by Lisa Cooke | Apr 15, 2014 | 01 What's New, Beginner, Family History Podcast, Newspaper
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.
Family History: Genealogy Made Easy Podcast
with Lisa Louise Cooke
Republished April 15, 2014
https://lisalouisecooke.com/familyhistorypodcast/audio/fh27.mp3
Download the Show Notes for this Episode
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 27: Find Your Family History in Newspapers, Part 1
Newspapers offer such a unique perspective on history in general, and our ancestors specifically. You can find everything from birth, marriage and death announcements, to school and club event, crime stories, land transactions, sports activities and just about any other activity that your ancestors were part of that made the news. So let’s get started and “Read all about it!”
In this episode, you’ll hear from Jane Knowles Lindsey at the California Genealogical Society. She is currently the president there and often teaches on this subject. Our conversation on newspaper research continues in next week’s episode!
Here are some take-away thoughts from this episode, along with some updates:
- Determine which newspapers existed for your ancestor’s hometown and time period. Look for ethnic and neighborhood papers, too. The most comprehensive U.S. newspaper directory is at Chronicling America. This site does let you search by language, ethnic background, labor group and more.
- Look for these newspapers at digitized newspaper sites, starting with the free ones. In the U.S., this means starting with Chronicling America and state digital newspaper project sites (search on the state name and “digital newspapers”). These sites came out of the government digitizing program mentioned in the show.
- Digitized newspaper searching is done with OCR (optical character recognition), which doesn’t pick up everything in tough-to-read historical print. Try searching with different spellings, a first name in a particular timeframe, or other people or terms that may have been mentioned.
- Ancestry has put lots of newspapers on their website—but not everything, and for only limited time periods. Notice what time period is covered for a specific newspaper. Ancestry has since launched Newspapers.com.
- If you’ve found the name of a newspaper that probably covered your family, but you haven’t found it digitized, search the name of the newspaper in your favorite web browsers. Most newspapers are on microfilm somewhere and web directories will likely list holdings. Also, some newspapers have also been indexed on USGenWeb or other sites.
- State archives and libraries are often a great resource for newspapers. Local libraries may have unique clippings files or scrapbooks.
- Several websites and databases now focus on obituary content. You can target a search for these.
I loved this topic so much I ended up writing a book on it! How to Find Your Family History in Newspapers walks you through the process of finding and researching old newspapers. You’ll find step-by-step instructions, worksheets and checklists, tons of free online resources, websites worth paying for, location-based newspaper websites and a case study that shows you how it’s done.
6 Top Newspaper Research Resources
Some of the digital newspaper collections mentioned in the episode are available by library subscription, like The Early American Newspapers collection the and 19th century Newspaper Collection from The Gale Group. Check with your local library.
GenealogyBank
Godfrey Memorial Library
New England Historic Genealogical Society (by subscription only)
Newspapers.com
Ancestry.com
British Newspaper Archive
Small Town Papers
USGenWeb
by Lisa Cooke | Apr 1, 2014 | 01 What's New, Beginner, Family History Podcast, Vital Records
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.
Family History: Genealogy Made Easy Podcast
with Lisa Louise Cooke
Republished April 1, 2014
https://lisalouisecooke.com/familyhistorypodcast/audio/fh25.mp3
Download the Show Notes for this Episode
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 25: Using Civil Birth Records in Family History
In our last episode we covered marriage records. We finish up vital records in this episode by going back to the beginning: birth records.
There are two major categories: civil and church records. Today I’m bringing in professional genealogist Arlene H. Eakle, PhD, who will helps us to see the challenges we face and the success we can have locating civil birth records. (In Episode 26, Arlene will join me again to walk us through the world of church birth records.)
Here are some take-away tips from our discussion in this episode:
- When you start researching in a new area, learn when government birth records began to be kept. Every state and some cities began birth registration at different times. Today, in some states you order records before a certain date from the local government and more recent ones from the state vital records office. Do your research! Start with this Vital Records Chart from Family Tree Magazine.
- In the U.S., most government birth records were kept by the county, except in New England and independent cities. In the 20th century, the state took buy medication cart over jurisdiction of vital records in most states.
- Birth records often have the names of parents and child and the place and date of birth. You may also find parents’ birthplaces, marital status of parents and even the date of marriage.
- A single locale may have logged births in multiple sources, for example, for those who lived in or outside the city limits, or segregated records for blacks.
- The actual birth record may have been logged as part of a list of names on a columned form. Birth certificates are a modern thing!
- Some records have been digitized and indexed or microfilmed. Check the Family History Library catalog on FamilySearch.org first. If they have birth records, they’ll tell you whether they’ve been digitized or indexed on their site, or whether they’re available on microfilm.
- Of course, many birth records are also available on subscription websites like Ancestry.com, FindMyPast.com, MyHeritage.com and more. If you are a subscriber, check their online holdings, too.
- When ordering a birth record from a government office, they may type up a certificate to send you. That’s nice, but also ask for a photocopy of the original birth entry or record. There’s often more on the original record than the certificate—and you’ll minimize errors by looking at the real record.
