Genea-Musings

Thursday, February 4, 2016

My Day 2 at RootsTech 2016 - Part 2: Photos

I seem to go into every day at RootsTech with a goal of taking a lot of photographs and then end up with very few - I think I took 18 today, and some were duplicates.

Here are some of my photos from Day 2:

1) In Hall D before the Keynote session, each seat had a patient's mask and we weren't sure the reason. I modeled mine:

During Steve Rockwood's talk, he mentioned that we family historians are all "heart doctors of the family."

2) I took a photograph of Sonia Meza, a geneablogger from Spain, before the Keynote session began:

3) During Steve Rockwood's Keynote, he mentioned a number of feelings that stories can express:

4) The first picture I took in the Expo Hall was the backside of the 50 foot wide and 30 foot tall wall chart:

This was very imaginative, and shows lines of descent for several persons that stretch for tens of generations. I need a shot of the front of the wall too.

5) While on the podium at the MyHeritage luncheon, I took a picture of some of the crowd:

6) True Lewis and Amie Tennant came by the Media Hub in the afternoon, and we took a selfie picture.

Aren't they pretty? Smart and fun too!

7) We all got to meet Tony Proctor in person when he was interviewed by Pat on the DearMYRTLE Ambush Cam in the Media Hub:

8) There were geneabloggers in and out of the Media Hub all day long. Here are three of the Canadian geneabloggers smiling for the camera - Christine Woodcock, Kathryn Hogan and Mike Quackenbush:

That's all for today. I will try to have more photos on Friday and Saturday.

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My Day 2 at RootsTech 2016 - Part 1: Activities

Seriously, RootsTech is already half over? It seems like it just began. These two days have been a blur. I feel like I haven't done much.

Here's my Day 2 (Thursday) activities at RootsTech 2016:

1) The Expo Hall Tour was led by Paul Nauta of FamilySearch. Amazingly, at 7:30 a.m. there were many exhibits that were not completed. We saw the 50 foot wide wall chart being constructed n the floor. At the Media Hub, I left my jacket on a chair back and my laptop case on the table so I could lighten my load in the Keynote Session.

2) Paul led us "the back way" into Hall D and we found or Ambassador seats by 8 a.m. At first I was next to Bernice Bennett, Valerie Elkins and Carol Rice, but Valerie and Carol moved up several rows when given the opportunity, and Jim Ericson came and sat beside me.

The three Keynote talks are available on video:

* Steve Rockwood of FamilySearch:

During Steve's talk, he encouraged us to tell a 60-second story to the person next to us. I told Jim about my grandfather, and he told me about his grandfather. It was cool. These were really off-the-cuff,but it illustrated how easily family stories could be transmitted.

* The Introduction of Paula Williams Madison by Stan Ellsworth:

Stan rode in on his Harley motorcycle, and then expounded on the greatness of the USA, then introduced Paula.

* Paula Williams Madison Keynote talk:

Paula's talk was funny and poignant, and told her amazing story of finding her Chinese born grandfather, named Samuel Lowe, who married a Jamaican wife, and then left Jamaica for China to marry a Chines wife, leaving Paula's grandmother with two small children, and they moved to Harlem., where Paula grew up. She and her brothers found FamilySearch data, and then information in Ontario, and found their Chinese family. When they visited China, they found 300 descendants of her grandfather who welcomed them to the family. It's a wonderful family history story. The eldest son of Samuel Lowe died last weekend, and Paula was leaving for the services in China. You can read a lot more about her story on her web site at http://findingsamuellowe.com.

* Bruce Feiler's Keynote talk:

In this keynote talk, Bruce told his life story with humor and wisdom about family history - growing up in South Carolina, going to Yale, spent three years in Japan and wrote letters home, returned home to tell stories and write books, getting bone cancer, being treated, and now he is doing well. Having cancer drove him to tell his stories to his children. He made the point that high functioning families play and talk a lot about the family, it seems to be the secret sauce that holds a family together.

Watch the videos above for an enjoyable two hours.

3) The Keynotes ran a bit late, and we finally left Hall D at 10:25 a.m. I sneaked through the back door to the Media Hub, got my laptop set up, said hello to lots of media folks and some passersby, I had no time to blog or wander around the Expo Hall (it is big!).

