80,000 DIGITIZED FAMILY HISTORY BOOKS ONLINE FREE

From Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter June 20, 2013

More than 80,000 Digitized Genealogy and Family History Publications are Now Available Online -- FREE One of the greatest genealogy resources available today is the huge collection of digitized genealogy and family history publications from the archives of some of the most important family history libraries in the world. When I travel to various genealogy conferences and societies, I am often amazed at how many genealogists are unaware of these free resources. Not only are the books and other publications available free of charge, you don't even have to pay for gas to visit these libraries! These digital books are available at: Google Books Archive.org Allen County Public Library Brigham Young University Harold B. Lee Library Brigham Young University Hawaii Joseph F. Smith Library LDS Church History Library Family History Library Houston Public Library - Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research Mid-Continent Public Library - Midwest Genealogy Center [MOST OF THE COLLECTION can be searched by clicking here]   The menus and the search methods will obviously vary from one site to another. However, a few minutes spent exploring each site's holdings could pay big dividends. I will say that most newcomers search only for names. In fact, I'll admit that I do the same on my first search on a new web site and I suspect a lot of other experienced genealogists do the same. However, after exhausting the search for names, most experienced genealogists start looking for other search terms. I always look for locations. Many times, I have been successful at finding some tidbit about an ancestor by searching for the county or the town in which he or she lived, even after a search for the person's name produced no results at all. One of my more successful searches came from searching for the name of the small town in which my great-great-grandparents lived. I knew he was a farmer so I searched for his name plus the name of the small town in which they lived. I was rewarded with a scanned digital booklet of only 42 pages, printed in 1842, that listed all the farmers in the county, along with a detailed description of the farm and even the assessed value of the property. It listed the total acreage of their property, the number of acres under cultivation, the number of acres of woodlands, the number of barns and outbuildings, how many head of cattle, sheep, and swine that they owned, and even the number of chickens. It also listed the crops they sold. I learned a lot more about my great-great-grandparents in that small booklet than I ever found in census records! When searching old books and other printed information, you have to be creative. You should search not only for locations, but also for fraternal organizations, religious affiliations, veterans' organizations, labor unions, and anything else you can think of.

770 Connecticut Cemeteries Online at Godfrey Memorial Library (one of the free Scholar websites at your nearest FHC)

May 19, 2013

Photos and Vital Information on every Tombstone in more than 770 Connecticut Cemeteries Now Online

The Godfrey Memorial Library continues to expand its searchable Scholar+ online database weekly. The database now contains listings from 770 cemeteries in Connecticut and includes:

• A photograph of every tombstone in each cemetery
• Vital information from each tombstone is transcribed
• Information from missing tombstones is added from the Hale Collection

Godfrey Scholar subscribers can search for people by name or browse all the names in a particular cemetery at http://www.godfrey.org/scholar/login.html. Once logged in, anyone who participates in the Godfrey Scholar program can search and then click on the name to view a photo of the persons' tombstone.  Information about the Godfrey Scholar program may be found at http://www.godfrey.org/subscribe.html.

Volunteers from the Godfrey Memorial Library continue to add cemeteries to this database weekly and hope to have completed 1/3 of the Connecticut Cemeteries by the end of the year. If you would like to assist this effort, look at the information available at http://www.godfreydata.org/Volunteer%20for%20the%20Ed%20Laput%20Cemetery%20Project.pdf.

--excerpted from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter 

Mocavo's GENEALOGY KARMA -- modeled after RAOGK

Mocavo Announces Genealogy Karma

Back in 1999, a fantastic resource was established to bring together members of the genealogy community all around the world. The brainchild of Bridgett and Doc Schneider, Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK) was created to help genealogists collaborate with the genealogy community to document their research, while also offering genealogists a way to give back to a community that had helped them in the past. RAOGK quickly turned into a global organization. The group’s volunteers were able to help thousands of genealogists make progress in their family history research.

Bridgett Schneider courtesy of RAOGK Wiki

The ROAGK website went offline in 2011 because of a computer disaster. Sadly, Bridgett Schneider passed away later that year, and the website was never able to come back online. In tribute to Bridgett and Doc Schneider and all of the participants in RAOGK, many volunteers have created programs similar to ROAGK to help bring together the expertise of the genealogy community. Doc and Bridgett’s legacy and the efforts of thousands of volunteers inspired us to create a place for researchers to come together and collaborate to help other members of the genealogical community.   

Today, at Mocavo, we are excited to announce the launch of Genealogy Karma. Modeled after Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, we hope to empower the Mocavo community and connect researchers all around the country. If you’re looking for documents, records, or photos from an ancestor who lived far away, we will connect you with family history volunteers who can do this research for you in other cities. Likewise, if you’d like to give back to the Mocavo community and have a little time to donate, you can sign up as a volunteer.

To begin visit www.mocavo.com/karma

SOUTH DAKOTA IMMIGRATION RECORDS Online at FamilySearch

SOUTH DAKOTA IMMIGRATION RECORDS 

Now ONLINE at FamilySearch.  

Description

County Circuit and District court naturalization records from county courthouses in South Dakota. Coverage dates vary by county. The records were acquired from the South Dakota State Historical Society.

Click here to visit and browse these digitized film records--they are NOT Indexed, so you would need to browse by country and then chronilogically.

OR

CLICK on a County below to browse the images. 

