Sat, 13 December 2008 GEM: Name That Tune I'll See You In My Dreams was a big hit for Cliff Edwards who also performed it on the ukuele. In fact he was known as "Uulele Ike." If you think you know the name of today's mystery song, please email me call and leave the answer on the voice mail line at 925-272-4021.
Dec. 24, 1968 In 1968 the three man crew of Apollo 8 became the first humans in history to orbit the moon. Their hastily-planned mission saw them enter lunar orbit on Christmas Eve after a three day voyage from earth. In one of a number of scheduled live TV broadcasts from the spacecrafts, the crew pointed their black and white camera at the lunar horizon and read the first ten verses of the Bible's book of Genesis.
History of British Christmas Traditions I thought it would be fun to ask my friend James Mowatt of the Historyzine Podcast to tell us alittle bit about the history of Christmas in Britain, and describe how our British ancestors might have celebrated the holiday.
From 1940: Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret’s Christmas Speech
From 1917: Christmas, Christmas, Blessed Blessed Day
From 1916: Christmas Eve Music Box
From 1913: The Bells of Christmas
From 1911: A Christmas Classic – The Awakening of Scrooge |
Mon, 1 December 2008 Welcome all the NEW listeners who discovered the show at the Family History Expo in Mesa, AZ. We're so glad you"re on board! Watch this video to learn how to use the free iTunes software (you don't need an iPod to use it!), and subscribe to this podcast for free. Then watch this video to learn more about how to use the podcast website. Watching Family History Expo TV is like your own Video Conference! If you were lucky enough to go you’ll get to see the folks you may have missed and get refresher info from those you did hear, and if you weren’t able to attend, this is your chance to get some great tips and ideas from the experts who were there. The next Family History Expo will be in St. George Feb 27 & 28, 2009 Lisa’s Classes: And while I was in Mesa AZ, I finally got a chance to sit down and interview Dick Eastman. Dick is always the one doing the interviewing and blogging, and I just thought it was about time I sat him down and got him to tell us his story. And you can hear that interview in it’s entirety in Episode 5 of my other podcast Family History: Genealogy Made Easy. Subscribe for free to Family History: Genealogy Made Easy podcast in iTunes. I love getting to talk to genealogy experts up close and personal and I also have really gotten a lot out of going through the genealogy research process step-by-step. It’s a great refresher for me as well as hopefully will help folks new to genealogy get started. It’s a lot of fun! Fun at The Genealogy Gems News Blog The Genealogy Hoe Down featuring genealogy blogger Miriam Robbins Midkiff, Genealogy Podcaster DearMYRTLE, Family Tree Magazine Editor Allison Stacy, and managing editor Diane Haddad. Blog Post: Genealogists Run, Don’t Walk, to Google! Houston Public Library’s Fantastic Collection Coming Online. Listen to my interview with Susan Kaufman manager, Houston Public Library’s Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research in the October 2008 episode of the Family Tree Magazine Podcast. Subscribe to The Family Tree Magazine Podcast free in iTunes. New at Ancestry: Search the U.S. City Directories database Sign up for the free Genealogy Gems Podcast Newsletter Calling all Norwegian researchers! The folks at Family Search are going to start indexing the 1875 Norway Census! In the first week of December, they will start indexing the 1875 Norway Census. This will be a large segment of the census for rural areas of Norway, but not the entire census. FamilySearch’s Historical Family Reconstitution unit has joined forces with the University of Tromsø in Norway to complete this project. The university is indexing the census records for the urban areas of Norway. Pass the word along that anyone interested in Norwegian genealogical research is encouraged to help by volunteering as a FamilySearch indexer. New Google Gadgets: Read Listener Phil Hayes’s blog post about his musical mom Jeanne T. Lewis. GEM: Interview with Curt Witcher, of the Allen County Library I got a chance to talk to Curt while attending the Federation of Genealogy Societies Conference in Philadelphia, PA this last Sept. 2008. Curt explains about the wide range of census records