19 November 2009 by Libbi.

“RootsMagic Essentials” Brings Free Tools for Family History

SPRINGVILLE, Utah. — November 18, 2009 — RootsMagic, Inc. announced the immediate availability of RootsMagic Essentials, free desktop genealogy software based on their award-winning RootsMagic 4 system. RootsMagic Essentials contains many core features found in its namesake that allow the public to easily start tracing their family trees.

Essential Features for Everyone

“Many of our users have told us that they have friends and family members who are interested in getting started in family history but aren’t ready to invest in a more comprehensive package like RootsMagic,” said Bruce Buzbee, president. “RootsMagic Essentials gives them the features they need to start researching and recording their family tree at a price that can’t be beat—free!”

RootsMagic Essentials shares many of the same features with the full RootsMagic software including clean and friendly screens, the ability to add an unlimited number of people and events, pictures and media management, the SourceWizard to write your source citations for you, powerful merging and clean-up tools, dozens of reports and charts, support for international character sets, FamilySearch integration, and the ability to share data with other people and software programs. The full version of RootsMagic is available for purchase and includes features not available in RootsMagic Essentials.

Free and Available Now

RootsMagic Essentials is available now for free at http://www.rootsmagic.com. Users of other genealogy software products will find it easy to experiment with RootsMagic Essentials using their own data. RootsMagic Essentials can directly import data from PAF, Family Tree Maker (through 2006), Family Origins, and Legacy Family Tree. It can also read and write data using the popular GEDCOM format.

“We’re excited to make RootsMagic Essentials available to the community,” said Michael Booth, vice-president. “Our mission is to provide ’software to unite families’ and our hope is that RootsMagic Essentials will encourage more people to record their family trees and connect with their family histories”.

About RootsMagic, Inc.

For over 20 years, RootsMagic, Inc. has been creating computer software with a special purpose—to unite families. One of our earliest products- the popular “Family Origins” software, introduced thousands of people to the joy and excitement of family history.

That tradition continues today with “RootsMagic”, our award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history fun and easy. “Personal Historian” will help you easily write and preserve your life stories. “Family Reunion Organizer” takes the headaches out of planning those important get-togethers. And “Family Atlas” creates beautiful and educational geographic maps of your family history.

For more information, visit http://www.rootsmagic.com.

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18 November 2009 by Libbi.

WooHoo! — I have been awarded the Kreativ Blogger Award! A big thank you to Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here for this honor!

The winner of this award is supposed to list seven things about himself or herself and then pass the award along to seven other bloggers.

So, here are seven things about me that you didn’t know you didn’t know==>

·         I grew up in the Manned Space Flight world. My father was a real rocket scientist and my brother trains astronauts.

·         I love animals.

·         Two places make me start grinning every time I can be there: Monte Sano State Park in Alabama and Navarre Beach in Florida.

·         I love to play games: Bridge, Scrabble, Wii, whatever.

·         I am a huge Kentucky Basketball fan.

·         I have been in a choir, no matter where I lived, since I was 10.

·         I once won a scholarship for an article I wrote for Playgirl Magazine in 1976.

My Seven Creative Bloggers:

1.      Ancestor Hunting: http://genealogysleuth.blogspot.com/

2.      Ancestories: http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/ancestories_the_stories_of_my_ancestors/

3.      Grace and Glory:  http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/grace_and_glory/

4.      Graveyards of South Logan County: http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/graveyards_of_south_logan_county/

5.      Logan County Genealogy: http://logancountygenealogy.blogspot.com/ 

6.      We Tree: http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/we_tree/

7.      And the Genealogue: Genealogy News You Can’t Possibly Use: http://www.genealogue.com/

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17 November 2009 by Libbi.

The Political Graveyard is a neat web site about U.S. political history and cemeteries. It is the Internet’s most comprehensive source for American political biography, listing 192,291 politicians, living and dead. The site includes  many federal officials, state officeholders and candidates in all 50 states, state and national political party officials, federal and state judges, and even mayors of some cities. Though the database is still  a continually ongoing project, what is there is fascinating. Besides the geographical groupings, the site also has an alphabetical index of politicians.  The Political Graveyard is created and maintained by Lawrence Kestenbaum, and is surely worth a bookmark!

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16 November 2009 by Libbi.

I’m currently doing the chapter on messaging and online genealogy: Any of my readers have success stories using Twitter? I’d love to hear from you! I’m @ECWriter, and you can hash #GenealogyOnline on Twitter, or just leave a comment here!

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14 November 2009 by Libbi.

My brick wall is named Reason. William Reason Powell to be exact. “Reese” as he was known to the family, was born 1802, Edgefield Co, SC. He was in Alabama in 1832 when he married Anna Gibson/Gipson 17 Feb 1832. They were in Sumter County AL in 1835 poll tax list. They went to Union Parish,LA where Anna must have died. He is back in Sumter County, Al in 1850 census and married to Louisa FOSTER. They are in Lauderdale county Ms in 1860 census.

His children were: by Anna, Mary Louise, Christina, and George Washington. By Louisa FOSTER, Nancy Ann, John Aaron Winston, Benjamin F. Henry Harrison, James Randolph whp is my great-great grandfather, Frances Marion, Josephine, and Thomas Jefferson.

But Reason’s parents? Did they never get sued, arrested, or buried? Did they never pay taxes or buy land? Was South Carolina really that lax in record keeping? Or was poor old Reese fathered by an alien…as in UFO? This is the mystery that keeps me digging at my family roots!

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12 November 2009 by Libbi.

 Genealogy Web site Ancestry.com is opening up its entire U.S. military collection in honor of Veterans Day  for free through Friday.  600 Navy cruise books  are also available in  its online collection of military records for the holiday. These  like yearbooks and include the names and photos of those who served on ships. Ancestry.com says one book — a 1946 edition for the U.S.S. Pennsylvania — includes a photo of TV legend Johnny Carson. The collection spans cruises following World War II from 1950-88.

The Navy Department Library has about 3,500 cruise books on file that Ancestry.com plans to digitize and add to its collection.

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11 November 2009 by Libbi.

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10 November 2009 by Libbi.

At http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/santarosa/cemeteries/holley.txt you can find an alphabetized transcription of all the tombstones of the Holley Cemetery up to 2001 by Patti West and Eva Lane.

Directions: This cemetery is also known as the “Old Holley” Cemetery, located off Hwy 87 in Holley. Turn West onto Holley Point Road and follow the road until it curves to the right. Turn left on dirt road.

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