Catégorie : News

MyHeritage annonce une grande nouveauté : l’Autocluster !

Vous etes fan de généalogie génétique ? Cette annonce va certainement vous faire plaisir!

MyHeritage a annoncé le lancement d’un autocluster intégré à leur site , c’est-à-dire un moyen automatique de regrouper vos matches ADN pour faciliter l’analyser du lien commun qui unit ces mêmes matches ! Génial, non ? Pour en bénéficier, il suffit d’aller sur votre profil MyHeritage et puis dans le menu DNA!

Cela va faire gagner du temps et de l’énergie à tous ceux qui, comme moi, passent leur temps à créer des tableaux pour regrouper et classer les matches afin de déterminer quel est le fil conducteur entre les différents correspondants. Cela rendra également la tâche plus facile aux chercheurs qui pourront bénéficier d’une certaine façon d’un pre-classement même si, attention, un classement généré automatiquement ne veut pas dire qu’il ne faut pas le surveiller ni le vérifier !

Tout cela est bien excitant en tout cas et vous permettra peut-etre enfin de trouver le trait commun entre vous et vos matches ! On en reparle !

PR_Auto_clusters

 

Possibilité de commander des actes britanniques en PDF ! ( Fête et confettis ! )

Le GRO Britannique, équivalent centralisé de notre Etat-Civil prolonge, suite à des tests positifs, réactive la possibilité de commander des actes sous forme de PDF à un prix ( légèrement ) moindre que celui d’une commande classique pour laquelle il faut, en sus, rajouter des frais de port qui peuvent vite s’avérer lourds en cas d’envoi à l’étranger !

Attention cependant , ces copies pdf n’auront jamais force de loi et donc ne peuvent être utilisées dans un cadre officiel mais sont tout à fait utile si il s’agit « juste » de faire des recherches généalogiques !

A vos commandes !*

 

 

 

 

 

 

* En cas de souci ou de question, n’hésitez pas à me contacter ! ^^

FamilySearch’s New Web Tool Makes Ancestry Records Easier to Find!

« FamilySearch International, a leader in historical records preservation, has launched its new web-based indexing tool. Indexing is a technology used to make the world’s historical records freely searchable online for family history research. The new program makes it easier for online volunteers to participate using web-enabled computers, laptops, or tablets, and enables FamilySearch to expedite its online publishing of completed indexes.

New features enable volunteers to work on tablets, modify the layout of their dashboard based on personal preferences, set and track individual goals, and create groups with friends or others interested in working on a common project.

Global nonprofit FamilySearch digitally preserves billions of historical records online to help individuals with their family history research. It has published billions of images of historic records from all over the world online. Researchers can find the record images in FamilySearch’s Catalog or Historic Records Collections online. But searching through billions of images online in search of one’s elusive ancestors is not fun for the average person. They want to type in an ancestor’s name and known context, press Enter, and voilà, see highly matched results from their search query.

« That requires an index, » said Jim Ericson, marketing manager for FamilySearch Indexing. « Until the records are indexed online, they can only be discovered by browsing through often enormous collections of digital images. With a digital index, researchers can locate records in seconds by using a person’s name and other helpful information as search terms. A searchable index saves researchers time and effort by returning search results from the entire collection in a matter of seconds. »

Ericson says the new web-based indexing platform will enable more volunteers to participate worldwide and increase the rate at which FamilySearch can make indexed records accessible online. « It is a straight-forward experience that no longer requires people to download software, » said Ericson.

Using the new tool enables volunteer indexers to help make it possible for millions of people to have personal family history discoveries quickly with just a few keystrokes. Indexing also fuels hints, a new feature on FamilySearch.org that makes finding records even easier by mapping indexed records against a person’s family tree and sharing high probability ancestral matches with them.

The web-based indexing program also has new built-in helps, plus a lab section that allows you to test upcoming product features and enhancements for the new program.

For first-time volunteers, simple training provides step-by-step instructions. To participate, go to FamilySearch.org/indexing, and click the link to web indexing. »

(FamilySearch)

Viva Carnaval!

Somebody in the family from Binche, the famous carnival town? I’d like to hear about them!

One of my clients has « Gilles » (as the highly-coulored characters are called over here) from La Louviere but the difference between « Gilles » from Binche and Gilles from La Louvière is that those from LL can perform out of town which is strictly forbidden for Gilles from Binche! Now you know 😉

Happy Carnival!

Marie

Family Discovery Day At Roots Tech!

Is in full effets! Families all together , parents and children, grandparents even, all together to search and learn about their roots! It’s so great to see!! Exhibitors offers balloons, badges, pins, you name it and kids are running on errands trying to win at games or have a try at finding great-great-great-great-grandad in the various databases! Such fun! This year is also special with a cake contest and the cakes are all wonderful!!

Steve Lockwood, Familysearch CEO, is so right when he says we’re a great big family!

I so wish Roots Tech could last a year long! 🙂

 

Marie

 

2016 FamilieKunde Vlaanderen Congress and Geneatica FH Show together!

It’s in the « Cité of the Maca »*, Wavre, hometown to the Belgian PM Charles Michel, that the 2016 congress of Familiekunde Vlaanderen will take place along with « Généatica », the family show traditionnally organised by Geniwal association.  Both events will take place on the 20/21st february 2016 so you can already book it in your agendas. It’s the first time that the two sistership associations will get together for a common event so this promises to be a great event! More news to come!

* The « Maca »‘ is that statue next to Wavre Town Hall. It’s said that whoever caressses his bottom see luck on his/her side!

Two months to wait

For Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2013 edition !

For those who aren’t acquainted with the biggest genealogical event of the year, this video should answer questions and also give you a taste of what’s to come next february. Needless to say, I’m already impatient to be there to meet and help people with european roots and Anglo-Belgians relatives. So if you have those connections or have hit a european brickwall,drop by and I’ll try to help you the best I can 🙂

You can find informations and book tickets on

http://www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.com

Who Do You Think You Are?Live

Avis Important / Important Message

A l’approche des fêtes, les Archives de l’Etat adaptent leurs horaires : Notez donc avec attention que tous les dépôts fermeront à 15h le vendredi 21 décembre et seront fermé,contrairement à l’habitude, le samedi 22 décembre et ce jusqu’au 2 janvier inclus pour permettre au staff des archives de passer les fêtes en famille et de nous accueillir en pleine forme en janvier !

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To avoid any disappointment, please note that the different locations of National Archives of Belgium will be closed on saturday the 22d december until Wednesday 2d of January so don’t plan any research trip to Belgium if you need to visit the Archives this week end or during the holidays but save all your energy for 2013 !

The archives will also close on 3 PM on friday the 21st , an hour earlier than the usual closing time so that staff can take a rest with their families and help us in full effect in the new year !

Archives Annual Closure details

A source not to be forgotten !

When one thinks family history research, one always tend to straightforwardly think about BMD records and in a sense one is right to do so : birth (or baptisms), wedding or death records are sources of the first importance and ones the researcher will be the most confronted to. It will also often be the first contact between the researcher and its subject by the way of any family documents in his or her possession.

There’s another source that could be of great interest to the same researcher providing he or she organises the work research in a good way and that is newspaper. For instance, you can now browse through a  digital collection of 30 titles in the Belgian Royal Library, this should be online soon but for copyrights reasons, nobody really knows when.

The kind of information that can be found in newspapers is really vast : it goes from obituaries to cultural events via small ads and political articles. The quantity of it makes it compulsory to organise your search very well either by date, place or even names in case of an OCRised record.

To name just a few examples of how useful this tool can be : I could trace one of my relations, the husband of one of my paternal grandfather cousin, in the sports pages on a weekly basis because he worked in the world of horses and the races he attended were all mentioned in a newspaper. Of course,there will only be a small mention of his name and where he was at that time but it’s pieces of a puzzle that alltogether forms his career.

The same with my maternal great-grandfather. He was a musician in King Albert’s band and this band toured North America in 1929. I’ve found articles telling of their homecoming and of all social events that took place as consequences of the big adventure that this tour was ! And articles can of course be of big use if the ancestor you’re looking informations about has been involved in politics,science,academics etc.

Newspapers could not only tell you about special events in which your ancestors might have been involved in but also about the world as it went in the time of your ancestors : wars,politics all this will make the context in which your ancestor lived clearer and help you your research accordingly !

As a word of conclusion, let’s say that newspapers are a source too important not to be forgotten !

If  you want to know more about online, and soon-to-be online newspapers :

http//www.kbr.be

http://www.kranten.kb.nl

http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

 

Newspapers are a goldmine source for who knows where and how to search