ROOTS & BRANCHES

For at least a little while longer, one of the RootsTech conference’s many distinctions will be as the last large in-person gathering of genealogists when it was held at the end of February 2020.

But far overshadowing that distinction—which seems likely to fall with several in-person events scheduled for 2022—is that RootsTech sponsor FamilySearch.org, the genealogy mega-website owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, managed to make the leap to virtual in 2021 and is planning another such free, virtual mega-event next month from March 3–5.

The Mormon organization had sponsored RootsTech as an in-person wintertime conference for a decade with celebrity keynote speakers, hundreds of live genealogy presenters, and a vibrant exhibit hall, attracting tens of thousands to Salt Lake City

But I don’t know that anyone in FamilySearch was quite prepared for the scale “going virtual” in 2021 created: Instead of tens of thousands—already dwarfing any other such conference—RootsTech registered a cool million last year!

I’ve participated in both live and virtual RootsTech conferences in various capacities, but am looking forward to this year most of all when I’ll be a speaker (with a lecture series on Pennsylvania genealogy as well as German family history basics) as well as leading the team for the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, one of RootsTech’s Society Sponsor exhibitors.

Presentations for this virtual conference are pre-recorded, but there will be opportunities to chat with speakers both through the conference portal as well as “on the sidelines” in speaker- and society-organized Zoom rooms.

Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania is still finalizing the times and days for chats and “question and answer” sessions. To receive the society’s eblasts with up-to-date information, go to the website and click on “Join GSP Mailing List” at the URL, https://genpa.org/public-collections/gsp-digital-newsletters/

To register for RootsTech, visit www.rootstech.org.

In the last decade, FamilySearch has been able to digitize millions of microfilms containing records from around the world that were previously only accessible in some cases at its Family History Library in Salt Lake or affiliate libraries. Now many of these records (or indexed abstracts of them) are available on computer desktops.

Supplementing these many records is the FamilySearch Wiki, a genealogy encyclopedia with articles, maps and other research aids that also spans the globe of family history information.

While the Family History Library has been closed to general use because of the pandemic, FamilySearch has stepped up its online education program with webinars that feature many of the library’s expert staff with instructional videos.

FamilySearch.org’s website, www.familysearch.org, is the gateway to the records, wiki and webinars. Creating a free login in required to access some of the information available.