Announcement from FamilySearch

FamilySearch is spelling out it's plans for this coming year:

What's Coming from FamilySearch in 2018

Salt Lake City, Utah (22 January 2018), FamilySearch is a global leader in fun, online family history services with over 9 million users in 2017. In 2018 FamilySearch will be expanding its free site and services by adding new family discoveries, more online connections, expanded global reach, and millions of new sources to search. (Find and share this announcement online from the FamilySearch Newsroom).
1.   Personalized Home Page
Refinements to the FamilySearch personalized home pagewill enable signed-in patrons to make many more new discoveries and easily engage with their family trees.
As new photos, stories, or documents are added by other members of the family, they will be shown on your personalized home page and prioritized based on relevance. You will also be able to see new additions as relatives add them.
Enjoy more adaptive, relevant FamilySearch Record Hints. As millions of new records are added to FamilySearch weekly, the search engine maps them with your family tree. FamilySearch will specifically begin looking for new ancestor record sources you don’t already have in your tree. It will be easier than ever to add them.
Relevant ancestor event notifications, if you want, will be able to prompt you throughout the year regarding relevant dates in the lives of your ancestors. These can be great nudges to learn more about your forbears.
2.   Historical Records
FamilySearch will digitally preserve over 400 million images in 2018 and publish the majority of them online. It will also add hundreds of millions of indexed, searchable names in historical records, thus making it easier and faster to find your ancestors.
New additions will include prominent international collections from Europe, Central and South America, and the United States. New images will first be accessible in the FamilySearch Catalog Viewer. Once they are indexed or have additional metadata, they'll be published in the FamilySearch Historical Record Collections.
3.   Online Discovery Experiences
FamilySearch will introduce fun, new personal “discovery” experiences online and in additional physical locations in 2018. The online experiences will be similar to the popular attractions currently found in select FamilySearch Family Discovery Centers.
4.    Family Tree
Refinements to the FamilySearch Family Tree in 2018 will extend its reach globally to more devices through improved language support and making the service faster and easier to navigate in lower bandwidth regions of the world.
An underlying goal of the FamilySearch Family Tree is to ensure new developments regarding data are always converging towards more accuracy and completeness.
An upcoming feature will help improve collaboration while encouraging more sound edits and discouraging poor edits to good data.    
5.  Family Tree Mobile App
FamilySearch will continue to update its FamilySearch Family Tree app and mobile experiences, which extend the website's functionality. Currently, the robust app has 90 percent of the functionality of the web feature.
The app will provide fun, location-based experiences for making family discoveries wherever you happen to be. The popular 2017 “Relatives Around Me” feature allowed crowds or groups to discover who in the crowd was related to them and how.
New experiences in 2018 will build upon this, allowing interaction based on your proximity to people or locations with which you have a personal ancestral relationship.
The app will also continue to enhance the research capabilities of the mobile experience, including a new Research Mode that will allow multiple windows to be opened simultaneously to facilitate multitasking and research from within the app.
6.    Memories
Individuals are now uploading millions of family photos and documents for free permanent storage at FamilySearch. In 2018, patrons will be able to add multiple photos to a family story, rather than just one.
The FamilySearch Tree Fan Chart will help patrons, at a glance, easily discover areas in their tree where memories and sources are attached to ancestors, and help them identify opportunities where they need to be added.
7.   FamilySearch Web-Based Indexing
FamilySearch will end its desktop indexing software in 2018 as it continues to roll out more updates to its new web indexing platform. The new web tool is easy to use and works with any digital device (besides cell phones) with a web browser. It enables hundreds of thousands of volunteers worldwide to make millions of historical images easily and freely searchable by name so online family history researchers can quickly discover ancestors.
 8.  RootsTech
RootsTech, hosted by FamilySearch International, will continue to expand its support of community growth, personal development, and exciting industry innovation. This popular global family history conference will attract over 100,000 attendees (in-person and live online viewers).
Keynotes this year will include: Scott Hamilton, olympic figure skating champion, Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York photographer and writer, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Finding Your Roots. and Natalia Fourcade, internationally renowned Mexican pop-rock singer.
The RootsTech Innovation Showcase will highlight exciting innovations related to family history. It will replace the Innovator Summit and Innovator Showdown.
9.   Oral Histories
Family history in oral (no written documentation) cultures are kept in the minds of village elders—walking, human libraries. When they pass away, the library is lost forever. FamilySearch will increase the number of oral histories it captures from these tribal historians significantly throughout Africa.
FamilySearch appreciates its growing customer base (over 134 million visits in 2017!). When you visit FamilySearch in 2018, be sure to sign in to your free account to enjoy the most of what FamilySearch has to offer. Come back regularly to add your own family memories. Enjoy the new content added daily and the new features coming soon. Collaborate with your family to upload your favorite photos, documents, personal histories, or journals from previous years, and update your ancestors' stories.

