Monday, August 20, 2012

Will "Who Do You Think You Are?" Re-Appear on Another Network?

Courtesy of Dick Eastman's EOGN http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2012/08/will-who-do-you-think-you-are-re-appear-on-another-network.html

"Dan Bucatinsky posted the following on his Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/DanBucatinsky: "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" on DVD ! And Season 3 coming soon. Look for an all new season in 2013!!! on an all new network!
And who is Dan Bucatinsky? and why would he know? Dan was the co-executive producer (along with Lisa Kudrow) of the recently-canceled U.S. version of "Who Do You Think You Are?" on NBC. I would think he should know."


Sunday, August 19, 2012

Fall 2012 Beginner/Intermediate Genealogy Class at TCCC Peachtree NC

We still have four seats available for the Deginner / Intermediate genealogy class that will start on August 30 at Tri County Community College. This class will not be taught again until the Fall of 2013 at the earliest so do not delay in signing up for this popular class. If you have wanted to take a general genealogy class to help your research along then do not miss this opportunity.

Who Do You Think You Are? - Beginning/Intermediate Genealogy Course
NBC's TV program Who Do You Think You Are? sparked a lot of interest in genealogy research. If you would like to learn how to do your own family research then this course is for you. Some of the course material includes the usage of a variety of record sources in the pursuit of ancestor hunting. Sources such as vital records, census, church records, court, military, land property, and tax records will be discussed in detail. Genealogy basics as well as advanced topics such as DNA testing will be included as part of this course. This course is a requirement to take any of the advanced genealogy courses offered at TCCC.

6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Thursday (12 weeks)

You can sign up for this or any of my other two advanced genealogy courses (must complete above class to take advanced classes) by contacting Lisa Long, the director of community outreach at TCCC via phone 828-837-6810.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Ancestry.com Releases Completely Searchable 1940 U.S. Federal Census

PROVO, UTAH – (August 3, 2012) – Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, is proud to announce that it has completed the records indexing process for the 1940 U.S. Federal Census, which is available at www.ancestry.com/1940census. All 134 million records are now easily searchable by name, date, place of birth and other key information recorded in the census. These records, which are free to search, offer valuable insight for the nearly 90 percent of Americans who either have family members recorded in the 1940 U.S. Census or are in it themselves.

Since the initial release of the 1940 U.S. Census by the National Archives in April, Ancestry.com has progressively published information from this important family history resource state by state. Ancestry.com has made this vital family history information while providing an engaging user experience including the ability to search for maiden names or other family names, often a roadblock when searching records. Additionally, users can make corrections or update information that is incomplete, leading to a better overall database of information.

Assisting in navigation of the 1940 U.S. Census is Ancestry.com’s Interactive Image Viewer, which enables users to easily peruse document pages with simple graphical overlays. The viewer adds highlights, transcriptions and other functionality directly on the Census page. This enables searchers access to small census fields by simply scrolling over them for a pop up that magnifies the information recorded by census takers. With the ability to zoom in on individual records, these new features dramatically improve the usability of the 1940 U.S. Census, which previously only included images of the paper records. These paper records, handwritten in small entry fields, have traditionally been very hard to read, making the visual enhancements in the Interactive Viewer a huge improvement.

“We are so excited to be publishing our index to the 1940 U.S. Federal Census for free on Ancestry.com,” said Tim Sullivan, CEO of Ancestry.com. “As one of the most anticipated family history resources ever, the 1940 Census is a fantastic way for almost every American to get started making discoveries about their family history as well as a key new resource for so many of our two million existing subscribers. Experienced through our new Interactive Image Viewer, the stories and discoveries inside the 1940 Census really come to life.”

Users can now find basic information such as their ancestors’ names and where they lived, but also gain more insight about their ancestors’ daily lives. This information includes whether they owned or rented their home, the value of the residence and how many people resided there. For the first time, census takers in 1940 also asked questions specific to income and education. Interestingly, details like prior military service, the ability to read or write, and whether citizens spoke English – all asked in prior censuses – were not asked in 1940.

