FamilySearch Online Research Classes

Hello everyone, I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to a productive new year of research. I know I will be busy with a lot of things including Boy Scouts, Family History, Stake High Council, teaching Human Ecology at my University, and work but I will try to continue to post to my blogs and website on a fairly regular basis (at least once a month or so). So keep an eye out for what I am up to.

Today's posting is meant to help all of my fellow researchers, from beginners to the advanced, learn more about how to research. A few months ago I wrote a quick discussion about FamilySearch Wiki. Today I am discussing FamilySearch Online Research Classes. These classes are provided online by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and are meant to teach the basic methods and key resources to start your family history. As I watched several of these, I learned about new websites that I had never used before along with some of the basic skills that I had forgotten over time.

There are eight categories of classes:

• England Beginning Research
• Germany Research
• Ireland Research
• Italy Research
• Basic Principles for Latin America Research (in Spanish)
• Russia Research
• US Research
• Research Principles and Tools

Each of these classes contains a video and slides of the presentation along with handouts. The England Research class has 5 presentations averaging about 30 minutes each. They walk you through presentations on Census Records, Civil Registrations, Church Records, and other research techniques. The Germany Research class consists of 3 presentations focusing on deciphering handwriting. The Irish Research class consists of 5 classes covering Church Records, Civil Registrations, and Immigration. The Italy Research class is one hour long presentation covering basic research techniques. The Latin American Research class is in Spanish and consists of 3 short presentations. There are two topics covered in the Russian Research class covering History and Geography, and Records and Resources. The US Research class includes four classes covering Courthouse Records, and Civil War, Pre-WW I, and Revolutionary War Military Records. There are also five presentations on general research techniques.

I invite you to view these courses as time allows. I am sure that there will be something new for everyone. Until next time, good luck in your research and may the morter in your brick walls begin to crumble.

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day With Your Irish Roots

How in the world can so much time go by without realizing it? I can't believe my last post was February 10th. During that time my family went to the local Scottish Games and my wife talked to the representatives of the Lindsey, Campbell and Stewart Clans. She is descended from all three clans but thinks she will become a member of the Lindsey Clan since they are the closest to her original immigrant. I also attended a conference by Ancestry.com to discuss some of their ongoing activities and their World Archives Project. Visit their website at http://www.ancestry.com/worldarchivesproject for more information on this project. I have also been working on developing a new edition of the new FamilySearch teaching manual for the classes I teach. I am still waiting for FamilySearch to develop an official manual. I have part one in draft format posted at my website http://milesmeyer.googlepages.com/additionalfhcmaterials. If you notice anything that I missed in the document please let me know. It is still a work in progress. I will follow up with a second manual with more advanced options and a third manual discussing FamilyTree.

Now, on to our topic for the day. St. Patrick's Day is coming up. How many of you have found your Irish roots? My wife has traced her Faul line back to Ballywillin, Ireland based on their immigration records. They came to the US before the Civil War and fought on the Union side. These are her black sheep since all the rest of her ancestors were Confederates.

So, where can you look for these Irish roots online? There are many sites but I decided to focus on the National Archives of Ireland in this blog.

The National Archives of Ireland has a searchable database which can be found at http://tinyurl.com/c66k9l. There are several databases on the Archives' website which may be useful in your research. Additionally, they have a link to a large number of websites where additional information can be found. This list is located at http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy/links.html.

I always like looking for black sheep when I do research. It adds a little color to the family. Did you know that Ireland shipped some of their convicts to the Colonies during the mid 1700's? A list of the individuals that were deported from Ireland to what would eventually become the United States during the time period 1737-1747 can be found at http://www.igp-web.com/carlow/deported.htm. Some of these individuals are listed as vagabonds or were arrested for larceny. A few even had their death sentences pardoned so they could be deported. Ireland also transported their convicts to Australia from 1788-1868. The National Archives of Ireland has a searchable index at http://www.nationalarchives.ie/search/index.php?category=18. Check it out to see if any of your surnames are represented.

I hope these links help you get in the spirit of St. Patrick's Day and don't forget to wear your green.