Our club library has a new item: I picked up a copy of the latest resource from Moorshead Magazines, the publishers of Internet Genealogy and Your Genealogy Today. The articles in "Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors" were written by Christine Woodcock, a Canadian genealogist with expertise in Scottish research.
Articles include "Finding Your Scottish Ancestors: The Basics," "What's in a Name?," "Genealogy Treasures in Scottish Libraries," "The Scottish Clearances" and many more. Plan to borrow this new resource next year!
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Legacy Webinars for June
Legacy has an interesting variety of presentations for the coming month. Visit www.familytreewebinars.com to register for any of the selections. You can also view them for about a week following the original presentation.
Wednesday, June 7: Researching Your Minnesota Ancestors (Beginner/Intermediate)
Friday, June 9: The Increasing Need for Foreign Language Indexing (Intermediate)
Wednesday, June 14: How Harry Potter Can Teach You About DNA (Beginner)
Friday, June16: What Now? Your Next Steps with Autosomal DNA Testing (Beginner/Intermediate)
Tuesday, June 20: Beating the Bushes: Using the GPS to Find Jacob Bush's Father (Intermediate)
Wednesday, June 21: Virtual Family Reunions: Super Easy, Super Fun (Beginner)
Wednesday, June 28: Canada's Top Ten (Beginner/Intermediate)
Wednesday, June 7: Researching Your Minnesota Ancestors (Beginner/Intermediate)
Friday, June 9: The Increasing Need for Foreign Language Indexing (Intermediate)
Wednesday, June 14: How Harry Potter Can Teach You About DNA (Beginner)
Friday, June16: What Now? Your Next Steps with Autosomal DNA Testing (Beginner/Intermediate)
Tuesday, June 20: Beating the Bushes: Using the GPS to Find Jacob Bush's Father (Intermediate)
Wednesday, June 21: Virtual Family Reunions: Super Easy, Super Fun (Beginner)
Wednesday, June 28: Canada's Top Ten (Beginner/Intermediate)
Saturday, May 20, 2017
PERSI and FindMyPast
We plan to visit the Allen County Library in Fort Wayne, IN this summer. I had hoped to produce a list of periodicals to use before we arrive at the library. FindMyPast has the PERSI (Periodical Source Index) and provides "free" access on their website. PERSI is an index to the extensive collection of magazines and newsletters held at the Allen County Library--the largest in the country.
However, what is available on FindMyPast is the title of an article, the name of the periodical and the year of issue. Without a subscription you cannot see the volume or number of the issue for an article, so it is impossible to order anything that seems interesting or to make a list ahead of time.
So I signed up for a month at FindMyPast in order to see more information. PERSI is most useful for location searches, but the website was not very efficient to use in preparation for a visit. There were a few articles that had been digitized, but even then there was no way to access a specific page in a periodical. It was too cumbersome to flip to page 55 to see a list of marriages for a certain county in New York, for example. Most articles are not digitized at this time.
We do have a PERSI CD that was produced by Ancestry with a publication date of 1997. It might still be useful, but no articles printed in the past twenty years would be included! It seems that we will have to wait until we arrive at the library to use the index efficiently.
However, what is available on FindMyPast is the title of an article, the name of the periodical and the year of issue. Without a subscription you cannot see the volume or number of the issue for an article, so it is impossible to order anything that seems interesting or to make a list ahead of time.
So I signed up for a month at FindMyPast in order to see more information. PERSI is most useful for location searches, but the website was not very efficient to use in preparation for a visit. There were a few articles that had been digitized, but even then there was no way to access a specific page in a periodical. It was too cumbersome to flip to page 55 to see a list of marriages for a certain county in New York, for example. Most articles are not digitized at this time.
We do have a PERSI CD that was produced by Ancestry with a publication date of 1997. It might still be useful, but no articles printed in the past twenty years would be included! It seems that we will have to wait until we arrive at the library to use the index efficiently.
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
The Randy Majors Website
Randy Majors' website was listed in the 2016 Family Tree Magazine's 101 best websites, and the new issue of the magazine included an interview with him.
His website has interactive U.S. County Boundary maps and Historical World Boundary Maps. I entered a few of my ancestor's European villages with quick results. The Norwegian village map included interesting topographical features. U. S. county maps allow you to pinpoint current research locations such as courthouses, churches, cemeteries and libraries.
Another feature of the website is an "ancestor search" using Google Custom search which is supposed to be genealogy specific. However, I did not have much luck with the names I chose to enter. One referred me to an Ancestry family tree; another found an online tree--but not for the correct family.
His site is certainly worth a look: www.randymajors.com.
His website has interactive U.S. County Boundary maps and Historical World Boundary Maps. I entered a few of my ancestor's European villages with quick results. The Norwegian village map included interesting topographical features. U. S. county maps allow you to pinpoint current research locations such as courthouses, churches, cemeteries and libraries.
Another feature of the website is an "ancestor search" using Google Custom search which is supposed to be genealogy specific. However, I did not have much luck with the names I chose to enter. One referred me to an Ancestry family tree; another found an online tree--but not for the correct family.
His site is certainly worth a look: www.randymajors.com.
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Legacy May Webinars
Legacy has quite the variety of webinars this month, from New York to Denmark to DNA. Read more about the presentations, register or watch on your own time at www.familytreewebinars.com.
