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Wait Until You See These Awesome Family History Videos!


Want to stop your family members
from rolling their eyes when you
show them their genealogy?

Show them a video instead! Create extraordinary videos of your family history with Animoto.
Its fast, free & shockingly easy to use! No special skills are required!
I promise!

 

Get Inspired with These Family History Videos

(For best viewing, watch in FULL SCREEN mode. Click the Full Screen button in bottom right corner of each video. Press Escape to return to page.)

How about the story of your company, or organization:

How about celebrating an ancestor’s birthday? I put this on social media on my Grandma’s birthday:

Tips on Creating Videos Like These

Visit this page which features step-by-step tutorial videos. Then check out these articles:

How to Create Captivating Family History Videos
and How to Share Family History with the Non-Genealogists in Your Family

(Full disclosure: This page contains affiliate links and we will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on our links. Thank you for supporting the free Genealogy Gems blog & podcast!)

Ending 2016 on a High Note with New and Updated Genealogical Collections

End 2016 on a high note with these new and updated genealogical record collections. Lisa soaked in Christmas tunes of Harlan County Kentucky’s pride and joy, Jordan Smith (winner of The Voice,) in a concert over the holidays. Harlan County can also be very proud of their incredible genealogical records. Today we are highlighting their county GenWeb page. This U.S. county GenWeb page has gone above and beyond in making Harlan County, Kentucky records accessible to the masses. Also this week, United Kingdom apprenticeship records, parish records, and Scotland mental health and prison records.

dig these new record collections

United States – Harlan County, Kentucky Records

This is not a new collection, though it may be new to you. Discovering the many U.S. GenWeb sites dedicated to genealogy is a great help to many. This week, we wanted to give a special hat’s off to the amazing work that Harlan County, Kentucky has done on their GenWeb page.

Harlan county birth 1852

You will find digital images of people, places, schools, and newspaper clippings, but the best part is their extensive birth, marriage, and death indexes. The marriage records begin as early as 1818 and end about 1925. The birth record index begins in 1852 – 1940, though some years are missing. Lastly, the death records begin in 1852 – 1959, with a special collection on coal miners deaths.

In addition to these great findings, the Harlan County Kentucky GenWeb also has:

  • Censuses

    Christian music superstar Michael W. Smith accompanies Jordan Smith singing “O Holy Night” in Dallas, Texas. 2016.

  • Court records
  • Tax records
  • Deeds
  • Wills
  • Military records
  • Bios
  • Family files

 

United Kingdom – Gloucester – Apprenticeship Records

The Gloucester Apprentices 1595-1700 at Findmypast contain over 20,000 apprentices, masters, and their relatives who were listed in the Calendar of the Registers of Apprentices of the City of Gloucester 1595-1700. The calendar has been digitized with optical character recognition (OCR), which allows you to search images of text for your ancestor’s name or a keyword.

Each record will list the apprentices trade, residence, the name of their father, the name of their master, the name of their master’s wife, the length of their term and the amount they were paid at the end of their training.

These records will be particularly helpful for those unable to find civil or church records regarding their ancestors.

United Kingdom – Kent – Parish Records

Also at Findmypast this week, over 36,000 new additions have been made to the Kent Parish Records collection. Specifically:

·         Over 14,000 additional baptisms

·         Over 1,000 additional banns records

·         Over 11,000 additional marriages

·         Over 9,000 additional burials

These new records date as far back as 1538 and cover the parishes of Wrotham, Stansted, Wouldham, Southfleet, and Leybourne.

Scotland – Mental Health Records

The Scotland Mental Health Institutions Admissions 1857-1859 at Findmypast include over 1,000 records from over 50 mental health institutions including asylums and poorhouses. Though these records tell a sad story, they may help you to piece together the family story.

Each record includes a transcript of an original document and may provide your ancestors’ birth place, birth date, former residence, and the institution they were sent to and the date of their admission.

Scotland – Prison Registers

You can search over 17,000 transcripts of prison registers in the Findmypast collection titled Scotland Prison Registers Index 1828-1884.

Each record lists the prisoners age, birth year, birth place, occupation, former residence, offence and place of imprisonment.

Start the New Year off Right

findmypast_1Here’s a New Year bargain you can’t ignore – 10% off 12 month premium subscriptions to Findmypast. Today is the last day to save! They have over 2 billion (yes, that’s billion with a B!) records and more are added every day. Make 2017 a year full of fascinating family history discoveries by clicking on this image link below.

How to Use Evernote for Genealogy: The Ultimate Education

organize genealogy with EvernoteUsing Evernote for genealogy will make you a more efficient and effective researcher.

Genealogists all over the world are harnessing the power of Evernote to organize their family history researchThis free software (and website application) can bring all your research materials (text notes, photos and images from mobile devices, video, audio interviews, web content and URLs) together in one place.

