Genealogy Gems - Your Family History Channel

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 161 with Lisa Louise Cooke Download the Free App www.GenealogyGems.com I was so impressed with Yngve Nedreb, the Chief archivist at Riksarkivet (National Archives of Norway) who I recently interviewed for the Family Tree Magazine podcast that I'm publishing an extended version of that interview here on the Genealogy Gems Podcast. This is a "must hear" for those with Norwegian heritage. In this episode you'll also hear from a fellow listener and get a chance to see his family history tour that he created in Google Earth using the techniques I teach in the Google Earth for Genealogy video CD series. And we'll get a taste of the history of coffee. Linda from Ventura Seminar writes in about her recent success: I just loved your presentation Saturday at the Ventura Genealogy Seminar. I learned so much and feel very enthused to really get to work on all this. In fact I was so encouraged I got brave and called a telephone number that I had found for a possible 1st cousin, once removed. And surprise, it was him and we had a lovely 30-minute conversation and I'm going to send him information and he and his wife invited me to Florida to visit!! How about that. It was so exciting, still haven't gotten over it. Linda said that she was encouraged enough to get brave and make that telephone call. That can be a pretty scary thing. We all have things that we need a bit of bravery to do. And that brings me to an important question that I posed in the most recent edition of the free Genealogy Gems Newsletter. Having you taken a technological RISK lately? This was the key question I posed in the newsletter: Are you fully embracing technology so that you can connect with those that matter to you, both living and in your family tree? There's not as much RISK as you might think. As I always say in my classes: "you can't break it, so go for it and give it a try!" And of course Genealogy Gems is here to help. MAILBOX: Eric shares his Google Earth Family History Tour: This is my most complex Google Earth Project ever. I hope you enjoy it. It's really been a hit with my family. They don't glaze over right away, LOL! Visit Eric's blog to see his tour. After viewing it I couldn't help but wonder if there was video out there. And sure enough I found a few. I'm sure there are more with potential: B17s taking off from Podington: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qVAHmO0AnA Focke-Wulf Fw 190: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdPv0h5Kpm4 YouTube video update: If you've had trouble embedding videos recently in your own family history tours, or genealogy blog, it's actually YouTube that is causing the problem. If you look closely at the YouTube embed code they are (for some unknown reason) leaving off the "http:" and so the code doesn't work. Copy and paste the embed code into a Google Earth placemark and then correct the URL so it is complete and it will work for you. (Do note though that the person who uploaded the video can opt not to allow it to be embedded. If that's the case, there will be a statement on the video page) A Different Kind of Map: Mapping Arlington Cemetery Cameron is Looking for Death Certificates I am 23 year old recent graduate of nursing school and a huge fan of your Genealogy Gems podcast. I've been researching my family history for about 5 years off and on, and I've discovered more than I've ever imagined. I've been listening two your show for about 3 months now after I discovered it, and I appreciate all of the helpful tips. However, I still have a little problem. I can't seem to find the maiden name of one of my recent ancestors Sallie Mosley. She was born in 1863, I assume in Emanuel County, Georgia. She married James Mosley in the 1880's. I know that the courthouse in Emanuel county burned several times, so that could be why I can't find a marriage record. I have found a death certificate on Ancestry, but isn't very detailed unless you order the certificate. If I visited the courthouse, could they possible dig up a detailed death certificate? From Lisa: I ran a quick Google search and found the following on the Emanuel County, Georgia records site: "Death certificates are open to the public. You must be a member of the immediate family to acquire a death certificate with the cause of death. Our Death certificates on the local level begin at 1927 and back to 1917 in our state office." So depending on when she died they may be able to be of help. I would also recommend contacting local historical and genealogical societies. They often have the inside scoop on what's available and how to access it locally. A quick Google search should help you make contact. Run the search in Google Earth and it will plot them out for you on the map! GEM: Norwegian Genealogy and the National Archives of Norway One of the shining stars on...

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 123 with Lisa Louise Cooke Download the FREE app www.GenealogyGems.com Published Dec 10, 2011 This Sha Sha has been busily working to finish making Davy's birthday present since his big birthday number 2 is coming up on Dec. 15. In Genealogy Gems Podcast episode #119 I told how I decided to make Davy a Blues Clues card table playhouse. You remember throwing a blanket over a card table when you were a kid and it became a play house on a rainy day, right? Well this one was a bit challenging because there is no pattern for a Blue's Clues playhouse so I just made it up as I went along. But thanks to the Internet and my trusty iPad I was able to come up with something that looks pretty close to the real deal. Here are a few snapshots of the playhouse. And it doesn't just look like Blue's house from the outside, but I lined the panels with fabric that looks like the wallpaper in her house, and even sewed some features in felt like the table and telephone and the framed picture of the felt people on the wall. You know to me what we are doing today with our kids and grand kids and in some cases great grand kids is just as important as researching our family history and in fact it's more important! Creating memories with our loved ones is creating family history right now. And to me there's nothing more important than that. Get your free audio book and over 40,000 audio book titles to choose from at Audible: http://www.audiblepodcast.com/gems Audiobook tItles mentioned in this episode: At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson NEWS: Genealogy Gems Premium Members have been enjoying episodes on the Premium podcast lately covering how to use the iPad and other tablets out there in the marketplace for our family history. New Ancestry App Updates Ancestry.com has a popular free app that lets you take your Ancestry.com family tree with you on your iPad. The newest version of the app now includes the shakey Leaf Hints that you also see on their website. Plus there is a simple merge tool that helps you quickly add new relatives and information to your family tree. It also allows you to automatically adds information to photos, allows you to change your tree privacy settings, adds an integrated user feedback support feature, and is faster and more stable than previous versions. Click the add below for the free Ancestry app and to search the entire iTunes App Store. (Thanks for using our links!) New Free Podcasts by National Archives Records Administration in iTunes U The Civil War podcast World War II in the News video podcast features WWII news reels Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Update for Those Seeking Family History Documents New imagery on Google Earth New high resolution aerial images are available in Google Earth in the U.S.:Bellingham, WA; Bemidji, MN; Brookings, SD; Davenport, IA; Emporia, KS; Grinnel, IA; Idaho Falls, ID; Klamamth Falls, OR; Lawrence, KS; Lovell, WY; Nephi, UT; Pittsfield, MA; Portland, OR; San Francisco Peninsula, CA; Scottsbluff, NE; Seattle, WA; St Louis, MO; Terre Haute, IN; Wasco, OR; Williston, ND; Wolf Point, MT Irish Records FindMyPast.ie has recently announced that they have launched exclusive access to the Irish Prison Registers 1790-1920. The collection is made up of over 3.5 million entries across 130,000 pages. New Library and Archives Canada Blog Provides useful tips and recommend tools to help you discover your documentary heritage and navigate the LAC website. Lisa's Book Featured in Online Magazine The Genealogist's Google Toolbox was featured in the most recent issue of Shelf Unbound magazine. (p.40) A big thank you to all of you who have bought the book because those purchases I think helped bring it to the attention of a non-genealogy publication! My Presentation Schedule for 2013 Feb 2 & 4 RootsTech 2012, Salt Lake City, UT We'll be celebrating the 5 year anniversary of The Genealogy Gems Podcast! FamilySearch has just announced that the RootsTech 2012 Developer Challenge contest. RootsTech will reward developers who introduce the most innovative new concepts to family history with $10,000 in cash rewards and increased visibility. Feb 24-26 Who Do You Think You Are Live! In London. Presenting Harness the Power of Google Earth for Your Family History and Google Search Strategies for the Family Historian. And I am very excited to have been invited to be part of...

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 120 with Lisa Louise Cooke I hope you enjoy this episode of the free Genealogy Gems Podcast! NOTES: To download the show notes with all the items and websites I discuss, go to https://lisalouisecooke.com/podcasts and click on the link for this episode number. SUBSCRIBE: Will you please do me a favor? Please click the red 'SUBSCRIBE" button here on our channel. That helps us continue to deliver these free podcast episodes and videos to you. Thanks! GET MY APP: Get my Genealogy Gems Podcast app in your favorite app store to listen from your mobile device. Visit https://lisalouisecooke.com/get-app for more information. GET MORE: Did you like this episode? Then you'll LOVE being a Genealogy Gems eLearning Premium Member! Visit https://lisalouisecooke.com/premium-membership/ for more information. BOOKS: Want to get your own copy of books by me, Lisa Louise Cooke? Visit my store at https://www.shopgenealogygems.com Thanks for listening friend, I'll talk to you soon! Lisa

