Richard Black joins FamilyLink.com, Inc.

PR-CANADA.net - Richard Black, Former Director of Godfrey Memorial Library, Joins FamilyLink.com, Inc.: "Richard Black, former director of Godfrey Memorial Library, recently accepted a position in content partnerships at FamilyLink.com, Inc.

“Richard is a well-known and respected genealogy expert who brings with him a wealth of knowledge, specifically pertaining to content and databases from all around the world. His experience at Godfrey is invaluable, and we are excited to have him working with our team,” said David Lifferth, president of FamilyLink.com, Inc.

Richard has been involved in genealogical work for more than 50 years. At the age of 12 he was asked to serve on a junior genealogical committee. The committee sponsored a contest between the youth and adults regarding who could compile the most pedigree sheets. Richard’s team won, and he has been excited about genealogy ever since.

Richard’s new role at FamilyLink.com, Inc. will be to work primarily with content providers who have U.S. genealogical content. Individuals or organizations that would like more information about submitting U.S. content to WorldVitalRecords.com can contact Richard at rblack - familylink.com.

“Familylink.com has great potential for being one of the premier providers of genealogical information, which I think is really exciting,” Richard said. “I am looking forward to being a part of FamilyLink.com, Inc. and helping people find their ancestors through our services.”

Prior to joining FamilyLink.com, Inc., Richard served as director of the Godfrey Memorial Library in Connecticut for three years. He recently married his childhood sweetheart, Linda. He and his wife reside in Salt Lake City, UT."

Richard Black director Godfrey Memorial Library - Google Search

Clwyd Wales

namesfromclwyd.org.uk: "These pages of names have been created as an index to the first names, surnames, and variations in their spelling, which I have collected together over many years, but which are mainly from the printed Parish Registers of Clwyd, transcribed by volunteer members of Clwyd Family History Society.

In connection with the registers, to begin with I used those containing the baptismal year of 1812, which is the date to which they were first transcribed, and reached my target to include the indexes of all of these in a master index from which I have gradually uploaded the information. Subsequent to this many registers have been added with dates before, and now some transcribed beyond, 1812.

Experts may not always agree with the 'umbrella' name under which I have placed some of the first names/surnames but I
take the view that this is just an index, not an academic work, and it is more important to be able to find the parish register reference number(s) for the name you are interested in. Having found the reference number, and noted it, you then go to my 'key' page to identify the particular register (link top left of each A-Z page)."

Daughters of the American Revolution

Daughters of the American Revolution [DAR] - Family History & Genealogy Message Board - rootsweb.com

New Mexico Genealogical Society Blog: DAR Lookup:

"DAR Lookup
This was previously posted in RootsWeb Review: 9 July 2008, Vol. 11, No. 17

Think you might have an ancestor who served in the American Revolutionary War (1775-83)? Would you like to know whether your ancestor is listed with the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) in the 'Patriot Index?' A helpful group of organized DAR volunteers monitor the RootsWeb DAR Message Board every day and welcome lookup requests. Include your Revolutionary War-era ancestor's first and last name, spouse's name (if known), dates of birth and death, and state of residence. You need not be interested in joining the NSDAR to request a lookup."

Immigration records Australia

Immigration records to be available online - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "Almost every Australian immigration record will be available online in the next few years as part of a project being launched at the National Archives in Canberra today.

The Archives has committed to making records for the 7 million people who immigrated to Australia searchable on the internet, in a project likely to take several years.

Archives director general Ross Gibbs says the resource, called Making Australia Home, should provide the tools for people wanting to map their family story.

'We get so many inquiries from overseas, the whole diaspora of Australians,' he said.

'It's by far the most asked questions we get,' he said."
National Archives in Canberra - Google Search

Ministry of Defence old files

Ministry of Defence | Defence News | Defence Policy and Business | Public asked for their views on transfer of historic records: "Members of the public are being asked for their views on the process the Ministry of Defence has developed to transfer to The National Archives records of soldiers, sailors and airmen who served in the Armed Forces between the two World Wars and for those who were members of the Home Guard during the Second World War.

The department transferred First World War service records to The National Archives in the 1990s and these have proved a popular resource with family and military historians alike.

But the opening of records at The National Archives needs to ensure that personal data is handled in accordance with data protection legislation and has the support and confidence of the public."

Computer and genealogy in Germany

Computergenealogie/2008/07 − GenWiki

NEWSLETTER NR. 07/2008
=========================================================

INTERNET
* Sterbefälle aus der Wiener Zeitung ab 1703
* Marburger Lichtbildarchiv online
* Neue digitalisierte Quellen auf FamilySearch
* Neue Online-OFBs

WISSEN
* Registererstellung mit Microsoft Word

MEDIEN
* Computergenealogie 2/2008 erschienen

KALEIDOSKOP
* Termine
* 5. Detmolder Sommergespräch
* 60. Deutscher Genealogentag

my thanks to:-

Viel Spass beim Lesen!
Klaus-Peter Wessel
1. Vorsitzender Verein für Computergenealogie e.V

GRO gov.uk

About Us: Looking ahead - Digitisation of Vital Events:
"Which types of records have been digitised?
Siemens has currently delivered over 130 million records; this is approximately half the total number of General Register Office (GRO) records of birth, death and marriage. Siemens has undertaken to complete the birth records (from 1837 to 1934) and death (1837 to 1957) records. These are the record types most requested by members of the public applying to GRO for copies of certificates, often for the purposes of family history research.

