• Military records and rosters
• Court and tax records
• Manuscripts and state-specific collections
• State archives resources

Wednesday, May 15, 2013 4:26:49 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• how to navigate the redesigned FamilySearch.org

• the best search strategies for FamilySearch.org's free genealogy records databases

• how to find and use the genealogy records databases that aren't covered by the FamilySearch.org global search

• differences between the site's new Family Tree program and its user-submitted Genealogies

• how to access FamilySearch records that aren't online

• how to take advantage of FamilySearch.org's genealogy help features

• ... and more

Wednesday, May 01, 2013 10:53:56 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• take you on a tour of unique record sets including court records, tax records, military rosters and more.
• show you how to navigate the Illinois State Archives
• share resources for cluster and collateral searches in Illinois
• offer advice on the  Illinois research problems from webinar attendees (submit questions in advance or during the webinar)

Tuesday, April 02, 2013 1:49:21 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• Almost 3.5 million Irishmen entered the United States between 1820 and 1880. Most stayed in large East Coast cities, partly because they couldn't afford to continue west and partly because they could create close-knit communities with others from their place of origin.

• In 1847, the first major year of famine emigration, 37,000 Irish Catholics arrived in Boston, according to the History Place, where they packed into slums. A sobering statistic from the site: "Sixty percent of Irish children born in Boston during this period didn't live to see their sixth birthday. Adult Irish lived on average just six years after stepping off the boat."

• The same year, about 52,000 Irish arrived in New York City. About 650,000 Irish arrived there during the entire Famine period.
  

• About 11.9 percent of the US population reported Irish ancestry as part of the Census Bureau's American Community Survey in 2008, making this the country's second-largest heritage group.

• Griffith's Valuation: Ask About Ireland has a free search of Griffith's Primary Valuation, a valuation of property in Ireland between 1847 and 1864. It's an important resource for 19th-century Irish research, especially given the destruction of census records from that era. The March/April 2013 Family Tree Magazine has a tutorial for this site.

• Census of Ireland, 1901 and 1911: The National Archives of Ireland offers these censuses for free, along with a trove of historical information. Our video class will show you how to mine the clues in these censuses, even if your ancestors left Ireland before 1901. 
  

• findmypast.ie: This new subscription site (with a pay-as-you-go option) has records of births, marriages and deaths (aka BMDs); courts and prisons; military; immigration; land and estates; as well as newspapers, directories and Griffith's Valuation.
  

• Information Wanted: Also free is this database of "missing friends" from the Boston Pilot newspaper, which published notices from those looking for lost friends from Ireland. The column ran from 1831 to 1921; this site has 1831 to 1893 plus 1901 and 1913.

• Irish Genealogy: This site from the Irish Minister of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is dedicated to Irish genealogy and genealogical tourism. You can search nearly 3 million pre-1900 church records free, and view the actual record if it's been digitized.
  

• Ancestry.com: Subscription site Ancestry.com has Irish records including Griffith's Valuation, tithe applotment books (a tax paid to the Church of Ireland from 1823 to 1837), Ordnance Survey maps, BMDs and more.
  
  
• FamilySearch: Free Irish record collections here include civil registration indexes, prison registers, tithe applotment books and more.
  

• NARA: Passenger Lists: The National Archives' Access to Archival Databases has passenger indexes including Records for Passengers Who Arrived at the Port of New York During the Irish Famine. It covers 1846 to 1851 and lists people of all nationalities, not just Irish.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013 8:21:54 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• tricks for reading German script and type
• resources for building your vocabulary of German terms and deciphering abbreviations
• a methodology for solving the quirks of the printed Gothic/Fraktur typeface
• strategies for transcribing and translating the handwritten German cursive script

Wednesday, February 27, 2013 10:23:54 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• Basic and Advanced Google search techniques to hone in on your family (even if they had a common name)
• How to set up timesaving Google Alerts
• How to use Google Scholar, Google Patent and other tools to find genealogy information
• How to leap language barriers with Language Tools
• ... and more

Tuesday, February 12, 2013 11:02:33 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center, which destroyed most records for Army personnel discharged from 1912 to 1960, and air force personnel discharged from 1947 to 1964
• privacy restrictions for post-WWI soldiers
• service in a lesser-known war, without widely available or publicized records
  
• service during peacetime, rather than a specific war
• several similarly named soldiers, any one of which could be your relative (at $80 a pop, you won't be ordering that pension unless you know it belongs to your guy)
• a POW
• a female ancestor in the Army Nurse Corps, Cadet Nurse Corps, Women Airforce Service Pilots or other unit
• ... or you just don't know what records are available with regard to your ancestor's military service, or how to get them

• Date: Wednesday, Feb. 20
• Starting time: 7pm EST (that's 6pm CST, 5pm MST and 4pm PST)
• Duration: 1 hour
• Registration: $49.99 (but save $10 if you register before Feb. 13)
• Includes: participation in the live event, the ability to watch the webinar again as many times as you like, a PDF of the presentation slides and our "Brick Wall Busters: Proving Military Service" handout.
  

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 11:06:44 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• Submit questions about any conflict—from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War, from the Spanish-American War to World War I—to have them answered in the live presentation.
• Learn top strategies for tracing elusive veteran ancestors whether your research stumper relates to military pensions or war widows.
• Get key tips for busting through brick walls.
• PLUS: Receive a free PDF, "Brick Wall Busters: Proving Military Service."

Tuesday, January 22, 2013 4:10:51 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• 9am EST Friday, Feb., 22 to 11:59pm EST Sunday, Feb. 24

• A three-day all-access pass to watch 15 pre-recorded video classes in three tracks:

• Genealogy Technology 
• Research Strategies
• Ethnic Research

• The opportunity to participate in LIVE chats with topic experts
• PLUS: Your Virtual Conference registration gives you the ability to download a copy of all sessions and watch them whenever and wherever you want.
• AND: Get a "swag bag" of freebies from ShopFamilyTree.com

• $199.99
• EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION: Reserve your spot on or before Friday, Jan. 25 and lock in the early bird rate of $149.99—a savings of 25 percent! (Just use special offer code WINTERVCEARLY to save.) Click here to register.

Thursday, January 17, 2013 11:20:48 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• How to rein in the massive amount of information available on Ancestry.com
• Hints to set manageable search parameters for finding your family
• How to dig into individual databases for specific records
• Tricks and tips to make your search efforts more efficient and effective
• PLUS: Get a free PDF download of our Ancestry.com Web Guide

Tuesday, December 18, 2012 10:45:55 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• Basic Maryland history, from 1st Lord Baltimore's Province of Maryland to the Civil War
• How to find and use key Maryland records
• Tricks for tracing early Maryland ancestors
• Top websites for Maryland genealogy
• Specific tips for finding your Baltimore and Annapolis ancestors

PLUS: Receive two free downloads: a copy of our Maryland State Guide and our Baltimore Genealogy Guide

Tuesday, December 11, 2012 1:32:01 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• Fundamental Kansas history, from the Louisiana Purchase to the American Civil War
• State-specific tips for tracing American Indian, English, Spanish and African-American and other ethnic ancestors
• Key online sources for Kansas records
• Tricks for finding your roots from Topeka to Wichita, Dodge City to Kansas City
• PLUS: This webinar comes with two free downloads: a copy of our Kansas State Research Guide and our Kansas City Guide.

