Homestead Records Available at Footnote

HOMESTEAD RECORDS BECOME AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET FOR THE FIRST TIME ON FOOTNOTE.COM

Original Records Documenting the Lives of Early Settlers Offer a Unique View Into 19th Century America

Lindon, UT -- September 18, 2008 – In an event held today at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Footnote.com along with several partners announced a project to make available hundreds of thousands of original Homestead Records on the Internet for the first time. This project involved the efforts of organizations including The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the National Parks Service, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and FamilySearch.

“It’s exciting to see various organizations with different strengths and capabilities come together to make this information widely available,” says Russ Wilding, CEO of Footnote.com. “This record collection is just one example how individuals on Footnote.com can connect their own family history to the big picture of American History.”

The Homestead Act of 1862 was a landmark event at a time when the American Nation was being torn apart by the Civil War. These records, most of which have never been microfilmed, contain more than simply the names of those who petitioned the U.S. Government for land. They tell the rich story of a fast-growing country and those men and women eager to live the American dream by becoming land owners.

Footnote.com has already digitized and indexed the Homestead Records from Broken Bow, Nebraska featuring almost 40,000 records. To view samples of these records and see what Footnote users have discovered, click here. Working together with its’ partners, Footnote.com will continue to release more records on the site.

Footnote.com has focused on making real history accessible to everyone and providing tools that enable people to connect with history and with each other.

Footnote.com recently released Footnote Pages, which allows users to create interactive pages for an individual, group, place or event. These pages bring history to life by allowing users to create:

• Interactive timelines and maps
• Photo galleries
• Stories
• Links to other related Footnote Pages and Footnote Members

“We encourage everyone with an interest in these Homestead Records to come and enrich this content with your contributions,” says Wilding. “When people come together and share their insights, a new and exciting side of history is revealed.”

Learn more by visiting http://www.footnote.com

About Footnote.com
Footnote.com is a history website where real history might just surprise you. Footnote.com features millions of searchable original documents, providing users with an unaltered view of the events, places and people that shaped the American nation and the world. At Footnote.com, all are invited to come share, discuss, and collaborate on their discoveries with friends, family, and colleagues. For more information, visit www.footnote.com.

What You Missed: The October 2007 Computer Class

When the news was released that Bill Hire was going to present a class on land records for our October 20th members-only computer class, I received a plethora of e-mails asking to sign up for it as soon as possible! Bill brings his experience as a surveyor to our society, having previously made a presentation on land records at our October Workshop in 2005. His "Land Records on the Internet" syllabus listed nine links to major sites to further one's research in this area. He explained why land records are important to genealogy: they place an ancestor or relative at a specific location and point in time, as well as often being the only records available that show a family relationship between two individuals.

We learned about or reviewed public lands states vs. state lands states, metes and bounds vs. the township system, and discussed many resources, such as DeedMapper, plat maps online, and various genealogy books on land records research. I believe we all went away having learned many things, and excited to further our research in this area! If you would like a copy of the syllabus for this class, please contact me at kidmiffatgmaildotcom (substitute appropriate symbols).

The next computer class will be held November 17th and will be presented by Bette Butcher Topp. Her topic is "Genealogy Society Websites." If you are interested in signing up, please contact me, Miriam Robbins Midkiff, at the e-mail address listed in the previous paragraph, or see our member directory for my telephone number. Currently, there are a few spots available during the 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM and the 1:30 - 2:30 PM sessions. You must be a current EWGS member to attend.