For TCGS Members, having Donna come speak to our society has become a yearly treat, this year no exception.
Donna’s upbeat personality and interesting lectures always bring fun to learning genealogy. No one can ever walk away without having learned something.
Please mark your calendars for this special presentation sure to inspire all of us in pursuit of our family’s history.
Speaking of which, have you signed up to index the 1940 census with TCGS? Just contact John Covey, our TCGS President, to get your name on our list. It is possible there are incentives for our society if we can help with the indexing. If you are already indexing, it is just a matter of adding your work to the society totals, at least that is the understanding.
And, for those of you who want to go one step further and really understand why censuses were created (and surprise, surprise, they were not created so genealogists could find their ancestors), the attitude of the people about censuses and why some of our ancestors resisted being counted in the census, you may want to listen to the podcast Beyond Numbers: A History of the US Census from the website Backstory with the American History Guys, http://tinyurl.com/4ae9da4.
Last night brought us another excellent presentation from Susan Davis Faulkner, past president of TCGS. Susan’s witty and thorough coverage of why and how to use Bibles for our genealogical research was outstanding.
TCGS’ monthly general meeting was held at the Mid-Columbia Library to celebrate the exhibit Manifold Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible. How wonderful to learn we were only one of two cities in the whole state of Washington to be a part of this special exhibition. Thanks to Susan and Michael, MCL staff member, for arranging for this wonderful and unique opportunity, the exhibit of several locally-owned Bibles and Susan’s informative presentation.
Susan gave us some good background on the existence of Bibles in our world. Did you know that it took 350 years after the King James Bible was first written for another Bible to take its place along side it? Wow! That’s staying power if there ever was any. And, to be sure, the KJV has not been replaced. Many people today still use it in spite of a handful of other versions.
Because the “family Bible” was a precious commodity, many people chose not to write their family data in it. In spite of this, the Bible owned by your family may still holds pieces of gold. People often kept such important documents as deeds, wills, bonds and land records in their Bible. In addition, one might also find funeral cards, pictures, letters, locks of hair and pressed flowers. Most of these can be used to enhance your genealogical research.
Bibles are especially useful for research because vital records are more rare than one would think. In essence, they are, except for a few instances, a 20th century invention, while the Bible has been around since 1611. Of course, many of the other written records or pictures that wind up in Bibles are also pretty modern concepts, so hopefully your ancestors took the time to record your family’s heritage in the family Bible.
The Manifold Greatness Exhibition will be at the Mid-Columbia Library until the end of March. At 7pm, Thursday, March 22nd, there will be another presentation entitled, “A Visual History of the King James Bible” with author and scholar Donald Brake, Ph.D. In addition, the movie Fires of Faith: The Coming Forth of the King James Bible will be showing at Fairchild Cinemas in Pasco, 7pm Thursday, March 29. Both the presentation and movie are free.
Last night, TCGS Members attending our general meeting saw an overview of the very successful RootsTech 2012 Conference. It was mentioned that the now-videotaped sessions are running at the rootstech.org site but no schedule had been posted.
Dick Eastman posted a list of the sessions that were available through Live Stream. This list should help with finding the session you want to listen to.
The link will take you to the EOGN blog where Dick posted a list of each day's sessions and the times they would occur. Do not worry about the exact times, but calculate the length of each presentation to approximate where you might find them in the now-playing live stream repeats.
Here's your link: http://tinyurl.com/89d64v5
TCGS Members, Are you following RootsTech?
Classes are available to follow by going to RootsTech.org. The directions are pretty straight-forward. The live streaming seems to be playing over and over, so you won’t miss them even if you are not home at the exact same time they are being presented.
Please leave your comments on this blog or Facebook so I can incorporate them in my presentation.
Thanks for your help and hope you enjoy the conference as much as we are.
As always, we are offered treats when our FHC director, Richard Allen, gives a presentation whether it is for TCGS as it was Wednesday or at the Richland Family History Center.
This month, he again returned to his favorite website, FamilySearch.org, that just seems to be get bigger and better all the time, especially if you listen to Richard. He always finds the gems and presents us with new and interesting ways to research using FS.org.
Below is a list of the topics he covered followed by a link to a list of all 27 videos on familysearch.org demo’ing the many facets of that ever-growing website. Richard used several of the videos in his presentation but those were just a taste of what FS.org has to offer. Check them out!
Kudos to Richard for always giving us such tantalizing and useful peeks at what is available to all of us free-of-charge and just a few clicks away on the internet.
FamilySearch.org - A Treasure Trove of Family History Information
FamilySearch.org provides FREE online access to:
• BILLIONS of indexed original records.
• BILLIONS of original record images.
• Family Trees from the Ancestral File and the Pedigree Resource File.
• A Catalog of all materials (including microfilm, microfiche, and publications) found at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• Thousands of scanned and downloadable books (Family Histories, County and Local Histories, etc.) from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah and other major genealogy libraries.
• The Research Wiki with thousands of family history articles and links to other sources of family history information.
• Hundreds of free online Research Courses covering a variety of topics and geographic areas.
• FamilySearch Forums where you can obtain answers to your specific research questions.
• FamilySearch Blogs with information about new and upcoming resources and capabilities.
• Getting Started Videos to help you begin your family history.
• Technology Tips such as how to use your Smartphone for genealogical research, or how to tag people in digital photographs.
https://www.familysearch.org/learningcenter/results.html?q=product+demo&resultListItem=0
Wednesday evening, Richard Allen, the director of the Richland Family History Center will speak on “FamilySearch”.
In the webinar, “10 Ways to Jump Start Your Genealogy” by Thomas MacEntee, just aired this evening, it was suggested you join a genealogy society and “Get Out!” to freshen your perspective and re-energize your research.
Starting your New Year with Richard Allen introducing us to all that is new with FamilySearch certainly could help us “jump start our genealogy.”
Make a resolution today to attend all that TCGS has to offer. You may be surprised at all you will have gained by December.
7pm Parkview Estates 7820 W Sixth Avenue in Kennewick
See ya there!
