank you Marsha Green

New Google Images
Tip: for faster scrolling through many pages, taking advantage of standard web keyboard shortcuts such as Page Up / Page Down. It’s all about getting to the info you need quickly

Memory Makers A new site for scrap booking your ancestors. Lots of good ideas. This month they are talking about writing and scrapping letters. Remember letters, we used to use them all the time. Tip: Don’t use originals if you can help it. Scan them and put them on the page. There are tips on how to do this on the blog.
Website http://www.memorymakersmagazine.com/
Blog http://www.memorymakersmagazine.com/blog/

Organizing your paper files with folders http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/RG/frameset_rg.asp?Dest=G1&Guide=ALL_REF_DOC_-_Organizing_Paper_Files.asp
Thanks to Tamara Madai

IRISH RECORDS:
New Irish Church Records Online for FREE http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/
“…has added a number of new church records of baptism, marriage and death to their free Web site. This brings the total to over 2 million church records from Dublin City and counties Kerry and Carlow, plus a subset from Roman Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Cork & Ross.”

People who want to learn how to find their roots in France, Italy, Norway or Iceland have new helps available from the Church. http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/43218/Booklets-make-family-history-research-easier.html
"Finding Records of Your Ancestors," has easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions in "how-to" booklets that include colorful graphics and tear-out worksheets. How-to booklets about Denmark and Sweden were published previously. These guide booklets are designed for those who have already gathered some information from their family and started to organize their family history. The booklets simplify the next step, which is to begin searching public and private records.
The guides are designed for those who have had little experience in research, and who may not have time to do extensive research.

Personal Ancestry Writer II version 94 Released
Howard Metcalfe, the man behind PAWriter, wrote to say that version 94 (universal binary) of Personal Ancestry Writer II, aka PAWriter, is now available. This is a popular FREE genealogy program for Macintosh systems.
Version 94 of Personal Ancestry Writer II is available for download at: http://www.lanopalera.net/Genealogy/AboutPAWriter.html
› Continue reading…

Genealogy “tweets” Follow some of your favorite genealogists on Twitter. Below are a couple of good ones.
#Genealogy - Info on pioneer overland travel, 1847-1868 http://bit.ly/dBlw6f
#Genealogy: Chasing the poor and landless in Ireland: https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Chasing_the_Poor_and_the_Landless_in_Ireland
New booklets make #genealogy research easier http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/43218/Booklets-make-family-history-research-easier.html
Here is a great #genealogy resource: Atlas of Historical County Boundaries http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/ Just had to share it...
Inferential #Genealogy ~ this is a great place to start http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/fhd/community/cbig/player.html
"Roots Television: New Genealogy Video: Using Google News in #Genealogy Research" ( http://bit.ly/c31qae )
Family History Comes to Your BlackBerry with Genealogy Gems Podcast http://bit.ly/9ihwRs

REDLANDS-YUCAIPA
MULTI – STAKE
FAMILY HISTORY CENTER
E-NEWSLETTER
Vol. 10, No. 8 August 2010

Phone Number: 909-794-3844. Located at 5th and Wabash in Redlands.
Hours: Tuesday thru Saturday—9:00 to 1:00 Tuesday and Wednesday Night—6:00-9:00pm
Closed Sunday Nights except the 4th Sunday before the Research Class

Record Search Update: 100 million records in 6 mos.
FamilySearch Indexing is excited to announce that our dedicated volunteers have completed 100 million records in the first half of 2010, and is on track to complete a targeted 200 million by the end of the year. Patrons can search the completed indexes and images at http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start
Indexing Update
A project to index Freedmen Letters from North Carolina is now available. This is the second Freedmen’s Bureau collection FamilySearch has worked on with the National Archives. These records provide the earliest major compilation of information on many emancipated slaves, freed Blacks, and Black Union soldiers, including names, marriages, education and employment information, and receipt of rations, health care, and legal support. Click here for the latest Indexing projects, news, and updates

Check out our Popular Collections Page World Vital Records Looking for some databases to search on WorldVitalRecords? Check out our Popular Collections page. This page includes our most popular databases including the Everton Library, U.S.Navy and Marine Registers, U.S. Air Force Registers, Revolutionary War Databases, and our Photo Collections. Try a few new databases on WorldVitalRecords by browsing the Popular Collections Page.

