Using Google Earth to Research Your Ancestors’ Neighborhood

Elevenses with Lisa Episode 22 Video and Show Notes

Live show air date: August 20, 2020
Join me for Elevenses with Lisa, the online video series where we take a break, visit and learn about genealogy and family history. 

Please note: As is often the case with technology, sometimes things just don’t work like you think they will. As it turns out, items displayed clearly on my computer in Google Earth were not displaying in the live stream or captured on the video. Don’t worry, if you ever want to create a digital movie of your Google Earth maps, Google Earth has a video recording feature built in so this won’t happen. However, I did everything in this episode live and in real-time through live stream which apparently was at the root of the problem. Keep reading, because I have all the notes for you on what we covered, as well as screen shot images of everything that did not appear on the screen in the video!

Using Google Earth to Capture Your Ancestors’ Neighborhood

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, and we are going to have some fun exploring one of my ancestors’ neighborhoods. Along the way I think you’ll pick up some interesting ideas on how you can explore your ancestors’ lives in a deeper way by getting to know their neighbors.

While you may not find it worthwhile to create a project like this for every family in your family tree, it could prove very helpful for:

  • writing a story
  • writing a family history blog post or article
  • writing a book
  • creating a family history story video
  • teaching kids about the family history
  • satisfying your curiosity!

We see our ancestors’ neighborhoods when we review census records. But have you ever wondered what was life really like in their neighborhood? This project can answer questions such as:

  • Did they live close together?
  • Did they share the same backgrounds?
  • Did any of them work together?
  • Did they have things in common?
  • Were there a lot of children on the street?

The Google Earth Neighborhood Project

The genealogy project I’m creating in Google Earth in this video is the neighborhood of my great grandparents who lived in San Francisco from 1900-1912. Now, don’t be discouraged if your ancestors were farmers. Remember, everyone has neighbors and a community. Every community has records.

All the techniques covered in this video are covered in detail in my book The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox available here. 

The Genealogist's Google Toolbox Third edition Lisa Louise Cooke

Available in the Genealogy Gems Store

The family: Charles Allen & Ellen Burkette

The Census: The 1910 U.S. Federal Census tells us that they lived at 288 Connecticut Street, San Francisco, CA.

Most of their close neighbors, don’t appear on the same page with them. Instead, the neighbors of Connecticut Street appear on the previous page. Always look at the pages before and after the page where you find your ancestor. Often you will find other relatives, close friends, and other people with connections to your family.

For this project we will need the free Google Earth Pro software. Although Google Earth is available in a Web version and an app, these do not include all of the same tools. I always use the software. If you already have Google Earth, check to see if you have the most recent version.

You will also need an a good internet connection to operate Google Earth.

Follow along with the video with the notes below.

Rumsey Historical Maps

In the Layers panel, turn on Rumsey Historical Maps in the Gallery by clicking to check the box. Gold medallion icons will appear on the map. Hover your mouse over the icons to see the title and date. Click the select a map. In the pop-up box, click the thumbnail image of the historic map to automatically overlay it.

The map will be listed in the Temporary Places at the bottom of the Places panel. You can click drag and drop it to any location within the Places panel. 

Videos in Placemarks

Videos before and after the great earthquake of 1906 (See Images) Add videos from YouTube to placemarks by copying the Share embed code and pasting it into the Description area of the placemark.

Video displayed in a Google Earth placemark

Historical YouTube video displayed in a Google Earth placemark.

Map Overlays

Click the box to activate items like the custom map overlay I created using the 1905 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Connecticut Street. 

Search for Addresses

Search for addresses like 288 Connecticut, San Francisco in the search box in the upper right corner of Google Earth.

Add Placemarks in Google Earth

Set a placemark for a home by clicking the Placemark icon (yellow pushpin) in the toolbar the top of the screen.

Use Street View to Get a Closer Look

Visit the street up close and person with Street View. Click on the Street View icon in the upper right corner, drag it over to the map, and drop it on the blue line.

Add Photos to Placemarks

Photos can be embedded into placemarks, such as the photo of my Grandpa and his father (See Image) 

Old family photo displayed in Google Earth placemark

Photo of my grandather being held by his father displayed in a Google Earth placemark.

and the photo of my Great Grandfather next to his streetcar. (See Image)

Placemark in the Places panel displaying a photo

Click the placemark to display the photo.

If you add images from your computer, they will only appear when the map is viewed in Google Earth on your computer. If you host the image in cloud on a photo sharing site or your own website, you will be able to share your map file with other people and they will be able to view the images. 

Plot Where Your Ancestors Lived Using Placemarks

Search for each family address and mark the locations with placemarks. 

