Sun, 8 July 2012
Published July 8, 2012 Everyone is concerned about Google pulling the plug on iGoogle, but in today's episode I have a fantastic solution for you. And you will find the companion video at my Genealogy Gems YouTube channel and as the video bonus content in the Genealogy Gems Podcast App. And the new Genealogy Gems website has been launched! It’s here! I promised you it was coming and it has. The brand new website is up and running at genealogygems.com and at lisalouisecooke.com. You’ll find Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems in both places. The old site was 5 years which is ancient in techie years, so it was time. Back in the Fall of 2011 I began laying the framework for the new site, well aware that the old one had become cluttered, and it wasn’t keeping up with all the new versions of web browsers out there. Things were starting to not display properly. A few months later in March 2012 listener and Premium Member Simona wrote me to tell me she had noticed it too. And she had some opinions about the magazine delivery nature of the podcast episodes. The original model for the premium podcast was like a magazine. When you subscribe you get the last few episodes, and then each new episode as it was published. After about 3 months the oldest episode would drop off and the new one would come on. There were a few reasons for this which included the capabilities of the old site. Here’s what Simona had to say: “I downright LOVE your productions Lisa and think you are the sweetest and smartest. But I get frustrated and even -dare I say- annoyed with the shelf life limit of your premium podcasts. You see I very rarely hard-wire sync my idevices to my notebook pcs. So I end up missing more premium podcasts than I download and listen to.” OK, well I obviously completely agree with Simona on her comments on the website, and the email just helped support the decision I had made to invest in a new site. And I hope Simona and all of you are happy with all the changes and upgrades. NEW SITE UPGRADES: Everything is on one site: The blog, the free episodes, Premium Membership, and our brand new store. The free iTunes podcast feed and the Premium feeds are both functioning now. Premium Membership includes ALL past episodes, and continued access to those episodes while you are a member. But the big news for Premium members is that premium membership is no longer a magazine subscription model. I’ve built a site that is set up to hold all the gems I’ve created for you over the last 5 years, and the many more years to come. Yep, right now we are on Premium episode #88 and ALL 88 episodes are available to you as part of your premium membership. What we are creating for you is a growing catalogue of gems and tutorials and genealogy entertainment that you can tap into when you want it. And Genealogy Gems Premium Membership gives you access to all of it! And of course each month we are adding new premium episodes and videos so that catalogue will just keep growing and growing. You know sometimes a gem or topic isn’t what you need this week, but it’s exactly right for what you want to do 2 months from now. Now you can sign in to your membership and grab the gems you need when you need them. And I hope you are as excited about the amount and accessibility of content as I am! Now Simona brought up a question about accessing the premium episodes and downloading them to her devices. Here’s the thing – as I’ve said many times before iTunes doesn’t support premium membership sites, so we have had to custom build a feed for you so that at least you can add your premium content through iTunes. But for now that still means plugging in your iPod. Technology is moving quickly though and we are constantly searching for ways to make that process easier, and unfortunately we have to rely on Apple to help make that possible. I’m really proud that we have managed to build a way to deliver premium content to you through iTunes and I’ll let you know if and when we develop a method for wireless download, as is available for the free podcast through our Genealogy Gems App (available in the iTunes app store and at Amazon for Android.) And I’m very happy to say that the response to the new website has been 100% positive. I had braced myself for some folks who didn’t want change, but so far not a one. You were ready for an upgrade as much as I was. Here’s what just some of you had to say: Robin in Ohio says: “Your new web page is AWESOME! Love the colors, layout and info. All your Gems are sooooo helpful, upbeat and truly some great genealogy fun!!! I look forward to listening to your podcast while riding my bike and gardening. You are such a genealogy-go-getter and amazing example to me. Thanks for sharing so many GenGems and some of your life events along the way. It makes the person behind the cyber voice so pleasantly real. Thanks for sharing your talents with me” Sue in Nevada says “What a drastic difference! It is so neat, concise, and user-friendly. Can't wait till it is fully up and running. It was worth the wait....” Sue in Nevada Teri says: “Wow. Really nice look. Makes you a destination site!” Christine commented on The Genealogy Gems Podcast Facebook Fan Page: "I just "peeked"--1000% improvement! Not only is it more user-friendly, the design & colors are more "you" I’m ecstatic that you love the site and I hope that those of you listening who have been listening on your mobile device and maybe haven’t stopped by the website in a while drop in and see what Robin, Sue, Teri and Christine are raving about. Facebook Fan Page Attention all Facebook users! There's been an upsetting development in the way that site is run, and the unfortunate result is that many of you are no longer receiving Venice's posts. What they've done affects all fan pages. It used to be that whenever I posted a status update it would send it out to every single person who is subscribed to the Genealogy Gems page. Well, no longer. Now it tells us, underneath every post what percentage of subscribers it has actually sent that post out to. And usually that number is right around the 25% mark. Which means that the site deliberately and arbitrarily chose 75% of you to not receive it. But here's the rub: On every single individual post, it now offers us a "Promote" option, where we can pay them money to increase the number of fans who will receive that specific post. To get the note/video/picture/song to show up on the walls of 100% of our Facebook fans, it could cost us around $50. Not as a one-time payment, but rather PER POST. But there is something you can do. Follow these instructions to guarantee that you'll receive all of our subsequent updates: 1) Sign into Facebook. 