google-site-verification: google82af41cbbb927c7d.html Grove Creek Family History: August 2013

Mt. Timpanogos Temple, photo by Rick Satterfield, used with permission

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

The Federation of Eastern European Family History Societies (FEEFHS)


A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to attend the annual workshop presented by The Federation of Eastern European Family History Societies (FEEFHS). It was the first workshop that I have attended specifically tailored to my area of interest. All I can say is "why did I wait so long?" This workshop was amazing and for the first time in my life, I was surrounded by enthusiastic genealogy buffs who had surnames as weird as mine! That in itself was a revelation! The workshop had classes in the morning and then we were free to research at the Family History Library until we were kicked out when they closed! As part of the workshop, each participant met with a consultant who could help them search their particular country of interest. I was so excited to have a consultant who used to live in Lithuania, understood my challenges AND happened to live in the same town as me! The same town thing was a huge bonus! I now have two Lithuanians (there may be more, I don't know about) living in my town who can help me with translation whenever I happen to find something that won't translate in Google Translate!

Since Lithuania and much of Europe's boundaries have changed over and over during the last century, we had some great history lessons. It was amazing to watch as countries changed, dissolved, renamed themselves something else, got conquered, etc. I quickly learned that the way to work on genealogy in eastern Europe is to know the history. I also learned that real estate and eastern European history have something in common... "Location, Location, Location! For real estate you want to buy in a good location. For eastern European genealogy, you have to know the location of your ancestors. Unfortunately, I only have Lithuania listed on records that I have found. So, I need to search deeper and cover everyone associated with the family. Sooner or later, someone is bound to list where they are from on a record (at least that is the hope!).

I also learned that I need to learn a little Russian, at least enough to recognize main record titles. There are some great Russian language tutorials on line at FamilySearch.org. You can also Google Russian language, Russian alphabet, Russian genealogy, etc. You get the idea.

All in all, I had a blast at this workshop and am already planning for next year! Hopefully, I will be able to impress Professor Thom Edlund with my Russian skills! Actually, he is the master so I probably won't impress, but I can at least make a brave attempt at it this year!

Monday, August 5, 2013

Digital Preservation, Part 3


Here is the final part of Gary Wright's digital preservation series.  It is a great wrap up! I figure if I am going to put so much effort into my research that I had better put that much effort into preserving it! Otherwise, I'm afraid that all of my effort will end up in the local landfill! A sad thought indeed!

Friday, August 2, 2013

Enhancements to FamilySearch.org

Woman (public domain photo) 
If you still haven't been bitten by the family history bug, maybe now is the time to wade into the waters! There is a great article about the latest enhancements on FamilySearch.org. The eventual goal is one gigantic tree of the whole human family. Definitely a worthy goal in my mind! Check out the article here. Who knows? You may even find that you are related to the woman above!
Copyright 2013 by Rayanne Brunski Melick,
All Rights Reserved.