Millions of Records Added to FamilySearch Collection

More than six million images were added to five Mexico collections on FamilySearch.org in August 2011.

Additions were also made to collections from six other counries, including more than 500,000 parish register records from England and more than 250,000 images from Belgium, Oost-Vlaanderen, parish Registers, 15988-1799.

More than 1.8 million images were added as part of a new collection from the Russia Tver Church Books, 1722-1918.

New records and images are also available from Peru, Nicaragua and eight U.S. states: Maryland, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia.

Relative Finder is a New App for Facebook

BYU computer science students have developed a new app for Facebook called Relative Finder. This app downloads your family tree from New FamilySearch and then combs it for ancestors you have in common with famous people or your facebook friends who have also installed the app.

This is a real fun app to use and it helps you to do your family history at the same time. It can also become a bit addictive.

On another note, Peggy Sorenson has come up with a neat way to use Google Translate which is a free Google app. She has a relative in Sweden who wants to correspond with her but only speaks Swedish and Peggy speaks English. Peggy writes a letter in English and then uses Google Translate to translate the letter into Swedish. When she gets a letter from her relative in Swedish she uses Google Translate to change the letter into English.

When we think about this idea for a minute, we can come up with many ways to use it to do research in family history. For example, if we are looking at records in German or Spanish for example, we can type the record into Google Translate to get the text into English.

FamilySearch Research Wiki

The great power of a Wiki especially if it is about family history:

What if you could have available at your fingertips an online guide, like an encyclopedia, for genealogy that covered almost every aspect of family history, from German church records to delayed birth records to Social Security applications?

What if that guide was free to use and you knew that members of the genealogy community--those who do research day in and day out--were those who had contributed to the guide?

What if this guide allowed your genealogy society to have an instant internet presence and allowed your members to contibute information and articles based on you own areas of expertise and research experience?

What if you could add valuable information that you've discovered, such as where to find archived newspapers for Lewis County, New York, or what substitute records exist for Chicago vital records destroyed by the Great Fire of 1871?

What if this guide constantly grew with new content and continually became better and more accurae as a result of frequent updates?

Focusing on concepts such as collaboration and sharing pushes the worry of using a wiki out of the picture and demonstrates how the Family Search Research Wiki can be a useful tool in family history research.

We live in a time in which we are blessed to have tools and technology that make collaboration and sharing easier. With wikis like the FamilySearch Research Wiki, delivery and sharing of information is faster and the ability to reach thousands if not millions of researchers is much greater.

Utah Genealogical Association Summer Conference

The Theme for the Summer Conference of the Utah Genealogical Association is Our Family-Our heritage. The conference will be held August 19-20 at the Larry h Miller Campus of the Salt Lake Community College at 9750 South 300 West, Sandy, Utah. The UGA conference will combine excellent presenters and classes with technology training and hands on classes in the computer labs. There will be a total of 144 classes over the two days at beginning and advanced levels. The vendor drawing will be exciting with two notebook computers and 6 Ancestry.com memberships as well as may other wonderful prizes.

PRICING:

$10 each day

$15 for both days for UGA members

$45 for both days and a UGA membership

$40 for both days and a UGA membership extension

A few voluntgeers are still needed. Come for free by signing up on the website. Limited quantities of the printed syllabi will be available on a first come first served basis. To register go to www.ugagenealogy.org

Riverton FamilySearch Library Saturday Seminar August 20th

FREE SEMINAR ON FINDING YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE USING A THREE-WORD JOURNAL

The Riverton FamilySearch Library Hosts Event on August 20th from
9:00 a.m. to Noon

RIVERTON, UTAH have you wanted to keep a journal of important life events, but just don't have the time? Family history enthusiasts will want to take advantge of a free seminar to be held on Saturday, August 20th at the Riverton FamilySearch Library to learn creative ways to accomplish this goal in record time. Keynote speader Randal Wright will be speaking on "The Three-Word Journal:Finding Your Purpose in Life." His presentation teaches you how to recall the meaningful experiences in your life by summarizing each into three well-chosen words in approximately 10 seconds. These three words can later be expanded into a full journal entry that becomes part of your life history.

Randall A. Wright obtained a Ph.D. in Family Studies from Brigham Young University. He has worked with the LDS Church Educational System for many years and also taught in the religion department of BYU. He is the author of several books including: The Three Word Journal; Achieving Your Life Mission; 25 Mistakes LDS parents Make; Protecting Your Family in an X-rated World and The Case for Chastity. He has been a frequent speaker at Education Week and Esecially for Youth. He and his wife, Wendy, live in Austin, Texas, and are the parents of five married children and have 14 grandchildren.

Following the keynote presentation, there will be two blocks of four classes that will cover topics of interest to both beginning and advanced family history enthusiasts.

CLASSES TO BE HELD FROM 10:00 TO 11:00 A.M. ARE:

New FamilySearch Advanced Issues: Part 1 by Cathy Anderegg

Pennsylvania Research, An Overview by Tim Bingaman

The Google Genealogist by Devin Ashby

You sNEWS, You Lose: Using Newspapers in Research by Bret Petersen

CLASSES AVAILABLE FROM 11;00 a.m. TO NOON ARE:

New Family Search Advanced Issues: Part 2 by Cathy Anderegg

Synchronizing PAF 5 Data with New FamilySearch using Ancestral Quest, the Program which PAF was derived by Paul Johnson

Research Strategies and Websites by Diana Toland

FamilySearch and Billion Graves:Family History Sources Right at your Feet by Tim Cross

Rigistration is not required for this free seminar. The Riverton FamilySearach 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.

FamilySearch Launches Updated YouTube Channel

FamilySearch has unveiled a newly updated YouTube channel giving viewers an informative, fun and fascinating look at several different aspects of genealogy through a growing number of videos in five playlists.

High-quality videos are available for the rookie genealogist and the seasoned veteran alike. The Genealogy in 5 minutes playlist demonstrates how, in just a few minutes, individuals with little or no genealogy experience can make some headway on their family's history.

The Woven Generations playlist features powerful, personal experiences from those who have found success or inspiraion through family history work.

Additionally, FamilySearch sent camera crews to Virginia, Ohio, California, Indiana and other locations for a closer look at how FamilySearch works with societies and archives to provide access to more records online and to further mutual interests in family history. These vieos can be found in the Societies and Archives playlist.

These videos and others are available at YouTube.com/FamilySearch and can be powerful tools in introducing the excitment of family history to a friend or family member. They will also enrich the life of a veteran genalogist. Check out the videos today and share them with your family and friends!