2) Go to: www.facebook.com/genealogygems 3) Hover your cursor over the "Liked" box. 4) Put a checkmark next to the words "Show in News Feed." I’m sorry for the inconvenience and really appreciate your support! RIP iGoogle From Barbara: “Hi Lisa, Greetings from a Canadian Premium Podcast listener. I got a notification on my iGoogle home page today and was gobsmacked (my ancestors were British) to see that they are discontinuing iGoogle on the 1st of November next year. This seems really strange, given that they just released the new update a short time ago, however that’s Google for you. If you don’t like what they’re doing today, wait awhile – they’ll be doing something new by tomorrow. This is one change that’s going to be rather sad for me. I’ve enjoyed my iGoogle home page. I sure hope they have something exciting and new coming to make up for this.” From Linda: “I just looked on my iGoogle home page, and it says iGoogle will not be available after November 1, 2013? (--happens to also be my birthday, so an easy date to remember, for me at least) What?!?!? I have got it all set up, thanks in part to you, and now it is going away...it just ain't fair. You are going to need a new webinar telling us what to do now, cause I don't have any idea how to make it work in Chrome! There is life after iGoogle, and I have a solution for you! GEM: Life After iGoogle In this gem we are going to look at Life After iGoogle. It’s pretty challenging to stay organized online isn’t it? It seems like every day something new is happening, and it can take some superhero powers to stay up to date while you’re still working on today’s to do list. That’s why iGoogle was such a gem! In webinars, presentations, my book The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox and as part of Premium Membership I have taught thousands of you how to convert iGoogle into your personal genealogy homepage. We added gadgets that could accomplish the tasks you needed to get done, then expanded with tabs, and even dressed it all up with custom themes. And I’ve heard from so many of you have it revolutionized your online computing and research experience. However, in 2012 as we here in the U.S. were celebrating Independence Day and the freedom we enjoy, Google very quietly announced that it was doing away with iGoogle. The online freedom we were so happily enjoying came to a screeching halt. Ouch! Now even though I’m known as the Google Guru, first and foremost, I see my role as genealogy gems goddess. And that means that I am primarily focused on bringing you the best gems, not just Google gems. So after a good 5 minute mourning session by the iGoogle gravesite, I got to work on a new gem that would meet all of our homepage needs, and dare I say even surpass iGoogle in some areas. And don’t worry, what I’ve come up with isn’t going to force you to start from scratch. We’re going to move much of your iGoogle content to a brand spanking new genealogy homepage and then add lots of gems to it. Today I’m very happy to introduce you to www.Netvibes.com Yep, there is life after iGoogle. And once you get into the Netvibes vibe you’re going be doing the genealogy happy dance. So let’s get started. Guess what: Netvibes has been around as long as iGoogle! Both were launched in 2005. But here’s the thing, Google never figured out how to make money with iGoogle, and that plays a huge role in why it’s going away. However, the Netvibes team discovered early on that a personal dashboard just wasn’t all that conducive to a bunch of advertising to the pay the bills, and so they expanded their business model to provide expanded premium products to businesses at a price, that allows them to continue to provide the free service to their individual users. The fact that they have figured out how to make their business profitable means that there’s a much better chance that the Netvibes dashboard will be around for a while. And believe me, with the demise of iGoogle Netvibes has already seen a bump in users, and I predict that’s about to increase dramatically. The first thing we need to do is import your existing iGoogle content into Net Vibes. And if you don’t have an iGoogle page, cool – it just saves you from having to do this step, but hang in there because you are definitely going to want to set up a Netvibes genealogy dashboard with the rest of us which we will do in just a minute. PLEASE NOTE: Follow these instructions EXACTLY. Any deviation will cause it not to work. And be sure to use Internet Explorer NOT Firefox for this procedure. 1. Log in to a Google account. 2. Go to this page: http://tinyurl.com/6wm8jzo 3. In your IE browser menu click on PAGE (in the COMMAND bar, which if it is not showing you will need to activate) select SAVE AS and name the file iGoogle_code.xml (save it as an XML file to your computer’s hard drive) 4. Open the XML file that you just saved 5. Right click on the page and select SELECT ALL and then copy right-clicking and selecting COPY 6. Go to this page: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/07/export-igoogle-feeds-to-opml.html Scroll down until you see a box 7. Paste the code in the first box 8. Click the CONVERT TO OPML button 9. Copy the converted code 10. Open a new document in Notepad 11. Paste the code on the page 12. Save the file: From the menu select File – SAVE AS and name the file to_netvibes.txt (You are just going to save it as a text file) 13. Go to www.netvibes.com 14. Sign up for a free BASIC account and select the Default layout. 