Author: GenealogyBlog.com

Polk County (Missouri) Genealogical Society has a new ongoing program entitled “First Families of Polk County.” The program recognizes folks who had ancestors in the county – in several different categories. The following teaser is from the March 12, 2010 edition of the Bolivar Free Press:

Leta Gass is a lifelong Polk Countian, and she has a lengthy lineage of ancestors who helped shape Polk County into what it is today.

She can document back to 1837 when her great-great-grandfather, M.G. Campbell, was listed on the tax roll of Polk County. That lineage earned her the honor of being issued the first certificate in the Polk County Genealogical Society’s new ongoing “First Families of Polk County” project.

“It acknowledges the people who helped shape the destiny of Polk County,” said Susan Sparks, Polk County Genealogical Society president.

Read the full article.

It seems that Bermuda Slave Register databases, compiled over a decade ago, are finally going to be made available to the public. Following is a teaser from an article in the March 11, 2010 edition of The Royal Gazette.

In a press statement, Ombudsman Arlene Brock explained her reasons for forwarding the databases of the 1821 and 1834 registers to the Bermuda College, Bermuda National Museum and National Trust.

She said the databases were developed in searchable format by Virginia Bernhard of the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. Dr. Bernhard gifted the first part to the archives more than a decade ago, with the intention they be available for public research.

However, this was not done. Ms Brock launched an investigation into barriers to public access to the archives last year, based on complaints from researchers and historians.

Read the full article.

On February 20th, Family History Expos experienced a severe blow when their website was destroyed by a fire suppression accident in the data center that housed their servers. I’m feeling rather lucky, as I just happen to use the same service provider, and of course, data center. The FamilyRootsPublishing.com website wasn’t damaged, leaving my operations unscathed. My GenealogyBlog.com site is hosted with an entirely different provider, so it wasn’t ever in danger.

Holly and the Family History Expos crew are rebuilding from the ground up. I want to personally invite my readers to visit their new website, a beautiful work in progress, and register to receive their free E-news and Tips.

We have attended many Expos sponsored by Family History Expos, the latest being those held in Redding, California; Mesa, Arizona; and St. George, Utah and believe that you will enjoy attending one in the near future. I just happen to be speaking at most of them. This year there will be Expos from California to Georgia and many places in between – and I plan to be at every one of them. Information on each Expo will be coming online soon. For more information, see their website at http://www.fhexpos.com/

Plan to attend the Immigration Family History Expo in Salt Lake City this next week (March 18). It promises to be a great educational experience for us genealogy folks…

I’m privileged to be speaking at the Virginia Beach Genealogical Society annual seminar this year. The program is on March 20, 2010, just 13 days from now. My lecture topics will be:

• Organizing, Preserving, Accessing & Sharing Your Genealogy Using Digital Document & Pictures
• Blogging Your Genealogy
• USA State and Territorial Censuses & Substitutes
• Using tax Records to Extend Your Genealogy

The March 7, 2010 Virginian-Pilot ran an article about the upcoming program. Following is a copy of it. The link to their page is limited to subscribers, but the illustration below should give you some idea of the great publicity the program is getting. That’s an interesting photo of me. I swear it shows all 5 of my chins!

Click on this link for more information about the seminar.

I was able to catch just a portion of “Who Do You Think You Are?” last night, as we were setting up a FRPC display booth at the annual bountiful Family History Fair. However, it’s recorded on Tivo, and available on the web, so I plan to watch it fully the first of the week.

The following was received from Anastasia Tyler at Ancesty.com:

An hour doesn’t offer much time to delve into the research processes that genealogists used as they traced the family history of actress Sarah Jessica Parker for this week’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? We sat down with the research team who worked on Sarah Jessica’s family tree to talk about what it took to find her elusive gold miner ancestor. I’ve recapped that conversation here:

First Steps First
Similar to Sarah Jessica Parker’s own assumptions at the beginning of the show, research on the tree began with vague ideas that her family was comprised of recent immigrants. The team first developed a skeleton of Sarah Jessica’s family history. “We documented every connection and every life event for her ancestors,” says Natalie Cottrill of ProGenealogists, who appeared with Sarah Jessica in the episode, “finding information about Sarah Jessica’s family in court records, newspaper articles, books, and personal letters published in books.” And that’s how they found John S. Hodge.