DAR Library
While many genealogists are familiar with the genealogical holdings of institutions like the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah or the Allen County Public Library, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, fewer may be aware of the rich resources available through The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Library. While originally founded in 1896 to be used as a resource by staff to verify genealogies submitted by potential members, since 1900 the Library has been open to the general public wanting to learn more about their Revolutionary ancestor in America.
While a researcher would need to travel to Washington D.C. to benefit from all that the library has to offer, some of their information is now available online through their website.
Through their Online Research section you can utilize The DAR Genealogical Research System. According to the Website this System, "is a combination of several databases created in recent years to organize the large quantity of information that the DAR has collected since its inception in 1890."
Information included in this database is of Revolutionary Patriots whose "service and identity have been established by NSDAR." So this will not be a complete list of patriots but it is a good starting point for your research. After conducting a search on a patriot's name you may find such information as the patriot's date of birth, "name of spouse/s, residence during the revolution, rank and type of service, and the state where the patriot served." You will also see the DAR membership numbers of women who have joined DAR using information from that patriot. You may also see an indication that supporting documents or a descendant list is available. If you are having difficulty using or understanding the database, don't hesitate to check out the help section. This provides detailed answers about the database and what information it provides.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will celebrate Independence Day on Sunday, July 4th, with its annual ceremony, its first ever National Independence Day Parade float, and a brand new logo. Here is a fun video of the celebration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4WVmCoewIo&feature=channel Do you want to know more about NARA? Here is another video to watch http://www.youtube.com/user/usnationalarchives#p/c/9C64D8D2FD4C281D/2/ Thanks Marcia
JewishGen and MyHeritage.com Establish Collaboration
The following announcement was written by MyHeritage.com and JewishGen.org:
JewishGen and MyHeritage.com collaborate to build the Family Tree of the Jewish People
Tel Aviv, Israel; London, UK and Los Angeles, US – MyHeritage.com and JewishGen.org are now working together to invigorate the Family Tree of the Jewish People (FTJP) project.
Under this collaboration, family trees built with a special version of MyHeritage.com available at http://www.myheritage.com/jewishgen, with the consent of the tree creators, will be transferred periodically to the FTJP for digital safekeeping. Privacy controls, using the MyHeritage.com tools, can be set according to the wishes of the tree creator. Data of existing MyHeritage.com users will not be transferred.
Continue reading "JewishGen and MyHeritage.com Establish Collaboration" »

Release of the 1940 Census
Circle this date on your calendar: Monday, April 2, 2012.
Less than two years from now, all genealogists will be able to access the 1940 U.S. Census Records for the first time. Title 13 of the United States Code governs how the Census is conducted and mandates the confidentiality of information concerning individuals. Aggregate information, including statistical models, may be released, but any information about individuals must be kept confidential for 72 years. The 1940 census was conducted on April 1, 1940 so the information cannot be released until April 1, 2012.
1940 Census Training is Now Online
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cImIlPSuyR8&feature=player_embedded

Search Engines by Gena Philibert Ortega
We all have our favorite search engines. But sometimes it can be helpful to try out a different search engine to see if there are any additional results that can enhance your research. The following are a list of search engines that you may want to consider.
Google
http://www.google.com/
Yahoo
http://www.yahoo.com/
Bing
http://www.bing.com/
Dogpile
http://www.dogpile.com/
Ask
http://www.ask.com/
Cuil
http://www.cuil.com/

Search Smarter - Many larger genealogy sites (e.g., Ancestry or Footnote, offer a global site search that allows for searching across multiple databases. But there's a caveat: the global search form doesn't always give you the specific search fields appropriate for each individual database. If you're trying to locate your grandfather in both the 1920 and the 1930 censuses, search each individual census directly. Or if you're looking for him in the Social Security Death Index, search it separately. In addition, try search tools to help with specific
databases, such as the free One-Step Webpages designed by Dr. Stephen Morse, http://stevemorse.org/ (the tools are free, but you will need to be registered and/or
have access to the databases where the results appear to see actual records). For
example, his Gold form lets you do "Sounds Like" searches, not just on immigrants'
first and last names, but also by town name. Try some "power searching" of databases. Use MyHeritage.com's Megadex technology to search multiple databases for multiple spelling variations http://www.myheritage.com/ , or use LiveRoots, http://www.liveroots.com/ .
Internet Genealogy, Oct/Nov 2009, "Help! My Ancestors are Hiding", pg 14-

Illinois Research
"Illinois Harvest" is a free web site with some good possibilities for researchers. It is the result of a project of the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, which is digitizing selected books from their print collection of over eleven million volumes. On the home page enter "genealogy" in the keyword box. One hundred sixty-six titles are listed under this topic, including several portrait and biographical records of Illinois counties. Some other examples are Immigration and Emigration (89), county and local histories (567 books), notable Illinoisans (117 books). There is a separate home page for military history. There could be some things here that will help you with your family research. From Will/Grundy Counties, Illinois Genealogical Society Newsletter, Feb.,2010 http://illinoisharvest.grainger.uiuc.edu/
Thanks to Carole Cross

Reached a Brickwall? Check these compiled sites and see if you missed anything.
United States Genealogy Sleuth
http://www.progenealogists.com/genealogysleuthb.htm

International Genealogy Sleuth
http://www.progenealogists.com/genealogysleuthi.htm
Thanks to Marcia Green

Updated FamilySearch.org to Bring New Features Under One Roof
Breanna Olaveson, “Updated FamilySearch.org to Bring New Features Under One Roof,” Ensign, July 2010, 74–76
An update to familysearch.org, available now at beta.familysearch.org, will make the site a hub of genealogical activity. Users can visit the site and provide feedback for developers before the beta version replaces familysearch.org later this year.
The site brings together many of the tools FamilySearch provides, including FamilySearch Indexing, new.familysearch.org, user-generated and -edited wikis, and forums. To create a more seamless user experience, a single username and password will allow users to log in once and gain access to all areas of the site.
New.familysearch.org, which replaced TempleReady last year and includes the Family Tree feature, will be integrated into the updated site. The beta site also includes new record collections currently available at pilot.familysearch.org. As developers bring these various tools together, feedback from users is a valuable asset in helping prepare the site for a worldwide audience.
“In the past, using all the FamilySearch tools has been like visiting separate, distinct buildings. The goal of the beta site is to create a sense of visiting different rooms in the same house,” said Robert Kehrer, senior product manager for the site.
With the remodel, the site’s search capability, collaboration tools, and overall simplicity will help put valuable information closer to the user’s fingertips.
Search Capability
The Church is digitizing billions of records stored at the Granite Mountain Records Vault and adding them to the documents already available online. A new image viewer feature allows users to search digital images of microfilm and view them as they would using a microfilm reader at a family history center, only without the hand crank and eye fatigue. The image viewer enhances the legibility of record images and provides access to published records online. With so many records becoming readily accessible, an easy process for sifting through information is essential to a useful family history site.
In searching for ancestors, beta.familysearch.org’s search engine goes beyond requested documents and provides users with other information that might also be helpful in research. A search for an individual’s birth certificate, for example, will return historical documents but may also return information from Ancestral File, Pedigree Resource File, forums, the Family History Library Catalog, and other sources.
To help organize results, search pages include a “Record Type” box. Here, records are organized as Birth, Marriage, and Death; Census and Lists; Military; Probate and Court; Migration and Naturalization; and Other. The new site will also allow members to access select collections on third-party Web sites.
Collaboration Tools
The improved familysearch.org will also provide several forums for collaboration that will enable family members to share and compare information without leaving the site.
Forums on specific localities, a blog, and similar communication areas are accessible now on the beta site, with more functionality to come in the future.
“The name family history implies that this isn’t a work to be done in isolation. We are laying the foundations of a site where families can collaborate on finding their ancestors,” Brother Kehrer said.
Users can read and contribute to wiki pages dedicated to specific localities through the “Learn” tab on the beta site. These pages provide forums where users can share information pertinent to a certain place, share research tips, and include external links to helpful Web sites.
In time, familysearch.org will be able to notify users when certain information of personal interest is edited or added. These alerts will help ensure changed information is accurate and encourage family members with similar information to compare sources and reach sound conclusions.
Simplicity
Even with so many new features, the beta site is designed to simplify family history work. The site’s usability saves visitors time as they find and prepare names to take to the temple.
One of the goals of beta.familysearch.org is to help novice researchers get started quickly and make meaningful contributions to family history work without a lot of training. The site is structured to make it easy for casual volunteers to learn what information is already available, find out what needs to be done, and help by finding sources of information and establishing credibility of information.
Even individuals whose family history is largely completed can help with family history by making records available for others. For example, users can transcribe information from online images such as census records on a personal computer in a process called indexing. After records are indexed, they can be searched digitally. The indexing application is currently housed on indexing.familysearch.org, but will be part of familysearch.org later this year.
Indexing is one way to help with family history, but it certainly isn’t the only way.
“Each person has different interests and skills that they can contribute to family history,” Brother Kehrer said. “We are building a site that gives users a lot of options for becoming engaged in the work.”
Help is also available on the Web site. Users can ask research questions and find information on getting started, understanding historical documents, researching specific localities, and other helpful hints under the “Learn” tab on the site.
With the coming improvements, familysearch.org makes family history work easier and helps further one of the great purposes of the Church in the latter days. President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said, “Family history work has the power to do something for the dead. It has an equal power to do something to the living. Family history work of Church members has a refining, spiritualizing, tempering influence on those who are engaged in it. They understand that they are tying their family together—their living family here with those who have gone before” (“Your Family History: Getting Started,” Liahona and Ensign, Aug. 2003, 12).
Bringing the Family Together
Beta.familysearch.org, which will replace familysearch.org later this year, will be home to the following:
· • Family Tree and temple preparation features currently available on new.familysearch.org
· • Search capabilities currently available on pilot.familysearch.org
· • FamilySearch Indexing functions currently available on indexing.familysearch.org
· • User forums currently available on forums.familysearch.org
· • Family History Library Catalog and other information
· • Family History blogs
· • Wiki pages that provide research help and guidance currently available on wiki.familysearch.org
· • Help features
The FamilySearch.org Web site will soon be replaced. Visit the beta site for FamilySearch.org at beta.familysearch.org.