After publishing the Evernote for Genealogy Premium Video I told you that I planned on covering using Evernote for Genealogy more in the future. And we are starting with this episode!
MAILBOX:
This first email comes from Alex in Alabama who writes:
“One of the reasons I’ve become involved in genealogy is that I have the interesting aspect of researching my father, Fletcher Harvey, and my mother, Ann Harvey Harvey. Yes, she was a Harvey, too. How would you suggest setting up those initial surname folders? Just one big ol’ Harvey folder? Maybe Fletcher’s family and Ann’s family?”
Lisa’s Answer: The trick to the hard drive organization system is to stay consistent, and to fashion it after the Census – that is by “head of household”.
While it would seem logical to create two Harvey files – one for Fletcher and one for Ann – stick to head of households. So the first folder would HARVEY and the first name of Fletcher’s dad who was the head of the household. Ex: HARVEY JOHN
For Ann’s side you would have HARVEY and her father’s first name, because he was the head of the household. Ann was born a HARVEY but moved on to become a different “HARVEY”. In my system, women’s records are filed under the surname they held at the time the record was created – either their maiden name, or their married name.
Here’s a quick tip from Premium Member Christine in Houston:
I had a recent disaster where not only did my computer hard drive fail, but the backup drive was damaged as well and NONE of the contents were saved. Bye bye three years of hard work. But, I had shared with a close cousin on one side and he is gradually helping me with some of the lost bits. Luckily my main tree is also on Ancestry, but what I lost was documentation.
I was interested in the hard drive organization podcasts. I figure I might as well start over doing a little better with citing and organizing. Actually much of what you had suggested I was already doing. But I found one feature on the MAC which I would add to your suggestions.
MAC (and I’m sure Windows as well) allows you to color code both files and documents. After thinking about it a while I would suggest doing this at the great grandparent level. Just makes for a few fewer files all one color. (MAC has seven colors-or so plus uncolored that makes 8 family branches)
If you are very visual, like me, you can look at the color on the folder or the file label and tell just where it came from. I also did this AS I CITE. So I know which things have been properly cited because they are already colored.”
Watch the Hard Drive Organization videos in the Premium Video section of this website
I find that color coding can really speed up finding your way through folders on your computer. I did cover this top in Premium episode 86.
and in that episode I mentioned a freeware add-on for Windows called Folder Marker.
Folder Marker Free lets you do color code folders on the fly from the right-click menu of a folder. So there is no need to go through additional dialogs boxes! Simply select the folder you want to mark, right-click on its icon and select a color-coded icon from the drop-down menu. The icon will be assigned to the folder at once.
You can also mark several folders at a time. Simply select a group of folders with the mouse and assign a new icon from the right-click menu.
You can also assign certain logos to your folders such as “high priority”, “half-done work”, “important files” and so on. It even lets you upload a few of your own icons if you’d rather use them instead.
If you want to go full throttle with visual folders, there is a really nifty little utility program that you can use to take any picture that is BMP, JPG, or PNG file format and convert it into an ICO format. Using this program, you can take your favorite picture of an ancestor, let’s say, and convert it into a Windows Icon.
You can take an image and save it as an icon in all of the different sizes: 16×16, 32×32, 48×48, and 64×64. For you genealogy bloggers out there, the 16×16 size can be used to give your web site a logo in the IE address bar. For example, in Blogger while writing a post, you can see the orange icon in the address bar.
The program also lets your transform the images. You can scale the image to make it smaller or flip it horizontally or vertically. And if you don’t care to save the image as an icon, you can convert between any of the three formats: PNG, JPG, or BMP. Simply drag a picture into the colored area after configuring your settings and the picture is automatically converted!
You can change the settings by click on the Options menu item. Icon Settings allows you to pick the size of your final icon. Image Transform lets you pick the transformations you want if you are converting between picture formats (JPG to PNG).
GEM: Evernote VS. One Note
Genealogy research requires a lot of note taking, and it doesn’t take long for notes to pile up everywhere: stacks of paper on your desk and floor, sticky notes surrounding your computer monitor screen, and binders full of organized pages.
Migrating to a digital note taking system will save you time, space and headaches. But which one should you use? The two top contenders are Evernote and OneNote, and one question I get asked a lot is which one should I use?
In this gem Evernote and OneNote go head to head in a comparison match. If you already have a favorite then you’re good to go because the good news is they are both great programs. But for those on the fence, it can help to look a bit closer at what each offers so you can pick the one that’s right for you. Both programs are noteworthy – the choice really comes down to your computing needs and work style.
Evernote vs One Note Comparison
What is it?
Evernote: A suite of downloadable software (desktop client), mobile apps, and Web based services focused on note taking, web clipping, and archiving.
