DearREADERS, At tonight's real-time discussion in Second Life, Ol' Myrt here will be discussing the following newspaper obituary, how it was labeled, and the additional research planned as a result of acquiring this information. This is one of the gems I unearthed while doing on site research in Knoxville, Marion, Iowa. Happy family tree climbing! Myrt :) DearMYRTLE, Your friend in genealogy. Myrt@DearMYRTLE.com

DearREADERS, Earlier this week, Craig Scott, CG told Ol' Myrt here that the Association of Professional Genealogists has approved concept of forming a chapter in SL (Second Life). This is especially good news for those APG members who travel a great deal and those who are otherwise unavailable to attend meetings in RL (real life). The Association of Professional Genealogists "strives to support, guide, and protect all aspects of genealogy as a profession and promotes the highest standard of ethics and professionalism among our members." From the APG website we read: "The APG umbrella is ...

DearREADERS, The great thing about going to larger genealogy conferences is the chance to visit with the software folks directly. The FGS 2009 conference in Little Rock is no exception. Pictured above is Ol' Myrt with RootsMagic developer Bruce Buzbee and his wife Laurie. It took a few attempts before I found a break in the crowd of visitors inquiring about his program, recently certified to sync with newFamilySearch. Nothing like getting it straight from the horse's mouth! Bruce demonstrates: RootsMagic - genealogy management software.Personal Historian - for assistance with journal ...

NOTE from DearMYRTLE: The following was received from our friends at FamilySearch. Please address all inquiries to Support@FamilySearch.org. 3 September 2009 August was a banner month for FamilySearch Indexing. Twenty five (25) projects were completed and 19 new projects were added, including 10 international. A Swedish interface was also added to accommodate new Sweden church records projects. Completed projects will published at FamilySearch’s Record Search pilot for online viewing. New Projects Added in August · Argentina, Mendoza, San Juan—Censo 1869 ...

DearREADERS, At the APG (Association of Professional Genealogists) luncheon held yesterday here in Little Rock, a representative of the Afro-American Genealogical Historical Society of Chicago presented info on the 30th Anniversary Heritage Book initiative. November 1, 2009 is the "current deadline" for submissions. Members and non-members are invited to submit multiple 500 word articles with photographs to be included in the upcoming publication honoring their Afro-American ancestors. For more information, see the society's website: http://www.aaghsc.org. Happy family tree climbing! ...

From: Walt DearMYRTLE, From your blog, I hear that you are at the same conference in Little Rock where Ancestry and the New England Historic Genealogical Society announced a partnership. Eastman reported (though I think the blog has been removed) that HisGen was giving its collection to Ancestry for online distribution. What will this do to my HisGen membership? Does this mean HisGen members will have access to all of Ancestry.com? DearWALT, Eight emails such as yours were received from readers wishing for clarification on the joint announcement. Don't panic, there is a simple ...

DearREADERS, Ancestry.com hosted the 3rd Ancestry Bloggers Summit this afternoon at the FGS Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas. Despite two fire alarms and one evacuation, we managed to learn a few new things. As Ancestry.com is in the "quiet period" prior to going public, Securities and Exchange Commission requirements compelled presenters from speaking about "what's coming" unless it has already been discussed. From my notes you can see that the meeting was worth the effort. The "life span" filter of the Ancestry.com new search is designed to eliminate 1920 phone book entries for an ...

DearREADERS, Ancestry.com hosted the 3rd Ancestry Blogger's Summit this afternoon at the FGS Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas. Despite two fire alarms and one evacuation, we managed to learn a few new things.

DearREADERS, Today's Professional Management Conference, Librarian and Society conference tracks predate the FGS Federation of Genealogical Societies' welcome and keynote session tomorrow featuring Ancestry.com's Tim Sullivan. Here's where I hope to meet more of my DearREADERs and those who are genealogists in Second Life: Today 2 Sept 2009 5-6pm Blogging, Social Networking and Podcasting Open Forum Governor's Hall IV 7-9pm Ancestry Reception Peabody Hotel Salon A, B & C Tomorrow, 3 Sept 2009 8am Keynote Address Ballroom A Statehouse Convention Center 9:30am-12:20pm Exhibit Hall ...

DearREADERS, The 2009 Professional Management Conference presented by the APG Association of Professional Genealogists offered tracks for aspiring as well as experienced professionals. From my notes: Writing Professionally (20 Principles) Presented by Thomas W. Jones, Ph. D., CG, CFL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS Technical writing is not creative writing.If the subject is dead, then use past tense. If the record still exists, then use present tense. (John Smith died in 1826, but his surviving diary in my possession says) Avoid use of self (that must make Ol' Myrt's writing creative rather than ...

DearREADERS, Ol' Myrt has picked up her registration packet for the 2009 Federation of Genealogical Societies annual conference here at the Peabody Hotel & Convention Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. One thing that wasn't immediately clear is the location of tonight's APG (Association of Professional Genealogists) Genealogy Roundtable. Fortunately postings on various mailing lists include this information from Beverly Rice: From: On Behalf Of Beverly Rice Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 6:18 PM To: APG@rootsweb.com Subject: [APG] Roundtable in Little Rock More about the APG Roundtable. ...

NOTE from DearMYRTLE: The following was received from our friends at LegacyFamilyTree.com. Please address all inquiries to geoff@LegacyFamilyTree.com. Please note that while "newFamilySearch" is currently only available to members of the LDS Church, it will eventually be made available to all genealogists. Be sure that the genealogy program you use has become FamilySearch Certified.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FamilySearch awards Legacy with official certification

SURPRISE, Arizona – September 1, 2009 – Millennia Corporation today announced ...

NOTE from DearMYRTLE: The following was received from our friends at FGS (Federation of Genealogical Societies) via Ann Staley. We will be seeing you in just 7 short days. Can you believe it! The Conference is almost here. Enjoy this latest bit of information about the conference. FREE PHOTOS & DOCUMENT SCANNING High-Speed Scanners - September 3-5, 2009 Ancestry.com is excited to provide FGS conference attendees the opportunity to have their family records scanned, for free, on high-speed scanners. The scanners will be available for up to 15-minute scanning sessions on Thursday, ...

DearREADERS, In an email yesterday to Family History Consultants, our friends at FamilySearch.org announced the addition of several important free online training classes to an already noteworthy collection known as Research Series Classes Online: Reading German Handwritten Records includes two lessons taught within a self-paced, interactive experience that includes narration and several learning and practice activities. The Italy Research class introduces the major record types available for researching Italian ...

NOTE from DearMYRTLE: The following was just received from our friends at the Association of Professional Genealogists.

Online registration ends August 26th for the 2009 FGS 2009 Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, including APG's Professional Management Conference (PMC) to be held Wednesday, September 2, 2009. Limited seating may be available to walk-in registrants. For PMC program details and schedule, go to http://www.apge...s/index.html

To register, go ...