Genealogy Education

Photo courtesy of teachhub.com

The weather outside appears to be frightful for much of the U.S. and parts of Europe, so my dear readers, nothing like cozying up with your tech device and working your brain muscles to learn additional tips and tricks genealogy-wise.

I live in an area that has the largest Greek population outside of Greece; if you don’t and are of Greek heritage you might think your ancestor hunt is a dead end. Think again! Last weekend the Tarpon Springs Public Library held its 2nd Greek Genealogy Conference. No worries that you missed it – it’s available, handouts and all, on YouTube.

I have to share this story from Tuesday. . . I volunteer at my local hospital which is in the process of renovating. There is a very calming beach scene mural that was placed on the wall in the family waiting area. A woman got off the elevator and gasped. I asked if I could help and she just stared, pointing at the mural. She replied, “That’s the view from my home in Greece!” She then showed me a pic her husband had texted her that morning of the snowfall. Yep, same buildings as in the mural with a light dusting of snow. Definitely a small world and I love how she educated me about the mural that has no identifier as to where it was located.

The National Genealogical Conference registration is now open with a DISCOUNT for their May 24-28, 2002 Family History Conference in Sacramento, California. Your options are to select in-person, virtual, or on-demand so you can view lectures later in the summer. Check out their catalog here. I’m thrilled that there are options available as I love attending but am not yet comfortable with traveling there in May.

MyHeritage.com has introduced a 40 lesson Intro to Genealogy course that takes about 5 hours to complete; you don’t have to do it in one sitting. I haven’t taken it myself but as soon as I’m done with my scanning project (sigh) I plan to take a look at it.

Speaking of scanning, I had two wonderful comments to my last week’s blog that I need to share. Bob recommended that I also save my digitized photos to an external hard drive. He is so right! Randy reminded me that MyHeritage.com has awesome photo software to enhance your old photos. It also just happens to be free through tomorrow. Check it out here if you’re not a member. Thanks, Randy, I sadly discovered my wedding album is fading. Luckily, I did scan those photos years ago but I do have some other photos that could use a facelift. I plan on using those features once I’m done.

MyHeritage has also had some changes to how you can view their historical records, now in a table view. Check out their blog article about it.

Let’s not forget that we, as a genealogy community, are great sources of educating each other. I was contacted on Ancestry.com by my 7th great step-cousin last week on my Hollingshead line. We were discussing her 7th great-grandmother’s will and I shared how surprised I originally was when I saw she had bequeathed her slaves to one of her children. Step-mom lived in New Jersey from about 1720 to 1771. Cousin recommended a good read that her local genealogical society had recommended when she shared the will with them. It’s available on Amazon and I selected the Kindle download for Elaine Buck and Beverly Mills If These Stones Could Talk: African American Presence in the Hopewell Valley, Sourland Mountain and the Surrounding Regions of New Jersey. It is a fascinating read and timely for Black History Month!