Let Freedom Ring
Pearl Street Software is giving you free access to several databases in its Family Tree Legends Records Collection. Those include:
You already could search this data for free on various Web sites, but you might have better luck with Pearl Street's user-friendly interface, multiple search fields and quick results. The University of Kentucky's death index search (http://ukcc.uky.edu/~vitalrec),
for example, offers just two search options and can be slow to return matches. Pearl Street's California search lets you specify exact birth and death dates; RootsWeb's (http://vitals.rootsweb.com/ca/death/search.cgi)
limits you to a year—but RootsWeb lets you add the mother's maiden name. VitalSearch (http://www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com) offers an index to California deaths and Texas births, but that site can
be difficult to use, as we point out in the June 2005 Family Tree Magazine.
Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com) subscribers will find the California and Texas databases in the site's $79.95-per-year US Records Collection.
Certification Modification
The Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG), a group that bestows professional certifications upon genealogists who satisfy a list of requirements, is changing the credentials it offers. It consolidated three certification categories—Certified
Genealogical Records Specialist, Certified Lineage Specialist and Certified Genealogist—into one called Certified Genealogist. (You might see a CG after the name of a qualified researcher.)
Incoming BCG president Connie Lenzen says the group changed the categories because all three designations required the same skills, just in different areas, and the distinctions among the categories weren't always clear.
"We expect that the public can now more easily hire a certified [genealogist] without being concerned about the differences," Lenzen said. For more information and a database of certified genealogists, see the BCG Web site at http://www.bcgcertification.org.
Cultural Fusion
Jewish genealogists in Arizona are getting a new resource: The Jewish Heritage Center of the Southwest in Tucson, Ariz., results from a merger of the 95-year-old Historic Stone Avenue Temple—home to the region's first synagogue—and the Jewish
Historical Society of Southern Arizona (JHSSA).
Visitors still can tour the restored building and attend cultural events there, but the thrust of the new center's focus will be online. During the next five years, staff members will collect and digitize historic collections for a virtual museum. Executive
Director Eileen Warshaw says the center's goal is to complete the museum for the historic temple's centennial in 2010.
Collections to be digitized include JHSSA archives, private papers and the University of Arizona's Southwest Jewish Archives (http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/bloom). The Center also will collect documents
and oral histories through the university's Arizona Center for Judaic Studies (http://fp.arizona.edu/judaic).
Digitization hasn't begun, but you can see the temple's Web site at http://www.stoneavenuetemple.org.
Lights ... Cameras...
While you're leaf-peeping this fall, stop by the nearest Civil War battlefield site and take a picture—your snapshot could win you a prize from the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT; http://www.cwpt.org) and The
History Channel (http://www.historychannel.com).
A grand-prize winner gets a free registration to the CWPT's annual conference; first-place winners in six categories receive $250 each. Runners-up will receive gift certificates for CWPT and The History Channel merchandise. You must be an amateur photographer
to enter, and unless you're already a CWPT member, you'll also have to pay a $20 fee (it includes a half-year membership). The contest deadline is Nov. 30. See http://www.civilwar.org/photocontestrules.htm
for details.
Photo Site-ings
I've written many times about the value of joining state and county historical societies in the areas where your ancestors lived. And here I go again. Why? Because most historical societies serve as repositories for unique collections found nowhere
else—collections that may or may not involve your ancestor, but certainly include information about the time period when your family lived.
Continue reading at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/ancestornews/current.html.
AncestorNews columnist Nancy Hendrickson is the author of Finding Your Roots Online, on sale now at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/store/display.asp?id=70583.
Browse
past AncestorNews columns at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/ancestornews/previous.html.
Maps Quest
This week's tip is excerpted from Melinda Kashuba's list of 10 terrific mapping sites in the December 2005 Family Tree Magazine:
Puzzled how to pinpoint the location of a township and range description you found on a deed or land patent? The Graphical Locator for 17 Western States (http://www.esg.montana.edu/gl/trs-data.html)
will plot them for you if the land is in Arkansas, Arizona, California, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington or Wyoming. Results include links to topographic maps and aerial photographs
on TerraServer (http://www.terraserver-usa.com).
Do you have a great idea for discovering, preserving or
celebrating family history? E-mail us your tip at
ftmnews-editor@fwpubs.com with "TIP OF THE WEEK"
in the subject line. If we publish it, you'll win a free
copy of Walking with Your Ancestors
by Melinda Kashuba, also available for purchase online at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/store/display.asp?id=70683.
Overwhelmed by the number of family history-related Web sites popping up? FamilyTreeMagazine.com sorts through them all—whew!—to bring you only the very best. We recently recommended the following as Sites of the Week:
•
The New Georgia Encyclopedia
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Home.jsp
Search categories such as The Arts, Folklife, Media and Religion in this digital library. You also can browse by author, article and forthcoming articles.
•
Western Maryland's Historical Library
http://www.whilbr.org
This site offers an array of resources for research in Allegany, Garrett and Washington counties. Find lists of Confederate soldiers' burial places, country juries, a mining company's payroll and much more.
•
Celebrate Your Heritage
http://genealogy.about.com/library/blfamilyhistorymonth.htm
Get ideas for Family History Month projects such as heritage wreaths, photograph preservation and family memory digitization.
•
Luxembourg GEDCOM Project
http://www.duprel.com/luxgedcomfamilies/gedcompage1.html
This Web site gathers GEDCOMS on Luxembourgers and their descendants.
Mystery Trio
This is one of the photographs Rosemary U'ren's uncle Frank left unlabeled. Rosemary doesn't know who these adorable children are or when their picture was taken, but she has a few ideas.
Who are these cherubs? Continue reading at http://www.
familytreemagazine.com/
photos/current.htm.
In this Web-exclusive column, expert photo historian Maureen A. Taylor helps readers analyze old family pictures. If you have a family photo mystery for Taylor to solve, check out our submission guidelines at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/photohelp.htm.
Conroe, Texas
Emily Anne Croom
Nov. 7
Montgomery County
Genealogical and Historical Society Workshop
- Topic: Proof and the Paper Trail
For more information, call (936)-273-1569.
Austin, Texas
Emily Anne Croom
Nov. 12
Austin Genealogical Society Workshop
Topics:
- Old Dominion Research: Our Virginia Ancestors
- The Other Half of the Story: Researching Female Ancestors
For more information, contact Pat Oxley at pat@theoxleys.com
Adare, County Limerick,
Ireland
Sharon DeBartolo Carmack and James W. Warren
April 8-15, 2006
Enchanting Ireland and Your Irish Genealogy: Family History Writer's Retreat in Ireland
Topics:
- Writing Your Family History in Small, Manageable Pieces
- Getting Your Writing Project Started
- Writing About Life in Ireland
- Writing About the Irish Emigrant Experience
- Writing About Arrival in America, Canada or Australia
- Continuing Your Writing at Home
- Plus writers' discussion groups, individual writing time, one-on-one consulations, group tours, visits to historic sites that provide context to your family's history, and more.
Register by Nov. 30, 2005 to receive a discount. For more information, see http://www.enchantingireland.com or http://www.youririshgenealogy.com.
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