Do You Like Genealogy? Would You Like to Serve Your Fellow Man?

FamilySearch Indexing

Think INDEXING! FamilySearch Indexing is always looking for volunteers to index the world's records! You don't have to be a member of the LDS Church to do this. You just have to have access to a computer, 30 minutes of time, and a willing heart! FamilySearch has indexed 1.5 billion records since 2006. Think of what it would be like to find a record of YOUR ancestor! Seeing a census record with your grandparents listed on it could send chills down your spine! Wouldn't that be great? We all belong to the great family of man. Come help put the puzzle together. So far this year, volunteers have indexed more than 45 million records. The goal is 220 million more records this year. There are a variety of records to index. If you know a language, there's probably an international record that you could help with! Go to FamilySearch Indexing and click on "Get Started" on the right hand side of the page. In 30 minutes or less, you will be hooked! Click to see the Current FamilySearch Indexing Projects that you can help with!

Online Microfilm Ordering is Here for the Utah South Area

www.familysearch.org

One more thing goes online! Microfilm and microfiche ordering is now online and not at your local family history center anymore (applies to Utah South Area only, with roll-out coming across the U.S. and the world). As of March 23, 2011, the only way to order microfilm in our area is to go online and order just like you do when you purchase anything online! You can order at home, at the public library, or anywhere that has Internet access. Yahoo! It may take a little time to adjust, but I have been playing with it for a few days and I am liking it more and more! I particularly like the option of ordering a film for an extended time right up front! No more renewing over and over! Take it for a test drive at film.familysearch.org. If you need some help, look for the "Ordering Help" link on the right about the gray line.

Do You Know Who You Are?

http://www.byutv.org/thegenerationsproject/

Are you enjoying the TV show on Friday nights called "Who Do You Think You Are?" Do you ever wonder what it would be like to see some everyday people searching for their roots instead of just celebrities? The Generations Project is back for Season 2 on BYU TV. This program is available through different programming avenues around the country and also available on the Internet 24/7 at BYU TV. It airs on Monday nights on BYU TV at 7:00 MST. Come follow the stories of everyday people! Get inspired!

Next Up on "Who Do You Think You Are?"

Actor Steve Buscemi at www.nbc.com

Actor Steve Buscemi is up next on NBC's hit show "Who Do You Think You Are?" Watch it tomorrow night (March 25th) on NBC.

Sunday, March 27, 2011 Genealogy Classes at BYU

BYU has some fabulous classes! You really need to check them out!

Mocavo?

mocavo.com

 This announcement is straight from the home page of Mocavo, a new, and billed as the largest, free genealogy search engine. So far, I haven't had much luck, but it is definitely a new site to check out!

About Mocavo

The world’s largest free genealogy search engine, Mocavo.com, provides genealogists access to the best free genealogy content on the web including billions of names, dates and places worldwide. Mocavo.com seeks to index and make searchable all of the world’s free genealogy information. While Mocavo.com discovers new sites every day, some of the existing sites searchable on Mocavo.com include genealogy message boards, family trees, state and local historical societies, the Library of Congress, National Archives, Ellis Island, Find A Grave, the Internet Archive, various U.S. state archives, and many tens of thousands of genealogy sites built by individuals. Similar to other search engines, Mocavo.com honors site owners by linking directly to their content.

See the great reviews of Mocavo by Dick Eastman and Randy Seaver at http://www.eogn.com/ and http://www.geneamusings.com/! See our blog and watch our home page for more developments over the coming days!

A Perfect Genealogy Program?

Mark Tucker, author of  the blog thinkgenealogy.com

I ran across a unique post from Mark Tucker who writes the blog ThinkGenealogy. His March 17th post is called GenPerfect-My Perfect Genealogy Software. It is enlightening! He pretty much describes my perfect genealogy program too! Read the whole article! I think that you will find it interesting! Developers out there? Are you listening?

Genealogy Guys Podcasts!

http://genealogyguys.com/

 

As you  have probably figured out, I am big into education! I love to learn and I am constantly searching for new venues of education! With the many MP3 players these days, it is very easy to tap into the many podcasts about different subjects. One of my favorites is The GenealogyGuys Podcast by George G. Morgan and Drew Smith! Up above that's Drew on the left and George on the right! On their homepage (genealogyguys.com) they list   news articles they covered about genealogy and also listener emails. Their easy banter makes the podcast fun to listen to. Try it out!

Mythology?

GENEALOGY WITHOUT DOCUMENTATION IS MYTHOLOGY!!!

GOT IT!!!

     GOOD!!!      

Don't leave your descendants scratching their heads trying to figure out where you got your information! Or, as Elder Gene R. Cook stated in March 1995:

"...Leave such good genealogical tracks that anyone could easily follow your Pedigree Charts, Family Group Sheets, and Document Trail, and no one will ever be able to question where you obtained the information shown in your records, nor exactly what it said."