15. On the starting dashboard click ADD CONTENT in the upper left had corner of the page. 16. Click ADD A FEED (the orange RSS button) 17. Under the feedback next to OPML: click IMPORT 18. Browse your computer and select to the to_netvibes.txt file 19. Click the IMPORT button 20. This will import any tabs and RSS feeds that you had in iGoogle This looks a LOT like iGoogle don’t you think? Making this move is going to be a breeze because the two services are SO much a like! Now of course, not all of the iGoogle gadgets converted. That’s because they are iGoogle gadgets. You’re going to have to locate new gadgets from Netvibes. I’m going to set you up with some of the most important gadgets you’ll need. And you can bet I’ll be covering more customized gems in upcoming Genealogy Gems Premium episodes. Under Add Content there are a couple of different areas where you can get gadgets, which are called Widgets in Netvibes. In addition to using the search box, you can browse Categories, select from Essential Widgets, and you can add more RSS feeds which you’ll use to follow podcasts, blogs, and other types of syndicated content. Let’s start by deleting the iGoogle gadgets that didn’t convert properly. Just click the little X button in the upper right corner of the widget just like you would have in iGoogle. Essential Widgets are your desktop tools. Lisa suggests: To do Webnotes MailWizard Bookmarks Facebook Twitter Before we go any further, let’s clean up and organize a bit. Moving widgets around is super easy. Click the title bar of the widget, drag, and drop. And there you have it, in just a few minutes time you’ve made the dreaded move! Stay tuned because I have a LOT more great stuff for you to do to get your genealogy vibe on. GEM: Genealogy Gems Song by Mike Steward ArtistSignal is a music contest: https://artistsignal.com/thegenealogywidower Click to Vote for Michael’s music. Genealogy Widower Facebook group |
Tue, 19 June 2012
Published June 19, 2012 In this episode we’re going to follow up on Episode #133 and my interview with Henry Louis Gates about his show Finding Your Roots with an conversation with one of the celebrities profiled on the show, Linda Chavez. Lisa Recommends the Flip Pal Scanner. Click the image below for more information:
NEWS: FamilySearch FamilySearch announced that it hit the halfway point for creating a searchable index for the 1940 U.S. census, which has been an unprecedented genealogical community effort made up of more than 125,000 volunteers More states will be added in the coming weeks. You can follow the day-to-day indexing status at the1940census.com dashboard and search completed states at www.familysearch.org/1940census However, the 1940 census is not the only record collection that FamilySearch has been working on . They have recently added project for records from Argentina, Mecklenburg, Germany, Italy, Norway—1875 Federal Census [Part F], Panamá, Slovensko, and Venezuela
Find My Past TV Series As you know by now the TV series Who Do You Think You Are? in the US has been cancelled. However, genealogy themed television in the UK seems to continue to thrive. According to an article on the UKTV website called “UKTV signs deal with Brightsolid for second series of AFP Find My Past on Yesterday”
My Heritage On June 11, 2012: MyHeritage held an international online press conference and announced that it has reached the milestone of one billion profiles. The billion individuals in nearly 23 million family trees, created by the millions of families using MyHeritage worldwide, constitute a gigantic network for discovering family heritage and connecting to relatives. Read more about it here
MAILBOX: Janelle Collins in Australia: “Thanks to your podcast on creating a Google blog I’ve started one of my own! … Do I need to have my ancestors’ names in the blog title rather than in the text of the post itself for a search to bring up my blog post?” “Also, LOVED the 10 Minutes More song...Do you know if there are lyrics available so I can show it to my husband to read instead? Many thanks for all your hard work in making so many podcasts. I listen to them daily while I drive to college and back most days.” Lisa’s Answer: Congratulations on your blog! When it comes to optimizing your blog for search, you want keywords included that other genealogists will be searching for. So include them when possible in both the title and the body of the blog post. Consider also adding location names or other significant keywords that people will be looking for, and links to relevant websites. You can find lyrics on the Genealogy Widower Facebook fan page. Alvie in Florida: “I just got back from my morning bike ride - usually an hour - and I enjoyed listening to your interview with Dr. Gates. He is such a fascinating man. Of course, I would never take away from the whole the fact that your interview skills played an enormous role in eliciting the right responses. You were keenly aware of your audience and their desires. Thank you for this fantastic podcast.” Richard in Sacramento, CA: “I was wondering when someone would do it, and you did. Thanks. As all of the various genealogy blogs concerned themselves for three years with “Who Do You Think You Are”, Henry Louis Gates Jr. competed against two of those years. In both cases, I personally believe that he did a much better job than the NBC series.” Jay in Brisbane, Australia is New to Genealogy: "I really want to thank you for your show. Not only have I found each and every episode informative and inspiring (and, yes, I've downloaded every single episode in iTunes!), helping me get starting growing my fledgling family tree, but you've also inspired me to start a blog to document my efforts and share the stories I discover." If you are new to genealogy like Jay is, listen to my Family History: Genealogy Made Easy podcast. If you haven't already discovered it, you've got another 46 episodes ahead of you. :-)
Also New to Genealogy From Ricky: “I got totally hooked on Genealogy research this past January. In this short amount of time, I have gained A LOT of information and documents. I have listened to your podcasts. ALL of the Family History Made Easy, ALL of the Genealogy Gems and now I've started the Family Tree Magazine podcasts. I just can't get enough. I've subscribed to GG and FTM on iTunes, and I am a Premium GG subscriber. Now that I'm learning how I SHOULD HAVE been doing my research, I have a question. Should I, STOP and go back and try to do good source citations to all of the information I currently have??? Thank your for your advice.” Lisa’s Answer: The answer is yes. However, all though it sounds like a lot of work, you'll actually benefit not only by verifying all of the data and getting it sourced properly (which will pay off big dividends in the long run) but all genealogists experience new finds and insights when revisiting sources. You know more than you did when you first got the information, and that helps you see things in a new light. Find-A-Grave Shocker from Roxanne in Vancouver, British Columbia: “Yesterday I put onto Find-A-Grave the details of my dad's cousin's grave in California. I was able to include the grave's exact location as I received that information a few years back from the cemetery office….I kid you not but I received a "success" email from Find-A-Grave within 1/2 hour. I couldn't believe it, is someone playing a game and put something else there? I clicked the link and oh my gosh, there was the picture of the headstone and even more exciting was that the cousin's wife shared the same headstone.” GEM: Interview with Linda Chavez
