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Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
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IN THIS ISSUE: |
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LDS Databases Are Now Available Online FamilyHistory.com Is Launched Chicago Tribune Archives Being Scanned State Of Texas Online Resources |
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Click Here for Dick Eastman's Archive |
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April 06, 1999 |
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- LDS Databases Are Now Available Online For years, many of us have predicted that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) would place many of their databases online. In the March 9, 1999 edition of this newsletter (available at: http://www.ancestry.com/columns/eastman/eastmar09-99.htm) I wrote about the rumors and some of the news stories circulating at that time. The Mormon Church remained quiet until this week. Finally, they made an announcement that we have all been waiting years to read: Public Test Begins for New Genealogical Service Salt Lake City, Utah- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has begun a brief public test of a new genealogical service for the Internet. The developmental test is open to anyone with Internet access, and the site can be found at www.familysearch.org. No special password or clearance is required. Present plans are for the test site to be available over the next few weeks. Due to test requirements the site may be unavailable at times or experience periods of slow response. The Church believes that, once the test is completed and the service is formally launched, it will greatly enhance the way people trace their family history. Depending on evaluation of the test, the full service may be launched this spring or summer. At that time, but not until then, detailed explanation will be made of the site and its various elements. The Family History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is an international leader in genealogical research with the world's largest collection of family history records made available to the public through a system of 3,200 Family History Centers located around the world. For media inquiries, contact:
The http://www.familysearch.org/ site obviously has been very busy since the announcement. I have used it a number of times and have frequently seen error messages of "Not Available" or "Server Too Busy." Such messages are to be expected in the "developmental test" and anyone who encounters them should not be surprised. Keep in mind that this test is designed as a session for identifying and eliminating software bugs and capacity issues. As such, you should not be surprised to encounter a few unsolved problems in the early weeks. So what is available on the new FamilySearch site? When first entering the site, a very simple "fill in the blanks" page appears, suggesting that you enter at least your ancestor's first and last name and then click Search. On my first attempt I simply entered my own surname without any first name and then clicked on Search. Within seconds the database identified 226 records that matched my search criteria. I could click on any of them to display a more detailed page. To show the type of information available, I did a cut-and-paste of the first record I displayed: FamilySearch® International Genealogical Index ™ 6 Jun 1830 Parents: Father: William EASTMAN Mother: Source Information: You can see that this particular record is from the International Genealogical Index. I can view all the details by visiting a local Family History Center near me and renting microfilm number 1903555. I can now easily do the basic research at home, go to the Family History Center with a list of films to order, and then return a few weeks later to view the microfilms after they arrive. This certainly is a time saver, especially for those of us who lead busy lives and cannot easily get to the local center to spend time searching the records on CD-ROM. The particular search that I performed on my own surname produced records from the Ancestral File, the Family History Library Catalog, the International Genealogical Index for several countries, the FamilySearch Pedigree Resource File, and from some websites. Of course, a "brute force" approach of searching for all entries of a particular surname will not be very effective unless it is a rare name. In most cases, the best method is to refine the search by entering a first name, too. You can do somewhat more sophisticated searches, such as by Keyword or by a Custom Search of any one of the Mormon databases. Since I have an interest in Penobscot County, Maine, I did a Keyword search on "Penobscot." That search produced 37 "hits" with most of them being for books available in the Family History Center’s library. Apparently you can not yet filter by multiple words. For instance, I could not specify a search of "all references for the town of Corinth in the County of Penobscot." The Custom Search allows for tailoring