Premium Episode 18 – Staying on Target by Citing Your Sources
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Breaking News: Microfilm Lending Expiration Date Extended
I’ve heard from many of you since publishing my interview with Diane Loosle, Director of Patron Services at FamilySearch on the topic of FamilySearch ending its microfilm lending program on August 31, 2017. As fate would have it, just as the interview published, the unexpected happened – microfilm ordering capability ceased. That was when emails like this one started to arrive in my inbox:
Last Monday there was a computer software upgrade (or downgrade as I call it) in the FamilySearch catalog system which now prevents ordering of a mass number of microfilms ahead of the deadline this week…I am not confused about what is going on. I volunteer at an FHC and to date we have ordered some 600 films to complete our collection (these records will never be digitized.) We have ordered all the vital records we can. We have more than 9000 films at our little FHC, but now we want to order the Naturalization records and the system says “Film #—- does not exist.” This is happening on a global scale and even with films we already own. German, Lithuanian, Swedish, Chicago, Sacramento, Dallas, you name the city, this error message is showing up…Since you had a conversation with Diane recently, is there a way you can share this with her and find out how we can address this stumbling block. This is now a week old…
Many of you asked me to reach out to Diane, which I did. And thanks to your involvement, I received the following from Diane this morning:
Diane Loosle, Director of Patron Services at FamilySearch
“There was an update to the software that had unintended consequences in that it broke the online film ordering systems connection to the FamilySearch Catalog. People were unable to order the films they desired for a little less than one week. This timing of course was very unfortunate. The situation has been remedied in the software so orders have resumed and because of this issue, the decision has been made to extend the film ordering deadline by one week to September 7th to make up for the week that the software was down. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused people and are anxious to ensure that they are able to order the films they desire. We now need everyone’s assistance to get the word out to their friends that if they experienced this issue in trying to order they will be able to get their orders in now.
Thanks for your help on this Lisa. This was an incredibly unfortunate event with timing which couldn’t have been worse. This is of course and evolving situation at this point. I will keep you posted if anything else changes. The software that we use for this is quite archaic, a real dinosaur in the technology world. We are literally praying that it will hold up under the additional load. While we don’t anticipate any further problems, it is possible, so I will keep you in the loop should anything happen” -Diane
As you can hear, it was genealogical serendipity struck in an unusual, and unfortunate way. But as soon as FamilySearch became aware of the problem, they went into action. I’m pleased and grateful that they have extended deadline, and that they make millions of genealogical records available to us every day. And I’m grateful to you, our Genealogy Gems community for getting into gear and bringing the situation to the forefront.
What’s this Geneanet Ancestry Record Hint?
Show Notes: Have you seen records from Geneanet popping up in your Ancestry hints? Here’s the answer to a Premium Member’s questions about the Geneanet records she is seeing show up as Ancestry hints. Learn how to figure out what new record hints like this are and how to decide how much weight to give them.
Show Notes
Downloadable ad-free Show Notes handout (Premium Membership required. Learn more or become a member.)
I received the following question from Monete, a Premium Member: What is this new thing I’m seeing on Ancestry hints, Geneanet community trees? It’s a good question, and a common one. Genealogy websites like Ancestry are adding new record collections all the time. It’s important to know how to quickly understand what the new record collection is about, where it comes from, the scope and most importantly, decide how much weight to give it.
Records Included in Ancestry Hints
It’s important to note that not all records are included in Ancestry hints. Only 10% of Ancestry® records appear as hints. So we want to keep in mind that although we’re seeing lots of new hints for records, they aren’t by any stretch of the imagination all of the records in the Ancestry collection. Hints are made up of the most popular record collections. There’s always going to be a need to continue to do your own research and to explore other records.
Where to find Ancestry Hints
You’ll find hints in a variety of places such as:
- the leaf icon at the top of the screen near your account profile
- attached to ancestors in your family tree
- on ancestor profile pages
Ancestry hint in family tree
Reviewing and Comparing Ancestry Hint Information
View the hint by clicking the Review button. In the case of hints from the Geneanet Community Trees Index, you’ll see the pop-out panel prompting you to evaluate the record.
