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Monday, February 27, 2012

Family History for Youth

Children of all ages are curious about life and all it has to offer. This is the same as it always has been throughout time. Seeking out the future by learning of the past.

Today's children are just as curious about their heritage as in the past, only today's tools make it a fair bit easier to conduct research and to involve family members regardless of their ages.

There are many sites with a variety of activities for youth today to aid in compiling their family history. From simple visits with older relatives and conducting interviews to collecting artifacts that show the recording of various events in the lives of their ancestors.

'Google' being the preferred search engine, a simple entry of "Family History and Youth" brings up a number of interesting entries with the first being the new site recently put up by the The Church of Jesus Church of Latter-day Saints entitled "Youth and Family History". Here there are steps to begin along with many other aids to not only gain new experiences but to share them with others.

The second entry is by LDS Tech and it explores the new site listed above. It combines video with experiences and expains how to make connections.

The third entry comes from the FamilySearch Wiki and breaks it down into 4 groups: 1) Preschool Children, 2) Children, 3) Teenager, and 4) Adult. This is taken from a summer program entitled "Summer of Sleuthing". These activities involve the whole family.

Another two great sections are also available on the FamilySearch Wiki provide additional activies broken into two age groups: Family History Activities for Children 3-11 and 12-?.

All of these have many interesting and fun things for children and youth of all ages to become involved in and learn about their heritage.

In addition to these sites, there are many other available sites that provide more great ideas along with tools to interest anyone in your family! Who is the budding family historian in your family?

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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claire@timelessgen.com

Friday, February 24, 2012

Technical advice for the Genealogist and Family Historian

Do you struggle with learning how to use the latest gadget, a new application or what to look for when having to buy a new camera or scanner? Are you struggling with figuring out how to best take care of the artifacts that you just inherited?

Many struggle with these and other questions as they incorporate new methods and ways to do their family history research. The landscape of new applications, websites, and databases is constantly changing and while most are helpful and will make your research easier there is often a learning curve that comes along with it.

Along with the influx of these new tools, equipment continues to improve and become faster and/or smaller. At some point you are going to want to purchase a better camera, scanner, computer, GPS, printer or perhaps a storage device to keep all the precious memories and research that is now in digital form.

To help with these situations and much more, FamilySearch TechTips is available for discovering the answers to technology in connection with the needs of genealogists and family historians. The main link is currently at the lower half of the screen under Learn but there is so much information there to help anyone.

It is broken into four categories: 1) How To's and Tips, 2) Learn About, 3) Apps and Tools, and 4) Learn How to Buy. Each category breaks down again to encompass the whole category as follows:

As you can see there are many topics covered to handle many of the unique situations that genealogists and family historians find regularly. Each area opens up to a number of articles on that subject matter. This site is built and supported by the community. All the authors share their expertise to help solve some of the technical issues faced often on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis.

To help with keeping up, you can add this to an RSS feed or follow TechTips on Twitter. Take some time to investigate this great resource, add your comments and if you feel you have some tips you's like to share, just click the Become a Contributor and follow the prompts to join the community!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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claire@timelessgen.com

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Need Ancestral Research Help?

Regardless of the level one is at in their ancestral research, there often comes a time when additional resources are needed to solve a problem, locate a strategy, analyze a document or just determine the next step.

In today's world there are many possibilities and ways to solve this situation from working together with another researcher one on one, checking out a new online class in the research area, attend a genealogical or family history conference or take advantage of some online resources. Let's review each one and where to locate them.

Working one to one is by far the best choice and this kind of help can be set up in an "Ask the Experts" table at a conference or check with your public library to see if there is someone that specializes in Family History. Another possibility is to call someone known that works in this field and conduct the Q & A over the phone once a way to get the pertinent information to the expert.