Classes at Riverton FamilySearch Library on Saturday, March 19, 2011

This information about the Saturday classes is straight from the Riverton FamilySearch Library website.

Saturday, March 19, 9:00 a.m. - noon


9:00 a.m. - Keynote Address - "The Power of We: A Watershed Movement in Discovering Where to Find Your Ancestors" - Michael Ritchey

10:00 a.m. - “Family History - A Vital Resource” - Tara Burgeson

10:00 a.m. - "Utah Research Advice: Creating a One Stop Shop Together" - Michael Ritchey

10:00 a.m. - “Care and Repair of Photographs" - Janet Hovorka

10:00 a.m. - "Cut 10 Years off Your Learning Curve" - Barry Ewell

10:00 a.m. - “New FamilySearch Advanced Issues - Part 1” - Cathy Anderegg

11:00 a.m. - "Using FamilySearch Wiki in African American Research" - Joan Healey

11:00 a.m. - “Synchronizing Roots Magic Data with New FamilySearch" - Sue Maxwell

11:00 a.m. - “Are You My Mother? - Finding the Maiden Names in Your Tree” - Bret Peterson

11:00 a.m. - "New FamilySearch Advanced Issues - Part 2" - Cathy Anderegg

Geneabloggers Talk Radio!!!

Listen to internet radio with Geneabloggers on Blog Talk Radio

Do you ever listen to talk radio? I have to admit that I'm not much of a fan, but I have found a program that I like to listen to. Geneabloggers is on talk radio! Thomas MacEntee (creator of Geneabloggers.com) says "Geneabloggers TalkRadio is "about as much fun as you can have with your genealogy on a Friday night!" Thomas is a larger-than-life personality who makes genealogy education fun. Check out the live feed on Friday nights after "Who Do You Think You Are?" where you can hear more discussion about the program, among other things. He also features interviews with prominent people in the genealogy community. I also enjoy the fact that I can download a program on demand. Now that is doing genealogy "my way!" The button above has also been added to this blog, not just this post. That way you can always find Geneabloggers on blogtalkradio!

Genealogy That Lasts!

Do you want to make sure that your family history lives past you? Barry Ewell presented a great class at the RootsTech Conference called "Strategize and Organize---Digitizing your Family History. There is a great write up about it in the MormonTimes this week. Barry Ewell is a great presenter and is always willing to share his information and help fellow genealogists. Don't forget to look for his email address at the bottom of the article. From my experience, he has always followed up!

Another heads up for Barry Ewell. He is preparing to launch a genealogy website of his own that is poised to be a great research help! I got to see a preview of it at the St. George Family History Expo last month. It will be located at MyGenShare.com. Watch for it in 2011!

Classes at BYU

Here is the list of Sunday classes being taught at the BYU Family History Library this coming Sunday, March 13, 2011.

RootsTech Keynote Speakers!

Online videos of the three keynote speakers for the RootsTech Conference plus a few other presentations have been posted on the RootsTech website. Come enjoy the enthusiasm of these speakers and SEE the future of genealogy! It's exciting!

PAF Users Group, Utah Valley

PAF USERS GROUP

March 12, 2011 Meeting

Red Brick LDS Chapel 4050 North 650 East, Provo, Utah

 Stephen Ehat

Back-Door Research Breaks Through Brick Walls

 

Search and Ye Shall Find!

I know that I am mixing up all of my latest conference info, but I have to tell you that today I found a link to Curtis Witcher's keynote speech (The Changing Face of Genealogy) from the Roots Tech Conference 2011 in Salt Lake City.  Time for a happy dance! He was my favorite speaker and I wished all during his presentation that I could have recorded it! Well, thanks to a post by Thomas MacEntee on Geneabloggers, I can now watch the presentation in full again! Curtis Witcher of the Allen County Public Library, has such a way to motivate and inspire. Special thanks to the Middle Peninsula African-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Virginia (MPAAGHS) for posting this on their website. Look under Videos. There are other videos from the conference too! Watch this presentation and see if you don't get excited about the future of genealogy!                

GeneaWebinars-A Brand New Site!!!

 

Do you know what a webinar is? This may seem like a dumb question, but I am still running into people who haven't even heard the term before! A webinar is basically an online seminar. In other words, for me (and hopefully you!) it is a place to gain more education about a particular topic. Lucky for us, there is a new website devoted to webinars about genealogy. The site just went live last week and I was fortunate to learn about it from DearMYRTLE herself! A big thanks to DearMYRTLE and colleagues for putting this together so that we can have all of the genealogy webinars listed on a calendar in one place! The cool thing is that there are live webinars, on-demand webinars, and archived webinars. Definitely something for everybody! If you look at the speaker list so far, it reads like a who's who of the genealogy world. To take a peak at what is coming up, click on the link above and scroll down to the Google Calendar. If you are interested in a class, click on the link in the calendar and follow the instructions given. How I love technology!!!