A Key to Genealogy Brick Walls Before I wrap up this episode I wanted to share something that happened to me the other day, and the lesson it taught me about genealogy that I think we can all benefit from. A few weeks ago my youngest daughter Hannah came home for a few weeks break when the college term ended. Bill and I and Lacey and Hannah went out shopping on a Saturday afternoon, and when we go to the second store Hannah wasn’t feeling very well so she said she was just going to wait in the car. So I handed her the car keys, and we all went inside to finish our final errand. Read the rest of my story here. |
Mon, 11 June 2012
June 11, 2012 Episode 134: You asked for it! Here's a blast from the past: Episodes 1 & 2 of the Genealogy Gems Podcast! Episode 01 February 25, 2007 by Lisa Louise Cooke My goal in creating this podcast is to provide you with inspiration and innovation to help you get the most of out your research time. There's never enough time to work on your family tree, is there? So when you have some precious moments to dig into your roots, you want to be mining gold nuggets, not dead ends. Genealogy Gem: Google.com allows you to restrict search results to a specific website. 1 - Go to your favorite genealogy website You will receive search results just like a regular Google search, except these results show only pages where your keyword appears in the website you chose to search, rather than every website on the internet! Believe me, once you use this gem, you will never go back to slogging through hundreds of pages that have nothing to do with your family. Try it today! I hope you'll subscribe to this podcast so you won't miss a single gem packed episode. Email me with feedback, suggestions, and questions.
Start with what you know. Then talk to your oldest relatives first before you lose them.
Transcription is worth it! One of my inspirations: the autobiography of my husband's grandfather Raymond Harry Cooke born March 6, 1894 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. This journal led to the discovery of the following photograph... The Rose Theatre Staff in 1914 (Material courtesy of the City of Regina Archives":
Bottom left corner: Raymond Harry Cooke. To his upper right, Miss Belle Osborne. They later married, and remained so for over 50 years. Please email feedback and questions. Be sure to let me know how you heard about the podcast. |
Sat, 19 May 2012
May 19, 2012 Discover what Dr. Henry Louis Gates hope to convey in the final episode of his series Finding Your Roots. NEWS: I just returned from NGS and had a chance to visit with many listeners including: Lisa Lisson of the Are You My Cousin? blog www.areyoumycousin-Lisa.blogspot.com and Debra writes the Deb’s Research blog www.debsresearch.blogspot.com I also taught classes while there. My first class was on using the iPad for Genealogy, and while I think the students learned a lot, I know I certainly did. Folks were coming up to me throughout the conference sharing their favorite apps and tricks: . Great app for the Kids: Talking Tom Cat (Android) GEM: App Jumping If you have an iPad, you probably find yourself using a couple of different apps at a time. When you are in an app, just use four fingers and swipe side to side to jump from app to app that you currently have open. For this to work you need to make sure that you have “Multi-tasking Gestures” activated under the “General” tab in your Settings. GEM: Four Finger Swipe Now as you are doing the Four Finger Swipe you’ll probably notice that you have some apps open that you no longer need open, and if they are open they are taking up battery resources. It’s a good idea to close these down, which is more than just pressing the HOME button to get out of the app. Use four fingers and swipe from bottom to top and this will reveal a horizontal line of the apps you have open. Press and hold one of the apps to start them all shaking and a minus sign will appear on each. Press the minus sign on each app you are not currently using to close them. NGS 2013 The 2013 NGS Family History Conference, Building New Bridges, will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, from 8–11 May 2013. The conference hotel and venue will be the LVH−Las Vegas Hotel & Casino (formerly known as the Las Vegas Hilton). To ensure a reservation, you can reserve accommodations now and be sure to request the NGS conference rate when making a reservation. Call the Hilton for reservations at 1-800-635-7711 or go online at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/accommodations. NEWS: Ancestry publishes collection of WWII Cadet Nursing Corp Files New National Archives Video Gives an Inside Look at Civil War Widow’s Pension Digitization Project 1940 Census Update from FamilySearch
GEM: Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. What does it mean to be Latino? On May 19, 2012, the season finale of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the PBS TV series that explores race and identity through the genealogy of some of America’s best-known personalities, seeks to answer that question. Through the family histories of actors Michelle Rodriguez and Adrian Grenier, and Linda Chavez, an author, syndicated newspaper columnist and political analyst for FOX News, viewers will discover that Latino identity emerged from the tangled histories of European, Native-American and African peoples. The three subjects of Sunday’s episode all share Spanish colonial roots, yet each views their identity very differently: as Native American, Puerto Rican, Dominican or simply Latino. At the helm of this series is Henry Louis Gates Jr. He holds a Ph.D. in English Literature, and is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University, as well as the director of the W.E.B Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. He’s best known for PBS productions like African American Lives, Oprah’s Roots, and African American Lives 2. This week I was fortunate to grab some time with this very busy man to talk about the final episode of this newest series, Finding Your Roots.
