Join the 24-Hour Worldwide Indexing Event - and Hangout!

Join volunteers from around the world on July 20 and 21st for an international history-making event! The goal is to get OVER 50,000 indexers and arbitrators to submit at least one batch during the 24-hour period. Even if you have never indexed before, this is the time to get started.

Only hours away!

This is going to take everyone's help. Even yours! No matter what language you speak or read you can add to this event. It's been two years since the first Worldwide Indexing Event and a total of 49,025 people participated. Let's beat that old record!

You can work on any project you like but FamilySearch suggests that you work on the following projects in your native language, if possible. 

• US—Obituaries, 1980–2014
• US—Passport Applications, 1795-1925
• US, New Orleans—Passenger Lists, 1820-1902
• UK, Manchester—Parish Registers, 1787-1999

If you haven't had a great deal of experience I'd suggest you give the obituaries a try. Even though they are listed under the "intermediate" category, rather than "beginner", you will find most of them typewritten. You just need to identify the people listed in the obituary by type, i.e. deceased, family, other. Be sure to look at the project instructions included with the download. Most of the these batches include only five obituaries.

The record-setting even begins at 00.00 coordinated universal time (UTC) on July 21st. Here are a few times based on time zones. All event times end 24-hours later.

US Eastern Time Zone - 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 20th

US Mountain Time Zone - 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 20th

US Alaska, Anchorage - 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 20th

England, London - 1:00 a.m. on Sunday, July 20th

Australia, Sydney - 10:00 a.m. on Monday, July 21th

Come on and join in the fun! Let's make this happen and help families around the world find their ancestors!

And, if you really want to have a great time and jump into the excitement, join our own DEAR MYRT online! She is hosting a 24-hour GeneaSleepOver hangout on air! For all the fun details jump on over to her site. It begins at 6:00 p.m. Mountain Daylight time on Sunday evening. And, if you have never participated in one, this is the one to start with!

Let's break the record!!

UVTAGG July 10th Saturday Seminar - Come Join Me!

The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group - UVTAGG will be on Saturday, 10 July 2014, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo.  Information about the Group, meeting location,  main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on their website  http://uvtagg.org. The meetings are free and open to the public. 

Map of the Meeting Location
 Whether your ancestor was a Smith, Jones, Brown, or Johnson, Juliana share some tips for tracking them down on Ancestry.com and beyond. Using charts, spreadsheets, and a little common sense, you’ll leave this class with some ideas for narrowing your search.

Juliana Szucs Smith has been working for Ancestry.com for more than 15 years. She began her family history journey trolling through microfilms at the tender age of 11 with her mother.  She has written many articles for online and print genealogical publications and wrote the “Computers and Technology” chapter of The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy. Juliana holds a certificate from Boston University’s Online Genealogical Research Program, and is currently on the clock working towards certification from the Board for Certification of Genealogists.

After the main presentation the following classes are scheduled:

(1)   Getting the Most From Your Discoveries, by Juliana Szucs Smith;  

(2)  Using LDS Partner Web Sites:  Find My Past, by Sue Maxwell;

(3)   MAC: IProblems, IGetStarted, and IHelp, by Ron Snowden;  

(4)  Ask An Expert (Personal Help), by Don Engstrom & Finn Hansen;  

(5)  Video from last month’s main presentation, Are You Your Own Brick Wall?, by Beth Taylor;

(6)  Ancestral Quest, by Gaylon Findlay;  

(7)  Legacy, by Marilyn Thomsen;

(8)  RootsMagic, by Bruce Buzbee. 

  The meetings are always open to the public and generally open with announcements that include what is happening in technology that effects family history work. A featured guest speaker will then make a one hour presentation on a topic of general interest relating to some aspect of technology and genealogy.