3D Models in Google Earth 

3D models (like the streetcar I showed) are created by other Google Earth users and are available online. The HTML code is pasted into a placemark. (You can learn more about this in episode 13 of my Google Earth for Genealogy video tutorial series.

Search for Neighbors

Search for the addresses of neighbors you find in the census and other records.

Census photo displayed in Google Earth placemark

The census image displayed in a Google Earth placemark.

In this case I searched for the address I found for Bertin & Lenora Hall (293 Connecticut.) Bertin was a locomotive engineer, born in the United State, and they were renting their home.)

Add a Folder to the Google Earth Places Panel 

You can add folders to help keep your items organized in the Places panel by right-clicking on MyPlaces, and selecting Add > New Folder. Name the folder as desired, and then drag and drop it to the desired location in the Places

Use Historical Maps from a Variety of Years

Comparing the locations with maps from various years helps you see the evolution of the neighborhood. Notice that some maps don’t line up exactly with the modern map. This is due to inaccuracies often found in old maps.

Add Country of Origin Icons

We can learn more about the makeup of the neighborhood by designating their country of origin. Some neighborhoods may be predominately filled with many people from the same country or even village. Others, like my Great Grandfather’s neighborhood, were quite diverse:

Burkett – U.S.
Hall – U.S.
Dunne – Ireland
Becker – German
Harrington – England
Crawford – Scotland
McTiernan – Irish
Rutherford – Canada
Geib – Germany

Customize Placemark Icons

Add custom icon images to represent the family’s country of origin. Images around 40 px x 40 px work well. (Premium Members click here to download the icons I used.)

Customizing the placemark icon

Customizing the placemark icon in Google Earth

The Google Earth Opacity Slider

Use the Opacity slider to make a map overlay being displayed more transparent. Start by clicking the space just below the map in the Places panel in order to select it. Then click the Opacity button at the bottom of the Places Slide the slider to change the transparency.

Add Details to the Placemark Description

I typed information into the Description area of my placemarks such as their occupation, fully street address and country of origin. Typically the first two lines of text will be visible in the Places Click the placemark to open and read or add all of the information desired.

Researching and Recording Occupations

Explore old maps, city directories, county histories and other resources to locate possible places of employment. You can then mark each location with a placemark. I used the “wrench” icon to represent work.

Search for Locations

Where did David Rutherford work? I searched for “Cannery San Francisco” and sure enough Google Earth found a site in the northern part of the city.

The Neighborhood School

Let’s not forget the children – I marked the school attended by my grandfather and a photo of him with his classmates. (See Image Below)

Old family photo - Grandpa and his school mates

My grandpa and his school mates c. 1911.

The Future of the Neighborhood

The neighborhood continued to grow well after they left as revealed by another David Rumsey historic map from 1938 found in the Layers Panel > Gallery.

Resources for this Episode

Locating Hard to Find Genealogy Records!

Grab your mug! This Elevenses with Lisa LIVE show is exclusively for Premium Members. In this Premium episode we’ll be discussing how to find hard-to-find genealogical records. Our case study will be on divorce records, but you use these strategies with all types of records. 

 

Show Notes – A Case Study: Divorce Records

Are you having trouble finding a particular genealogical record you need? It happens to all of us, so in this episode we will take one Premium Member’s question and follow the process of how to find those elusive records.

Resource

Download the handout PDF

Georgiann’s Question:

“I have found my great-grandma’s sister in  1910 census in Boulder, Colorado. In 1911 her husband had moved to Arkansas and married his second wife there. In a 1912 city directory of Boulder, Colorado, this sister is listed as a widow. Also listed as a widow in 1920 census. I have looked in Arkansas and Colorado for a divorce and have found nothing so far. I’m not sure what my next step would be.”

This is a great example of what we’re talking about. Everything you know so far indicates there’s a record out there, but it’s not in the usual places.

The process we will cover can apply to any type of record, though certainly not every situation. But I think it’s a great exercise for us all. And if you’re like Georgiann and specifically looking for a divorce record, well then you’re definitely going to be able to use these strategies in a very specific way.

State the Research Question

Great research plans begin with great research questions. The question should be specific. If it feels a little broad, try to break it down into a number of more specific questions. In this case our research question is: Did Clara and John Byerly divorce?

Create a research plan

Not every genealogical search requires a plan. However, when a record is hard to locate, that’s the perfect time to use this more structured process. A research plan doesn’t have to be formal, but it does help you search in a more strategic way.

