Family Tree

We cover a lot of genealogy websites and news here at Family Tree, so I’m often studying the latest family history developments and networking with researchers. Every now and then, someone asks for my impression of the genealogy community and the many historians who comprise it. My first response is simple: Genealogists love to share. Whether it’s a new database, a photo or record, an article, or a tech tool, researchers’ first instinct is often to send their new find to friends and family. And there’s no shortage of ways to do so—Facebook posts, tweets, blogs, YouTube videos, forums, and even “old-fashioned” emails. In that spirit of collaboration, this issue covers some of the ways you can share research with others. On page 52, Contributing Editor Rick Crume highlights some of the…

Georgia Historic Newspapers! <gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu> They have so many newspapers from all over the state of Georgia! I’ve found so many articles related to my family!Pamela Aban (@pamelaaban) via TwitterMy favourite record collection is not online. Most records are not online. The court records for the Manor of Moulton Harrington are held in an archive, @LincsArchivesSue Adams (@sue_familyfolk) via TwitterAncestry’s yearbooks! <www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1265> I love seeing my parents’ and grandparents’ old photos.@rememberingtheozarks via InstagramNORWAY’S DIGITAL ARCHIVE <www.digitalarkivet.no/en>—free access to hundreds of years of clear scanned original documents. Church, census, probate and emigration records can provide complete documentation for generations. Historic[al] photos as well. Option for English for searches.Renae Dorrity via Facebook Check out our staff’s website in this year’s list of the 101 Best Genealogy Websites (page 12). JOIN OUR COMMUNITY! Genealogy how-to downloads and…

When Trisha Mays-Cummings of Newport, Ark., cleaned out her late grandmother’s home, she discovered photos, yearbooks, graduation programs, report cards and other memorabilia from William F. Branch High School, a nearby school that her relatives attended. The records span nearly 40 years, from her grandmother’s 1931 graduation to her mother’s graduation in 1970, when the school closed. For Trisha, it was like going down memory lane. Although she didn’t go to W.F. Branch High herself, the school’s documents included familiar faces: Trisha’s parents, siblings, friends, and grandmother. W.F. Branch High School served African American students during a time when Arkansas’ school districts were segregated by race. And when Newport School District fully integrated, the school closed. Trisha’s grandmother, who worked as a teacher and counselor at W.F. Branch for 50 years, helped clean…

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE NOW HELPS with record indexing at the free genealogy website FamilySearch <www.familysearch.org>. State-of-the-art handwriting-recognition technology extracts data from historical records to auto-generate indexes. The tool flags entries that don’t seem right, then sends them to virtual volunteers who will review them and offer corrections. The tool dramatically speeds up the indexing process, especially in non-English records where volunteers are fewer. “Volunteers can select records of personal interest to them—like those that may include their ancestors—increasing the likelihood of finding an ancestor in the records they are helping refine,” says a FamilySearch press release. One early focus for volunteers who use the tool has been the 1950 US census. Learn more at <www.familysearch.org/getinvolved>, where you’ll find links to both the browser tool and the Get Involved mobile app.…

Thanks to a partnership with Photomyne <www.photomyne.com>, Ancestry.com <www.ancestry.com> released a new tool on its mobile app that can quickly and easily scan multiple images. Users can also then rotate and enhance scanned images as needed. From the app, tap Trees, then the photo icon and a plus sign to scan new photos. The image-enhancement features can be used on newly uploaded images as well as those they’ve already added to the site. The tool also supports Ancestry.com’s new story platform, which allows users to curate and share ancestral stories within the app that incorporate photos, life events, records and personal memories. Sunny Jane Morton is a contributing editor for Family Tree Magazine, content manager at Your DNA Guide and industry expert on the giant genealogy websites. CHURCH: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. ALL OTHERS: COURTESY SUNNY…

The Congregational Library & Archives published an online digital collection <www.congregationallibrary.org/nehh/main> that has tens of thousands of historical record images from churches around New England. The Congre gational Church was an outgrowth of early Puritan com munities, and most records in the collection date between 1634 and 1850. “The records of these congregations document births, deaths, and marriages, but also open a window onto the lives of ordinary people deliberating on matters both sacred and secular,” states a press release. “For much of the Colonial period, [these records] show ordinary people making decisions about property, taxation, and their representation in the larger affairs.”…