4) I left at 10:45 a.m. to go to Room 355 to prepare for the MyHeritage luncheon presentation that I made with Daniel Horowitz with Aaron Godfrey moderating. I addressed Record Matches and Daniel described the other technologies available to MyHeritage users. I enjoyed the lunch table with several MyHeritage staffers and geneabloggers. After the talks, Daniel and I answered questions from the audience.

5) I got back to the Media Hub at 1:30 p.m. and worked on the blog compendium for over an hour. Several wonderful folks came by to chat and take a picture, and DearMYRTLE talked to the Mac Family Tree developer about his software, which looks interesting. At around 3:30 p.m. I took my first walk around the Expo Hall but didn't talk to many folks. The exhibits were pretty busy and my feet hurt.

6) I left at 4:30 p.m. and went back to the hotel, and Linda and I went to the shopping center and then to JB's for dinner, but JB's was dark due to a power outage that also closed the Family History Library. We ended up with dinner at the Radisson Copper Canyon restaurant. Mediocre.

7) We were back in the room by 7 p.m. to charge the electronics and write or add to blog posts. It should be early to bed tonight because I didn't sleep well Wednesday night and didn't get a nap.

We have been watching TV tonight, and have already seen two commercials for MyHeritage and one for 23andMe.

Note that I did not attend any classes today. I look forward to reading reviews by my geneablogging colleagues and reading the syllabus materials.

Pictures to follow!

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The URL for this post http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/02/my-day-2-at-rootstech-2016-part-1.html

Forever Launches PDF Document Functionality

I received this press release from FamilySearch today:

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Forever Launches PDF Document Functionality

Forever, Inc. announces that it now supports PDF documents at Forever.com to help families save their memories for generations.

(SALT LAKE CITY) February 4, 2016 Forever, Inc., the complete memory-keeping solution where genealogists, moms and other family historians collect, curate, and celebrate their memories now and for generations, is pleased to announce that it has launched PDF document functionality across their entire platform of products and services. Forever made the announcement at RootsTech 2016, which is the largest family history conference in the world and is being held at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah from Feb. 3-6, 2016.

“Our ability to support documents is a significant addition to the Forever platform,” said Glen Meakem, Forever Founder & CEO. “This development proves that we are becoming a complete memory-keeping solution, one that empowers users to tell life’s stories for generations.”

The new functionality enables users to save and share valuable family documents, such as genealogical records, family trees, birth certificates, baptismal certificates, and marriage licenses, all in their permanent digital homes at Forever.com. Users can also protect private and personal documents, such as financial records, legal contracts, and private correspondence.

While speaking to a group of RootsTech attendees, Meakem said, “Imagine writing letters for your children or grandchildren to read many years into the future. Perhaps those letters are congratulatory notes meant to be delivered during events to come, such as graduations, weddings, or anniversaries. Or perhaps those letters are reminders of important family values, traditions, or beliefs. Forever’s powerful platform of products and services enables you to choose how and when you share important family memories and personal content with others, and Forever’s patent-pending guarantee ensures that you can leave a legacy that speaks for generations. Whether you choose to share your documents with others, or keep them private, you can rest easy knowing that they will be protected for many, many years to come.

The company plans to add support for video later in 2016.

About Forever

Forever, Inc. offers the world’s first and only guaranteed permanent online media storage and sharing service, which is backed by the patent-pending Forever Guarantee. Forever was founded and is led by Glen Meakem, previous Founder and CEO of the highly successful business-to-business e-commerce company, FreeMarkets, Inc. Forever provides a permanent, secure, trustworthy place in the internet cloud – a permanent digital home with a complete set of memory keeping services – where moms and families can collect, curate, celebrate and permanently save their precious personal and family memories. The company offers highly secure, triple backed up cloud storage, with encryption of critical locator data. It also offers award winning mobile apps for iOS and Android that automatically back up to member accounts at www.forever.com, as well as web and desktop apps so customers can upload, access, edit, organize, and protect their content from virtually any device. Forever guarantees customers who buy “permanent sharable storage” that their photos and memories will be saved for their lifetimes plus 100 years with the goal of many generations beyond. The company can make this guarantee because a large portion of the money customers pay for “permanent storage” is deposited into the Forever Guarantee Fund, a restricted fund that acts like a permanent endowment or reserve, with earnings paying for storage, bandwidth, and migration to new file formats for generations into the future.

The company also offers Forever Artisan, the leading digital desktop scrapbooking software, and Forever Historian -- photo organization and management software, as well as Forever digital art, desktop uploader (Forever Valet), digital photo project design applications (such as Forever Projects), printing, photo scanning and media conversion services.

