For $subst('Recip.EmailAddr') June 22, 2006 Boy, did the questions roll in after last newsletter’s article about ProQuest’s (http://www.proquest.com) discontinuation of remote Internet access to HeritageQuest Online databases through genealogical society Web sites. Some answers: Q. I’ve heard MyFamily.com owns ProQuest. Does this have anything to do with that? A. MyFamily.com, the parent company of subscription sites Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com, does not own ProQuest. The two companies do have a business relationship, though: ProQuest leases Ancestry Library Edition, MyFamily.com’s libraries-only subscription service, for distribution to libraries. Q. So I’ll have to visit a library to use HeritageQuest Online now? A. Not necessarily. ProQuest’s recent decision affects only genealogical societies; libraries still can choose to offer members remote access to HeritageQuest Online. Around 4,400 libraries in all 50 states and Puerto Rico do so. You may have free or low-cost access through a public, university or state library. Q. How do I know where to find access? A. ProQuest doesn’t publish a list of subscribing libraries offering remote access to HeritageQuest Online—that’s because even benevolent institutions such as libraries compete with each other for business. But genealogists have contributed to a partial list at http://www.eogen.com/HeritageQuestOnline. You also can check Web sites of nearby libraries or call and ask. Look for library contact information at http://www.libdex.com. Read on for more of the latest news in genealogy. —Diane Haddad, Newsletter Editor ftmnews-editor@fwpubs.com P.S. Make sure you don't miss a single issue of your E-mail Update! Add our address (familytree-newsletter@fwpubs.com) to your email-address book—your software will recognize the Update as an e-mail you want to read. Second to None Lab Test Smarty Kat AncestorNews: Exploring Swiss Roots Tip of the Week: Free Advice Worthwhile Web Sites Identifying Family Photographs: Funny Faces Speakers' Schedule Advertiser Special Offers Second to None Genealogists weren’t shy about flocking to Chi-town for the National Genealogical Society’s (NGS; http://www.ngsgenealogy.org) 2006 Conference in the States June 7-10: More than 1,300 ancestor seekers attended the annual confab—held at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in suburban Chicago—to get genealogy instruction, catch up on the latest products and hobnob with fellow family history enthusiasts. The turnout topped 2005 participation by roughly a third: good news for NGS, which had suffered slipping conference attendance in recent years. It also meant a good-sized audience for Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein, who delivered the conference’s opening remarks. Crowds cruising the exhibit hall caught wind of several new products, innovations and industry partnerships during the four-day event. Among them: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints demonstrated the software developed for its much-hyped FamilySearch Indexing effort (http://www.familysearchindexing.org). Announced last fall, the endeavor aims to index the millions of records in its Salt Lake City-based Family History Library. The program lets volunteer indexers download batches of records and transcribe them in a spreadsheet-style interface. It’s designed to make the work easy and speedy: For example, as you tab between data-entry fields, the top portion of the screen “highlights” the corresponding section of the record you’re transcribing. Seven projects are underway so far, but participation isn’t yet open to the masses: If you’d like to get involved, organizers advise you to contact one of the groups already spearheading projects—or encourage your genealogical society to head up a project. In related news, one conference presentation previewed forthcoming changes to the church’s FamilySearch genealogy Web site at http://www.familysearch.org. Currently, the site serves up information in multiple databases, such as the International Genealogical Index and Ancestral File. The new interface will combine existing data—plus data submitted in the future—into a single searchable system. The biggest benefit to site visitors: This new system will group all the information on one ancestor together, so you don’t have to comb each database separately. The church plans to roll out the new system for selected groups by the end of this year; it won’t be available to the general public for at least two years. Another program has joined the genealogy software crowd: PedigreeSoft (http://www.pedigreesoft.com) is a Web-based tool that works much like traditional desktop family tree programs. Pricing varies from $39.95 to $99.95 depending on how many databases, individual entries and MB of storage you need. You can try the free basic package (allowing one file with up to 50 people and 10MB storage) to get a feel for its features. Ordnance Survey Ireland, the Irish national mapping agency, previewed its online Historical Mapping Archive. Billed as the most comprehensive collection of Irish cartography from 1837 to 1913, the site will offer subscription and pay-as-you-go access to its highly detailed digitized maps when the full set launches in August—for now, you can view samples at http://www.irishhistoricmaps.ie. Periodical purveyor Everton Publishers and FamilyToolbox.net, operator of Sources2Go and other Web sites, each unveiled plans for new Internet services—see below for details. Next year’s conference will take place in Richmond, Va., May 16-19. Watch the NGS Web site for more information. —Allison Stacy Lab Test A new subscription database service (and potential competitor to Ancestry.com) is on the horizon: Last week, Internet business incubator Provo Labs (http://www.provolabs.com) announced a partnership with Everton Publishers, creator of books and the recently resurrected Everton’s Genealogical Helper magazine. Provo Labs, which was formed by MyFamily.com founder Paul Allen (he left that company in February 2002), will revitalize WorldVitalRecords.com with additional resources including international records, blogs, podcasts and user-generated content. Researchers will be able to use Provo Labs’ proprietary PlugNSearch tool to comb Everton’s online library for historical, biographical and geographical information. The publisher’s online library contains the books, genealogical charts and records originally held old bricks-and-mortar library; the company donated that collection to the city of Logan, Utah, after financial difficulties forced a reorganization in 2004.   