Create a Timeline:

A timeline can help you tease apart the events and determine your target. Here’s a brief timeline for Clara B. Byerly:

1910 – Boulder, CO, listed as married in the census
1911 – her husband remarries in Arkansas
1912 – Boulder CO, listed as widowed in the city directory
1920 – Boulder CO, listed widowed census
Target identified: Divorce record between 1910 and 1911.

Identify the states where the divorce likely occurred

Google maps is an easy way to find your best geographic targets based on what we know. Here are our top two for Clara based on the current records:

  1. Colorado
  2. Arkansas

It’s worth making note of the bordering states on the way to Arkansas where her ex-husband John remarried just in case he filed for divorce: Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico.

Target update: Divorce record between 1910 and 1911, in Colorado or Arkansas.

Identify the Types of Records to Look for

Next, make a list of the types of records that might be able to tell us what happened. In Clara’s case, divorce records are our first choice, but other types of records may help. Here’s our list of targets in priority order:

  1. Divorce
  2. Newspapers – Is there an article or notice about the divorce?
  3. Marriage – What does John say his marital status is at the time of the second marriage?

List where each record might be found

The next step in creating your research plan is to brainstorm a list of potential locations for each record target. Here’s our starting list for this case:

Divorce records:

  • org (free)
  • Ancestry ($)
  • MyHeritage ($)
  • Google search (state libraries, courts, other niche genealogy sites)

Note: the search feature at the genealogy websites listed don’t search all collections. Check the Card Catalog as well.

Newspapers:

  • Chronicling America (free) Check the Newspaper directory as well for offline papers.
  • Check the top newspaper websites ($) to see if they have papers that match the target time and place (Newspapers.com, GenealogyBank)
  • Google Search for repositories

As Georgiann discovered, in this case, the genealogy websites do not have a divorce record for Clara and John Byerly.

Online Searching for Online or Offline Records

If you can’t find the record you need at one of the big genealogy websites, it’s time to search online for records that may be on another website online, or listed in the catalog of a repository and online available offline.

When googling, we focus on finding the record collection rather the ancestors. Try both broad search and narrow searches so you catch everything. Your query will include targeted information such as type of record, geographic location and timeframe.

Example of a broad search query:
Colorado Divorce Records

Example of a narrow search query:
“divorce records” “boulder county” 1910..1912

In this query we place quotes around the record type to tell Google we want websites that include these exact phrases. Dates can be presented in a numrage search where we put the first date, two periods, and the second date. This tells Google to return only website that include a date (4-digit number year) that falls within this range. Learn more about Google search strategies in my book The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox.

The Genealogist's Google Toolbox Third edition Lisa Louise Cooke

Book by Lisa Louise Cooke – Available in the Genealogy Gems Store

Search results:

Colorado Genealogy on the Internetincludes links to the following:

Colorado State Archives – Divorce Records

This website remind us that although they provide an online search it is incomplete: “You can search for historical divorce records at the Colorado State Archives website here. This is not a complete database. If you don’t find the records, contact the State Archives directly.” This is the case with many libraries and archives.

Thankfully, we hit the jackpot at the Colorado State Archives. A search of the historical index for Clara Byerly retrieved the details of the record. Georgiann can use this information to order a copy (for a fee) from the archives. It’s always advantageous to see the original record as there could be an error in the transcription, and it may include additional information.

Our timeline for this case now looks more complete:

1910 – “married” in the census Boulder, CO

1910 – July 2   Divorced in Boulder, CO

1911 – husband remarries in Arkansas

1912 – “widowed” Boulder CO city directory

1920 – “widowed” Boulder CO census

More Online Strategies: Websites to Check for Links to Records

FamilySearch Wiki
Filter down to United States > Colorado > Boulder County
Result: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Colorado_Court_Records

USGenWeb
Google it: boulder county colorado usgenweb
https://www.cogenweb.com/boulder/
Filter at USGenWeb by Country > State > County

Question the Assumptions

Sometimes we’re looking for a record that doesn’t exist because things didn’t happen the way other records lead us to believe they did. In this case the question is “Did Clara and John Byerly really divorce?” It’s very possible that he left her and they didn’t formalize their divorce in Colorado. Also, a woman stating that she is a widow could be for the purpose of covering that up, or if they did actually divorce, to avoid the social stigma of being divorced. 

If we exhaust all resources for divorce records and come up empty handed, we can then move on to the other record types. Getting the marriage record for the second marriage may answer the question if he disclosed the first marriage.

More Records to Look for Marriage Status and Divorce

In addition to actual historical divorce records check:

  • newspapers
  • obituaries
  • city directories
  • Census – Sometimes “M2” is listed indicating a second marriage. Did the husband in this case get listed that way?

