Announced in the Genealogy Gems weekly newsletter the week prior to the show.
The live show will be featured on our home page starting Wed. before show day. Log in to your membership and then click the show image to go to the show notes and video watching page. (Another way to find the most current show is to click LEARN in the menu. It should be the first item listed.)
Prior to the live show, there will be a show image where the media player will appear. Show Notes section will say “coming soon.”
Refresh the page on show day to get the media player and show notes (typically available about an hour prior to the show.)
A 1 minute waiting room video will play before the show begins.
Download the PDF handout on show day from the show notes page.
After the live show ends it will automatically be available as a video replay on the show notes page on our website.
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
Got a Question or Comment?
Email me at [email protected]Put “Premium Member” in the subject line.
VIDEO & SHOW NOTES: In this video, my guest presenter Gena Philibert-Ortega covers 4 of the biggest genealogy websites that are must-have for family history research. This is a great chance for you to discover some new online tools as well as refresh your memory about terrific sites that may have fallen off your radar. This video is part of a 5 part series totaling 25 essential websites for genealogy.
Websites 1 through 4 of Gena’s 25 Websites for Genealogy
I’m Gina Philibert Ortega, and welcome to 25 Websites for Genealogy, What I’d like to do is talk to you about websites that are must-haves for your genealogical research.
Some of these websites will be new to you, and others are going to be very familiar to you. In talking about the familiar websites, I want to get you thinking about them differently, explain a little bit more about what you can do at these websites, and how to get the most out of them.
In this series of 25 Websites for Genealogy, we’re going to be looking at websites in different categories. Our first category is the big genealogy websites (#1 through 4). So let’s go ahead and get started!
The number one website for me is always Family Search. Why is it number one? Well, first of all, Family Search is free. And it’s always nice to find free stuff, right? We want to exhaust what’s free, and what’s available, before we spend money or travel or do anything like that. So for me, the first place you should always go is Family Search.
as of the time of this video, Ancestry had 33,000 databases that can help you in your genealogy research! Remember to move beyond the search engine and dig into that Card Catalogue to find all the available gems.
Learn more about using Ancestry effectively with our videos:
Even though Findmypast is based in England and is heavily focused on British research, you don’t have to have British ancestors to find it useful. It has records from the United States and other countries as well. If you haven’t been using Findmypast, I suggest you go on the website and sign up for a free account. This will allow you to see what they have. You can also go to a FamilySearch center near you and possibly use it for free as many of these genealogy websites have library editions.
You may remember that find Findmypast has PERSI, the periodical source index. Although no longer have PERSI, you can find it at the Allen County Public Library’s Genealogy Center website. Check out our videos below to learn more about using PERSI at the Genealogy Center, and a terrific photo collection at Findmypast.
Learn more about using Findmypast effectively with our videos:
Like Ancestry and Findmypast, MyHeritage also provides a platform for building your family tree, and has a card catalog called the Collection Catalog featuring over 7000 collections. You can even order a DNA test or upload results from other companies. Use the filters to filter collection, and then by location.
Learn more with our video about 10 of the best features at MyHeritage:
U.S. land entry case files are now free to browse at FamilySearch. We give you a link to a free index to those–and MORE new and updated records for Argentina, Australia, England, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, and other U.S. collections (Crimean War photos, Illinois birth certificates, and more).
Featured: U.S. Land Entry Case Files
Over a quarter million record images have been added to the free FamilySearch database of United States, Cancelled, Relinquished, or Rejected Land Entry Case Files, 1861-1932. This collection gives researchers access to browsable images of case files for those who unsuccessfully applied for homesteads (such as the one shown above; click the image to see its citation), mining claims, and land pre-emptions. Even better–the National Archives website hosts a name index to speed along your search of the browsable records at FamilySearch!
According to a National Archives description of the original collection, “A file may contain the original entry application, correspondence between the officials of the Lincoln Land Office and the GLO in Washington, D.C., receipts for fees paid, public notices, affidavits and witness statements, proof of military service, the entryman’s naturalization records, and documents concerning the cancellation or relinquishment of the entry.”
This collection of Land Entry Case Files includes Kansas land offices at Dodge City and Topeka and Nebraska land offices at Alliance, Broken Bow, Lincoln, North Platte, O’Neill, and Valentine. More records will be forthcoming.
The British Newspaper Archive recently announced it now has a title online for every county in England. (Click here to learn more.) They’ve also updated several London titles and added two new ones, among them the North London News and West London Observer.
Findmypast.com has recently added more than 4.5 million records that can help those searching for ancestors in Wiltshire, in southwest England:
Also new on the site is a collection called Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Family Tables, 1550-1985. A tip from the collection description: “Use the browse fields to sort through the images by City or District and Description of records.”
Ireland—Newspapers
Nearly a million new articles have been added to Findmypast’s enormous collection of digitized Irish newspapers. This unique collection now hosts more than 35 million articles.
Newspapers.com has added Louisville, Kentucky’s Courier-Journal to its collections of digitized newspapers. Basic subscribers have access to just shy of 100 years’ worth of issues (1830-1922) and Publisher Extra subscribers also may access more recent years (1923-2016).
A new online database of The Michigan Daily brings more than 23,000 issues digitally searchable. This is the student newspaper of the University of Michigan. The newspaper archive spans 125 years: 1890-2014. Click here to search it for free.
Google your way to MORE genealogy records like these
Wish you could find similar records for another time or place? Use Google search strategies to target the record types, places and even a specific range of years. You can even search for digitized photographs on Google! Click here to read more about Googling old records online.
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!