a search to a specific database. This is effective for anyone who is already familiar with that database and knows how the information is organized. For instance, you can search the International Genealogical Index for a name, for a spouse’s name, for parents’ name(s), by region, and even by Batch numbers. A search of the Ancestral File can be tailored by name, spouse’s name, or parents’ name(s), as well as by file number. I have known for some time that the Mormon Church was planning to place their databases online, but I still received several surprises when I finally used it myself. They have more than just their own databases available. They also have searched the Web to find good databases that other people have created. For instance, I found brief descriptions and links to hundreds of online databases such as: early Waldo County, Maine marriage records, the Dublin, Ireland Directory of 1850, a Carpatho-Rusyn Knowledge Base, a 1790 Virginia Census Map, a listing of the Census Schedules and Microfilm Roll Numbers for Ohio: 1890 Special Schedules, and much more. The FamilySearch website says that it contains the following: Ancestral File™ - Over 35 million names organized into families and pedigrees The FamilySearch website is a major advance for online genealogy research. I suggest that you bookmark this site and visit it often. Even with the present server loading issues, this has to be a valuable online resource for almost everyone. For more information, look at: http://www.familysearch.org/ - FamilyHistory.com Is Launched With unfortunate timing, the folks at Ancestry.com released a great free genealogy website this week. Since they made this announcement in the same week as the Mormons’ announcement of their free website, I suspect that Ancestry will not receive the publicity that they deserve. Everyone is focused on the Mormons’ new site! However, I would suggest that you shouldn’t overlook this second gem. The new free website, called FamilyHistory.com, offers the 10 million-name Ancestry World Tree and many free genealogy message boards. Here’s the press release: New Internet Genealogy Community Offers 50,000 Surname Categories and Hundreds of Message Board Topics for Freely Corresponding with Other Family Researchers OREM, Utah -- Ancestry.com, the world's leading Internet destination for genealogists, has announced a new, totally free Internet genealogy community dedicated to helping people connect with others who are also interested in researching their same family lines. The new service called FamilyHistory.com (www.familyhistory.com) offers more than 50,000 surname and hundreds of topical message boards where beginners and experienced family historians alike can exchange information. Visitors to FamilyHistory.com also have ready access to the Ancestry World Tree, a massive collection of family pedigree information donated and freely shared by visitors to the Ancestry.com site. The Ancestry World Tree, the largest free collaborative database of its kind on the Internet, now includes information on more than 10 million individual ancestors. The Ancestry World Tree, established less than two years ago, has become a favorite resource of online genealogists because of Ancestry.com's pledge to always make it available free of charge. In launching FamilyHistory.com, the company is extending its pledge to also include all information posted in any of the FamilyHistory.com message boards. The company is further promising that it will never sell information that is freely submitted by members of the genealogical community. "Genealogy is one of the best examples of how 'many hands make light work,'" said Paul B. Allen, cofounder of Ancestry.com. "The more people we can involve in sharing information, the better chance other people will have of finding the missing branches of their family trees. We are absolutely committed to providing the best free tools, like FamilyHistory.com and the Ancestry World Tree, for genealogists to research and collaborate with others so that even beginners can enjoy the thrill of discovering who they are." FamilyHistory.com services are available free of charge to anyone with access to the World Wide Web. A powerful full-text search engine is provided for quickly identifying pertinent information by surname, country/state, topic, or keyword. Users can also navigate through an alphabetical listing to investigate alternative spellings of surnames and location names. The site also makes it easy for users to return to their favorite forums with the "My Favorite Message Boards" feature found on the site's home page. About Ancestry.com Ancestry.com, Inc. offers two leading Web-based content and services destinations for families. Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com) offers free access to millions of genealogical records online. For a nominal fee, subscribers have complete access to the site's 1,480 databases. MyFamily.com (www.myfamily.com) provides free, secure family websites with services such as family news, photo album, birthday and holiday gift registration, family calendar and family-friendly content. Corporate investors in the privately held company include @Ventures, the affiliated venture capital arm of CMGI, Inc., (Nasdaq: CMGI), Intel Corporation and Wasatch Venture Fund. For more information, visit www.ancestry.com/pressroom.htm. The first thing that most people will use will be the Ancestry World Tree. Although this has been available for about two years on Ancestry.com, the new FamilyHistory.com folds that database into a more full-fledged online service that now includes message boards. Like several other online databases, FamilyHistory.com contains information submitted by thousands of people. Unlike some of the other websites, however, you can easily find out who submitted the information. You can even download the original file that was submitted. For instance, here is a typical listing: Name Sex Birth Death Parents Marriages Original File George Washington Eastman M 9 Sep 1815 MARSHALL, NY 27 Apr 1862 ROCHESTER, NY HARVEY EASTMAN, ANNE RUNDELL Marriage 1 Contact submitter/ Download original file When I clicked on "Contact submitter/ Download original file" a new screen appeared that listed the e-mail address of the person who submitted it. Also, I was able to download the original GEDCOM file submitted by that person, either as a self-extracting .EXE file for PCs or as a ZIP file for PCs or Macintosh. Once downloaded, you can view the file with almost any genealogy program on a PC or a Macintosh. Make sure that you don’t import it into your main database, however! Create a new, empty database and import the GEDCOM file into that. Most genealogy programs allow you to have multiple databases so you should not have to mix invalidated information into your carefully researched database. You should never import someone else’s data into your primary database until you are comfortable that the data is accurate. I downloaded the file listed above and found that it contained information on 16,946 individuals. Obviously that number will vary widely from one file to the next, depending upon the person who submitted the data. From beginning to end, I spent maybe three or four minutes to find and obtain a file containing someone else’s documentation of 16,946 individuals. Not bad! This is genealogy sharing at its best. And I know whom to contact if I want to contribute more information or to ask questions. There’s a side note to all this, too. For years one of the big frustrations that many people have encountered is the "repackaging" and uploading of someone else’s information. For instance, I may work long and hard to research my family. My work is never finished; I am constantly adding new data, supplementing existing data as well as correcting any errors in previously-entered information. Let’s assume that I send a copy of my current database to some distant cousin, thinking that it will help him or her. Some unscrupulous individuals can take my data, insert it into their own database, modify it, maybe even add inaccurate information to it, and then contribute it to an online database as their own work. No matter what their intentions are, that’s dumb! Everyone should respect each other’s data and treat it as someone else’s data, not as their own. To incorporate someone else’s data into your own and then submit it to others, especially without crediting the source, is a sign of sloppy research. Yet such things happen daily. The system at FamilyHistory.com will not stop this sort of repackaging, but it does allow for quick and easy identification and deletion. Each and every piece of information contributed to FamilyHistory.com is easily identified as to who submitted it. In fact, every user can identify the origin. You do not have to contact the Webmaster or anyone else to determine where the information originated. Next, the data is stored in individual GEDCOM files. If someone’s data is later deemed to be inappropriate, the Webmaster can delete the file and the data quickly disappears. All online databases should operate this way! The FamilyHistory.com website contains many new message boards organized by surname, by country/state and by topic. Surnames and county/state are obvious. I looked at the "Topics" message boards and found categories such as: Adoption One additional item that the Ancestry.com folks are quick to point out: Ancestry.com pledges to never require fees to access the information on this site and will never package and sell the content in any way. Recently, there has been a lot of activity in genealogy online newsgroups on this topic. In some of the messages I have read, Ancestry.com has been lumped in with some of their competitors who charge fees to access the work of genealogists or sell this content on CD-ROMs. Such statements are inaccurate; Ancestry.com does not sell this information on CD-ROM disks, nor does it charge fees to access the personal data submitted by hard-working genealogists. The message boards on FamilyHistory.com have similar constraints. Quoting from the website: While the FamilyHistory.com service is in place, we will never remove old messages