Family History Conferences April 28-May 1, 2010

There will be four major family history conferences all in one week this spring in Salt Lake City:

• National Genealogical Society 2010 Family History Conference
• BYU 2010 Conference on Computerized Family History and Genealogy
• BYU 10th Annual Family History Technology Workshop
• FamilySearch's 2010 Developers Conference

The premier event of the week is the National Genealogical Society's annual conference. The theme for the conference is "Follow Your Ancestral Trail." It will be held at the Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, on April 28 - May 1, 2010.

Price and registration information can be found at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/attendee_registration. There is an early-bird discount until March 8, 2010.

Over 200 classes will be presented by industry leaders and experts from the local and national genealogical community as well as staff from FamilySearch. Products and services from genealogy companies will be showcased in an exhibit hall. There you can also meet with specialists for free personal consultations on research questions or problems.

NGS Conference details and the class schedule are available online at:

http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/conference_info.

Additionally:

• Hours at the Family History Library have been extended until 11 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday during the conference
• The BYU 2010 Conference on Computerized Family History and Genealogy will be held at the same venue on April 26 - 27.
• The BYU 10th Annual Family History Technology Workshop will be on April 28, also in the same venue.

This promises to be a full week of family history learning and activities!!

Web Sites with Census Records

• Ancestry.com -- This is a paid subscription site. Ancestry has the most complete census records on the web.
• usgenweb.com -- Has various census records; these collections will continue to grow as volunteers update the records.
• pilot.familysearch.org -- Has various census records throughout the world. Some are indexes or images only. This site is continually growing and changing, so keep checking back to view the additions.
• Free sites at the Family History Centers include:

1911 UK Census...........1911 census for United Kingdom

The Genealogist.........United Kingdom census records

Godfrey Library.........Various census records worldwide

Heritage Quest...........Has US Federal census records

World Vital Records......Various census records worldwide

Synchronizing Information

Last week we reviewed the steps to add missing individuals into the new FamilySearch. Another way to add individuals is to use one of the family history computer programs that have been certified to synchronize information with FamilySearch. You can use these programs to:

• Add information from your database (PAF) to the new FamilySearch Web site.
• Add information from the new FamilySearch Web site to your database
• Correct or delete information
• Mark information as incorrect
• Reserve names for ordinance work

Two certified PAF add-ins are Ancestral Quest and Family Insight. These programs allow users to access, print, update and sync with online information in new.familysearch.org. They are intended for use with PAF 5 to read and write PAF files and Gedcom files in conjunction with the online family tree at new. familysearch.org. For a complete list of third party computer programs that synchronize information, see:

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/affiliates/index.html