Rendezvous with Death: The Ryder Brothers at Gettysburg, presented July 5, 2022, at 7 p.m. Registration Required

It is that time of year where American's celebrate this country's Independence. We also remember those who served defending this country -- both surviving veterans and those who lost their lives in service.

On July 5, 2022, at 7 p.m., the Plymouth District Library is hosting at presentation titled, Rendezvous with Death: The Ryder Brothers at Gettysburg. 

Presented by Don Batkins. The Ryder Brothers of Plymouth, Alfred and John, served in the 1st Michigan Calvary, the Michigan Lancers, and the 24th Michigan Regiment during the Civil War. They died at Gettysburg in 1863. (159 years ago.)

The brothers grew up on the family farm, located on Plymouth Road at the site of the current Ford plant. The land was purchased from the Government in 1827 and 1831 after the family moved from New York via the Erie Canal in 1826. This talk uses period illustrations, comments from the brothers' letters, descriptions of camp life and other interesting observations to describe events of this period. The talk ends with a short overview of what could be called a cottage industry as some locals disinterred dead soldiers and sent their bodies back home for reburial.

Though the presentation is free, registration is required because there is a limited number of virtual seats. Registration closes at 7 p.m. on July 5, just before the presentation begins.

See you someday soon at our favorite library.
LE

Ready ... Set ... Tomorrow is Less Than 24 hours Away for the 1950 Census Release

Are you excited for tomorrow?

You do recall that TO-MORR-OW is the release day of the 1950 U.S. Federal Census? No, fooling. The 72-year delayed release of this census enumeration is April 1, 2022.

It is the first census to be released with an index.* * Meaning an Artificial Intelligence / Optical Character Recognition of handwriting generated index.

Will the 1950 census index be perfect? Probably not. But you can provide corrections. So be flexible and have an idea what letters could have been misread as: an a, e, o being read as one of the others. An m, n, w, v not quite read correctly. And even an R read as a K because the ink was very faint on the top. Be creative.

But if you have done your prep work for this census and you know where your people are and the index search is not finding them, then do the search by location or even enumeration district.

Where do I find this census? Keep an eye on the 1950 Census page of the National Archives website. It is there that the link to the new, dedicated 1950 website will be released tomorrow, April 1. Once we see that website URL address is released we will post it here too.

So what do I do tomorrow? After finding the link to the new, dedicated website and going to it, you will decide how to want to search. By name, location or Enumeration District. To get some hints, watch the short presentation the National Archives hosted yesterday, March 30. The recording is already up. However, the chat from the presentation is not available that we can see.

What if ... Yeah, there is a possibility that the new website might crash a bit or a little slow. Be patient. Everyone be patient. Come back later at an odd time of day, or another day, or keep trying.

So get yourself ready for tomorrow. Clear some time from other obligations so you can search for your family in 1950.

Good Luck Everyone!

See you soon someday at our favorite library!
LE

Hell Froze Over: NYC Historical Vital Records are Digitized, Online ... Free !

We are catching up after a few days without internet and a few days of catching up due to the outage.

A few days ago, on the morning of Wednesday, March 16, an event happened equivalent to the likes of "the day hell froze over." An exaggeration? Not much.

That morning, the New York City Department of Records and Information Services launched a new website page ...  The NYC Historical Vital Records Project -- with 70% of an estimated 13.3 million records already online. These are searchable WITH digitized images (some in color) for free! (We did say hell froze over.)

What is included? Check the Digital Vital Records menu tab. Under each record type (Births, Deaths, Marriages) there are breakdowns by borough -- Bronx, Kings (Brooklyn), Manhattan, Queens, Richmond (Staten Island) -- showing a bar chart of digitized, not digitized and not available covering the time span of years for the full-page certificates in the collection. Note that Registers/Ledger Books for years prior to 1898 are on microfilm viewable in-person. There is less information in the register format than in the certificate format. If your record type/time period is not online yet be patient. (We know how to do that, right?)

Regardless, thank you NYC for finally making these records available. It is a good start. We are still wanting the older records. And thank you to organizations like Reclaim the Records for its efforts with getting government entities around the country to make records available.

So how do you use this new site? Well, try the search.

There are two main ways: by Certificate Number and by Last Name. But remember this is not a fancy site, the surname may not have been read correctly or it may not be spelled on the record the way you know it. You can reach the search either by the right-side of the main blue bar, or by the Search beta tab in the toolbar/menu above the blue bar.

Initially you have to pick a record type and you have to pick a borough to search.

After you get results, you can discard the borough and/or record type and update your results.

 

When you find your desired records, click and it will be presented as a PDF which you can download ... for FREE!