• The Pikes Peak Gold Rush was actually in Kansas territory.
• The Kansas State Historical Society was created by newspapers editors in 1875. It's no surprise, then, that Kansas is one of the best states for newspaper research.
• Kansas is one of the few states that regularly took a state census. These are still available and provide some extra information. The 1885 and 1895 schedules are especially helpful since the 1890 Federal census is not available.
• Even if your ancestors didn't settle in Kansas, many researchers discover that their family members stayed for awhile, then returned home or went further west. Others passed through on major trails, including the Oregon Trail and the Santa Fe Trail.

• Explanation of the complaint and indictment process as it affected your ancestors
• The paper trail generated from arrests and gathering witnesses
• How to find records of pretrial and trial proceedings and what they can tell you about your ancestors
• How sentences—from the stocks to the penitentiary—were issued and documented
• PLUS: This webinar comes with a free PDF download: a copy of Court Orders, our guide to courthouse records.
  

• Americans love to trace their roots to the Mayflower. But the first convicted killer in America was John Billington, who arrived on (yep, you guess it) the Mayflower.
• Throughout history, the criminal law has treated women differently from men: in some cases, more leniently, in others, more harshly. Only a woman, for example, could be convicted of being a common scold.
• One of the biggest boosts to law enforcement was the development of photography. It made it more difficult for a bad guy to just change his name and move down the road. Many photographs exist from criminal cases starting in the late 1800s, and a fair number can be found online—and not just from the United States.
  
• From 1919-1933, large numbers of criminal prosecutions were for alcohol-related offenses, thanks to Prohibition. But Prohibition gave birth to a new type of crime, Organized Crime (with capital letters)—and an explosion of records, particularly at the federal level.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012 9:24:27 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• Essential tricks for tracing colonial immigrants
• A brief history of Colonial America, from the Revolutionary War to the Louisiana Purchase
• New England, the Middle Colonies, Chesapeake Bay Colonies, the Lower South and the Frontier, including which ethnic groups settled which areas during this period
• Key strategies for unearthing your early American roots
• Common and lesser-known resources for records of your Colonial kin
• Best Colonial genealogy websites and how they can help your genealogy research

Thursday, November 08, 2012 9:14:22 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

1. Verify, verify, verify. Because so many of our Colonial families have "already been done," it is important to verify data that has already been published. Mistakes in Colonial families can filter through several generations and cause headaches for genealogists.

2. It hasn't all been done. It is important to get over the common mindset that "my colonial families have all been researched," as there's still so much to discover. During the webinar, we'll talk about a few new resources for tracing Colonial families that are largely untapped by genealogists.

3. Study your history. The Colonial period is a fascinating time in our history, and it is important that you know exactly what was happening in the areas your ancestors were living. Boundary changes, disputes, conflicts with American Indians and a host of other events did impact the lives of our Colonial ancestors.

• Participation in the live presentation on Nov. 13
  
• The chance to submit questions before the event and again during the webinar
• Access to the webinar recording to view again as many times as you like
• The 75-page PDF of the presentation slides for future reference
• Eight pages of additional handouts

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 9:35:37 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• Iowa is the 29th state, attaining statehood in December 1846. Birth and marriage records began in 1880 and death records in 1891. There are some online indexes (and even record images) you can use from home—at least to get enough information to request original records. We'll help you use these online sources, and tell you where to go for the originals.

• Iowa is one of the lucky states with great state censuses. In the webinar, we'll talk about when they were taken, what information they include, where to find them, and how to use them. You'll see examples of one of the greatest censuses in the country (in our opinions:) and the three pages of information on each enumerated individual.

• Land has always been one of Iowa's most important assets. The first sale of most land was from the federal government to individuals. Using the Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office database and other sources, we'll show you how to find land records and what they mean to your research.

• The Iowa Genealogical Society is large and active. We'll have some tips on researching using the society's library in Des Moines. If you have Iowa roots, this is one society you should join.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 1:32:24 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• what types of military records might exist for your ancestors and where to find them
  
• how to track down draft registrations (even if your ancestor never served)
• how to trace ancestors' service in the American Revolution, Civil War, World Wars and other US wars
• the best websites for finding military records, including Fold3, the Daughters of the American Revolution genealogy database and more

Thursday, September 27, 2012 9:59:22 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [3]

• Many of the common resources for Connecticut research have been published, transcribed, retranscribed, and republished in various formats, so always look for the original source of the information. In the webinar, we'll discuss key resources for tracing Connecticut families, including the Barbour and Hale records collections, which require a bit of sleuthing to use effectively.
  
  
• Connecticut keeps probate records by districts, rather than by counties or towns. But there's a quick way to search all of Connecticut's probate records through one central source! Tune in to the webinar to learn how.
  
  
• Connecticut's shared borders can cause dilemmas for genealogists. We'll talk briefly about the complexities surrounding the western border with New York and ideas for tracing Connecticut families who might've spent time in and around Dutchess County, NY.
  
  
• Subscribe to the Connecticut Society of Genealogists' quarterly The Connecticut Nutmegger. It'll keep you up to date on Connecticut resources and provide book reviews, record abstracts and other guidance.
  
  
• If you have a chance, visit the Connecticut State Library. Although many of its resources are on microfilm (much of it available through interlibrary loan or from the Family History Library), there's nothing like researching on-site and using resources in the original formats.

Thursday, September 20, 2012 10:31:28 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• how to find resources such as vital records (going back as early as 1650!), church records, censuses, court records and more
• tricks for tracing Dutch, English, Italian, Irish and other ethnic ancestors
• the best places to search for Connecticut ancestors online

• Date: Thursday, Sept. 27
• Time: 7-8 p.m. ET (starts at 6 p.m. CT, 5 p.m. MT and 4 p.m. PT)
• Price: $49.99 (register now to save $10 with our early bird special!)

Monday, September 10, 2012 1:16:18 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• Tips for getting reluctant family members to cooperate
• Best practices for working with librarians, court clerks and others important to your research
• What to do when other researchers won’t correct wrong ancestral information
• Resolving genealogy conflicts
• The dos and don’ts of sharing and collaboration (including respecting copyright and the right way to get and give credit)
• How to handle common pet peeves courteously but effectively

And you'll get the opportunity to submit your own genealogy etiquette dilemmas when you register and during the live webinar.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012 3:46:14 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1]

• Louisiana's parishes
• how to trace colonial kin
• where to find important records such as vital, land, census and other records
• tips for discovering African-American, Cajun (descendants of Acadians expelled from Canada) and Creole (New World descendants from colonial settlers) roots in Louisiana
• important repositories and websites.

Thursday, August 16, 2012 11:00:34 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• What items you should digitize
  
  
• How to deal with fragile and oversized items, as well as heirlooms you can’t scan (like our bridal basket)
  
  
• Tips for creating digital copies of your photos and documents
  
  
• How to archive and organize digital copies for your own research and for posterity
  
  
• Key terms and online resources for digitizing heirlooms

Wednesday, July 25, 2012 2:15:02 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1]

Are you researching (or hoping to research) the genealogy of your Tar Heel State ancestors? 

North Carolina is rich with vital records and other resources to leaf out your family tree, but it also comes with some genealogical challenges—early headright patents, the Granville District, a highly mobile population, a shifting crazy quilt of counties and the fluid border with Virginia.



All this and more will become clear during our North Carolina Genealogy Crash Course webinar, Monday, July 30 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time (6 Central, 5 Mountain, 4 Pacific).

Genealogy expert and Family Tree Magazine founding editor David A. Fryxell will present

• Essential North Carolina history
• Details on where to find vital, land, immigration and other records for the state
• What ethnicity-based records your North Carolina ancestor may have left
• The best websites and offline resources for North Carolina research

Monday, July 09, 2012 9:37:54 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• how cluster genealogy can solve your research brick walls
• how to identify the people in your ancestor’s network
• how to research your ancestor's FANs, even if they're not related to you
• how to piece together cluster and collateral evidence
• the best websites and offline resources for doing cluster and collateral genealogy research

• Thursday, July 12, 2012, 7 p.m. Eastern Time (6 p.m. Central, 5 p.m. Mountain, 4 p.m. Pacific)
• presented by Thomas MacEntee
• 60 minutes
• Participants receive copies of the presentation slides, access to the recorded webinar to view again, and a bonus download of Family Tree Magazine's Cluster Genealogy Guide.

Sign up now to get our early bird registration special! Learn more in ShopFamilyTree.com.

Tuesday, July 03, 2012 9:18:50 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1]

• Texas Genealogy Crash Course
  
• Wednesday, June 27
• 8 p.m. Eastern (7 Central, 6 Mountain, 5 Pacific)
• 60 minutes

Friday, June 08, 2012 11:15:00 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• After the American Revolution, around 35,000 Loyalists headed for Canada's Maritime Provinces.
  
• By 1812, about 80 percent of the estimated 100,000 settlers in southern Ontario province were of American origin.
• Approximately 900,000 French-Canadians emigrated to the United States from 1840 to 1930.
  
• As available US land diminished in the late 1880s, Canada's Prairie Provinces saw a massive influx of Americans.
• Around 1895, when US border-crossing records begin, as many as 40 percent of immigrants to Canada planned to end up in the United States.
  
• In 1897, the Klondike Gold Rush spurred a stampede of Americans to the Yukon.
  

Fortunately for US residents tracing Canadian ancestors, an abundance of resources is available—but where do you start?

Why, with our next webinar, Canadian Genealogy for Americans. 

Author and lecturer Lisa A. Alzo will introduce you to major Canadian genealogy resources and websites, key record groups and essential history. You'll also receive our digital Canadian Genealogy Guide when you register. 

Here are the Canadian Genealogy for Americans webinar details:

• Tuesday, June 5, 2012
• 8 p.m. Eastern (7 p.m. Central, 6 p.m. Mountain, 5 p.m. Pacific) 
• Duration: 60 minutes 
• $49.99 (but register now to save $10!)
• Registration includes: participation in the live event, access to the recording to watch again as often as you like, a PDF of the presentation slides, our Canadian Genealogy Guide
  

Our Canadian Genealogy for Americans webinar will enable you to formulate a solid research plan for discovering your Canadian kin. Register at ShopFamilyTree.com.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012 1:28:05 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1]

• How to efficiently navigate Ancestry.com
• Tricks for finding the record collections you need
• Search tips for locating hard-to-find ancestors in Ancestry.com databases
  
• Things Ancestry.com doesn’t tell you (like the limitations of its collections and how many freebies are on the site)

The Your Unofficial Guide to Ancestry.com webinar takes place May 23 at 8 p.m. Eastern (that's 7 p.m. Central, 6 p.m. Mountain and 5 p.m. Pacific). It's presented by David A. Fryxell, a veteran genealogist and a Family Tree Magazine contributing editor.

We'll help you start finding the genealogy answers you need in the world's largest genealogy database website. Register for Your Unofficial Guide to Ancestry.com now to take advantage of our $10 off early bird special!

Thursday, May 17, 2012 9:27:09 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

(Actually, webinar instructor and Minnesotan Paula Stuart-Warren did the teasing, but I helped.) 

We didn't want to leave you hanging, so here's the answer in Paula's own words:

It’s just another example of “genealogy is everywhere!”

More years ago than I care to remember, Tim Russell, a WCCO Radio personality in Minnesota, would talk about his relationship to the Lennon Sisters. Then he'd play the Lawrence Welk bubble music. My mom would call me and tell me to figure this out for Tim because she was getting tired of the bubble music.

One day I called the station and said that yes, if Tim and the Lennon sisters shared a common great great grandfather, they were third cousins. His producer asked me to share this on the air. Shy ol’ me gulped and forged ahead.

She also asked if I'd be on his radio show during the Minnesota State Fair. That produced a really big gulp, as the show was broadcast from a big glass booth for all fair-goers to see. We decided that I'd do some research on Russell's family and present it to him on air. 

Research at the Minnesota and Wisconsin state historical societies proved the third cousin connection between Tim and the Lennon Sisters. Their common ancestors Judge James Lennon and his wife Catherine Bellew were born in Ireland, but lived most of their lives in Appleton, Wis. I also turned up more on Russell's great-grandfather George Lennon’s involvement with the St. Paul Saints baseball team in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (Baseball teams have their own genealogies.)

Tim shared the research with the Lennons. I was privileged to be thanked on air in a call with Kathy Lennon, and I received some nice thank-you notes. I let them all know that my then-8th-grade son helped (he still does research today at 35 years old). 

So, now we have the genealogy, baseball, Lennon Sisters, Minnesota State Fair, and WCCO radio connection. How do we fit in the public radio show "Prairie Home Companion"? Tim is one of the show's actors, creating multiple sounds and voices.

Thank you to all those who joined in the Minnesota Genealogy Crash Course webinar and for asking such great questions. Kerry Scott from Family Tree University did a great job. If you didn’t get a chance to join us, the recorded Minnesota webinar is available through ShopFamilyTree.com.

Thursday, May 03, 2012 9:25:17 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

Here's what Paula sent:

• Your ancestor wasn't a U.S. citizen in 1918? There might be a two-page Minnesota record with his her name, date and place of birth, residence, occupation, names of children and relatives, arrival in the United States and more. And it's indexed.
  
  
• How many avenues are there to locate a birth, death or marriage record? We'll count the multiple ways.
  