OneNote: A Microsoft software program designed for note taking, organizing, and integration with Microsoft software. Mobile apps also available.
Types of Notes
Evernote: Allows you to create a wide range of notes including typed text, web clippings (customized screen shots using the Web Clipper), audio, video, photographs, and tables. Evernote’s free Skitch program and app lets you annotate your notes and do free hand drawing.
OneNote: Allows you to create a wide range of notes including typed text, web clippings, audio, video, photographs, “Inking” (free hand drawing with your finger or stylus), tables, and Excel spreadsheets.
Cost
Evernote: Free account allows you to download the Evernote program and provides you with 60MB of free synchronized cloud storage per month.
For $5.00 per month or $45.00 per year Evernote Premium gives you much more uploading capacity, greater sharing options, access to note history, PDF searching, faster image recognition, and no ads.
OneNote: OneNote is included in the Microsoft Office software suite along with programs such as Word and Excel. You may already have it on your PC. Check under Programs in your PC’s Control Panel. New version slated for 2013.
Sign up for a free SkyDrive account for cloud storage (7GB free, additional storage available for a fee.) Available as a stand alone software program for $79.95 at www.microsoft.com/office/onenote
Operating System
Evernote: PC and Mac
OneNote: PC Only
Apps
Evernote: Free iOS and Android Apps. Loads of additional apps that integrate with Evernote are available in the “Evernote Trunk” at trunk.evernote.com
OneNote: Free iOS and Android Apps. The OneNote app has very limited capabilities compared to software program.
Web / Screen Clipping
Evernote: Yes – When the Evernote desktop client program is open on your computer the web clipper can be found in your Task Bar by right-clicking the Evernote icon. You can also download a web clipper plugin to your favorite browser.
OneNote: Yes – The screen clipper is built into the program. You will find it under the Insert menu.
Cloud Synchronization
Evernote: Automatic synchronization through the Evernote system when connected to the Internet.
OneNote: OneNote syncs with SkyDrive and SharePoint (must be signed into a Microsoft account or a Microsoft Online Services ID)
Unique Strengths
Evernote:
Tagging allows sorting of notes regardless of which notebook they reside in.
Web sharing flexibility including unique URL links, and social media
Alphabetical organization of notebooks
OCR technology applied to images making text searchable
OneNote:
You can mix note taking mediums (that is include typed text, scribble “ink” notes, graphics, etc.)
Integration with other Microsoft software programs
Family History: Genealogy Made Easy Podcast with Lisa Louise Cooke Republished June 18, 2014
Listen to the Family History: Genealogy Made Easy podcast by Lisa Louise Cooke. It’s a great series for learning the research ropes and well as refreshing your skills.
Welcome to this step-by-step series for beginning genealogists—and more experienced ones who want to brush up or learn something new. I first ran this series in 2008-09. So many people have asked about it, I’m bringing it back in weekly segments.
Episode 36: Your Genealogy Questions Answered, Part 1
Today’s show is all about YOU! This episode is made up completely of your emailed questions, comments and stories. I couldn’t do this podcast without you, and I definitely want it to be a two way conversation. Joining me on today’s episode to read your emails is my daughter, Lacey Cooke.
Question: When do I use the GPS (genealogical proof standard) method? How do I know whether what I’ve found meets the genealogy research standard? Do I need a research report for every ancestor? When do I use the research worksheet? – Jenna in Kansas City
Answer: First, put priority on your direct ancestors. I write up research reports on each direct ancestor, but only after I’ve done the bulk of the research on them. Use the research worksheet when you have conflicting or unclear information that needs to be worked over a little more thoroughly. Learn more about navigating your research with the genealogical proof standard in the Family History Made Easy Podcast, Episode 20 andEpisode 23.
Question: I need help finding a newspaper article on the killing of my great-great grandfather Thomas Leonard Frazier that originally appeared in The Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah. I didn’t cite the source when I first found it! – Kent Frazier
Answer: I found the article you’re looking for at GenealogyBank.com. Online newspapers are scattered all over the internet. I started at GenealogyBank because they have a lot and I have a subscription. If you have trouble finding newspaper article, review the episodes below. You may also want to try regional and state archives, public libraries, genealogical and historical societies and large genealogy or university libraries.
Comment: I just listened to Family History Podcast Episode 33 about hard buy medicine online gurgaon drive file organization, including organizing photos files, and I just listened to Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 18 (not currently available online) on how to identify old photos by the cars that appear in them. My sister recently sent me a batch of old family photos, including one with the van in which I learned to drive. I decided to organize them according to your suggestions and it’s worked really well. I have one more suggestion: add a caption to each photo’s metadata. It’s like writing about the photo on the back of it.