except as requested by the original author, so long as they are posted in compliance with the FamilyHistory.com User Agreement. We will never charge a fee to read from or post to the message boards. We will never give or sell your e-mail address to anyone, nor use it for anything other than appropriate communications from FamilyHistory.com. We respect copyright and other laws and will strive to honor the rightful ownership of information posted on this site. Bad timing or not, FamilyHistory.com is a major new tool in the online genealogist’s toolbox. I suggest you look at http://www.FamilyHistory.com - Chicago Tribune Archives Being Scanned The Chicago Tribune has contracted with Progressive Technology Federal Systems, Inc. (PTFS) to digitize a significant portion of the Chicago Tribune's archives collection, creating a fully searchable digital library that will cover material from 1849 to the present. Content to be digitized includes more than fifteen million newspaper clippings from the early 1900s to 1984, the full text and image of every front page from 1849 through the present, and the full text of all obituaries and death notices from 1849 through 1997. The project is reportedly the largest digitization effort to be undertaken by a newspaper. Here's hoping more newspapers take their cue. To read the entire press release, go to: http://www.ptfs.com/trib_press.html My thanks to Chip Rowe and to John Scroggins for sharing this info! - State Of Texas Online Resources Everything is bigger and better in Texas. Well, the Texans would like you to think that! (Watch my e-mail fill up because of that statement.) The Texas State Library has a great genealogy section in their online Texas State Electronic Library. It is a good starting point for anyone researching Texas ancestry. The Texas State Electronic Library Genealogy and Family History page can be found at: http://link.tsl.state.tx.us/g/gene.html#texas - Kentucky History Has New Home Northern Kentucky genealogists and history buffs will be interested in the imminent opening of the Kentucky History Center in Frankfort. The $29 million facility has been in the works about 10 years. A celebration, complete with a parade through Frankfort's historic downtown, will take place April 10. Groundbreaking for the 167,000-square-foot center began about a year ago. It will house a state museum and a genealogical research library. Backers expect it to draw 150,000 visitors within a year. The museum will feature a permanent 20,000-square-foot exhibit, "A Kentucky Journey." The $2.8 million exhibit will allow visitors to study Kentucky history chronologically by walking a trail featuring life-sized environments and 14 interactive displays. Admission to the Kentucky History Center will be free. For information on hours of operation, call (877) 444-7879. I recently wrote about the shortage of hotel rooms at the National Genealogical Society Conference being held in Richmond, Virginia on May 12 through 15. Now Roland Bauer advises that there may be a similar shortage at the Federation of Genealogical Society’s annual conference being held in St. Louis on August 11 through 14. That weekend is the same weekend as a Cardinal's baseball game, and many hotels in the area are sold out already. Roland advises that hotel rooms will be scarce and probably expensive. However, there are rooms available today in many hotels a bit further away. These rooms will probably disappear as the date gets closer. The suggestion is to make your reservations now. Roland Bauer lives in Collinsville, Illinois, eleven miles east of the Mississippi River and about 12 miles from the FGS conference hotel. He suggests that Collinsville would be a good location for anyone who will have an automobile available during the FGS conference. The hotel rates in Collinsville apparently are much lower than downtown St. Louis. Information can be found at: http://www.collinsvillecvb.com. I normally don’t write about my non-genealogy activities but I am smiling so much today that I just have to tell everyone: I flew my tiny airplane today! I obtained a private pilot’s license about 25 years ago and was quite active for several years, flying both powered airplanes and sailplanes (gliders). I never owned my own aircraft but did belong to a flying club and also rented aircraft from various flight services. However, the many demands of family, employer and buying a new house every few years eventually made it difficult to remain proficient. I was flying so little that I eventually "dropped out" entirely. Last fall I visited an airport to watch ultralight aircraft and immediately fell in love with them. In my mind, this is what flying is all about: the wind in your face and the freedom to fly like a bird with a minimum of computers or complex mechanical systems. To make a long story short, I now own a Kolb FireFly: a 254-pound, single-seat, open cockpit design with a 40-horsepower engine. The Kolb is built like a normal-size aerobatics airplane: a very strong steel tubing fuselage covered with Stitts fabric. The only major difference is that it