Our chosen example has a local connection to Macomb County. This is the marriage record for the founding couple Adam and Victoria of Olejnik Farms and Greenhouses on 23 Mile Road. The family-owned farm celebrated its 95th year in business last year.

One tip we have is if you are having trouble finding your people and you have Ancestry.com or access to Ancestry Library Edition, use the various data collections for the indexes for New York, New York and Ancestry's soundex and other similar filter capabilities for the names. For example:

New York, New York, U.S., Index to Death Certificates, 1862-1948

New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909

New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Marriage Index, 1866-1937

New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018

New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948

New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Birth Index, 1878-1909

There are a few other additional data collections for New York City vital records indexes under the New York collections too. And the webpage for the project has a few additional tips as well.

Have fun and good luck searching!

See you soon someday at our favorite library!
LE

March 1-8 Transfer Your DNA Data, Get Free Access to All DNA Features Forever: Don't Miss Out on this Opportunity

MyHeritageDNA is having its once in a great while Limited Time Only: Upload Your DNA Data to MyHeritage and Get Free Access to ALL DNA Features. AKA what we call the "Grandfathered In Sale."

While uploading DNA data to MyHeritageDNA is free, it only lets you see your matches and use the internal messaging system. To unlock the DNA tools it normally requires either a $29 one-time unlock fee or having an active data subscription. With this opportunity running from today, March 1 through March 8, 2022, you simply upload your DNA data from another autosomal DNA testing company and the unlock fee is waived. Your uploaded test gets grandfathered in to have all the DNA tools for free forever.

Here is the link to the MyHeritage Blog Article. There are also instructions for how to download your DNA data from different autosomal DNA testing companies if you have not done so already.

If you have been waiting for Ancestry.com to change its mind about a chromosome browser, this is a way to get access to one. Tell your relatives about the "sale" opportunity and see if they will transfer their DNA data to MyHeritageDNA too. It is free.

This is the time to get your DNA into another "pool to fish in" if you are seeking unknown biological connections. This is the time to get your DNA results from another company without any advanced DNA tools like a chromosome browser to a site with advanced DNA tools to help you make and understand connections. Don't miss out on this opportunity!

See you soon (someday) at our favorite library!
LE

RootsTech 2022 Starts Thursday; Free, Virtual Event from March 3 - 5, 2022

Rootstech 2022 begins in two days@ It runs from Thursday, March 3 to Saturday, March 5 and is completely virtual.

While most of the 900 sessions were pre-recorded, each day does have some Live Streamed events both featured speakers and in the Expo Hall. All the sessions will remain up and available until just before RootsTech 2023. The website is similar to last year's event but with some improvements.

Registration is still open. If you register for RootsTech 2022 with your free FamilySearch account you can choose to register for All-Access which gets you the ability to create your own PlayList of Sessions; the ability to FamilySearch Chat with industry experts and friends; and Relatives at RootsTech which shows you which attendees are related to you using the info in your FamilySearch Family Tree.

Session Syllabus Handouts are available. On each class session page, underneath the video player and the class description, you will see a link to the speaker bio and download links for any handouts that speakers have created for the class.

So much to learn!

See you soon (someday) at our favorite library!
LE

LIMITED-TIME OFFER EXTENDED TO Mar. 7, 2021! Advanced DNA Features Unlock Fee Waived for Autosomal DNA Data Transfers/Uploads to MyHeritageDNA

 

Great News! MyHeritage's waiving of the unlock fee for new DNA transfers/uploads has been extended until March 7, 2021.

If you have autosomal DNA test results at Ancestry, Family Tree DNA, or 23andMe, you might want to consider this offer. MyHeritage.com is waiving the unlock fee ($29) to gain complete access to its autosomal DNA service, MyHeritageDNA when you transfer/upload DNA data from another autosomal testing service such as Ancestry's AncestryDNA, Family Tree DNA's FamilyFinder, or 23andMe's Ancestry test. See the post on the MyHeritage Blog for more details on this limited-time offer and for the transfer/upload link.

MyHeritage allows you to upload your DNA data from other providers and get DNA Matches for free, but a one-time unlock fee of $29 (or a Complete plan with MyHeritage) has been required to access the advanced DNA features — and that includes the Ethnicity Estimate and the new Genetic Groups.

With this limited-time offer, you can now upload your DNA data to MyHeritage and get access to your Ethnicity Estimate, Genetic Groups, and other advanced DNA tools such as the Chromosome Browser, AutoClusters, and Theory of Family Relativity™ — absolutely free! These features will remain free forever for the DNA kits you upload to MyHeritage during this week.

In our opinion, the AutoClusters and Chromosome Browser are just two of the Advanced DNA tools that more than make it worthwhile to do a data transfer/upload.

