New Live Training by Evidentia

Evidentia is holding another  live online training session this week! Please register if you plan to attend: https://evidentiasoftware.com/events/creating-custom-citation-templates-in-evidentia-aug-29/ On August 29, 2019 at 9PM Eastern (7PM Mountain) we will focus on when, why, and how to create custom citation templates in Evidentia As last time, student examples are welcome. There is only room for 100 active participants, but the class will be recorded and shared on our website as well as youtube. A link will be sent out prior to the class. You can register at https://evidentiasoftware.com/events/creating-custom-citation-templates-in-evidentia-aug-29/ There is only room for 100 active participants, but the class will be recorded and shared on our website as well as youtube. If all goes well, expect to see more frequent mini classes on a single topic.

See you Thursday!?

Unsung Heroes Award for Michigan Italian Genealogy Society

We announced the winners of the Unsung Heroes Awards on in our blog on August 21, 2019, for the 3rd Quarter of this year. The awards have been announced at the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in Washington, DC.

As we announced, the Society category winner is the Michigan Italian Genealogy Society for its work in digitizing and indexing funeral cards for people with Italian surnames and making them available on the Internet. A majority of the cards are from the Detroit area dating from 1924 to 1999, and they contain names, birth and death dates, and the name of the funeral home. Many also have photographs of the individual. This online collection can be accessed at https://miitaliangs.weebly.com/blog/detroit-area-funeral-cards. 

Dan Earl, popular genealogy speaker, received the award on behalf of the society from Rick Voight, CEO of Vivid-Pix, partner with The Genealogy Guys Podcast in this awards program. 

The Individual winner of the quarter's Unsung Heroes Awards is James "Jim" Paprocki for his tremendous work on the Rochester Churches Indexing Project for churches in the Rochester, New York, area. That award was announced at the conference and he will receive his award next week.

It is our distinct pleasure to recognize those individuals and organizations involved in digitizing, indexing, transcribing, and publishing great materials on the Internet for the benefit of family history researchers worldwide.

We Sing Your Praises!

MyHeritage Adds French Record Collection: Nord Civil Marriage Records, 1792–1937

We just received this announcement from MyHeritage of a 

very important new collection of materials at their site.

NGS and FGS Announce Intent to Merge

The following press release was made available on August 21, 2019.

Unsung Heroes Awards Announced at FGS

The winners of the Unsung Heroes Award for the 3rd Quarter 2019 are being announced at the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in Washington, DC!

The Unsung Heroes Award is a collaborative program between The Genealogy Guys Podcast and Vivid-Pix, makers of RESTORE software. The awards program was launched in 2019 to acknowledge and celebrate members of the genealogy community who are leading the way in digitizing, indexing, and transcribing photographs and documents. Nominations are accepted in five categories: Individuals; Societies; Libraries & Archives; Youth; and Posthumous. Awards will not necessarily be made in all categories each quarter.

Presentations of the awards for winners for this quarter are being made by Rick Voight, CEO of Vivid-Pix. The winners are as follows:

Individual:

The Individual winner is James "Jim" Paprocki for his tremendous work on the Rochester Churches Indexing Project for churches in the Rochester, New York, area. The RCIP was begun in 2009 by a group of individual researchers with ties to the Rochester Genealogical Society, Inc. Their experience led them to an idea which would help genealogical work in the future. It was determined that the convenience of a general index to the many churches in the Rochester, New York, area would be a tremendous asset.

Jim Paprocki has been one of the coordinators of the RCIP and the key developer of the database. As of August 2019, the website states that there are over 200,000 records in the database, including 35,575 marriages, 96,863 births/baptisms, and 90,295 deaths/burials/funerals. 

Jim shared some information about himself:

 "I have a background in Computer Science, which includes a Bachelor of Science degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1973, so it seemed only natural that in 2009 when Bert Balt [also an RGS member of long standing] suggested that he wanted to index the first German Roman Catholic Church in Rochester and put it online, that instead of just creating text files like so many cemetery listings of the time, we create a searchable database.

"I have been interested in genealogy since the mid 1970s. In 1996 I created a website detailing the work I had done on the Paprocki name. Because of this, I was contacted by a family in Poland who wanted to reestablish ties with family from the United States. Contact was lost in the 1950s when the last US family member who knew Polish died. I was able to reunite the family and was subsequently invited to Poland. I went in 2001 and was able to view family records in the local parish church and the Archdiocesan Archive of Gniezno.

"I joined the Rochester Genealogical Society sometime after 1983. Previously I had been a member of the Kodak Genealogy Club. I was the RGS newsletter editor from 1991 to 1998. I have worked on various aspects of their website including the Church Records Preservation Committee."

Congratulations, Jim Paprocki, and thank you for all of your hard work to make this project become a reality and to continue the RCIP's work!

Society:

The Society winner is the Michigan Italian Genealogy Society for its work in digitizing and indexing funeral cards for people with Italian surnames and making them available on the Internet. A majority of the cards are from the Detroit area dating from 1924 to 1999, and they contain names, birth and death dates, and the name of the funeral home. Many also have photographs of the individual. This online collection can be accessed at https://miitaliangs.weebly.com/blog/detroit-area-funeral-cards. 

