Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Genealogy News Summary for August 2008

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Here is the Genealogy News summary for August that we briefly discussed in the CVGS Research Group today (and emailed to the CVGS members):

1. INTERESTING GENEALOGY WEB SITES

a) www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1881 -- Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has the 1881 Canada census. Through this online database researchers can access digitized images of original census returns featuring the name, age, country or province of birth, nationality, religion, and occupation of Canada's residents at the time of the 1881 Census.

b) http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/nhtopos.htm - University of New Hampshire has Historic USGS Maps of New England & NY.

c) http://www.cuil.com/ - another search engine. "The Internet has grown exponentially in the last fifteen years but search engines have not kept up—until now. Cuil searches more pages on the Web than anyone else—three times as many as Google and ten times as many as Microsoft."

e) http://www.genesreunited.com/ -- The number 1 UK family tree and genealogy site with over 8 million members. Free access to family trees, but subscription required for census, vital and church records.

f) http://www.obitslinkpage.com/ -- an easy to access State-by-State directory of obituaries and obituaries related resources. This site is focused on obituaries, their importance in genealogy, and finding vital records such as birth certificates, death records, divorce decrees, and marriage licenses.

2. NEW GENEALOGY DATABASES

a) at http://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 26,200 databases. See new content at http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/recent.aspx. New databases include:

* Illinois State Census Collection, 1825-1865
* Settlers of Rensselaerwyck (NY), 1630-1658
* Suffolk County MA Wills
* several West Virginia databases
* 1891 Canada Census

b) http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/ - subscription site (US = $49.95 for 2 years, World = $149.95) -- now available for FREE at the San Diego FHC. Over 10,000 databases, over 1.095 billion names. Recently added content is at http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/recentcontentlisting.aspx. New items FREE at WVR for 10 days. New databases include:

* 756 titles from the Simmons Historical Publishing Collection online - Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee families.
* Abstracts of the 1890 British and Irish passenger lists from BritishOrigins.com . These records were compiled by Peter Coldham directly from the original lists located at The National Archives, London, and augmented by Canadian and U.S. data.
* 100 databases from Genealogical Publishing Company. Many of the records deal with areas in the southern United States, German and Scottish emigrants to New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, and records from New Jersey, Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc
* The records of Blacks Found in the Deeds of Laurens & Newberry Counties, South Carolina: 1785 - 1827, abstracted by Margaret Peckham Motes. These records come from “deeds of gift, deeds of sale, mortgages, born free, and freed,” sections of Laurens County, SC Deed Books A-L and Newberry County, SC Deed Books A-G.

c) http://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. 393 Titles, over 42.6 million images, over 1 million free. Content list at http://www.footnote.com/documents.php. Information added this month includes:

* FBI Case Files from early 1900's FREE until 31 August
* City directories for Washington DC
* 1860 US Census now 99% complete
* Passport Applications 1795 to 1905 99% complete

d) http://www.genealogybank.com/ - subscription site (trial $9.95 for one month, $69.95 for 12 months). It has archives for over 2,500 U.S. newspapers in all 50 states, from the 1600s to the present day, with over 224 million family history records, over 28 million obituaries, more than 122 million historical newspaper articles, and more than 11,700 historical books.

* Added content from 69 newspapers in 22 states

e) http://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.

* Parish Records Collection, 1538-2005 (not complete)

f) http://pilot.familysearch.org/ - the LDS FREE site for indexed and browsable databases -- new content includes:

* 1870 US Census - 38% complete
* 1860 US Census - 5% complete
* 1850 US Census - 78% complete
* These FamilySearch databases can now be searched by wild cards.

3. GENEALOGY EDUCATION

a) NBC's version of "Who Do You Think You Are?" will be an all-American show, not reruns of the BBC program. It will feature American celebrities and their ancestry. You can read more at http://www.nbc.com/Primetime/Who_Do_You_Think_You_Are/index.shtml

b) The Annapolis (NS) Heritage Society Genealogy Centre is launching five new books in the Loyalists to Annapolis County series. You can read more in an article by Larry Powell in the Annapolis County Spectator at http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-237923-Loyalists-coming-to-Annapolis-County.html

c) The 2008 Utah Genealogical Association (UGA) Fall Conference will be held Friday and Saturday, September 12th and 13th at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is a great year to come to the UGA Fall Conference! For this year only, the conference, Solving Family Mysteries, will be at the world famous Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and it will be FREE! Registration for the conference is requested to determine classroom size. For information and registration please visit http://www.infouga.org/

d) Legacy Family Tree teamed with Genealogical Publishing Company to release two popular How-To books in downloadable, electronic format: In Search of Your German Roots: a Complete Guide to Tracing Your Ancestors in the Germanic Areas of Europe; Finding Italian Roots: The Complete Guide for Americans.

4. SOFTWARE

a) Geni Emerges from Beta: http://www.geni.com/ has released a complete set of tools that enable its users to find and stay in touch with their relatives as they capture and share their family's history. Since launching in January, 2007 as a beta site, Geni has released birthday reminders, photo sharing, calendar, privacy controls, family news, timeline, GEDCOM import, and much more.

b) http://www.webtree.com/ was announced out of beta testing by FamilyLink.com. The user-contributed family tree data will be indexed on WorldVitalRecords.

5. ANNOUNCEMENTS

a) Ancestry.com announced partnership with Shanghai Library to provide first online access to Chinese family history records. TGN has launched a dedicated Chinese family history website, http://www.jiapu.cn/.

b) Paul Allen, the co-founder of Ancestry.com and corporate executive officer for Familylink.com, said his company is about to launch Worldhistory.com in the next few weeks. It will allow users to upload their family trees and then, coupled with historical data on the site, learn more about the environment in which their ancestors lived. Read more at http://www.mormontimes.com/ME_familyhistory.php?id=1647.

c) FamilySearch Indexing and Ancestry Images -- FamilySearch and Ancestry.com announced a new partnership arrangement: The two organizations will work together on genealogy projects of mutual interest. All data indexed by FamilySearch volunteers will continue to be made available for free to the public through FamilySearch.org — now and in the future. Access to related digital images may not always be free to everyone. Working jointly with other organizations ensures wider availability to improved indexes and provides a tremendous benefit to millions of people around the world who are seeking to connect with their ancestors. FamilySearch is committed to working with records custodians around the world to provide faster access to more records for more people.

The general public will have several options to access any fee-based images offered under FamilySearch affiliate agreements. 1) Home access will be free for FamilySearch members; 2) access is free through a local Family History Center or the Family History Library; 3) access is often free through the record custodian or archive reading room; or 4) for a nominal fee, the public can access the images on specified record custodian or commercial Web sites.

d) The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society will now focus on grant-giving, tours, lectures and other means of encouraging genealogical research. The society has donated its library of 75,000 volumes, 30,000 manuscripts, and 22,000 reels of microfilm to the New York Public Library. One of the first grants was about $1 million to the library for a four-person staff to process and catalog the G & B collection within two years.

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That's the news as I saw it!
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