Archive for August, 2008

Genetic Genealogy

The ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy) is a non-commercial non-profit organization. There are NO dues or fees to join, it is entirely self-supporting by its members founded in 2005.

“The mission of the International Society of Genetic Genealogy is to advocate for and educate about the use of genetics as a tool for genealogical research, and promote a supportive network for genetic genealogists.“

They offer forums & message boards, event schedules, books and informative articles, newsletters, DNA tools and a link to surname projects currently in process.

If you are interested in learning more about Genetic Genealogy this is a great site to get started. To find out more go to: ISOGG.org

Filed under: - DNA/Genetic Genealogy | , , , , |No Comments

FamilySearch Update: 9 Million New Records Plus New Indexing Projects

FamilySearch has updated or added three new free databases this week to its online pilot program at http://pilot.familysearch.org. The new additions represent over 9 million new names.  There are now over 477 million searchable names on the pilot site.

Current indexing projects include the 1920 U.S Census, 1869 Argentina Census, 1930 Mexico Census, 1945 Florida State Census, Louisiana Deaths, German Church Records, Italy Church Records, Spain Church Records, Venezuela Church Records, and Nicaragua Civil Registration Records.

Newly-added records include:

1870 U.S. Federal Census

Thirteen  new states and almost 9 million names were added to the free 1870 U.S. Census index online. Indexes are now available for Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Dakota Territory, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming. Digital images can be searched for all states except Kentucky, Vermont, and Virginia.

West Virginia Births Index

A searchable name index for West Virginia Births for 1853 to 1930 has been added. This project includes 220,000 names and is 76% complete. For a list of counties indexed in the collection to-date, see the project description at http://pilot.famlysearch.org.  No images currently.

West Virginia Deaths Index

The West Virginia Deaths Index 1853 to 1870 is now available online. Over 266,00 names were added, and it is 80% complete. This is an index of both statewide and county death records. A link to digital images on the West Virginia Division of Culture and History website is provided from the index.

The following article is from Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com

Filed under: US Federal, West Virginia | , , |No Comments

Advances in High-Tech Scanning to Help the Genealogical World

As genealogists it is important to always be thinking “outside the box” as it relates to our love, hobby and obsession.

The Jerusalem AP announced this past week that with the help of new very advanced scanning they will be able to bring the Dead Sea Scrolls to the public in a way never though of before.

What makes this incredibly exciting is how the advancement of this technology will bring so many old records to life that many of us use in our research.  While the scrolls themselves may or may not hold any genealogical information,  the advancement of the digitization techniques that many services offer on the internet for old documents will benefit greatly and so will we in our research in the future.

To read the full article go to: CNN Dead Sea Scrolls

Filed under: Industry News | , , |No Comments

FamilyLink.com Continues Growing WebTree.com

At the beginning of August FamilyLink.com launched its new site WebTree.com
This site provides a free place for you to share, store and manipulate your personal family tree online and all
submissions will also be indexed on WorldVitalRecords.com and remain available at no cost.

This is the statement that I like the best.. directly from their site.
“If you’ll kindly consider contributing your data, know that
WebTree.com is committed to respecting your hard work. Here
is our commitment to you:
* An absolute truth: You own your data. WebTree.com
respects the hard work you’ve put into your family history
and we’re not about to take that away from you. You can
delete your file at any time, no questions asked. Also,
WebTree.com will never sell your data or burn it to CD.
We’re looking to build the most respectful family tree
publishing site on the Internet and it starts with
respecting our users! At any time, should you change your
mind about contributing your data, you can remove it with
just a few clicks.”

For me personally, when I first got started I was appalled when in an attempt to help others I uploaded my gedcom only to have the information I shared copied onto CD’s and SOLD.

Perhaps in my naivety I did not do my due diligence but I like that this site puts it right out there.
I also like that you can upload GEDCOM’s. There are some other public sites out there that are very pretty, but do not allow this making a family tree of 18,000 (which mine is) a bit cumbersome to enter into their sites.
The site also has the ability to embed your tree in your website or blog. Now thats REALLY nice.
The interface is a tad slow, but being a new site I know they probably werent expecting this kind of response so are probably feverishly working on this.

I would encourage you to take a look, do a free search or two and see if this is something that can move your research forward… or just be a fun diversion from all that “tedious” research we all get buried in.

I expect good things to come from this site.

Filed under: Industry News | |1 Comment

Obitlinkspage.com Announced Re-Design and Re-Launch of Website

San Francisco, CA, August 21, 2008 –(PR.com)– Today, Obitlinkspage.com, a leading website focused on obituaries and obituary related information for the genealogy community, announced the availability of its completely redesigned website, www.ObitLinksPage.com. The site has been featured on MSNBC and received numerous accolades as a comprehensive genealogy resource.
Obituary Links Page was originally created by prominent genealogist Bill Cribbs of GenealogyBuff.com. Obitlinkspage.com began as a categorized directory of obituaries and obituary related collections and resources and later expanded to include links to other types of vital records. Bill states,

“The newly-designed ObitLinksPage.com is well-done, comfortable for the researcher’s eyes. This is sure to increase its value to the online researching community!”

Obitlinkspage.com is proud to offer the enhanced format to further increase the site’s value as a quality, free source for obituaries and death records.

For more information, please visit http://www.obitlinkspage.com.

Contact Information obitlinkspage.com
Duncan Sanchez
4155785450
info@obitlinkspage.com
www.obitlinkspage.com

Filed under: - Obituary Research | , , , , , , , |No Comments

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