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RootsTech Connect 2021 is now live

The new RootsTech Connect 2021 website is now live. Create your personal playlists from over 2,000 selections, connect with relatives, research specialists, and make fun, new family discoveries.

Constraints breed innovation—and that is the mindset of the creative geniuses behind RootsTech Connect—the world’s largest family history discovery event that kicks off today at RootsTech.org (25-27 February 2021, 4:00 a.m. GMT, 9:00 p.m. MST). For the first time ever, it’s completely virtual and free. Find out more at RootsTech.org.

The global pandemic served as an accelerant for the popular annual conference (usually hosted in Salt Lake City and London) to go virtual. The challenge was how to create an online platform that would deliver RootsTech’s signature in-person, highly sociable and interactive experience in a free, all-virtual online model, in 11 languages, simultaneously across all time zones, 24 hours a day for 3 days. The RootsTech Connect team believes they’ve done it. More than 500,000 people from 237 countries and territories have already registered for the free buffet of celebrity keynote speakers, the thousands of sessions, and dynamic chat opportunities that celebrate family connections and help make family history discoveries fun.

RootsTech is an annual international event that has drawn people worldwide who are seeking to make family connections. For the past 10 years, research experts, companies, and attendees gather to provide tech solutions, share genealogical expertise, and offer discovery tips and hacks to tens of thousands of ardent and curious ancestral roots seekers.

The innovative new RootsTech website introduces an exciting platform that enables attendees to interact in dynamic chat forums in 11 languages and create playlists from more than 1,000 video sessions and hundreds of additional video digital assets that they can watch on-demand following the event. Attendees can watch content “live” on the main stage, interact with vendors virtually in the Expo Hall, see if they are related to any of the hundreds of thousands of attendees globally, get one-on-one family history help, or experiment with fun, new tech ideas in the Innovators Portal. And it’s amazingly all free—no ads, no strings attached.

“The pandemic, with its restraints against gathering physically, gave us an incredible opportunity to find a way to do what we aspire to do—but totally online. And that is to inspire so many more people worldwide through personal family discovery experiences,” said Steve Rockwood, FamilySearch CEO, the hosting organization of RootsTech.

Rockwood said RootsTech Connect 2021 creates opportunities for people to learn from specialists, get answers to their family history questions, and make meaningful family connections.

Highlights of the New RootsTech Connect 2021 All-Virtual Platform

Main Stage. RootsTech Connect will feature uplifting messages from celebrity keynote speakers and industry experts from around the world. It will be broadcast 24 hours a day for 3 days in 11 languages.

My Playlist. The RootsTech session schedule is now live. With nearly 2,000 sessions and other video assets, you won’t be able to watch everything you want in the 3 days of RootsTech—even if you are an insomniac. The Playlist feature (somewhat like Netflix) allows you to easily add content of interest to you into your personalized playlist on the site. You will have until the next RootsTech event to enjoy your selections.

Explore Sessions. Content is compiled with a variety of tags or categories, so you can quickly find content that pertains to your needs or interests. You can search by language; geographic region; speaker; Finding Living Family; Ancestors; DNA; Researching Places and Records; Memories—Stories, Photos, and Video; Traditions and Heritage; Websites, Tech Tools and Apps; and Entertainment and Events.

Relatives at RootsTech (Connect). The essence of RootsTech is making fun, inspiring family connections. Who better to connect with than your own relatives worldwide? RootsTech attendees, if they choose, will be able to discover and start connecting with relatives attending RootsTech. With hundreds of thousands of registrants, the possibilities of making a connection are high.

Expo Hall. Companies with family history-related products and services from around the world will help you discover your unique story. Explore new product demonstrations, receive personal assistance, and take advantage of exclusive opportunities.

Innovators Portal. If you like to know the latest innovative technology in the family history and genealogy product segment, this feature is for you. Watch emerging product demos and be among the first to “test drive” some of them.

Guide Me. Not sure where to start? The Guide Me feature conveniently compiles popular sessions on various topics for you, for example, Getting Started, Discovery, or Archivist.

RootsTech Connect 2021 is a free 3-day virtual event. Visit RootsTech.org to participate in the many experiences and view on-demand content.

