Author: Michael Booth

Some of you have been patiently awaiting the results of our “Most Interesting Family History Picture and Story” contest.  We apologize for the delay.  We had to contact each of the winners and then, frankly, we got so caught-up in other things that we forgot to tell you, our blog readers, who won.

We started out with hundreds of pictures and stories submitted by you.  Then our panel of judges narrowed the list down to 8 pictures and stories.  If you’d like to see the finalists and read their stories, click on any of the pictures below:

We then allowed you to vote on which picture and story you felt was the most interesting. We’re pleased to announce that the entry with the most votes was “Christmas Tires” by Rick D. Harms!  Congratulations to Rick as he is now the owner of a brand-new Flip-Pal mobile scanner.  Rick and all the other finalists have also won a copy of our Personal Historian 2 writing software.

Again, a big thank you to all of you took the time to share your precious family pictures and stories with us.  We were overwhelmed with the love and pride that people felt for their family histories.  They provided us with hours of entertainment and encouragement and made us thankful that we are able to help, in some small part, to the preservation and sharing of these priceless histories.

We had a tremendous response to our “Most Interesting Family History Picture and Story” contest.  We were overwhelmed with the love and pride that people felt for their family histories.  It was a very hard job, but our panel of judges narrowed the list down to 8 pictures and stories.  Yes, originally we were going to pick only 5 but it was so hard to choose, we decided to add 3 more to the final list.

Congratulations to Will Langer, Eugene Wiese, Rick D. Harms, Helen Rigby, Sylvia Hott Sonneborn, Linda Coleman Hunt, Carole Allen, and Eleanor Erber.  They’ve all won a copy of our Personal Historian writing software and have advanced to the final round!

Now it’s your chance to decide which is the most interesting family history picture and story and to pick who will win the Flip-Pal mobile scanner and case!

To view the winning pictures and stories and to vote for the most interesting, visit www.surveymonkey.com/s/InterestingPictures.

Voting will continue through Tuesday, October 30, 2012.  The entry with the most votes and the winner of the Flip-Pal mobile scanner will be announced on Wednesday, October 31.

A big thank you to all of you took the time to share your precious family pictures and stories with us.  They provided us with hours of entertainment and encouragement.  Congratulations and good luck to the finalists and be sure to visit www.surveymonkey.com/s/InterestingPictures by Tuesday, October 30 to vote for your favorite!

The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) is holding their annual conference this week, August 29-September 1, 2012 in Birmingham, Alabama.  Of course, we will be there in the exhibit hall to meet customers, answer questions, and show-off our latest new features.

Just as we did last year, we are pleased to sponsor the RootsMagic Cyber Cafe & Lounge!  The RootsMagic Cyber Cafe is the place to hang out, go online, charge a device, print those syllabus pages you need, or just sit down and relax and meet new friends.  It’s completely free as a service to the genealogical community that has given us so much support.

To get to the RootsMagic Cyber Cafe, just go to the FGS Exhibit Hall.  It’s prominently located near the center-back of the hall.  We hope to see you there!

Hopefully, you’ve been able to attend one of our free online classes (webinars).  If not, don’t worry- we’ve recorded them and made them available to view or download online.  Still, we’ve had many requests to make the recordings available in a convenient CD format.  We’ve had a tremendous response to our RootsMagic Webinars on CD, Volumes 1 and 2.

So we’re pleased to present RootsMagic Webinars on CD, Volumes 3 and 4.  Watch them right from the convenience of your own computer where you can follow along and set your own pace.  No internet connection required!  Don’t worry, the downloadable recordings aren’t going anywhere.  The CD’s are just our way of making them available to you in a more convenient, more permanent format.

Each Volume contains:

• Not 1, but 10 complete classes covering a variety of topics and products
• Recordings in standard .mp4 format, watchable on most Windows and Mac computers and portable devices
• A browseable menu of classes with printable notes of topics covered in each webinar

Volume 3

Volume 4

The RootsMagic 2012 RootsTech Treasure Hunt is now over.  We wanted to thank the bloggers who placed clues on their sites: Becky’s Grace and Glory (Becky Jamison), DearMYRTLE (Pat Richley-Erickson), Elyse’s Genealogy Blog (Elyse Doerflinger), Food.Family.Ephemera (Gena Philibert Ortega), GeneaBloggers (Thomas MacEntee), Genealogy Gems Podcast (Lisa Louise Cooke), Genealogy’s Star (James Tanner), Genea-Musings (Randy Seaver), Granite Genealogy (Sue Maxwell), Renee’s Genealogy Blog (Renee Zamora), Ruth’s Genealogy (Ruth Stephens), The Accidental Genealogist (Lisa Alzo), The Chart Chick (Janet Hovorka), The Genealogy Blog (Leland Meitzler), and We Tree Genealogy Blog (Amy Coffin).

Many of the bloggers said they had record-setting traffic to their blogs from the thousands of RootsMagic users from around the world who followed the links to find the clue words.  And we heard from many of you who enjoyed discovering new blogs and podcasts with such a variety of personalities and styles.

For those of you that are curious, the 15 words formed this important message:

“Little Orphan Annie says Always Use Roots Magic and Be Sure to Drink Your Ovaltine”

“A Christmas Story” Copyright Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

We held our first drawing at the actual RootsTech conference and gave an iPad 2 to Margie Grider.  And for those who weren’t able to attend RootsTech in person, we held a second drawing for online entries.

