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FindMyPast Acquires Genealogy Startup Twile

The following news release was received from FindMyPast:

FindMyPast Acquires Genealogy Startup Twile – Winner of Two RootsTech Innovation Awards

Leading British family history website, Findmypast, has announced their acquisition of genealogy startup Twile, creators of the visual family history timeline and winner of two RootsTech innovation awards.

The acquisition reflects Findmypast’s drive to innovate and enhance customers’ family history experience by providing them with new ways to share their family stories.

Twile enables family historians to create interactive timelines with their family memories and set them against the context of world history. Twile provides new and engaging ways of telling your family’s story via beautiful infographics and other visualizations.

Twile and Findmypast have been strategic partners since 2016 and have a shared mission of making family history more engaging for the entire family.

In the future, Twile’s storytelling features will be available on Findmypast, enabling users to automatically display their family history research in a media-rich timeline. Combined with Findmypast’s unrivalled collection of British and Irish records, these new features will enable users to share their discoveries in new and exciting ways.

The Twile team will continue to develop and maintain Twile and there are no plans to change the features and services Twile users currently enjoy. Twile co-founder, Paul Brooks, will be overseeing all future integration work and regular updates will be shared with Twile subscribers.

Paul Brooks, co-founder of Twile said: “This is a really exciting development for Twile. We’ve worked closely with Findmypast over the last two years in our mission to help families share their history. I’m looking forward to working even more closely as we develop Twile into the future.”

Tamsin Todd, CEO of Findmypast said: “We’re excited to bring the innovative experiences that Twile has created to even more customers, making it easier and more engaging to create and share your family history.”

To find out more about Twile, visit: https://twile.com/

About Findmypast Findmypast (previously DC Thomson Family History) is the British-owned world leader in online family history with over 18 million registered users across its family of brands, which include Findmypast, Genes Reunited, the British Newspaper Archive and Twile.

Its lead brand, also called Findmypast, is the home of the world’s most comprehensive online collection of British and Irish records, including:

● The largest online collection of UK parish records

● Twice the number of Irish records available on any other site

● The British Library’s vast collection of historical newspapers

● The exclusive Catholic Heritage Archive, a groundbreaking initiative that aims to digitize the historical records of the Catholic Church in North America, Britain and Ireland for the very first time.

Findmypast is committed to making discoveries in the British Isles easier than ever before. It combines the best of British and Irish data with the knowledge of in-house experts to provide a unique family history experience that guides researchers through every step of their journey.

For more information on how Findmypast is enhancing the experiences of family historians worldwide, visit: https://www.findmypast.com/

About Twile Twile is an interactive timeline made up of photos and milestones – such as births, marriages and deaths – which tells the story of your family from your earliest known ancestor to the youngest member of your family. Genealogists can import a family tree from their existing research tool (eg Findmypast) to automatically generate their Twile timeline.

Based in Doncaster, Twile was started in 2013 by Paul Brooks and Kelly Marsden. Both with young families they were looking to give their children a record of their early years and a knowledge of their ancestors. While the website is aimed primarily at family historians, it is also designed to encourage the rest of the family to add their own, more recent content.

Since its beginnings, Twile has been backed by Creative England (who bring capital through the Government’s Regional Growth Fund) and a number of UK angel investors, including Lee Strafford, one of the original co-founders of Plusnet, which sold to BT Group in 2007.

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RootsTech is Off and Running… And America’s Pastor Lies in State

The first classes are now underway at RootsTech. There are over 300 of them being offered this year. Since early morning, I’ve watched crowds of people walking down West Temple, heading for the Salt Place entrance, from my Plaza Hotel window. I’m currently preparing more blogs to be posted as the day goes on. Keep in mind that there are online free classes available throughout the conference – with enough time for bathroom breaks…

In the background, on TV, I’m listening to the Billy Graham service being held in the Capital Rotunda – very moving, and fitting for a man I’ve admired since I was small. One of my earliest childhood memories is that of my mother telling me that Billy Graham was a man of God and I should listen to and respect him. That was saying something, because as Seventh-day Adventists, mom was always pretty vocal about having the “truth.” We were not Baptist. I only got to hear “America’s Pastor” in person once, when he spoke at the Kingdome in Seattle years ago, but it’s an experience I won’t forget. On a very personal level, it’s fitting that today’s service final prayor was given by Senate Chaplain Barry Black, who just happens to be a Seventh-day Adventist.

Okay – back to RootsTech…

Last evening, I attended the Media Dinner sponsored by RootsTech. We got to hear about some of the RootsTech background info, and meet those who made it all possible.

A Relative Race presention was given by Dan J. Debenham – complete with a teaser video for the upcoming season, which just happens to start this next Sunday on BYUTV. If you cable company doesn’t offer it, you can find it on your computer. See: https://www.byutv.org/relativerace

Attendence is looking good, and I’ll announce total numbers a bit later, but as of now, there are attendees from all 50 states, and 40 countries here at RootsTech. Never have all 50 states been represented at RootsTech before.

As you know, the lineup of keynote speakers is pretty amazing. It was revealed last night that a total of 40 individuals were winnowed down to the 4 who made the cut. Be see and see them give their presentations. See the online schedule for times.

As for the exhibition hall, which opens this evening, there are 197 exhibitors. Sixty-five of the companies represented have been there for four years of more. Since RootsTech is a very hands-on experience, it was required that 380 computer workstations be set up for RootsTech 2018.

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Newberry’s Digital Collections Are Now Available for Re-use Without Licensing or Fees

Many genealogists have enjoyed the Genealogy/Local History resources found at Chicago’s Newberry library. I was alerted to a change in their Digital Image policies by the American Library Association. The following excerpt is from an announcement posted to the Newberry Library’s website:

The Newberry has announced a major revision to its policy regarding the re-use of collection images: images derived from collection items are now available to anyone for any lawful purpose, whether commercial or non-commercial, without licensing or permission fees to the library.

Applying to everything from the pictures researchers take in the library’s reading rooms to the 1.7 million high-resolution Newberry images currently available online, the revised policy is intended to encourage users to interact more freely with collection items as they produce new scholarly and creative work.

“By modifying our rights policy, we’re reinforcing our commitment to a core component of the Newberry’s mission: to promote and provide for the effective use of our collections while fostering life-long learning and civic engagement with the humanities,” said Alice Schreyer, Vice President for Collections and Library Services. “We are continually adopting new methods of making our collections not only more accessible but more approachable, and we’re excited to see how our users respond to these much less restrictive guidelines for image re-use.”

Many Newberry items now available online are part of the public domain, and can be used and shared freely without violating copyright law. These items include more than 30,000 French Revolution pamphlets recently added to Internet Archive and made available as a data set as part of a “Digitizing Hidden Collections” grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Though the Newberry no longer assesses permissions fees, users remain responsible for determining whether material is in the public domain, whether it is protected by copyright law or other restrictions, or whether a particular activity constitutes fair use.

The Newberry’s new image rights policy follows the recent expansion of its digital collections, including the addition of a significant portion of the Everett D. Graff Collection—now digitally available to scholars and the general public for the first time. The Graff Collection totals more than 130,000 images of books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and other objects documenting Indigenous peoples in the Americas and the settlement of the American West.

Newberry Digital Collections Include:

Chicago and the Midwest

Daily Life along the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad

Edward E. Ayer Digital Collection

Everett D. Graff Digital Collection

French Revolution Pamphlets

German-American Birth and Baptismal Certificates

Helen Morrison Photographs of Kentucky Freetowns

Modern Manuscripts

Read the full article at the website.

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RootsTech Registration in the Salt Palace

Well, that was fun. I got into the RootsTech registration line about 4 pm and was out of there about an hour later. I understand that some folks were in line for 1 1/2 to 2 hours earlier in the day. Registration started at noon, and long lines, winding up and down the room soon developed. I found it fun to visit with old friends as we passed each other in the serpentine lines. Once I got to the counter, it only took seconds to have my bag. We’re now ready for RootsTech to begin!

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A Day at the BYU Family History Technology Workshop

After an uneventful drive from Salt Lake City to Provo this morning, my BYU Family History Technology Workshop registration began at about 8 am, with a light continental breakfast of fruit and bagels. Most of us carried our food to our seats, and settled in, laptops on full alert…

The workshop is now in its 17th year, and has been held at BYU and RootsTech in Salt Lake City. This year it was held in the Hinkley Center in Provo. Attendees included researchers, software developers, and professionals.

The workshop is made up of research talks, developer presentations, and lightening talks. Areas of extreme interest include handwriting recognition, automated record transcription, data modeling, machine learning, natural language processing, visualization, human interaction, and user experience.

9:00 a.m. The morning kicked off with a welcome by Mark Clement, followed by the Keynote address, which was titled 25 Years of Research in Family History Technologies at BYU: Where we have been, where we are going, presented by Bill Barrett. Bill has been at BYU, and involved in technology for a quarter century. In many cases he’s been the guy with the vision of doing the impossible – and then helping to make it possible. Many of Bill’s students now work for tech-related genealogy companies.

Bill pointed out that the Archive tab at the BYU Family History Technology Workshop website contains the papers of the past programs starting with 2001. The 2018 papers will be posted shortly. Bill noted that his keynote lecture – giving a fascinating timeline of tech progress at BYU – will be included. Accurate automated handwriting recognition is still a major issue. Great progress in the area is being made, but there’s still not a perfect system. There are many factors involved – machine print, handwriting, stamps, overlapping lines, and such – and all have to be dealt with.

10:05 a.m. The Lightning Talks was what many of us came to hear. Each presenter has about 10 minutesto give their pitch. The following were given, one right after the other. The title, followed by the presenter, and a brief summary (mine) are listed. Keep in mind that I’m deaf, so wasn’t able to summarize all the info as I would have liked.

Studio, Benson Giang Studio is an iPhone-based system that specializes in capturing photo albums and scrapbooks from wherever you are… Studio captures from the ‘top down’ right through existing plastic covers and sheets, so there is no need to remove photos or pages from our precious albums. This technology creates a digital replica without the glare from the protective covers. See: http://support.legacyrepublic.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2821426-studio-experience—2017-

QromaTag, Tony Knight QromaTag is an iOS application that makes it easy to put the most important parts of a story into any photo in a way that will survive for generations. Using two voice recognition systems that work in tandem, QromaTag creates industry standard photo metadata based on what you tell it about your photos. Using natural language, speak the date, location and people that are in the photo and QromaTag takes care of all the technical details and embeds that information into the photo. See: https://devpost.com/software/qromatag-r70ufq

Sparse Data Matching, Chrisine Marchesci (BYU Economics) Christine works with the BYU Record Linking Lab. An example was used showing how automated matching could be used to match names found in a college annual with the U.S. census records. Many libraries are digitizing hgh school yearbooks. Automated linkng of records found within can be very useful for genealogists.

Using Deep Learning to Link Census Records, Chris Cook (BYU Economics) Chris Cook is also with the record linking Lab. The talk dealt with people’s names being run through a machine learning algorithim, using data found on the trees in FamilyTree.

Extracting Genealogical Data from Books, Nick Grasley (BYU Economics) Nick also works in the Record Linking Lab. Archive.org has 130,000 books with a genealogy tag. The books range from parish records to family trees. Thus far, 363,947 individual records have been extracted from 35 books. One book contained almost 150,000 records. An example from New Jersey Colonial Records was used. About 2/3 of the people in the book were not found on FamilySearch! This technology has great potential.

Using Geo-coordinates to Better Match Records, Tanner Eastmond (BYU Economics) Tanner also works with the BYU Record Linking Lab. The example used was Soldiers in the Great War, 70,000 US Soldiers Who Died in WWI. The soldier’s names and their home towns (as well as a picture) are given in the book. They wanted to match these people to the U.S. Census. They used geo-coordinates to make the matches.

TreeSweeper, Sam Litster (BYU Computer Science) Sam explained how you can search your family tree (at the FamilySearch website) for possible errors – a clue might be that a person was dead when their child was born. The program catches the possible error, and then give suggestions on what may be the issue. See: https://beta.treesweeper.fhtl.byu.edu/#!/

Brownie, Ben Jones (BYU Computer Science) Brownie breaks down your research into a to-do list, using methodology that professionals might use. According to Sam, the program is still pretty primitive, and a work in progress. Tips and Resources are given the genealogist by this new program that has great potential.

Ancestor Games, Jeremy Hodges, (BYU Computer Science) Jeremy talked about various games that are being produced for genealogy. Included are:

Matching games

A coloring book using sketches of your ancestor.

Crossword puzzles

A word search

A word scramble

Record Quest, Calvin McMurray (BYU Computer Science) Found at the FamilyHistory Technology Lab website – Record Quest is an online game. See: https://fhtl.byu.edu/apps/record-quest.html

Check out the Family History Technology Labs website at: https://fhtl.byu.edu/index.html It’s got some pretty interesting stuff on there.

At 11:00, we took a break. A devotional was led by Elder Gifford Nielson, and some of the rest of us spent the time on our computers and networking.

At noon we enjoyed a terrific lunch. Now, I don’t know about the majority of the folks, but I ordered a vegetarian meal, and it was wonderful! It must have cost half my registration fee alone!

1:00 p.m. Research and Developer Talks (15 min + 5 min Q&A)

The early afternoon started off with a 15 minute talk titled Building a National Longitudinal Research Infrastructure, Steve Ruggles & Catherine Fitch (University of Minnesota) Historical data from the census is used to link across five generations 1850-2020. Life Histories for each person can be built, – using census, and many other life records. See: https://usa.ipums.org/usa/

GenCo – Machine Learning Entity Resolution, Tyler Folkman (Ancestry) GenCo – Genealogically Inspired Compare Automatically comparing people from family trees to understand if people are the same folks. Ancestry professionals actually looked at many thousands of records and helped to work up the data for the automated system.

Extraction Rule Creation by Text Snippet Examples, Dave Embley (FamilySearch/BYU) Created Rules should allow automated text extraction that is

Usable by non experts

rapid development

high quality results.

Green QQ Current implementation – Quick and Quality This is a work in progress. The interface is still to be written.

The impact of European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on genealogy software, Sophie Tardivel (CEO of Doptim, France) From Britanny, France See: Geneafinder.com

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation went into effect 25 May 1018. It affect’s the European Union for all products and services delivered in Europe. Any information relative to a natural person directly or indirectly is covered by the regulations. Penalties are impossed on data companies that break the rules… Consent from individuals is important and must be obtained to process his/her data. See: http://doptim.eu/

At 2:20, the program broke for a 20-minute break. I had to break away and head back to Salt Lake, as RootsTech registration, as well as the Media Dinner were yet on the day’s menu.

The following Developer talks were given in the afternoon. I missed them, as I was already on my way… I had to get back to Salt Lake for RootsTech registration, and the later Media dinner. Bummer…

The papers for all these talks will be posted at the website https://fhtw.byu.edu/ within a few days. Check them all out!

2:40 p.m. Research and Developer Talks (15 min + 5 min Q&A)

Improved Blur Detection of Historical Document Images with a Neural Network, Ben Baker (FamilySearch)

Page Segmentation using Fully Convolutional Networks, Seth Stewart (BYU)

An Open Source Pytorch Library for Handwriting Recognition, Oliver Nina (University of Ohio)

Applications of Subword Spotting, Brian Davis (BYU)

Text Baseline Detection with Convolutional Neural Networks, Chris Tensmeyer (BYU)

Use of Deep Learning for Open Format Line Detection and Handwriting Recognition: An End-to-End System, Curtis Wigington (BYU)

4:40 Concluding Remarks by Joe Price

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Genealogy Resources: Researching in State Archives

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Alsace-Lorraine Genealogy Research Bundle of 8 Books – discounted 40% thru Tuesday, March 6

Family Roots Publishing has put together a bundle of 8 popular genealogy research guides for Alsace-Lorraine – and discounted them by 40% for the next week – that a $100 savings! These are only available for U.S.A. purchase, as the costs to ship this bundle outside of the U.S.A. is prohibitive.

The bundle is made up of the following items: All 6 of the Alsace-Lorraine Map Guide to German Parish Registers Vol. 33-38, by Keven Hansen – Soft Bound

Alsace-Lorraine Place Name Indexes: Identifying Place Names Using Alphabetical & Reverse Alphabetical Indexes; by Roger P. Minert, Ph.D. – Soft Bound

Alsace-Lorraine: Atlantic Bridge to Germany; by Linda Herrick & Wendy Uncapher – Soft Bound

Click on the links to learn more about each book. Use your back arrow to return to this page to order the bundle. Note that there are 6 Alsace-Lorraine German Map Guides. Each of these books has a locality index within it, but the indexes most easily searched searched separately, at the web page for that book.

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Reminder – 19 RootsTech Sessions are Available FREE on the Internet

A few days ago, I blogged about the free online RootsTech 2018 sessions. Starting on Wednesday, February 28, you can get in on RootsTech, even if you can’t attend. The keynote sessions, as well as a good selection of classes are being offered free online.

See my earlier blog for details.

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Over 175K Records Added At FindMyPast This Last Week

The following was received from FindMyPast: There were over 175,334 new records available to search this Findmypast Friday, including:

Greater London Marriage Index Over 94,000 new records from the Royal College of Arms covering historic chapels at St James Duke’s Place, Gray’s Inn, Somerset House and the Austin Friars Dutch Reform Church are now available to search. Dating back to the early 1500’s the records will reveal details of your ancestor’s residence, occupation, marriage and spouse. A number of records also include images of original documents.

These new additions are not the only update the Index has received this week. We have also merged a number of existing London marriage collections to make them accessible through one unified search. The Greater London Marriage Index will now also include results from the Middlesex Marriage Index, the West Middlesex Marriage Index, the St Andrew’s Holborn Marriage Index and our collection of Docklands and East End Marriages.

England, Mining Disaster Victims Discover the names and circumstances of those who died in mining accidents with over 9,000 transcripts that list their name, birth year, age, event date, colliery, and incident details. Four counties are represented in the records: Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Yorkshire. This collection has been obtained from the Alan Beales Database of Fatalities in the Coal Fields. Additional information about the records can we found on the source’s website.

Included in these records are the 26 children who lost their lives in the Huskar Pit disaster of 1838 as well as 88 of the men who died in the Cadeby Main pit disaster in 1912. The initial explosion at Cadeby Main killed a total of 38 men; however, when a rescue party was sent in, another explosion occurred, killing 53 of the rescue workers.

Derbyshire Parish Records Brand new records covering the parishes of Alvaston, Boulton, Chellaston, Holbrook, Longford, Newton Solney and Wilne have been added to our collection of Derbyshire Parish records, including:

· 255,626 Baptisms · 126,083 Marriages · 16,902 Burials

Before the introduction of the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in 1837 all such events were recorded in the local parish. Parish records generally begin from 1538 after the Church of England mandated the keeping of parish registers in 1537. Baptisms, marriages and burials were all recorded in a single volume until 1774, when the law changed to require a separate marriage register and another one for Banns (or proclamations of an intent to marry). Standardised forms for these registers appeared in 1812.

Irish Newspapers Over 54,000 new articles and one new title, the Social Review, have been added to our collection of historical Dublin Newspapers. The Social Review, ‘the leading journal of society and fashion in Ireland’. Published between 1893 and 1901, the paper was published weekly on a Saturday with occasional special editions for events such as the Dublin Horse Show. This title is essential for those interested in society and fashion in late nineteenth century Ireland, and is an excellent companion to Irish Society which was published from 1888 to 1924.

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Settled in Salt Lake for a Few Days – and looking homeless

I am so happy to report that I’m now settled in at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel in Salt Lake City. I call this place my home away from home. I’ve been staying here for over 30 years – sometimes for just a night, and once Patty and I were here for 5 weeks. They treat me like family here.

I guess I can reveal something now that I’ve been keeping pretty close-to-the-vest. A few weeks back, I got an ear infection. I wear hearing aids and have to clean my ears pretty regularly. I was using tap water to do it… Seems that wasn’t a good idea, as after my ear-service in January, my right ear started hurting. Then it REALLY hurt. Then my left ear joined in the chorus. I went to an urgent care, and he prescribed a topical antibiotic, as well as a few tablets (5) of good old hydrocodone. The pain was eased, but the infection was still there. About the same time, my face broke out with a red rash – a dermatitus of some kind. Despite a lot of antibiotics, neither condition has been cured. The ear infection isn’t as painful, but it’s still there. The dermatitus is still there, but has backed off with the use of Hydorcortisone Butyrate. Last week my doctor convinced me to quit shaving… So for the first time since I was in my twentys, I’m in the process of growing a beard. It’s a process, as I am currently growing stubble. I look like the homeless guy out on the corner. Oh, well. Things could be worse. I have doctor’s appointments with specialists when I get home. It’s interesting. I’ve found that if you have a condition that can’t seem to be cured, then you see a specalist – who is happy to schedule you in to his busy schedule sometime in the next quarter. I asked what they did if you were going to die, and was told to go the the emergency room, where I would see someone who didn’t have a specialty, but could fix the broken leg I don’t have. Hmpph.

Tomorrow I will be at the Tech conference at BYU. I’ll report back on what I find out.

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Behind the Scenes at RootsTech

I am now in Utah, preparing for a week of genealogy education, and blogging. I will first attend the BYU Family History Technology Workshop in Provo on Tuesday, and then spend the rest of the week in Salt Lake City at RootsTech.

The following Behind the Scenes at RootsTech article was written by Jan Mayer, and was received from RootsTech while I was traveling down here. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, (23 February, 2018), A beehive-buzz of excitement and anticipation grows the deeper you move into the crowds of RootsTech, a trending international conference held in Utah with up to 30,000 in-person attendees and another 50,000 online. It is hands-down, the largest family history-related event in the world. Very impressive for a nonprofit organization. (RootsTech is hosted by FamilySearch, an international nonprofit subsidiary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

It’s come a long way from its humble roots as a computer genealogy conference in 1998 on the campus of Brigham Young University with 400 attendees. Today, the world-class conference extends over 4 days and encompasses the entire convention center in downtown Salt Lake City. Every corridor of the facility, including the expansive expo hall, are crammed with congenial crowds examining the latest family history-related products, larger-than-life photos towering overhead, or using the show’s robust mobile app to check the current status of their daily class schedules or to download electronic copies of a few of the over 300 syllabi for the sessions they will attend.

“The atmosphere is electric and vibrant,” expressed Tara Bergeson, program director for RootsTech. “From inspiring speakers to the displays, products, and entertainment, the whole event is amazing!” There is a lot of attention paid to details Bergeson says. She says some attendees have described the energy and ambiance of the show as a hybrid of the Consumer Electronic Show and Disneyland for the family history market.

DNA research is soaring in popularity with the low cost and variety of testing kits and growing online family trees. Large commercial corporations like Ancestry.com, MyHeritage, findmypast.com, 23andMe, and Living DNA are sponsors of the event and all offer DNA services. RootsTech aficionados are accustomed to flocking to these companies’ exhibits to snag deep discounts on their DNA kits. They literally line up to purchase them—in some cases, multiple sets for family, friends, or as gifts—before inventory on hand is depleted.

RootsTech is a far cry from the bookish library setting that some might expect of a genealogy and family history crowd. The satellite truck parked behind the convention center, 150-foot main stage, and a 70-foot, high-definition TV screen looming overhead are all additional clues that there is more to this event than meets the eye. In just a few years, RootsTech has arrived, drawing top keynote speakers—the Property Brothers, Drew and Jonathan Scott, Star Trek’s Lavar Burton, First Lady Laura Bush, and Dr. Henry Louis Gates, to name a few.

The show usually draws 25,000 + attendees in person and more than 50,000 will view the keynotes and the selection of free sessions streamed daily online. And attendees range in age from children to grandparents, depending on the day and event. Saturday is Family Discovery Day—a free day for families or younger attendees who typically can’t peel away from school during the week to attend. The numbers double with up to 20,000 more attendees.

When you’re on the ground and caught up in the revel of it all, it makes one wonder, who comes up with the ideas for the show itself and how do they make it happen?

Glad you asked.

What Does It Take to Launch RootsTech Year After Year? Continue to read or link to the entire story.

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Journey Through Generations at the 2018 TxSGS Annual Conference

The following news release was received from the Texas State Genealogical Society: The Texas State Genealogical Society announces that its 2018 Family History Conference, Journey through Generations, is slated for November 2-4, 2018, at the Omni San Antonio at the Colonnade, 9281 Colonnade Blvd., San Antonio, TX 78230, 855-516-1090. Effective February 16, 2018, you may reserve accommodations for this exciting event.

The conference program will focus on topics ranging from getting started to finding records and repositories for land, probate, tax and other records with an emphasis on Texas and the southern states. Some presentations will help develop your methodological and analytical skills as a researcher. Other topics will give you a better grasp on your ancestors’ ethnicity, military experience, associations, and occupations. Plus, the program will feature tracks targeted at using technology and understanding DNA results.

Reserve your Room now at the Omni San Antonio at the Colonnade Visit 2018 Conference Lodging and Venue for more information and to make your reservations online.

Please check the hotel’s website for cancellation rules and additional amenities. Full details and links for TxSGS discounted online reservations can be found on the TxSGS website. Attendees must request the Texas State Genealogical Society rate if making phone reservations.

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Nebraska Historical Timeline, 1682-1885

The following article was written by my good friend, Bill Dollarhide, and is taken from his book, Nebraska Censuses & Substitute Name Lists, 1854-2000.

Prologue: The highlighted events of this historic timeline for Nebraska are focused on the early settlements and jurisdictional changes that evolved. The goal here is to give genealogists a sense of the jurisdictions in place at the time an ancestor lived there. The Nebraska area entered the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The earliest visitors came via the Missouri River, and later via the Platte River Trail across the entire length of the state.

1682. Louisiana. French explorer René-Robert Cavelier (Sieur de LaSalle) erected a cross near the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico, after floating down river from the Illinois Country. He claimed the entire Mississippi Basin for Louis XIV of France, for whom Louisiana was named.

1682-1720. Louisiana. During this period, the jurisdiction of Louisiana ran from the Gulf of Mexico to the junction of the Arkansas River with the Mississippi River. The French administered Arkansas Post, Natchez, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Mobile, and Biloxi as part of Louisiana. Fort Louis de la Louisiane (now Mobile), was the capital of Louisiana, 1702-1720.

1720-1762. Upper and Lower Louisiana. By 1720, The Illinois Country was separated from Quebéc and added to Louisiana. The original Louisiana area became known as Lower Louisiana. The capital of Lower Louisiana was at New Orleans, 1720-1762. Upper Louisiana extended from the Highlands (Terra Haute) on the Wabash River down the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys to the Arkansas River. The fur trading settlements of Upper Louisiana included Vincennes (now Indiana), Prairie du Chien (now Wisconsin); Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Chartres, Saint Philippe, and Prairie du Rocher (now Illinois); Ste. Genevieve (now Missouri), and Fort de Chavagnial on the Missouri River (now Kansas).

1763. Treaty of Paris. This was the end of the French and Indian war. (In Europe it was called the “Seven Years War.”) At the 1763 treaty, the French surrendered all their claims in North America. Spain acquired the former French areas west of the Mississippi, renamed Spanish Louisiana. Great Britain gained all of Québec, which they immediately renamed the Province of Canada. Britain also gained control of the rest of North America east of the Mississippi River. They named their entire area British North America.

1783. Treaty of Paris. As the official end of the Revolutionary War, the 1783 treaty recognized the United States as an independent republic, with borders from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. The treaty also reaffirmed the claims of Britain to present-day Canada; and Spain’s claim to lands west of the Mississippi River.

1800. Louisiana. Napoleon acquired title of Louisiana from Spain. At the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso, the Spanish acknowledged that it was too costly to explore the country and could not see the rewards being worth the investment. Spain retroceded Louisiana to France in exchange for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany (now part of Italy).

1803. Louisiana Purchase. The United States purchased Louisiana from France. Sent by President Jefferson to attempt the purchase of New Orleans, the American negotiators (James Madison and Robert Livingston) were surprised when Napoleon offered the entire tract to them. The Louisiana Purchase was officially described as the “drainage of the Mississippi and Missouri River basins.” Adding the area doubled the size of the United States.

1804. Lewis and Clark Expedition. Ordered by President Thomas Jefferson, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s Corps of Discovery left St. Louis in search of a passage to the Pacific Ocean. Based on bad information from his spies, the Spanish governor of New Mexico dispatched soldiers from Santa Fe to the Arkansas River to intercept the party and arrest them. But, the Lewis and Clark party had taken a more northern route, following the Missouri River.

1804-1805. In 1804, Congress divided the Louisiana Purchase into two jurisdictions: Louisiana District and Orleans Territory. The latter had north and south bounds the same as the present state of Louisiana, but did not include land east of the Mississippi River, and its northwestern corner extended on an indefinite line west into Spanish Tejas. For a year, Louisiana District was attached to Indiana Territory for judicial administration, but became Louisiana Territory with its own Governor on July 4, 1805.

1812. Missouri Territory. On June 4th Louisiana Territory was renamed Missouri Territory by Congress This was to avoid any confusion after Orleans Territory became the State of Louisiana on April 30, 1812. The General Assembly of the Territory of Missouri met in St. Louis in October, and converted the first five original districts into counties: Cape Girardeau, New Madrid, St. Charles, St. Louis, and Ste. Genevieve. A year later, the territorial legislature created Arkansas County from lands ceded by the Osage Indians.

1812. Spaniard Manuel Lisa built Fort Lisa on the Missouri River near present Omaha. He was credited with establishing the earliest fur trading posts along the Missouri River, from Nebraska to Montana.

1819. Fort Atkinson. The U.S. Army established Fort Atkinson on the west side of the Missouri River (now the town of Fort Calhoun, Washington Co NE).

1820. U.S. Army Major Stephen Long explored the Platte and South Platte river routes of present Nebraska and into Colorado. His official U.S. Army report referred to the central plains as the “Great American Desert” and had the effect of diverting interest in the area for several years. Long’s report ignored the fact that over one million bison depended on the Nebraska Country for survival, and that the prairie had an abundance of fertile soil. Eighty years later, the Ogallala Aquifer, the largest aquifer in the world, began irrigating the “Great American Desert,” including the entire state of Nebraska.

1820. The Missouri Compromise in Congress allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state, thus keeping the balance of slave and free states equal in Congress. The Act dictated that the remaining area of Missouri Territory north of Latitude 36° 30’ was to be free of slavery (that area included present Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana).

1821. Aug 10th. Missouri was admitted as a state with St. Louis as the capital. After Missouri became a state, the remaining part of old Missouri Territory was officially described as Unorganized Territory. The entire region was inhabited exclusively by American Indian tribes, except for a few left-over French-Canadian voyageurs roaming the rivers.

1823. Bellevue (first named Fontenelle’s Post) became the first permanent settlement in Nebraska. The town is now a suburb of Omaha.

1827. Independence, Missouri. The frontier town of Independence was founded in 1827, the farthest point westward on the Missouri River where steamboats could travel at that time. Independence immediately became a supply point, staging area, and primary starting point for the growing number of trappers and traders using the Santa Fe Trail.

1829. Sublette’s Trace/Oregon Trail. Before 1829, access to the Platte River Trail from Independence, Missouri, was via the Missouri River to the mouth of the Platte River in present Nebraska. But steamboat traffic ended at Independence and travel up river at that time required human-powered keel boats. The overland route of the Santa Fe Trail now started at Independence as well, heading west several miles into present Kansas, then southwest towards Santa Fe. A few miles into the Santa Fe Trail in present Kansas, at a point later called the Oregon Trail Junction, fur trader William Sublette blazed a cut-off from the Santa Fe Trail, turning northwest and connecting with the Platte River in present Nebraska. The new route across present northeast Kansas was more direct than the river route, and later became the first leg of the Oregon Trail.

1832. After dredging projects near the mouth of the Kansas River, steamboat traffic could now continue up the Missouri River. In 1832, the steamboat Yellowstone began the first of its annual fur-trading voyages up the Missouri River, reaching Fort Union (near the present North Dakota/Montana line). More steamboats going up river saw the need for docking, loading, and refueling facilities, and the development of new river ports along the entire length of the Missouri River.

1842. Nebraska Country. The word “Nebraska” first began to appear in publications in 1842 after John C. Fremont explored the Platte Valley and present Nebraska areas.

1843. May. Oregon Trail. A wagon train with over 120 wagons, a large herd of livestock, and 1,000 pioneers left Elm Grove, MO and headed out on the Oregon Trail. The largest wagon train to date, it became the model for the thousands of wagon trains that followed. For an online list of the members of the 1843 Wagon Train, see the Oregon RootsWeb website.

1846. The Utah-bound Mormons sent work parties ahead of their wagon trains to plant crops in Nebraska a year before the main body of immigrants passed through. This was when Nebraska was first discovered to be a great place to grow things.

1849. The onset of the California Gold Rush was when Nebraska was discovered as the best way to get there. A natural wagon route across the entire length of present Nebraska was the Platte River Trail (aka Oregon Trail, Immigrant Trail, or Mormon Trail).

1852. In this one year, over 250,000 people passed through Nebraska en route to California and Oregon. Few stopped for any length of time, because the area was not legally open for settlement yet.

1854. Nebraska Territory was created in 1854 as part of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, landmark legislation relating to free versus slave states prior to the Civil War. The Act authorized the first land surveys west of the Missouri River, opening both territories for settlement. Both Kansas and Nebraska were expected to vote on the slavery issue, and both territories immediately began taking annual censuses to number and identify (by name) their qualified voters.

– Beginning in 1854, A large portion of eastern Nebraska Territory was surveyed for public land sales. The first federal General Land Offices (GLOs) were established at Brownsville, Dakota City, Nebraska City, and Omaha City. After the first year of land sales, about 4,500 people had settled in Nebraska Territory.

1854-1865. Nebraska Territory Censuses. The first three territorial censuses were taken in 1854, 1855, and 1856. They were heads of households name lists covering the eastern half of present-day Nebraska. The first three census years are mostly complete for all counties in place at the time. The fourth (and last) territorial census was taken in 1865, but only two full county name lists survive today. The originals of all surviving territorial census schedules are located at the Nebraska State Historical Society (NSHS) in Lincoln.

1860. Western United States at the time of the 1860 Federal Census: In 1854, Nebraska Territory and Kansas Territory were created from the old Unorganized Territory. Both new territories extended west of the Missouri River to the Continental Divide. The only remaining area within the Unorganized Territory was unofficially called “Indian Territory” (now Oklahoma). The 1860 Census of both Kansas and Nebraska Territories included a good number of people looking for gold in present Colorado. The Denver area was in the KS census, the Boulder area was in the NE census. “Unorganized Dakota” was a label invented by the Census Office. For convenience, several forts and posts along the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers were enumerated as part of Unorganized Dakota, even though they were technically located within Nebraska Territory.

1860. Nebraska Territory. On the above map, the county names and lines in white are for the modern boundaries of Nebraska. Those in black are for the 1860 territorial boundaries. People enumerated in the 1860 census outside of the modern Nebraska area were limited to Fort Randall, in present South Dakota; and Boulder, Altoona, and other northeastern Colorado towns enumerated as the Unorganized area west of 101° 30’and south of 42°. *Note: County name changes are not explained here, except note that by 1870 the name Nuckolls had been moved west one county.

1863. During the Civil War, and towards the end of President Abraham Lincoln’s first term in office, the Lincoln administration promised a quick approval to any proposed state constitution submitted from Nebraska Territory. Lincoln saw the strong Union support of Nebraska Territory as a way to ensure enough votes for reelection, but only the residents of states had the right to vote. Lincoln made the same offer to Nevada Territory and Colorado Territory. Only Nevada took up his offer, becoming a state two weeks before the presidential election of 1864. Both Nebraska and Colorado took the matter to their territorial legislatures in 1863, and both rejected statehood as “premature.”

1867. Mar. Nebraska Statehood. Two years after the end of the Civil War, Nebraska joined the Union as the 37th state, with Omaha as the capital until a year later, when Lincoln was chosen.

1869-1884. Nebraska State Censuses. After statehood in 1867, the Nebraska legislature passed a law that called for annual censuses, including lists of births and deaths to be gathered by the county tax assessors. It is not known how diligent the counties were in complying with the law, and only a few of the county census name lists have survived. The NSHS has some original annual name lists for 1869-1870, 1874-1879, and 1882-1884, but for just a few counties.

1885. Nebraska State Census. The Nebraska state census law was repealed in 1885. In that year, the Federal Government offered any state or territory an option for an assisted state census, providing federal money to help defray the cost. Nebraska was one of only five states or territories that took up the offer. An 1885 state census of Nebraska was completed using a similar format as the 1880 federal census. The 1885 proved to be the last state census in Nebraska, and stands complete for all counties in place in 1885, except for one missing county (Chase). Nebraska’s original state copy of their 1885 census was lost – but as part of the deal with the Federal Government, a transcription copy had been made and sent to Washington, DC. That copy was microfilmed by the National Archives.