We're back from the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference in Salt Lake City—we enjoyed meeting the Family Tree Magazine readers (and future readers) who stopped by our booth to pick up free magazines and other giveaways (the handy wallet-size
magnifiers were quite popular). See our conference report below.
The winner of our drawing for $200 worth of free Family Tree Books is Gail Heideman of Libertyville, Ill. Gail, you may have had a relative at the conference: A woman who heard your name over
the loudspeaker sped over and breathlessly asked if you'd already retrieved your books. Learning you hadn't, she wrote a note, which we enclosed in your prize shipment. We'd love to hear if you're long-lost cousins!
This edition of the E-mail Update also brings news on how several Gulf Coast libraries and historic sites (including some listed in the April 2005 Family Tree Magazine Louisiana research guide) weathered Hurricane Katrina. To our readers who've
been affected by this storm: We're thinking of you and wishing the best for all of you.
—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.
FGS Conference Roundup
Last week's Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS; http://www.fgs.
org) annual conference was in the heart of US genealogical research: Salt Lake City, home to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' Family
History Library (FHL; http://www.familysearch.org)—which extended its hours during the event. Around 1,400 people attended, a number likely buoyed by residents of the family history-minded city. Following
are this year's conference highlights—and it's not too early to start planning for next year's extravaganza Aug. 30-Sept. 2 in Boston:
• The FHL (shown) announced plans to index the microfilmed records in its Granite Mountain Vault and put the indexes online. The secure, climate-controlled bunker, carved from a mountain in Utah's Little
Cottonwood
Canyon, stores 2 million rolls of film bearing records of 110 countries. The library needs help from an estimated 100,000 volunteers by the end of 2006 to create the indexes using a new online system. At the FGS conference, FHL staff offered a sneak peek
of the system and recruited volunteers to test it on records from Georgia, Ohio and Mexico. When the actual indexing gets underway, says FamilySearch spokesperson Paul Nauta, the microfilms genealogists most often request will be top priority. He adds the
FHL isn't yet ready for an influx of volunteers. Stay tuned to the E-mail Update newsletter—we'll let you know when you can sign up to help. (On another note, pop over to FamilySearch and check out its redesigned home page.)
• This fall, MyFamily.com will improve its subscription database site Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com) with features including a Recent Activity section
(so you can pick up a research session where you left off), better-integrated saving of search results, a new community section and more. According to MyFamily.com, the updates result from 18 months of surveying customers.
• As we mentioned in the Sept. 1 E-mail Update, which you can read at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/newsletter/archive.html,
several genealogy software companies unveiled new versions at the FGS conference: Family Tree Maker (http://www.familytreemaker.
com), Legacy Family Tree (http://www.legacyfamilytree.
com)
and RootsMagic (http://rootsmagic.com). Add The Master Genealogist to that list—see http://www.whollygenes.com/tmg.htm to learn about the program's improved look,
DNA test result
logging and easier data entry.
• In other software news: Producers of GenSmarts (http://www.
gensmarts.com), which offers research guidance based on information in your genealogy program,
have increased the utility's knowledge base with titles from the FHL's US film and book collection. Now GenSmarts can look at dates and locations in your family files and suggest FHL resources for you to consult. Progeny Software (http://www.progenysoftware.com)
has updated its Personal Ancestral File Charting Companion with colored charts. FamilyKey, a new program for creating family history Web sites, is in beta testing—you can preview it at http://www.familykey.com.
• If you're interested in using DNA in your roots research, or you're in charge of a surname project, you'll want to meet a new kid on the block: The International Society of Genetic Genealogy is
a free educational group that offers networking and resources. We especially like the DNA testing company comparison charts on its Web site, http://www.isogg.org.
Weathering the Storm
As Gulf Coast communities pick up the pieces Hurricane Katrina left behind, librarians and archivists are scrambling to contact colleagues and check on their facilities any way they can—often with aerial photos on CNN or police-escorted visits.
You can follow their reports at http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/hurricanekatrinanews/katrinanews.htm (for libraries) and http://www.aam-us.org/aamlatest/news/
HurricaneFirstReports.cfm
(for museums). Here's a sampling of their accounts:
- The New Orleans Public Library (NOPL) main branch fared relatively well—except for its Technology Center, water damage was minor. There were no signs of looting. The basement, which houses most of the New Orleans archives plus Orleans Parish 19th-
and early 20th-century civil and criminal court records, wasn't flooded. NOPL's Web site (http://www.nutrias.org) is out of commission, though, and about half of its 11 branch libraries are full of water.
- Staff of the Historic New Orleans Collection (http://www.hnoc.org), a museum and library complex in the historic French Quarter, were relieved to discover the buildings sustained little damage.
- Tulane University endured what president Scott Cowen called "manageable" damage, but the school won't hold a fall semester. The main library appears undamaged, but the status of half a million books in an off-site storage facility is unknown. A scaled-down
version of the university Web site—minus the library
pages—is available at http://tulane.edu.
- Beauvoir, the Biloxi, Miss., home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis, was heavily damaged and many structures on the property were demolished. Some artifacts and documents are salvageable. See photos at http://www.beauvoir.org.
- At least 20 percent of the Gulf Coast's Catholic churches were destroyed, and with them, an unknown number of baptism, marriage and other religious records.
Some of the region's surviving libraries have turned themselves into communication centers for hurricane victims. They're making computers available so evacuees can search for loved ones and apply for government aid, providing storytimes and toys for children,
delivering books and magazines to shelters, and gathering clothing and toiletries to give the newly homeless.
