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 11: Census Wrap-Up: Decade-by-Decade to 1790
In our first segment we welcome back genealogy researcher, author and lecturer Lisa Alzo. The author of Three Slovak Women, Baba’s Kitchen and Finding Your Slovak Ancestors talks about discovering family traits and putting them in perspective.
Then in our second segment we wrap up our three-episode coverage of U.S. census records with a decade-by-decade overview of censuses from 1880 back to 1790. We talk about special schedules taken during one or more censuses: mortality, slave, social statistics and supplemental, agricultural, manufacturing and the DDD (Defective, Dependent and Delinquent) schedules.
Updates and Links
For a list of online resources for U.S. federal census data, check out the show notes for Episode 9 at http://tinyurl.com/ShowNotesEp9. More links you’ll want for this episode include:
Learn more about nonpopulation schedules and other census records in Ancestry’sThe Source.
When you invest your money in a genealogy website, you want to ensure that you’re getting the most value possible. Here we share tips for getting the most out of Ancestry.com.
I noticed recently that Ancestry subscribers’ attitudes run the same gamut as attitudes of big-box retailer shoppers. Some people {heart} them unabashedly: they’ll spend hours strolling the aisles and share every great find on social media. Others dash in and grab just the items they can’t live without.
Whatever your stance toward the site, Ancestry is still the big-box retailer most genealogists need at some point. Take your cue from top big-box store shopping strategies for getting the most out of Ancestry.com:
1. Grab first what you can’t get anywhere else.
Learn what exactly you want from Ancestry versus other sites, the same way you’ve learned whose house brand of spaghetti sauce you like and who carries your favorite protein bars.
A few examples for U.S. researchers:
Ancestry has the most U.S. census non-population schedules online. (They’ve padded HeritageQuest Online with several of these but they didn’t give them everything.)
Ancestry’s collection of digitized U.S. city directories (over a BILLION) is second to none.
Beloved illustrator Norman Rockwell in a city directory. (Massachusetts Berkshire 1959 Berkshire, Massachusetts, City Directory, 1959)
2. Stock Up on Items that are Easy to Reach
While your subscription is active, stock up on easy to find items.
One way to do that is with Ancestry’s hints. Ancestry’s hinting system taps the most popular Ancestry collections (about the top 10% of the most popular collections). Watch your Ancestry tree for hints and check them all. When you first log in, note whether anyone new has taken an interest in your tree (if it’s public)–and see if they are relatives worth contacting.
We also update you regularly on new records collections that go online throughout the genealogy world: Ancestry databases are often among them.
You can also sort by “Date Added” in Ancestry.com Card Catalog. This is a great way to see the collections most recently added. Look for the green “NEW” tag.
4. Avoid the Parts of the Experience that are Frustrating
Those who hate battling lines avoid big stores on peak shopping days and during the after-work rush. I avoid returning things at certain stores because their customer service desk is not worth the hassle.
Similarly, if the way Ancestry handles photos, sources, or Life Story timelines drives you nuts, ignore as much as you can except for your direct ancestors and closest relatives.
FOR ANDROID USERS: How to Get the Premium Feed on Your Android Mobile Device
Recommended app:Podcast Addict for Android, available in the Google Play Store.
Follow these steps to set up the Premium Podcast using the Podcast Addict app for Android. Examples shown below are on a tablet, so keep in mind that it may look slightly different on your device.
1. Download the Podcast Addict App
Podcast Addict app
Google Play Store
On your device, go to the Google Play Store and download the Podcast Addict app.
(*Note: If you’ve never used the Google Play store you may be required to set up an account, including payment information. This is unrelated to Genealogy Gems, but necessary in order to download apps from the Google Play Store.)
Recommended app:Podcast Addict for Android, available in the Google Play Store.
Follow these steps to set up the Premium Podcast using the Podcast Addict app for Android.
NOTE: Examples shown below are on a tablet, so keep in mind that it may look slightly different on your device.
2. Add the Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast Feed
Tap the + icon to add a feed
Tap “RSS Feed, YouTube/Twitch Channel, Soundcloud URL”
In the “RSS feed URL” field, copy and paste this address to ensure it is exactlycorrect with no extra spaces at the end (the feed address is case sensitive): https://lisalouisecooke.com/Premium_Feed/feed.xml
Check the box for “Authentication (Premium Podcast)”
Type in your Genealogy Gems Premium Membership username and password. You MUST use your membership username, NOT your email address.
Tap “Add”
Your Podcast home screen will now have the Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast.
Tap the podcast icon. It may appear yellow like this or it may be our logo) to reveal all episodes, starting with the most recent episode at the top of the list.
3. Downloading Episodes
You can download episodes so that you can listen offline, without an internet connection or using your device’s cellular data. Download an episode by tapping the down arrow icon on the right:
Once the episode is downloaded, a play button will appear that you can click to listen. A small download icon will appear indicating that this episode is downloaded to your device:
3. Listening to Episodes & Viewing Show Notes
When you open the app, tap the Genealogy Gems Premium podcast to access episodes:
You can go straight to the episodes you’ve already downloaded through the app’s menu. Tap the three lines icon:
Then tap Downloaded episodes:
On this screen are only the episodes you have downloaded for offline listening. To return to all episodes just tap the 3 line icon in the upper left corner.
4. Deleting Downloaded Episodes
After you have listened to a downloaded episode, you can delete it to free up the space on your device. (Don’t worry, all of the episodes are still available through the main podcast feed in Podcast Addict.) To delete an episode in the Downloaded Episodes area, tap the 3 dots icon on the episode you want to delete:
(Note: If you want to delete all the episodes that you’ve already played, click the 3 dots icon at the very top of the right-hand corner, and then tap “Delete Played Episodes”)
On the page for that downloaded episode tap the trash can icon to delete it from your device:
Need More Help?
If you’re experiencing error messages or other technical difficulties, please visit our Premium eLearning FAQ page and head to the Troubleshooting section towards the bottom. You’ll find answers to the most common causes of problems and solutions and tips to fix them.
AUDIO PODCAST SHOW NOTES: Get the very latest on the major update Google has made to Bard, and the answer to the question “Should I use Bard, ChatGPT, or any of the other chatbots for genealogy research?” I’ve got some surprising answers for you!
Listen to the Podcast Episode
To Listen click the media player below (AUDIO ONLY):
Click to learn more about Genealogy Gems Premium Membership.
Genealogy Gems Podcast App
Don’t miss the Bonus audio for this episode. In the app, tap the gift box icon just under the media player. Get the app here.
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Fort Wayne, Indiana is the home of the second-largest free genealogy library in the country. Make plans today to visit one of my favorite genealogy libraries!
Learn more at https://www.visitfortwayne.com
Recommended app: 
