Just received from Familysearch

_________________________________

For Immediate Release
31 August 2020

FamilySearch Announces RootsTech Connect 2021: A Free Global Virtual Event

FamilySearch is thrilled to announce that the RootsTech 2021conference previously planned for February 3–6, 2021, in Salt Lake City, Utah, will now be held on February 25–27, 2021, as a free, virtual event online. RootsTech Connect 2021 will enable attendees to participate from around the world and will feature inspiring keynote speakers, dozens of classes in multiple languages, and a virtual marketplace. Reserve your place today for free at RootsTech.org.

“The pandemic is giving us the opportunity to bring RootsTech to a broader audience worldwide,” said Steve Rockwood, FamilySearch International CEO. “A virtual event also allows us to expand our planning to truly make this a global celebration of family and connection.” 

RootsTech Connect 2021 will be global in scope while offering many experiences that attendees have come to know and love from RootsTech events—including inspirational keynote speakers, dozens of classes to choose from, and an expo hall.  

<Watch RootsTech Connect 2021 Promotional Video> 

Throughout the three-day online event, attendees will have the ability to interact with presenters, exhibitors, and other attendees through live chat and question and answer sessions. 

“Classes will be taught in many languages, and presenters will teach from a number of international locations,” said Rockwood. “We will celebrate cultures and traditions from around the world, with activities that the audience can participate in from home—such as homeland cooking demonstrations, storytelling, and music performances. This is one virtual event you won’t want to miss.” 

RootsTech Connect 2021 will offer a combination of both livestream and on-demand content to accommodate differences in time zone for participants. In addition, sessions will be available to view on-demand after the event concludes. 

RootsTech Connect 2021 will offer a combination of both livestream and on-demand content to accommodate differences in time zone for participants. In addition, sessions will be available to view on-demand after the event concludes. 

Rockwood says that FamilySearch is looking forward to the opportunity to deliver the signature RootsTech experience and helping tens of thousands of participants worldwide to discover, gather, and connect their family story.  

RootsTech hopes to gather in-person again in the future but anticipates the RootsTech Connect virtual opportunity will become a regular addition to the event. 

Register for free at rootstech.org. 

Find and share this announcement from the FamilySearch Newsroom. 

Unsung Heroes Society Scanning Equipment Grant Winner Announced by Genealogy Guys and Vivid-Pix

 Media Release,Tampa, FL

 

 

Genealogy Guys and Vivid-Pix Announce Unsung Heroes Society Scanning Equipment Grant Winner at Federation of Genealogical Societies 2020 Conference

 

The Genealogy Guys Podcast, co-hosted by George G. Morgan and Drew Smith, producers of the oldest continually produced genealogy podcast, and Rick Voight, CEO of Vivid-Pix, makers of RESTORE photo and document restoration software, are pleased to recognize the first winner in the Unsung Heroes Grant at the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference being held online.

 

 

The Unsung Heroes Grant enables a genealogical society, historical society, or museum to make images available to the genealogy community. The award includes a high-quality scanner, software to save and back up images, and two copies of Vivid-Pix RESTORE software. The package is valued at $500.

 

The winner selected for the Unsung Heroes Grant for August 2021 is the Morgan County History Partnership (MCHP).

 

The Morgan County Public Library family files and business archives are in the Martinsville, Indiana, county courthouse. So, too, are the Morgan County newspapers, private collections of citizens of Morgan County, Indiana, and a vast collection of photographs and data that are available only to patrons who visit the county. The Morgan County History Partnership and Museum Committee is dedicated to enhancing the culture of their county by exploring who they were, who they are, and who they will be by preserving the History of the Morgan County from 1822. Highest priority will be given to pre-1923 material. Photos will be identified by date and description and/or name, and newspapers will be identified by edition and date. Everything will be indexed to provide seamless searches. Copyright laws will be adhered to and written permission will be received for digitization of any material requiring such permission.

 

The digitized documents/photos will be shared on the Morgan County History Partnership website, with the Indiana Historical Society, in the Morgan County History Museum, and accessible via the county library website. Morgan County was the home of numerous sanitariums, basketball icon John R. Wooden, small villages, Indiana State flag designer Paul Hadley, musician Bobby Helms, Congressman William G. Bray, is the goldfish capital of the world, Old Hickory Furniture manufacturer, and contains numerous other celebrities and noted businesses which they are eager to digitize and share.

