NOTE: This information on this site is somewhat out of
date, but due to this site being listed with several search engines and in
several online articles, I left it up because there is still useful information
here. Please feel welcome to visit these links:
1. The Official Family
History Library Site (ancestor searching - for free)
2. My Personal Family Tree
Site (a very large site with 20,000 names)
3. The Golden
Gate Genealogy Forum (complete with message boards, GEDCOM files, helpful
information, newsletters and more).
--Terry Morgan
Family History Center
This page was last updated on July 30, 1997.
The FHLC on CD and SSDI are updated
(more information below).
This is a list of our newest updates on CD-ROM, newest microfiche index collections, recent indefinite film or fiche orders, Web site updates and anything else new that we think might be of interest to you. We can only speak for our center in North Huntsville, Alabama, but the information below will generally be found in most other centers. Availability dates are the dates this information was placed in our particular center. It will vary with other centers. Sometimes a future date will be listed. This will be the date the item is processed and actually becomes available to the public in our center.
This page will be updated as often as we get new information, so you may want to come back and check periodically.
NEWEST OF THE NEW MAIN INDEX ARRIVALS:
- Available 7-22-97: Updated edition of the FHLC on CD-ROM. This now includes catalog entries as of April 1997.
- Available 7-22.97: New release of the Social Security Death Index. This is dated December 1996.
- Available 4-29-97: Updated edition of the Microfilm Restriction List dated 31-Mar-97. Before films are ordered, patrons are supposed to check this list to see if the films they want to order are restricted. Some films can not be circulated to family history centers due to conditions placed upon their use by the original information owners.
- Available 4-15-97: Parish and Vital Records List (dated January 1997). Names of deceased individuals taken from areas listed in this file will be put into the IGI or will eventually be listed in the IGI, but you must check the IGI itself to be sure certain names were indexed.
- Available 1-14-97: The long-awaited next edition of the Ancestral File on CD-ROM is here at last. These are the changes in this and the other FamilySearch programs: all applications that provide GEDCOM downloads or accept GEDCOM files have been upgraded to GEDCOM 5.5, which will accommodate source citations. This edition of Ancestral File includes new submissions received prior to January 2, 1996. The file is contained on seven compact discs and contains over 29 million people linked in about 11 million families.
- Available 10-15-96: Updated fiche edition of the FHLC with many new microfilmed records now listed in this index. We have received all the parts -- the Surnames section (dated 4 Mar 96), the Locality section (dated 9 Mar 96), Author/Title and Subject sections (both dated 8 Feb 96). To read more about the FHLC or IGI, check our Introduction to Family History Centers page.
NEW FICHE OR INDEFINITE FILM ARRIVALS:
Note: The items listed in this "New Fiche or Indefinite Film" section apply only to our center at 1804 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, Alabama. If you want to view these particular items and can not come into our center, copy down the fiche number and order it from your local family history center. (The items listed in "Newest of the New Main Index Arrivals" and "Other Information" should be found in any center anywhere.) Fiche arriving earlier than the ones listed here are indexed on our Miscellaneous Fiche/Film Collections page.
- Available 7-29-97: Fiche #6111521 - Coal Marsh Church Records, 1838-1871, p. 1-43
- Available 7-29-97: Fiche #6111200 - Chasing Ancestors
- Available 7-29-97: Fiche #6117381 - Genealogical Index & Gazetteer for Bowman's Reference Book
- Available 7-29-97: Fiche #6117092 through 6117096 - Raleigh County, WV, Cemeteries
- Available 7-22-97: Fiche #6117655 - 1900 Census of Raleigh County, West Virginia, P. 1-41
- Available 7-22-97: Fiche #6117663 & #6117664 - 1910 Census, Raleigh County, West Virginia, Volumes 1 & 2
- Available 5-13-97: Fiche #6049825 - The Pioneers of Maine and New Hampshire, 1623-1660
- Available 5-13-97: Fiche #6332711, #6332712, #6332713, and #6332714 - United States Newspaper Program National Union List (Index) October 1992
- Available 5-13-97: Fiche #604743 - Alpha Paper Volumes 1-6
- Available 4-22-97: Fiche #6088597 - History of Rife and Riffe Families
- Available 4-8-97: Fiche #6051022 - Old Settlers, A Historical and Chronological Record
- Available 3-25-97: Fiche #6100479 - A Family History of the Wynns
- Available 3-18-97: Fiche #6019583 - Descendants of John Minor
- Available 2-18-97: Fiche #6050175 - Vol. 1, #6050176 - Vol. 2, #6050177 - Vol. 3, #6050178 - Vol. 4, #6050180 - Vol. 6, #6050181 - Vol. 7, #6050182 - Vol. 8, #6104860 - Vol. 10, #6104861 - Vol. 12, #6104862 - Vol. 13, #6104863 - Vol. 14, #6104864 - Vol. 15, #6104865 - Vol. 16 and #6104866 - Vol. 17 of Our French-Canadian Ancestors
- Available 1-28-97: Fiche #6050179 - Vol. 5, #6088676 - Vol. 9, and #6088677- Vol. 11 of Our French-Canadian Ancestors
- Available 1-28-97: Fiche #6903212 - Carluke, Kirkton V. P., Lanark, Scot Births or Christenings From: Instructions Index 1834 - 1836
- Available 1-28-97: Fiche #6901811 - Carluke, Kirkton V. P., Lanark, Scot Births or Christenings From: Instructions Index 1832-1869
OTHER INFORMATION:
- PAF Version 3.0 for DOS
was released at the NGS Conference in the States held in Pennsylvania during the week of May 5, 1997. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a booth in the vendors area where they were selling the new PAF to conference-goers for $15. (I do not know if this was a special rate just for the conference or if this will be the selling price everywhere.) They sold all the copies they brought with them to the conference. You can order PAF by calling 800-537-5950 or call that number to inquire about updates and current pricing.
