04 July 2013

Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Meeting and Classes (UVTAGG)

The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the UVPAFUG will be on Saturday, 13 July 2013, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo. Information about the Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on their website http://uvtagg.org.

The main presentation this month will be by Terry Dahlin on TREASURES IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD: GENEALOGY RESOURCES IN THE BYU LIBRARY.  This will be a discussion of the wealth of services, technology, and print and online collections available to genealogical researchers at the Harold B. Lee Library on the BYU Campus.  Terry Dahlin is the Family and Local History Librarian at BYU.  He was born in Bremerton, Washington, raised in Utah, and served an LDS mission to Chile.  He met his wife in a BYU singles ward and they have two sons and two daughters.  He completed a bachelor’s degree in U.S. social history and a master’s degree in library science, both at BYU.  He pursued advanced graduate study in public and educational policy at the University of Utah.  He has worked in a variety of positions in the Harold B. Lee Library since 1974, including head of government documents and maps.  He has served as a bishop and a high councilor with responsibility for temple and family history work.  His genealogical research interests have been in the western U.S. and England and more recently on pursuing his family lines into Sweden.  

After the main presentation the following classes are scheduled.  Check the meetings page at http://uvtagg.org/ for last minute changes or additions.
(1)  Q&A: Treasures in Your Own Backyard:  Genealogy Resources in the BYU Library, by Terry Dahlin;  (2)  Evernote:  The Genealogist's Workhorse, by Don Snow;
(3)  MAC Help: Individual Help With Problems & OSX, by Ron Snowden;
(4)  Ask An Expert (Personal Help), by Don Engstrom, Finn Hansen, & Beth Ann Wiseman;
(5)  Video of last month's main presentation: Techniques for Successful Searching, by Alan Mann;
(6)  Ancestral Quest, by Gaylon Findlay;
(7)  Legacy, by Dean Bennett; and
(8)  RootsMagic, by Diana Olsen and Renee Zamora.

All meetings of UVTAGG are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually about 100 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays. 

03 July 2013

Riverton FamilySearch Library Free Seminar for July

The Five Most Important Resources for Finding Your U.S. Families

With an ever-growing number of sources, websites, and research tools, today’s family historian can be overwhelmed at the possibilities. Where to start? How to be sure you have not missed anything? Here are the tools that will help you be sure you have made a broad and deep sweep of the possible sources.
These five resources are true power tools. They can accomplish great searches in just a little time. Learn all their features and functions, so their power will work for you.

Kory Meyerink, one of the founding partners of ProGenealogists, has been involved in nearly every aspect of genealogy and family history for the past 30 years, beginning as a record searcher while attending Brigham Young University, where he received an associate degree in family and local history, as well as a bachelor of science degree in psychology. He later completed a master of library and information science degree. He has written extensively and contributed numerous articles and columns for both Ancestry and Heritage Quest magazines. He recently served as the lead editor for the ground-breaking new methodology book, Becoming an Excellent Genealogist, published by the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen), where he served for eight years as a commissioner. His volunteer work also includes serving as an officer and on the board of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and as past-president of the Utah Genealogical Association (UGA).

Following the keynote presentation from 9:00–10:00 a.m., two blocks of four classes each are offered that cover topics of interest for beginning, intermediate, and advanced family history enthusiasts.
The classes available from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m. are:

• “ResearchTies: A Quality Tool for Logging and Tracking Research” - Jill Crandell

• “Find Your French Ancestors Online” - Heidi Sugden

• “Installing and Using IrfanView Software” - Colleen Willis

• “Basic Indexing” - Rose Scott


The classes available from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. are:

• “Research Fundamentals for Consultants and Novice Genealogists” - Sherry Zealley

• “Fundamentals of Legacy Family Tree” - Carl Holland

• “Find Green Arrows through Descendency Searches” - Cathy Anderegg

• “Using Billiongraves.com as a Source on Family Tree” - Linda Baker

Registration is not required for this free seminar. The Riverton FamilySearch Library is located in the LDS Riverton Office Building at 3740 Market Center Drive in Riverton, Utah. The facility is near the intersection of Bangerter Highway and 13400 South, just east of The Home Depot.

