Footnote.com is now Fold3

Fold3, formerly Footnote.com, is a website that provides access to US military records, including the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served. The Fold3 name comes from a traditional flag folding ceremony in which the third fold is made in honor and remembrance of veterans who served in defense of their country and to maintain peace throughout the world. Original records at Fold3 help you discover and share stories about these everyday heroes, forgotten soldiers, and the families that supported them. You can combine records found on the site with what you have in your own albums and shoeboxes to create an online memorial for someone who served. Fold3 is a paid subscription site; however it is FREE at the Family History Library. Also offered is a 7-day free trial, during which time you can access all records without a charge. Check it out at Fold3.com!

Boise Area Family History Conference

The Boise Area Fall Family History Conference will be held on Saturday, October 15, 2011, at the Nampa North Stake Center (6111 Birch Lane) from 9 am to 4:30 pm. Devotional speaker will be Bruce Allcott, former mission president of the Yekaterinburg Russia Mission. Various classes will be presented throughout the day, and include all skill levels. Some of the classes to choose from include: Google Your Way to Family History, Using Rootsmagic, What is a Family Research Wiki?, New Family Search for Beginners, and much, much more! BYU-Idaho is pleased to offer online registration, at www.byui.edu/cc/familyhistory/registration.htm. For more information on the conference and for handouts, go to www.byui.edu/cc/familyhistory/default.htm.

Name Indexes and Category Lists

Name Indexes use your ancestor's names to find information about them. The largest name index is Internet Family Finder, located at www.genealogy.com/ifftop.html. This site indexes more than 100,000 published family histories and other information located on thousands of web sites around the world. Other major name indexes include: http://www.ancestry.com/, http://www.genealogylibrary.com/, http://www.genserv.com/, and http://searches.rootsweb.com/. Category Lists help users identify research sites. The best known of these family history web sites is Cyndi's List at http://www.cyndislist.com/, which lists over 308,000 web sites in over 186 categories. Another major comprehensive site is Genealogy SiteFinder at www.genealogy.com/links which lists over 50,000 web sites. Both have searchable indexes of their lists. To use these indexes, think about what you know about a specific ancestor or surname and then look in the appropriate categories. If you were trying to find informtion on a Quaker couple married in Virginia in 1766, you could look in categories for marriages, Virginia, Quakers, or Colonial records. These web sites also help locate information about an ancestor's culture, traditions, homeland, and history. This information gives you a greater appreciation of your heritage, the sacrifices your ancestors made for you, and a better understanding of what their life was like.