Wednesday, May 3 - "Take Me Back Where I Belong: Transportation Records of the Freedman's Bureau" by Angela Walton-Raji (Intermediate)
Friday, May 5 - "Discover the New Legacy Family Tree 9" by Geoff Rasmussen (Beginner, Intermediate)
Wednesday, May 10 - "Introduction to Danish Genealogy" by Fritz Juengling (Beginner)
Friday, May 12 - "New York City and State Government Vital Records" by Jane Wilcox (Intermediate, Advanced)
Tuesday, May 16 - "MAXY DNA: Correlating mt-at-X-Y DNA with the GPS" by Debbie Parker Wayne (Intermediate, Advanced)
Wednesday, May 17 - "Remember Me: Lifestreaming and the Modern Genealogist" by Thomas MacEntee (Beginner)
Wednesday, May 24 - "WikiTree: Free for All without a Free-for-All" by Eowyn Langholf (Beginner)
Wednesday, May 31 - "The Great War: Researching Your World War I Ancestors" by Michael L. Strauss (Beginner, Intermediate)
Wednesday, May 3 - "Take Me Back Where I Belong: Transportation Records of the Freedman's Bureau" by Angela Walton-Raji (Intermediate)
Friday, May 5 - "Discover the New Legacy Family Tree 9" by Geoff Rasmussen (Beginner, Intermediate)
Wednesday, May 10 - "Introduction to Danish Genealogy" by Fritz Juengling (Beginner)
Friday, May 12 - "New York City and State Government Vital Records" by Jane Wilcox (Intermediate, Advanced)
Tuesday, May 16 - "MAXY DNA: Correlating mt-at-X-Y DNA with the GPS" by Debbie Parker Wayne (Intermediate, Advanced)
Wednesday, May 17 - "Remember Me: Lifestreaming and the Modern Genealogist" by Thomas MacEntee (Beginner)
Wednesday, May 24 - "WikiTree: Free for All without a Free-for-All" by Eowyn Langholf (Beginner)
Wednesday, May 31 - "The Great War: Researching Your World War I Ancestors" by Michael L. Strauss (Beginner, Intermediate)
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Weekend Webinars
How many of you were able to find time to watch some of the free webinars on Legacy over the past weekend? "Are You My Grandpa? Men of the Same Name" was my first choice, and the suggestions provided for analyzing information to differentiate between those men were very helpful.
I also watched "Ten Brick Wall Tips for Beginners" and "Ten Brick Wall Tips for Intermediate Researchers," both presented by Marian Pierre-Louis. She was such an interesting speaker that I found another topic from her list called "Plan Your Way to Research Success." We haven't talked much about creating research plans, and they do help to focus your searches.
There are so many webinars available, and not all of them are free and easy to access. Geoff Rasmussen and Legacy are doing the genealogy world a wonderful service.
I also watched "Ten Brick Wall Tips for Beginners" and "Ten Brick Wall Tips for Intermediate Researchers," both presented by Marian Pierre-Louis. She was such an interesting speaker that I found another topic from her list called "Plan Your Way to Research Success." We haven't talked much about creating research plans, and they do help to focus your searches.
There are so many webinars available, and not all of them are free and easy to access. Geoff Rasmussen and Legacy are doing the genealogy world a wonderful service.
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Free Legacy Webinars
Legacy reached the milestone of 500 webinars this week. To commemorate the achievement, they are providing free access to all 500 webinars during the coming weekend. Here's part of the announcement:
The free period starts on Friday and runs through Sunday evening. All Legacy asks in return: “Just visit www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com and browse or search for any topic or presenter and enjoy! Then, tell us about what you learned. And if you LOVE what you are learning, consider joining us for a month or for a year to enjoy the memberships even longer.”
I hope you all have some free time during the weekend to watch one or more of those excellent presentations.
The free period starts on Friday and runs through Sunday evening. All Legacy asks in return: “Just visit www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com and browse or search for any topic or presenter and enjoy! Then, tell us about what you learned. And if you LOVE what you are learning, consider joining us for a month or for a year to enjoy the memberships even longer.”
I hope you all have some free time during the weekend to watch one or more of those excellent presentations.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Alberta Research
Our Canadian members know that vital records research in Alberta has been difficult. Nancy Archibald reports that this has recently changed. Her message follows:
The Alberta Provincial Archives has just released Birth, Death, and Marriage record Registries. They have not indexed individually, but they are searchable by alphabetical lists and year. Once you get the number from the list and know the year of the event you can order documents that show more detail from Alberta Provincial Archives. This is pretty clear on the website. (If the year is before about 1914 on the death records, there is a code with letters. There is a sheet that will let you know what letter represents what year.) If you make a mistake they will email you and let you know what you have done wrong. If you do a large number of requests in one day they will bunch them so you don't have to pay so much for shipping and handling. It is a good idea to call to make sure. It is $3.00 in Alberta and $0.35 per copy. The link to Alberta Provincial Archives is below.
http://provincialarchives.alberta.ca/how-to/find-birth-marriage-death-records/request-form/default.aspx
Thanks for the information, Nancy!
The Alberta Provincial Archives has just released Birth, Death, and Marriage record Registries. They have not indexed individually, but they are searchable by alphabetical lists and year. Once you get the number from the list and know the year of the event you can order documents that show more detail from Alberta Provincial Archives. This is pretty clear on the website. (If the year is before about 1914 on the death records, there is a code with letters. There is a sheet that will let you know what letter represents what year.) If you make a mistake they will email you and let you know what you have done wrong. If you do a large number of requests in one day they will bunch them so you don't have to pay so much for shipping and handling. It is a good idea to call to make sure. It is $3.00 in Alberta and $0.35 per copy. The link to Alberta Provincial Archives is below.
http://provincialarchives.alberta.ca/how-to/find-birth-marriage-death-records/request-form/default.aspx
Thanks for the information, Nancy!
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