 

For the beginning project, set to be available in 2022, photographs and documented histories of families, businesses, homes, Family Bibles, and events of Morgan County, Indiana will be digitized to celebrate the bicentennial of the county in 2022. Collaboration and sharing of private family albums and histories will be encouraged following the celebration to provide thousands more documents.

 

Genealogical research of the residents and history of Morgan County, Indiana, will be enhanced and shareable worldwide. Currently the following Morgan County, Indiana, digitized records are available at the Indiana State Library (42), Indiana Genealogical Society (56), Indiana Historical Society (less than 200). The digitization of materials on the MCHP and Genealogical Society websites include high school yearbooks, a few church biographies, and school graduation brochures. Digitizing, identifying, and categorizing materials will enable researchers to quickly find information pertinent to their research. The ability to restore photos and documents will improve the ability to transcribe and identify photos and documents that are faded. Having an accessible digital database that is indexed will provide their group with the ability to quickly assist researchers. This is a prestigious and appreciated beginning to our bicentennial work.

 

The Genealogy Guys Podcast and Vivid-Pix salute the Morgan County History Partnership and its volunteers whose efforts make invaluable genealogical and historical information available to researchers around the globe. “We Sing Your Praises!”

 

 

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Contacts:

George G. Morgan Aha! Seminars, Inc. http://ahaseminars.com aha@ahaseminars.com (813) 220-6274

Rick Voight Vivid-Pix https://vivid-pix.com/ rick.voight@vivid-pix.com (404) 664-9897

 

 

 

About the Unsung Heroes Awards Partners

 

The Genealogy Guys Podcast is a production of Aha! Seminars, Inc., a Tampa Bay-based company that has been providing training to genealogists and library personnel since 1996. Its principals are George G. Morgan and Drew Smith, noted speakers, authors, and world’s longest genealogy podcasters. The company also produces the Genealogy Connection podcast and The Genealogy Guys Blog. The Genealogy Guys Podcast is a production of Aha! Seminars, Inc. In addition, we offer a subscription genealogy site, Genealogy Guys Learn, with educational videos and written lessons and new content added each month.

 

 

 

Vivid-Pix designs, creates and delivers Fast, Easy and Affordable Imaging Software. Since launching in 2012, Vivid-Pix has advanced its products to earn the support and respect of business leaders and photographers in over 100 countries. Co-Founder Randy Fredlund has more than 150 digital-imaging patents and has extensive experience in Research, Development and Commercialization, enabling him to translate theory into practice. Co-Founder Rick Voight has created billion-dollar businesses through Product Development, Sales and Marketing for Eastman Kodak and Hewlett-Packard. The Vivid-Pix Team is a far-flung group of excellent people who deliver software that “Give your pics (and documents) the Vivid-Pix Fix!”

 

Genealogy Guys and Vivid-Pix Announce Unsung Heroes Awards at Federation of Genealogical Societies 2020 Conference

Genealogy Guys and Vivid-Pix Announce Unsung Heroes Awards at Federation of Genealogical Societies 2020 Conference

 

The Genealogy Guys Podcast, co-hosted by George G. Morgan and Drew Smith, producers of the oldest continually produced genealogy podcast, and Rick Voight, CEO of Vivid-Pix, makers of RESTORE photo and document restoration software, are pleased to recognize the winner in the Unsung Heroes Grant at the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference being held online.

 

 

The Unsung Heroes Awards acknowledge and celebrate those members of the genealogy community who digitize, index, or transcribe documents of value to genealogical researchers.  The Unsung Heroes Award is designed to recognize the efforts of its recipients in multiple categories.

 

The winners selected for Unsung Heroes Awards for August 2020 are in the Individual and Genealogical Society categories:

 

Individual – Rosemary McFarland of Mount Eden, Kentucky. Rosemary created the Kentucky Genealogical Society's digitization project and has chaired the committee for the past three years. In this time, she has led an effort that first started by digitizing family bible records of members and anyone in the public. These digitized scans and indexes were then placed on the www.kygs.org website on the member portal where they are accessible for member researchers. This is an active project. Rosemary actively encourages members and the public to contribute family bible page scans to this ongoing effort. The current archive includes Bible records that date from the founding of the Commonwealth to today.

