Blog Archives

4 Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Monday, 7 Oct 2013

10/7/2013

Genealogy Need to Know, Monday, 7 Oct 2013

Do you have early New England roots? The New England Historic Genealogical Society can be an invaluable resource for finding your family story.Here are the latest updates to their membership-based database. You can also try out the databases they offer for free after registering on their site for free.
Wondering how to get everything digitized and organized? The 9to5Mac blog gives us a detailed step-by-step tutorial on Evernote for beginners. When you're done with that, check out how to setup Evernote to organize your genealogy research video tutorial I created to help you out. You'll be digitally organized in no time!

Have you run out of storage on your iPad or your iPhone? On the iPhoneHack blog, Jason gives us some things to remedy that.
The expression on D. Joshua Taylor's face in this preview clip is enough to make you want to watch Genealogy Roadshow tonight just to see what caused it, eh? But if that's not enough to make you watch Genealogy Roadshow, the San Francisco episode, on PBS this evening, then how about an earthquake, some gangsters, some war heroes, and 2 murders? {Got your attention?} If unable to watch the preview below, here's a direct link to it: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365090033/

~Caroline
© Copyright 2013 4YourFamilyStory.com -- All Rights Reserved.

Other days, other things that might interest you...

If you found this article helpful, please share:

0 Comments

8 Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Sunday, 6 Oct 2013

10/6/2013

0 Comments

8 #Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Sunday 6 Oct 2013, via 4YourFamilyStory.com

Genealogy Need To Know, Sunday, 6 Oct 2013

Lynn Young, President General of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, announced yesterday on her blog starting 1 January 2014 the DAR would now be accepting DNA as evidence for Applications and Supplemental Applications. Read her blog post for all the details.

Speaking of DAR and research, last year DAR began publishing source guides for those doing research for their lineage applications, and they kicked it off with New York in the American Revolution, and now they have South Carolina in the American Revolution available in their online store in print and PDF download for both states. Great guides for researching in that time period and locations even if you have no plans to apply for membership.
On the Genealogy Canada blog, Elizabeth tells us that Dwayne Meisner is looking for volunteers to help with transcribing the Nova Scotia 1921 Census. Can you help?
Dear Myrtle shares with us what's coming up this week in live genealogy webinars, chats, and hangouts.
There are new updates to what's available for County Leitrim on rootsireland.ie for census and census substitutes.
The new and popular PBS show, Genealogy Roadshow which is currently showing in its first season on Monday evenings after Antiques Roadshow is looking for applications for its second season. Will you and your family history mystery make the cut?
Speaking of Genealogy Roadshow, Jean Hibben, the Lead Genealogist for the first season, has been giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the research involved for the show. In this installment, she gives us a plethora of research tips and tricks that we can use in our own research. Plus? It's an entertaining read.
Don't forget: Sunday ScanDay is today at 3pm CDT. Join us! Just one hour to make a dent in your I-need-to-scan-but-don't-feel-like-it pile. {Or is that just me who has one of those piles?}

And? It's Sunday {in North America}. Keep it easy. {And research your family's history.}

~Caroline
© Copyright 2013 4YourFamilyStory.com -- All Rights Reserved.

Other days, other things that might interest you...

If you found this article helpful, please share:

0 Comments

6 Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Saturday, 5 Oct 2013

10/5/2013

0 Comments

6 #Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Saturday, 5 Oct 2013, via 4YourFamilyStory.com

Genealogy Need To Know, Sat, 5 Oct 2013

Have you waited to the last minute to figure out what you're going to do once iGoogle goes away {Nov 1st}? Here are some great alternatives for iGoogle.
Hate scanning but need to just get it done?Join us for Sunday ScanDay, a Facebook Group that meets every Sunday for just one hour to make a dent in our need-to-scan piles. A Scanning Support Group, if you will. Because together? We get it done. One hour every Sunday. Join us.
Upset about the government shutdown and the websites you can't access during this, um, troublesome time? On the Internet Archive Blog, Brewster explains how to access these sites anyways {and it's totally legal so no worries}.

In their recent newsletter, Rootsmagic announced to us the need for beta testers for their Android app. So? That means their Android app will be coming out soon for the general public. Yay! It will, however, be just like their iOS app and you will need to transfer your data via Dropbox.
On GenVines, Janell gives us a clickable list to newspapers recently added to Newspapers.com. 19 states and the District of Columbia, folks. Did your ancestors makes these papers?
The Lead Genealogist, Jean Hibben, for the popular new genealogy and family history show on PBS, Genealogy Roadshow, gives us a behind-the-scenes look on her blog at what research resources they used for the research done for participants of the show. Are you using these resources in your own research?