The Michigan Italian Genealogy Society explores various methods of tracing Italian ancestors, promotes education for beginners and more experienced genealogists through social media and blog posts. The Society is dedicated to promoting Italian family history and genealogy. It is dedicated towards educating members and the public in the methodology of finding one’s roots. Their goal is to empower their members in their search for family records by providing the necessary tools and expertise needed. Discover that family history is an interesting, rewarding hobby that will enable you to discover your past and preserve your heritage for future generations. Michigan Italian Genealogy Society  is a proud member of the Historical Society of Michigan and the Michigan Genealogical Council.

Kenneth Merique, a director with The Polish Genealogical Society of Michigan, generously donated hundreds of funeral cards he has collected over the years. Most of the deceased are from the Detroit area, but some are distant relatives with Michigan connections. The Michigan Italian Genealogy Society has digitized these resources and has posted them to our website. An index is also provided. 

This collection represents a unique set of records that can provide clues to other evidence, including birth records, a death certificate, funeral home records, and cemetery records.

Congratulations to the Michigan Italian Genealogy Society and thank you for all of your hard work to make these wonderful records available!

The winners will receive an Unsung Heroes Award certificate, a custom mug with one of their images on the side, an announcement on The Genealogy Guys Podcast, and acknowledgments in this blog and the blog of Vivid-Pix. A press release is being issued throughout the genealogical community.

Record Precise Locations as They Were at the Time

For the dates of each of the events in your ancestors' life, always record the precise location as it existed at the time of the event. That includes birth, marriage, divorce, censuses, military service, land and property transactions, date of will, death, probate, and more. Record the town, the county or parish, and the state for U.S. events. Record early American locations as “British Colony”, “French Colony”, “Spanish Colony, etc., for events that occurred in locations while they were under governmental control of those countries. For foreign locations, list the town, province and county, and country at the time.

Remember that, because boundaries and jurisdictions changed so much over time, you should be certain you have the correct county or state, or province or country listed as it existed when the event occurred. Refer to printed histories of an area to help clarify dates of governmental control and of boundary changes. Use old printed atlases, digitized historical maps online, and gazetteers/place name dictionaries can be invaluable in locating places, especially if names have changed or a place no longer exists.

This work will be important to you for purposes of locating copies of records any time you seek them for an ancestor’s life and for understanding context. It is also important for future researchers who want to confirm your research and obtain copies for themselves to review and analyze.

The Genealogy Squad Passes the 20,000 Member Mark!

The Genealogy Squad, the newest Facebook membership group for genealogists, just passed its 20,000 member milestone today!

Launched on 6 May 2019 by Administrators Blaine T. Bettinger, Ph. D., J.D., (of DNA-Central), Cyndi Ingle (of Cyndi's List), and Drew Smith and George G. Morgan (of The Genealogy Guys Podcast), the new group has experienced astronomical growth. And it doesn't show any signs of slowing down!

The group provides a friendly place to get expert research help from the admin staff and to share and collaborate with other genealogists from around the world. DNA discussions are best discussed at its sibling group, Genetic Genealogy Tips & Techniques at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/geneticgenealogytipsandtechniques/. In tandem, these two groups are your go-to destinations for all things genealogy!

Visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogysquad and request to join The Genealogy Squad. You'll soon see why it is the fastest-growing Facebook site for your general genealogy discussions!

Library Book Sales Provide Treasures

Many public libraries in the U.S. are supported by their Friends of the Library groups. One of their prime fund-raising ventures is book sales. Such an event can be used to liquidate older versions of books from their collection and to sell books donated by citizens. These may include materials that can be valuable to your genealogical research. Older atlases may be useless to a library or a donor, but may be invaluable to your work. Reference books, language dictionaries, almanacs, local, state and national histories, older editions of genealogy how-tos, and other books may supplement your personal reference collection at a tiny fraction of the price of new books. Check with your library as to whether they or other libraries in your area sponsor book sales.

New Magazine Articles by George G. Morgan

George has two articles published in magazines this month.

In theAugust/September 2019 issue of Internet Genealogy magazine, published by Moorshead Magazines, Ltd., George has an article titled "Five Go-To Sites You Should Consider." As he says that these "continue to provide first-rate content content to inform and improve our research in many ways." His list includes:

• Cyndi's List
• FamilySearch Research Wiki
• David Rumsey Map Collection
• The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database
• Google Books

You're sure to want to read the article to learn what these great sites can do for your research and why he thinks they are his top "go-to" reference sites and how to get the most from them.

In the September Issue of Family Tree Magazine, George writes in his regular column titled "Document Detective" about the 1939 Register for England & Wales. The record collection provides fantastic information from the beginning of World War II about the residents. Following the 1921 census there, which will not be made available to the public until 2021, there is no surviving 1931 census records and there was no census taken in 1941 because of World War II. The 1939 Register is therefore a very important research aid for your ancestors and families living at the time. You'll learn all about the content and how it was used in this article.

George is also a regular columnist for the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly and writes for other print and online publications.