To add a caption in Windows, right-click on the file, then click Properties. On a Mac, click on the File icon and then in the Finder menu, click on Get Info. I’m using Windows Vista, so this comes up with a window that has three tabs on it: General, Security and Details. Go to the Details tab and click to the right of the fields that are listed there to enable editing. On my computer, there are fields for Title, Subject, Tags and Comments as well as Authors, Date Taken and Date Acquired. There are a number of other fields that can be edited on this screen that have to do with the photographic equipment that was used, so scanned photos from your grandparents’ Kodak Brownie cameras can be updated too. The fields that I fill in are Subject, Tags and where known, the Authors and Date Taken. The Tags field can be very useful for the computer’s search function. If these fields are not available from the operating system itself, most modern photo editing software has functionality that will let you edit these same fields from within the photo software [for example, in Adobe Photoshop, this is under File -> File Info]. –Sean Lamb
In Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast Episode 25, I interviewed Ken Watson who talked about tagging photos with actual GPS (global positioning) coordinates in meta-tags.
Russ provides this link to his blog post about applying my hard drive organization strategies and incorporating Family Tree Maker software. For hard drive organization, see Family History Podcast Episode 32 and Episode 33.
Question: I’ve been doing genealogy for a couple of years on and off. I found your two podcasts and I’m almost caught up on Family History Made Easy. (Next will be the “Genealogy Gems” podcast!) Is there a “best practice” for which name should be used for a woman’s record? Maiden or married? Also, will you recap what a primary source is? –Bob Callahan
Answer: When I started the podcast, I wondered whether having two podcasts was overkill. I’m getting great feedback telling me that’s not the case! A primary source contains genealogical data collected at the time of the event reported by someone of authority and/or who was at the event and has first-hand knowledge. You may have several primary sources for each fact, like a family Bible and a government or church record for a birth or death. (A secondary source for that might be a birth announcement in a newspaper. The reporter obviously wasn’t there and doesn’t have firsthand knowledge of the event. If that’s all you have, dig a little deeper.)
As for your question about women’s names, a woman is listed in on a family tree with the name she was born with: her maiden name. She will be connected to any spouses later in life, and you can get her married name from there. They may appear in records with any of their surnames. A death record on Ancestry.com may have her listed by her married name, but in your family tree you should have her by her maiden name.
Comment: Let me first say that I am a new listener and have been on a Genealogy Gems and Family History Made Easy Podcast marathon! For the past month, I have listened to almost all of your podcasts and have gleaned quite a bit of information…to the point that it has almost overloaded my brain. But that is a good thing because I have a lot of new ideas for expanding the tree that my grandmother started forty plus years ago…
I just listened /watched the Premium Members Video for organizing your hard drive (available only to Premium Members). I have one more suggestion. It’s on how to copy multiple folders with the same name into your surname folders.
When setting up the surname folders and the sub-folders that go inside each, you set up one set of folders inside of one of the surname folders that are brand new with no documents inside of them. Then highlight each of them by first clicking on the first folder inside the surname folder, press and hold the shift key and click on the last folder and then right click on one of the highlighted folders and click copy from the drop down list. Then click and open the next surname folder, right click inside the folder and then click on paste from the drop down folder. –Eric Gomes
This is a GREAT suggestion! I constantly move multiple files at a time, but completely forgot that this can be done with file folders.
Question: Do you have any suggestions on what to look at when checking out and deciding on a society to join? –Eric Gomes
Answer: It depends on what your goals are. If your goals are camaraderie, education, involvement and community service, involve yourself with a local society. Go visit! See how welcoming they are, what kinds of programs they offer and whether they meet your needs. Don’t be shy about meeting the president and asking for a recent copy of their newsletter. Test drive it to see what’s a good fit for you.
If you’re trying to learn about where your ancestor lived, look for a society closest to that area. Look for societies near and far at the Federation of Genealogical Societies website on the Find a Society page. Or Google the name of the city and/or county/province and the keywords “genealogy society” to find what you’re looking for. Coming up dry? Contact a reference or local history/genealogy librarian at a local library or someone at a local historical society to ask for a recommendation.
Every Friday, we blog about new genealogy records online. Might these collections include your ancestors? This week: Civil War stereographs, Dublin workhouse registers, Illinois naturalizations, a Jersey digital archive and Oregon motor registrations and offenses. Don’t miss our Google tip at the end!
CIVIL WAR STEREOGRAPHS. “The Library of Congress has acquired 540 rare and historic Civil War stereographs from the Robin G. Stanford Collection,” says a press release. “The first 77 images are now online, including 12 stereographs of President Lincoln’s funeral procession through several cities and 65 images by Southern photographers showing South Carolina in 1860-61. The images can be viewed in this gallery within the Library’s Prints and Photographs Online Catalog. More images will be added each month, until all are online.”
