When Lisa blogged recently about Google Earth’s 10th birthday, it reminded me of something on my family history “to do” list. A few years ago I found a postcard of what I thought was an ancestor’s neighborhood. Could Google Earth confirm it?
Jones Street, Olyphant, PA, 1910. Image courtesy of Michael Grayson.
Lisa uses Google Earth’s powerful 3D renderings of the world’s streets to identify where old pictures were taken. I knew from deeds, a plat map, and addresses on censuses and draft registrations that the O’Hotnicky lived on a certain block of Jones St. (now named Grant St.), around the corner from and behind Holy Ghost church.
This postcard of “Jones Street, Olyphant” looks like its viewpoint is from the end of the block behind the church. This would mean the tall tree shown here was shading–and blocking our view of–the O’Hotnicky home.
I opened Google Earth and flew to “117 Grant St, Olyphant, PA.” The initial view, hovering from above, was promising. The camera icon shows where I thought the photo was taken. The left arrow points to the former line of trees, in front of the ancestral address. The right arrow points to the church tower behind.
Unfortunately, when I enter Street View at that exact spot, the new church on the corner and a tall apartment building block the view that would have been seen a century ago. There is no Street View available on Grant Street itself so I couldn’t move up the street toward the church. So I moved into Street View along the side street (parallel to the bottom of the photo).
In the opening between two buildings, Google Earth gave me a glimpse of the church tower. I compared the postcard view with Google Earth’s photo. The church towers look so similar: a simple cross on top, pointed copper roof, arched tower and the building roof line. Even more striking to me is the white frame house. Was this the same white house shown in the postcard view?
These two visuals taken together–the church tower profile and the position of the white house–seem consistent with my theory of where the photo was taken. Which means that yes, indeed, this 1910 postcard shows the trees in front of an ancestor’s home as they appeared 105 years ago.
Google Earth can fly you to an ancestor’s neighborhood–and whatever clues its current landscape gives you into the landscape of the past. Click here to watch Lisa’s free video about using Google Earth for genealogy!
AUDIO PODCAST SHOW NOTES: In episode #289 of the Genealogy Gems podcast, Lisa Louise Cooke covers the groundbreaking LiveMemory™ tool from MyHeritage, a revolutionary advancement that harnesses the power of AI to transform still photos into mesmerizing short videos.
Launched on November 22, 2024, this innovative feature is an exciting evolution of the Deep Nostalgia tool introduced in 2021, which focuses on animating individual faces. Now, with LiveMemory™, users have the remarkable opportunity to breathe life into their cherished memories by creating stunning five-second videos with just a few taps in the MyHeritage app.
This tool offers an unprecedented and captivating way to reconnect with the past, allowing users to share their family stories in a dynamic and engaging format that resonates across generations. Don’t miss out on this unique chance to see your family’s history come alive!
Listen to the Podcast Episode about LiveMemory™
To Listen click the media player below (AUDIO ONLY):
LiveMemory™ is a new photo animation tool from the MyHeritage. It allows you to upload a digitized old family photo and turn it into a short video clip using AI technology. According to MyHeritage, “It animates the scene in the photo, reimagining it as if you had traveled back in time to watch it live. It’s the ultimate way to reminisce.”
MyHeritage is on the forefront of bringing new and exciting things to family history, ways to tell stories, to get people interested in family history and genealogy. In addition to all of the records, the tree building and the DNA, they have also focused a lot of their energy on photographs. I love that because I learn and I get inspired by seeing things visually, as do many of our relatives. So, it makes a lot of sense to focus on the photos that we have as a way to bring family stories to life.
What role does Artificial Intelligence (AI) play?
Not surprisingly, in today’s age, MyHeritage is accomplishing these photo innovations with artificial intelligence (AI).
LiveMemory™ springboards off of a tool that MyHeritage launched in 2021 called Deep Nostalgia™. It’s still available on the MyHeritage website in the menu under Photos. That feature had the ability to take a static photo, identify the faces and give you the option to select one of those faces to be animated. It was truly amazing.
Understandably, many of us looked at that and thought, “that’s great, but when are you going to be able to animate the whole photo?” Well, that’s exactly what LiveMemory does. It brings the photograph to life using AI.
