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GENEALOGY TODAY: States considering easing access to vital recordsPosted by admin on October 3rd, 2011

Virginia and Pennsylvania are considering easing restrictions on
vital records in response to pressure from genealogists, and are
soliciting comments from researchers.

In Pennsylvania, Vital Records Bill SB-361 unanimously passed the
Senate Appropriations Committee on Sept. 19, and unanimously passed
the full Senate on Wednesday.

Now it must pass the state House of Representatives. 

The bill would classify death certificates over 50 years old and
birth certificates over 105 years old as open records filed in the
Pennsylvania State Archives. At that point, it would be possible
for the records to be digitized and placed online. Without this
change in law, the records would remain restricted forever.

Your visit, phone call, and letter or even a short email sent to at
least one state representative could make a difference. Hearing
from organizations, their constituents and others including
out-of-state residents could prove decisive in getting the bill
passed. The bill is discussed in detail along with a sample letter
in support of it in the Sept. 20-21 “Latest News” section at

http://users.rcn.com/timarg/PaHR-Access.htm.

The Virginia Legislature is considering changes to the law covering
access to vital records that could either expand or severely limit
researchers’ access to birth, marriage, and death records. Vital
records are currently held by the Virginia Department of Health
(VDH) with birth records closed for 100 years, and marriage and
death records closed for 50 years. At that time, the records are to
be turned over to the Library of Virginia (LVA). The VDH wants
these time periods lengthened. It now limits access to its “closed”
records to “immediate family members,” excluding even
grandchildren.

The Virginia Joint Commission on Health Care (JCHC) has conducted a
study of the issue and supports closing all records (including
county and city marriage and death records) and changing the closed
VDH period to 125 years for births and 75 years for marriages and
deaths. Copies of marriage and death records at the Virginia county
or city level currently are open when they exist.

The Virginia Genealogical Society (VGS) has offered comments urging
that death certificates held by VDH become open records
immediately, since there is no legitimate privacy or identity-theft
reasons for keeping them closed, and that the range of family
members with access to closed vital records be significantly
changed.

Unless extensive public comments are received by Oct. 6, Virginia’s
vital records may be closed, threatening genealogical and family
medical history research, and blocking new members for lineage
societies. All members of the genealogical community are asked to
file comments by Oct. 6 with the Virginia legislative commission
considering this issue.

The bill includes eight options. It’s recommended that option 1
(doing nothing) be opposed, since Virginia’s overly restrictive
laws should be liberalized, and that the remaining eight options be
supported. The text may be viewed at
http://leg5.state.va.us/User_db/frmView.aspx?ViewId=1980.

Please email comments referencing SB 865 (with your name and
address) to: sreid@jchc.virginia.gov, or fax them to 804-786-5538,
or mail to: Joint Commission on Health Care, P.O. Box 1322,
Richmond, VA 23218. Out of state comments might explain that you do
research in Virginia, and that closing records will discourage
travel to the state for further research. If you have examples
where your current research has been blocked by VDH, include this
also. Remember, time is of the essence.

Betty Lou Malesky, certified genealogist, is past
president of the Green Valley Genealogical Society. Contact her at
bettymalesky@ cox.net. The society’s Web site is
www.rootsweb.com/~azgvgs/.

© 2011 Green Valley News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Genealogy for Geeks, Part 6: Ancestry.com Hints (GeekDad Weekly Rewind)Posted by admin on October 3rd, 2011

Screenshot of Ancestry.com’s leaf hints.

Anyone with an interest in where they came from can do research into their family history and background. But without a lot of experience, those new to genealogy might not be sure what materials exist, or how or where to find them.

Cheaper than a genealogy class at the local community college, Ancestry.com’s membership has built into its service something called Ancestry Hints. Once you input at least a portion of your family tree, the website will generate hints for you, marked with a leaf. Any ancestors with unreviewed hints are marked with this leaf. These hints lead you to census records, military records, family trees of other Ancestry members, and many other kinds of documents. Even if you don’t have a paying membership, you can still see what kinds of hints are available. Viewing the documents themselves is restricted to members.

An example of an ancestor whose hints I still need to review.

Of course, depending on how much information you have in your tree, the leaves may have some information that doesn’t apply to your ancestor. So be sure to evaluate each hint individually, making sure the document is referring to your ancestor and not just someone with the same or similar name. Be sure to check spouse, place of birth, and other details to make sure they match up. If the hint doesn’t apply to the ancestor, you can ignore the hint. If it is about your ancestor, you can accept the hint, and then it will be attached to that person.

Once you determine that a hint applies to your ancestor, you can include the whole collection of new information with that person, or you can choose to include only parts of it. Also, each time you view your family tree, Ancestry.com’s hint system searches to see if there are any new hints. Since new documents are being included on the website all the time, and people are always working on their own member trees, there is always the possibility of new information being unearthed.

Personally, I’ve found the hint system aspect of membership to be the most useful. No matter how seemingly original the name of your ancestor is, many people with the same or similar names come up during a regular search. It’s hard to narrow it down sometimes. But Ancestry.com’s intelligent system has found a way to discover more documents for most of your ancestors. In my experience, only occasionally have their hints been incorrect.

If you’re interested in researching your family tree more deeply, but are getting stuck or running into dead ends, check out Ancestry.com’s leafy hints. They’re a great time saver, and will likely lead you to new ancestors you haven’t yet found.

Earlier posts in this series included Part 1: Who Do I Think I Am?, Part 2: Census Records, Part 3: Published Histories, Part 4: Military Records, and Part 5: Finding the Dead.

Note: Ancestry.com provided me access to their records for the purposes of these reviews. Consider starting your family tree there today. It’s free!

[This article, by Jenny Williams, was originally published on Tuesday. Please leave any comments you may have on the original.]

Morningside Library announces October genealogy classesPosted by admin on October 3rd, 2011

FORT PIERCE —
Local historian and genealogist Patti Kirk is returning to the Morningside Branch Library with her genealogy series for October.

• Wednesday, Oct. 5 from 9:45 – 11:45 a.m. – State Census Research: Family information not discovered in the federal census.

• Wednesday, Oct. 19 from 9:45 – 11:45 a.m. – Mocavo: A new free genealogy site.

Registration is essential for class materials and seating. To register, call Kirk at 772-567-7463.

A historian, genealogist, lecturer, teacher and syndicated columnist of genealogical studies, Kirk is the creator of the Family History Genealogical Research Group covering Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Brevard counties.

For more information about Morningside Library events, call 772-337-5632 or visit: http://library.stlucieco.gov. The Morningside Branch of the St. Lucie County Library System is located at 2410 S.E. Morningside Blvd., Port St. Lucie.