I hope you will join me at the Southern California Genealogical Society Writer’s Workshop, and Jamboree June 7-10, 2012 in Burbank California. I’ll be there teaching several classes, some of which are brand new, and I would love to see you there. It’s not too late to register. Click here for all the details. Sign up for my free Genealogy Gems newsletter. If you do you’ll receive my free ebook 5 Fabulous Google Search Strategies for the Family Historian absolutely free, and that’s a sweet deal indeed! |
Thu, 3 May 2012
Published May 3, 2012 Decipher your ancestor’s head gear with Maureen Taylor (AKA The Photo Detective) with tips from her new book Bonnets and Hats. And then grab your spouse for a genealogical musical number. NEWS: Thanks for the Shout Outs: Branching Out Through the Years Going the Extra Yad by Emily Garber Cooke-ing at the Arizona Family History Expo, 20-21 Jan 2012 Size Doesn’t Matter at the Jen on Gen blog
FamilySearch Update The 1940 U.S. census indexing project was launched this April as part of a broad online community effort.
- Over 85,000 volunteers have already completed 20 percent of the census project. - A record number of active indexers used the program in a single day—34,947 volunteers. - In one day more than 3.2 million records were indexed and 1.5 million were arbitrated. Recently Completed Projects The Genealogy Gems News Blog Third most popular social networking Deleted Scenes from Rob Lowe’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? MAILBOX: Sterling is lucky to have old family photos but needs some help preserving them. He writes: “I've become a regular listener of your Genealogy Gems podcast and I find that I'm enjoying it as much as any of the NPR radio shows that are my listening mainstays. I've learned so much from listening to you over the past few months and I'm deeply grateful.
Family Tree Magazine article / answer Sally also writes: The scrapbook format is difficult to process because of the different elements from which it is made. The adhesive may be water soluble and simple to soak off. Try to isolate a leaf of the book with some plastic sheeting (i.e. place a piece of plastic under the leaf to avoid damaging the leaf below). Place a damp piece of blotting paper over one of the newspaper clippings under a light weight. Leave it for about twenty minutes then very carefully, using a spatula, lift the newspaper from the leaf. Place the newspaper clipping between two pieces of dry blotting paper to dry." Thanks to Sally Jacobs the Practical Archivist. You can get lots more greats preservation advice from her at www.practicalarchivist.com Swedish TV Series: Line in Denmark wrote in again to give us an update on a popular Swedish TV show about family history: “I have some exiting news about the Swedish tv show that I mentioned in my last email. "Everything for Sweden." On this link they are looking for new contestants for the second season! “I have taken up your advice on contacting long lost family members. I still don't have the courage to phone them, but instead contacting them on e-mail. So far it has been a big success. I would never have done it if I hadn't listened to your show. So thanks! Love your podcasts - please keep on making them!” Beverly Loves the Podcast: “I'm a relatively new listener and premium member. I was bitten by the genealogy bug when I was about 12 years old and now I'm a grandmother. I've been calling myself a reformed genealogist because the "bug" has been dormant for a while…Thank you for all you share with your listeners. You have a real gift for communicating in a clear and personable way. I look forward to all your gems I have yet to uncover.”
