Highlights from RootsTech Day One

Part of the #NotAtRootsTech crew, I logged onto Rootstech.org and went to "MY SCHEDULE". I had planned out the majority of the sessions that I wanted to view today.

RootsTech Day 1 kicked off with a burst of energy and fresh ideas, drawing genealogists, historians, and family history enthusiasts from around the world. The first day showcased new tools and inspiring sessions designed to help people uncover and preserve their family stories. This post covers a few of the most exciting moments and innovations revealed on Day One.

Click here to watch the OPENING KEYNOTE

Que the music! Lights, Camera, Action! Steve Rockwood, the CEO of Family Search International took the stage first. While discussing this years theme of "TOGETHER", he introduced his first cousin Jennifer Rockwood, the head coach of the Brigham Young University soccer team. Together, they broke down the support system of a soccer team and shared how the unique rolls translate into family history.

Kirby Keyborne Event Emcee, and Global Emcee Nicole Luz introduced the virtual keynote speaker and Brazilian soccer legend, Zico. He shared a piece of his childhood and athletic store. The entire video can be found at rootstech.org

Howard Hochhauser, President & CEO of Ancestry took to the stage sharing a bit of his family history and family tree. He shared an example of learning context of his own family history by use of newspapers.com. Howard shared that 10 million records are being uploaded DAILY and 65% of them are unique to Ancestry.com.

Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin spoke to inclusivity and accessibility for those with barriers, urging viewers to think outside of the box and asks the questions needed to ensure that lives recognize biases in records. Noting that "Inclusion goes beyond disabilities". She challenged us to make our tools accessible because every person deserves to be remembered. FamilySearch shared information about Marlee's family and discussed language barriers that they had with immigrating to the United States.

A Few RootsTech Day One Session Overviews:

I REALLY wanted to view Orice Jenkins session today, Taxes and Tithes: Researching Enslaved Communities in Colonial Virginia, but unfortunately it was only available in person. Please know that had I been in attendance I would have been in the front row as always. I did have some friends attend and they gave it rave reviews, if you're in person you don't want to miss his session tomorrow (not being recorded). I was however able to gain a wealth of knowledge from the syllabus. I didn't get through as many classes as I wanted but the joy of being #NOTATROOTSTECH is that I can not only rewatch, but I can pause, rewind, stream to the television and adjust the volume!

#NOTATROOTSTECHTIP - Even if the session isn't being recorded, the syllabus is still there and can provide valuable information.

Timelines for Genealogy: a powerful research tool - the speaker Janet Few walked through creating a comprehensive timeline for a single ancestor. Suggested to start with a working document (suggestions in the handout/syllabus). Janet suggested using multiple colors or columns. Vital events are added first (place and date) while adding sources with a second date. I have been working on my latest "corrected tree" and always love to look at new ways to display information.

DEMYSTIFYING THE AMERICAN GENEALOGICAL - BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX (AGBI) - Led by Tricia Seguine, MLIS, the current president of the association of professional genealogist. I admit that I haven't had much experience with the AGBI but now have much more information about the collection published in Connecticut. While all secondary sources, it is hopeful that they will point you to the primary sources and locations of the documents. Takeaway: Normally the indexed information is found on Ancestry and the actual images are found on Family Search.

Deciphering and Analyzing Pre-1850 Census Records: Turning Tick Marks into People presented by my genea-friend Linda Debe. Linda presented a fantastical automated Excel spreadsheet to be able to successfully document older census records. I have literally printed out the census and cup and taped papers together to get the tick marks to match up. This spreadsheet will be a great help!

What's New at Ancestry - With my longtime geneafriend Crista Cowan

QOTD: "We don't judge each other but you're welcome to judge your ancestors"

• Ancestry "MOVES FAST" and once again there has been a new shift, focusing on how to tell the family stories of ancestors in a way that lets people get to know them.

• NEW FEATURES!

  Crista shared live demonstrations of the new tools and features available on Ancestry.com. Heading to Fold3.com to check out the new digitized pension files!

I plan to take a look at the MyHeritage Scribe AI feature, my friend Daniel Horowitz with My Heritage presented new features that are available to try now!

ROOTSTECH SALES FOR THE #NOTATROOTSTECH crew... There are also deals for Ancestry.com (More details to come)

• Legacy Family Tree Webinars - Until March 7th - use code RootsTech2026 to get 50% off