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 166 with Lisa Louise Cooke I've been enjoying time at home getting the new house decorated. I have a wonderful sort of wall niche area in the living room that is perfect for a family history display, so the wheels are turning on what I want to do there. I've been pinning lots of ideas on Pinterest for that. And of course I'm getting in my time with my grandsons Davy and Joey. Now that Joey is a year and a half and running all over the place, it's just playtime bedlam at Sha Sha's house. I'll be speaking in Round Rock, TX at the Williamson County Genealogical SocietyHow to Reopen and Work a Genealogical Cold Case But soon May will be here and that means I'll be heading to the National Genealogical Society Conference in Richmond Virginia. And we are going to do something very unique at NGS this year. In addition to my three scheduled presentations, we've got ourselves some extra booth space this year, and I'll be giving what we are calling Outside the Box Sessions. You know how it is, you head to a big conference, and you're running for one 1 hour session to the next. And they are usually pretty big classrooms. Well, we are going to getting outside of that box, and holding 30 minute sessions in our booth area on the topics you've told me you want most. As presenters we don't get to have the final say on which of our presentations is selected for the main conference, so it's really exciting to have this unique way of offering the topics you ask us for. It's a smaller intimate setting, the sessions will be packed with tips you can start using right away, all participants will get a free ebook of the handouts for those quickie sessions, we'll have prizes and you'll even have some treats to nibble on. I am really excited about doing this, and I think you'll find it refreshing, fun and informative. I'll doing four sessions one each day of the conference Ancestral Time Travel with Google Earth Evernote Quick Tips for Genealogists Tablet Tips and Tricks for Genealogists Google Search Strategies And, I've invited two of my dearest friends, Janet Hovorka of Family Chartmasters, and The Photo Detective Maureen Taylor to join me and present some of their most popular topics! So in all, you'll have a dozen 12; hour sessions to choose from to reinvigorate your genealogy research. If you want to get outside the box, come hand out with us, get the ebook, nibble on some treats and get away from the huge crowds. Outside the Box Session Schedule: WEDNESDAY 10:00 Start Organizing Your Photos Today (Maureen Taylor)12:30 Fun Family History Activities for the Youth at Your Family Reunion (Janet Hovorka)1:30 Ancestral Time Travel with Google Earth (Lisa Louise Cooke)3:00 3 Family History Presentations that Will Wow Your Family Using Prezi (Janet Hovorka) THURSDAY12:30 Evernote Quick Tips for Genealogists (Lisa Louise Cooke)1:30 10 Simple and Engaging Ways to Teach Your Family About Their Past (Janet Hovorka)3:30 Hairsteria and Mad as a Hatter Tips for Dating Photos (Maureen Taylor) FRIDAY12:30 Tablet Tips and Tricks for Genealogists (Lisa Louise Cooke)1:30 Celebrate the 175th Anniversary of the Daguerreotype and 5 Things You Need to Know About Them (Maureen Taylor)3:30 Beautiful Charts to Show Off Your Family History (Janet Hovorka) SATURDAY10:00 FaceOff: Facial Matching Software (Maureen Taylor)11:00 Google Search Strategies (Lisa Louise Cooke) New Videos at the Genealogy Gems YouTube Channel: Genealogy Crowdsourcing: 4 Strategies and 4 Tips for Your Brick Wall! with Drew Smith A Sneak Peek at What Will be Included in the Future FamilySearch App with Brian Edwards 5 Tools for Paying it Forward in Genealogy With Michael Cassara A conversation with long time Genealogy Gems listener Michael Cassara who presented a session at RootsTech this year and I thought it was so interesting I asked him to sit down with me to talk more about it. Michael shares one of the ways that he likes to give back to the genealogy community. He buys old inexpensive photographs and does his best to track down family members today and get those ancestors back in to the hands of their families. And he shares some of techniques he uses to do that which you could certainly use in your own family history research. MJ watched the video and left this comment: I sooo agree with the karma of sharing our genealogy and our photos. I love the Find a Grave / BillionGrave photo idea. And I know myself about good karma. I found some studio photos of a distant relative, contacted a direct descendant and sent the photos to him. He wrote back and said "my Dad looks just like his grandmother, and never knew it before! And what a gift for my son." A few weeks later a postcard...

In this Blast from the Past episode we are turning the time machine back to May of 2007.  First up is Genealogy Gems Episode #11, first published May 07, 2007, which includes two great gems for you: How to Find Pictures from the Past with Google.com, adn a Family History Decoupage Plate Project. This is easy even for you non-crafters out there and the result is an heirloom quality decorative plate that tells an ancestors story. Then in this double header, Genealogy Gems episode # 12, which was originally published on May 13, 2007  features ancestor educational records and my Top 10 Tips for finding the Graduation Gems in your family history. Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode: #11Original Publish Date: May 07, 2007 GEM #1 – Discover Pictures from the Past with Google One of the easiest ways to find photos on the web is with Google.com.  The ability to focus your search on images is often overlooked.  Let’s go over the basics: Go to google.com Notice the search box at the top of the page Above the box reading left to right you will see the word WEB bolded.  This means that when you enter a word or phrase etc you will be searching everything on the web.  To the right of the word WEB is the word IMAGES.  Click on it -  and it will now be bolded. Now when you enter a word or phrase all of your results will come back as images that Google found on the internet.  This could be photos, drawings, graphics, etc. There are additional “modes” you can search in with Google such as video, news, maps, books, etc. but for right now we’re going to focus on images. To find photos of specific people try putting their first and last names within quotes (i.e. "laura ingalls wilder"). If you've got a bit more time or a really unusual surname, then you could just enter the name and that should get you started. You can also find photos of old items and places from your ancestor’s life such as tombstones, buildings, their hometown, the kind of old car they drove.  If the page containing the full image doesn't come up when you click on the thumbnail, here’s what you can do: Use your mouse to highlight the URL website address that appears below the thumbnail and press Control C on your keyboard to copy the address. Click where it says “WEB” above the Google search box to go back to website searches.  Place your curser in the search box by clicking inside it.  Press control V on your key board and that will paste the URL address into the search box. Click the SEARCH button. The first result or two should be from that website that had the image you wanted. Look at the last line of the result for that website and click on the "cache" link. Now you are looking at a cache version, or in other words an older version of the website, hopefully BEFORE the image was removed or moved. By browsing through this version of the website, you will hopefully find the image you are looking for!   GEM #2 – Mother’s Day Project – Decoupage plate In my book it’s not enough to find wonderful photos on the internet that help tell the story of your family’s past, or have a boxful of old family photos.  It’s sort of like the old riddle “If a tree falls in a forest with no one to hear it, then does it make a sound?”  If a photo is tucked away in a shoe box, is it adding to the value of your research?  Not in my book. Family History is meant to be shared.  However, I believe wholeheartedly that we, the family historian are not the primary “customer” if you will.   I constantly challenge myself to see my family today as my “customer”.  I want the family’s history to be meaningful to them and ignite in them a pride, loyalty and reverence for our family.  So I’m always trying to come up with new ways to share what I’ve found that they will enjoy. Decoupage Photo Plate: Decoupage was a hot craft for women in the early part of the century, and it's definitely gone through resurgence in the last decade. As I mentioned in a previous episode of the podcast, my mom recently brought me a truckload of family heirlooms.  She and my stepdad have taken the plunge to sell their home and travel in a motor home full time.  When I was preparing for this episode, I went looking for the decoupage plate that I made her a couple of years ago for Mother’s Day.  I assumed it was in one of the boxes that she brought me, but I couldn’t find it.  When I asked her about it, she said to me, “I gave you your great grandmother’s tea set, your grandmother’s china, and pretty much everything else I had. But I didn’t give you the plate.  I’m keeping THAT!”  Hearing her say that meant as much to...

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 167 with Lisa Louise Cooke Download the FREE App www.GenealogyGems.com Get ready to lay a foundation in your knowledge of Colonial American genealogy research. Beth Foulk is here to walk us through early immigration to America, Indentured Servitude and Bondage, and the records and resources that can help you locate your ancestors from this time period. But first... NEWS: Lisa's youngest daughter Hannah got married last weekend! NGS 2014 Conference in Richmond VAIn addition to teaching conference classes Lisa teamed up with Maureen Taylor (The Photo Detective) and Janet Hovorka (Family ChartMasters) to provide Genealogy Outside the Box free 30 minute sessions in the exhibit hall. Stay tuned for more announcements of more sessions at future genealogy conferences! New Newspaper CollectionThe National Library of Australia has added an additional 35 historic newspapers to their online collection at http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper. The greatest concentration of newspapers in this latest update is from New South Wales. Most of the new additions cover the date range from about 1875 to 1960, with many in the 1910 to 1945 era. Most of the additions appear to be from small towns. Hat tip to Paul Nauta at FamilySearch MAILBOX: From Chris on Family Relics: "I loved your comments on "most treasure family relic" in the latest podcast. I'm very fortunate to have pictures and artifacts from my mother's side, but unfortunately I know very little about my dad's side and have only a few things. I could relate to the woman whose answer was "nothing". One consolation for me has been a few little things I could find out with just a little digging. I wrote about it on my blog Finding the things I mentioned at least lets me stand in the shoes of my ancestors and imagine life in that place and at that time. It's not as nice as a "relic", but it brings them to life as real people. I think that's important in genealogy as well. Love the podcast!" Judy writes to as a follow up to the Google Earth for Genealogy Webinar I was so excited about your workshop. Legacy presenters are good but you are among their best. In fact I received an email from my friend: After watching today's webinar and seeing the gal search the GLORecords for land patents I tried for William Breeding. S C O R E ! ! ! ! ! I had tried searching for land patents for William Breeding in the past with no success. My great results are due to finally getting confirmation that it is William Jackson Breeding for sure and watching this gal search today. Thanks for the heads up on this webinar!!! Watch Google Earth for Genealogy free here at the Genealogy Gems website. Barbara is Shocked: "I really enjoy your podcasts, and was listening to your latest one when your piece about not so happy memories really struck a chord with me. I recently asked for the file of my Great Uncle from the Australian War Memorial. He was in World War I in France. I found that he had been charged with desertion and sent to goal( (jail)! What a shock, and I don't think many of the family know a lot about it. Reading through the transcript of the court marshal and the history of this time of the war, it was pretty clear he was a young man in shock after seeing several of his fellow soldiers die, who did not know what to do. He got separated from his troop and wandered around for a couple of days until he found another company and was arrested. Later he got TB and this probably shortened his life. A sad story, and during my research, I found that 306 Commonwealth solders were shot for desertion. It is quite a controversial part of our history as (thank goodness) the Australian Army refused to allow any of its soldiers to be executed, and this caused some issues with the English officers. A new law passed on November 8th 2006 and included as part of the Armed Forces Act in the UK has pardoned men in the British and Commonwealth armies who were executed in World War I. The law removes the dishonour with regards to executions on war records but it does not cancel out the sentence of death. I have decided not to put any of the information online, but keep it in the family archives. Anyone in the family who decides to go looking will find it at the war memorial site, but my uncle did not marry or have children, so that does seem to lessen the impact." Barbara also asks for your help: I am trying to track down the family of an Australian sailor from WWI who wrote some lovely postcards. I bought them at a garage sale several years ago, and have only just got around to reading them. I would really love to give them to the family, as they are very touching. I posted about them on my blog. Here is what I know from them: The writer was on...

