2014-07-03
Journalists and ward newsletter editors, please run this as a news item and/or in your calendar of events. For a shorter version please show the main speaker and topic, give the UVTAGG websites, and say there are classes at all levels of genealogy. If you need further information, please email me. Thanks.
Don Snow -- snowd@math.byu.edu
[UVTAGG] Press Release for UVTAGG meeting Saturday morning 12 Jul 2014
The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group - UVTAGG (Formerly the Utah Valley PAF Users Group - UVPAFUG) will be on Saturday, 12 Jul 2014, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo. Information about the Group, meeting location, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on their website http://uvtagg.org and the press releases are at http://blog.uvtagg.org . On the blog you can subscribe to receive the press releases via email when they are posted a week before the meeting.
The main presentation this month at UVTAGG is by Juliana Szucs Smith on COMMON SURNAMES: FINDING YOUR SMITH. Whether your ancestor was a Smith, Jones, Brown, or Johnson, Juliana will share some tips for tracking them down on Ancestry.com and beyond. Using charts, spreadsheets, and a little common sense, you’ll leave this presentation with some ideas for narrowing your search. Juliana Szucs Smith has been working for Ancestry.com for more than 15 years. She began her family history journey trolling through microfilms at the tender age of 11 with her mother. She has written many articles for online and print genealogical publications and wrote the "Computers and Technology" chapter of The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy. Juliana holds a certificate from Boston University's Online Genealogical Research Program, and is currently on the clock working towards certification from the Board for Certification of Genealogists. There is more about her on the Ancestry blog at http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/author/jsmith/ .
After the main presentation the following classes are scheduled; check the meetings page at http://uvtagg.org/ for last minute changes or additions. (1) Getting the Most From Your Discoveries, by Juliana Szucs Smith; (2) Using LDS Partner Web Sites: Find My Past, by Sue Maxwell; (3) MAC: IProblems, IGetStarted, and IHelp, by Ron Snowden; (4) Ask An Expert (Personal Help), by Don Engstrom & Finn Hansen; (5) Video from last month's main presentation, Are You Your Own Brick Wall?, by Beth Taylor; (6) Ancestral Quest, by Gaylon Findlay; (7) Legacy, by Marilyn Thomsen; and (8) RootsMagic, by Bruce Buzbee.
All meetings of UVTAGG are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually about 100 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays, most of whom are Family History Consultants. The officers are Gerhard Ruf, President; Laurie Castillo, 1st VP; Don Snow, 2nd VP; Renee Zamora, Secretary; Liz Kennington, Newsletter Editor; Don Engstrom and Rayanne Melick, Membership and Finances; Bruce Merrill and Marie Andersen, DVD Library; and Chris Stevenson, Webmaster. Several of these will be at the meeting to answer questions, help with membership, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter TAGGology, and check out and sell to members of the Group DVDs of past presentations and classes. Many members don't live close enough to participate in the monthly meetings, but belong by paying the $10 per year dues to receive the monthly newsletter via email and purchase DVDs of the presentations and classes. Gift memberships make great presents for family history-minded relatives, friends, and Family History Consultants. See more information about the presentations, classes, and class notes, or to join the Group, on the websites above. You can also contact President Gerhard Ruf at pres@uvtagg.org (801-225-6106), or 1st VP Laurie Castillo at laurie@everythingisrelative.net , or 2nd VP Don Snow at snowd@math.byu.edu .
Don Snow, 2nd VP of Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group (UVTAGG), snowd@math.byu.edu
