WARNING: This is a "soapbox article" in which I rant and rave a little.

A newsletter reader wrote to me a while ago expressing unhappiness with all the erroneous information found in online family trees. The bogus information is usually found in family tree information submitted by other users of whatever online family tree service is being used at the moment.

My belief is that this newsletter reader wasn’t spending much time looking at online images of census, birth, marriage, and death records or at other online documents of value to genealogists: old newspapers, military pension files, and such things.

I decided to share my response publicly in this newsletter so that others could either benefit from or reject my ideas and suggestions.

Instead of spending your time looking at other people's fairy tales, I suggest you look at original records and newspapers (or digital images of original records and newspapers). That's the manner that experienced genealogists have used for decades, and it has always worked well.

Luckily, millions of such records are available online today, unlike the days when I started doing genealogy in the 1980s. In "the old days," I often had to go to the locations where the records were kept. I spent a lot of money on travel and on photocopying machines. However, the expense was worth it. I got accurate results most of the time.

Back in the 1980s, we also had thousands of self-published books written by other genealogists with claims of their family trees. Those books were just as inaccurate as today's online family trees. Those books often were a mix of facts and conjecture, often accompanied by so-called “family coats of arms” and similar fictitious material.

Sadly, in the 1980s and earlier, thousands of new genealogists did not understand the difference between unsourced information versus documented records. A lot of junk claims were copied, republished, and distributed all over the place.

I will suggest that online databases of genealogy information intermixed with fairy tales hasn't really changed genealogy very much. The only difference today is that computers and online capabilities allow genealogists to publish accurate and inaccurate information alike faster, easier, and at less expense than ever before.

My belief is that the PERCENTAGE of inaccurate genealogy information hasn't changed much in many decades. What has changed is the QUANTITY of both accurate and inaccurate information available today.

The reality is that the basics of good genealogy research haven't changed in the past century, even though we certainly have more convenient access today than ever. In short, any genealogy claims you find that are not accompanied by verifiable source citations to original records should be treated as a potential fairy tale.

Please don't get me wrong: I still love the online family trees submitted by other genealogists, and I look at them often. I have thousands of such claims saved in various note files in my computer. I always want to know what someone else thinks is a fact. I want to save those possible fairy tales until I can verify the information myself through independent, well-trusted sources. In most cases, that means looking at an original record, either in person or as an online image.

I still want to know what another person believes is true, even though I have some doubts. Knowing someone else's guesses is still better than knowing nothing at all about an ancestor. There are times when someone else’s guess gives me a clue as to what to look for to see if I can confirm or refute it.

I never, ever enter possible fairy tale information into my primary genealogy database until I have independently verified its accuracy in the original records.

My belief is that your genealogy collection of facts can be better and more accurate today than ever before – if you really care about accuracy.

Anyone who doesn't care about accuracy probably isn't reading this article anyway.

What's in your (possibly bogus) family tree?

Pivotal stories from the grounds of the University of Georgia have been illustrated since 1886 on the pages of UGA’s Pandora yearbooks. As of January 2021, the publications between the years 1965-1974 have been made available for free online access.

You can read more at: http://bit.ly/3reSJOr.

Have you ever wanted to do family history but didn’t know where to start? FamilySearch recently launched a beginner-friendly page to help!

The new Getting Started page provides a variety of simple family history activities and FamilySearch resources that both beginners and genealogy veterans can appreciate. These pages also show how family history is any activity that connects us to our family stories.

Whether you want to learn what FamilySearch knows already knows about your family, how to preserve family memories, or how to build your family tree or search records, the Getting Started page makes it easy to begin exploring your family story.

You can read more in an article by Jessica Grimaud in the FamilySearch Blog at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/new-getting-started-page/ which then adds a bit of "how to get started" info and then points you to many, many other online resources, most of them on the FamilySearch.org web site.