Arlene H. Eakle, Ph.D., is the president and founder of The Genealogical Institute, Inc. and a professional genealogist since 1962. She holds both MA and Ph.D. in English History and an Associate degree in Nursing.
by Lisa Cooke | Aug 21, 2011 |
Genealogy Gems Yearly Premium Membership Featuring: Premium video classes – with downloadable ad-free handouts Elevenses with Lisa show video replays and handouts Premium Podcast (Audio) Episodes & Archive Downloadable handouts for free podcast and videos...
by Lisa Cooke | Jun 9, 2015 | 01 What's New, images, RootsMagic, Trees
Great news for RootsMagic users! The popular family history software company has released the first of its forthcoming “Magic Guides.” These free how-to handouts each cover a single RootsMagic topic, step-by-step, with tips and illustrations.
“Magic Guides are in .pdf format and are viewable and printable with any PDF viewer,” says a RootsMagic announcement. “They may be freely copied and distributed (but not sold), so they can be used as handouts in user group meetings or when teaching RootsMagic classes.”
Click here to download available RootsMagic Magic Guides, which currently include “Backup and Restore a RootsMagic Database” and “Copying a RootsMagic Database to Another Computer.” Forthcoming guides include:
- Installing RootsMagic from the CD
- Downloading and Installing RootsMagic for Windows
- Downloading and Installing RootsMagic for Mac
- Creating a Shareable CD.
RootsMagic is a longtime sponsor of the free Genealogy Gems podcast. Click here to read WHY Lisa Louise Cooke loves their software so much that she partners with them. We report RootsMagic news now and then on the blog, like its availability on Amazon Prime, RootsMagic’s collaboration with MyHeritage (another partner of ours, too!) and how RootsMagic stacks up alongside other family history software programs we like. Click to read more!
by Lisa Cooke | Jul 23, 2014 | 01 What's New, Ancestry, Apps, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, Oral History, Photographs, Smartphones, Technology
Have you downloaded the apps that go with your favorite genealogy websites? You should! And if it’s been awhile, you should do it again. Why? They just keep 
getting better!
Here’s a rundown of new or improved apps from
- Ancestry.com,
- FamilySearch.org, and
- MyHeritage.com:
Updated Ancestry App: Now A Continuously Swiping Tree
The old version of the Ancestry app was a great start, but didn’t actually have a tree interface on it. You could see lists of family members in your tree, but not in pedigree format. The new version (still FREE) has a redesigned look that, at least for iOS users, includes what Ancestry calls a “continuously swiping tree.” (The way Ancestry programmers made this happen was unique enough they got a patent for the process–read about it on the Ancestry blog.)
Here’s a summary of what the iPhone and iPad apps can do (taken from the Ancestry site):
- New: Redesigned look for sleeker, more intuitive use
- New: Build your tree faster by connecting to Facebook and your contact list
- New: Read about the lives of your ancestors through story-like narrative
- Preserve memories by scanning and adding photos to your tree
- Explore high-res images of historical documents and records
- Access the world’s largest online family resource with more than 12 billion records
- Receive Hints to help reveal new family connections by finding records and photos for you
- Fully redesigned for iOS7
Click here to download the Ancestry app for iPad, iPhone and Android.
New FamilySearch Apps: Tree and Memories
Two new FREE mobile apps, FamilySearch Tree and FamilySearch Memories, help users add information to their FamilySearch.org trees. The folks at FamilySearch describe the apps this way:
FamilySearch Tree makes it easy to add photos, stories, and audio recordings to ancestors in FamilySearch trees.
- Browse your family branches and see portraits of relatives you’ve never seen.
- Discover facts, documents, stories, photos, and recordings about your ancestors.
- Easily add memories and records about your relatives.
- Preserve and share those old photos and documents that are hidden away in storage.
- Adding or updating ancestor details like names, dates, and relationships will be available coming soon.
- Available for iOS 7+ and Android 2.3+
Click here to download the FamilySearch Tree App from the Apple App Store (iOS)
Click here to download the FamilySearch Tree App from the Google Play App Store (Android)
FamilySearch Memories makes collecting, preserving, and sharing your favorite family memories (photos, stories, and spoken words) easy and convenient wherever you are.
- Snap photos of any family event, or take photos of old photos and documents.
- Record audio interviews with family members and capture details of their life stories and favorite memories.
- Write family stories, jokes, and sayings with the keyboard, or use the mic key to capture what you say.
- Enrich written stories by adding descriptive photos.
- Identify and tag relatives within a memory to automatically add it to their collection in Family Tree.
- Available for iOS 7+
Click here to download the FamilySearch Memories App from the Apple App Store (iOS)
Everything you add with either of these apps syncs with FamilySearch.org.
Updated MyHeritage App: Now Access Your Family Photos
Now your MyHeritage family website can always be at your fingertips–along with all your family photos. Features of the newly-updated version of the MyHeritage app:
- NEW: View all your photo albums and family tree photos;
- Easily view and update your family tree anywhere you go;
- Search 5.3 billion historical records;
- Fully sync with your family site and Family Tree Builder software;
- Supports 32 languages.
Click here to download or upgrade Family Tree Builder 7.0 so you’ll be ready to view and edit your tree with the free mobile app.
Click here to download the MyHeritage app from the App store.
Click here to download the MyHeritage app from Google Play.
So…doublecheck your mobile devices! How long since you’ve updated YOUR genealogy apps?
