Join me for Elevenses with Lisa, the online video series where we take a break, visit and learn.
Today’s Teacup
Chatsworth is home to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, and has been passed down through 16 generations of the Cavendish family. The movie Pride and Prejudice (2005) was filmed there. In my cup: Blueberry Merlot by Tea Forte Herbal Retreat. You can get it here at Amazon(This is an affiliate link, so if you make a purchase we will be compensated at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting this free show!)
How to Get Relatives Interested in Family History
For me Family and faith have always been the answer for life’s challenges and turmoil. In this hour together we will recharge and look at ways to positively influence our family, now and in the future.
Preparing Your Relatives Now
Focus on ways to make the results of your research understandable by non-genealogists and create those items now. Make it a priority to share your findings in creative and simple ways as you go to help relatives understand the value of your research to you and them. You will have much more success down the road if you help build understanding today.
Sharing Ideas
Christmas Wreath and Crazy Quilt Christmas Stocking
Click here for the Genealogy Gems playlist that includes the 4 part instructional series on making these family history wreaths.
Crazy quilt a stocking and add transferred photos of your ancestors using T-shirt transfer paper.
Crazy quilt a stocking and add transferred photos of your ancestors.
Repurpose or upcycle items you already have
I turned an unfinished crocheted heirloom tablecloth into a vest for my daughter.
I upcycled an old unfinished crocheted tablecloth into a vest
Genealogy Wall Charts
You can order genealogy wall charts through websites such as MyHeritage or Ancestry.
See all your options by Googling genealogy wall charts.
Embellished Picture Frames
Decorate an old picture frame with items reflecting the life of your ancestor featured in the photo.
Embellish an old photo frame with vintage items that help tell the story of your ancestor.
Family History Wall Art
Make wall art like the matte canvas photo I made in episode 6 of Elevenses with Lisa. The show notes for that episode includes details.
Posters from Family Photos
Get posters made of significant photos from the past. I ordered mine from Vista Print. If you sign up for a service’s newsletter you’ll likely get notification of sales and discount coupons. Poster frames can be ordered online through Amazon and stores like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby.
Celebrate the history of your family members!
Tabletop Family Story Displays
I took an old locker and filled it with items reflecting my husband’s story. You could also use a small cabinet, crate, basket, etc.
In episode 206 of the Genealogy Gems Podcast I talk about how I made the book about my grandmother’s 50-year nursing career.
Genealogy Gems Premium Members can listen to the Premium Podcast Episodes 52-54 which feature a 3-part series on publishing your family history.
Create short books that tell a single family history story.
Google Earth “Family History Tour”
Back in 2009 I pioneered a use for the free Google Earth program called “Family History Tours”. These tours take a little time but are fairly easy to create, and they make a big impact. You can download Google Earth Pro for free here. Then, watch my video below for a closer look at family history tours in Google Earth.
Resources for learning how to create family history tours:
Google Earth for Genealogy step-by-step tutorial video series by Lisa Louise Cooke.
Sharing your family history information on a blog gives you an easy way to cross-post on social media as well as be found by others how are Googling to find information on the same family lines.
Turn Family History Photos into Eye-Catching Memes
I use the Retype app. (About $2.99)
Other free alternatives include apps like Adobe Spark Post or Over.
Add text to photos, customize the font and text color, and save. An easy way to access old family photos on your smartphone or tablet is to save copies of the photos to a free cloud service on your computer. Then open that app on your phone. Select a photo and save it to your device. Once the photo is in your Photos app, you can then open Retype and import that photo. Add text, font, color and more.
Apps can turn family history photos into social media image that generate conversation.
Create a Video that Tells a Story
It’s easier than ever to create videos, and no special skills are required. Video is the #1 type of content on the Web and with the next generation. Get instructions and ideas here at Genealogy Gems.
I trust all of my old home movies (8mm, VHS, mini DV, High-8, etc.) conversion and digitization to Larsen Digital. They do spectacular work! Click here for exclusive special discounts for Elevenses with Lisa fans!
The video below features one of my grandmother’s old home movies that Larsen Digital converted for me. And boy oh boy was I excited by what I discovered!
From You
Elevenses with Lisa viewer Jillian T. shared how she is bringing family history into her home office:
“I have tried to tune in each week to your Genealogy Gems ‘Elevenses’ (which is 5 pm here in Ireland and therefore a perfect end to my workday). A few weeks ago, you shared how you found the photo of your husbands ancestors and through newspapers found out more about the musical troupe. You organized to have the photo printed on canvas and the finished project was wonderful.