Click the Review button to reveal the side panel.
Compare the details of the hint to the known details in your ancestor’s profile by clicking the Compare Details slider button. This allows you to review and compare each piece of information.
In a case like this where we are unfamiliar with the record collection, it’s important to learn more about it before we compare and make decisions about the information. That way, as you evaluate each piece of information you are considering adding to your family tree, you will have a much better idea whether you trust the source, and you’ll be better able to interpret the information it is providing.
To learn more about the record, it’s a logical next step to click the hyperlinked record name at the top of the panel. However, in this case we notice it just brings up to a full-size page where we are again being prompted to review and add the information to our tree.
Use the Ancestry Card Catalog
When you run across something like this, the first thing to keep in mind is that this record collection they are referencing is obviously part of their total collection, which means we should be able to find it in the card catalog. That’s the best place on Ancestry to learn more about it. Copy the name of the record and then go the Card Catalog. You’ll find the Card Catalog in the menu under Search > Card Catalog. It can be helpful to access the Card Catalog in a new browser tab so that you can jump back and forth between the catalog entry and the record you’re reviewing. You can open it in a new tab by right-clicking on Card Catalog when selecting it from the Search menu.
The card catalog is something that we don’t think of using that often. But really, we should because this is where all the other records are that are not coming up in our hints are listed. It’s also a really terrific resource to tell us more about the record collections that we’re running into as we’re doing our research and evaluating our hints.
On the Card Catalog page, paste the name of the record collection that you copied in the Title search box. If for any reason it doesn’t come up right away, try typing just the keywords into either the Title box or the Keywords search box.
You should see the collection in the search result. When you hover over the collection title it tells you when it was published, if it was recently updated, and the beginning sentences of the collection description. You will see what type of record it is by the category in which Ancestry placed it, and get a sense of the size of the collection.
Searching the name of the record collection in the Ancestry Card Catalog
In the case of Geneanet, the category is family trees. So, without knowing anything more about it, we would expect this is probably user-contributed information, rather than, let’s say, a census record created by the government, or a birth record recorded by a pastor in a church. These family trees were created by many other genealogists. They may or may not include source citations or even be accurate.
Let’s learn even more about the collection. Click the title of the record collection. The next page will feature search fields and related records. Skip that for now and scroll down to the bottom of the page. This is where you really get to the heart of things about the collection. First you’ll see Source Information. Basically, this is saying Ancestry is the source (that’s where you found the hint) and Ancestry got it from Geneanet.
Next you’ll see the About section. This will help us determine the original purpose of the collection, how it was created, and so on. The About section tells us that this is an online database. And it tells the original data came from the Geneanet Community Trees Index in Paris, France.
Next you’ll find Using this Collection which provides an overview of the kind of information you can expect to find in the records. Next is Collection in Context. This explains “Geneanet was created in 1996 as a way to connect genealogical resources. They use a unique, collaborative model to share family resources while building community. Genealogists, both amateur and professional, are connected with users and genealogical societies. Anyone may upload content.”
“Anyone may upload content” is the key phrase here. People add information to family trees for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they are just testing out a theory and they aren’t even sure it’s accurate. And many people copy and paste information from other people’s trees. All of this means that we can only use this information as clues, not as facts. We must do our own research and homework to find the records that back up the assertions made in the record. Family tree records if used unwisely could easily introduce errors into your family tree.
Finally, in the About section we find the Bibliography which includes a clickable link over to the original sources for these records: Geneanet. Take a moment to visit the site. You can also learn more by some quick googling. Typically, companies like this are going to be listed on Wikipedia pages as well. That’s a that’s a good place to get a basic summary about when was this company founded, find out when it was purchased by the big genealogy website, if it is currently active, and the main website link. All that kind of stuff we can typically find over in the right-hand kind of summary column on the Wikipedia page.