Get your free audio book and over 40,000 audio book titles to choose from at Audible: http://www.audiblepodcast.com/gems
GEM: Interview with The Photo Detective Maureen Taylor, author of the book Bonnets and Hats $4.00 off discount coupon for Genealogy Gems Podcast listeners: FJH889FZ GEM: The Genealogy Widower You can download a free copy of Michael Stewart’s song the Genealogy Widower here. |
Thu, 26 April 2012
April 26, 2012 NEWS: The big news is Ancestry.com’s acquisition of Archives.com Read all about it at the Genealogy Gems News Blog Jamboree Highlight Early Bird Registration Ends 4/30/12 – Register Now My Classes: TH-001 - Conversation with the Author: Steve Luxenberg and Annie's Ghosts MAILBOX: Ashley discovers the important of citing her genealogy sources: I wanted to drop you a note to express my deepest thanks for all of the work that you put into the podcast. I'm just shy of 30 years old and I've been working on my family tree since I was about 15, but even after all of that work, I'm still learning something new every day! Jack in Newport News, Va wants to know what do to with the folks who may or may not be ancestors: “We all are searching for the "right" people but sometimes we find, or seemingly find, the "wrong" people. With the massive number of records on-line these days, it seems quite easy to find someone with the right name and age-range and, often even close to the right area. Sometimes I can eliminate a find based on some fact, but often there’s less certainty. What is the suggested best practice for handing a wrong, or possibly wrong, person/fact?” This is a good question and one we all face at some point. In the end I think it comes down to two things: 1. What works best for you 2. And however you decide to handle it, do it consistently! My personal preference is to make notes in the correct person. If there is no "correct" person in my database, then I will create an "unknown" person in that spot and start adding my finds to that profile, even if it's just in the notes section, so that it's all in one place. It's critical to cite your sources on ALL data along the way so that you know where it came from and you can find it again. Challe needs help saving old books: “What does one do to get the information out to the next generation that might not have access to these books? How do you continue the work without reinventing the wheel of all the research that they did? How do you make corrections if needed? I am concerned that the information will be lost and I am unsure as to what to do about it.” Lisa’s Answer: I turned to my friend and book publisher Leland Meitzler owner of Family Roots Publishing at www.familyrootspublishing.com, for an answer to your question and here’s what he said: “This is an ongoing conundrum, and a question that's not easily answered. The bottom line is that the person should contact the next of kin, and attempt to buy the copyright, or at least the publication rights - just as a publisher would do. And it needs to be in writing. Failing that, use the "data" within a succeeding publication, being very careful to obtain, and cite the original sources, and if those are not available, cite the book and author without copying word for word what they published. Honestly, it's tricky, and not something I'd want to attempt. If the book was published prior to 1923, all this is not an issue. The item is in the public domain. If published after that date, but before 1978, there's still a good chance that the book may be out of copyright, if the author didn't renew. After January 1, 1978, the copyright is good for the authors lifetime, plus 70 years. Actually, it's even more complicated than that, but that's the basics.” Leland recommends: Carmack's Guide to Copyright & Contracts
GEM: The Defective, Dependent and Delinquint Special Census of 1880 with Jana Broglin, CG, OGSF The DDD: Supplemental Schedules 1 through 7 Download Jana's pdf "Using the 1880 DDD Census". A special thank you to Jana for making this available! U.S. Federal Census – 1880 Schedules of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes at Ancestry Visit Jana’s Website: http://www.janabroglin.com |
Mon, 16 April 2012
Published April 16, 2012 In this episode learn more about APG, find out what’s new with RootsMagic 5, and get started searching the 1940 census. NEWS: Diane Haddad and I just spent some time on the Family Tree Magazine podcast going over everything that’s been happening with the release of the 1940 census. Diane is the Managing Editor of Family Tree Magazine and writes the Genealogy Insider blog, and she’s been doing a terrific job covering the records release, indexing efforts and early finds in the 1940 census. You can hear the entire April episode of the Family Tree Magazine podcast at www.familytreemagazine.com/podcast And you can read more about it my article called Genealogy Just Got More Exciting! The 1940 Census is Here at the Genealogy Gems News Blog. where you can read about the official opening ceremony at the National Archives and check out a really cool infographic put out by Archives.com that guides you through the process of finding your relatives in the 1940 census before the index is finished and released. Because there isn’t a searchable name index yet, you’ll need to follow a simple three step process: #1 Write down where you ancestor lived. You can ask older references, check old city directories, voters registrations, previous census and the like to come up with a pretty reliable list. #2 Go to 1940census.archives.gov Enter your family’s location to find their enumeration district. This is key to finding them without a published index. #3 Use the Census Maps to narrow your results #4 Enter the enumeration district number to view the image Who Do You Think You Are? on NBC If you’ve been enjoying the new season of the TV series Who Do You Think You Are? on NBC, then you’re really going to enjoy the deleted scenes videos I have for you on the Genealogy Gems News blog.