AI has been able to “learn” how people and objects typically move by analyzing the massive amount of video online . This is much like how machine learning first got going by devouring all the digitized books on Google Books. It was able to learn language and then shape it. Now you can use AI chatbot products like Gemini or Chat GPT to create language by uploading documents, providing prompts, and so on. So, it’s not surprising that AI has been able to devour all of this video content and determine that arms move this way and legs move that way. Clothing flows in certain ways when you’re running. The minute details that can be internalized and used are endless.
How long are LiveMemory Photo animations?
MyHeritage’s LiveMemory animations aren’t very long. They currently run approximately five seconds.
Would you like a longer video clip? One way to achieve that is to download the .MP4 file and then import it into a video editor. Within the editor you can copy the clip and loop it. This allows you to generate a slightly longer video so your viewers can really take in the magic of it.
Within a video editor application you could take it further by adding some text that identifies the people or other elements of the video. You can also zoom in and out and add other features depending on the app you use.
How much does MyHeritage’s LiveMemory cost?
According to the company’s announcement, there are a variety of ways to gain access to LiveMemory to animate your photos. At the time of this writing, MyHeritage is making LiveMemory available for free but for an unspecified very limited number of videos. To create more than a few videos, an annual Photo plan or Omni subscription plan is required.
The annual Photo plan currently runs $49.90 yearly and is available exclusively on the MyHeritage app. It provides unlimited access to all of the MyHeritage photo features including MyHeritage In Color™, Photo Enhancer, Photo Repair, Deep Nostalgia™, and the Photo Scanner.
The Omni plan provides access to all of MyHeritage’s features. It currently runs $399 a year, with the first year being available for $239.
MyHeritage states, “As a thank you for their loyalty, Complete subscribers are eligible for a 25% discount on the Photo plan, and can purchase it for just $37.”
How many videos can I create?
Users with a MyHeritage Omni plan can create 30 videos annually. Photo plan users can create 20 LiveMemory™ videos annually.
No, there isn’t a desktop version of LiveMemory, at least not yet. Currently, you’ll need to use the MyHeritage app to create your videos. You can download the app for free from your app store. If you already have the app, you’ll want to ensure that it’s up to date. If you don’t see the LiveMemory “Try it now” banner at the top of the app screen, update your app.
How do I animate a photo with LiveMemory?
Tap the orange “Try it now” button on the Home screen of the MyHeritage app. You can also navigate to LiveMemory through the menu in the upper left corner of the screen.
Select a photo from the photos you’ve already added to your account or upload a photo from your phone. If you store old family photos on a cloud service like Dropbox, you can open the Dropbox app, select a photo and download it to your phone so it’s ready to use in the MyHeritage app.
Once selected, tap Next. Be aware this will activate the LiveMemory processing. Since there is a limit to the number of videos you can generate, be sure it’s the photo you want before tapping Next.
You’ll see a message on the screen that your video is being processed and that you will be notified by email. In a few moments or minutes, check your email. The video will be attached to the email sent to the email address attached to your MyHeritage account. Currently MyHeritage says they are saving the videos to your account; however, I don’t see a way to download them from their site or app. So, you will find the video attached to the email.
Click it to download it to your computer or phone. I like that it encourages us to retain the final content ourselves on our own computer, which I’m a big advocate of because I think it’s really important to not just have your family history on somebody else’s website. Even if they eventually store the videos in your account, download a copy to your computer where you have automatic backup installed. I’ve used Backblaze as my online backup for years. (Here’s my affiliate link which supports this free podcast: https://Backblaze.com/lisa)
Be prepared to be amazed when you watch your video!
My first attempt was a photo from the late 1950s of my husband Bill, he’s probably about six, with his family and his dad is playing the organ. His mom is pregnant with his youngest sister, Carol. This photo has hung on the wall by our piano for decades. And now MyHeritage has brought it to life!
Does AI ever get the animation wrong?
The animation is based on best estimates by AI. It usually comes out pretty natural-looking, but sometimes not so much. I did notice that sometimes the faces change a little bit as they’re moving and look some of the authentic look of the original photo.