 

 

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 259 Special Christmas Episode

A Cup of Christmas Tea with Best-Selling Author Tom Hegg

(This post includes affiliate links. If you decide to make a purchase we will be compensated at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!) 
“A Cup of Christmas Tea” New York Timesbest-selling author Tom Hegg joins me for an inspiring conversation about this story of the importance of touching base with our fellow man. It’s a message we can benefit from any time of year. It’s also a wonderful reminder of the importance of family and how our older family members hold a piece of our own history in them.
 
 
Cup of Christmas Tea with Tom Hegg

Get your copy of A Cup of Christmas Tea here.

Listen to Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 259

In this special audio version of the interview, listen to Tom recite this wonderful story A Cup of Christmas Tea set to beautiful music. You’ll also hear him recite the children’s classic Peef the Christmas Bear.  To Listen click the media player below (AUDIO ONLY):

Watch the Original Video

This audio comes from my YouTube video series Elevenses with Lisa. You can watch the video interview at the Elevenses with Lisa episode 38 show notes page.

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MyHeritage.com is the place to make connections with relatives overseas, particularly with those who may still live in your ancestral homeland. 

 

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Music: FairyTale Waltz by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100232 Artist: http://incompetech.com/
We Wish You a Merry Christmas by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 221 – Recorded at FGS

The Genealogy Gems Podcast
Episode #221
with Lisa Louise Cooke



Download this episode here

Live from FGS 2018!
Lisa chats with a podcast listener, talks about vital records with Shannon Combs-Bennett and welcomes a drop-by guest, Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage.com.

Episode highlights:

  • Fantastic news from RootsTech;
  • A great new resource from Library & Archives Canada;
  • An update from Your DNA Guide Diahan Southard on MyHeritage DNA tools;
  • The long-awaited conclusion of Project Lizzie.

LIVE FROM FGS!

Lisa records the podcast in the exhibit hall with guest Shannon Combs-Bennett and a live studio audience

LIVE MAILBOX: Chatting with Jeannette

Jeannette from Niagara County Genealogical Society, shown here (left) with Lisa

The FGS conference supports the missions and activities of genealogical societies. Learn more about FGS and find a genealogical society near you here.

Genealogy Gems supports societies, too! Society memberships and reprintable articles for your newsletters. Go to the Societies dropdown menu on GenealogyGems.com:

If your society is interested in hosting Lisa Louise Cooke for a seminar, go to the Seminars tab and click Book Lisa.

INTERVIEW: Shannon Combs-Bennett on Vital Records

Learn more about using vital records in your research in the free Genealogy: Family History Made Easy Podcast, episode 4.

INTERVIEW: Daniel Horowitz, MyHeritage

As MyHeritage’s Genealogy Expert, Daniel Horowitz provides key contributions in the product development, customer support and public affairs areas. He holds board level positions at the Israel Genealogy Research Association (IGRA) and the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) among others. Daniel served as teacher and study guide editor for 15 years for the family history project “Searching for My Roots” in Venezuela.

Join Daniel Horowitz and Lisa Louise Cooke at MyHeritage LIVE!

Who: Daniel Horowitz, Lisa Louise Cooke and MORE great presenters!

What: MyHeritage LIVE

Where: Oslo, Norway at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia hotel

When: November 2-4, 2018

It’s open to anyone who would like to learn more about MyHeritage – including subscribers, DNA customers, those with free basic accounts, and those who haven’t used MyHeritage yet but would like to find out more.

Tickets include entry to the Friday night reception, keynote speeches, all conference sessions, lunch and coffee breaks on Saturday and Sunday and entry to the exclusive MyHeritage LIVE party on Saturday night. Now through September 24, register for Early Bird discount price of €75.00. MyHeritage.com is the place to make connections with relatives overseas, particularly with those who may still live in your ancestral homeland. Click here to see what MyHeritage can do for you: it’s free to get started.

MyHeritage.com is the place to make connections with relatives overseas, particularly with those who may still live in your ancestral homeland. Visit www.MyHeritage.com

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LIVE MAILBOX: Adrianne Keeps Connected with the Podcast

How to identify old cars in photographs

Savvy tips for identifying old photos: An Australian family on holiday in England

Genealogy Gems Premium members may also listen to an interview with Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, in Premium Podcast episode 141. She’s the author of Family Photo Detective, a must-have resource for identifying old photographs.

BONUS CONTENT for Genealogy Gems App Users

Get the app here

If you’re listening through the Genealogy Gems app, your bonus content for this episode is a short but inspiring story from someone who came to one of my classes and then went and found something cool on YouTube relating to her family’s employment with airline TWA….Don’t miss it! The Genealogy Gems app is FREE in Google Play and is only $2.99 for Windows, iPhone and iPad users.

