Our upcoming Legacy Cruise to Hawaii just got better - irresistible perhaps. One of genealogy's biggest names will be our featured speaker - Dick Eastman!

Dick is the author of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, the leading newsletter for genealogy news and technology tips. For some 30+ years, he has been honing his vision of the future to improve our picture of the past. In the mid-1980s, Dick went knocking on the door of a rising internet star called CompuServe to propose a genealogy forum: a move by which he built a community of family historians over the next 14 years. At the same time, he preached the benefits of technology to an even wider audience of genealogists, including national and international genealogical organizations, and of course, GENTECH, an organization that helped him to spread his message.

Through his newsletter, Dick shares technology "finds" that can help both new and seasoned genealogists, as well as dethroning the scams and shams that can lead the unwary astry.

Genealogy Classes at Sea

Dick will join the Legacy Family Tree experts to present our best offerings of classes we've ever had. In additional to classes on using Legacy, Dick will present an outstanding offering of instruction on how technology aids genealogists.

12 Day Hawaii cruise from Vancouver, BC, Canada

Our 4th annual Legacy cruise will leave from Vancouver, BC on September 19, 2007 and visit Maui, Kauai, Hilo, Kona, and Honolulu. You'll see spectucular 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. Bring lots of film so you can show your friends back home the unbelieveable beauty and amazing colors of Hawaii.

Pricing

Prices begin at US $1140.38 per person, double occupancy, port charges, taxes and Legacy classes are included in the price.

• Inside cabin at the rate of US $1140.38 per person.
• Ocean view cabin at the rate of $1340.38 per person.
• Balcony cabin at the rate of $1570.38 per person.

That's less than $100 a day for a vacation of a lifetime. You can't even get a hotel for that price. In fact, this entire vacation, which includes lodging, food, conference fees, etc., can be cheaper than a 3-4 day attendance at a national conference:

• hotel - at least $100 a night
• food - $30 a day (if you're trying to lose weight)
• conference fees - $150-250

Reservations

For more information, frequently asked questions, and reservations, visit http://legacyfamilytree.com/CruiseInfo_2007.asp. Space is limited. Hope to see you there.

"There is a belief that seems to be increasing amongst those interested in tracing their ancestries that everything can be found on the Internet. In fact, this not only is erroneous, but leads to particular hazards in research."

Such is how Cecil R. Humphery-Smith began his article, "Ancestry Tracing and the Internet" in the latest edition of the BYU Family Historian electronic journal.

He continues by admonishing genealogists to perform careful research:

"Often we have come across pedigrees made up from the sources found on the Internet. The late W. H. Whitmore admonished genealogists nearly a century and a half ago not to insult true progenitors with false claims to others. Links to others who are entirely unrelated are readily established by using the Internet indiscriminately. There are those who resent any professional genealogists questioning the erroneous conclusions or trying to correct what has clearly gone wrong. But what is the point of producing a family tree that links you with somebody to whom you are simply not related? Or, why put effort into family history that may be the story of someone else's ancestor?"

The article gives examples of potentially inacurrate or incomplete databases and compilations so you can be better prepared when evaluating others' work. We recommend the article for researchers of all expertise. Click here for the article.

from FamilySearch.org on January 18, 2007:

SALT LAKE CITY — FamilySearch, in conjunction with the Genealogical Society of Utah and the Utah State Archives and Records Service, announced today that the state's free online index to death certificates is now linked to original images of the historic documents. The integration of the index with free digital pictures of the death certificates issued from 1905 to 1954 by the state will open doors to additional information for family historians and genealogists with Utah ties. To search the index and view the certificates, users need to go to http://historyresearch.utah.gov/indexes/index.html.

The online index to 250,000+ Utah deaths was created by the State Office of Vital Records and Statistics and has searchable information limited to the name of the deceased person, their date of death, sex, and where they died. The Utah State Archives turned to FamilySearch to help them get the digital images online. FamilySearch digitized the images and provided the technology to link the images of the certificates to the state's online index. The linking process was completed in just a few weeks — incredibly fast for a project of this nature and magnitude. The names of Utah's deceased are now very much alive, searchable, and viewable online — and for free.

"There is so much more information of family history importance that can be found on the certificate itself," said Glen Fairclough, processing and reference archivist for the Utah State Archives. Before making the certificates viewable online, Fairclough said patrons had to order copies through the mail for a fee or visit the state archives office in person.

"The value of viewing the image of the original death certificate is that it saves you time, money, and provides rich genealogy data for the family historian," said Paul Nauta, manager of public affairs for FamilySearch. Captured on a death certificate are the names and birth places of the deceased person's parents, place and date of the decedent's birth, marital status, occupation, permanent residence, place and date of burial, time of death, chief cause and contributory factors of death, and if applicable, where illness was contracted and the duration of the illness.