Parks and Recreation Star Discovers His Family History in Who Do You Think You Are? Rob Lowe National Archives National Archives Video Offers Peek Inside Preservation Lab
Also part of that series is another new video that the National Archives released on … Titanic at the National Archives – 100 Years New Free RootsMagic Webinars Announced RootsMagic has released Version 5. At the Ohio Genealogical Society conference in Cleveland I got a chance to sit down with Bruce Bruzbee, the President of RootsMagic and he tells us what’s new. It was so great to have a chance to sit down with Bruce and hear about all the upgrades, and he mentioned the free webinar series that they’ve been doing, and all of those have been recorded and are on their website at RootsMagic.com Installing and Upgrading RootsMagic 5 New Media Tagging in RootsMagic 5 New Source and Citation Features in RootsMagic 5 New Research Logs and Manager in RootsMagic 5 New Timeline View in RootsMagic 5 Installing and Upgrading Personal Historian 2 Apr 19 - New County Check in RootsMagic 5 Apr 26 - New Reports and Options in RootsMagic 5 To sign up for the free webinars, visit the webinar page at: http://www.rootsmagic.com/webinars Read RootsMagic Update Released and Free WebinarThanks for the Shout Outs: Genealogy Gems Premium Podcasts and the iPad by Jenna, Desparately Seeking Surnames Blog A blog post about genealogy books and their authors By: Carolyn L. Barkley, Genealogy and Family History Blog How to Recover from a Genealogy Slump From Eylse’s Genealogy Blog MAILBOX: From Jean: "Thank you so much for letting me be a gem!". I loved how you played the "Cooke's reel to reel version and then the iTunes version of "Thine Alone". I definitely spent a lot of time talking with myself and debating whether I had the nerve to send that email! I know you've always said that almost all contacts with genealogists are extremely rewarding, but this was just about my first attempt at communication. I am so delighted that it solved your mystery! …You have a marvelous gift for making all of us feel special, and you've certainly helped me get even more motivated to explore my family history, thanks again.” From the Voice Mail Line: Lisa Recommends: Cite your sources! Send large files for free with www.yousendit.com Share large files for free with www.dropbox.com GEM: Interview with Kenyatta Berry, President of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) Kenyatta D. Berry is a lawyer, businesswoman and genealogist with over 15 years experience in genealogy research and writing. A strategic and tactical professional with over twelve years progressive experience in Business Development, Marketing, Sales, Operations, Product Marketing and Law. Kenyatta is looking forward to helping APG continue to grow as an organization and serve the needs of professional genealogists worldwide. Her research focus includes African American genealogy, Virginia genealogy, Land records and House Histories. Ms. Berry is a member of the Council Member of the Corporation for the New England Historical Genealogical Society. She has been featured in Jet Magazine, on XM Satellite radio and a researcher for NBC Dateline and WETV. |
Thu, 22 March 2012
Published March 22, 2012 Genealogy Gems Book Club: Our featured book is Running Away to Home by Jennifer Wilson. In this book, Jennifer takes us on a once and a lifetime genealogical journey where she walked in her ancestors shoes and lived among their descendants. Get the Book at Amazon: and help support the free Genealogy Gems Podcast. Thank You! Visit Jennifer Wilson’s website: http://www.jennifer-wilson.com About Jennifer: Jennifer Wilson has been writing for 15 years for folks like Esquire, National Geographic Traveler, Better Homes & Gardens, Traditional Home, Budget Travel, AAA Living, Parents, Midwest Living, Iowa Outdoors, the Chicago Tribune, the St. Paul Pioneer-Press, (the dearly departed) Gourmet and many others. SPECIAL VIDEO CONTENT: watch on The Genealogy Gems YouTube Channel
Genealogy Gems App Users will find a special video about the interview as bonus content for episode 129. Get the app for iPhone / iPad Get the Android App at Amazon (Search "Genealogy Gems") If you enjoyed this episode and the video, please do me a favor and click the thumbs up button for the video at YouTube, you’ll find it right under the video. And you’ll also find ways there on Youtube to share the video through Facebook and Twitter for all you Tweeters out there. Thank you for sharing! Special announcement Plan on attending the Southern California Genealogical Writer’s Conference June 7, and Genealogy Jamboree June 8-10, 2012. On June 7 Steve Luxenberg and I will be kicking off the Writer’s Conference with a very special “Conversation with the Author” session. Steve will join me on stage to sit down for an in depth discussion about Annie’s Ghosts and the job of crafting such a compelling family history story. Then throughout the writer’s conference Steve will be teaching a variety of classes to help genealogist’s write their family’s stories. It’s an incredible opportunity to learn from the best! I will also be teaching 4 additional classes throughout the conference weekend, so I certainly hope that you will join us there for an amazing weekend at Jamboree! Click here for more information on Jamboree. |
Fri, 9 March 2012
