Thursday, October 3, 2019

Many Free Educational Opportunities in October


Fall is here along with Family History Month.  Usually in October I would be announcing events around the region but now in 2019 I have three very local meetings plus TV, YouTube and lots of live-streaming of prominent conferences.  Everything listed is free.  This is an established trend toward offering free online access to education without the airline and hotel expenses.

Here’s a special word about Family Search (always free all the time).  Some day we will wish we kept our family information up over there.  Like it or not, it is an ideal place to preserve our families for posterity while other services are controlled by venture capitalists who don’t have our best interests at heart.  Notice that Mary Kathryn Kozy is speaking about Family Search at the WGS meeting and also the announcement of 90,000 articles published on the Family Search Wiki at the end of this post.

Join us at:

Ferndale RootsMagic Group:  We are continuing to meet monthly.  There are three more meetings this year, all on on Saturdays at 1:00.  Next Saturday, October 5 we will be viewing a video about how media is handled, especially between RootsMagic and Ancestry.  Everyone is welcome as we are all learning together.  If newcomers have a device, you can ask for help to load at least the free software ahead of time or we can help you at the meeting.  Remaining dates are Nov 2 and Dec 7. 

Ferndale Genies Monthly Meeting:   3rd Monday, 1:00-3:30 at Ferndale Library.  Next meeting:  Monday, October 21. 

Whatcom Genealogical Society (WGS):   2nd Mondays, 2:00-3:30 or so.  Bellingham Elks Lodge at 710 Samish Way. Park around back and enter the lower level.  Everyone welcome!

October 14:  Mary Kathryn Kozy, who has been working on her own family genealogy for over 35 years, and has been a speaker for 10 years, will present "Using Family Search and Family Search Wiki."

TV:  A new season of "Finding Your Roots" starts Tuesday, October 8 at 8 pm on PBS, Channel 9.

MyHeritage Amsterdam:  The second annual user conference, MyHeritage LIVE 2019 in Amsterdam, was a huge success!  Free lectures by many of our best-known lecturers are online.  Full list for DNA and MyHeritage Genealogy tracks is here: https://blog.myheritage.com/2019/09/myheritage-live-2019-lectures-now-online/

RootsTech London:  For the first time RootsTech is presenting a conference in London October 24th – October 26th, 2019!  One blogger has said they will have free livestreaming and videos and that is what I would expect.  No mention on the RootsTech website yet.  It won’t hurt to mark your calendar.  Also there will be free live-streaming and videos from RootsTech 2020 in Salt Lake City February 26-29, 2020.

National Archives Hosts 7th Annual Virtual Genealogy Fair LIVE on YouTube October 23!
Here’s Thomas MacEntee’s post about it with a full schedule and links:

#Project Genealogy YouTube videos announced for the first time.

Kick-off Family History Month by celebrating the migrations of our ancestors via a stimulating YouTube video Series.

Spearheaded by Jarrett Ross, the GeneaVlogger, and Matt Baker, of UsefulCharts, the ambitious #ProjectGenealogy collaboration features seven genealogy YouTube channels and their hosts showcasing the migration of people around the world.

Grab your favorite beverage and savor 1½ hours with your favorite beverage and enjoy the video journey. Learn the history behind various migrations, discover how to research their journey and which records to explore, and ultimately, follow the tips for writing about your ancestor’s journey. 

1.        5 Tips For Writing About Your Immigrant Ancestor - Family History Fanatics                               (https://youtu.be/qMtAI-YVeJs)
2.       How Dutch Jewish Migration Led to the 8 Hour Work Day - GeneaVlogger                                     (https://youtu.be/qbm4b5SILYY)
4.       German Migration to Missouri - Auntie Jen's Family Trees - (https://youtu.be/D5G3QvlGrTs)
5.       Did Your Ancestor Move West for FREE Land? | Homestead Act of 1862 - Boundless                    Genealogy (https://youtu.be/T0vlFJoRuzk)

All migration themed videos go live on each creator’s channel at 2 PM Eastern (GMT-4 ) on Friday, October 4. To ease you through your journey, start the YouTube video journey via this playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5Ag9n-o0IZBXX_Yanzvh4LrOJhtlf4nG 


90,000 Articles Published on the Free FamilySearch Wiki
The FamilySearch Research Wiki has published its 90,000th help article, with more added weekly. The free service launched 12 years ago to help patrons quickly with their personal family history research questions. Explore it for free at the FamilySearch Research Wiki.

The FamilySearch Wiki is like discovering an unexpected treasure along your family history discovery journey. In a day when online consumers want what they are seeking within a few keystrokes and seconds, the FamilySearch wiki delivers. Go to the main page, and suddenly a world of databases, maps, countries and tutorials are at your fingertips.

The rest of this announcement is online in the FamilySearch Newsroom.

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