Tips – Page 20 – GenealogyAtHeart.com

Adding Flexibility to the Genealogists Repetoire

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 7 July 2016

It’s a benefit to genealogists to be flexible. This post will be short because of my necessity to be flexible today.

Yesterday evening son asked for a ride to the airport for a business trip he was taking today. No problem! Then I learned he needed to be there by 5 AM. So I’m now operating on little sleep. Coffee can be a genealogists best friend. I’ll be back to the airport tonight late to pick him up.

I got home and thought I’d start the day with some light reading before I started on an article I plan on submitting to a journal so I opened my email. Bad news! Sidengo, which provided my website template, has changed their policy effective August 1st so if I stay with them I’m going to have to start paying. That led me to find Canvas, which is free, that my webhost, Namecheap, can work with. I just spent the last 3 hours between Namecheap and Canvas as there was some glitch with my transaction going through. I then had to rebuild the website. Got everything there EXCEPT I haven’t figured out yet how to link the blog posts from here to there. Will work on that this afternoon.

I’ll be on the road again next week, first for some personal research in Pennsylvania and Maryland and then on to a conference in DC for my education job, then a little more research at NARA at the end of the trip so I really don’t have the time to spend on getting this website recreated. I’m hoping you’ll be able to experience a seemless transfer! The names the same – genealogyatheart.com

With my upcoming travel I will most likely have to post less frequently; again, it pays to be flexible as who knows what awesome discoveries awaits me in the next few weeks that I’ll just have to share. So my need to be flexible impacts you, too. My apologies! It’s great, though, to identify another way we’re all connected – Happy Hunting!

No Headstone? Here’s Some Ideas

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 3 Jul 2016.

“Memory has become a sacred duty of all people of goodwill.” Elie Weisel

Hubby and I went to the cemetery last week – not to check a record, take a picture for a memorial request or to honor an ancestor. Instead, we went to check on space availability for what would become our final real estate purchase. It was a very weird experience.

We grew up with the Jackson 5, literally. There are some historical moments that most Boomers claim to remember for the impact that it made on the world and to them personally – where they were when the Kennedys and MLK was shot, the moon landing, and 9-11, for example, but one of the most pivotal moments to me was the death of Michael Jackson. Seriously. I grew up about a mile away from the Jackson family household in Gary, Indiana. As a student council representative as a freshman in high school I was placed on a committee to select a band for an upcoming dance the organization would be sponsoring. That was how I first became involved with the Jacksons…

I am tone deaf – most people say they can’t carry a tune but for me it’s so bad that people ask my to stop singing I can dance, though, and quite well. So keep this in mind as I tell the tale….

The committee met one day after school to listen to 3 bands that had been narrowed down, I guess, from others that had expressed interest in playing the upcoming dance. The Jacksons were one of those bands. It was before they were famous. I’m not sure if Dianna Ross was dating Mayor Hatcher then. Likely she hadn’t yet arranged for all those talented people to transform the Jackson family into – The Jacksons. Michael was still too little, as was Janet, when the band auditioned. I’m older then both of them. The song they played was not danceable. Very weird beat.

I was not impressed with the Jackson’s performance and neither was the others on my committee. Which says a lot about our ability to recognize talent or about how much practice (and the right coaching) makes perfect. Either way, we selected another band. Can’t remember their name, can’t even remember the dance very well but I remember the Jacksons because within a very short time after this they were everywhere.

Gary’s previous favorite sons were Karl Malden (who had gone to high school with my uncle) and George Karras, who’s brother owned the house next door to us and who I price gouged once but that’s another story. Oh, Gary was also famous for the dumb song from the Music Man that repeats “Gary, Indiana.” Gary was not known for music so your can imagine the city’s pride in the Jackson 5. They performed a concert at Gleason Park, just 3 blocks from our home. They sounded great that night.

Like the Jacksons, my husband and I left Gary to follow our dreams elsewhere. I haven’t been back there since 2001 when my mom passed.

When Michael Jackson died I was on a bus with fellow educators on I 75 south of Tampa coming back from visiting a then brand new state of the art community college that had been built out in the sticks. It had been a tiring day and we were being driven back to where we had all parked our cars so we could go home. A counselor who was sitting a few rows up had gotten a phone call and I heard her exclaim, “Oh, no. That’s …” and her words trailed off. I knew she had an elderly mom and assumed something had happened to her. The woman ended the conversation, rose from her seat and half standing, announced, “Michael Jackson is dead.”