  
• Military service from Minnesota? You'll learn about the state's special questionnaires and bonus applications for the 19th and 20th century.
  
  
• Need a wedding story, business ad, obituary, or other newspaper item? Learn the best place to obtain these.
  
  
• Census indexes? Are there more for Minnesota than other states? Hmmm...
  
  
• What's the largest ethnic group in Minnesota? (It might not be the one that immediately springs to mind.)
  
  
• Are there really 10,000 lakes?
  
  
• What do genealogy, baseball, Prairie Home Companion, the Minnesota State Fair, WCCO Radio, and the Lennon sisters all have in common?

Well, now I'm getting really curious! The Minnesota Genealogy Crash Course webinar with Paula Stuart-Warren is next Wednesday, April 25, at 8 p.m. (now available On Demand!)

Find out more about the Minnesota Genealogy Crash Course here.

Thursday, April 19, 2012 11:17:30 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1]

If you've got roots in Minnesota, you should know the state has a lot more than lakes, the Mall of America and Garrison Keillor.

Minnesota also is a resource-rich state for discovering your family history, as you'll learn in our April 25 Minnesota Genealogy Crash Course: Find Your North Star State Ancestors webinar.

Lifelong Minnesotan and genealogy expert <a href=" http:="" paulastuartwarren.blogspot.com="" target="_blank" border="0">Paula Stuart-Warren will spill secrets and share her favorite sources for finding Minnesota ancestors, which include the terrific Minnesota Historical Society (it has great online resources, too) and regular state censuses from 1865 to 1905. 

Whether you come from Minnesota's American Indian residents, early fur traders and soldiers, or later German and Scandinavian settlers, you'll learn how to find ancestor answers.

Here are the details: 

• Date: Wednesday, April 25
• Starting time: 8 p.m. Eastern (7 Central/ 6 Mountain/ 5 Pacific)
• Presenter: Paula Stuart-Warren
• Duration: 60 minutes
• Price: $39.99 when you register before April 18

Click here to register for the Minnesota Genealogy Crash Course at ShopFamilyTree.com.

Thursday, April 05, 2012 9:49:14 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

So I hear, anyway. I haven't actually used probate records. Like many genealogists, I'm not quite sure how to approach them. And I need to get my act together fast, because I'm headed to the Cuyahoga County Probate Court this month. 

Good thing our Using Probate Records live webinar, presented by professional researcher Marian Pierre-Louis, is Thursday, April 5 at 8 p.m. ET.

Marian will show you: 

• What probate records are
• How to find probate records
• Different types of probate records
• What you'll find in a typical probate record
• How to make it easier to access probate records
• Why probate records are critical to your genealogical success

Here's the basic info on the Using Probate Records webinar:

• Date: Thursday, April 5, 2012
• Starting time: 8 p.m. Eastern (7 Central/ 6 Mountain/ 5 Pacific)
• Duration: 60 minutes
• Price: $49.99 ($39.99 special if you register before April 2)

Tuesday, March 27, 2012 12:09:38 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

We're hosting a free webinar next Tuesday about one of the most talked-about photo-preservation tools in genealogy: the Flip-Pal mobile scanner.

Presenters Thomas MacEntee and Diane Miller will show you:

• tips for using Flip-Pal in your genealogy work
• hints for archiving family photos with Flip-Pal
• how Flip-Pal can help you share photos with your family
• how to download the webinar presentation and slides for your future reference

Registered attendees will get access to the webinar to view again as many times as they like (we'll e-mail instructions after the webinar).

Plus, all registrants will receive a special product offer!

The free Flip-Pal webinar is Tuesday, March 27, at 2 p.m. Eastern (1 p.m. Central, noon Mountain, 11 a.m. Pacific).

The presentation is about 45 minutes, plus 10 minutes for Q&A.

Click here to register for our free webinar Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner for Fabulous Family Photos.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012 8:33:39 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1]

Family Tree Magazine publisher Allison Dolan will share key facts about censuses, where to find free census records and what to expect when the 1940 census is released. She'll also show you how to use the major online collections to find your ancestors, using real examples from webinar viewers to demo census search strategies.

Click here to learn more about the Online Census Secrets webinar.

And our Indiana Crash Course webinar is right around the corner next Tuesday, March 20 at 8 p.m. ET. If you have Hoosier ancestors like I do, click here to find out more about this learning opportunity.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012 7:44:52 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

You'll learn key facts about censuses, where to find free census records, how to use the major online collections, search strategies for elusive ancestors and what to expect when using the 1940 census. Here's the basic info:

• Date: Thursday, March 15
• Time: 8-9 p.m. Eastern (starts at 7 Central/ 6 Mountain/ 5 Pacific)
• Price: $49.99 (limited-time $39.99 early bird special)
• To register: Register for the Online Census Secrets webinar at ShopFamilyTree.com.

Hoosier Great-granddaddy? Whether you're descended from the native Miami or Potawotomi tribes, pioneers on the National Road, railroad workers of the 1850s, or African-Americans who migrated north in the early 1900s, it's likely that at some point, some of your ancestors were in Indiana.

In our Indiana Genealogy Crash Course webinar, professional genealogist Harold Henderson will show you his strategies for finding your Hoosier ancestors. You'll learn history essentials, how to find vital records and other important Indiana resources, the best websites for Indiana ancestor research and more. The basics:

• Date: Tuesday, March 20
• Time: 8-9 p.m. Eastern (starts at 7 Central/ 6 Mountain/ 5 Pacific)
• Price: $49.99 (limited-time $39.99 early bird special)
• Bonus: includes our Indiana Research Guide download
• To register: You can register for the Indiana Crash Course webinar at ShopFamilyTree.com.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 2:46:44 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1]

So I'm looking forward to this week's Family Tree University webinar, "They’re Alive! Finding Living Relatives."

"Living people can be found using some unlikely online tools," says presenter Thomas MacEntee. "You’ll be surprised at how much information is made public about a person and how to find it. And it is all legal and access is often free." 

If that makes you feel just a little bit like a stalker, don't worry—Thomas also will talk about the best, non-stalkerish approach when contacting possible relatives. Phone call? Email? Letter? What should you say?

Here's the webinar info: 

• Presenter: Thomas MacEntee, owner of Geneabloggers and High-Definition Genealogy
  
• Date: Thursday, Feb. 9
  
• Time: 8-9 p.m. Eastern/5-6 p.m. Pacific
  
• Bonus: Register today and you'll also receive a free download of our guide Research Strategies: Find Living Relatives.

Go here to learn more and register for our They’re Alive! Finding Living Relatives webinar.

Tuesday, February 07, 2012 9:16:22 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [4]

We want to make it easier for you to learn about genealogy research in both areas, so we're offering a $10-off-two webinar deal:

Register for any two of our next three upcoming webinars, and get $10 off your purchase. Choose from:

• Kentucky Genealogy Crash Course
• Tennessee Genealogy Crash Course
• They're Alive!: Finding Living Relatives (so you can use the discount even if your ancestors stayed in either Kentucky or Tennessee—just about all of us could use secrets for tracking down distant cousins)
  

Enter coupon code WEBTRIO10 at checkout to get this deal.