is miniaturized. I finally flew the little airplane today. Keep in mind that it is a single-seat airplane; there’s no opportunity for an instructor to fly with you to coach you in its operations. You are truly on your own. To be sure, I did take instruction from a licensed instructor a few weeks ago in a similar two-seat aircraft, but there’s still the lingering doubt when you open the throttle: Is this plane going to handle like the two-seat trainer? Once I am in the air, can I really land it? I can tell you that it handles better than the two-seater. It’s a blast. My first landing was one to be proud of; the plane landed smoothly and gracefully. Anyone interested in the Kolb FireFly can view my pictures at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/eastman/airplane.htm. You will have to excuse me now; I’m headed for the airport. The Upcoming Events section of the newsletter is published once per month. Each event will be listed very briefly: title, date(s), location, and sponsoring organization, all followed by either an e-mail address or a Web page that you can use to find more information. Since detailed information is available via e-mail or the Web, I will not list the details in this newsletter. If you do contact any of these organizations, please tell them where you heard about the event. Here are the listings, arranged by date. An asterisk indicates a new listing that has been added since the last time this list was published: The California Genealogical Society will hold its annual Family History Fair on April 9 and 10 in Pleasanton, California. Theme is "Your International Heritage". More than two dozen classes will focus on research techniques and sources; other classes will cover the rapidly growing use of computers and the Internet. Further information is available at the CGS website: http://www.calgensoc.com The Massachusetts Genealogical Council will present "Discovering Your Heritage" an Everton Publishers workshop, 10 April 1999 in Wayland, MA. For more information contact: Jim Holmes 76312.1377@compuserve.com The Bend Genealogical Society in Oregon Will present John P. Colletta on Saturday, April 10, 1999. The seminar topics include: Passenger Arrival Records, 1820-1957; The Seventeen Million Stories of Ellis Island; How to Put Your Ancestors Into Historical Context; and Using Newspapers for Family History Research. For information, contact djburgess@madras.net The Northeast Alabama Ancestor Swap Meet will be held April 10, 1999 in Gadsden, Etowah County, Alabama. Attendance will be limited to 200, so make reservations now. For information e-mail: rhyatt@airnet.net Americans With Italian Roots, an all-day seminar on Italian Genealogy, will be held in Hempstead, New York on April 10,1999. It is sponsored by the Italian Genealogical Group and the New York State Order of the Sons of Italy in America. Details are available at: http://www.italiangen.org Silicon Valley PAF Users Group is sponsoring a seminar by Cyndi Howells on April 10, 1999 in Santa Clara, California. The seminar will include classes on using e-mail more effectively for genealogical research and efficient use of Internet genealogy sites. Details are available at: http://www.svgen.org The annual conference of the Utah Genealogical Association will be held 15-17 April 1999. For details, contact: LINDATURNR@aol.com and look at: http://www.infouga.org/confrnce.htm ROOTS XV, "Family History: Basics and Beyond", the 15th annual all-day seminar sponsored by The Genealogy Workshop of the Huntington Historical Society will be held in Huntington, New York on April 17, 1999. For information, send an e-mail to: wchamber@suffolk.lib.ny.us An all-day joint conference of the Chester County Historical Society and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania is scheduled for Saturday, April 17, 1999. For more information, send an e-mail to: GSPPA@AOL.com The Simcoe County Branch of The Ontario Genealogical Society will present "State of the Art", a colloquium, on April 17, 1999, at Canada Forces Base Borden, Angus, Ontario. For information, contact: claudia@planeteer.com The Monmouth County Genealogy Society and the Genealogical Society of New Jersey will present Sharon DeBartolo Carmack in an all-day seminar on April 17, 1999. The seminar will be held in Red Bank, NJ. For details see: http://nj5.injersey.com/~kjshelly/gsnjsem.html The Computer-Assisted Genealogy Group of Northern Illinois, a software group for amateur genealogists, will present Patricia Weisshaus discussing "Your Papers, please", on April 18th, 7:00pm in Schaumburg. For more information, contact: lolson@mountprospect.com The 38th Annual Conference of the Ohio Genealogical Society will be held April 22-25, 1999 in Toledo, Ohio. Featured speakers are Dr. George K. Schweitzer, Ph.D. and Dr. John P. Colletta, Ph.D. For more information visit the OGS website at: http://www.ogs.org The "Computers In Family History Conference" will be held 24th April 1999 at Salford University, Manchester, UK. It is sponsored by the Society of Genealogists and the Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society. Information is available at: http://www.mlfhs.demon.co.uk/conference The Genealogy Association of English Speaking Researchers in Europe (GAESRE) is putting on their third annual Genealogy and Family History Day on Saturday 24 April 1999 in Mannheim Germany. Additional details are available from: whit@jas-net.de The Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society will hold its spring seminar on Saturday, April 24, 1999 in Jessup, Maryland. For details, contact jsheviak@aol.com. A "Hands-On Land Platting Workshop" will be presented by the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on April 30, 1999. Details are available at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~wsgs/seminar.htm The 14th Annual COFFEY Cousins Convention will be held April 29, 30 and May 1, 1999 in West Des Moines, Iowa. Details are available on the Coffey Cousins website at: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/6233/coffeycousins.html The Indiana Genealogical Society will hold its 1999 Annual Meeting and Conference May 1, 1999 in Fort Wayne. Details are available at: http://www.IndGenSoc.org The Alabama Genealogical Society Seminar will be held Saturday, May 1, 1999, at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. The subject will be "Genealogical Resources Available at the National Archives, Southeast Division", presented by Director James J. McSweeney, Archival Director Dr. Charles Reeves and Archivist Suzanne Dewberry. Details are available from: lalinecanderson@juno.com The Third Victorian Family History State Conference will be held May 1 and 2, 1999 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Co-hosts are the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Genealogical Society of Victoria. The theme of the Conference is "Health, Wealth & Wisdom." Twenty-seven speakers will deliver papers. Details are available at: http://www.alphalink.com.au/~aigs/ The Logan County Genealogical Society, Inc. will hold its 5th annual Ancestor Fair on May 1, 1999 in Guthrie, Oklahoma. For more information, send e-mail to tchada@flash.net. The Wisconsin State Genealogical Society Spring Seminar will be held May 1, 1999, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, featuring Birdie Monk Holsclaw as the speaker. Details are available at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~wsgs/seminar.htm Heritage Hunters of Saratoga County, New York will present a seminar by Henry Z. Jones, Jr. on Friday, May 7 and Saturday, May 8, 1999 in Saratoga Springs, NY. Several seminars are planned. For more information contact Alice Zetterstrom at zetter@juno.com National Genealogical Society’s Annual Conference in Richmond, VA May12-15, 1999. Information is available from: Macdonald@ngsgenealogy.org Southern Virginia College is sponsoring a genealogy conference on May 21st and 22nd. Speakers will include: David Rencher and Dean Hunter from the LDS Family History Center, Barbara Vinnes Little plus others will do Saturday workshops. The college is located in Buena Vista, Virginia, which is in the upper end of the Shenandoah Valley. Interested vendors or participants can send e-mail to: gmills@southernvirginia.edu. The Sonoma County Genealogical Society is planning an all day seminar on May 22, 1999 in Santa Rosa, California, featuring Dr. John Philip Colletta in a day-long program. For details see: http://www.rootsweb.com/~cascgs/colletta.html The Oregon Genealogical Society is sponsoring a seminar in Eugene, Oregon on May 22 1999. The theme is "Midwest and Heartland Ancestor Search" focusing on Midwestern US research. Invited speakers include Joanne Skelton, Anne Leptich, and Jim Kimsey. For more information send an e-mail to: mporter@oregon.uoregon.edu The Halton-Peel Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society will present the OGS Seminar '99 from May 28th to May 30th 1999 in Toronto, Canada. The theme is "Our Ontario Families." Details are available at: http://www.hhpl.on.ca/sigs/ogshp/seminar.htm The Wayne County (PA) Historical Society will sponsor an Everton "Discovering Your Heritage" Workshop on Saturday, May 29. For information, send e-mail to: wchspa@ptd.net. The New England Historic Genealogical Society is offering its annual Research Program to Salt Lake City from May 30 to June 6, 1999. The program offers lectures on various genealogical topics, guided research in the Family History Library, and personal research consultations with NEHGS staff. For further information, look at: http://www.nehgs.org The Stebbins Ancestral Society will hold a family reunion in Northampton, Massachusetts June 3 to 6. If interested, please contact: aligner01@yahoo.com. The DuVAL Family Association will hold its first meeting in over half a century on June 4-6, 1999 in Richmond, Virginia. Details are available at: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/7508 The GAFFIELD Family Reunion will be held in Howard City, Michigan on June 5, 1999. For information, contact: r.reid@sympatico.ca. The descendants of John Morgan MINTER (1792-1856) and Dorothy Brooks MATHIS (1792-1852) will celebrate their memory with a reunion at Hopkins County, Texas, June 11, 12, 13, 1999. For information, send an e-mail to: djr@swbell.net The Midwest Historical and Genealogical Society, Wichita, KS will host the 24th Annual Conference of the Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies on June 11 and 12, 1999 in Wichita. Featured speaker will be James L. Hansen, Reference Librarian of the Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. For additional information see: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/mhgs/conference.htm The 21st annual reunion of the LILLARD Family Association will be June 12 and 13, 1999, at Benton, Tennessee. For details, contact rlill55941@wingnet.net The Descendants of Baron Christopher de Graffenried will hold their 1999 Reunion in Oklahoma City, OK June 18-21, 1999. For information, contact: Jdegraf203@aol.com The LAY Family Genealogical Association (including Lay, Leigh, Lea, Leh, Ley, Loy etc surnames) will hold a meeting in Branson, MO June 25 through 27, 1999. Details are at: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/8896 The National KITTERMAN Family Reunion will be held June 25-27th at Fort Dodge, Iowa. For information, contact: rwhipple@quis.net "Melungeon Roots: A Family Heritage Workshop" will be held on the Berea College campus in Kentucky on Saturday, June 26. An extensive program is planned. Details are available from: nmorri3924@aol.com The 6th Annual Genealogical Institute of Mid America will be held in Springfield, Illinois, in July of 1999. Details are available at: http://www.misslink.net/neill/gima.html The EARL and BOWEN Family Reunion will be held in Elma, Washington on July 3, 1999. Details are available from: r.reid@sympatico.ca. The Germans From Russia Heritage Society (GRHS) 1999 Convention will be held in Aberdeen, South Dakota on July 8 through 11, 1999. Details are available at: http://www.grhs.com/ Dr. George K. Schweitzer will speak on German Genealogy on July 10, 1999 for a workshop sponsored jointly by the German Interest Group and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Area Research Center in Whitewater, Wisconsin. Details are at: http://www.angelfire.com/biz/origins1/gig.html LABERGE-LaBARGE Reunion will be held in Keeseville, NY on July 16 and 17, 1999. If you are one of the descendants of Robert de la Berge, the original Laberge in North America (and virtually all Laberges, LaBarges, Lebarges, etc. in North America are), you are cordially invited. For more information, see: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/LaBarge_C/laberge.htm The descendants of Abraham and Mary VANDAL of West Virginia will hold their 1999 National Biannual Reunion July 25-27 in Nashville, Indiana. Details may be found at: http://www.startext.net/homes/chield/vandalreunion.htm The 43rd Annual Meeting of the Livesay Historical Society will be held in Duffield, Virginia, from July 29th through 31st, 1999. Additional details are available at: http://hometown.aol.com/lhsociety/livesay.html The New Brunswick Genealogical Society will present its 20th Anniversary Conference "New Brunswick Ancestors - Arrivals and Departures" July 30th to August 2nd, 1999 in Moncton, New Brunswick. Details are available at: http://www.bitheads.ca/nbgs/conf.html Brigham Young University’s 1999 Genealogy and Family History Conference will be held August 3–6, 1999. Information is available at: http://coned.byu.edu/cw/cwgeneal/ BROWN/MCNATT/RICHARDS Reunion, Aug 7, 1999 in Clayton, Delaware. Details are available from: mbluehen@sensible-net.com The 75th annual PARKMAN Association Meeting will be held August 8, 1999 in Skowhegan, Maine. This association is for all descendants of Gideon and Mary (Vining) Parkman of Abington, Massachusetts and Skowhegan, Maine. Details are available by sending an e-mail to: klary-jr@hannaford.com. "New York.... Gateway to America," the 19th Annual Conference on Jewish Genealogy, hosted by the Jewish Genealogical Society, Inc., will be held August 8-13, 1999. For information, look at: http://members.aol.com/nyc99conf The New England Historic Genealogical Society’s annual "Come Home to New England" program will be held August 8-15, 1999 at the Society’s headquarters in Boston, MA. Participants enjoy one-on-one research consultations with NEHGS staff, daily lectures on New England research and methodology, and private research time and exclusive early library hours. For information, look at: http://www.nehgs.org The St. Louis Public Library is sponsoring a workshop for Genealogical Librarians on August 10, 1999. Note that this is the day before the FGS national conference in St. Louis. Speakers will be Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck of the Dallas Public Library, Eric Grundset, librarian of the DAR library, Paul Conner of the Library of Congress, Brent Griffeths of the LDS Family History Library, Martha Henderson of the Mid-Continent Public Library, and Constance Potter of the National Archives. Details are available at: http://www.slcl.lib.mo.us/slcl/sc/sc-pcon.htm The Federation of