To use the fishing analogy, each DNA testing provider is like a different pond or pool of water. To catch a fish aka a desired DNA match, you never know which pool of water that desired fish swims/resides in so you want to put your fishing pole (your DNA test/tests) in as many ponds/pools of water to catch that desired fish. DNA data transfers are a cost-effective way to do this because a data transfer does not cost as much as a physical test, especially when the transfer cost is free. 

This is a fantastic opportunity. This means no yearly subscriptions fees just to access all of your DNA test's features. Grandfathering-in does not happen very often. The last time the unlock fee was waived was in December 2019. 

See the MyHeritage blog post (link above) for the orange "Upload your data to MyHeritage now" link to the limited-access offer. There are a variety of help articles at the MyHeritage Help Center to help you with the data transfer/upload process.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Royal Oak Tribune Newspaper Digitized, Free Access from Royal Oak Public Library

The Royal Oak Public Library has announced the completion of a digitization project of Royal Oak Newspapers. The resulting database is accessible from the Royal Oak Public Library's website for free. The Tribune page can also be found through the library's Find an Article (Magazine, Journal, Newspaper) webpage.

The Royal Oak Tribune newspaper digitized and accessible for free.

The library digitized its microfilm holdings of the Royal Oak Tribune newspaper from November 1877 to September 2019. The run of the newspaper is not complete with every issue. There is just one issue for 1877 and just 12 issues for 1879. The surviving issues then pickup with the year 1908.

The database allows users to search in 25 year increments. There is also a Helpful Search Tips PDF and dtSearch Help PDF located on the Find An Article webpage.

From the Royal Oak Library website, "Users can search by name, subject, keyword, or browse by date. It’s an effective tool for finding local obituaries, local news and sports articles, and feature stories about Royal Oak businesses, organizations, local history, and government decisions. And just like the microfilm, users can browse pages as they were laid out in print. This is particularly helpful for users trying to glean a picture of what life was life in Royal Oak in a given month or year when it comes to the prices of goods and real estate, products being showcased in ads, local happenings in social events columns, and feature articles of local interest. For assistance in accessing or searching the databases, contact the Adult Reference Desk at (248) 246-3727."

Have Fun Searching Everyone!

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Lots of Genealogy Opportunities; Look Virtually for Genealogy Tips & Instruction

With a variety of free-access opportunities available with our various library cards you may be doing genealogy a bit more than normal. Or if you haven't done so yet maybe now that the weather is moving to the cold side you are gearing up to dig back into your genealogy. In either case if you need some help or tips remember there are a variety of instruction and education opportunities in the virtual realm.

There are the standard webinars available by long-known content providers (some genealogy societies and websites) we have mentioned in the past here on the blog. Just click on the "webinar" label in the left column of this blog page.

But since the pandemic, more and more local genealogy societies (like us,) libraries, archives, historical societies, etc. are hosting their meetings and programs virtually. With a little bit of internet searching you are sure to find a meeting/program or a few that are of interest to you and your genealogy. Just realize that while many of these programs may be free to watch live, some may not be recorded; some may be recorded and placed online for viewing later; or some may be recorded and placed online behind a member only "wall" for viewing later only by members of the hosting group.

Some of these meetings/programs coming up in the future can be found through the GeneaWebinars Calendar but many are not listed there so you need to sleuth them out yourself. (Where did your ancestors live? Search for hosting groups in those areas. What aspect of genealogy do you need help with? Search for meeting topics on those aspects.) For those already past, you may find them archived on a society's website or even their YouTube channel. You might even find some recordings on Facebook.

Here's one example.

Allen County Public Library / The Genealogy Center

The Allen County Public Library's The Genealogy Center has been hosting a Virtual Family History Month just about everyday this month. (October is Family History Month after all.) While most of the programming has passed, there are a few days worth still to come. Of note are the programs on online resources for Tennessee, recipes, steps to preserve your family history, and the Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana Seminar featuring Paul Milner talking on four topics related to researching English ancestry. You can register for these virtual events at the ACPL Genealogy Center website. Look for Genealogy Events. For the ACGSI seminar or any of its monthly meetings you can also register at the society's website. The seminar is actually four prerecorded sessions you can watch at your own pace and the seminar day on October 31, is actually two question and answer sessions.

Additional archived programming can be found at ACPL's YouTube playlist under The Genealogy Center channel.

Want to just listen to genealogy subjects? Search for podcasts dealing with various genealogy topics that interest you.

Of course, do not forget about MCGG's own virtual meetings and YouTube channel. (Note: we are still working on editing the recording of our last meeting.) If you have an idea for a topic, let us know.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library! (someday soon)
LE

Live Streaming of SCGS's 2019 Genealogy Jamboree Starts Today Register & Watch

The Southern California Genealogy Society (SCGS) opened up registration for the FREE live streamed sessions of the 50th Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree.

