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Finding the Living with Megan Smolenyak

You may have see genealogist Megan Smolenyak on Good Morning America or the Today Show. You may be more familiar with her from her books, her work with popular genealogy programming or from her numerous speaking engagements.

From her dedication in finding the family of soldiers who are unaccounted for from past conflicts, (as a consultant with the U.S. Army), to her work as an outspoken advocate of using DNA to trace your roots Ms. Smolenyak is definitely a genealogist on a mission.

If you are a fan you will not want to miss the opportunity to view her very first webinar “Reverse genealogy: Finding the Living”. Even better, you can view it free up until May 7, at Legacy Family Tree.

Reverse Genealogy

So what is reverse genealogy? In a nutshell, it is taking information discovered about your ancestors and using it to move forward in time in order to find living relatives.

The Webinar begins with an informative questionnaire that lists why people want to find the living.

The top two reasons:

–          To find living cousins

–          To solve mysteries using DNA

In order to “find the living” Smolenyak uses two methods that she describes as

1. Broadcasting, a method that incorporates the use of message boards and Social Networking to make it easy for people you are looking for to find you.
2. Seeking, an aggressive research method where you actively work to seek out individuals with common ancestors.

In her webinar you will learn about some fantastic resources, research guidelines and strategies that will help you to conduct an effective cousin search in addition to some great tips on how to approach your long lost relatives once you have found them.

If you want to start a reverse genealogy project, you will not want to miss this chance to learn from a pro. Join us on the Genealogy News and Events forum for a direct link to the webinar.

FamilySearch.org Announces Huge Website Changes

A post February 22, 2012 on the FamilySearch.org website announces big changes to its website. The changes are reported to include some significant new search features for its over 2.5 billion freely accessible records. The transformation comes in an effort to give users a more streamlined genealogy research experience by including all products, services and content on the same site.

 

 

Family Tree Search Improvements

In a nutshell, the benefits to users come down to greater convenience and improved accuracy of searches.

There will be:

Additional indexes, with records, and documents published in greater frequency

Better searches that scan more content, giving further accuracy to results

A streamlined single user name and password for Family Search services and products

 

New Features for Genealogists

In addition to these improvements there are some exciting new changes involving the search function. You will now be able to conduct single page searches of the databases and historic records. Search with new ways to customize your search fields. Use a “World Map” to locate local family history centers and detailed guides to help you navigate through all of the changes, including a wonderful video explaining how to use the new features.

Saying Goodbye to the  Old Family History Site

Family Search wants you to know that the old website will be closed in the following months in order for them to concentrate all efforts on current and future improvements. The whole of their records have already been moved to the new site along with the new collections and improved features.

For links to FamilySearch.org’s new guides along with the site use instructional video, join us in the Genealogy News and Events Forum.

Image Credit: Flizia via Photobucket

Genealogy Webinars for Genealogy Beginners

Genealogy webinars are becoming a popular way to stay up to date with the latest genealogy news and events. They are also a great resource for genealogy beginners to learn some new research tricks and tips.

A genealogy webinar is a live interactive class, lecture or interview that is broadcast at a scheduled time over the internet. They can be a great way to hear about new developments and family tree resources or just to hear expert genealogists give a lecture on your favorite genealogy subjects.

While some genealogy webinars are free, some have a nominal fee. However, it is a good deal less expensive than travelling to a family history workshop and paying to hear the lecture live.

How Do Genealogy Webinars Work?

A lot goes into producing a good genealogy webinar.

Usually they are:

• Produced by a sponsor (generally the organizer of the webinar)
• Presented by a host who introduces the key speakers or guests and screens calls
• Attended by genealogy novices, hobbyists and professionals from their homes via computer

How Do I Attend A Genealogy Webinar?

Attending a genealogy webinar is simple; all you need is a computer with a high-speed internet connection and speakers. If you want to ask questions, a USB headset is recommended however, you can use a telephone.  Most importantly, you will need to preregister, as you may have to download software to participate. Downloading the software is quick, free, and anti virus protection is included. It really is very easy and instructions for download are given when you preregister.

How Do I Find Genealogy Webinars?

You can find genealogy webinars in many places on the internet. Nevertheless, Genealogy Beginner has found that the best resource is at Genea Webinars blog.  One of the reasons we think they are so wonderful is for their calendar of upcoming webinars. Another reason they are a favorite is that they have an archive of webinars. So, if you missed one you can still access it for ten days after it airs. This is perfect if you have a schedule conflict. One of the biggest reasons we love Genea Webinars is because most archived webinars are free.

Here is a sneak peek into some of Gena Webinars upcoming shows:

• Are You Ready for the 1940 U.S. Census Images with Thomas MacEntee, March 7
• The Pursuit from Genealogy Hobbyist to Professional with John Kitzmiller and Claire Brison-Banks, April 4.
• Reverse Genealogy: Finding the Living with Megan Smolenyak, April 25.
• DNA Research for Genealogists: Beyond the Basics with Ugo Perego. March 21.
• What is a ‘Reasonably Exhaustive Search’? with Michael Hait. September 12.

