Issue 29.16
There are two links on the home page for the Brigham Young University Family History Library https://sites.lib.byu.edu/familyhistory/ that take you to the online series of free live webinars from the Library itself. If you tune in you can hear the webinar, ask questions and benefit from a wide selection of topics and presenters. Here is the page that links to three types of classes: https://sites.lib.byu.edu/familyhistory/classes-and-webinars/ webinars, YouTube.com videos and in-person classes.
You can browse hundreds of online genealogy courses to help you discover your family history at the FamilySearch Learning Center. Go to: https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/home.html to find the courses. They are listed by both popularity and by those that are new. It also has a search area, so if you wanted to see how to use Puzzilla, you could search for that. There are beginning genealogy courses called 5 Minute Genealogy that are designed to help you quickly discover your family history. See: https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/New_to_Genealogy_-_Beginners_First_Step .
Ancestry.com also has a learning center. You will find it at: http://www.ancestry.com/cs/HelpAndAdviceUS and they have areas showing: what’s new, first steps in getting started, next steps, research guides, and translation help. That is also where you find the Ancestry Wiki which shows two of genealogy’s best reference books online for free – “The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy,” and “Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.” They also have an extensive Military Records collection and help to go along with it.
Family Tree Magazine has available a list of the 25 Best Genealogy Websites for Beginners: http://www.familytreemagazine.com/article/25-best-genealogy-websites-for-beginners this is guaranteed to help with your ancestral searching.
You can also get a colorful guidebook that will help you by a local author, Paul Larsen. See http://www.crashcoursebook.com/ for more information. This book is also available online from Amazon.com and usually Costco carries it. It is very helpful, colorfully illustrated and an easy to use guidebook.
This is the easiest time to do family history ever because of so many online resources and so many great tutorials, webinars and classes available. Another site LDS users will enjoy is one I am involved with called the FamilySearch Family Tree User Group, on the web at http://fsfamilytreeusergroup.com/resources.php.
For more information, contact Shanna Jones shannasjones@msn.com www.searchshanna.com