The 2019 Genealogy Jamboree begins Thursday, May 30, with the Genetic Genealogy Conference and continues Friday, May 31, through Sunday, June 2. There will be hours of free genealogy education Friday through Sunday with handouts available. Sponsorship by Ancestry.com is making this possible. Registration gets you a user login and password sent by email to join the live stream event.

The live streamed DNA sessions on Thursday are pay-to-view and must be registered for separately. If you have already payed/registered for the Thursday DNA sessions just log into your account and check the box at the bottom to add access to the free sessions. You will be sent a separate login for the Friday to Sunday free sessions.

Visit the SCGS blog site or the Jamboree website to see the complete schedule of live streamed sessions for each day.

If you can not watch the sessions live, you will be able to watch at your convenience before July 31, 2019, from the special Jamboree Archive. You will still need to register to view the special archive. Live stream registration will remain available until July 31, 2019. (These sessions from Jamboree will not be added to the regular webinar archive for SCGS members only.)

You will need the SCGS Jamboree 2019 App to access the session handouts.

The SCGS Jamboree 2019 app is made for smart phones just go to Google Play or the Apple Store (iOS) to download the app. Look for SCGS Jamboree 2019. The app has a tablet mode so it can be used by those too. There is a browser version (found here) accessible via browser on any computer for those without smart phones and tablets. To access a session's handout you must "browse" to that session's information page. Look for the PDF icon. There is no option to download all handouts for your sessions at one time. If a session handout is not there, check back at a later date to see if it has been added. Please note the Jamboree app is by the same company that provides the RootsTech app and it is showing similar issues discussed prior. Check previous posts on RootsTech or Jamboree to learn how to access the session handouts.

The sessions picked for live streaming are varied and look interesting so if you want to watch it all live plan your days accordingly and enjoy some genealogy education.

The 2019 Genealogy Jamboree Free Live Stream Sessions.
Please note that for the convenience of our MCGG members, we have listed the session start times in Eastern Time here rather than Pacific Time. Remember on the Jamboree pages, times are in Pacific Time.

Friday, May 31

4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
FR010 Funeral Homes and Family History: They're Dying to Meet You presented by Daniel Earl

5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
FR019: Strategies for Finding the Locality of Your Irish Ancestors presented by Donna M Moughty

7:00 to 8:00 p.m
FR028: Major Midwestern Databases and Indexes for Family History Reserach presented by Paula Stuart-Warren, CG®, FMGS, FUGA

Saturday, June 1

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
SA009: Genealogy Pit Stop: Research in 15 Minute Increments presented by Thomas MacEntee

1:00 to 2:00 p.m.
SA018: Working More In-Depth with Mexican Civil Registration Records presented by Colleen Greene, MLIS

2:30 to 3:00 p.m.
SA027: Historical Maps: The World at Your Fingertips presented by Michael L Strauss, AG®

5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
SA036: Afro-Latinx in the Old West presented by Janice Lovelace, PhD

6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
SA045: Plain Folk -- Researching Amish and Mennonite Families presented by Peggy Clemens Lauritzen, AG®, FOGS

Sunday, June 2

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
SU009: Canadiana's Genealogical Treasures presented by Dave Obee

1:00 to 2:00 p.m.
SU018: Online Library Catalogs: A Genealogist's Best Kept Secret presented by D Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS

3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
SU027: Silent Voices: Telling the Stories of Your Female Immigrant Ancestors presented by Lisa Alzo, MFA

5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
SU036: Border -- What Border? Our Ancestor Who Called Both Canada and the USA Home by Annette Burk Lyttle

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

RootsTech 2018 Handouts Available thru RootsTech App or App Website

RootsTech 2018  the annual genealogy and technology conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah, is just days away. Conference attendees -- those able to attend in person and those attending via LiveStream -- can access the 2018 class syllabus handouts online. These were released a couple weeks ago so if you have not got the handouts for your sessions yet there is still time to do so.

Like last year you must use a RootsTech App to download or email yourself the session syllabus handouts from either the Apple App Store or GooglePlay. The RootsTech App is made for SmartPhones. Unlike last year when the app was just finicky on a tablet, one of our members found the App unusable this year on that same tablet. It simply crashed with each attempt to open/use it.  So usability may vary by non-smartphone device.

Please note that this is the same app as last year. So if you made notes in the handouts thru the App and it is still on your device you will likely want to make sure you download the handouts to your computer or email them to yourself before loading the new 2018 conference information. Some users on other blogs have said it overwrites the 2017 information.