I couldn’t process this sentence. How could he be dead? He was younger than me. Certainly my lifestyle was not as stressful nor did I make the life choices that he had but….. he was younger than me. Certainly I had experienced in my lifetime the passing of those that were young – several fellow students, friends of the family, colleagues and neighbors’ children. But Michael, well, he was bigger than life. In my mind, he was permanently young and invincible. My memory wasn’t of him after the numerous plastic surgeries. I still remembered the little kid and I was stunned.

I told my husband as soon as I returned home that afternoon. I reached the conclusion, on the drive home that day, that our preparation for death needed to occur. So we scheduled an appointment with our attorney the following day and had our wills updated. That was as far as we got – didn’t think further than that.

A few weeks ago I received a thick packet in the mail from a rural Indiana county. I was delighted to examine the probate file of a couple I was writing about. My delight soon turned to sadness as I read that the grown children had to come up with the money for the burial, repay the man’s debts and take in their mom, all due to the lack of planning on the couple’s part. When the mom died several years later the kids again had to put their money together to make sure the burial was paid.

I don’t want that to be me. Hubby and I discussed it and decided that he, too, was going to donate his body to science. I’ve previously written about that so check out my blog Death and the Genealogist from 23 June. He wants his cremains returned so that’s how we ended up at the cemetery last week.

Burial is big business and expensive. I am thrifty. We reached our decision of where to be buried based on

where we live – we wanted it close to this area that we’ve called home for many years,
what the place will be like in the future – have experienced too many forgotten cemeteries so we wanted assurance there would be some level of maintenance
reasonably priced

That led us to a local city owned cemetery. On the way there the song, Stairway to Heaven, played on the radio. Had to snicker about “and she’s buying a stairway to heaven…”

When we arrived we learned there was a problem (why is there always a problem?!). The cemetery was running out of space. We looked at the limited options and Hubby jokingly said it was kind of noisy, being right off the main street. I laughed and reminded him we both grew up on main streets so it would be coming full circle.

In our community we can no longer be buried in ground. Looking across the expanse I saw lots of empty space so I didn’t understand how there wasn’t much space left. I was informed that many people didn’t have markers. Lots of reasons for that – the cost, lack of planning, couldn’t decide, it aged and fell apart, and so on.

That made me really sad! I recently did some client work and that was the case with the woman’s great grandma. Buried between two of her children she was the only one with no marker. The client was upset and said she was going to see that a marker was put up. So I really wanted a marker

The cemetery employee said we could order the brass plaque now and they’d put the final dates, included in the price, on it later. We sat in an office and looked at insignias to add to personalize the plaque and wasn’t real impressed. Discovered my real first name, with my maiden and last name, is too long for the plaque so had to go with initial of my maiden name. Can only put the year of birth and death and no relationship to each other. Wow, so much for helping out a genealogist in the future. I will be leaving in the cemetery file copies of our birth and marriage certificates and the obits for our parents so at the very least, if requested, the future inquirer will have a start of a paper trail. Check to see if that’s available when you do your planning.

Yesterday, hubby and son were building a brick bbq grill in our backyard. He had laid the cement foundation a long while ago but had never gotten around to finishing the project. Last night, he remarked about an idea that came to him when he was building. I have to admit this is quite humorous to see how one’s mind works but here is the trail…. Building the bbq grill reminded him of my family stories about my grandmother’s house that had a bbq grill just like the one he was working on. That led to him thinking about my mom who loved helping us with around the house projects and who would have loved to know that the crematorium had sent us a rebate after death because she had over paid. That made him think about the cemetery we had just selected and the people who had no stones and why couldn’t inexpensive “stones” be used. He recalled laying the cement for the bbq and he figured, if he could do it, anyone could and a cemetery base could be prefab and easy to install, too. Always looking to recycle, why can’t someone use excess countertops, like Corian, and engrave the deceased’s name and dates, then affix it to the cement base? I dunno! Why can’t they? Probably because there’s no money in it! All I know is that as difficult and strange is the experience to select one’s final resting place for us, it’s done and we can happily live the rest of our lives knowing we planned til the end.

Death and the Genealogist

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 23 June 2016.

My friends and colleagues like to kid me about my genealogy passion and my organizational skills by asking if I’ve already written my own obituary. My reply is always, “I haven’t – yet!” I really will, though, and just might get a start on it this summer. Although I wish my kids would write one like the son of a recently deceased woman’s did: “Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God on Sunday,” the obituary read, which was published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Tuesday, May 17.”[1] I’ll spare my children having to come up with something clever and will do it myself. I plan on keeping it short but definitely not like this obituary, the shortest ever published: “Doug died.”[2] Perhaps a genealogists nightmare as there is so little information provided but it is telling about the gentleman’s personality.

I think it’s important to be prepared so that my living loved ones don’t have an added burden. My mom had her will drawn and paid for her cremation more than 20 years before she passed. I greatly appreciated that; her death was not unexpected as she had suffered with Alzheimers for many years but her loss was difficult for me, none the less. Her planning ahead made it much easier.
My mom was a product of the Great Depression and would have been very pleased when a small check was sent to me several weeks after her cremation – she had earned a rebate. Perfect last business transaction!

Following in my mom’s lead, hubby and I have our wills done and our financials all up-to-date with our children able to pick up immediately when we’re gone. What we haven’t done, however, is make a choice of a final resting place. I want my body donated to science as I’ve spent my entire life in the educational realm and figure it’s a good way to end it . The process is called “silent teaching” which would be a first for me – teaching without opening my mouth. I’d be happy to enhance a medical student’s education. Hubby has decided he wants to do that, too, but still wants our remains together after the students are done.

Unfortunately, some states have little to no standards regarding cadaver “donations” so if you’re thinking about it, make sure you’ve thoroughly investigated the laws where you reside.

When I write “donations” I need to clarify, too, that the donor is paying for some of the costs. This is not a free burial. In fact, some organizations will only take embalmed bodies with that cost incurred as a responsibility of the donor. The (c)remains may or may not be returned to the family. If they are, there is a cost involved there, as well.

Since hubby wants a standard burial I figure we’ll get one plot and do a two for one! We have set up a meeting next week with our city cemetery to get additional information.
Then we have to decide on the marker. Wow, designing a tombstone is a whole other area where I get to be creative! Click to view some genealogist epitaphs I came across this week.

Thinking about tombstones led me to ponder about the discoveries we make on Find-A-Grave and Billion Graves. For example, I know I have a distant cousin buried in a cemetery but the family couldn’t afford a stone so there is no visible sign of the interment. The individual has a memorial on Find-A-Grave but no place of burial is listed. That will be problematic for future genealogists!

I have also found a family member who has two stones in two different cemeteries. Since obviously one cannot be buried in two places at one time there’s a problem here! Turns out that the first stone was inscribed with the name and birthdate of the individual while married to wife 1. Individual decided after marrying wife 2 to be buried elsewhere. Without checking the cemetery records you don’t know for sure where the individual was buried. Yet another reason to seek more than online sources!

Do your descendants a favor and leave no genealogy mysteries about your life!

[1] http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/this-woman-chose-death-over-voting-for-trump-or-clinton-in-funny-obit-w207281

[2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/01/obituary-two-words-doug-died_n_7710444.html

Photographs Unveil Information in a New Light

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 16 Jun 2016.

I’ve had a very strange week – genealogywise! It started with this recent family photo tree purchase:

tree

I always wanted to place family photos on the wall in my office but I couldn’t decide which pictures to use or how to group them. I saw the photo tree concept online but the reviews weren’t good; some said it was difficult to put together and others complained it wouldn’t stay up on the wall. The trees were pricy, too, and I didn’t want to waste time and money on a product that would frustrate me.

A few weeks ago I found the tree pictured above offered through Books R Fun locally. The reasonable price and the easy directions worked for me! Within minutes I had the tree up and then it hit me – why not use couple photos. I could display more people that way and since my husband and I share an office, it would serve as a nice reminder of our many grandparents.

I didn’t think it was going to take me long to finish the project as I sort of knew which photos I would select. First problem I encountered was my photos were missing from Google Photos. I’ve blogged previously about how Google Picassa has morphed into Google Photos and I thought that I had successfully transferred all of them from one program to the other a few months ago. Evidently, most did not take. Please check if you did that, too, as it’s better to know now then when you need them.

