Archive for the ‘UNYG Blog News’ Category

Been doing a little housekeeping with the blog here the past couple of days and decided to write this “How To” blog post about how to get the most out of the UNYG Blog.

Some of you know that I have been doing genealogy research for a great many years, like since the 1960′s.  When the internet came along it was a natural way to share things that I discovered with others and in one way or other I have been publishing on the internet before there was a Wild Wild Web (www).

So when I finally decided on a blog I used Google’s Blogger blog format for several years.  Then I had a professional website developer desgin and build my primary website that you see at www.unyg.com and about a year or so ago I migrated all of the older blogger articles over to this new site which was just an extension of the main website so it is easier to locate as this blog is just the same as the main site with the blog extension, so: www.unyg.com/blog.

All well and good, but what I did not consider was that all of the old links in the earlier blogger version still went to the old spots.  well today we are starting to fix that.

One thing that you will see different today is that there is a new box over on the right that contains the direct links to our most popular blog post articles regarding New York State Vital Records.  this was released in a series of three articles, the last two being updates.  Rather than me re-writing everything, just please remember to read all three of the articles.  The Onondaga County Public Library (OCPL) in Syracuse has very generously volunteered to do free vital records index lookups for you by mail, phone or email.  Make sure to read the articles first for details.

Going down on the right hand side there are ways to subscribe to these blog posts.

Next is a listing of our “Most Recent Posts”.

Then there is a “Search Box” to search for words or phrases in this blog.

Then a way to group previous articles by “Categories”.

And finally, a way to see the “Most Recent Comments”.

Please, we encourage all readers to leave comments.  It gives us ideas and direction for future posts.  We do take requests, and you must admit, The Price is Right!

To many of our long time readers and also to our newest friends we want you to be aware of few things that you might find as being a little different on this website and blog.

We have been publishing totally free information about Upstate New York Genealogy on the internet since the 1980′s and will continue to do so.

Our main website at www.UNYG.com does not change much as it is structured in categories that remain relatively static but that do contain just an enormous amount of free data for you to use.

What you are reading here is published on the adjacent blog website at www.UNYG.com/blog. You can easily go back and forth between the two websites with the buttons at the top.

All of our content is copyrighted of course, as is anything that is published on the web, however we have never not allowed anyone to republish our data by merely asking for permission and giving proper credit. You must have written permission from this website to reuse any of the content for republishing in any format, digital, images or printed matter.

We invite all historical societies and genealogical societies in the Upstate New York area, to send us details on your events, or your press releases, or a review of your society or organization for possible publication on this blog.

To our readers that might have a great story about your research or if you have been successful by using any of the information provided on this website or blog, please send it in for possible inclusion and credit.

To other webmasters, please contact us when you link to this blog or website and we will return the favor in the most beneficial manner. Thanks in advance.

As the whole world is now in a Social Networking frenzy we have added a button to each post called “Tweetmeme” which will easily allow you to click on and send to Twitter that you enjoyed a particular post. Thanks for your help spreading the word.

From time to time you will see some advertising appear on this site. We will always try to keep it relative to the topic and of products that we believe will be helpful or of interest to our readers. When you make a purchase of a product from this website we will receive a small commission from the vendor. This will not cost you a penny more than if you were to have purchased it from say a magazine ad or any other medium. Thank you for your support.

We will never spam you or scam you. Please refer to our Privacy Policy.

To your success in finding those elusive ancestors that are hiding behind a brick wall.

Dick Hillenbrand

Hi everyone.  If you are reading this you know that we have finally moved our Blog to this new domain.

To all who are following us please make sure you subscribe to this new Blog by using the orange button at the top right which is for an RSS feed to your news reader and you will receive all future posts in your reader.  If that seems a daunting task just use the Subscribe via Email form and then you will receive at the most once a day a listing of any new posts that we have published for that day.  If no posts are made you will not get the email notification.

As all of you know who have been subscribers we will never spam you and your personal information is 100% secure with us.  We never share, sell, trade, loan or in any way give out your email address to any one.

Glad to have you with us, remember to subscribe and we will be publishing a whole lot of new stuff that has been backing up.

Please leave comments or ask questions at the bottom of any of the Blog post articles or use the Contact form at the top if need be.

Dick Hillenbrand

UNYG Blog

Well we finally will see a new website associated with this Blog. It is still being tested and loaded up with content.

We are working on building the new site now and soon you will be reading this Blog on a new platform. As many of our long time readers know, the Upstate New York Genealogy website and then Blog evolved over the past nine or so years.