Visit Forever.com for more information or follow us on our blog, Facebook, Twitter orPinterest.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/02/forever-launches-pdf-document.html

Findmypast Announces Largest Online Collection of U.S. Marriages From 1650-2010

I received this press release from Findmypast today:

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FINDMYPAST ANNOUNCES LARGEST ONLINE COLLECTION OF U.S. MARRIAGES FROM 1650-2010

100 MILLION RECORDS, 450 MILLION+ NAMES

Salt Lake City: 4 February 2016

Time: 7am MT, 9am EST, 2pm GMT

Leading family history company, Findmypast , announced today at RootsTech that, in partnership with FamilySearch International, it will launch the single largest online collection of U.S. marriages in history.

Covering 360 years of marriages from 1650-2010, when complete this landmark collection will contain at least 100 million records and more than 450 million names from 2,800 counties across America. More than 60 per cent of these marriage records have never before been published online. When complete, this collection will only be found in its entirety exclusively on Findmypast.

To kick start the collection, Findmypast has launched the first 33 million records of this ambitious project today and is offering them to the public for free from now until 15 February. The records include marriage date, bride and groom names, birthplace, birth date, age, residence as well as fathers’ and mothers’ names. Customers with family trees on Findmypast will benefit from leads connecting relatives on their trees with the marriage records, thus generating a whole new source of research.

Those seeking a bit of star dust will find the marriage records for actors from Bette Davis to Jimmy Stewart, actor turned President, Ronald Reagan, founding father Samuel Adams, writers including F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck, jazz great Duke Ellington and baseball legend Babe Ruth to name but a few among the hundreds of millions of names.

Commenting, Annelies van den Belt, CEO, Findmypast said:

“We are delighted to be working with FamilySearch to bring this hugely important collection online. The launch of the U.S. marriages project is central to our growth strategy in the U.S. The millions of new U.S. records will complement Findmypast’s massive collection of British and Irish data allowing us to provide many more connections and a more comprehensive experience to family historians in the US and all over the world.

Steve Rockwood, CEO of FamilySearch said:

“We greatly value our close working relationships with our partners and record archives. They enable us as a community to get important records available to family history researchers online much, much faster. The US marriage records agreement with Findmypast is an excellent example. We are delighted to assist making these records available.”

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/02/findmypast-anniuncxes-largest-online.html

Treasure Chest Thursday Post 299: 1833 Death Record of Susanna (Reed) Gates in Gardner, Mass.

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the 1833 death record of Susanna (Reed) Gates in Gardner, Massachusetts:

The list is alphabetical, so the death record for Susanna Gates is near the bottom of the list:

The transcription of this record is:

[GATES] Susanna, wid. Simon, Dec. 18, 1833, a. 88. G.S. I."

Note: The "G.S.I." notation at the end means that this record was obtained from the gravestone in the Old Burying Ground in Gardner, Massachusetts. There is no town or vital record of this event.

The source citation for this record is:

Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Gardner, Massachusetts to the end of the year 1949 (Worcester, Mass. : Franklin P. Rice,1907), Deaths, page 118, Susannah Gates entry.

I posted Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 245: a WRONG Death Record for Simon Gates (1739-1803) of Gardner, Mass. some time ago about the death record of Simon Gates.

Simon and Susanna (Reed) Gates are my 5th great-grandparents, the parents of Nathan Gates (1767-1830) and 10 other children, and settled in Westminster and then Gardner in Worcester County, Massachusetts.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/02/treasure-chest-thursday-post-299-1833.html

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Day One at RootsTech 2016

My Day One at the RootsTech 2016 Conference was hectic, but I survived with the help of a nap.

1) Up early to have breakfast at the Radisson, then off at 7:15 a.m. to obtain my registration packet at the far end of the Salt Palace Convention Center. It snowed just a bit overnight and was about 12F, so I gingerly hiked down the driveway and across the 3 feet of packed snow to the walkway, then entered the SPCC via the north entrance, and walked the last quarter mile in relative warmth. There were plenty of geneabloggers hanging out there and we hugged and took photos and talked a bit.

2) The doors to Ballroom B opened just before 9 a.m. and about 500 folks or more filed in and sat down for the Innovator Summit keynote talks. Steve Rockwood, the CEO of FamilySearch talked about his entrepreneurial days and then noted that there are five types of family history experiences - discovery of family relationships, building a family tree, searching for and finding records, capturing and sharing memories, and using contextual help to learn more about history, geography, relatives, and more.