Thursday, January 19, 2012 12:00:53 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• Make Money From Your Genealogy Blog is tomorrow (or maybe tonight, depending when you read this), Jan. 12, a 8 pm Eastern. Our online editor and Clue Wagon blogger Kerry Scott is presenting, and she has promised to spill all about what you can really expect when it comes to monetizing your blog.
  
  

• Our Kentucky Genealogy Crash Course, taking place Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 8 pm Eastern, will be presented by local records expert J. Mark Lowe.
  
  
  
  Among other things, he'll help you sort out the state's confusing land records. Land grants in this state-land state originated with colonial and other state governments, and the process of acquiring land was inconsistent before statehood. You still have time to save 20 percent on your registration for this webinar!

• Our Tennessee Genealogy Crash Course, scheduled for Feb. 23 at 8 pm Eastern, also will be presented by Lowe.
  
  
  
  Look for him to share details on resources such as an 1891 enumeration of males over 21 that can help substitute, and why your early "North Carolina"-born ancestors might really have been born in Tennessee. Save 20 percent on registration for a limited time.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012 4:17:49 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

Maybe you've shopped at a Kroger grocery store? In 1883 in Cincinnati, Bernard Kroger founded what's now the largest US grocery chain.

Allison uncovered letters and newspaper clippings from Kroger family members. A handwritten notecard states that one of her ancestors was B.H. Kroger's private secretary from 1928 to 1938. 

Another treasure is an album full of photos from the South Pacific. It belonged to a woman named Dorie, who may have been a friend of an aunt.

Color me jealous. We'll keep showing you more peeks inside this archive.

The Early Bird Special for the Organize Your Family Archive webinar ends Nov. 20, so if you have your own hot genealogy mess going on, register now.

Thursday, November 17, 2011 10:42:07 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [2]

Trying to take care of your gift list, keep family traditions going, get things done at work around vacation schedules, and squeeze in genealogy time can make the holidays one of the most hectic times of the year.

But they don’t have to be. Our colleagues over at Betterway Home are hosting a free webinar to help you cut the chaos, stress and clutter from your holiday season.

The free Have an Organized Holiday Season webinar is presented by professional organizers Jennifer Ford Berry, author of Organize Now! and Organize Now! Your Money, Business & Career, and Susan Fay West, author of Organize For a Fresh Start.

It takes place Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. Eastern (11 a.m. Pacific).

Sign up and receive:

• Tips for how to organize decorations, gifts and more
• Advice to help you manage and enjoy your holiday schedule
• Help identifying your priorities so you value everything you do
• Participation in the live Q&A session—get detailed answers to your specific questions
• Access to the webinar recording to view again as many times as you like
• Plus a coupon for 20 percent off the presenters’ new books

This year, get organized before you get overwhelmed. Click here to register for the free Have an Organized Holiday Season webinar.

Tuesday, November 01, 2011 3:07:59 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

Sunny Jane Morton, author of My Life & Times: A Guided Journal For Collecting Your Stories, answered these and more questions in last week’s free webinar Start Writing Your Life Stories.

One idea that struck me right at the beginning is to imagine that a biography has been written about your life. When you look at the book jacket, what does it say? What main theme of your life, setting and colorful characters does it mention. “In the broadest sense, that book jacket is your story,” Morton says. “Everyday life is found in the chapters inside.”

If you missed the Start Writing Your Life Stories webinar—or you want to watch it again (still free!)—just click here and fill in your name and email address.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011 1:11:07 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

This new social networking tool has taken the genealogy world by storm, and we won’t let you be left out if we can help it. Our next webinar, Genealogist's Guide to Google+, will show you how to use Google+. Your registration for the live event even includes 30 days of one-on-one tech support from instructor Kerry Scott.

You’ll learn how to get started, set up your “circles,” and take advantage of the genealogical possibilities on Google+. Here’s a sampling of tips Kerry will share:

• Fill out your profile and upload a picture before you start adding friends. If you don't, people may mistake you for a spammer.

• Most genealogists will add you to their circles even if you're a complete stranger … but only if your profile indicates that you're into family history.

• You can have people in multiple circles. Is Aunt Millie into genealogy? Add her to your Family and Genealogy circles, so she sees the cute kid pictures and the big research breakthrough you had at the library last weekend.

• If you're posting something to a specific circle to keep it from being public, make sure you use the "lock this post" feature to prevent others from sharing it. Otherwise, one of your carefully selected circle members can share it with anyone.

The hour-long webinar takes place Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. Eastern (that’s 7 Central, 6 Mountain, 5 Pacific).

In addition to the month of tech support, attendees will get access to the webinar recording to view again as many times as they want,plus a PDF of the presentation slides.

Learn more and register for the Genealogist's Guide to Google+ webinar at ShopFamilyTree.com (for a limited time, our Early Bird registration special saves you 20 percent!).

Thursday, October 13, 2011 9:23:10 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• Our free 60-minute webinar Start Writing Your Life Stories with Sunny Jane Morton, author of the book My Life & Times: A Guided Journal For Collecting Your Stories, takes place Thursday, Oct. 13 at 1 pm Eastern Time (noon CT, 11 am MT, 10 am PT).
  

Sunny will share tips and ideas for capturing the stories of a lifetime—your own or those of a loved one. Click here to sign up for this webinar. 

• Update: Our free webinar, Be a Family History Detective: Secrets to Starting Your Genealogy, with Desmond Walls Allen, author of the book Family History Detective, is scheduled for Oct. 26 at 1 pm Eastern Time (noon CT, 11 am MT, 10 am PT). 

Allen will share essential advice for getting your family history search off the ground. Click here to sign up.

Tuesday, October 04, 2011 4:26:31 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [2]

• The Genealogist's Google Toolbox (book signed by Lisa)
• Google Earth for Genealogy DVDs (2 volumes)
• Search Engine Tips & Tricks on-demand webinar
• Google Tools for Genealogists independent study course from Family Tree University
  

Friday, August 26, 2011 5:05:04 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [10]

It stands for Illinois Regional Archives Depository, a statewide records management system that divides the state into seven regions and helps you access genealogical records. 

IRAD is just one of the Illinois resources Thomas MacEntee will introduce you to in our Illinois Genealogy Crash Course webinar, Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m. Eastern (6 Central, 5 Mountain, 4 Pacific). 

MacEntee, a Chicagoan, creator of the GeneaBloggers website, and author of the November 2011 Family Tree Magazine Chicago research guide, will cover important Illinois history, including migration patterns:

“From 1800 to 1840, many migrated to southern Illinois from Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas and Virginia,” he says. “After 1830, they came to central Illinois from Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The period from 1840 to 1920 saw a flow of immigrants to the Chicago area. A great migration of African-Americans from the South to Chicago and other northern cities took place from 1920 to 1970.”

