Free Webinars! by Board of Certification of Genealogists (BCG) and Legacy Family Tree Webiners

Hi all,
I just received an awesome email that's worth sharing. The Board of Certification of Genealogists (BCG) and Legacy Family Tree Webinars are co-hosting a full day of FREE webinars on Friday, October 7, 2016.   Here's what's cool about it--it's FREE and can be viewed on your computer at home!! Five of the workshops are available--minus David McDonald's, which appears to be a hands-on only type of workshop. But that's okay. 

By the way--did I mention that it's FREE??? How cool is that?? So, all the details are below:

News Release 20 September 2016 - Board for Certification of Genealogists
Top genealogists Pamela Boyer Sayre, Elizabeth Shown Mills, Ann Staley, Jeanne Larzalere Bloom, David McDonald, and Judy Russell will present six one-hour lectures held at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City Friday, 7 October 2016 between 9 AM and 5 PM mountain U.S. time. The lectures are free and open to the public (registration is not required), sponsored by the Board for Certification of Genealogists. Most will also be broadcast online (free registration is required, see below). The board is an independent certifying body and author of the updated 2014 Genealogy Standards.

Times, topics, and speakers:

9:00 AM - "Enough is Enough. Or Is It?" Pamela Boyer Sayre, CG, CGL

10:15 AM - "FAN + GPS + DNA: The Problem-Solver's Great Trifecta." Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL

11:30 AM - "Black Sheep Ancestors and Their Records." Ann Staley, CG, CGL

1:30 PM - "Bringing Life to Our Ancestors: Manuscript Collections." Jeanne Larzalere Bloom, CG

2:45 PM - "Document Transcription & Analysis: A Workshop." David McDonald, CG
                  (Not available online)

4:00 PM - "When Worlds Collide: Resolving Conflicting Evidence." Judy G. Russell, CG, CGL

“Whether you stop in for the lectures or join online, you will learn more about how to apply good methodology to your family research,” said President Jeanne Larzalere Bloom, CG. “The Board for Certification of Genealogists strives to foster public confidence in genealogy by promoting an attainable, uniform standard of competence and ethics. Educating all family historians of every level is part of this mission.”

For questions or more information contact office@BCGcertification.org.

Register for the Online Broadcasts

Five of the six classes will be broadcast online by BCG's webinar partner, Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Visit www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com/BCG to sign up individually (free), or click here to sign up for multiple classes at once.

The words Certified Genealogist are a registered certification mark and the designations CG, CGL, and Certified Genealogical Lecturer are service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by board-certified associates after periodic competency evaluations, and the board name is registered in the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

Sincerely,

Cari A. Taplin, CG℠

BCG News Release Coordinator

Pflugerville, Texas

cat.taplin@gmail.com

www.genealogypants.com

 The words Certified Genealogist are a registered certification mark, and the designation CG a proprietary service mark, of the Board for Certification of Genealogists®, used under license by authorized associates following peer-reviewed competency evaluations. Certificate No. 1058, expires 24 February 2020.

 

Do you mysteries as much as you love genealogy?

Do you mysteries as much as you love genealogy? If you do, take a look at the series of books by Steve Robinson, who combines genealogy and mystery. The latest is book 5 of his Jefferson Tayte novels called Kindred. To be honest, I have not read the first 4 books of the series--but don't let that stop you from reading them.
The book is a fun read--once you get past the first couple of chapters when the story really starts to take off.  The author incorporates several genealogical skills into the storyline. Granted, it won't change your life, but if you're looking for one more book to finish your summer reading, try any one of Robinson's books. And then enjoy the read!



Thoughts on DNA percentages.....

Hi all,
It's been a while, hasn't it? I've been busy doing blog posts for the Southern California Genealogy Society. Ever since I was elected to its board, it's been keeping me busy. That's a good thing. And I am still looking for items of this ol' blog.
So here's today tidbit, courtesy of the Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell. She has some wonderful insights in the DNA results from Ancestry and 23andMe testing.  So, here's the article:
http://www.legalgenealogist.com/2016/08/14/those-percentages-if-you-must/

Enjoy!!

The Original 29: via the Genealogy Roadshow

I'm currently watching the season premiere of Genealogy Roadshow on PBS. What a wonderful episode, so far!!!
Josh Taylor assisted in helping a young woman of Navajo heritage, named Charlotte. She never knew her father and his family. Turns out that her paternal grandfather was one of the "Original 29", a group of native Navajo speakers who helped the US Government during WW2. The Navajo language is very complicated language and has no written alphabet and language. The US Government needed an unbreakable language to be used against the Japanese during the war. It turns out that every other language and code the government used would always be decoded and broken by the Japanese. At least until the US government hired the Navajo--the Original 29--and used their language to keep things coded. And it worked! The Japanese were never able to crack the Navajo code.
Another high point was the discovery of family photos that Charlotte got to see for the first time. They were provided by her paternal aunt, Nancy. At the end of the segment, Charlotte met her Aunt Nancy for the time.
But this is what we do as genealogists. We find the stories. And sometimes, we find relatives we did not know we had. And our world becomes a bigger place, and a more intimate place. What other hobby expands our world and makes it more intimate, at the same time??

Jamboree 2016 is almost here!

Jamboree 2016--the annual conference hosted by the Southern California Genealogy Society--is almost here! It takes place June 3-6 at the Burbank Marriott hotel, right across the street from Burbank Airport. It can't get any easier to get to!

And I'll be there--but this year as a member of the Southern California Genealogy Society board. I'm planning on attending as many of the German-related workshops as possible. I'm also volunteering for the APG helping people with research assistance.

Looking forward to seeing friends from the ProGen group--a mix of alumns and current students for lunch. And seeing friends from the So Cal APG group.

Looking forward to the Family Search breakfast on Saturday, and seeing Kenyatta Berry as the keynote speaker at the Saturday night banquet.

And I plan on being thoroughly--and happily--exhausted by Saturday night. Sunday will be a different story--how can I attend more workshops and still make my friend's 80th birthday at noontime?? Hmmm.....


BTW-the Jamboree app just was released--at this link:
http://genealogyjamboree.blogspot.com/2016/05/jamboree-2016-mobile-app-is-here.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FpIRR+%28SoCal+Genealogy+Jamboree%29

Family Tree Maker is back!

Hi all,
Received this email a couple of days ago....

It’s here! Family Tree Maker is BACK. Via its new owner, Software MacKiev.
All of us here at Software MacKiev are happy to be taking up where Ancestry left off with Family Tree Maker, the most widely used family history software of all time. We have completed a small update to get the product back on the market and are pleased to let you know its available RIGHT NOW.

About our new FTM updates
We have started with Ancestry’s FTM 2014 and FTM Mac 3 and, as a company of engineers, we set our focus on stability and performance improvements. So we swatted down some bugs. And we made the application more responsive – you will find some actions that previously took minutes now take seconds.
New features
We managed to sneak in just a few surprises, like 100 beautiful new backgrounds you can use to make professional looking charts and reports. And we’ve integrated a service for printing high resolution genealogy charts through the good folks at Family ChartMasters. It’s a modest start, but we hope you will be happy with our new updates.
Compatibility
We made sure that our new updates are completely compatible with the latest operating systems (Windows 10 and El Capitan). We’ve also made sure that your old trees will open seamlessly. That there is nothing to move. That your Ancestry account if you have one will continue to work with the new versions. And that TreeSync and all the other things you have come to like about FTM are still there for you.
Where to Buy... and more
See below how to get the updated editions, and some other information you may find useful.
Thanks to all of you who have welcomed us so warmly. It means a lot to us. A new chapter in Family Tree Maker’s long and proud history begins today!

Jack Minsky
President
Software MacKiev

***

FAMILY TREE MAKER
New FTM 2014.1 and Mac 3.1
How to get the updated editions

What you will get and when depends on what FTM version you currently have:

1. Users of FTM 2014 and Mac 3: Hang in there! FREE updates are coming. They will be available in about a week or so through the built-in update feature. We will send you an email to let you know as soon as they are available.

2. Users of older FTM editions: No matter how old your copy of FTM is, or whether its running on Windows or Mac, you can download an upgrade for $29.95 (vs. $69.95 regular price). Click here to take advantage of this limited-time upgrade offer today.

3. New users: If you have never owned a copy of Family Tree Maker before, for a limited time, you can download a full edition from our online store for $49.95 by clicking here (vs. $69.95 regular price).