And the winner of an iPad 2 in our online drawing is Barbara Perkins of Vancouver, Washington!  We also drew three more winners who will each receive a RootsMagic super pack which includes RootsMagic 5, Getting the Most Out of RootsMagic 5, Personal Historian 2, Family Atlas, Family Reunion Organizer, and RootsMagic Webinars on CD Volumes 1 and 2, all in a RootsMagic tote bag.  Congratulations go to Henry Boelte of Norfolk, Virginia; Roger Wells of Lexington, Kentucky; and Beryl Godwin of Southend-on-Sea, England!

Thanks to the thousands of you who participated in our treasure hunt.  We had a lot of fun putting it together and we hope you had a lot of fun participating.  Look for more treasure hunts, more connections with the genealogical community, and more magic in the future!

To say that the RootsTech conference was a success would be a great understatement. Thanks to all of you who came by to learn about RootsMagic 5 and Personal Historian 2, ask questions, or just say “Hi”.  The conference had the highest-attendance of any North American genealogical event in recent memory.  For those of you who weren’t able to attend RootsTech, you can enjoy recordings of several of the classes and presentations on the RootsTech website.

Congratulations go to Margie Grider who entered our RootsMagic Treasure Hunt and won the drawing for an iPad 2!  We didn’t want those who aren’t able to attend RootsTech in person to feel left out so we’re holding a second drawing and giving away more prizes including a second iPad 2!

To enter this drawing, visit http://www.rootsmagic.com/treasure anytime between now and midnight MST on Wednesday, February 8, 2012.  Fill out the online form to be entered into the second drawing.  You may enter even if you entered our “in person” drawing but one entry per person, per drawing.  Winners will be picked at random and notified via e-mail by Friday, February 10, 2012.

Good luck and happy hunting!

It’s been a tremendous last few months here at RootsMagic. We’ve been busy with the new releases of Personal Historian 2 and RootsMagic 5. We’re also excited to participate in one of the largest genealogy events in North America- RootsTech!

We want to celebrate these momentous events with you, our loyal users! And what better way to celebrate than with a treasure hunt where you could win one of many prizes including an iPad 2!

Online Treasure Hunt

We’ve partnered with 15 of the best and brightest genealogy bloggers who will be reporting at the RootsTech conference. Each blogger will place one of 15 clue words on their website. The clue word will look something like this:

From Thursday, February 2 through Wednesday, February 8, 2012, visit http://www.rootsmagic.com/treasure for a complete list of the blogs where the 15 clue words can be found. Visit each blog, collect all 15 clue words, and you could win software, prizes, or an iPad 2!

Enter at RootsTech or at Home

Once you’ve collected the clues there are two ways to enter.  The first is at the RootsTech conference itself.  Pick up an entry card at the RootsMagic booth (#224) in the Exhibit Hall.  Write the clue words on the back of the card and return it to the RootsMagic booth in the Exhibit Hall by Saturday, February 4 at 1:20 pm.  At that time, we will hold the prize drawings.  You must be present to win.

We didn’t want those who aren’t able to attend RootsTech in person to feel left out so we’re holding a second drawing and giving away more prizes including a second iPad 2.  To enter this drawing, visit http://www.rootsmagic.com/treasure anytime between Thursday, February 2 and midnight MST on Wednesday, February 8, 2012.  Fill out the online form to be entered into the second drawing.  You may enter both drawings but one entry per person, per drawing.  Winners will be picked at random and notified via e-mail by Friday, February 10, 2012.

Remember, the treasure hunt doesn’t begin until this Thursday. Good luck!

It’s been a tremendous last few months here at RootsMagic.  We’ve been busy with the new releases of Personal Historian 2 and RootsMagic 5 and now that we have a chance to breathe, we feel like celebrating with you, our loyal users!  And what better way to celebrate than with a treasure hunt where you could win one of many prizes including an iPad 2?

Excited yet?  Well, you won’t have to wait too much longer.  Watch this blog early next week for all the details!

RootsMagic is pleased to be a sponsor of the 42nd Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree to be held June 10-12, 2011 in the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel, 2500 Hollywood Way, Burbank, California.

If you live in the area, be sure to come by and see us in the exhibit hall or attend one of our classes taught by the RootsMagician himself, Bruce Buzbee.

But if you don’t live near by, we wanted to bring the experience of the Jamboree to you!  Through a special sponsorship provided by RootsMagic, several Jamboree sessions will be available at no cost to genealogists and family historians around the globe.  We’ve had a tremendous response to our own free online classes (webinars) and saw the opportunity to use similar technology to bring the Jamboree experience to people around the world.  This means that you can enjoy presentations from some of the top speakers in the genealogical community for free, right from the comfort of your own home!

Watch Online for Free

All live-streaming sessions will be held on Saturday, June 11, 2011.  They include the following: (Click on the link to read more and to register for the session)

• Lisa Louise Cooke – Google Search Strategies for Genealogists
  8:30 to 9:30 am PDT (See in your time zone)
  
• Curt Witcher, MLS, FUGA, IGSF – Fingerprinting Our Families – Using Ancestral Origins as a Genealogical Research Key
  10:00 to 11:00 am PDT (See in your time zone)
  
• David Lambert – Researching Your Union Civil War Ancestors
  11:30 am to 12:30 pm PDT (See in your time zone)
  
• Kory Meyerink, AG, FUGA – But it Ain’t Really the ORIGINAL Record!
  2:00 to 3:00 pm PDT (See in your time zone)
  
• Kerry Bartels – The Many Facets of the National Archives Website (NARA)
  3:30 to 5:30 pm PDT (See in your time zone)

Registration

To register for an online streaming session, click on a class title from the above list.

If you do happen to live in the Los Angeles area and would like to attend the jamboree in person, more information is available at http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/2011jam-home.htm.

We hope to see you there or online!