Everyone is spending a lot more time at home and online. That means it’s the perfect time to dig into Ancestry.com and talk about strategies that you can use to get the most out of it.
Today’s show comes from my Elevenses with Lisa YouTube Live show. Many podcast listeners have told me they hadn’t really thought about sitting down to watch YouTube videos. And my video viewers say the same thing about listening to audio podcasts. However, when they venture out, they find they really appreciate what each has to offer.
Podcasts let you exercise, work around the house and generally be pretty active even while you’re listening and learning. The live YouTube show is a chance to take a mid-week break, enjoy a cup of tea, watch the show and even chat with other genealogists in the show Chat. The video replays are great in the evening when there’s nothing to watch on TV.
They work together. You can watch the video first and enjoy the show’s community. Then you can listen again later to pick up what you may have missed or sit down to your computer to give the techniques a try.
My goal is that you’re going to learn something new that’s going to help you achieve greater success in your genealogy! Click the player below to listen to the podcast:
Ancestry Search Strategies and Tips
Watch the video and read the full show notes here.
Genealogy Gems Premium Members can download the show notes PDF from the Resources section on that page.
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Profile America: On a Roll – The History of Toilet Paper
Sunday, August 23rd. Often unmentionable and little regarded, a 130 year old American invention enjoyed—if that’s the word—considerable attention earlier this year.
In 1890, toilet paper on a dispensing roll was patented by the founders of today’s Scott Brand of paper products.
Toilet paper itself dates back about 1,500 years to China, but didn’t develop until the mid-19th Century. Some perforated and medicated versions were available in America before the Scott product, but weren’t successful.
In spite of demand-driven shortages, America is on a roll when it comes to stocking this species of sanitary paper.
Nationwide, there are 132 establishments producing sanitary paper products. These operations employ over 17,000 people in the $13-billion enterprise.
Genealogy Gems Listeners click here to learn more.
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We adopted Howie in 2005, and soon after in early 2007 I started this podcast. Howie took his place at my feet, and he’s been there for every recording. He’s been my silent podcasting partner and he will be missed beyond words.
Thousands of Sanborn Fire Insurance maps and a national Civil War burial database are among new genealogy records online. Also: newspapers in Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania; vital records for Idaho, Utah, and Washington; Catholic parish records for the Archdiocese of Boston; Maine cemetery plans; New Hampshire Civil War records and New York passenger arrivals.
Breaking news! The Library of Congress has put online nearly 25,000 additional Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps–and more are coming! Over the next three years, more will be added monthly until all 50 states are covered from the 1880s through the 1960s.
Sanborn maps show detailed information about neighborhoods, buildings, roads and more for thousands of towns in the U.S. and beyond. A sizable collection of pre-1900 Sanborn maps are already online at the Library of Congress (use the above link). Watch the short video below to learn more about them. The full-length class is available to Genealogy Gems Premium Members.
Civil War burials. Ancestry.com’s new database, U.S., Civil War Roll of Honor, 1861-1865, lists over 203,000 deceased Civil War soldiers interred in U.S. cemeteries. “Records in this database are organized first by volume and then by burial place,” says the collection description. Entries “may contain the name of soldier, age, death date, burial place, cemetery, rank and regiment.”
Newspapers. We’ve noticed the following new digital newspaper content online recently:
Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania: Newspapers.com recently added or updated newspaper content for the following newspapers (with coverage shown): Chicago Tribune (1849-2016), Fort Lauderdale News (1911-1991), South Florida Sun Sentinel (1981-2017) and the Morning Call [Allentown, PA] (1895-2017). (With a Newspapers.com Basic subscription, you can see issues through 1922; a Publisher Extra subscription is required to access issues from 1923 onward.)
Hawaii: Newspaper content has been recently added to the Papakilo Database, an online archive of The Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The collection currently contains nearly 12,000 issues from 48 different publications, with a total of 379,918 articles. Coverage spans from 1834 to 1980.
Louisiana: A New Orleans feminist newspaper is now available online at Tulane University’s digital library. An online description says: “Distaff was the first and only feminist newspaper published in New Orleans….Distaff served as a forum for women’s voices in politics, activism, and the arts….A preview issue was published in 1973 and the newspaper continued to be published until 1982. There was a hiatus in publication from 1976-1978.”
