Webinars, yearbooks and more

Genealogists, don’t let September pass before you check on some great new how-to-do-it videos from FamilySearch.

Some are set for particular days and times, while others are on archive. Remember that times given online are for Mountain Daylight Time (MDT), which I have converted to Eastern Daylight Time.

First up on Sept. 5 at noon is “Tracing Women in U.S. Research.” Then, on Sept. 19 at noon is “Strategies for U.S. Immigration Research.”

There are others, including two on using the massive data base that FamilySearch has. They are on Sept. 12 and 26, also at noon our time.

If you have to miss these live sessions, don’t worry. FamilySearch archives all its presentations for viewing later.

Also available this month are four “on demand” webinars, of course free of charge.

Two that strike me as especially vital are “Unique Resources to Find Enslaved African American Ancestors, Especially in Border States,” and “Native American DNA – Ancient and Contemporary Maps.”

To access them (and others) go to www.familysearchlibraryclassesandwebinars.org” fore links.

Yearbooks: Schools are open and the Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society continues to add to its massive yearbook holdings, available to members 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays. The society’s headquarters is Annex II of the Kirby Health Center, first block of North Franklin Street in Wilkes-Barre.

The yearbook collection covers nearly all of Northeastern Pennsylvania, though some schools are more heavily represented than others. The society has nearly all the King’s College and GAR High School books, for instance, and is making an effort to build up all the school collections.

By the way, if you join you will get a digital copy of the quarterly newsletter, which this time includes a fascinating article on why one of your American women ancestors might have had her citizenship temporarily revoked. To join, email the society at [email protected] .

When you join, you will begin getting emailed copies of the society’s quarterly newsletter, filled with information about new holdings and historical background for genealogists. The current newsletter details a time when, almost unbelievably, native-born American women could lose their citizenship through marriage.

Genealogy timeline: It is a lot easier to get a good (and memorable) picture of an ancestor’s life and times if you have all their information placed in a genealogical timeline, Family Tree Magazine suggests.

Search for “genealogy timeline” and you’ll find the magazine’s helpful (and illustrated) article showing you just how to create one. The timeline is basically just a system for linking the ancestor with vital events and dates (birth, marriage, jobs and many more) in an easy-to-read diagram format.

The advantage, of course, is that you get a more reader-friendly picture of the ancestor’s life and times when the data is in a set of boxes next to the name. Then, of course, you can make printouts or just store the information in a computer file.

Tenement Museum: New York City’s Lower East Side Tenement Museum will offer an “all virtual program and concert” via You Tube to show how early Jewish immigrants would have celebrated the high holy days. It is set for 6:30-8 p.m. on Sept. 24. Go to www.tenement.org.

The museum is at 103 Orchard St., in Lower Manhattan. Even if you did not have specific ancestors who lived in the New York City area in the 1800s or early 1900s, it’s a great visit.

Internet use: Latest figures from the Bureau of the Census show that nationally 70.3 percent of American households have access to the Internet in various forms.

Tom Mooney is a Times Leader history and genealogy writer. Reach him at [email protected] .