No worries, I thought, I have them saved elsewhere. That’s when I realized the computer where I had saved them had bit the dust. I checked Dropbox; they weren’t there, either. I must have removed them when I reached the max allowable on my plan. They were on Ancestry.com but to have to go through the gallery to locate them would be time consuming. I have backups on cd but those were saved by family surnames and I would have had to keep flipping through the various cds to find what I wanted. I then remembered that I had installed Picassa on the desktop of an old laptop. Sure enough, there they all were! Since I had taken the time to place all the photos in albums it was a breeze to find what I was looking for quickly. I’m glad this happened now as I have since backed up the laptop pictures to 2 hard drives and again, to Google Photos. The $8.00 tree purchase saved me future grief!

Being a thrifty genealogist, I decided I wouldn’t print the photos to photographic paper until I had them perfect as most of the photos I selected didn’t fit easily into the frame size. I plan to make them real photos this weekend and add children of the couples to frames that will surround the tree.

As I was arranging and rearranging the photos on the tree itself I was startled to discover how much of a strong family resemblance my father-in-law had to his mother and grandmother! My husband bears a remarkable resemblance to his maternal grandfather who he never knew. I have seen these photos for most of my adult life; none were new to me. It wasn’t until I placed them in the tree that I noticed the similarities between individuals.

I’m not sure if it was because they were now almost all the same size, shape, and color, the angle on the wall or the proximity to each other. Looking at them from this perspective was nothing short of startling. I highly recommend trying this! You may discover things about your family in a completely different way.

When I looked at myself, however, I was stunned. I don’t look like anyone! I blurted out that I must have been adopted but hubby pointed out that I have the original birth certificate and that there are photos of me in my mother’s arms in the hospital shortly after I was born. Mom clearly looked like she had been through labor! I knew I had my mom’s eyes and figured my hair was just a blend of both of my parents – my dad’s blonde and my mom’s dark brown. Looking at the photos I realized I had my paternal grandmother’s hair, my maternal grandmother and great grandmother’s nose and my paternal grandfather’s chin. Okay, so my dna is all mixed up – I am a true red blooded American mutt!

The photos didn’t just unveil family similarities; they also showed up some commonalities uniting all sides. I always thought my preference for pearls was a result of watching Leave It To Beaver as a child and channeling June Cleaver! Nope, in just about every photo a female is wearing pearls. I shared this insight with my daughter who just happened to be wearing pearls. Nice to know that trait got passed along to another generation.

I also discovered that one of the great great grandpas was wearing some type of insignia. I never noticed it before and it’s another mystery to solve. Taking a look back at your old photos may just lead you to more amazing family discoveries.

Random Genealogy News

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 9 June 2016.

Maybe due to the recent passing of Tropical Storm Colin through my area my thoughts are fairly random today! Several days of heavy rain and wind is pushing me to get outside and do some cleanup yard work so this will be brief!

First up – did you know that Family Tree Maker is back. They have a newsletter that will keep you updated as to when they are going to start synching again with Ancestry.com. If you’re a faithful reader you know I gave up on them about two years ago but now I’m thinking that maybe the problem was that I had the 2012 version and when they moved to the 2014 version it interfered with the synch. Neither FTM or Ancestry ever asked me what version I was using when I repeatedly called which says a lot about their customer support. Anyway, the software is now owned by mackiev which used to make really good products, like Kidspics that my own children loved back in the day. For $29.95 they’ll sell you their latest version of FTM at a discount if you had a previous one and I may do that as another backup. To sign up for their newsletter click here.

Update to my last three blogs about frugality in genealogy – Should have definitely mentioned Linkedin and Facebook. I use both and they are free! Did you know that there are over 8,000 genealogy sites on Facebook?! To view the list of them click here.

Two more reason to DO IT NOW! – Had a colleague from my educational job thank me for giving her the “Mean Momma” look when she told me two weeks ago that she had 14 boxes of family documents stored in an unair conditioned shed near a major river that floods. I told her to move them in her house pronto but she insisted that she was going to spend the summer going through the boxes, one a week. She had gone through 3 of the boxes when the flood advisory hit the area and she wasted no time in getting the boxes relocated in her home. With the storm, she had time to go through them and found some wonderful genealogical stories that I’m encouraging her to write about and publish. She’s an awesome writer so in the near future, look for a guest blog from her.