What has happened to the records which have already been digitised?
The digitised records are now being used by GRO within a system known as EAGLE (Electronic Access to GRO Legacy Events ). The use of digitised records in handling certificate applications enables a quicker and more efficient system to be used for identifying and printing certificates. As well as a database and image store, the EAGLE system also allows for the recording and tracking of customer orders.

When will the digitised Index be made available online?
The project to produce the digitised index and make it available to the public online is the MAGPIE project (MultiAccess to GRO Public Index of Events). This project is dependent on the completion of DoVE. Given the developments with DoVE, clearly the availability of the online index is likely to be delayed further.
"

Canadian Genealogy

Welcome to the Canadian Genealogy Centre - Canadian Genealogy Centre - Library and Archives Canada

The Centre includes all physical and online genealogical services of Library and Archives Canada. It offers genealogical content, services, advice, research tools and opportunities to work on joint projects, all in both official languages.

It is made possible in part by the Canadian Culture Online [www.pch.gc.ca/progs/pcce-ccop/
progs/mem_e.cfm] Funding Programs of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Irish mariners

Home : Irishmariners.ie - an index of Irish merchant seamen active 1918-1921: "This website contains an index of Irish born merchant seamen contained in the CR10 series of index cards in the Southampton Civic Archives. The CR10 Archive holds 270,000 cards covering the multinational workforce of the British Merchant Marine during the period from late 1918 to the end of 1921. All ranks and jobs at sea are covered from master to scullion. A unique feature of the CR 10 cards is that they usually contain a good photograph of the seaman. At this time RS2 Identity books, with matching photographs were issued to the seamen.

Each card lists personal and foreign voyage details including ship numbers. I have used Microsoft Access 2002 to produce relational databases for seaman personal details, seaman voyages, and ship details."

TGN versus Brightside shoot out begins

Licence Sale May Mean Money Doesnt Grow On Family Trees (from Sunday Herald): "Van der Kuyl said he had a longstanding relationship with DC Thomson and had been asked to 'come on board' as chief executive at Scotland Online, now Brightsolid, in October last year.

The company's other business activities include web hosting for clients such as the Dunfermline Building Society, and the Aberdeen Press and Journal, which is owned by DC Thomson.

Van der Kuyl is better known for his work in the computer games industry, promising in 1999, as he addressed the Labour party conference while only in his twenties, to build his game development firm VIS Entertainment into a £500 million empire in three years. He eventually sold the business to American games publisher BAM! for £4.5m in 2004.

John Thomson, who sits on the Brightsolid board along with DC Thomson chief executive Christopher Thomson, said: 'With his energy and experience, Chis van der Kuyl has brought a new sense of purpose to Brightsolid, and the company is now well positioned with a great team.'"
"

A SCOTTISH web company's plan to use the online sale of family tree information to drive sales could be damaged by government moves to offer licences for the same information to the company's competitors.

Brightsolid, which is owned by Dundee newspaper group DC Thomson and run by Chris van der Kuyl - who made his name in the Scottish computer games industry - last week stressed the importance being placed on the business's range of genealogy services.

Earlier this year, Brightsolid bought family history company Findmypast.com for an undisclosed sum, adding to its existing Scotlandspeople.gov.uk website, the running of which it shares with the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS), the National Archives of Scotland and the official heraldic authority, the Court of the Lord Lyon.

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Both websites make money by charging people to search census and other data so customers can compile their family tree. Charges on Findmypast.com range from £6.95 for 60 search credits to £89.95 for a 12-month subscription.

Amid hints the company was looking at further acquisitions to add to its two existing family tree websites, van der Kuyl claimed it would be responsible for "significant" growth into the "double-figure millions" in the next few years. This comes after the company's rebranding from Scotland Online to the new Brightsolid name last year.

However, van der Kuyl's strategy may be damaged by the revelation this week that the Scottish government is preparing to advertise licences to some of the data that Brightsolid profits from through Scotlandspeople.gov.uk. Currently, Brightsolid is the only company that makes money from GROS data.

A Scottish government spokesman said the data the company uses from GROS was about to be advertised to others for only a nominal administrative sum. He said: "We will advertise access to the material in the coming months."

Van der Kuyl, appointed chief executive of the company by co-owner DC Thomson and merchant bank Noble Grossart in October 2007, said he was aware the government was in negotiations to offer licences to other companies but considered it "not a threat but an opportunity", as the company plans to purchase several of the licences for Findmypast.com, which is currently unable to use GROS data.

Van der Kuyl added that Brightsolid's sites have two million registered users, and that there was a "significant" potential for further growth in the genealogy sector.

He said: "It is one of the few places on the internet where people are comfortable with paying for content. People understand when it comes to specialist information that they are prepared to pay for it.

"It usually involves the older demographic, people who are 45-plus, and that is good because they have a lot of disposable income. A lot of things on the internet do not interest them - this does," he said.

Brightsolid has recently won a contract to digitise, license and publish the 1911 Census of England and Wales from the National Archives in Kew, London. Van der Kuyl said the contract win was a "big deal" since the 1911 data is the most recent for which a licence is available, due to a 100-year bar on publishing it. He said it showed the extent of the company's ambitions to expand in markets outside Scotland.

But Simon Harper, managing director of market leader Ancestry.co.uk, said he was "not particularly bothered" by Brightsolid's genealogy push. He said his company had pulled out of the bidding process for the 1911 census because he believed it would only "tell our customers what they already know".

Harper said his company had asked the government about getting access to more Scottish material. "We have other deals coming that will eclipse all others and ensure that we remain as number one," he said."