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

In this episode, we’re going to be visiting two of the most pivotal states in the U.S. for genealogy research. These states played key roles in the development and expansion of the United States of America, and we’re going to explore a top online resource for each. First up is the state of Pennsylvania, officially known as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1681 through a royal land grant to William Penn, and established as a haven for religious and political tolerance. And since for over 300 years the port of Philadelphia was a major gateway for arriving immigrants, many many family trees include people who passed through Pennsylvania. One of the best and most important resources for records of interest to genealogists is the State Library of Pennsylvania, and we’ll be exploring it today with Kathy Hale, the Government Documents Librarian, and Amy Woytovich, the Genealogy Librarian at the State Library of PA. Then we will head west to Ohio which joined the union back in 1803, and where many of our ancestors settled, or passed through on their way West.  The Ohio Memory website is a rich source of historical materials that tell the story of this state and potentially many American families. Jenni Salamon, the Ohio Memory Digital Services Manager will be joining me to explain the depth of the available materials and provide insight into how to best navigate the website. Get the full show notes for this episode here.  MyHeritage Get your Get 20% off.  and use coupon code genealogygems   Visit Fort Wayne Fort Wayne, Indiana is the home of the second largest free genealogy library in the country. Make your plans to visit today. Learn more at     Become a Genealogy Gems Premium MemberPremium Members have exclusive access to: Video classes and downloadable handouts Monthly Elevenses with Lisa show The Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast downloadable show notes handout PDFs Become a Premium Member . Sign Up for the Free Genealogy Gems NewsletterThe Genealogy Gems email newsletter is the best way to stay informed about what’s available with your Premium eLearning Membership.  to sign up today. Follow Lisa and Genealogy Gems on Social Media:

In this episode, we’re focusing on early Virginia genealogy.   In our first segment, I’ve invited a professional genealogist to join us to help pave the way for tracing our ancestors back to Virginia just prior to the Revolutionary War. Jeri Satterwhite-Dearing specializes in early Virginia research in her work as a professional genealogist with  In this video, she explains some of the biggest challenges you’ll face when researching early Virginian ancestors, the records you should be looking for, and some of the best resources.     In the second segment, I’ll cover a list of the best websites for Virginia Genealogy.  Get the full  MyHeritage Get your  Get 20% off.  and use coupon code genealogygems   Visit Fort Wayne Fort Wayne, Indiana is the home of the second largest free genealogy library in the country. Make your plans to visit today. Learn more at     Become a Genealogy Gems Premium MemberPremium Members have exclusive access to: Video classes and downloadable handouts Monthly Elevenses with Lisa show The Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast downloadable show notes handout PDFs Become a Premium Member . Sign Up for the Free Genealogy Gems NewsletterThe Genealogy Gems email newsletter is the best way to stay informed about what’s available with your Premium eLearning Membership.  to sign up today. Follow Lisa and Genealogy Gems on Social Media:

In this episode, Lisa Louise Cooke and Jenny Ashcraft from Newspapers.com discuss how to use newspapers to fill in the missing stories in your ancestors’ lives. Jenny shares strategic tips on finding unique information many researchers miss.  Get the full .    From Lisa: “I use MyHeritage for my own genealogy research. It makes all the difference!"  Get your .    Get 20% off.  and use coupon code genealogygems   Visit Fort Wayne Fort Wayne, Indiana is the home of the second largest free genealogy library in the country. Make your plans to visit today. Learn more at     Become a Genealogy Gems Premium MemberPremium Members have exclusive access to: Video classes and downloadable handouts Monthly Elevenses with Lisa show The Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast downloadable show notes handout PDFs Become a Premium Member . Sign Up for the Free Genealogy Gems NewsletterThe Genealogy Gems email newsletter is the best way to stay informed about what’s available with your Premium eLearning Membership.  to sign up today. Follow Lisa and Genealogy Gems on Social Media:

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a Forensic Genetic Genealogist. Dr. Claire Glynn joins me to talk about the field of investigative genetic genealogy, criminal cold cases solved, and the new F she has developed at the Henry C. Lee (notable for his work on the OJ Simpson case and many others) College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven. .  MyHeritage Get your Get 20% off.  and use coupon code genealogygems   Visit Fort Wayne Fort Wayne, Indiana is the home of the second largest free genealogy library in the country. Make your plans to visit today. Learn more at     Become a Genealogy Gems Premium MemberPremium Members have exclusive access to: Video classes and downloadable handouts Monthly Elevenses with Lisa show The Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast downloadable show notes handout PDFs Become a Premium Member .   Sign Up for the Free Genealogy Gems NewsletterThe Genealogy Gems email newsletter is the best way to stay informed about what’s available with your Premium eLearning Membership.  to sign up today.   Follow Lisa and Genealogy Gems on Social Media:

In this episode Lisa Louise Cooke discusses: Organizing and Reducing inherited genealogical information Ideas for donating portions of genealogy research How to decide what to keep and what to toss How to process information gleaned items such as compiled family histories .  From Lisa: “I use MyHeritage for my own genealogy research. It makes all the difference!"  Get your .  Get 20% off.  and use coupon code genealogygems   Visit Fort Wayne Fort Wayne, Indiana is the home of the second largest free genealogy library in the country. Make your plans to visit today. Learn more at     Become a Genealogy Gems Premium MemberPremium Members have exclusive access to: Video classes and downloadable handouts Monthly Elevenses with Lisa show The Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast downloadable show notes handout PDFs Become a Premium Member .   Sign Up for the Free Genealogy Gems NewsletterThe Genealogy Gems email newsletter is the best way to stay informed about what’s available with your Premium eLearning Membership.  to sign up today.   Follow Lisa and Genealogy Gems on Social Media:

If you’ve been wondering how to write and self-publish a book about your family history, my guest has answers for you! In this episode author J.M. Phillips shares: How to be a great family history storyteller Her favorite writing techniques that help create a compelling story What she learned about self-publishing (and what you need to know) Her experience living on and writing about Lamlash Street .  From Lisa: “I use MyHeritage for my own genealogy research. It makes all the difference!” Get your and make new discoveries! Get 20% off.  and use coupon code genealogygems   Become a Genealogy Gems Premium MemberPremium Members have exclusive access to: Video classes and downloadable handouts Monthly Elevenses with Lisa show The Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast downloadable show notes handout PDFs Become a Premium Member . Stay Up to Date with the Genealogy Gems NewsletterThe Genealogy Gems email newsletter is the best way to stay informed about what’s available with your Premium eLearning Membership.  to sign up today. Follow Lisa and Genealogy Gems on Social Media:

In this episode you'll discover the best places to locate records that can substitute for the lost 1890 census. You'll learn: what happened to the 1890 census which parts of the 1890 census survived Information that was provided in the 1890 census the best substitute records and where to find them From Lisa: “I use MyHeritage for my own genealogy research. It makes all the difference!” Get your Get 20% off.  and use coupon code genealogygems   Become a Genealogy Gems Premium MemberPremium Members have exclusive access to: Video classes and downloadable handouts Monthly Elevenses with Lisa show The Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast downloadable show notes handout PDFs Become a Premium Member . Stay Up to Date with the Genealogy Gems NewsletterThe Genealogy Gems email newsletter is the best way to stay informed about what’s available with your Premium eLearning Membership.  to sign up today. Follow Lisa and Genealogy Gems on Social Media:

In this episode we're talking about this unique moment in time where we have access to the 1950 U.S. Census but we don't yet have the full index.    The 1950 census must be indexed so that we can search for relatives by name, location and much, much more. You can help with this exciting project, and no special skills or background are required. Jim Ericson of FamilySearch  explains what’s happening and how you can get involved.   Resources mentioned: (How to find and use them)   From Lisa: “I use MyHeritage for my own genealogy research. It makes all the difference!”   Get 20% off.  and use coupon code genealogygems   Become a Genealogy Gems Premium MemberPremium Members have exclusive access to: Video classes and downloadable handouts Monthly Elevenses with Lisa show The Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast downloadable show notes handout PDFs Become a Premium Member . Stay Up to Date with the Genealogy Gems NewsletterThe Genealogy Gems email newsletter is the best way to stay informed about what’s available with your Premium eLearning Membership.  to sign up today. Follow Lisa and Genealogy Gems on Social Media:

When you’re working on our genealogy, you’ve got data and records coming from all directions: websites, interviews, archives, downloadable documents, and more. Some of it you’re actively working on, some of it you need to save for later, and the rest has already been analyzed and is ready for archiving. This variety of data requires a variety of storage locations.   In this audio podcast episode I’m going to share with you my genealogy data workflow. We’ll talk about how it all fits together to ensure an uncluttered desk and the ability to instantly put my hands on what I need when I need it.    From Lisa: “I use MyHeritage for my own genealogy research. It makes all the difference!” Video and Show NotesThis audio comes from my video series Elevenses with Lisa .  have exclusive access to the downloadable show notes "cheat sheet" handout. Premium Members also have access to all of the archived earlier episodes. To access the Elevenses with Lisa Premium Member , log in to your membership at  and under in the main menu under Premium go to Premium Videos and click on Elevenses with Lisa. Become a Genealogy Gems Premium MemberPremium Members have exclusive access to: Video classes and downloadable handouts The Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast downloadable show notes PDF Become a Premium Member . Stay Up to Date with the Genealogy Gems NewsletterThe Genealogy Gems email newsletter is the best way to stay informed about what’s available with your Premium eLearning Membership.  to sign up today. Follow Lisa and Genealogy Gems on Social Media: #genealogy #genealogypodcast

Researching ancestors in another country can be a little daunting. Challenges include foreign languages, moving boundaries, and spelling variations. This is certainly true for German genealogy. If you’re new to German genealogy or your research has stalled, this episode is for you. In fact, even if you don’t have German ancestors I think you will still find the principles and ideas covered very helpful. Translator, author and German handwriting expert Katherine Schober shares her 10 Top Tips for Beginning Germany Genealogy. These tips are packed with tools and resources that you can start using right away. Katherine Schober is a German / English translator, specializing in the old German handwriting. She is the author of “The Magic of German Church Records” and “Tips and Tricks of Deciphering German Handwriting”, as well as the creator of the online course “Reading the Old German Handwriting.” This episode brings you the audio from Elevenses with Lisa episode 52. You can watch the video version on the .  From Lisa: “I use MyHeritage for my own genealogy research. It makes all the difference!”   Get 20% off.  and use coupon code genealogygems   Video and Show NotesThis audio comes from my video series Elevenses with Lisa . Genealogy Gems Premium Members have exclusive access to the downloadable show notes "cheat sheet" handout. Premium Members also have access to all of the archived earlier episodes. To access the Elevenses with Lisa Premium Member , log in to your membership at  and under in the main menu under Premium go to Premium Videos and click on Elevenses with Lisa. Become a Genealogy Gems Premium MemberPremium Members have exclusive access to: Video classes and downloadable handouts The Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast downloadable show notes PDF Become a Premium Member . Stay Up to Date with the Genealogy Gems NewsletterThe Genealogy Gems email newsletter is the best way to stay informed about what’s available with your Premium eLearning Membership.  to sign up today. Follow Lisa and Genealogy Gems on Social Media: #genealogy #germangenealogy