PGS Has a Facebook Page

For some time now PGS has had a Facebook page. If you go to our webpage, at the bottom of the home page you will find an icon that you can click on to show you "like" the Facebook page. That gets you in the loop to see each new Facebook entry. The same icon is in the right hand margin of this Blog page.

We list all of our classes and events weekly, send out special bulletins, and publish photographs of PGS events and activities.

You can also get to the Facebook page directly by typing the following into the address box of your browser: www.facebook.com/pinellasgenealogysociety

Family History Assistance Day is Coming Up

The PGS is sponsoring Family History Assistance Day on 29 Oct 2011 from 12-4 PM at the Largo Library.

During this event, you can receive one-on-one help from experienced researchers. How often have you wanted to sit in front of a computer with someone who can show you how to get started in your research? How often have you wanted to consult with someone about some problem you have encountered? This event may be for you.

It event will operate on a first-come-first-served basis. If there are people ahead of you, there will be other events such as classes going on to help make good use of your wait time.

The event is free and open to the public, and there is no need to preregister.

Lee County Genealogy Society Unvails Obituary Database

After more than a decade of hard work, The Lee county Genealogy Society has rolled out abstracts of Lee County deaths published in the Fort Myers News-Press between the years 1930 and 1997. The database holding 65,528 entries is now available in a searchable format at their website.

In the left hand side of any of the pages at their site, you'll see a new link "Area Deaths". Clicking on that link will bring you into the database where you can search for the date of death notices and obituaries by last name, which appeared in the Fort Myers News-Press between the years of 1930 and 1997. By clicking on the icon in the "Actions" column, you'll see the Section of the newspaper and the Page number.

The database does not contain the actual obituary...it is a pointer to where it can be found in the Fort Myers News-Press held at the Fort Myers-Lee County Public Library at 2050 Central Avenue in downtown Fort Myers, FL.

Check it out at http://www.lcgsfl.org/areaDeaths.php

Ancestry.com Anniversary

In case you didn't see it, Ancestry is celebrating it's 15th anniversary from 1 to 15 October by making several collections free for that period. Check the site for free searches and daily prizes.

Here is Ancestry's announcement: You’re invited to a 15-day celebration of your story—and ours. Visit Ancestry.com daily October 1st-15th to search some of our favorite collections for free and enter for a chance to win the prize of the day in the 15 Days of Discovery Sweepstakes.
*Each day starting October 1, 2011 we’ll reveal a collection youcan search for free through midnight ET on October 15, 2011

Analyzing Brick Walls–Exposed

In the Blog “Genealogy’s Star,” James Tanner gives us much to think about concerning the infamous brick wall. First, he defines what a brick wall is. You will find his definition interesting…it is not simply coming to a dead end…his definition is much more precise than that.

As his analysis unfolds, you will be reminded of Damon Hostetler’s presentation at the August meeting of the PGS. He called it “Where Is That Old Codger"? His approach to defeating brick walls fits right into James’ suggestions.

You can check out the Blog at Genealogy's Star: Analyzing Brick Walls -- a genealogical myth or reality?

School Yearbook Collection on Ancestry.com

In case you don't know about it, or haven't visited it in a while, you should check out the yearbook collection on Ancestry.com.

Ancestry continues to expand its collection and it reportedly now has more than 35,000 books with 155 million records from 1884 to 2009.

You can find the collection on the Ancestry.com site by searching the catalog using the keyword "yearbook."

1940 Census Presentation in Tampa

On 22 October from 10:30 to noon at the John Germany Library (900 N. Ashley Dr,, Tampa, Fl.) there will be a presentation on the 1940 census.

The speaker, Shane Bell, is an archivist from the National Archives who will paint a broad picture of what's on the census, how the information was collected and now digitized, and how it is a reflection of the historical times. He will put the census in its socio-economic context.
The 1940 census is the first census after the Great Depression so it will reflect the migration to urban areas. It's the first census to have a short and long form, the first to ask people their income, the first that could be mailed back, and the first to ask people where they had lived 5 years earlier.

The 1940 census will be released next April, but at least for a while will not be indexed for easy searching.

In the December-February timeframe, the PGS will also present a class on the 1940 census…both at the Largo Library and the Aging Well Center in Clearwater. You may want to go to both the Tampa and local events to get multiple perspectives on this important topic.

Syncing Family Tree Information—Some Thoughts

Randy Seaver in his blog “Genea-Musings” offers a though-provoking post on the issue of syncing family tree information. By “syncing” we mean making a change in a family tree on one platform in one piece of software and having that change update itself in a copy of that family tree resident on another platform and created by a different piece of software.

There are some noble efforts being made to accomplish this, but as Randy observe, we are probably in the infancy of this technology.

You can read Randy’s post at: Genea-Musings: GEDCOM, Software, Online Trees and Syncing

Statement of Work for 1940 U.S. Census

In mid-August, NARA released the statement of work and the request for quote concerning the 1940 US Census. This is one of the steps in the process of getting a contractor on board to do the work that NARA needs done to make the census available to the public.

Interested parties will respond to the request for quote and a winner (or winners) will be selected.

Randy Seaver in his Blog “Genea-Musings” has capsulized the major points in both the request for quote and the statement of work. If you are excitedly awaiting the release of the census in April 2012, you may find this summary interesting.

Genea-Musings: 1940 U.S. Census Request for Quote and Statement of Work is out

More Ideas About Dealing With Piles Of “Stuff”

James Tanner in his Blog Genealogy’s Star weighs in with some amusing and serious/helpful ideas about dealing with genealogy in quantity.

I especially like his comments about the money value of our time. The essence is that our time is valuable, so we should feel free to justify spending money to make the best use of it…faster scanners, digital cameras, etc.

