Last Saturday morning, I was up bright and early filming an episode of Genealogy Roadshow in the amazing city of St. Louis. This Saturday, I get to watch the sunrise over the historic Alamo. Why am I watching the sunrise over the Alamo? Because I am walking to preserve millions of pages of pension documents from the War of 1812 – and I need YOUR help!
As many of you know, I currently serve as the President of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, a non-profit organization representation over 500 societies and millions of genealogists across North America. As an all-volunteer organization, the accomplishments of FGS are impressive. This week we are gathered in San Antonio, for our 2014 Annual Conference.
As part of its mission to preserve records and link the genealogical community, FGS has launched “Preserve the Pensions,” a project to raise $3.7 million to digitize the original pension files for the first time. These pension files reveal the stories that you often see on popular television programs, like Genealogy Roadshow and celebrate the legacy of so many who fought for America’s freedom.
This community project is the first of its kind – as these paper files are digitized and placed online FREE, FOREVER through the generous support of genealogists, just like you. Even better? Every dollar given to the project is generously matched by Ancestry.com.
In support of the project, I will be walking along with three of my amazing colleagues (Kenyatta Berry, Ed Donakey, and Judy Russell) on Saturday morning and I would appreciate your help. Please consider donating to Preserve the Pensions and sponsoring me during the walk. Every little bit helps as we work to place millions of pages from these amazing documents online, free – for the world to access.
-Joshua