27 June 2013

PAF users have a new home at RootsMagic; Upgrade offer and Free Quick Start guide

If you are a current user of PAF genealogy software take a look at this RootsMagic offer for you. RootsMagic will make your transition as easy as possible and you will find a whole new list of possibilities for your family tree.

Remember that as of July 15th, 2013, PAF will no longer be supported by FamilySearch nor will it be available for download.

So take advantage of this great offer and read all the detail at PAF Users Have a New Home. You will even receive a free quick start guide.

21 June 2013

100 Years of Change

Then vs. Now
Source: MoneyChoice.org

FamilySearch No Longer Supports PAF or Provides Downloads

FamilySearch has announced that beginning July 15, 2013, PAF will be retired and will no longer be available for download or support from FamilySearch. PAF users should consider alternative products to meet their ongoing personal genealogy management needs.

For full details and for information on alternative products, please visit http://familysearch.org/PAF.

FamilySearch has worked hard to establish partnerships with third-parties to provide the best experiences for patrons.
  • PAF users should consider third party products as a solution that provides similar functionality but added benefits (such as connecting to FamilySearch Family Tree)
  • FamilySearch encourages patrons to use third-party products that are certified to work with FamilySearch FamilyTree.
This is a great opportunity to explain the value of this partner eco-system and focus on those benefits and the quality of partner solutions, rather than focus exclusively on the discontinuation of PAF.
 
Anyone using PAF currently is encouraged to visit http://familysearch.org/PAF  and get started in migrating to one of the recommended products.  It is appropriate and encouraged to have Family History Consultants and Library support personnel host events and/or train patrons on how to migrate to the various products, discuss the advantages, and allow them to make their own choices.  

NOTE: When using LDS church buildings and resources for these activities, products will not be sold nor will sales be solicited to exclusively promote only a specific product to patrons, as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will maintain a neutral position whilst providing informative guidance.  Also, third-parties must abide by these guidelines if their employees or representatives are invited to participate in the activities in person or by phone or web conference. 

14 June 2013

Riverton FamilySearch Library Free Seminar-June 15th

Come join in the fun and learn more about ways to get your family involved with Family History!

Riverton, Utah

Zap the Grandma Gap
This keynote presentation shares the ten most important ideas for you to connect to your posterity by connecting your posterity to their past.  If they are bored, you are doing it wrong.  Based on the book and workbook Zap the Grandma Gap Power Up Workbook: The Particulars About How to Connect to Your Family by Connecting Them to Their Family History, (www.zapthegrandmagap.com) Janet Hovorka helps you figure out what will work in your family. You can take your family history from snoring and boring to exciting and inviting.

Janet Hovorka owns Family ChartMasters, an award winning genealogy chart printing service and is the author of the Zap the Grandma Gap–Connect to Your Family by Connecting Them to Their Family History book and workbooks.  Janet writes The Chart Chick blog and the Zap the Grandma Gap blog, writes for numerous genealogy publications, and widely lectures about genealogy.  She is the immediate past president of the Utah Genealogical Association and teaches genealogy and library science at Salt Lake Community College.

Following the keynote presentation from 9:00–10:00 a.m., two blocks of four classes each are offered that will cover topics of interest for beginning, intermediate, and advanced family history enthusiasts.

The classes available from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m. are:

•   “Using Neighborhoods to Solve Difficult Problems: A Case History from New York State” - Bart Kowallis
•   “Naturalization Records” - Pat Jensen
•   “The Bred, the Wed, and the Dead: U.S. Vital Records” - Beth Taylor
•   “Introduction to Ancestral Quest” - Bud Wood


The classes available from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. are:

•   “U.S. Migration Patterns” - Mary Hill
•   “Where There’s a Will There’s a Probate: U.S. Probate Records” - Beth Taylor
•   “Organizing and Presenting Your Photos: Picasa and Other Freeware” - Don Snow and Linda Snow Westover
•   “Using ‘My Source Box’ on FamilySearch and Family Tree” - Linda Baker

Registration is not required for this free seminar. The Riverton FamilySearch Library is located in the LDS Riverton Office Building at 3740 Market Center Drive. The facility is near the intersection of Bangerter Highway and 13400 South, just east of The Home Depot.