In an earlier blog entitled "Convenient Online Classes" I discussed a small number of places to locate an online class like FamilySearch.org, YouTube.com, and many others. For instance, on YouTube one can watch a class on "How to organize my genealogy", "Google for Genealogy Update: It's All Related" or on FamilySearch a class on "Genealogy Bootcamp", "Evaluating and Solving Research Problems" or "Research Planning".

Conferences can be found in many different locations online, just enter the name of an organization and locate when they have a conference, additionally, most Family History Centers either have conferences and/or can also provide that one on one help.
The last way I'd like to share on how to find additional assistance is through the FamilySearch Forums or other forums provided by Ancestry.com or Genealogy.com. The FamilySearch forums provide a lot of assistance to all who send their queries in.

All areas of the world are covered here and broken up by regions of the world. In this forum as well as a variety of subjects like 'using technology', ''latin translation' and many other subjects.

The latest place to find assistance is with the commuity through the large number of FamilySearch Research Communities located on Facebook. Here is what the Facebook English Genealogical Research Community page looks like.

One can find a full list of the current Facebook Research Community pages is listed in the FamilySearch Research Wiki:

Be sure to check the list to see if your area of research has a research community in the FamilySearch Wiki.

Take advantage of all these resources and perhaps solave or break through a brick wall.

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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claire@timelessgen.com

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

It's The Little Things...

When my mother passed away, my sisters and I met with the appropriate individuals at the funeral home to make all the necessary arrangements. The papers created at that visit are often known as ‘first papers’. This was not an easy time, but my mother had already met with them before she passed away and made a lot of the arrangements ahead of time.

Often this is not the case and the whole ordeal can cause a multiplicity of errors to happen. Grief can cause a lapse in memory, as well as confusion, as to how to even handle the tiniest of details never mind remembering pertinent information. My sisters and I were very grateful for all our mother had done ahead of time.

Most of her obituary was pre-written along with her funeral arrangements and we only had to add a few minor things. Putting together the actual church service, creating the program with the right individuals and lastly choosing a ‘funeral memorial card’ were things left to our care.

My mother was a devout Catholic and so was the majority of her friends and family and tradition provided these memorial cards to all who paid their respects at the funeral home. The nice thing about these cards is that there is usually some kind of vital information of the deceased on the card as well as the name of the funeral home which can be a place to start one's’ research.

In the article by Elizabeth Kelley Kersterns, she states that "Funeral cards have a long history and have social customers attached. These cards were distributed to family members, friends, and the surrounding community in a timely manner to alert invitees to the date and time of the funeral. Recipients of a funeral card were expected to attend the funeral or risk offending family members. ..."

The Internet allows individuals or organizations to share these memorial cards and are a great resource to genealogists and family historians but often are overlooked. If you happen to find some 'funeral memorial cards' among your collection of genealogical documents consider uploading them and sharing them, you may just find some new relatives!

Here are some sites that are spotlighting these cards:

Funeral Cards Online

American-French Genealogical Society Historical Funeral Card Collection

I'm sure that there are other sites out there and would appreciate learning of them through the comments!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

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Twitter @TimelessGen

claire@timelessgen.com

Monday, February 20, 2012

Convenient Online Classes

Today's technology has brought with it many opportunities for individuals who are not able to attend a class to learn a new subject matter or brush up on their skills, to do so in the convenience of their home at a time that works with their schedule.

As genealogists and family history researchers struggle to learn the finite details of their trade, it often becomes necessary to seek additional help, however, that may not always be easy with their current schedule, one the following locations may just be an answer to their dilemma.

FamilySearch: Over 300 courses online of varying lengths
YouTube: Over a 1,000 hits on both 'Genealogy' and 'Family History'
ICAPGen: 12 Mentoring research classes
BYU Independent Studies: 10 online courses
FamilyTree Maker: 95 Lessons done by Karen Clifford of Genealogy Research Associates
About.com: Has 4 basic introductory classes with multiple lessons in each by Kimberly Powell
NGS: Has a few Home Study Courses

While there are many other course available, these are a few of what is available, some are free and others require payment. Depending on one's skill level and need will help to determine the best course for the need.