Check out the article at: Genealogy's Star: Dealing with the piles and boxes, genealogy in quantity

Mini Seminar at Suncoast Genealogy Society

Suncoast Genealogy SocietyMini Seminar --

2011October 29, 2011
Palm Harbor Library Community Room
2330 Nebraska Ave, Palm Harbor
1:00 PM to 4:00 PM(Registration 12:30PM)

Speaker:Drew Smith
Topics: (1) Beyond Database Programs: Technology Tools to Manage Your Research
(2) Where is the Book with My Family in It?

For registration information Contact: Ann James: Phone 727-791-1983; Email: jamesamsj@ail.com

Family History Writing Competition

Pinellas Genealogist, quarterly journal of the Pinellas Genealogy Society, is accepting entries for the annual Family History Writing Competition from members and non-members of the Society.

Entries should be based on the author’s research of a family history or a genealogical account of family lines and lives, discussing the steps followed and the conclusions that resulted from the research. Entries may be original, unpublished papers or published papers. If previously published, please submit permission to reprint from the original publisher along with the entry.

Prizes will be awarded to three submissions selected by our judges: 1st prize is $50, 2d prize is $30 and 3d prize is $20.

All entries must be received no later than 31 Oct 2011.See the competition rules and information on where to send entries on the PGS website at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~flpgs/index.htm

Webinar on FamilySearch Learning Activities

I just fininshed watching a webinar produced last July on three important learning activities offered by FamilySearch. They are online classes, the Wiki, and Forums.


The show lasts about 30 minutes and gives a great overview of what each of the three areas has to offer and how to use them.


I found the Wiki especially helpful, since I personally have been having trouble finding some things on the FamilySearch website since it's make-over last year.


You can watch the video at: http://www.millenniacorp.com/_videos/webinars/2011-07-06-we/2011-07-06-we.html

Library Book Sale 24 September

The Friends of the Largo Library will hold a huge booksale from 9 am to 3:3o pm on 24 September at the Largo Library.

Adult's books will cost $0.50 each (3 for $1.00). Kid's books will be $0.25 each.

Come early, grab a snack at the cafe, and enjoy the sale.

Public Land Survey System

Land descriptions can be confusing, especially when in comes to the Public Land States. Ironically, the survey system adopted for those states was meant to be simple, I’m sure, and an improvement over the old metes-and-bounds system.

Well, it actually is, but you have to know the key. The Genealogy Insider Blog recently had a good explanation of this survey system (complete with pictures).

Brush up on your geography at: Genealogy Insider - This Land Is Your Land .

Genealogy Tip

The GenealogyInTime Blog has a tip of the week offering that may be just what you need to break through a brick wall.

One in particular focuses on the problem of not finding people on the census who you know should be there. The tip gives you a method of tracking them down that you may not have tried before.

Check it out at: Genealogy Tip of the Week .

Small-town Newspapers

We have probably all seen the virtues of researching historic newspapers. Sometimes, however, we think that big city papers are the desired research avenue. But small town papers have distinct advantages over the big city press in revealing the lives of our ancestors.

In the Blog "GenealogyInTime,” we were recently treated to a detailed article about the unique advantages that researching small town papers gives us. Even if you have been on this trail in the past, the article is worth a read just to be sure you did not miss any of the things these papers offer.

You can check it out at: Searching Historic Small-town Newspapers .

The Evaluation of Records

The Blog Genealogy’s Star recently had a post about the research cycle…in particular about one phase of it: the evaluation of records.

The author, James Tanner was making the point that too often we skip over that last step in the process. His comments are well worth looking at. You can find his article at Genealogy's Star: Skipping the evaluation of records .

I might add the the PGS offers a class on the evaluation of records. Check out the calendar page of out website to see when it will be offered again. The web site is found at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~flpgs/index.htm .

Family History Assistance Day is Coming Up

The PGS is sponsoring Family History Assistance Day on 29 Oct 2011 from 12-4 PM at the Largo Library.

During this event, you can receive one-on-one help from experienced researchers. How often have you wanted to sit in front of a computer with someone who can show you how to get started in your research? How often have you wanted to consult with someone about some problem you have encountered? This event may be for you.

It will operate on a first-come-first-served basis. If there are people ahead of you, there will be other events such as classes going on to help make good use of your wait time.

The event is free and open to the public, and there is no need to pre-register. Put it on your calendar now.

Marketing Genealogy

James Tanner in his Blog Genealogy’s Star gives us an interesting take on all those ads for genealogy products we see. They seem to be everywhere: on websites we visit, conferences we attend, etc.

We tend to see such advertisements as bothersome and sometimes even obstructive. But James’ view is a refreshing one that is worth serious consideration.

Check it out at: Genealogy's Star: Is genealogy just another market?

Civil War Wittness Trees

Diane Haddad in her Blog Genealogy Insider has a fascinating post on “Witness Trees.” This was a new term for me, and Diane gives a good explanation and some links to great examples.

I have to admit that I will not think of trees in the same way again after reading that article.

Check it out at: Genealogy Insider - Civil War Witness Trees

African-American Genealogy

There will be a "Lunch and Learn" session coming up you may be interested in. It will be held from 11:30 am to 1 pm on Tuesday, 13 September at the North Greenwood Recreation and Aquatic Center (900 North MKL Ave., Clearwater, FL)

The topic will be "African-American Genealogy--Methods and Challenges." The presenter is Harriet Thompkins. Harriet does an African-American research class at the Largo Library for the PGS also.

The lunch is free--first come first served. Pre-registration is suggested. Call (727)793-2339, Ext. 244.