I have always wishing to do a ‘family tree’ on the wall of my office but was afraid it would end up looking like an arts and crafts project. You gave me the kick I needed and decided, if not now, when?
So, I measured up the wall, researched and trawled through my vast collection of photos. I was very conscious that I have better historic photos on my ‘dads’ side with thanks to a wonderful elderly cousin who shares my passion. But as a genealogist, I wished to ensure I had balance and so decided only three photos from each ‘side’. I found a decal that was a good price (about $20) and the perfect size for my wall. I organised for the photos to be printed and mounted on canvas (more expensive but knew if the project didn’t work, I could find another use for the mounted photos).
It took a few weeks for everything to arrive, as you will see in the attached, I did the base of the tree first – we called it the haunted tree as we had to wait another week for the photos to arrive. Then we took time deciding on the placing of the photos and then added the leaves.
I am writing to say a huge thank you. I will have this lovely project to remind me of this time, and as I sit here and type, it is lovely to know my family ‘has my back’.
Thank you for your initiative of the weekly meet up. Your energy and enthusiasm are infectious. I met you at RootsTech in 2016 and have continued to follow you since. Thank you for all you do and to you and your family, let me share an old Irish blessing “May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields.
Warmest wishes, Stay smart, Jillian”
Jillian’s ancestors “have her bacK” in her office!
Gayle P. shares some of the ways she protects her family history from destruction.
“I have organized many things into books. My living room is my grandma’s family history room and some of my grandchildren love to look through things. However, when I ask if they would be interested in having certain books, they ask me, “Grama, why don’t you scan it and give me a flash drive or CD.” I decided to give memory flash drives for Christmas presents. I feel relieved that I have several backups.
For example, while my son was serving a two-year mission in Germany, 1990-1992, he wrote faithfully every week. 30 years later, he is now working for the Air Force in Germany close to where he served his mission.
I scanned his letters and pictures he sent to me, organized them in books and sent them to him. His children enjoy the scanned version of his memoirs. He plans on revisiting many of the areas where he served 30 years ago. He wrote four simple words that brought many tears: “Mom, thank you forever.”
Another example is I have scanned and organized my pictures by years and share many of these years with my family. Over Memorial Day, my daughter-in-law was in a panic because she could not retrieve her 2012 pictures. She called and asked if I could share my 2012 pictures. Within a short time, I was able to scan about 5000 pictures I had for that year and share with her. I had many, many pictures of her daughter and her family. Another “thank you forever” brought tears to my eyes.
I currently have over 500,000 pictures/documents scanned and have three personal backups. I am still have a lot to scan and probably will not get everything scanned before I die, but I am sharing what I have now so I know that some of my family will have a copy of my most treasured work and memories.
Scanning and sharing a ton in Idaho, Gayle”
Now there’s a woman who doesn’t need a “round tuit”, and who is definitely a positive influence on her family!
Cathy G wrote a comment to ask about the templates I use for my notebook covers and spines.
“Wonderful shows – really enjoying the elevenses. Such good information always. Especially enjoyed the ones on organizing paper and hard drive database. More please. One quick question: you mentioned printing your own binder covers and spines – can’t find a template in my Word program. Can you direct us to the one you use? Thanks.”
I’m happy to share my simple yet effective templates for the covers and spines on my notebooks. Genealogy Gems Premium members can now download these from the Resources section of the Elevenses with Lisaepisode 6 show notes.
Gayle has been hard at work creating family history notebooks.
Watch My Free Presentation
Watch my free Facebook Live presentation of Fabulous Photo Discoveries at MyHeritage.
I hope you enjoyed the ideas presented in this episode, and that you take action on at least one of them. It may be just what your relatives need to see the family history clearer.
That being said, even if no one else in your family cares right now or wants your genealogy, It’s ok. We’ve done all we can and the rest is out of our control.
If genealogy has brought You joy, sharpened your mind, given you countless hours of amusement, connection, and satisfaction, then it’s all been worth it! No one can take that away from you.
And the way I look at it, when we get to heaven we’ll know a lot more people!
Next Episode of Elevenses with Lisa
Episode 12 will air Live on June 18, 2020 at the Genealogy Gems YouTube channel. After the live show, the episode will be available as a video. Show notes will be published on June 19.
Click the video above to Set your reminder for episode 12, or click here. Please be sure to click our channel’s Subscribe button while you’re there. Then click the Notifications bell to so you’ll know when we post new videos and episodes.
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Stay smart and stay brave! Thanks so much for watching friend. I’ll talk to you soon.
