Weekly Legacy Webinar

Wednesday, November 30, Devin Ashby will present "Multi-Media Story Telling." The topic description says that he will "discuss ways to capture audio, video, text, photos and use the internet to make your stories come alive with multi-media." The presentation is geared toward both beginner and intermediate researchers. Go to www.familytreewebinars.com if you would like to register to watch in real time. Otherwise the webinar will be available for another week or so at the site.

Pinal County 2017 Workshop

The Pinal County Genealogists have scheduled their 2017 workshop for Saturday, January 28 at the local LDS Church. If you attended in the past, you most likely have received an email with the information. Workshop cost is $20, which includes lunch. Classes are varied, with options for both beginning and more experienced researchers.

Visit www.pinalctyazgen.com to access the registration form, speaker list, class offerings and the syllabus.

November 22 Workshop

For several of our new members we demonstrated how to reach the 1940 census on Family Search. The goal was to find at least one ancestor during the workshop in that census. We reminded members to check the databases every few weeks or so, as FamilySearch adds information almost daily.

We also continued the discussion of the Family Tree section of Family Search. Whether or not you have posted your tree on the website, there is probably a branch of your family included to which you could add names or sources.

The club has several new publications for use during workshops or to borrow for a couple of weeks. The list includes Research in Germany, Research in Italy, Research in Eastern Europe, Beginning Genealogy, Finding Female Ancestors, and the War of 1812. These are magazine-type publications put together by the company that produces the magazines Internet Genealogy and Your Genealogy Today (the new name for Family Chronicle).

GenealogyInTime Magazine Websites

GenealogyInTime Magazine, a weekly emagazine, posted its top 100 websites for 2016 last week. Their list is based on measurement of internet traffic to the sites. It was interesting to me that 8 of the top 10 were subscription sites. They describe the top ten and explain where they fit into last year's list. Later in the article they list the top ten free sites, and some are unfamiliar to me. Time to do a bit of research! If you'd like to read the entire article, visit www.genealogyintimemagazine.com.

Here are the top ten free sites:

 1. FindAGrave
 2. FamilySearch
 3. MooseRoots
 4. WikiTree
 5. FamilyTreeNow
 6. GEDMatch
 7. AncientFaces
 8. GenWiki
 9. USGenWebArchives
10. RootsChat

Legacy Webinars for the Week

Legacy is producing three webinars this week. Look for information on registration and content at www.familytreewebinars.com. Remember that the webinars can be viewed on your own time for about a week following the live presentation.

Tuesday, November 15: Melanie Holtz will be talking about "Civil Law Notaries--Using Notarial Records to Build a Family History." The presentation is scheduled for Tuesday evening; be sure to check the time if you are interested.   Beginner/Intermediate.

Wednesday, November 16: Jane Neff Rollins will present "Dating Family Photographs." The description states she will concentrate on the years 1900-1940.  Beginner.

Friday, November 18: "Nature & Nurture--Family History for Adoptees" will be presented by Janet Horvorka and Amy Slade. The two women are sisters; one is adopted, one is not.   Beginner.

Free Military Records on FindMyPast

www.findmypast.com is offering free access to all of its military records through the coming weekend. Here's the blurb from today's email:


"Veteran's Day is the perfect opportunity to take some time to honor those who served our nation in both times of peace and war, and to reflect on the service they've provided to our country. To help you discover the military heroes in your family tree, we've made our entire military records collection free through November 13th, so you can trace the military ancestors in your family history."

November 8 Workshop

We learned at a conference last month that Family Search had combined all family tree information into one tree in June. At Tuesday's workshop we took a brief look at the Family Tree section of the familysearch.org website. It is now organized so that anyone can add information such as sources, records, or photographs. Use the "Family Tree" selection on the tool bar rather than the "Search" choice. If you are a registered user of the website, your name will appear in a pedigree chart. But you can use the "Find" designation to input one of your ancestor's names to see what information is already there.

Thanks to Nancy, Susan and Carolyn for their help at the Craft Fair Genealogy Table.

Mesa FamilySearch Library

If you have been wondering about the status of the Mesa FamilySearch Library, here is their latest update. It does not seem that the original facility will be open anytime soon. Notice that they are planning two conferences in 2017. 

Just a reminder that our Training Center at 464 East 1st Avenue in Mesa is open to assist you with your family history needs.  Computers provide access to many family history sites and are free and available for use.  Missionaries are also available to answer your family history questions.  

Our hours are:  Monday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

                            Tuesday, 10:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

                             Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

We will be CLOSED the following dates during the Holiday Season:

November 23-25, December 23-26 and January 1-2

Save the following dates for Family History Conferences:

Saturday, January 21, 2017, Red Mountain Institute at 7126 East McKellips Road in Mesa

Saturday, February 25, 2017, Glendale AZ Stake Center, 8602 North 31st Avenue in Phoenix/Glendale 

Genealogy Club News

Tuesday's workshop will include a review of the Family Search website. We hope to have more members who have recently returned to Palm Creek share their summer successes.

Our table for the November 8 Craft Fair could use a few more volunteers to talk about our club activities.

It's time to mark your calendar for the annual Pinal County Genealogy Workshop. Next year's event will be held on Saturday, January 28. Look for more information in the coming weeks.

Thomas MacEntee will present the weekly webinar from Legacy on Wednesday, November 9. He will discuss "Publishing a Genealogy E-Book." To find out what he will cover in the presentation, visit www.familytreewebinars.com.

History Speaks!

History Speaks! is a monthly speaker series presented by The Museum of Casa Grande. On the 2nd Saturdays of the month the event is held at the Museum and on the 3rd Thursdays the event is hosted by the Dorothy Powell Senior Center. The list of speakers and topics follows. Note that the topics with asterisks are the Thursday presentations.

Visit the Museum's website at www.tmocg.org for more information.


 2016-2017 HISTORY SPEAKS! CALENDAR

 
November 12, 2016-“Beautiful Games: American Indian Sport and Art” presented by Marcus Monenerkit


**November 17, 2016- “Dia de Los Muertos: A Celebration of Life and Death” presented by Elena Bjorkquist


December 10, 2016- “Native in a Strange Land: The Life of Mike Burns, Indian Scout” presented by Gregory McNamee


**December 15, 2016- “On the Arizona Frontier Ranch Medicine” presented by Jody Drake

                                           
January 14, 2017- “Don Chun Wo, Unofficial Mayor of Tucson’s Chinatown”presented by Li Yang


**January 19, 2017- “Cowboys and Cowgirls: Icons of the American West” presented by Betsy Fahlman

                                 
February 11, 2017- “African American Pioneers of Arizona” presented by Akua Anokye

                   
**February 16, 2017- “The Bronze Buckaroo: The Life Story of Herb Jeffries” presented by Steven Renzi

                                           
March 11, 2107- “Women of the Arizona Prison” presented by Christine Reid

                                           
**March 16, 2017- “A Boot in the Door: Pioneer Women Architects” presented by Nancy Parezo