RootsTech Announces Winners of the Developer Challenge

Congratulations to the winners of the of the #RootsTech Developer Challenge:

First Place: Jimmy Zimmerman, NoteFuser

NoteFuser connects your Evernote® notes to Geni.com or new.FamilySearch.org person records. It also allows you to easily create Evernote® powered research logs and other notes with one click.  Make sure you watch the NoteFuser Demo video on the homepage http://notefuser.herokuapp.com.

Second Place: Brooke Schreier Ganz, LeafSeek

LeafSeek helps you turn your genealogical or historical record collections into searchable online databases. LeafSeek includes features such as built-in geo-spatial searches, pop-up Google Maps, Beider-Morse Phonetic Matching, name synonyms, and language localization to help you turn your spreadsheets of names and dates into a full-featured genealogy search engine.  Check it out at leafseak.com.

Third Place (tie): Brigham Young University Computer Science Department, 20 Minute Genealogist

20 Minute Genealogist is a site that will visualize your family tree using your new.FamilySearch.org credentials.  You can see who in your tree needs work and instantly link to FamilySearch and Ancestry to search for the missing information.  Sign up to be a beta tester at twenty.byu.edu. 

Third Place (tie): Ellie Rasmus, Facetree

Facetree has been developed as a way of using genealogical data from GEDCOM files as context to improve the accuracy of face recognition.

FamilySearch Launches Mobile Indexing App

FamilySearch launched its much-anticipated mobile device for indexing. The device will expand the capability of volunteers to help make the world’s historic records searchable online.  The mobile device app works on Apple iPads, iPhones, and Droid smartphones. 

 To download the free app, search for the FamilySearch Indexing app in the Apple app store or Droid Market store online.

In the iTunes store

In the Droid Market store

Brightsolid Enters US Genealogy Market With Censusrecords.com

Here's the latest from brightsolid. Stay tuned to the free Genealogy Gems Podcast and Genealogy Gems YouTube channel for my interview with Brightsolid's CEO Chris van der Kuyl:

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH. brightsolid, a leading online provider of historical and genealogical content, announces its entry into the US genealogy market with the launch of a ground-breaking, "pay-as-you-go" site: www.censusrecords.com.

The new site will let customers search all US census records from 1790 to 1930 and is the first dedicated to US genealogy by British-owned brightsolid. It will also house the 1940 US census records, when they are released later this year.

What makes it unique to the market, however, is it's the first genealogy site in the US to give customers access to census records on either a pay-as-you-go basis or via the subscription model that is currently the only choice offered by other sites.

The new site is being launched as an early beta version, with brightsolid inviting user feedback and suggestions.

Every visitor to censusrecords.com will be able to search for free. Customers wanting to view documents, and download them to their computer to keep and access later, will then have the option of either buying a subscription in the conventional way or buying pay-as-you-go credits, starting at $7.95. Pay-as-you-go customers will be able to buy further credits at any time, giving them the freedom to spend as much or as little time and money on their research as they want.

"The launch of censusrecords.com is just our first offering to the US market", says Chris van der Kuyl, CEO of brightsolid. "It will be followed later this year by the launch of findmypast.com, which will be our flagship American brand."

brightsolid is proud to be part of the 1940 US Census Community Project, a joint initiative with Archives.com, FamilySearch and other leading genealogy organizations, which aims to make the census searchable as quickly as possible after its release this April. The completion of the project will allow anyone to search for their ancestors in the 1940 census for free online.

Genealogy RPAC Group Responds with Petition to Possible SSDI Removal

The following press release comes from RPAC c/o Federation of Genealogical Societies:

February 7, 2012
RPAC ANNOUNCES STOP ID THEFT NOW! CAMPAIGN WITH WHITE HOUSE PETITION
Genealogy Community Responds To Efforts To Remove Access to Social Security Death Index and Other Records

February 7, 2012– Austin, TX: The Records Preservation & Access Committee (RPAC) – a joint coalition of international genealogical societies representing millions of genealogists and family historians – announces the launch of its Stop ID Theft NOW! campaign with its We The People petition posted at WhiteHouse.gov.

Call To Action For IRS To Do Its Job
Each year, fraudulent tax refund claims based upon identity theft from recently deceased infants and adults are filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The current target is the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) or Death Master File since this file, as found on numerous genealogy-oriented websites, could possibly be the source of identity thieves acquiring a deceased person’s Social Security number.

The IRS could close the door to this form of identity theft if, in fact, it were to use the Death Master File for the purpose for which it was created: to reduce fraud. If returns claiming a tax refund were screened against the Master Death File and matching cases identified for special processing, the thief should receive a rejection notice for the filing.

Tax Fraud and Identity Theft: Genealogists Are Not To Blame
The House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Social Security is proposing to completely shut down use of the SSDI by genealogists as well as other industries such as banking and insurance that rely upon its information. Such an attempt is short-sighted and runs counter to the original purpose of the SSDI: to actually combat fraud.

Loss of Access to SSDI Affects More Than Genealogists
The SSDI is accessed by many different companies, non-profits and other entities besides individuals researching their family history. Forensic specialists utilize the SSDI when reuniting remains of military veterans with their next-of-kin and descendants. Law offices, banks and insurance companies utilize the SSDI to resolve probate cases and to locate heirs.

