The Pinterest Phenomenon

Have you been sucked into the Pinterest phenomenon yet? What is Pinterest? It is a virtual pinboard and it is quite the social networking site at the moment. I have looked at it and I'll admit it is fun to see ideas that my mind can't even begin to put together. To say that I am creatively challenged is a huge understatement! However, I do enjoy seeing other people's ideas. On that note, I wondered if there was anything out there having to do with family history and genealogy. Well, that was a dumb question! I searched on both family history and genealogy and came up with tons of stuff! There were ideas for your own family history, pictures of celebs in high school (do we really care?), and lots of pointers to work on your own family! I was pleasantly surprised. Check it out yourself at Pinterest.com. In the top left hand corner, there is a search bar. Type in family history or genealogy and see what you get! Actually, I have typed in all sorts of family history and genealogy keywords and I am amazed! I think I will create a family history board! My kids might even be tempted to peak! They are both very visual and this might just be the ticket for them! Maybe one day they will see this and say "I know that girl!" That's my mom!

Rayanne circa. 1971!

Another favorite of mine is James Tanner's posts on FamilySearch.org/techtips. I enjoy his insightful remarks. He has even tackled the Pinterest world! Read his post about Pinterest here.

Doing the Family History Happy Dance!

Charlie Brown (of the comic strip "Peanuts") used to say that "Happiness is a warm puppy!" I beg to disagree! Happiness is finding out that a new source THAT YOU NEED has been digitized and is available at FamilySearch.org. A couple of weeks ago, I was looking for something altogether different when I saw a listing for Pennsylvania, County Marriages 1885-1950. That would fit my grandparents, a bunch of aunts, uncles and probably a partridge in a pear tree! I was excited!

I bravely typed in my grandfather's name, Peter William Brunski, and this is what I was rewarded with:

This is the scanned original of my grandparents marriage license docket, complete with parent's names and places of birth! For the parent's place of birth, it also gave me a clue as to where they were born. Because Lithuania has been independent for very short periods of it's history, the documents that I find either say Russia or Poland as a birthplace. This was helpful to me to see that they considered themselves born in Russia. Although my great grandfather was dead at this time, my great grandmother was still alive and could have provided this information (I'm assuming). Not perfect, but pretty close!

Another example:

This application for Marriage License is for my Uncle Pete and Aunt Theresa! I got lucky in that it is even typed! I didn't have Aunt Theresa's parents names or their birthplaces. I also didn't know where exactly they were married. This document provides lots of info for me! Happy, happy!

By the time I got done searching in this database, I had 22 marriage-related documents for my extended family. I have never hit big like this! What a wonderful day! Thanks FamilySearch.org and your great team of volunteers!

Where to Start When You Are Clueless?

Tasmania

Have you ever found yourself at a complete loss on how and where to start a search? Do you know how to find information on a person who died in a penal colony in Tasmania? Sounds bizarre, but that was what I faced with the very first patron I helped in the BYU Family History Library! So...what to do? Well, head over to the FamilySearch Wiki, of course! It is a great place to start and the pages are very informative! If you don't believe me, check it out yourself! By the way, two hours after my first patron walked in with his question, he walked out with info to further his search and get the information that he desired.

The BYU Family History website has many resources to choose from... whether you live across the street or on the other side of the world.

UVTAGG Group November Meeting

Press Release

UTAH VALLEY TECHNOLOGY AND GENEALOGY GROUP MEETING (UVTAGG)

The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group - UVTAGG (Formerly the Utah Valley PAF Users Group - UVPAFUG) will be on Saturday, 10 Nov 2012, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo.  Information about the Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on their website http://uvtagg.org and the press releases are at http://blog.uvtagg.org .

The main presentation this month will be by Jill Crandell on RESOURCES OF THE CENTER FOR FAMILY HISTORY AND GENEALOGY AT BYU.  This Center is NOT the Family History Center in the BYU Library.  It is located in the Joseph F. Smith Building on the BYU Campus and has the website  https://familyhistory.byu.edu/Pages/Home.aspx  .  It has many projects ranging from the Immigrant Ancestors Project to the Script Tutorials and from the British Marriage Index to research on the community of Nauvoo.  These resources and projects of the Center are done by faculty and students and are available online to the public at no cost.  This presentation will show you some of the resources and how they can help you with your personal research.  Jill N. Crandell, MA, AG®, is Director of the Center For Family History and Genealogy and is accredited in Midwest U.S. research.  She has taught research and technology classes at BYU for nine years and was a founding commissioner for ICAPGen, the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists.  She currently serves as treasurer of that organization.

After the main presentation the following classes are presently scheduled: 

(1)  ResearchTies: An Online Research Log, by Jill N. Crandell;  

(2)  FamilySearch Family Tree Update, by Merlin Kitchen; 

(3)  Creating Your Own Website with TNG (The Next Generation), by Darrin Lythgoe; 

(4)  Personalized Help, by Don Engstrom and Finn Hansen; 

(5)  Video of last month's main presentation: 50 Google Searches Every Genealogist Needs to Know, by Barry Ewell;  

(6)  MAC's and Genealogy: Effectively Using Reunion Flags and more, by Ron Snowden; 

(7)  Ancestral Quest, by Gaylon Findlay;  

(8)  Legacy, by Dean Bennett; and 

(9)  RootsMagic, by Bruce Buzbee.

All meetings of UVTAGG are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually about 100 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays. The officers are Gerhard Ruf, President; Laurie Castillo, 1st VP; Don Snow, 2nd VP; Liz Kennington, Newsletter Editor; Renee Zamora, Secretary; Kay Baker, Gerry Eliason, Don Engstrom, and Rayanne Melick working with finances and membership; and Bruce Merrill and Marie Andersen working with the DVD Library. Several of these will be there to answer questions, help with membership, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter TAGGology, and check out DVDs of past presentations and classes to members of the group. 

Many members don't live close enough to participate in the monthly meetings, but belong so they can receive the monthly newsletter and purchase DVD's of the presentations and classes.  And many members give gift memberships to friends for presents.  Information about the Group, presentations, classes, and class notes can be found at the websites mentioned above.