Western North Carolina Legacy SIG to meet this week

The Western North Carolina Legacy genealogy software Special Interest Group will hold its monthly meeting on Wednesday, February 9 at 6:30 pm at the Moss memorial Library in Hayesville NC (weather permitting). If you are interested in using Legacy software in your research, this free meeting is well worth your time.

Wilkinson Co GA Cemetery Book Now Available

If you are interested in the cemeteries of Wilkinson County, Georgia, a new reference book, published by the county genealogical society, may be the ticket to new family connections.

The Cemeteries of Wilkinson County, Georgia book has been published and is now ready for delivery. If you want a copy, drop a check in the mail to the Wilkinson County Historical Society, P. O. Box 476, Gordon, GA 31031, and Jimmy Lord will mail it to you immediately. The cost is $55.00 plus $6.00 S&H.

You can contact the Society directly through their websote at http://www.netstarz.net/wilco/

RootsTech Conference Will Broadcast Select Sessions Free Online

RootsTech, a new family history and technology conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah, February 10-12, 2011, announced today that six of its popular sessions will be broadcasted live and complimentary over the Internet. The live broadcasts will give those unable to attend worldwide a sample of this year’s conference content. Interested viewers can watch the live presentations at RootsTech.org. The first-year conference has attracted over 2,000 registered attendees.

The free online sessions include some of the keynote speakers and a sampling of technology and family history presentations. Following are the six broadcasts, speakers, and times of the presentations. All times are in Mountain Standard Time (MST):

Thursday, February 10, 2011

· 8:30-9:00 a.m., A world of Information, Shane Robison, chief technology officer, Hewlett Packard

· 9-9:30 a.m., Turning Roots, Branches, Trees into Nodes, Links, Graphs, Jay L. Verkler, chief executive officer, FamilySearch International

· 3-4:00 p.m., Digitally Preserving Your Family Heritage, Barry Ewell, founder of MyGenShare.com

Friday, February 11, 2011

· 8:30-9:30 a.m., The Changing Face of Genealogy, by Curt Witcher, manager of the Historical Genealogy Department, Allen County Public Library

· 9:45-10:45 a.m., Cloud Computing: What is it and how it has been used to create the next familysearch.org, by Brian Pugh, senior engineer, FamilySearch International

Saturday, February 12, 2011

· 8:30-9:30 a.m. Personal Archiving and Primary Documents, Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archives

· 1:45-2:45 p.m., Virtual Presentations Round Table and Collaborative Panel Discussion, Thomas MacEntee, professional genealogist and technology specialist

· 3:00-4:00 p.m., The Power of PDF: Tools for Every Genealogist , D. Josh Taylor, Director of Education and Programs at New England Historical Genealogical Society.

About RootsTech

RootsTech is a new conference designed to bring technologists together with genealogists to learn from each other and find solutions to the challenges faced in family history research today. The conference’s activities and offerings are focused on content that will help genealogists and family historians discover exciting new research tools while enabling technology creators to learn the latest development techniques from industry leaders and pioneers.

Who Do You Think You Are Season 2 Starts Tonight

NBC's acclaimed alternative series "Who Do You Think You Are?" begins its second season tonight at 8 pm EST/7 pm CST on most NBC TV affiliates. The show will feature the compelling genealogical story of Vanessa Williams.

In this season of "Who Do You Think You Are?" they will follow some of today's most beloved and iconic celebrities as they embark on personal journeys of self-discovery to trace their family trees. From the trenches of the Civil War to the shores of the Caribbean, and from the valleys of Virginia to the island nations of Australia and Ireland, each episode will reveal surprising, inspiring and sometimes tragic stories that are often linked to events in American and international history.

The celebrities that will be featured in this second season are Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Rosie O’Donnell, Steve Buscemi, Kim Cattrall, Lionel Richie, Vanessa Williams and Ashley Judd.

Each week, a different celebrity is taken on a quest into his or her family history. The search is one of surprising and deeply emotional encounters, resulting in one of the most compelling reality formats of recent years. During each episode, viewers will be taken on a personal and often mysterious quest following some of America's best-known celebrities into their ancestral pasts, as they uncover stories of heroism and tragedy, love and betrayal, secrets and intrigue, that lie at the heart of their family history.

At the same time, "Who Do You Think You Are?" celebrates the twists and turns of a great nation and the people who made their way here in search of freedom and opportunity. As each celebrity discovers his or her unknown relatives - most of whom overcame hard times - the show will take viewers back through world history to expose how the lives of everyone's collective ancestors have shaped our world today.

From Executive Producers Lisa Kudrow ("Friends," "The Comeback") and Dan Bucatinsky ("Lipstick Jungle," "The Comeback"), in conjunction with their production company, Is or Isn't Entertainment, and Shed Media U.S., the series is an adaptation of the award-winning hit British television documentary series from Wall to Wall Productions, created and executive produced by Alex Graham. Jennifer O'Connell and Al Edgington also serve as executive producers.