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About FamilySearch
FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 5,000 family history centers in 129 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Jefferson County's Next Genealogy Meeting

Spring in Watertown-wish February was like this!

JCNYGS MONTHLY MEETING
First Meeting of 2018

 FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

MONDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 2018 @ 6:00 PM
(Building open at or before 5:30PM)
~ PENET’S SQUARE ~
Clarence F. Giles Jr., retired judge and son of Judge Clarence F. Giles Sr., will speak on the history of Penet’s Square. A treaty was held at Fort Schuyler (formerly Fort Stanwix) 22 Sep 1788, between the Oneida Indians giving land to Peter Penet. Penet’s Square is located with-in Northern Jefferson County.

The meeting is held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ives Street, Watertown, across from Immaculate Heart Central School (IHCS).  Driving directions to the church are:

From Route 81, take exit 44 to Route 232 toward Watertown. Drive 1.1 miles and take the second left turn on to Ives Street Road. Continue straight into the city. The church is the second building on the right; across from IHCS.
From Watertown, it is on Ives Street, across from IHCS. Take Washington Street to Barben Avenue. Turn onto Barben Avenue and take it until it ends in a T. Turn left and the church building will be 300 yards on the left, just past IHCS. Or from Watertown, take Massey Street South; veer right onto South Massey and left onto Ives Street. The church building will be on your left, just past IHCS.

Wordless Wednesday- Sand Beach Cemetery Oddities

Here are the latest records from FamilySearch:

New Historic Records on FamilySearch: Week of January 8, 2018

SALT LAKE CITY, UT—Got Swedish ancestry? FamilySearch published over 36 million free records this week from Sweden and millions of other records published from American Samoa, BillionGraves, Ireland, New Zealand, the Philippines, Portugal, and Venezuela. Search these new free records by clicking on the collection links below or search over 5 billion free records at  FamilySearch. Find and share this announcement online in the FamilySearch Newsroom.

Collection	Indexed Records	Digital Images	Comments
American Samoa, Passenger Lists and Travel Documents, 1918-1965	39,058	0	Added indexed records to an existing collection
BillionGraves Index	199,670	199,670	Added indexed records and images to an existing collection
Ireland Civil Registration, 1845-1913	653,321	0	Added indexed records to an existing collection
New Zealand, Civil Records Indexes, 1800-1966	901,347	0	Added indexed records to an existing collection
Philippines, Manila, Civil Registration, 1899-1984	3,389	0	Added indexed records to an existing collection
Portugal, Setúbal, Catholic Church Records, 1555-1911	2,115	0	Added indexed records to an existing collection
Sweden, Göteborg och Bohus Church Records, 1577-1932; index 1659-1860	56,762	0	Added indexed records to an existing collection
Sweden, Household Examination Books, 1880 - 1920	36,064,931	0	Added indexed records to an existing collection
Sweden, Kopparberg Church Records, 1604-1900; index 1628-1860	19,650	0	Added indexed records to an existing collection
Sweden, Västernorrland Church Records, 1501-1940; index 1650-1860	24,787	0	Added indexed records to an existing collection
Venezuela, Archdiocese of Mérida, Catholic Church Records, 1654-2015	787,752	0	Added indexed records to an existing collection

Searchable historic records are made available on FamilySearch.org through the help of thousands of volunteers from around the world. These volunteers transcribe (index) information from digital copies of handwritten records to make them easily searchable online. More volunteers are needed (particularly those who can read foreign languages) to keep pace with the large number of digital images being published online at FamilySearch.org. Learn more about volunteering to help provide free access to the world's historic genealogical records online at FamilySearch.org/indexing.
ABOUT FAMILYSEARCH
FamilySearch is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources for free at FamilySearch.org or through more than 5,000 family history centers in 129 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Wordless Wednesday- Granger Homestead Canandaigua

A flashback to warmer weather...

Saturday Challenge- Ancestral Towns

This comes from GeneaMusing's fun challenges from early December. I finally got a chance to finish writing it.

1)    Have you ever visited one of your ancestral towns?  If so, tell us the town, where it is, when you went, and who are your ancestors from that town.

This could be a very hard question to answer. Does anyone have a few hours to spare to hear the complete answer? Probably not and it would be very boring. So, I will just summarize the ancestral towns I have been to.

Ward Farmhouse

I was born in a city where my parents had once lived and many collateral ancestors lived at various times over the years. I arrived home to what had been my grandparents’ farm and where one of my great-grandfathers had stayed during his last illness. Before I saw my first birthday, I surely had seen the towns where my one paternal line had lived in the little over hundred years they had been in America. Also, I had been to the village that my grandparents were living in and my grandfather’s parents had lived in at one time.

None of these were genealogical in nature. My parents weren’t interested in genealogy even after I got interested as a teenager. Instead, these visits were part of the day-to-day living of my parents. Many of my father’s ancestors had lived in the same rural communities for many years. These were the towns and villages of southern Cayuga County and a few in the northern end or nearby counties. An area where current relatives lived, my father made fuel deliveries as part of his job and that we might visit for any manner of reasons.

My mother’s family had been in Skaneateles for parts of two generations prior to her birth and not far away for previous generations of her paternal line.

Mother in front of her childhood home

Grandma Wooster was a different story. She had emigrated here from Ireland in her late teens. I have been to Boston, an area she first lived in and her final home of Skaneateles. I have yet to get to Brownsville, Texas where she was stationed in the Army.

Grandpa Wooster’s family had come “from the east”. I have explored Columbia County, Derby and New Milford Connecticut. All of these are places where the Wooster families have lived since they arrived from England in the 1600s.

I have also visited where his Great-Uncle lived in Indiana. There I visited the family graves, and although I didn’t have enough time to connect with living relatives, I found where people live that are likely descendants of his oldest daughter. Their house and surrounding area that I was able to see and take pictures of, was part of her and her husband’s original farm.

their Indiana farm

Some of my Ward lines, namely, the Titus family came to Cayuga County from Dutchess County in the eastern portion of New York. I have been back there a couple times since my first visit, but it is an instance during that visit that stands out in my mind. I had just started researching to discover some of this family. While there I visited some Quaker Meeting Houses, their churches, as I knew the family had been Quaker. The Oblong Meeting House was open for tourists, but nobody was staffing it. I walked in there and had a feeling. It was if I wasn’t alone, but surrounded by a presence. A welcoming and loving presence. It was only later that I found out the Titus family had been active in this meeting, and helped build the meetinghouse.

Oblong Meeting House

That is the short version. Aren’t you glad you didn’t have to read the long version? I could detail many of the places they lived over the years…

Family History Library Classes and Webinars for January

A view outside your hotel room like this could mean only one thing- you are two blocks from the Family History Library and these classes being held in January! However, if you don't have a view like this, they're also available as webinars as well. Check out the classes below as we daydream about being that close to the library:

 Free Family History Library Classes and Webinars for January 2018

Salt Lake City, Utah (27 December 2017), If your New Year's resolutions include free, how-to family history classes, then look no further than the array of webinars and classes offered by the Family History Library starting in January 2018. Participants can attend in person or online. The January schedule includes informative classes for Ireland, Portugal, Germany, United Kingdom, Norway, and United States research, using the FamilySearch Family Tree, learning how to use the FamilySearch tools more effectively, how to index, and other useful tips and instruction. Some classes are available in Spanish. See the full schedule below. Easily find and share this announcement directly from the FamilySearch Newsroom.
Online classes are noted on the schedule as webinars. Webinar attendees need to click the link next to the class title on the scheduled date and time to attend the class online. Those attending in person simply go to the room noted. Invite your family and friends. All class times are in mountain standard time. Mark your calendars for events you want to join so you don’t forget.
If you are unable to attend a class in person or watch it online at the time it is scheduled, you may be able to watch it later. Most sessions are recorded and can be viewed later online at your convenience. To view these recorded sessions, go to the archive for Family History Library classes and webinars.

DATE and TIME	CLASS (and SKILL LEVEL)	WEBINAR | ROOM
Tuesday, January 2, 10:00 a.m.	Overview of FamilySearch.org (Beginner)	Webinar | Main Lab
Saturday, January 6, 1:00 p.m.	Secretos del Catálogo de FamilySearch (Beginner)	Webinar | Main Lab
Monday, January 8, 10:00 a.m.	Using the FamilySearch Catalog Effectively (Beginner)	Webinar | Main Lab
Tuesday, January 9, 10:00 a.m.	Starting FamilyTree: Navigating, Adding and Editing, Standardization of Dates and Places (Beginner)	Webinar | Main Lab
Wednesday, January 10, 10:00 a.m.	French Language Indexing (1.5 hrs) (Beginner)	Webinar | Main Lab
Thursday, January 11, 1:00 p.m.	British Case Study (Intermediate)	Webinar | Main Lab
Thursday, January 11, 3:00 p.m.	Using Social Media for Family History (Beginner)	Webinar | Main Lab
Tuesday, January 16, 10:00 a.m.	Tips and Tricks for Using the FamilySearch Historical Records Collection (Beginner)	Webinar | Main Lab
Tuesday, January 16, 11:00 a.m.	From America to Norway: A Beginner's Case Study (Beginner)	Webinar | 2N Lab
Wednesday, January 17, 10:00 a.m.	Italian Language Indexing (1.5 hrs) (Beginner)	Webinar | Main Lab
Thursday, January 18, 11:00 a.m.	Pennsylvania Research (Beginner)	Webinar | Main B
Thursday, January 18, 1:00 p.m.	What's New in British Research at FamilySearch.org (Intermediate)	Webinar | Main B
Saturday, January 20, 1:00 p.m.	Establecimiento geográfico-eclesiástico de la Nueva España—México (Intermediate)	Webinar | Main Lab
Monday, January 22, 10:00 a.m.	Using the FamilySearch Catalog Effectively (Beginner)	Webinar | Main Lab
Tuesday, January 23, 10:00 a.m.	What's New at FamilySearch.org (Beginner)	Webinar | Main Lab
Tuesday, January 23, 11:00 a.m.	How to Find Ancestors in Digitalarkivet of Norway (Beginner)	Webinar | 2N Lab
Tuesday, January 23, 1:00 p.m.	Tracing Ancestry in Ireland's Estate Records (Advanced)	Webinar | Main B
Wednesday, January 24, 10:00 a.m.	Portuguese Language Indexing (1.5 hrs) (Beginner)	Webinar | B2 Lab
Thursday, January 25, 1:00 p.m.	Your British and Irish Research Questions Answered (Intermediate)	Webinar | B2 Lab
Monday, January 29, 10:00 a.m.	Using the FamilySearch Catalog Effectively (Beginner)	Webinar | Main Lab
Tuesday, January 30, 10:00 a.m.	Starting FamilyTree: Attaching Sources (Beginner)	Webinar | Main Lab
Tuesday, January 30, 1:00 p.m.	FamilySearch's Collections of British Merchant Maritime Records (Intermediate)	Webinar | Main B
Tuesday, January 30, 2:00 p.m.	Using German Civil Registration Records (Beginner)	Webinar | Main A
Wednesday, January 31, 10:00 a.m.	Spanish Language Indexing (1.5 hrs) (Beginner)	Webinar | Main Lab

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About FamilySearch
FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 5,000 family history centers in 129 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.