Sometimes, things are just sort of this world. An example of that is the photo of my dad and I in the late 1960s playing on homemade Romper Stompers. Do you remember romper Stompers? If you watched Romper Room as a kid like I did, you’ll recall that they were sort of cups with long strings that you’d stand on and walk making yourself a sort of marionette. Hhmm, if you haven’t seen it. That doesn’t probably sound like it makes any sense! Back then we thought it was so cool. Well, my mom made me my own set of Romper Stompers with two tin cans that my dad drilled holes in and ran ropes through them. My photograph is of me and my dad on the back porch standing on Romper Stompers. You can only imagine what AI tried to make out of that. It didn’t understand that you lift one leg at a time. In the video, I end up hopping along two legs at a time, which would have been quite a feat!. My dad is even wider, leaping up and hanging in mid-air! So that video is a winner with my grandkids!
All this to say, keep this in mind as you are selecting photographs that might lend themselves more to movement and accuracy. if it’s an unusual action taking place, AI might not quite be able to make total heads or tails of it, but it’s entertaining anyway.
How can you tell if a video is a LiveMemory animated photo?
It’s important that family historians can differentiate between AI-generated content and the “real thing”. MyHeritage has stated their commitment to the responsible use of this technology. They add an “AI” watermark to all videos so everyone can tell the difference.
MyHeritage describes the video results as “highly realistic” “reenactments”, which is an interesting way to put it. They are reenactments created by artificial intelligence. They’re not authentic, so they distinguish them with that AI watermark around the area of privacy.
Are my MyHeritage LiveMemory videos private?
MyHeritage says they will not license or sell your photos to third parties and will not use them to train internal AI models. They also say in their blog post that it’s “based on technology from a third party that does not obtain rights to your photo or the output video. Your explicit consent is required granting MyHeritage permission to process your photo before activating the LiveMemory™ feature.”
They do ask you to use the tool responsibly and consider carefully the photos that you’re uploading. They do not allow pornography or offensive subject matter, or military scenes or photos of dead people. They actually have live people who will review the videos for violations.
As I saw the live memory results, I knew how I was going to be using it. Back in 2008 on the Genealogy Gems Podcast I talked about that we had received a box of Bill’s grandfather’s belongings from a cousin. Back in the day, Raymond and his wife Isabelle both played in the orchestra for silent films. In fact, that’s how they met. Bumpa played violin, and Nanna played the piano and organ. Later in the 1950s they used to get together quite often with the family for evenings of music. One evening they recorded the live music on a reel-to-reel audio tape and years later I had it digitized.
I’ve had this audio in the form of an mp3 file for years. And I have just one photograph from the 1950s of Nanna and Bumpa, dressed up in old-timey costumes, playing together. He’s playing the violin, she’s playing the piano. Finally, I had a way to create a video with the original music!
Raymond and Isabelle Cooke circa late 1950s (from the collection of Lisa Louise Cooke)
So, I animated the photo through the LiveMemory tool. Then I used my video editing skills to pull in the 5 second video and the audio file. I replicated the five second video clip a couple times, applied some zooming effects, added color adjustments, and added the music mp3. It all came together in a 35 second video of this photo coming to life complete with music.
I would not be surprised if down the road, MyHeritage finds a way to bring in audio. Perhaps some royalty-free music backing tracks. I’m sure that must be on their radar, because it’s just a logical extension of being able to expand into animating your photos. But if you want to see it now, here’s my version:
Here’s the video I posted on the Genealogy Gems podcast Facebook page and Instagram:
If you like what you see, head to the Comments section below and let me know. Then check out the links in the Resources section below to my video editing tutorial videos.
Spot This Genealogy Error and Fix It FAST!
I recently spotted what could be called “fake family history” on TV news program recently. Get the show notes and watch SpotThis Genealogy Error and Fix It Fast! as I share this weird example of mistaken identity on online & television news. I’ll explain how I went about solving the case. Then, try out these techniques when you spot errors in your own family history whether they occur on TV, in books, online family trees, genealogy blog posts or elsewhere.
Comment below:
What would you like to see next from MyHeritage? Longer clips? Full video editing capabilities? The ability to purchase a larger number of videos?
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Dahlgren gun on a Civil War ship (Photo Public Domain)
Recently Tom wrote in with a question about a Civil War veterans database:
“I’ve been a listener of your podcast for quite a long time. Great job.