DUBLIN WORKHOUSE REGISTERS. More than 1.5 million Dublin workhouse registers, 1840-1919 are now searchable for FindMyPast subscribers. Records include both images and transcripts, and may contain names, marital status, occupation, religion, age, birth year, admission year, name of workhouse and (on images) details about family, condition upon admitttance and date left workhouse or died.
JERSEY HERITAGE DIGITAL ARCHIVE. Over 300,000 items are now searchable at the subscription website Jersey Heritage Archives & Collections Online. Featured collections include registration cards of 30,000+ Channel Islanders who were there during the WWII German occupation. You’ll also find Jersey parish records dating to 1842 and (under Superintendent Registrar) parish registers from 1540-1842 and post-1842 civil marriage records.
OREGON MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATIONS AND CONVICTIONS for 1911-1946 are now searchable by Ancestry subscribers. Registrations include license number, name and address of the vehicle owner (including county in parentheses), make of car, motor number, model or year of manufacture and type of body. Records of convictions name the offender, date, offense, license number, court, county and the amount of any fines.
Tip of the week: Whenever you look at any record of an ancestor, ask what additional documents, images, video footage or historical material this record points you toward. For example, you might learn from an above record that Grandpa drove a 1935 Auburn Speedster or that a relative suffered from the German occupation on Jersey. Google searches on these niche topics can lead you to a Speedster photograph or historical materials (including footage) on the occupation, like this interview with a survivor of the German occupation. Learn how to search for gems like these in Lisa’s totally-revised, updated 2nd edition of The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox.
An interactive map lets you explore The Blitz: the intensive Bombing of London by the Germans in 1940-1941.
View from St. Paul’s cathedral after the Blitz. Wikimedia Commons image; click to view.
We see the images often in WWII-era movies. Londoners hunched in tube station tunnels during air raids. Children evacuating the city by the thousand. The Blitz was a period of intensive bombing of London by the Germans that began in September 1940 and continued through the following June. Now we can explore exactly where and when all those bombs fell at a new interactive website, Bomb Sight.
“With Bomb Sight you can discover what it was like in London, during WW2 Luftwaffe Blitz bombing raids, exploring maps, images and memories,” explains the site. “The Bomb Sight web map and mobile app reveal WW2 bomb census maps between 7/10/1940 and 06/06/1941, previously available only by viewing them in the Reading Room of The National Archives.”
As you can see from this screenshot, the site is map-based. All those red dots you see are bombings. (Can you imagine bombs falling that thickly in your own neighborhood?) Different icons reveal the type of bomb. Click on them to learn more about that event. You can even view historical images of that neighborhood and read stories and memories relating to that area. You can ask to map to show you only the first night of the blitz, a weekly look or an aggregate (all-inclusive) view, like the one shown here.
Though you can search visually, you can also enter a street or postcode to look at a specific area. Zoom in or out; explore different map layers for different types of information.
These maps were created from 559 map sheet originals that were declassified in 1971 but are very fragile today. So this site represents a fantastic new free resource that hasn’t been widely accessible to the public. It’s stunning to look closely at a neighborhood and see how densely the bombs fell. It’s also stunning to pan out to the widest view and see SO many dots. So many bombs. So much destruction.
Immerse Yourself in The Blitz: Everyone Brave is Forgiven
Everyone Brave is Forgiven by British novelist Chris Cleave is a story about love and war during some of the longest sustained bombing campaigns of World War II. It immerses readers in the harrowing experiences of The Blitz, as civilians frantically piled their children onto trains headed for rural parts unknown, then spent the next several months running for underground shelters whenever the bombs came. You’ll read about children who gradually snuck back into the city, only to find themselves homeless and orphaned. You’ll careen along with female ambulance drivers who dodged explosions and ruins during air raids as they raced toward smoking ruins. But amidst all this devastation are stories of love, romantic and otherwise, and stories of bravery, amidst moments of fear and panic. This Genealogy Gems Book Club pick was an instant New York Times best-seller, and for good reason! Click here to pick up your e-book or print copy.
About Genealogy Gems Premium Website Membership
The video class you just caught a peek of is one of the perks of Genealogy Gems Premium membership. For one low annual fee, members can watch more than 2 dozen Premium member-only videos on genealogy research strategies, organization, technology tools (like Google, Google Earth, Evernote, Dropbox and cloud computing) and more. And we keep adding new videos regularly! Premium website members also have access to our monthly Premium podcast and all archived episodes. Click here to learn more!
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