Legacy Family Tree Webinars Foreign Language Presentations

It is finally Fall here in Florida. The rainy season seems to have stopped and the temperatures have dropped into the low 70s in the morning and mid 80s in the afternoon. That means it is time to spend more time outside. Hopefully I will have opportunities to start scoping out the local cemeteries in my new hometown. However, I understand that some of our northern friends may be getting a bit colder and you might want to snuggle up by the fireplace to a good webinar. Legacy Family Tree Webinars has just announced that they will be providing a series of live genealogy webinars in French and Spanish with many of them being free!

The first three live French sessions (all free to attend) are:

• Filae : la maison des archives originales françaises with Yann Guillerm, Community Manager and Editor at Filae, Tuesday, October 7, 2025 at 2 P.M. GMT / 10 A.M. EST
• Explorer vos racines en France : méthodes et ressources en ligne avec les collections de MyHeritage with Marie Cappart, historian and professional genealogist, Tuesday, October 21, 2025 at 2 P.M. GMT / 10 A.M. EST
• Explorer vos racines au Luxembourg : archives locales et ressources MyHeritage with Liliane Hierro, professional genealogist and author, Tuesday, November 4, 2025 at 2 P.M. GMT / 10 A.M. EST
• In addition to these live webinars, there will be more than 100 French presentations on demand!
• See the full French webinar schedule and register here.

The first 5 live Spanish sessions (all free to attend) are:

• Cómo utilizar la Nueva Búsquedas de Texto en FamilySearch with Francisco Javier Gomez, employed by FamilySearch, on Tue, Oct 14, 2025 at 2 P.M. GMT / 10 A.M. EST
• ¿Qué busca un adoptado durante la búsqueda de orígenes? with Iván Gastañaga, the first Russian adopted in Spain, on Tue, Oct 28, 2025 at 1 P.M. GMT / 9 A.M. EST
• Claves para localizar a nuestro primer antepasado de España with Antonio Alfaro de Prado, Spanish genealogist and researcher specializing in Hispanic genealogy, on Tue, Nov 11, 2025 at 1 P.M. GMT / 9 A.M. EST
• Búsquedas eficaces en FamilySearch with Debbie Gurtler AG, employed by FamilySearch at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, on Tue, Nov 25, 2025 at 1 P.M. GMT / 9 A.M. EST
• ¿Como se deletrea tu Apellido? with Sonia Meza, Graduate in Genealogy, Heraldry and Nobility, on Tue, Dec 9, 2025 at 1 P.M. GMT / 9 A.M. EST
• In addition to these live webinars, there will be more than 30 Spanish presentations on demand!
• See the full Spanish webinar schedule and register here

These are great opportunities to immerse yourself in the language as you learn more about researching these areas.

October Genealogy News

Good morning! It is the beginning of October and Fall is in the air. I was out walking this morning and it was only 72 degrees. This is probably the best time of the year in Florida. October is also Family History Month. Take some time this month to discover your ancestors, pass along stories, and preserve your memories for the future.

So, what is happening now in the genealogy world? Well, MyHeritage is celebrating German Unity Day with free access to their German record collection between October 2 and 6. MyHeritage hosts more than 280 million records across 77 German collections, including vital, church, and emigration records. MyHeritage recently updated their German newspaper collection and now have over 20 million records in that collection alone. This is a great opportunity for those of us who are of German descent to do research. I will definitely be investigating this over the next couple days.

Next up, RootsTech has opened registration for the 2026 conference which will be in Salt Lake City, Utah on March 5-7. Early bird registration is $99 for a 3-day in-person pass.  Virtual attendance is free but still requires registration. What can you expect from RootsTech? There are hundreds of online and in-person classes addressing topics from beginning genealogy to advanced research. The Expo Hall will have interactive displays showcasing the latest innovations in genealogy from over one hundred vendors. The Main Stage will have celebrity guests, performances, and inspiring content. The virtual conference will have over 200 online sessions in 26 languages. This is always a great conference to attend whether it is in-person or virtually. Stay tuned for further updates as we approach the conference. I will be at RootsTech doing three presentations, participating as a media representative, and working in at least one Expo Hall booth. Come find me if you are there.

Another great piece of news is that Elephind is back online. Elephind is a newspaper search engine and was my go to place for newspaper research up until they stopped operations in 2023. But now they have returned better than ever. Their search engine currently accesses over 23 million newspaper pages and that number is growing daily (yesterday it was 19 million pages). They plan to add over 150 million pages more pages to their collection. This site is free but there are paid subscriptions for those who want to support their growth.

That is a lot happening so far this month. I'll try to be better at posting to my blogs now that I am officially retired. I hope you are able to celebrate Family History Month and take some time to be with family as we approach the holidays.