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Sometime over the first busy holiday weekend in December 2012, The Genealogy Gems Podcast reached an incredible milestone: 1 Million Episode Downloads!
In early 2007 when I published the first episode, podcasting was in its infancy, having just come into being in mid-2005. It was like being part of a new Wild West of technology. For the first time anyone with an interesting idea, a computer, and a willingness to work long hours could produce a worldwide ‘radio’ show. The day I listened to a podcast for the first time, I knew this medium was what I had been waiting for to reach genealogists.
Apparently a lot of other folks were also anxiously looking for new and valuable genealogy information. From long time genealogists to dabbling family history newbies, they flocked to the free podcast available through Apple’s iTunes Store and the Genealogy Gems website (www.GenealogyGems.com). Over the next five years they listened in to soak up genealogy research strategies, expert interviews, tips on harnessing the power of technology in their research, and creative ideas for sharing their findings.
There’s a lot of noise out there online that can be overwhelming. My goal has always been to spend my time sifting through all of that information, and chiseling out the gems – the items that are really worthwhile – so that you, my listeners, can have faster and greater success . Ultimately I hope that the genealogy gems I provide on the show lead to your own genealogy gems: your precious ancestors!
What started as a single podcast episode has turned in to a multi-media genealogy publishing company. Genealogy Gems now encompasses offerings, many that are free, that accommodate every learning style: audio, video, articles, books, dvds, toolbar, live classes, and online webinars. The Genealogy Gems mobile app (available in the iTunes App Store, and an Android version through Amazon) gives genealogists the flexibility to hit the road and take it all with them. I’m very proud of the team of talented individuals that I’ve assembled who have made this expansion possible.
I speak at events across the U.S. and internationally, but not everyone can get out to a genealogy conference. It’s critical to me that we meet people where they are, and that’s what the Genealogy Gems website, YouTube channel, app, and toolbar are all about. The fact that the podcast has now been downloaded 1 million times confirms that that we are accomplishing that goal.
I hope that you will share this fun, celebratory infographic on Facebook, Pinterest and other social networking sites to help spread the word to others interested in discovering how podcasts can help them reach their genealogy goals.
Fun Facts about Genealogy Gems:
The Genealogy Gems Podcast launch date: March 1, 2007
Number of free episodes published: 146
Number of countries with listeners: 126
Top 10 Listening Cities in the U.S.:
Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Salt Lake City, Washington DC, Dallas , Chicago, Seattle, Boston, Phoenix.
Genealogy Gems App publish date: 2009
Podcast rating in iTunes: 5 Stars (including 53 written reviews)
Celebrities featured on the podcast include: Lisa Kudrow (Friends, Who Do You Think You Are?),
Henry Louis Gates (Oprah’s Roots)
Tim Russell (Prairie Home Companion)
Darby Hinton (Daniel Boone)
Kathy Lennon (The Lennon Sisters)
Ali Selim (Sweet Land)
Tukufu Zuberi (History Detectives)
Linda Chavez (Fox News, Finding Your Roots)
Show Notes: The FamilySearch Wiki is like a free encyclopedia of genealogy! In this FamilySearch Wiki tutorial, discover the wealth of information the Wiki has to offer, and learn the secrets to navigating it with ease. We’ll also cover the number #1 reason people get frustrated when searching the Wiki and how to overcome it.
Watch the Video
RootsTech has set the class video to “private”. You can watch it on their website by going to the video page in their on-demand library. You may need to sign in to your free FamilySearch account in order to watch it.
Enjoy this special free tutorial video which was originally presented at the RootsTech conference. Download the ad-free Show Notes cheat sheet for this video class. (Premium Membership required.)
What is a Wiki?
A wiki is a website that
Allows collaborative editing platform for users
doesn’t require HTML editing
has links to both internal and external resource pages
The FamilySearch Wiki is a lot like Wikipedia. It’s basically an encyclopedia of information. But the exciting part is that it’s specific to genealogy. This means you don’t usually have to worry about including the word genealogy in your searches.
What Does the FamilySearch Wiki Do?
The FamilySearch Wiki is focused on providing information for genealogy research such as:
how to find data
where to find data
how to analyze and use the data
What are the sources of Wiki content?
Original material was added from the old Family History Library research outlines.
User added material in their areas of genealogical expertise. The Wiki is constantly being updated by LDS missionaries and other volunteers as new material is discovered or released.
Don’t worry about Contributor info.
You’re going to see many things about wiki creation and management. Not everything is relevant to you when just wanting to find information. In fact, the majority of the Help section is geared to people creating, editing and maintaining pages. Don’t worry about being a contributor. Enjoy being a user.
