Vital stats

23 June 2009 by Libbi.

It’s my daughter’s birthday. She was born on my paternal grandmother’s birthday, just continuing the trend of vital stats on special days.

• My parents were married Christmas Day 1946
• My oldest brother was born July 4 1948
• My other brother was born on Thanksgiving 1952
• I was born on my father’s birthday
• My sister was born on my mother’s brother’s birthday
• We married April 1, 1978

Is there a pattern to your family’s vital stats?

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We’re Related press release

22 June 2009 by Libbi.

PROVO, Utah, June 19 /PRNewswire/ — We’re Related on Facebook, already the number four most popular application and the number one social application for families, launched its first commerce-related social marketing campaign, which drove more than 122,000 unique visitors to its commerce destination and generated hundreds of sales and online tributes to fathers in a single day.

We’re Related has an audience of more than 40 million people who have defined nearly 200 million family relationships using the application. This creates a perfect user base for a targeted and timely reminder that Father’s Day is just around the corner. Leveraging the huge existing base of users, FamilyLink launched its first commerce-related cross marketing campaign today.

A link with an invitation to “take a few minutes and share a photo with your dad to show him you love him” was included as part of a notification related to Father’s Day, which drove traffic to a “Dadtastic” store front that allowed users to purchase a t-shirt or just upload a favorite image or t-shirt design as a tribute to their fathers.

The campaign provided a new channel for users to interact while at the same time helping FamilyLink acquire new users as fans spread the word about the Dadtastic campaign to their network of friends and family.

“We are excited to see this unobtrusive, highly targeted marketing campaign result in such positive commerce and viral traffic. The ability to promote a Father’s Day commerce campaign directly to our strong and active user base is key. The relevance of the message is crucial for a successful campaign. FamilyLink believes users do not mind the interruption, they mind the irrelevance,” said

Jim Ericson, VP of marketing.
About FamilyLink.com, Inc. FamilyLink.com, Inc. seeks to become the world’s leading social networking company for families. Through their Facebook application, We’re Related, FamilyLink helps individuals stay in touch with their families by connecting them to their possible relatives, and also by sharing photos, news events, links, favorites lists, and more.

The company also operates several genealogy websites and has popular applications on Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, and Friendster. FamilyLink.com, Inc. also operates the AdMazing ad network that helps high traffic social applications and sites related to family history and heritage monetize their audiences.

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VitalSearch updates

19 June 2009 by Libbi.

Database completions and developments since last newsletter:

• June 16, 2009: 1888-1937 New York City Grooms: HERE
  • 1937 (sample) - Manhattan,Brooklyn,Bronx,Queens,Richmond(Staten Island): sample image
• May 12, 2009: 1880-1920 California State Vital Records Search Results:
  • Premium Search Members^* can view Here (Virtual-Film). All viewers can see a sample image.

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Family Search pilot adds records –Press Release

18 June 2009 by Libbi.

Six million new records were added to the FamilySearch Record Search pilot this week. The much anticipated Louisiana and Idaho death records are now available. The states of Delaware, District of Columbia, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, and New Mexico were added to the 1920 U.S. Census collection. Digital images of church records were also added for Mexico (Baja California, and Baja California Sur).
These collections can be searched for free at the FamilySearch.org Record Search pilot (click Search Records, and then click Record Search pilot).
Special thanks to the FamilySearch volunteers who help make these collections freely available.
Collection Name - Indexed Records-  Digital Images-  Comments

•  1920 US Census - 5,477,143-   Added Delaware, District of Columbia, New Mexico, Michigan, Nevada, and New Hampshire) -Note: Images will be added at a later date when additional features are available.

•  Louisiana Deaths 1850–1875; 1894–1954 - 664,511 -  Note: Images will be added at a later date when additional features are available.

•  Idaho Deaths 1911–1937-  106,484

•  Mexico, Baja California and Baja California Sur, Church Records 1750–1983 - 29,063-  Browsable images only—no index.

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Wordless Wednesday: Father’s Day

17 June 2009 by Libbi.

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Tombstone Tuesday: More from Holley, FL

16 June 2009 by Libbi.

Veteran at Harper Cemetery:Sidney S. Crabtree Spanish American War.

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June 12

12 June 2009 by Libbi.

It’s Miss Frances’ birthday. She would have been 83 today.

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MyHeritage launches a new version of its photo service

11 June 2009 by Libbi.

New features include photo uploads from mobile devices, a new and improved interface for  automatic photo tagging and new photo slideshows
Tel Aviv, Israel  June 10, 2009  MyHeritage, one of the world’s most popular family Web sites, today announced a new version of its innovative photo offering, making it even easier for families to share, organize and present their photos online. MyHeritage is a network of 32 million family members worldwide, more than 350 million profiles, 7 million family Web sites and 50 million photos. People upload more than 2.5 million family photos to MyHeritage every month, which is more than for all of its competitors combined.

In the new version of its photo service, MyHeritage improves its photo offering by letting consumers
share family photos from mobile devices or by email. This allows them to capture family moments
and share them as they happen. The groundbreaking photo tagging technology developed by
MyHeritage became much faster in the new version and received a brand new interface. A variety of
slideshow formats were added to make the best display for family photos and offer beautiful new ways of sharing them with family members. The innovative MyHeritage “Ken Burns” slideshow, for example, is intelligently human-aware and automatically zooms in on people in photos.

“Sharing and presenting digital photos is very important to families all over the world, so we are constantly looking for ways to make this even easier and more fun to use,” said Mario Ruckh, Director of Marketing at MyHeritage. “Now you can simply attach photos and videos to an email and send them directly to your family site. They are safely stored, easily accessible to your loved ones and don’t clog up any email inbox. Best of all, the email upload also works from any mobile device. Everybody in the family knows how to use email.”

Founded by CEO Gilad Japhet, MyHeritage helps people around the world discover, connect and communicate with their extended family network and easily research their family history. The service is unique in its international reach, currently translated into 34 languages. Its impressive growth is based on an increasing desire of families to stay closely connected and learn more about each other. MyHeritage can be accessed through the Web site or by downloading a simple piece of software called Family Tree Builder, which is free of charge.
About MyHeritage
MyHeritage was founded by a team of people who combine their passion for family history with the development of innovative technology. It is now one of the world’s leading online networks for families, and the second largest family history website. MyHeritage is available in 34 languages and home to 32 million family members and 350 million profiles. The company is based in Bnei Atarot, near Tel Aviv, Israel. For more information, visit www.myheritage.com.

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Wordless Wednesday: My father’s aunts

10 June 2009 by Libbi.

Click thumbnail for full size picture

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Tombstone Tuesday: Brownie Rock Obituary

9 June 2009 by Libbi.

A good friend of our family died this week. Brownie Rock (click for his official obituary) Brownie majored in accounting at Bowling Green College of Commerce, now Western Kentucky University, at about the same time as my father-in-law, but I believe they were friends even before that.  He was a former partner with E-town Paving Co. with my husband’s father and uncle, was my husband’s mentor and guide in many ways. In fact, if Baptists had godfathers, Brownie could be considered Mark’s.

A veteran of the US Marine Corp from 1951-1952,he saw combat in Korea.  Among his many service activities, he served on the Munfordville Fire Dept., the Munfordville City Council and the Hart County School Board.

He was a true gentleman in the oldest sense of the word: Gentle, noble in character, generous and gracious. We will miss him terribly.

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