Published March 9, 2011 Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2012 Mark Olsen of MyHeritage / World Vital Records WDYTYA recap at the MyHeritage blog Else Churchill and her team from the Society of Genealogists in the UK really do a brilliant job organizing the classes for Who Do You Think You Are? A Day Just for Me South Davis Family History Fair NEWS: Watch recorded presentations from RootsTech 2012 I’m honored that my Genealogy Podcasts and Blogs 101 class is included in the group. I really enjoyed introducing more people to podcasts and blogs I’ve heard from a lot of folks that this really opened their eyes to a medium they didn’t realize was out there for them to enjoy for free. Debbie writes: “Wow. All I can say is Wow. I am a 52 year old mother of 4 in Bountiful, Utah. I have been watching the RootsTech Live presentations online and have just finished watching yours. It was amazing and inspiring. I consider myself somewhat tech savvy but have veered away from Blogs. (Just the sound of the word Blog infers something that will weigh you down.) But after your presentation I am anxious to try iGoogle and add blogs and podcasts tailored to my interests. I had no idea. And thanks for pointing out the Google blog search option. All the genealogy-focused search options now available through Google are exciting. I am hopeful you will add all your RootsTech presentations to your podcasts. They sound fascinating.” And during that presentation I encouraged viewers to get their own genealogy blog started so that they can get information out there that might help them connect with other genealogists researching the same family line. And Carol wrote me shortly after the conference to let me know that she did just that! She writes: Marlene also wrote in about RootsTech. She says: “The Rootstech Conference was so awesome. I learned so much about podcasts, I am willing to try it out. But first I am the craft queen, especially when it comes to crafting my family history. The last day of the Rootstech I had to leave early. I didn’t get to your last class that I had waited so long for. Do you have a podcast of the steps for creating the crafts you make with your family history?? I see the instructions, but I wanted to watch you in action. p.s. Thanks so much for your signed book on find family through newspapers. I can’t wait to get started. Marlene” Genealogy Gems YouTube channel: Family History Christmas Stocking Project Part 1 And the 4 part Family History Christmas Wreath series Also, several projects discussed in class are featured in my book "Genealogy Gems" available at my Lulu Store. MAILBOX: Name That Tune - Family History Mystery Solved! Hi Lisa, I love your podcasts, but I'm still catching up!! Back in 2009. you ran a series of "Name that Tune" challenges, which I absolutely loved, I think I have old time music in my DNA. It took me a day to recognize the "Missouri Waltz," I knew "The Dark Town Strutters Ball" right away; when I was little I named my doll "Honey" and always thought of those first lines "I'll be down to get you in a taxi, Honey...", I knew "I'll see you in my dreams" don't know if you are old enough to recall "Sing along with Mitch" when it was on TV, but we had all Mitch Miller's Sing Along albums and "I'll See you in my dreams" was among them. Okay, so that brings me to the reason for this email. In Episode 56, you celebrated "I'll See you in my dreams" and then played a brief 30 seconds of another tune, it was a violin instrumental. Well as I said I've listened up to 59 and I've never heard the result for that last tune. I think it may be "Thine Alone" by Victor Herbert. It was from the operetta "Eileen". Herbert was born in Ireland and emigrated to America, his more famous songs include "Ah Sweet Mystery of Life" and "The March of the Toys" from "Babes in Toyland" but he seems to have written hundreds of songs. You had a loyal listener named "Jeannie" who called you with the names of the first 4 songs, I laughed at the similarity in our names, but anyway, I'm going crazy, did anyone else ever recognize that song? If you go to iTunes, there is a good instrumental version of "Thine Alone" on the Album "The Music of Victor Herbert & Sigmund Romberg" performed by George Melchrino. It is a lovely song. I can't tell you how many wonderful memories those songs gave me!! Yes, I am working on my Family History and really enjoy all your podcasts, videos, blogs and advice. I did finish your Family History: Genealogy Made Easy podcast series, got to get to work on the Family Tree Magazine Podcast too!! Sue Edminster – “Robert Arbuckle Handwriting Analysis” Paula really is amazing and if you’d like to learn more about her and handwriting analysis head over to paulasassi.com GEM: Interview with Chris van der Kuyl, CEO of brightsolid brightsolid companies: |
Tue, 21 February 2012
Published Feb 21, 2012 In this episode you'll hear from UK presenter and historian Nick Barratt.
GEM: The Story@Home Conference Organizer Carol Rice tells us about the first ever Story@Home conference being held March 9 & 10, 2012 in Salt Lake City at Temple Square GEM: Listener Betty Wynn Betty talks about how she uses my book The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox. The Genealogy Gems Podcast app GEM: Interview with Nick Barratt http://www.nickbarratt.co.uk/ “Dr Nick Barratt obtained a PhD in history from King's College London in 1996, editing the 1225 Exchequer pipe roll and several Exchequer receipt rolls from the 1220s when the National Archives: Public Record Office maintained a site at Chancery Lane. On joining the National Archives: Public Record Office at Kew later the same year as a reader adviser. Nick started work in television whilst working at the BBC as a specialist archive researcher for a number of programmes. His valuable links to the largest archival institutions in the country and expertise helped lay the foundation of the network he has in place today. This network allows Nick and his team of researchers to effectively complete projects in any archive across the country.” |
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The Genealogy Gems Podcast with Lisa Louise Cooke - Your Family History Show (podcasts) The Genealogy Gems Podcast with Lisa Louise Cooke - Your Family History Show
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