Featured Websites by Gary L. Foster

Mesa, Arizona

Los Angeles, California

Oakland, California

Orange, California

Sacramento, California

San Diego, California

Idaho Falls, Idaho

Pocatello, Idaho

Las Vegas, Nevada

Logan, Utah

Ogden, Utah

St. George, Utah

Hyde Park, London, England

“We’re excited for our patrons to receive online access to an expanded collection of family history records on Ancestry.com,” said Don Anderson, director of FamilySearch Support. “Ancestry.com’s indexes and digital images of census, immigration, vital, military and other records, combined with the excellent resources of FamilySearch, will increase the likelihood of success for patrons researching their family history.” The Generations Network and FamilySearch hope to expand access to other family history centers in the future.

FamilySearch patrons at the designated facilities will have access to Ancestry.com’s completely indexed U.S. Federal Census Collection, 1790-1930, and more than 100 million names in passenger lists from 1820-1960, among other U.S. and international record collections. Throughout the past year, Ancestry.com has added indexes to Scotland censuses from 1841-1901, created the largest online collection of military and African American records, and reached more than 4 million user-submitted family trees.

Free access is also available at Brigham Young University Provo, Idaho, and Hawaii campuses, and LDS Business College patrons through a separate agreement with The Generations Network.
“FamilySearch’s Family History Library in Salt Lake City is one of the most important physical centers for family history research in the world, and we are happy that patrons to the Library and these major regional centers will have access to Ancestry.com,” said Tim Sullivan, President and CEO of The Generations Network, Inc., parent company of Ancestry.com. “We’ve enjoyed a ten-year working relationship with FamilySearch, and we look forward to continued collaboration on a number of family history projects.”

About Ancestry.com (visit www.ancestry.com)

With 24,000 searchable databases and titles and more than 2.5 million active users, Ancestry.com is the No. 1 online source for family history information. Since its launch in 1997, Ancestry.com has been the premier resource for family history, simplifying genealogical research for millions of people by providing them with many easy-to-use tools and resources to build their own unique family trees. The site is home to the only complete online U.S. Federal Census collection, 1790-1930, as well as the world’s largest online collection of U.S. ship passenger list records featuring more than 100 million names, 1820-1960. Ancestry.com is part of The Generations Network, Inc., a leading network of family-focused interactive properties, including www.myfamily.com, www.rootsweb.com, www.genealogy.com and Family Tree Maker. In total, The Generations Network properties receive 8.7 million unique visitors worldwide and more than 416 million page views a month (© comScore Media Metrix, October 2007).

About FamilySearch
FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization that maintains the world's largest repository of genealogical resources. Patrons may access resources online at FamilySearch.org or through the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and over 4,500 family history centers in 70 countries. FamilySearch is a trademark of Intellectual Reserve, Inc. and is registered in the United States of America and other countries.

15 September 2007 - "Roots Television" Watch Roots Living & DNA as well as many other very good genealogy related TV shows.

30 Aug 2007 - The dedicated missionary trainers at the Mesa Regional Family History Center have posted on the Internet the RESEARCH CONSULTANT TRAINING course in 13 lessons in Adobe PDF format so you can View, Print and Download each lesson and appendix to your own computer. This is the best series of training materials I have seen and you can view and download them from this link for free. Lessons include, Organization & Research, Surveying and Researching the Internet, FHLC Handy Book & PERSI, U.S. Census Records, U.S. Vital Records, U.S. Migration, Maps & Gazetteers, U.S. Land Records, U.S. Probate & Court Records, U.S. Church Records, U.S. Military Records, Immigration & Emigration, U.S. Naturalization. Give each lesson time to load because they contain many images and pages but the time is well worth it.

31 July 2007 - Free Website Access to U.S. and British Records & Information provided as a courtesy to FamilySearch patrons. No endorsement or representation of accuracy is implied. This is a .PDF list which prints on your computer's printer and can be seen on your monitor by clicking here on your computer. copy the highlighted links to your web browser to see these FREE WEBSITES containing CENSUS, VITAL, IMMIGRATION, MILITARY and OTHER resource Records.

1 July 2007 - Dear MYRTLE's Family History Hour Podcast Blog - Click to "hear" the latest genealogy topics featured at http://podcasts.dearmyrtle.com/ Family History Hour, Black Indian Genealogy, Blogging for Archivists, Unusual family documents, May we have the envelope please, Finding Live People, Fishing for Ancestors, Filing supporting documents, Library Changes, Source Citations & Citation Details, Handwritten Notes in a digital world, etc This is a very interesting way to learn by listening to interesting topics of interest.

20 Nov 2006 - Ancestry.com just announced that in December 2006 they will release to their website the Hamburg Emigration (German lists of 1850-1934 with initially an index for 1890-1912) Click here to see it.