Maine cemetery plans. “Many Maine cemeteries have plans originally created courtesy of the Works Progress Administration, which reside at the Maine State Archives,” states a recent post at Emily’s Genealogy Blog at the Bangor Daily News website. The post advises us that all of them–nearly 550–are now viewable online at DigitalMaine.com (search for WPA cemetery plans). “These plans are great for locating veterans; some graves are coded by the war of service,” advises the post. “With such an item in hand one could also visit the appropriate town clerk and locate a civilian’s burial as well, I should think.” Thanks for that tip, Emily!
Massachusetts Catholic church records. The New England Historic Genealogical Society (AmericanAncestors.org) has added 13 new volumes to its browse-only collection, Massachusetts Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900. “This addition, drawn from the collections of St. James the Greater in modern-day Chinatown, includes the largest volume we’ve scanned yet–1,035 pages,” says an NEHGS announcement. The collection description states that an index is being created and will be available to site members in the future.
New Hampshire Civil War records. The free site FamilySearch.org has added about 25,000 indexed names to its collection of New Hampshire, Civil War Service and Pension Records, 1861-1866. The collection contains an “index and images of Civil War enlistment papers, muster in and out rolls of New Hampshire Regiments and pension records acquired from the New Hampshire state archives.”
New York passenger lists. FamilySearch.org has added nearly 1.2 million indexed names to the database, New York Book Indexes to Passenger Lists, 1906-1942. According to the collection description, names are taken from “books of indexes to passenger manifests for the port of New York. The indexes are grouped by shipping line and arranged chronologically by date of arrival.”
Utah birth certificates. Nearly 33,000 names have been added to an existing FamilySearch database, Utah, Birth Certificates, 1903-1914. “This collection consists of an index and images to birth certificates acquired from the Utah State Archives,” says the site. “The records are arranged by year, county, and month within a numerical arrangement by box and folder number. Many of these volumes have indexes at the beginning or end.”
Sanborn maps are a rich resource for genealogy–but they’re just one kind of map that can lead to genealogical gems! Lisa Louise Cooke teaches tons of strategies for using maps to chart your family history in her Genealogy Gems Premium video series. Discover these for yourself with a Genealogy Gems Premium website membership.
Thanks for sharing this great news on Sanborn maps and more with your genealogy friends!
Disclosure: This article 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 Genealogy Gems!
From Guest Blogger Denise May Levenick, a recent guest on The Genealogy Gems Podcast:
If you are buried under a mountain of genealogical clutter, take note that January is National Organizing Month and a great time to put your Family History Household in order. When Lisa and I chatted for Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 144, our conversation reminded me that we can all use a little help keeping the paper tiger under control.
This excerpt from my new book How to Archive Family Keepsakes takes a look at practical strategies to help you Break the Paper Habit. I hope it helps you get a start turning your paper mountain into a manageable molehill.
7 Steps Toward a Paperless Genealogy Office
If you are thinking about converting from paper to digital documents, consider the two types of documents you work with — Archive Originals and Working Documents — and take steps to accommodate preservation and efficiency for both.
Aim to minimize paper copies and maximize the efficiency of your computer file system. Minimize confusion by using the same file naming scheme and file folder organization for converted paper files and for new electronic documents.
1. Pick a Start Date. Businesses recognize the value of knowing exactly when they shifted from paper to digital; it’s easier to find things.
Select a meaningful date, if possible, your birthdate, January 1st, Tax Day, anything that will be easy to remember. Begin saving new information as digital documents and filing according to your file scheme. As you have time, work on digitizing past documents.
2. Print Less. Whenever you need keep information, choose to save a digital version instead of printing a copy.
3. Use a Consistent File Naming Scheme. If you’ve been using a computer for any length of time you probably already have a file-naming scheme in place. If not, or if you feel like you need a better system, investigate different options and find one that works for you before beginning a full-scale digital file management program. Find more information on file-naming schemes later in Chapter 13.
4. Purge the Paper — No doubt, you have a considerable amount of paper sitting on your desk right now. Your Digital Birthday is here; how do you handle the paper pile? You have two choices, digitize or purge. Do you really need to keep the paper copy? Is the information readily available online or in a public resource? See How to Archive Family Keepsakes, Chapter 9 for specific strategies on moving toward a paperless office.
5. KISS, Keep It Super Simple — Keep your system easy and intuitive. Don’t be tempted by fancy, hard-to-remember schemes. Develop a workflow that suits your own personal style, and tweak it until it’s nearly effortless.
6. Post a Workflow Cheat Sheet — Post a simple list to remind you of your paper workflow and file-naming scheme. This can be a real timesaver for those of us who research in bits and spurts on weekends and vacations.
7. Celebrate Your Digital Birthday — Every year on the anniversary of your digital switch, evaluate your current system and upgrade if necessary. This is especially important if you use CDs for external storage; CDs deteriorate over time and older formats should be upgraded to remain compatible with new operating systems.
This is also the perfect time to check your Archive Document storage. Look for any sign of mold, mildew, or bug infestation. Air out your closets. Do random spot checks of different file boxes and folders. Schedule any needed preservation or restoration projects.
Listen to Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 144 to hear Lisa Louise Cooke interview Denise about her new book and share ideas on preserving family keepsakes.
Join the Blog Tour
Join the Blog Book Tour for How to Archive Family Keepsakes January 10-26, 2013 for author interviews, book excerpts, giveaways, and more. Visit the Blog Book Tour Page at The Family Curator for the complete schedule.
Proceeds from the sale of How to Archive Family Keepsakes during the Book Tour will help fund the 2013 Student Genealogy Grant founded in 2010 in honor of Denise’s mother, Suzanne Winsor Freeman.
Blog Book Tour Giveaways
It’s easy to enter to win a free copy of Denise’s new book or one of the weekly giveaway prizes. All you have to do is leave a comment to the Blog Tour Post hosted at one of the official tour blogs. Random winners will also be selected from social media comments on Twitter, FaceBook, and Google+.
Comment on daily Book Blog Tour Post Tweet the Tour Twitter @FamilyCurator #keepsakebooktour Share the Tour on FaceBook, Google+, Goodreads.
Each blog tour post comment gives you one chance to win; one entry per post per day, please. Leave a comment at each stop on the blog tour and increase your chances of winning. The lucky names will be announced each Saturday during the tour at The Family Curator.
Disclosure: This article 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 Genealogy Gems!
AUDIO PODCAST SHOW NOTES: Food has always been at the center of family life, so if you want to know more about your family’s history, a logical and tasty place to start is with your family’s culinary heritage. The food they ate and the recipes they cooked can actually tell you a lot about them, and my guests today can help you uncover those stories.
My guests in this episode:
Ashley Covelli is the food photographer, recipe developer, and culinary instructor behind the website Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen.
Lisa Lisson is the genealogy researcher behind the Are You My Cousin? YouTube channel.
Together they produce and host Passing the Plate, a podcast that explores the intersection of family history, cultural heritage, and culinary traditions.
Listen to the Podcast Episode
To Listen click the media player below (AUDIO ONLY):
SHOW NOTES
Documenting Family Recipes
Ideas for documenting the recipes of family members:
Go to the store together to shop for the ingredients.
Cook side by side.
Take detailed notes.
Feel it, taste it, and document those details.
Have them scoop the amount needed into an empty bowl so you can measure for exact measurements.
Note sensory indicators. (What it should look and smell like.)
Be very curious about everything going on!
Record video of them cooking.
Sharing Recipes
Update the recipes so that they can be enjoyed by modern cooks.
Consider updating recipes to accommodate various dietary restrictions.
WRAPUP: Action Items
Digitize and organize family recipes and recipe-related materials.
Reach out to other family members to gather additional information and memories about family recipes and culinary traditions.
Experiment with modernizing and adapting traditional family recipes to make them more accessible for contemporary home cooks.
Explore opportunities to share family recipes and culinary heritage.
Passing the Plate podcast episodes recommended:
#34, 35, 36, and Lisa’s grandmother’s cornbread recipe episode.
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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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Are you ready for the release of the 1950 census from the National Archives? Lisa Louise Cooke covers how to prepare and everything you need to know to get the most out of this important genealogy record collection being released by the National Archives on April 1, 2022. Before you start searching for your family, familiarize ourselves with this important records collection and start preparing for success.
This episode brings you the audio from Elevenses with Lisa episode 51 PLUS important updates. You will learn:
the interesting and little known stories behind the 1950 census,
what it can reveal about your family, (and who you will NOT find!)
the important documents associated with it that you can access right now!
The status of the Infant Cards.
What you can expect when it comes to indexing the collection.
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Listen to Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 260
Watch the Original Video
This audio comes from my series Elevenses with Lisa. You can watch the video interview at the Elevenses with Lisaepisode 51 show notes page.
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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The Genealogy Gems email newsletter is the best way to stay informed about what’s available with your Premium eLearning Membership. Sign up today here.
Sanborn maps are a rich resource for genealogy–but they’re just one kind of map that can lead to genealogical gems! Lisa Louise Cooke teaches tons of strategies for using maps to chart your family history in her Genealogy Gems Premium video series. Discover these for yourself with a 