You’ll also get information on essential Illinois records, including the marriage return, and other websites where you can do research on ancestors from the Land of Lincoln.

Be sure to take advantage of our Early Bird special, which saves you $10 off your Illinois Genealogy Crash Course webinar registration.

Tuesday, August 09, 2011 4:24:06 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

“Burned courthouses,” you say? “Early, hard-to-trace immigrants”?

Our Virginia Genealogy Crash Course webinar will show you how to get past research brick walls such as

• courthouses (and their records) destroyed during the Civil War and in fires and floods at other times
  

• hard-to-research Colonial-era immigrants
  

• potentially confusing land records due to the carving up of Virginia’s enormous original territory into other states, a maze of courts, and many cities that are independent of their surrounding counties 

You’ll also learn about Virginia records including headrights and vital records, and the best websites for Virginia research (including the Library of Virginia, whose Virginia Memory site has digitized newspapers, military records and other genealogical resources).

The Virginia Genealogy Crash Course webinar, presented by Family Tree Magazine contributing editor David A. Fryxell, takes place Wednesday, July 27, at 7 pm Eastern time (6 pm Central, 5 pm Mountain, 4 pm Pacific).

Attendees will receive a link to view the session again as many times as they like, a PDF of the presentation slides, and Family Tree Magazine’s Virginia State Research Guide.

Click here to find out more about the Virginia Genealogy Crash Course webinar—and take advantage of the 20 percent off early bird registration special.

Thursday, June 30, 2011 9:44:14 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [2]

We're planning our Family Tree University Summer 2011 Virtual Conference to give you an intensive dose of genealogy education without leaving home (or the library, or your sister’s house, or the table at the coffee shop where you’ve parked your laptop). 

The Virtual Conference is an online workshop from Friday, Aug. 19, to Sunday, Aug. 21, 2011. Attendees get an all-access pass to view 15 pre-recorded video classes and participate in live chats. You can join in every day or as your weekend schedule allows.

Classes are organized into three tracks:

• genealogy technology
• research strategies
  
• ethnic research

A detailed list of classes and instructors is coming soon.

You’ll be able to download classes to watch again later or access ones you’ve missed, and you'll get a swag bag of ShopFamilyTree.com goodies.

Stop by Family Tree University for more Virtual Conference details and our early bird discount code on tuition (good until July 15). 

Thursday, June 16, 2011 11:08:00 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [7]

How to Write a Marketable Memoir, taking place Monday, June 20, at 1 pm Eastern (that’s noon Central, 11 am Mountain and 10 am Pacific), will give you tips on how to self-edit, “hook” readers, find your voice, and research the potential market for your work.

The webinar is presented by literary agent Paula Balzer, author of the book Writing and Selling Your Memoir.

Click here to register for the free How to Write a Marketable Memoir webinar.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011 11:20:03 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

If you have New Jersey ancestors, you may have noticed that none of the New Jersey population schedules survive for the 1790, 1800, 1810 and 1820 US federal censuses.

Finding substitute sources is one of the research strategies you’ll learn in our next webinar, New Jersey Genealogy Crash Course: Find Your Garden State Ancestors, Wednesday, June 22, at 7 pm Eastern (6 Central/ 5 Mountain/ 4 Pacific).

Presenter Thomas MacEntee, New Jersey genealogy expert and founder of GeneaBloggers, gave me a sampling of other New Jersey research challenges the seminar will help you with:

• Before New Jersey was a state or even a British colony, it was part of the New Sweden and New Netherlands colonies. That can make locating records a challenge, so the webinar will address early records for each of these colonies and where to find them.

• Did you know that many New Jersey couples traveled to other states to get married? You’ll learn which states and counties were most popular and how to search for those marriage records.

Thomas also will tell you how to access New Jersey vital records and other resources, share the best websites for researching ancestors from the state, and more.

Register for the New Jersey Genealogy Crash Course now to get our early bird price of 20 percent off.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011 1:00:22 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [2]

• This month’s Ultimate Photo Preservation Collection sold out in record time, so we’re introducing another collection: the Digitize Your Family Photos Value Pack. Only during National Photo Month, you’ll save 69 percent on these tools to help you build a digital archive of your family's cherished memories:

1. Organize Your Family Photos independent study course download
2. The new Photo Rescue ebook
3. Photo Sharing 101 on-demand webinar 

Learn more at ShopFamilyTree.com. (Bonus: Order anything at ShopFamilyTree.com now through Monday, May 9, and get the "Memories of Mom" digital download from the forthcoming book My Life & Times by Sunny Jane Morton.)

• We're giving a free Photo Detective Live! half-hour webinar, Wed., May 18 at 3 p.m. Eastern time (that’s 2 Central, 1 Mountain and noon Pacific time). Photo Detective Maureen A. Taylor will address your questions about family photographs. Learn more here and use the “Reserve Your Spot” link to register. (When you submit your registration, you’ll also be able to submit a photo question. If you have a photo to go with your question, you can e-mail the question and photo to us.)
  

• Finally, watch this blog for news of our Photo Mysteries contest, starting next Monday, to get a chance to win an Ultimate Digital Photo Collection.

Wednesday, May 04, 2011 4:06:49 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

Our ancestors poured into California from all walks of life: They were early Spanish missionaries, Gold Rush migrants, wagon train pioneers, railroad workers, immigrants through West Coast ports, Great Depression-era “Okies,” and fortune-seekers from any era.

California’s population grew explosively before record-keeping was well-established. So how do you pick out your ancestor from all those people? Get help tracing your Golden State roots in our next webinar:

California Genealogy Crash Course: Find Your Golden State Ancestors

You’ll learn about helpful records for California research, the best websites to search, and hints for dealing with common obstacles such as long waits for vital records and the San Francisco earthquake and fire. With your registration for the live session, you’ll get:

• Participation in the live presentation and Q&A session
• Access to the webinar recording to view again as many times as you like
• PDF of the presentation slides for your future reference
• PDF of our California State Research Guide

The $39.99 early bird price ends May 14. Learn more and register here.

Thursday, April 28, 2011 9:38:41 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• Essential Ohio history
• Details on vital records and immigration in the state
• What ethnicity-based records your ancestor may have left
• The best websites for Ohio research

• Participation in the live presentation and Q&A session
• Access to the webinar recording to view again as many times as you like
• PDF of the presentation slides for future reference
• A PDF of our Ohio State Research Guide

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 2:43:54 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1]

American settlement there began as early as 1787, especially from Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and the Carolinas. The population was about 57,000 when Missouri became a state in 1821. Joining descendants of those early French and American settlers were immigrants from Ireland, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, England and Czechoslovakia. In the mid-1800s, many Germans and Irish arrived.

We’ll help you trace your Missouri ancestors in our Missouri Genealogy Crash Course: Find Your Show-Me State Ancestors live webinar.

The hour-long webinar is Wed., Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. Eastern time (that’s 6 p.m. Central/ 5 p.m. Mountain/ 4 p.m. Pacific). 