 

A second project that has been ongoing is the Kentucky Tax List project. This project is digitizing early tax lists from Kentucky counties that are not available anywhere else. Rosemary leads this effort and so far they have scanned and created indexes for the following Kentucky counties: Bourbon (1787-1788), Daviess (1873-1875), Fayette (1787-1789), Jefferson (1789), Lincoln (1787-1789), Madison (1787-1802) and Mercer (1789). These records would not otherwise be accessible unless a researcher were to physically go to the Kentucky Department for Library and Archives to view them.

 

Rosemary has also proactively identified rare and at-risk records and through her will and determination set out to get these records digitized and then made accessible to members of the Kentucky Genealogical Society through the member portal of the website.

 

She is also leading the volunteers who index these materials every single day. Just recently she led an effort to create an index for 46 years of the society's quarterly journal which had never been indexed.

 

 

Society – Eller Family Association

The Eller Family Association in Midlothian, Virginia, is the society winner. The EFA was created in 1987 to help “promote a sense of kinship” and to “encourage and aid genealogical and historical research on Eller and allied families in the United States and Europe.”

 

In November 1987, the Association published the first of thirty years of quarterly newsletters that have included extensive genealogical information. From the start, The Eller Chronicles were made available by mail and, for those interested, on the Internet. By the mid 90’s, the publication was on the Association’s own website.

 

For the first several years, The Eller Chronicles were just photocopies but soon they were able to scan photos and documents into the publication. The first foray into an Eller Association website was pretty basic but it soon added documents, photos and back issues of The Chronicles.

 

Now they boast a website (www.ellerfamilyassociation.com) containing an online database of more than 60,000 names. Because there are multiple contributors, there are some duplications. Nevertheless, they believe there are 50,000 individuals there. In addition, there are more than 800 photos, 40 documents, 780 headstone-photos, 200 research articles along with maps, obituaries and web-links. Nearly all are linked to the names in the database. And it’s all searchable. They also include Association news and information about upcoming conferences.

 

There are numerous books about the Eller family, both in Germany and in the United States. Where they have permission, those books are online, or their website has a link to the book. In other cases, they provide information and a purchase-link.

 

The thirty years of their newsletter have been converted to a digital format and are also online and searchable. They reserve some parts of the website, like the most recent Chronicles, the membership list and information on living people, for members of the association. But the rest is open to all researchers and even those with just a passing interest. They know they are making an impact. In 2019 there were more than 49,000 visits and 5,677,000 page-views. Their website is usually among the top returns on Google when researchers are looking for information on the Eller ancestors.

 

 

The winners will receive a beautiful custom-made commemorative mug from Vivid-Pix with their choice of one of their own images, and an announcement on an episode of The Genealogy Guys Podcast. A profile of each winner has been published today on The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/ and recognition will be published at the Vivid-Pix Unsung Heroes Blog at https://vivid-pix.com/blog as well. They will also receive a copy of Vivid-Pix RESTORE software.

 

The Individual Winner will also receive a one-year subscription to the Genealogy Guys Learn subscription genealogy website.

 

Many nominations in each category were received and these will be considered for future Unsung Heroes Awards. The nomination due date for the next set of awards is midnight EST on January 31, 2021. Full details and links to the nomination form can be found at

https://ahaseminars.com/cpage.php?pt=24 and www.vivid-pix.com/unsungheroes.

 

The Genealogy Guys Podcast and Vivid-Pix salute these selfless volunteers whose efforts make invaluable genealogical and historical information available to researchers around the globe. “We Sing Your Praises!”

 

 

Contacts:

George G. Morgan Aha! Seminars, Inc. http://ahaseminars.com aha@ahaseminars.com (813) 220-6274

Rick Voight Vivid-Pix https://vivid-pix.com/ rick.voight@vivid-pix.com (404) 664-9897

 

 

About the Unsung Heroes Awards Partners

 

The Genealogy Guys Podcast is a production of Aha! Seminars, Inc., a Tampa Bay-based company that has been providing training to genealogists and library personnel since 1996. Its principals are George G. Morgan and Drew Smith, noted speakers, authors, and world’s longest genealogy podcasters. The company also produces the Genealogy Connection podcast and The Genealogy Guys Blog. The Genealogy Guys Podcast is a production of Aha! Seminars, Inc. In addition, we offer a subscription genealogy site, Genealogy Guys Learn, with educational videos and written lessons and new content added each month.