Rebuilding people's lives comes first, but as the National Trust for Historic Preservation (http://www.nationaltrust.org) points out, it's not too soon to think about rebuilding historic sites and cultural institutions. You can donate to the trust, which
will award grants for recovery efforts, through its Web site. The Northeast Document Conservation Center has donation information (http://www.nedcc.org/news/hurricane.htm; scroll to the bottom) for library and museum recovery efforts. To give to the Red
Cross,
visit http://www.redcross.org.
Free Ride
MyFamily.com's British-records subscription database, Ancestry.co.uk (http://www.
ancestry.co.uk), is offering free access to its 1901 UK Census Index until Sept. 30. You'll need to sign up for a free registration
to search the index, which contains more than 32 million names of people in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
For more help finding British ancestors, see the April 2005 Family Tree Magazine, available at FamilyTreeMagazine.com (http://www.familytreemagazine.com/mags).
Happily Ever After
As you've probably discovered in your own research, sometimes the only way to solve a research problem is to use the genealogy version of a back door. For me, this meant tracking down families who married into my family—and then researching
that allied family's roots.
One of my major research achievements was the "recovery" of a lost line, accomplished by finding a marriage record and then using that record to trace the bride's family back another few generations until I found my own family again.
Continue reading at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/ancestornews/current.html.
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.
Be first to check out these articles on our Web site:
Waiting Game
Q. My ancestor Thomas Goodrich is listed in Madison County, Ky., in the 1840 US census. I plugged "Madison County, Kentucky" into the Family History Library (FHL) catalog's (http://www.familysearch.org)
Place Search and I have three pages of books and microfilms I'd like to glance at or at least see indexes to. Is there a quicker way to view these sources than ordering film through an FHL branch Family History Center (FHC) and scrolling through the films
by hand after paying and waiting for them to arrive?
A.
Waiting is difficult, especially when family history information is at stake. But try to be patient. The FHL's $3.25 microfilm borrowing fee covers only its shipping and copying costs. Plus, even a four- to six-week turnaround might
beat the alternative of traveling to a far-off archive or foraging in a dusty basement to track down the record yourself. (FHL books usually don't circulate; see below for suggestions on getting the information you need.)
Still, you may be able to get your hands on records sooner. Try these options:
- Carefully evaluate your list, perhaps with help from an FHC volunteer, and re-examine the FHL catalog listing for each item. You may be able to eliminate some books or films that have identical information or don't cover the right place and time. Prioritize
what's left and request the most promising recources first.
- If you need only a few pages from a book or a few frames of microfilm, you can request photocopies from the FHL for $2 each. Use the library's Request for Photocopies form (from FamilySearch, click Family History Library, then Services).
- Search the catalog of your local public library—it may have copies of the film and books on your list. Try university and historical society libraries, too.
- Search catalogs of other large public libraries, such as Indiana's Allen County Public Library (http://www.acpl.lib.in.us). When you find a match, record the catalog listing information and take it to your library.
A librarian may be able to request the book or film through Interlibrary Loan.
- Look in the FHL catalog Notes field to see where the item came from. The FHL may have copied its film from another repository's film, or sent workers to microfilm documents at a courthouse or state archives. You may be able to access the film or records
you need at the original institution.
- See whether another online or printed resource has the index, book or record image you need. The Family Tree Sourcebook, a September 2005 special issue of Family Tree Magazine, lists free and paid sources for all types of records.
FHC staff or a genealogy librarian also may be able to recommend resources.
Keep several irons in your research fire so you can stay busy if you have to wait for microfilm. Check your to-do list to see what else you can accomplish—maybe there's another record to search for or a cemetery to visit. Read up on local history and
create a timeline of events in your relatives' lives. Consider starting research on a sibling or another family branch. The film will arrive before you know it.
—Diane Haddad
Diane Haddad is editor of the Family Tree Magazine E-Mail Update newsletter. Read more Q&A with the experts at
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/nowwhatonline/previous.html.
When the Worst Happens
Maureen A. Taylor, expert photo historian and author of Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs, 2nd ed., helps readers analyze old family pictures in this
Web-exclusive column. This week, she gives guidelines for salvaging water-damaged photographs.
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.
Lake Jackson, Texas
Emily Anne Croom
Sept. 13
Brazosport Genealogical Society Workshop
- Topic: An Entertaining Look at Genealogy
For more information, e-mail rander@allusaonline.com.
Colorado Springs, Colo.
Sharon DeBartolo Carmack and James W. Warren
Sept. 17
Pikes Peak Genealogical Society Seminar
Topics:
- The Silent Woman: Bringing a Name to Life
- Cryptic Clues in the Bone Yard
For more information, e-mail Ruth Christian, RMHChrist@aol.com.
Naperville, Ill.
John Philip Colletta
Sept. 24
Fox Valley Genealogical Society Fall Conference
Topic: More Excellent Adventures in Genealogy with John Philip Colletta
For more information, see http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilfvgs/index.htm.
Mesquite, Texas
Emily Anne Croom
Sept. 24
Mesquite Historical & Genealogical Society workshop
Topics:
- Genealogy in the Urban South
- The Other Half of the Story: Researching Female Ancestors
- Old Dominion Research: Our Virginia Ancestors
- Sifting Through the Ashes: Research in Burned Counties
For more information, e-mail dladymon@flash.net.
Moorhead, Minn.
Rick Crume
Oct. 1
Minnesota State University Moorhead, 30th Annual Family History Workshop
Topics:
- Commercial Genealogy Databases: Should I Subscribe?
- Immigration & Naturalization Records Online
For more information, see http://www.mnstate.edu/heritage/FHW30.htm.
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RootsMagic Genealogy Software - "An excellent choice for any genealogist" says Family Tree Magazine. Get a free trial copy at http://www.RootsMagic.com
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