The user merely needs to type in an ancestor's name that died in Utah between 1905 to 1954, and they will be directed to a brief summary of the ancestor's death certificate with a link to view the original image. Users need to simply click on the certificate image to see a larger, high quality view of the original death certificate.

For more information about the FamilySearch digital image linking technology or services, record custodians should contact Brad Wilkes, [email protected].

How to search your Legacy family file for persons who died in Utah between 1905-1954.

Now that this remarkable database is now online, you will want to search your Legacy family file for those persons who died in Utah between these years so you can obtain their death certificates. Follow these steps:

1. Click on the Search icon in the main toolbar.
2. Enter the criteria as shown in the image below (click on image below).
3. Click on the Create List button. This is the list of all individuals in your family file that will likely have a record in this new collection of Utah death certificates.

How Legacy's Research Guidance can help

Research Guidance analyzes what you already know about your ancestors, and provides expert suggestions of sources to search. In the example below, clicking on the Death goal for Hans Rasmussen provided the suggestion to search this new online collection of Utah death certificates. Clicking on the Online button takes you directly to the search site. Click on the image below for a closer look.

I just previewed a report in Legacy, for which I selected to include my contact information, and to my surprise it listed the address at which I lived nearly three years ago. I quickly opened the Compiler Information screen, updated my address, and all was well.

When sharing information with others via a report or a GEDCOM file, it is important to associate your contact information with the data so they will always know where the information came from.

Where to enter the compiler information

Many reports in Legacy, as well as exported GEDCOM files, can contain your name, address, phone number, email address and web page address. Rather than you having to type this information each time it is used, it is stored once in the Family File. Most reports and export options screens give you the opportunity to suppress or include this information.

To enter or edit the compiler information, choose Compiler from the Options menu.

Including compiler information on reports

The option to include this information on reports is found on the Footers tab of the report's Report Options screen. For example, to create a Family Group Record with the compiler information, follow these steps:

1. Click on the Reports icon in the main toolbar.
2. Click on the Family tab.
3. Click on the Report Options button.
4. Click on the Footers tab and be sure there is a checkmark next to "Include Compiler Information at bottom of reports."

Genealogists wanting access to UK census records have a 100-year waiting period. We recently wrote about the early release of the 1911 census.

Now Downing Street is encouraging UK residents/citizens to sign an e-petition to reduce the classified period for census data from 100 years to 70 years. They wrote:

This would allow census information from 1911, 1921 and 1931 to be used by the general public researching their family history in the absense (or failing memories) of their elderly relatives. Birth, Marriage and Death information is already available so why is information about where people lived hidden.

To date, just over 9,000 electronic signatures have been collected. The deadline to sign up is March 8, 2007. Visit the petition at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/CensusInfoFreed/

If you would like us to speak at your genealogy society meeting, please let us know.

FEBRUARY 2007

USA | Arizona | Youngtown - February 7, 14, 21, 28, 2007. Legacy Family Tree Advanced course taught by Millennia's Geoff Rasmussen. Sponsored by the West Valley Genealogical Society. Registration is required and limited. Visit http://www.azwvgs.org/Classes.htm for more information.

USA | Utah | St. George - February 9-10, 2007. St. George Genealogy & Family Heritage Jamboree. Classes taught by Millennia's Geoff Rasmussen:

• Marketing your Ancestors: Mailing Lists, Message Boards, and Blogs
• Organize, Plan, and Share Using Legacy Family Tree
• Mapping your Ancestors Electronically: Using Software and the Internet
• Timelines and Chronologies: Secrets of Genealogical Success

Visit our booth #103-104. Visit http://www.myancestorsfound.com/jamboree/jamboreeSG.htm for more information.

USA | California | Whittier - February 24, 2007. Whittier Area Genealogical Society's 24th Annual Seminar. Curt Witcher, the manager of the Historical Genealogy Department of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana will be the seminar's speaker. Legacy Family Tree will have a booth so stop by and pick up our latest software. Visit http://www.cagenweb.com/kr/wags/seminar.html for more information.

MARCH 2007

USA | Utah | Provo - March 3, 2007. Family History Seminar featuring Susan Easton Black and Kip Sperry. Topics include:

• Writing a Page-Turning Autobiography / Biography
• Finding your LDS Ancestors
• Making the Most of your Resources
• Using the Computer to Locate Family History Resources
• Using the Computer to Locate Original Records
• What's New on the Internet for Family History

Registration is required. Visit http://home.byu.net/ks4/ for more information.

USA | Utah | Bountiful - March 10, 2007. South Davis 2007 Family History Fair. This has been Utah's largest genealogy fair for years, and it's free. Millennia's Geoff Rasmussen will present:

• Organizing and Fun with Digital Images
• Research Guidance: FamilySearch, GenSmarts, and Legacy
• Organize, Plan, and Share Using Legacy Family Tree
• Insider's Guide to Using Legacy Family Tree: Tips/Tricks

Visit http://www.familyhistoryfair.com for more information.