The city of Shelby has been awarded a $2,967 grant through the Ohio History Fund to digitize and transcribe approximately 5,800 pages of city council minutes, incorporation records and ordinances dating from 1863 through 1934.

The project sponsored by the city’s Historic Preservation Commission will involve partners Marvin Memorial Library and the Richland County - Shelby Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society. Once scanned, the images will be uploaded to the library’s section of the Ohio Memory Project. Genealogy chapter volunteers will transcribe any handwritten minutes. The entire project will be searchable and freely available to the public.

You can read more in an article published in the Richland Source web site at: http://bit.ly/3bVAebm.

My thanks to newsletter reader Resa Hennings for telling me about this article.

The following announcement was posted to the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies’ Public Records Access Monitoring Committee’s mailing list and is republished here with permission:

A hearing has been scheduled for the bill, LD 601 An Act Regarding Indices of Vital Records, regarding indices to certificates and records of marriage, intentions to marry, domestic partnerships and death including fetal death from 1892 to the present to be open to the public without restrictions. Indices to certificates and records of birth are to be open at the municipal and state levels after 75 years from the date of birth.

The hearing is on Wednesday March 17, 2021 at 10:00 AM. On the current agenda it is the third bill to be heard. IAJGS is supporting the bill while inquiring why birth indices are not being treated the same as the other indices, that is open without any embargo period.

The bill may be read at: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=SP0240&item=1&snum=130

To read the previous postings about the Maine bill and vital records go to the archives of the IAJGS Records Access Alert at: http://lists.iajgs.org/mailman/private/records-access-alerts/. You must be registered to access the archives. To register go to: http://lists.iajgs.org/mailman/listinfo/records-access-alerts and follow the instructions to enter your email address, full name and which genealogical organization with whom you are affiliated You will receive an email response that you have to reply to or the subscription will not be finalized.

Jan Meisels Allen
Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

This week on FamilySearch search 2M New York Land Records 1630–1975, Virginia County Marriages 1771–1943, Utah Tooele County (misc.) Records 1771–1956, and US Bureau of Land Management Tract Books 1800–c. 1955, along with expanded US collections for Arizona, California and Illinois. Explore additional records in New Zealand Electoral Rolls 1865–1957, England Cambridgeshire Bishop's Transcripts 1865–1083, and Uruguay Catholic Church Records 1726–2000, plus more for Brazil, Canada, England, Finland, France, Jamaica, Peru, Puerto Rico, and S. Africa.  

The full list of newly-added records is very long, too long to fit here. However, you may find the full list at: https://media.familysearch.org/new-free-historical-records-on-familysearch-week-of-1-march-2020/.

RootsTech Connect 2021 may be over but I expect there will be a number of articles over the next few weeks that are follow-up to events that happened during the virtual conference. Here's the latest announcement from FamilySearch:

A federal judge on Monday granted Ancestry.com LLC’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the company uses and profits from photographs and other personal details in its U.S. school yearbooks database without permission.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler ruled the plaintiffs failed to sufficiently allege standing to pursue their proposed class action, and in any case the company is immune from liability under the Communications Decency Act.

To read the full story on Westlaw Today, click here: bit.ly/38hBbd5

Past articles about this lawsuit may be found in past articles in this newsletter.

February 27 marked the close of RootsTech Connect 2021. This was the first year this conference with hundreds of thousands of attendees was held as a virtual conference. Overall, the conference was deemed a success even though there was no way to meaningfully compare it to the in-person conferences of previous years. However, more than a half-million people registered around the world, making this the biggest genealogy event ever.

No matter how you measure it, I'd say the virtual conference was a success as it appears that the conference met most of the objectives (or maybe ALL of the objectives) of Family Search, the conference organizers.

Rather than my writing about this conference, I'd like to offer a "virtual" report and let others write about it. Following is a list of just a few of the many online articles written about this year's virtual conference. If these articles do not tell you everything you want to know about last week's events, go to your favorite search engine and search for "RootsTech Connect 2021" to find hundreds more articles about it.

