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PROVO, Utah, May 12 — Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, today announced that its members have added more than 1 billion people to more than 10 million user-generated family trees on the site since the tree-building and -sharing tools debuted in July 2006. Within just the last two years, members have more than tripled the number of people and family trees, and Ancestry.com members continue to benefit from the site’s content.

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New software designed and available for free download on all Ancestry websites enables participants to take images of original records and create indexes containing key information such as name, age, date, gender and location. Ancestry websites will host those indexes, which will be free to access.

The first Canadian collection that will be available for World Archives Project participants is Ontario, Canada Marriage Registers by Clergy 1896 – 1948.  These important records include approximately 24,000 names captured in marriage registrations compiled by members of the clergy under the Registration Act of 1896.

The World Archives Project is launching through Ancestry websites in the UK, US, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden, France and Italy to their six million site users and anyone with a general interest in preserving historical records.

In the past decade, the Internet has resulted in an explosion of interest in family history, which has in turn highlighted the poor state of many historical records around the world, many of which are deteriorating faster than they can be saved. The World Archives Project aims both to raise awareness of this fact and also to inspire people to help preserve these precious records.

Preserving historical records is both costly and time consuming. In recent years, governments, libraries, archives, the family history community and websites have worked hard to preserve historical records: Ancestry.ca aims to accelerate the rate at which Canadian records are being preserved by providing the community with the tools it needs to assist with this significant task.

Anyone can participate, and in the process get a ‘sneak preview’ of collections not yet publicly available.

Indexes transcribed through the World Archives Project will be free on Ancestry.ca and participants can spend as much or as little time as they want assisting.

Karen Patterson, Marketing Director, Ancestry.ca comments: “Historical record preservation and access go hand-in-hand so it is important that institutions, businesses and individuals all play an active role to ensure that as many Canadian records are preserved for future generations as possible.

“Due to their age and condition, many Canadian records are in urgent need of preservation and so we are encouraging people to log on, download the free software and start to do their bit to preserve our country’s history.”

Please Click here to access the download page and for instructions on how to use the indexing tool.

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Straight from the Ancestry Newsletter it seems that Ancestry.co.uk are getting London records and need our help for some PR..

Read on and get in touch with them if you are an Ancestry member..

Ancestry email -

We will soon be launching a major London record collection and we need your ancestors!

Have you discovered ancestors who were born, educated, married or died in London, who ‘did time’ in a London workhouse or who lived in the City between 1695 and 1910?

If so, then we would love to hear from you as we are currently preparing to launch a major collection of historical London records dating back 400 years and are looking for members to share stories of their London ancestors with us.

If you have London ancestors who may fit the bill and would like your family story to be told, please send an email to ancestry@bbpr.com and include as many of the following details that you can:

1. Your ancestor’s full name and all key vital dates available - birth, marriage, death (when, where and to whom)
2. If a London workhouse story, do you know which one and when?
3. If your ancestor went to school in London, do you know which one and when?
4. Anything else of particular interest about your ancestor and their personal story?
5. Do you have any records and/or photos of these ancestors? If so, can you tell us what?
6. Please tell us your name, where you are from in the UK, your contact details including a phone number and a preferred email address.

Finally, we request that you respond if possible by Monday the 2nd of March and also wish to assure you that we will not discuss your story externally without approval.

Many thanks,

The Ancestry Team

Although slightly colder than the May months in London Feb is a great time of year to visit “the old smoke”.  People from all over the world travel to the Who Do You Think You Are? Live event year on year.  One good thing will be reduced air fair and hotel costs that you can spend to your hearts content on family history subscriptions (all discounted), family tree printouts, old books and much much more.

Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE, is again sponsored by Ancestry.co.uk for the thrid time running and is now  powered by The Times Archive.  It’s a one-stop-genealogy-shop that attracted well over 12,000 visitors in May 2008.

With the 200+ exhibitors and even more people expected to attend this year, this will be the largest historical event of its kind.

Ancestry.co.uk usually send out deals for the event that I’ll post here as soon as I find them out but in the mean time you can read up about the show here - http://www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.co.uk/index.php?option=com_exhibitors&Itemid=29.

Eastman Online has also posted a number of links to help show what the event was like last year so I’ve posted them below this..  Have fun, research and try to attend if you can..  I’ll be there to say hello to you if you do go..

If you would like to see what happened in past years, take a look at my video reports on RootsTelevision. You can start with the 2007 event at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/05/national_histor.html. You can view some other videos from past WDYTYA events as well:

Eneclann at WDYTYAL? at: http://www.rootstelevision.com/players/player_conferences.php?bctid=1556072166

JoAnne Rockower of Geni.com at: http://rootstelevision.com/players/player_conferences.php?bctid=1646075903

A Video Interview with Ken Martindale of Black British Heritage at: http://rootstelevision.com/players/player_conferences.php?bctid=1551055739

An Interview with Else Churchill, the Genealogist at the Society of Genealogists, at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/06/an_interview_wi_1.html

The World War II Spitfire (when was the last time you saw a fighter plane at a genealogy and history show?) at http://www.rootstelevision.com/players/player_conferences.php?bctid=900482205

An Interview with Josh Hanna (of Ancestry.co.uk) at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/05/an_interview_wi_2.html

An Interview with Maggie Laughran, Administrator of the Federation of Family History Societies, one of the largest genealogy organizations in England, at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/05/an_interview_wi.html

An Interview with Paul Blake, co-author (with Maggie Laughran) of Discover Your Roots as well as numerous magazine articles, at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/05/an_interview_wi_1.html

Jacqueline Depelle - The Hat Lady at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/05/jacqueline_depe.html

An Interview with Chris Pomery, author of the book “DNA and Family History” at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/06/an_interview_wi.html

An Interview with Roy Stockdill, editor of the Journal of One-Name Studies and an expert British genealogist, at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/06/an_interview_wi_2.html

A Video Interview with David Nicholson, Director of DNA Worldwide and is a DNA expert, at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/06/a-video-intervi.html

The following was written by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration:

WASHINGTON, Dec 01, 2008 — Two awards to be granted for articles based on National Archives records

In celebration of its 75th anniversary, the National Archives announces two awards to recognize significant achievements in genealogy research, based on records from the National Archives.

The National Archives is known worldwide as a treasure chest of genealogical information. Each year, millions of people use Federal records in the National Archives to search for their family roots. Census schedules, ship passenger arrival lists, citizenship papers, military pension files, land patents, and court records offer detailed evidence to flesh out family histories. This competition provides an opportunity for students to share their research “treasures” with the public.

The awards are $1,000 for first place; $500 for second place. Winning articles may be published in Prologue, the quarterly magazine of the National Archives, and/or on the National Archives web site.

To be eligible, an applicant must be either an undergraduate or graduate student enrolled in an accredited institution of higher learning; have completed at least one semester; and have not yet advanced to candidacy, if in a Ph.D. program. An applicant does not have to be an American citizen, but must be attending an American college or university. Permanent National Archives employees are not eligible.

Awards will be announced at the National Archives annual Genealogy Fair on April 22, 2009.

Applicants are required to submit:

* Cover sheet that includes the following:
o Name and contact information;
o Proof of enrollment at an accredited academic institution; and
o Signature giving permission for the article to be published.
* An original, unpublished work between 1,000 and 3,000 words that demonstrates the use of National Archives holdings to conduct genealogical research. The essay must be typed and include a works-cited page or bibliography. End notes are suggested but not required.

Please submit applications to:
Diane Dimkoff
Director, Customer Services Division
Room G-13
700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20408
diane.dimkoff@nara.gov

Essays may be submitted in-person or via e-mail before 5:00 p.m. EST March 1, 2009 or via regular mail (postmarked by February 25, 2009).

For additional information about the scholarship and/or application process, email KYR@nara.gov.

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For all of your genealogy fans out there surfing the web and finding family information… Ancestry.com’s parent company, The Generations Network, has recently announced the availability of an Ancestry Toolbar. The Toolbar is a new feature that you can add to your Windows browser (Internet Explorer or Firefox) and use to save photos and stories you find on the Web to a person in your Ancestry Member Tree. With the toolbar, it’s possible to:

Ancestry.com and FGS to Collaborate on Large Indexing Initiative For Individuals