Another colleague asked me about how to go about collecting family history information. I pointed her to my website that houses all of my blogs (www.genealogyatheart.com) and strongly encouraged her to talk with her parents when she went home for Memorial Day weekend. When she returned the following Tuesday she told me that she relaxed all weekend and never got around to talking to her parents about the past. Five days later one of her parents had a stroke and has lost the ability to speak. Understandably, she is devastated on so many levels. If that isn’t a wake up call for all of us, I don’t know what is! Don’t delay – send that email, make that phone call, take the older relative to lunch and get the info today!

Those are my three random thoughts for the day – got to go get on the garden gloves and start picking up Spanish moss.

Pursuing Genealogy on a Shoestring Budget – Part 3

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 4 Jun 2016.

This is the last in a series of posts about keeping the costs down on our very expensive practice. Our running total for the frugal (accumulated in Parts 1 & 2) is less than $100.00 per year. Granted, that sum is based on using your local library for much of your research which could be problematic if your facility limits your time, has shortened hours due to budget cuts, and is difficult to reach, transportationwise. That amount also does not include costs for renting microfilms from Familysearch or obtaining vital records. Those two prices are set and non negotiable. The best way around that is to find others who are researching your lines and are willing to share what they have found. You may even get lucky and find that some kindhearted researcher has scanned and posted the vital you needed, thus saving you time and money.

The sites below are FREE and are good ways for you to connect with others who share your interest areas:

Ancestor Cloud – although it costs to hire their researchers, it does not cost anything to obtain their weekly emails or to view and post requests on their website. They saved me the cost of traveling overseas and I would use them again if the situation arises. If you do need to pay for assistance, you negotiate the price so it will fit nicely in with your budget as opposed to other companies out there that have standard fees.

Blogs – geneabloggers is one of many that give helpful advice and resources without any cost to you. Just check out the main page and you’ll see that founder Thomas MacEntree has loads of discounted genealogy related services listed. Subscribe to their newsletter and you’ll get the deals emailed to you as they become available.

Crestleaf will email a newsletter weekly with the updates to their records. Scroll down to check out their surname index, or browse by decade or location. Lots of good free info for you to explore!

Cyndi’s List – for the most comprehensive genealogy sources on the web. This site will point you in the right direction, thus saving you time and money.

Genealogy in Time is another email “magazine” with helpful information. Their website has a search engine that is powerful and there are lots of articles to help you find those elusive ancestors. Sign up for their Sunday email, “The Genealogy News” which includes links to genealogy news that occurred in the past week. I love starting my week off by reading the “News” with my morning coffee.

Geneanet – is more than just a place to search; the community forum is a place to post your queries and if you have French ancestry, you must check out their searchable collection. You can specify a surname you’re interested in and receive an email when more information becomes available on their site.

Legacy – download the Standard edition family tree and view their training videos. Although some do have a cost attached, their weekly webinars are free if you are able to watch them shortly after they’ve posted.

I’ve only scratched the surface of genealogical savings. Deals are out there and the wise genealogist uses resources that give the most bang for the buck. Happy Hunting!

Pursuing Genealogy on a Shoestring Budget Part 2 – Genealogical Websites

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 2 June 2016.

Last blog we looked at ways to cut costs on genealogical memberships. We’ll keep a running tab of expenses; for full membership in genealogical organizations the cost would be about $409.00 annually and on a limited budget, less than $100.00. Today we’re going to explore how to cut costs for those must have online databases.

AmericanAncestors.org is a database offering “hundreds of millions of valuable records.” For home access, the cost is $89.95 annually but it is free through many public libraries. Check out the link I’ve provided – it’s to the 453 databases in the collection. I have found this site very useful for my New England and Long Island ancestors but if you aren’t researching those areas or are on a tight budget, save by using it at the library.

Ancestry.com is most likely available at your local library, too, but I must caution you that not all records are available on the library edition. It is also only available for use in the library so you are limiting the time you can spend searching. That’s okay if you’re on a tight budget as there are other sites you can use while you’re at home. If you are a member of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) you can get a one time discount of 30% off an annual Ancestry membership. You must have your AARP card number when you call Ancestry Customer Service and it will extend a current membership so wait until a day or two before your expiration before you renew to take full advantage of the offer. Call Member Services at 1-800-ANCESTRY. Cost depends on what membership you’re purchasing (U.S., World., or All). There’s always the 14 day free trial but if you do that, make sure you’re saving what you find on your computer so you can access it when the trial ends.

