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 Thursday, July 12, 2012
Ancestry.com Acquisition Means Changes at GeneTree and SMGF.org
Posted by Diane
GeneTree, the genetic genealogy and family tree building site
Ancestry.com acquired earlier this year, will close. Customers
received e-mail notification to download DNA results and pedigree
before Jan. 1, 2013.
An FAQ page on Ancestry.com contains
instructions for customers to download
information from GeneTree and, if they want, upload
it to Ancestry.com (you can opt for a free guest account
instead of a paid subscription).
If you've ordered a test from GeneTree or have questions about
transferring your information to Ancestry.com, see this FAQ page
on GeneTree.com.
As part of the deal, Ancestry.com also acquired the DNA assets of
the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy
Foundation, which has collected DNA results and associated
family tree data for 12 years. The Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA
results databases on the smgf.org website will no longer be
updated, but they'll continue to be available.
From the SMGF.org
statement:
SMGF has decided that AncestryDNA?
is better positioned to provide the benefit to the public that is
central to SMGF's mission. For this reason, SMGF's DNA-related
assets were acquired
by AncestryDNA in March 2012. SMGF is very excited to join
AncestryDNA , and we are confident that the pioneering work begun
at SMGF will continue to grow and have an even greater impact on
the future scientific understanding and public outreach of genetic
genealogy.
Ancestry.com | Genealogy Industry | Genetic Genealogy
Thursday, July 12, 2012 2:56:41 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00) 
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Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Search Iceland Censuses Back to 1703—Free!
Posted by Diane
Are you researching genealogy in Iceland?I saw on the National Genealogical Society's UpFront blog that the Iceland
National Archives has put an index to many censuses online (and
the site is available in English).
You currently can search censuses for 1703, 1835, 1840, 1845, 1850,
1855, 1860, 1870, 1890, 1901 and 1910.
Censuses for 1762, 1801, 1816 and 1880 will be added soon. And
according to the website,
digital
images of selected censuses from the 18th and 19th centuries
will be added when they become available.
The basic search lets you search one or more censuses on the name,
household position, farm/house name, parish or county. The advanced
search lets you search on a combination of these, plus age and sex.
In your search results, click on a person's name
to see details such as sex, age, marital status, household position,
religion and place of birth. Click in the Farm/House column for that person to see a list
of everyone in the household.
The information from the census is in Icelandic, of course. I used
Google Translate to get a translation for household position terms.
That column seems to be roughly equivalent to US censuses' relationship to
the head of household (such as "wife," "child") or occupation (such
as "farmer," "maid").
The site also has population
statistics from Iceland's censuses and interesting historical information
about censuses there.
If you do happen to have ancestors from Iceland, you'll find more
resources for researching them on our International
Genealogy Passport CD, which compiles helpful genealogy
websites, publications and organizations from nearly every nation on
earth.
Free Databases | Genealogy societies | International Genealogy
Wednesday, July 11, 2012 3:36:27 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, July 09, 2012
North Carolina Genealogy Crash Course!
Posted by Diane
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
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Essential North Carolina history
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Details on where to find vital, land, immigration and other records for the state
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What ethnicity-based records your North Carolina ancestor may have left
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The best websites and offline resources for North Carolina research
Attendees receive special access to view the webinar again as often as
they like, plus a PDF of the presentation slides for future reference.
And as a bonus, webinar
registrants will also get our North Carolina Research
Guide.
Register now to save $10 with our early bird special! Learn more about the North Carolina Genealogy Crash Course in ShopFamilyTree.com.
Research Tips | Webinars
Monday, July 09, 2012 9:37:54 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, July 06, 2012
The No. 1 Resource for Cluster & Collateral Genealogy
Posted by Diane
What is the number one resource for using "cluster genealogy" (that
is, investigating your ancestors' family, associates and neighbors)
to get information on your ancestors?
Find out in this quick video preview of our upcoming webinar Using
Cluster and Collateral Searches to Beat Brick Walls, with
genealogy expert Thomas MacEntee.
To learn more
strategies for doing cluster genealogy research, register
for the Cluster and Collateral Searches webinar.
It's scheduled for
next Thursday, July 12, at 7 p.m. Eastern Time (6 Central, 5
Mountain, 4 Pacific). You still have time to save $10 with our
early bird price!
Research Tips | Videos | Webinars
Friday, July 06, 2012 1:56:27 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Genealogy News Corral, July 2-6
Posted by Diane
- The George W. Bush
Presidential Library and Museum has launched a new website
hosted by Southern Methodist University, where the library
will be located. The site features highlights
from the library's collections, as well as online exhibits about President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush.
You'll also get an early look at the still-under-construction
library and museum, scheduled to open in Spring 2013.
- Princeton University has posted online the Sid Lapidus
'59 Collection on Liberty and the American Revolution, more
than 150 digitized pamphlets, books and prints from the American
Revolution era. They include Thomas Paine’s pamphlets “The Age of
Reason” and “Common Sense,” and John Adams’ essay "A defence of the
constitutions of government of the United States of America." Use
arrows to turn each document's pages like a book.
You can find Princeton's other digitized materials (which include
historical postcards and photos of the university—interesting if an
ancestor went there) in its digital
library, too.
Ancestry.com | Fold3 | Genealogy societies | Libraries and Archives | Social History
Friday, July 06, 2012 1:34:42 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, July 05, 2012
Search 140 Years of Scottish Post Office Directories Free Online
Posted by Diane
Researching family in Scotland between 1771 and 1911? The National
Library of Scotland has posted free online
Scottish Post Office directories spanning those years—700
digitized directories in all. Here's an example of a page from an 1887 volume:
Similar to US city directories, these Scottish directories contain
alphabetical lists of locations' inhabitants and information on
their profession and address.