One thing about a virtual technical conference with more than a half-million people attendees: those attendees know how to document what happened with technology... ON-LINE!

RootsTech Connect 2021 (written before the conference was held but provides a good overall introduction to the plans): https://rootstech.net/

Welcome to the Family (written as RootsTech Connect 2021 was drawing to a close): https://www.familysearch.org/rootstech/rtc2021/home

RootsTech Connect 2021 sessions: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/RootsTech/2021/RootsTech-Connect-2021-Sessions-eng.pdf

Hundreds of thousands attend all-virtual RootsTech Connect 2021: https://www.idahostatejournal.com/community/hundreds-of-thousands-attend-all-virtual-rootstech-connect-2021/article_d1cb7fc2-0b46-50dc-a041-1fce0bc634ee.html

Dozens of YouTube videos about RootsTech Connect 2021 and I suspect more videos will, still be added in the next few days: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=RootsTech+Connect+2021

3 RootsTech keynotes explain why knowing your family history matters.
https://www.deseret.com/faith/2021/2/18/22286410/what-3-rootstech-keynote-speakers-learned-family-story-why-genealogy-matters-history-ancestry

‘How Does Your Name Sound’ and other new innovations to see at RootsTech Connect at https://www.deseret.com/faith/2021/2/25/22297651/rootstech-connect-genealogy-virtual-how-does-your-name-sound-other-new-innovations-technology

Vivid-Pix Brings Family History Home at RootsTech Connect 2021 with Free Education & Research: https://www.businessghana.com/site/news/general/233364/Vivid-Pix-Brings-Family-History-Home-at-RootsTech-Connect-2021-with-Free-Education-Research

And finally, 3-day RootsTech Connect was simply the ‘ribbon cutting’ for what’s to come (a peek at plans for future RootsTech plans): https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2021-02-27/rootstech-connect-virtual-global-event-one-million-participants-205560

Most of the sessions from the virtual, global family event will be available to watch on-demand throughout 2021. Keep an eye on https://www.RootsTech.org.

The following is an announcement from the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG):

Paul Edward Sluby Sr. (1934–2019)
(Photograph used with the permission of Patricia Carter Sluby, PhD)

Applications for scholarships for African Americans to participate in national genealogical institutes are due 15 March 2021, the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) announced today. This scholarship, established in 2020, is named after the first board-certified African American genealogist, Paul Edward Sluby Sr. 
 
Scholarships will be awarded to up to three students who are African American, to cover up to $1,700 of the tuition, travel, and lodging expense of attending one of five premier national institutes. BCG will also waive its final application fee of $300 for scholarship recipients who submit portfolios of work to be considered for certification within three years of the announcement of an award.
 
The application form and supporting material is posted on BCG’s website at https://bcgcertification.org/learning/african-american-scholarship/. Applicants are required to submit an essay and a sample of their genealogical research. It is anticipated that scholarship recipients will be awarded in May 2021, so that recipients can take part in institutes scheduled for 2022. Those wishing to apply should fill out the required application form and submit with supporting materials to office@bcgcertification.org.
 
The five institutes eligible for scholarships for tuition, travel, and lodging expenses (where applicable) are:

• • Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed), held annually at the National Archives and other locations in Washington, DC, and College Park, Maryland. The 2022 session is scheduled for July 2022.
  • Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP), held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, provides two separate week-long sessions in June and July.
  • Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research (IGHR), held in Athens, Georgia, in July, under the auspices of the Georgia Genealogical Society.
  • Midwest African American Genealogical Institute (MAAGI), based at the Allen County Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, currently offered for three days in early July.
  • Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG), sponsored by the Utah Genealogical Society, Salt Lake City held in January each year.

Where a scholarship is announced after the close of registration for a particular institute, BCG will work with the institute to make available seats for scholarship recipients in the specific course of his or her choice. Applicants should exhibit intermediate or higher skills that have prepared them for an in-depth learning experience. There is no age limit or income requirement.