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 179 with Lisa Louise Cooke Download the FREE App www.GenealogyGems.com Have you ever felt like you got the short end of the genealogy stick when it comes to family heirlooms? Maybe you haven't inherited much in the way of family photos or memorabilia, or maybe you feel like you've tapped out all the potential goodies that are out there to find. In this episode I'll share an email I got from Helen, because she reminds us that you should never say never. I've also got another amazing story about an adoption reunion. And we'll also check in with our Genealogy Gems Book Club Guru Sunny Morton about this quarter's featured book, The Lost Ancestor by Nathan Dylan Goodwin. And of course all kinds of other genealogy news and tips for you. We're going to take all that genealogy and technology noise out there and distill it down into the best of the best, the genealogy gems that you can use. I'm just back from several weeks on the road. Since we last got together in episode 178 I've been to Cape Cod to talk to the Cape Cod Genealogical Society about Time Travel with Google Earth, and all you Genealogy Gems Premium Members have that video class and handout available to you as part of your Premium membership and if you're not a member click Premium in the main menu at genealogygems.com to learn more about that. And then Bill and I headed to Providence, RI where I was the keynote at the NERGC conference. That was my first time ever to New England so it was a real treat. And we teamed up once again with the Photo Detective and Family Chartmasters and held our free Outside the Box mini genealogy sessions in our booth which were very popular. Then I had a 2 day turnaround and Lacey and I were off to Anchorage Alaska to put on an all-day seminar at the Anchorage Genealogical Society. Another great group of genealogists! And Lacey and I added an extra couple of days to explore, and explore we did. We booked a half day ATV tour to explore the National forest outside Anchorage. Now this was before the start of tourist season, so there we are, to gals driving out of town, onto a dirt road and waiting at the meeting spot in the middle of nowhere where we met Bob the Guide. He looked like he was straight out of Duck Dynasty! He showed us how to drive the ATVs, assured us that the bears weren't quite out yet, and then packing his side arm pistol lead us out into the wilderness for 4 & 12; hours of amazing scenery. It was like we had the entire forest to ourselves. This guide would pull over every once and while, whip out a telescopic lens on a tripod and in seconds would zero in on something way over on the mountain across the valley, and he'd say look in there. See that clump of snow with legs, that's a Mountain Goat, or that's a Dall Sheep. It was incredible. We saw moose, and muskrat, the biggest rabbit's I've ever seen in my entire life, which Bob the Guide called bunnies, and he was right, the only thing we never saw was bear. But that was just fine with me and Lacey! So after our mountain safari we flew home and I gave an all-day seminar in my own backyard in Denton, TX, and then Bill and I jumped in the suburban and drove to St. Charles Missouri where I spoke at the National Genealogical Society Conference. St. Charles is just on the other side of the river from St. Louis, and we were pleasantly surprised to find the a quaint little main street. Diahan Southard Your DNA Guide here at Genealogy Gems was with us and Diahan and I drug poor Bill in and out of every foo foo potpourri shop they had when we weren't busy meeting so many of you at the booth or in class. It was a 4 day conference, which is A LOT of genealogy, but we had a blast and again teamed up with Family Chartmasters, The Photo Detective and Family Tree Magazine for an Outside the Box extravaganza of free sessions in the booth. And this time Diahan Southard joined in with sessions on Genetic Genealogy. And all this reminds me of an email I received recently from Shelly. She writes: I am a new listener and new premium member of Genealogy Gems. Thanks for getting me motivated to organize my research and get back into learning my family history. I had never thought about attending a genealogy conference before but listening to your podcasts has gotten me interested in going. There is a conference coming up in less than two weeks only 1 1/2 hours from me in St. Charles, Mo. I can't afford to attend the actual conference, but would it be worth it to just go to the free exhibit space? I listened to one of your podcasts that mentioned you and a few others give free mini classes. Please let me know what you think. Thanks, Shelly I told Shelly that I thought it would absolutely be worth it. In fact, that is one of our goals with our free Outside the Box sessions in our booth - to give everyone a free...

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 159 with Lisa Louise Cooke Come along as we solve a family history mystery with high-tech and low-tech tools, discuss who to begin African-American research, explore newly available Canadian records, and contemplate the value of work as well as the values we want to pass on to our kids and grandkids. NEWS: Canadian Genealogical Records Now Available if you have Canadian kin, you'll be pleased to hear that the 1825 census of Lower Canada is now searchable online. The 1825 census of Lower Canada counted nearly half a million people. Heads of household were actually named, with other members of the household counted by category. You can search by household name or geographic location. The 1921 census counted 8.8 million people in thousands of communities across Canada. According to the Library and Archives Canada Blog, the population questionnaire had 35 questions. The census also collected data on agriculture; animals, animal products, fruits not on farms; manufacturing and trading establishments; and [a] supplemental questionnaire for persons who were blind and deaf. This represents a total of 565 questions. The census was released this past June 1 from the national Statistics office to the Library and Archives. That office is processing and scanning the nearly 200,000 images for public use. It hopes to have them posted soon. You can start looking for your Canadian ancestors in the Library and Archives Canada's popular Census Indexes at which include that 1825 census and a new version of the 1891 census, too. If your family arrived in Canada after the 1921 census, check out the website for The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, where a million immigrants landed between 1928-1971. The much-anticipated (but little-publicized) 1921 Canadian census is now online and available for browsing at http://www.ancestry.ca/census They anticipate releasing an index later this year. When you click on the first link above, you'll see that Ancestry.ca collection of Canadian census data goes back to 1851. Check out my post above to learn about online data back to 1825. It's getting easier all the time to find your Canadian ancestors online! Genealogy Roadshow on PBS: More Genealogy TV Lovers of Who Do You Think You Are! and other genealogy TV favorites will be pleased to know that Genealogy Roadshow is filming for airing this fall on PBS. This has already been a popular series in Ireland, where Genealogy Roadshow is in its second season. The series premieres in the U.S. on KQED on Monday September 23. Read more about it here MAILBOX: Death Certificate Confusion Scott writes: I wanted to send this death certificate to you and maybe you could talk about it on your podcast. It's a reminder we can't take what we see at face value even from a primary source created at the time of the event. On one line it says he died Jan 17, 1937 and another it says the attending doctor saw him alive on February 17 of the same year. But then he was buried on Jan 20th. It's really not all that clear whether the events took place in January or February from just this document. Click here to view larger image Lisa's Reply: What is really fascinating about this document is how the slight variation in handwriting gives away the problem. The doctor was very detailed with the variety of dates he entered as Feb. when events took place. His 3 generally stands up or even tips forward a bit. But the Registrar, Mr. Popeland, distinctly tilts his 3 and 7 back a bit. And his hand is also heavier. Very quickly you see that Dr. Brallier completed his portion of the form and then, I would guess later, Mr. Popeland completed the remainder of the form and filed it. The big question is who made the mistake: was Mr. Popeland correct that it was January, or was Dr. Brallier correct that is was February? I searched Ancestry and MyHeritage because I was anxious to know the answer. After an initial search neither Dempsey nor his wife Ruby Lee appeared, which is rather curious. After trying all types of name variations, I finally went to our old friend, www.Google.com . I search on his wife "Ruby Lee Danner" in quotation marks and up popped one result - a court case. Searching Dempsey Danner in quotation marks resulted in 7 hits, 3 of which were him, including an obituary at the Arizona Obituary Archive. Dr. Braillier has been vindicated. Perhaps Mr. Popeland had filed one too many certificates that day, or had his mind on something else as he entered January in the remaining blanks. And once again, the case is made that the person who was there at the time of the event in person got it right, and the one recording the event later did not. Kate shares some old time photo resources: Old Time DC on...

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 164 with Lisa Louise Cooke Download the FREE App www.GenealogyGems.com In this episode you'll hear what you've been missing and how to get it from the Ancestry Wiki. Also how to do a very specialized type of Google search you may have never tried, a French-Canadian genealogy resource, and more. Top 10 Reasons I Moved to Texas: 10. They have something here, it's called weather 9. I live on an acre now so my neighbors don't complain that they hear me over here talking to myself 8. There's a Soft Surroundings store in Southlake! And a Pottery Barn, and a Coach purse store. 7. Genealogy Bloggers Amy Coffin and Caroline Pointer. If you know them, you understand 6. Wise County has just launched a new genealogy society and they wanted a speaker who lived less than three hours away 5. It's been almost 10 years since I filmed a reality TV show out here, so I figure they've moved on. 4. My cat Ginger is from Texas and what she meows goes 3. After 18 years in California I finally get to have a pool in my backyard 2. They don't have chicken fried steak in California 1. My Grandsons - Davy and Joey! The Piece of Family History that Miraculously Made Its Way Back to This Indianapolis Woman A few years ago while attending a genealogy conference, I decided to conduct some on-the-fly interviews for The Genealogy Gems Podcast. I asked folks to tell me about the most prized family heirloom that they possessed. I heard about everything from the door knob of a woman's parent's bridal suite, to the bedazzling flapper dress worn by a great grandmother. All were interesting, but I was stopped in my tracks when one woman looked at me with pain in her eyes and declared I have nothing. Not a thing. My cousins destroyed everything. It was a difficult concept to digest. As the acknowledged keeper of the family history flame in my family, I've been fortunate enough to have inherited an abundance of family heirlooms from both sides of my parent's families. How sad it would be to have nothing concrete to hold in your hand; nothing to help you feel the generations that held the item before. Since that day I've remained inspired to help people find ways to track down information and artifacts that make up their family history. Time and time again, I've found that just when you thought there was nothing left to find, an item will resurface. The Galaxy Quest movie quote (surely based on the famous words uttered by Winston Churchill in 1940) is one I cling to when it comes to genealogy: Never give up! Never surrender! This motto has never been so gloriously justified as it was recently when a woman from Indianapolis, Indiana received the surprise of a lifetime this Christmas. The Purple Heart awarded to Pat Davis father, (a father she never met) was found recently and returned to her. Watch the compelling video below where the daughter holds the unearthed piece of family history in the palm of her hand. Kyla wrote: "I had old photos and letters returned to me by a woman who found me on a genealogy message board. Her father had obtained them from my brothers who were throwing them away. It was like a miracle." NEWS: RootsTech 2014 may have come to an end, but SCGS Jamboree is just around the corner I'm pleased to return this year to speak at the 45th Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree. This popular conference, hosted by The Southern California Genealogical Society, runs June 6 to 8, 2014 in Burbank, California, USA. The theme of the 2014 Jamboree is Golden Memories: Discovering Your Family History. It promises to pack tons of fun into a long weekend, as it always does. My classes on Friday and Saturday include: Who Needs Google Reader? Flip Out Over Genealogy Content with Flipboard! Learn how to use the free Flipboard app to turn your favorite genealogy web content into your own free customized digital magazine. You will flip over how fun and easy they are to create and share. Perfect for genealogists and societies! Ultimate Google Search Strategies for Genealogists Learn Google search techniques, tricks and tips to achieve better genealogical search results, and then elevate your search to a strategic level. Finally, see how all of this applies across the spectrum of free Google Tools. How to Create an Exciting Interactive Family History Tour with Google Earth. Learn to tell your ancestor's story in a captivating multi-media way in Google Earth. Incorporate images, videos, genealogical documents, and historic maps and bring it all together in a virtual family history tour for sharing and research analysis. SCGS Jamboree 2014 welcomes 55 speakers, over 60 exhibitors, 134 class sessions for a variety of experience levels,...

