PBS' Genealogy Roadshow hits the road again to tape season 3. The next two stops will be in Florida and Texas.

If you are in the Miami, Florida area Sunday, November 1st go down to the History Miami Museum, 101 West Flagler St, and visit with genealogy societies, historical societies, and vendors to get help with your family history — no matter your skill level. Plus, have fun being a part of the taping of Genealogy Roadshow! Line forms outside at 8am and taping begins promptly at 9am and continues through about 6:30pm.

If you are in the Houston, Texas area Sunday, November 22nd go down to the beautiful Julia Ideson Building (Houston Public Library system) on 550 McKinney St., and visit with genealogy societies, historical societies, and vendors to get help with your family history — no matter your skill level! I will be there representing the Federation of Genealogical Societies so come visit and have fun being a part of the taping of Genealogy Roadshow! Line forms at 8am and taping begins promptly at 9am and continues through about 6:30 pm.

Season 3 will air 17 May 2016 on PBS.

~Caroline

I don't covet much. Besides it being one of the big top 10 Thou Shall Nots (the listicle of all listicles for Christians), it's a waste of time to covet. Okay, there was that time when I was eight that I coveted my best friend Christie's above ground ivy-covered atomic bomb fallout shelter that she had in her backyard. That was SO cool in the late 1970s to play in. One day we were princesses locked in the tower by the mean old witch of a queen. Another, we were mad scientists. 

We played in that thing for hours upon hours until I had to go home for dinner at dark thirty. So, you can't blame me too much for coveting that, right?

Like I said, I don't covet much as an adult. [Hard to beat the fallout-shelter-then-playhouse.] However, I felt a twinge of yearning when I saw this new dynamic search map on Ancestry.

Most of you are probably aware (at least, I hope you are) of the handy dandy clickable search map on the Ancestry Search Page. It looks like this:

You simply click on the map the state you want to search the database collections of (or the name of the state below the map) and you get the following.

Like I said, handy dandy. You can also click on the tabs above the map to select different countries. All very nice. But then I was on Twitter and saw the Ancestry UK Twitter account tweet this:

So I clicked on their link and then gasped! Take a look at this:

You can zoom in and out with the roller ball on your mouse. Or, if on your iPad, you can use your fingers in what I like to call the pinch and anti-pinch moves to zoom in and out. Fancy schmancy. And then when you click (or tap) on the collections map marker, it tells you the number of collections Ancestry has for that state and then gives you this on another page on your computer:

And then it looks like this on the iPad:

I want that new Explore(r) Map like I wanted that ivy-covered fallout shelter playhouse in *my* backyard. 

Christie never taunted me like this.

Do you have it? Have you seen it?

~Caroline

Previously MyHeritage released Instant Discoveries™ in December 2014 to make it easier for newcomers to family history to begin their family-seeking journey. When launched, using MyHeritage's Smart Matching™, New Discoveries™ allowed a user to add a "package" of family history to their tree all at once as long as a person in their tree matched a branch in an existing tree in MyHeritage's database of user-created family trees. The "package" can contain up to 40-50 people. Thus, giving the user a whole new branch of people to their tree.

Now, this feature is available to all  MyHeritage users. So, instead of carefully adding people to their family tree, MyHeritage users will be able to add 40-50 people at a time to their family tree using MyHeritage's Smart Technology™ and New Discoveries™.

My extreme caution to MyHeritage users is that they fully research those 40-50 people before adding them to their tree because even if they are not sure if they are truly related to these people, Smart Technology™ will turn around and use their family tree to help match with another person's tree. And so on and so on. But that's only if the user cares about if they are truly related to these people. If not and they are just wanting to have a little fun, then go for it. It makes for a fun game. Some matches might even be correct if the tree they add from is correct.

After all, no technology—smart or otherwise—is checking the validity of any information contained in a tree or the "packages" of information. It is matching data entered. If it matches, then it suggests you add it. But if the original information they suggest is wrong and it matches your wrong information you got from another online family tree service, then it will be wrong.