The '5 minute Genealogy Series' has taken off and provided a quick peek into the world of research and locating ancestors. Each short lesson takes 5 minutes to focus on just one aspect of research. There are currently 25 different episodes.

Some of these titles include "Find a Record in Five Minutes", "The Circle of Success", "Record What You Know", "Learn from Family", "Using Indexes to Find a Record", "Get Help with Locations", "Get Help In-Person" and many others.

No matter where you are researching one should be able to locate a class online currently or within a reasonable amount of time as new classes are being added all the time to a large variety of providers.

Locating help today is so much easier with all of these online classes available with a few mouse clicks!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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Twitter @TimelessGen

claire@timelessgen.com

Friday, February 17, 2012

Working together in 'The Cloud'

Whether the opportunity to work with a newly found relative located in another part of the country or the world on ancestral research and/or one has been assigned to participate in writing a special report with a few other indiviudals located throughout the world there are many tools to make either project a success for all involved!

Word documents can be created and shared through Google Docs. The collection of available applications are documents, spreadsheets, presentations and drawings, these records are created online and once created can be shared with others for collaboration. Additionally, GoogleDocs is also available through a mobile Google Application.

Being able to work together in any of the above applications can lead to a better end product!

With the many mobile applications in connection with GoogleDocs it is easy to work together with solving brick wall cases or simply discussing further research.

The application works on both Android and Apple mobile products. Working together to resolve genealogical and family history problems can make all the difference in the search of individual ancestors.

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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Twitter @TimelessGen

claire@timelessgen.com

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Checking All the Indexes...

Ever wonder who so many different websites offer the same set of records to its' users?

The US censuses is available online on the following websites:

The UK censuses is available online on the following census:

There are other sites that also have these censuses available and each one is valuable to those who are researching their ancestors. Various Family History Societies have taken the time to transcribe these records long before they were put online. They were made available in book, CD or even microfiche format.

If one can't locate their ancestor in a specific census index, it is worthwhile looking at that same census index on another webiste because indexing was done by a different set of indiviudals and sometimes additional fields or different fields were indexed!

When one is looking for that elusive ancestor it is important to check every possible location as names, places, ages and relationships are often transcribed in error in one index and correct in another!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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claire@timelessgen.com

Happy Hunting...

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Indexing..a way to 'Pay it Forward'

As the clock ticks closer to the release of the 1940 US Federal Census, individuals are working together to interest people, communities and societies to help with indexing these valuable records. This particular census is being released as 'free digital images" from the National Archives.

This community project is a joint effort between Archives.com, FamilySearch, FindMyPast.com and many other organizations. While access to these records will be made available on April 2nd, searching them will be only through browsing until the indexing is completed.

Using the FamilySearch Indexing software individuals will be able to participate in bringing these records to light for the millions waiting to be found. A more in dept explanation of what is in this census, the statistics and the rich history attached to it are available on a website entitled "1940 US Census Project".

Indexing is no stranger to those who use and know genealogical records and databases. Over the years, dedicated individuals have transcribed countless names from just about any type of record source one can think of and either put it in book form, created a CD or a database. Today this whole process has been streamlined through the FamilySearch indexing process. The story of a whole family of indexes was recently shared in the FamilySearch Blog entitled "A Family of Indexes" and worth the read.

FamilySearch Indexing has its own Facebook page where individuals share their stories and comments and get additional information. Additionally, they have an Indexing website and a FamilySearch Indexing forum for questions and answers. FamilySearch Support is available through phone, chat and messaging along with video guides and tutorials to help individuals at all levels of computer expertise.

In today's venacular one often hears, "There's an app for that" and so too there is an application that has just been released for Indexing.

This application is available for both the Apple market and the Android Market and is a free download. While this is in a beta form it is fully functionable and allows individuals to use snippets of time to index one name at time.

