The Transformation of FamilySearch

Bundles of census records, including the first census of the United States on truck, Washington, D.C

This is an interesting article providing some information about FamilySearch.org, where they have been and where they are going. I like where they are going! They aren't perfect, but I sure will take what we have today over anything we had even two years ago! Next time you want to gripe about them, just think of where we were five years ago! :) Thanks FamilySearch!

Family History Education

Did you know that family history education is only a few keystrokes away? You may be thinking that you don't live in Utah and therefore, can't take advantage of the world class Family History Library. Well, there may be some things that might be missed, but with the ability to connect remotely to the library for classes and such, your excused for not doing family history are dwindling! :)

FamilySearch.org has a great wealth of information and education. One of my favorite places is the FamilySearch Wiki. When I don't know how to help a patron, or when I'm starting research in a new place, the Wiki is my first stop.

FamilySearch posts it's list of webinars (past and upcoming) in the FamilySearch Wiki. There are other ways to get this information, but this link might turn out to be a gold mine for you! What I love about it is that even if I can't attend a webinar I can still get my hands on the handouts. I know we live in the land of the Internet, but sometimes a piece of instructional paper can feel so friendly and familiar in our hands! That's why I love their handouts!

Take some time and check out the FamilySearch Wiki. You might just find a new best friend!

Press Release for Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Meeting (UVTAGG)

 Press Release for UVTAGG meeting Saturday morning, 10 Oct 2015, Provo

The next meeting of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group - UVTAGG (Formerly the Utah Valley PAF Users Group) will be on Saturday, 10 Oct 2015, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo. This is the regular second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting. Information about the Group, meeting location, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on their website http://uvtagg.org   and the press releases are at  http://blog.uvtagg.org . On the blog you can subscribe to receive the press releases via email when they are posted the week before the meetings.

The main presentation this month at UVTAGG will be by Kory L. Meyrink on GENEALOGY WIKIS: A USER'S GUIDE.  Genealogists learn that researching one’s family history is a collaborative effort.  Other folks may have already found some branches of the family tree, while yet others may have the family Bible or other family documents.  And some relatives may live near the cemetery where ancestors are buried. Research is not a solo effort and seasoned genealogists share their tips, knowledge, and experience to help others learn about new sources and repositories. We all benefit when someone else posts information of value to our research. Wikis are one of the important, yet overlooked, ways to find such information.  Kory began his career in genealogy as a record searcher while attending Brigham Young University and has been involved in nearly all aspects of the field for over 30 years.  Kory served on the staff of the Family History Library as a reference consultant and later as the editor of the library’s publications.  He is a founding director of the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy and has written extensively, including chapters in The Library, all editions of The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy, and numerous articles and book reviews for the Genealogical Journal, Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly, Genealogical Computing, New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, and The Genealogist.  He received his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Psychology, as well as his Masters of Library and Information Science, at Brigham Young University.  He is an Accredited Genealogist and a Fellow of the Utah Genealogical Association and has served as an officer of the Association of Professional Genealogists.  His areas of expertise are United States (Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and New England), and Germany.  His bio and contact information are at https://www.apgen.org/directory/search_detail.html?mbr_id=2487 and https://www.progenealogists.com/expert/kory-l-meyerink .

After the main presentation the following classes are scheduled.  See our website for last minute changes and additions.

(1)  Free State-Provided Sources:  Ready and Waiting Online, by Kory Meyerink

(2)  Fast Accurate Research:  Google, by Van Celaya

(3)  Ask An Expert (Personal Help, also Legacy questions), by Don Engstrom and Don Reynolds

(4)  Video of last month's main presentation: LDS Missionary Records, by Laurie Castillo