How do you find a session's handout? Search the conference schedule or search by speaker. To email a handout to yourself, you have to find the session you want, view the session, click on the PDF and you will be asked do you want to "open it, email it or take notes on the handout." By this route, you must do this individually for each session you desire a handout. The PDF file name will be a series of numbers and letters not the title of the session.

To download multiple session handouts at one time, click on the star next to the session in the conference schedule. Then go back to the App Home and then select the App's download and click the download icon. The files will que and be downloaded.

If you are able to get the App to run on your tablet, please note that some users have found the RootsTech App to be troublesome on a tablet so exercise some patience while using it. When you are done with the App you may want to remove it from your tablet. But if you initially downloaded the handout PDFs rather than email them, before you remove the RootsTech App be sure to email those PDFs to yourself. The downloaded PDFs are stored in the RootsTech App data and not in your device's download folder so if you delete the App you delete the PDFs.

Here's an example of where to find your downloaded session PDFs on an Android tablet: Prepare an email to yourself; click on attach files; go to My Files; go to the internal memory card (i.e. sdcard0) where apps store their data or that place on your device; go to Android folder; go to data folder; go to "com.coreapps. ...me.rootstech" folder (it will be named something like that); go to files folder; then check the select boxes and then done to attach your downloaded PDFs to the email; then send the email. Open the received email and save the attached files to your computer or another folder on your device. Now you will not lose the downloaded PDF files when you delete the RootsTech App.

For those without smartphones and for those who can't get the app to run on a tablet, don't despair. There is also a browser page where you access the App. If you view each session's handout individually you can download it without having to use a log-in id. Remember to rename the downloaded PDF file so you will know what it is later.

Remember class times are listed in Mountain Time at the RootsTech website and in the RootsTech App. We are Eastern Time which is 2 hours ahead. So 8:30 am Mountain is 10:30 am Eastern. See our RootsTech 2018 LiveStream Schedule Post listing sessions in Eastern Time with the session codes.

See You Soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library! 
LE

Just 3 Days Until RootsTech 2018 Starts, Sessions will be LiveStreamed Each Day

We mentioned it in our Assorted Catchup ... post back on January 15, and now RootsTech 2018 is just days away.

RootsTech is a genealogy and technology conference held each year in Salt Lake City, Utah. And like in previous years you can take part from the comfort of your favorite seat in your own home or where ever you happen to be with a good internet connection. Several sessions of RootsTech 2018 will be LiveSteamed each day so that those who cannot attend in person can take part in the learning.

Class session handouts are available online, see our separate post on accessing the 2018 class session handouts.

Remember class times are listed in Mountain Time at the RootsTech website and in the RootsTech App. We are Eastern Time which is 2 hours ahead. So 8:30 am Mountain is 10:30 am Eastern. For your convenience we have listed the Live Stream Schedule here using Eastern Time and have included the class session numbers to make it easier finding the handouts.

Here's the Live Stream list according to Eastern Time. 

Wednesday, February 28th 
11:30 am to 12:30 pm  
Family History in 5 Minutes a Day
presented by Deborah Gamble
RT6417
 
1:00 pm  to 2:00 pm  
DNA -- One Family, One World
presented by David Nicholson
RT9921

3:30 pm to 4:30 pm  
Organizing and Preserving Photograph Collections
presented by Ari Wilkins
RT0290

5:00 pm to 6:00 pm  
Finding the Answers: The Basics of WWII Research
presented by Jennifer Holik
RT1741 

6:30 pm to 7:30 pm  
Wednesday General Session and Innovation Showcase
presented by Stephen Rockwood, CEO of FamilySearch International
RT3000

Thursday, March 1st
10:30 am to 11:30 am 
Thursday General Session
Brandon Stanton
RT4000
 
1 pm to 3:00 pm  
MyHeritage DNA 101: From Test to Results
presented by Yaniv Erlich
RT9906

3:30 pm to 4:30 pm
Google Photos: Collect, Organize, Preserve, and Share
presented by Michelle Goodrum
RT9886

5 pm to 6:00 pm
Unlocking Roman Catholic Records
presented by Brian Donovan
RT5118

6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
A Gift of Life: Who's Writing Your Story?
presented by Deborah Abbott
RT0312

Friday, March 2nd
10:30 am to 11:30 am 
Friday General Session
Scott Hamilton
RT5000
 
1:00 pm to 2:00 pm 
FindMyPast's British and Irish Hidden Gems
presented by Myko Clelland
RT4821

3:30 pm to 4:00 pm
Finding the Right DNA Test for You
presented by Jim Brewster
RT0686

5:00 pm to 6:00 pm
How Not to Leave Your Genealogy Behind
presented by Amy Johnson Crow and Curt Witcher
RT5203

6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Finding Elusive Records at FamilySearch
presented by Robert Kehrer
RT4383

Saturday, March 3rd
10:30 am to 11:30 am 
Saturday General Session
Dr. Henry Louis Gates and Natalia Lafourcade
RT6000
 
1:00 pm to 2:00 pm 
Civil Registration Indexes of England and Wales
presented by Audry Collins
RT4874

3:30 pm  to 4:30 pm
Advancing Your Genealogy Research with DNA
presented by Anna Swayne
RT9633

5:00 pm  to 6:00 pm
Pain in the Access: More Web for your Genealogy
presented by Curt Witcher
RT5272

If it is like prior years, the Live Stream access will be right on the RootsTech homepage starting on Wednesday. 