The First Nugget
The first clue about John S. Hodge’s life came from his son’s obituary, which stated that John S. Hodge died in 1849 on his way to California from Ohio. Since the death date came from an obituary written decades after John S. Hodge died, the team looked for primary sources recorded during or around the anticipated lifespan for John S. Hodge. For starters, the team wanted to determine why the ancestral John S. Hodge was going to California, as the son’s obituary stated. Considering the time period – 1849 – it seemed probable that John S. Hodge could have been heading to the California gold fields.

The Right John?
The search led to a John Hodge, who was the right age to be Sarah Jessica’s ancestor, listed as a miner in the 1850 U.S. Federal Census for El Dorado County, California. This record shifted research to determining whether the California John Hodge was the ancestral John S. Hodge, and the researchers turned to records associated with the 49ers. “We found a letter written by someone in Ohio to John S. Hodge, which had been published in a book,” says Natalie. “One of my colleagues tracked down the original set of letters, which provided more details, including information about John S. Hodge’s 1950 death.” Estate and other documents further confirmed that the ancestral John S. Hodge and the California miner John Hodge was the same individual.

If you missed the Sarah Jessica Parker episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, you can watch full episodes online at NBC.com. And you won’t want to miss former NFL football player Emmitt Smith set out to discover his slavery roots this Friday, March 12, at 8/7c on NBC. Lisa Kudrow said his episode is the most compelling of the seven (and, personally, I have to agree). Check out the teaser to the episode featuring Emmitt.

Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak has just announced that her new book,Who Do You Think You Are?: The Essential Guide to Tracing Your Family History is being released tomorrow! The book is a companion piece to NBC’s ground-breaking new genealogy series, Who Do You Think You Are?, which premiers on Friday.

The book is selling at Amazon for $16.47 (Reg. $24.95).

The following Call for Papers was received from Joshua Taylor, National Program Committee, FGS/ISGS 2011 Conference today:

Call for Lecture Proposals – “Pathways to the Heartland”
2011 FGS/ISGS National Conference – 7-10 September 2011

The Federation of Genealogical Societies and the Illinois State Genealogical Society are pleased to announce the official call for lecture proposals for our 2011 national conference, “Pathways to the Heartland,” to be held in Springfield, Illinois, 7-10 September 2011. The conference will explore the resources of America’s Heartland through a variety of regional and national topics aimed at engaging genealogists and family historians of all levels and experience. Topics relating to the Midwest, migration patterns, and religious and ethnic groups are encouraged. Wednesday, 7 September 2011 will include “Focus on Societies,” with lectures, focus groups, and other special events devoted to assisting genealogical societies, lineage societies, historical societies, and family associations succeed and thrive in their activities.

The program committee is specifically seeking new and dynamic proposals that will provide exceptional and unique educational experiences for conference attendees.

Potential categories for submissions include:

 Focus on Societies
 Methodologies and Strategies
 Migration/Immigration
 Regions
 Repositories
 Record Types
 Technology
 Religious and Ethnic Groups
 Midwestern Records

Speakers are strongly encouraged to submit multiple proposals (more than four) as most speakers, if selected, will provide a minimum of three lectures at the conference. There is no limit to the number of proposals a speaker may submit.

Submission Requirements
Submissions should be sent in PDF, Microsoft Word, or RTF format. File names should include your last name, first initial, and proposal topic (ex: SmithJ – Organization).