Genealogical Societies and the St. Louis Genealogical Society invite you to "A Conference for the Nation's Genealogists" in St. Louis, MO August 11 through 14, 1999. This is one of the major conferences of the year. The full Conference Registration Booklet is now on-line at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~mostlogs/STINDEX.HTM The descendants of Catharine MAHONY and John McCARTHY of Prescott, Ontario will hold their second reunion August 13-15, 1999 in Ottawa, Ontario. For information, contact: grandpre@global2000.net The 1999 National HANKS Family Reunion will be held on August 20, 21, 22, 1999 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The reunion is to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the arrival of the New England Branch of the Hanks family to America. More information can be found at: http://www.enol.com/~hanksdc/hanksplace/reunion.html The Searching For That Elusive Irish Ancestor 1999 Family History & Heritage Conference will be held in Belfast and in Dublin, Ireland September 7 through 14, 1999. The conference will concentrate on making practical use of the genealogical research sources available to the family historian in both cities. Delegates will have ample opportunity for guided research at the main archives and repositories in addition to lectures, tours and entertainment all at no extra charge. Details are available at: http://www.uhf.org.uk The Eli and Mae GARMAN Family Reunion will be held on September 12, 1999 in Independence, Kansas. Details are available from: cgarman@horizon.hit.net The 25th SEABOLT Family Reunion will be held in Vogel State Park, Georgia on September 18 and 19,1999. For information, contact harsea@aol.com The Slippery Rock Heritage Association will hold their Annual Heritage Festival on September 24 through 26, 1999. It will be held in conjunction with the Slippery Rock University Homecoming Weekend Celebration. Details are available at: http:// www.geniespeak.com/event.html The McAllen Genealogical Society will hold its annual all-day seminar Saturday, February 5, 2000 in McAllen, Texas. Henry Z (Hank) Jones, the featured speaker, will present four informative and fun lectures. For details contact: ecmacey@ibm.net The Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies will host its Annual Rocky Mountain Regional Conference, 22-23 September 2000, in Lakewood CO. Featured speakers will be Cyndi Howells, Henry "Hank" Jones, and Christina Schaefer. The National Archives-Rocky Mountain Region - within walking distance of the Sheraton - is expected to play a significance role in the Conference. For details, contact pakemper@aol.com If you would like to see your event listed, send an e-mail to: meetings@rootscomputing.com. You must include either a Web page that gives details or an e-mail address for the organization or for someone within the organization who is willing to supply the meeting details upon request. Please limit your listings to events where you expect 100 or more people to attend. The following is a list of some of the genealogy-related World Wide Web home pages that have been listed recently on http://www.rootscomputing.com. Some of these sites may charge a fee for their services: Mason, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire website, includes research resources, Revolutionary and Civil War soldier lists, a photo album page, researchers list, cemetery inscriptions, some marriage records and more: http://home.earthlink.net/~georgeo/mason_nh.htm Rohwer, Rohrer, Rorer, Rohr, Roher, Rohwedder surnames: Fulmer surname back to 1471: Dilley/Dille/Dilly/Dillie family research center: Eichmann family information from from Missouri & Illnois: Alden Williamson Descendants, families of the Big Sandy Valley of West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia from 1699 to the present: Iowa’s 32nd Infantry Regiment Iowa Volunteers roster of personnel and a brief history of unit's movements of Company "B" during the civil War: Barnum/Barnham Familes Newsletter Index - contains information on the descendants and ancestors of Thomas Barnum the immigrant of Danbury, Connecticut: A website for anyone researching ancestors from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. This site has marriage, death, lair (burial) and Peterhead born strays records. You can also request a search of the 1851 census: Whipple Family Association: EthnoWeb, a new multimedia HTML authoring program, which is well-suited to handling complex genealogies. The website includes detailed information about the program, including sample screens, as well as the chance to sign up to be a beta-tester of the software: Rogish family homepage for the Slovenian surname Roglic, and its variants like Roglich and Rogish. Also information on genealogy, Slovenian history and culture: To submit your home page to this newsletter, enter the necessary information at: http://www.rootscomputing.com/register.htm. Due to the volume of new Web pages submitted, I am not able to list all of them in the newsletter.
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