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Genealogy Research Tips and
Sahyun Library Updates

Welcome to the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society’s official blog – a digital space where we embark on a journey to unravel the fascinating tapestry of our shared ancestry. We are thrilled to introduce not only our society but also a treasure trove of knowledge – the Sahyun Genealogical Library.

175,000 New Irish Historical Records Released

Launched three years ago, the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland is now home to over 350,000 records and 250 million words of searchable Irish history. Led by Trinity College Dublin and supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, the project brings together historians, computer scientists, archivists, and librarians working to digitally recreate Ireland’s destroyed

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Free Access to OldNews by MyHeritage

This Independence Day, MyHeritage is opening up a treasure trove of history. From July 3–5, 2025, enjoy free access to 151 million pages of historical U.S. newspapers on OldNews.com! OldNews.com is MyHeritage’s historical newspaper site: a treasure trove of digitized pages from local and national papers around the world. It’s an amazing resource for anyone

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The Six-Folder Genealogy Organizing System

Lost in a sea of digital files, family photos, and paper records? Can’t find the records you know you have? Scanning photos and records more than once? This archives-based system helps you organize ALL of your genealogy research and records in just six folders. No need for color codes, numbering systems, or other complicated schemes

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Italian Ancestry Tips

I came across some old copies of the out-of-print publication Communes of Italy. Here’s a tip I picked up: Looking for photos of your ancestral commune? Try Flickr I found some great shots of Sciacca, Vizzini, and Carini, Sicily. Give it a try. No Italian Ancestry, try searching for your country, state or city, I’ll

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Adjacent in Census or Tax Lists May Not Mean Next Door

Courtesy of Michael John Neill’s Tip of the Day post “Adjacent in Census or Tax Lists May Not Mean Next Door” dated 8-June-2025. Those names that were immediately before and after your ancestor on a census or a tax list probably lived relatively near your ancestor, but do not assume that they shared a property

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The Summer Issue of Ancestors West is Available Online

The Summer edition of Ancestors West has been published and is available for your enjoyment on the Society Publications page of our website. Read stories shared by our members of their ancestors’ remarkable achievements in this issue. Don’t forget that every issue of Ancestors West includes an index of surnames referenced within the publication. You

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Using Reddit for Genealogy

Courtesy of Natalie Webb’s Family Tree Tech Tuesday Tech Tips newsletter dated 10-June-2025. Have you heard of Reddit? Maybe in passing, or perhaps you use it for some of your non-genealogy interests. Reddit is the technological descendant of message boards and forums that were popular in the past. Reddit is a massive online community divided

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PERSI Tips by Amy Johnson Crow

I was watching a couple of Amy Johnson Crow’s videos this evening and came across this one and had to share it. She gives great advice and instruction on using PERSI (Peridical Source Index). After you watch her video and learn how to use the index and you find a publication you want to see

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SBCGS Shoutout From the NGS Conference

Connie Knox from GenealogyTV on YouTube interviewed several people at the National Genealogical Society (NGS) Family History Conference in Louisville, KY last month. One of her guests was Aimee Cross from Camarillo and fellow member of the Ventura County Genealogical Society. Watch what Aimee said about SBCGS here. Thanks Aimee for the recognition. Submitted by

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Ancestry Launches Document Transcription Feature

“Ancestry announces the Beta launch of its new document transcription feature. This innovative tool can empower Ancestry World Explorer/World Deluxe members to easily read and preserve handwritten documents like journal entries and letters from the past.” The document transcription feature is available on any of the Ancestry platforms (app, mobile, or desktop website) by uploading

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Did You Miss Mark Lowe’s Webinar?

If you missed Mark Lowe’s webinar on Early Migration and Settlement Patterns you missed a good one. Mark’s five-page handout is packed with resources. Members can view the webinar recording and download the handout for a limited time in the Webinar Archive.  Don’t miss our next webinar with James Beidler on Sunday, September 28th at

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NGS Recognizes Elizabeth Swanay O’Neal, CG

“The National Genealogical Society (NGS) presented awards to those whose work highlights excellence in genealogy scholarship and service at a plenary session on Saturday morning, 24 May, during its Family History Conference, Tales & Trails, at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky.” Awards Committee Chair Judy Nimer Muhn presented the Award of Merit to Elizabeth. “The Award

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Downloading Your Ancestry Tree *AND* Records

“Ancestry does allow users to download their family trees, but you won’t get everything you hoped for. The included backup works by converting the tree into a GEDCOM and – while GEDCOMs include all of the data, text and source citations from a family tree – the format doesn’t support media, such as digital records

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Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library

This is a blog post by the Society of American Archivists that could be helpful to genealogists with Scottish roots:   In celebration of our 50th anniversary year, the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library is pleased to announce the launch of the Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives’ first publicly available archives catalog. The Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives

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Events Calendar: Do You Know?

Do you know that you can filter our events calendar to view specific categories of events? For instance, highlight Classes, SIGs, L&L from the Show dropdown list to display only those events. After logging into the website, members can also filter the calendar to display Classroom and Woodward room reservations for non-society events, Business Meetings,

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Family Tree Maker 2024 Released (revised)

If you have a previous version of FTM installed, before you do anything, please read this handout, graciously provided by Dick Humphrey, moderator of the FTM User Group at the Southern California Genealogical Society. Dick will likely discuss the new version at his July FTMUG meeting on July 13th at 4 p.m. Dick’s class will

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In Memoriam—Edie Wells

Long-time SBCGS member Edie Wells passed away peacefully on Saturday, May 3, 2025, surrounded by her loving family. You may recognize Edie as one of the people greeting guests at the entrance to our monthly meetings at First Presbyterian Church. She was passionate about genealogy, spending countless hours tracing family history and preserving connections across

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Pretending You Were Paying for Help

Courtesy of Michael John Neill’s Tip of the Day post “Pretending You Were Paying for Help” dated 9-May-2025. Even if you are not inclined to have a professional researcher help you with your genealogy problem, pretend that you were. What would you ask them? What would you share with them? Think about: What is your specific problem?

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