20 Nov 2006 - There is a website for registering people to do "indexing". The same website also provides a means to download the indexing program into a computer and/or to create a CD which is more convenient to be used to download the program onto a slower dial-up computer. The website address is: ldsindexing.org or familysearchindexing.org Next week we will provide more information on the How, Why, When and Where of the Indexing Program.

13 Nov 2006 - Ancestry.com releases the world's largest online collection of U.S. historical immigration records from 1820 to 1960... This includes the complete Ellis Island collection, as well as records from over 100 other U.S. ports of arrival. An estimated 85 percent of Americans have an immigrant ancestor included in the passenger list collection which covers the height of American immigration, making Ancestry.com the only source for the largest compilation of passenger list records available and fully searchable online. To commemorate the launch of the collection, Ancestry.com is offering completely free access to its entire Immigration Collection through the end of November. The passenger list collection, which took more than three years to digitize and transcribe, celebrates the courage, hopes, fears and memories of more than 100 million passengers.

About Ancestry.com
With more than 5 billion names and 23,000 searchable databases, Ancestry.com is the No. 1 online source for family history information. Since its launch almost a decade ago, Ancestry.com has been the premier resource for family history, simplifying genealogical research for millions of people by providing them with many easy-to-use tools and resources to build their own unique family trees. The MyFamily network of family history sites, of which Ancestry is the largest, receive more than 9 million unique visitors worldwide and 450 million page views each month.

13 Nov 2006 - Here's a good website for finding given name variants in several languages, called Behind the Name. It is useful in learning the meaning of a given name and even provides charts over the past one hundred years as to when the name was most used and it's popularity with other given names. This is a fun website to visit.

6 Nov 2006 - Article from Ancestry Weekly Journal
This is such a good idea for sharing my images of proof sources on my personal genealogy website. PowerPoint presentations can be saved as an HTML webpage so it is a great way to link your family group sheets to your actual proof sources so others can share and see the same images you've used to verify dates, places and relationships. Gary Foster, Surnames.com Webmaster. A special thanks to Kathy for sharing this information.

Saving Finds in PowerPoint
I started using PowerPoint to store my "finds"--census pages, immigration records, etc. I can insert an image I have previously saved or I can copy/paste a "screen print" of an image. I especially like to magnify an image on my screen and then copy/paste the "screen print."

PowerPoint lets me make notations about the image and I can even highlight the portion of the document that is pertinent. I can make a separate slideshow for a particular family line, individual family, a passenger manifest, or group of census records--the possibilities are endless. I can arrange the images in any order I choose and then play it as a slideshow so the images are nice and big on my computer screen; you can even hook up a laptop and show it on your TV.

This has made saving and reading images much easier on my eyes. As a bonus, it is a wonderful way to share my documents with other family members. They can easily view all of the documents using a free, downloadable PowerPoint viewer even if they don't already have PowerPoint on their computer. The files are easily organized and attached to e-mail. I am now saving and sharing many more images because it is so easy to do!

Kathy Meyer

2 November 2006 - ANCESTORS IN THE ATTIC
Secrets in your family tree? Skeletons in ye olde ancestral closet? Were
your ancestors sinners or saints, royals or rogues? Now you can dig into
your family history with "Ancestors in the Attic" presented by Reader's
Digest Canada, airing Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on History
Television.

Produced by Toronto's Primitive Entertainment and hosted by Things That
Move's Jeff Douglas, "Ancestors in the Attic" is an irreverent, fast-
paced new series that takes viewers on a road trip across Canada and on
a worldwide search for their ancestors. Part personal drama, part
forensic investigation and part historical revelation, "Ancestors in the
Attic" reveals to Canadians, in an intimate and dramatic way, not only
their roots, but also the diverse stories that make up the history of
their country. Read complete article at:
http://globalgenealogy.com/globalgazette/gazed/gazed119.htm

2 November 2006 - MORE AMERICANS. The U.S. population recently reached 300 million and the
Census Bureau stepped back in time to compare contemporary life and
statistics to those in the time periods in which the nation reached
other noteworthy population milestones -- in 1967 (when the population
reached 200 million) and in the year 1915 (when it reached 100 million).
Some interesting comparisons on the site include:

The most popular baby names for boys and girls, respectively.
     2006: Jacob and Emily
     1967: Michael and Lisa
     1915: John and Mary

See more at U.S. Census Bureau website:
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/007276.html

2 November 2006 - THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA. An account of the (mainly) Ulster
Presbyterians who immigrated to America in the 18th century and
includes genealogical information. It also provides detail on the social
and political conditions that the immigrants faced during that period.
An extensive index is included.
http://www.libraryireland.com/ScotchIrishAmerica/Contents.php

2 November 2006 - TEXAS OBITUARIES AND DEATH RECORDS. This collection of some 2,000
records spans the 1870s through the 1990s and largely represents the
north central portion of Texas; though it also reaches the western
gateway city of Abilene and the southeastern city of Houston. Full
transcripts are frequently given for earlier newspaper death notices,
while later obituaries appear in a condensed form.
http://www.genealogymagazine.com/obituaries.html