Genealogy News for March

Here is the genealogy news for late February and early March:

1. INTERESTING GENEALOGY WEB SITES

a) http://www.AncestralAtlas.com - This web site combines family history information, input by the user, with maps that show the places associated with the events in the person's life. The site uses Google Maps.

b) http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/ - This Newseum site has front pages of newspapers from around the world. That's interesting. The benefit of the site for genealogists is the links to the individual newspaper web sites which usually have archives.

c) http://www.glo.state.tx.us/archives/landgrant.html - The Texas General Land Office maintains the Land Grant Database which will let you locate your ancestor's land grant under that jurisdiction. The Land Grant Database contains a listing of all original land grants that have been issued an abstract number by the Texas General Land Office (GLO). This database does not contain information on the subsequent subdivision of this land. Record of subsequent sale, subdivision, etc, is a matter of county record.

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 San Diego City or County Public Libraries (Ancestry Library Edition). Ancestry has over 7 billion names in over 27,200 databases. See new content at http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/recent.aspx. New databases this month include:
* 1916 Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, which contains 1.7 million names and more than 38,000 images of original Census pages.
Many books and records from Canada, Australia and Germany (need world subscription)
* Iowa State Census Records, 1836-1925 (updated)
* U.S. Civil War Soldiers Records and Profiles
* Louisiana Slave Records, 1719-1820 (updated)
* Confederate Applications for Presidential Pardons, 1865-1867
* Georgia Confederate Pension Applications, 1879-1960
* Historic Land Ownership and Reference Atlases, 1507-2000 (updated)
* Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925 (updated)
* Selected U.S. Naturalization Records – Original Documents, 1790-1974
* Abraham Lincoln Papers
What's coming soon at Ancestry? Check out http://landing.ancestry.com/comingsoon/.

b) www.WorldVitalRecords.com - subscription site (US = $39.95 for 1 year, World = $119.95 for 1 year) -- now available for FREE at the San Diego FHC. Over 11,000 databases, over 1.35 billion names. Recently added content is at http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/recentcontentlisting.aspx. New US items are FREE at WVR for 10 days. New databases include:

* Ten new databases of birth, marriage, and death records, stories and histories, and census and voter lists from Genealogical Publishing Company. The content is from Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, New York, Virginia, and Wales.

c) www.Footnote.com - subscription site ($69.96 annual retail, $11.95 monthly) - now available for FREE at San Diego FHC. They offer 7-day FREE trial. 455 Titles; over 50 million images, over 1 million free; over 90 million Footnote Pages. Content list at http://www.footnote.com/documents.php. Information added this month includes:

* Civil War Union Soldier Service Records: Mississippi; Missouri; Utah Territory; Dakota Territory
* Danish West Indies - Slavery and Emancipation (1672-1917)
* Military Intelligence Division - Negro Subversion (1917-1941)
* Secretary of the Interior - Suppression of Slave Trade and Colonization (1854-1872)
* Board Commissioners - Emancipation of Slaves in DC (1862-1863)
* Court Slave Records for DC (1851-1863)

d) www.GenealogyBank.com - subscription site (trial $9.95 for 30 days, $69.95 for 12 months). It has archives for over 3,800 U.S. historical newspapers in all 50 states, from the 1600s to the present day, with over 257 million family history records, over 30 million obituaries from more than 1,150 newspapers in more than 139 million historical newspaper articles, and more than 11,700 historical books.

* Added 40 titles from 22 states

Genealogy Bank modified their search engine to include:
1. Limit search to most recently added content
2. Search multiple states at once
3. Search multiple cities (Click on a state and you'll see the list of cities)
4. Search multiple titles (Click on the cities and you'll see the list of newspapers)
5. Narrow search by article types (look on the left column once you've done a search)

e) http://pilot.familysearch.org/ - the LDS FREE site for indexed and browsable databases -- recently completed projects:

* 1920 United States Census: Added California
* 1915 South Dakota Census (New and complete
* 1925 South Dakota Census (New and complete)
* West Virginia Births (Updated, now complete)
* West Virginia Deaths (updated, now complete)
* West Virginia Marriages (updated, now complete)
* Illinois, Cook County Birth Certificates (New, almost complete)
* Illinois, Cook County Birth Registers (New, not complete)

3. GENEALOGY EDUCATION

a) The 40th Annual Genealogy Jamboree, hosted by the Southern California Genealogical Society, will be held Friday through Sunday, June 26-28, 2009, at the Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel and Convention Center, in Burbank, California. Jamboree will offer over 100 lecture sections over the three days, nearly 25% more sessions than were offered in 2008. For up-to-the-minute Jamboree information, subscribe to receive email updates on the GenealogyJamboree Blog at www.genealogyjamboree.blogspot.com. Sign up to receive your copy of the Jamboree program in snail mail here: http://tinyurl.com/SendJamboreeStuff.

b) The National Genealogical Society (NGS), headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, announced the 31st Family History Conference to be held at the Raleigh, North Carolina Convention Center 13-16 May 2009. This premier event features more than 160 exciting educational sessions and workshops by many of the top names in family history research from North Carolina and around the nation. The variety of topics—from beginner workshops, to understanding and using DNA testing for family history, to finding resources for Native American, African-American, Scots- Irish, and other ethnic groups, to complex problem-solving, and more—provide tools for everyone from the merely curious to those who aspire to become credentialed or professional genealogists.

c) Family Tree Magazine is offering a free download of a 42-page e-Book - Best of the Photo Detective. It contains photo historian Maureen A. Taylor’s best tips for identifying mystery family photographs. You have to sign up for a free email newsletter from Family Tree Magazine.

d) Thomas MacEntee of Chicago has been named the Genealogy and Technology Editor at www.Examiner.com, an online news magazine. You can read his frequent column at http://www.examiner.com/x-3932-Genealogy-and-Technology-Examiner.

e) Everton's Genealogical Helper magazine will change from six issues a year to four issues a year, effective in March. It is avaialble for a PDF download for $12 per year.

4. SOFTWARE

a) RootsMagic, Inc. announced RootsMagic 4 public beta, the latest version of the award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history easy and enjoyable. During the public beta period, all are invited to download and experience the software, free of charge at http://www.rootsmagic.com/preview. The FREE version expires on 31 March.

b) Wholly Genes Software has announced the release of The Master Genealogist version 7.04. This new release of the powerful genealogy program for Windows adds a few new features and fixes. You can read the entire list of changes at http://www.whollygenes.com/forums201/index.php?s=6b6d037a232afbbd43724361e4fb49fe&showtopic=11266.

5. ANNOUNCEMENTS

a) http://www.newspaperarchive.com/free-seven-day-trial.aspx - NewspaperARCHIVE offers a FREE seven-day trial subscription to their historic newspaper collection. Note that you have to provide a credit card and cancel your free trial before the seven days is up.