Family Tree Magazine contributing editor Nancy Hendrickson, a veteran Missouri researcher, and expert guest presenters Angela McComas from the Midwest Genealogy Center and Dennis Northcott of the Missouri History Museum will share essential history and migration information, details on vital records, the best websites and other resources for Missouri research, and more.

Among the great resources you’ll learn about are the state archives’ county-by-county listing of microfilmed records and Missouri Digital Heritage, where many important sources such as abstracted vital records and naturalizations are digitized. It’s enough to make me wish for Missouri ancestors!

Missouri Genealogy Crash Course webinar attendees will have the opportunity to submit questions in advance, and be able to view the webinar again as many times as they like. For a limited time, you can save 20 percent on your registration at ShopFamilyTree.com.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011 11:11:28 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

4. We've got three top Massachusetts experts lined up: David Dearborn, Midge Frazel and David Lambert.

3. You get to ask them your most pressing questions about Massachusetts research!

2. You get a copy of the Massachusetts State Research Guide and a PDF of the presentation slides.

1. The early bird discount -- $10 off -- ends Friday at midnight, so if you want to save some cash, sign up soon so you don't miss out.

Family Tree University | Webinars

Thursday, January 06, 2011 5:29:26 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

Massachusetts Genealogy Crash Course: Find Your Bay State Ancestors takes place Tuesday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. Eastern (6 p.m. Central, 5 p.m. Mountain, 4 p.m. Pacific). Our expert presenters include

• David Dearborn, staff genealogist with the New England Historic Genealogical Society
• Midge Frazel, cemetery expert and Family Tree University instructor
• David Lambert, New England Historic Genealogical Society online genealogist since 1993

You’ll learn essential Massachusetts history, tricks for locating records, details on vital and immigration records, primary ethnic groups and records they may have left, and the best websites for Massachusetts research. Here's a peek at some of Frazel's favorite sites:

• Cape Cod Gravestones 
• Falmouth Genealogical Society Cemetery Transcription Project 
• Massachusetts Cemetery Directory (has maps with county names and the towns in them) 
• South Middlesex County Registry of Deeds 
• Norfolk County Registry of Deeds 
• Massachusetts’ Ethnic Mosaic (interactive map of ethnic groups in the state) 

Your registration for the live webinar includes:

• Participation in the hour-long presentation and Q&A session
• Access to the webinar recording to view as many times as you like
• PDF of the presentation slides
• PDF of our Massachusetts State Research Guide

The 20 percent off early-bird special ends soon, so register today.

Tuesday, January 04, 2011 2:19:35 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

Family Tree University downloadable on-demand webinars give you how-to advice on genealogy topics from online research to brick walls to researching ancestors in various states. You’ll be able to use your computer to watch an hour-long presentation showing you research strategies, tips and the best online tools.

This census advice snippet is from the webinar Online Census Secrets: Best Web Sites and Strategies to Find Your Ancestors Webinar:

The government designated an official census day for each census. Of course, the enumerating didn’t all happen on this day, but the information the census takers collected was supposed to be accurate as of that date. If a baby was born after Census Day, he was supposed to be left out of the census. If a person died after Census Day, he was supposed to be recorded. Ages were also to be reported according to the person’s age on Census Day. Census takers and informants didn’t always comply with these instructions, however. These are the official Census Days:

• 1790-1820: first Monday in August
• 1830-1900: June 1
• 1910: April 15
• 1920: Jan. 1
• 1930-1940: April 1

Sunday, December 19, 2010 9:46:15 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

Did your ancestors spend time in the Empire State? Plenty of our forebears did, including many immigrants who arrived at New York City’s Ellis Island (and Castle Garden before that) and ports on the Great Lakes.

Our next webinar, New York Genealogy Crash Course: Find Your Empire State Ancestors, will help you pick out your kin from the hustle and bustle of cities and rural farmlands. It takes place Tuesday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. Eastern time (that’s 6 p.m. Central, 5 p.m. Mountain and 4 p.m. Pacific)

The state’s stages of development—early days under Dutch rule, an English Colonial era dominated by large landowners, a time as a pathway for people leaving New England, and the era as home to the nation's busiest port of entry—can make research here difficult.

Presenter James M. Beidler, a New York genealogy expert and frequent contributor to Family Tree Magazine, will offer advice on finding vital, land, court and other records. He’ll also discuss ethnicity-based records your immigrant ancestor may have left, as well as the best websites for New York research.

Your webinar registration includes: 

• Participation in the live presentation and Q&A session
• Access to the webinar recording to view again as many times as you like
• A PDF of the presentation slides
• A PDF of our New York State Research Guide

Through Dec. 3, you can save $10 on your registration with our early-bird discount. Learn more about the New York Genealogy Crash Course webinar and register at ShopFamilyTree.com.

Wednesday, December 01, 2010 5:09:40 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

Why are historical books important to your research? Because your family didn’t live in a vacuum, says Family Tree Magazine contributing editor Nancy Hendrickson.

I got a sneak peek today at her Historical Books on the Web webinar (taking place tomorrow, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. Eastern time). She says that clues you’ll find in books about the history of the places your ancestors lived include the big events that impacted their lives, what their everyday lives were like and, when you lose their trail, why or where they might've moved.

• 1848 to 1849 cholera epidemic, which killed 4,000 in New York City
• 1888 Children’s Blizzard in the Great Plains (so-called because many children were caught unaware in schoolhouses on what had been a relatively warm day)
  
• 1869 Indian Raids in Kansas
  
• Order No. 11 (a Union Army decree that forced the evacuation of rural areas in four western Missouri counties in 1863)
  
• Great Fire of 1846 in Nantucket

You can get started looking for historical books about your ancestral locales by Googling history of [insert the town name], visiting county pages at USGenWeb, searching library catalogs (WorldCat is a good site for doing this) and searching for period books at sites such as Internet Archive and Making of America.

Nancy will get into detail about what you can find in historical books, and where and how to find them, in tomorrow’s webinar, Historical Books on the Web: Millions of Tomes at Your Fingertips. You can register to attend at ShopFamilyTree.com (you'll receive our new Discover Your Roots guide with your registration)—and use the code HISTORY10 for 15 percent off with our Family History Month storewide sale. 

Tuesday, October 26, 2010 3:47:34 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• If you can’t find your ancestors in the 1910 US census on subscription site Ancestry.com, you might want to give it another try. Ancestry.com has updated the collection with new images and an improved index that includes more alternate names. The updated index combines the old index with a new one keyed from the new images. Read more on the Ancestry.com blog.
  

• BackupMyTree, the free genealogy file back-up service that debuted last month, has added support for Reunion for Mac. Although the BackupMyTree software still works with only Windows, users of any operating system can manually upload files—now including Reunion files—through their web browser. Next week, BackupMyTree will add support for The Master Genealogist software, as well as a feature that allows users to include and exclude files in bulk.

