Genealogy News: North America – 21 August 2011

Recent announcements include online Canadian records, a free mobile app for the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS), as well as interesting family history-related stories covering an inspiring search, family reunions and memoir-writing.

Canadian records online

Looking for a quick way to search Canadian genealogy records?

FamilySearch.org has added nearly 8,000 Quebec notarial record images (1800-1860) to its Canadian records. Click here for more information. 

• Try Genealogy in Time’s free genealogy search engine. Some included websites: Automated Genealogy, Alberta Family History Society, Alberta Genealogical Society, Ontario Genealogical Society, Canada Genweb websites, federal and provincial archives, Canadian obituary websites, as well as French, Acadian, Loyalist, Mennonite and other sites. Fifty additional online sites with Canadian ancestral records have been added. The site claims some 10 million new records have been added.
• For more lists of Canadian-specific sites and records, click http://www.genealogylinks.net/canada/ or  http://www.cyndislist.com/canada

FGS app now available

Genealogy conferences began the switch from very heavy printed syllabi to CDs about the time I switched to a netbook (no CD drive). When I began using an iPad (no USB port), many events started handing out materials on flash drives.

I wasn’t alone.

Yes, one could bring along an external CD drive for a netbook or purchase a piece of hardware for an iPad, but we were all delighted when the Southern California Genealogical Society produced the first gen conference app for its Jamboree 2011 event back in June. This made it easy to access the syllabus, daily schedule and more.

The genealogy community has been wondering which event will be next, and now we know. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) has just released its free iPhone/iPad mobile app covering many organization components, including the conference and enable users to communicate via Facebook and Twitter.

Some 1,500 attendees are expected to attend more than 165 sessions, 13 luncheons and other activities from September 7-10, in Springfield, Illinois.

Wondering what a genealogy conference is all about? Here’s the program. Learn more about the conference here.

My Heritage.com will be attending (chief genealogist Daniel Horowitz and myself) FGS. We look forward to greeting you at booth #107 in the vendor room.

Family history stories

There are an increasing number of newspaper articles on genealogy. Here’s a selection of stories:

• Tom McMillan, vice president of communications of the Pittsburgh Penguins, wrote the story of his family search in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. At the end of his inspiring tale, he writes:

So it has been an amazing, rewarding, surprising, revealing and totally addictive experience. I’ll admit that at many times I’ve been awed by the accomplishments of my ancestors — regular people, yes, but also trailblazers, colonists, pioneers, farmers, lawyers, businessmen, Civil War vets, and (gulp) politicians and reverends. I’ve been humbled. I’ve felt “not worthy.”

And yet, it is because of that — because I’ve flung open these unexpected windows to my past — that I find myself yearning to learn even more.

Read the complete story at the link above.

• Jeannine Roediger has lived on a family farm all her life and writes for the Times-Bulletin (Van Wert, Ohio). She ends her tale of the joy and sadness of family reunions with these words:

Reunions seem to be more important to people as they age, perhaps realizing that life is short and family is a significant part of us. We all have our differences but underneath is a common thread we cannot deny. We can’t ignore it. We can’t deny it, although we sometimes overlook it. Families are important.

Read the complete story here.

• Interested in writing your memoirs? This article in Florida Today may provide some tips for your own project, or will perhaps encourage an older family member to record his or her life for future generations.

Writing instructor Linda Jump provides these tips:

–Start with a story you’re dying to tell a friend or a child, because it will come easiest.

— Don’t feel you have to start with the day you were born and end with today. Keep your story focused.

— Have fun with your memories, deal with the negative events, and move on.

—  Type the manuscript so your descendants can easily read it.

Read more at the link above.

Stay tuned for the next edition of genealogy news for the US and Canada.