The following was written by the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA)

DATE: 2 September 2021

AGRA is pleased to announce two new appointments to the organisation. Jane Roberts will undertake the role of Communications Officer. Joe Saunders has been appointed to the role of Social Media Officer. Both are new, permanent posts.

Jane is a history graduate and AGRA Associate. In addition to her genealogy work, she is a former family history columnist for Yorkshire nostalgia magazine Down Your Way. She also edited the Huddersfield and District Family History Society journal. Her book about rugby league players who died in the Great War was published in 2018. Previously she was a civil servant, in a role which had a significant communications element.

Joe works as a freelance historian on family, house and local history research projects. He is an Associate of AGRA and a Trustee and Outreach team member of the British Association for Local History. Joe is also a part-time history PhD student at the University of York. He has run social media accounts for university groups, a digital humanities project and for The Federation of Family History Societies.

Antony Marr, AGRA Chair, said: “We are constantly looking at ways to move AGRA forward and develop our on-line presence and cope with the growing demands of social media. I welcome the appointment of Jane and Joe to these important roles – the first step in a package of changes currently being planned by our marketing and recruitment team.”

Both appointments are with immediate effect.

Archaeologists working on the HS2 rail link are looking for volunteers to help digitise the burial records of 57,639 Londoners who lived in the city in the 18th and 19th century.

The information relates to St James’s Burial Ground near Euston station, where more than 31,000 burials were excavated as part of HS2’s archaeology work between 2018 and 2019.

The archaeologists now intend to compare their findings with information contained in the burial ground’s records, in a bid to find out more about the site and the lives of Londoners at a time when the city was at the heart of an expanding empire.

You can read more at: https://bit.ly/3jCHwWm.

The following was written by FamilySearch:

SALT LAKE CITY, UT--FamilySearch expanded its free online collections this week with more Catholic Church records from Mexico (Jalisco 1590–1979, Puebla 1545–1977, San Luis Potosí 1586–1977, and Tlaxcala 1576–1994), civil registrations from Guatemala (Alta Verapaz 1877–1994, Baja Verapaz 1877–1994, Chimaltenango 1877–1994, El Progreso 1877–1994, Escuintla 1877–1994, Huehuetenango 1877–1994, Izabal 1877–1994, Jalapa 1877–1994, Jalapa 1877–1994, Retalhuleu 1877–1994, and Sololá 1877-1994), and tax assessment rolls from Canada (Ontario 1834–1899).

US collections added voter registrations from Louisiana (Orleans and St. Tammany Parish 1867–1905), tax records for Massachusetts (Boston 1822–1918), and marriage records for Oregon (1906–1968).

Search these new records and images by clicking on the collection links below, or go to FamilySearch to search over 11 billion free names and record images.

The full list of newly-added records is very long, too long tp publish here. You can find the full list at: https://media.familysearch.org/new-free-historical-records-on-familysearch-week-of-30-august-2021/

About FamilySearch

FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 5,000 family history centers in 129 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Graves in 19,000 churchyards in England are to be digitally mapped in a seven-year project that will be a boon to people researching family history.

The Church of England is to launch a free website next year that will eventually list every grave memorial in every churchyard in the country.

The ancient church of St Bega on the shores of Bassenthwaite Lake in Cumbria is the first churchyard to be scanned by surveyors using sophisticated laser equipment.

“This impressive national project will make a huge difference to those researching family history, as well as easing the administrative burden on parishes,” said Andrew Rumsey, the C of E’s lead bishop for church buildings.

“It will improve management of burial grounds, and make information more fully accessible than ever before.

“It will soon be possible to visit almost any Anglican burial ground in the country and see in real time the location of burial plots. For those researching at distance in the UK or overseas, the digital records will place detailed information from churchyards at their fingertips.”

The new free web-based record system is due to launch next spring, with the option to subscribe to additional services.