RootsTech Connect 2021 will be hosting Family Discovery Day virtually and  Our Quest for Connection, a RootsTech experience designed for youth and young adults to connect with each other, relatives, friends, and ancestors.

 

Source: https://media.familysearch.org/free-virtual-rootstech-event-connects-families-worldwide/

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The Family History Show, Online returns 20th February 2021

The Family History Show, Online, run by Discover Your Ancestors, is back on Saturday 20th February 2021. This online event builds on what were two previous successful online Family History Shows staged back in June and September last year. On both occasions many happy visitors logged on to enjoy a great day at the virtual event.

 

Online access to Saturday's show will mean that we are all able to safely enjoy many of the usual features of the physical show from wherever we are in the world, as well as making it possible for those that have disabilities to easily attend.

 

 

This show has some exciting new features including the following:

New Chat Features

  • Forum - discuss topics, seek help, or offer your own advice to others
  • Private Messaging - speak directly to exhibitors and other ticketholders
  • Browse Users - a list of all visitors that are currently browsing the show so you can socialise (please note that only those who have chosen to receive messages will be seen here)

Free Talks

  • Once you've logged in to the show, you will see the different areas of the show as tabs at the top of the page. Click on the "Lecture Theatre" tab and you will see the timetable of the talks. Once each talk starts it will be available to view on the page for 72 hours. You can pause, rewind and rewatch these talks and they will all be subtitled - just click the [cc] in the bottom right of the video to show the subtitles.

NEW Second Lecture Theatre

The Family History Show, Online now has two Lecture Theatres: a Main Theatre and an Exhibitor Theatre.

  • Main Theatre

Here will be specially commissioned high quality videos explaining different topics, given by acknowledged experts, Close Captioned to give access to all and now available for 72 hours from when they premiere.

  • Exhibitor Theatre

The second Theatre contains all videos and talks produced by our exhibitors. They are both informative and entertaining and once you have finished you can go to that Stallholder who can tell you more.

  • Ask the Experts

The ever-popular Ask the Experts sessions will be held via Jitsi, allowing you to talk face-to-face and get help with your research questions.

You can now book your time slot with an expert by clicking on the 'Ask the Experts' tab at the top of the page on the site. (Please note time slots are limited to one per visitor to ensure as many visitors as possible can benefit from this.)

Expert advice is available on the following areas: Apprenticeships, BMD Records, British India, Census, DNA and DNA Research Tools, General Family History, House History, Irish Research, Medical Ancestors and Disease, Military, Poor Law, Parish Records, Probate, Social History, South Wales Research, Seafarers, Ships' Passengers, Women at War, Women's History and Wills.

At the bottom of the Ask the Experts page, you have the option to submit your questions to the Ask the Expert Panel that will be streamed live at 15:30 on the Lecture Theatre page. You can submit as many questions as you like, and selected questions will be answered during the talk.

The Exhibitor Hall

You will be able to see what groups, societies and companies are available by clicking the 'Exhibitor Hall' tab at the top of the page when you are logged into the show. Some exhibitors will be available to video chat and there is a question feed where you can ask your questions either ahead of the day or on the day. You can browse and purchase exhibitors' products and discover more about the societies that are so vital to the family history community. This features Societies, Groups and Family History Companies.

They are here to help you with your research, and to give advice on products and services. Many stalls have free downloads and guides, those manning their stalls and available to video chat will be listed first.

Your Digital Goody Bag

Don't forget to get your FREE Digital Goody bag (worth over £10) by clicking the 'Goody Bag' tab at the top of the page. This includes 12 back issues of Discover Your Ancestors Periodical and a downloadable Family History Guide.

Buy your ticket now by visiting this site: https://thefamilyhistoryshow.com/online/tickets/

 

 

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Lloyd George Domesday Survey online top 800,000

Lloyd George Domesday Survey records on TheGenealogist top over 800,000 individuals with latest release 

TheGenealogist has just released the records for another 98,618 individuals from Southwark to increase the number of records to over 800,000 individuals in its unique online Lloyd George Domesday Survey. These property records are a fantastic resource for researchers searching for where an ancestor lived in the period 1910-1915.