that many genealogists aren't taking advantage of. Name That Tune! The Darktown Strutter Ball Sheet MusicThe Darktown Strutter Ball Sheet Music You can even watch Guy Lombardo and Royal Canadians doing the Darktown Strutters Ball in the 1950s (video below) If you think you know the name of Mystery Song #3 that Lisa played on this podcast episode email the answer or call and leave the answer on the voice mail line at 925-272-4021 so your answer can be played on the show. A No Cost Way to Support the free Genealogy Gems Podcast. The holidays approaching and there’s an easy way for you to get your online shopping done while supporting this show. By accessing websites like Amazon.com through the links on the Genealogy Gems homepage and throughout the website, Amazon gives The Genealogy Gems Podcast credit for your purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything more, but by using the links on our website, you do a lot to help keep the free Genealogy Gems Podcast coming. Thank you! Visit the the Genealogy Gems YouTube Channel where you can watch lots of great genealogy themed videos. Join the Genealogy Gems Podcast fan page at Facebook. Catch up on what's going on in the world of genealogy at The Genealogy Gems News Blog. My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-b2d94e87bc16bcfd5226cfc6f3aaeee5} |
Sun, 2 November 2008 I am very happy to announce that I just launched my brand new podcast called Family History: Genealogy Made Easy. The new show really captures two areas of focus that are really sort of outside the focus of this show. First, I wanted to do a show that anybody could stumble upon and with absolutely no prior experience in genealogy be able to listen to and enjoy and that would walk them step by step through the process of doing family history research. It's like a long term free seminar that you can listen to and work along with! The other area I’ve wanted to focus on is success stories and words of wisdom from experienced genealogists. As I travel around going to conferences and as I read my email, I hear so many great stories. I wanted to have a show where I could really showcase these stories and the wisdom of experienced genealogists. Newbies to genealogy will get a sense of what they can look forward to, and more experienced genealogists like you guys can enjoy hearing personal stories from those that you have probably heard of in the world of genealogy. So that’s what you’ll find at Family History: Genealogy Made Easy – Personal conversations and stories from the experts, and a genealogy how to course all wrapped in to one. No matter what experience level you are at in genealogy I hope you will subscribe to the new show this week. It’s a weekly half hour show and you can find it in iTunes right along with this podcast. Flash Alert: I recently received a prompt to upgrade the free Flash player on my computer and have had nothing but problems. I’ve been checking into troubleshooting websites and there is quite an uproar about all the glitches it causes. Please be careful, and note that you will very likely have troubles with the click to play buttons on the Genealogy Gems website if you do elect to upgrade. I’ll keep you posted when I hear more about fixes. It appears that capability to view HD is the main focus of the upgrade, so if that’s not a high priority, you may way to stay with the player you have for now. GEM: Profile America GEM: Interview with Colleen Fitzpatrick, The Forensic Genealogist GEM: MacGenealogist GEM: Quilting Family Traditions
Lee wrote me to say "Seeing your own love of quilts, you know how precious these handmade creations will be to our descendants throughout the generations. And so it goes, passing on skills, love and enjoyment across the generations through the use of sewing needles...” Great Family Tradition & Heirloom Ideas from Lee and Connie Drew:
Whether you’re really artsy or don’t have a creative bone in your body, there’s a project out there for you that will allow you to express yourself, and promote lasting family traditions. More Resources:
GEM: Linguistic Bit by James Mowatt GEM: Name That Tune The Library of Congress American Memory Website had the old original sheet music. The song is entitled Hush-a-bye, Ma Baby with a subtitle of the Missouri Waltz. Lyric by J. R. Shannon. music from an original melody procured by John Valentine Eppel, and arranged by Frederic Knight Logan.
Thanks to those who wrote and called in for identifying the song for me!In this episode I play another song in the hopes that you’ll be able to do it again. Mystery Song #2 - NAME THAT TUNE! If you think you know the name of that song, please email me or better yet call and leave the answer on the voice mail line at 925-272-4021. There are lots of ways to contact me: |
Mon, 20 October 2008 October is Family History Month
Genealogy Gems Halloween Greetings Halloween Haunts Podcast by WHRO FM radio: Stories based on ghostly legends and lore of Hampton Roads, Virginia. Thanks to my friend Michelle Gabriele-Harrell producer off the Halloween Haunts podcast. In iTunes: iGoogle Update 7 part iGoogle Video Series walks you step by step on the computer screen through set up to getting the full potential. It's just one of the things you get when you become a Genealogy Gems Premium Member. Sign Up Today Family History Expo WorldCat: I also wrote a blog recently called Getting the Most Out of WorldCat and I wanted to mention that there is going to be a Free seminar Oct 28 at 2PM Eastern / 11 AM Pacific online sponsored by WorldCat so I’ll have a link to that posting so you can read all about it. MAILBOX: Kerry Steward called in about some comments I made on Genealogy Gems podcast Episode #40. Here are two articles about Henrietta Pruisner Tesch and Katherine Tesch Rugg's families. GEM: Profile America - Oct. 13 Navy Month
“Hit hard, hit fast, hit often” Admiral “Bull” Halsey (above) GEM: Interview with Yvette Arts, Director of Content Partnerships at World Vital Records Strategies for getting the most out of World Vital Records from Yvette Arts: First-time users/browsing: Perform a Basic Search. You’ll get the largest search results by just searching by last name. Look over the results to narrow down all the possibilities. Try adding first name next. Some combinations of first and last names are more difficult to find exact matches for than others (e.g., John Smith). But if you have an unusual name like Jared Quackenbush the search will only return a few results. Next, if you know the location enter a full state name in the Place search. There are some results in their databases, such as for Google Books, that may not come up via the geographic. Don’t forget to try alternative spelling for a surname. If you descide to subscribe, I hope you’ll do so here which helps support this free version of the podcast. Additional Search Tips: Entering a date is best when you only give a year. If you already know a lot about an ancestor and now want to know specific information, try the Advanced Search. Use broad search terms, not an exact year of birth. Although you may know this information, mistakes may have been made in a document, or a first name may be abbreviated (e.g., Geo* is a good search term for George or J* may bring up a John that is otherwise listed as Jn). Excluding a source from a search because you have exact knowledge about an ancestor could lead to less accurate search results. Sign Up For Genealogy Gems Premium Members Only Podcast Episodes & Videos GEM: Profile America - Oct 24 is the anniversary of Chips the U.S. War Dog being awared the Distinguished Service Medal A Dog Called Chips by Mary Ann Whitley at the U.S. War Dogs Website GEM: The MacGenealogist - In today’s MacGenealogist Minute with Ben Sayer, Ben’s continues his reviews of Genealogy software for the Macintosh computer with a review of iFamily for Leopard. GEM: Name That Tune - I need your help. Several months ago I received a reel to reel tape that was recorded by my husband’s Grandfather and Grandmother Cooke. I’m going to play one song on each episode in the hopes that one of you dear listener’s will recognize the tune and email me with the name. Or leave a voice mail at 925-272-4021. Thanks! Support the Show: With the holidays approaching there’s a wonderful way for you to do your online shopping while supporting this show. By accessing websites like Amazon.com through the links on the Genealogy Gems homepage and through the website, Amazon gives The Genealogy Gems Podcast credit for your purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything more, but by using the links on our website, you do a lot to help keep the free Genealogy Gems Podcast coming. Thank you! Visit the the Genealogy Gems YouTube Channel where you can watch lots of great genealogy themed videos. Join the Genealogy Gems Group on Facebook Catch up on what’s going on in the world of genealogy at The Genealogy Gems News Blog. |
Mon, 6 October 2008 "And this year I hit the jackpot when I was able to track down one of his long lost cousins who had a treasure trove of family history tucked away in the rafters of her garage." (Below: Bill and cousin)
Premium episode all about how to tap into your inner private eye to find those long lost living relatives. Albert Farrington and chorus from 1914 sing "Rule Britannia" GEM: Interview with Rick Crume British National Archives and in itunes Ancestral Quest - new interface with New Family Search. Family Tree Magazine Podcast military records interview Genealogy Gems Premium: Sign Up Now and use Coupon code SAVE20 to get 20% off the anual membership GEM: Interview with Dr. Christopher Watts
Below: Harry Cooke's Apprenticeship Record, 1872
Additional Gems From Over The Pond: Lisa's Interview with Feargal O'Donnell of the Irish Family History Foundation. View the 2 part video series: British History Podcasts: Binge Thinking History with Tony Cocks Historyzine Podcast with James Mowatt More Ways To Stay In Touch:
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