(5)  Ancestral Quest, by Gaylon Findlay

(6)  RootsMagic, by Bruce Buzbee

Notice that there is something for everyone no matter what their level of family history expertise. This includes youth, those just getting interested in genealogy, long-time genealogists, and ward family history consultants. 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 80 attending the monthly meetings, including many family history consultants.  The officers are Gerhard Ruf, President; Laurie Castillo, 1st VP; Don Snow, 2nd VP; Liz Kennington, Newsletter Editor; Don Engstrom and Rayanne Melick, Membership and Finances; Bruce Merrill and Marie Andersen, DVD Library; and Chris Stevenson and Rick Klemetson, Webmasters.  Several of these will be at the meeting to answer questions, help with membership, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter TAGGology, and check out and sell to members of the Group DVDs of past presentations and classes. Many members don't live close enough to participate in the monthly meetings, but pay the $10 per year online dues to belong so they can receive the monthly newsletter TAGGology via email and purchase the inexpensive DVDs of the presentations and classes. Gift memberships make great presents for family history-minded relatives, friends, and family history consultants. Membership is on a calendar year basis. See more information about the presentations, classes, class notes, and how to join the Group on the websites above. You can also contact President Gerhard Ruf at  pres@uvtagg.org     (801-225-6106), or 1st VP Laurie Castillo at  gengal@comcast.net    , or 2nd VP Don Snow at  snowd@math.byu.edu  .

Are You An Indexer?

Census Record

Are you an indexer? Are you wondering where all of the "easy" stuff is? If so, this article is for you! The fact is, we have indexed most of the easy, English language records. That is good news! The not so good news is that there are still English language records available to index, but they take time, patience, and some skill that can be acquired with practice. We can do hard things!

Your assignment: Pick out a project that is entirely new to you. Settle in with a nice cup of hot chocolate, download a batch, read the project instructions, completely index the batch, enjoy learning something new, AND pat yourself on the back when you finish!  It will take a little patience and maybe more than a little brain power, but it will be worth it. Picture in your mind the person who has been looking for that very ancestor that you just indexed. They will be grateful for your sacrifice!

SwedGen to Teach at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City

 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Do you have Swedish ancestry? SwedGen is a genealogical society in Sweden that has given lectures and research assistance for Swedish American descendants all over the United States. We are fortunate that SwedGen will be making a stop this year in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The free events in Salt Lake will be held at the Family History Library on Thursday, October 8, 2015. Lectures will include the following:

9:00 am, Online Swedish Resources, by Charlotte Borjesson
10:00 am, Swedish Military Records, by Anneli Andersson
11:00 am, Finding Living Relatives in Sweden, by Anna-Lena Hultman

Learn more about this exciting opportunity for learning here!

Two Free Presentations for the Public at the FEEFHS Conference

feefhs.org

Curious about your ancestors or distant cousins that lived in Eastern Europe during Nazi Rule? The Foundation for East European Family History Studies (FEEFHS) invites you to attend two special guest lectures during their upcoming conference. Diane Afoumado, Ph.D., and Ina Navazelskis, MSc, MA, both from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, DC will be presenting on topics of interest to anyone with ancestors of Eastern European origin, Jewish and non-Jewish alike.

Ms. Afoumado will be presenting “How the Records of the International Tracing Service (ITS) May Surprise You” at the opening plenary session, Wednesday, August 12th, at 7:15 pm.  The ITS collection contains diverse information about the persecution and murder of Jews and non-Jews — Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma and Sinti, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and persons with disabilities — under Nazi rule.  Diane is Chief of the Research and Reference Branch of the Holocaust Survivors and Victims Resource Center.  She will also be available throughout the remainder of the week for one on one consultations by appointment; you may schedule a time to meet with her following her presentation.

Ms. Navazelskis will be giving a brown-bag lecture, “Oral History Interview Collection, US Holocaust Memorial Museum,” at 12:15 pm, Friday, August 14th.  A journalist with 30 years experience in East European affairs and modern history, Ina has worked with the Oral History Branch of the museum since 2001.  Her presentation will introduce you to the Oral History Archive, designed to document and preserve testimonies as primary sources for future generations to hear and see the people who experienced, witnessed, or perpetrated the genocidal policies and crimes of the Germans and their collaborators.

Both presentations will be held in the Aspen Room, lower level of the Salt Lake City Plaza Hotel, 122 West South Temple, Salt Lake City.  No tickets are required; lunch not included.

August 2015 Webinars and Classes at the Salt Lake Family History Library

This from lds.org/churchevents

August 2015 Family History Library Webinars and Classes

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RELATED LINKS

• Download a PDF of instructions for connecting to a webinar.
• Want to attend a class in person? Download this class calendar.

During August 2015, the Family History Library will be hosting several family history online webinars as well as free classes at the library. These classes and webinars are designed to help individuals and families find their ancestors and teach important family history techniques. They are free to the public. Information about specific classes, as well as information on how to register for classes, is listed below. All class times are mountain daylight time (MDT).

For instructions on how to log on to Family History Library webinars, click on the following blog post: Connecting to Family History Library Webinars—Easy to Follow Instructions.

