The Genealogy Society of Cobb County Georgia is offering its annual Genealogy 101 course for beginners, Jan. 23-Feb. 27.
The six classes will run 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturdays. Check-in is at 9 a.m. on the first class day.
The first five classes will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Marietta, 189 Church St., Marietta. Subjects for the first five classes include: getting started, census records, vital records, newspapers, cemeteries, military records, land and tax records, Colonial records, repositories, and mapping and migration.
The final class will meet Feb. 27 in the Georgia Room at the Charles D. Switzer Public Library in Marietta to explore the published genealogy materials from all over the country found there.
Registration is required, either online or by mail. See registration information at cobbgagensoc.org/wrkshp_sem1.htm. Early registration deadline is Jan. 13. Classes are free, but the cost per set for optional course materials is $39 by Jan. 13 or $49 afterward. For further information, call 770-316-7109.
Decatur’s Swanton House
“Have Historic House, Will Travel: The Swanton House Is on the Move” is the subject of the Jan. 19 Lunch and Learn seminar at the DeKalb History Center in the Old Courthouse on the Square in Decatur.
Archivist Fred Mobley will present the interesting saga of this historic house owned by the DHC, including it being moved and restored, as well as plans for the future.
The event is at noon and is free; bring your own lunch. For further information, check dekalbhistory.org or call 404-373-1088, Ext. 23.
Family Tree Maker update
Recently, ancestry.com, which owns Family Tree Maker genealogy software, announced it was no longer going to sell that program after the end of 2015 and would discontinue any servicing of it later.
While the software will continue to work, it just won’t be supported.
This has caused a huge uproar. Other genealogy software companies, such as Legacy and RootsMagic, have offered FTM users a chance to transfer over.
For more on this, see the announcement at tinyurl.com/FTMDemise, with lots of feedback.
Some advice: Try one of the other programs still available to see what is best for you, or, if possible, try a trial version before you decide to change over.