Using and Managing Ancestry Hints
Hints can be great clues, but they can also put rabbit holes in your genealogical path and derail your research goals. This hint might not be your top priority right now. It might not be the most important aspect of your ancestor’s life. Or it might be super interesting, and in that case you can go for it. But I encourage you not to get addicted to just responding to hints. It’s OK to put it on the back burner, leave the hint and don’t even deal with it. You can mark it Maybe and then come back to it later. But don’t let it sidetrack you from your research goals.
That’s the thing about genealogy. It is becoming more and more automated. Have you found that it just feels like it’s happening more and more on its own? It’s sort of being fed to us through the automation, the machine learning, that’s happening on these websites. However, first and foremost, we need to keep our brains engaged. We need to be the one who does the evaluation and ultimately makes the decision as to what we think is accurate about our ancestor and our family history.
In the case of Geneanet, Wikipedia tells us it was created in France and ultimately was acquired by Ancestry in August 2021. We saw on the Card Catalog entry that the index was published on Ancestry in 2022. So, we are looking at information coming from an index. We’re not looking at the actual record. These records are housed on the Geneanet website. You can access the actual record by clicking the View on Geneanet link on the Ancestry record hint page
Resources:
- Downloadable ad-free Show Notes handout (Premium Membership required. Learn more or become a member.)
- Ancestry Top Tips and Hot Keys (video and show notes) Premium content
- Provenance: The Story Behind Your Genealogy Records (video and show notes)
- Source Citations for Genealogy (video and show notes)
Click to learn more about Genealogy Gems Premium Membership.
Episode 5 Elevenses with Lisa – Online Productivity
Live show air date: April 23, 2020
Episode 5 Video and Show Notes
Join me for Elevenses with Lisa, the online video series where we take a break, visit and learn. Click to watch below, and scroll down for all the details from Episode 5.
(Online Productivity training begins at the 14:09 mark)
Download the Handout
Genealogy Gems Premium Members: Show Notes PDF – Genealogy Gems Premium Members can click here to download the show notes PDF for this episode. (Log in required.)
This week’s tea cup:
Old Country Roses by Royal Albert.
From My Viewers:
From Barbara C.:
When teaching 2nd grade years ago, I read Winnie to my kids after lunch each day. When I began, little did I know it was a story for adults, too. I’ve always remembered this line.
“When late morning rolls around and you’re feeling a bit out of sorts, don’t worry; you’re probably just a little eleven o’clockish.”
It’s 11 o’clockish!
Genealogy News this Week
The National Archives of the UK
The National Archives is making digital records available for free online for as long as Kew is closed to visitors. If you have British ancestry, this is a great time to do some genealogy research from home.
“Registered users will be able to order and download up to 10 items at no cost, to a maximum of 50 items over 30 days. The limits are there to try and help manage the demand for content and ensure the availability of our digital services for everyone.”
Learn more here at the National Archives UK.
MyHeritage.com
MyHeritage is making U.S. Yearbooks available for free and they are in color.
MyHeritage has opened up access their yearbook collection for FREE, through May 23, 2020!
The collection includes 290 million names in 36 million pages, from yearbooks across the U.S. from 1890 until 1979. 10 million photos were colorized in the first 3 months following the launch of MyHeritage In Color™.
MyHeritage In Color™ has been applied to the Yearbook collection.
The goal is to “give people a fun activity to do when they are isolated at home that is genealogical, enjoyable, and free.”
Search MyHeritage U.S. Yearbooks for Free Now
Viewer Questions
Cristen shared a photo of herself watching the show with her Great Grandmothers hand painted China (which is lovely!)
Here’s her question:
Q: Can you create a new tag in Evernote on mobile?
Answer: Yes!
How to create a new tag in Evernote on mobile:
- Tap the Info (“i” in a circle icon) and
- Tap Add Tag
- Type in the new tag you want to create
- Tap the Return key on your keyboard
- The tag will appear in green, and will now be included in your list of available tags.
How Alice the Genealogist Avoids Falling Down the Rabbit Hole
Part 4
Creating a Supportive Computing Environment
The following tools are available for your computer desktop or laptop.