See You Soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library! 
LE

5th National Archives Virtual Genealogy Fair on October 25 from 10 am to 4 pm

The National Archives will hold its 5th Virtual Genealogy Fair on October 25, 2017. No matter where you are if you have internet access you can attend by watching the speakers live via YouTube.

All session videos and handouts are available free of charge and are accessible from the Virtual Genealogy Fair page of the National Archives website.

The virtual day starts off at 10 a.m. Eastern Time with opening remarks. Topics include taking care of heirlooms, tax records, accessing burned records, as well as two sessions on working with records from the War Relocation Administration for finding Japanese American relocatees in other records and deciphering electronic records on Japanese Americans interned during World War II. Closing remarks are at 4 p.m. Eastern Time.

The day's events will be recorded and made accessible for free to those who can not attend/watch the presentations live.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Free until Sunday, September 3, 2017, Legacy QuickGuide Disaster Planning for the Genealogist by Melissa Barker

Disasters around the world, be it as large as Texas or on a much smaller scale, usually makes one pause and think about their own family and "stuff" and what they would do or should do. And genealogists usually have a lot of "stuff."

Legacy's Family Tree Webinars is offering its Legacy QuickGuide Disaster Planning for the Genealogist by Melissa Barker aka "The Archive Lady" as a download for free through Sunday, September 3, 2017. Legacy's News Blog has a post explaining the reason behind the offer.

The guide is a combination of common sense advice; resources to more information and product types to use; and touches on paper to digital items.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Webinars, Webinars ... Learning Opportunities in 2017 Abound!

For 2017 there are genealogy/history learning opportunities just about everywhere you look. This is the time of year when genealogy/history webinar hosts announce their schedules for the coming year. 

Many of these webinars are free to view live. If you want to watch one later it may require a membership fee. If you really like the webinars of a particular host or want to see an older, archived webinar the cost of membership is not very high for many of these webinar hosts. 

Legacy Family Tree Webinars

Legacy Family Tree Webinars has released its 2017 webinar schedule. (The website looks/acts more like a tablet/smartphone app.) Click on the Upcoming Webinars to see the future webinars listed by month but you'll have to click on each webinar to learn more and to register. Or, click the Register for Multiple Webinars at Once to see the future webinars in one list. (Click the top check box to automatically check all webinars at one time.)

Legacy Family Tree webinars are mostly held at 2 p.m. on Wednesdays though there are a few Friday afternoon and Wednesday evening webinars. They are free to view live and for almost a week afterwards at which time they become accessible to webinar subscribers only. There are over 445 webinars archived for members to view. (Some archived webinars remain free for all to view.) Handouts are available only to webinar subscribers/members. Legacy webinar membership is currently $9.95/month or $49.95/year. (Note: If you view a webinar, there is often a discount code word which will get you 10 percent off items from the store, including webinar memberships.) Webinar members get an additional 5 percent off when signed-in.

Southern California Genealogical Society

The Southern California Genealogical Society (SCGS) has released its 2017 webinar schedule. The webinars, held the first Saturday and third Monday of the month, are free to live viewers and handouts are included. After the live webinar, only SCGS members can view the archived webinars. SCGS membership is $35/year and includes other benefits.

Illinois State Genealogical Society

The Illinois State Genealogical Society has released its 2017 webinar schedule.  The webinars are held the second Tuesday of the month at 9 p.m. ET and are free to live viewers and handouts are included. After the live webinar, only ISGS members can view the archived webinars. ISGS membership is $35/year.

Wisconsin State Genealogical Society

The Wisconsin State Genealogical Society has released its 2017 webinar schedule. The webinars are held the third Tuesday of the month at 8 p.m. ET and are free to live viewers and handouts are included. After the live webinar, only WSGS members can view the archived webinars. WSGS membership is $35/year.

Minnesota Genealogical Society

The Minnesota Genealogical Society also has hosted webinars. The society lists its webinars on its Events page. The 2017 schedule has not been announced yet. The webinars are usually held on the first Wednesday of the month at 8 p.m. ET and are free to live viewers and handouts are included. After the live webinar, only MGS members can view the archived webinars. MGS membership is $35/year.