Genealogy Beginners Top Three Picks for Archived Webinars:

• Digital Books and Sites for Genealogists
• The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships
• Organize, Share, and Publish Your Digital Photos with Heritage Collector Suite

Genealogy Webinars are a good resource for genealogists no matter what your level of experience. If you are planning to attend a webinar for the first time and you need to learn a little more, join us on the Discovery Panel forums, where you will also find a link to Genea Webinars calendar and archives.

Image Credit: Roundpegbiz via Photobucket

Top 25 most popular 2009 genealogy blogs

ProGenealogists recently announced their “25 Most Popular Genealogy Blogs for 2009” awards. We are very honored to be part of this group. A glance through the other blogs on the list is truly humbling. It’s even more humbling to read ProGenealogists announcement, noting that “a Google search for genealogy blogs currently results in nearly half a million options, with over seven times that number for ‘family history’ blogs.” I’m not certain how to do a Google search that returns the number of blogs, but to search blog posts, try http://blogsearch.google.com .

At the time I wrote this article a search for the word genealogy returned 857,000+ blog posts containing the word genealogy. A search for “family history” (including the quotes), returns 674,000+ posts.

Subscribe to new Google Search results

The search results page contains one of my secrets for uncovering news stories that you won’t see on the other genealogy news sites. You can subscribe to the results of your blog search by clicking one of the options in the left margin under the heading, “Subscribe.” This will give you an email or news feed of all the new results for your search. That’s only 6,600+ articles you’ll have to read each day to cover all blog posts with either the phrase “family history” or the word “genealogy.” Better yet, let your favorite genealogy news blogs shift through all those posts while you use the email option, called a Google Alert, to set up a Internet-wide sweep for new information on those ancestors you’re trying to find!

And thank goodness the President’s choice for new First Pet is done. Several months ago Google changed their search algorithm. My Google alert for FamilySearch started returning results containing “…First Family searches for dog…” To prevent this behavior, include quotes around words you don’t want Google to break into separate words. But I digress…

Measurement Challenges

Choosing the 25 most popular genealogy blogs had special challenges not encountered when measuring the 50 most popular genealogy websites.

“Many people read blog entries through RSS feeds and other means and seldom actually visit the blog’s website,” according to Kory Meyerink, noted genealogist and vice president at ProGenealogist. Instead of website traffic, ProGenealogist turned to Technorati rankings. Even this alternative proved problematic, as Technorati doesn’t include Dick Eastman’s popular online blog/newsletters. This led ProGenealogist to include other factors:

Hundreds of genealogy blogs were evaluated based on their overall content, Technorati rating, and industry experience. Due to the ever-changing nature of the blogosphere and the authority basis of Technorati rankings, it is anticipated that this list will change frequently.

When I first started blogging years ago (has it really been that long?) I found my Technorati authority rating changed so erratically, I couldn’t stand to follow it. Since I seem to be in widget-mode of late, here’s a widget that displays my authority rating in real time:

View Ancestry Insider authority

Like other widgets I’ve posted lately, it is likely you won’t be able to see it (adjacent to “View Ancestry Insider authority”) if you read this article in your email or news reader. View this article online (click here) to see the widget.

The Technorati Authority of a blog is a count of the number of other blogs that have posted links to it during the previous six months. Since other winners of the most popular blogs award have increased my authority by posting the list of winners, I’m honored to return the favor. They are:

1. About.com Genealogy (Kimberly Powell)
2. Eastman Online Newsletter* (Dick Eastman)
3. Genea-Musings (Randy Seaver)
4. Creative Gene (Jasia)
5. DearMYRTLE (Pat Richely)
6. AnceStories (Miriam Midkiff)
7. Genealogue (Chris Dunham)
8. footnoteMaven (Anonymous)
9. Genetic Genealogist (Blaine Bettinger)
10. Tracing The Tribe: Jewish Genealogy Blog (Schelly Talalay Dardashti)
11. GenaBlogie (Craig Manson)
12. Olive Tree Genealogy Blog (Lorine McGinnis Schulze)
13. Steve’s Genealogy Blog (Stephen J. Danko)
14. Ancestry.com (Juliana Smith)
15. TransylvanianDutch (John Newmark)
16. GenDisasters (Stu Beitler)
17. Genealogy Insider @ FamilyTree (Diane Haddad)
18. Think Genealogy (Mark Tucker)
19. California Genealogical Society and Library Blog (California Genealogical Society)
20. The Genealogy Guys (George G. Morgan and Drew Smith)
21. CanadaGenealogy, or, ‘Jane’s Your Aunt’ (Diane Rogers)
22. Ancestry Insider (Anonymous)
23. GenealogyBlog (Leland Meitzler)
24. Ancestor Search Blog (Kathi)
25. Genealoge (Hugh Watkins)                         /its a tie!/
    Legacy News (Legacy Tree Software)         /its a tie!/

(This posting is from The Ancestry Insider. Click the link to view the full article from its original source.)