You can read more in an article by Harriet Sherwood published in The Guardian at https://bit.ly/3gNF4dO.

Today is the first day of the month. That is still a good time to back up your genealogy files. Then test your backups!

Your backups aren't worth much unless you make a quick test by restoring a small file or two after the backup is completed.

Actually, you can make backups at any time. However, it is easier and safer if you have a specific schedule. The first day of the month is easy to remember, so I would suggest you back up your genealogy files at least on the first day of every month, if not more often. (My computers automatically make off-site backups of all new files every few minutes.)

Given the events of the past few months with genealogy websites laying off employees and cutting back on services, you now need backup copies of everything more than ever. What happens if the company that holds your online data either goes off line or simply deletes the service where your data is held? If you have copies of everything stored either in your own computer, what happens if you have a hard drive crash or other disaster? If you have one or more recent backup copies, such a loss would be inconvenient but not a disaster.

Of course, you might want to back up more than your genealogy files. Family photographs, your checkbook register, all sorts of word processing documents, email messages, and much more need to be backed up regularly. Why not do that on the first day of each month? or even more often?

The following was written by MyHeritage:

In honor of Labor Day, we’re pleased to announce that for the first week of September, we’re offering access to all census records on MyHeritage for free, from September 1–8, 2021!

Search Census & Voter Lists on MyHeritage now for free

The Census & Voter Lists category on MyHeritage encompasses a vast repository of over 1.3 billion records, including census records from the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Scandinavia, and Canada as well as electoral rolls and other records from Australia, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Armenia, Greece, and much more. These records offer valuable snapshots of the lives of people living in these locations throughout history, especially from the 19th century onward. Censuses are particularly valuable in that they can help you watch the lives of your ancestors unfold as they move from location to location, get married or divorced, have children, or change careers. Some of these collections include high-resolution scans of the original records.

Records on MyHeritage are always free to search, but to view the records, you generally need a paid Data or Complete plan. This week, however, all census and voter list records are completely free for all to access and enjoy.

If you’re researching ancestors from another country, you may find this opportunity particularly useful. Thanks to MyHeritage’s Global Name Translation™ technology, you can find records even in languages other than your own. The algorithm identifies additional versions of the names you’re searching for, including nicknames and versions in other languages, and will locate records that match. The census and voter list collections include, for example, electoral rolls from Greece that are recorded in Greek — but you can still search them in your native language, and you’ll see the results translated back into your language for you.

This offer ends September 8, so don’t wait — search the Census & Voter Lists on MyHeritage for free now!

The following announcement was written by Fold3:

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is an agency within the United States Department of Defense. Their mission is to recover the remains of military personnel who are listed as prisoners of war or missing in action from past conflicts. We’ve added a new collection of indexed records for the estimated 82,000 American military and civilian personnel still missing in action. The index covers multiple conflicts including WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and more recent conflicts including Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. 

The DPAA collection is divided into two groups. Group A, which consists of 38,000 missing service members whose remains are considered recoverable; and Group B consists of 44,000 missing service members whose remains are considered unrecoverable.z

You can read more at: https://blog.fold3.com/new-pow-mia-records-added.

The following is a press release written by Ancestry.com. 

LEHI, Utah & SAN FRANCISCO, August 31, 2021 - Ancestry®, the global leader in family history, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Geneanet, a leading French genealogy company. With over 30 billion records from more than 80 countries, Ancestry helps customers discover new details about their family story and ancestors. The terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

With a large and growing European community of more than 4 million members, Geneanet is available in ten languages and more than 25 countries. Combining Geneanet's free family tree platform and engaged community with Ancestry’s global subscriber base and unparalleled historical records will enable family history discoveries and connections for even more people around the world.

Ancestry, which already offers the largest collection of European records, is also investing in digitizing and indexing a national collection of French historical records, including the complete French census and birth, marriage and death records which will be available soon, accelerating family history discoveries and connections between people in France and those around the world with French heritage.