By the mid-1800s, these directories covered all of Scotland, with
most being printed annually. The earliest ones were issued by
private publishers, but later, the Post Office took over publication
of directories in larger towns and cities. According to the website,
Most of the directories up until the mid-19th century would only
include the principal inhabitants of a location, leaving the poor in
particular unmentioned.
Women rarely featured in the lists, as usually only the head of a
household would be recorded.
In addition, people usually had to pay
a small fee to be recorded in the directories. While the gentry,
clergy, major tradesman, manufacturers, shop owners and other
professionals are likely listed, their employees or small traders
and craftsmen are often omitted. Laborers and servants are hardly
recorded at all.
There are exceptions, however—for example the
extensive lists of farmers for Perthshire or female householders for
Forfar.
Get
more details on the collection's coverage and content here.
Search or browse by last name, place or year. For names, only the
first three characters you enter will be used in your search (or
first five for names starting with Mc and first six for names starting with Mac).
My search for
mcint (the first five letters of McIntyre)
yielded 3,008 results, including the page above from the 1887-1888
directory
for Forfarshire, Angus County. Adding a place or year to my search
would have narrowed these results.
You can download a page as a JPG (image) or XML (text) file, or
download a whole book as a PDF. Click here to
access the digitized Scottish Post Office directories.
Free Databases | UK and Irish roots
Thursday, July 05, 2012 10:44:33 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Free Early American and Revolutionary War Genealogy Records on Ancestry.com and Fold3
Posted by Diane
In honor of the Fourth of July, you're getting two free
opportunities to search for early American and Revolutionary War
ancestors on subscription genealogy websites (you'll need to set up a free account on each site to view records).
Now through July 8, Ancestry.com has made 65
million records free, including:
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US Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications,
1889-1970
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Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Books
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Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files,
1800-1900
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Historical Newspapers, Birth, Marriage & Death Announcements,
1851-2003
Start searching the
free Ancestry.com Early American records here.
On Fold3.com, you have through July
15 to search through these and other
Revolutionary War records for free:
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Revolutionary War Pension Files
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Revolutionary War Service Records
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Bounty Land Warrants
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Revolutionary War Muster Rolls
Start searching the
free Fold3.com Revolutionary War Collection here.
Also don't miss our
post with even more online Revolutionary-era history and genealogy
resources—or our Ultimate
USA Genealogy Collection, featuring expert genealogy advice
and tools for researching family in US states, counties and cities.
Ancestry.com | Fold3 | Free Databases | Genealogy Web Sites | Military records
Tuesday, July 03, 2012 11:30:50 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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How to Beat Brick Walls With "Cluster Genealogy"
Posted by Diane
Say you needed someone, such as a friend or coworker, and you
couldn't find the person. What would you do? Probably start calling
his or her family, friends, neighbors, anyone you could think of.
Now what if you can't find great-grandma or great-great-grandpa?
Follow the same kind of approach: Check with your ancestor's FAN
club—that is, the friends, associates and neighbors with whom he or
she interacted.
This classic brick wall-busting strategy—also called "cluster" or
"collateral" research—is easier said than done. How do you find
out who your ancestor's FANs were, and how do you "talk" to them to find out what they can tell you about your family?
Our July 12 webinar, Using
Cluster and Collateral Searches to Beat Brick Walls, will
answer these questions for you, showing you:
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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
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how to piece together cluster and collateral evidence
- the best websites and offline resources for doing cluster and
collateral genealogy research
Here are the webinar details:
-
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.
Research Tips | Webinars
Tuesday, July 03, 2012 9:18:50 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Websites for Researching Revolutionary War Genealogy
Posted by Diane
Happy Fourth of July! I hope your holiday plans include watching a
parade or (safely) enjoying fireworks—and, of course, researching
your American Revolution-era ancestors.
The Continental Congress voted July 2, 1776—more than a year after
the Revolutionary War broke out—to declare independence from Great
Britain. Thomas Jefferson was selected to compose a Declaration of Independence, which was ratified July 4
(that original manuscript has been lost). A copy was sent to
the printing shop of John Dunlap, who produced 200 broadsides
overnight.
Public readings took place across the Colonies starting
July 8 in Philadelphia. Most signatories signed the Declaration of
independence Aug. 2; this document is on
display at the National Archives in Washington, DC.
Whether your revolutionary relatives were Founding Fathers or
members of the Continental army—or, as was usually the case for
women, kept the home front warm—they helped forge
a new nation. Most
enlisted men were between ages 16 and 60, but younger and older men
also served.
On the other hand, maybe your family didn't think a split with
England was such a good idea and remained Loyalists,
or even fought with British or Hessian
troops. The British offered some African-American slaves—now called
Black Loyalists—freedom
in exchange for military service.
See these free FamilyTreeMagazine.com articles for advice and
resources to help you research your American Revolution genealogy.
Elsewhere on the web, check out these Revolutionary War genealogy
and history websites:
Military records | Social History
Tuesday, July 03, 2012 8:44:28 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, June 29, 2012
Genealogy News Corral, June 23-27
Posted by Diane
- The city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Historical Society have
teamed up to publish an online
database of LA city officials back to 1850. Click
Search Office Holder to search by name. To browse, click an election
year on the left, then click the tabs for elected officials,
committees and appointed officials, and expand the lists in each
category. If you have an ancestor who served as a public official in
LA, you might find it helpful to download the site's Introduction
and User Guide via the links on the left side of the page.
Free Databases | Genealogy Events | Genealogy societies | Military records
Friday, June 29, 2012 10:44:37 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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