Tonight Linda McCauley, Tessa Keough, Gena Philibert-Ortega, Jerry Kocis, and I had an awesome time with the 11th episode of What's Up Genealogy?, a Google+ Hangout On Air Show. that airs on Friday nights 8PM CT focused on industry news, research & technology tips, and an interview with a representative from a genealogy-related organization or business. {If you're interested in being interviewed for the show, Contact Me.}This week the show featured Andrew Martin who is the family history blog author of History Repeating and is the Senior Direct Marketing Executive for Cambridge University Press.
Not able to watch the show live? No problem! It will be archived and ready for viewing {usually} within 30 minutes of airing on the 4YourFamilyStory YouTube Channel. Want to go directly to just the portion of the show that you are interested in? Here is the table of contents for the show. Just click on the time that corresponds to the portion of the show you want to watch and you will be taken right to it. {Like magic.} 1:45 - The Demise of Google Reader 9:35 - The Demise of Ancestry.com's Old Search 24:13 - Research/Tech Tips 29:42 - Interview with Andrew Martin Here are the links for Episode 11 with Andrew Martin: News
Tip Interview with Andrew Martin
Panel
The schedule for the What's Up Genealogy? Show for July 2013 Due to prior commitments of mine I'll only be broadcasting the show twice in July. 12 July - Episode 12 26 July - Episode 13 ~Caroline
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 In our hurry to find the answer to our research questions we, as genealogists and family historians, sometimes forget about history. Which seems kind of funny. But what I mean is that while trying to reconstruct our family's history, we forget that our ancestors were not living in a bubble. Certainly, they were making their own history, but they were a part of a bigger history as well -- in their neighborhoods, in their towns, in their regions, in their countries, and in their world. And genealogists who have been around the block a few times know this. That's why you'll see them consulting things like county histories, social history books, newspapers, and the like to gain more knowledge about the time and place a person lived which invariably leads to more research clues and avenues to investigate. To get you in the groove of thinking about history for genealogy and family history here's a list of 5 posts I've read recently that are history-based. Some are just an image that made me think. Some are outrageous. Some are mildly entertaining. And some horrific. Why not? It's the weekend. Let's mix it up, shall we? And maybe it will inspire you to research or perhaps blog about your ancestors in a different way. Let's put the history back into family history and genealogy. Or maybe you just like history in general. I dunno. But? It's History Saturday for Genealogy. 5 History-Related Posts that Caught My Eye This Week
~Caroline  Change is a fact of life. And the best way to deal with it is to adapt. Our ancestors had to adapt to change, and so do we. On July 1st, Google Reader will be gone. Are you ready? Have you found another RSS reader to read your blog posts from? Personally, I said goodbye to Google Reader well over a year ago. {It may have been 2 years ago, but I totally didn't write it down in my journal or calendar.) And I started using Feedly. I loved its more modern layout {What can I say? I like pictures.}, ease of use, and features. Was it different than Google Reader? Of course, it was. Why else change? At the same time, I did some spring cleaning and cleaned out my reader cutting down the number of blogs I was subscribed to. With Google Reader, I was either reading blogs all day long or I was feeling guilty about the 1000+ blog posts I hadn't read yet. {Who needs guilt like that? I don't.} Feedly At the time, I did my research and found ways to get better use out of it. However, some things have changed about it since Google Reader's demise. On the Feedly blog {which you should definitely add to your RSS reader if you're switching or have switched to Feedly), they created a wonderful laundry list blog post on all their new features that are helpful to know to make your Google-Reader-to-Feedly migration a more successful and satisfying one. In a short period of time, Feedly has done an incredible job of, well, changing...adapting to an opportunity that presented itself. Not Liking Feedly? Now, if after trying out Feedly you find it's just not working for you {and that's okay}, then there are some other worthy options to look at and choose from. These are from companies who, well, have changed some things around or created something entirely new in order to respond to an opportunity that presented itself. Here are some links to suggestions and reviews of some alternatives:
But? Here's Another Option Subscribe by email. That's right. Get blog posts from 4YourFamilyStory in your email. Email technology has been around for a while, and, well, it works, and if you use email already, then there's no learning something new. Just click and read. {And this is a totally different subscription from the Genea-Tech Newsletter ~ that's a once-a-month publication with all sorts of other stuff.} If just clicking and reading in your email inbox sounds like something that's right for you, then sign up below to get 4YourFamilyStory Blog Posts in your email. And here's how it works. Once you sign up and when there is a new blog post {or several but I hardly ever do that}, an email is automatically scheduled to go out at 4am every morning with any new blog posts inside that one email. Remember: That's only if I blogged something. If not, then nothing goes out. {Just like magic. I love magic.} And you can read it on your own schedule. Just click and read. No matter how you choose to read a blog, you're going to need to make a decision and change before July 1st. That's right. Change. Just like our ancestors had to change and adapt to the new worlds and times they so often found themselves in. If they could do it, we can too. ~Caroline   
What's Up Genealogy?, Episode 11
The What's Up Genealogy? Show, Episode 11 will be this Friday evening, 28 Jun 2013, at 8pm Central Time on Google+ {Hangout On Air}. It'll be chock-full of genealogy news, genealogy research tips, and technology tips to help you with your research. Plus? We are honored to have Andrew Martin for our interview. Andrew is the family history blog author of History Repeating, tweets as @FamilyTreeUK on Twitter, and is the Senior Direct Marketing Executive for Cambridge University Press. We'll be visiting with him about blogging family history, research in the UK, and more! And? I'm privileged to have Linda McCauley, Tessa Keough, Gena Philibert-Ortega, and Jerry Kocis joining me on the panel once again. {How lucky can I get?!?} Oh, that reminds me. Bring your questions and comments. We'll do our best to address them and answer them during the show! Visit the What's Up Genealogy? Show Episode 11 with Andrew Martin Event Invite on Google+ for more details on how to watch the new episode live on Friday night. See y'all there! Note: The show is broadcasted live and then archived to the 4YourFamilyStory YouTube Channel just in case you aren't able to join us live. Technology is awesome, no? Oh, and don't forget to subscribe to the 4Your FamilyStory YouTube Channel. ;) Questions? Contact me. Want to be interviewed on an upcoming show? Contact me. ~Caroline  "So, how are we Irish again?" We all come to this moment in our family history and genealogy research, I think. For some, it comes sooner. For me, it came later. When I first started doing genealogy, my family just didn't want to know about our family's history. They thought it was cool that I liked it so much, but when I started to get into explaining all the ins and outs of finding information and all the stories {You know, all the important stuff.}, they'd tune me out. Or yell out, "Look at that squirrel over there!" Me being smart and all, I concluded that I needed to say less. Show less. And only answer questions when asked. And only the questions they asked. No more. However, lately, I've been on the receiving end of out-of-the-blue family history texts from my siblings like, "So, how are we Irish again?" {Just after they've posted a picture on Facebook of their green beer on St. Patrick's Day.} Or I'll get a call out-of-the-blue with a question like, "How are we German again? I've got this German group I'm joining and I don't have to prove I'm German to join it, but I'd like to be able to tell them, you know, something about how I'm German." {I wonder if German beer is involved in this group?} Or this one {which blew me away} in a text conversation, I mentioned that I'm coming to San Antonio to do some research at the courthouse and the archives, and I was asked, "Is it for our family or a client? 'Cause, you know, it sounds cool and I'd like to go with you." {And I know green beer was not involved because it wasn't St. Patrick's Day.} Or I get a LinkedIn private message from one of my siblings before 7am who has connected with someone on Linkedin who has the same {somewhat} unusual name as our Mom's maiden name and lives in Houston, and they ask me, "How are we related to this person?" {This happened just this morning. You know, out-of-the-blue. Like I'm the Family Historian On-Call or something. Which, now that I think about it, I guess I am.} Or they just want to be able to see the family photos. They don't necessarily want a story. They just want to look. {Which is cool too because with some people, that's all it takes, baby. That's all it takes.} So either they're getting older and just naturally becoming curious about our family history, or I've been especially good in the eyes of the genealogy gods and goddesses and they've decided to reward my good behavior. {Personally, I'm going with the latter because if they're getting older, it only stands to reason -- since I'm still breathing -- that I'd be getting older too. And? I'm not. Duh. I've been good. Dammit.} So, I've been scanning a lot and organizing my scans. And I've been doing that for a while now thanks to my Scanning Support Group that meets {almost} every Sunday -- Sunday ScanDay. {And, wow, has that Facebook group helped a lot. Accountability works, folks. That and, you know, just doing it.} And since my siblings have been hinting at seeing the family photos and since a picture is worth a thousand words and yada, yada, yada, I thought it was time to figure out the best way to share these family photos I have scanned, am scanning, and will scan. So, like any good researcher, I assessed the situation.
So I did some comparison shopping on photo sharing sites and decided on Flickr. And here's why:
Really? The only thing missing was a good native iPad Flickr app. And my siblings and I love our iPads. A lot. And while the iPhone app is usable on the iPad, it's, you know, small and not all that great. So? I researched further and found a 3rd party Flickr app for iOS devices with great reviews called, FlickStacker. It's definitely pretty and iPad-worthy. So, now when I go to San Antonio, it'll be tech show-and-tell time. {I have visions of us sitting in the living room and them downloading these apps together.} But the idea is to assess the situation and use the right tech tools to not only get the job done, but get it done well so that everyone can do what they want with the end result. And in this case that's looking at the family photos. {And if you have a similar situation to mine, then these are my recommendations. Totally borrow my ideas if you want.} But? If you're like me and mowing the lawn, you totally don't like even doing that much. My Dad always told me to never learn how to mow the lawn and then you'll never have to do it. Which is kinda funny because he knew how to mow the lawn. My Mom knew how to mow the lawn. And they taught my older siblings how to mow the lawn. And? They'd all done it more than once. {Which is to say all the time.} Until we had a yard crew come in and do it all and do it rather affordably. So, my takeaway was this: Don't learn to do something you don't like when you can pay someone else to do it for you affordably. {Which is why I get my yard done for $20 every 2 weeks.} That's a no-brainer for me.} And maybe you're like that too, but with scanning, photo organizing, and picking out the right tech tools that fit your situation. And that's where I can help. Contact me for a free consultation. We'll get a photo sharing system figured out that's right for you and your family. And if you don't want to set it up, I can do it for you at an affordable price. ~Caroline  Tonight Linda McCauley, Tessa Keough, Gena Philibert-Ortega and I had an awesome time with the 10th episode of What's Up Genealogy?, a Google+ Hangout On Air Show. that airs on Friday nights 8PM CT focused on industry news, research & technology tips, and an interview with a representative from a genealogy-related organization or business. {If you're interested in being interviewed for the show, Contact Me.}This week the show featured Tina Lyons, Vice President of the Indiana Genealogical Society and the Publicity Chair for FGS 2013.
Not able to watch the show live? No problem! It will be archived and ready for viewing {usually} within 30 minutes of airing on the 4YourFamilyStory YouTube Channel. And? Here are the links for Episode 10 with Tina Lyons: News
Interview with Tina Lyons Panel
Next week's interview will be with Andrew Martin, a family historian and blogger from the UK! So make sure to join us for next Friday's What's Up Genealogy? Show Episode 11 with Andrew Martin! To watch/chat the show on YouTube LIVE next week just go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/4YourFamilyStory/LIVE and hit Refresh when we go live at 8PM CT. Can't make it live? No worries. Just check out the archived show on the 4YourFamilyStory YouTube Channel. ~Caroline  ThingLink Interactive Images We've all heard the saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words." And as family historians, we know it's true. Further, if you happen to blog or write about your ancestors like I do, you try to make a picture, your family history, your genealogy research come alive with words ~ for yourself, your loved ones, your descendants, and others in general. But what about an interactive ancestor image? An ancestor's image where the viewer can click on a portion of the image and, well, a portion of the family story is told? Now, wouldn't that be cool? I mean, sure, for us, that'd be cool, but it'd also be awesome for those in our family who just want pictures with a fast and easy family history story. Or how about the younger ones in the family who want it digital, mobile, and easy to look at? Well, you can do that with ThingLink. You can make your ancestors' images interactive with ThingLink. It's a web-based application that, after setting up a free account, allows you to upload an image and tag it {or annotate it} with captions {description}, links, audio, video, and whole lot of other rich media tags to your ThinkLink Interactive Image. Once done, you can set the image to be unlisted {private} or leave as public {default}. And you can also allow others to edit the annotations on {or add them to} the photo as well, which is kinda nice if you're wanting to collaborate with other family members. {The default is to not allow that.} ThingLink hosts the image on their servers for you and then you can choose to share it to popular social media sites or embed it on a website or blog. If you leave the interactive image as public, then it's also indexed by Google which means it's another way for potential cousins to find and collaborate with you. So? I thought it was such a neat idea, I decided to try it out for you this morning {which was easier said than done when you consider my old laptop passed away last Saturday and I now have a new one and I'm not done loading it with all my, um, "stuff."} But? I just had to do it because I already knew what image I wanted to annotate and link ~ my newly acquired photo of my 2nd great grandparents, Daniel and Annie (O'Brien) Vaughan. *big sigh* And? Totally worth the trouble. =) Below, embedded in this blog post, is the image that I annotated on ThingLink {after I loaded the drivers to my scanner, scanned it again so I could play around with my new Photoshop Elements 11. Wow. Version 11 is a little different than my old version 7. And wow it's been a long morning.} If you hover over the image, captions {which ThingLink calls descriptions} and links to blog posts I've written about them will pop up so you can learn more about everyone. I even added a short video that I previously created about my Great Grandmother, "Boo," with me reading her baptismal record out loud. How cool is that? It was super easy to make. Now, it officially resides on my account at ThingLink and you can take go take a look at it over there. In fact ThingLink, itself, is a free social platform where you can follow others on there who are also making Thingies on ThingLink. {I've decided that's what I'm gonna call the ThingLink Interactive Images ~ Thingies.} And? They have stats, comments, etc. available for each, um, Thingy, you create. Also, when someone visits the ThingLink Interactive Image you have created {either on ThingLink or wherever it's embedded}, they can "Touch" it virtually. Kinda like leaving a virtual "I was here" note to it or the equivalent of a Facebook 'Like." Plus, they have a free ThingLink app for Facebook Pages and a free ThingLink app for your iOS device. {That's right. Thingies-to-go.} So, yes, a picture may be worth a thousand words. But a Thingy is worth even more words and is way more fun! And who doesn't like fun?!? So, go forth, have some fun, and make some thingies! I mean, ThingLink Interactive Images. ;) ~Caroline   The What's Up Genealogy? Show is Back!
I'm pleased to announce the What's Up Genealogy? Show returns this Friday evening, 21 Jun 2013, at 8pm Central Time. It'll be chock-full of genealogy news, genealogy research tips, and technology tips to help you with your research. Plus? We are honored to have Tina Lyons for our interview. Tina, who authors the blog, GenWish List, is the Vice President of the Indiana Genealogical Society as well as the Publicity Chair for the Federation of Genealogical Society's 2013 Conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana. And? We're going to get real and talk about genealogical societies and genealogical conferences. Are they relevant in the year 2013? Can they really help you with your research? Are they worthwhile? How can they help you in your research? Basically, we're going to cover it "all." And? I'm privileged to have Linda McCauley, Tessa Keough, Gena Philibert-Ortega, and Jerry Kocis joining me on the panel once again. {How lucky can I get?!?} Oh, that reminds me. Bring your questions and comments. We'll do our best to address them and answer them during the show! Visit the What's Up Genealogy? Show Episode 10 with Tina Lyons Event Invite on Google+ for more details on how to watch the new episode live on Friday night. See y'all there! Note: The show is broadcasted live and then archived to the 4YourFamilyStory YouTube Channel just in case you aren't able to join us live. Technology is awesome, no? Oh, and don't forget to subscribe to the 4Your FamilyStory YouTube Channel. ;) Questions? Contact me. Want to be interviewed on an upcoming show? Contact me. ~Caroline  Have you ever made a mistake? Perhaps a typo in something you wrote? Maybe you put the wrong date on something? How about when you transcribe or abstract information from a document while doing genealogy or family history research? Of course you have. Everyone makes mistakes. It's a part of life. It's part of being human. So it stands to reason when you're looking at an index entry for your ancestor online that it just might be wrong. Or maybe when you pull down that book of will abstracts off the library shelf, that it, too, might have some errors. Maybe not all of it, but something in there might be wrong which makes it wrong-ish. Which is why those resources make great clues. And why they also need corroboration with some other clues before you can definitively say a certain statement is true or false. That's right. You're going to have to keep looking for more clues. Finding one clue doesn't mean stop. It means it's time to find more clues. And if you can find them and have access to them this is why looking at the original document {or digital copies of the original document} will be much more helpful to you. Double check that index entry in that online database or from that library book. Was it right? Was it wrong? Wrong-ish? Was there more information that you needed on the original document that was not on the index entry? How will you know for sure someone wasn't being human and made a mistake that profoundly affects the way you think about something and your research if you don't look for yourself? Further, I've found way more information that I needed for research on original documents than in indexes. Sure, I use the indexes to help me in my research. In fact, an index tells me there's an original document somewhere that I need to get my hands on. It's like a big red flag that indicates this came from somewhere else. But then? Make sure that document is correct. The more I research, the more I find original documents have mistakes too. 'Cause, you know, humans create those too. Imperfect humans. In fact, my own birth certificate had a typo in it. Then when I lost it {Yes, I lost it.} and ordered a copy of it, the clerk who typed it out did not make the same typo as the first one had, but made a different one. That's right. My birth certificate is still wrong-ish. {Interestingly, both typos involve my mother's maiden name. Their typing skills need some work. Definitely their editing skills could use some, you know, use.} Likewise, on my 2nd great grandfather's death certificate, his last name is misspelled just a bit, his death date is listed as his birth date, his parent's names are misspelled just a bit, and his parent's places of birth are wrong. So. Good thing I ordered that microfilm roll that contained his baptismal record in it and his mother's death record. {Yeah, that wasn't online.} And good thing I ordered his Civil War pension record. {Nope. Not online either.} And it's also a pretty good thing I found his father's baptismal record. {That was online.} Plus, all those census records I found came in pretty handy for all sorts of corroboration. {All online.} And then finding my 2nd great grandmother's Proof of Heirship public affidavit in land records stating he died on such-n-such date without a will was kinda handy too. {She also listed all their living children -- his heirs -- and their spouses. Digital copies all online and for free.} And then his Knights of Pythias (fraternal order) records {Not online. At all.} were nice too because they corroborated his membership and death date. {By the way, the fraternal order clue came from his death certificate.} And that's how I knew his death certificate, though official and created at the time of his death, was, you know, wrong-ish. Those humans had made mistakes when they filled out his death certificate just like those humans had made mistakes when they filled out my birth certificate -- both times. {Will the 3rd time be a charm? Will they look over their work to see if it's correct? I'll let you know.} But? The 3 things that will profoundly affect your family history research? The 3 things that can break-down that genealogy research brick wall?
~Caroline {EAV:1cdfe28c37d2627a}  Who were Newt and Mr. & Mrs. Godwin? Time to put those genealogy skills to work! This weekend's challenge involves a postcard sent to a Mr. and Mrs. B.C. Godwin in Princeton, Texas from a "Newt" who happened to be passing through Burbank, California in 1953. And we'll be using every genealogy and family history online research technique we can think of to solve this 48 Hour Ephemera Challenge! How did they know each other? Who was Newt? What was his last name? What was the "Port of Hollywood" that he saw? Who were his parents, siblings, etc.? What did he do for a living? Achievements in life? What was his story? And how did he know the Godwin couple in Princeton, Texas? Who were they? Did they have any children? Who were their parents, siblings, etc.? What was their story, and how did it merge with Newt's story? And what was going on in the world in 1953? What was life like then? And do any of them have any living descendants who we can return this postcard to? Can the Ephemera Whisperers put Newt and Mr. and Mrs. B.C. Godwin from 1953 back into history where they belong? Can we find their family stories? Can you help and be an Ephemera Whisperer and coax the story from this postcard? In 48 Hours? You've just been challenged! Good luck! Come join us in the 48 Hour Ephemera Challenge Forum this weekend to watch, learn, and be challenged! Put those genealogy and family history research skills to good use and learn some new techniques for your own research. Please do not post any research or help here on this blog in the comments. All research and help should be shared in the private forum to protect the privacy of any living individuals. Thank you! ~Caroline  Lefora Free Forums |
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