MyHeritage has also created this nifty World Map of Discoveries. With this interactive map, you can watch users having fun as they add these Instant Discoveries™ to their trees on MyHeritage all across the world "almost" in real time. Are they truly related to those people they are adding to their family tree? Not sure. But the map is fun to watch.

For more information about Instant Discoveries™, please visit the MyHeritage Blog.

So, what do you think? Do you use MyHeritage? Will you be using Instant Discoveries™? And if so, will you check the validity of the information before adding the "package" or after or not at all? Comment below.

~Caroline

The following press release and 30% lifetime discount offer was just received from HistoryLines. Disclosure: I met Jeff Haddon, co-founder of HistoryLines, at FGS 2014 in San Antonio, Texas, where he showed me HistoryLines. I then viewed it in beta, and I also received and took advantage of a lifetime 50% discount off the regular membership price available to beta testers. And next up from me is a blog post about using HistoryLines, but take a look at their press release and their offer. ~Caroline

Site provides instant life sketches and personal timelines for ancestors, saving genealogists time

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This press release was just received from the Guild of One-Name Studies. ~Caroline

Join the Guild of One-Name Studies at the Who Do You Think You Are? – Live Birmingham show (16th to 18th April 2015), thereby saving £1 on the normal rate for April joiners and receive a special “show time only” goody bag.

A special show offer of £22 will cover full membership to the Guild of One-Name Studies for a period of 19 months up to 1 November 2016. The current rate for anyone taking out an extended Guild membership in April 2015 is £23.  New Guild members joining at the show will receive a goody bag comprising a “Special Guild 8Gb USB drive” (priced £9.00 at the show) which has the Guilds Members handbook, The Art of One-Name Studies “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” book (hard copy usually £7.00), the 2014 Guild Register and all 132 back issues of the Guild Journal of One-Name Studies pre-loaded, a Guild Lanyard and a Guild pen, along with their normal Guild joining pack.

All visitors attending the Guild stand will also be offered free prints of the distribution map for their selected surname as recorded in the British 1881 census provided by Steve Archer’s “Surname Atlas” program.

This special offer of full membership to the Guild of One-Name Studies for a period of 19 months up to 1 November 2016 is also available Worldwide via the Guild’s website – www.one-name.org from the 16th April 2015.  The joining fee is: UK £22.00, Australia AUS$44.00. Canada CAN$44.00, Europe €31.00, New Zealand NZ$47.00 and USA US$37.00.

Details of all the Guild facilities can be found at: www.one-name.org/guildsvces.html

- where you can find more about:

• undertaking a one-name study
• the benefits of joining the Guild of One-Name Studies
• the assistance members of the Guild can provide to anyone researching their family history on any of the 8,500 plus names currently being researched

The sliding scale of subscriptions, depending on the month of joining, can be found at www.one-name.org/guildansubs.html

Cliff Kemball, the Guild Publicity Manager, said today:

“Visit the Guild Stand (Stand T7-T9) at the WDYTYA Birmingham show (16th to 18th April 2015) and learn more about the Guild of One-Name Studies and what excellent value for money membership of the Guild provides. Alternatively join the Guild on-line at http://www.one-name.org/about-the-guild/how-to-join.html from the 16th April and benefit from the reduced membership fee.”

I'm trying to find evidence of a birth in 1860. I have his birth date and place from his death certificate and the census records loosely support that but I need something closer in time to when he was born. His obituary cannot be found which would not be closer, but still... 

And he died intestate and rather poor. His wife was appointed administratrix over...almost nothing. (I hate those slim envelopes in the mail from courthouses most of the time and this was one of those times.) Again, not closer in time to his birth.

I first thought that since his mother had grown up Catholic and married in the Catholic church, it might not be so hard. After all, I already knew the Catholic records for Galveston, Texas were pretty easy to access.

However, the archivist at the Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston disabused me of that silly notion rather quickly with a thin envelope in the mail of her own. She also seemed kind of sad in her letter to me about not finding it or his marriage record. I was almost consoled by that. <grin>

So, it would seem this family line had a change in church denomination. Maybe. But I had no clue which denomination his father had been or what anyone else in the family had been.