Restore Tabs
In addition to using Ctrl+Shift+T (Win) or Cmd+Shift+T (Mac) to restore a closed browser tab, you can also right-click on the new tab plus sign and select Reopen closed tab from the pop-up menu. You can do this multiple times and web pages will continue to open in the reverse-order that they were closed.
Turn Multiple Tabs into One and Save Memory with OneTab
Online genealogy research can leave you with a lot of open web browser tabs. While using multiple tabs allows you to jump back and forth between web pages and records, they can take up valuable computer memory.
You can dramatically reduce your memory usage with the OneTab extension available for both the Chrome and Firefox browsers. With one click, OneTab will combine your open tabs into a clickable list in one browser tab. You can even export the list for future reference.
Get OneTab in the Chrome Web Store here.
Get OneTab in the Firefox Web Store here.
Reduce Email Distractions
Gmail now has a Snooze feature which allows you to temporarily file an email until the date and time you select.
Snoozed emails will reappear in your Inbox at the scheduled time.
Retrieve snoozed emails at any time by clicking “Snoozed” in the menu on the left.
Get Back on Track with MyActivity
When you are signed into your Google account, MyActivity tracks the searches you conduct and the websites you visit. By visiting your MyActivity, you can search for and return to any previous activity. You can also turn it off. Go to MyActivity and click Activity Controls from the menu. Switch the slider to the off position.
Visit MyActivity at https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity
Save Time by Previewing Your Google Search Results
Rather than clicking on each search result and loading the page (which also takes you away from the rest of your search results), use the Google Results Previewer web extension for Chrome. Once installed you can simply hover your mouse over a result link to reveal a preview of the page. Then you can decide whether to click through or preview additional results.
Click here to get the Google Results Previewer web extension for Chrome.
Resources for Further Learning
- Genealogy Gems Premium Members: Show Notes PDF – Genealogy Gems Premium Members can click here to download the show notes PDF for this episode. (Log in required.)
- Genealogy Gems Premium Video: Organize Your Online Life
More tech tips for getting and staying organized, saving time, and getting more results!
Premium Video: Full length class by Lisa Louise Cooke.
- Genealogy Gems Premium Video: Using Evernote to Create a Research Plan.
The key to a successful family history research plan is having a set process for gathering and analyzing data. I will show you how to set up your plan in Evernote.
- Evernote Quick Reference Guide, by Lisa Louise Cooke. Available at Genealogy Gems Store.
Next Episode of Elevenses with Lisa
Click here for Episode 6 of Elevenses with Lisa on how to organize your genealogy paper.
Find Maiden Names – Episode 288 (Audio Podcast)
AUDIO PODCAST SHOW NOTES: Finding the maiden names of your ancestors can be challenging, but with the right research strategies they can be found. Author Shelley Bishop joins me in this episode to discuss 12 strategies for finding elusive maiden names of female ancestors. Then I’ll cover additional resources to help you track down the records.
Listen to the Podcast Episode
To Listen click the media player below (AUDIO ONLY):
SHOW NOTES
Download this episode’s show notes. (Premium Membership required. Join today.)
Strategy #1: Marriage Records
Marriage records are the natural place to begin. “Marriage records don’t exist for all times and all places. So, as you go back further in time, you may find that there aren’t really marriage records. But if there are, that is going to definitely be the first place you want to look.”
“Most marriage records could have been created at the local level. More recent ones can often be found at the state level. And they will usually say the woman’s maiden name. And there can be other clues if it doesn’t state it.”
Resources: Lisa recommends the following videos and downloadable cheat sheets,
- Marriage Records – 5 Steps for Finding Them
- Marriage Records Case Study with J. Mark Lowe
- Marriage Records and Gretna Green with J. Mark Lowe
Strategy #2 Family Records
“Family sources can be amazing. You might find mention of a woman in a diary or letters. Letters might expose relationships and names that you weren’t aware of, or places that you weren’t aware of.