With all these great resources available at one's fingertips, the time is now to become part of a worldwide volunteer force to make historic records searchable online for free!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

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Twitter @TimelessGen

claire@timelessgen.com

Monday, February 13, 2012

Help from Volunteers

Genealogists are know throughout the world for their generosity to exchange information and help one another out. This is very evident when one looks at the number of sites that are available because of the countless number of volunteer hours donated over time from individuals throughout the world.

The first groups worth mentioning is USGenWeb and WorldGenWeb. According to their websites, both USGenWeb and WorldGenWeb began in 1996 by a group of genealogist who shared a desire to create online centers for the genealogical research, they are totally non-commercial and fully committed to free access for everyone.

The USGenWeb is broken up into the 50 states while WorldGenWeb is broken up into 11 regions. Each region is divided up by counties and each country is divided into the various administrative divisions according to the country.

Another site that has provided assistance over the years is RootsWeb. This site began operating online in 1993 as Roots Surname List. Over the years a surname database was built along with mailing lists and gedcoms from fellow genealogists. In 2000, it was purchased by MyFamily.com. Users can still upload Gecom files and the information is viewable on both the Rootsweb and Ancestry websites. This is the oldes free community genealogy website.

There are many other volunteer websites. The indexing done by other organizations including FamilySearch.org shows the power of those who donate their time to helping out genealogists throughout the world. It would be nice to develop a list of various websites that are done by volunteers. Feel free to comment and share other websites!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

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Twitter @TimelessGen

claire@timelessgen.com

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Family Tree Sites

In an earlier post I discussed how getting assistance from the community through FamilySearch Forums, Genealogical Research Communities on Facebook, Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com and Rootsweb is a way to get assistance with solving genealogical research problems.

Another way to see if others have done research on your lines is through Family Tree Sites. The one I've used the most is "GenesReunited" because of the UK lines I'm researching, however there are many others out there that are a great resource.

GenesReunited was originally a standalone site which began in 2003 as a sister-site to Friends Reunited. By the end of last year they had 2.2 million members. This can be attributed to the definite increase and interest in genealogy and family history worldwide. Once I uploaded a gedcom of just the English and Scottish ancestors, notices were sent to me on 'hot matches'. This has proved to be very helpful and I have been amazed at how many 2nd, 3rd, 4th and more cousins have already broken through some of my brickwalls and I've resolved some others. Their Facebook presence is here.

Another great similar site is WikiTree which is quickly becoming a very helpful site for over 30,000 members according to their website. I do like their nice clear welcoming screen (not to busy) and very inviting with information on how to get started and finding new family members and perhaps some new cousins. I've been able to find some relatives just by looking at the familie already in this database and will soon be adding my own data which is all the Canadian/French lines and making new connections for sure! Their Facebook prescence is here.

MyHeritage is another site which sends out email notices of possible matches and has an app for your handheld device which I find to be a nice addition. With all the travelling one does it is always good to have your genealogical information right at your fingertips. I have had multiple occasions when this had proven to be a great help as I meet new cousins along this journey of life. This site allows you to also add a gedcom. One disadvantage is that one has to remove their gedcom and reload a new one if one is updating unless this is the only software you are using. I still like to have my own database on my PC at this time. Their Facebook presence is here.

I'm sure there others out there so fill the comments with ones that others use to connect with families throughout the world and include their links! Collaboration is the way to go!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

Facebook

Twitter @TimelessGen

claire@timelessgen.com

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Artificial Intellegence aids Genealogical Research

One of the best ways to get additional assistance with research it is often helpful to 'talk it over' with another researcher. No one person can know everything and the collective amount of intelligence is always greater than the one.

There are times when getting to together may not be possible and individuals often like to try to solve problems on their own. To this end enters "GenSmarts2", a great way to get assistance according to the data and information within your own data files.