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 170 with Lisa Louise Cooke Download the FREE App www.GenealogyGems.com Lisa shares her recent research successes: Getting in touch with a distant German cousin through MyHeritage Organizing and Visualizing the German photos from her Great Grandmother's Scrapbook (below is the inscription by Louise's siblings in the front cover of the scrapbook) Using Google Earth to plot out each photographer studio listed on the back of the photos in the scrapbook Finally identifying the people in one of the first old family photos she received (separate from the scrapbook) by using the location groups visualization and her RootsMagic database family group sheet for the Nikolowski family GEM: Sunny Morton's interview with Lisa Kudrow, Executive of the U.S. TV series Producer of Who Do You Think You Are? Celebrities that will be featured on the U.S. TV show Who Do You Think You Are? Who Do You Think You Are? season five (and second on TLC) features popular celebrities from TV and film. Tonight's episode features Valerie Bertinelli (One Day At a Time, Hot in Cleveland) Set Your DVR: Who Do You Think You Are? Season 5 Wednesdays. This episode was sponsored by:

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 122 with Lisa Louise Cooke Download the FREE App www.GenealogyGems.com Published Nov 27, 2011 In this episode you are going to hear from Forensic Genealogist Leslie Lawson. Genealogy News Return of Who Do You think You Are? NBC has just announced that the TV series Who Do You Think You Are? will be returning to television screens here in the U.S on Friday, February 3 at 8pm. Since this falls at the same time as the RootsTech conference I wouldn't be surprised if they plan a group screening for attendees. RootsTech 2012 The winner of the free RootsTech 2012 registration is Carol Genung. So I look forward to seeing Carol there and hopefully many of you listening there's still plenty of time to register for the conference at rootstech.org. And for those of you unable to attend I'll have videos that bring the experience to via your computer in the comfort of your own home. New Records at FamilySearch They've added a wide range of new records from 20 countries, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, England, Dominican Republic, Germany, Italy, Philippines, and the U.S. The U.S. additions include records from California, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. RootsMagic Update RootsMagic has released a minor update (4.1.2.1) which fixes a few issues. Read more at the RootsMagic blog Google Milestones Google Earth has now had more than 1 billion downloads! Read the blog post Google celebrated it's 15th birthday in September 2011. 1000Memories Shoebox App 1000Mempories has launched a new free iPhone app called "Shoebox" that they say is like putting a scanner in your pocket. See more about it here Watch a short commercial video Listen to Lisa's interview with Michael Katchn of 1000Memories in Episode 119 MAILBOX I had the pleasure of being invited up to Victoria British Columbia in October 2011 to give a full day seminar on using Google for Genealogy at the Victoria Genealogical Society. I had a marvelous time and I've had the pleasure of hearing from several who were in attendance that day including this email from Mike who wrote in to say. I couldn't make the seminar, sadly, but my better half -- Kate -- went and she came home brimming over with ideas, two books, a couple of DVDs and a ton of excitement! We've been putting some of your ideas to great use, and having some walls get knocked down. Outstanding stuff! I've also started listening to the GenealogyGems podcasts starting with #21, and in the first episode I already found some great hints on how to get US Naval records for my great-grandfather. Where have you been all my life?! Thank you again for everything you do for the Genealogical community. You ARE one of the Genealogy Gems!! Feedback on Steve Luxenberg Interview A topic causing my mailbox to overflow was my interview with Steve Luxenberg and his wonderful book Annie's Ghost Episode 120 Episode 121 Maureen posted on my Facebook Wall Genealogy Gems episodes 120 and 121 are, by far, two of the best family history research podcasts that I've ever heard. Steve Luxenberg author of Annie's Ghost was full of great research ideas. These podcasts are keepers!" Brandt posted: "Thanks for the interviews with Steve Luxenberg and the recommendation for Annie's Ghosts. I LOVED the book, and the interviews added a lot to it. Hope he writes another one soon!" Larraine posted: "Annie's Ghost by Steve Luxenberg is excellent. I can't put it down! It's thanks to you Lisa that I discovered the book after listening to your podcasts." Julie M. emailed: I just had to tell you how enjoyable your interview with Steve Luxenberg was! After the first part, I immediately ordered his book for Kindle (through your site, of course) and started it right away. It is compelling reading and I'm hooked on it. What a great story told by a quality story-teller! I find it hard to put it down and look forward to getting back to it as quickly as possible. Perhaps you need to start a "good reads" section in your podcasts or newsletters. Hooked on your podcasts and trying to catch up on all of them. I think that's an excellent idea! Email or leave a voice mail and tell me if you would be interested in a Genealogy Gems Book Club. Find out more about the book at steveluxenberg.com. Click on "Behind the Book," to view documents not part of the print edition.

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 185 with Lisa Louise Cooke www.GenealogyGems.com Download the FREE App This month all of us here at Genealogy Gems are celebrating reaching a milestone 1000 blog posts on our website. But we're not just celebrating our own genealogy writing. We're celebrating YOURS! Today I have a special segment that celebrates what YOU have shared with us about your adventures in family history blogging. I also have a short, fun family history writing challenge to share with everyone, not just those who blog. I'll introduce that challenge with a surprise guest the poet laureate of Kentucky. Genealogy Gems App Users: Check out the Bonus Content video NEWS: More U.S. Marriage Records Online Have you noticed on our blog that every Friday we report new genealogy records online? Well, last week was a doozy in terms of U.S. marriage records. We had heard through the grapevine that FamilySearch had set itself to the task of tracking down every possible marriage record for the U.S. and it looks like they're having some success! At FamilySearch alone last week, they published or updated indexed marriage records in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania,Tennessee and Washington. Louisiana's collection alone contains over a million entries, and Pennsylvania's dates to the 1600s! But FamilySearch isn't alone in the marriage record publishing frenzy. We noticed that Ancestry has just added new marriage indexes for West Virginia, Maine and Jackson Co, Missouri. Of course, not every ancestor who married stayed that way: Ancestry has also updated its Idaho divorce collection and added a new collection of Oregon divorce records. A lot of these are older but you'll be surprised at how far into the 20th century some of these new marriage record collections are. Use these to recharge your research if you've stalled somewhere on your U.S. family tree! NEWS: National Archives (U.S.) Doing More Digitizing the U.S. National Archives has signed contracts to digitize more of its historical records. The partnerships are with FamilySearch and Ancestry, and the records in question will include various items with births, marriages, deaths, immigration and military service information. So the National Archives has partnered with these organizations in the past, but this time around, the contract allows them to get records online faster by uploading digitized and partially-digitized collections before they're even indexed, like FamilySearch already does. There are new provisions to protect personally identifying information, and Ancestry will have a shorter window of exclusivity with their content. They invest in record digitization and indexing so they will have exclusive access to the images and indexes for a period of time, after which the National Archives can put the material on its site and share it with other partners. It's a win-win even for those who don't subscribe to Ancestry: you'll just have to wait longer to win! And FYI, in case you wonder why FamilySearch and Ancestry seem so favored, the U.S. National Archives does sign content partnerships with other companies. Findmypast has a contract pending, and there's already a contract with military records site Fold3. NEWS: RootsMagic for Mac and More I recently heard two really great pieces of news about RootsMagic genealogy software--for Mac users! First, RootsMagic Essentials for Mac software is now available for FREE! This is the get-started version of RootsMagic which introduces you to this excellent family history software. If you're still exploring which family history software is best for you, give it a try! If you decide to upgrade to the full, paid version of the software, the transition is seamless and easy. Speaking of a full Mac version of RootsMagic, you may recall that last year they launched MacBridge for RootsMagic. This was really a great step forward, but there was an additional fee and it required extra steps to download and use. But now when you buy RootsMagic 7, you can install it on both Windows and Mac computers in your household....So your single purchase includes licenses for both. Great, right?! So if you already own RootsMagic 7 for Windows, you can head back to their website, and download RootsMagic 7 for Mac any time and use the same registration key that you got with your original purchase. And something I really love about Rootstmagic is the free and easy to access support they provide their users. There's nothing worse than struggling to use your genealogy software when you're hot on the trail of ancestors. Well they have just published two new free PDF RootsMagic user guides one that's all about installing RootsMagic for Mac, and another guide on how to create a...

