Genealogical Gems

Several articles caught my attention this week but these two stood out. Schalene Dagutis’ article titled “ Social Security Applications and Claims Index .” This was a great example of how this database – newly released on Ancestry.com – is vital to finding those unknown bits and pieces.    Have ancestors from the Netherlands ? This article is for you then! Yvette Hoitink wrote a piece on obtaining certified copies of birth and death records from the Netherlands . Dutch records are available to the public 50 years after death, 75 years after marriage and 100 years after birth.    Resource Finds: I thought I would also pass along some resources I tracked down this week through various sources.   Atcherley.org.uk lists a great number of helpful books and newspapers. He provides a brief description as well as a link off to them.   Genealogy is enjoying mainstream tv time as more and more celebrities are interested in finding their herita...

Several articles caught my attention this week but these stood out: I used to think I was alone in that my Dad’s grandparents and families all listed different places of birth on various papers over the years. This week, Find Lost Russian & Ukrainian Family faced a similar dilemma in her post “ Whysome documents will never tell the full truth .” Vera Miller’s family came over much later than mine but many people of Slavic origins have recounted the same dilemma to me over the years. Will we ever actually know where our family came from and why they “lied?”   Heather Wilkinson Rojo, of Nutfield Genealogy, inspired Karen Krantzberg, of The Road Backward, to write “ Mytop five genealogy books .”   What a great idea and a neat way to share resources! I think I may work on that in the upcoming days.   I love old postcards. New ones too. Simon Last, earlier this week, wrote a post on Charwood Genealogy about old postcard research. Some of the information provi...

Several articles caught my attention this week but these stood out: Newspapers are a great source of information about our families as well as what their daily life may have been like. Cynthia Shenette’s article “ Extra! Extra! Finding Info in Unindexed   Newspapers ” this week was a great reminder post.   I was doing some back reading this week as well and came upon (again) Cathy Meder-Dempsey’s post concerning her schedule for the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks posts. I love the organization Cathy shows here. What a great idea too instead of bouncing around here and there. I think perhaps I will try to work this idea into my 2016 post planning.    “Finding Your Roots” will be returning to PBS in January, according to Megan Smolenyak. She wrote a piece for Huffington Post stating the show will return in January 2016. The show, hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., was originally scheduled to air again in September 2015.   Resource Finds: I thought I woul...

Several articles caught my attention this week but these two stood out: “ Do You Have a Defective Ancestor? ” by Amy Johnson Crowe reminds us all that the insane, blind, deaf, homeless and imprisoned all leave great paper trails. I myself have an aunt (Aunt Ethel) who lived at a special “school” because she had epileptic seizures.   David McRae wrote a post yesterday titled “ On This Day in Family History ” which reminds me I need to get back in the habit of posting similar. There for awhile I had been posting a similar weekly post but I think perhaps an On This Day kind of post might be more suitable. Thanks for the reminder, David!   I also attended two webinars this week.    The first was on Tuesday. Crista Cowen, of Ancestry.com, did her weekly presentation. It is often a very helpful presentation. Last night, I tried to attend one from FamilySearch and it was disappointing. The slides were fine and I could follow – though nothing was new informa...

Recently Crestleaf published a list of 40 Twitter Accounts to follow and included Genealogical Gems (@ GenealogicalGem ) on it! Below is that list. 1. @ALifeTimeLegacy   2. @AmyCrow 3. @AncestryHour 4. @AncestrySleuth 5.  @APHistorians 6. @AreYouMyCousin 7. @BordersAncestry 8. @ClueWagon 9. @DearMyrtle 10. @DHGenealogy 11. @DickEastman 12. @DJoshuaTaylor 13.  @ElkinsValerie 14. @EllisIsland 15.  @GenaOrtega 16. @GeneaBloggers 17.  @GenealogicalGem 18. @GenealogyIsFun 19.  @GlobalReunion15 20.   @HenryLouisGates 21.   @HeritageFamily 22. @HistoryAngels 23. @InDepthGen 24.  @LIGenealogist 25. @LindaEccles2 26. @LisaCooke 27. @LorineMS 28. @LynnPal 29. @LynnsWaffles 30. @MadamAncestry 31.   @Marksology 32. @MJNRootDig 33. @OldPostcards 34. @PhotoDetective 35. @SavorySpotlight 36. @Spurwing_ 37. @THEHeirHunters 38. @Veriss...

