Here is a web site you probably should bookmark: https://cloudconvert.com. You probably won't need to use it often but when you do have a need it can be a lifesaver. Best of all, it is a free service if you only want to convert a few files. However, if you want to convert dozens of files, there is a modest charge.

CloudConvert converts almost any file from one format to almost any other format. It recognizes files in more than 200 different formats, and connects with Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. I find it useful for converting PNG images into JPG format. It also can can turn a PDF file into a DOCX file, which you may open in Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, or Google Docs. It also can convert Macintosh Keynote presentation files into PowerPoint PPTX files. In fact, CloudConvert can convert about 200 different file formats into other file formats.

I find that CloudConvert does an excellent job of converting PDF files into editable .DOC or .DOCX files as its translation seems to be very accurate.

CloudConvert also allows you to extract audio from a video file. For example, I selected a .MOV file and converted it to .MP3 format. That gave me an audio-only .MP3 file. It also converts .MOV video files into .MP4 video files as well. Did you download a video from the web, only to find it doesn't display in your computer's video player? CloudConvert probably can fix the problem for you.

CloudConvert is a cloud-based application. That is, the program runs from a web site. There is no software to install in your computer. It works equally well on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Chromebooks, and even on mobile and portable devices running Android or Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch).

For occasional use, CloudConvert doesn't charge. If you convert files smaller than 1 gigabyte, fewer than five files at a time, and use less than 25 minutes of file conversion time a day, CloudConvert's services are free of charge. For high volume users, CloudConvert does charge fees as described at https://cloudconvert.com/pricing. I suspect most in-home users will never encounter a need for fees.

CloudConvert is one of those useful web tools that you may not need immediately. But, the next time you say, "I can't open this file...," give it a try. CloudConvert may be able to convert that file you can't use into one you can.

CloudConvert is available at https://cloudconvert.com.

The following announcement about Online Repository Assistant (often called "ORA") was written by John Cardinal, the author of the program:

ORA v1.16 Released

Now Supports Hundreds of Repositories

Narragansett, Rhode Island, December 7, 2020 - Family History Hosting is pleased to announce the release of ORA version 1.16. ORA is the "Online Repository Assistant", a web browser extension combined with a Windows program to help you extract data from online repositories and capture the information in your preferred genealogy program. ORA has several features that will save time, reduce errors, and increase the consistency of yourdata entry.

Originally released in June with support for four popular repositories, ORA now has custom support for thirteen repositories and with its new Generic Service it supports thousands of sites that publish genealogy data!

Here's an example where ORA's Generic Service extracted data from a record on FreeCen.org.uk, a site that provides free access to 19th century UK censuses:

Using ORA's Auto Type feature, users can automatically copy the items shown in ORA's Control Panel to fields in the genealogy program of their choice.

Some of the many sites that are now supported by ORA via its Generic Service include vital record collections for many US states and several other countries, probate and will collections in several jurisdictions, BMD indexes for most of the counties in the UK, and hundreds of other sites. ORA can extract data from any site that publishes data in a tabular form as long as the site follows web standards and conventions, and most sites do.

If you publish a One-Name Study or similar, you need ORA. It will dramatically reduce the time you spend gathering data.

For more information about ORA, see its Introduction slideshow at https://www.ora-extension.com/en/intro.htm?v=1.01. The Introduction includes several videos that show ORA in action.

ORA is sold as a subscription service, $24 USD per year. ORA is not affiliated with any of the repositories it supports. ORA does not do any searching for you; it evaluates pages you visit during your normal use of a repository and makes it faster and easier to extract the information you find. For Ancestry, Findmypast, and other fee-based repositories, you must have an account with that repository.

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

This week on FamilySearch explore nearly 3M parish and civil registrations for France, Nord 1524–1893 and Seine-Saint-Denis 1523–1932, plus millions of new Catholic Church records for Mexico, Durango 1604–1985, and Ecuador 1565–2011. Discover your ancestors in  more new records for the Dominican Republic, Germany, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, S. Africa and the United States (Georgia voter registrations 1856–1941 and Chicago Illinois 1888–1892, tax records for Boston, Massachusetts 1822–1918, and more records for Alabama, Arkansas, California, Mississippi, New Jersey, Utah and Washington).  

Search these new records and images by clicking on the collection links below, or go to FamilySearch to search over 8 billion free names and record images.

The full list is very long, too long to fit in this space. You can read the entire list at https://media.familysearch.org/new-free-historical-records-on-familysearch-week-of-7-december-2020/. 

I received a rather pleasant surprise this past weekend: He's back!

An old friend is announcing the formation of a new company that will provide a valuable service to genealogists.

Many long-time genealogists will recognize the name Bob Velke. Bob probably is best known in the genealogy community as the founder and CEO of The Master Genealogist (TMG), genealogy software for Microsoft Windows first released in 1993. Bob founded the company Wholly Genes Software to sell and support the program.

Those who were able to learn more about Bob also soon realized he was an expert researcher and a person who demanded true source citations to all facts that he added to his own genealogy database. He strongly encouraged the users of The Master Genealogist to do the same with their record keeping. Indeed, The Master Genealogist was the experts' preferred tool for proper record keeping. Nothing before or since has the source citation capabilities of The Master Genealogist.

Time marches on and Wholly Genes Software eventually went out of business and faded away. However, here is a new press release I received from Bob this past weekend:

Introducing Gopher Records, LLC: a new way to retrieve records from the  National Archives.

For a limited time, you can get a Civil War pension  file for just $25 and a service file for just $10. This introductory offer represents a 50% discount from our regular prices which are already the lowest in the industry.

When ordering directly from NARA, a digital copy of a full pension file  is $80 for the first 100 pages and $0.70 per page thereafter. For a  300-page file, that's $220.00 - but our price is just $25 with this  amazing offer.

NARA is closed for COVID-19 but we are taking advanced orders now. When  NARA opens, orders will be processed in the order that they are  received. Best of all, you won’t be asked to pay until your documents  are ready to be delivered to you.

This 50% discount offer expires on 31 Dec 2020.

Please visit us at https://GopherRecords.com/de/.

The following is a press release from the Blackstone Group, Inc.:

NEW YORK-- Blackstone (NYSE: BX) today announced that private equity funds managed by Blackstone (“Blackstone”) have completed their previously announced acquisition of Ancestry® from Silver Lake, GIC, Spectrum Equity, Permira, and other equity holders for a total enterprise value of $4.7 billion. Current Ancestry investor GIC will continue to retain a significant minority stake in the company.

Ancestry is the global leader in digital family history services, operating in more than 30 countries. The company has over 3.6 million subscribers, with annual revenue of over $1 billion. The company harnesses the information found in family trees and historical records to help people gain a new level of understanding about their lives. Ancestry also operates a market-leading consumer genomics business, which informs consumers about their heritage and key health characteristics.

David Kestnbaum, a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, and Sachin Bavishi, a Managing Director at Blackstone, said: “We are very excited about Ancestry’s future, as the company continues to demonstrate strong growth as the industry leader. We look forward to partnering with Ancestry in the years ahead to help the company further expand its product offerings and drive ongoing technology innovation so that an even greater number of families can discover more about their histories and themselves.”

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as lead financial advisor to Ancestry. Barclays also served as a financial advisor to Ancestry. BofA Securities, Credit Suisse, and JPMorgan served as financial advisors to Blackstone. Latham & Watkins LLP is serving as legal advisor to Ancestry and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is serving as legal advisor to Blackstone. Dechert LLP is serving as legal advisor to GIC.

CEO Transition

Margo Georgiadis, Ancestry President & CEO, has announced that she has informed the board that she plans to depart the company at the end of 2020. The company expects to announce a new CEO in early 2021 who will drive the next phase of the company’s ongoing growth. Ms. Georgiadis will remain available for a period of time after her departure to assist in a smooth transition.

“I’m so proud of the collective accomplishments of the Ancestry team and am confident in the company’s continued success,” said Georgiadis. “In partnership with Blackstone and Ancestry’s deep bench of management talent, the company is well positioned for continued growth, delivering on its mission to empower journeys of personal discovery for millions of people around the world.”

Eric Wilmes, Head of Private Equity, Americas at GIC, and Stephen Evans, a Managing Director at Silver Lake, said, “Margo has made a tremendous impact on this organization, and we are grateful for her many contributions. She has created a best-in-class leadership team and led a process of rebuilding and strengthening our products and our business. On behalf of the entire board, we wish Margo the very best in her next chapter.”

About Blackstone

Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $584 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.

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 27 billion records and over 18 million people in our growing DNA network, customers can discover their family story and gain actionable insights about their health and wellness. 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.

About GIC

GIC is a leading global investment firm established in 1981 to manage Singapore’s foreign reserves. A disciplined long-term value investor, GIC is uniquely positioned for investments across a wide range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income, private equity, real estate and infrastructure. In private equity, GIC invests through funds as well as directly in companies, partnering with its fund managers and management teams to help world class businesses achieve their objectives. Headquartered in Singapore, GIC employs over 1,700 people across 10 offices in key financial cities worldwide. For further information on GIC, visit www.gic.com.sg.

Mystery solved.

It took 36 years, but a Florida man who relentlessly insisted he was William Shatner’s son just realized he isn’t, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Peter Sloan, who legally changed his last name to Shatner last year, can thank Ancestry.com for helping to clear up the matter.

The 63-year-old Clearwater man, who was adopted as an infant, got it into his head that the “Star Trek” star was his dad because his biological mother told him she had a fling with the actor at the time of his conception, and that it was highly possible.

While possible, DNA proved that it wasn't true.

You can read the full story at https://bit.ly/3mZqEZm.

The following is a message posted to the IAJGS (International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies') Public Records Access Monitoring Committee mailing list and is republished here with the IAJGS' permission:

Earlier this year, the IAJGS Records Access Alert informed its readers that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) approved closing its facility in Seattle—without any public input. The sale is  due to the recommendation for sale by the Public Buildings Reform Board (PBRB)and approved sale by the Office of Management and Budget. See: https://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2020/nr20-37.

 The original announcement said it was expected to take 18 months for the sale and NARA requested to stay in the building for an additional three years. The records move would be National facilities in Riverside, California -over 1,000 miles away.  While some of the records have been digitized they are not many and this would severely hamper access for people in the Pacific Northwest: Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington State. Priceless Tribal records are also housed in the building—many are the tribal treaties or maps in existence. Other very essential records include tens of thousands of records related to  the Chinese Exclusion Act, records of internment of Japanese Americans, records memorializing Washington’s history. 

An article from KOMO News in Seattle on December 4^th states the state officials plan to fight the Trump Administration plan to sell the Seattle archives building. Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said he intends to try and prevent the sale via lawsuit…the building’s sale was buried in the fine print of a 74-page meeting minutes from October.

While initially, the federal government said it would sell the National Archives building and other federal government buildings in Seattle individually, newly uncovered plans call for selling them immediately as a bundled unit.

To read more see: https://komonews.com/news/local/state-officials-plan-to-fight-trump-plan-to-sell-seattle-archives-building

Thank you to Barbara Jean Mathews, CG, FASG and president of the Massachusetts Genealogical Council for sharing the aforementioned article with us. 

To read the previous IAJGS Records Access Alert postings about the Seattle, WA NARA Building pending sale and removal of documents to 1,000 miles away 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 for the IAJGS Records Access Alert go to: http://lists.iajgs.org/mailman/listinfo/records-access-alerts.  You will receive an email response that you have to reply to or the subscription will not be finalized. It is required to include your organization affiliation (genealogy organization, etc.)

Jan Meisels Allen
Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

Five days ago, I published an article with the title of "Google Cloud Print is Going Away, Can You Find an Alternative?" Two days ago, Michael Perrigi answered the question.

The answer is "Yes, you can print from a Chromebook without using Google Cloud Print."" You can find the article at: https://chromeunboxed.com/print-from-a-chromebook-without-gcp.

Predictions about the future often turn out to be inaccurate. However, in 1953, writer Mark R. Sullivan published an article in the Tacoma News Tribune that seems to have been very accurate. Sullivan predicted that people will be surrounded by telephones wherever they go, unable to get away from them even if they don’t want to be around them.

Yes, all of the above is commonplace today.

The following announcement was written by TheGenealogist:

TheGenealogist releases more College and University registers into its expanding Educational Records adding a quarter of a million additional individuals. This release includes records from England, Scotland, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand and even a college from Portugal.

The records can be used to discover a student’s achievements and are fantastic for identifying where next to apply your research for an ancestor. Educational records will confirm birth dates and sometimes the place of birth. Usually they give a father’s name and address, which is useful when the parent is missing from the census, and they can give details of the student’s occupation and a great deal more useful information.

Fettes College, Edinburgh

Researchers can use this new data to find ancestors who attended or taught at a variety of Educational establishments in a wide range of years up to the mid 1930s. The earliest record in this release is dated 1566 in the Christ's Hospital Exhibitioners to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, 1566-1923. In contrast the latest record is 1936, taken from the List of Occupants of Rooms in St John's College 1895-1936.

These records can also be used to identify those who held high office in the institutions, so that University patrons, deans, visitors, professors and masters and the principals and governors of schools are usually included.

Also in this release we have some fascinating Irish Examination Board records from 1889, 1891 and 1892. These reveal the candidates’ names, addresses and grades in all their subjects, including some rather unusual ones. If you can find an ancestor, within these records, it will certainly be an eyeopener as they disclose what subjects your forebear had been a good or a bad student of.

The registers released on TheGenealogist today are:

Aberdeenshire	Aberdeen Education Authority Members' Directory, 1920-1921 Aberdeen University Roll of Graduates, 1860-1900
Cambridgeshire	Christ's Hospital Exhibitioners to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, 1566-1923
	List of Occupants of Rooms in St John's College, 1895-1936
	Gonville and Caius College Vol. II, 1713-1897
	Register of Admissions to King’s College, 1850-1900
	Admissions to Peterhouse or S. Peter's College in the University of Cambridge, 1615-1911
	Girton College Register, 1869-1946
Devon	Kelly College Register, 1877-1927
Dublin	Alumni Dublineneses, 1593-1846
Edinburgh	University of Edinburgh Graduates, 1859-88
	The Fettes College Register, 1870-1932
Dublin	Intermediate Education Board for Ireland, Exhibition and Prize Lists, 1889
	Intermediate Education Board for Ireland, Exhibition and Prize Lists, 1890
	Intermediate Education Board for Ireland, Examinations Held in 1889 Pass Lists, Boys
	Intermediate Education Board for Ireland, Examinations Held in 1892 Pass Lists, Boys
	Intermediate Education Board for Ireland, Examinations Held in 1891 Pass Lists, Boys
London	Dulwich College War Record, 1939-1945
Netherlands	University of Leyden, List of English speaking Students of Medicine, 1932
New Zealand	The Early History of Wellington College, N.Z, 1867-1883
	New Zealand University Calendar, 1925
Oxfordshire	Alumni Oxonienses (Members of the University of Oxford) 1715-1886 Vol I
	Alumni Oxonienses 1715-1886 Vol II
	Alumni Oxonienses 1715-1886 Vol III
	Alumni Oxonienses 1715-1886 Vol IV
	Alumni Oxonienses 1715-1886 Vol V
	Alumni Oxonienses 1715-1886 Vol VI
	Alumni Oxonienses 1715-1886 Vol VII
	Alumni Oxonienses 1715-1886 Vol VIII
	Oxford Men and their Colleges, 1880-1892
	War Record of the University Press, Oxford, 1914-1919
Portugal	Historical Account of Lisbon College
Surrey	County of Surrey Endowed Institutions Volume IV
Yorkshire	Teachers and Officers of Ackworth School, 1779-1894

Read TheGenealogist’s article on researching more about an ancestor from the leads revealed in the pages of Educational Records:

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2020/educational-records-may-reveal-your-ancestors-unusual-achievements-1362/