Florida State Genealogical Society

The Florida State Genealogical Society also hosts webinars. The society announces its webinars on its upcoming webinars page. So far the 2017 schedule has not been announced so check back in a week or two. The webinars are held the third Thursday of the month at 8 p.m. ET and are free to live viewers. Handouts are usually for members only. After the live webinar, only FSGS members can view the archived webinars. FSGS membership is $25/year.

FamilySearch

The Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City, Utah, began broadcasting the genealogy classes held in the library about two years ago. Information about these free webinars are located at the FHL's page on FamilySearch. Only classes through February 2017 have been listed so check back often. (There is a PDF list for January 2017 and February 2017 on that webpage. There are now webinars for December 2016.) Sometimes additional webinars are added to the current month. Most of these webinars include handouts. Previously recorded webinars are listed under Past Webinars. (Scroll down the page to see them.) You may find some archived in the FamilySearch Learning Center.

The societies and company listed above are not the only online webinar opportunities out there.

GeneaWebinars is a blog that hosts a calendar specializing in keeping track of the numerous genealogy webinars being held. About 35 organizers/hosts list their webinars in the calendar. Organizers/Hosts use a variety of webinar delivery systems from GoToWebinar to Google Hangouts to Twitter. Most entries have links taking you to the registration page for that webinar or the website of the host.

So if you want to learn something new or review a specific topic, there is likely a webinar out there for you or even a YouTube video. But you might have to find some patience if the webinar is not scheduled until later in the year.

Have fun learning.

See you soon at the Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Virginia State Library Digitizes More Than 33,000 Civil War Personal Papers

Between 2010 and 2015 the Virginia State Library sent two archivists around the state to digitize Civil War documents from people's personal collections. More than 33,000 pages were scanned and are now available for free online as part of the James I. Robertson Jr. Civil War Sesquicentennial Legacy Collection.

The project was done in partnership with the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission and Virginia's local Sesquicentennial committees.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE 

351 Years of The London Gazette Newspaper are Digitized and Online

The London Gazette newspaper is 351 years old and it has been digitized.

You can search the paper and view its pages for free. Don't forget to read the search tips that are available.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Registration for Live Streaming of SCGS's 2016 Genealogy Jamboree is Now Open

On Monday, May 23th, the Southern California Genealogy Society (SCGS) opened up registration for the FREE live streamed sessions of the 47th Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree.

Genealogy Jamboree begins Thursday, June 2, with DNA Day and continues Friday, June 3 through Sunday, June 5. There will be hours of free genealogy education Friday through Sunday with handouts available. Ancestry.com's sponsorship is making this possible.

The live streamed DNA sessions on Thursday are pay-to-view and must be registered for separately. If you have already payed/registered for the Thursday DNA sessions just log into your account and check the box at the bottom to add access to the free sessions. You will be sent a separate login for the Friday to Sunday free sessions.

Visit the SCGS blog site or the Jamboree website to see the schedule of live streamed sessions for each day. Registration gets you a user login and password to join the live stream event.

If you can't watch the sessions live, you will be able to watch at your convenience before July 5, 2016, from the special Jamboree Archive. You will still need to register to view the special archive. Live stream registration will remain available until July 5. (These sessions from Jamboree will not be added to the regular webinar archive for SCGS members only.)

You will need the SCGS Jamboree 2016 App to access the session handouts. As of today, the handouts are not yet posted.

The SCGS Jamboree 2016 app is available for smart phones, tablets, iPhones and iPads just go to Google Play or the Apple Store (iOS) to download the app. Look for SCGS Jamboree 2016. There is a browser version (found here) accessible via browser on any computer for those without smart phones and tablets. To access a session's handout you must "browse" to that session's information page. Look for the PDF icon. There is no option to download all handouts for your sessions at one time. If a session handout is not there, check back at a later date to see if it has been added.

The sessions picked for live streaming are varied and look interesting so if you want to watch it all live plan your days accordingly and enjoy some genealogy education.

The 2016 Genealogy Jamboree free live stream sessions. 
Please note that for the convenience of our MCGG members, we have listed the session start times in Eastern Time rather than Pacific Time.

Friday, June 3
4:00 pm EDT
FR008: German Immigrant Waves: Contrasts and Sources - James M. Beidler.

5:30 pm EDT
FR018: Problems and Pitfalls of a "Reasonably Shallow" Search - Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL.

7:00 pm EDT
FR027: Tracking Migrations and More: The Records of Old Settlers Organizations - Paula Stuart-Warren, CG, FMGS, FUGA.

8:30 pm EDT
FR035: Principles of Effective Evidence Analysis - George Goodloe Morgan.