03 June 2013

Be Prepared-Changes Coming to Genealogy Software Syncing to new.FamilySearch

Exciting changes abound! Yes, you need to look ahead and be prepared if you are currently using a genealogy software program version that still sync's your data to the "old" new.FamilySearch only. FamilySearch has released cutoff dates to vendors for writing to the "old" new.familysearch. 

As of 30 June 2013 write capability for the Family Tree API version 2 (the program that FamilySearch built for 3rd party vendors to access) will be turned off. The Software versions that still use this Family Tree version will be able to read the file until the end of 2013 but not write to it. Remember that beginning on 3 May 2013 you could no longer combine or separate records in new.familysearch. This is the next step in removing new.familysearch possibly by the end of 2013.

A collaboration toolkit will be included in the new version of the API which includes sources and discussions. To maintain FamilySearch certification, all the vendors must re-certify by 15 September 2013 after the collaborative features are added. This will be terrific for users because we will be able to start adding sources to the FamilySearch Family Tree from our genealogy software as soon as our particular software vendor adds these features to their program!

Here is the Windows status of FamilySearch partners as of  2 June 2013. The key to understanding the icons is listed below. 

As an example, the only software programs currently certified to work with FamilySearch Family Tree have a check mark to the left of their name. Also, if you currently use PAF you may want to consider moving to another certified software program if you want to read, write, and share data to the FamilyTree. There are free software versions available that will provide you access. The only one that currently reads and writes to FamilyTree is RootsMagic version 6 or the free version, RootsMagic Essentials version 6.


Here is the key to the above icons:


To continue to follow the status changes of the Windows programs listed above or to see those certified for the Web, MAC, or Mobile apps, click here.

Come Join Me at UVTAGG Group Meeting and Classes - June 8th

UTAH VALLEY TECHNOLOGY AND GENEALOGY GROUP MEETING (UVTAGG)
The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group - UVTAGG (Formerly the Utah Valley PAF Users Group - UVPAFUG) will be on Saturday, 08 Jun 2013, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo.  Information about the Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on their website http://uvtagg.org and the press releases are at http://blog.uvtagg.org . Saturday morning 08 Jun 2013 will be the marathon races down University Avenue in Provo, so expect delays when trying to cross University Avenue to get to the meeting in Edgemont.

The main presentation this month will be by Alan Mann on TECHNIQUES FOR SUCCESSFUL SEARCHING.  This presentation will demonstrate how different search parameters and terms give different results, with some suggestions specific to FamilySearch, Ancestry, FindMyPast, and Google.  Alan E. Mann, AG®, is an accredited genealogist in England, Australia, and the Channel Islands and is a popular speaker.  He is a senior research consultant in the FamilySearch's Family History Library in Salt Lake City and in the past has been a community manager for the FamilySearch Community Services team and the Information Services manager for the Family History Library.  He has taught British Research for BYU (History 412, 413, and 481) and various computer courses for Salt Lake Community College.  Alan writes columns, reviews, and articles for several magazines, and presents around the country about genealogy, the Internet, and British research.  He has been on the Board of Directors of the Utah Genealogical Association (2004-2009), was program chair for GenTech 2000 in San Diego, and was co-founder and co-chair of the BYU Annual Computerized Genealogy Conference (1998-2002,2006-2010), now replaced by the annual RootsTech conferences.  He was born in Phoenix, Arizona, has lived in 9 states and Puerto Rico, France, and England, and has visited 46 states and 14 countries.  He attended the University of North Dakota and BYU majoring in accounting and minoring in French and speaks fluent French and some Spanish.  You can find much more information about him and his presentations and publications at https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/User:MannAE .

After the main presentation the following classes are scheduled.  Check the meetings page at http://uvtagg.org/ for last minute changes or additions.  
  1. Doing English Research in the 21st Century, by Alan Mann
  2. MAC: Genealogy and Law: How Law Helps You Understand Records, by Stephen Ehat (Bring information about an ancestor for him to do a legal search for you there.)
  3. Ward Family History Web Sites: A Unifying Tool, by Abe Martin
  4. Ask An Expert (Personal Help), by Don Engstrom, Finn Hansen, and Beth Ann Wiseman
  5. Video of last month's main presentation: Writing A Personal or Family History, by Don Norton
  6. Ancestral Quest, by Gaylon Findlay
  7. Legacy, by Dean Bennett
  8. RootsMagic, by Sue Maxwell.
All meetings of UVTAGG are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually about 100 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays.

