The North Florida Genealogy Conference was a huge success! There was a broad range of presentations and some fascinating exhibitors. In my opinion, what makes this conference so special is its size. After seeing the mobs at RootsTech and hearing from people who did attend, I think I’ll stick to the smaller conferences. Classes are a much more manageable size and allow time for plenty of Q&A. The Amelia Island society offered “brick wall” support to attendees and the family history center was open and staffed to help anyone who walked in during the conference. The area societies supporting this conference had tables set up in the big room. Sure, they were promoting the benefits of joing, but they were also happy to answer questions and listen to tales of ancestral discoveries. The DAR table spent most of their time offering research advice to anyone who stopped by – member or not.
For members living in the northern part of the county, The St. Johns Family History Center wants you to know they are open and ready to help you with your research. Their hours are Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 7:00pm to 9:00pm and Wednesday mornings from 9:00am to 11:00am. The center is located at 5467 CR 210 West in St. Johns, Florida. You can contact them by phone at 904-940-9139 or by email at fl_stjohns@ldsmail.net.
The Family History Center at St. Augustine Shores is located at 500 Deltona Blvd. and open by appointment. To schedule an appointment, contact Kathy Greer at kathy.greer@gmail.com.
MyHeritage has added 325 million new historical records at SuperSearch. These include the 1939 Register which is the “most complete census-like collection for the population of England and Wales between 1911 and 1951 (the 1921 census is still time-protected, the 1931 census was destroyed by fire and no census was conducted in 1941).”
In December they published a huge collection of U.S. yearbooks (36,207,173 pages in 253,429 yearbooks). This is a “free-text” collection which you can search by name or keyword. Yes, there are St. Augustine yearbooks included in this collection.
A collection of 2 million Canadian obituaries and memorials during the period of 1997 to 2017 includes names, date of death, the publication source, the text of the obituary and a photograph if there was one included.
You can search the collections for free, but you will need a subscription to view the records.
The New England Historical Genealogical Society is offering a free webinar – Creating a Research Plan – on Thursday, March 15th, beginning at 3:00pm. If you are interested, you can register at NEHGS. If you can’t attend the live broadcast, you can view the recorded presentation on the American Ancestors website in the Online Classes page.
This Week in the Blogs
Gena Phillibert-Ortega’ Gena’s Genealogy blog focuses on women’s history and genealogy. This week she has published an article on finding women in directories. It’s full of great tips on where to look along with a collection of useful resources to help you in your search.
Cathy Meder-Dempsey has a great article, Dear Cousin – We Have a DNA Match, Now What? It discusses how to approach your cousins once you find a DNA match to show them how to transfer their raw DNA to GEDMatch and why that is so useful.
Carrying the DNA/GEDmatch topic a bit further . . . RootsFinder has announced the addition of DNA Tools. Their DNA tool kit makes it possible to visualize and analyze your DNA matches and tag kits to your tree. You can import your DNA matches from GEDMatch and RootsFinder will analyze your DNA matches to create several views to help you make connections. Those views include list view, kit view, segment view and triangulation view. Get the details at the RootsFinder blog.
The Storytellers Studio blog and Facebook group are now up and running. If you are looking for creative ways to share your family history, the Studio is full of ideas, resources and how-to information. The easiest way to keep up with the latest articles posted on the blog is to subscribe to the studio’s email delivery service. It works just like the weekly Research Notes you are reading right now. The Facebook group is a “closed” group meaning you must ask to join and get approved by the group manager. This is done to keep spammers from bombarding the group with unwanted advertising and other junk. The Storytellers blog and group are open to anyone (except spammers) who are looking for creative ways to share their family history.
Final Notes
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