So one of my favorite genealogy resources is Dick Eastman's Online Genealogical Newsletter.  A friend introduced me to it when I become the director in Virginia, and I've followed every post since.  It's not only a great genealogical resource but a great technology resource as he generally writes several posts per day and the all focus on genealogy or technology related subjects and what the latest and greatest things happening are.

Today he had a particularly interesting post that I thought I would share, which he snagged from Google's Public Policy Blog entitled "Plan Your Digital After-life with Interactive Account Manager".

LDS Family History Site Enhancements released in BETA

So I came back from a week off and it was a difficult week of vacationing.  You probably think that I'm kidding, but it was super frustrating  I came back from my amazing RootsTech experience armed with all sorts of new resources for doing my family history work, and I didn't have a chance to play with them for a week and a half.  The time with family was great, and I am glad I went, but I'm really excited to be back and digging into all that I learned.

The real problem is that I got back from vacation and FamilySearch decided to go ahead and release a Beta version of their new "enhanced" site while I was gone.  I've been dying to witness it ever since the Genealogy Conference I attended in early March where Dennis Brimhall introduced the new enhancements via a demo video.  So with all of these new products, my mind is on fire, and I can't decide where to focus my efforts, so I can't report in full on any of it, but I've been playing around with the new FamilySearch Betat site and I'm ecstatic about the new features.

My favorite so far, the new interactive fan chart.  When logged into Family Tree you can select the "tree" tab and you have the option to view a pedigree or fan chart.  The great part is you can select any member on your fan chart and view them in the head position, which just makes navigating the tree awesome!  My 2nd favorite feature is the new "opportunities" tab under temple.  This is obviously only available to members of the LDS church & it didn't provide much for me, or else this may have been my favorite feature. Although, it's worth noting that when writing this post, I returned to the site and had more ordinances found the 2nd time I clicked on the "opportunities" tab, so give it more than one shot. Lesson learned.  So, I think this is an awesome feature & has huge potential.  It will show you anyone 3 generations back and sorts through aunts & uncles too, so you can quickly find those closer relatives who are waiting for work to be done.


So much to discover, I'm sure I've only skimmed the surface, but as I said in a message to my ward yesterday, "It just keeps getting easier to do your genealogy work, and you really don't have a good excuse not to do it anymore.  It's super exciting."

Test out the new enhanced site here: http://www.lds.org/topics/family-history-preview or here https://beta.familysearch.org/ (I'm sure these link will go dead once the version goes live, but happy playing in the meantime)

So, I got a free 6 month subscription to My Heritage at RootsTech, and I think I may be in trouble....it has AMAZING features, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the websites, but that's never been enough to get me to join; BUT I'm finding it also has a timeline view that I've been messing around with and is just awesome for too many reasons to post; AND it has "smart match", which finds sources for your ancestors once you upload your family tree; and I don't feel like I've even scratched the surface of all that it's offering me.

Thanks Jared, for giving me the free 6 months even though I didn't technically qualify since I had already created an account!!

Interview with Dear Myrtle

A highlight of RootsTech for me...I was trying to learn about Story@Home at their booth when Pat of DearMyrtle, approached me.  She was clearly in a hurry and mumbled something about someone canceling on her, and quickly asked me what my booth was.  After explaining briefly what it was, she said "I need you", and led me back to her media booth explaining what was going on.  Somewhere in the chaos of it all, I was able to figure out that she had reserved a booth and she was intending to interview me about the product I was representing.

Anyway, while waiting my turn I was able to chat with a man from Fold3 who had been dragged to the media booth in much the same circumstances.  It was kind of fun, and the interview ended up being kind of fun.  Check it out....

RootsTECH

Genealogy, technology, genealogy, technology, genealogy, technology...........I don't think it gets any better than this!  A 3 day event so full of amazing resources and technology to help in your genealogy research, I can't really imagine anything better.  I'm afraid my husband thinks I'm officially crazy but I LOVE IT and I can't even help it.

I learned about RootsTech about a year ago when I first got introduced to genealogy, when trying to learn everything I possibly could before teaching a class on the subject (yes, I got in over my head), I stumbled upon one of the RootsTech recorded classes, I then realized that it was an amazing resources of the latest and greatest in genealogy and technology.  So if I wanted to be at the edge, this is where I needed to start.

So here I am a year later, when I found out we were moving to Utah, I signed up as quickly as I could, and this is what I got out of the deal.  Amazing keynote speakers, a Demo Hall with a nearly endless supply of information and resources, and so many classes I could barely narrow each session down to 4 or 5 classes that I wanted to attend.  So I guess my number one complaint, too many awesome topics, how do I choose which ones to attend?!?

Anyway, I loved every minute, and haven't stopped thinking about it since it ended.  I highly recommend attending next year, and watching the recorded classes from this years conference, which you can get online at www.RootsTech.org.

The beginning of my Family History Obsession, in a NUTSHELL?!? Warning: there is no such thing as nutshell in my world

I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), otherwise known as the Mormon church, and have been my whole life.  I come from a split family where I had the opportunity to learn different ways of life growing up.  My mother and step-father were members of the LDS church and my father and step-mother were non-denominational and Catholic, respectively.

As a member of the LDS church, who also grew up in Utah, I was taught the importance of doing Genealogy work my whole life, but still at large I missed the boat on the whole process until recently.  I was living in Virginia in 2011 when my sister decided it would be a good idea to make a life story book of my grandmother's life, to give to my mom for Christmas.  Six months and countless hours later, we presented my mom with my most cherished piece of work in this life; a beautiful and thoroughly researched compilation of my grandmother's life entitled "The Life and Legacy of Thelma Gilbert Chatterton", a woman who I loved dearly, and have missed almost daily since her passing.  Around the same time as we finished the book, I was released from my Young Women's calling.  Devastated at first, I thought I was going to be the most bored person in our small little rural town in eastern Virginia, but I soon turned to my other calling (which honestly had been put on the back burner previously) Public Relations Representative for the Ward.  While pondering how I could continue to actively involve myself in the midweek activities at church, I came up with the idea of offering a Genealogy Class to the general public of the area.  Truth be told, I didn't think we'd get many responses, but I posted an ad in a free circular that is distributed quarterly in our small town.  To my surprise, I was wrong.  We filled our class within a few weeks and were worried we may end up having to turn people away.