 Additional Offers:
Family Tree Maker users who do not currently have an Ancestry.com subscription, will be offered a 14-day free trial. If you would like a backup disc, you can purchase a CD in a jewel case for an extra $10 including shipping and handling.

***

Family Tree Maker^®
HELPFUL LINKS
1. FTM Home Page
Most everything you will need to know can be found on our Family Tree Maker home page:

www.mackiev.com/ftm

There you can:

·         Read our FAQ

·         Provide Feedback

·         Report a Bug

·         Suggest a Feature

·         Sign up to be a Beta Tester

·         Learn about FTM

·         Check the System Requirements

2. Technical Support
To get technical support for any version of FTM, please start here:

www.mackiev.com/support

We are sharing responsibility for the rest of this year with Ancestry.com but the Software MacKiev support site is the best place to start. We’ll direct you from there to the right place to get the help you need.
3. Any Questions?
If you have questions for us, please first read our FAQ as we’ve tried to answer the most common ones there. If you don’t find the answer you are looking for in the FAQ, please send your question through our Feedback Form which you’ll find on our FTM Home Page (see #1 above). Thanks!

The ‘Secret’ Details in the 1940 Census You May Be Missing

One of the more interesting features of the 1940 Census that everyone should pay attention to are the additional questions that each page includes. Two people on each page are asked additional questions and their answers are placed at the bottom of that page. Very different from previous censuses. This is especially profound if one of your ancestors is one of the two listed. One of my aunts is one who gets featured, even though she was only 8 years old. Yes, there will be children as well as adults featured.
To find which two are chosen, just look at the left-hand side of each page and find the two boxes that says "suppl quest." That means supplemental questions. And drop down to the bottom of the page to see the questions and answers. Here's the link from Family History Daily that helps to explain it all:
http://familyhistorydaily.com/genealogy-help-and-how-to/the-secret-details-in-the-1940-census-you-may-be-missing/

I'm in! U2? It's Jamboree time!

The Southern California Genealogy Society's annual Jamboree is in June. Have you signed up? I have! Here's the link:  www.genealogyjamboree.com. See you there!



My, How the Worm Turns: Family Tree Maker is revived!

My, how the worm turns...as they say in the soap opera world. And now we can "my, how the FTM turns"!. According to the Ancestry.com blog, the Family Tree Maker program has found a new home at Software MacKiev, a company that's kept the Mac version of FTM going for the last 6 years. According to the agreement, we FTM users will still be able to connect FTM to Ancestry.com. It will also be available for those who use Roots Magic. 
This is certainly a sigh of relief for all us who have been mourning FTM. Below are the links to the Ancestry blog and the Software MacKiev website. Oh happy day!!
Ancestry.com blog: http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/
Software MacKiev: http://www.mackiev.com/

Kathy's Gates to the Past : The Fate of the 1890 Census

Kathy's Gates to the Past : The Fate of the 1890 Census: As all genealogists know, the US Census records can be a gold mine of information. Often used as the first record to use in researching our...

The Fate of the 1890 Census

As all genealogists know, the US Census records can be a gold mine of information. Often used as the first record to use in researching our ancestors, the records provide family information--names, ages, birth years and locations, marital status, occupations, and much more. However, our biggest Census heartbreak is the almost total loss of the 1890 Census, mainly caused by a fire, water, and smoke damage. Only a few pages survived.
Back in 1996, the National Archives (NARA) published a three-part article discussing the fate of the census. Below are the links to all three parts (part 3 are reference notes). Enjoy!
http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1996/spring/1890-census-1.html
http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1996/spring/1890-census-2.html
http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1996/spring/1890-census-3.html

It's Jamboree time!!

Happy New Year!
It's time to make your New Year's resolutions--so why not make a resolution to attend the Southern California Genealogy Society's annual Jamboree? It all starts on Thursday, June 2nd with the one-day Genetic Genealogy conference, followed by the full Jamboree weekend (June 3rd to the 5th). Early bird registration is now open, and ends April 23rd. I'll be there....won't you?


http://scgsgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/01/ca-scgs-announcing-2016-southern.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SouthernCaliforniaGenealogicalSocietyBlog+%28Southern+California+Genealogical+Society+Update%29&utm_content=FaceBook