Legacy Family Tree Webinar

Mark your calendars for Friday, January 3! Geoff Rasmussen will be talking about Legacy software, specifically Legacy Family Tree 8. Some of you have already upgraded to 8, some are wondering if they should, and others are still deciding which software to use. His presentation should help you make decisions about Legacy.


Here is the Legacy website's description of the class:

What's New in Legacy Family Tree 8?
"Learn about the latest innovations in Legacy Family Tree - origins and migration reports, migration mapping, instant duplicate checking, potential problem alerts and gaps, enhanced sourcing, new wall charts, shared events, expanded color coding, and much more. Presented by Geoff Rasmussen, author of 'Legacy Family Tree - Unlocked!'"

Check the website at www.familytreewebinars.com to figure out the time of the presentation in your area and to register. There is no charge for viewing. If Friday is not convenient, remember that you can watch at any time for 7 days following the live presentation.

British Isles Research

Anyone doing research in the British Isles might want to check out a blog written by Paul Milner. He is one of my favorite speakers; besides the wonderful British accent, he provides very detailed handouts. The blog features book reviews, as he writes reviews for different publications. At present the site contains handouts from many of his lectures.

Here is the description from his blog:

 

"Paul Milner, is a native of England, resides in the USA, and lectures internationally about British Isles Genealogical Research. This blog highlights British Isles research, resources and book reviews. He occasionally writes about his own ancestors."

 

Find the blog at www.milnergenealogy.com

Ancestry Hint

I was reminded while reading Family Tree Magazine's Genealogy Insider blog: there are some free areas on Ancestry.com. How to find out what's free? Go to the card catalog and type "free" in the keyword blank. All of the message boards are free, also. You can check to see whether someone else is searching for your ancestors.

Pinal County Workshop Update

All of the necessary information is online, including the registration form, speakers' bios, class descriptions and lecture handouts. The workshop is scheduled for January 25, 2014. We hope to have a good representation from our club in attendance.

Visit www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~azpcg for all the details.

Researching in Denmark

If you are fortunate enough to have Danish ancestry, the website www.danishfamilysearch.com has census and church records online. It seems easy to navigate; you can access the site in English. I saw great county maps and church books that look fairly easy to decipher.

Give it a try if any of your ancestors came from Denmark.

December 10 Workshop Websites

There were three websites demonstrated at Tuesday's workshop that could be used to find genealogies and local or county history books. Each has the facility to search on every word in the books that you find, and in most cases you can download a page or the entire book.

Google Book Search can be accessed at www.books.google.com

Internet Archive is found at www.archive.org

BYU Family History Archives is www.lib.byu.edu/fhc/index

Good luck searching!

Pinal County Genealogy Workshop

The 11th annual Pinal County Workshop is scheduled for January 25, 2014. The registration form, speakers' biographies, and the class descriptions are now available on the Pinal County Genealogists' website at www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~azpcg. The entire syllabus will be posted on the website by January 1, 2014.

The cost for the workshop is $20, which includes lunch. You can request a printed syllabus for an extra $5 due with your registration form or you can choose to download the handouts for the classes you are attending or for which you have an interest. Registration forms need to be postmarked by January 17, 2014.

Congratulations, Deenie!

Deenie Stewart has returned this year with her published family history: A Pioneer Family, The Descendants of William and Catherine Parker Stewart. Deenie has been a member of our club since 2006 and has spent those years researching and writing about her husband's Stewart line. The research was frustrating at times, but Deenie persevered and has produced a wonderful memoir for their family.

Be sure to congratulate Deenie on this accomplishment!

Legacy Webinar - December 18

Overcoming Lost Records Using Technology

Next week's Legacy webinar is suggested for the intermediate or experienced researcher. If you have a "burned courthouse" or records have otherwise been lost in one of your areas of research, this presentation may be of help to you. The presenter is Karen Clifford.

 Here is Legacy's description of the topic:             

"A demonstration of technological and genealogical techniques for finding, sorting, and grasping critical data elements from complex collections of information when essential primary sources have been destroyed or are missing."

To register or read more about it, visit www.familytreewebinars.com
 

December 10 Workshop

Ever wondered where to find family histories--or those helpful local history books with your ancestors' biographies? We will be learning about three of those sites Tuesday night, along with a couple of interesting subscription sites. Also included is a short demonstration of how to use Facebook for genealogy.

As usual, the router will be in place so that you can do some online research.

7 PM in the San Tan room. See you there.

Cancer Awareness Charity Drive

We are beginning the third year of our fund drive for Palm Creek's Cancer Awareness Charity. Last year we were able to donate $200. This money was raised by researching an ancestor for clients who signed up at our table at the monthly Craft Fairs. For a $5 donation we found some type of record for that ancestor. Records located included census pages, birth, marriage or death records, passenger lists, etc.

A big thank you to members who participated by researching an ancestor for a fellow Palm Creek resident and to those who helped by volunteering at the Craft Fair tables last season.

Tuesday, December 10, we will begin soliciting clients for the coming year's efforts. Several club members have already volunteered to staff the table Tuesday. It would be helpful to have one more volunteer willing to work from 11-12. An ancillary benefit to this activity is that it has proven to be an effective membership recruiting program, as it helps to create an awareness of our club.

We have a sign-up sheet available during workshops if anyone is interested in doing research this year.

Rick's Websites

The following websites were demonstrated by Rick Wood at the workshop on November 26.

www.findagrave.com  (already on the Menu tab) 

Please consider joining this site as a contributor. As I demonstrated, it is very easy to add your family gravestone and other information to share with the world. Ancestry recently purchased Find A Grave but it will remain a free website.

www.bac-lac.gc.ca  

This is the new URL for Library and Archives Canada. On the Suggested Websites page in your folder there is a www.collectionscanada.gc.ca....

This is its replacement, which will still default to the old site but all new postings will be on the new website. It has an improved search engine for the census records.    

As I mentioned, besides the obvious Canada censuses, there are military records, passenger lists, etc. that may be of interest to our US members. Some of your ancestors may have enlisted in the Canadian forces as the US was late in entering both world wars. I have an uncle who was a US citizen that did just that and then remained in Canada. The passenger lists have records of people who arrived in Canadian ports and then continued on the ship to New York and other destinations. This website may help you break down a brick wall.

www.norwayheritage.com

www.gjenvick.com

Two obscure websites for passenger lists and ship information. Lots of detail.

www.openlibrary.org

Over 1 million free E-books to read online or download. Linked to many of the major state libraries.

All of the above are FREE websites to help you with your research.

December 3 Workshop

Our workshop will start at 7 PM this week with a case study demonstrating how to solve the problem of an "unreadable" record by using the census to determine a place name and an occupation. Bring your computers for researching online or plan to use our library, magazines and folders.

During the past week I have reorganized the information folders, creating new categories and adding articles. This is your chance to ask what we have before I forget what's there!

Legacy Webinar: December 6

Another webinar will be presented on Friday, December 6. "Home for the Holidays - Tips for Collecting Family History" will give you some suggestions if you are spending time with your family over the holidays.               

Again, here's Legacy's description of the webinar: "Get the family photos out of shoe boxes or from the back of the closet…it is a perfect time for grandparents to get the next generation involved. Start your children or grandchildren on a lifelong journey by telling your story and introducing them to family history. And don't forget you can easily add Aunt Betty’s recipes to the family cookbook. Students love these when they go off to college and they also make great wedding gifts. You will learn how to recognize and capture those great pieces from family history."


To register to view either webinar in real time this week go to www.familytreewebinars.com.
 

Legacy Webinar December 4

Legacy has scheduled two webinars for this coming week. On Wednesday, December 4, Barbara Renick will speak on the topic "How Computers & Gadgets are Changing Genealogy." I have heard her speak on similar subjects; she is very knowledgeable.
              

Here's Legacy's description of her presentation: "Things have changed radically in the genealogy community since the typewriter era. Some problems have been overcome, others have worsened. Meanwhile prognosticators predict technology users face three C’s in the future: greater Convergence, Convenience, and Connectivity which are already impacting how we do genealogy today and have even greater consequences for the future."