Episode 203

The Genealogy Gems Podcast

with Lisa Louise Cooke

Episode #203

Lisa Louise Cooke, The Genealogy Gems Podcast

This episode features a special interview with renowned Canadian expert Dave Obee. He shares his favorite tips on researching the Canadian census?his insights are fascinating whether you have Canadian ancestors or not!

Also in this episode: an inspiring adoption discovery, DNA testing news at 23andMe, a tip for incorporating family history into a wedding, and a brand-new resource that can finally help you solve one of genealogy’s most perplexing questions.

NEWS: ATLAS OF HISTORICAL COUNTY BOUNDARIES UPDATE

Atlas of Historical County Boundaries

Atlas of Historical County Boundaries Newberry Library

 

Google Earth for Genealogy (and more on Google Earth Pro)

Google Earth Pro for genealogy with Lisa Louise Cooke

LINK: https://lisalouisecooke.com/free-google-earth-for-genealogy-video-class-by-lisa-louise-cooke/

NEWS: 23andME DNA TEST UPDATES

Click here for the full news and Diahan’s comments

MORE recent DNA news:

Family Tree DNA enhancements:Click here for the full story, with comments and step-by-step instructions on updated myOrigins tool

Get help with DNA testing at both these sites with these quick reference guides by Diahan Southard:

Understanding 23andMe

Understanding Family Tree DNA

 

Understanding 23andMe DNA quick reference guide by Diahan Southard

 

Understanding Family Tree DNA quick reference guide by Diahan Southard

 

NEW! GENEALOGY GIANTS GUIDE

by Genealogy Gems Editor Sunny Morton

Click here to watch the presentation that inspired this guide: a popular RootsTech 2017 lecture comparing the four major genealogy records websites: Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, Findmypast.com and MyHeritage.com.

Genealogy Giants Comparing the 4 major genealogy records websites

LINK: https://www.shopgenealogygems.com/collections/genealogy-guides/products/genealogy-giants-quick-guide

 

Available in print or digital format

This comprehensive quick reference guide explains:

How knowing about all four websites can improve your family history research

How the sites stack up when it comes to the numbers of historical records, names in trees, DNA profiles, site users, site languages and subscription costs

Unique strengths of each website and cautions for using each

What to keep in mind as you evaluate record content between sites

Geographic record strengths: A unique table has an at-a-glance comparison for 30+ countries

How to see what kinds of records are on each site without subscribing

How family trees are structured differently at these websites?and why it matters

Privacy, collaboration and security options at each site

How DNA testing features differ at the two websites that offer it

What you can do with free guest accounts at each website

Subscription and free access options

 

MAILBOX: LIZ ON FINDING CHUCK’S BIRTH FAMILY

Click here to learn more about Diahan Southard’s genetic genealogy video tutorials?and a special discount price for Genealogy Gems fans.

Your DNA guide

LINK TO: https://www.yourdnaguide.com/genealogy-gems-dna-tutorial

Rootsmagic genealogy software

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. In the works: soon RootsMagic will be fully integrated with Ancestry.com, too: you’ll be able to sync your RootsMagic trees with your Ancestry.com trees and search records on the site.

Back up your genealogy data with Backblaze

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 http://www.backblaze.com/Lisa

MAILBOX: THANKS FOR 1940 CENSUS TIPS

Genealogy Gems Mailbox

Kate Eakman shares tips for understanding the 1940: click here to read them or click here to listen to them on Genealogy Gems Podcast episode 201

MAILBOX: WEDDING TIP

Before a wedding: start an online family tree and invite each family member to add what they know!

Share family history this summer: Reunions, weddings, BBQs, etc

Genealogy Gems Pinterest Page: Incorporating Family History Ideas into Your Wedding

Lisa Louise Cooke on Pinterest Family History

Go to: https://www.pinterest.com/lisalouisecooke/incorporating-family-history-into-your-wedding/

 

Our sponsor for this episode: StoryWorth

Give Mom the gift of StoryWorth this Mother’s Day

Visit www.StoryWorth.com/Lisa to get $20 off

StoryWorth

Visit: www.StoryWorth.com/Lisa

INTERVIEW: DAVE OBEE

Dave Obee Canadian genealogy expert

Canada 150th anniversary

Continuing our celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday!