 

 

 

Vivid-Pix designs, creates and delivers Fast, Easy and Affordable Imaging Software. Since launching in 2012, Vivid-Pix has advanced its products to earn the support and respect of business leaders and photographers in over 100 countries. Co-Founder Randy Fredlund has more than 150 digital-imaging patents and has extensive experience in Research, Development and Commercialization, enabling him to translate theory into practice. Co-Founder Rick Voight has created billion-dollar businesses through Product Development, Sales and Marketing for Eastman Kodak and Hewlett-Packard. The Vivid-Pix Team is a far-flung group of excellent people who deliver software that “Give your pics (and documents) the Vivid-Pix Fix!”

 

Genealogy Guys Learn Adds First New Content for September 2020

 

Genealogy Guys Learn is releasing the first of two new educational content topics on its subscription website today. The first is is a written lesson titled "Information and Critical Thinking". 

As with any research or investigation you do, it is imperative to locate authoritative source information. It's not unlike reading a newspaper and identifying questionable facts and biases.

This new lesson is chock full of methods and suggestions for becoming a stronger researcher.

Current List of Genealogy Guys Learn Content

Have you been looking for the best video and written genealogy education sites to help expand your research? There have been many webinars presented recently but applicability to your personal research is limited and/or the presenters have been less than stellar.

The Genealogy Guys Learn subscription website is created and presented by The Genealogy Guys, George G. Morgan and Drew Smith, hosts of The Genealogy Guys Podcast, the world's longest-running genealogical podcast. We also publish the Genealogy Connection podcast. The Genealogy Guys Blog is also regularly updated to keep our listeners informed between podcast episodes.

If you are considering subscribing to Genealogy Guys Learn, here is a list of the courses currently online at the site and planned for the near future.

The Genealogy Guys Learn site contains two types of content: videos and written lessons, plus other resources. We add new learning content frequently and release two new items each month so there is always something new to help you expand your research.

 

 

Our current videos (and length) include:

·                Introduction to Genealogy (1:35:05)

·                Principles of Effective Evidence Analysis (1:17:04)

·                Organizing Your Research Process (27:35)

·                All About the U.S. Federal Census (1:27:41)

·                U.S. Agricultural Census Schedules (45:28)

·                Additional Records: Beyond the Basics (1:04:00)

·                Genealogy Orienteering: Using Maps to Find the Right Place (42:07)

·                Finding Archived Newspapers (39:29)

·                Dissect Obituaries for New Clues (1:30:04)

·                Clues in the News: Your Ancestors in Community Context (1:04:35)

·                Colonial & Early American Land Records (56:36)

·                Understanding Copyright and Plagiarism (24:25)

·                Laying Out Clues in Funeral Home Records (41:24)

·                Using MyHeritage.com (UPDATED) (53:59)

·                Maximizing Your Use of FamilySearch.org (1:18:28)

·                Getting Past Brick Walls (59:31)

·                Locating & Ordering English & Welsh BMDs (1:01:33)

·                Bring 'Em Back to Life: Creating an Ancestor Profile (1:05:09)

·                Transitioning to a Professional Full-Time Genealogy Career (33:13)

·                Planning a Successful Cemetery Research Trip (1:27:09)

·                Tutorials for Vivid-Pix RESTORE for the PC (Vendor's Tutorial Videos)

·                25 Places Where Your Family’s Facts May Hide (44:03)

·                Using Multiple Websites in Tandem to Solve Problems (1:00:57)

·                Before You Test: DNA Basics You Need to Know (43:13)

·                Using Multiple Websites in Tandem to Solve Problems (1:00:57)

·                U.S. Naturalization – 1790-1954 (1:18:36)

·                Stereographs and Vintage Postcards (40:37)

·                Interview Absolutely Everyone! (41:05)

 

Videos coming soon:

·                Analyze Your Findings (1:01:33)

·                The Genealogist as C.S.I. (42:47)

·                Your Ancestor's FAN Club: Cluster Research to Get Past Brick Walls (Length TBD)

·                Organizing Your Research Files (Length TBD)

·                Organizing Your Research Trip (Length TBD)

·                Crowdsourcing Brick Walls (Length TBD)

Our written courses currently include:

·                Basic Genealogical Research (6 lessons)

·                Intermediate Genealogical Research (4 lessons)

·                Using U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules

·                Beware Other People’s Family Trees!