- NEW PRICING POLICY
Starting 3-1-97. Microfilm orders will now cost $3.25 (plus an extra 25- or 50-cent notification fee by some centers) and films will initially be held for 30 to 60 days (some centers hold it for 30, some for up to 60 days). There is no longer a short-term or long-term, etc., policy for films. Renewals can be made for an extra 60 days at the same price (an additional $3.25). Renewals need only be made twice, then the film automatically becomes indefinite. So, if your center charges $3.50 per film order and you order a film, then renew it twice for $3.25 (eventually paying a total of $10.00), the film becomes an indefinite loan. (Microfiche ordering has not changed.) Like some others, our center here in Alabama gives patrons 4 weeks to view each film initially because we process films just once a week. (We send them back once a week and make them available in the center once a week.) Because the main library told us that they would automatically be charging us for late films, we have to hustle to prevent films from arriving back to them later than the due date to avoid getting charged an extra fee. Renewals will be kept for 60 additional days, though. Other centers may be doing the same, so be sure to check with your local center to see how long your film order is actually available to you.
- Available 9-24-96: Updated edition of the PERSI on microfiche. A quote from the guide: "The PERiodical Source Index (PERSI) is a subject index to thousands of articles in genealogical periodicals and journals. Using PERSI can help you find articles quickly, saving you many hours of research in unindexed periodicals. The PERSI is published by the Allen County (Indiana) Public Library Foundation in a joint effort with the Genealogical Department of the Allen County Public Library. The microfiche version of PERSI is produced by the Family History Library with the permission of the Allen County Public Library for use in the Family History Library and its family history centers."
- Available 6-96: New and final edition of the Family Registry on microfiche. We were told that this would be the last version ever released.
- Available some time ago: Scottish Church Records on CD-ROM. A quote from the guide that came with this update: "This index consists of nearly ten million names listed primarily in Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) parish registers and similar records, also including records from a few other denominations. Entries date from the late 1500s through 1854, with a few later entries. Information in the index includes given name, surname, parents or spouse, gender, birth, christening or marriage date and place, and source information. Church of Scotland records (old parochial registers and Kirk Session registers) are an excellent source for information on names, dates, and places of births and marriages. They are the most used source of family information before 1855 in Scotland, when civil registration (government recording of births, marriages, and deaths) began there. They may include as much as 60 percent of the population of Scotland during that time."
WEB SITE UPDATES:
UNOFFICIAL RUMORS, ETC.:
- 4-1-97: An update to the IGI will be coming out "soon." This will include a bigger addendum. If the rumor is correct, it will not yet become all one file, but will be released as a new addendum.
- Posted 1-18-97: Here's a rumor that someone posted in a public Internet Newsgroup: "I have been told that the IGI and Ancestral File will be removed from [the] CD-ROM [format] within 2 years; they will be replaced with an active link to the [main library in Salt Lake City] by means of a satellite downlink via small dish receiver. Your local FHC will be linked to SLC by land-based data service. You enter your data request in the same manner as now, the request is sent to SLC by land line, the data returns via an 18" satellite dish at speeds equal or greater than even a T1 connection to the Internet." Please note - that this is an unofficial rumor and may not happen for every single FHC and in fact, may change. Aren't rumors fun?
- Some centers are now hooked up in a network connection. This means that you don't have to deal with the CD-ROMs at all. It is very nice, but note that most of the centers are NOT hooked up this way and no official word has been released as to whether they will be in the near future.
- Several centers (those of us not hooked up to the network system) are receiving a new, external 4-speed CD-ROM replacement drive (ours did). This new drive does not use caddies, saving considerable expense. Some of you may miss using the easier-to-handle caddy system and are concerned about fingerprints getting on the CDs, but we hope you will appreciate the new speed with which CDs will now be read - and fingerprints are easy to clean off - overall, we think it's really nice!
- The official address list for FHCs may be improved in anticipation of the increased demand that the Ancestors television series airing on PBS in January (airing in Alabama beginning Feb. 8) will bring, to include more of the 2,850 centers found worldwide. (Currently the list only shows the major centers, not the smaller ones.) If you want to see this list, you can ask to view one at your local FHC. It is copyrighted, so we can't publish it here on our Web site, but there is an older one available online that you can link to from our Social Security Death Index and Our Favorite Links page or just click here. Note that our links page offers a list of all the North Alabama centers, large or small. At any rate, you can always check your phonebook for a listing for "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" and call them to see if they have a center in their building.
- Please select one of the following:
This goes to the home page of the FHC in North Huntsville.
A photo tour of the inside of an FHC.
Text explaining what can be found in an FHC.
Here are some great links to other genealogy Web sites.
This is a list of the films and fiche that can be found on hand in the FHC's indefinite loans collection. Check this list to find subjects that you can research right away.
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