I knew my guy had been married in Galveston because I finally obtained his marriage record. Only cost me a day of driving in the pouring rain with high winds and a Fitbit. (Yes, I lost my Fitbit that day either in the McDonald's I stopped at to go to the bathroom or at the courthouse or in either of those establishment's parking lots. Stupid thing had been popping off lately and it did one last time...in the pouring rain.)

When I got home and dried off I looked at the marriage record and transcribed it and the other lovely records I managed to wrangle from an obstinate clerk and then cooked dinner.

Several days later I'm looking in the Galveston, Texas newspaper not for my guy but his brothers. Everyone is prominent in this family because of their grandfather and great uncle and two are lawyers including my guy. However, other than being a lawyer and advertising his business, his paper trail is slim. (Of course.) His lawyer brother is in the papers too because he flirted with politics. So, I get lots of hits for both of them in the newspaper searches.

But his other brother?

A minister. At least, that's what his death certificate lists as his occupation and the census records too.

So, I was looking in the newspaper to see what I could see about the minister in this prominent family. And on the day this minister brother was ordained as a Presbyterian Minister up north, there was a 3 column write-up in the newspaper about it in Galveston. And I carefully began to read it. (Okay, I first skimmed it for personal family information which was at the end and quite abundant but I'd expect no less from this prominent family.) But then I went back and carefully read it from the beginning and then I recognized a name...

...a name of one of the ministers a part of my guy's brother's ordination.

I pulled out my guy's marriage record and voila. The minister who had married my guy had also been a part of his brother's ordination and according to the article was the minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Galveston who had been next on my list to look up in the newspaper but wasn't my first choice because I figured he'd pop up a lot in the search. (Could you imagine? The christenings, marriages, & funerals he presided over as well as the titles of the sermons he gave? Because it appears after looking him up those made the papers too.)

Of course, the city directories would have identified him as well, but I just thought, perhaps, since this was a prominent family in Galveston that my guy's minister brother would have showed up in the paper for...something. (And I had other clues I was looking for as well.)

And a quick Google search told me the church was still open. So I called and found out that their historical records are kept at the Rosenberg Library.

Of course, I already knew she meant the Galveston and Texas History Center which is the archives on the 3rd floor of the library which has an online searchable database of finding aids of their manuscript collections. And, presto — I have an inventory of all the church's records that they have.

Looks like I'll be going back to the Island to see what I can see. (I'll have plenty of steps. Just no Fitbit to count them. If you lose your Fitbit but you still step, does it count?)

But the clue was his brother was a minister.

~Caroline

Sunday, March 8th, is International Women's Day and here in the United States the month of March is Women's History Month — a perfect time to celebrate the women in your family tree by learning more about them and telling their stories!

And a great way of learning about the females in your family tree is by focusing on finding documents that can reveal more about them as well as focusing on documents that reveal clues to help you ferret out their story. Sometimes the clue is that the document puts them in a specific time and place and sometimes it can reveal even more like familial relationships. A document is like a box of chocolates. You just never know what you're gonna get.

Every Friday, Findmypast releases new records sets, and to help you find out more about the women in your family tree, according to their press release, they have released "...over 9,500 fascinating UK military records that illustrate the various roles played by woman during the First World War." Take a look:

• Women's Army Auxiliary Corps Service Records 1917-1920
  
• British Women's Royal Naval Service Officer Files 1917-1919
• British Women's Royal Naval Service Ratings' Service Registers 1918-1919
• British Women's Royal Air Force Service Records 1918-1920

In addition, Findmypast has released the following records today:

• British Civil Service Evidence of Age
• Queensland Assisted Immigration 1848-1912
• Queensland Immigration Registers 1922-1940
• Queensland Passport Registers 1926-1939

To learn more about each records set as well as how to use it for your research (Kind of important, don't you think? I do.), head over to the Findmypast Friday Page. Also? Findmypast is running an unlimited free access weekend starting today. Snag the details about it on their Free Weekend Page.


~Caroline

That's right. The daily 10 Genealogy Things You Need To Know is coming back starting tomorrow. However, it will be slightly different.

It won't be a blog post. 

