Subscribe to the blog!
Genealogy Research Tips and
Sahyun Library Updates
Free Webinars This Weekend
Are you sad that Family History Month is almost over? Fear not! WikiTree Week starts on November 1st with a full week of live and recorded genealogy classes and events. The week starts with the WikiTree Symposium – three days of free webinars from more than 20 popular genealogy speakers such as Thomas MacEntee, Melissa
Texas, Florida and Indiana
Many of you have heard me say, “Check out state sites and archives” here are three I came across recently. Texas: One-Million Issues in the Texas Digital Newspaper Program Florida: Florida Digital Newspaper Library Indiana: Indiana Memory Hosted Digital Collections Posted by Rosa Avolio – Webmaster
Free Sites for Genealogy Research
I’ve talked about these sites many times at my Lunch & Learn classes so I’d like to share this link to Amy Johnson Crow’s video: Overlooked Free Genealogy Websites She does a great job summarizing these sites. Enjoy, happy researching! Posted by Rosa Avolio, Webmaster
How to Find Genealogy Webinars and Conferences
If you don’t already know about Conference Keeper you should check it out. ConferenceKeeper.org is the most complete genealogy calendar of events anywhere! Here you will find thousands of genealogy webinars, seminars, conferences, workshops, podcasts and more, from genealogy societies, libraries, and other organizations all around the world.
When Do You Stop Searching for a Relative?
Michael John Neill posed this rhetorical question in a recent Genealogy Tip of the Day. Should you stop “five years after they died? Thirty years after they died? Never?” “It can be difficult to tell. The important thing is to not stop searching after the individual’s estate has been settled. A deceased person can easily
Free MyHeritage Class
Using MyHeritage Library Edition for Your Family History Research Robin McCarthy will give an overview of some of MyHeritage Library Edition’s top features and how it can expand your genealogy research. This premium subscription is available at the Sahyun Genealogical Library and for members from home. Robin will be presenting over Zoom. Register here to receive
Soldiers and Sailors Database
Did you know that the National Park Service maintains more than just parks and forests? The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS) is a database containing information about the men who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Other information on the site includes histories of Union and Confederate regiments,
Breaking “News” – the Santa Barbara News-Press that is
Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society members will soon be able to access Santa Barbara News-Press content through the society’s Newspapers.com Publisher Extra subscription. No more scrolling through microfilm at the main branch of the Santa Barbara Public Library. This invaluable resource is due to the Santa Barbara Historical Museum’s recent acquisition of the News-Press archives,
Announcing New Writers’ Group
A new Writers’ Group is being launched on Wednesday, October 16th for Family History Month. The group is for those who wish for a targeted discussion about writing – what engages the reader, show instead of tell, verbs and visuals, what to do if you have no photos, what makes for compelling writing, etc. The
FREE Legacy Family Tree “Webtember”
Legacy Family Tree Webinars is hosting their annual Webtember series: free, month-long online genealogy lectures! Take your genealogy skills to the next level with this FREE online genealogy conference, held each Friday in September: 20 live webinars in all. Join live for all four Fridays or just one, and if you can’t, they’ve got you
Do You Know About Delayed Certificates of Birth?
Recently I came across what I thought was a Certificate of Birth but it was headed “Delayed Certificate of Birth” I was surprised to find it contained different information than a Certificate of Birth issued at the time of the birth. Here’s a seven-minute video by Lisa Lisson explaining what a Delayed Certificate of Birth
Member Orientation
Saturday’s Member Orientation was very well received by new, returning, and current members alike. There’s always something to learn about our SBCGS’s Sahyun Genealogical Library. It’s a gem in our community; with access to so many books, maps, surnames, and locality files not to mention the wide variety of subscription sites from which to research
FamilySearch.org – Beyond the Records, World Tree, & Wiki
There’s a world of information to discover at FamilySearch.org that’s not just about the world tree, the wiki, or searching records. Take a virtual walking tour of the FamilySearch Library (FSL) and see the recent changes to each floor. There are two library catalogs. The original library catalog has not been updated since September 2022
Canadian Research
For those of you researching ancestors in Canada this website Looking 4 Ancestors is a wealth of information. Click on the tab to request her research guide Sign up for her digital newsletter also to get new and useful information and news of upcoming webinars. Posted by Rosa Avolio – webmaster
Free Access and Offers for Labor Day Weekend
Free Access to AncestryDNA Shared Matches Tool Now through September 3rd, if you have a current Ancestry Membership and have taken an AncestryDNA test, you can try out Ancestry’s Pro Tools Shared Matches feature. Here’s how to access it. Go to your DNA Results Summary and click View DNA Matches. Click one of your DNA matches and then
Free Franceschi House Presentation TONIGHT!
SBCGS member Rick Closson is giving a free presentation TONIGHT about the Franceschi House. Rick’s presentation “will reveal a hidden story of the Franceschi House. It involves the arc of a man’s life from humble birth to fabulous wealth and enlightenment. Along the way are encounters with people whose historic names we still recognize.” Read
School Is in Session
American Ancestors has dozens of previously recorded presentations available on-demand for FREE! All you need to do is create a free account (if you don’t already have one) and go to the video library. Each video is about one hour long. The video library list covers a variety of topics including interviews with authors, resources
Do You Know . . . ?
You can search family history information for free in the online Family Bible database at Bible Rescue. Family Bibles can also be purchased so Bible Rescue can acquire more Bibles to catalog in their database. Each rescued bible is sent to FamilySearch for scanning and inclusion on their website. Search the Catalog using the keyword
Full text Search at Family Search
At RootsTech 2024, FamilySearch introduced to the public an experimental program using artificial intelligence to scan and transcribe a selection of records in the FamilySearch library. That experiment is available on the familysearch.org website with a free subscription. It is called Full-Text Search. The many facets of artificial intelligence for use in genealogy are advancing
NARA Announces Extracted Text Feature
You can view and use the machine-generated (Optical Character Recognition or OCR) extracted text for many records in the NARA Catalog. The extracted text is far from perfect, especially handwritten text. NARA encourages users to submit corrections to any inaccurate text. Learn how to access, and optionally correct text on this page. Submitted by Robin
