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Have you all heard the buzz on the Internet and at conferences about how genealogical societies are getting smaller and smaller?

Seems there must be something to the talk—people wouldn’t be concerned about their societies’ sizes if the groups were growing—but I've seen few actual numbers to back up the buzz.

I’m interested in your experiences with your own genealogical society: Is it getting larger? Smaller? What do you think is behind the change? Post your thoughts in the FamilyTreeMagazine.com Hot Topics Forum.

—Diane Haddad, Newsletter Editor
ftmnews-editor@fwpubs.com

P.S. Make sure you don't miss a single issue of your E-mail Update! Add our address (familytree-newsletter@fwpubs.com) to your e-mail-address book—your software will recognize the Update as an e-mail you want to read.  

• Win Fabulous Prizes in Our February 2007 Issue Quiz
• African-American Records Collection Reveals Historical Irony
• Find Your WWI British Soldier Online
• NARA Proposes Price Hike
• From the Forum: Societies and Sites
• Web Extras
• Now What? Online: Whatever Floats Your Boat
• Identifying Family Photographs: Foreign Adventures
• FamilyTreeMagazine.com Events Calendar
• Advertiser Special Offers

Win Fabulous Prizes in Our February 2007 Issue Quiz

It’s quiz time again! Grab your February 2007 Family Tree Magazine and log on to www.familytreemagazine.com/newsletter/
issuequiz0207.asp to answer the following questions. The first three to submit the correct answers win a free copy of the September 2005 Family Tree Sourcebook special issue, loaded with 800+ sources for your research. Thanks for playing!

1. At what famous New York City venue did Elisha Graves Otis dramatically demonstrate his elevator safety brake?

2. What resource does the acronym “PERSI” refer to?

3. What nationality was North Dakota’s first homesteader?

4. What three ways do we suggest sorting those family history artifacts and documents you plan to keep?

5. What’s the best way to move your genealogy data files from one program to another?

African-American Records Collection Reveals Historical Irony

In an ironic twist of history, it turns out 19th-century relatives of segregationist South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond owned an ancestor of civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton.

The senator’s first cousin two times removed Julia Thurmond owned Sharpton's great-grandfather Coleman Sharpton in 1835.

"It was probably the most shocking thing in my life," Sharpton, who once had what he calls an “awkward” meeting with Thurmond, said at a news conference.

Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, chief family historian at the subscription genealogy database site Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com) discovered the link after partnering with the New York Daily News to research Sharpton’s family.

The quest is part of Ancestry.com's publicity effort for its enhanced African-American Historical Records Collection of more than 55 million records including those of the US Colored Troops and Freedmen's Bureau, as well as a new search filter for the US census: Matches will identify African-Americans, whether the census taker recorded them as “colored,” “Negro,” “black,” “mulatto” or another variation.

These records are part of the $155.40-per-year US Records Collection, but you can try the African-American History Collection free for three days—see http://landing.ancestry.com/aahistory for more information.

Find Your WWI British Soldier Online

The British subscription genealogy site Ancestry.co.uk ( ancestry.co.uk), sister site to the US records depot Ancestry.com, has released the first phase of service and pension records—including digitized record images—for 2.5 million British soldiers who served from 1914 to 1920. You can search for last names beginning with A and B now; all the records will be online by the end of 2008.

The service records contain information including physical description, regimental number, service history, locations served, date and place of birth, occupation and next of kin. They’re among the lot Britain's national archives salvaged after a 1940 German bombing raid destroyed more than half the service records of the 5 million WWI soldiers from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

The pension records include medical information about the disability for which the pension was granted.

You can access the record images with a $157-per-year subscription, or individually through a pay-per-view system. You can purchase 12 record views good for 14 days for about $13.

NARA Proposes Price Hike

The financially beleaguered National Archives and Records Administration (http://archives.gov) wants to raise its microfilm copying service—by a whole lot. According to the proposed rule in the Feb. 26 Federal Register, complete Civil War pension files would jump from $37 to $125. Non-Civil War pension files older than 75 years would cost $60. Military service files older than 75 years would cost $25, as would passenger lists, census records and bounty land warrant applications files.

See the proposal at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.
access.gpo.gov/ 2007/E7-3160.htm

NARA says the fee hike—the first since 2000—is necessary to recover costs such as staff time, paper and postage associated with providing copies of records to the public. In 2006, the agency’s costs for fixed-fee copying services (such as military pension files) were more than double the revenue received for them. 

NARA is accepting public comments on the change through April 27. To submit yours, go to http://www.regulations.gov, enter NARA-07-0001-0001 in the "Keyword or ID" field, and click Submit. And post your thoughts in the Family Tree Magazine.com Hot Topics Forum at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/forum/forums/forum-view.asp?fid=20.

Genealogical Societies: What's Your Take?

Like many of you, we’ve heard lots of talk about declining membership in societies—we wanted to see what your experiences are. Take a minute to add your two cents on the FamilyTreeMagazine.com Hot Topics Forum. Visit www.familytreemagazine.com/forum/forums/
thread-view.asp?tid=239&posts=1&mid=522#M522.

• Breaking News
  We give you the goods on finding news of your ancestor's ship arrival in the papers.
  http://www.familytreemagazine.com/feb07/newspapers.asp


• Quick Links
  Link right to all the Web sites mentioned in the February 2007 Family Tree Magazine. (You'll need the free Adobe Reader to open this file.)
  http://www.familytreemagazine.com/feb07/weblinks.pdf


• Middle Ground
  Learn the story behind your Arabic ancestors' names.
  http://www.familytreemagazine.com/feb07/arabic.asp

Whatever Floats Your Boat

Q. My German ancestors arrived at New Orleans in 1853 and traveled to Ohio by river boat. I’ve found their passenger list to New Orleans, but how can I find record of the next segment of their journey?

Foreign Adventures

Gregg Inkpen thinks this young British couple is his great-great-uncle James Tiernan Jr. and Tiernan's bride, Flora Mary Ridgway Tiernan, on their wedding day. Is his hunch correct? The date of this photo is key to the identification.

Follow along as Inkpen and photo historian Maureen A. Taylor assemble the pieces of this puzzle. Click http://www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/
current.htm.

If you have a family photo mystery for Taylor to solve, check out our Submission Guidelines at

http://www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/photohelp.htm.

Find upcoming genealogy and living history seminars—and publicize your group’s events—in our online calendar. You must be registered with the FamilyTreeMagazine.com Forum to post.

Lineages, Professional Genealogists - We can trace your family's unique history and deepen your connection with your family’s ancient past. www.lineages.com (800) 643-4303

The National Genealogical Society Annual Conference in the States and Family History Fair will be held May 16-19, 2007 at the Richmond Marriott and Greater Richmond Convention Center, Richmond, VA. Come and join us for 4 days of over 140 educational sessions, workshops, luncheons and social events – for the beginner through to the experienced genealogist. For full conference details, fees, and to sign up go to: http://www.eshow2000.com/ngs/2007/

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