17 May 2013

Behind the Scenes of Image Capturing

Have you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes of indexing and image capturing? There are more than 1. 5 million images are captured each week. Who makes this possible? Records preservation missionaries, contractors, FamilySearch employees, archive employees, and many volunteers are responsible for capturing millions of images each year. These historical records are captured so that they may be indexed, preserved, and published on FamilySearch.org.

There are about 222 cameras located all over the world; 92 cameras in the Western Hemisphere, and 130 in the Eastern Hemisphere. These industrial cameras can each take millions of images ranging from 16 to 50 megapixels. Computer software is used to calibrate the camera, capture the image, manage the project, and capture metadata or information about the records. Clamps and foam wedges are used to keep the book level and the image in focus. All images are saved on an external hard drive at the end of each week, placed in a protective case, and sent to Salt Lake City, Utah. Once the hard drive arrives in Salt Lake, it is sent through an auditing process where rejected images are sent back for rework and approved images are processed and published. View the video, “FamilySearch Records Preservation Missionaries,” to see the record preservation missionaries in action. 

Once these images are captured, they need to be indexed to be searchable on FamilySearch.org. Volunteer to index these images today. 

Current and Completed Projects 

To view a list of currently available indexing projects, along with their record language and completion percentage, visit the FamilySearch indexing updates page. To learn more about individual projects, view the FamilySearch projects page. 

New Projects Added 

· België, Oost Vlaanderen, Sint-Lievens-Houtem—Burgerlijke Stand, 1901-1910 [Deel 2] 

· Brasil, Rio de Janeiro—Cartões de Imigração, 1900–1965 [Parte 3II] 

· Brasil, Rio de Janeiro—Cartões de Imigração, 1900–1965 [Parte 3JJ] 

· Canada—1911 Census 

· Colombia, Antioquia—Diócesis de Sonsón y Rionegro, 1814-2008 [Part 3] 

· Deutschland, Hessen, Landkreis Marburg-Biedenkopf—Sterberegister, 1946–1980 

· Italia (Antenati Italiani), Bergamo—Nati, 1875-1894 [Part 2B] 

· Italia (Antenati Italiani), Modena—Nati, 1875–1902 [Parte 2] 

· Magyarország, Szabolcs—polgári anyakönyvi adatok, 1895–1978 [5. Rész] 

· South Africa, Orange Free State—Estate Files, 1951–1980 [Part 2A] 

· Suisse, Fribourg—1834 Recensement 

· U.S. (Community Project), New York—New York Passenger Lists, 1942–1957 [Part J] 

· U.S., Indiana, Wayne—County Marriages, 1811–1959 

· U.S., Iowa—1905 State Census [Part A] 

· U.S., Iowa—County Marriages, 1838–1992 [Part D] 

· U.S., Massachusetts—State Vital Records, 1841–1920 [Part A] 

· UK, Kent—Register of Electors, 1825–1900 

· UK—WWI Service Records, 1914–1920 [Part 3] 

· UK—WWI Service Records, 1914–1920 [Part 4] 

· Zimbabwe—Death Notices, 1904–1976 [Part 1] 

· Россия, Тверь—Метрические книги церкви, 1722–1918 [часть 1] 

View the FamilySearch projects page to see the full list of available projects and to learn more about how to participate in various projects. 

Recently Completed Projects 

Note: Recently completed projects have been removed from the available online indexing batches and will now go through a final completion check process. They will be published at FamilySearch.org in the near future. 

· Italia (Antenati Italiani), Pesaro e Urbino—Nati, 1885–1902 [Parte 2] 

· Italy, Trento - Baptisms 1784-1924 [Part 2A] 

· Nicaragua, Masaya - Registros Civiles 1879-1984 

· Sverige, Örebro—Kyrkoböcker till 1860 [Del 6] 

· Sverige, Örebro—Kyrkoböcker till 1860 [Del 6] 

· U.S. (Community Project), Florida, Key West—Passenger Lists, 1898–1945 

· U.S. (Community Project), New York, Northern—Arrival Manifests, 1902–1956 

· U.S., Maine—Delayed Returns for Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1670–1891 

· U.S., Mississippi—Military Grave Registrations, 1936–1951 

· U.S., Ohio—County Births, 1856–1956 [Part C] 

· U.S., Oklahoma—Land Allotment Records of the Five Civilized Tribes, 1899–1907 [Part 1E] 

About FamilySearch 
FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.  

