October Events

October Events:  Not to be missed.  Ferndale Genies and/or the Blaine Genealogy Class weekly starting Oct. 10.  Both are great for anyone wanting to make some progress in their family history.  The Family History Conference in Surrey on October 14 is another free all-day event with lots of choices.  Event info is always available on the Ferndale Genies blog under the Events tab on the top menu bar.  Also I am including online events for those following us from afar.  

Featured:   Ferndale Genies Monthly Meeting:  Join us Monday, October 16 at 1:00-3:30 at the Ferndale Library.  After a very successful September meeting where everyone paired up in 2's and 3's, we'll do it again.  Do you have a genealogy problem or do you want to learn something?  We will be working on genealogy and technical skills.  Another possibility is for you to write up all the details of your problem and we'll put the group to work on it.  Come prepared with a computing device or plans to borrow one.  And passwords, of course.  

Next meeting November 20.

Whatcom Genealogical Society:    Whatcom Genealogical Society will meet Monday, Oct. 9, 2017 at 2:00 pm at the Bellingham Elks Lodge, 710 Samish Way, Bellingham WA.

 October 9th – Claudia Breland, “Beyond Outlander – Discovering Your British, Scottish, and Irish Ancestors”

November 13th – Jill Morelli, “Changes at Family Search”

Visitors welcome! Contact: 360-733-8300

Park around back and enter on the lower level (unless you have a big truck or an RV).

New Blaine Genealogy Class.  Great for beginners.  Sharon Neem, a long-time Whatcom Gen Society member, will be starting up her Genealogy Class again at the Blaine Senior Center. It meets every Tues. from 10:30 – 11:30 am starting Oct. 10.  They would enjoy having anyone interested join them.  The classes are free, but you have to join the Blaine Senior Center to participate.

Free Family History Conference in Surrey, BC  October 14.  Some Genies have enjoyed going to a similar conference put on by LDS in Bellevue.  38 classes to choose from, Canadian or not.

Free all day Family History Conference in Surrey, BC, October 14th, 2017.
Speakers include Mary Kathryn Kozy, Dave Obee, Brenda L. Smith and M. Diane Rogers. The BC Genealogical Society will be there too!
Family History – Finding Your Roots Conference – Surrey, BC, Canada – FREE
Saturday October 14th from 8:30 am – 4:20 pm  
Pre-register at www.findingyourroots.ca so you can download handouts. Come for a class or two or stay all day. 
See the schedule on-line – 38 classes.
Lunch available – please preorder.
6270-126 St., Surrey, BC, Canada
604 597 9695

Amazing one-week offer from Legacy Family Tree Webinars!

Oops! the first time I posted this I forgot the link. https://familytreewebinars.com/freeaccess

“In celebration of the 7th anniversary of our webinar series - we're happy to announce that we're making the 15 most-requested members-only classes free for everyone” until Friday, Sept. 22!

If you have never watched a webinar, this is your chance to see how easy it is. 

For beginners I see one called “Ten Brick Wall Tips for Beginners”.  A brick wall is a place In your family tree that you can’t get passed.  I haven’t watched it so your comments are invited below. 

A webinar that is free all the time is “How to Use FamilySearch.org for Beginners”.  Familysearch.org is the family tree website that we use to teach beginners and will be mentioning at our meeting on Monday.

See you soon, Judith

Meeting this Monday, Sept 18---Don't Miss It

Ferndale Genies Monthly Meeting:  Join us this Monday, September 18 at 1:00-3:30 at the Ferndale Library.  This month we will venture into helping each person learn what they need the most.  A giant undertaking!  Everyone should come prepared to work on something.  Do you have a genealogy problem or something you want to talk about or learn?  We’ll work on genealogy and technical skills.  Be sure to bring your passwords and your laptop or device.  If you want to borrow a library laptop, come a little early. 

Family Tree Software: a discussion

A big dilemma for beginners and experienced genealogists alike is where to store our family trees.   The decision about which desktop software and/or websites to use has been tormenting me for a few years.  I often look for good reviews and comparisons without success.  This week Family Tree Magazine published online the best I have seen.  “Online Tree or Genealogy Software? Deciding Where to Keep Your Data” is here. 

Among others this article covers the three most popular software programs:  Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic and Legacy.  We have members using all three.  Also the three main websites:  Ancestry, MyHeritage and Family Search. 

A newer development is syncing your desktop tree with some of the online family tree websites and seeing hints from multiple websites.  David R. is wondering whether everyone knows what syncing is. We’ll go over this too.

Ferndale Genies Blogsite:  Hop on the bandwagon

Over 30 people have signed up to receive our emails from the blog.  (The death knell is tolling for our email list.  I will discontinue using it next week.  How do you know if you are signed up?  You will have received this message from the blog and the email list.)  At the meeting we will make sure everyone gets signed up.  We’ll take a quick tour through the blog.  And if you need more help, we’ll show you how to use it. 

Announcements

There are lots of webinars, seminars, and meetings scheduled soon.  October is Family History Month so October is usually busy too.  Be thinking about what kind of education you need.  I’m filling up our Events tab at the blog. 

If you are new to genealogy, I will work with a small group of newbies.  Let the rest of this wash over you and someday you will understand it all.

So if you need any particular help on Monday, you can let me know through my email or leave a comment under the Contact Us tab.

See you soon, Judith

Sign up at the Ferndale Genies Blog

Scroll down to see more recent posts.

Genies are making a leap.  In the next month the Ferndale Genies blog is replacing our email list.  If you want to continue to be informed about meetings, events, sales and other cool stuff, sign up to receive emails from our blog.  We will retire the email list on September 18, the day of our next monthly meeting.  If you have any problems doing this, we will help you at the meeting or you can use the “Contact Us” button on the top menu.

How to sign up

Just type your email address in the box on the upper right that says “Follow by email”.  First there will be a spammer pop-up box.  Then you will receive an email entitled “Feedburner Email Subscription”.  Click on the link in the middle of the email message and you are done.

Until our next Genies meeting on Monday, September 18 I will notify you by email if there is a blog post.  After that anyone who wants to continue receiving emails will need to be signed up on the blog. 

At our meeting on Sept. 18 we will help anyone who hasn’t signed up and help you learn how to navigate our blog.

Remember you can access this blog at ferndalegenies.blogspot.com.  We’ll also show you how to put a shortcut on your desktop.

You are welcome to leave comments at the bottom of any page (tabs across the top) or any post (in the center section).  Also at “Contact Us” above.

Leap with us, Judith