We actually had an earlier website on a free webhosting platform that was called NYGENES. That is why it seemed only natural to set up my email address as nygenes at gmail.com. the Internet has changed greatly since I started publishing genealogy information over a dozen years ago.

The new platform, (website to be announced real soon now,) will have a much nicer look and feel than having to use this pre-made template that Blogger supplies. We will also have a better method to handle categories and subjects, and will be able to offer you specials on certain products that we all need to do research with.

I thank Google for the free use of the Blogger platform as without it I would have never met so many of you nice people who have been following my rants and ramblings. So a very big thank you goes out to all of you as well.

The new website url will be very easy to remember and we will have it posted prominently right here on this Blog platform which will remain up for an undetermined time period. It will be very easy to find the new Blog.

So again, thanks and stay tuned for the new Blog platform for Upstate new York Genealogy Blog. Coming soon!

ps: We will also have some nice new gifts and contest prizes to reward you as loyal followers.
Dick Hillenbrand

pps: You may subscribe to this Blog by either RSS which will send all new posts to your feed reader, or you may subscribe by emai for a once a day email of any new posts that day.
RSS is the orange button at the top right. Subscribe to Upstate New York Genealogy Blog by Email

Nothing for you to worry about, but there will be some changes coming.

We have been publishing this free blog information on how to find your Upstate New York ancestors for several years now, by using Google’s Blogger Blog service. It has been free to produce other than the time invested. Thank you very much Google.

However, there are many features that we want to provide for you, still all going to be Free, don’t panic. \grin/

But we will be converting this Blog over to WordPress which will give us the ability to provide a far better user experience with this Blog’s information and access to tons of other really cool things.

This will not be happening right away, but we have the new domain and will be experimenting some until we figure out how to migrate all of the archived articles from here, over to the new website.

We know you are going to LOVE IT. This Blog sometimes loads so slowly that people get discouraged and leave, and I don’t blame them. We’re going to fix that with the new website.

Stay tuned. (We think that the end result should be rather seamless to you, but when it happens you will see our all new design!)

Here is a rather disturbing piece of news that was in the Washington Post. It has to do with laptops and other digital devices being seized at the border and should be of great concern to genealogists traveling abroad for genealogy research..Read about it on our sister Blog, Genealogy Miscellanea .

http://tinyurl.com/5zn8me

Visit our main website at www.unyg.com

***

Announcing New Upstate New York Website Review Program.

This is July 8, 2008. Remember this date 070808. We are starting a new service that we encourage all readers to participate in.

The Internet is full of instructional, informative and interesting websites related to Genealogy. The Blogroll and bookmarks that I personally visit almost every day, certainly once a week, runs in very high numbers. Just can’t get enough.

This particular website/Blog that you are reading now is blessed with thousands of regular readers and a great number of new readers every month. So here is what we want to do. If you own a Genealogy website or Blog, or if you really like a particular website or Blog, that is heavily based on Upstate New York Genealogy, then we want to help you get some attention.

Starting with the comments on this Blog entry, please submit your favorite website name, and the url for that specific website or Blog, and a simple one sentence description.

That’s all you have to do. These comments come directly to me before they are seen by the public. I will check the link out and if it is valid and not spammy, then I will approve the comment link and our several thousand readers will see it. That link will remain on this site until such time that I might deem to remove it. Remember this is a family site, keep the links appropriate.

Then once a month, I will write a free, unbiased, or biased if need be \grin/, review of a website that I believe to be very instructional, very informative and very interesting.

The reviews will happen near the closing date of each month. A reminder of this 070808 Blog post will be sent out quite often. We encourage ALL of you to participate!

So here’s your chance to shine. Here’s your chance to gain new readers. It is free and non-fattening.

Remember it MUST relate to either, Families of Upstate New York, or How To instruction for Upstate New York, or about a specific Upstate New York Location.

Oh, and as we have jokingly reported to this question many times before, as to where is Upstate New York? I always say look at our logo on our main website at www.unyg.com and see the map of the state? Upstate New York is anywhere above Yonkers, as far as I am concerned.

*** Another announcement to watch for will be regarding our forthcoming Upstate New York Genealogy Newsletter. Subscribers to this Blog will automatically be included, so subscribe now. Free gifts, special features, major discounts on products you all use, and information that will not be published on this Blog. Stay tuned for more information. Subscribe Now. Oh, by the way, the UNYG Newsletter will be FREE!

Some of our previous popular posts:
New York State Vital Records -
Revolutionary War Patriot or Loyalist -
Palatine DNA Project -
Visit our main website at www.unyg.com

*** LOOK *** – Right here under this line is the place for “comments.”