1. INTERESTING GENEALOGY WEB SITES
* Missouri Digital Heritage Collection at http://www.sos.mo.gov/mdh/collections.asp - includes records of enduring historical value from institutions throughout the state of Missouri. These historical resources, including documents, photographs, maps and other materials of interest, are grouped by general topic.
* The Los Angeles Regional Family History Center web site at http://www.larfhc.org/ is a really great site - with lots of information about activities at the LARFHC in Santa Monica. Besides the summary information on the main page, there are links to many pages with information on specific topics.
* Greg Matthews has a great web site at http://genealogyfor.us/ that has a collection of web tools and ideas designed to make genealogy easier for each of us.
* The Northern New York Newspaper Project at http://news.nnyln.net/, a free site, provided by the Northern New York Library Network to enhance access to the region's local history.
* Shirley told me about another historical newspaper archive for northern New York - at Tom Tryniski's Fulton History site - http://www.fultonhistory.com/. Tom has many genealogy and history resources on his site.
* How many other people share your name? Check out HowManyofMe.com, which bases its findings on census records.
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 (Institution with World databases) or Chula Vista Public Library (Ancestry Library Edition). Ancestry has over 7 billion names in over 25,000 databases. See new content at http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/recent.aspx. New databases include:
* Returns from Regular US Army Regiments, 1821-1916
* US Navy Cruise Books - 1950-1988
* Tennessee State Marriages - 1780-2002
* Updates to Drouin Collection (Canada)
* Updates to New York Passenger Lists 1820-1957
* Updates to US Public Record Indexes
* Historical Southern Families (23 volumes) and Notable Southern Families (Volumes 1-6)
* Updates to US School Yearbooks
Note that Ancestry.com searches can now be performed using their "new Ancestry Search engine." It looks and feels different, and produces somewhat different results. See my post at http://www.geneamusings.com/2008/05/new-ancestry-search-available-to.html
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 8,100 databases, 2 billion names. Recent content at http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/recentcontentlisting.aspx. New items FREE at WVR for 10 days. New databases include:
* 48 databases provided by Simmons Historical Publications. These databases are excellent resources for people researching Kentucky, particularly the counties of Calloway, Graves, Marshall, McCracken, Montgomery, Obion, Rutherford, Smith, Stewart, Todd, Trigg, and Warren. These databases include court records, newspaper abstracts, wills, deed books, and marriage records.
* 350 databases from the Godfrey Memorial Library, including books with descendants, family history, genealogies, biographies, memoirs, autobiographies, diaries and writings/works of famous people.
* Gazetteer of the State of New Hampshire (Merrill and Merrill), (1817) 2007. This is the first gazetteer ever published for the State of New Hampshire (1817) and a wonderful resource for researchers because it identifies many places by names which have otherwise been lost to history.
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. 356 Titles, over 34 million images, 1 million free. Content list at http://www.footnote.com/documents.php. Information added this month includes:
* 1860 US Federal census - index 67% complete - can be annotated
* Dawes Packets (Applications for Enrollment of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914) - 71% complete
* US Passport applications, 1795-1905 - 37% complete
* Homestead Records - Nebraska (Broken Bow Office only), 1890-1908 - 84% complete
* Naturalization Records for Los Angeles CA Superior Court - 1876-1915 - complete
d) at www.GenealogyBank.com - subscription site (trial $9.95 for one month, $69.95 for 12 months). It has archives for 2,400 U.S. newspapers in all 50 states, from the 1600s to the present day, with over 224 million family history records, over 27 million obituaries, more than 119 million historical newspaper articles, and more than 11,700 historical books. Each article is a single digital image that can be printed and preserved for family scrapbooks.
* Added content from 78 newspapers from 23 states
e) at www.FindMyPast.com - a UK subscription site (30 days 14.95 pounds, 12 months 89.95 pounds, also pay-per-view options) offers England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland databases.
* 1901 Census records for Gloucestershire and Somersetshire.
f) at http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/#p=0 - the LDS FREE site for indexed databases --
* Washington State Death certificate index - 1907-1960
* Philadelphia PA Death Certificates - 1803-1915 - 100% complete
* West Virginia Deaths, 1853-1970 - index 41% complete
* 1900 US Census - index 98% complete
* 1850 US Census - index 61% complete
* Civil War Pension File - 90% complete
3. GENEALOGY EDUCATION
** The Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree is June 27-29, 2008 in Burbank. See www.scgsgenealogy.com for more information.
4. SOFTWARE
* www.Geni.com announced that genealogists can now import their family history into Geni using the popular GEDCOM format. The launch of this features makes it easy to move their research into Geni to easily share it with their family.
* Legacy Family Tree 7.0 will be available as a pre-release edition at the National Genealogical Society Conference this week in Kansas City, Missouri. It will include the new mapping, sourcing, and wall charting features. For those who purchased Legacy 6.0 from July 1, 2007 to the present, we will begin shipping your upgrades next week. Our hope is to make Legacy 7.0 available from our online store by the beginning of June. See http://legacynews.typepad.com/legacy_news/2008/05/legacy-family-t.html
5. ANNOUNCEMENTS
* The Catholic News Service has published an article about new Vatican orders
to not cooperate with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the microfilming of records. The Vatican wishes to block posthumous rebaptisms by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a practice that Catholics, Jews, and some others find objectionable. The article is at http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0802443.htm.
* Dick Eastman listed the genealogy scams and ripoffs that he has uncovered at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/05/the-dark-side-g.html
* FamilySearch announced that it is working with the UK family history Web site www.findmypast.com and The National Archives of the United Kingdom to increase access to select British historical records. The first major projects will provide access to millions of names of deceased British soldiers and seamen from eighteenth to twentieth century.
* FamilySearch announced the release of two new free research tools that will help those with British and Scottish roots to find their ancestors. The research guides, Finding Records of Your Ancestors, England, and Finding Records of Your Ancestors, Scotland feature easy-to-follow instructions, colorful graphics, and removable worksheets. Free copies can be viewed, downloaded, or printed online at www.FamilySearch.org.
* FamilySearch announced an inaugural project in concert with FamilyLink.com, Inc., to digitize and index a valuable German genealogy collection containing over 3.5 million names from the period of 1650-1875. The Brenner Collection contains 3.5 million names on more than 750 rolls of microfilm, representing between 900,000 and 1.5 million images. A final count will be determined once all of the records have been indexed.
* FamilyLink.com, Inc has teamed with FamilySearch to improve the user experience of the Family History Library Catalog for millions of people worldwide by adding new Web 2.0 functionality and enhancements. The improvements will also enable users to spend research time more efficiently by directing them to the information that will generate the quickest results. FamilyLink.com’s improvements to the catalog will make it searchable by major online search engines and allow users to annotate item descriptions —increasing their accuracy and enriching the content.
* FamilySearch announced a records access agreement with Footnote.com to publish two significant Civil War Era databases online — the 1860 U.S. Census and Civil War Pensions Index. The two relevant collections will provide free online access to millions of names of individuals from the 1860 to 1865 period in the United States. The completed databases will expand FamilySearch’s growing, free U.S. Census collection online and Footnote’s Civil War Collection.
* The Generations Network press release titled "Ancestry.com Global Content, Product, and Marketing Update - May 14, 2008" by CEO Tim Sullivan was published at http://tgn.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=121&o_iid=24018&o_lid=24018. It describes the latest new content, future planed content and the improvements to Ancestry's user interface.
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