There is a lot happening in genealogy research right now with websites changing their look and criteria, plus information is being added very quickly. I will attempt to list a few for your reference:

Footnote.com announced that they are “opening their Revolutionary War
Collection free to the public for your ancestry search. This unique collection features millions of
original records found nowhere else on the internet.”

This collection includes: Soldier Service Records, Revolutionary War
Pension Files, Payment Vouchers for Military Pensions, Letters and
correspondence from the Founding Fathers, and more.

With the basic, free, Footnote membership you will also be able to see any
other free images; create your own Footnote pages; spotlight images &
documents, upload, annotate and print your own images; and more. See the
“Join now” page for more details.

Ancestry.com has added new Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Files, 1800-1900 and more. Did you know that 60% of Americans have Revolutionary War roots? Ancestry has also upgraded the Federal Census for 1820 – 1840. If you don’t have Ancestry at home, most libraries have access and your Mormon libraries usually have access as well.

First, the Family Search group released 300,000 names on Friday to the Pilot Family Search site. So, you might want to go to http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start and do some searching.

Second, yes the Family Search group did release a new website – for beta testing. It is not complete and we, here at the conference, have been giving them an earful! It appears that the programing was done by those who have never even done genealogy. So what else is new! So, check it out and use the “Not getting the results you expect? Help us make them better” link in the upper right-hand side of the page to let them know of problems.

The Family Search group released 300,000 names recently to the Pilot Family Search site. So, you might want to go to http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#

Next, the Family Search group did release a new website – for beta testing. It is not complete and we, here at the conference, have been giving them an earful! It appears that the programing was done by those who have never even done genealogy. So what else is new! So, check it out and use the “Not getting the results you expect? Help us make them better” link in the upper right-hand side of the page to let them know of problems.

Some that have been noted include (but is by no means the entire list):

Library catalog:

Does not have the look and feel of a library catalog.

Does not list the call number of books.

Does not list the microfilm numbers.

Does not provide related places.

Does not separate out the State, county, city, etc. records.

Does not contain all of the items listed in the “old” catalog.

Too many clicks of the mouse to drill down to the records you are trying to find.

Trees:

Does not include the Pedigree Resource File.

Does not provide the pedigree chart for a family.

Does not provide a family group sheet for a family.

Difficult to see the children of each wife when a man has more than one wife.

And, finally NARA is reviewing 4 new looks to make is easier to navigate their website. There is also a Facebook page for NARA.

Many counties have genealogy societies that post a lot of information as well. Everyday there seems to be more information accessible on the internet for our ancestry search. It is wonderful to be able to do so much research from your home. Happy hunting!