The entire census can be viewed online at www.ancestry.com/1940census

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Fall 2012 Genealogy Classes at TCCC Peachtree NC

The following are the classes that I will be teaching this Fall at Tri Community College in Peachtree, NC. At this point you can get on the interest list, but they won't sign you up until later this summer when they creat the classes in their course computer system.

Researching an American Genealogy, Part 2 - Advanced Genealogy Course

For those who want to learn how to build pedigrees and reconstruct family groups, tying them from one generation to the next, this course is a must. This course also has value to other researchers. Historians, demographers, and sociologists studying people in the past will find that this course will provide important guidance in assessing which records will provide the facts needed. Part 2 of this popular advanced genealogy course will cover in-depth records and their uses. This course will look at vital records; census; probate and basic legal terminology; land records; court, church; and military records; and many more.
Prerequisite: Beginning/Intermediate Genealogy Course
6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Tuesday Nights (13 weeks)
August 21 - November 13, 2012

Planting Your Family Tree Online

When you decided to work on your family history, you undoubtedly learned about places you should go (libraries, archives, courthouses, cemeteries, etc.) and tools you should use (libraries, catalogs, microfilm, etc.). As genealogists, we should seek out new resources and adopt new tools that may prove valuable in our research. This course will accomplish that by introducing you to new technology "places" and tools that you can use in your genealogy research. Social networking; blogs; wikis; photo and video sharing; genealogy software: free, paid and on the web; and online trees are just a few of the topics to be covered in this new technology related
course.
Prerequisite: This course is open to all, but a basic understanding of
genealogy principles and computer technology is strongly recommended.
6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Wednesday (10 weeks)
September 5 - November 7, 2012

Who Do You Think You Are? - Beginning/Intermediate Genealogy Course

NBC's TV program Who Do You Think You Are? sparked a lot of interest in genealogy research. If you would like to learn how to do your own family research then this course is for you. Some of the course material includes the usage of a variety of record sources in the pursuit of ancestor hunting. Sources such as vital records, census, church records, court, military, land property, and tax records will be discussed in detail. Genealogy basics as well as advanced topics such as DNA testing will be included as part of this course. This course is a requirement to take any of the advanced genealogy courses offered at TCCC.
6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Thursday (14 weeks)
August 16 - November 15, 2012

You can get your name on the course interest list for any of these genealogy courses by contacting Lisa Long, the director of community outreach at TCCC via phone 828-837-6810.

* Larry Van Horn - Biography *

Larry Van Horn is a native of San Antonio, Texas, who joined the U.S. Navy in 1971 and served on a variety of ships and in the naval aviation community until his retirement in 1993. He retired with the rank of Chief Petty Officer. During his naval career he earned the Navy Achievement medal (2 awards) and the Navy Commendation Medal during his 22 years of military service.

He is currently employed at Grove Enterprises in Brasstown, North Carolina, as the assistant/technical editor of an international communications magazine, and the magazine's staff journalist. Larry has written several books, dozens of magazine features, and hundreds of technical articles for a variety of communications publications here in the United States.

Larry has been a family historian/researcher for the last 33 years and is currently researching hundreds of ancestral family surnames and has documented nearly 35,000 ancestors and descendants in compiling his family genealogy. This includes ancestors who served during in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican American War, Civil War, World War I/II, and two Texas Rangers.

When Larry is not chasing his family roots he is the teaching genealogy at Tri County Community College in Peachtree, North Carolina. He has taught numerous classes over the last 13 years including Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Genealogy; Genealogy and the Internet; Organizing Your Genealogy, Hidden Genealogy Sources and Using Family Tree Maker, Legacy and Master Genealogists Software.

He regularly lectures throughout the Tri-State area to various civic groups, schools and genealogical groups on a variety of family history subjects. Larry also works with the local legal community researching difficult probate court cases requiring specialized genealogical research techniques. He writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column (Finding Your Roots) on genealogy. He is member the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the National Genealogy Society, and he has served as the elected National Registrar for the Nicolas Martiau Descendants Association for the last nine years.

Larry currently lives in Brasstown, North Carolina, with his wife Gayle Hennington-Van Horn.