UpFront with NGS: June 2011

30 June 2011

Civil War in Virginia: Walk in Their Footsteps

“Whether they fought on the fields of battle, endured the hardships of the home front, or struggled for emancipation behind the lines, all of our Virginia ancestors shared a common history. As you track a soldier’s history across Virginia’s Civil War sites, plot a customized “Battle Plan” travel itinerary. Come to Virginia and Walk in Their Footsteps.”

Please do post a “comment” about any Civil War Sesquicentennial websites for your state!

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29 June 2011

Family Tree Magazine Posts 101 Best Websites

Each year Family Tree Magazine publishes a list of 101 Best Websites. With all the new online resources that become available, the expansion of existing websites, and the dynamic nature of the web, this list is a nice way to “catch up” on what “some” think are the best websites. Obviously, any list limited in length (e.g. to 101) does not list a lot of really excellent websites and it’s a place to start if you are overwhelmed by how much is now on the web for genealogy researchers.

The 2011 edition is now available.

This year’s categories are:

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28 June 2011

MTGS Sponsoring Land Platting Workship with J Mark Lowe, CG

What:

The Middle TN Genealogical Society will sponsor a beginning land platting workshop, with Certified Genealogist, J. Mark Lowe. This hands-on session will help you learn how to plat a deed using the metes and bounds system, identify a neighborhood and locate the plat on a topographic map. A very down-to-earth presentation you don’t want to miss!

Where:

Nashville, TN, FiftyForward Knowles Senior Center, 174 Rains Ave., (Across from the State Fairgrounds)

When:

Sat. 13 August 2011, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Cost:

$40 per person, (lunch and materials included) Contact: Deborah Stillwell, 615.743.3487, or [email protected] to register. Visit the website: www.mtgs.org for more information.

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27 June 2011

African American Heritage Tour: An Education Adventure

Members of The Florida Task Force on African American History (AAHTF) and UNESCO's TST-Network FL are partnering with Black History Tours, Inc and historically black colleges/universities to offer an educational adventure, The African American Heritage Tour. Using exemplars in Florida cities from Pasco/Hillsborough to Tallahassee, Jacksonville to St. Augustine and Daytona Beach to Orlando, tour participants will explore various topics and themes in African Diaspora history and culture.

This African American Heritage Tour is designed to appeal to university and college personnel, K-12 teachers/administrators, professionals from diverse fields, graduate students, religious and/or community leaders, etc. Among its topics and themes are: The Middle Passage, plantation slavery, “Underground Railroad” routes, Gullah/Geechee culture, marronage and black town settlements, fighting “Jim Crow,” struggles for education and civil rights and traditions in business, athletics and entertainment.

Though the registration for this event ended on Friday, we wanted you to be aware of it! For further information, contact: [email protected], 305-754-0981 or 305-753-0139; [email protected], or [email protected]

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New and Simple Online Tool Uses Google Maps to Show Historical County Boundaries

Randy Majors has created a tool that uses Google maps to show historical county boundaries. Quoting from his introduction …

“We all know the importance of county governments for maintaining various types of records that are useful for genealogical research. But how often have you tried searching for an ancestor's historical records for a given county, only to realize that you were searching in the right place but the wrong county? In fact, according to John H. Long, the director of the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries Project at the Newberry Library, "the average number of boundary changes per county in the

U.S.

is 4.5". This means that there's a very good chance that you are sometimes looking in the wrong county for some of your historical genealogical records.

Using the fantastic information from the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries, I've created an online Historical County Boundary Maps tool based on Google Maps.”

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For full details, read his complete introduction.

24 June 2011

31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy -- DC, 14-19 August 2011

The 31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy is being held at the Grand Hyatt Washington Hotel 14-19 August 2011.

The conference includes :

· Pre-Conference Shabbat Scholar Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (Friday evening and Saturday)

· Conference Keynote Speaker Sara Bloomfield, Director of the U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, followed by a Welcome Reception

· Over 160 diverse sessions in 11 tracks, covering all levels of genealogy research

· A Special Interest Group (SIG) and Birds of a Feather (BOF) Fair: meet those researching the same ancestral countries and towns as you

· PC and Mac computer workshops on genealogy software and Internet use

· A Records Repository and Resource Fair to learn what major area records facilities have

· A Resource Center of maps, books, and free access to many genealogical databases

· Ten SIG luncheons, each with a prominent speaker; also Breakfasts with the Experts, to help you break through “brick walls” blocking your family research

· The Conference Gala event, with invited speaker David Ferriero, Archivist of the

United States

: an evening devoted to enjoying top quality kosher food, networking and social opportunities, IAJGS awardees’ contributions to the field, AND the music and vocals of the world-renowned Robyn Helzner Trio

· And even more: Morning Minyanim, Tours of “Jewish Washington,” Film Screenings of Judaic award-winning films, and Vendors offering genealogy and Judaic wares

Check out the conference website for full details.

Editor’s Note: NGS will be exhibiting at this conference

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23 June 2011

Smithsonian -- Who Had the Best Civil War Facial Hair?

Now for some fun!

The Smithsonian is running a contest to determine who had the best civil war facial hair. The contest includes select officers who fought in the U.S. Civil War and you are being asked who wore their beard, mustache, mutton chops or sideburns the best?

You can click on each contestant’s photo to learn more about that person.

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to [email protected].

22 June 2011

NGS Weekly

There are so many options for getting the “word” out whether genealogical or not!

NGS is now using paper.li to create a “newspaper” called The NGS Weekly. Essentially feeds are pulled from various sources, including UpFront With NGS (Via Twitter and Facebook) as well as posts by Megan Smolenyak, Dick Eastman, Ancestry.com, Dear Myrtle and more!

This gives you one place to visit and see what some of the top genealogical “headlines” are.

You can visit the page, subscribe to it or even embed it into your own website!

Please check it out and let us know what you think.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to [email protected].