~Caroline
© Copyright 2013 4YourFamilyStory.com -- All Rights Reserved.

Other days, other "stuff" that might interest you...

If you found this article helpful, please share:

0 Comments

4 Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Friday, 4 Oct 2013

10/4/2013

0 Comments

4 #Genealogy Things You #NeedToKnow, Friday, 4 Oct 2013, via 4YourFamilyStory.com

Genealogy Need To Know, Friday, 4 Oct 2013

Let's hear it for Friday! Time to get our research ON! And here are some updates to help us out this weekend:

Ancestry.com yesterday updated 2 of their existing collections for Troup County, Georgia and Presteigne, Radnorshire, Wales. And then they added a new collection to their database: Agana, Guam, U.S., Passenger and Crew Lists of Arriving Vessels and Airplanes, 1948-1954.
FamilySearch.org released their official list yesterday of what has been updated for the past week on their site. It's too numerous to list here, but there are both U.S. and non-U.S. record indexes and record images that were added. Go have a look-see at their clickable list of newly updated or added collection titles. {After you finish reading this list, of course.}

Have roots in Ireland? {Oh, yes.} I received an email yesterday from rootsireland.ie with a list of what's been added to their database of indexed and transcribed online information for County Monaghan. What's been added includes various Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Civil records. New records are notated on their site. Also, are you in Ireland? {Totally jealous if you are, BTW.}, there are spaces still available for their upcoming seminars "Monaghan Genealogy Training" this month. Note: rootsireland.ie is a not-for-profit organization that provides online indexes and digitized transcriptions of original records for those who register, but there are no digitized images of the original records. Upon registering for free, you are given 100 free index search credits, which means you may look at up to 100 search result pages. After the first 100 search credits are used up, you must purchase additional credits. {Please read their terms and conditions for more information.} Currently, they are offering their credits at 40% off through Sunday, 13 Oct 2013.
And theRegister of One Place Studies website is up and running. A one-place study can be very helpful to researchers because they concentrate on studying a particular location's history, and since our ancestors did not live in a vacuum, all sorts of information can be unearthed to help us learn more about our ancestors. If you are currently doing a one-place study, you might want to register your study for free here in this directory. If you are a family history researcher, you'll want to keep checking back to see what studies have been added to the Register and track them down to see what has been studied in that area. I mean, someone could have actually uncovered information about your ancestors in that location. You don't know until you look.

~Caroline
© Copyright 2013 4YourFamilyStory.com -- All Rights Reserved.

Other days, other "stuff" that might interest you...

If you found this article helpful, please share:

0 Comments

9 #Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Thursday, 3 Oct 2013

10/3/2013

0 Comments

9 #Genealogy Things You #NeedToKnow This Morning, Thursday, 3 Oct 2013, via 4YourFamilyStory.com

Genealogy Need To Know, Thu, 3 Oct 2013

Have British Isles ancestors? On the NGS Blog, Diane informs us of an awesome learning opportunity we need to sign up for now so we can learn how to "jump the pond" in our research.
Do you have roots in Oregon? Ancestry.com added a new Oregon collection to their website yesterday.
Speaking of Ancestry.com, on their blog Kristie Wells tells us if we live in or near New York City or San Francisco, Ancestry.com will be there soon to show us how to use Ancestry.com for our family history researching needs. So register now.

On the Google Earth Blog, Mickey Mellen says even if the government shut down has affected the U.S. National Parks, you can still see them virtually via Google Earth and he shows us how to do just that. But? If we're in Google Earth, we should also see where our ancestors lived too, no? In fact, we should try looking up where we used to live {Did that. Made me emotional.} and any one else in our family. We just never know what {or who} we're gonna find there.
Great {and simple} family history blogging {and research} tip from Deb on her blog Adventures in Genealogy. Who knew it was that easy?
Here's something helpful for those with Indiana roots -- more newspapers are being digitized. Emily Campion gives us all the details on jconline.com.
Do you use Feedly to read your favorite genealogy and family history blogs? {I do.} Well, here are some browser extensions and user scripts to enhance our Feedly experience from Thorin Klosowski on the Lifehacker blog.
It always seems like it's Google this and Google that, but are you using other search engines to look for your ancestors? You should be. {I know I do.} Here is a new feature to Bing that Google doesn't have {yet}: when we search for an image over on Bing, we get not just computer-generated suggestions, but hand-curated suggestions from Pinterest. Bonus! That will really help us to find our ancestors from everyone pinning their family history over there. {Are you following my Pinterest Boards over there? Because I'm totally there.}
On PC World's blog, Jared Newman explains what we can do when our free cloud storage fills up.

~Caroline

Other recent stuff on the blog...

If you found this article helpful, please share:

0 Comments

5 Tips To Get You Unstuck On Ancestry.com

10/2/2013

23 Comments

5 Tips To Get You Unstuck On Ancestry.com via 4YourFamilyStory.com

"You want me to go look again?"

You did it.

And it was that commercial's fault.

It teased you.

"Your story is here," it suggested.

"Find out who you are."

"Sign up. Right now."

So you did. And, sure, you found some stuff, but you still don't know who the hell you are. Or who your family is, what everyone's story is, and you've got leaves shaking at you all over the place.

You're stuck out on your great grandmother's branch staring at those shaky leaves. How many Mary Smith's can there be in this freakin' world, right? With a sister named Martha?

No worries. Here are 5 tips to get you un-stuck while working on your family history mysteries on Ancestry.com:

Use your noggin'. While the shaky leaves are meant to be helpful, they're just automated hints. And some are completely wrong and some are completely right. And some are in between so you need to know what you're doing before accepting those hints as if they are the truth and nothing but. Sure, look at them, but don't take them as gospel. Evaluate those automated hints. If the shaky leaf suggests your great grandmother is George Smith who was 78 years old when she had her first child, something is amiss. Tell that leaf, "You don't own me. And you obviously don't know what you're talking about. Duh." So? Look at the automated hint given and evaluate it before adding it to your tree. And then move on to the next clue.
Get away from your tree to search. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and it also makes for a healthier family tree. Sure, go through those automated-hints-shaky-leaves. And then do some searches using the search function in your family tree. But then totally get out of your family tree and go to the Search tab. Enter some information manually -- like first name, surname, and place of death. See what comes up. Look at it. Evaluate it. Do another search with slightly different information. See what comes up. Look at that. Evaluate that. Rinse and repeat. {Do the hokey pokey. Shake it all about even.} Sometimes the information you've entered into your tree is wrong and it affects your search results. Or? There's too much information and it's confusing all those Ancestry.com elves inside trying to figure out what you're looking for. So? Do some searching outside of your Ancestry.com tree. {I'm just kidding about the elves. It's really algorithms trying to read your mind, but I'm allergic to math and elves seem friendlier, no?}
Step back! Get away from that main search box on the Search Page. Give those elves a rest and tell them where what you're looking for just might be. Once you've narrowed your search down to a location, look in that location's records on Ancestry.com. Here, let me rock your world. Go to the Search Page, and scroll down. See that U.S. map? It's totally clickable. Click on the state you think your great grandmother was born in, perhaps lived in, or died in. Or did just about anything {that would have caused a document to be created or warrant a shout out in the newspaper or something}. Remember, when it comes to finding stuff about your family {and their many secrets}, it's usually organized by location. So? Stop sticking stuff in that main search page, hitting that enter button, and hoping for the best for the 1000th time. Stop the insanity and start searching for records based on location. {Location, location, location.}
Guess what? Not everything you need to solve your family history mysteries is on Ancestry.com. In fact -- are you sitting down? Not everything you need to prove your Great Aunt Bernice ran away with that carny is even online. Shocking, I know. But there it is. So the next step after exhausting Ancestry.com elves and leaves is to look elsewhere online. And my number one place to go after Ancestry.com is FamilySearch.org which is another online database that has record indexes and record images. And the best part? Totally free. And? After registering for free, you can even see digitized records {like death certificates} and print them out {or save them to your hard drive or whatever}. And, over there, follow these steps again. Over and over. 'Cause it's funny that on their search page you have to scroll down for the map too. However, it's not clickable. You choose a country and then state from the menu on the left to start your location-based searching. So? Get off Ancestry.com and search elsewhere for elves to help you out. Oops. I mean search elsewhere for stuff to help you document your family history.
So then you're probably thinking, "Where do I go after I exhaust those elves, I mean, those two places?" Don't worry. I've got you covered on my Research Resources Page where you'll find links to both free and subscription-based sites that have a range of indexes, records, and resources to help you solve your family history mysteries. {So? More elves to exhaust.}

~Caroline

If you found this article helpful, please share:

23 Comments

10 Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Wednesday, 2 Oct 2013

10/2/2013

1 Comment

10 #Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Wednesday, 2 Oct 2013, via 4YourFamilyStory.com

