Findagrave and Evernote — Match Made in Heaven?

Tomorrow I have the privilege of giving two presentations to the Houston Genealogical Forum down in Houston, Texas. So, I thought I'd share a sneak peek of what I'll be going over.

Now, I've given both of these presentations before, but never together. And because they both are technological tools, the presentations had to be updated just a bit. (Because technology changes fast.) However, I'm so glad they picked these two presentations because they kind of go together pretty well. I'm going over Findagrave first and that will naturally lead into what Evernote can do for a family history researcher.

I've gone over a few things before with y'all about Findagrave, but I think I can reveal a little more without giving everything in the presentation away. ;)

In fact, I think the best thing to go over about Findagrave — in light of the second presentation being Evernote — is all the information you can find by using Findagrave that can help you with solving your family history mysteries. So, here goes...

Here are 11 things (clues?) you can find on Findagrave that just might bust that research brick wall to smithereens:

1. Memorials of loved ones and ancestors
2. Photos of cemeteries (I know. Duh.)
3. Photos of tombstones (Duh. Again.)
4. The ability to request a photo to be taken of a tombstone
5. Birth, marriage, and death information
6. Images of ancestors, their family and friends — relationships
7. Images of Obituaries, death certificates, etc.
8. Obituary and death notice transcriptions
9. Plot and cemetery information
10. Family lore, rumors, stories, etc.
11. Living cousins to collaborate with

That's quite a bit to find, eh? So much that when you take everything you find there and multiply all of it by the number of people in your family tree, well, you are going to have a lot of "stuff". Digital stuff, but stuff nonetheless to somehow organize and keep straight.

And that's where Evernote can be quite handy. In a nutshell, Evernote is a digital storage system that you can access on your mobile device or desktop/laptop anytime and anywhere. And you can store text, images, audio, and video in Evernote. It also has OCR (optical character recognition) capabilities. So...

When you take a photo of the label of a bottle of wine that you like so you don't forget the name, Evernote will recognize the text and suddenly that image will be searchable via that text so you can easily find it later when you're out shopping for wine. Whoa, right?

Many folks use Evernote to digitally clip things on the web and save in Evernote. Now, before you freak out and ask, "What does 'digitally clip' mean," I'll tell you. Have you ever clipped a coupon out of a newspaper insert? (Please don't ask me what a newspaper is. And, yes, I just totally dated myself. If you truly do not know, Google it.) Well, it's kind of like clipping a coupon out of a newspaper insert. Except you use your mouse and pointer thingy on the screen instead of scissors. (Yes, "thingy" is a technical term.) And you are not really cutting anything, but taking a copy of it. Sorta.

Anywho, once it's digitally clipped, you can send it to your Evernote and place it in a digital notebook you've created. Automagically. (Another technical term.)

Well, that's just a smidgen of what Evernote is and what it can do, but basically think about all of those things you can find on Findagrave (or on any other place online for that matter). Then think about "clipping" them out and filing them in a digital notebook in Evernote.

So, do you have that pictured in your mind? Can you see an image of your ancestor's tombstone? Can you see a copy of it being placed into a notebook?

Good. Because that's what it's like. And you know what else it's like? A match made in heaven.

Want to learn more about using Evernote for genealogy? Watch this recorded Hangout On Air below. Also, don't forget to grab your Evernote Freebies referenced in the video: 
Evernote for Genealogy Hangout On Air Freebies

---