Latest Site News

Tracing our History is now very close to completing its move to the new domain http://tracingourhistory.com . In fact I will soon be removing most of the content from the old site and simply leaving a redirection URL on the main page. There are just a few more things to do before I can make the move complete.

I have now got the ‘history’ section of the site up and running – currently there are a few links not working quite right, but it is very close to being finished – with the exception of the local history part of the page (but that won’t be too long).

http://tracingourhistory.com/history.html

I have issued 8 usernames and passwords to the private/secure section of the site, allowing these family members access to the family history book and eventually the tree and various other files that will be stored there. So things are moving along nicely I think.

Once the site is fully operational my attention will turn to work on headstones/cemeteries and trying to get a better system up on the site for those. I am also continuing to work away at the family history database and getting all of that information sorted out properly.

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New Site Coming Together

Work on the new site is proceeding well. I have now got the front page right (I think) and have also uploaded a new page called ‘Family Anthology.’ Basically it takes the articles relating to the family (and penned by the family) from the former library page and puts them in a section of the site by themselves, thus separating them from the history section of the site. I also think the new and improved pages for each of the articles are far better than the old. This section is up and running
at:

http://tracingourhistory.com/library/libraryarchive.html

Have a peek at the new site at:
http://tracingourhistory.com

New Site Development Peek

A new and improved site is already under way. I have been working on the front page of the tracingourhistory.com site and I think it is already looking far better then the current site. I am really keen for the new site to be a major improvement on the current site and I’m encouraged by what I have at the moment, even though it is only a start.

Have a peek at:
http://tracingourhistory.com

Tracing our History: New Domain Name

I have just registered the domain name tracingourhistory.com for my family history site. I will no longer be updating the old site at http://particularbaptist.com/matthewshistory/index.html .

So what does this mean? You will need to continue to use the old site for the next couple of months while I build the new site/transfer files. When the work is completed I will add a link to the new site (at the old site) directing users to it. This work will need to be completed by June 2011, for this is when I will no longer have an account at the current host. The new domain, tracingourhistory.com, will be on a new host site. This will save me a fair amount of money over time.

The new site will bring all the sites associated with my family history under the same name of ‘Tracing our History.’ This name takes the focus of any one particular surname such as Blanch, Lilley or Matthews, and allows the user of my site to look at all the surnames being researched without bias to any one in particular. I want to be able to include all of the family in my collaborative and interactive research site/s.

By doing this I am hoping to establish the next step in my family history research and provide a much better tool for my family and those family members yet to come.

You will be able to follow my progress on the new site by visiting the tracingourhistory.com site. This Blog will also follow progress on the site and the feed is also on the old site.

Kevin’s Family – Online History Site

Having Blogged about the ‘History’ community in my last post here, it wasn’t that long after that that it became necessary to remove the ‘History’ community, as well as other communities hosted at Grou.ps. The reason for this was that Grou.ps were quickly moving to adopt a more ‘premium’ model of service. I would have been happy to pay for a premium service if that service was in fact premium, but because it was still full of bugs and problems I opted out and decided to move my operations elsewhere. At the moment I have no ‘History’ community, which is fine. I will adapt a page or two on the site for that purpose in time to come.

The ‘Tracing our History’ community, which was aimed at family members, faced the same issues as the ‘History’ community. I have already begun the process of moving this community elsewhere. It can found at Spruz and is only in the early stages of development. If you are a family member, please get on board even now and be part of the community as it grows.

Visit the ‘Tracing our History’ community at:
http://tracinghistory.spruz.com/

I have also begun some further work on the main website itself. I am very tempted to rename the site as ‘Tracing our History’ and will probably do so very soon. This will keep the three main affiliated sites – the Blog, the community and the main site – all named the same. I think this works much better.

Improvements to the site are under way, including major reviews of the family tree and family history book. Both of these will soon be hosted in more secure locations.

NEWSLETTER DISCONTINUED: BLOG REPLACES IT

The newsletter for ‘Kevin’s Family – Online History Site,’ known as ‘Kevin’s Mailout,’ will be discontinued. In fact, the newsletter’s last issue was back in 2004, so it could be argued that it had already been discontinued and this is a fair argument. I did begin another issue in 2008, but it was never completed.

With the emergence of this Blog, ‘Tracing our History,’ the newsletter seems to be somewhat superfluous, even though there are undoubtedly a great number of family members and friends who don’t have Internet access. Having said that, I don’t believe there was any ‘official’ circulation of the newsletter in hard copy anyhow.

Anything that I would have placed in the newsletter will now be placed on the Blog instead and will not have to wait (possibly years) for the next issue of the newsletter. This seems a far better idea to me and will save a large amount of work for me also. The energy used in putting together a newsletter can now be placed into actual research and web site development, which will also be a far better result I think.

The archives of the newsletter will still be available via the web site at:

http://particularbaptist.com/matthewshistory/newsletter.html