Assisted Immigration to Australia: Queensland Passenger Lists
Did you know that the British government has not only encouraged many people to leave Britain, it has helped them do it? This is known as "assisted immigration." It has affected millions of our relatives' lives, both of original migrants and their descendants....
How to Make Google Cache Pay Off in Your Genealogy Research
What do you do when you Google something, click on a search result URL, and it says "page not found," or "error?" Debbie recently discovered the answer in her new copy of the newly revised and updated The Genealogist's Google Toolbox (2nd edition). She wrote to us: "I...
We Dig These Gems: New Genealogy Records Online
We learn about so many fantastic new genealogy records online every week. So each Friday we round up several of them for you to glance through. Watch for databases and documents that your ancestors might appear in–but also watch for the kinds of records that...
A Free Search Tool for U.S. Public Records
Do you ever get frustrated trying to track down vital and court records for your U.S. ancestors? Sure, most of these records (not all) were originally kept by county offices. But where are they today? Have they come online? What privacy policies block access? Where do...
Get Photos Scanned without Getting Scammed
An ABC Action News Report presents a scary-to-us scenario: a family's home movies disappeared with the company hired to convert them to DVD. The family only got their 16mm home movie reels back when the local news media went after the business owner. Here's the story...
Write Your Life Story: Good for Your Health?
Did you know that writing--and then re-writing--our personal stories can be good for our health? And even better for our future, Courtesy Houston County, TN. Archives.especially if we are struggling to define that future optimistically. So says a recent New...
WWII Dog Tag Finally Returns to Family: Orphaned Heirloom Rescue
A 22-year year old man with a metal detector in France has brought a lot of joy to an 89-year widow in the U.S. As reported in TheBlaze.com, Francois Blaizot found an American's World War II dog tag in Normandy last year. Instead of keeping or selling it, he decided...
We Dig These New Genealogy Records Gems every Friday!
Every week, we see so many new genealogy records posted online! We highlight major resources in individual blog posts. But sometimes smaller or regional collections catch our eye, too. We'll round these up for you in a post like this on Fridays. Watch for the...
RootsMagic Review: Why I Use It
Recently Gretchen wrote in with this question about RootsMagic family history software: "I'm a huge fan of Genealogy Gems!! I LOVE to listen to the podcasts (I'm a fairly new member) and have all of your books!! I need help in the area of choosing a family tree: Do...
New FindMyPast Hints Help Find Records
FindMyPast, the genealogy website best known for its mega-collections of U.K. historical records, recently added a hinting feature to the family trees component of its website. According to a press release, "Once you start to add to your family tree, Hints will sift...
Google Scholar for Genealogy? Here’s Why to Try It
Recently I heard from Sue Neale, whose story offers a compelling reason to use Google Scholar for genealogy research! Read it below--then I'll tell you a little more about Google Scholar. "I’ve been using computers for genealogy research (among other things) for about...
Google for Genealogy: New Search Operators and More
Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast episode 120 is now available: The "headline" of this episode is definitely the NEW tips using Google for genealogy. Google changes, so the ways we use it have to keep up if we want to get the most out of it. You'll learn a few new,...
Front Page News! New York Tribune Archive on Flickr
The Library of Congress has a Flickr album that's front page news--literally! It's a New York Tribune archive with newspaper covers dating back more than a century. "This set of cover pages from the New York Tribune illustrated supplements begins with the year 1909,"...
A New Heritage Quilt From Old Family Fabrics
"I am a quilter and love doing special pieces that tell our family history at the same time. I think you would enjoy [this] story and the pictures [that go with it]." This note recently came from Genealogy Gems listener Sheri Lesh. She wrote in about a quilt she...
Here’s Why You Should Use the Genealogy Gems App
The Genealogy buy threadworm medication Gems App lets you listen to the Genealogy Gems podcast on your mobile device which is great. But there are more specific reasons to use the app over just listening online or using iTunes. Recently I heard from podcast listener...
Millions of New Scandinavian Genealogy Records Now Online
If you have roots in Denmark or Sweden then you'll be excited about the email I got recently about Scandinavian genealogy records. Here's the news from Daniel Horowitz, the Chief Genealogist Officer at MyHeritage.com: "I'm delighted to let you know that we've just...
Oldest Known Photographs of Cities: Did Your Ancestors Live Here Then?
London. Paris. Athens. Berlin. Bombay. Rome. New York City. Copenhagen. Dublin. Edinburgh. Jerusalem. The oldest known photographs of these cities and more are featured in this post at Abroad in the Yard. I love the details in these photos that are usually...
Old Maps of Chicago Now Online
Do you have ancestors who lived in the "Windy City" of Chicago, Illinois (USA)? You should check out Chicago in Maps, a web portal to historic, current and thematic maps. As the News-Gazette reports, "There are direct links to over three dozen historic maps of...