April 26, 2012

 

NEWS:

 

The big news is Ancestry.com’s acquisition of Archives.com

Read all about it at the Genealogy Gems News Blog

 

 

Jamboree Highlight

Early Bird Registration Ends 4/30/12 – Register Now

 

My Classes:

TH-001 - Conversation with the Author: Steve Luxenberg and Annie's Ghosts
TH-013 - Common Surname Google Search Strategies
SA-020 - Sharing The Joy: Projects That Will Captivate The Non-Genealogists In Your Life
SA-034 - The Google Earth Scavenger Hunt – Fascinating Family History Fun!
SA-040 - 10 Ways to Add Volume to Your Family History with Video

 

Special Events at Jamboree

 

 

MAILBOX:

 

Ashley discovers the important of citing her genealogy sources:

I wanted to drop you a note to express my deepest thanks for all of the work that you put into the podcast.  I'm just shy of 30 years old and I've been working on my family tree since I was about 15, but even after all of that work, I'm still learning something new every day!

…I wanted to share with you is that I just finished listening to episode 20 of the FH:GME podcast (all about the GPS and the importance of sourcing) and my own sad tale with sources:  Like I said, I started family tree research when I was about 15.  I stumbled on a four page report that my grandmother had ordered through a professional genealogist in the 1970s and was immediately hooked.  Unfortunately, NOTHING is sourced in that report.  I asked my Gramma about it and she told me that even she had found some errors (for example: she had four older half-siblings that were stillborn or died shortly after birth.  The report said that they were all born and died in February, which my Grandmother adamantly claims isn't true.)

But I based almost my entire tree on that report.  Then I made things worse by accepting any family trees on Ancestry.com as fact, adding names, dates and information willy nilly from people who may or may not have been related to me.  It wasn't until I realized that one branch of my tree had "traced" itself back to Julius Caesar (who was his own grandfather, according to the tree) that I went, "... wait a minute."

I'm starting the process of creating a new, sourced, accurate tree.  It’s probably going to take me just as long to fill out the branches, but it will be worth it in the end.  And I have you, and the fantastic resources you bring to the podcast, to thank!  

Thank you so very, very much.  Your podcasts are such an invaluable tool and listening to them make me so excited to try a new method in my own research.

Jack in Newport News, Va wants to know what do to with the folks who may or may not be ancestors:

 

“We all are searching for the "right" people but sometimes we find, or seemingly find, the "wrong" people. With the massive number of records on-line these days, it seems quite easy to find someone with the right name and age-range and, often even close to the right area. Sometimes I can eliminate a find based on some fact, but often there’s less certainty. What is the suggested best practice for handing a wrong, or possibly wrong, person/fact?”

Lisa’s Answer:

This is a good question and one we all face at some point.

 

In the end I think it comes down to two things:

1.      What works best for you

2.      And however you decide to handle it, do it consistently!

My personal preference is to make notes in the correct person. If there is no "correct" person in my database, then I will create an "unknown" person in that spot and start adding my finds to that profile, even if it's just in the notes section, so that it's all in one place. It's critical to cite your sources on ALL data along the way so that you know where it came from and you can find it again.

 

 

Challe needs help saving old books:

 

“What does one do to get the information out to the next generation that might not have access to these books?  How do you continue the work without reinventing the wheel of all the research that they did?  How do you make corrections if needed? I am concerned that the information will be lost and I am unsure as to what to do about it.”

 

Lisa’s Answer:

I turned to my friend and book publisher Leland Meitzler owner of Family Roots Publishing at www.familyrootspublishing.com, for an answer to your question and here’s what he said:

 

“This is an ongoing conundrum, and a question that's not easily answered. The bottom line is that the person should contact the next of kin, and attempt to buy the copyright, or at least the publication rights - just as a publisher would do. And it needs to be in writing.

 

Failing that, use the "data" within a succeeding publication, being very careful to obtain, and cite the original sources, and if those are not available, cite the book and author without copying word for word what they published. Honestly, it's tricky, and not something I'd want to attempt.

 

If the book was published prior to 1923, all this is not an issue. The item is in the public domain. If published after that date, but before 1978, there's still a good chance that the book may be out of copyright, if the author didn't renew. After January 1, 1978, the copyright is good for the authors lifetime, plus 70 years. Actually, it's even more complicated than that, but that's the basics.”

 

Leland recommends: Carmack's Guide to Copyright & Contracts

 

 

 

 

GEM: The Defective, Dependent and Delinquint Special Census of 1880 with Jana Broglin, CG, OGSF

 

The DDD: Supplemental Schedules 1 through 7

Download Jana's pdf "Using the 1880 DDD Census".  A special thank you to Jana for making this available!

 

U.S. Federal Census – 1880 Schedules of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes at Ancestry

 

Visit Jana’s Website: http://www.janabroglin.com

 

Published April 16, 2012

In this episode learn more about APG, find out what’s new with RootsMagic 5, and get started searching the 1940 census.

 

NEWS:

 

Diane Haddad and I just spent some time on the Family Tree Magazine podcast going over everything that’s been happening with the release of the 1940 census.  Diane is the Managing Editor of Family Tree Magazine and writes the Genealogy Insider blog, and she’s been doing a terrific job covering the records release, indexing efforts and early finds in the 1940 census.

 

You can hear the entire April episode of the Family Tree Magazine podcast at www.familytreemagazine.com/podcast

 

And you can read more about it my article called Genealogy Just Got More Exciting! The 1940  Census is Here at the Genealogy Gems News Blog.

 

where you can read about the official opening ceremony at the National Archives and check out a really cool infographic put out by Archives.com that guides you through the process of finding your relatives in the 1940 census before the index is finished and released.  Because there isn’t a searchable name index yet, you’ll need to follow a simple three step process:

 

#1 Write down where you ancestor lived.  You can ask older references, check old city directories, voters registrations, previous census and the like to come up with a pretty reliable list.

 

#2 Go to 1940census.archives.gov  Enter your family’s location to find their enumeration district.  This is key to finding them without a published index.

 

#3 Use the Census Maps to narrow your results

 

#4 Enter the enumeration district number to view the image

 

 

Who Do You Think You Are? on NBC

If you’ve been enjoying the new season of the TV series Who Do You Think You Are? on NBC, then you’re really going to enjoy the deleted scenes videos I have for you on the Genealogy Gems News blog.

 

Edie Falco

 

Rita Wilson

 

Parks and Recreation Star Discovers His Family History in Who Do You Think You Are?  Rob Lowe

 

 

National Archives
The National Archives continues to publish some great videos on their YouTube channel and here’s one that I really enjoyed:

 

National Archives Video Offers Peek Inside Preservation Lab

 

Also part of that series is another new video that the National Archives released on …

Titanic at the National Archives – 100 Years

  

New Free RootsMagic Webinars Announced

RootsMagic has released Version 5.  At the Ohio Genealogical Society conference in Cleveland I got a chance to sit down with Bruce Bruzbee, the President of RootsMagic and he tells us what’s new.

 

It was so great to have a chance to sit down with Bruce and hear about all the upgrades, and he mentioned the free webinar series that they’ve been doing, and all of those have been recorded and are on their website at RootsMagic.com

 

Installing and Upgrading RootsMagic 5

New Media Tagging in RootsMagic 5

New Source and Citation Features in RootsMagic 5

New Research Logs and Manager in RootsMagic 5

New Timeline View in RootsMagic 5

Installing and Upgrading Personal Historian 2

Apr 19 - New County Check in RootsMagic 5

Apr 26 - New Reports and Options in RootsMagic 5

 

To sign up for the free webinars, visit the webinar page at:

http://www.rootsmagic.com/webinars

 

Read RootsMagic Update Released and Free Webinar

 

 

Thanks for the Shout Outs:

 

Genealogy Gems Premium Podcasts and the iPad

by Jenna, Desparately Seeking Surnames Blog

 

A blog post about genealogy books and their authors

By: Carolyn L. Barkley, Genealogy and Family History Blog

 

How to Recover from a Genealogy Slump

From Eylse’s Genealogy Blog

 

 

MAILBOX:

 

From Jean:

"Thank you so much for letting me be a gem!".  I loved how you played the "Cooke's reel to reel version and then the iTunes version of "Thine Alone".  I definitely spent a lot of time talking with myself and debating whether I had the nerve to send that email!  I know you've always said that almost all contacts with genealogists are extremely rewarding, but this was just about my first attempt at communication.  I am so delighted that it solved your mystery! …You have a marvelous gift for making all of us feel special, and you've certainly helped me get even more motivated to explore my family history, thanks again.”

 

 

From the Voice Mail Line:
“What do you do with big or numerous files? How do you annotate them in your tree for future reference when you pass the tree on or share it with others? I’m talking about PDFs of big books or articles or a large collection of photos where hundreds of megabytes may be involved. They’re too cumbersome to keep inside programs but they should still be referenced to be able to find that file later on.”

 

Lisa Recommends:

Cite your sources!

Send large files for free with www.yousendit.com

Share large files for free with www.dropbox.com

 

 

GEM: Interview with Kenyatta Berry, President of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG)

 

Kenyatta D. Berry is a lawyer, businesswoman and genealogist with over 15 years experience in genealogy research and writing. A strategic and tactical professional with over twelve years progressive experience in Business Development, Marketing, Sales, Operations, Product Marketing and Law.

 

Kenyatta is looking forward to helping APG continue to grow as an organization and serve the needs of professional genealogists worldwide. Her research focus includes African American genealogy, Virginia genealogy, Land records and House Histories.

 

Ms. Berry is a member of the Council Member of the Corporation for the New England Historical Genealogical Society. She has been featured in Jet Magazine, on XM Satellite radio and a researcher for NBC Dateline and WETV.