Online Webinars

August 1—Reading Spanish Handwriting Webinar (in English), 1:00 p.m.

August 5—Advancing Your Polish Genealogy: 300 Years of Records Webinar, 10:00 a.m.

August 13—Planning a Research Trip Webinar, 1:00 p.m.

August 15—Genealogía Descendente Webinar, 1:00 p.m.

August 27—Immigration into the United States Webinar, 6:00 p.m.

Classes at the Library

August 6—The 1798 Irish Rebellion and Its Effect on Family History Research, 1:00 p.m.

August 13—Finding and Linking Ireland Records to Find Families Post-1800, 11:00 a.m.

August 13—Case Studies in 17th-Century England Emigration to North America, 1:00 p.m.

August 15—Boy Scout Genealogy Merit Badge, 10:00 a.m. (1½ hours). To register, call 1-801-240-4673 at least one week before the workshop to find out which requirements should be completed before attending.

August 26—Italian Indexing Series

Italian Death Records: Preparation for Indexing, 2:30 p.m.

Indexing Italian Death Records, 6:00 p.m. (1½ hours)

August 27—Italian Research Series

Italian Emigration and Finding the Place of Origin, 2:30 p.m.

Where to Find Italian Vital Records: Repositories, Online, and Microfilm, 6:30 p.m.

August 28—Italian Research Series

Italian Marriage Records, 2:30 p.m.

Latin Records, 6:30 p.m.

August 29—Italian Research Series

Reading Italian Birth and Death Records Workshop, 10:00 a.m.

Reading Marriage Records Workshop, 11:30 a.m.

Reading Latin Records Workshop and Q&A about Research Problems, 1:30 p.m. (1½ hours)

August 31—Irish Roman Catholic Church Records: Better Access Than Ever! 11:00 a.m.

For parking and additional information see the Family History Library wiki.

A New Helper in the Family History World!

Family History Guide Overview

The Family History Guide has now been released. I like the format it uses, complete with links to other sources and helps.

The goal of The Family History Guide is to "raise the number of people involved in family history, worldwide, and help them be more successful."

Bob Taylor, CEO of The Family History Guide

Early Bird Deadline Ends Today, So Act Fast!

“Don’t miss the early-bird discount deadline for FEEFHS conference, today, 7/18 FEEFHS - Foundation for East European Family History Studies. This is a great opportunity to learn all you didn't know you didn't know regarding eastern European family history research!

Up Close & Personal with Baerbel Johnson

Baerbel Johnson

Baerbel graduated from BYU with degrees in Sociology and “Family and Local History Studies” as it was called back in the day. She is a widow and has three children of her own plus a foster son: two girls, two boys, but all grown up at ages 32 to 24. Baerbel loves to sing and has been a member of the German Chorus Harmonie for over 20 years. She served an LDS mission from 1978-1980 in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia and she loves gardening.

Johnson has an incredible amount of experience in the world of genealogy. She worked in the Family History Library for 20 years as an international reference consultant. In her words, “This was a wonderful time for me because I am a people person and there I had lots of opportunities to help people directly with solving research problems and teaching them to work with various records. Because of my language background I supported research in various part of Europe, Africa, and the West Indies.” On a personal note, I have a friend who does German research and whenever she had a problem, she told me that she always “went to see Baerbel in Salt Lake because she was kind, knowledgeable, and didn’t make me feel dumb with my questions.” What a great recommendation!

Baerbel has been working under Joe Everett on the International Eastern Hemisphere Patron Services Team since 2013. She supports the family history centers in  Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.

Baerbel loves to problem solve using her “ancestor detective” mindset. In her words, “It is a wonderful feeling when you find that one clue that makes a brick wall crumble….And I enjoy gathering more than just names; really learning about an ancestor in the context of his/her social and cultural environment. It’s amazing how even after 40 years of research new sources become available that add color to the picture. For instance, just recently I browsed through a new book published by Ernie Thode, a listing of digitized German-language newspapers. This prompted me to search the Internet for newly digitized material from my home area. In the process  I found two newspaper notices that showed that my great-grandfather was both mechanically inclined and creative. He received two patents: for inventing some kind of valve and for a process to make leather from cows’ stomachs.” You never know when you are going to find something wonderful!

