Nu? What's New? Vol. 20 No. 10

Underlined words are links to sites with additional information.

New Information About Annual Conference

The Program Committee of the 39th annual IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy will announce most of the programming about April 15, according to Chuck Weinstein, Program Committee Chair. Luncheons and workshops will be announced shortly thereafter. The committee received an unusually large number of program submissions, so the selectin process is taking a bit longer.

Each day will begin with two “Breakfasts With the Experts,” an opportunity to sit in an intimate gathering of about 25 people and talk one on one with experts in various fields of Jewish genealogy. They will begin at 8:00 am on Monday through Friday. Regular sessions will begin at 9:00 am and run until 5:00 pm. Evening programming will also be provided. There will be two Special Interest Group luncheons each day. Those will be announced by early May.

Register for the conference at https://www.iajgs2019.org/registration_form.cfm. Persons who register by April 30 will receive an early-bird discount.

The conference is being held in Cleveland, Ohio, from July 28–August 2 at the Hilton Cleveland Downtown Hotel.

Ancestry and Family Tree DNA Offering DNA Testing For Only $59
In recognition of St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, Ancestry is offering their DNA test for only $59. FamilyTreeDNA also shows the same price. Here are the prices for autosomal DNA testing from the major services:
• 23andMe Ancestry Service. $99
• Ancestry. $59. Offer ends March 18
. • Family TreeDNA. $59. No indication how long this price will last
. • MyHeritage. $69. Discount offer ends March 10.

If you miss these deadlines, do not despair. Passover/Easter occurs in April and, rest assured, there will be discounts then.

New Society: Jewish Genealogy Society of Central Maryland

Nolan Altman, Chair of the IAJGS Membership Development Committee, has announced a new society—Jewish Genealogy Society of Central Maryland. The society will primarily focus on including members from the Maryland counties of Howard, Anne Arundel, Frederick and Prince George’s.

The group’s next meeting will be March 18 at 1:00 pm, at the Vantage House, 5400 Vantage Point Road, Columbia, Maryland. Contact the group at JGSCMd@comcast.net or see their Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/jgscmd/.

Four Enduring Ways to Share Your Family History Research

Family History Daily has published an essay on “Beyond the Tree: 4 Enduring Ways to Share Your Family History Research.” It focuses on ways to share your work with family and expanding your documentation of family history beyond a genealogical database of facts.

The four topics are:
• Start a Family History Facebook Group
• Assemble a Genealogy Binder
• Create a Family History Blog
• Write Biographies of Your Ancestors

The essay can be found at https://tinyurl.com/FHDEnduringWays.

JewishGen Once Again Presents Independent Study Program
JewishGen will again offer its Independent Study Program from March 22 – April 14. Participants in the program will work one-on-one with a mentor on one of the student’s research problems. The mentor will analyze the data and help set goals and objectives for solutions and success. JewishGen states that Independent Study is a way to get a helping hand and help set goals and objectives for solutions and success. Tuition is $150. Additional information as well as registration is at http://www.jewishgen.org/education.

RootsTech Announces Statistics About Recently Completed Conference

RootsTech has posted attendance statistics about their recently completed conference in Salt Lake City. There were more than 15,000 on-site attendees, 80,000 viewers through various live streams and 30,000 mobile app downloads. Attendees came from 38 different countries and every state in the United States. About 200 exhibitors demonstrated their products and services in the larger-than-ever RootsTech Expo Hall.

RootsTech London 2019, the first international location of the conference, will take place on October 24—26. The 2020 conference will be held February 26–29 again at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City.

The complete announcement can be found at https://media.familysearch.org/ rootstech-2019-in-review/.

FamilySearch Adds More Than 4 Million Records This Week

A list of recent additions to FamilySearch, more than 4 million indexed records and images, can be found at https://tinyurl.com/FamilySearch030419. This site provides direct links to the individual collections. They include records from Canada, England, Australia, Cook Islands, Peru, United States (Iowa), and the BillionGraves Index.

Note that at the website, announced collections may not be complete for the dates specified and will be added at some later date. Also note that counts shown in the announcement are the number added, not the total number available in the collection, which can be greater.

New Collection at Ancestry.com

Ancestry has added/updated one record group this week:
• Nienburg, Germany, Marriages, 1874–1937 Birth, Marriage & Death, 151,868 records

Note that the announced collection may not be complete for the dates specified and will be added at some later date.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Starts Dropping Name “Mormon”

Last August, I reported in Nu? What’s New? that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints planned to drop the term “Mormon” and would start referring to itself by its full name. The Church now has announced this transition is underway. The official announcement states that the reason is, “to reflect the faith’s full name and better convey commitment to follow Jesus Christ.”

Some of the changes include:
• The Church’s official website will become ChurchofJesusChrist.org (previously lds.org).
• The Mormon Tabernacle Choir now will be called the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square
• The email addresses of all Church employees, general Church leaders and many volunteers will begin using the @ChurchofJesusChrist.org domain instead of the current @ldschurch.org.

The announcement can be found at https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/ article/church-name-alignment.

Attend the 39th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy

Visit the website at http://iajgs2019.org