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 176 with Lisa Louise Cooke Download the FREE App www.GenealogyGems.com Download the show notes here In this episode we are going to check in with our Genealogy Gems Book Club Guru Sunny Morton on our featured book Orphan Train, and some additional books you'll want to add to your reading list that also provide insight in to how you can approach writing your own family's history. And Your DNA Guide here at Genealogy Gems, Diahan Southard, will be here to tell you how to Social Network Your YDNA with Surname Projects But first I've got the RootsTech Run down for you. Last week I spoke at RootsTech 2015 which was really a two-fer conference of both RootsTech and the Federation of Genealogical Societies national conference. So needless to say it was bigger than ever. If you didn't attend, why should you care? Because FamilySearch which is the organization behind RootsTech has really, and I mean really, upped the family history game if you will. Even though they are a non-profit, they are really leading the industry, and having a huge impact on the types of genealogy resources and services that are being developed, which directly affect your family history research. And Family History is the key phrase there. At a FamilySearch VIP event I attended the leadership made a point of saying there is a distinct difference between genealogy and family history. We may often use these terms interchangeably, but they made this point with purpose, to drive home the fact that they are concerned with more than just genealogy; the building of your tree and tracing of your lineage. They are extremely focused on family history, and from what I know about you, you are too. Family history is the holistic approach the stories, the photos, the legacy you are creating through your research. It's not that its critical which words you use, but I think they focused on the distinction to really help the community understand what their focus is. For example, the keynote speakers included Former first Lady Laura and Jenna Bush, (who by the way did a phenomenal job and were witty and thoroughly enjoyable), as well as Donny Osmond, and American Idol star David Archelta. There were some negative comments about these choices floating around on social media before the conference, but for anyone who attended and saw the presentations it all made perfect sense. They all spoke, and sometimes sang, to the heart of family history. I know for all you listening, your heart is certainly in it. They offered incredible inspiration and I think everyone walked away rejuvenated and recommitted to their research. And research just isn't the right word. They came away motivated to continue on the legacy of family history they are building. And really that is the job of the keynotes. To set the tone and inspire and motivate, because there were plenty of in-depth classes and a huge variety of topics to fulfill the educational component of why we attend conferences . Let me give you a run down on some of the stats: FamilySearch, which was formerly the Genealogical Society of Utah, celebrated its 120th birthday last fall. It now operates 300 cameras in 50 countries around the world collecting digital genealogical sources. They released two mobile apps in 2014, FamilySearch Tree, the mobile companion to Family Tree on the FamilySearch website, and The Family Search Memories app which helps you collect, preserve, and share your favorite family photos, stories and spoken words. They are launching a new indexing program which will be part of the FamilySearch website which can be used on most desktop computers, notebooks and tablets. And to give you an idea of the scope of FamilySearch Indexing , there are 321,000 volunteers who have indexed 160 million records in 2014 alone, bringing the total of records indexed to 1.26 billion. These are records being made available to all of us free on the familysearch.org website. In June of 2014 FamilySearch surpassed publication of 1 billion images. It took 7 years to get there and the billionth image was published in FamilySearch's growing collection of Peruvian records. IF you consider that a single digital image can have several historic records on it, that means there are actually billions of record images on FamilySearch. FamilySearch projects that it will take just 3 to 5 years to publish the next billion images. And as for new record collections, in 2014 FamilySearch published 38 million obituaries, 10 new Freedmen's Bureau field office collections, and new and updated collections all around the world. One of the coolest things they unveiled is their new Discovery Centers. This is something that they announced last year, and our contributing editor Sunny Morton got a chance to go through the one in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City while at the conference. Here is a link to her blog...

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 181 with Lisa Louise Cooke Today, we're turning back the clock to talk about two of my favorite eras, the 1950s and well, the second one is a surprise. I'll tell you later in the show when I introduce the NEW Genealogy Gems Book Club featured title! But first, we'll talk a little news from a new Google innovation to two new record collections online that fill in a hole in American documentary history. I'll read some mail from YOU about the new Ancestry site and family history blogging. NEWS Wouldn't it be great if your smartphone alerted if you left your keys or eyeglasses behind when leaving the house? Google is working on it, based on a recent patent& it filed. The patent describes a device that uses short-range wireless technology to link your smartphone with other must-have items like your wallet, keys or glasses. The idea is that if you leave a location with one item, but leave other items behind, an alarm will go off. A commentary on the VentureBeat website explains that the user can control the amount of distance between the mobile device and the paired object that must exist before an alarm goes off. They can also control the type of alarm, as well as how often the device checks to see if all paired objects remain nearby. Here's a drawing from the patent. In one way, it makes me think that Google is taking its Alerts out of cyberspace and right into our daily lives to help them run more smoothly. Do you use Google Alerts? Setting them up lets me find out about new content online as it becomes available 24/7 relating to my favorite keyword searches. I use Google Alerts to automate my online genealogy searches and follow other favorite topics. You can learn more about Google Alerts AND how to search for patents like the one I was just talking about for household items and inventions that shaped our relatives lives in my book, The Genealogist's Google Toolbox. In last month's podcast, I mentioned the Civil War Soldiers & Sailors Database in response to a question from a listener who was looking for a good resource for Civil War sailors. Unfortunately, as I stressed in the blog post, the percentage of sailors included is still fairly low in that database. So I was pleased to see a new collection on Fold3 recently: U.S. NAVY SURVIVORS. Here's a link to a post about it. Nearly 2 million records in this collection come from case files of approved pension applications between 1861 and 1910, so they include Civil War survivors and later Navy veterans until just before World War I. I love seeing all these new record collections that appear online that, ever so gradually, fill in the gaps to help us find our ancestors! At Genealogy Gems we blog about new record collections online every Friday watch for those on our blog! Finally, there's another record set coming online that will just be HUGE for those researching African-American ancestors. Freedmen's Bureau records are finally being fully indexed! Anyone with African-American roots or who has ANY Southern ancestors should know about these. The Freedmen's Bureau was organized after the Civil War to aid newly-freed slaves in 15 states and Washington, DC. Destitute whites were also helped. For several years the Freedmen's Bureau created marriage records, labor contracts, and other records of families and their military service, poverty, property, health and education. The richest documents are the field office records of each state. (Here's a link to a great article from the National Archives about these records.) A few field office records are already transcribed or indexed; you can find links at the Freedmen's Bureau Online. Now FamilySearch and other national partners have issued a call to action for the genealogy community to help finish indexing them all an estimated 1.5 million records within the coming year. A press release says the records, histories and stories will be available on DiscoverFreedmen.org. Additionally, the records will be showcased in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is currently under construction on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and expected to open in late 2016. #1950s #genealogy

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 184 with Lisa Louise Cooke www.GenealogyGems.com Download the FREE App In this episode I'll kick things off with two fabulous online resources I think are Gems. Two of you wrote in with your own advice, one on saving your genealogy from theft and another with another tip on digital preservation. I found a funny poem online that the author gave me permission to share. And then Sunny will join me to announce our next Genealogy Gems Book Club pick and we may or may not digress a little to talk about other fun things on our minds. So sit back and relax or do whatever you love to do while listening to podcasts& and let's get started. NEWS: Ancestry Web Indexes Did you see the recent article on the Genealogy Gems website about Ancestry Web Indexes? These are FREE resources that anyone can access. You don't need to be an Ancestry subscriber or even create a free login on the site. Here's what they're all about. For the past few years, Ancestry has been indexing databases from other websites on their own site. They're not stealing data or take credit for data from other places everything is fully cited and points to the original sites. Ancestry is extending the power of its ability to help users find their family history online wherever it may be. They're taking advantage of the fact that it's already a place where people are looking and their site's powerful search tools. What I think is cool is that you may have a better search experience at Ancestry than you would at the original site. Some sites that host databases or indexes don't offer very flexible search parameters. If you search for Elizabeth Madison, they may not recognize Beth or Lizzie as acceptable search results, or alternate spellings of her last name. But Ancestry does. A subscription to that original site may be required to see any images or other content that's members-only. But if there's data out there, I want to know about it. Then I can decide whether I want to get access to it. Another bonus is that a lot of their big Web Indexes are from sites that are not in English. This gives English-speakers a portal to that data, in case they are intimidated by trying to search a site in another language or by applying Google Translate, which I teach about using in my book The Genealogist's Google Toolbox. Anyway, I think it's just one more online tool we should all know about! Just within the past few weeks, here are a few new Ancestry Web Indexes: Danish Emigration (that's Emigration with and for people moving OUT of the country), more than 300,000 records from 1868 to 1908. An Indiana Marriage Index for 1806-1861, with another 300,000 records; Montreal, Canada marriages and burials dating back to the 1760s; Alberta, Canada newspaper vital events index back to 1889; and Births, deaths and marriages for Gallatin, Montana back to the mid-1800s. Here's a tip that wasn't in our article: you can search for Ancestry Web Indexes by going to Ancestry's drop-down Search menu. Click on Card Catalog, and do a title search for the word Web. You'll see lots of results that say Web: followed by the name of the index. Just another helpful tip to get the most out of one of the world's biggest genealogy websites, whether you're a subscriber or not! NEWS: Bomb Sight website We've probably all seen images from the World War II bombing of London in movies. You see Londoners hunched in tube station tunnels during air raids in The Imitation Game. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Pevensie children are evacuated to the countryside to escape the Blitz. But for anyone who didn't experience it themselves or grow up in the shadow of those bombed-out buildings, we don't really GET the Blitz, when the Germans bombed London regularly for several MONTHS. There's a new website and mobile app that I have to recommend that reveals the Blitz in a new way: Bomb Sight, http://www.bombsight.org/. The core of this site is a digitized version of 559 bomb census maps that show where each and every bomb fell between July of 1940 and the following June. These maps were classified until 1971, and were previously only available in their fragile, original condition in the British National Archives. Now you can explore all those neighborhoods and read about the individual bombs that devastated them. You can even see related historical images and read stories and memories. It's stunning to look closely at a neighborhood and see how densely the bombs fell. It's also stunning to pan out to the widest view and see SO many dots. So many bombs. So much destruction. Take a few minutes, won't you, and explore BombSight.org, and you'll have a whole new appreciation for the bombing of...