All of these entities would be required to spend more money and more time leveraging other resources of information when the SSDI has served this purpose, uninterrupted, for over a decade.

RPAC Petitions Obama Administration
The We the People petition, now posted at http://wh.gov/khE and accepting signatures, has a simple yet effective mission:

Take immediate steps that would curtail the filing of fraudulent tax refund claims based upon identity theft from recently deceased infants and adults.

No need for lengthy hearings in front of a Congressional committee. No need for filing statements for or against any House action. No need to waste time and effort which could be directed to more pressing national issues. In fact, the National Taxpayer Advocate in 2011 issued suggestions which do not require additional legislation but can be implemented collaboratively between the IRS and Social Security Administration (SSA) almost immediately in time to impact the current tax filing season.

About Records Preservation & Access Committee (RPAC)
The Records Preservation & Access Committee (RPAC) was formed to advise the genealogical community on ensuring proper access to historical records of genealogical value in whatever media they are recorded, on means to affect legislation, and on supporting strong records preservation policies and practices.

The genealogical community works together through The Records Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC), which today includes The National Genealogical Society (NGS), the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) as voting members. The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG), the American Society of Genealogists (ASG), ProQuest and Ancestry.com serve as participating members.
To learn more visit http://www.fgs.org/rpac/.

Newham Council’s burial records available on Deceased Online

Another large important London cemetery added to growing database

From the Deceased Online press release:

Newham Council will be helping both local people and family history and genealogy
researchers worldwide to find their ancestors in this fascinating and historical area of East
London. Newham, the borough which hosts many of the Olympic Games main venues, joins
a growing number of councils to have placed burial and cremation records on
www.deceasedonline.com, the UK’s only central website for these statutory records.

Newham manages West Ham Cemetery (located in Forest Gate), created in 1857 as one of
London’s first publicly-owned cemeteries following the Metropolitan Burials Act of 1852. The
Act was introduced as at that time London’s small burial grounds were overcrowded causing
serious health problems and lacked good management and accountability. All of the burials
since its opening were manually catalogued and these have now been digitised and indexed
for the Deceased Online website.

Deceased Online allows users, free of charge, to search the national database by name of deceased, date, and location. If relevant records are found, the online user has the option to purchase access to these to view, print and/or download.

In its 22 acre site, West Ham Cemetery comprises over 180,000 burials over its 150-year
plus history and Deceased Online will have a range records for all of these. Initially these
will comprise computerized records, details of grave occupants and scans of burial registers
which will enable online searchers to establish information about the deceased. In addition,
there will also be maps indicating the section within the cemetery where the each grave is
located thereby helping researchers to establish almost exactly the place where an ancestor
is interred.

Deceased Online is also adding records from over 50 Scottish burial grounds and cemeteries.

To start searching, go to www.deceasedonline.com

RootsTech Registration Winner Shares Her Conference Experience

It's hard to believe that another RootsTech conference has come and gone. It was a whirlwind weekend packed full of genealogy, technology, and live social networking.

While at the conference held at the gorgeous Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City I managed to squeeze in interviews with the movers and shakers in family history between the classes I was teaching. (You can view the video of my Genealogy Podcasts and Blogs 101 presentation that was streamed live at RootsTech which is part of the Saturday Recap video on the RootsTech homepage.)

In this first video I'll introduce you to one of the 4,000 genealogists and technologists that attended the event. Carol is a Genealogy Gems Podcast listener and winner of a free RootsTech registration that we gave away on the Genealogy Gems Podcast Facebook fan page.  In this interview, Carol shares her experience and what she learned at this innovative event.

Does Martin Sheen Search on Ancestry? Who Do You Think You Are? Season 3 Debut

Martin Sheen's enthusiasm for this recent Who Do You Think You Are? journey bubbled over during a recent telephone interview with the media. I asked him what he thought was the #1 reason folks should research their family history search - he identified personal enrichment as the key. But it was another reporter's question that generated a surprising answer:

Question: "Before your experience with "Who Do You Think You Are?" were you were aware that there were family history resources like that online?"

Answer: "In fact I have watched the show. I am a big fan of the show...And so when they asked me I said yes without hesitation because I don’t own a computer and I'm way behind on these new methods of gaining information"  In fact, he want on to say he had never used a computer.

Did I hear him right?  Wait a second - in one of the opening scenes of his episode which I previewed this week, Martin sits at his dining room table in front of a computer and narrates the scene to say he's going to go on Ancestry to start his search.


But isn't everything on TV true? 


This little event was a healthy reminder that Who Do You Think You Are? is first and foremost entertainment and storytelling. And it executes this goal expertly. It's a captivating show that thankfully continues to inspire newbies to consider the possibility of exploring their own family tree.


The footage of  the fabricated search is also a healthy reminder that not everything we see is true. And this can be applied to our own family history.  It's tempting to take in every detail of a newly found old photo as an accurate representation of our ancestors.  And yet, our ancestors often donned outfits that only saw the light of day a few times a year.  And careful inspection of a carte de visite can reveal that the background is actually a drape over a shrubbery hedge in the front yard of the old homestead.


No spoiler alerts here as I have no intention of spilling the beans on what you will see tonight.  I will say that it will likely generate some lively discussion among genealogists, but you will certainly be entertained and inspired to keep at the important and satisfying work of family history investigation.  Just be sure to keep the salt shaker close by for when you need those few grains of salt.