It’s also important to talk to some family members who might know a little more or who might have some of these family materials and keepsakes that you could look at. Ask them if they’d be willing to talk with you and maybe you can copy some of their things. That’s a great way to get started.”
Resource: Lisa recommends the following videos and downloadable cheat sheets:
How to Find and Use the Family Bible (Premium)
Strategy #3 Church Records
“When there isn’t a record of a civil record of a marriage, there could still be a religious record of a marriage. Check church records. See what church records existed for that time and place and determine where they might be held. That can change over time. There’s a lot of different places.
You might look at the baptism records of children, because those will often state the mother’s maiden name. Again, these are church records. So, there’s a variety of church records that can help you.”
Church records often go a lot farther back than the civil records. “If you’re lucky, they can go quite far back. In the Pioneer days, sometimes a traveling preacher would keep his or her own records, and some of those little journals have been discovered and published. So, you can even find those!”
Resource: Lisa recommends the following videos and downloadable cheat sheets:
How to Use Church Records for Genealogy (Premium)
Strategy #4 Children’s Vital Records
“Children’s vital records can be great. We’re looking for birth records of children to see if they exist. The marriage records of children sometimes will state the mother’s maiden name, which is a real find. And the death records of a child may also state the maiden name. Those things are really worth checking out.
Be sure to look for records of all of the woman’s children, not just the one that you’re descended from. You want to look at all of the children that she had, even if they are by a different husband, because you just never know what you might find there. And if she had a child who died young, which is a sad situation, that record may give the mother’s maiden name.
You mentioned looking at all the different children. I know for me and some of my families, I find that different children, whether they were born earlier or later in the woman’s life, sometimes that surname kind of looks a little different on some of those. The reason to look at all of them is the possible variations in the spelling of the surname. Sometimes the children weren’t exactly sure how this surname was pronounced or spelled. They just knew it was sort of like something so you will get variations. When you find those, just compare them between the different records and be generous in your search and try different variations when you’re conducting searches.”
Strategy #5 Death Records
“…both the death record of the woman herself, of course, but also, death records of the children, and death records of her husband or husbands. They could provide her maiden name.
And you might find someone else who is associated with her. I can’t overstate the importance of doing whole family research, because women relied on other people in their lives. They relied on men, especially. So that could be her brothers-in-law, her husband(s), her father while he was alive, and so forth. Those death records are something you’re going to want to explore for everybody that you think she might have been associated with, or that might have been related to her.”
Strategy #6 Cemetery Sources
“…both the death record of the woman herself, of course, but also, death records of the children, and death records of her husband or husbands. They could provide her maiden name.
And you might find someone else who is associated with her. I can’t overstate the importance of doing whole family research, because women relied on other people in their lives. They relied on men, especially. So that could be her brothers-in-law, her husband(s), her father while he was alive, and so forth. Those death records are something you’re going to want to explore for everybody that you think she might have been associated with, or that might have been related to her.
Resource: Lisa recommends the following videos and downloadable cheat sheets:
Finding Ancestors’ Stories at Cemeteries
Strategy #7 Census Records
“Census records can help in a lot of ways. Especially if the woman is widowed. Later in life, she might be living with an adult son or adult daughter in the home of a son-in-law. That is a great way to find somebody. If you find a woman living in old age in with a man whose name you don’t recognize, and then some another person that could be a daughter, that’s really worth investigating.
Likewise, if the woman herself died young, her children may have been taken in by her parents or her sister or someone like that. You may find if she died at age 36, you may find her children living with her parents in another census record.”
Resources: Lisa recommends checking the FamilySearch Wiki to identify available census records, both federal and state. On the home page, click North America, and then select the state. In the Wiki Topics box on the right side of the page, look under Record Types and click Census.
Resource: Video and downloadable show notes Ultimate Guide to 1890 Census and Substitute Records.
Strategy #8 Newspapers
“Again, depending on the time period and the locality that you work in, you’ll want to look for marriages and announcements, which can vary anywhere from just a short little social note to long, elaborate marriage announcements. Those will almost always say the full name of the bride.