“We have a grass-roots group trying to locate and document Civil War Veterans buried in Washington state. Is there a good website where I can enter a name and unit identification and get results of the person’s [Civil War] service? I’m having a really hard time finding US Navy sailors.”
It sounds like Tom is conducting a very worthwhile project! (We added the link above to the website for the project, in case you’re interested.) An excellent resource–still in progress for sailors with only about 20% of them–is The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS).
The site describes its resources as a “database containing information about the men who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Other information on the site includes histories of Union and Confederate regiments, links to descriptions of significant battles, and selected lists of prisoner-of-war records and cemetery records, which will be amended over time.”
This is an excellent resource for soldiers. As far as sailors go: “The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System currently contains the records of approximately 18,000 African American sailors, though additional records will be added in the future. The information in the Sailors Database is derived from enlistment records and the quarterly muster rolls of Navy vessels. Approximately half of the sailors entered the service at the Navy’s established points of enlistment. For these men and women, enlistment records serve as the primary sources of information. The Howard University research team used muster rolls to fill in missing data or to correct apparent misinformation recorded at the time of enlistment. Information about the remainder of the enlistees was derived directly from these muster rolls. When research uncovered inconsistencies in the data (such as conflicting reports of an individual’s age at the time of enlistment) the most frequently recorded response was used.”
“Descendants of Civil War sailors will find biographical details regarding age, place of birth, and occupation that may help supplement or clarify details from such other sources of genealogical information as birth, death, and census records. Moreover, information about any individual sailor’s enlistment and service is necessary for determining the presence or absence of their pension records at the National Archives.” Click here to read an article from the National Archives about African-American servicemen in the Navy in the Civil War. I covered the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors database in the free Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 149. Be sure to check out the show notes page (click the link I’ve provided.) There you’ll find the information written out for you and the links I discuss in the episode.
Manchester Men available free at Google Books
If a Navy ancestor isn’t among those already listed, my first instinct is always to turn to Google searches first. I ran a search in Google Books for free (fully digitized) books meeting the criteria “civil war” “sailors” and there are some resources there as well. Here’s a link to the search results. One example is the book shown here to the left: Manchester Men, which appears to be a published list of those who served from Manchester, N.H. (click on the book cover to read it in Google Books). Learn more about Google searching for “niche” topics like this in the fully-revised and updated edition of my book, The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox.
In Elevenses with Lisa episode 79 Lisa Louise Cooke explains:
How to find 1950 US Census Enumeration District (ED) Maps
The purpose behind them and how to interpret the maps
Ways to use the maps for your genealogy
This is a follow up to episode 51 on The 1950 Census for Genealogy. In that episode I discussed the importance of finding your ancestors’ enumeration district numbers in order to be able to find them when the digitized images are released (before the index is available.) In this episode I will walk you through how to locate the enumeration district (ED) number and then find the actual 1950 US Census ED map. We’ll wrap things up with a quick update on the release of the 1950 US Federal Census.
Episode 79 Show Notes
(Get your ad-free Show Notes Cheat Sheet at the bottom of this page in the Resources section.)
As I mentioned in Elevenses with Lisa episode 51 The 1950 Census for Genealogy, prior to 1880, U.S. Marshalls were the enumerators for the federal decennial census. Starting with the 1880 census enumerators were hired and they were each assigned an enumeration district, also known as an ED. These districts had to be mapped out so that the enumerators knew the area they were responsible for counting. Therefore, maps are drawn in anticipation of each census being taken, including the 1950 census.
Learn more by watching episode 51 on the 1950 census.
About the 1950 US Census Maps
It’s always important to understand the purpose of a record or source, and the 1950 Enumeration District maps (ED maps) are no exception. Unlike most maps where it’s all about accurately drawing up the current roads and geographical features, census ED maps are drawn up for the purpose of defining boundaries for the purpose of counting people. This means as we look at ED maps we need to keep a few things in mind.
The first thing to understand is that the 1950 ED maps were not necessarily up-to-date with the lay of the land in 1950. Not all streets, parks and features will be included. The reason for this is that the maps themselves were not created for this purpose. Existing maps were used and then enumeration district boundaries were drawn on them.
Maps came from a variety of sources including but not limited to county and City Planning Commissions, 1940 census bureau tract maps, and city engineers. In fact, from a mapping perspective the variety of maps in the collection are fascinating.
