Brigham Young University’s Independent Study program is offering FREE web courses in Family History/Genealogy. See below for course titles:

Family History/Genealogy - Introductory

FHGEN 68 — Finding Your Ancestors
FHGEN 69 — Providing Temple Ordinances for Your Ancestors
FHGEN 70 — Introduction to Family History Research
FHGEN 80 — Helping Children Love Your Family History

Family History/Genealogy - Record Type

FHREC 71 — Family Records
FHREC 73 — Vital Records
FHREC 76 — Military Records

Family History/Genealogy - Regional and Ethnic

FHFRA 71 — France: Immigrant Origins
FHFRA 72 — France: Vital Records
FHFRA 73 — France: Reading French Handwriting
FHFRA 74 — France: Genealogical Organizations and Periodicals
FHFRA 75 — France: The Internet and French Genealogy
FHFRA 76 — French Research: Paris
FHFRA 77 — French Research: Alsace-Lorraine
FHGER 71 — Germany: Immigrant Origins
FHGER 72 — Germany: U.S. Sources and Surname Changes
FHGER 73 — Germany: Jurisdictions, Gazetteers, and Maps
FHGER 74 — Germany: Reading German Handwriting
FHGER 75 — Germany: Calendars and Feast Days
FHGER 76 — Germany: Vital Records
FHHUG 71 — Huguenot Research
FHSCA 73 — Scandinavia: Jurisdictions, Gazetteers, and Maps
FHSCA 74 — Scandinavia: Reading Gothic Script
FHSCA 75 — Scandinavia: Church Records and Feast Days
FHSCA 76 — Scandinavia: Census Records
FHSCA 77 — Scandinavia: Probate and Other Records

Visit http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/courses/freecourses.cfm for the courses.

Suggestion from Jaycee:

"The History List is useful, but it would also be very handy to have a log of which records have actually been edited or changed recently."

Thanks for the suggestion. You'll be happy to know that this functionality is already in place in Legacy Family Tree 9.0. Follow the steps below.

• Click on the Search menu. Click on Find.
• Click on the Detailed Search tab.
• Make the following selections:
  1. Look for whom - select Individual.
  2. Where to look - select Modified Date.
  3. How to look - After.
  4. What to look for - enter the desired date
• Click on the Create List button.

The resulting Search List contains all individuals that you have edited since the date you entered. This list can now be printed or tagged if desired.

You can also search for everyone you have added since a certain date. In the where to look column, just select the Added Date option. Now you can easily see everyone you've added this year!

If you want to share a pedigree chart, family group record, or other report with a family member, Legacy Family Tree makes this an easy task. One of our Legacy users, George Quinn, learned about an easy method to share these files. He shared his thoughts with us below....

I like Legacy reports saved as PDF files because they keep the professional look and feel of Legacy charts and reports. PDF files are a real common file format for all kinds of documents and just about every computer that I have ever seen has the Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing them. PDF files are universal and can be viewed on Windows PCs and Macs.

I discovered a quick and easy way to attach a Legacy report created as a PDF file to an e-mail message. It's incredibly simple and avoids all of the problems trying to find the file and manually attach it to a message.

You must have Legacy Deluxe in order to make a PDF file of a chart or report. I use Legacy Deluxe and just love everything it can do.

1. In Legacy choose the report you want to send.
2. Make your report option selections.
3. In the lower right corner of the report screen choose PDF File and click Create in the upper right corner.
4. Give your PDF file a name and save it.
5. When asked "Would you like to view the PDF file?" click Yes to open the Acrobat Reader.
6. In Acrobat Reader click on File and choose Email on the File menu.
7. A blank e-mail message will open with the PDF file automatically attached. All you need to do is enter the recipient's e-mail address, fill in the subject line and type your message!
8. Click Send and you're done!

Thanks George for sharing this with us. PDFs are the way to go if you want to preserve the formatting of a report, which often gets lost when copying/pasting information into the body of an email.

from FamilySearch.org, March 19, 2007:

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH—Early vital records of Nova Scotia, Canada, are viewable over the Internet for the first time and for free, thanks to a joint project by the Genealogical Society of Utah, FamilySearch™, and the Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management (NSARM). The records include one million names found in birth records from 1864 to 1877, marriages from 1864 to 1930, and death records from 1864 to 1877 and 1908 to 1955. Users can search the database at www.novascotiagenealogy.com.

Nova Scotia is the first province in Canada to digitize all of its historical vital statistics and make them available online. “This project provides key information to researchers on their ancestors,” said Genealogical Society of Utah regional manager Alain Allard. “It involves the vital records—births, marriages, and deaths—which are a key record set to find, identify, and link ancestors into family units.” The Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU) first microfilmed most of Nova Scotia’s vital records back in the 1980's. In 2005, GSU used FamilySearch Scanning to convert those microfilms to digital images, while at the same time capturing additional vital records with a specially designed digital camera. Volunteers for the Nova Scotia Archives then used the images to create the searchable electronic index, which was completed in 2006.

Anyone can now search names in the index and view a high quality digital copy of the original image online for free at NSARM’s Web site, www.novascotiagenealogy.com. In the near future, the index and images will also be available on FamilySearch.org. Researchers who want to obtain copies of a record can do so online through the Nova Scotia Archives. The cost will be CAN$9.95 for an electronic file and CAN$19.95, plus shipping and taxes, for archival–quality certified paper copies.

Nova Scotia Provincial Archivist, W. Brian Speirs, said the cooperation of GSU was crucial to this important project. “Without the Genealogical Society of Utah offering in the early days of the project to provide complimentary digitization of all the records as their contribution to the initiative, the proposed undertaking would have been dead in the water and gone nowhere," Speirs said.

FamilySearch is the public channel of the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU), a nonprofit organization. FamilySearch maintains the world's largest repository of genealogical resources accessed through FamilySearch.org, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and over 4,500 family history centers in 70 countries.

SpanSoft announced the release of a free update to their TreeDraw Legacy Edition software. This popular charting program produces high-quality genealogy charts from your Legacy family file.

Version 3.1 enhancements:

• Changed the help system to HTML to make it compatible with Windows Vista
• Replaced the TreeDraw.txt help manual file with TreeDraw.pdf
• Installer updated to make it compatible with 64-bit Vista
• Added "Help | Check for Updates". Automatically checks web site for the latest version of the program
• Shape fill patterns are now correctly exported to PDF files

To download your free 3.1 update

Current TreeDraw Legacy Edition 3 users can download the free update by clicking here.

If you have TreeDraw Legacy Edition V2 and would like to upgrade to V3 for only $18US, please visit https://www.legacyfamilytree.net/Secure/TreeDrawUpgrade.htm.

Sample Charts and more information

For sample charts, more information, or to purchase, please visit http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/TreeDraw.asp

Progeny Software announced the release of a free update to their Map My Family Tree software. This popular mapping software imports Legacy Family Tree files and produces maps of the events of your family tree.

Version 1.4 enhancements:

• Windows Vista compatibility
• Fixes problem viewing names in the Data List with Vista.

To download your free 1.4 update

1. Open the Map My Family Tree program
2. Click on Help in the top menu bar
3. Select Check for updates
4. A dialogue box will appear - click on Check for updates
5. Follow the instructions on the screen

For more information, or to purchase

Visit http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/Redirect/Store-AddOns.asp

Plot to Google Earth!

Map Map Family Tree will automatically plot your ancestors' places to Google Earth. Click on the image below to see what it looks like.

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

April 2007

USA | Washington | Wenatchee - April 13-14, 2007. The Washington State Genealogical Society will hold their 2007 Annual Conference and Business Meeting at the Wenatchee Center Hotel & Conference Center, hosted by the Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society. The theme will be, "Climbing Your Family Tree." Please stop by the Legacy booth with your questions or just to say hello.

USA | Arizona | Tucson - April 18, 2007. Sun City Vistoso Genealogical Society. Millennia's Geoff Rasmussen will lead a discussion on using Legacy from 1:00 to 4:00pm. Held in the Apache Room in The Vistoso Center at 1565 Rancho Vistoso Blvd in Oro Valley, north of Tucson. For questions, please contact Barbara Krecklow at [email protected].

Canada | Alberta | Edmonton - April 21-22, 2007. Alberta Genealogical Society Conference 2007. Visit http://abgensoc.ca/events.html for more information. Millennia's Geoff Rasmussen will present 1) Research Guidance; 2) Insider's Guide to Legacy; 3) Sharing Genealogy Electronically. Stop by our booth and say hello.

Canada | Saskatchewan | Regina - April 27-29, 2007. Saskatchewan Genealogical Society 2007 Seminar. Click here for more information. Millennia's Geoff Rasmussen will present 1) Organizing, Planning, and Sharing Using Legacy Family Tree; 2) Latest in Internet Genealogical Technology.

May 2007

USA | Oregon | Portland - May 8, 2007. Technology for Genealogists. The Oregon Historical Society sponsors a half-day seminar featuring Millennia's Geoff Rasmussen from 9am-1pm. The seminar will include:

• Timelines & Chronologies: Secrets of Genealogical Success
• Mapping Your Ancestors Electronically: Using Software and the Internet
• Research Guidance: GenSmarts, FamilySearch, and Legacy.
• Organizing, Planning, and Sharing Using Legacy Family Tree

Registration is required and is limited. Visit http://www.hevanet.com/sclc/newsletter.htm for more information or call Carolyn Hixson at 503-306-5296.

USA | Virginia | Richmond - May 16-19, 2007. 2007 NGS Conference and Family History Fair. A "Getting More from Legacy Family Tree" class will be taught on Friday the 18th. Visit http://www.eshow2000.com/ngs/2007 for more information. Visit us in booths 114 and 115.

The FamilySearch Indexing project is now open to the public, and is one of the most exciting advances in genealogy technology to ever occur.

The Family History Library is currently in the process of digitizing over two million rolls of microfilm to eventually make them available at FamilySearch.org. The images will need to be indexed to make them easily-searchable. Read all about the digitization project here.

Imagine this - instead of traveling to the Family History Library or one of its centers to manually search through rolls of film for information about an ancestor - you will be able to type in your ancestors' names and click on the search button - from the comfort of your own computer. FamilySearch will then search its millions of rolls of film for your ancestor, present you with a list of possible matches, and with one more click - provide you with a digital image of the record.

This can all be possible with your help via the FamilySearch Indexing project. After you sign up as a volunteer, you can download their indexing software, and begin indexing the records. Once indexed, these indexes will be linked to the actual images, and eventually, made searchable online.

Current indexing projects (as of April 2007) include the following:

• 1900 U.S. Federal Census
• George Death Certificates
• Ontario Deaths
• Texas Death Certificates
• West Virginia Births
• West Virginia Deaths
• West Virginia Marriages
• Indiana Marriages
• Ohio Tax Records
• Boston, Massachusetts State Census
• Salt Lake County Deaths

In the first quarter of 2007, almost 29.5 million names were indexed. There are currently about 33 thousand indexers and over one hundred people are joining the workforce every day.

How to sign up

Millennia Corporation, makers of the Legacy Family Tree software, supports this project and encourages all Legacy Family Tree users (and everyone else) to sign up for this project. Just visit www.familysearchindexing.org and click on the Volunteer button. You will be prompted to create a user name and password. Next you will need to download and install the software.

Just imagine if all Legacy users signed up and indexed one page a day - we'd have the 2+ million rolls of microfilm indexed in no time!

Join the Legacy Family Tree experts and Dick Eastman this September for our 4th annual Legacy Genealogy Cruise. This year's cruise to the Hawaiian islands will be the best ever! Enjoy classes on genealogy, technology, and Legacy presented by the Legacy developers and Dick Eastman, author of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter.

Space is limited and time is running out. Right now, airfare is still reasonably cheap for the flight home from Honolulu. Now is the time to book and lock in one of these low-cost flights home. Don't wait for the vacation of a lifetime. For more information, or to register online, visit http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/CruiseInfo_2007.asp

Windows Vista Users

If you have Windows Vista, please download and install the update from our website at http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/DownloadUpdate.asp. You will only have to do this once. In the future, you may update as usual via the Download Now link on the Legacy Home tab.

All other Deluxe Edition Users

If you have Legacy 6.0 Deluxe Edition, connect to the Internet, then start Legacy and click on the "Install and Download Now" on the Legacy Home tab. (If you're reading this from within the Legacy Home tab, you'll first need to click on the Home button in the top left which looks like the following picture:)

Legacy 6.0 Standard Edition Users

Standard Edition users are required to visit our web site in order to download the new update.

http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/DownloadUpdate.asp

New

• Vista - Added support for Windows Vista, including an updated Help system.
• New Timelines
  • Canada - 'Canada - General History' timeline. Contributed by Dave Naylor.
  • France - 'Ducs de Lorraine (1048 - 1766)' timeline.
  • Scotland - 'Scotland - General History from 1500' timeline.
  • Wales - 'Wales - Census' timeline.
  • Wales - 'Wales - General History from 1536' timeline.
• Ancestor Chart - Added a new "Pack information on one line" option.

Changed

• Calendar Creator - The "Married names" option is now smarter.
• Dates - Out of range years, like 18887 are now questioned.
• Family Group Sheets - Added a warning that "Don't split children over page break" must be used when printing children's pictures.
• GEDCOM Export - Quoted names within a Given Name are now exported as nicknames.
• GEDCOM Import - Now imports Family Tree Maker's marriage reference fields.
• Toolbar Customization - The icons now change size on the customization screen when the Size option is changed.

Fixed

For a list of fixes click here.