Each proposal should include:

 Speaker(s) name
 Speaker(s) contact information (including mailing address, phone, fax, e-mail). Please add your website, if applicable.
 Prior speaking experience (speakers who have not spoken at a national conference are encouraged to submit a video, audiotape, or CD recording of a recent lecture by mail).
 Speaker(s) biography
 Speaker(s) brief brochure biography (50 word maximum)
 Lecture title (titles should not exceed 10 words: title your presentations carefully, as the title that is submitted is the title that will be used in the conference program).
 Lecture brochure description (40 word maximum)
 Lecture outline/summary
 Lecture audio-visual requirements (FGS does NOT provide LCD/digital projectors, computers, or Internet access for speakers).
 Intended Audience Level

Proposals should be sent electronically to [email protected] no later than 15 May 2010.

Additional Information
Speakers will receive compensation according to the FGS Conference Speaker Policy at http://www.fgs.org/conferences/speakerpolicy.php.
 
Camera-ready handouts are required for each lecture or workshop presentation and will be compiled in a syllabus distributed to conference participants. The deadline for submissions of syllabus materials is 1 April 2011. Guidelines for the formatting of the syllabus content will be sent to speakers. 
 
Invitations to speak will be issued in October 2010 and the deadline for acceptance and submission of a signed contract will be 1 November 2010.

I got a note today from NEHGS’s Tom Champoux about the success of the “Family History Day” in Boston, sponsored by the New England Historic Genealogical Society and Ancestry.com. The event was held Saturday, Feb 20th at the Westin Copley Place Hotel and brought in more than 700 people from all across New England and New York.

Registrants had opportunities to attend lectures by both Ancestry.com and NEHGS staffers. They were also invited to bring in family papers, documents, and photographs for free scanning into electronic format by Ancestry.com. Ancestry states that they scanned more than 2,000 documents and photos for about 125 people. This breaks Ancestry’s all-time record for one day of scanning.

Registrants also had an opportunity to sign up for 15-minute, 1-on-1 consultations with expert genealogists from NEHGS and the Association of Professional Genealogists – New England Chapter. Over 500 consultations were given by more than 30 professional genealogists.

Tom also noted that ” …we organized the entire event in mid-December, giving us about 2 months of planning time to pick a venue and create the day’s events. Ancestry was incredibly pleased that we were able to help bring 700+ people to the hotel for the day. It should be worth noting that we had another 300 people on a wait-list, and the hotel receive more than 150 additional phone calls from people wanting to register.” I’ve been hearing for some time that the event was “sold out.” It’s nice to see the hobby of genealogy getting this kind of reception.

We set up a Family Roots Publishing Company display of genealogy books and supplies in the Heritage Room at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel this afternoon. We will be displaying product from noon until 9:30 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday also. Then we pack up and head to St. George, Utah for the annual Family History Expo!

For the first time in my life, I found out what a limitation being deaf can be… I’ve normally found ways of working around the issue, but not today…

I was invited by someone at NBC Universal to be involved in a conference call (along with many others I’m sure) with Lisa Kudrow and Dan Bucatinsky of the upcoming NBC series, “Who Do You Think You Are?” Lisa Kudrow (maybe best known for her 10-year role as Phoebe Buffay in “Friends”) will be the host of the series, while Dan Bucatinsky is the Executive Producer. I’ve been looking forward to this for days, and called in about 10 minutes ahead of time to get settled.

Immediately I knew I had a major problem. I couldn’t understand a word that the young lady on the other end of the line was saying… The volume was okay, but her voice frequency was such that it was all mush…

After asking her to repeat several times, I realized that this call wasn’t for me, and backed out of it… So, I’m kinda’ bummed out…

However, I’m sure all is not lost, as I know some of my blogging compatriots are on the phone right now, and getting the scoop on what I believe may be the genealogical event of the decade…

This new series looks to me to be fantastic. I don’t plan to miss any of them – and that’s going to require having some of the programs recorded when I’m away. But I’ll do whatever I have to do…

Don’t miss “Who Do You Think You Are?”, premiering March 5 at 8 pm on NBC.

I just got a note from my friend, Illya D’Addezio, telling me that genealogists can now view results from the Record Search pilot from within Live Roots.