County

• Armstrong
• Armstrong, Hutchinson
• Beadle
• Butte
• Campbell
• Charles Mix
• Clark
• Clay
• Codington
• Corson
• Custer
• Davison
• Day
• Deuel
• Dewey
• Douglas
• Edmunds
• Fall River
• Faulk
• Grant
• Gregory
• Hamlin
• Hand
• Hanson
• Harding
• Hughes
• Hutchinson
• Hyde
• Jackson
• Jerauld
• Jones
• Kingsbury
• Lake
• Lawrence
• Lincoln
• Lyman
• Marshall
• McCook
• McPherson
• Meade
• Mellette
• Miner
• Minnehaha
• Moody
• Pennington
• Perkins
• Potter
• Roberts
• Sanborn
• Spink
• Stanley
• Sully
• Tripp
• Turner
• Union
• Walworth
• Yankton
• Ziebach

2013 Brookings Family History Workshop

Welcome to the 

Roots n Branches: Growing Your Family Tree

Brookings Family History Workshop

held April 27, 2013 -- 61 attending

Digging Your Roots....or Transplanting them--The Journey Begins Here

WHERE: Brookings Ward Chapel (south of Hospital)

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 

Brookings, South Dakota

 

CLICK HERE to complete SURVEY 

or Added Questions on Displays and Suggested future speakers

CLICK HERE to see RESULTS

CLICK HERE for Online Registration (private)

Click here to Print Registration Form and mail in

Click Here to print Three-Fold Flyer to Hand out to Friends

Click here to email for more information

  Topics Descriptions

• Growing Your Tree: What Websites are Free at your nearest FHC? 

  
  Would you believe:
•  Ancestry.com
• Find My Past UK 
• The Genealogist
• Fold3 Military
• Alexander Street Press Civil War
• World Vital Records
• Godfrey Memorial Library
• NewspaperArchive.com and Other Unique Databases! 
• Legacy Stories -- NEW!
• Personal Historian Software -- NEW!

• Grafting in New Buds: Genealogy on the IPAD

  
  IPAD Apps such as 

•  Family Tree
• Ancestry App
• MyHeritage App
• Families (Legacy-based)
• RootsMagic
• BillionGraves

• Cultivating Your Roots: Three Major Software Comparisons

 

Comparing key features of PC programs (each of which have a free version to download.)

• RootsMagic
• Legacy
• Ancestral Quest

 

 

• Putting Leaves on Your Tree:  Online Genealogy Research-the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Jodi Sides, veteran genealogist will present an overview of researching your family history on the internet. The class will cover websites that contain useful information for genealogists at all levels of experience. We will look at connecting with other researchers through family tree websites, locating documents you can print right from your computer, how to properly network with other researchers, and what websites are worth your time and money.

•   Discover Your Family Tree:   Intro to Family Tree

• What is Family Tree, where is it, how can you access it--what can you find?
• How can you use it to preserve and share your own Family Tree research--with attached photos, sources, stories?
• How can you search millions of trees? 
• How can you correct junk genealogy that you find there? 
• Why should you correct it? 

•  Growing Your Roots:  5 Minute Genealogy 

How and where can you find a record of your ancestors within the first 5 minutes of searching?

• Digging Your Roots: Do You Know Where Your Pioneer Ancestors are Buried? 

  
  
  
  DASH does. DASH stands for Dacota Ancestral Stone Histories. 
  
  
  

  Larry Cool's projects combine the digital mapping of cemeteries, with the databasing of records on findagrave, with the overlaying of the maps on Google earth, with the completion of family records on PAF. This all started as a tribute to his grandmother who started his interest when a young boy by helping her map and record the cemeteries in Charles Mix County. 

  
  
  

• Due to unforeseen health issue, the speaker just notified us on Thursday that he cannot present this program--we apologize for this change in the program and ask that those of you registered for this program choose another or view the substitute program to be announced.  

  Substitute Program: Google Earth Your Genealogy by Lisa Cook

  • Click here to view or download the Google Earth Webinar
    

  Cultivating Your Heritage: Who is Granny Weston? 

  An 1896 painting of the Native American woman in the Moody County Public Library has puzzled patrons for years as to who she was and why the painting was done. Dianne Ammann had placed an ad in the Brookings Town n Country Shopper looking for information on 3 different Granny Westons, any of which she could be. She was planning on presenting this data at a Genealogy Conference but she died suddenly last fall. Dale Johnson, Director of the Moody County Museum, will trace the story of the Flandreau Santee Sioux from the 1862 Minnesota Uprising until their settlement in Moody County area. Using resources of the Museum and Moody County Genealogy Society, the origin of the painting may have been discovered and the identity of the subject possibly found.

• Cracking the Nuts on the Tree: Q & A Help Sessions 

  

  
  

  A panel of experienced researchers, including some of the class presenters will be available at one or both sessions to answer questions on various subjects, including internet, computer technology as applied to genealogy, research brick walls, etc

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Exploring the Old Trunk:  Beginner Help Sessions

  Liz Gorham , president of  Brookings Area Genealogical Society (BAGS) will help show those interested in starting their research or are in the first few generations, how to find, organize, research, document and share family data.

• 
  

  Displays, Demos

  
  
  Boy Scout Genealogy Merit Badges 
  Chart Your Tree
  Indexing
   DAR (Daughters of American Revolution)
  
  
  
  

Sponsored by

Brookings SD Family History Center

and

Brookings Area Genealogical Society