15 May 2013

Thanking a hero after 57 years!

It's the unexpected joys that make me love being a genealogist. Family is the most important thing we have. I had a favorite grandmother growing up and we lived about 700 miles apart most of my life. She and I would cry with joy whenever we got to see each other and cry from heartbreak whenever we parted. She just simply loved me. Life was simple and the little things made me happy.

Today I often wonder who was her favorite relative - a grand parent, and uncle, a cousin? I so wish I had asked her that simple question while she was still alive. That's why I get so exciting when I have the chance to help someone else discover someone in their life or the life of someone in theirs.

About two weeks ago one of my friends, Kathy Peavey Gritton, contacted me and asked if I could help her find someone from her late father's life. Her father had a serious accident in 1955 and she so wanted to locate the man who saved his life, if he was still alive. Kathy had a worn out newspaper article that didn't have a date nor did it identify the newspaper. The man's name was Richard Falkner. So we spend the next several hours piecing together her father's life including the accident that cost him both of his legs. And, we discovered that the hero in all of this was still alive and living just about 30 miles away. His name had been misspelled in the original article which made it a little more difficult to locate him.

Kathy decided she would contact Mr. Falkner the next day, however, she also wanted to publicly acknowledge his heroism so I suggested a local newspaper columnist, Lee Benson, who loves to share human interest stories. Kathy contacted them both the next day. They all met together a couple of days later... AND...here's the rest of the story...
*Hero thanked 55 years after Logan sawmill tragedy
*After 57 years, a family thanks its hero

Like I said...it's the unexpected joys in life! Thanks Kathy, for letting me play a part in your joy!

09 May 2013

UVTAGG Saturday Seminar-Come Join Me!

UTAH VALLEY TECHNOLOGY AND GENEALOGY GROUP MEETING (UVTAGG)

 The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group - UVTAGG (Formerly the Utah Valley PAF Users Group - UVPAFUG) will be on Saturday, 11 May 2013, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo. Information about the Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on their website http://uvtagg.org and the press releases are at http://blog.uvtagg.org . 

The main presentation this month will be by Don E. Norton on WRITING YOUR PERSONAL AND FAMILY HISTORY. This presentation will help all of us write and preserve our own and our ancestors' life stories. Don Norton is a retired professor of BYU's Department of Linguistics and English Language. For thirty years he taught the Personal History class at BYU, as well as senior seminars in oral history. A special interest is oral histories of military veterans, notably veterans of WW II, but of other "wars" as well. He has interviewed literally hundreds of military veterans and compiled their stories. He has written books and articles and headed the Faculty Editing Service at BYU for more than 20 years. As a professional editor for 45 years, he edited several volumes in the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley series at BYU. More information about him is online here.  

After the main presentation the following classes are presently scheduled. Check the meetings page athttp://uvtagg.org/ for last minute changes or additions to the class offerings.

  1. Effective Use of Websites and Their Search Engines or Why Didn't I Find Them the First Time?, by Laurie Castillo
  2. Organizing Your Computer Files, by Robert Lasson
  3. Using Dropbox, Keynote, and Skype for Genealogy, by Ron Snowden
  4. Q&A: Writing A Personal or Family History, by Don Norton
  5. Ask An Expert (Personal Help), by Don Engstrom, Bud Wood, and Jim Kendall
  6. Video of last month's main presentation: Are Your Ready Now That FamilySearch Family Tree is Live?, by James L. Tanner
  7. Ancestral Quest, by Merlin Kitchen
  8. Legacy, by Dean Bennett.
  9. RootsMagic, by Sue Maxwell
All meetings of UVTAGG are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually about 100 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays.

27 April 2013

New Online Tools Help Preserve and Share Precious Family Photos and Memories

Features create connections and bring family stories to life

SALT LAKE CITY - FamilySearch International, a nonprofit, volunteer-driven genealogy organization, announced the release of significant new enhancements to its web services that allow visitors to collaboratively build their family tree online, preserve and share precious family photos and stories, and receive personal research assistance-all for free. Find out more at FamilySearch.org.

