Genealogy Research News for March

Here is the genealogy news for March that we discussed at our CVGS Research Group meeting today:

1. INTERESTING GENEALOGY WEB SITES

* The Missouri State Archives has a new online resource for African-American ancestry in the state. While the focus is on Missouri, most of the information in this video applies to other states as well. African-American Genealogy: Putting Together the Pieces of Your Past is available online at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/about/presentations.asp.

* Mark Tucker has created a Genealogy Research Process Map - you can download a JPG at http://www.thinkgenealogy.com/2008/03/07/genealogy-research-process-map-desktop-wallpaper/. This is based on the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS).

* www.MyGreatBigFamily.com is another family and social networking site startup.

2. NEW GENEALOGY DATABASES

a) at www.Ancestry.com - subscription site (US = $155.40, World = $299.40) - now available for FREE at San Diego FHC (World Deluxe) or Chula Vista Public Library (Ancestry Library Edition). See new content at http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/recent.aspx. New databases include:

* Five hundred German city directories containing an estimated 27 million names for those with a membership to www.Ancestry.de or a World Deluxe membership. Most are from the late 1800s and early to mid-1900s.You can browse all of the German directories or search the Ancestry Card Catalog by keyword to locate directories of interest to your research.
* Notes and Queries Historical and Genealogical /Chiefly Relating to Interior of Pennsylvania - 1896-1899, plus Series 3 (more to come?). These are now indexed!
* Genealogies of Pennsylvania Families from the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine. 3 Volumes, plus many more PA county biographical books.
* Many marriage record indexes from Missouri Counties.
* Missouri birth index and records, 1805-1941 updated.
* North Carolina Marriage index - 1741-2004, updated.

b) at www.WorldVitalRecords.com - subscription site (US = $49.95 for 2 years, World = $149.95) -- now available for FREE at the San Diego FHC. Over 6,500 databases, 1 billion names. Recent content at http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/recentcontentlisting.aspx. New items FREE at WVR for 10 days. New databases include:

* Archive CD Books Australia and Gould Genealogy have partnered with FamilyLink.com, Inc. to make 344 Australian and New Zealand databases accessible on WVR.
* Genealogical Publishing Company (http://www.genealogical.com) has partnered with FamilyLink.com, Inc. to make their databases available on WVR.
* Family history books for B and C surnames

c) at www.Footnote.com - subscription site ($59.96 annual retail, $7.95 monthly) - now available for FREE at San Diego FHC, they offer 7-day FREE trial. 239 Titles, over 28 million images, 1 million free. Information added:

* Updates to many databases - Revolutionary War Pension files, civil War Widows Pension Files, etc.

d) at www.GenealogyBank.com - subscription site (trial $9.95 for one month). It has archives for 3,400 U.S. newspapers in all 50 states, from the 1600s to the present day, with over 221 million family history records, 26 million obituaries and more than 112 million historical newspaper articles. Each article is a single digital image that can be printed and preserved for family scrapbooks.

* Added over 4 million historical newspaper articles and modern obituaries to its online digital archive.

3. GENEALOGY EDUCATION

* Bad Baby Names: The Worst True Names Parents Saddled Their Kids With, and You Can Too! by Michael Sherrod and Matthew Rayback. These names came from census records. $9.95 retail.

* Discovering Family History, a new genealogy magazine targeted at beginners, will shortly start publishing. A full 56-page preview issue can be downloaded at http://www.discoveringfamilyhistory.com/.

* The NGS Conference in the States and Family History Fair is being held in Kansas City, Missouri from 14-17 May 2008. To download a full PDF of the conference brochure go to: http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/2008NGSRegistrationbrochure.pdf. Preregistration discounts end March 31.

* The Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree is June 27-29, 2008 in Burbank. Shee www.scgsgenealogy.com for more information.


4. SOFTWARE

* Legacy Charting software - Take a free test drive (until 15 June 2008) of this wall chart software. It is compatible with Family Tree Maker, Personal Ancestral File (PAF), Legacy Family Tree, RootsMagic, and GEDCOM files. Legacy Charting will be one of the new features with the soon-to-be-released Legacy Family Tree version 7. To see what the charts look like, visit www.LegacyCharting.com/samples.htm.

* MacFamilyTree 5.1 Public Beta by Synium Software -- Mac users can download the new beta release as a free demo. More information about MacFamilyTree 5 as well as the free demo download may be found at http://www.synium.de/products/macfamilytree.

* FamilyTreeMaker Version 16 plus 1 year of Ancestry US Deluxe subscription for $99.95 at www.NothingButSoftware.com.


5. ANNOUNCEMENTS

* NARA Proposes to Digitize Content in Cooperation with The Generations Network (Ancestry.com). The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is giving public notice of a proposal to enter into a non-exclusive agreement with The Generations Network, Inc. (TGN), owners of Ancestry.com, to digitize and further expand public access to archival holdings in NARA's custody. This is a NON-EXCLUSIVE agreement and will not replace any of several other agreements with other companies that are already in place. NARA is requesting comments about the terms of the proposed agreement - all comments must be received by April 9, 2008.

* NARA Makes Some Passenger Arrival Records Available Online. This week, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) announced that it has made available for the first time online more than 5.2 million records of some passengers who arrived during the last half of the 19th century at the ports of Baltimore, Boston, New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia. The new databases may be found at http://aad.archives.gov/aad/index.jsp.