Dave Obee is an internationally-renowned Canadian journalist, historian and genealogist. Dave is a columnist for Internet Genealogy and Your Genealogy Today (formerly Family Chronicle). Dave has also written about family history for Canada’s History and Your Family Tree in the United Kingdom.

 

Put Dave’s books on your shelf:

Finding Your Canadian Ancestors: A Beginner’s Guide

Counting Canada: A Genealogical Guide to the Canadian Census

Destination Canada: A Genealogical Guide to Immigration Records

Making the News: A Times Columnist Look at 150 Years of History

Canadian census tips from Dave Obee:

The 1901 census is his favorite because it says for the first time where people had come from

He starts his searches on Ancestry.ca but census databases are free to search on Library and Archives Canada website

Marital status may not have been totally accurate. They only captured single or married or windowed. Divorced was not captured.

There are two different types of enumerations: de facto and de jure, and the rules were different.

This means your ancestor could be enumerated in multiple locations

Lisa Louise Cooke Googled the Canadian Census Enumerator Instructions for 1901:

At Library & Archives Canada

Original instructions digitized at Archive.org

 

More on Canada genealogy research:

Claire Banton in Genealogy Gems Podcast episode #199

Blog post on Canadian Censuses 1825-1921

Search Canadian Passenger Lists for Free at Library and Archives Canada

Canadiana: Canadian Digital Archive and Portal to the Past

Google Earth for Canada and Genealogy

Our Sponsors:

Animoto Create family history videos

Start creating fabulous, irresistible videos about your family history with Animoto.com. You don’t need special video-editing skills: just drag and drop your photos and videos, pick a layout and music, add a little text and voila! You’ve got an awesome video! Try this out for yourself at Animoto.com.

MyHeritage

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.

BONUS CONTENT for Genealogy Gems App Users

Cece Moore and Diahan Southard Genealogy Gems Podcast Bonus Content

If you’re listening through the Genealogy Gems app, your bonus content for this episode is EXTRA special! It’s an exclusive conversation between Your DNA Guide and Cece Moore of DNA Detectives on researching adoption or unknown parentage. Don’t miss it! The Genealogy Gems app is FREE in Google Play and is only $2.99 for Windows, iPhone and iPad users.

GENEALOGY GEMS BOOK CLUB

Our featured genealogy book club author this month is Miss Fannie Flagg!

The Whole Town's Talking by Fannie Flagg

The Whole Town’s Talking by Fannie Flagg

Read more tips on discovering the historical context of your ancestor’s lives:

Tell Your Ancestor’s Story: Use Social History for Genealogy

Social History for Genealogy and the Colored Farmer’s Alliance

Genealogy Gems Newsletter Sign Up

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Lisa Louise Cooke, Host and Producer

Sunny Morton, Editor

Diahan Southard, Your DNA Guide, Content Contributor

Lacey Cooke, Service Manager

Vienna Thomas, Associate Producer
Check out this new episode!

Google Books for Genealogy Success Story

Using Google Books for genealogy is a successful tool to many. A Gem’s reader shares the remarkable story she uncovered using the tips for using Google Books she learned from a recent Genealogy Gems Premium podcast.

From Genealogy Gems Premium member:

“Hi Lisa,

Premium 137I was just listening to the newest Premium podcast concerning filtering the lists on Google Books (Premium episode 137). I would like to relay my story for using your hints and tips on Google.

My great-grandfather was a Confederate soldier. At the age of 48, he married my great-grandmother and my grandmother was born the next year. I found much to my dismay, that he committed suicide when my grandmother was a few weeks old. It was stated that he had what would be described today as post-traumatic stress disorder, and the burning of the court house where he worked as a county clerk set off something. My Dad was born on what would have been my great-grandfather’s 90th birthday.