Billion Graves is FREE so check it out. Personally, I’ve never found anything different than what is available

elsewhere but I still look and so should you.

Familysearch.org is FREE and if you haven’t created a login you need to. The caveat here is if you are building

your tree on this site ANYONE can change what you’ve entered. Wikis are wonderful and in a perfect world this would not be an issue. I have had well meaning but not knowledgeable folks change data and make links that are not right. I know of the changes because they nicely email you when someone has done something to what you’ve entered. I don’t have the time to keep undoing what someone else does so my skeletal tree is going to remain that. That’s not to say that the rest of the website is a wonderful FREE source for you to use at home.

Find-a-Grave.com is affiliated with Ancestry.com but remains FREE. Not all information on the site is accurate so be careful, just as you would if you were researching anywhere else!

FindMyPast is awesome if you’re researching Great Britain. They boast 8 million records and I have found some info but not enough with the lines I am currently researching to make it worthwhile if money was an issue. They do have a blog and send lots of emails a week with updated news. Like every other competitor, they want you to save your tree to their site. This increases the number of records they can claim they have while you do all the work. The benefits, though, are that you can connect with others who are interested in the same lines and you can access the information anywhere you have connectivity. Fourteen day FREE trial available.

Fold3 -now part of Ancestry.com, has a basic membership for free. That allows you to search and browse but not access all images. Kind of like letting you look in the bakery window but not enter to taste! Specials are offered frequently, such as join for 7 days for free or $49.95 for a premium yearly access. Fold3 is mostly thought about in regards to military records but they are building on other areas, such as Project Blue Book (I believe this is the first genealogy website to include nonearthling alien information!) to African and Native American collections.

GenealogyBank – I call it the newspaper place. Check out where they have records before you buy; with over 100 million records you most likely will find something valuable here, especially obits. Free 30 day FREE trial that’s well worth it so give it a try.

MyHeritage is a not only a place to save your tree online but you can scroll all the way to the bottom of their longggggg page, click search, and use their database. They have a Nordic Census that I’ve found helpful. It’s FREE.

Today’s costs – if you are using a library for Ancestry and you’ve taken advantage of the free trials – $0.00. Our running total for the budget concern – still less than $100.00/year. Next time we’ll look at free additional resources available.

Pursuing Genealogy on a Shoestring Budget – Association Memberships

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 29 May 2016.

Genealogy is expensive! There’s costs for membership to associations and online databases, travel, research supplies, vital records, mailing, and conferences. When doing our taxes earlier this year the reality of the expenses hit me. When I received an email recently from a reader who mentioned how the costs were pinching her lifestyle I decided to investigate ways to save.

I’m open to suggestions so please readers, comments are welcome on ways you’ve found to be frugal! The focus today is on association dues because one of the benefits of belonging to a group is discounts on related items.

Most likely your local and state association’s yearly membership dues are reasonable. I believe it’s important to support your local group, if you can afford to do so. My local group costs $17.00 annually and provides a weekly email of free classes offered and genealogy tips. If the cost is prohibitive for you, speak with the group about ways you can take part without paying dues. Volunteering at events, assisting with the newsletter or transcribing local records may all be needed and appreciated more than the amount of the annual dues. It can’t hurt to ask!

My state society costs $25.00 per year. I have access to a monthly free webinar, archived journal and newsletters, and access to a members only forum where I can post questions or ask for help with lookups. There are also occasionally special offers; the current being Fold3 for half price ($49.95). Adding the cost to join the state society with the Fold3 discounted membership is less than the cost for Fold3’s regular price, however, Fold3 offers discount premium memberships all the time so that alone would not be a reason to join the state association. For me, the webinars and journal are well worth the price of $25.00.

Regional societies offer specialization and if you’re looking to cut costs this may be where to do it. For example, I do a lot of research in the midwest, mostly Indiana-Ohio-Illinois. There are many local societies and historical groups in the areas that I mine for records, along with larger groups, such as the Ohio Genealogical Society, which costs $35.00 a year. I tend to not join these groups because I don’t live close enough to benefit from the local events they offer. Before you join, check out the groups website and contact members for their advice on where to find what you’re looking for. I have found the majority are knowledgeable and willing to share their expertise. If there is a record you need that is in their holding, discuss the cost involved for you to receive a copy. I try to pay it forward by also sending them the information that I have collected at the end of my project. This allows their resources to grow and benefits the whole group. If you find that the society won’t assist you unless you become a member, contact the local library instead by emailing through the Ask-a-librarian link. For a quick look up, direction in which to research, or knowledge of where a record may be housed these folks are the best and it’s free!

If you research in primarily the New York or New England area you may want to join the New England Historic and Genealogical Society (NEHGS) and the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society (NYG&B). NEGHS is $89.95 annually; I love their quarterly magazine, journal (The Register), weekly e-newsletter and using their library for free. I find their AmericanAncestor.org database powerful, too. I’ve attended two of their workshops in the past six months (one in Boston and one in Florida) and weren’t all that impressed, though. They also have an Ask-a-genealogist service that’s free but I’ve never used it so I can’t attest to how it works. I have asked for help in person and found some of the genealogists to be extremely helpful. I’m trying to limit my book collection so I haven’t taken advantage of the 10% discount on what they publish. If you’re going to save check your local public library. Mine has access to the database and the journals so I really don’t need to pay for this membership but having the resources at home is worth it for me.

NYG&B is $70.00 per year and offers a quarterly journal (The Register) and review of genealogy news (The New York Researcher), monthly e-newsletter, free FindMyPast US-Canada subscription, access to records in special collections, and discounts on other promotions. My library does not have copies of The Register but another library in my area does. If my budget needed to shrink, I’d cut this and read the superb journal in the library.

National societies have many benefits of membership. The National Genealogical Society (NGS) is a bargain at $65.00 a year. Members receive access to free online courses, a quarterly journal, (NGS Quarterly) and magazine (NGS Magazine), digital monthly newsletter, and access to Bible records, ancestry charts sent in by members, and a marriage and death notice database from early American newspapers. They also offer some partnership discounts. There are additional fees to attend conferences, however, members receive a discount. I, personally, would not cut out belonging to this group.

I realize the hobbyist is not going to join the Association of Professional Genealogists as a professional member for $100.00 a year. A subscriber only member price is available for $45.00 annually and provides a paper copy of the Quarterly journal. If you’re a professional, though, this organization is well worth the cost; the members only listserv alone is an extremely valuable resource, along with professional development webinars, conferences and discounts, such as a 25% off a JSTOR pass, 10% off Legacy Family Tree software and webinars, $20.00 for Rootsmagic and book, and 10% off BYU online certificate in genealogy program tuition. There’s more deals then I listed but subcribers only do not have access to them. So unless you’re going pro, you won’t have a cost savings here.

The Board for Certification of Genealogist (BCG) has a free website that is of value to everyone interested in genealogy, whether you want to become certified or not. The free Springboard blog is informative regarding methodology, links are given to educational programs so you can continue to grow and the skillbuilding and sample work sample areas are important for all levels of genealogists. Most importantly, The Standards are a must and only $6.99 for a Kindle edition.

Notice I haven’t mentioned lineage society memberships? That’s because the application fees and membership dues vary. With all the added costs, such as luncheons, travel to events, and highly encouraged donations for philanthropy, if you’re on a budget it’s best to avoid them. Their members may volunteer to help newbies though, so you might want to check that out. Some groups, like the Daughters of the American Revolution have very helpful information for free online to everyone.

Here’s the rounded cost if you’ve joined all – $407.00. On a fixed income, my recommendations are paying for your state and NGS membership and definitely purchasing a copy of The Standards if you don’t have one already – that cost is less than $100.00 a year.

Next time we’ll explore cutting costs for online databases.

A FREE Research Assistant – Google Keep

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 18 May 2016.

Found a new tool that could help you immensely with your research notes, to do lists, and anything else you want to write and remember. From Google, it’s entitled Keep and with just one click, you can save your work and be able to retrieve it from any online device.

Click on the left hand corner of the Keep page where there are three horizontal lines (the main menu bars). This will open up the main menu where you can view your notes and reminders, once you create them. Filing is easy, just click the “Create New Label.”

If you’d like to share what you created, click on “Settings” and make sure “Enable Sharing” is checked.

You access Keep through your Google account so if you have gmail or Google+ you already have a Google account. If you don’t have an account, the page should direct you to how to obtain one but I haven’t checked that out since I have an existing account.

Keep works on both IOS and Android so whatever is your preference, you can use this tool. It does need Chrome so if you aren’t using that already, you may have to download it for Keep to work efficiently. The Chrome download is supposed to also be available from the Keep page but again, I have it so I’m not able to verify that information.