·                Using Libraries’ and Archives’ Catalogs Effectively (6 lessons)

·                Using the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) (5 lessons)

·                Wills and Probate Packet (4 lessons)

·                U.S. Military Records (8 lessons covering records for different conflicts)

·                International Classification of Diseases (4 lessons)

·                Swedish Household Examination Books

·                Introduction to Anglican Parish Records in England (3 lessons)

·                Clues from the Graveyard (3 lessons)

·                Dower Law: A Case Study (5 lessons)

·                Five Reasons the Records Aren't in the Courthouse (6 lessons)

·                Use Digitized Historic Maps

·                Seven Essential Research Strategies (7 lessons)

Written courses coming soon:

·                Circular Genealogy

·                Developing Ancestor Stories with Diverse Evidence

·                Our Ancestors' Migration Patterns: The Push and Pull Effect

·                U.S. Federal Census Social Statistics Schedules

·               Organizing Your Research Trip (Length TBD)

·                Crowdsourcing Brick Walls (Length TBD)

·                Interview Absolutely Everyone! (TBD)

·                Delayed Birth Certificates

 

Remember, we add new content twice each month so that you always have additional educational content to explore.

Go to the Genealogy Guys Learn website to subscribe. You'll learn and expand your research each month!

  

Ancestry® Providing Free Resources for Educators and Parents

(Just received from Ancestry.com)

Whether you’re teaching in the classroom or through remote learning this fall, Ancestry® now offers free resources to inspire educators with new ways to engage students. 

We know this is a challenging time, and we’re here to help by providing free tools to make this school year a little easier. Ancestry has a long-term commitment to education, and we’re proud to assist educators and parents with their focus on finding new and unique curriculum topics and to foster more personal connections to important moments in history. After all, research shows that family history research is a powerful tool for building resilience, connection and understanding for all ages. 

 

For Teachers Doing Distance Learning

Ancestry announced today that for the first time, it will provide K-12 teachers across the US a free 6-month World Explorer subscription to access billions of historical records, providing support in lesson development and project creation for the school year ahead. 

The free subscription will give teachers the tools to help students make connections to their ancestors, historical places, and events throughout time. By pulling records around historical events to contextualize chapters in history like WWII and the Civil War, teachers can bring their curriculum to life in relevant and exciting ways–which is especially important for keeping students engaged during virtual learning. 

The World Explorer subscription includes:

• Unlimited access to most records on Ancestry, including more than 3 billion international birth, marriage, death, census, military, church and other records
• Access to all public family trees on Ancestry
• Access to Ancestry Hints® regarding the records included in this membership
• Visit here for more details on what types of records are included

Starting August 20, up to 10,000 teachers can verify their credentials on Ancestry.com/BacktoSchool through September 30. 

 

For Parents, Tutors and Educators Teaching Virtually

To help parents, tutors and educators teaching virtually, remote access to Ancestry Library Edition may be available as a genealogy research tool. For library patrons of over 2,100 libraries that subscribe to Ancestry Library Edition, the offering will provide instant free access to a wide range of resources for genealogical and historical research. Distributed exclusively by ProQuest and powered by Ancestry.com, the program grants card holders access to billions of records in census data, historical photos, plus local narratives, oral histories, indexes and other resources in over 30,000 databases that span from the 1500s to the 2000s. 

In addition to the wide availability of resources obtained through Ancestry Library Edition, parents and educators also have access to an intuitive search interface, detailed search indexes, and helpful Learning Center tools, making Ancestry Library Edition an indispensable resource for education this school year. This program is available now through the end of September. 

To access this database, contact your local library to ask if they participate and for more details.

 

For Schools and Students in Classrooms

For nearly a decade, Ancestry® has been offering its AncestryK12® services, a no-cost program for K-12 schools and teachers in classrooms nationwide that includes access to content from the U.S. collection of Ancestry, Fold3.com and Newspapers.com. 

Family history projects for K12 students allow them to build powerful inquiry skills, while the sources and documents found on Ancestry gives students across the nation the opportunity to make connections to their ancestors, historical places, and events throughout time. Their research journey will provide powerful insights into their own family and bring their curriculum to life in relevant and exciting ways. 

The lesson plans Ancestry created target a number of core subjects, with educational topics ranging from the American Revolutionary War to the 1940 U.S. Federal Census. They have been written by teachers according to the History Standards administered by the National Center for History in the Schools at the University of California, Los Angeles under the guidance of the National Council for History Standards. Schools and teachers can apply for the AncestryK12 Grant here.

 

For more information on additional back-to-school resources and creative solutions for teachers and parents, please visit www.ancestry.com/backtoschool.