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 180 with Lisa Louise Cooke Welcome to episode 180 of the Genealogy Gems podcast! Today we are talking about big names, like Ancestry and Google and FamilySearch. We're talking about big numbers and the possible price tag for Ancestry at auction's and small numbers: a handheld computer for under $100. We're also talking about road trip tips, an important online Civil War database, a leading Canadian digital archive and EXCLUSIVE tips for using FamilySearch's free digitized book collection, which now tops 200,000 titles. And because I've gotten so much demand for it, I'm sharing tips for backing up your data at Ancestry is not just your tree but your sources and DNA, too. Mixed in with all this news and how-to's is an assorted cast of listeners-with-questions and an inspiring story about long-lost siblings reunited by radio. Let's get started! NEWS Certainly some of the biggest news buzzing around the genealogy world is the possible sale of Ancestry. Reuters recently reported that the buyout firm that owns most of Ancestry has hired investment bankers to put the company up for auction. The price tag, they say? Between $2.5 billion and $3 billion. So what could this mean for customers? Of course, it's far too soon to say. Ancestry currently delivers over 15 billion genealogy records to over 2 million subscribers. Their current trajectory includes acquiring even MORE records pretty aggressively, which we love. But as I'm sure we've all experienced at one time or another, though, when any type of company gets sold, things can change. Or we could continue to see business as usual at the shaky-leaf genealogy giant. Mybest advice to those of you whose master family trees are on Ancestry is to download and backup your data. I'm not being alarmist or saying the sky is falling here! This announcement is simply a good opportunity to do something we routinely recommend anyway. I'll have specific advice for downloading your tree, checking your source material and getting your raw DNA from Ancestry later in the podcast. In another piece of news, have you notice that Google is now answering the questions you google instead of just giving you search results with the keywords in your questions? Say you Google the question, and What county is Chicago in? Google will respond at the top of your search results with a big, fat Cook County headline followed by some key facts about the county. Google's also creating a bit of a stir with its new Chrome it's a Chrome OS full size computer about the size of your hand, and it plugs into an HDMI on our computer. This sounds like a great option for on-the-go genealogical computing! A lot of folks aren't fully cloud-based and they really don't ever plan to be: they like to work from a hard drive or desktop of some kind. So this offers them a portable way to do that. You could plug in at a public terminal--say at a library--or at someone else's home computer, or even a television so that you could share pictures on a big screen. And best of all the Chromebit is as affordable as it is portable! A write-up at ReadWrite.com reports that Google says the Chromebit will be less than $100! MAILBOX Recently we heard from Jennifer, who is taking a little road trip, as many others of us in the northern hemisphere are contemplating in June. She asks a great question: I'm tagging along on my husband's thesis research trip to Columbus, Ohio. I have some ancestors from other parts of Ohio. I was wondering what exactly I could look for in a state's capital city's collections and archives? I was thinking that the state capital may have that I couldn't find elsewhere, or even duplicated information [from local repositories]. Jennifer is definitely thinking along the right lines! Here's our advice: At the state government level there are often two key resources: the state library and the state archives. These might be combined. One might be called the state historical society. You just have to look for each state. In Ohio, the Ohio History Connection serves as the state historical society and official state archives. But there is also a state library that serves as a repository for government documents and a resource for other libraries. Each has resources for genealogists, online and in-house. Look for some links to these in our show notes. In addition, public libraries of major cities often have excellent local history and genealogy collections. This is definitely true of the Columbus Metropolitan Library in Ohio's state capital! We suggest you contact librarians before you go and ask what they have that can't be found anywhere else, both...

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 121 with Lisa Louise Cooke Download the FREE App www.GenealogyGems.com Published Nov 3, 2010 In this Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 121 and part 2 of my interview with Washington Post editor Steve Luxenberg, author for Annie's Ghosts. From the emails, Tweets and Facebook posts I've received from so many of you, it sure looks like you enjoyed part 1 of the interview in episode 120 as much as I enjoyed doing it. Jenna at the Seeking Surnames blog tweeted the Annie's Ghost podcast was great! It's a close runner up to the Sha Na Na Guy as my favorite! Jenna is referring to Dr. Robert Leonard who I interviewed in episode 89 and 90 about the topic of Forensic Linguistics. I have to agree that Dr. Leonard is one of my all time favorite guests, and Steve is certainly up there with him! And you'll remember that I introduced Part 1 by reading the email from Jay in New York. Well after listening to episode 121 Jay sent me a follow up email saying, Awesome interview with Steve Luxenberg about his book "Annie's Ghosts". It hit the nail right on the head. Thank you! Steve is such a riveting writer and speaker, and it's fascinating to hear how someone who is not a genealogist, but rather a journalist approached his family history search in an effort to find the answers to mysteries in his families. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed reading Annies Ghosts. This book inspired me, gave me concrete ideas for pursuing my own family history research, AND kept me on the edge of my chair. What could be better? GEM SERIES: My Life Times with Sunny Morton My Life Times: A Guided Journal for Collecting Your Stories (Use the above link to purchase the book at Shop Family Tree and you'll get free shipping and you'll be supporting this free podcast. Thank you!)

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 182 with Lisa Louise Cooke www.GenealogyGems.com Download the Free App You know me, I love looking outside the genealogy box to discover strategies and inspirational stories that can help us be better family historians. In today's episode, we're heading back to World War II, and event that in some way touched the lives of every genealogist's family, and we're going to hear an incredible tale deception while at the same time gather research strategies, interview techniques, and compelling story telling methods that I know you'll love and be able to apply to your own family history. This episode is brought to you by our wonderful sponsors: In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of young GIs landed in France to conduct a secret mission. They were to create an elaborate accolade of military might for an audience, the German army. These 1100 men had one goal: to fool the enemy into believing they were an American army thousands strong, and draw their attention away from the actual fighting troops. Get ready to go behind the curtain of Twenty-third Headquarters Special Troops known as the Ghost Army with my special guest Rick Beyer, author of the book The Ghost Army of World War II: How One Top-Secret Unit Deceived the Enemy with Inflatable Tanks, Sound Effects, and Other Audacious Fakery. Rick Beyer, is not only a best-selling author, but he's also an award-winning filmmaker, and popular speaker. He wrote and directed the acclaimed documentary film Ghost Army, which premiered on PBS in 2013, and is currently available here. (Photo above: Rick Beyer. Photo by Brian Smith) Please click images below for the book or DVD. Thank you for using our links to Amazon - you are helping us produce the free Genealogy Gems Podcast. Watch the trailer for The Ghost Army: The Interview: Rick explains the three divisions of the Ghost Army, and the deception they were responsible for. Radio, Visual: (Photo above: Dummy M4 Sherman Tank of the type used by the Ghost Army. 93 pounds fully inflated. Credit: National Archives) and Sonic: (Photo above: Uncovering the Speakers of a Sonic Half-Track. Credit: National Archives) We discuss the power of imagination and how these brave soldiers took advantage of that to defeat the enemy. Rick shares a story featured both in the book and the documentary film The Ghost Army where some men in France spotted some pretty bizarre things. (Photo above: The Americans are very strong by Arthur Shilstone. Credit: Arthur Shilstone) Then Rick takes us behind the scenes of the book to explore research strategies and in particular, effective interviewing techniques. (Photo above: Rick Beyer interviewing Ghost Army Veteran Jack McGlynn in 2007. Credit: Rick Beyer) The book is compelling on many levels: the storytelling, the integration of all the art, photos and documents, and fantastic catchy chapter titles that make you want to read, and Rick shares the secret behind his success, particularly those catch chapter titles! (Photo above: "Near Metz" by Sgt. George Vander Sluis, 603rd Camouflage Engineers, 1944. Credit: Jeff Vander Sluis) Telling family history stories in a way that captivates non-genealogists can be a tough job. Rick shares his tips for telling great stories, particularly in a book format....

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 168 with Lisa Louise Cooke Download the FREE App www.GenealogyGems.com Get up to speed on the world of DNA and Genealogy in this episode. We'll explore in depth the ramifications of Ancestry closing down some of their DNA tests along with other businesses in their portfolio. Then you'll meet Your DNA Guide, Diahan Southard. She's a genealogy gem who will be joining us here on Genealogy Gems on a regular basis to help guide us through the murky waters of DNA research in easy to understand, and FUN terms. Ancestry is shutting down 5 areas of their business In a recent media conference call Ancestry gave us the heads up that the next day they were going to announce the closures, and those of us on the call had the opportunity to ask questions before the announcement. While the spin is that they want to focus their efforts "in a way that provides the most impact, while also delivering the best service and best product experience to users" It is clear that these businesses were not their most profitable. It makes good business sense, and we certainly do want Ancestry to remain profitable so that it can remain in business. But that doesn't mean it won't be painful for many customers. The 5 areas shutting down are: Genealogy.com MyFamily MyCanvas LegacyDNA (y-DNA and mtDNA tests will be retired), English version of Mundia These closures definitely did cause some pain with their customers, and I know that includes many of you listening right now. In fact I started receiving emails almost immediately that morning that Ancestry went public with this, and many of you also posted your comments on the Genealogy Gems Fan Page on Facebook which I invited you to do in the newsletter article I sent out. In that article I told you that one of the most surprising moment in the conference call was when the Ancestry execs on the call were asked if the DNA samples that customer submitted, particularly those samples of deceased relatives) could be returned so as to be further processed by other companies. The answer: No. When pressed if they would allow customers to upgrade tests run on those samples before they were destroyed (yes, they made it very clear they will be destroyed) the answer was that well...they hadn't really thought about that. Leave it to genealogists to ask the important questions, and my hope is that Ancestry will take this question to heart before the closing date of September 5, 2014. Read more about it on the Ancestry blog, and click through on the area you are interested in to get more answers to questions about the closures. My impression during the call was that they were caught off guard a bit by the push back from those of us on the call regarding the DNA samples. Ancestry is focused on profitability - and I don't blame them for that, they are in business. If they don't remain profitable they go out of biz and we all lose. It probably wasn't as easy for them to think through the impact on every day family historians because some if not many of the top execs (and I've met them and they are nice people) are not genealogists. So first I want to share with you some of the comments I've received, and then I will give you some of my personal opinions on the subject. Please click image to visit our Sponsor: tell them you heard about them on The Genealogy Gems Podcast! Comments from You: Graham in Australia writes: "This morning I found the following Ancestry DNA announcement in my email and felt the need to immediately respond. No sooner had I sent my response and your newsletter arrived on this very subject. I thought you might be interest in my response as I am sure there will be many people out there who will be similarly betrayed. I paid out some $250 in 2009 to have my Y-DNA test done with them knowing that this was going to be a long term investment to possibly find matches. I am glad Ancestry don't hand my superannuation savings. To ancestry: I am disgusted that ancestry is taking this action. You appear to only be after short term gains rather than the long term which is where the strength of DNA testing resides. In 2009 I invested in my Y-DNA test knowing that this will likely take several years to yield useful paternal match results which was the main thrust behind doing the tests. I don't know who is my biological paternal grandfather and have through the matching facility I have been in contact with the closest person yet and while quite distant it has given me some direction and hope that a match can be found in the future. Your action to remove this has just killed that possibility. I for one will not be considering taking any autosomal tests with you as this will likely be dumped sometime in the near future." Roxanne in Oregon writes:"I am very upset with Ancestry.com and their comments about not returning DNA (Y...

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 178 with Lisa Louise Cooke Download the FREE App www.GenealogyGems.com Niche record collections that might just be what you are looking for. Interview with genetic genealogist CeCe Moore about using DNA for genealogy research, adoption, and the Finding Your Roots TV show. Announcement of the Genealogy Gems Book Club book for the 2nd quarter of 2015. A listener shares an update on adoption records in Ohio. NEWS: RECORDS CANADIAN MENNONITE PHOTO ARCHIVE: A new databaseis now online with over 80,000 images of Mennonite life from across Canada and dating back to 1860's. A press release says that the archive is a project of the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada and includes Mennonite archival partners in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario.An online ordering system allows visitors to order image copies for noncommercial use. GEORGIA NEWSPAPERS: The Digital Library of Georgia has launched an archive of north Georgia historical newspapers. The North Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive provides online access to six newspaper titles published in three north Georgia cities (Dalton, Gainesville, and Rome) from 1850 to 1922. Consisting of over 33,000 newspaper pages, the archive provides historical images that are both full-text searchable and can be browsed by date. The site is compatible with all current browsers and the newspaper page images can be viewed without the use of plug-ins or additional software downloads. The archive includes the following north Georgia newspaper titles: Gainesville News (1902-1922), Georgia Cracker (Gainesville) (1894-1902), North Georgia Citizen (Dalton) (1868-1921), Rome Courier (1850-1855), Rome Tri-Weekly Courier (1860-1880), Rome Weekly Courier (1860-1878). The Digital Library of Georgia will add additional titles from the region over time. OHIO GENEALOGY INDEX. The Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, OH has created an onlineGenealogy Index to some of its most valuable and unique genealogical records, including original funeral home and Bible records. Also in the index are Jewish marriages and death notices, an index of names in a significant African-American manuscript collection, a 1907 Cleveland voter registration index, a photo database of Cleveland military personnel from WWII and the Korean War and a biographical sketch name index. Currently, there are about 320,000 records in the index; more are being added on an ongoing basis. The Society primarily archives records relating to Cleveland and northeast Ohio. Soon to be added are indexes to the 1870 mortality census for Ashtabula, Ohio and indexes to several church records collections. WWII CADET NURSING CORPS (US): The WWII Cadet Nursing Corps Card Files, new on Fold3, contain membership cards of women who joined. According to Fold3, the cards are organized by state, nursing school, and cadet name. Some cards include the date of admission to the school, date of admission to the corps, and date of graduation (or date of other reason for termination from the school). Others contain details like the woman's marital status, father's/husband's name and profession, years of college completed, place of residence, and how they heard about the corps. Still others also record the woman's age in addition to the previously mentioned information. MICHIGAN DEATHS. Images of Michigan death certificates from 1921-1939 are now available for free at Seeking Michigan. The index for records from 1940-1952 will be made available in the next few weeks, with additional certificate images to be released each year as privacy restrictions are lifted (1940 images will be released in January 2016), says a press release. NEW ZEALAND ORAL HISTORIES. A new web archive of oral histories of New Zealand nurses is now available. The aim of this website is to capture this rich history and create a resource that nurses, students, academics and family members can access in order to gain a better understanding of nursing history in New Zealand, says the site's home page. The site contains a large collection of oral histories including abstracts, recordings, photos and other information. These histories have been collected from nurses who trained during the 1950's and 1960's and capture both the everyday elements of nursing practice along with some of the more unusual. Here you are able to listen to stories, read brief abstracts, and view photos of the nurses. Got a story to tell? They are accepting new interviews. There's also a section on hospitals and one on nursing uniforms. WWI WOMEN. FindMyPast has posted over 9,500 UK records that illustrate the various roles played by woman during the First World War. These...

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 174 with Lisa Louise Cooke Download the FREE App www.Genealogygems.com In this episode I'm going to share a personal story from my own family history just recently uncovered, and pull from it 3 powerful strategies that you can start using right away to further your own genealogy research in newspapers. My husband's grandfather, Raymond Harry Cooke, was born March 6, 1894 in Tunbridge Wells, England. Ever since I first started researching his family I have been aware that Raymond's mother, Mary Ann Cooke, died at a young age, around 40 years old. What I didn't realize was that in the back of my mind I sort of made some assumptions about what happened to her. I knew she had lost one child in child birth, and had one living child, Raymond. Though the answer as to her exact date and cause of death have been elusive, I haven't been in a big hurry to find the answer, because I guess deep down I assumed that she had lost her life in a third pregnancy. So it remained one of those genealogy projects I put off for a rainy day. This hypothesis was unexpectedly shattered last week! Not long ago I posted on the Genealogy Gems blog about BritishNewspaperArchive.com hitting over 9 million digitized pages. Last Wednesday evening I decided to take an hour out for my own genealogy (which I rarely get to do these days) and do some digging to see if I could find anything about Mary Ann's death. With the site's powerful advanced search engine I located the answer within minutes. And it was devastating. (Image left) 3 Tips for Finding Family History in Newspapers: Look for "Search" Clues in the Articles You Find After absorbing the story of Mary Ann's untimely death, there was still work to be done. I went back through the article with a fine tooth comb making note of every unique details that could possibly be used in a future database search such as addresses, name variations, neighbors, friends, occupations, etc. This will lead you to: Look Beyond Known Names In my case, I noticed that Mary Ann Cooke was referred to as "Mrs. Cooke" in one article, and "Mrs. Cook" in another, so I omitted her first name and ran searches under both options, resulting in even more articles. And in the article about "Mrs. Cooke", her son Raymond was referred to as "Master Cooke". Indeed even more articles existed under that name as well. Go Beyond People Search for the addresses of locations where they lived. And don't necessarily include their name. Simply searching the address can give you a kind of "house history" set of search results, revealing who lived there before, descriptions of the home and its contents and who moved in after your ancestors left. In my case, I located an article about the Cooke home (by the address) being up for sale several years before they owned it. That article included a fairly detailed description of the property. The final article found in the British newspapers was also found only by address (as the Cooke name wasn't mentioned) and it detailed the contents of their household up for sale. The auction was held in preparation for their move to Canada. Resource: How to Find Your Family History in Newspapers by Lisa Louise Cooke GEM: Interview with Emma Brockes, Author of She Left Me the Gun: My Mother's Life Before Me, and More Reading Recommendations "When a parent dies, you the child, your relationship with that history changes almost over night. It suddenly becomes much more relevant to you. because you feel like you're the only one left in a position to remember it. So, having never wanted to know anything about my mother's life, suddenly after her death it seemed imperative to me to find out absolutely everything. And to remember her that way. It felt to me that I couldn't, how does one put it, I couldn't stake out the parameters of what I had lost, until I knew everything there was to know about her, and of course there was this huge black hole in her background which I knew nothing about." Emma Brockes Read Sunny's blog post Genealogy Gems Book Club: MORE Great Books Recommended to find out about two more excellent books for genealogists. GEM: Your DNA Guide at Genealogy Gems: Ancestry DNA Update Read Diahan's blog post AncestryDNA Review and Breaking News! Updates Launched at the Genealogy Gems blog.

The Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 13 with Lisa Louise Cooke Download the FREE App www.Genealogygems.com Originally Published 2007Remastered March 2014 By Lisa Louise Cooke From the MAILBOX Hello Lisa: I have just finished listening to your podcast on tracing family members through school records. You mentioned some sources to research. Alan's Website Many years ago I came across a list or resources to be found in the home. I still have the photocopy I made, but it does not say who originally created it. I believe I found it at my local LDS. Anyway since putting it on my site, I and others who have come to that page have added to it. I really like your show and look forward to receiving your newsletter. Allan Scahill GEM: Memorial Day WW II Service Records With the month of May comes Memorial Day, and in Episode Thirteen I thought it would be a good time to do a quick check for some military records. If you have relatives who served in World War II here are a couple of free must check websites for you. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA): www.archives.gov/aad The WWII enlistment records for the years of 1938 through 1946 are listed on the NARA website. These records contain the majority of enlistments, approximately nine million men and women who enlisted in the U.S. Army, including the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. What I like about the NARA records is that they include the Army Serial Number, which I've not seen on the Ancestry version of the records. And of course they are free at the NARA website. They also have searchable WWII Prisoner of War Records. Another great website for searching for soldiers traveling overseas or returning home after the war is Steve Morse's All New York Arrivals Search Form. I hadn't thought of searching for traveling soldiers until I heard Steve Morse speak about it at a recent seminar. As soon as I got home from the seminar, I used his form and immediately found my Great Uncle Elzie returning home on the Ile de France after being injured in the D-Day invasion. With the availability of New York passenger lists up to 1957, many new research doors have been opened. If you'd like more information or historical background on Memorial Day, visit the U.S. Memorial Day website. GEM: Family History Books By now you may have seen my videos A Nurse In Training Part 1 Part 2 on my YouTube channel. A Nurse In Training didn't actually start out as a video but rather a book. I have found that by breaking up my research into digestible chunks of time and self-publishing them in hard cover books my extended family is able to understand and enjoy our family's history. I started self-publishing about a year ago. We don't live close to our families, so Christmas gifts have to be purchased ahead of time and shipped. Family history books turned out to be a fantastic way to start sharing some of my research findings in an affordable way that could be easily mailed. In the past I've sent CDs full of photos and documents. But in the end I think they were a bit overwhelming to the non-genealogists in the family. I think there are many reasons for this: Computer CDs are perceived as something technical and hard to use. The material is chopped up, and individual photos and documents don't tell a particular story smoothly and easily. I think they're also perceived as very time consuming. Folks just don't feel like they have the time to sit down and really give it the attention it deserves. Also, many people find reading on a computer screen hard on the eyes. The solution: a good old fashioned book! Books are still hard to beat for telling a story in words and pictures in a user friendly way. But where to begin the story, and where to end it? That's the big question! The temptation is to tell the story of one generation of the family. That's usually just too big of a project to take on. The book will likely end up being lots of dates and names and not a lot of room for much else. And there's always the risk that it won't be completed if it's too large an undertaking. I wanted my family to get to know these people in our family tree intimately. That meant focusing in much closer than an entire generation of the family. In the end, I started with my favorite ancestor: my grandmother. I've transcribed many years of her diaries as I talked about in Episode Two. One of the stories that really emerged out of them was her years spent in nurses training in the 1930s. I learned so much through her journal entries, and I knew I had a good collection of photos from that...

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 169 with Lisa Louise Cooke Download the FREE App www.GenealogyGems.com Catch a glimpse of the silent movie era and how it was an integral part of your ancestors's lives. In this episode, I find out more about the silent movies my grandmother cataloged in her diary, and how they molded a generation. The cultural influences of the Picture Shows Below is a page from my grandmother's journal documenting the silent films she saw that year, including the actors who starred in them. Just like today, the stars who light up the silver screen were mimicked and followed for fashion trends, hair styles, decorating ideas, and moral behavior. Understanding who the role models were at the time gives us a better understanding of the cultural influences of the era. Films are NOT primary resources, but they certainly paint a picture of life at any given time in history. Finding silent films in my area To learn more about silent films, I started with a simple Google search, altering my search criteria until I found movie theaters that showed silent films in my area. The first theater I found was the Stanford Theatre, located in Palo Alto, California. It was first opened in 1925 and stood as Palo Alto's premier theater house for several decades. In 1987, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation bought the theater and restored it. It is now owned and operated by the non-profit Stanford Theatre Foundation. www.stanfordtheatre.org - The website provides all the movie schedules from 1929-1961, compiled from ads that appeared in the Palo Alto Times. Vaudeville acts were also regularly included in the lineup. And the Wurlitzer organ live accompaniment was a staple. Grandma's Diary Entry & Sunday, April 22, 1928 I have to lead singing at church. Walter and I went to the lake. Met Helen Weathers and Jesse Jay and Ed Taylor. Helen and I went in swimming. Went to the show afterwards. The vaudeville was keen. Lew Cody in Adam and Eve. The first silent movie I saw was Diary of a Lost Girl, a German movie starting Louise Brooks. It was a late entry silent film released on April 24, 1930. It tells the story of an innocent young girl, who is raped by the clerk of her father's pharmacy. After she becomes pregnant, she is rejected by her family and must fend for herself in a cruel world. It was not the wholesome far I expected but was riveting nonetheless. (I must acknowledge the organ accompaniment of Dennis James because he added a drama and magic to the film that was priceless.) The next film I saw was the classic 1923 comedy Safety Last starring Harold Lloyd. This is a must-see, full of laugh-out-loud humor. I was starting to get a feel for what drew Grandma to the pictures as a young girl. It was magical, glamorous, and hugely expanded her social network. Society's views on the silent film era To learn more, I was combed through newspapers from her home town in the 1920s at the State Archives. I came across two newspaper articles: Getting Back to the Home from January of 1925, and Harking Back to those Old Home Days from February 5, 1925. The first article leads: Much has been said as to the methods of checking the crime and rebelliousness among the young people of today. The automobile, trains and other means of travel as well as moving pictures, dance halls, etc. that attract young people, and so lead them to seek amusement away from home have contributed to the fact that the home is not the center of attraction for the majority of families as it once was. The article went on to say that there were plans in the works for a community get-together. The February 5th article reported the events of that evening, which was called Back to the Home. The local residents ate pumpkin pie, sang songs, listened to speeches and music, and comic readings. (And I happened to recognize the name of the cellist in the orchestra as being the man who signed as witness on my great-grandfather's naturalization papers!) The even was a huge success and was deemed something that will in surely bear repeating. Immediately my grandmother's diary entries bemoaning her mother who was from the old country started to become clearer. Grandma felt that Great-Grandma just didn't understand her. Having experienced the thrill of the old movie theater experience myself, and reading in the newspapers how it was affecting society, I began to better understand that she lamenting more than just the woes of being 15 years old. Society was changing. And as a mother, I began to sympathize with my great-grandmother's plight of trying to raise three teenagers in the new world. Enjoying Silent Movies at Home I live 25 minutes from a little town that has a Silent Film Museum devoted to a...

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 183 with Lisa Louise Cooke www.GenealogyGems.com Download the FREE App In this episode, a special expert joins us to talk about digitizing and storing your old movies, videos, and pictures and even further updating those old movies you've already put on CD. You'll hear a juicy clip from our exclusive Genealogy Gems Book Club interview with the editor of the new Laura Ingalls Wilder biography, Pioneer Girl. And Your DNA Guide is here with a story of DNA and the President. NEWS: AncestryDNA Common Matches Genealogists are losing sleep lately because of a new DNA tool, but in a good way! I am talking about AncestryDNA's release of its Common Matches tool. Diahan Southard, our resident DNA expert, shared the breaking news on our website recently, within hours of when the new tool when live. She loves it so much she has already spent hours using Common Matches, which she says is blowing her genealogy mysteries wide open. This tool pulls out shared matches between two people who match at 4th cousins or closer. The tool is on AncestryDNA's main match page, between the Pedigrees and Surnames filter and the Map and Locations filter. This link will take you to a blog post on our site with Diahan who has great visuals and explanation of how to use this new tool. We heard from Alana on Facebook after she read Diahan's post. She said, "I stayed up for hours past my bedtime last night resolving hundreds of mystery matches. Everything makes so much more sense now. You've been mentally begging them to come up with a way to search for two surnames: this does an even better job than that. I did think it was funny how they broke the news by trying to sell me more tests. Oh well. I am SO thankful for this extremely useful new tool!" Have you tried it? Let us know how it works for you. We would love to hear your success stories and how you're making the most of DNA testing for genealogy.com DOUBLE YOUR CLOUD BACKUP SECURITY Recently Backblaze, a sponsor of this podcast, let us know that we can now activate an extra layer of security to better protect the data we have stored with them. The feature is called two-factor verification. It requires that we present both our account credentials and a verification code from a second device is to gain access to our Backblaze account. That means someone who was trying to steal our data would have to have both our account information and access to the phone that's tied to the account. The option to require both these security steps can make Backblaze is a solid security even more powerful. It is like you're giving Backblaze permission to lock the doors to your data with two different keys instead of a single one, because you’re willing to take the time to use that second key whenever YOU need access. This is just one more reason I am glad you have chosen Backblaze as the official cloud-based computer backup service of Genealogy Gems! I sleep more easily knowing Backblaze is backing me up, 24/7, without me having to do anything but live my life, create and edit the many files that bring you this show, and keep my Backblaze subscription current! NEWS: RootsMagic Update for FamilySearch Family Tree If you're a RootsMagic's user, did you install the required update recently so it will continue to work with FamilySearch? On July 30, last month, FamilySearch made some changes to its own site, which required RootsMagic to tweak things on their end to keep up. If you're running RootsMagic 7, look for the Update Available indicator in the lower right corner of your RootsMagic 7 program screen, and click on it. You will then be able to continue working with FamilySearch Family Tree as if nothing has changed. If you're running Rootmagic 6, you can either upgrade to version 7 for around $20 or you can download the free RootsMagic 7 Essentials version and switch back and forth between them with the same database. Thanks for helping us spread the word to other RootsMagic users who are now scratching their heads when trying to work with FamilySearch FamilyTree! MAILBOX: Keeping Track of Your Master Family Tree

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 126 with Lisa Louise Cooke Download the FREE App www.GenealogyGems.com Published Feb 10, 2012 In this episode we cover the latest news from RootsTech 2012, my video interview with Nick Barratt, and an in depth look at Find A Grave with the website's creator, Jim Tipton. NEWS: Watch the recording of my presentation Genealogy Podcasts and Blogs 101 RootsTech 2012 website. It's part of the Saturday Recap Video. Roots Tech was the public debut of the new book Everything You Need to Know About How to Find Your Family in Newspapers and I just want to thank everyone for the amazing response. It's really obvious that a comprehensive book on newspaper research was LONG overdue. The book is now available at the website and stay tuned because the ebook version is coming soon. Autographed copies still available a very limited time Read more about and watch my chat with Genealogy Gems Podcast listener and contest winner Carol Genung. GENEALOGY GEMS APP BONUS CONTENT: Listen to the interview with podcast listener and contest winner Carol Genung. Watch my chat with television presenter and historian Nick Barratt. Brightsolid Now one of the big players in British online records brightsolid made a HUGE splash at RootsTech 2012 not only with it's huge and colorful display at the front of the Exhibit Hall, but also by announcing while there that they have formally entered the US genealogy market with the launch of a ground-breaking, "pay-as-you-go" website: www.censusrecords.com. Read all about it: Brightsolid Enters US Genealogy Market With Censusrecords.com Customers of the new site will be able to search all US census records from 1790 to 1930 and it will also house the 1940 US census records, when they are released later this year. My Heritage / World Vital Records Also making news was MyHeritage.com. They have recently acquired World Vital Records.com and now are also making a splash onto the U.S. scene. I spoke with CEO Gilad Japhet and he told me they have just opened a U.S. office in Provo Utah and will be introducing some exciting new changes in the near future that take advantage of the huge new record collection they have acquired from World Vital Records and will make it easier than ever to build your existing MyHeritage family tree. FamilySearch Launches Mobile Indexing App FamilySearch announced a mobile Indexing App at RootsTech that is meant to expand the capability of volunteers to help make the world's historic records searchable online. The mobile device app works on Apple iPads, iPhones, and Droid smartphones. And FamilySearch also announced the winners of the RootsTech Developer Challenge. First Place went to Jimmy Zimmerman for his NoteFuser NoteFuser connects your Evernote notes to Geni.com or new.FamilySearch.org person records. It also allows you to easily create Evernote powered research logs and other notes with one click. You can watch a video demo of NoteFuser Demo video at http://notefuser.herokuapp.com. Second Place went to Brooke Schreier Ganz, LeafSeekLeafSeek helps you turn your genealogical or historical record collections into searchable online databases. LeafSeek includes features such as built-in geo-spatial searches, pop-up Google Maps, Beider-Morse Phonetic Matching, name synonyms, and language localization to help you turn your spreadsheets of names and dates into a full-featured genealogy search engine. leafseak.com. And there was a tie for Third Place between the Brigham Young University Computer Science Department for the 20 Minute Genealogist and Ellie Rasmus, for Facetree. 20 Minute Genealogist is a site that will visualize your family tree using your new.FamilySearch.org credentials. You can see who in your tree needs work and instantly link to FamilySearch and Ancestry to search for the missing information. You can sign up to be a beta tester at twenty.byu.edu. And Facetree has been developed as a way of using genealogical data from GEDCOM files as context to improve the accuracy of face recognition. MAILBOX: From Pat in New York Lisa--Once again I find myself driving along listening to you and mentally adding "To Do" items faster than the speed limit will allow! :) It's like having tea again with a childhood friend -- your comforting tone is oh-so-soothing at the end of the day for the drive home. Read Pat’s blog post at http://dalpiazryan.blogspot.com/2011/10/stroll-back-in-time-to-ellicottville-ny.html Lost Goose newspaper notice which was a particular gem found in old small town newspapers. From Tina in the UK Your new newspaper book