* Ken Krogue was the second speaker, he was the founder of InsideSales.com. He provided his own experiences in building sales and markets, and advice on how to do it. I didn't make notes on this...probably should have but read email and blogs instead. You can watch this talk on YouTube - see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_fFgxdyzQw.

3) At 10:15 a.m., I attended the session on the BYU Family History Technology with speakers Bill Barrett and Daniel Zappala. Their talk focused on three things - Success stories, Current work, and Grand challenges in the BYU technology lab. This lab is the incubator for some of the FamilySearch partner apps and programs.

The Success Stories they described include a 20 minute Genealogy Project to visualize information in a family tree. By color coding ancestor information, and using a fan chart, a user can see where quality information is lacking in their tree. This project turned into Kinpoint. Other success stories turned into Relative Finder, handwriting recognition and the digital microfilm project used by FamilySearch.

The Current Work projects include AncestorCloud, Goze to record memories, Pass it Down (a storytelling app), and Wiithu (a private family network), Kid Chatteroo (recording your children), and Studio by Legacy Republic. Other projects include evaluating tree quality, visualizing historical maps, automatic indexing of obituaries, semi-automated transcription, and binarization of historical documents.
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The Grand Challenges mentioned included Finding research opportunities, maintaining research logs, using collaborative tools and exploring analytics.

4) At 11:30 a.m. I attended the "DNA Panel on How is it Redefining our Industry?" with Scott Fisher, Diahan Southard and Judy Russell. The moderator asked questions about data matches, ethical issues, cloud systems, legal impediments, sharing DNA data, the loss of the SMGF test results, competitiveness in the field, and big developments in the next five years.

5) At 12 noon, I grabbed my box lunch (roast beef sandwich, chips, cookie, M&Ms), and found a seat in the hall for the Innovator Showdown where the semi-finalists each had about four minutes to describe their project and answer questions from five judges onstage. The 12 semi-finalists were:

* FamiCity - interactive timeline program.
* GenSoup - a tree program to research and document family history.
* JRNL - a journaling app.
* Kindex - indexing software for family papers and artifacts.
* TapGenes - a family health tree app.
* The History Project - "Memories come to life."
* AncestorCloud - marketplace for family discoveries
* Legacyscribes - a journaling app in the cloud.
* Scribbitt - expansive journaling.
* Legacy Republic - scanning photo albums with an album scanner.
* Family History Guide - a FamilySearch and genealogy learning and training site.
* Twile - interactive timeline of family history.

6) The Innovator Showdown ended at about 1:30 p.m., and I had nothing on my schedule for the next hour, so I hung out with geneabloggers and finally went back to the hotel room to do some blogging (I got the compendium started) and took a nap.

7) At 5:30 p.m., Linda and I went to the Registration desk and got her badge, then we went to the Media Dinner at 6 p.m. There were at least 100 in attendance. It was a nice chicken dinner, with salad and dessert, and we had a good discussion with Judy Russell and Steve Anderson, and several other FamilySearch folks. Steve Rockwood talked about creating and disseminating new family history technology, discussed the RootsTech attendance (about 25,000 total, including about 4,000 youth), plus the 125,000 viewing the livestreaming classes and 250,000 expected to see classes on Family Discover Days around the world. He also highlighted the coming Keynote speakers.

The six Innovator Showdown finalists were announced as:

* Ancestor Cloud
* JRNL
* Studio by Legacy Republic
* TapGenes
* The History Project
* Twile

They also announced a #RootsTechforever contest sponsored by Forever, Inc. to use the gifted selfie sticks to take selfie photographs and enter them into the contest.

8) At 8:30 p.m. we headed back to the hotel room. I wrote this post, and will work a bit more tonight.

The URL for this post is:

My Day at the Family History Library - 2 February 2016

Tuesday was my day at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City ib this trip to the RootsTech 2016 Conference.

I tried to plan my search for the items on my to-do list. After I straightened up the to-do list, I printed out a form for each task, and put them in the approximate order that I wanted to attack them. There were 19 forms. My expectation was that I would work on about ten of them.

Here is the first form:

I took a photo of the microfilm box on top of the form so I could verify I had the right microfilm, and then took photos of the pages of interest on the film. I also wrote down the number of pages for each target document.

The records that I managed to obtain included:

* Ichabod Kirby (1710-1794) probate packet papers of Bristol County, Mass.
* Rebecca Kirby (1674-1773) probate packet papers of Bristol County, Mass.
* Richard Kirby (1633-1720) probate packet papers of Bristol County, Mass.
* Robert Kirby (1673-1757) probate packet papers of Bristol County, Mass.
* David Kirby (1760-1832) probate packet papers of Bristol County, Mass.

* Nathaniel Potter (1637-1704) probate packet papers of Bristol County, Mass.

* Benjamin Soule (1719-1803) probate packet papers of Bristol County, Mass.
* Jacob Soule (1687-1747) probate packet papers of Bristol County, Mass.

* Joseph Tripp (1633-1715) probate packet papers of Bristol County, Mass.

* Amos Plimpton (1735-1808) probate court papers of Norfolk County, Mass.

* Nathaniel Guild (1712-1796) probate court papers of Norfolk County, Mass.

* Humphrey White (1758-1814) probate court papers of Glocester, R.I.

* Sibel White (1764-1848) probate court papers of Glocester, R.I.

* Humphrey White (1758-1814) deeds in Glocester, R.I. There were 4 deeds copied.
* Sibel White (1764-1848) deeds in Glocester, R.I. There were 3 deeds copied.

* Jonathan Oatley (1790-1872) and Amy Oatley (1798-1865) of Killingly, Conn. I listed only the deed volumes and pages from the grantee and grantor indexes.

* Ann Auble (1790-1860) death record in Sussex County, New Jersey vital records.

* David Auble (1817-1894) and Sarah Auble (1818-????) deeds in Vigo County, Indiana. There was only one deed between 1860 and 1800 which was copied.

For the probate court papers and deeds, I usually had to look through the probate dockets and grantee/grantor indexes, note the names and volume/page numbers, then find the right microfilm in the FHL Catalog for the specific deed. This was a much slower procedure than the probate estate papers where I could find them in specific microfilms.

All in all, I worked from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., but there were several interruptions for conversations. I made 157 photographs of the papers over the 7 hours of working on 12 tasks. Many of these records will show up in my Amanuensis Monday and Treasure Chest Thursday posts, and will enrich my family tree database while adding to my knowledge of my ancestral families.

I still have lots to do on my research on these microfilms at the FHL. I hope that some of the probate records in Massachusetts in Suffolk County come online in the near future so that I don';t have to use microfilm to find them. Land and probate records in Rhode Island and Connecticut would be very helpful, as would land records in New Jersey, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Colorado.

I look forward to my visit to Salt Lake city next year for RootsTech 2017, and another crack at the records hiding on microfilm in the Family History Library.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/02/my-day-at-family-history-library-2.html

I'm Ready to Explore the RootsTech 2016 Expo Hall

At this year’s conference, the RootsTech Expo Hall will be bigger than ever before. Come visit hundreds of family history and technology exhibitors sharing the latest products, services, and hands-on experiences available. Below is a small sample of activities and booths you’ll be able to explore at the RootsTech 2016 Expo Hall.

Family Discovery Zone—Sponsored by FamilySearch
The family discovery zone will be a fun, engaging, and interactive experience and will feature new and exciting technologies to help you discover and connect your family and stories. Stop by and experience the fun side of family history with these activities:
* Photo Scanning Area: Bring your family photos! Make digital copies for free that you can preserve, share, and even upload directly to your FamilySearch family tree.
* Recording Booth: Record Your Story! Your private recording session includes 10 minutes of recording time in a sound booth, and get a free copy of it on a flash drive.
* Record a Call with Someone Who Inspires You: Simply call a parent, grandparent, or someone who inspires you, and find out more about his or her life. Our app will record the conversation and give you a personal copy as well.

FamilySearch Scanning Booth
Get your family book scanned for free. We’ll make a digital copy, and you'll keep the original and a searchable PDF copy for you. You can also donate personal works, family journals, and books that are in the public domain.

Demo Theater—Sponsored by Backblaze
Curious about the newest in family history products and services? Take a seat, and listen to demonstrations by RootsTech sponsors and exhibitors. The 15-minute demos will be scheduled daily during Expo Hall hours.

Cyber Café—Sponsored by Dell
Refresh and recharge at the Cyber Café while at RootsTech. The café offers wireless Internet access, recharging stations for your electronic devices, and free sodas. The staff from the Family History Library will also be here to offer one-on-one help.

NEW! Innovation Alley
New to the RootsTech Expo Hall will be the Innovation Alley, where you’ll get a chance to view the latest technology and tools in the family history industry. Be sure to stop by.

Expo Hall Hours
Thursday, February 4, 2016: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Friday, February 5, 2016: 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, February 6, 2016: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

For a complete map of the RootsTech expo hall, expo hall hours, and list of exhibitors, visit RootsTech.org.

Note: That map is really fuzzy. I haven't found a better one yet!

What am I going to do in the Expo Hall?

The short answer is: Camp Out!! I expect to spend most of my time at the RootsTech 2016 Conference in the Expo Hall, in the Media Hub. I am an official RootsTech Ambassador and appreciate the honor.

I will be visiting as many exhibits as possible, talking to the exhibitors (the best times are when classes are in session), trying out their products, taking photographs, and blogging about my experiences. I look forward to renewing my acquaintances with employees of the companies large and small in attendance, and meeting new people who are trying to break into the genealogy marketplace.

We geneabloggers have a lot of fun in the Media Center, and we get to see all of the important people (genealogy rock stars, keynote speakers, etc.) come in for video interviews in the glass cage, or sofa interviews. Some of my colleagues conduct these video and sofa interviews, but I have not done that yet, and won't this year. I also look forward to seeing DearMYRTLE and her AmbushCam around the Expo campus interviewing unsuspecting genealogists and exhibitors.

I may even attend a class or two on my list of potential classes of interest. I figure that the RootsTech streaming video will include a number of my classes of interest, and I can watch them when I return home.

It's going to be a busy week! I'm trying to get extra rest this week so I can brave the warm Expo Hall and the cold (?) Salt Lake City temperatures. Linda and I are staying at the Radisson Hotel, and I'm planning to use their wheelchair to get Linda to where we want to go. The hotel is only a half block from the north Salt Palace entrance. Linda has several friends that she meets, shops with, dines with, and swims with, so she is looking forward to that. On Saturday night, DearMYRTLE is hosting the Geneabloggers after party with 50 in attendance from around the world.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/02/im-ready-to-explore-rootstech-2016-expo.html

NGS 2010 Conference in Salt Lake City (Part 2) -- Post 398 of (Not So) Wordless Wednesday

I'm posting old (and sometimes new) family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they won't be wordless posts like others do - I am incapable of having a wordless post.

Here are some of the most precious (to me) images from my Seaver/Leland photograph collection:

1) We attended the National Genealogical Society (NGS) Conference in late April 2010 in Salt Lake City, and I took many photos, especially in the Exhibit Hall. There were a number of geneabloggers in attendance - here are Sheri Fenley, Randy Seaver, Denise Levenick and Donna Pointkouski:

2) I think this is the "official" geneablogger photo - including:

front row: Lou Szucs, Kathryn Doyle, Diane Haddad, Sheri Fenley, and Elizabeth Hansford.
back row: Megan Smolenyak, Randy Seaver, Maureen Taylor, Steve Danko and Donna Pointkouski:

3) Sitting at the lunch table are: Randy Seaver, Janet Hovorka, Lisa Alzo, Angela McGhie and Sheri Fenley. Standing behind are Amy Urman and Madaleine Laird:

More to come!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/02/ngs-2010-conference-in-salt-lake-city.html

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Major News: RootsMagic and Ancestry Working Together

After the Ancestry.com announcement today, RootsMagic released this information:

The RootsMagic News said:

"Recently, the genealogy world was rocked with the news that Ancestry would be parting with their “Family Tree Maker” (FTM) genealogy software. Thousands of FTM users have since made the switch to RootsMagic. But the question everyone has been asking has been, “Will any other software be able to search and synchronize with Ancestry the same way that Family Tree Maker did?”

Today, we finally have an answer to that question- “Yes!” We’re pleased to announce that we will be working with Ancestry to bring these features to RootsMagic in the near future.

Read the full statement on the RootsMagic site - http://www.rootsmagic.com/ancestry/. In addition to listing all of the amazing capabilities coming soon, there are a number of Questions that are answered by RootsMagic.

If you are a current RootsMagic user, this is a major improvement to the software capabilities. I am excited. I will have more commentary in the days ahead.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/02/major-news-rootsmagic-and-ancestry.html

Pages

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Tuesday, February 2, 2016