Look for the map title, description, legend and census stamps typically found in one of the corners. In this example (see image) from Aurora, Colorado the map used was originally created by the city engineer in 1946 and was revised in 1947.
1950 census map of Aurora, Colorado (Source: National Archives)
Following the end of World War II, the United States was growing at a quick pace in 1950. This is particularly true of the newly emerging suburbs. Therefore, if your ancestors built a new home in a new development in 1949, don’t be surprised if you don’t see the street on the 1950 census ED map. However, rest assured that the maps still hold value for your family history as they provide many interesting and unique details about the area surrounding your ancestors’ homes.
Each map was stamped with a small legend where the meaning for each of the colored lines drawn could be indicated. From my random sampling of 1950 census maps across the United States it appears that the coloring coding was consistent as follows:
Red = Township
Green = Corporate Limits/Ward
Orange = Enumeration District
Expect to see errors, inconsistencies and omissions in the maps. The more rural the area the more likely the map was compiled from several sources by the Census Bureau cartographers. This compilation created more opportunity for errors, and often used older maps.
Source: National Archives
The Meaning of Census Enumeration District Numbers
A census enumeration district number is made up of two numbers separated by a dash. The first number (in this example: 1) represents the county/region. The second number represents the area within the county that could be covered by an individual census enumerator within the amount of time provided for taking the census, about 2-4 weeks. The official start of the 1950 US Federal Census was April 1, 1950.
Census enumeration district (ED) numbers on a 1950 census map.
How to Find 1950 Census Maps
Some 8,000 census maps have been digitized and are available at the National Archives. However, the National Archives website can be challenging to navigate. I recommend using the Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder Tool at Steve Morse’s website.
1. Go to https:/stevemorse.org
2. In the menu in the upper left corner hover over US Census and in the secondary menu click Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder
3. Select the state from the first drop-down menu.
4. Next select the county.
5. Then select the city.
6. You will then see many enumeration district links listed. In order to find the right one for your ancestor’s home, enter the house number and select the street from the next drop-down menu. Don’t worry about directional parts of the address like west or east unless they are offered in the list of street names.
7. As soon as select the street name, the list of ED numbers should be reduced. In this example we are down to three.
8. To further reduce the possible ED numbers, we can select Cross or back street on same city block. If you’re not sure what the neighboring streets are, click the see Google Map This will plot the address you entered into Google Maps where you can then find the closest cross street, and the next streets over. If the address is not precisely marked on the map, check the address that appears in the Google Maps search box.
In my case, the One-Step tool didn’t allow me to specific W. Arcade, so Google Maps just gave me the general area, and not the address. By adding the W. to the address and pressing enter on my keyboard Google Maps was able to precisely plot the location. Now we can make note of the closest cross street (ex. N. Center), the street north of the address (E. Monterey Ave.) and the street south of the address (W. Noble St.)
9. Head back to the Unified 1880-1950 Census ED Finder page and enter each nearby street (you can enter multiple.) This should reduce the ED numbers one. This is the ED that includes your ancestor’s address.
How to Find 1950 Census Maps
1. Make note of the ED number, and then go back and click the button that says See ED Maps for ____________ County. You could have clicked this button without going through the process of locating the ED number, but the ED number makes it much easier to find your ancestor’s home street on the map. This number will also assist you in being able to find your ancestors in the 1950 census before it is indexed.
2. You will now be on the Viewing 1950 Enumeration District Maps in One Step Re-enter the city from the drop-down menu.
3. Click the Get ED Map Images You will receive two links. The first link is Links to NARA viewer will take you to the page on the National Archives website which includes all of the information about the map and the record hierarchy. Source citation information can be gathered from this page.
5. Click the second link called Direct links to jpegs on NARA server. This will take you to the image by itself as hosted on the National Archives website. I find this the easiest way to save the full resolution image to my computer hard drive. On my PC I right-click on the map and select Save Image As.
This page is also important if you want to use this image in another program such as Google Earth. The URL for this page is the direct URL to the image. Notice that it ends in .jpg. This means that it is the image alone, and this link can be used to create a custom map overlay in Google Earth. You can see an example of a custom map overlay in my video Create a Family History Tour with Google Earth Pro at the 06:13 mark.