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Why Register Early for RootsTech 2016
Are you peeking past the holidays to RootsTech 2016? Early planning could score you extra discounts, dibs on free and limited events and a head start on planning your class schedule.
All attention seems to be on holiday planning this month, but RootsTech 2016 is just around the corner after that—the first weekend in February. Here’s a checklist of the reasons to plan your RootsTech experience NOW instead of waiting until after the holidays.
Discounted registration. If you register before January 18, you’ll save significantly on registration ($169 instead of $249 for the full event).
Online planner. This year, RootsTech has expanded its app to a full-blown online conference organizing tool. Use the RootsTech Connect tool to schedule which of the 200+ classes you’ll be attending—and pencil in some backups in case your first choice class is full. Of course we hope to see you at lectures given by Lisa and the Genealogy Gems team:
Wednesday:
3:00 YDNA Testing for Every Surname in Your Pedigree, Diahan SouthardThursday:
4:30 Proven Methodology for Using Google for Genealogy, Lisa Louise CookeFriday:11:00 Soothe Your Tech Tummy Ache with These 10 Tools, Lisa Louise Cooke
1:30 Proven Methodology for Using Google for Genealogy, Lisa Louise CookeSaturday:
11:00 Soothe Your Tech Tummy Ache with These 10 Tools, Lisa Louise Cooke
1:30 What’s Special About US Special Census Schedules? Sunny Morton
You can also use RootsTech Connect to add “Personal Time” events, like research time in the Family History Library and of course Genealogy Gems’ free Genealogy Think Tank sessions at our newly-expanded exhibit hall booth (#1230). More about that coming soon!
Dibs on free evening entertainment and limited-space labs. RootsTech always lines up crowd-pleasing entertainment in the evenings. When you register early enough for RootsTech, you can snag tickets to these for yourself and guests (until the tickets are gone, that is). So far, all RootsTech has said is that there will be a “high-energy and fun act” on Thursday for an Opening Social and a must-see closing act on Saturday. When you register, you can also pay for spots in computer labs and sponsored lunches. Computer labs usually sell out and they don’t do waiting lists, so get these early!
Watch for more about RootsTech 2016 in the coming days. It’s now the biggest family history event in the world, with over 20,000 attendees expected and satellite sessions that will reach thousands more throughout the world. Genealogy Gems will have an even bigger presence there this year. We look forward to seeing many of you!
We Dig These Gems! New Genealogy Records Online
Here’s our weekly roundup of new genealogy records online! Everyone should check out the updates to PERSI at Findmypast. Also, there records of Australia-bound passengers; British watermen; Idaho marriages; and wills for Rhode Island and Staffordshire, England.
AUSTRALIA IMMIGRATION. New at TheGenealogist are over 190,000 indexed records for passengers who departed from Britain and Ireland on early migrant ships to New South Wales in the years between 1828 and 1896. According to a press release, “The transcripts of the latest release uniquely give a family link so you can see spouses and children setting out on their new life. They also reveal details such as which ship they had sailed on, where they were landing, the passenger’s occupation and in the case where the migrant has been assisted to travel out to a job, their employer’s name.”
BRITISH WATERMEN. If any of your ancestors may have worked as watermen in London, their names may appear in several new Findmypast databases:
- London, Watermen’s petition for the King Charles I, 1648
- London Watermen in the Royal Navy (1803-1809)
- London, Watermen, birth register of contracted men, 1865-1921 (to keep track of children eligible for early apprenticeship)
- London, Watermen, Admiralty muster of the Port of London, 1628
ENGLAND WILLS. Wills and probate records for Staffordshire, England (1521-1860) are newly searchable on Findmypast. The index includes names, death dates, occupation and next of kin information.
IDAHO MARRIAGES. A marriage index for Idaho (1842-1964, 1975-1996) has been updated at Ancestry. Indexed entries may include “name, spouse’s name, spouse’s gender, marriage date and location, county and state in which the marriage was recorded, residence of bride and groom, and source information.”
PERSI UPDATE. Findmypast has done a quarterly update to the Periodical Source Index (PERSI), a database of thousands of genealogically-relevant articles in journals, magazines and newsletters. According to a release, “35 different publications have either been newly added to the collection or updated with additional coverage….You’ll find fully searchable new articles from states, cities and towns across America….The latest additions include indexes on English, Irish, Australian and Swedish genealogy too.”
RHODE ISLAND WILLS. Ancestry’s collection of Rhode Island wills and probate records (1582-1932) has been updated. It now includes images for probate records from all counties, though some may be missing for various localities or time periods.
Thank you for sharing this post via email and social media! We love spreading good news about new genealogy records online!
A Life Changing Find at the National Archives
On the trail of biological parents, this researcher made a life-changing discovery next to a microfilm reader at the National Archives.
When we head to the microfilm reader section of our favorite research library, our greatest hope is usually to learn something new about a long-dead relative. A woman named Jan discovered something even better.
Guideposts.com ran this story about Jan, whose husband Rich was adopted as an infant. After deciding that Rich needed some “closure” about the identity of his birth parents, Jan began looking for them. She did know the birth mother’s name as well as Rich’s date and place of birth. Eventually this information led her to census records on microfilm at the National Archives (US).
Unfortunately, when she went to pull out the microfilm reel she needed, she found it was missing. But by chance she had heard two fellow researchers mention the same state, so she found them in the microfilm reader section. They not only had the microfilm reel she wanted, but they were looking at the census record for her husband’s birth mother. One of the researchers was Rich’s birth sister, who was looking for her long-lost baby brother.
What an inspiring story about members of a birth family reunited! So many of us experience these moments of “genealogy serendipity,” when we feel led to find a particular record, artifact or even a living person. Sometimes we make these amazing discoveries online. But often it’s when we’re out pounding the pavement, making extraordinary efforts ourselves, when we make the most extraordinary discoveries.
Where can you go to look for extraordinary finds? A family cemetery? An ancestral hometown? A major research library? I take similar inspiration from Geoff Rasmussen’s book, Kindred Voices, which shares his many experiences with genealogy serendipity. I recommend it as a great holiday read for yourself or a gift for someone else who totally “gets” the value of heritage and family like you do.
Thank you to Genealogy Gems Premium website member Maryann for messaging me on Facebook about this story! It’s an inspiration!
More Inspiring Stories from Genealogy Gems
Celebrate Genealogy Serendipity (This Book Does!)
“We’re Cousins?” DNA for Genealogy Reveals Surprising Results