You can also look for Golden Anniversary announcements. If they’ve been married a long time and had a 50th anniversary, a lot of times, they’ll give a whole rundown of when and where they married and their parents. Sometimes they’ll even name their parents. And they’ll talk about people who attended the anniversary party, which could be her siblings with the maiden name.
And the other things are social notices. If they went out of town to visit relatives with the maiden name or something like that, you might find that.
And of course, there are obituaries. It may include not only of the woman and her husband, but also their children. Anyone mentioned that you think might have been related is worth looking into.
And I know you’ve done a lot of work on newspapers. Your book is a great guide to using newspapers. ”
Resource: Lisa recommends the following videos and downloadable show notes cheat sheets
Newspapers – Getting the Scoop on Your Ancestors (Premium)
Newspapers – 5 Top Research Tips
Newspapers at Google Books
Newspapers – Finding Family Recipes
Newspapers – Reconstructing Your Ancestor’s Life
Newspaper Navigator at the Library of Congress
Newspapers.com – Digging Deeper (Premium)
Obituaries at Newspapers.com
Strategy #9 Published Sources
“Those would include things like old county and town histories where they might talk about the early settlers of a region, and the first members of the early churches. A lot of times you’ll find women’s names in there. You’ll also sometimes find a biographical sketch could be of her husband, her son or her grandson, and that could be in a far distant city and state than where she lived.
Published family histories are another place to look. A lot of times they will give the maiden names of women who married into the family.
You also have online family trees, which have to be taken with a little grain of salt because they’re not always as well documented as we’d like them to be. We have to be kind of careful about just accepting what they say. But that’s true for all published resources. We also have to verify that information. You will definitely want to do additional research to either confirm or refute the information.”
Resource: Lisa recommends the following videos and downloadable cheat sheets
Getting Started with Google Books (Premium)
10 Surprising Finds at Google Books
Strategy #10 Court Records
“A woman’s status when she was married historically, she was a feme covert. She was literally covered by her husband’s care. And she could not make any court decisions or any financial arrangements, or anything like that, in her own name. Her husband was in charge of all of that for her.
When she was widowed, then she could take care of her own affairs. So, you might want to look at estate records of her possible father, and those will usually name both her husband and her in these estate records. Did they receive property? Were they named in a will? And so forth, like that. You will often see a woman named with her husband in estate records.
Guardianship records could have been created if the woman died while her children were still young. Guardianship was done to protect the property of the children against other people who might come later and try to claim that property, including a woman’s future husbands.
Divorce records may be found if the woman got divorced. You will often find her maiden name there because they will go back to the original marriage.
Strategy #11 Deeds
“You can occasionally find maiden names and deeds. And sometimes if you can’t find the maiden name, at least you can find good clues there. Again, if her she had a father or widowed mother who died and left property, sometimes there’s not a will. And sometimes there’s not a probate or an estate file. In that case, you want to check the deeds, because if they own property, it might have just passed down to the children without going through the courts. And if that’s the case, then the children had to decide how to divide up the property or they had to liquidate it. And so often, some of them would sell their shares to another one. Or they might also sell their shares to a third party. So, you want to look in the deeds, and these are called Quitclaim deeds, because the person is quitting, basically giving up their claim to their fair share of the property. So, if you find a deed that has that word, Quitclaim in it, that’s a good indication that that there are other people who are invested in that property, who also have interest in it. You might be able then to find those people and find out how they’re related. And then, who owned the property that they are now dealing with.”
Strategy #12 Military Pension Records
“If your mystery woman was married to someone who served in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, or the Civil War, you want to check to see if either the soldier or his widow applied for a pension after the fact. Those pension records can be a goldmine! You can learn so much from them. They’re really interesting to read!
There are indexes to those, and I talk about where to find those in the article. And you can look for them. You can order the entire file from the National Archives, or sometimes those files now have been digitized. Look through them and see what you can find. In some cases, they will lay out exactly the woman’s maiden name, when she was married, the names of her children and their ages.”
Resources
- Download this episode’s show notes. (Premium Membership required.)
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