I have known for about 30 years that my great-grandfather wrote articles under a pen name. My aunt told me she had been told he wrote articles about the scenery in southern Utah where he lived. I searched and searched and never found any of his articles. Then, I had a breakthrough. I found the pen name by using several tips you mentioned for using Google. The pen name was Lock Melone. It was spelled differently than I had been told.

It turns out, he was a very well-known humorist. One of his stories appears in a publication alongside an article by Mark Twain. (He wrote articles in the 1870s and 1880s.)

Now, back to your tips on Google. I was Googling, checking all the old newspapers I could find to collect his writings. One of the sources continually mentioned in Google Books was a literary magazine called The Californian.  These were not all free on Google, but I was not to be deterred after all these years! I used the basic information and time frames listed in Google Books and looked at WorldCat. That led me to e-books and to some of the holdings in universities around the country.

As of today, I have found 69 of his articles! They have made an ancestor who I thought had a rough life with a tragic end, a new person, full of life and laughter! I am sure his stories are based on events that occurred during his “real life” adventures. He lived life to the fullest, traveling a great deal, and saw the world through a light heart.

I am continuing to search for more articles and have begun to compile his writings to give to my children and cousins for a Christmas present this year (if I can figure out how to put it all together!) With my grandmother as his only child, I will have given his life to all his descendants, a very special chore on which I have worked on with great pleasure.

Thanks for the tips on Google and other sites you have given over the years.”

This Gems member is certainly on the right track in many ways. She figured out how to harness the power of Google to search for the proverbial needle in a haystack—not just her grandfather’s articles but articles written under a pseudonym! Good for her for using Google Books and WorldCat. That’s a great combination. You can learn more about using WorldCat for genealogy in my book How to Find Your Family History in Newspapers and in the Premium video Getting the Scoop Part 2: Tech Tools for Newspapers.

Follow-up Ideas for Using Google Books for Genealogy

Here are a few follow-up suggestions reGoogle Books and Scholar for genealogy success lating to finding issues of a literary magazine or another scholarly publication like The Californian:

First, turn to another powerful free tool in the Google toolbox: Google Scholar. It takes Google Books to the next level and you may hit on some things that Google Books may miss. Refer back to Premium Podcast 136 for a discussion of Google Scholar for genealogy, and Chapter 11 in my book The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox, Second Edition.

Second, remember that sometimes serial publications change names, or two different ones may have the same name. Wikipedia’s not the most expert source, but its article on The Californian says something you can follow up on. The Californian was published from 1880 to 1882, as a continuation of the earlier Overland Monthly which had stopped in 1875, and then in 1882 it switched back to its old name. This means you should look for both titles.

A third idea may be to check e-bay for back issues of old magazines and journals. Sometimes, it’s cheaper and easier to buy them than to try to borrow them through inter-library loan. E-bay does happen to have a CD version for sale of The Californian issues from 1880 to 1882. I talk more about finding family history items on e-bay in the Premium Podcast episodes 16, 76, and 131.

Lastly, don’t forget JSTOR. JSTOR is a shared digital library for scholarly journals and the like. It launched in 1995 to serve university and college libraries, running out of space to store old journal issues. Today, it includes over 2,300 journals and thousands of other materials. It’s even started including books. Over 50 million pages are digitized, with another 3 million being added every year.

The nice thing about JSTOR is that you don’t have to be affiliated with a major library to get access now. Individuals can register for free access allowing them to read some materials online. They offer free access to their Early Journal Content collection of scholarly content published before 1923 in the U.S. (and before 1870 in other parts of the world.) That collection alone has nearly a half million articles from over 200 journals.

Unfortunately in this case, JSTOR doesn’t have The Californian or Overland Monthly in its collections. But one can certainly use JSTOR to search for other journals. JSTOR is just a great resource for anyone to use when searching for historical articles, especially those you may come across in Google Scholar without the full article text.

Your Google Books for Genealogy Success Stories

It is so rewarding to hear your success stories in using Google Books for genealogy. Your stories inspire others. Please feel free to share your experiences in the comment section below.

Keep Reading: More Gems on Using Google Books for Genealogy Success

Free Video: Google Books Image Search for Genealogy and Family History

Google Scholar for Genealogy? Here’s Why to Try It

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