Another thought from Baerbel in her own words, “All my grandparents were dead before I was born, so I never learned much about them growing up. But in the years since I began my family history journey I have learned some amazing things about them, and somehow feel that I know them. This connection is another special gift I get out of doing genealogy. I love to teach people how to find their ancestors and have similar wonderful experiences. Their successes make me very happy.”

Here is another interesting note; the name Baerbel is a diminutive form of Barbara, like Peggy is for Margaret. Baerbel says that “the name is common in Germany, but kind of weird here. My kids say that I’m barely bearable!” Somehow, I doubt that!

Make a plan to attend Baerbel’s classes at the FEEFHS Conference. She will be teaching Resources from German Research in formerly Eastern Areas, German Civil Registration and German Digital Libraries. It will be well worth you time and effort.

Hey Dave... Where is Volhynia?

Dave Obee is one very busy man. He is both a journalist and a genealogical researcher with a dozen books and almost 600 presentations at conferences and seminars in Canada and the United States to his credit. He travels the world both researching his family and helping others with their family research.

Dave is Editor-in-Chief of the Times Colonist in Victoria, British Columbia. He has worked as a journalist since 1972 in both British Columbia and Alberta. Dave is passionate about school libraries and other literacy projects and was one of the founders of the annual Times Colonist book drive. This book drive has raised more than $1.5 million since 1998.

If you read either Internet Genealogy or Your Genealogy Today magazines (formerly Family Chronicle), Dave’s name is probably familiar to you. He writes the back page column in every issue of both of these magazines. In addition, Dave is the man behind a couple of other Internet sites: CanGenealogy and Volhynia.

Canadian icon, Shirley Douglas, OC, actress, daughter of Tommy Douglas (the father of Canada’s Medicare) and mother of Kiefer Sutherland (star of the hit show, 24), is presented with her family tree in Toronto, Thursday, May 25, 2006, by Dave Obee, genealogist and member of the Ancestry.ca Canadian Advisory Board. (PR DIRECT PHOTO/Ancestry.ca)

Dave has had many honors over the years. In May 2006, Dave had the opportunity to present Shirley Douglas (Canadian film and stage actress and activist) with a published copy of her family history at the official launch of Ancestry.ca.

In 2012, the University of Victoria awarded Dave an honorary doctorate of laws for his tireless work as a historian, genealogist, and journalist.

In 2014, Dave was presented with the Governor General’s Caring Canadian award for his work as a community volunteer. As you can see, Dave is no slouch!

On a personal note, Dave has visited 17 countries in Europe, doing genealogical research in most of them. He has a great interest in the world war battle areas in France, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

Dave was born in British Columbia, and his roots there are traced to his great-great-grandfather who arrived from Manitoba in 1890. Dave had paternal ancestors arrive in North America two centuries ago, settling in New York State and Ontario. Dave’s mother was born in the Soviet Union, now Ukraine. Her ancestors were from Germany, now part of Poland. This explains Dave’s interest in Volhynia.

Dave served as the president of the Federation of East European Family History Societies (now Foundation for Eastern European Family History Studies) from 2004-2007. For more information about Dave Obee, go to daveobee.com.

We invite you to Dave Obee’s presentations this year at the FEEFHS Conference. After all, Where is Volhynia?

DNA and Genealogy...A Match Made in Heaven?

Paul Woodbury is a new presenter at the FEEFHS conference this year. I thought that we should get to know him a little more before the conference. He will be talking to us about genetics and DNA in genealogy. I’m excited to have him answer my burning question—”I’ve done some DNA testing, now what?”

Memorizing all of the capitals of the world and being able to draw each nation’s flag from memory by the 2nd grade combined with a family history binder from his grandma led Paul Woodbury to his love of family history. A pedigree chart showing ancestors from France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England, and Isle of Man caught his attention.

Throughout his school years, Paul researched his own family. He started as a collector of names, dates, and places. After that came stories, biographies, and photos. As a junior in high school, Paul organized a family history tour through Denmark and Southern Sweden, visiting the places where many of his Scandinavian ancestors lived.

Paul’s introduction to genetic genealogy came in 2006, when PBS aired the television series African American Lives. In the program, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. investigated the family histories of prominent African Americans using traditional research in tandem with genetic genealogy. Paul said that “I was fascinated by this application of genetics to a field I loved, and I decided I wanted to become a genetic genealogist.”