The program analyzes the data and makes research recommendations that often are overlooked. It applies complicated logic to help identify research opportunities. Each person is analyzed for possible clues to obtain more complete information. As new website become available, GenSmarts stays on top of them to provide you with the most up to date possibilities.

GenSmarts has a great sample on their website with explanations for each section on the results screen. The explanation screens also help to shappen ones own skills.

This program works with the following genealogical programs:

The physical locations this program supports are the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. To learn more about this program, visit their site and review it as so many others have up to this point, you should be impressed with the abilities of this program!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

Facebook

Twitter @TimelessGen

claire@timelessgen.com

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Remote Connections

Traveling around the world in search of ones' ancestors often takes one away from their home computer. Many have opted for a laptop, a tablet or just use their smart phone. Each of these technological advances are great resources when out in the field.

Other times one could be at an archive, a library or even a relative's home and the need arises to obtain some information on a computer located elsewhere. There are a number of ways to handle this situation other than copying everything onto one's laptop and updating it daily as does various back up services like Mozy, Cabronite or Barracuda.

The access to one's computer from a remote location can be done also through GoToMyPC, LogMeIn, TeamViewer, ShowMyPC and others. Each of these applications have a free version and a paid version except for GoToMyPC. Naturally the paid versions provide additional features.

GoToMyPC, TeamViewer and LogMeIn all have mobile appliations which can be a great resource when not near another PC or Mac.

Each of these applications have the ability to connect you to another resource whenever necessary as long as there is interenet access available and the receiving PC or Mac is on.

As new resources become available it will be easier and easier to access one's information from just about anywhere at anytime making research even more possible wherever you may be located!

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

Facebook

Twitter @TimelessGen

claire@timelessgen.com

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Communicating with Video

With the large variety of ways to communicate these days, by far the most enjoyable is Video. It is nice to keep in touch with chat, instant messaging, Twitter and even Facebook, but to visit with family and friends who are too far to visit often, video is the best.

The internet has made this possible with the aid of a WebCam on your PC and/or Mac. One can even have a video conversation on a smart phone! This also is a great way for multiple generations to keep in touch as time passes so quickly.

Some of the free programs that allow this great opportunity are:

Skype (on PC/Mac/Smart Phones)
Google Talk (Gmail, iGoogle, & orkut)
Hangouts (Google +)
FaceTime (Apple)
FriendCameo (Facebook)
Tango Voice & Video (on PC/Mac/Smart Phones)

I am sure there are other applications and free programs and would appreciate any additional comments or links for those following and wishing to connect visually with family and friends.

Distance has a way of melting away as one talks to relations in other countries and thousands of miles away!

These applications make this possible and also allow for discussion on Family History, Genealogy and everyday situations and a freely available as well as conducting those oral interviews with older family members when one is unable to physically visit.

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

Blogs

Facebook

Twitter @TimelessGen

claire@timelessgen.com

Monday, February 6, 2012

Translating Documents

As we research our ancestors, often it becomes necessary to transalate a document. Unless one happens to be fluent in that particular language, it is helpful to know there are many tools online to aid in this endeavor.

From simple one word translations to whole websites, Google's translation tools are extremely helpful. Many of the websites I need to visit are in French and so I take advantage of the whole site being translated which is usually just a click on the resulting screen.

Notice the words "Translate this page", this allows me to view this page in my language. There is another area in their translation section where you can easily enter a word, a phrase or a whole URL and go forward with the translation. This are is located on the Google Translate page.

While the actual translation is not perfect, it will allow you to understand the records you are looking at. There are other genealogically translation aids available on the FamilySearch Research Wiki depending on the language. In this case we are discussing 'French' and so simply typing in "French Word Guide" into the search box the resulting Wiki Page Results of "France Language and Languages" can easily guide me to the words used in connection with genealogical documents.

This combination of resources can aid most individuals with translating a genealogical document when one is not familiar with that language.

Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)

Timeless Genealogies

We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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