USA | Arizona | Tucson - March 13, 2007. Arizona State Genealogical Society presents "Organizing, Planning, and Sharing with Legacy Family Tree". Visit http://www.rootsweb.com/~asgs/ for more information.

USA | Utah | Provo - March 16-17, 2007. 2007 Computerized Genealogy Conference. Dick Eastman and Alan Mann are the featured presenters. Visit our booth for the latest software. Visit http://ce.byu.edu/cw/cwcompu/ for more information. Geoff Rasmussen will present "Genealogist's Guide to Working with Digital Images."

USA | Virginia | Fairfax - March 24, 2007. Fairfax and Mount Vernon Genealogical Societies' Joint Conference & Genealogy Expo. We will have a booth selling Legacy Family Tree so please stop by and visit with us. For more information visit http://www.fxgs.org/Conf2007.htm

USA | Utah | Logan - March 24, 2007. Logan Genealogy & Family Heritage Jamboree at the Eccles Conference Center in Logan on the campus of Utah State University. We will have a booth, so stop by and see us. For more information, visit http://www.myancestorsfound.com/Logan/jamboreeLogan.htm

There are 1,900 days remaining until the 1940 U.S. federal census is released, and genealogists are already counting the days.

One web site can help you get prepared - they provide details about why the census is private until 2012, and what information you can expect to find in the records.

Click here to visit the web site.

In the mean time, if you are struggling with an ancestor living in 1940, consult city directories - one of the most under-used sources by genealogists. Learn all about city directories, what they contain, how to use them, and where to find them at http://www.uscitydirectories.com.

Gary Hurlburt shocked the genealogical community of Palo Alto, California, on Thursday by forgetting the birthday of his wife of 29 years.

Hurlburt is renowned in local family-history circles for his skill at remembering dates. Without a moment's preparation he can tell you when his great-grandfather Waldo Jepson was born, married, quit drinking, and died. Or which days of the week his ancestor Drusilla Withey's 23 children and their 38 spouses were born. But somehow his wife Linda's date of birth slipped his mind.

Read the entire article here. . . .

Users of Legacy Family Tree no longer have excuses for forgetting birthdays or anniversaries. Click here to read why.

from The National Archives, January 10, 2007:

From today everybody will be able to access the first comprehensive database of passenger lists from ships departing the UK on long-distance voyages to destinations including North America, Australia, India and South Africa between 1890 and 1960.

This new online resource has been developed by one of the leading UK-based family history websites findmypast.com in association with The National Archives.  The passenger record series BT 27 covering 1890 – 1899 will go live from today, followed by the remaining decades between 1900 and 1960 over the next six months.

The database will enable would-be genealogists and family historians alike to view digitised images of the original ship passenger records online, which contain over 1.5 million pages, listing the 30 million passengers who travelled on long-distance journeys from UK ports.

The new resource includes passenger records from the period of mass migration between 1890 and 1914 when an estimated average of 131,000 people emigrated from Great Britain to other parts of the globe every year.

New Discoveries
These invaluable records will also provide a new avenue of research for people who have come to a ´brick wall´ in their family tree research using UK records. As well as every ship passenger record containing the names of each passenger, the name of the ship, the date and UK port of departure and the destination port, the records may also include the address, age, marital status, occupation and nationality of each passenger, providing invaluable details that could help uncover more branches of a family tree and further insights into a family´s history.

Legacy's Pedigree View just got a lot better. This view displays either four or five generations of one's ancestors (right-click on its background to toggle this number). The Pedigree View makes it easy to see just how far back in time you've researched.

In addition to the pedigree, there are two boxes on the left side which show even more information about the highlighted individual. The top-left box shows the person's spouses and children, and the lower-left box displays their siblings and additional information.

Having all this information on one screen is great, but for some Legacy users, it just feels a little cramped. We've listened to your requests, and are excited to let you know that we've made a couple of changes that we think you'll enjoy.

The two informational boxes on the left can now be optionally removed, thus presenting a much cleaner and less-cramped Pedigree View. To remove the boxes, simply right-click anywhere in the Pedigree View's background and click Hide Spouse/Child and Siblings lists.

Before (click for larger view):

After (click for larger view):

If you want the boxes back, simply right-click on the background, and click Show Child/Spouse and Siblings lists.

To take advantage of this new enhancement, be sure that you download the latest update. The feature was added in version 6.0.0.117. Deluxe Edition users can easily update by clicking on the link in the Updates section of the Legacy Home tab. Standard edition users can update via our website at http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/DownloadUpdate.asp