Then it goes even further by making all the text items keyword-searchable. So you can much more easily locate that one little piece of information you recall only as “that bit about the fire station he worked for.”

Better yet, Evernote goes with you. With the Evernote software and companion app, your genealogy notes will be accessible from and fully-synced across all your computing devices. Sigh! It’s wonderful!

Here’s how to get started

1. Download the free Evernote software here.

2. Create your free or premium Evernote account. (Click here to learn more about Evernote account options.)

3. Go to your Account page and make note of your unique Evernote email address. (Help>Go to My Account Page>Account Summary and scroll down to “Email Notes to.”)

4. Download the free Evernote web clipper for your web browser.

5. Download the free Evernote app from the App Store or Google Play and sign in to your account.

Now you’re ready to use Evernote to collect your research content and source citation information!

Here are 5 ways to add content to Evernote

1. The Web Clipper: Pull data from websites with the handy web clipper and Evernote will often automatically capture information about the site you got it from.

2. Drag and Drop: Images, scanned  documents and other multimedia content can be dropped right into new or existing notes.

3. Smartphone and Tablet: Snap a photo of a record, tombstone or any other genealogical item. (I like to do a quick photo “Edit” cleanup to get it in the best shape possible). Tap the Share button and send it to Evernote.

4. Email Content: Use your unique Evernote email address to send content from anywhere to your account.

5. Good Old Typing: Click “New Note” and start typing. You can always add other content including merging notes together.

Resources for Success

There’s so much demand for learning to use Evernote for genealogy that I’ve created a variety of helpful resources in video, audio, print and online formats (because everyone learns differently!).

FREE YouTube Video Series: Evernote for Genealogy

I’ve posted two videos so far on my free YouTube series:

Evernote for Genealogy Quick Reference Guide

Evernote for Genealogy Quick Reference GuideMy laminated reference guide is super handy for every day support! This guide includes:

  • A Getting Started Checklist
  • Quick Keystrokes
  • Getting the Most Out of Clipping
  • Maneuvering the Desktop Client
  • Genealogical Organization
  • Little-Known Search Strategies
  • Specialized Genealogy Focused Techniques
  • Comparison of Evernote Pricing Tiers

The guide is available for both Windows and Mac users, in both print and digital download format. Click below to view:

The Ultimate Evernote for Genealogy Education

Ultimate Evernote Education abbreviatedGenealogy Gems website Premium members have a full-year’s access to my popular in-depth video classes, which include The Ultimate Evernote for Genealogy Education video series. This series includes the following full-length and mini-series classes:

Evernote genealogy family history organizeKeep up on all my latest Evernote news and Q&As!

Click here to read my Evernote blog posts.

Sign up for my free email newsletter (that sign-up comes with a free bonus e-book!).

Who else do you know who would benefit from getting organized? I hope you’ll share this page with your friends, relatives, family history buddies and fellow gen society members using the share icons below. Thanks!

New FamilySearch Indexing Website Launches

Are you a FamilySearch indexer, or have you considered joining this worldwide volunteer effort? FamilySearch has just launched a new website that’s familysearch indexing eventall about making indexing EASIER.

If you’re already an indexer, here are the highlights of the new site, according to FamilySearch:

  • Getting started with indexing just got easier. With an easy-to-navigate Overview page and an all-new Get Started page, the new website is the perfect introduction to indexing.
  • Looking for more indexing help? Check out the completely redesigned resource guide. Now called Help Resources, this page guides you to the help you need.
  • Find projects you want faster. In the old indexing website, you had to scroll through over 200 projects, now you can click on an interactive map and filter the project list based on language and country.

But wait, there’s more! According to FamilySearch, “The change in the indexing website is just the first step in a total redesign and improvement of the indexing experience. The coming year will see the all-new indexing program become more integrated with FamilySearch.org, bringing indexing to your Internet browser, enabling indexing on tablet devices, and much more.”

They plan to announce more at RootsTech next month, where there will be a session on FamilySearch indexing and where the FamilySearch booth will have hands-on opportunities to try out the new system. (Haven’t registered for RootsTech yet? Register here! Early-bird pricing has been extended until Monday, Jan. 27.)

 

P.S. WHY INDEX?

Indexers for FamilySearch have already generated more than a billion names that are free to search at FamilySearch.org. The company’s press release points out that improvements to the indexing site have in the past accelerated the pace of indexing and they expect that to happen over the coming year, too.

 

Here’s my favorite tip for the researcher who wants a little more out of indexing for themselves. Use indexing to become more familiar with different record types. Do a few batches of naturalization records, border crossings, church registers, etc., from different places or time periods, and you’ll quickly become more familiar with that record type. You’ll also become more adept at reading old handwriting, picking out the genealogical details from the legalese and other skills that will help you in your own research.

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