The Lloyd George Domesday Survey is a massive project being carried out by TheGenealogist to digitise a combination of large scale Ordnance Survey maps and residential data field books from The National Archives. Using the records from the former Valuation Office Survey (known as the Lloyd George Domesday Survey) enables family history researchers to precisely pinpoint where an ancestor’s house had been on exceptionally detailed hand annotated maps from the period. These have been made even more useful to researchers as they have been georeferenced and are displayed as a layer in TheGenealogist’s powerful Map Explorer™.

Nelson Dockyard Rotherhithe from Lloyd George Domesday Survey maps

 

Family historians can often have problems when looking for where their ancestors lived. Even when they have located an ancestor’s address in the census, over time road names may have changed and many streets have been renumbered or bombed out of existence in the Blitz. With redevelopment the area can change substantially, adopting new layouts that make searching for where an ancestor lived using modern maps a frustrating experience.

With the Lloyd George Domesday Survey records on TheGenealogist, however, researchers will be able to:

  • link individual properties to pins on extremely detailed ordnance survey maps from the 1910s 
  • read information often giving a detailed description of the property in original Field Books
  • locate a specific house on the map from an address found in a census or street directory
  • search the records by surname, parish and street.
  • zoom down to show plots of the individual properties as they existed in 1910-1915
  • reveal modern map layers georeferenced to the survey maps to show the modern topography

The linked Field Books will also provide researchers with information regarding the valuation of each property, including the valuation assessment number, map reference, owner, occupier, situation, description and extent.

This mammoth project is ongoing with over 94,500 Field Books, each having hundreds of pages to digitise with associated large scale IR121 annotated OS maps. This release from TheGenealogist takes the total released so far to over 800,000 individuals and is available to their Diamond subscribers. 

This new release of records include properties situated in the following Southwark parishes:  Bermondsey Central, Bermondsey East, Bermondsey South, Bermondsey West, Camberwell, Camden, Christchurch, Dulwich, Dulwich East, Peckham North, Peckham South & Nunhead, Rotherhithe, Rye Lane & St Georges, Saint Peter, St George the Martyr East, St George the Martyr North, St George the Martyr South, St Georges East, St John by Horsleydown, St Mary & St Paul, St Olave & St Thomas, St Saviour 1, St Saviour 2, and Trinity.

Read TheGenealogist’s article about how the Lloyd George Domesday Survey Property records from the 1910s show us the Southwark home of Michael Caine’s family https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2021/property-records-from-the-1910s-show-us-the-southwark-of-michael-caines-family-1376/

To find out more about these records, you can visit their informative record collection page at 

TheGenealogist.co.uk/1910Survey/

 

About TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist is an award-winning online family history website, who put a wealth of information at the fingertips of family historians. Their approach is to bring hard to use physical records to life online with easy to use interfaces such as their Tithe and newly released Lloyd George Domesday collections. 

TheGenealogist’s innovative SmartSearch technology links records together to help you find your ancestors more easily. TheGenealogist is one of the leading providers of online family history records. Along with the standard Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records, they also have significant collections of Parish and Nonconformist records, PCC Will Records, Irish Records, Military records, Occupations, Newspaper record collections amongst many others.

TheGenealogist uses the latest technology to help you bring your family history to life. Use TheGenealogist to find your ancestors today!

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Fascinating February edition of online Discover Your Ancestors

The Discover Your Ancestors monthly periodical has just been released for February 2021 and it has some really fascinating articles this month. From Buffalo Bill's visit to England to some interesting crime stories from the past and more inbetween! Here is what to expect inside the pages of this online magazine:
 
• Victoria’s transatlantic treat: Caroline Roope tells the story of when Buffalo Bill amused the queen
• Kindness everywhere: Keith Gregson discovers that concern for birds is not something new, as he tells the story of the hugely successful Dicky Bird Society
• PM, pig breeder and police pioneer: Nick Thorne traces residential records for the two times prime minister of the United Kingdom. Sir Robert Peel
• The strange case of Lucy Strange: In the midst of WW1, one woman lost both her life and her public reputation: so why didn’t Lucy Mary Strange’s family get justice? By Nell Darby
• The untold story of ‘Doctor Dick’: Will Hazell investigates the chequered career of a man who scandalised Cornwall in the late 19th century
• History in the details: Materials – wool (part 1)
 
Discover Your Ancestors is available now online:
https://discoveryourancestors.co.uk/current-issue/
 
 
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