Greetings Fellow Family History Sleuths,

I'm just a little bit excited because the Ellis Island-themed episode of Top Chef I worked on was submitted for Emmy consideration, and as a result, Top Chef was nominated. They're up against some tough competition, but I'll be watching and hoping on Sunday night to see if the show wins. Here's wishing you some award-winning moments in your genealogical quests this month!

Genealogy Round Up, September 1

Good news re: Arlington Nat'l
Old Guard troops photograph Arlington graves to document burials, update cemetery maps

Mixed feelings. Good for genealogists, but is this for fracking?
Lucrative mineral rights driving force to find rightful heirs

1884-2011!
Happy News - Wedding Dress Sees Four Generations of Happy Marriages

Mystery over: Ned Kelly's remains found
Bushranger Ned Kelly's remains found after search by investigators

Family Tree DNA Confirms Two NFL Players Are Half-siblings - Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Orphan Heirloom Rescue: 1870 Diary of an Irish Immigrant

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Genealogy Round Up, August 25

Wow. Hard to top this one.
The Spittoon » Stories From 23andMe: “Hey, Bro”

Yes!
North Korea accepts U.S. request to discuss recovering war dead | Breaking News | Wire Update News

Google News Archive and Footnote.com: A Strange Week or Sign of Things to Come?

Queen and Obama help boost Irish tourism

OK, so this makes me a "geneologist," but I'm still crossing my fingers for Top Chef! Loved doing that research!
Emmys: Will 'Top Chef' win again for reality competition show?

Latest from FamilySearch - Belgium, England, Nicaragua, Peru & Russia
FamilySearch Records Update 23 August 2011

Genea-Musings: Changes at FamilySearch Coming Soon

Now you can volunteer your sleuthing skills to help vets.
FFFH Genealogy Team- We Bring Soldiers Home.

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Genealogy Round Up, August 18

Send Your Orphan Heirlooms Home

Yes, Hungarian records!
FamilySearch Records Update 10 August 2011: FamilySearch Adds 2.3 Million Images

Great idea!
Lingotek Enables FamilySearch Members to Translate Historical Family Documents

"If you have a Social Security number, you can do anything you want."
The Associated Press: 2 sisters in Ky. fight for Social Security number

Someone on google+ asked me if you could pre-order and in checking that out on Amazon, I discovered that the cover of my next book is already posted. So how do you like the funky cover Kensington designed for my next book??
Hey, America, Your Roots Are Showing

Only $67k!
Journey of Man by Private Jet | National Geographic Expeditions

Bring on the estate records, baby!
FamilySearch Records Update 16 August 2011

Is Ancestry getting serious about genetic genealogy?
Help Wanted Ad for Computational Biologist May Indicate Future Services from Ancestry.com

Love this! See how she flies!
Eye Candy: Levitating Girl Natsumi Hayashi - Geekologie

Scottish GENES (GEnealogy News and EventS): BBC sells Who Do You Think You Are magazine

Hey, a #genealogy TV show with genealogists! Great to see John, Turtle & Nicola! Congrats, Ireland!
TV Highlights - Plus - Staying In - Articles - Meath Chronicle

1940 U.S. Census to be free on Ancestry.com

Wish they'd share this & other episodes across the pond!
TV review: Who Do You Think You Are? and Natural World: Heligan – Secrets of the Lost Garden

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1940 U.S. Census to be free on Ancestry.com

PROVO, UTAH (August 17, 2011) - Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, today announced that both the images and indexes to the 1940 U.S. Federal Census will be made free to search, browse, and explore in the United States when this important collection commences streaming onto the website in mid-April 2012.

When complete, more than 3.8 million original document images containing 130 million plus records will be available to search by more than 45 fields, including name, gender, race, street address, county and state, and parents’ places of birth. It will be Ancestry.com’s most comprehensively indexed set of historical records to date.

Ancestry.com is committing to make the 1940 Census free from release through to the end of 2013, and by doing so hopes to help more people get started exploring their family history. As this census will be the most recent to be made publicly available, it represents the best chance for those new to family history to make that all-important first discovery.

“The release of the 1940 U.S. Census will be an exciting event for any American interested in learning more about their family history,” said Ancestry.com CEO Tim Sullivan. “By making this hugely important collection free to the public for an extended period, we hope to inspire a whole new generation of Americans to start researching their family history.”

“Ancestry.com is working to make the 1940 Census a truly unique interactive search experience...as well as the starting point to help new users easily get started on the world’s leading online family history resource. After finding that first family connection in the 1940 Census, we believe new users will be able to make amazing discoveries by searching our 7 billion digitized historical records, exploring the 26 million family trees created on Ancestry, and collaborating with our nearly 1.7 million subscribing members. We think that 2012 is going to be a great year of discovery for all family historians.”

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Honoring Our Ancestors Grants

Congrats to our recent grant recipient! Don't forget that you can apply here.

August 2011
Mary Moran and her husband received a number of boxes of Moran family letters, documents, pictures, tintypes, cabinet cards, invitations, birth announcements, playbills and more from the family home in Dresden, TN, dating back from the mid-1880s to the mid-1960s. Mary is working to scan in all of the information to preserve it and share it on her blog. The grant award will be used to purchase a scanner that can scan high-resolution images, negatives and large documents.

September 2011
The Smyth County Genealogical Society in Smyth County, VA is working to digitize old family documents from the local area, including Bibles brought in during a recent "Family Bible Photography/Preservation Project." After these documents have been photographed, the digital copies are made available online and a hard-copy is maintained in the Southwest Virginia Heritage Room at the Smyth-Bland Regional Library. The grant award will go toward the purchase of external hard drives and scanners so the Society can continue this digital archiving project.

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Upcoming Events

If you plan to be near any of the events where I'll be speaking, I would love to meet you. It's always a kick for me when folks mention that they read this newsletter, my blog, Huffington Post or whatever, so don't be shy about introducing yourself!

For more information on these events, please see my Events Calendar. And if you're interested in scheduling me, just click here.

• September 18, 2011 - Charleston, SC - Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) Trade Show

• October 8, 2011 - Salt Lake City, UT - American Society of Genealogists - "Giving Back: A Look at 10 Years of Genealogy Grants"

• October 18, 2011 - Princeton, NJ - Barnes & Noble - "Who Do You Think You Are?"

• February 8, 2012 - Princeton, NJ - Present Day Club - Topic TBD

• May 19, 2012 - Valley View, OH - East Cuyahoga County Genealogical Society - "Trace Your Roots with DNA," "Reverse Genealogy: Techniques for Finding Your Lost Loved Ones," "Find The Obituary! Online Newspaper Research" and "Cases That Made My Brain Hurt"

• July 20-21, 2012 - Indianapolis, IN - Indiana Historical Society Midwestern Roots Conference - Topics TBD

• September 29, 2012 - Manassas, VA - Ruth E. Lloyd Information Center (RELIC) for Genealogy and Local History - "Cases That Made My Brain Hurt"

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