Ancestry.com will be discontinuing one of its magazines, Genealogical Computing, effective with the July/August/September 2006 issue that is currently in the mail. Liz Kerstens, the editor of the magazine for the past seven years, and author of Clooz, is beginning a new magazine to take its place.

Digital Genealogist will be similar in content and formatting, and will continue to feature many of the same authors and columnists. It will be delivered as a PDF and will be released as an attachment in November 2006. Subscriptions are $20 a year.

To learn more, or to subscribe, visit www.digitalgenealogist.com.

Join the developers of Legacy Family Tree on a 12-day Hawaii cruise September 19-October 1, 2007.  Our 4th annual Legacy Genealogy Cruise will be the best ever!

Don't just take a vacation. Take the vacation that's just more fun. We want to show you spectacular mountains, verdant forests, active volcanoes, and shimmering, thundering waterfalls. We want you to see the unsurpassed beauty of Hawaii in the grandest way possible. Your "Fun Ship" cruise visits four fascinating Hawaiian islands, with overnights in Honolulu and Maui. Brings lots of film so you can show your friends back home the unbelievable beauty and amazing colors of Hawaii. You'll have so much fun on your cruise, you'll want to tell everyone about the Aloha State. On this cruise, you'll enjoy one fun experience after another.

As always, you'll get to learn genealogy and Legacy from the experts. With over 10 hours of classroom, personalized instruction, you'll learn everything you need to know to master Legacy and begin researching more effectively.

Rates (port charges, taxes not included):

• Interior: $880
• Oceanview: $930
• Balcony: $1,310

Contact our genealogy cruise director, Christy, at [email protected] to reserve your spot today.

from "Along Those Lines":

Genealogical research is filled with contradictions. That is the overwhelming reason why we are looking for primary source materials, and settling for secondary sources when necessary. With secondary sources, however, we should be looking for multiple materials that are independent of one another in origin to help substantiate a fact.

. . . I always tell genealogists that there are two cardinal rules in family history research:

• Learn how to misspell your family's names, forenames and surnames–-because they and everybody else did.
• Maintain a healthy skepticism of anything you have not personally examined, traced, and/or verified.

Continue reading here.

Question:

I recently extended the ancestry of one of my lines and want to give an updated pedigree chart to my cousin. I want the updated information to stand out - can I emphasize or "colorize" only the new people that I've added? - Tom

Answer:

The deluxe version of Legacy makes this easy. Just follow these steps. I've included an example of this chart below for your review.

1. In the Family View, navigate to the desired starting person of the pedigree.
2. Using Legacy's tagging feature, tag the people that you want to "colorize". You might have to turn on the tagging options from Options > Customize > General tab > Enable tagging options.
3. Click on the Reports button at the top and click on the Pedigree tab.
4. Click on the Report Options button, click on the Format tab and make sure that Put boxes around individuals is selected. Close.
5. Click on the Color Text and Boxes button.
6. Select Color all text and boxes the same. Select your desired color by clicking on the text and box color buttons.
7. Check the option to Only color individuals tagged on number and select the tag number you used in step 2.
8. Save and Preview/Print.

Click on the picture below to see the "colorized" pedigree chart:

The 38th annual BYU Genealogy and Family History Conference will be held August 1–4, 2006, in the BYU Conference Center in Provo, Utah.

More than 100 classes will be offered throughout the conference, allowing participants to gain new skills and helpful information.  Class topics include Beginning Family History, Family History Center Support, Computers and New Programs, Europe/Nordic Research, British Research, U.S. Research, Methodology, and Publishing Family Histories. We invite you to attend the conference to learn new techniques and to build and strengthen your family ties through genealogy and family history.

Legacy Family Tree classes

Geoff Rasmussen, author of the Legacy Family Tree video training CDs, will teach three classes on Legacy which are open to the public at no charge:

Tuesday, August 1, 5:15-6:15 in room 2254 - Introduction to Legacy Family Tree - Learn the Basics of Legacy

Wednesday, August 2, 5:15-6:15 in room 2254 - Getting More from Legacy Family Tree - IGI Searching, Custom Reports, Emailing Reports to Others, Insider Tips/Tricks

Thursday, August 3, 5:15-6:15 in room 2295 - Creating and Using Timelines/Chronologies in your Genealogy Using Legacy Family Tree

New Legacy Training CDs

We will release advance copies of 3 new video training CDs at the conference:

• Creating and Sharing Perfect Reports
• Picturing your Legacy: a Video Guide to Working with Digital Pictures in Legacy
• Insider's Guide to Legacy: Tips & Tricks

Stop by our booth in the conference center (open to the public at no charge) and be the first to view these new CDs. The set should be available to all Legacy users at the beginning of September 2006.

More information

For more information about the conference and to register, please visit http://ce.byu.edu/cw/cwgen/

Ancestry recently completed indexing all the public U.S. census records from 1790-1930. For a limited time, they are offering a free 3-day search of the 1930 census. If you're not already signed up, give it a try:

We have been experiencing some problems with our email and mailing lists since moving to a new server. We are aware that many of you may not be receiving our emails or our Legacy User Group emails. We thank you for your patience, and we hope to have this resolved as soon as possible.

In the mean time, if you have ordered Legacy Deluxe from our website and have not yet received your confirmation email which contains the deluxe customer number, please give us a call at 1-800-753-3453. For support questions please call 1-425-788-0932.

The 2nd edition of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Genealogy, written by genealogy superstars Christine Rose and Kay Germain Ingalls, was published in 2005, and is jam-packed of great genealogy advice for beginners and experienced researchers.

The 1st edition, published in 1997, is now available as a free download. Much has changed in the 8 years since the first edition, but sound genealogy principles remain. All 353 pages are available to view. Look at the table of contents:

• Why Genealogy?
• Start with Mom and Dad
• You're hooked, now what?
• Keeping track of what you find
• Kissin' kin: how to find them
• A rose by any other name
• Getting the most from libraries
• Your family's hometown
• Census research: have you done your homework?
• Making sense of the census
• Corresponding effectively
• A little traveling music, please
• Courthouses: gateway to the past
• A picnic in the cemetery
• More than news in the newspaper
• Did Great-Grandpa carry a rifle?
• Creating order out of chaos
• Doing it right
• Gaining historical perspective
• Resolving discrepancies
• Spending your money wisely
• Discovering less used sources
• Some final words

View the book by clicking here.

Direct Ancestor, n.

A person from whom you cannot help but claim descent.

This humor is from The Genealogist's Glossary (& Other Essential Nonsense) by Christopher Dunham and is copyright 2005 by Christopher Dunham. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the book is available at http://genealogue.blogspot.com/

Americans have been fighting taxes since the country's beginnings - bad for our wallets - but good for genealogists. American researchers are blessed with an abundance of surviving tax records that can be polished into genealogical jewels.

In Rootsweb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees, their "Taxing Tales" article explains the importance of researching tax records.

Read the article by clicking here.