2 Ways to Access the FamilySearch Wiki
Going directly to https://www.familysearch.org/wiki. Although you can sign into your free FamilySearch account on this page (in the upper right corner) it isn’t necessary in order to use it.
Logging in at the FamilySearch website. In the menu under Search click Research Wiki. By logging in and you’ll have access to additional features like participating in discussions, posting and creating watchlists.
The FamilySearch Wiki focuses on records, not ancestors.
Keep in mind that the purpose of the Wiki is to explain where genealogical materials are located and how to get access to them. The Wiki does not have individual ancestor information. If you want to find records, start by deciding specifically what kind of records you want. Identify when and where the ancestor lived at the time the record was created. Then head to the Wiki to figure out what records are available and where they can be found.
The Wiki links to:
Materials that available at FamilySearch.org or any other online genealogy website.
Materials that are not available at FamilySearch.org or any other online genealogy site.
Materials that were previously unknown or newly made available online.
Strategies and techniques for finding and researching genealogical records.
Types of Searches
Topic Search: When searching for information on a specific topic such as probate records, type the topic into the Search box. As you type, a list of pages with the topic word or words in the title appears below the Search box. If one of the listed pages is the desired topic, highlight and press enter. If you don’t pick from the drop-down list you will get a results list of every page that includes the topic.
Vital records Search: FamilySearch recommends using the Guided Search for info on vital records.
Location Search in the search box: When only the name of any country, state in the U.S., province in Canada, or county in England is typed in the Search box you will be taken directly to that Wiki page. For example: If Texas is searched the result is the Texas, United States Genealogy page.
Page Title: If you happen to know the exact title of the Wiki article you want, type it in the Search Box.
How to Overcome the #1 Search Problem
Many people will search for something like marriage records, Randolph, County, Indiana, and they will get a list of results. The results don’t look as clear-cut as Google results, and they may not all be on topic. This is where we can get lost. I think probably the number one reason why people give up on the wiki is they get these kinds of search results. They realize, wait a second, this isn’t even Indiana, it’s talking about Kentucky! Why am I getting all these? It can be frustrating.
This happens because we tried to do it ourselves, with our own keywords. Remember, like most search engines, they’ve indexed their content to make it searchable, so that means they’ve already decided how they want to talk about a particular topic. Rather than just addressing marriage record first, the wiki focuses on the location. Where is this marriage record? So, focus first on the place unless you are just looking for general information on a general genealogy topic such as genealogy software.
Pre-filled suggestions will appear as you type because the wiki is going to suggest what it has in the format it has it. Again, you may want to first go to the country, state or county-level page and then look for the record type.
If you’re looking for marriage records but you don’t see them listed it might be that the word marriage isn’t the keyword the wiki uses. Or it might be that the type of record you’re looking for is a state or federal record.
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see what you want listed in the table of contents. It may just be a keyword issue. Let the work that they’ve already done in organizing their materials guide you. You’ll be more successful and also avoid frustration. The FamilySearch Wiki is just too good of a resource to miss.
Use Google site search to search using Google’s engine and search operators!
Map Search
Generally speaking, the map is the best way to search for records and information that is rooted in a location. Start by clicking the button for the continent, such as North America. From there, select the county from the menu, such as United States, then drill down by state. This will take you to the Wiki entry for that state.
Location-based FamilySearch Wiki Pages
If you’re really new to research in a particular location, start with the guided research link on the location’s wiki page. You may also see links to research strategies, record finder, and record types.
Getting Started section – links to step-by-step research strategies and the most popular records.
The county pages are where the real magic happens because many records such as birth, marriage, death, and court records are typically available at the county level. There you’ll find out how to contact or visit the current county courthouse. Look for Boundary Changes on the page. Use your computer’s Find on Page feature by pressing Control + F (PC) or Command + F (mac) on your keyboard to more quickly find words like Boundary on the page.
Exploring Record Collection Pages
Many record collections have their own page on the Wiki. As you type, these pages will populate in the drop-down list. Example: German Census Records. Take a moment to read through the page and you’ll discover some important information that will save you time and headaches, such as:
When censuses were taken
National versus local censuses and their various levels
Censuses in areas where boundaries have changed over time
Various types of census forms we may encounter
The purpose behind the creation of census records in Germany
The kind of information we can expect to find in the German census
Other types of records containing similar information
Resource articles (including a handout from a past RootsTech)
Wiki articles describing online collections
There are a couple of actions we may want to take before going on to search for records. Here are a few:
Click on the Category to see what else is attached to this category – in this case we see some example images that are helpful in interpreting German census forms.