Genealogy Things, Wednesday, 2 Oct 2013

Have an unidentified family photo? Maybe someone else has the same or similar photo AND they have identified it AND they've published it online somewhere AND Google has indexed it. You won't know until you look, and with the Chrome Browser's latest update you can right-click on the unidentified photo that you've published online {like on your blog} and search Google for this image. Can you think of other uses for this handy dandy tech tool?
Billiongraves.com has released the 2.3 version of their Android app, now in Google Play Store.
Yesterday, Ancestry.com updated 2 of its non-US collections.
On his blog British Genes, Chris reports to us the Devon Wills Project {index} is online, fully searchable, and free.
On the New Horizons Genealogy Blog, Lynn announces that New Horizons Genealogy has free Revolutionary War Pension Records online. So go explore exactly what they have.
Heritage Books has a Fall sale going on -- 20% off for a limited time.
MyHeritage.com has a whole slew of activities going on this month for Family History Month.

Here, in the genealogical and family history community, we have a new Kickstarter project, Kicking Up The Past, that will be launching Oct 10th! It's brought to us by the creators of the PBS documentary, Lively Family Massacre. Basically, they want to create a similar documentary -- to tell a family story of ordinary people, not celebrities. Could it be yours? Go check out their site, register with their site for free, Like them on Facebook, Follow them on Twitter, and consider supporting their Kickstarter project when it launches. Will they choose your story? Check out their video below {or on YouTube:http://youtu.be/am-A1hSp34g } and help get the word out!

~Caroline

Other mornings, other genealogy things...

If you found this article helpful, please share:

1 Comment

8 Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Tuesday, 1 Oct 2013

10/1/2013

0 Comments

8 #Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Tuesday, 1 Oct 2013

Genealogy Things, Tuesday, 1 Oct 2013

The second episode of Genealogy Roadshow featured Detroit, and if you missed it last night, you can watch it online right now on PBS. Me? Totally loved it and the family stories revealed. But I'm biased when it comes to family stories. {Duh.}
And? Ancestry.com acquired Findagrave. {Thank goodness.} It's been reported by all parties involved the site will remain free. Now, with funding and adequate support, we hope to see design upgrades, improved functionality, and a mobile app. If you're local to the Harris County and Montgomery County, Texas area,I will be doing a presentation towards the end of this month at the Chaparral Genealogical Society in Tomball, Texas, that will focus on how a researcher can use Findagrave to solve their family history mysteries. Access to wifi is being provided by Chaparral {Thank you!} so a live demo will be a part of the presentation. {Come on out, y'all!}

Speaking of Ancestry.com, they added 7 new collections to their database site and updated 2 yesterday. Did they add something you've been needing for your research? {I dunno. I need to go look. See ya' later.}
The new design in Google Drive is really pleasing to the eye for Docs, Sheets, and Slides. {Which is nice and appreciated since I use it a lot for research. Do you?}
Cyndi reported on the Cyndi's List Facebook Page yesterday new categories and new sub-categories added to Cyndi's List. {Handy and dandy for the family history researcher and very much appreciated.}
The Texas State Library and Archives in Austin, Texas, is hosting a Genealogy After-Dark Program October 18th. And they've partnered with other libraries across the state for remote access to their presentations, including the Houston Public Library System. So? An excellent time to learn all about how a researcher can use the Texas State Library and Archives to help solve their family history mysteries. {Y'all.}
It's Family History Month in October so keep an eye out for local presentations and programs in your area at libraries and genealogical societies to help you with your research. And if there are any specials promoted by genealogy vendors, I'll be listing them here.
It's also American Archives Month, and I will be kicking it off with a no-end-in-sight How Family History Researchers Can Use Archives Online and Offline blog series. I'll be doing a combination of blog posts and short how-to videos for your learning pleasure. {So keep an eye out for those. 'Cause really? It's always Family History Month at 4YourFamilyStory.com. Y'all.}

~Caroline

Other mornings, other genealogy things...

If you found this article helpful, please share:

0 Comments

Forward>>

Find your family story.

4 Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Monday, 7 Oct 2013

8 Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Sunday, 6 Oct 2013

6 Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Saturday, 5 Oct 2013

4 Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Friday, 4 Oct 2013

9 #Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Thursday, 3 Oct 2013

5 Tips To Get You Unstuck On Ancestry.com

10 Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Wednesday, 2 Oct 2013

8 Genealogy Things You Need To Know This Morning, Tuesday, 1 Oct 2013

Categories

Archives