You can see a preview of tonight's show, watch shows from season one, and much more at http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/ The show is sponsored in part by Ancestry.com.

Athens Historic Newspapers Archive Now Available

The Digital Library of Georgia is pleased to announce the availability of a new online resource: The Athens Historic Newspapers Archive http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/athnewspapers .

The Athens Historic Newspapers Archive provides online access to five newspaper titles published in Athens from 1827 to 1922. Consisting of over 57,000 newspaper pages, the archive provides historical images that are both full-text searchable and can be browsed by date. The site will provide users with a view into the history of Athens in its early years as the home to the first state-chartered university in the nation and its eventual growth into the largest city in northeast Georgia.

The archive includes the following Athens newspaper titles: Athenian (1827-1832), Southern Banner (1832-1882), Southern Watchman (1855-1882), Daily/Weekly Banner-Watchman (1882-1889), Daily/Weekly Athens Banner (1889-1922).

The Athens Historic Newspapers Archive is a project of the Digital Library of Georgia as part of the Georgia HomePLACE initiative. The project is supported with federal LSTA funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. Digitization is also made possible through a grant provided by the Francis Wood Wilson Foundation, Inc.

Other newspaper archives available through the Digital Library of Georgia include the Atlanta Historic Newspapers Archive (1847-1922), the Macon Telegraph Archive (1826-1908), the Columbus Enquirer Archive (1828-1890), the Milledgeville Historic Newspapers Archive (1808-1920), the Southern Israelite Archive (1929-1986), and the Red and Black Archive (1893-2006). These archives can be accessed at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/MediaTypes/Newspapers.html

And for my students the service is "free."

Families for Android Op System Now Available

Last Tuesday night one of my students in my beginner Legacy class asked if there was a Legacy app for the Android operating system. My answer was not yet. After class I go home, check my email inbox and that answer has now changed. I had the press release below in my inbox.

TelGen Limited is pleased to announce the release of the first version of Families for Android. This app provides the same functionality as the popular Families app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, but now on the Android platform.

This application is designed to operate in conjunction with Legacy Family Tree, the leading Windows-based genealogy software from Millennia Corporation. Legacy family files can be easily transferred from a PC to your iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, or Android device, enabling them to be viewed and edited wherever you are. Families supports the following functionality:

•Multiple family files
•New family files can be created from scratch
•Family View and Pedigree View
•Index, searchable by Given Name, Surname or RIN
•Events
•To Do Lists
•Master and Detail Sources
•Locations and Addresses, with geolocation via Google Maps
•Alternate Names
•Pictures, including the ability to add pictures from camera or photo album
•Portrait and Landscape mode on all views
•Full screen support on the iPad
•Legacy file versions 6 and 7 are supported

Families uses a highly efficient database implementation, allowing very large family files to be supported. Users have successfully displayed and edited files containing over 300,000 individuals on an iPhone and a sample family file is included.

On iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad Families requires access to a Wi-Fi network or use of iTunes via a USB connection in order to transfer family files between your device and your PC. USB transfer uses iTunes File Sharing which requires your device to be running iOS 3.2 or above.

On Android Families uses a USB connection to transfer family files to and from your Android device's SD card.

Families requires a companion program running on the PC to transfer family files to and from the device. This program, Families Sync, can be downloaded free of charge from here. For iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, iTunes must be installed in order to use this program.

Families for Android can be purchased from Android Market for £8.99 or equivalent in other currencies (approximately US$14.30)

For more information see http://www.telgen.co.uk/families or email families@telgen.co.uk.

New Ancestry iPad, iPhone and iTouch app

How would you like to be able to see and navigate your Ancestry.com family tree on your iPhone or iPad so you can more easily share family stories visually? How would you like to be able to view the Census and other records you’ve attached to people in your Ancestry.com family tree on your iPhone or iPad at your next family gathering? Well good news – now there’s an app for that.

This week Ancestry announced the availability of an enhanced version of their iPhone app, Ancestry, that now has universal support for the iPad and offers several new features:

•Lighter version of your Ancestry.com family tree
•An interactive family tree viewer to visualize relationships in your family history
•Information is automatically available when you log in to your Ancestry.com account from your computer
•Easy to upload photos, add ancestors, correct dates, include notes and more, from within the app.
•Ability to view attached historical documents and source citations attached via Ancestry.com
•Access to family trees that were shared with you
•An improved user experience, Intuitive to use, with iPad functionality

Built with the tablet experience in mind, the new Ancestry app brings to life on iPad’s large screen multi-generational family trees complete with images of original family records and photos, making iPad a powerful tool for you to display and share your trees with family and friends in an interactive, highly visual way.

So check out http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ancestry-com-tree-to-go/id349554263?mt=8

Don’t have an iPad or an iPhone? Do not despair since Ancestry is considering the creation of an Android version of their Ancestry app down the road.