FamilySearch, an organization that makes genealogical records available, recently announced that it has completed digitizing its 2.4 million rolls of microfilm.
The archive, which contains information on more than 11.5 billion people, can be viewed for free at FamilySearch.org. This is a great boon to genealogists and other researchers.
FamilySearch began microfilming records — of births, marriages, deaths, probate, immigration and more — and more in 1938. Within each topic, such as probate records, click on the small camera image on the far right to open the record. The main caveat I see in FamilySearch’s announcement is that not all the records are open to use. A local Family History Center manager said she learned in a phone call to FamilySearch headquarters that some records have restricted access due to contractual agreements when microfilmed. Others can be viewed only at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City or only at a Family History Center (there are many in the metro Atlanta area), or at an affiliate library, such as the Washington Memorial Library’s genealogy room in Macon.
Ukraine genealogy
“Ukrainian Genealogy Research” by Vera Ivanova Miller was recently published in the “Genealogy at a Glance” series by the Genealogical Publishing Co. of Baltimore. This is the first genealogy guide to the Ukraine that I can recall. The four-page, laminated guide covers understating Ukrainian surnames, the culture, ancestral homelands, communist-era databases and various archives, including one at archives.gov.ua/en. There is a lot packed into four pages. To order, go to www.genealogical.com.
Ancestry DNA ethnicity upgrades
Ancestry.com recently upgraded its DNA ethnicity estimates, so see if yours has been refined further.
Contact Kenneth H. Thomas Jr., P. O. Box 901, Decatur, Ga., 30031 or www.kenthomasongenealogy.com.
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