My genealogy buddy and I left about 10 am headed for Charleston! After a lunch stop, a stretch-our-legs stop, and a pit stop, we made it here about 3:15. We checked into our motel and then headed over to the convention center to check in and get our conference materials. We had a little time, so we went to the Tanger Outlet for some shopping. Then we went to Jim 'N Nicks to attend a blogger dinner hosted by FamilySearch. It was a great time. I got to meet some bloggers who I have followed a long time, including Dick Eastman and Kimberly Powell. I got to see my blogger friends, Jennifer of
Climbing my Family Tree (and met her lovely friend and fellow blogger, Cherie!) and Linda McCauley of
Documenting the Details. I also met Audrey Collins, Ginger Smith and Greta of
Greta's Genealogy Blog; I am sure I am forgetting someone - I'm sorry!! FamilySearch employees shared our table with us and it was very interesting dinner conversation. The most important thing we learned from Jim Ericson of FamilySearch is that there really ARE Indian princesses! LOL
Paul Nauta with FamilySearch Public Affairs told us some details about all of the records they have added online recently, including the following (not a complete list):
- Civil War Pension Index
- South Carolina Probate 1671-1977 (select counties)
- U.S. 1890 Census of Union Veterans and Widows
- U.S. Civil War Soldiers Index 1855-1865
- Louisiana Confederate Pensions 1898-1950
FamilySearch also provided the following: "And in a separate announcement..., FamilySearch announced that the
Civil War Era records project was just launched. Volunteers will be indexing millions of historic records from the Civil War period to help family history sleuths gather the pieces of their family stories that extend to that period. There is also a FamilySearch Civil War wiki page where specialists are contributing online content dedicated to regiments and states."
"In the last year, FamilySearch, with its growing base of volunteers, has published almost 500 million historic records online - free for the public to search or view."
"
ENLIST TODAY
Collections are continually being added, and we (FamilySearch) need the support of the community to help index these records to make them searchable. You can also make history come alive by contributing to the Civil War wiki pages. While participating you can:
- Find your civil war ancestors.
- Learn about the histories of the local regiments that fought in the war.
- Travel back in time to learn about the historical events that helped shape a nation and the family trees of millions of Americans.
- Help make more of these records freely available to the entire community."
To learn more or volunteer, visit: FamilySearch.org/CivilWar
The learning starts tomorrow!
Hi Liz - it was great to meet you! Hope we see one another tomorrow at the convention.
ReplyDeleteSo who is who in the photo??? I see Ginger Smith in the background and I recognize Greta I think.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Greta! It was great to meet you, too!
ReplyDeleteSheri, I'm sorry, adding the picture was a last minute thing at about 11:30 last night! I just added the names... You know Greta and Ginger; Cheryl is from the Have You Seen My Roots? blog; Jennifer is from the Climbing My Family Tree blog and Ellie is her daughter; and Linda is the author of the Documenting the Details blog.
How fun! I recognize some of those folks. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete