The Genealogy Gems Podcast with Lisa Louise Cooke - Your Family History Show

Catch a glimpse of the silent movie era and how it was an integral part of your ancestors’ lives. In this episode, I find out more about the silent movies my grandmother catalogued in her diary, and how they molded a generation. The cultural influences of the “Picture Shows” Below is a page from my grandmother’s journal documenting the silent films she saw that year, including the actors who starred in them. Just like today, the stars who light up the silver screen were mimicked and followed for fashion trends, hair styles, decorating ideas, and moral behavior. Understanding who the role models were at the time gives us a better understanding of the cultural influences of the era.  Films are NOT primary resources, but they certainly paint a picture of life at any given time in history. Finding silent films in my area To learn more about silent films, I started with a simple Google search, altering my search criteria until I found movie theaters that showed silent films in my area. The first theater I found was the Stanford Theatre, located in Palo Alto, California. It was first opened in 1925 and stood as Palo Alto’s premier theater house for several decades. In 1987, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation bought the theater and restored it. It is now owned and operated by the non-profit Stanford Theatre Foundation. - The website provides all the movie schedules from 1929-1961, compiled from ads that appeared in the Palo Alto Times. Vaudeville acts were also regularly included in the lineup. And the Wurlitzer organ live accompaniment was a staple. Grandma’s Diary Entry – Sunday, April 22, 1928 I have to lead singing at church. Walter and I went to the lake. Met Helen Weathers and Jesse Jay and Ed Taylor. Helen and I went in swimming. Went to the show afterwards. The vaudeville was keen. Lew Cody in “Adam and Eve.” The first silent movie I saw was “Diary of a Lost Girl”, a German movie starting Louise Brooks. It was a late entry silent film released on April 24, 1930. It tells the story of an innocent young girl, who is raped by the clerk of her father’s pharmacy. After she becomes pregnant, she is rejected by her family and must fend for herself in a cruel world. It was not the wholesome far I expected but was riveting nonetheless. (I must acknowledge the organ accompaniment of Dennis James because he added a drama and magic to the film that was priceless.) The next film I saw was the classic 1923 comedy “Safety Last” starring Harold Lloyd. This is a must-see, full of laugh-out-loud humor. I was starting to get a feel for what drew Grandma to the pictures as a young girl. It was magical, glamorous, and hugely expanded her social network.   Society’s views on the silent film era To learn more, I was combed through newspapers from her home town in the 1920s at the State Archives. I came across two newspaper articles: “Getting Back to the Home” from January of 1925, and “Harking Back to those Old Home Days” from February 5, 1925. The first article leads in… “Much has been said as to the methods of checking the crime and rebelliousness among the young people of today. The automobile, trains and other means of travel as well as moving pictures, dance halls, etc. that attract young people, and so lead them to seek amusement away from home have contributed to the fact that the home is not the center of attraction for the majority of families as it once was.” The article went on to say that there were plans in the works for a community get-together. The February 5th article reported the events of that evening, which was called “Back to the Home.” The local residents ate pumpkin pie, sang songs, listened to speeches and music, and comic readings. (And I happened to recognize the name of the cellist in the orchestra as being the man who signed as witness on my great-grandfather’s naturalization papers!) The even was a huge success and was deemed “something that will in surely bear repeating.” Immediately my grandmother’s diary entries bemoaning her mother who was “from the old country” started to become clearer. Grandma felt that Great-Grandma just didn’t understand her. Having experienced the thrill of the old movie theater experience myself, and reading in the newspapers how it was affecting society, I began to better understand that she lamenting more than just the woes of being 15 years old. Society was changing. And as a mother, I began to sympathize with my great-grandmother’s plight of trying to raise three teenagers in the new world. Enjoying Silent Movies at Home I live 25 minutes from a little town that has a Silent Film Museum devoted to a company that produced hundreds of them locally back in the teens.  Every Saturday night, they show two shorts, and one full length movie each week with live piano accompaniment. Last week my husband and I went to the regular Saturday night show, and we found ourselves watching the original full-length versions of two movies about San Francisco in 1906.  In the last podcast, I covered the San Francisco Earthquake and other historical events, and included a Youtube.com playlist that I created full of old and new videos about the earthquake.    The first movie short was called “A Trip Down Market Street.” This is in my Youtube.com playlist under the title “San Francisco 1905 - 1906 (short form).” The Archivist at the museum said that research has uncovered that this film was shot just about four days before the earthquake hit in April 1906. The filmmaker shot the entire movie from the back of a cable car slowly moving down Market Street toward the Ferry Building. He told us that the reason the movie survived is that the filmmaker shipped the film to their New York offices for processing just one day before the quake. The second movie short was produced by Blackhawk Films immediately following the earthquake, () and was aptly titled “Destruction of San Francisco.” Portions of this film can also be found on the YouTube playlist. If you don’t live within driving distance to a theater showing silent films, here are some options for viewing at home: Netflix (UPDATED) – They have an incredible catalogue of films that can be hard to find. You can stream movies from any device at home at . Type “silent” in the search box and click the GENRE matches tab. You can also search by your favorite silent movie star (Mary Pickford, Clara Bow, Harold Lloyd, Douglas Fairbanks, Jackie Coogan, etc). Not all films are available to stream, but many can be delivered in DVD form with a subscription to . Turner Classic Movies (TCM) – - Go to the website and type SILENT in the search box, then click GO. Scroll down to the KEYWORD MATCHES to see what’s available. They often run “Silent Sundays.” I find the best way to approach TCM it to review the schedule for the week on my cable TV menu, and set movies of interest to be recorded. The Public Library – A quick search of my local library catalogue online showed dozens of silent movies. I found that searching a particular silent era actor as an “author” worked better than searching ‘silent movies’ alone. Beware, movies held over the one week time limit incur hefty fees. But the titles were free, and in the case of my local library, I can place a request for a movie from another library in the same county system, and they will deliver it to my local branch and hold it for me for pick up free of charge. For a global search of libraries try Amazon.com – If you have a specific title or actor in mind, a quick search will tell you if Amazon has it. And if it’s been released, they probably do. However, browsing is more challenging. To narrow your search to only silent movies, select DVD  in the SEARCH area, and click GO. Then click “BROWSE GENRES.” From the next page click CLASSICS. Then, in the Browse box on the right, click SILENT FILMS. I got over 400 results.  If you’re not looking for a Charlie Chaplin film, add “-Chaplin” to your search and you’ll get the results down to 282 films. You can help support this free podcast by always starting your searches in our Amazon search boxes located throughout the Genealogy Gems website at Ebay.com – If you’re looking for a title that is particularly hard to find, EBay may be the best source. Grandma’s Diary Entry – Friday, November 2nd, 1930 “Alfred, Len, Mama and I went to the show in Merced.  “Four Son’s.”  It was sure good!” I looked the movie up at IMDb.com, the biggest movie database on the internet. The description stated that the movie revolved around a mother and her four grown sons living happily in a German village prior to WWI. The oldest son, Joseph, yearns to go to America, and his mother gives him her savings to realize his dream. After the war begins, two of the sons go off to battle and are killed. Meanwhile, Joseph becomes an American citizen and joins the army to fight against Germany. The youngest son then leaves to join his battalion, and is killed in battle. After the war, Joseph goes home to New York and sends for his mother. She makes the journey through Ellis Island and they finally reunite. My grandma’s parents had emigrated from Germany in 1910, just prior to the start of the war.  Great-grandfather came over first to find work. When great grandmother discovered she was pregnant with Alfred, she followed three months letter, which was sooner than planned. She secretly made the trip with her 3-year-old daughter. I had to get a copy of this film! I couldn’t find “Four Sons” at any of the usual places, so I went to Ebay.com. There I found someone who had a copy, and I bought it. The movie was extremely moving, and I cheered for the naive yet faithful mother as she made her way alone through the confusing world of Ellis Island and the streets of New York. This movie must have been very touching for Great grandmother to watch, and I would guess that it generated conversation about her own trip.  Many years later, Grandma fulfilled a life long dream and made the trip to Ellis Island to see it for herself. Before her death, she told an eager granddaughter all about Mama, the journey through Ellis Island, and about her love for the moving pictures. GEM: Interview with Sam Gill – April 19th, 2007 Do you by chance research your own family history? Not much now. As a child I helped my mother quite a bit with her genealogical research, joining her on trips to libraries, helping at home, typing up manuscripts, filling in sheets, etc. My mother published a little pamphlet on the John Ashton family of London, Ontario, Canada for which I’ll provide a link to a recent description. In my youth, I also recorded via reel-to-reel tape, important family members (father’s mother in depth; mother’s step-mother briefly; mother and father, and siblings casually) in the 1960s and 1970s. They—the older family members-- are all deceased now, and I am very glad I did this. I am currently transferring these tapes to CD. My brothers George and Paul are very interested in family history, too—now, actually more so than I am, which is very surprising considering my brother Paul showed very little interest in family during his youth. I was extremely interested in family history in my youth, but not as much now, unless it be to discover whatever I can about the personal relationships family members had to one another, as well as to their friends and other loved ones. How accurately do you think they portray life at that time? One needs to be very careful with film, today as well as yesterday. Most film—even documentaries—often depict people as they want to be seen, or to perform in stories the way they themselves want to appear, or the way the filmmakers specifically want their characters to appear. I have a friend who once coordinated the locating of antiques in the Los Angeles area for Christie’s in London, who commented that frequently the furniture he saw in teens silent films of the fairly common society-drama type, were extremely high-end antiques that would command extremely high figures in current auctions, and are the kind of antiques never seen in today’s films, or at least very rarely. I mention this because it’s a good example of the fact that each person may see something of interest that another person would not even notice or care about. Also, films from the silent era can be important historically and culturally in showing us the way life was; but as with any photograph, it may take a lot of interpretation and understanding to know exactly what it is that we are looking at. What influence do you believe the young medium of movies had on the culture of that time? Huge influence. I believe films from the very beginning had an enormous impact on our culture, and the culture of every country when and where films began to be shown. And as sound was added, even with radio, and later with the immediacy of television, the impact has become even more profound. Many immigrants have commented, too, then as now, on the importance of going to the movies to learn the language and culture of their new country. I believe youth especially has been affected, but probably all ages. I mention youth because young people are so impressionable, and so things such as fashion, dating techniques, job aspirations, desires of where one might live and play, attitudes toward family and community, nearly every aspect of life has been represented and thus made available to audiences for their “selecting,” taking what each person wants or “needs” and leaving the rest. With what they take, they can mold their lives, or re-define what it is they believe they know and want. How would you advise a family historian to approach the silent movies as a resource?  See as many films as he or she can, starting with whatever seems of most interest—documentaries; travel films; comedies; dramas; westerns; whatever. For more of the genuine “feel” of the movie-going experience, I believe what we are doing here at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum on Saturday nights, is very important. These silent films were shown with music accompaniment, which aids greatly the impact and accessibility of these films. With what movie or actor / actress would you recommend they start to become introduced to silent films? That’s an interesting question, and one that gets at the root of what I mean when I say these films can have a profound impact on a person—especially youth. Just as someone today may be enormously impressed with Johnny Depp or Christina Ricci, or a film about the mafia life, or corporate life in New York City, or even a horror or fantasy film, the same holds true for silent films seen today. Each of our audience members seems to relate in a highly individualistic way to a film, often to a particular “star”—perhaps being impressed with the steely reserve of William S. Hart; laughing at the often-surreal physical stunts of Buster Keaton who becomes a kind of Every Man against the harsh realities of our physical world; the adventurous-spirit of Douglas Fairbanks; the spunkiness of Mary Pickford who never let anything get her down; and so on. The film A TRIP DOWN MARKET STREET (1906) has become a great favorite here, where a camera was placed on the front of a street-car heading down from about 8th Street to the Ferry Building in April 1906 just a few days before the earthquake and fire. Horse-drawn wagons, cars and vehicles, automobiles, people on foot, bicycles, you name it, all these methods of transportation are fascinating; but most fascinating, we are watching the people themselves, some oblivious to the filming, others intensely interested, staring right at the camera! Any other thoughts on the subject as it pertains to folks interested in learning more about the era of 1900-1930? There are more and more films available on DVD but I still love books, and what one can discover going to the library and pulling film books off the shelves to read at one’s leisure—historical works, cultural studies, picture books (even coffee table books), encyclopedias, biographies and autobiographies, corporate histories of film companies, on and on. It’s all fascinating, and it’s all out there…to be discovered. Many years ago, someone told me he thought I “lived in the past,” and implied that that was a pretty terrible thing to do. I answered, “I don’t think of it as LIVING in the past, but of EXPLORING the past, like an archaeologist.” I think the truth of that may be the same for genealogists, to explore the past through the discovery of family history, which is after all, human history.

Get up to speed on the world of DNA and Genealogy in this episode. We’ll explore in depth the ramifications of Ancestry closing down some of their DNA tests along with other businesses in their portfolio. Then you’ll meet Your DNA Guide, Diahan Southard. She’s a genealogy gem who will be joining us here on Genealogy Gems on a regular basis to help guide us through the murky waters of DNA research in easy to understand, and FUN terms.   Ancestry is shutting down 5 areas of their business In a recent media conference call Ancestry gave us the heads up that the next day they were going to announce the closures, and those of us on the call had the opportunity to ask questions before the announcement. While the spin is that they want to focus their efforts "in a way that provides the most impact, while also delivering the best service and best product experience to users" It is clear that these businesses were not their most profitable. It makes good business sense, and we certainly do want Ancestry to remain profitable so that it can remain in business. But that doesn't mean it won't be painful for many customers. The 5 areas shutting down are: Genealogy.com MyFamily MyCanvas LegacyDNA (y-DNA and mtDNA tests will be retired),  English version of Mundia These closures definitely did cause some pain with their customers, and I know that includes many of you listening right now. In fact I started receiving emails almost immediately that morning that Ancestry went public with this, and many of you also posted your comments on the  which I invited you to do in the newsletter article I sent out. In that article I told you that one of the most surprising moment in the conference call was when the Ancestry execs on the call were asked if the DNA samples that customer submitted, particularly those samples of deceased relatives) could be returned so as to be further processed by other companies.  The answer: No.  When pressed if they would allow customers to upgrade tests run on those samples before they were destroyed (yes, they made it very clear they will be destroyed) the answer was that well...they hadn't really thought about that. Leave it to genealogists to ask the important questions, and my hope is that Ancestry will take this question to heart before the closing date of September 5, 2014.  , and click through on the area you are interested in to get more answers to questions about the closures.  My impression during the call was that they were caught off guard a bit by the push back from those of us on the call regarding the DNA samples. Ancestry is focused on profitability - and I don't blame them for that, they are in business. If they don't remain profitable they go out of biz and we all lose. It probably wasn't as easy for them to think through the impact on every day family historians because some if not many of the top execs (and I've met them – they are nice people) are not genealogists. So first I want to share with you some of the comments I’ve received, and then I will give you some of my personal opinions on the subject.   Please click image to visit our Sponsor: & tell them you heard about them on The Genealogy Gems Podcast!   Comments from You: Graham in Australia writes: "This morning I found the following Ancestry DNA announcement in my email and felt the need to immediately respond. No sooner had I sent my response and your newsletter arrived on this very subject. I thought you might be interest in my response as I am sure there will be many people out there who will be similarly betrayed. I paid out some $250 in 2009 to have my Y-DNA test done with them knowing that this was going to be a long term investment to possibly find matches. I am glad Ancestry don't hand my superannuation savings. To ancestry: I am disgusted that ancestry is taking this action. You appear to only be after short term gains rather than the long term which is where the strength of DNA testing resides. In 2009 I invested in my Y-DNA test knowing that this will likely take several years to yield useful paternal match results which was the main thrust behind doing the tests. I don't know who is my biological paternal grandfather and have through the matching facility I have been in contact with the closest person yet and while quite distant it has given me some direction and hope that a match can be found in the future. Your action to remove this has just killed that possibility.  I for one will not be considering taking any autosomal tests with you as this will likely be dumped sometime in the near future." Roxanne in Oregon writes: "I am very upset with Ancestry.com and their comments about not returning DNA (Y & mt) samples or giving the opportunity to upgrade the test. Could this be just the beginning?  I understand about “business” but their policy of “destruction” is not acceptable.  This seems to violate a code of ethics that we have all come to rely on when giving samples to further science as well as our own research.  Who knows what the future will hold after we are long gone? Surely our DNA samples will become more helpful as testing becomes more acute. At the very least samples should be able to be transferred to another DNA lab, even if one needs to pay for it.   Who can we write letters to at Ancestry.com and at what address? Maybe if they get enough response the policy of “destruction” will be re-analyzed."    Ken Chahine on June 12, 2014 in AncestryDNA Comments of note on the Ancestry follow up post: “Also, did anyone else notice that they mentioned that many of the samples are past shelf life? How does FTDNA guarantee 25 yrs of maintaining our samples?” “What I’m a little less clear on is why you’re just deleting the results off the website. Can’t you simply archive them so that they’re viewable? Does it really take that much effort or bandwidth to simply let me see my mtDNA haplogroup?” “BUT I have to question how committed you are to my research when you delete a valuable tool that I paid you for.” Susan on the Genealogy Gems Podcast fan page on Facebook: “Ancestry.com should NOT destroy the DNA! Especially for persons now deceased. They should make every effort to return samples if people ask for them by a specific date. I guess they're thinking about liability issues and bogus requests but I'm sure they can figure out a way to ascertain that the person asking is related to the DNA.” From Tom: Facebook page and online petition to persuade Ancestry.com not to destroy their YDNA and mtDNA samples and data. "Stop Ancestry.com's DNA Dump"    Lisa's opinion on all of this: It comes down to personal responsibility and forward thinking I think it's a mistake not to offer alternatives to their customers for retention of the samples. However, I always preach to you, my listeners that you need to retain control of all that is important to you and be responsible. We must be responsible and not put it in someone else's hands. When you test (particularly an older relative), you should save a sample and keep it in your lock box at home if it matters to you. I'm sympathetic to all involved because this is new territory and it's easy to miss thinking through the ramifications. But it's just like I recommend that you never use Ancestry as their one and only tree. Post your tree, that's fine, but retain the master on a database on your own computer, and then back up your computer! Finally, I think offering only autosomal is trendy rather than a true comprehensive product tool for the genealogist. I just published some excellent "Getting Stared" DNA Guides in my website store for this very reason. No test and no company is right for everyone. So in my opinion Ancestry is now no longer offering a true complete DNA service to genealogists. They are capitalizing on a trend. This is just my personal opinion of course. Linda writes: "I just purchased a dna kit from Ancestry.  Knowing now that they are discontuing that part of the program, can I send sample elsewhere?  Suggestions of what, where, how to get this done?” Lisa's Answer: If it were me, I would probably get a refund and start fresh with FamilyTreeDNA. Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast episode 92 includes an interview with their founder Bennett Greenspan. Also, we in our store that are excellent resources: Getting Started: Genetics for the Genealogist Y Chromosom DNA for the Genealogist Randy in Seattle was concerned about another one of the businesses Ancestry is dropping MyCanvas: “I just got a notice that Ancestry is dropping it’s MyCanvas service.  I can understand not wanted to invest a lot into trying to keep it up to date with other printing services.  However, they are not only dropping the service, they are doing it in less than 3 months, all content will be deleted, there is no way to export the existing projects, and there is no alternative service to which all the work which has gone into existing projects can be transferred.   I am a long time Ancestry member and a follower of your podcasts and web page.  Generally I defend ancestry against a lot the complaints people have about them but this is pretty disheartening news for me.  I have puts 100’s of hours into creating a number of ancestry projects and having a printed copy is not the same as having the electronic version available to update and get a new updated print. Do you have any suggestions on how to make concerns known to ancestry, and do you think there is any possibility of getting them to modify their plans.  I would be happy with finding some place or way to download the electronic projects and would at least appreciate more time to get my existing projects finished and printed, especially those I am creating for extended family who will want time to review and print their own copies.” Lisa’s Answer: Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. You can visit their original blog post on the subject . Leave a comment on that particular post - they are monitoring it. You can also click through on the MyCanvas link for more info. You can also tweet them on Twitter at @ancestry As to an alternative, personally I use Lulu.com. While it is not a genealogy site, it is excellent and print on demand publishing (books, photo books, calendars, etc.) They have been around quite a while and publishing is all they do, so I expect them to be around for a long time to come. Katharine in Ohio is also going to miss MyCanvas wrote: “My heart sank when I received the email from Ancestry.com about their MyCanvas section retiring. I just printed another chart as a wedding gift and have a couple more in the works. The service was just what I wanted, easy to work with, prompt and provided a beautiful product for a reasonable price. I've heard of Heartland and will investigate them. Can anyone else recommend places to have charts printed?” Lisa recommends:   Please click image to visit our Sponsor: & tell them you heard about them on The Genealogy Gems Podcast!   GEM: Diahan Southard, Your DNA Guide Diahan Southard has worked with the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, and has been in the genetic genealogy industry since it has been an industry. She holds a degree in Microbiology and her creative side helps her break the science up into delicious bite-sized pieces for you. She's the author of our DNA guides

Get ready to lay a foundation in your knowledge of Colonial American genealogy research. Beth Foulk is here to walk us through early immigration to America, Indentured Servitude and Bondage, and the records and resources that can help you locate your ancestors from this time period. But first... NEWS: Lisa's youngest daughter Hannah got married last weekend!    NGS 2014 Conference in Richmond VA In addition to teaching conference classes Lisa teamed up with Maureen Taylor (The Photo Detective) and Janet Hovorka (Family ChartMasters) to provide “Genealogy Outside the Box” free 30 minute sessions in the exhibit hall. Stay tuned for more announcements of more sessions at future genealogy conferences! New Newspaper Collection The National Library of Australia has added an additional 35 historic newspapers to their online collection at . The greatest concentration of newspapers in this latest update is from New South Wales. Most of the new additions cover the date range from about 1875 to 1960, with many in the 1910 to 1945 era. Most of the additions appear to be from small towns. Hat tip to Paul Nauta at FamilySearch     MAILBOX: From Chris on Family Relics: "I loved your comments on "most treasure family relic" in the latest podcast. I'm very fortunate to have pictures and artifacts from my mother's side, but unfortunately I know very little about my dad's side and have only a few things. I could relate to the woman whose answer was "nothing".   One consolation for me has been a few little things I could find out with just a little digging. I   Finding the things I mentioned at least lets me stand in the shoes of my ancestors and imagine life in that place and at that time. It's not as nice as a "relic", but it brings them to life as real people. I think that's important in genealogy as well. Love the podcast!" Judy writes to as a follow up to the Google Earth for Genealogy Webinar “I was so excited about your workshop. Legacy presenters are good but you are among their best. In fact I received an email from my friend: After watching today's webinar and seeing the gal search the GLORecords for land patents I tried for William Breeding.  S C O R E ! ! ! ! !  I had tried searching for land patents for William Breeding in the past with no success. My great results are due to finally getting confirmation that it is William Jackson Breeding for sure and watching this gal search today. Thanks for the heads up on this webinar!!!” Watch  at the Genealogy Gems website.   Barbara is Shocked: "I really enjoy your podcasts, and was listening to your latest one when your piece about not so happy memories really struck a chord with me.  I recently asked for the file of my Great Uncle from the Australian War Memorial.  He was in World War I in France.  I found that he had been charged with desertion and sent to goal( (jail)!  What a shock, and I don’t think many of the family know a lot about it.  Reading through the transcript of the court marshal and the history of this time of the war, it was pretty clear he was a young man in shock after seeing several of his fellow soldiers die,  who did not know what to do.  He got separated from his troop and wandered around for a couple of days until he found another company and was arrested.  Later he got TB and this probably shortened his life.  A sad story, and during my research, I found that 306 Commonwealth solders were shot for desertion.  It is quite a controversial part of our history as (thank goodness) the Australian Army refused to allow any of its soldiers to be executed, and this caused some issues with the English officers. A new law passed on November 8th 2006 and included as part of the Armed Forces Act in the UK has pardoned men in the British and Commonwealth armies who were executed in World War I. The law removes the dishonour with regards to executions on war records but it does not cancel out the sentence of death.  I have decided not to put any of the information online, but keep it in the family archives.  Anyone in the family who decides to go looking will find it at the war memorial site, but my uncle did not marry or have children, so that does seem to lessen the impact." Barbara also asks for your help: I am trying to track down the family of an Australian sailor from WWI who wrote some lovely postcards.  I bought them at a garage sale several years ago, and have only just got around to reading them.  I would really love to give them to the family, as they are very touching. Here is what I know from them: The writer was on board the SS Gilgai in December 1915 to February 1916, traveling from St Vincent, Cape Verde to Boston, USA. He was not the captain or 2nd officer, as these are referred to in the postcards He refers to someone, possibly a son in Australia, as Jack He refers to his wife always as My Darling Girlie He had a friend on the SS Calulu He may have been in charge of the offloading of cargo or the engines. He bought his wife a trinket made of seeds and a table centrepiece while overseas (perhaps they are still in the family?) I can be contacted via my blog Genealogy Boomerangs if any listeners have information. Any help you can give would be appreciated, and thanks again for the great podcasts, I love hearing about all your travels and experiences.    Welcome  to our new sponsor: MyHeritage.com! This episode is also sponsored by RootsMagic. Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for supporting this FREE podcast!   GEM: Colonial Research with Beth Foulk Look for the bibliography on her website:  During the 1600s and 1700s three-quarters of all immigrants were indentured servants and another 50-60,000 were convicts "transported" to America and sold into "slavery" on the plantations of Maryland & Virginia as their sentence for the crime. The conditions in England were abysmal, and for many this was the only out of a broken social system that had failed them. Beth discusses: The social conditions in England The social construct that gave rise the culture of indenture Who was indentured? (male, female, young, rural) The two types of indenture. (self and spiriting (kidnapping) What life was like once in service in America.  The length of term and life thereafter. The social conditions that gave rise to the shipping of convicts to America (this was before Australia became a penal colony) The black market business of shipping convicts to America.  Who did this and why? How was it done? The Transportation Act of 1718 and the attempt to regulate this business. What life was like on board the ship. What the selling or auction process was like. What life was like in America as a "transported convict" Who was transported (not all convicts) Records  1718: The Transportation Act is passed, which included: 1.    Who could be shipped 2.    Surgeon must be on board 3.    Dictated the number of convicts that could be on board Definitions: Bondage (aka Convict in England)   Question:  Where can the genealogist look to identify if their ancestor was indentured or in bondage?  Answer:  The Old Bailey Online – London’s Central Criminal Court 1674 - 1913 (free)  Full transcripts of every court hearing during this time period From the website: “The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913 A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court. If you are new to this site, you may find the Getting Started and Guide to Searching videos and tutorials helpful.” Also look for: Runaway records Newspapers of the time. Books of transcripts and abstracts of runaway notices (These could include a physical description) The pre-eminent authority: Author Peter Wilson Coldham Books in Amazon  Other possible records for Indentured: Contract (very rare) Land Records Probate Deed Church (references to “Servant”) Other possible records for Convicts: Census (if your ancestor is the only one with that last name in the area,that could be a clue they were a convict) There were also Political Prisoners. Look for Diary or Transcripts Visit Beth’s website: Go to “Indentured and Convicts” blog posts Email Beth at beth@genealogydecoded.com SONG: The Death of Wolfe (Song used with permissions from Archiving Early America website) Come all ye young men all, let this delight you, Cheer up ye, young men all, let nothing fright you, Never let your courage fail when you're brought to trial, Nor let your fancy move at the first denial. So then this gallant youth did cross the ocean, To free America from her invasion, He landed at Quebec with all his party, The city to attack, being brave and hearty. The French drew up their men, for death prepared. In one another's face the armies stared, While Wolfe and Montcalm together walked, Between their armies they like brothers talked. Each man then took his past at their retire. So then these numerous hosts began to fire, The cannon on each side did roar like thunder, And youths in all their pride were torn asunder. The drums did loudly beat, colors were flying, The purple gore did stream and men lay dying, When shot off from his horse fell this brave hero, And we lament his loss in weeds of sorrow. The French began to break, their ranks were flying, Wolfe seemed to revive while he lay dying, He lifted up his head as his drums did rattle, And to his army said, How goes the battle? His aide-de-camp replied, Tis in our favor, Quebec, with all her pride, nothing can save her, She falls into our hands with all her treasure, Oh then, brave Wolfe replied, I die with pleasure. Watch the video:  By the Colonial Williamsburg YouTube channel For more inspiration and information .   CLOSING: Why You Do Genealogy In the Feb newsletter I shared a video where I explain why I do family history, and asked all of you to share what motivates you on the Genealogy Gems Podcast Facebook page. Here’s what some of you had to say: Paul wrote: "To start with my Aunt gave me 2,000+ names when I was baptized as she knew the Church members do a lot of genealogy. Many of the stories I found were interesting. But I also got to know my father who was killed about 7 months before I was born." Tim wrote: "Just the whole destiny thing. When I go back several generations, I wonder what IF he had never married her, what IF she had not moved to this town, met her husband, what IF they had stopped having kids just before my gggrandfather was born...etc. I am who I am and where I am because of decisions that were made long ago. Just kind of cool." Margaret: "Really nice video. I pursue my family history because I want to take myself back to THEIR time, find out what their lives were like, follow their journeys, trials, tribulations and day-to-day lives. Through census records, city directories and Sanborn maps I discovered my 2nd great grandpa lived around the corner from an ice-cream store in Savannah, with a dairy right behind it! How cool is that!" Peter: "I do research because I want to know who my family is, where they came from and what they did. After a 20 year search to solve one of my family line missing links I solved it and yelled whoo who, it felt so rewarding."  Margaret: "My mom had always described herself as a Heinz 57. I'm much more curious about just what/who had contributed to who I am. Having roots that reach into ancestors from Germany, England, Mexico and Spain by ways of RI, IN, TX and California make for interesting research!"

I’ve been enjoying time at home getting the new house decorated.  I have a wonderful sort of wall niche area in the living room that is perfect for a family history display, so the wheels are turning on what I want to do there. I’ve been pinning lots of ideas on Pinterest for that. And of course I’m getting in my time with my grandsons Davy and Joey. Now that Joey is a year and a half and running all over the place, it’s just playtime bedlam at Sha Sha’s house.  I'll be speaking in Round Rock, TX at the How to Reopen and Work a Genealogical Cold Case But soon May will be here and that means I’ll be heading to the National Genealogical Society Conference in Richmond Virginia. And we are going to do something very unique at NGS this year. In addition to my three scheduled presentations, we’ve got ourselves some extra booth space this year, and I’ll be giving what we are calling Outside the Box Sessions.  You know how it is, you head to a big conference, and you’re running for one 1 hour session to the next. And they are usually pretty big classrooms. Well, we are going to getting outside of that box, and holding 30 minute sessions in our booth area on the topics you’ve told me you want most. As presenters we don’t get to have the final say on which of our presentations is selected for the main conference, so it’s really exciting to have this unique way of offering the topics you ask us for. It’s   a smaller intimate setting, the sessions will be packed with tips you can start using right away, all participants will get a free ebook of the handouts for those quickie sessions, we’ll have prizes and you’ll even have some treats to nibble on. I am really excited about doing this, and I think you’ll find it refreshing, fun and informative.  I’ll doing four sessions – one each day of the conference Ancestral Time Travel with Google Earth Evernote Quick Tips for Genealogists Tablet Tips and Tricks for Genealogists Google Search Strategies And, I’ve invited two of my dearest friends, Janet Hovorka of Family Chartmasters, and The Photo Detective Maureen Taylor to join me and present some of their most popular topics!  So in all, you’ll have a dozen ½ hour sessions to choose from to reinvigorate your genealogy research. If you want to get outside the box, come hand out with us, get the ebook, nibble on some treats and get away from the huge crowds.   New Videos at the Genealogy Gems YouTube Channel:    with Drew Smith  with Brian Edwards  With Michael Cassara A conversation with long time Genealogy Gems listener Michael Cassara who presented a session at RootsTech this year and I thought it was so interesting I asked him to sit down with me to talk more about it. Michael shares one of the ways that he likes to give back to the genealogy community. He buys old inexpensive photographs and does his best to track down family members today and get those ancestors back in to the hands of their families. And he shares some of techniques he uses to do that which you could certainly use in your own family history research. MJ watched the video and left this comment: “I sooo agree with the karma of sharing our genealogy and our photos. I love the Find a Grave / BillionGrave photo idea. And I know myself about good karma. I found some studio photos of a distant relative, contacted a direct descendant and sent the photos to him. He wrote back and said "my Dad looks just like his grandmother, and never knew it before! And what a gift for my son." A few weeks later a postcard collector wrote me and asked if I wanted postcards sent by my grandfather. You bet! She sent 3 envelopes full with photos of my grandparents, my great grandparents and possibly my great great grandmother as well as aunts, uncles and cousins. I had never seen most of them before. What a gift.” Go to and  watch the video and leave your comment about your experiences.   Not all Family History is Happy Memories In what seems to be the exact opposite of the usual obituary you come across as you are searching through newspapers, The Blaze reported that a Reno newspaper has removed an obituary supposedly submitted by children glad their mother was dead. The obituary was published in the Reno Gazette-Journal last September in acknowledgement of the death of Marianne Theresa-Johnson Reddick. “Marianne Theresa Johnson- Reddick born Jan 4, 1935 and died alone on Sept. 30, 2013. She is survived by her 6 of 8 children whom she spent her lifetime torturing in every way possible. While she neglected and abused her small children, she refused to allow anyone else to care or show compassion towards them. When they became adults she stalked and tortured anyone they dared to love. Everyone she met, adult or child was tortured by her cruelty and exposure to violence, criminal activity, vulgarity, and hatred of the gentle or kind human spirit…” Read more: Nobody’s family is perfect. Certainly mine isn’t. But I do think that one of the incredible things that Family history can do is shed light on the truth, and provide the power to change things for the next generation and make a difference. I’ll never forget back in probably about 2008, early on when I first started speaking at conferences regularly, I was at a Family History expo in the exhibit hall, and a local man, who appeared to be homeless, came in to the public hall, and he was absolutely distraught and angry about the pain he endured at the hands of his family, and he was hurt and deeply angry to see the family history expo being held there. In the end security guards helped lead him away, and I felt so sad for him because he was obviously in incredible pain, and he most likely didn’t have the ability or resources to actually reap some of the benefits that come from learning about your history, your whole family’s history. Not just the line of people who got way off track and caused pain, but as we know there are infinite lines out there, and there’s a lot to learn from all of them, so that history does not repeat itself. And just as importantly, that we have the opportunity to discover the gems in our tree, the unsung heroes, people who did do a good job and contributed to society. In the end, we get to pick who we admire, and we get to decide those areas that we will not perpetuate. After all, if our history stays in the dark, it is apt to look and feel even larger and scarier, but it is also apt to repeat itself. I’d love to hear from you on this subject. You don’t to share specifics. But how has learning more about your family history empowered you. And if you think it has caused harm, I’d like to know more about that too. Finally, to wrap up this segment before we get to the mailbox, I just want to send out a big thank you to some very nice folks out there in the genealogy community.   Evernote for Genealogists Thanks Yous As you probably know by now we published our Evernote for Genealogists quick reference guides, and I just want to take a moment to thank the wonderful bloggers out there who helped spread the word about these 4 page cheat sheets. A big thank you to: Thomas MacEntee: “You know what I love about these guides on Evernote? They are easy-to-use, the information is laid out in a format that makes it easy to find what you need, and it truly is something you can keep referring to as you work your way through Evernote and its features.” Randy Seaver, Amy Coffin of the “I hate to sound like a salesperson, but I found this quick guide to be helpful and extremely easy to read. The tables are concise and the lists of quick keys are impressive. This guide is a keeper.” Renee Zamora of Sue Maxwell, James Tanner, “I had been using extensively for quite some time. But was faced with dilemma when the program began to evolve rapidly. I simply lost touch with all the features being added and did not understand why I ran out of storage space and was shut down when I didn't purchase some upgrade. So, I transferred what I was doing on Evernote and used alternative products. So, solely because of this handy guide, I now understood the product. I already had the program on all my devices so transitioning back is as simple as clicking. What I needed clarified was how the program functioned vis a vis the difference between the "free" version and the "paid" version. With that out of the way, I am back in the Evernote use realm. Now, I probably could have figured out all the stuff from the Evernote website, but this made it easier for me to get going and actually do something.” Thanks again to all the bloggers who took the time to give the guides a test run. They are available in our store both for Windows and for Mac. Genealogy Gems Premium Members can enjoy several Evernote videos as part of Premium Membership: How the Genealogist can Remember Everything with Evernote (Beginner) How to Organize Your Research with Evernote (Intermediate) Making Evernote Effortless (Intermediate) BRAND NEW!   New RootsMagic Video Our long time podcast sponsor RootsMagic just published a new video I think you’ll be very interested in. It’s called Importing an Ancestry Family Tree into RootsMagic. Have you been wondering how to do this?  Well, now they have a short video that will show you how.  Currently this is limited to trees that you are the owner / manager, since Ancestry doesn't appear to allow downloading a tree belonging to someone else. You’ll find the MAILBOX: From Jane in Edmonton, Alberta: “Need your advice (as I am sure do thousands of others!!) First of all, let me take time to let you know how much I am enjoying my subscriptions to your Genealogy Gems and your podcasts.  I purchased subscriptions at the Alberta Genealogy Conference in Edmonton last year, and have been thoroughly enjoying them. I am still very much a genealogy novice.  I have dabbled on Ancestry for a number of years, but have never really had time to devote properly.  Last year I decided to try to get a little more serious, and joined the local Genealogy Society, and having retired in December, I finally feel like I should be back on this in earnest, and am wondering if you could give me some needed advice. I love Ancestry.ca, and have also dabbled in Scotland's People, the free BMD Index out of England, and of course, Family Search with the LDS.  I am finding, however, that I often end up wandering around in circles and mazes as one thing leads to another, and another, and ...   I am sure you know what I am talking about.  I'm now wondering if I would be best to take it one person at a time - to find out as much as I can about that person in that point of time, before going on to another.  I seem to be jumping back and forth between my Dad's family, my Mom's family, their families, etc. until there are times that I find myself at a certain point, only to wonder "Where was I going with this?"   I have started trying to make notes about facts as I spot them, but setting them aside to continue on the current charted course, but find that I end up hopelessly out of order and just as lost. Any advice as to how to attack this would be appreciated more than you can imagine!  I am afraid that, sadly, I am one of those individuals who is now wishing I had asked more questions when I was younger, as I am now the "older" generation, and so am relying on my own memories of stories told by my parents and grandparents back when I was young enough that I'm not sure I paid attention.  I do have four siblings, but when I speak to them, I often wonder if we all grew up in the same family, as their remembered timelines differ greatly on some events than my own.” You are not along in this genealogical dilemma! It's easy to let the records start to take over and lead you around. One way to combat that is to set a genealogical goal - define what it is you want to know. It might be something very specific about a particular ancestor, or it might just be to fill in the blanks on one particular family. Early in my research focused on one grandparent, and working backwards, I would strive to fill in all the blanks on that person, then their parents, then their siblings. I wouldn't "leave" that family until I felt that I had filled in as much of the family group sheet as possible. In fact, we have sort of lost track of the "family group sheet" in this technological age. But it is an excellent tool for keeping you on track and focused on the blanks that need to be filled. An additional strategy is to have a process for dealing with information that comes your way that is a bit off track. Often we feel like we have to pursue it or we'll lose it. I like to use Evernote (free at ) to capture data that I'm not ready to deal with right now, but definitely want to pursue later. I create an Evernote "notebook" for that family surname, and a note book called "future research". Drag and drop "Future Research" onto the family surname notebook which will create a "stack."  Now you can create notes and drop them into the "Future Research" notebook which is inside the applicable family. Add tags to your note like "newspaper," "death record," etc. and some good searchable keywords so that the note will be easy to find when you need it. Now you can capture the item, file it away, and stay focused on the task at hand. If you would like to learn more about how to use Evernote for genealogy I have a quick reference guide (PDF) in my store that will work wonders in keeping you organized.   From Mary Jane in KY “Thank you Lisa, I received your ebook fine, and now have it installed on my desktop. I've been watching a lot of your videos, have watched the ones where you had interviews at Rootstech. Each day I watched on my computer, the selected Rootstech programs as they were presented. Last week our Kentucky Genealogical Society and Kentucky Historical Society had an all day Saturday viewing of 10 of the programs given out there.  It was a special program that the Kentucky Historical Society and Kentucky Genealogical Society were chosen to participate in viewing - called a Family History Fair. Your program was one of them - How to Use YouTube for Family History: Setting Up Your Own YouTube Channel. And all those syllabi were available for us to print in advance. We had 135 people to attend.  We were very privileged and it was much appreciated by a large crowd of people. You are such a pretty gal, with a bubbly personality. Kiss those babies for me.  I've just become a great grandmother. I really enjoy your Genealogy Gems, have received your newsletters for several years, but I don't use anything but the computer. It's something about the older generation not being able to learn all these other gadgets.” You can watch free videos from the RootsTech 2014 genealogy conference at   From Steve in Cedar Falls, Iowa This is all your fault :) Yes, this is your fault! That sounds ominous, but this is a good thing! I say your fault because you are the one who encouraged me, on your blog, to start blogging about family history. I started two blogs- one for the paternal side and one for the maternal side. The paternal blog is and the maternal blog is  . My intent was to create a place where family could see the family history that I had found. But something else happened in addition to this intent. A guy in New York came across my maternal blog and emailed me that he had something I might be interested in. It was about my third great grandfather who was born in Germany. Before he came to America, he was a part of a German colony in Guatemala. I knew that, but had no proof of when and where he married or even where in Germany he was from. This gentleman from New York is originally from Guatemala and is connected to my third great grandmother who was also part of this colony. He sent me a copy of an original church record from Guatemala giving the date they were married in Guatemala AND the name of the town in Germany that he was from and his date of birth. It gets better! The German town was named Rellinghausen. When I put Rellinghausen in Google Earth, it kept taking me to Recklinghausen. Now this Recklinghausen is just north of Essen which is the place that I thought the family was from, so it seemed reasonable to assume this was the place and it had been misspelled in the Guatemala document. I order LDS microfilms from Recklinhausen and found not even one instance of the name from 1816 to the 1840s! So, I ruled out Recklinghausen. Next I entered" Rellinghausen” into Wikipedia and found that Rellinghausen had been a separate town before 1910. In 1910, it was annexed by Essen! That’s why it was not showing up on Google Earth! Next step was to contact the diocese in Essen about possible records for this ancestor. With the help of Google Translate, I wrote to the diocese office (found with a Google search) and gave the name and date of birth for this third great grandfather. I received an email back from a church secretary who said she was sending it on to someone who might help. About two weeks later, I received an email from the parish priest from the church in what was once Rellinghausen. Attached was all of the birth information including parents. I probably would have never found this otherwise! So, yes, this is all your fault and I’m VERY happy to blame you! Thanks so very much for the encouragement!” Lisa’s Answer: What an incredible story! I will happily take the blame for any part of it. :-) Google Books Tip: Be sure to search Google Books specifically for "Rellinghausen" "happekotte". A few interesting things in there. Google Translate Tip: And remember that using Google Translate will change "happekotte" as well as prevent you from seeing some snippets on books not fully available. So you'll want to search both in German and English. Steve’s Reply: “Thank you for the additional ideas for searching. The ideas that you put out there on your podcasts, the contacts someone makes through a blog, looking at possible clues in other public trees on Ancestry ALL go to show you that genealogy is much more fun and much more successful when it involves collaboration. Thanks again.” - Steve   From Carol: “I’m new into genealogy.  I’ve worked on my maternal grandfather’s side of the tree and had some success.  Yay!   Now I’m trying to work on my maternal grandmother’s side and it is more difficult.   I seem to be generating a lot more paper and search theories this time.   Is there anything out there that is a  digital basic checklist.   Something that you can check off - like census, birth record, death record, etc. Love all your Evernote tips!” Free Records Checklists and Forms: Family Tree Magazine  Ancestry.com    From Kris: “The last few months, I've begun packing up our house in Santa Clara, CA for a major life change.  This requires dividing up our 'worldly possessions' into 2 parts (one for France and one for our US home, which will be in Florida).  I spent whole days listening to your pod casts (via the app which I love on my iPhone 4s) and made it back to 2011.  Your pod casts are wonderful and as the family genealogist (for mine and my husband's family), listening to you gave me renewed energy during the long, tedious days of packing.  It occurred to me that after all this effort, I will have much more time to work on my family histories and pursue the huge file I have titled "needs further research." My favorite podcast moments thus far are:  listening to your moving challenges as you relocated to Texas  (misery loves company : ), the guest who stated that it is 'not advised' to shred original documents after digitizing them, the 'Flip Pal' interview, the daunting task of catching up on technology and the learning curve that comes with that, and your suggestions for all of us to make the family names and dates more interesting, in order to get other family members excited about our family history. Thank you for all you do for genealogists!  I met you once at our local library where you gave your Google class, and hope we cross paths again.  In the meantime, be kind to yourself.  Get well soon!   WEDDING IDEAS From Kirsty: “I have some very happy news. I got engaged last week, a very happy time for us. I remember you had talked about a family reunion sometime in the past , and I wonder if you had any tips of getting family history information out of my family while there are all at the wedding.” Lisa’s Answer: Congratulations on your engagement! How exciting. I've been busy planning my youngest daughter's wedding. She's getting married in May. I would suggest searching family reunion websites for ideas you can convert to a wedding reception. A search of Google and Pinterest.com should help you locate them. If you have  your guests seated at tables, that's a great opportunity to provide an icebreaker that can double as a family history gathering opportunity. You could have a form at each place setting for them to fill out. If you are having a videographer, you could have a short list of questions at each table, and when he comes to their table he records them answering the questions. (What's your earliest child hood memory?  Who's the earliest ancestor you have a photograph of? What are three things you remember about Great Grandmother? Etc.) If you they won't be at tables, you could have a family history table (next to another table they are likely to visit such as guest book table) and have your activity there. Let them know that this is their gift to you. You could even have some sort of treat or little sticker they can wear that says "I shared the family history, have you?" (In the U.S. when you vote they often give you a little lapel sticker that says "I voted.")  Or you could create the "Sweet Memories Candy Bars" that feature family history that I write about in my book

The Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 13 Originally Published 2007 Remastered March 2014 By Lisa Louise Cooke   From the MAILBOX Hello Lisa: I have just finished listening to your podcast on tracing family members through school records. You mentioned some sources to research. Many years ago I came across a list or resources to be found in the home. I still have the photocopy I made,  but it does not say who originally created it. I believe I found it at my local LDS.  Anyway since putting it on my site, I and others who have come to that page have added to it. I really like your show and look forward to receiving your newsletter. Allan Scahill   GEM:   Memorial Day & WW II Service Records With the month of May comes Memorial Day, and in Episode Thirteen I thought it would be a good time to do a quick check for some military records.   If you have relatives who served in World War II here are a couple of free ‘must check’ websites for you. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA): The WWII enlistment records for the years of 1938 through 1946 are listed on the NARA website.  These records contain the majority of enlistments, approximately nine million men and women who enlisted in the U.S. Army, including the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.  What I like about the NARA records is that they include the Army Serial Number, which I’ve not seen on the Ancestry version of the records.  And of course they are free at the NARA website.  They also have searchable WWII Prisoner of War Records. Another great website for searching for soldiers traveling overseas or returning home after the war is . I hadn’t thought of searching for traveling soldiers until I heard Steve Morse speak about it at a recent seminar.   As soon as I got home from the seminar, I used his form and immediately found my Great Uncle Elzie returning home on the Ile de France after being injured in the D-Day invasion.  With the availability of New York passenger lists up to 1957, many new research doors have been opened. If you’d like more information or historical background on Memorial Day, visit the .   GEM:  Family History Books By now you may have seen my videos A Nurse In Training Part 1 & Part 2 on A Nurse In Training didn’t actually start out as a video but rather a book.  I have found that by breaking up my research into digestible chunks of time and self-publishing them in hard cover books my extended family is able to understand and enjoy our family’s history. I started self-publishing about a year ago.  We don’t live close to our families, so Christmas gifts have to be purchased ahead of time and shipped.  Family history books turned out to be a fantastic way to start sharing some of my research findings in an affordable way that could be easily mailed. In the past I’ve sent CDs full of photos and documents. But in the end I think they were a bit overwhelming to the non-genealogists in the family. I think there are many reasons for this: Computer CDs are perceived as something technical and hard to use.   The material is chopped up, and individual photos and documents don’t tell a particular story smoothly and easily. I think they’re also perceived as very time consuming.  Folks just don’t feel like they have the time to sit down and really give it the attention it deserves.  Also, many people find reading on a computer screen hard on the eyes.  The solution: a good old fashioned book!  Books are still hard to beat for telling a story in words and pictures in a user friendly way. But where to begin the story, and where to end it?  That’s the big question!  The temptation is to tell the story of one generation of the family.  That’s usually just too big of a project to take on.  The book will likely end up being lots of dates and names and not a lot of room for much else.  And there’s always the risk that it won’t be completed if it’s too large an undertaking. I wanted my family to get to know these people in our family tree intimately.  That meant focusing in much closer than an entire generation of the family.  In the end, I started with my favorite ancestor:  my grandmother.  I’ve transcribed many years of her diaries as I talked about in Episode Two.  One of the stories that really emerged out of them was her years spent in nurses training in the 1930s.  I learned so much through her journal entries, and I knew I had a good collection of photos from that period.     I decided that my starting point would be her graduation from high school and her decision to enter the nursing field.  By the time I had pulled everything together from 1930 to 1933, I had more than enough for a nice size book.  It’s really important to create your book with your audience in mind.  Your audience is your family member who will be reading the book.  Here are my Top Six Tips for making your book fascinating to your reader: #1 The Should Book Convey An Overall Theme Start by reviewing all the available material you have.  That will give you a good sense of what the time period was like for your ancestor.  You’ll also start to understand their goals, experiences, and emotions.  Ultimately a theme should begin to surface.  In the case of A Nurse In Training, I wanted to communicate my grandmother as a young woman taking on a new adventure away from home that ultimately led to this warm, caring woman’s successful career as a nurse.  I also tucked a bonus subplot in there of how she just happened to meet her husband at the same time! You don’t need every scrap of research and every photo to get this theme across.  It’s your job to be a sharp editor and to pick out the critical pieces.  You want the words and photographs that clearly communicate your theme to the reader. #2 Create a Book that can be Read in One Sitting Like it or not, if it takes too long read, they probably won’t.  Strive to create a book that doesn’t look intimidating.  I create books that are ten to twenty double sided pages.  People will be willing to pick up a thinner book off the coffee table.  If it’s well done they’ll find that all of a sudden they’ve finished the entire book without wanting to put it down.  The final goal is that they will walk away with a real sense of having gotten to know that ancestor. #3 Your Book Should Contain the Best of What You Have This goes back to conveying the theme and being a strict editor.  My grandma had many funny stories, but there just wasn’t room for all of them.  I picked the best of the best.  Anyone who reads the book should hopefully come away with the fact that she had a sense of humor and could laugh at herself.  So keep the content of your book focused, full of graphics and photos, and including the best of the best.  If you can capture their interest in the first three pages, you’ll have them for the entire book. #4 Include Lots of Photos and Graphics A picture is definitely worth a thousand words.  Since the number of words in this size book will be limited, photographs will be your best friend.  If you’re lacking in family photos, many of my previous podcasts will give you countless ideas for locating associated photos.  In A Nurse In Training I included scanned images of skating rink tickets, programs and announcements from my grandma’s scrapbook, and journal pages in my grandmother’s own hand.  These types of items really add texture and interest to your book, as well as help the reader to see that you’ve really done your homework. #5 Keep It in Chronological Order This may seem obvious, but it’s easy to get side tracked and start going back and forth in time.  Believe me, for the reader’s sake keep things in chronological order. You as the researcher know this information backwards and forwards, but this is probably your reader’s first exposure to it.  Be gentle with them and keep it straight forward and simple.  Your reader will thank you. #6 Go for High Quality High quality glossy pages, good image quality and a hard cover binding all shout to the reader “I’m worth your time, read me!”  For example, I found a drawing of Dameron Hospital where my grandmother worked, but it was a low quality image and didn’t translate well in the book.  As much as I wanted to include it, I ended up leaving it out. I’m glad I did; it wasn’t critical to the book and there were other ways to communicate the hospital to the reader. Keeping these tips in mind, let’s talk about how to publish your own family history book. I create my books in the Kodakgallery which is now Shutterfly at . There are several websites out there offering the ability to publish your own book.  I chose Kodakgallery because the program was very easy to use, the price was competitive, publishing and shipping time was FAST, and the quality was excellent.  I saw a book that a friend of mine published of his father’s World War II service years and it was gorgeous.  Again, quality is really key. Hopefully, these books will become family keepsakes and you’ll want them to be the highest quality possible. I use the Classic Photo Book style which is 9” x 10-1/4" in size and includes ten double sided pages for a total of twenty pages, but you can certainly add more.  It comes in a hardcover that you can do in linen fabric, smooth matte or leather.  It also includes a window in the front cover that you can see your first photo through.  I really like that feature because it never fails to capture people’s curiosity and entice them to pick up the book and take a look. They also have a larger Legacy Photo book which is 12” x 14”.  This is the size my friend used that worked really well because he was including large images of newspaper pages about the war. I’m going to walk you through the steps of setting up a book in Kodak Gallery because it’s a resource I feel very comfortable recommending.  But again, there are other options out there, and my guess is that the publishing process would be pretty similar.  I have provided a Kodak Gallery link for you at my website at GenealogyGems.TV on the STORE page.  If you decide to use Kodak, I would really appreciate you accessing it through this link because it will help support the production costs associated with producing this podcast.   In the Photo Books area of the website, click CREATE BOOK. The first thing you’ll do is choose a cover material for your book.  I used black leather for A Nurse In Training which is really nice and has a light sheen to it.  It is $10 more than linen or matte.  I created a Guest Book for my daughter’s wedding where the right side pages were photos of the happy couple and the left side pages had space for guests to sign and write notes.  I used linen for that cover in the color “baby pink” and really liked that as well.  Ultimately, I think it comes down choosing a cover style that compliments the theme and contents of the book.  Once you’ve made your selection, click the NEXT button. You will then need to choose a page design for your book.  For A Nurse in Training I used the design “Time After Time.”  It has a lovely antique look.  Go ahead and pick one you like.  Don’t worry, you can always change the page design any time before you make your final purchase.  When you’re ready, click NEXT. This will bring up a box asking if you want to auto fill your book with photos you’ve already uploaded to the website, or if you want to add them page by page.  If this is your first book, I think page by page is the way to go. Now you’re getting to the fun stuff: adding content to your book.  Anywhere you see a text box you just click inside of it and start typing.  The space for text can be somewhat limited though, so always preview your pages to be sure you didn’t lose any text. To upload photos look below the image of the book and click the UPLOAD PHOTOS link.  You can browse your hard drive and select the photos and images you want to include.  On the publishing page your photos will appear beneath the book.  Just grab the photo and drop it into the DRAG PHOTO HERE box where you want it to appear.  You can preview the pages as you go by clicking PREVIEW right below the book spine.  Images can be adjusted with zoom & arrow movement features. Keep clicking next page until you have filled all the pages.  Each page layout can be altered by clicking the CHOOSE PAGE LAYOUT button in the upper corner of the page.  Using a variety of layouts can add a lot of interest to your book.  Ultimately you’ll be selecting the layouts that accommodate your images and text.  Don’t be afraid of leaving white space on pages.  It makes the book easier to read and enjoy.  Another nice feature of the book is the cover page.  Select a good, clear, preferably simple photo of your subject for the cover page.  It will be seen through a vellum page from the cover.  Under the photo you will want to put the title of your book, and on the second line add your name as author. On the backside of the cover page you will want to create your dedication page using a text only page layout.  Here’s an example of what you could write: First Sentene: State who the book's audience is Second Sentence: Give credit to those who contributed materials Third Sentence: STate your personal goal for the book, as well as your name and the year published. I gave copies of my book about my grandma to my mom and my uncle.  It was the first time in years that I’ve seen tears in my uncle’s eyes.  He loved it; no toaster or tie could have made a better Christmas gift.  The following Christmas I did a book about my father-in-laws WWII naval years and sent a copy to everyone on my husband’s side of the family.  In the months following as I received RSVPs for my daughter’s wedding they were still raving about the book and how much it meant to them.  More than anything, they were so surprised to realize how little they knew about their father’s patriotic service.  It’s a joy to create these books as well as to give them.  They’ve stimulated wonderful family conversations and I know they won’t end up in the next garage sale.  Remember: your research can be fascinating and understandable to others in your family.  It just takes a little creativity and effort.  What good is it sitting on a shelf?  Don’t wait until you are done with your research.  It will never happen.  Start putting pieces of your family history directly into your family’s hands with a beautiful family history book.

In this episode you'll hear what you've been missing and how to get it from the Ancestry Wiki. Also how to do a very specialized type of Google search you may have never tried, a French-Canadian genealogy resource, and more. Top 10 Reasons I Moved to Texas: 10. They have something here, it’s called weather 9. I live on an acre now so my neighbors don’t complain that they hear me over here talking to myself 8. There’s a Soft Surroundings store in Southlake! And a Pottery Barn, and a Coach purse store, and… 7. Genealogy Bloggers Amy Coffin and Caroline Pointer. If you know them, you understand 6. Wise County has just launched a new genealogy society and they wanted a speaker who lived less than three hours away 5. It’s been almost 10 years since I filmed a reality TV show out here, so I figure they’ve moved on. 4. My cat Ginger is from Texas and what she meows goes 3. After 18 years in California I finally get to have a pool in my backyard 2. They don’t have chicken fried steak  in California 1. My Grandsons - Davy and Joey!   A few years ago while attending a genealogy conference, I decided to conduct some on-the-fly interviews for The . I asked folks to tell me about the most prized family heirloom that they possessed.  I heard about everything from the door knob of a woman’s parent’s bridal suite, to the bedazzling flapper dress worn by a great grandmother. All were interesting, but I was stopped in my tracks when one woman looked at me with pain in her eyes and declared “I have nothing. Not a thing. My cousins destroyed everything.” It was a difficult concept to digest. As the acknowledged “keeper of the family history flame” in my family, I’ve been fortunate enough to have inherited an abundance of family heirlooms from both sides of my parent’s families. How sad it would be to have nothing concrete to hold in your hand; nothing to help you feel the generations that held the item before. Since that day I’ve remained inspired to help people find ways to track down information and artifacts that make up their family history. Time and time again, I’ve found that just when you thought there was nothing left to find, an item will resurface. The quote (surely based on the famous words uttered by Winston Churchill in 1940) is one I cling to when it comes to genealogy: “Never give up! Never surrender!”   This motto has never been so gloriously justified as it was recently when a woman from Indianapolis, Indiana received the surprise of a lifetime this Christmas.  The Purple Heart awarded to Pat Davis’ father, (a father she never met) was found recently and returned to her. Watch the compelling video below where the daughter holds the unearthed piece of family history in the palm of her hand.  Kyla wrote: "I had old photos and letters returned to me by a woman who found me on a genealogy message board. Her father had obtained them from my brothers who were throwing them away. It was like a miracle."   NEWS: RootsTech 2014 may have come to an end, but SCGS Jamboree is just around the corner I’m pleased to return this year to speak at the 45th Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree. This popular conference, hosted by The Southern California Genealogical Society, runs June 6 to 8, 2014 in Burbank, California, USA. The theme of the 2014 Jamboree is Golden Memories: Discovering Your Family History. It promises to pack tons of fun into a long weekend, as it always does. My classes on Friday and Saturday include: Who Needs Google Reader? Flip Out Over Genealogy Content with Flipboard! Learn how to use the free Flipboard app to turn your favorite genealogy web content into your own free customized digital magazine. You will flip over how fun and easy they are to create and share. Perfect for genealogists and societies! Ultimate Google Search Strategies for Genealogists Learn Google search techniques, tricks and tips to achieve better genealogical search results, and then elevate your search to a strategic level. Finally, see how all of this applies across the spectrum of free Google Tools. How to Create an Exciting Interactive Family History Tour with Google Earth. Learn to tell your ancestor’s story in a captivating multi-media way in Google Earth. Incorporate images, videos, genealogical documents, and historic maps and bring it all together in a virtual family history tour for sharing and research analysis. SCGS Jamboree 2014 welcomes 55 , over 60 , 134 for a variety of experience levels, and . Online registration is open on the , and the  is ready to take your reservation. Hope to see you there!    Genealogy Test Reveals Dad’s DNA Swapped in Artificial Insemination It’s not uncommon for genetic DNA tests to reveal that you’re not related to people you thought you were. But here’s a twist I’ve never heard before. A family who had a daughter by artificial insemination of the husband’s sperm eventually decided to do some DNA testing for family history. Imagine the wife’s shock when she discovered that her husband and daughter shared no DNA!  They got a bigger shock when they did a little research. Apparently the biological father worked at the lab that handled the family’s insemination process. The man is dead now, but it appears he may have deliberately swapped in his own sample for the father’s. Of course lots of questions have come up–including how many other children may have received the DNA of a man who was a convicted kidnapper. My heart goes out to this family and to others who now fear their genetic fatherhood was hijacked. Read the full story  (it’s popped up in several news outlets now, but I first saw it at KUTV.com).   Newly Remastered and Republished Podcast Episodes  – The Family History Library Catalog  – Using Family History Centers Part I  – Using Family History Centers Part II   What’s New at Evernote“Synchronization is now about 4X faster than ever before. This applies to any version of Evernote that you use. Sync now often takes a couple of seconds to complete, and when you get a new phone or computer, downloading your notes will take much less time. If you have a small account, you might not notice that much of a difference. On the other hand, if your account is large, or you’ve been using Evernote for many years, or you share notebooks with other users, or your entire company uses Evernote Business, you’ll see massive improvements.”   BillionGraves Now Accepting Your Documentation I’m hearing so much these days about source citation and I love it! Everyone seems to be getting smarter and better at sourcing their research finds. And genealogy websites are making it easier and more collaborative. Here’s just one example, an announcement just made by BillionGraves: “After months of work in response to hundreds of user requests, BillionGraves has added several new features designed to validate and enhance the headstone records found on BillionGraves.  The Supporting Record feature now allows users to upload evidence-based documents that support the BillionGraves records that have been collected through our mobile Apps. This means that users are now able to upload headstones, birth/death, burial, marriage, cremation, and many other types of records without needing a smart phone. Thousands of records are being uploaded every day and are breaking down genealogy brick walls and making connections that once seemed impossible. While working closely with our users and genealogists we found that there were many headstones and burials that just couldn’t be accounted for with our current systems; including unmarked graves, cremation scatterings, destroyed stones, and so on. Our Supporting Records features eliminate this problem while maintaining the validity and accuracy of the BillionGraves database.”   MAILBOX: Answer to A Genealogical Google Search Question Jo-Anne: “Is there a Google Earth Cd of the 1932 L.A. Olympic Games?” Lisa’s Answer: I would try the following Google Search as follows... "1932" Los Angeles "Olympic Games" "google earth" .KMZ Quotation Marks around a word or phrase mean that the word or phrase must appear in all results.  Adding .KMZ or .KML tells Google that you want Google Earth files as the highest priority. Put quotation marks around the file designation and you’ve just told Google to ONLY return Google Earth files. Lisa wants to know: “What type of Google Earth files / maps / tours would you be interested in finding?”   What Would You do? From a concerned listener: "I have a dilemma I'm not sure how to handle. I have a recent ancestor that I never met, but my parents knew. This ancestor did some remarkable things in his lifetime, but also some terrible things to members of his family, some of whom are still living. I want to write about the good things he did, but I don't want to upset the relatives he hurt. Do you have any suggestions on how to handle recent ancestors with difficult pasts?" Lisa’s Answer: I'm sure different folks have different ideas on this. But for me, living relatives come first. If it causes pain to someone living their life today, then I would hold off. I would also feel I was being somewhat deceptive to write up only the positive elements of their life. Deception can be created by omission. And our life activities are interconnected. For example, if a man built and incredible company, it might have been at the expense of his children if they never received his love or time. That is part of the story. To tell the true and complete story, I don't believe the genealogist can cherry pick. And therefore there are times when we must leave stories and lives alone until telling their stories would no longer cause harm to living people. I certainly would not want to allow "terrible things" to continue by bringing it back up in public. That's just my personal opinion on the situation. I hope all goes well in whatever you decide. Lisa wants to know: What do you think? Have you faced this situation, on either end?   A Podcast for French-Canadian Research:  Thank you to our wonderful sponsor GEM: The Ancestry Wiki with Crista Cowan In this gem, Crista Cowan explains how to find the wiki, how to search it, and how to explore it because "we don't know what we don't know." From Ancestry: “Do you want to know what birth records exist for a specific county? Did you just discover that your ancestor was in the military and need to know what military records might give you the most information about him? The answers to these (and MANY other) genealogy questions can be found in the Ancestry.com Family History Wiki.”   Producer: Vienna Thomas Contributing Editor: Sunny Morton

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 163: Get ready to flip out with me over Flipboard. It’s a free app and web tool that you have to see to fully appreciate. In this episode I’ll take you behind the scenes at Flipboard in the Silicon Valley and talk to the folks who create the product that helps you enjoy the online content you love. I’ll also share a little discovery I made about family history when I threw my back out over the holidays (there’s got to be an easier and less painful way to do family history research!) and get you up to date on all the genealogy news. The back pain in my family history was there all the times but I didn’t recognize it!  My Great Grandmother Louise’s “hand on hips” stance in many of the old family photos was more than just a sassy attitude. It reflected a family history of back pain that plagued my grandmother, my uncle, and me. And what do you suppose folks will think a 100 years from now when the news stories are long gone, and they are reviewing the footage of the sign language guy at Nelson Mandela’s funeral?  A reminder that not everything we see in old home movies and photos may necessarily be as it seems?   NEWS: Read: Happy 4th Birthday Genealogy Gems App!  Get the App: For For For For   New Episodes of Family History: Genealogy Made Easy Podcast The fourth annual Rootstech conference, hosted by FamilySearch, will be held February 6-8, 2014 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah. In addition to renowned keynote speakers, the conference features over 200 classes, hundreds of booths in a huge Expo Hall, and evening events. Pinterest Pinterest as has given users three more “secret” boards where you can pin privately. Visit Lisa’s Pinterest boards at MAILBOX: Keith wrote: “I previously wrote you a few months ago when I launched my own blog, . I am happy to report that tomorrow marks my 150th post. Thank you for reading my first message on your show. I have since had it listed on Geneabloggers and started a weekly picture post, Wordless Wednesday. After spending a considerable amount of time trying to break down brick walls, I'm currently focused on learning about my, and my wife's, great grandparents, which I call "thickening the branch. In the new year I plan on releasing eBooks containing all my research from the past six months with accompanying trees. All of it is thanks to guidance I get from listening to your podcast. Thank you for all that you've done and will continue to do.” Congratulations on your blog's milestone! Now anytime someone searches Google for one of your ancestors they will find you.  