“The FamilySearch Record Search pilot include millions of indexed records, and is expanding each month. When you perform a search in Live Roots, you will see a link to the FamilySearch Record Search feature in the “Available Partner Services” section. You also have the ability to search a specific collection within the Record Search pilot from the corresponding resource page. Resources from the pilot are cataloged in Live Roots as soon as they are posted online.”

Since you can search specific sites within live roots by searching individual Live Roots partner databases, I tested the search by going directly to the Live Roots Search & Preview page, and then searching for the surname “Daffern” in the FamilySearch.org Record Search box.

Twelve seconds later, I had numerous hits, including many entries from the Texas Death Certificates, 1900 U.S. Census, 1920 U.S. Census, and England Marriages, 1700-1900. Choosing the entry for Martin L. Daffern, Patty’s cousin, I was able to drill right on down to his death certificate. It took a few seconds to load the Certificate, but when it came up, it was great!

Try it out yourself at: http://www.genealogytoday.com/roots/live.mv?xc=RootsSearchPage&xo=lrdoc&xz=search.htm

The Albany, New York City Hall burned on February 10, 1880. However, historians and genealogists alike can thank fire chief James McQuade and Wheeler B. Melius for “saving 700 volumes of records weighing between 12 and 16 pounds each” by throwing them out a narrow window. Following is a teaser from an article in the Feb 10, 2010 edition of the Times Union.

By first light, one of the greatest calamities and perhaps most dastardly crimes in the city’s 324-year history was at hand — and a middle-aged bureaucrat by the name of Wheeler B. Melius was well into his finest hour.

Not long after 4 a.m., 130 years ago this morning, flames were spotted leaping in the County Clerk’s Office on the south side of City Hall — a stately domed structure designed and built not 50 years earlier according to the plans of architect Philip Hooker.

The alarm sounded at 4:12 from a box at the corner of State and Eagle streets and citizens and fire crews began descending on the scene at the foot of Washington Avenue.

So began a desperate, see-saw struggle to first save the seat of government, the pride of the city and, if not that, then at least the treasure trove of historical records inside. At stake was more than 200 years of history dating to the earliest Dutch settlement here on the shores of the Hudson River.

Read the full article by Jordan Carleo-Evangelist.

Thanks to Pat Morrow for alerting me to this very interesting article.

Good news. The “Map Guide to German Parish Registers – Oldenburg & Schleswig-Holstein” is again in print in the soft cover edition. If you have ancestors from the area, this book is sure to be or help in your genealogy research.

Each volumes of the series does the following:

• Identifies the parish where an ancestor worshipped based on where they lived.
• Gives the FHL microfilm number for the family’s parish records.
• Identifies nearly every city, town, and place that included residents.
• Visually identifies church parishes for Lutherans & Catholics in each district.
• Identifies adjoining parishes in case an ancestor attended an alternate parish.
• Aids in area searches, particularly across district or regional borders.
• Provides visual identification of search areas in which to look for a family.
• Helps in determining proximity of one area to another.
• Aids in determining reasonable distances of travel from one area to another.
• Identifies population centers in each parish.
• Identifies archives, repositories, and other resources.
• Aids in identification of the location of minority religions.

For deatils and an every-place index, see: http://www.familyrootspublishing.com/store/product_view.php?id=16

I see that NBC has a website posted their new “Who Do You Think You Are? series which premieres on March 5. If this doesn’t get you excited about the upcoming series, nothing will.

It includes a terrific video promoting the program. I think you’ll like it. And yes, the video is preceded by one of those irritating video ads…

And Megan just tweeted that she’s now gotten a copy of a new companion book that she’s written for the series… Cool…

Hold your curser over the illustration of Josh Taylor and Sarah Jessica Parker on the left for a bit of “Who Do You Think You Are? trivia. Then click on it to see the video.

The following news release was received from Tom Champoux, Marketing Director, New England Historic Genealogical Society:

Click on the illustration to see it at the NEHGS website.