"Every person who has ever lived has a right to be remembered and is a story waiting to be told," said Dennis C. Brimhall, CEO for FamilySearch. "Every family is a story in progress." Brimhall explained that the new FamilySearch.org features help move family history beyond research to appeal to a larger audience of people who are very interested in their family's stories, but who don't consider themselves genealogists or researchers. "We all treasure memorable family photos and ancestral stories that inspire, amuse, or connect us. Families can now share and preserve for posterity those social heirlooms that help vitalize their family history," Brimhall added.

The enhancements include Family Tree, an online application where users begin by adding information about themselves and then start to add information about their ancestors to collaboratively build, manage, and share their family history. The tree is already populated with over 900 million records contributed by patrons. And there are billions of historic records that can be searched for free to help further expand your family tree.





The Photos and Stories feature lets you preserve favorite family photos of ancestors and share them through social media. You can tag people in a photo to identify who they are and connect them to respective ancestor profiles in the Family Tree. The photos can then be easily shared with the online community. You can also upload your favorite stories about an ancestor to preserve them for future generations.


Julie Lowe from Missouri is the proverbial photo archivist of her family. She has albums of ancestral photos. Between her and her siblings, they are also walking libraries of countless stories and memories of their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, some great-grandparents, and other ancestors. They will be using the Photos and Stories feature to begin preserving their favorite photos and stories for future generations. Each person can save and share up to 5,000 ancestral photos in Family Tree.

"When a parent or grandparent takes the time to tell you a story, there's a bonding that occurs there," Brimhall said. "Likewise, a family photo and story preserved and shared in the context of one's family tree, in an instant, can personally touch us and teach us time-honored principles by those who have gone on before us, like the value of hard work, dealing with life's ups and downs, and the impact of choices."


Other features added include the interactive Fan Chart, a tool used by millions to create a colorful fan chart of their ancestry; the Family Tree Wizard, a tool that asks questions to help you begin to build your personal family tree and get you started; and Live Help, a global online community that provides free product help and personal research assistance by phone and web chat 24 hours a day/7 days a week. The help website and services are available in 10 languages.


About FamilySearch International
FamilySearch is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources for free atFamilySearch.org or through more than 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Free Research Series at the Family History Library in May



SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - Genealogists and family history enthusiasts looking for help with research in the following areas will be interested in classes held at the Family History Library in May.

A free Mid-Atlantic States Research Series will be held on Saturday, May 4, at the Family History Library. The classes will include:
       9:15 a.m.    “New Jersey”
     10:30 a.m.  “New York”
     11:45 a.m.  “Pennsylvania”

A free Norwegian Research Series will be held on Saturday, May 4 at the Family History Library. The classes will include: 
       9:15 a.m.    “Basic Elements of Norwegian Research” 
     10:30 a.m.    “Vital Records in Norway”
     11:45 a.m.    “Emigration and Printed Sources”

A free workshop on “Older English Handwriting” will be held on Saturday, May 18 at the Family History Library.  The workshop will run from 9:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. and the topics are:
       9:15 a.m.    “Introduction & Examples”
     11:45 a.m.    ‘Hands-on Practice”

A free Hispanic workshop (taught in Spanish) on Searching for Ancestors in FamilySearch will be held on Saturday, May 18 at the Family History Library.  The workshop will run from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and the topic is:
       1:00 p.m.    “La búsqueda de antepasados en FamilySearch”
El sábado 18 de mayo de 2013 la Biblioteca de Historia Familiar en Lago Salado habrá un taller hablada en español.  El tema del taller es:  “La búsqueda de antepasados en FamilySearch.”  El taller empieza a la 1 de la tarde y durará una hora y media.  Estará en la sala de computadores en el piso principal de la Biblioteca de Historia Familiar.

To view the class schedule online, go to https://familysearch.org/locations/library_class_schedule.  Classes will be held in the Main floor classroom of the Family History Library.  The library is located to the west of Temple Square on West Temple between North Temple and South Temple Streets in downtown Salt Lake City.  On Saturdays, parking is free to library patrons and is located behind the Church History Museum.  To register for these free classes, send an email to FHLClassReg@familysearch.org or call 801-240-4950.