Smarty Kat The webmasters of the free records site Sources2Go (http://www.sources2go.com) will debut a subscription database service called HistoryKat July 1. “HistoryKat is more than just genealogical sources—it also includes general historical sources,” says Webmaster Matthew Helm. The site will start with four collections, many of which overlap the offerings at Sources2Go. But HistoryKat, says Helm, contains “images that will not be available on Sources2Go.com, as well as some indexes.” HistoryKat will launch with: Illinois territorial and state censuses from 1810 to 1865 US military records including War of 1812 bounty-land warrants, directories of officers from the Revolution to 1909, and Eaton's Compilation of battles from the end of the Revolution to the beginning of the Mexican War US postal records including postmaster appointments (1789 to 1832), separated letter-carriers (1863 to 1899); substitute clerks (1899 to 1905); and more Directories of US government employees beginning in the early 19th century HistoryKat’s content won’t be fully searchable: The site will catalog some content by document title; it will index the names within other records. “Each group of images within a collection will be labeled as to whether it is indexed or browsable,” says Helm. For indexed content, you’ll be able to search individual record groups rather than entire collections. “For example,” Helm explains, “instead of a search for the entire US Military Collection, the search will be for War of 1812 Military Bounty Land Warrants.” Helm says he’ll add more collections in the future, concentrating on state and territorial census records. The annual subscription cost will be $19.95 to $24.95 per collection. Sources2Go will stay as is, though additions will likely slow as HistoryKat gets up and running. Exploring Swiss Roots In a past issue of this newsletter, I wrote about finding a book that traced my Shore family from Muttenz, Switzerland, to their new American home. Since that time, I’ve gotten more curious about Swiss genealogy, so went exploring the Internet to see what resources are available.  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. Free Advice This tip comes from the June 2006 Family Tree Magazine: For thorough instruction on researching roots in various locales, the Research Guides at FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org) are hard to beat. On the home page, look under Get Started With Family History and click Guides, then click Research Helps. Use the alphabetical index to find the guide you need and click its title. 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: A Genalogist’s Guide to Using Maps and Geography 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: •  Immigrant Ancestors Project http://immigrants.byu.edu Use this database to search millions of immigrant records. Ancestors listed are mainly of British, French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish heritage. Search by name, year, event type and place. • Missouri Death Certificates http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/deathcertificates Search Show Me State death certificates from 1910 to 1955 on this Web site. Results link to digital images of the records. • Dutch City Maps From Blaeu's Toonneel der Steden http://grid.let.rug.nl/~welling/maps/blaeu.html View colorful and detailed city maps from 1652 Holland. You might just find an image depicting the streets your ancestors trod. • New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/search.htm Discover your ancestors down under with this site's birth, death and marriage indexes dating from the 1780s to the 1970s. You can search by name, parents' names, years and district. Funny Faces Carla North’s great-grandfather Anton Ginsbach owned a billard saloon in Asotin, Wash., in the 1890s. She’d like to know if this photo fits that time period, and if any of the men pictured could be him. Figure it out with expert photo historian Maureen A. Taylor at http://www.familytreemagazine. com/photos/current.htm. If you have a family photo mystery for Taylor to solve, check out our Submission Guidelines at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/photohelp.htm. Des Moines, Iowa James Beidler June 24 Iowa Genealogical Society German Interest Group Annual Seminar Topic: German and Pennsylvania Genealogy For more information, see http://www.iowagenealogy.org. Richmond, Va. Maureen A. Taylor June 24-25 Palatines to America Conference Topics: Identifying and Dating Family Photographs Preserving Your Family Photographs Reading Immigrant Clues in Photographs For more information, see http://www.palam.org. Moorhead, Minn. Rick Crume July 17 Moorhead Public Library Class Topic: Trace Your Family Tree Online For more information, see http://www.larl.org/branch/moorhead.html. Lufkin, Texas Emily Anne Croom July 21-22 Angelina College Genealogy Conference Topics: Location, Location, Location: Using Maps in Genealogy Lost in 1890? What to Do When the Census is Missing It's Not a Brick Wall Until... Gooly Girl and Fryed Ham: Building Your Case: A Genealogist's Tool Kit For more information, see http://www.angelina.edu/genealogy.htm. PUBLISH YOUR FAMILY HISTORY.  Preserve and share your precious family research.  Personal coaching.  Many options.  www.GatewayPress.com RootsMagic Genealogy Software - "An excellent choice for any genealogist" says Family Tree Magazine. Get a free trial copy at http://www.RootsMagic.com GenSmarts Automated Genealogy Research - finds missed research opportunities.  Free trial at http://www.GenSmarts.com/ftmagDeals.asp DNA can help your genealogy research. There are good reasons why 9 out of 10 genealogists choose Family Tree DNA: we have the largest database in the world to match your sample with others to find a relationship our scientists are the top in this field and developed the right tests that will help your genealogy. Get Family Tree Magazine back issues at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/mags. Explore Family Tree Magazine E-mail Update past issues at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/newsletter/archive.html. Get free Family Tree News Service articles for your genealogy newsletter or Web site at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/ftns-subscribe.asp. Sponsor This Newsletter For information on sponsoring this newsletter or to receive a rate card, e-mail kworkman@longshoremedia.com You have received this e-mail because you expressed interest in receiving updates about genealogy and genealogy products from Family Tree Magazine and Betterway Books by e-mail. Thanks for your subscription! 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