I'm so happy to hear that the podcast has been helpful to you in your journey. From Maryann: “Sitting here addressing Christmas cards and grabbing a bit of lunch when I decided to check my email. Spotted your email and opened it up. Skimmed through it, went back to the top again to check out more of what you wrote about the RootsTech 2014 Flipboard magazine you put together. Looked over at the stack of cards still waiting, but thought I'd grab a few minutes to just get it downloaded. Thanks to your book, I already have and use Flipboard, so it didn't take long to find the magazine and subscribe. It looks FANTASTIC. Can hardly wait to sit down and spend time reading through the articles and watching the videos. Right now, though, that stack of cards is shouting me, so I'd better set aside my iPad (after reading your book, I chose a mini, and am forever grateful for the help your book gave me, especially in setting up my apps) and get back to them.” And Taunja is also flipping over Flipboard: “I've had Flipboard on my smartphone and didn't know what to do with it! Just subscribed to the Rootstech magazine and it looks wonderful...thanks so much! Looks like a better learn a little bit more about Flipboard.”   GEM: Flipboard Interview If you’ve been listening to this podcast since the beginning, or have gone back and caught up on the previous episodes, then you know that I was a big advocate of iGoogle as a way to stay organized online. And one of the things I used to love to organize were all my favorite podcasts, blogs, and videos having to do with family history. I say used to because back in November 2013 Google did away with iGoogle, much to my dismay. They want their users to focus on Google+, which frankly is not a favorite of mine. In fact I was just reading the other day that Google’s CEO was saying that they made a big mistake in underestimating social media online, and that has put them in a position of constant catch up. Well, it didn’t take long to track down some great alternatives, and in this gem I want to focus on the one I flipped out over for tracking and enjoying my favorite online media like blogs and videos. It’s called Flipboard, and if you have my book Turn Your iPad into a Genealogy Powerhouse, then you’re probably already familiar with it. Now wait, don’t turn off this episode because you don’t have an iPad. You don’t need one to use and enjoy Flipboard. It’s a free app for Android and Apple devices – so we’re talking all kinds of smart phones and tablets can use it. Now while the app allows you to pull together all your favorite RSS feeds together and displays them in a beautiful way, Flipboard also has a Magazine feature.  In a recent issue of the free Genealogy Gems eNewsletter – which you can sign up for on our homepage at – I wrote an article all about a magazine I created all by little self using the free Flipboard web tools. These magazines – and I really call them magazine issues, because they are like stand along issues of a magazine – can be viewed on your computer web browser as well as the app, and you can add content from all over the web, and share it with others. When I saw the magazine feature for the first time my mind just started racing with all the genealogical possibilities. I’ve created several free magazines that you can enjoy, and I’ll tell you more about how to access those at the end of this segment. But first, we’re going to head to the Silicon Valley and meet with the folks at Flipboard to get an up close and personal look at the company, the app, and these awesome magazines. In this interview I travel to Flipboard's offices in Palo Alto, the home of a few names you might recognize, such as Facebook, and meet up with Todd Lapin. He is on Flipboard’s editorial team and runs their new blog focused on discovering of great content  and he also runs their MagMakers twitter handle: RootsTech 2014: Where Genealogy and Technology Converge is a free magazine available in the free app  and on the web at The magazine pulls together great web content from RootsTech speakers, exhibitors, and official bloggers in one beautiful and convenient place. Looking for more great genealogy themed Flipboard magazines? Check out two more new issues from Lisa Louise Cooke:   Genealogy Gems Premium Members can hear for about using Flipboard for Genealogy in the upcoming Premium Episode #106 later this month. The episode will also include additional notes and instructions.

Wondering how to get your kids and grandkids engaged in family history? Looking for worthwhile activities for the kids over the Christmas break? In this episode author Janet Hovorka provides answers. Our children are the future of our families, and there's no better time to help them engage, explore and enjoy their family history!  App Users: Be sure to check out the audio Bonus Content in the Genealogy Gems App! NEWS: of the 1 year digital subscription to Family Tree Magazine. Amanda’s Blog: Read about Where You Can Find Over a that are Now Indexed!    MAILBOX: From Gary: “There was a recent episode of the Las Vegas Based  “CSI” show in which a genealogist was used  to help solve a crime and the head CSI guy (Ted Dansen) and the Genealogist debated about Genealogy being a science.  Only took them 1 hr  (and 30 commercials) to do what takes us a live time –Hummmmmm!!!” Premium member Roger in Utah: “Thanks for another great podcast – this time on MY ancestral homeland of Norway.  I have spent many hours using the   website.    While you can use the English version, parts of it are only in Norwegian. Norway, like most Scandinavian countries, has put nearly all of their parish records online.  It is a wonderful resource. You have to learn what some of words are, such as birth, Christening, confirmation, marriage, death, etc. But even just these can help a lot. If you learn a few more Norwegian words, you can more fully access the vast amount on information available on that site.  In that podcast you also talked about taking a risk and contacting someone about possible family information. Through some of my Norwegian research I found a man who lives in a little town about an hour north of Oslo. He is the leader of a group called the Hadelandlag Society. Hadeland is a region of Norway. I got an email address for this man, Ole, and contacted him. He has been wonderful to me.  He went to a local repository and looked up information on my family from the information I gave him. Of course, I thanked him profusely for helping someone he did not even know. We have now emailed several times. Certainly the “risk” paid off. I have also found some US chapters of the Hadelandlag Society and have become a member.   And I found some distant cousins as a result,  one in Canada, and one in Minnesota. We email somewhat regularly. See what taking the “risk” can do.” Matt Has a Mystery and is Looking for Extra Sets of Eyes: “Thank you for your podcasts! … even listening to the older podcasts can provide needed perspective on how to break through your brick walls. Speaking of brick walls, mine may be crumbling. I've been trying to trace the parents/ancestors of my great-grandmother. Up until this past summer, I had no information whatsoever. On May 30, 2013, I found an 1855 New York State Census entry that may tell me who her family is. I wrote up a about the current status of the search and I'd be interested in your thoughts.”  From Alan in Minneapolis, MN: “I started listening to the podcast about a year ago, and it's been a great reminder of things that I had forgotten how to use Google for.  Thanks to your hints, I've found descendants for 2 of my wife's great-great uncles who moved away from the farm in Illinois and we lost track of. The Google tips from early on in the series have even helped in projects at work- my colleagues think I'm spending hours searching for things that I'm finding in a couple minutes with some of the tricks. Also after hearing about blogging your family history for at least the last 3 pod casts,  I've finally decided to take the leap and start publishing my discoveries on a blog () so I can post there rather than send emails and miss some of the cousins or send Facebook messages and miss the others.  I've only written two posts (one's up one set to publish Sunday morning), but I hope this is something I can keep up. Just a note to say thanks.” Janice in Montreal started a genealogy blog: “I attended several of your presentations at the BIFHSGO conference a few weeks ago and really enjoyed them. Partly as a result of hearing your advice, I have started a blog on which I'm posting the short family history articles I've been writing, as well as comments on the research process. The story called "An Economic Emigrant" explains why I'm a Canadian rather than an American. Please take a quick look when you get a chance.” . Ethan is looking for some Fold3 help: “I recently went to look for the graves of my great-grandparents and learned in doing so that their son, my grandpa's brother, died in WWII.  Since he has a very common name, George L. Allen, I have been unsuccessful in trying to look up his records on or other search engines.  Any hints on how to narrow my search?  This is the information I was able to obtain just from his headstone: Private First Class, 63rd armored infantry battalion, 11th armored division.  He died Jan 6, 1945, just as the war was dying down.  Other than that, I don't know if he was in the Pacific or in Europe.  My search yields thousands of results.  Any help would be appreciated!” Lisa’s Answer: Fold3.com does have some educational videos on YouTube. In particular: . If you don't get the full answer you are looking for, leave a comment on the video to ask a more specific question or ask how to contact them with your question. YouTube is interactive when it comes to comments and I would anticipate they would respond. Family Tree Magazine Webinar Recording:   GEM: Helping Your Kids and Grandkids Engage in Family History with Janet Hovorka Janet is the author of the book Zap the Grandma Gap Available Workbooks:    Above: Janet Hovorka, Owner of FamilyChartmasters  Visit the free Website for more CLOSING: Sign up for the FREE Genealogy Gems Newsletter at Explore Lisa's brand new Pinterest Board:

I was so impresssed with Yngve Nedrebø, the Chief archivist at Riksarkivet (National Archives of Norway) who I recently interviewed for the Family Tree Magazine podcast that I'm publishing an extended version of that interview here on the Genealgoy Gems Podcast. This is a "must hear" for those with Norwegian heritage. In this episode you'll also hear from a fellow listener and get a chance to see his family history tour that he created in Google Earth using the techniques I teach in the Google Earth for Genealogy video CD series. And we'll get a taste of the history of coffee. Linda from Ventura Seminar writes in about her recent success: “I just loved your presentation Saturday at the Ventura Genealogy Seminar.  I learned so much and feel very enthused to really get to work on all this.  In fact I was so encouraged I got brave and called a telephone number that I had found for a possible 1st cousin, once removed.  And surprise, it was him and we had a lovely 30-minute conversation and I’m going to send him information and he and his wife invited me to Florida to visit!!  How about that.  It was so exciting, still haven’t gotten over it.” Linda said that she was encouraged enough to get brave and make that telephone call. That can be a pretty scary thing. We all have things that we need a bit of bravery to do. And that brings me to an important question that I posed in the most recent edition of the free Genealogy Gems Newsletter. Having you taken a technological RISK lately? This was the key question I posed in the newsletter: Are you fully embracing technology so that you can connect with those that matter to you, both living and in your family tree? There's not as much RISK as you might think. As I always say in my classes: "you can't break it, so go for it and give it a try!" And of course Genealogy Gems is here to help.   MAILBOX: Eric shares his Google Earth Family History Tour: “This is my most complex Google Earth Project ever.   I hope you enjoy it.  It’s really been a hit with my family.  They don’t glaze over right away, LOL!  After viewing it I couldn't help but wonder if there was video out there. And sure enough I found a few. I'm sure there are more with potential: B17s taking off from Podington:  Focke-Wulf Fw 190: YouTube video update: If you’ve had trouble embedding videos recently in your own family history tours, or genealogy blog, it's actually YouTube that is causing the problem. If you look closely at the YouTube embed code they are (for some unknown reason) leaving off the "http:" and so the code doesn't work. Copy and paste the embed code into a Google Earth placemark and then correct the URL so it is complete and it will work for you. (Do note though that the person who uploaded the video can opt not to allow it to be embedded. If that's the case, there will be a statement on the video page)   Cameron is Looking for Death Certificates “I am 23 year old recent graduate of nursing school and a huge fan of your Genealogy Gems podcast. I've been researching my family history for about 5 years off and on, and I've discovered more than I've ever imagined. I've been listening two your show for about 3 months now after I discovered it, and I appreciate all of the helpful tips. However, I still have a little problem. I can't seem to find the maiden name of one of my recent ancestors Sallie Mosley. She was born in 1863, I assume in Emanuel County, Georgia. She married James Mosley in the 1880's. I know that the courthouse in Emanuel county burned several times, so that could be why I can't find a marriage record. I have found a death certificate on Ancestry, but isn't very detailed unless you order the certificate. If I visited the courthouse, could they possible dig up a detailed death certificate?”   From Lisa: I ran a quick Google search and found the following on the "Death certificates are open to the public. You must be a member of the immediate family to acquire a death certificate with the cause of death. Our Death certificates on the local level begin at 1927 and back to 1917 in our state office." So depending on when she died they may be able to be of help.  I would also recommend contacting local historical and genealogical societies. They often have the inside scoop on what's available and how to access it locally. A quick Google search should help you make contact. Run the search in Google Earth and it will plot them out for you on the map!   GEM: Norwegian Genealogy and the National Archives of Norway One of the shining stars on the Internet that offer rays of research hope for those with Norwegian heritage is the National Archives of Norway’s Digital Archive. Lisa’s special guest: Yngve Nedrebø, Chief archivist at Riksarkivet.    GEM: Wartime Coffee Bean Counting Given what seems to be the ever-growing profusion of coffee vendors, imagine what a crisis it would be if coffee were suddenly rationed. That's exactly what happened this month in 1942 because the war had interrupted shipments and people were hoarding coffee. But rationing lasted only until the next summer. It's thought that coffee was introduced into America by Captain John Smith, one of the founders of the Jamestown Colony in Virginia. Its popularity jumped after both the Boston Tea Party and the beginning of Prohibition. For those who don't make their own coffee, there are just over 19,000 coffee shops across the country, and they sell more than $10 billion worth of coffee a year. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at . Sources:

In this episode you will meet other listeners who are getting the word out about their family history through blogging as well as give you some genealogy blogging pointers,and I will introduce you to one of my first “Favorite Genealogy Gems” Look who I ran into in Detroit: Steve Luxenberg, author of "Annie's Ghosts" Cruise with Lisa It’s always a joy for me to get to get out and about and meet so many of you in person. And, have I got an amazing event to tell you about where we can get together in person, talk genealogy and experience the joy of travel! I’ve just signed on with Itinerary:  day 1 – depart Tilbury, London – 6pm (boarding from 12.30pm) day 2 – at sea day 3 – Invergordon, Scotland – 7.30am-10pm day 4 – Kirkwall, Orkney Islands – 7am-6pm day 5 – Stornoway, Outer Hebrides – 7.30am-10pm (transfer to shore by tender) day 6 – Tobermory, Isle of Mull – 7.30am-4pm (transfer to shore by tender) day 7 – Dublin, Ireland – 8am-5.45pm day 8 – St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly - 9am-6pm (transfer to shore by tender) day 9 – St Peter Port, Guernsey - 7.30am-6pm (transfer to shore by tender) day 10 – Honfleur, France –  9am-5pm day 11 – arrive Tilbury, London – 9am You’ll have around 40 topics to choose from, held mostly in the evening so there will be loads of time to explore the landscape. My understanding is that this cruise is filling up very quickly so if you’re interested be sure and click the links above for more details.   Brand New in the Genealogy Gems Store Quick Reference Guide “a nice easy to grab and use laminated cheat sheet that can instantly answer your most important questions and give you easy ways to use Evernote more quickly and efficiently.” Evernote is certainly the fastest-growing note-taking technology out there, so it is no wonder that it is incredibly popular with genealogists. But there is so much packed in to it that I notice that many genealogists aren’t taking full advantage. Keep this handy cheat sheet close at hand and you’ll have everything you need. This four page laminated guide includes: A Getting Started Checklist Quick Key Break Out Boxes – packed with keystrokes to speed up your use of Evernote Specialized Note-taking Actions How to Get the Most Out of Clipping Tips for Maneuvering the Desktop Client Genealogical Organization Recommendations Little Known Search Strategies Specialized Genealogy Focused Techniques such as Source Citation Tips, Clipping Recommendations, and Using Reminders Evernote Premium vs. Free Comparison   Genealogy News: and FamilySearch recently announced that they have made an agreement to jointly make a billion global records available online over the next five years by digitizing, indexing and publishing the records from the FamilySearch vault. Ancestry.com expects to invest more than $60 million alongside thousands of hours of volunteer efforts facilitated by FamilySearch.  The companies also announced in early 2013 an additional project where they plan to publish 140 million U.S. Wills & Probate images and indexes over the next three years—creating a national database of wills and other probate documents spanning 1800-1930 online for the very first time.   Daughter Receives WWII Soldier Father's Letter Decades Later Watch the Video:   MAILBOX: In this episode we celebrate listeners who are sharing their family history through blogging: New Blogger Keith is a Son of a Swift I have run a personal family history site for the past five years and now, based on your advice, launched my own genealogy blog. I already had a tumblr account, so I started (Son of Swift is a translation of my name from the original Gaelic, O'Seibhleain).  Thanks for the great idea and I will continue to listen as I conduct my research into the future.”   Chris is Now Blogging    “OK listening to the folks in your latest podcasts convinced me. I started my own genealogy blog last month. So far there's not a lot of "traffic" but I've gotten good reviews from the family members…Hoping you have some tips in mind for a future podcast...sort of a maintaining a blog for the long run -tips and tricks type thing. Take a look and let me know what you think. LOVE the podcast.”   Follow up from Chris: “After getting my feet wet, I decided to join GENEABLOGGERS network at  . Wow. My first goal was realized just after that. I found another blogger who is a "double cousin" through two different branches of my family. Thanks so much for your advice.”   Margaret is on a Family Album Journey “I started my blog a couple of years ago, but I decided to really blog regularly back in May.  I'm using the photos in my Davis ancestors' family albums from the 1880s as a springboard for my blog posts.  They lived in Savannah, so I'm really focusing a lot on Savannah history and the photographers there.  It's been fun.  I took a break when I went on a family vacation in July, so I'm struggling to get back in the rhythm of posting.   I tend to do a lot of research just for my posts, so it can take a lot of time, but I love it! Thanks for the inspiration and all the great information.” Wayne Uses Blogging to Discover Genealogy “I have started a new blog about genealogy. It is a place where I can tell stories, relate experiences and pass along tips discovered while doing research on my family; through volunteer activities, including as an Online Parish Clerk; and from projects completed as a genealogical consultant. The first post is in place and I have many more in preparation." Premium Member Sandy is Digging into her Family Roots “I am a new blogger, on your last podcast you said to email a link to our blogs. I watched your videos to get me started. i do have fun with it. I hope you like it.” Sandy’s blog has been featuring a series of letters home written during World War II." Steve is Poking Around the Past “On September 1st I finally managed to get my family history blog started, and I'd like to invite you to take a look. I call it Poking Around in the Past, and I gave you a mention (link) in my first post.” From Gloria who describes herself as “A Die Hard Fan” “I have a blog but haven’t really dedicated it to genealogy although it ties in sometimes as I use it for building my platform for my upcoming adoption memoir. Feel free to take a look at Family Links Matter. I put together a Facebook group page—The Groton, MA LONGLEY line—and family members post and share info, pictures, and a lot more. I met a third cousin and her daughter, several 7th cousins, and more. It’s a great resource for all of  us. Check it out Groton MA line LONGLEY   Lisa’s Blogging Tips Include great visuals – old photos, public domain images, etc. Your readers will enjoy them and they may help in your blog’s Google search results ranking. Give your readers an easy way to subscribe by email Give it a try by subscribing to the Genealogy Gems Blog through email using Instructions for Subscribing to a blog via email: (feel free to add these to your blog) Look for the orange RSS button to get the feed address for a blog or podcast. Copy the RSS feed address for the blog Example: The Genealogy Gems blog the feed is Go to Paste  the blog feed URL in the “Feed” field on the Blogtrottr website In the next field type in your email address Select how often you want to receive the email notifications of new posts Click the orange “Feed Me” button Emails of new posts will now be delivered to your email address as requested Let your readers know that the service is available to them by adding a Text Widget to the side bar of your blog with the above instructions and a link to Blogtrottr. Try assigning themes to your blogging days. It can help you get a jump start on writing, as well as help you determine which areas are your favorites that you may want to focus on my more in the future as your “niche.” Check out Geneabloggers at for genealogy blogging support and theme ideas. Break up long posts into several posts. They are easier for you to publish, and easier for your readers to consume. Collect blogging ideas in Evernote. Set up a notebook called “Blogging Ideas” and tags for your various subject areas such as: Family lines / surnames such as  “Johnson Family” Location based subjects such as “Texas History” Focus areas such as  “Memoirs”, “Old Photos” etc. Learn everything you need to know about using Evernote for genealogy by In addition to over 100 exclusive Premium episodes, membership includes my one hour Evernote class video, and the Evernote instructional mini-series.  Get the Quick Reference Guide in the Genealogy Gems Store   GEM:  Lisa’s Favorite Genealogy Gems (Just in time for Christmas!): Espy Frames by Jen Garrett As I get older, I find myself tiring of the same old gift giving every year. You know how it is – we all have too much stuff, and what we become more and more interested in is that which will last, and have a lasting impression on our family and those we love. So as I travel throughout the year I keep my eyes peeled for things that really stand out – items that are truly Genealogy Gems. Wonderful products that I want for my own home and family, and ones I think that you will appreciate and enjoy as well. So I’ve decided that Lisa is going to have her Favorite Genealogy Gems.  And the first one that I want to introduce you to today are I will never forget taking my annual walk through the Ohio Genealogical Society Conference exhibit hall this last year. I really didn’t expect to see anything earth shattering or new. But when I reached the end of the first row and turned the corner I was instantly mesmerized by what I saw. Laid out across a long table, and hanging on the walls behind it were the more glorious and spectacular frames I had ever seen. Most were large thick frames around mirrors, but a few encompassed vintage photos. But they had three very important things in common. They all were dripping with vintage gems, jewels, charms, buttons and antiques. They were all one-of-a-kind pieces of art, and each one told a very unique story.  Oh, and they had one more important thing in common. They were all created by Jen Garrett. In this gem segment of the podcast I want to introduce you to Jen. She is a very special lady, which an incredible talent for story telling through these incredible art frames. I hope you come away with is that there are new and creative ways to help tell you ancestors story. I have a very special hand tinted photo from the 1930s of my beloved Grandma Alfreda Burkett in her nursing cap, taken the day she graduated from nursing school. She looks so young, and beautiful and full of excitement for her new career, which would last for over 50 years.  I’ve waited to hang that photo in my home because I knew it deserved a special frame, and I’ve just never found one that did it justice. The frame that I bought that day, absolutely does it justice. It’s covered in vintage items from that era, all with a medical theme Exclusive Collection Hand Selected by Lisa I noticed it right away because the frame held a photo from that same era of another young nurse. She has been replaced with Grandma Burkett’s photo, and this framed piece is now, truly, a family heirloom. It hangs in my Genealogy Gems office, and it will be handed down for generations to come. Jen’s frames are an investment well worth making. And if you would like to acquire one of these very special frames you will find an exclusive collection now in the Genealogy Gems website store, just in time for the holidays. The frames are all truly incredible works of art! Even if you aren’t interested in purchasing a frame, may I encourage you to just go and You’ll be inspired. And once a frame I this collection has been purchased it’s gone forever, because they really are one-of-a-kind. Be sure to click on them to see the enlarged view. The photos don’t do the frames justice, but the larger images will give you a taste of all of the incredible and intricate details in them. On a PC you can hold the Control key and plus the plus key (+) to zoom in even further. Enjoy! Join Today: Sign up for the Free Newsletter on the homepage and get the free ebook 5 Fabulous Google Search Strategies for the Family Historian as a thank you gift!