So, how can you use this with your genealogy? What I think is the best feature is that it is a blend of Evernote and Pinterest. I can click the grey lightbulb on the panel to add text or a part of a webpage. I especially like that I am able to simultaneously update my research log that I’ll display on Keep; the display is viewable like Pinterest. Another beneficial feature is that I can see everything on the same page at once which will make sorting for a timeline or rearranging when analyzing the records much easier.

I can then create a label for the whole group which will enable me to separate out various projects that I’m working on simultaneously. This method also allows me to quickly access the information anywhere (desktop, laptop, tablet, phone) AND be able to retrieve everything about the project in an organized way. Want to see all your labels? Simply click the main menu bars and it will list all the labels you have previously created.

The “Reminders” feature will also help you stay organized. Give it a try!

Heirlooms and Hand Me Downs – Who Cares?!

A FABULOUS FIND of 13 May 2016

Originally published on 11 May 2016.

I read recently an online article about the glazed over look that family members often get when we genealogists start talking about the past. The author mentioned that he was frustrated that his family doesn’t seem to care while the actors featured on tv shows are always so excited about their genealogy finds.

I understand why our family members often don’t get it. Here’s my top 5 reasons for the disconnect and a way to get around it:

1. The past is done and it’s not relevant to me. Geez, I even had that philosophy when I was young. Think about the 1960’s mantra of not trusting anyone over 30! It’s rare that young people can connect the dots of how several times great grandpa’s life could be meaningful today. It’s not just young folks. Some people never out grow this belief so don’t get me wrong and think this view only applies to youth. The solution is simple – tell or write engaging family stories that are applicable to life today. Write the story as a cliffhanger and I bet your relatives will want to learn more about their past.

Concrete tactile learners – there are many learners that have to SEE the picture, TOUCH the artifact, or LISTEN to the voice in order to process the information so show that photo taken at the 1920 family reunion and point out the resemblance to Great Uncle Fred. Caution is needed, though. Don’t overload them with a lot of photos or items as they’ll disconnect from sensory overload. A little goes a long way and what you’re aiming for is to pique interest.

Money, Money, Money! Of course the television actors are excited about their family history finds. Your relatives would be, too, if they were being paid for appearing on tv. This is not a suggestion to pay our family members to listen to us but it does explain why there may be a lack of enthusiasm. D. Joshua Taylor, of Ancestry Roadshow, mentioned at the National Genealogical Society Conference that his grandma updated the family history annually and every one expected to receive a copy gift wrapped under the Christmas tree each year. That tradition, coupled with the $20. bills she hid in the pages, did help family members look forward to the gift. (And he’s interested in the family genealogy so clearly this approach worked. Thank you, Josh’s Grandma!)
Individual Attention. Another reason tv actors are enthusiastic is because they are exclusively meeting one on one with noted researchers who sweetly answer their every question and have the documents all nicely transcribed for them. I tend to talk family genealogy when everyone is together and that may be counter intuitive. Instead, mention some tidbit that can easily blend in with the conversation when you are with only one of your family members. A few weeks ago, while cleaning out a closet, I wondered what happened to a collection of needles I once had – darning, knitting, embroidery, tapestry, etc. that originally belonged to various females in my lines. When I was into arts and crafts, I used them and always thought about the original owners. Daughter said, “Oh, I have those.” She brought them over on Mother’s Day and I pulled out a few and said, “I remember when your great grandma used these to embroider a kitchen towel” and “Grandma Duck used to use these when she repaired the hallway stairs carpet, the one I told you about that I used to slide down on my derriere when I was five.” Will daughter remember and cherish? I don’t know but I gave it my best shot! She is quite artistic so I suspect she will make the connection and remember it.
Road trip needed! When you think of “Who Do You Think You Are?” or “Long Lost Family” you know the participants get to travel. Most family members would just love it if they got to go somewhere, all expenses paid. I always sneak in a side trip whenever we used to vacation and my family still talks about the house on Long Island that several times great grandpa John Hicks Williams had built that just happened to be for sale so we got to see the inside (online – couldn’t find an agent who was available to give us a tour). Walking in your ancestor’s foot steps is a powerful experience and with summer coming, perhaps you can take the most interested of the family on an excursion.

Hope these suggestions help get your family interested in your findings – Happy Hunting!