It will be a daily email with the 10 genealogy things full of all the "things" you loved — technology news, genealogy industry news, links to helps and tips, new records added online from the previous day, links to interesting history articles, my [sometimes snarky] commentary on the links & news, and, of course, we can't forget this...

...a new image of coffee every day (or something seasonal or chocolate-ey or all of the above). Because we have to have our priorities straight when searching for our ancestors.

Now, there will usually be 3 blog posts published right here on the blog — some family history oriented and some technology oriented — every week. And sometimes a video post just to mix it up. 

And those 3 blog posts won't show up in email at all — just the 10 things will via email. So, if you're not ready for a daily email in your inbox of everything you need to need know for the day to help you find your ancestors' stories plus a virtual cup of coffee, then don't sign up for the daily email list. Just visit the blog. Or subscribe to the monthly Genea-Tech Newsletter (below).

Now, this daily email of the 10 genealogy things you need to know should not be confused with the monthly Genea-Tech Newsletter email (which is starting back up from a hiatus). THAT one will have links to previous blog posts, some new information in it and such just once a month.

So, to recap:
If you want the daily 10 Genealogy Things You Need To Know Today in your email inbox once a day (and nothing else), subscribe here: http://eepurl.com/udxtr

If you want the monthly Genea-Tech Newsletter in your inbox around the 3rd Thursday of the month with a recap and some new things, subscribe here: 
http://eepurl.com/f9ztP

If you want to just read at least 3 blog posts a week right here on the blog, then bookmark this blog and visit every day. Or add 4YourFamilyStory.com to your Feedly.

Or you can sign up for the daily 10 Genealogy Things and the monthly Genea-Tech Newsletter. And bookmark the website. Totally up to you.

So the 10 Genealogy Things will be back. Sorta the same. Sorta different. But? Coffee. 

~Caroline

A single surname society is one where data and research on a particular surname beyond their own family members with that surname is gathered and published by researchers. These types of societies provide a single surname researcher a place to publish their work and to collaborate with other single surname researchers on that surname. This type of research, of course, can also be a great reference for any type of researcher to use.

Below is a press release from a new society for single surnames called The Surname Society. You can join if you are interested in researching single surnames beyond your own family tree and then you can collaborate with others researching the same name. This new single surname society provides collaboration with other researchers around the world using online technology only. Take a look at what they have to offer below in their press release and on their website. Also, you can search their website for your particular surnames and see what research they have published already. They also have an introductory recorded Hangout On Air video on their "About Us" webpage. 

~Caroline

The founder members are delighted to announce the launch of The Surname Society - the online society for individuals, groups and associations with an interest in surname studies, regardless of their location in the world, the surname they are studying, or their level of research expertise.

Focussing on single surname studies, the society meets the needs of researchers in the world of family history and genealogy as it evolves in the 21st century. The Surname Society’s vision is to connect like-minded people by providing facilities which enable members to share knowledge, data and good practice with others. The society allows members to register both worldwide and limited studies and is entirely online. Collaboration is facilitated and encouraged as it is the core ethos of The Surname Society.

Surname researchers collect data relating to all name bearers, either on a global or restricted basis. The society does not mandate study methods and members are encouraged to develop their own approach to the investigation of their surname to advance their knowledge and expertise in areas such as etymology, DNA, name collection and family reconstruction. The Surname Society will help and advise inexperienced members on ways to conduct their study and how to avoid the pitfalls which can occur!

A truly global organisation from the outset, the committee members are located around the world from Australia to England, Spain and Canada and in the first week since its announcement to those who completed the online questionnaire, the society has almost one hundred new and enthusiastic members.

The cost of membership to The Surname Society is just £5 per annum with no hidden extras. You can register as many names as you want on either a restricted or worldwide basis, collaborate with others, share in the educational opportunities offered and a plethora of resources in the Members’ area of the website including a fascinating quarterly e-newsletter and the School of Surnames, with many other developments in the pipeline in due course.

So, what are you waiting for? Take a look at the website and if you are interested, join!

 

For more information visit http://surname-society.org, email info@surname-society.org

and/or follow us on Twitter: @surnamesoc