Bells tolled across the nation yesterday in remembrance of the end of the Civil War. It was 150 years ago that Robert E Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S Grant, thus ending a four year battle which had set brother against brother. Blog posts worth reading: Find My Past did a nice write up recalling Lee’s surrender to Grant 150 years ago. The Civil War had been going on for four years at that time. Generation’s Gone By also focused on the end of the Civil War this week. She singled out a few soldiers and focused on them. A good read! Reflections From the Fence also focused on the Confederate Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse 150 years ago. Carol reflected on her 2x great grandfather Solomon B. Eley. The 52 Ancestors Challenge continues strong. The Week 14 Recap was for Favorite Photos. The Ancestry Insider is a great blog to bookmark for anyone into genealogy, but especially those of us who use Ancestry.com. Ofte...

  This week I have to admit genealogy took a back seat. It was my first full week back to work (I work seasonally at a nursery – LOVE IT!) and my kids had some medical issues (one still does actually) but I did get some reading done. EIN Presswire sent me a news release concerning a new online Jewish database. The Knowles Collection links generations of Jewish families from all over the world. It has reached its one-millionth record milestone and is now easily searchable online. The vast majority of new contributions are coming from families and private archives worldwide. The free collection can be accessed at FamilySearch.org/family-trees . The National Genealogical Society conference is 13-16 May 2015 in St. Charles , Missouri . The early bird registration deadline is this Monday, 30 March 2015. For more information see the registration brochure . Blog posts worth reading: Dear Myrtle has finally published a How To that makes Hangouts easier to navigate. ...

Tuesday of course was St Patrick’s Day so t his week I decided to feature some of the Irish based or Irish oriented news and fellow genealogists. Monday Ancestry held #AncestryChat that focused specifically on Irish genealogy. Unfortunately I worked at the nursery Monday so I missed it. If YOU also missed it, you can search #AncestryChat on Twitter after the fact and read through the tweets. I personally find it easier to use TwitterDeck and simply save it as a column but you can also type the hashtag in the Discover or Search bar on Twitter. Blog posts worth reading: Diane Haddad, of Family Tree Magazine’s Genealogy Insider , wrote an article tracing Irish ancestors in poverty relief loan records. Nearly 700,000 persons are included in this resource. The resource is available on FindMyPast, a subscription site. Sue had me hooked on her second sentence of “ Mary Alice ‘Allie’ Reade 1801-1880 ”.   It read: “ She is as far back as...

The National Genealogical Society (NGS) first published Genealogy and the Law: A Guide to Legal Sources for the Family Historian by Kay Haviland Freilich, CG SM , CGL SM , FNGS , and William B. Freilich, Esq., in September last year. It is now available as a Kindle eBook. The book is a great reference for any land ownership issues and records. The NGS also announced live streaming for 10   lectures from its 2015 Family History Conference. The conference will be held 13‒16 May, in St. Charles , Missouri . For those (sadly, like myself) who are unable to physically attend the conference, we can sign up for these live streaming lectures. Details can be found at http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/attend/live-streaming/ . An email from Amy Johnson Crow reminded me about 52 Ancestors Week 10 Recap. The theme for week 10 was Stormy Weather . My 2x great grandfather was a rural schoolteacher and his school diary included notations on the weather! Blog posts worth reading: ...

AOL News ran a story this week about organic burial pods replacing tombstones with trees, giving new meaning to the phrase “family tree.”   The concept is being proposed by two Italian designers who call this “Capsula Mundi.” Find My Past is running a free weekend this weekend. In addition, in celebration of International Women’s Day on Sunday, a free webinar will be offered concerning finding women in the records. The webinar will be at 10 a.m. ET. Click HERE for more details. Blog posts worth reading: Joan Bos blogs at Joan’s Ancestral World . On Thursday she featured her grandmother’s church membership certificate. I just think this is such a great find. The certificate is to a Dutch Reformed Church and is dated 1918. Tangled Roots and Trees post this week is a great reminder that sometimes we have to loosen up on our search nets. By searching just a last name, she found a second marriage! Researching New York ancestors? Gen...