• Genetic genealogy testing company GeneTree is offering two new services designed to help you maximize your genetic genealogy testing efforts. If you buy a DNA Makeover report ($14.95), GeneTree staff will translate your Y-chromosome or mitochondrial DNA results from another lab into a GeneTree profile. For the Family Tree Diagnostic Service (also $14.95), a GeneTree consultant will review your family tree to find relatives you should consider having tested and what tests they should take to help you achieve your research objectives.

• Leland Meitzler, organizer of the Salt Lake Christmas Tour annual research trip to Salt Lake City, announced that genealogy technology and social networking expert Thomas MacEntee will present eight classes during this year’s tour. A few topics are Building a Research Toolbox, Facebook for Genealogists, Build a Genealogy Blog, and Twitter: It Isn’t Just “What I Had For Breakfast” Anymore. The tour takes place Dec. 5 through 11, and you can register here. 

• The Pennsylvania State Archives will close from Monday, Oct. 18 through Feb. 3 of next year for renovations. The $250,000 project will expand and modernize the lobby and public research areas. (Plans are still in place, though, to eventually replace the facility, which has water leaks and lacks environmental controls and fire suppression system.) Staff will continue to respond to telephone, e-mail and postal inquiries during the closure. You can download the press release as a PDF from the archives’ website.
  

• Remember to register for our free, beginner-oriented 10 Steps to Discover Your Roots webinar, taking place tomorrow (Saturday, Oct. 16) at 2 pm Eastern Time. You’ll get a confirmation e-mail with a link to log in and instructions on how to participate in the webinar. (I suggest logging in several minutes ahead of time in case your computer needs to make any updates to watch the webinar.)

Friday, October 15, 2010 3:39:31 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• What you can learn about your family in historical books
• Where to find free books
• How to search books on the Web

Wednesday, September 29, 2010 4:14:30 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• Aspects of Pennsylvania history that are essential to doing genealogical research there
• Details on vital records, immigration resources and other records in the state
• Ethnic groups that tended to settle in Pennsylvania and the records they may have left behind
  
• The best websites for doing Pennsylvania research, such as the steadily expanding website of the Pennsylvania State Archives.
  

Thursday, September 02, 2010 9:21:55 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• How to navigate Ancestry.com
• Tricks for finding databases with the genealogical information you need
• Strategies to locate hard-to-find ancestors in the site’s record collections
• Things Ancestry.com doesn't want you to know!

• Participation in the live presentation and Q&A session
• Access to the webinar recording to view again as many times as you like
• PDF of the presentation slides for future reference
• Bonus handouts

Thursday, July 22, 2010 8:37:48 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• You can license one of our pre-recorded webinars for as little as $100, depending on the size of your group.
  
  
• You can have a Family Tree University instructor deliver a live webinar (giving your members the opportunity to ask questions) starting at $250.
  

Thursday, July 15, 2010 9:45:41 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• When you get stuck in the early 1800s, make the last known county your adopted home—that is, camp out with the microfilmed deeds, probates and other records for that place and look at all the people with your ancestral surname.

• Middle names came into common usage around the 1790s. If you see earlier folk recorded with middle names in compiled genealogies or other family charts, be suspicious of their accuracy.

• Have a New England immigrant who didn’t naturalize? Many New England tombstones have the deceased’s specific places of origin inscribed on them.

• If you suspect an ancestor died at sea, look for a “cenotaph”—a memorial (e.g., marker) for a deceased person whose body is not at that site.
  
  
• Military pensions provide much useful detail about your ancestors, but generally won’t name a soldier’s parents.

Friday, June 18, 2010 9:35:04 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• How to analyze your research problem and break it into manageable chunks

• Ways to surmount common brick-wall scenarios

• Professional genealogists’ favorite methods for conquering research challenges

Thursday, June 10, 2010 9:24:01 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1]

A new feature in Google Earth is Historical Imagery. Click the clock icon on the Tool Bar and a slider bar will appear at the top of the map indicating how far back map images are available for your location. In the case of San Francisco we can turn the hands of time back to 1946 image. To return to modern day just unclick the clock icon or move the slider back up to the current year.

Go to Image Search and look for a portrait of a historical figure such as George Washington. In the results pages you'll see many faces of George Washington. However, as you move on through the search results, soon you'll come across other things, like a photograph of George Washington’s false teeth. Not exactly what you were looking for.

To eliminate the unwanted images and narrow in on the desired images, go back to the search box and click the Advance Image Search link. You'll see a blue box near the top and then a white box below. Within that box the first option is Content Types: return images that contain. Click on Faces and click the Search button again.  

Now every search result is a facial image. It might be a portrait on a stamp or on a coin, but it will be a face. We have succeeded in narrowing the original search results down from 6.7 million images to 548,000 images. Think how well this might work with an ancestor who is not quite is famous as George Washington!

Tuesday, June 08, 2010 4:55:14 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• Tips for phrasing your searches
• How to tailor your searches to fetch what you're looking for
• Hints to take advantage of tools such as Google Books and News Archive

Thursday, February 04, 2010 10:20:57 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• Participation in the live presentation and Q& A session

• Access to the webinar recording to view again as many times as you like

• PDF of the presentation slides for future reference

• Bonus handout (webinar attendees will receive a post-webinar e-mail with a link to download the bonus material as a PDF)

• a Family Tree Magazine 2010 Genealogy Desk Calendar (which has coupons for monthly savings at ShopFamilyTree.com)

Friday, January 15, 2010 1:14:25 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• recordings of past webinars
• Family Tree Problem Solver

Monday, November 09, 2009 5:54:44 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• US vital records access and coverage varies from state to state. Each state has its own rules  and regulations, but for privacy reasons, death records are  usually  closed to the public for around 50 years, and birth records for 75 to 100 years. But you can sometimes get these records for genealogical purposes if you can prove a relationship.

• Some states started state-level vital record keeping later than  others—in certain cases, well into the 1900s. But many counties started recording vital statistics  decades  or even centuries before the  state  mandated it. Look for those records at state archives and through the Family History Library.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 2:21:01 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• An overview of US birth, marriage and death records and what's in them
  
  
• Answers to the burning question of why coverage and access varies from place to place
  
  
• Types of vital records Web sites to keep an eye out for
  
  
• Online resources vital records and indexes
  
  
• Even if the record you need isn’t on the web, how to use online resources to get offline records

Thursday, October 01, 2009 5:08:41 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• what records are on Footnote
• search demos
• Footnote image viewer
• creating Footnote Pages about your ancestors with information and images you upload (Footnote's free "basic" members also can create pages and view other members' contributions)

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 8:51:45 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1]

• Participation in the live presentation and Q&A session
• Online access to the workshop recording after the session concludes
• PDF of the presentation slides for future reference
• Quick-reference heirloom care chart
• PDF of See and Save, a guide to protecting and storing paper, photos and textiles
• PDF of Keep It Reel, a guide to preserving audio and video memories

Wednesday, June 03, 2009 2:15:09 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]