Updates and Listener Questions and Comments

Download the audio file mp3
Download the show notes handout

Elevenses with Lisa live episodes exclusively for Premium Members

Watch this short video about How to watch the monthly live Premium show and get the show notes: https://lisalouisecooke.com/live-premium-show-tutorial/

Highlights:

• Monthly on the first Thursday of the month.
• Time: 11:00 am CT
• Length: typically 45 – 60 min.
• Announced in the Genealogy Gems weekly newsletter the week prior to the show.
• The live show will be featured on our home page starting Wed. before show day. Log in to your membership and then click the show image to go to the show notes and video watching page. (Another way to find the most current show is to click LEARN in the menu. It should be the first item listed.)
• Prior to the live show, there will be a show image where the media player will appear. Show Notes section will say “coming soon.”
• Refresh the page on show day to get the media player and show notes (typically available about an hour prior to the show.)
• A 1 minute waiting room video will play before the show begins.
• Download the PDF handout on show day from the show notes page.
• After the live show ends it will automatically be available as a video replay on the show notes page on our website.
• The live chat is only available during the live show. However, you can join the conversation by leaving questions and comments in the Comments section at the bottom of the show notes page.

About Live chat: The chat feature displays underneath the video on our show notes page. Currently it’s only viewable on computers (not mobile).

During the live show you can click the video player to view it on a members-only page on YouTube where you participate in chat alongside watching the video.

About Premiere Videos: The rest of the Thursdays in the month we will publish shorter vides on the Genealogy Gems YouTube channel. Each video will be a live “Premiere” at 11:00 am CT featuring a live chat. After the Premiere ends it will automatically be available as a video replay on our channel. The show notes and video player will also be available on our website.

New Website in the Works

Our new website will feature new searching filters making it easier for you to find the content you want. Stay tuned for more information to come.

Listener Questions and Comments

 From Beverly W.: On Thursday, Oct. 14, you mentioned in the Elevenses episode that you don’t sync your online tree but add little bits to it. However, you do keep everything on your computer, as do I. Can you tell me why you don’t sync? The last time I tried to sync my Family Tree Maker with Ancestry, it was taking forever but did not finish uploading. If I don’t sync it, how can I save sources that I find on Ancestry to my program? I love the show and it has helped me tremendously. Even though I have been working on my tree for 25 years, there is still so much that I do not know.

From Lisa: Good question. I touch on this in Elevenses with Lisa episode 71 and the Premium video Take Control of Your Family Tree.

I don’t sync with an online tree for a few reasons, but mainly because my genealogy software is my “brain” of the operation and I don’t want to run the risk of syncing inaccurate information. By downloading documents and entering the information into my software, I’m doing a double-check that it’s the right document and the right ancestor and I have created exactly the source citation I want. Automation can introduce errors, and sometimes, as you mentioned, doesn’t work that well. I also don’t maintain a tree online that covers every single person in my database. My trees (multiple) are for targeted research on particular branches. 

Another reason is that software and websites continually evolve and release new versions. That has the potential of a bug or inconsistency to be introduced where all of a sudden sync isn’t working the way you thought it was. I don’t want to run the risk of discovering it after much damage has been done. 

In the end it’s a personal choice. The most important thing is to do whatever you’re going to do accurately and consistently 🙂

From Cindy G.: Hi Lisa. I was with you last night at your speaking to TVGS. I wanted to share with you but wasn’t sure of the appropriateness since my share did not focus on google. On one of your past podcasts you and a guest talked about the ancestry.com CARD CATALOG, so I bit-the-bullet and went in! And it was there during my first try that I broke through to my 4x great grandfather Samuel Cunningham on the western frontier of Pennsylvania and that crazy county Yohogania. Using PA archives of land records and wills and collaboration/FAN and ‘county genealogies’ of their formations, I was able to put the puzzle together. I was so proud of myself for listening to you two, that in my writing of his Life Story I included my journey to locate him. And of course I shared it with my three kids and everyone I bumped in to. I’m sure that there are a fist full of people out there who shook their heads as I did my Proudly Happy Dance!! By the way, I’m also the editor for the TVGS newsletter . I listen to you at FTM podcast as well as Gen Gems podcast. I have become a more efficient and more rewarded genealogist because if you. 

From Lisa: Wow, that’s fantastic!! I’m so glad the podcast played a small part in helping you bust that brick wall! Thank you so much for writing in and sharing.

From Rebecca C: This morning I was watching your Elevenses with Lisa program. It was the episode about using Google books and as I was listening I was trying a couple of searches just to see what I could find. You mentioned looking for county histories, so I typed in ‘Goroke’ (a small town in Victoria, Australia). This is the town that my grandfather’s family came from. On the weekend I had been entering some data into my software program about a wedding in Goroke and I was having difficulty reading the name of one of the witnesses. So, I was going through the list of books that came up from the search and the very first book I opened was a gazetteer and went straight to a list of the councilors for the county that Goroke is in. You wouldn’t believe it but the man whose name I had been unable to read was one of the councilors! I know you probably get lots of emails like this but I just wanted to share. Thanks for your show. I love all the little (and big) treasures of information you share.

From Lisa: Thanks for sharing a great example of how we don’t have to have famous ancestors for them to appear in books and other print publications. Learn more about using Google Books for genealogy with this Premium video: Google Books: the Tool You Should Use Every Day

Got a Question or Comment?

Email me at genealogygemspodcast@gmail.com  Put “Premium Member” in the subject line.

Need help with your Premium Membership?

Email us at service@genealogygems.com