Saturday, June 4
11:30 am EDT
SA009: Getting Started with Eastern European Research - Lisa A. Alzo, MFA.

1:00 pm EDT
SA018: Be Your Own Digital Archivist: Preserve Your Research - Cyndi Ingle.

2:30 pm EDT
SA022: German Names: Their Origins, Meanings, and Distribution - C. Fritz Juengling, PhD, AG.

5:00 pm EDT
SA032: Using Military Pension Files to Fill Gaps in Family History - J. H. Fonkert, CG.

6:30 pm EDT
SA037: Maximizing Your Use of Evidence - Thomas Wright Jones, PhD, CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS.

8:00 pm EDT
SA052: German Genealogy on the Internet - Michael D. Lacopo, DVM.

Sunday, June 7
11:30 am EDT
SU009: The Firelands, the Connecticut Western Reserve and the Ohio Territory - Peggy Clements Lauritzen, AG.

1:00 pm EDT
SU010: Avoiding Shiny Penny Syndrome with Your Genealogy - Tessa Ann Keough.

3:30 pm EDT
SU027: All Aboard: Staying on Track with Your Research - Barbara M. Randall.

5:00 pm EDT
SU031: U.S. Passport Applications - Debbie Mieszala, CG.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

New Database: Dutchess County, New York, Ancient Documents in Color!

Got ancestors living in Dutchess County, New York, in the 1700s?

The Ancient Documents Search and a Document for Ellis Bullock

The website of the Dutchess County Clerk's Office now has an online searchable database with images of 12,000 of the oldest Ancient Documents. The images are PDF files in color.

The Ancient Documents consist of eighteenth-century legal documents from the Dutchess County Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions which began in 1721. There are 38,917 numbered documents in total.

This three-phase project was helped by the New York State Archives Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund. Phase I digitally imaged the first 12,000 pages; Phase II imaged another 25,000 pages; and Phase III which will commence in 2016 will image another 25,000 pages. 

So expect more documents to be added to this searchable database in the future once they are indexed.

In 1973, the Ancient Documents and its partial index were microfilmed by the Latter Day Saints for the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and were available for rental to local Family History Centers. A couple years ago, these microfilms were digitized and made available on the familysearch.org website for free under the probate records for Dutchess County, New York. All 38,917 documents are now browseable online at FamilySearch. (There is no digital search for the collection, the images are browse only.) The microfilmed partial index book to the Ancient Documents only covers documents numbered 1 through 15,181.

Once the previously non-indexed, later Ancient Documents are added to this searchable database it will bring light to documents that only a very, very determined researcher has probably seen. We can not wait!

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Library of Michigan Hosts Menacing Michigan Program on October 30th

If you are looking for something to do this Friday Night, October 30th, the Library of Michigan is hosting Menacing Michigan: If You Seek a Scary Peninsula, Look Over Your Shoulder.

Menacing Michigan runs from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Lake Michigan Room on the third floor of the Library of Michigan and consists of two talks.

From 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. is Before They Were Dead: Researching the Living at the Library of Michigan. They used to be alive, presumably.  Use Library collections to research how and where they lived in Michigan.  Library staff will detail resources and methods available for those who want to know the details, fortunate and ill-fated.

From 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. in the Lake Michigan Room is Ghost Hunting in Michigan presented by Bradley Mikulka. Follow along with one of the oldest ghost-hunting groups in Michigan: the SouthEast Michigan Ghost Hunters Society (SEMGHS). Journey through 13 investigations of cemeteries, a comedy club, library, business, hotel, theater, private home, and an old prison. Find out what it’s like to have a ghost follow you home. Meet the spirits at the Purple Rose Theater and discover why they never left. Consider what is growling at Blood Cemetery and run with a black form seen at the Durand Union Station. If you have ever wanted to go on a ghost hunt, but found that you were too afraid, it’s time to put yourself right in the middle of some of the most haunted locations in Michigan. Read this book if you dare, but do so with the lights on!

Happy Halloween.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Webinar Schedule for 2016 Announced by Illinois State Genealogical Society

Got plans for the second Tuesday of each month in 2016? If not consider tuning into live webinars at 9 p.m. Eastern Time hosted by the Illinois State Genealogical Society.

The webinars are free to view live and then are archived in the society's member only area. You must register for each webinar prior to its airing. Some registrations are already open.

Topics included in 2016 are: organizing your research process; researching in archives and libraries; using social media; using occupational resources, tracing illegitimate lines; the principles of effective evidence analysis; using journals; and using US postmaster documents. Also covered are reconstructing black communities using benevolent societies; Polish immigration to America; and finding ancestors with ethnic resources.

Lot's of learning opportunities are out there. When we learn of more, we will let you know.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE