The recording of today's excellent webinar, "Thinking About Becoming a Board-certified Genealogist?" by Elissa Scalise Powell is now available to view at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com for free. A few comments from our viewers:

• Great! Have a whole new perspective on certification now. Very helpful!
• Even though I've gone through CG website, I learned a lot from this webinar. Very clearly and logically presented. Though my original goal wasn't to become certified, but simply to improve my skills, I began to realize that one leads to the other-- and opens up new possibilities for me. I am excited about working with other folks to help them understand their family trees.
• I've had friends and family members encouraging me to become certified. This definitely helped answer a lot of questions about the process for me. Thank you!

View the Recording at FamilyTreeWebinars.com

If you could not make it to the live event or just want to watch it again, the 1 hour 30 minute recording of "Thinking About Becoming a Board-certified Genealogist?" is now available to view in our webinar archives for free. Visit www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com to watch. The 4 pages of supplemental syllabus materials are also available to download/print/save.

Genealogy Standards - $12.95 (save $2)

These standards apply to all genealogical research, whether shared privately or published. They also apply to personal research for clients, courts, and other employers. The standards address documentation; research planning and execution, including reasoning from evidence; compiling research results; genealogical education; and ongoing development of genealogical knowledge and skills.

Click here for more information or to purchase.

Special Discount Coupon

The special discount coupon of cert14 that was announced during the webinar is valid for 10% off anything at both www.LegacyFamilyTreeStore.com and www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com through Monday, July 14, 2014.

Webinar Memberships/Subscriptions

Webinar Members get:

• On-demand access to the entire webinar archives (now 254 hours of genealogy education)
• On-demand access to the instructor handouts (now 690 pages)
• 5% off all products at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com (must be logged in at checkout, and yes, you can also use the 10% off webinar coupon above for a total of 15% off)
• Access to all future recordings for the duration of their membership
• Chance for a members-only door prize during each live webinar

Introductory pricing:

• Annual membership: $49.95/year (that's about the cost of 5 webinar CDs)
• Monthly membership: $9.95/month

Click here to subscribe.

Register for our upcoming webinars (free)

• Legacy Family Tree - Virtual User's Group Meeting by Legacy Family Tree Panel. July 11.
• When Freedom Came - Documenting the Family's Freedom Story by Angela Walton-Raji. July 16.
• Researching Your Illinois Ancestors by Thomas MacEntee. July 23.
• Researching Your Tennessee Ancestors by J. Mark Lowe. August 6.
• Research Recharge - Turning Old Clues into New Leads by Lisa Alzo. August 8.
• Find A Grave - The World's Largest Cemetery Database by Russ Worthington. August 20.
• Researching Your Italian Ancestors by Ruth Merriman. August 27.
• Researching Your Jewish Ancestors by Jennifer Alford. September 3.
• Legacy Family Tree - Virtual User's Group Meeting by Legacy Family Tree Panel. September 5.
• Success with Manuscript Sources by Barbara Renick. September 10.
• A Library at Your Fingertips - the Internet Archive by Maureen Taylor. September 24.
• The Fair Court: Records of Chancery Courts by Judy Russell. October 1.
• Overcoming Destroyed or Missing Records by Karen Clifford. October 3.
• Welcome to FamilySearch Indexing! by Devin Ashby. October 8.
• Researching Your War of 1812 Ancestor by Thomas MacEntee. October 15.
• Tracking Migration Using the Draper Manuscripts by Mary Hill. October 22.
• Legacy Family Tree - Virtual User's Group Meeting by Legacy Family Tree Panel. November 14.
• Using Evernote for Genealogy by Lisa Louise Cooke. November 19.
• Family History for Kids by Devin Ashby. December 3.
• Look Ma, No Hands! Using Dragon Naturally Speaking for Your Genealogy by Ivan Baugh. December 5.
• Researching Your North Carolina Ancestors by J. Mark Lowe. December 10.
• Bagging a Live One - Connecting with Cousins You Never Knew You Had by Mary Kircher Roddy. December 17.

Click here to register. Or click here register for multiple webinars at the same time.

Print the 2014 webinar brochure here.

See you online!

Accuracy is fundamental to genealogical research. Without it, a family's history would be fiction. Genealogy Standards: 50th Anniversary Edition presents the standards family historians use to obtain valid results.

Book: Genealogy Standards: 50th Anniversary Edition - $14.95 $12.95

These standards apply to all genealogical research, whether shared privately or published. They also apply to personal research for clients, courts, and other employers. The standards address documentation; research planning and execution, including reasoning from evidence; compiling research results; genealogical education; and ongoing development of genealogical knowledge and skills.

BCG [Board for Certification of Genealogists] offers these standards to the field as a guide to sound genealogical research and a way to assess the research outcomes that genealogists produce. They are standards for anyone who seeks to research and portray accurately people's lives, relationships, and histories.

Family historians depend upon thousands of people unknown to them. They exchange research with others; copy information from books and databases; and write libraries, societies, and government offices. At times they even hire professionals to do legwork in distant areas and trust strangers to solve important problems. But how can a researcher be assured that he or she is producing or receiving reliable results? This new edition of the official manual from the Board of Certification for Genealogists provides a standard by which all genealogists can pattern their work.

Paperback: 100 pages, 5.5" x 8.5"

Webinar: Thinking About Becoming a Board-certified Genealogist? by Elissa Scalise Powell

Join FamilyTreeWebinars.com and President of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, Elissa Scalise Powell, for a free webinar on Wednesday, June 9, 2014. Here's the webinar description:

Testing yourself against genealogical standards is one of the many reasons to seek credentials. This presentation will discuss who should go for credentials, what the testing procedure entails and how to prepare for it.

Cheryl, from our Legacy Family Tree user group mailing list asked,

"Is there a way to get a LIST of current ages of everyone in the database w/o having to print one report at a time?"

There are a couple of different ways. The first will give you an alphabetical list of everyone in your file and show their "age at death". If this is what you want, follow these steps.

1. Click on the Name List button in the My Toolbar ribbon.
2. Click the Print button.
3. Click the Customize button, then chose one of the field names you can do without for this report, and click on its button with the three dots.
4. Click on the Age At Death entry and click Select. Then click Close.
5. Make sure that the "Age" field has a checkmark next to it. On the Options tab, change the report's title if you want.
6. Click Preview or Print. Here is what this report looks like from the sample file. Notice the Age column on the right:

If you want a list of ages of living family members, use the Calendar List. It is organized by birthday. Follow these steps:

1. Go to Reports > Other Reports > Calendar List.
2. Select your desired options (like to only include Living individuals, and to include the Current Year Age).
3. Click Preview or Print.

Good luck!

Join us this Friday, July 11, 2014 for our next Legacy Family Tree Virtual User's Group Meeting. Learn tips, tricks, and best practices related to using Legacy. Beginning through advanced topics will be discussed - specifically dates, searching, and tagging. We'll also have time for questions and answers.

Join us for the live webinar Friday, July 11, 2014 at 2pm Eastern U.S. Register today to reserve your virtual seat. Registration is free but space is limited to the first 1,000 people to join that day. Before joining, please visit www.java.com to ensure you have the latest version of Java which our webinar software requires. When you join, if you receive a message that the webinar is full, you know we've reached the 1,000 limit, so we invite you to view the recording which should be published to the webinar archives within an hour or two of the event's conclusion.

Download the syllabus

In preparation for the webinar, download the 13 pages of supplemental syllabus materials here.

Or register for multiple webinars at once by clicking here.

Test Your Webinar Connection

To ensure that your webinar connection is ready to go, click here.

Can't make it to the live event?

No worries. Its recording will be available for free indefinitely. Webinar Subscribers have unlimited access to all webinar recordings for the duration of their membership.

Add it to your Google Calendar

With our Google Calendar button, you will never forget our upcoming webinars. Simply click the button to add it to your calendar. You can then optionally embed the webinar events (and even turn them on and off) into your own personal calendar. If you have already added the calendar, you do not have to do it again - the new webinar events will automatically appear.

Webinar time

The webinar will be live on Friday, July 11, 2014 at:

• 2pm Eastern (U.S.)
• 1pm Central
• 12pm Mountain
• 11am Pacific
• 6pm GMT

Or use this Time Zone Converter.

Here's how to attend:

1. Register at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com today. It's free!
2. You will receive a confirmation email containing a link to the webinar.
3. You will receive a reminder email both 1 day and 1 hour prior to the live webinar.
4. Calculate your time zone by clicking here.
5. Make sure you have the latest version of Java installed on your computer. Check at www.java.com.
6. Check your GoToWebinar connection here.
7. Click on the webinar link (found in confirmation and reminder emails) prior to the start of the webinar. Arrive early as the room size is limited to the first 1,000 arrivals that day.
8. Listen via headset (USB headsets work best), your computer speakers, or by phone.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Testing yourself against genealogical standards is one of the many reasons to seek credentials. This webinar, presented by the President of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, Elissa Scalise Powell, will discuss who should go for credentials, what the testing procedure entails and how to prepare for it.

Join us for the live webinar Wednesday, July 9, 2014 at 2pm Eastern U.S. Register today to reserve your virtual seat. Registration is free but space is limited to the first 1,000 people to join that day. Before joining, please visit www.java.com to ensure you have the latest version of Java which our webinar software requires. When you join, if you receive a message that the webinar is full, you know we've reached the 1,000 limit, so we invite you to view the recording which should be published to the webinar archives within an hour or two of the event's conclusion.

Download the syllabus

In preparation for the webinar, download Elissa's 4 pages of supplemental syllabus materials here.

Or register for multiple webinars at once by clicking here.

Test Your Webinar Connection

To ensure that your webinar connection is ready to go, click here.

Can't make it to the live event?

No worries. Its recording will be available for free indefinitely. Webinar Subscribers have unlimited access to all webinar recordings for the duration of their membership.

About the presenter

Elissa Scalise Powell, Certified Genealogist, Certified Genealogical Lecturer, is a western Pennsylvania researcher and co-director of the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP). She is the President of the Board for Certification of Genealogists; an instructor for the “Genealogy Profession” module of Boston University’s on campus and online Genealogical Research Certificate course; and coordinator of the “Professional Genealogy” course at the Samford University Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research. She is a former director of the Association of Professional Genealogists and past president of two local genealogy societies. She is a co-editor of a cemetery book series and a regional and national speaker on methodology, Pennsylvania records, professional development, and society management.

Add it to your Google Calendar

With our Google Calendar button, you will never forget our upcoming webinars. Simply click the button to add it to your calendar. You can then optionally embed the webinar events (and even turn them on and off) into your own personal calendar. If you have already added the calendar, you do not have to do it again - the new webinar events will automatically appear.

Webinar time

The webinar will be live on Wednesday, July 9, 2014 at:

• 2pm Eastern (U.S.)
• 1pm Central
• 12pm Mountain
• 11am Pacific
• 6pm GMT

Or use this Time Zone Converter.

Here's how to attend:

1. Register at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com today. It's free!
2. You will receive a confirmation email containing a link to the webinar.
3. You will receive a reminder email both 1 day and 1 hour prior to the live webinar.
4. Calculate your time zone by clicking here.
5. Make sure you have the latest version of Java installed on your computer. Check at www.java.com.
6. Check your GoToWebinar connection here.
7. Click on the webinar link (found in confirmation and reminder emails) prior to the start of the webinar. Arrive early as the room size is limited to the first 1,000 arrivals that day.
8. Listen via headset (USB headsets work best), your computer speakers, or by phone.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

What a cool experience I had today. I'm writing a book about serendipitous experiences I've had where ancestors have seemed to "speak" to me. Today, while writing chapter 5 about 10-year-old Marvin Brown, and having just inserted a digital image of his death certificate, I wrote the following:

Finding Marvin Brown has changed my life and reinforced my belief that our ancestors reach out to us.

From his death certificate I learned Marvin was born July 2, 1902.

And then it hit me...

Before I write one more word, I've got to tell you about the hairs on my arms that just stood. Today, at this very moment, as I pen this story, is July 2. I had no idea. Happy birthday Marvin!

My experience with my ancestor, Marvin Brown, and the voice I heard in the parking lot on the morning of my 38th birthday, will go down as one of the special, or should I say "sacred" genealogy experiences I've ever had. Isn't it interesting how I began to write his story today, July 2, on his birthday?

By the way, I have Lisa Alzo to thank for finally giving me the encouragement to begin writing this book. In her recent webinar, 10 Ways to Jumpstart Your Family History Narrative, she suggested to just start writing. And that it's okay if your first draft is bad. Two weeks later I'm nearly done with my first draft. Thanks Lisa!

Add this date to your calendar: Sunday, July 20, 2014. Join volunteers from around the world on July 20 and 21 for an international history-making event! The goal? For 50,000 indexers and arbitrators to submit at least one batch in a 24-hour period! Do more if you would like, but one batch is all that is required to be counted in the record! Click here for more information or join the Facebook group.

By the way, anyone can index. As I write this article, both my 12-year-old and 8-year-old sons are in my office - indexing! Somehow they've caught the bug. Maybe their brotherly competition helps too. Whatever your reason, indexing is a big deal. Check out these statistics as of June 30, 2014:

• 1,182,325,120 total records completed
• 78,718,984 total records completed in 2014
• 19,691,636 records awaiting arbitration
• 179,021 total contributors in 2014
• 336 current projects

To get an idea of what indexing is, watch this brief video: