Many Thanks

I managed to forget my camera when I went to the January meeting, but Shawnette did a fantastic job decorating for it. The Valentine's theme was very festive. Shawnette always goes all out, so a giant THANK YOU to her for being such a welcoming and hospitable hostess!

Fan Pedigree

For those of you who attended our January chapter meeting....here is the site to create your own nine generation fan pedigree: https://createfan.com. It will pull the names right out of family search for you. Even if you need to create a link or two, it goes very quickly. They are absolutely fantastic, and can be printed in several different sizes.

The Ultimate Family History Journey

Ancestry.com is giving several lucky winners the chance to uncover their stories through The Ultimate Family History Journey™ Sweepstakes. Three Grand Prize winners win the trip of a lifetime to visit their home countries. If you're a winner, the trip will give you the opportunity to learn more about your ancestors and, as a result, more about yourself. In addition to the Grand Prize recipients, 20 First Prize winners will get an Ancestry.com World Explorer membership, which provides access to billions of historical records from all over the world, plus millions of family trees, a helpful community of members and lots of timesaving tools. Go to Ancestry.com/sweeps to enter today. Log in daily through May 18, 2012 for even more chances to win.

Put It on Your Calendar

There will be no February chapter meeting. The next chapter meeting will be March 17, at the home of Shawnette Malan and Carol Harless, 10001 Hook Drive, South Jordan, at noon.

RootsTech 2012

The RootsTech 2012 genealogy conference will be held at the Salt Palace on February 2 to 4. There are some free classes sent by live streaming on the computer of the sessions held in room 155. To find out more about the genealogy conference, you can go to: http://rootstech.org/schedule/sessions. If you attend the classes, there is a charge. You can check out the vendors for free.

Story Confirmed

When I was growing up, my dad had lots of stories that I've spent years confirming. So you'll understand how thrilled I was with my latest find. He was the son of German Russian immigrants. His mother died when he was only two years old, and he spent his early years as a ward of St. Clara's Orphanage in Denver. He ran away from the orphanage at age 12, and one night dug into a farmer's haystack to keep warm. The next morning the farmer came out in the early morning to feed his animals and nearly ran him through with a pitchfork. It scared the farmer so badly that he took my dad in, and my dad lived with the farmer's family for some time. When I was going through the 1930's census I found my dad at age 14, listed as Edward Burkhardt, a lodger with a Hayer family. The name my father had given me was Hayes. Looking at the original record more carefully, I realized that whoever indexed the entry must have had trouble distinguishing that last letter, thus the Hayer instead of Hayes. The Hayes family lived in North Bijou, Colorado, but were originally from Missouri. The family consisted of Thomas Hayes, his wife Rose, son Thomas- age 18, and daughter Mary- age 10. So... another story confirmed.

Next Chapter Meeting

Saturday, January 28th, is our Intermountain Chapter meeting. There will be another great basket raffle this month, so don't miss your chance to win! Hope to see you there at 10001 Hook Drive, South Jordan. We will start the meeting at 12:00 noon.

Cemetery in Dinkel, Russia

 

 

 

 

(These are more of Sharon White's wonderful photos.)

A View of Warenburg, Russia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love these pictures shared by Sharon White. Just seeing some of the buildings gives me a feel for the village of my ancestors.

Some Interesting Stats

For members of the Intermountain Chapter, here is a little info that might be of interest to you. We have now reached almost 5,000 hits on our chapter blog. We have had visits from the United States, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom, Latvia, and Ukraine. The posts that are of most interest seem to be those on particular villages in Russia and the ones that have been submitted by you concerning particular ancestors. So, what does this all mean? Well... people are looking and you just might have some success linking up with other people researching your line. If you haven't gone back in to check for comments on old posts that you have contributed, it would be worth your time. It's a new year, and it is certainly my goal to get more genealogical research done. I hope to make new contacts and hope you will too. Please, keep sending in items of interest about genealogy and your family research. This just might be the year it all pays off!

German Research Learning Opportunities

www.familysearch.org under free courses has a German Online Learning library with episodes 5-60 minutes long and are very good on handwritting information. The Salt Lake Family History Library offers the following from January through March, 2012: "Handwritting in German Documents" Tues, February 7th, 10-11 A.M. (B1 floor); "Genealogy.net-a Great Resource for German Reseach" Mon, Feb. 27, 9-10a.m. (B1); "European Emigration:The Hamburg Passenger Lists" Tues, March 6th, 11-12 (B1); " GERMAN RESEARCH WORKSHOP" Saturday, January 28, 9am until noon. ***Must register for this one ..either 801-240-4950 or via email FHLClassReg@ldschurch.org ahead of time. No cost. This class would be held right before our January meeting. Harold B. Lee Library, 2nd and 4th Sunday presentations. Course outline can be found at http://lib.byu.edu/fslab.com(Bottom floor of library) 2250 hbll. OTHER SITE: http://byusunday.blogspot.com/ Library open from 10am-7pm those Sundays. Sun., JAN 8, 1-4PM ; or Sun., JAN 22, 1-4PM; or Sun., FEB 12, 1-4PM; or Sun., FEB 26TH, 1-4PM; or Sun., MAR 11, 1-4PM; or Sun., MARCH 25, 1-4PM. BOTTOM FLOOR...PARKING NEARBY. WOLLENZIEN & DEMONJA WILL ASSIST WITH ANY GERMAN RESEARCH PROBLEM AND TRY TO HELP LOCATE RECORDS. Bring your pedigrees and the information you have available for resources.