What’s New at FamilySearch – webinar Wednesday April 24, 2013

Posted on April 22, 2013 by DRogers

Wondering what’s new or what’s changed this month on FamilySearch.org?

There’s a free webinar this Wednesday, “What’s New at FamilySearch”, a presentation by Devin Ashby, a Community Advocate for FamilySearch. There’s a new look at FamilySearch.org, but also new opportunities to share photos and stories, new learning videos and more.

April 24, 2013, 2:00pm Eastern; 11 am Pacific
More Details & Registration

If you can’t watch this live, the recording will be available for free at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com

FamilySearch indexers have hit the billion mark! One billion records have now been indexed and arbitrated. See the FamilySearch blog for more about this.

For all the upcoming genealogy webinars, chats, Google Hangouts, etc., see the GeneaWebinars site, a central spot for related genealogical educational opportunities.

BCGS 2013 Seminar, April 27 – with Glenn Wright & Lesley Anderson

Posted on April 22, 2013 by DRogers

The British Columbia Genealogical Society is pleased to present both Glenn T. Wright and Lesley Anderson speaking in an all day seminar, Saturday, 27 April 2013, in Burnaby, BC. at the Danish Lutheran Church.

Seminar door prizes will include a one year subscription to Ancestry.ca! And lunch is included in your ticket.

This seminar will particularly interest anyone interested in military research, as Glenn Wright, previously at Library and Archives Canada, is a Canadian expert on those areas, or in early immigration to Canada, or in researching on-line with Ancestry as Lesley Anderson, is on Ancestry.ca’s staff.

Topics are:

The British Army in Canada 1750-1871
Canadians at War – 1885 Rebellion, South African 1899-1902, First & Second World Wars
Pre 1865 Immigration
What’s new at Ancestry?

More details about the topics will be available soon. For full information and to register, please go to the BCGS 2013 Seminar page on this website.

[Edited 28 February 2013 to include news about the Ancestry.ca door prize.]

Do you have Huguenots in your family tree?

Posted on April 22, 2013 by DRogers

This information about a new Huguenot Heritage Centre in Rochester, Kent, England just received from the Federation of Family History Societies.

The French Hospital has received initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for a Huguenot Heritage Centre in Rochester. The project aims to tell the story of the Huguenots, a group of some 100,000 French Protestants who fled from religious persecution during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Centre will include resources for researching family history, as well as a programme of events and activities. For further information please visit the website
http://www.frenchhospital.org.uk/huguenot-heritage-centre/

There is an on-line survey for feedback on ideas for the Huguenot Heritage Centre. Please complete the online questionnaire. It will take about 5 – 7 minutes.
Link to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HuguenotHeritage

BCGS E-mail Updates – New look

Posted on April 20, 2013 by DRogers

A new BCGS e-mail update was sent out today via e-mail with a reminder about the BCGS 2013 seminar, next Saturday, 27 April 2013.

Our e-mail updates have changed in appearance quite a bit and are coming to members and friends of the British Columbia Genealogical Society via MailChimp.

We hope you like our ‘new decor’. This change will make it easy for you to update your e-mail address by clicking the appropriate link in the e-mails or to sign up for our Genealogy Updates if you aren’t already receiving them. There’s now a signup box just on the right side of the BCGS home page. This also allows the BCGS webmasters to better automate some tasks and schedule updates regularly.

And it allows us to add photographs and even perhaps other media to our communications for you to enjoy. As always, you can reach the BCGS webmasters at: webmaster@bcgs.ca

Canadian soldiers at Vernon, BC in 1915.
Private Collection.

Genealogy in England Handouts- BCGS at VPL – April 17, 2013

Posted on April 17, 2013 by DRogers

Breaking news! The BC Genealogical Society’s free Library Week will be Monday, July 15 to Saturday July 20, 2013 and the Open House will be on Sunday, July 14th. See the BCGS Walter Draycott Library page for the address, etc. and watch for details soon.

The handouts for the Genealogy in England session today at Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch are posted here.

HEPZIBAH-English Genealogy April 17 2013 – Judith Ueland

English Genealogy Research – Lorraine Irving

BCGS-VPL English Genealogy Book List-2013

Additional websites and books mentioned during the talks and question period were:

England – Online Parish Clerks: http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/online_parish_clerk

Rootsweb.com – free website – worldwide surnames and place name e-mail lists and boards, surname entries, all searchable, genealogy information and aids: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

Phillimore’s Atlas and Index of Parish Registers by Cecil R. Humphrey-Smith and James Bell, 3rd edition (2004). VPL 929.342 P55h2

Researching English Probate Records by Dr. Penelope Christensen (2001). VPL 929.342 C55rp

BCGS DNA Group discussion – April 2013

Posted on April 11, 2013 by DRogers

Here is a .pdf copy of last night’s DNA group meeting handout. BCGS DNA handout – April 2013 If you would like this in another format, please just e-mail: webmaster@bcgs.ca

For a follow up on possible benefits of autosomal testing, see Judy Russell’s March 31, 2013 article at her website, The Legal Genealogist, Another matchmaker match! Judy Russell will be giving the APG DNA April 30th, 2013 webinar mentioned last night. See last night’s handout for more about that.

And if you are interested in ‘personal genomes’, there is a recent textbook, Exploring Personal Genomics by Joel Dudley and Konrad Karczewski that may be of interest. Here’s a link to a review of it.

“Bioinformaticians Share Their Own DNA in Personal Genomics Textbook” by Crystal Gammon, March 25, 2013 at the New York Genome Center website.