“We are thrilled to welcome Geneanet to the Ancestry family and look forward to working together to grow our global community so that more people can easily discover, craft and connect around their family story,” said Deb Liu, Ancestry President and CEO. “Ancestry is committed to continued investment in Geneanet’s free tree-building platform and the volunteer spirit of its community.”

“This is an exciting next step for Geneanet and for our community. We will preserve our business model and continue to focus on what we do well, building a highly-engaged community of passionate users. Our members will greatly benefit from Ancestry’s vast record collections and global network as they build their family trees and connect with new relatives and share their family stories,” said Jacques Le Marois, Founder and CEO of Geneanet. “I am delighted to build the next chapter together and look forward to the opportunity to play an active role in the company’s future.”

Upon closing, Geneanet will operate as an independent business in the Ancestry portfolio of companies. Jacques Le Marois, Founder and CEO of Geneanet, will remain in his role as the head of the Geneanet website and community.

About Ancestry

Ancestry®, the global leader in family history and consumer genomics, empowers journeys of personal discovery to enrich lives. With our unparalleled collection of more than 30 billion records and over 20 million people in our growing consumer DNA network, customers can discover their family story and gain a new level of understanding about their lives. For over 30 years, we’ve built trusted relationships with millions of people who have chosen us as the platform for discovering, preserving and sharing the most important information about themselves and their families.

It is with great sadness that I report the death of a good friend. 

Connie Bradbury, was born in Hysham, Montana, on Dec. 1, 1939, to Edith Harper and RJ Malcolm. Connie passed away on Aug. 20, 2021, in St. George, Utah, due to complications from a stroke, with her loving and devoted husband, Jim, right by her side.

Connie was raised in Big Timber, Montana, and attended and graduated from Big Timber High School. Later she went on to study business administration at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and genealogy at Brigham Young University.

You can read Connie's full obituary at https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/newsminer/name/constance-bradbury-obituary?pid=199962426.

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman. 

Consider the environment. Do you really need to print out this article?

I occasionally receive e-mail messages from newsletter readers asking various questions about how to print articles published in this newsletter. I also frequently hear comments at genealogy conferences and elsewhere from family historians stating, "I printed it out to save it and..." or similar words.

I have one question: Why?

I believe that many people print information on paper simply as a matter of habit. We were brought up before the age of computers and were taught to record everything on paper. For many of us, we have spent years making photocopies of old records and then storing those papers in various filing systems. Some of us, myself included, have spent a lot of money purchasing four-drawer filing cabinets to store all the various pieces of paper we have accumulated. Yes, I own two four-drawer filing cabinets, which I now consider to be a waste of money and floor space.

When computers were in their infancy, we printed things for long-term storage. Computers prior to the year 2000 had limited storage capacity, making it difficult to guarantee future access to stored documents. In addition, the media of choice up to about the year 2000 was not designed for long-term storage. The floppy disk drives that were commonly used had a life expectancy measured in months or perhaps a very few years. CD-ROM disks were introduced in the 1990s, but the life expectancy of those plastic disks isn't much greater than that of floppies. Most of us have always assumed that paper was the best choice for long-term storage.

Even worse, use of removable disk media isn't convenient; identifying and retrieving information stored on a removable disk (or flashdrive) kept on a shelf requires some sort of a sophisticated filing system which most of us have never created. No matter how good the filing system is, searching for an obscure word or phrase in the middle of thousands of documents stored in hundreds of disks sitting on the shelf is usually a frustrating experience.

Indeed, there have always been good reasons for storing records on paper.

Until now.

The remainder of this article is reserved for Plus Edition subscribers only. If you have a Plus Edition subscription, you may read the full article at: https://eogn.com/(*)-Plus-Edition-News-Articles/10962047.

If you are not yet a Plus Edition subscriber, you can learn more about such subscriptions and even upgrade to a Plus Edition subscription immediately at https://eogn.com/page-18077.