Click the Cite this page link in the left column if we plan to reference the page elsewhere.
Click Printable Version in the left column if we want a printable or PDF version of the page.
Explore related pages by clicking the What links here link in the column on the left. Notice it also shows if there are any other users watching the page.
Learn more about using Family Search
Videos at Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems YouTube channel:
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):
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,
“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.”
“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!”
“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.
“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.
“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. ”
“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.”
“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.”
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The live chat is only available during the live show. However, you can join the conversation by leaving questions and comments in the Comments section at the bottom of the show notes page.
About Live chat: The chat feature displays underneath the video on our show notes page. Currently it’s only viewable on computers (not mobile).
During the live show you can click the video player to view it on a members-only page on YouTube where you participate in chat alongside watching the video.
About Premiere Videos: The rest of the Thursdays in the month we will publish shorter vides on the Genealogy Gems YouTube channel. Each video will be a live “Premiere” at 11:00 am CT featuring a live chat. After the Premiere ends it will automatically be available as a video replay on our channel. The show notes and video player will also be available on our website.
New Website in the Works
Our new website will feature new searching filters making it easier for you to find the content you want. Stay tuned for more information to come.
Listener Questions and Comments
From Beverly W.: On Thursday, Oct. 14, you mentioned in the Elevenses episode that you don’t sync your online tree but add little bits to it. However, you do keep everything on your computer, as do I. Can you tell me why you don’t sync? The last time I tried to sync my Family Tree Maker with Ancestry, it was taking forever but did not finish uploading. If I don’t sync it, how can I save sources that I find on Ancestry to my program? I love the show and it has helped me tremendously. Even though I have been working on my tree for 25 years, there is still so much that I do not know.
I don’t sync with an online tree for a few reasons, but mainly because my genealogy software is my “brain” of the operation and I don’t want to run the risk of syncing inaccurate information. By downloading documents and entering the information into my software, I’m doing a double-check that it’s the right document and the right ancestor and I have created exactly the source citation I want. Automation can introduce errors, and sometimes, as you mentioned, doesn’t work that well. I also don’t maintain a tree online that covers every single person in my database. My trees (multiple) are for targeted research on particular branches.
Another reason is that software and websites continually evolve and release new versions. That has the potential of a bug or inconsistency to be introduced where all of a sudden sync isn’t working the way you thought it was. I don’t want to run the risk of discovering it after much damage has been done.
In the end it’s a personal choice. The most important thing is to do whatever you’re going to do accurately and consistently 🙂
From Cindy G.: Hi Lisa. I was with you last night at your speaking to TVGS. I wanted to share with you but wasn’t sure of the appropriateness since my share did not focus on google. On one of your past podcasts you and a guest talked about theancestry.com CARD CATALOG, so I bit-the-bullet and went in! And it was there during my first try that I broke through to my 4x great grandfather Samuel Cunningham on the western frontier of Pennsylvania and that crazy county Yohogania. Using PA archives of land records and wills and collaboration/FAN and ‘county genealogies’ of their formations, I was able to put the puzzle together. I was so proud of myself for listening to you two, that in my writing of his Life Story I included my journey to locate him. And of course I shared it with my three kids and everyone I bumped in to. I’m sure that there are a fist full of people out there who shook their heads as I did my Proudly Happy Dance!! By the way, I’m also the editor for the TVGS newsletter . I listen to you at FTM podcast as well as Gen Gems podcast. I have become a more efficient and more rewarded genealogist because if you.
From Lisa: Wow, that’s fantastic!! I’m so glad the podcast played a small part in helping you bust that brick wall! Thank you so much for writing in and sharing.
From Rebecca C: This morning I was watching your Elevenses with Lisa program. It was the episode about using Google books and as I was listening I was trying a couple of searches just to see what I could find. You mentioned looking for county histories, so I typed in ‘Goroke’ (a small town in Victoria, Australia). This is the town that my grandfather’s family came from. On the weekend I had been entering some data into my software program about a wedding in Goroke and I was having difficulty reading the name of one of the witnesses. So, I was going through the list of books that came up from the search and the very first book I opened was a gazetteer and went straight to a list of the councilors for the county that Goroke is in. You wouldn’t believe it but the man whose name I had been unable to read was one of the councilors! I know you probably get lots of emails like this but I just wanted to share. Thanks for your show. I love all the little (and big) treasures of information you share.
From Lisa: Thanks for sharing a great example of how we don’t have to have famous ancestors for them to appear in books and other print publications. Learn more about using Google Books for genealogy with this Premium video: Google Books: the Tool You Should Use Every Day