Lisa Louise Cooke uses and recommends RootsMagic family history software. From within RootsMagic, you can search historical records on FamilySearch.org, Findmypast.com and MyHeritage.com.

Keep your family history research, photos, tree software files, videos and all other computer files safely backed up with Backblaze, the official cloud-based computer backup system for Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems. Learn more at https://www.backblaze.com/Lisa.

NEWS: RootsTech Goes to London

RootsTech will host an event in London from 24–26 October 2019 at the ExCeL London Convention Centre. Registration opens in February 2019. Find out more about RootsTech London 2019 at https://www.rootstech.org/London.

NEWS: The “Unconference” Experience

REGISTER TODAY: Genealogy Roots: The “Un-Conference Experience”

Lisa Louise Cooke, Diahan Southard, and Sunny Morton will share a stage on October 4-5, 2018 at the SeniorExpo in Sandy, Utah. (Psst: You don’t have to be a senior to attend!) Here’s the scoop—and a special registration discount!

Who: Lisa Louise Cooke, Diahan Southard, and Sunny Morton
What: Genealogy Roots: The Un-Conference Experience! at SeniorExpo
Where: Mountain America Expo Center (South Towne Expo Center), 9081 S. State St., Sandy, Utah
When: October 4-5, 2018, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

THE ARCHIVE LADY: Library Archives Canada Co-Lab

The Library and Archives of Canada (LAC) has introduced a brand-new crowdsourcing opportunity for genealogists or anyone interested in records transcription: Co-Lab.

The LAC has put a call out for volunteers to be part of a collaborative project to transcribe, add keywords and image tags, translate content from an image or document and add descriptions to digitized images using “Co-Lab” and the new “Collection Search”. The more volunteers that participate in this project, the more accessible and usable the digital collection will become for everyone.

You can become a contributor in two ways:

Take on a “challenge” of images put together by experts at LAC

Use the new Collection Search to find materials that matter most to you, then enhance them. Anyone can now contribute to digitized images that are found while doing research.

The volunteer must register and create a user account so you can keep track of the records to which you have contributed. Once this free account is established, a volunteer can contribute as much or as little as they would like.

The “Challenges” are content put together under a theme. For instance, under the “Challenges” tab on the website you could choose to transcribe the “Correspondence between Sir Robert Borden and Sir Sam Hughes” The theme for this challenge is listed as “military heritage.”

Or another “Challenge” someone might choose could be “New France and Indigenous Relations” whose theme is listed as “Aboriginal Heritage.”

There are also new “Challenges” being posted to the site, so check back often.

Maybe you would like to contribute using Collection Search. The website describes how this tool works: “When you are conducting research using our new search tool and find images, you’ll see that you have the option to enable this image for Co-Lab contributions. After answering just a few short questions, you can enable an image found in Collection Search for Co-Lab use and transcribe/translate/tag/describe to your heart’s content.”

There is a short tutorial to get you started and show you the ropes. The launch of Co-Lab also introduces a new image viewer, which allows you to zoom in on different parts of the image or move around the image itself. This tool is useful when transcribing or adding keywords and image tags to describe all the small details. Every image in Co-Lab is subject to review by other members. If something is found to be incorrect or if you find something that is wrong, it can be marked as “Needs Review” for others to take another look and decide what is correct.

The best part about this new Library and Archives Canada tool is that every contribution by the volunteers benefits fellow genealogy researchers and improves records access. Every additional tag or translation becomes new metadata and is searchable within 24 hours of the transcriptions or tagging being done.

So, if you are like me and are eager to get as much genealogical and historical records online and transcribed, check into The Library and Archives of Canada’s new Co-Lab and Collection Search!

DNA: Improvements to MyHeritage DNA

with Diahan Southard, Your DNA Guide

Improvements to MyHeritage DNA

GEM: The Conclusion to Project Lizzie

Click here to read Ron’s blog post announcing the satisfying conclusion of Project Lizzie. To learn more about Ron, stop over at storyhow.com, where Ron teaches business people how to tell stories.

PROFILE AMERICA: Picture This

PRODUCTION CREDITS

  • Lisa Louise Cooke, Host and Producer
  • Sunny Morton, Contributing Editor
  • Diahan Southard, Your DNA Guide, Content Contributor
  • Melissa Barker, The Archive Lady, Content Contributor
  • Hannah Fullerton, Production Assistant
  • Lacey Cooke, Service Manager

Download the Show Notes PDF in the Genealogy Gems Podcast app

Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting this free podcast and blog!

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