Paul studied genetics at Brigham Young University between the years 2008-2014. He also minored in Family History. In his genetic studies, Paul found that most of his genetics professors “didn’t know what to do with me.” In the end, most of Paul’s genetic genealogy education was self-taught or through the mentoring of other prominent genetic genealogists like Angie Bush and CeCe Moore.

Paul taught for three years at the BYU Family History lab, offering weekly classes on various topics. He developed syllabus materials on genetic genealogy for use by the family history professors. Paul participated in a genealogy study abroad to France, Spain, and Italy. During the course of the trip, he toured and/or researched in nearly 30 archives including the Archivo Militar de Segovia (Military Archive of Segovia), the Real Chancilleria de Valladolid (The Royal Chancellery of Valladolid), the Archivo Storico di Firenze (Historical Archive of Florence), and the Archivo Segretto Vaticano (The Secret Vatican Archive).

While still at BYU, Paul began presenting at various conferences on genetic genealogy, French research, and other methodology topics. To date, he has presented at more than 20 local, national, and international conferences.

Genetics and family history aren’t the only loves in Paul’s life. He will be married in October 2015 to Robin Ellis. His favorite food is pumpkin cheesecake. He also enjoys good food, skiing, singing and dancing.

FEEFHS (Foundation for Eastern European Family History Studies)

We are pleased to have Diane Afoumado return this year as our opening plenary keynote speaker.

Diane Afoumado, Ph.D., Chief, International Tracing Service (ITS) Research Branch, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will share information with us about the records of the ITS (International Tracing Service) and how they can help us in our research.

Although connected with the Holocaust Memorial Museum, these records may be of interest to anyone who may have relatives who were persecuted by the Nazi’s or displaced during WWII, Jewish or non-Jewish.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, D.C. is the United States’ repository for the International Tracing Service (ITS) collection. According to Afoumado, the “ITS collection contains diverse information about the persecution and murder of Jews and non-Jews—Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma and Sinti, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and persons with disabilities—under Nazi rule.”

For more information about Diane and the FEEFHS Conference, go to feefhs.org.

Do You Have Ancestors From Eastern Europe?

This conference is for you!

FEEFHS.org

Take a look at the conference overview here. As a personal statement, I started going to this conference two years ago because I was stumped with my Lithuanian heritage. When I went to this conference, I realized that "I didn't know what I didn't know!" This conference gave me the start of a great foundation upon which to build. I found that I was building without out a firm foundation. Are you?

Danish Research Webinar June 4, 2015

Map: Jarke

June 4: Danish Research—Using Multiple Record Types to Find Your Family Webinar. This class starts at 7:00 P.M.

Instructions for attending webinars can be viewed by going to FamilySearch.org. 

Click the Search link. 
Select Wiki. 
TypeFamily History Library in the search field and click the top entry (Family History Library). 
Click link 2.2 (Live Online Classes)for details. Scroll to find the desired date and class and click on the link to get information about attending the class or webinar online.

How Does the FamilySearch Family Tree Work?

LDS Media Library

The Family Tree at FamilySearch is a great online tree with many features that help family historians capture and consolidate families with photos, documents, stories, audio, etc. It isn't perfect, but it is a great resource for us. Check it out here! It is totally free and living people are private. You don't have to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) and it is totally available anywhere in the world where Internet is available. It is easy to add sources provided by Record Hints (similar to "shaking leaves" on Ancestry.com). What are you waiting for?

If all of this sounds daunting, there are also many lessons to help you learn Family Tree. There is also a sandbox to play in. If that sounds strange to you, click here to find out more. 

Join the Worldwide Arbitration Event!

Join the Worldwide Arbitration Event!

When: May 1-8, 2015
Goal: Arbitrate 2 million images
Where: Endless possibilities

Go here to check out the specifics. Add your support to this wonderful project!

German Resources Webinar

This is a post from the familysearch.org blog!

German Resources Webinar Open for Public Access

March 23, 2015 By Yvonne Sorenson

Be the first of your German friends to find out all about the German website Genealogy.net also known as Compgen.de. This useful website will be explained on Saturday Mar. 28 in a webinar presented from 9:15am to 12:15. The following hands-on classes will be taught both in the Family History Library Main floor lab and also broadcast as a webinar:

9:15 Finding and Using German Address Books on Genealogy.net. This class will teach you how to locate these address books and find names and locations of your ancestors.

10:15 Finding and Using German Lineage books (OSB) on Genealogy.net. The Family History Library has many village lineage books in house, but this site has many that are online and can be searched right at home.

What is a village lineage book? It contains the families or individuals from a specific town in Germany and has been organized into families! Find birth, marriage, and death dates for ancestors. Village Lineage books are not available for all towns in Germany.

11:15 Using Metasearch on Genealogy.net. This class will discuss how to search all the databases available on Genealogy.net simultaneously and tell you what they are about. Some of the databases on this site include the Schleswig-Holstein census, WWI casualty lists, member submitted trees, and tombstones.

See if some of your German ancestors can be found on this site to help you grow your family tree!

Family Discovery Day is Here!

Tomorrow, March 7th is the Grove Creek/Timpanogos Stakes Family Discovery Day. Anyone who is in the area is welcome. It is going to be great! The schedule is below!

Salt Lake Family History Library Classes for March 2015

There are some great classes scheduled for the month of March at the Salt Lake Family History Library. For more information beyond the titles, click here.

March 7:  New England States Research Series. 

March 7:  Arbol Familiar Para Principiantes Webinar

March 14:  Hispanic Research Methodology: A Case Study Webinar. 

March 21:  Hispanic Research Series Webinar. 

March 28:  German Research Series. 

If You Are In Utah...(or visiting!)

Our third annual Family Discovery Day will be held on March 7, 2015 from 9:00 am-4:00 pm. All are invited and the event is free. Registration information is provided above. This day is for all ages and abilities and you don't have to live in the Pleasant Grove area. We welcome all! Hope to see you there! 

February Classes at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City

This is from the FamilySearch Blog...

During the month of February, the Family History Library will be hosting a number of free online family history classes as well as a Boy Scout genealogy merit badge workshop. These classes and workshops are designed to help individuals and families find their ancestors and teach important family history techniques. They are free to the public. Information about specific classes is listed below, as well as information on how to register for classes.

The Family History Library Announces Free Classes for February, 2015

February 7:       Registros civiles y censos. This class provides instructions on how to use Spanish civil registers and census records. It is for Spanish-speaking guests and is taught in Spanish. Class starts at 1:00 p.m.

February 21:     * Boy Scout Genealogy Merit Badge Workshop. This workshop begins at 10:00 a.m. Register for this 90-minute class at least one week prior to the workshop to find out which requirements should be completed before attending. For registration information, call 1-801-240-4673.

February 21:     Qué dice? Cόmo leer la escritura antigua. This class provides tips and guidelines for reading old Spanish handwriting. It is for Spanish-speaking guests and is taught in Spanish. Class starts at 1:00 p.m.

February 26:     FamilySearch Historical Records Collection Webinar. This class begins at 6:00 p.m. It provides an overview of what the FamilySearch Historical Records Collection has to offer researchers and some tips on how to get the most from your searches.

February 28:     * British Research Series. These classes include “British Resources on FamilySearch.org,” and “British Resources on Ancestry.com.” Classes run from 9:15 a.m. to noon.

February 28:     * German Research Series. These classes include “Learning to Read Old German Script” (2 hours) and “Extracting Information from German Church and Civil Records.” Classes run from 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

February 28:     African-American Research Series. The topics include “Keynote Speaker,” “Beginning African-American Research: Post 1865,” and “Southern Plantation Records.” Classes run from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

These classes and workshops are designed to help individuals and families find their ancestors and teach others family history techniques.

*Registration is required for classes with an asterisk. Register by 9:00 p.m. the Thursday before the class date by sending an email to FHLClassReg@familysearch.org or calling 1-801-240-4950. Go to https://familysearch.org/locations/saltlakecity-library for additional information.

England Research Series--January 26-30, 2015

Photo Credit:David Iliff

There will be two topics presented each day at 11:00 am & 1:00 pm. The topics included will be Online Websites, Maps & Gazetteers, England & Wales Census Records, England & Wales Civil Registration, Church of England Church Records, Nonconformist Church Records, Probate Records, Parish Chest Records, and Poor Law Records. If you have English ancestry, this webinar series is not to be missed! For more information, click here.

Boy Scout Genealogy Merit Badge

Photo Credit: BSA

Do you know of a Boy Scout that needs help earning the Genealogy Merit Badge? Possibly you are in an area where there isn't much opportunity to earn this badge? On January 17, 2015, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah will be presenting a Boy Scout Genealogy Merit Badge Workshop. It is 90 minutes long and you will need to register at least one week prior to this workshop. Call 801-240-4673 for more information!