Have you ever come across a place name in your research you aren’t sure still exists? What about a post office name given in a census that isn’t the main town? A town in a country you know little about? Looking for cemeteries near your ancestral home? The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and NGA GEOnet Names Server (GNS) can help with each of these.
( https://tcgs1961.blogspot.com/2017/10/finding-place-names-using-gnis-and-gns.html )
Heather Murphy wrote an interesting blog post on Research Logs.
With shaking leaves and record hints showing up in many websites it is easy to hop from link to link looking for more records. How often do you take a couple extra minutes to note the record collections you search so you don’t find yourself looking at the same thing a few months later? Research logs aren’t one of the “fun” parts of research, but if you spend a small amount of time creating them you can save yourself time in the future.
Genealogists’ access to public domain records is still being threatened in many locations. One of the biggest threats these days is New York City. However, you can make your voice heard.
The following was written by D. Joshua Taylor, President of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society:
Dear Friends,
As promised, the NYG&B has launched a landing page outlining steps everyone can take in making our voices heard regarding the proposed restrictions on access to New York City’s birth and death records.
The page can be found at: https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/nyc-vital-records-access and allows visitors to do the following:
Thus far we have had a very positive response from the community. Please feel free to share this information with your leadership, members, and others who might be interested. We also stand ready to assist your organization as needed in preparing their own comments.
Sincerely,
Joshua
Well October is the month of Spooks, so this months Quirky Genealogical Tip Sheet Newsletter is on Spooky Surnames. Really funny one is the Illegible family.
TIP OF THE WEEK –
ROBERT G SHAW GENEALOGY/HISTORY INDEXES
Here’s a nice genealogy resource for those of you researching ancestors that lived in either of the adjoining counties of Menominee County, Michigan or Marinette County, Wisconsin.
The Robert G. Shaw Genealogy/History Indexes is a free online collection of databases, articles, and obituaries compiled by local historian, Robert G. Shaw, who read through all the pages of the local newspapers serving Menominee,MI, Marinette, WI and Peshtigo, WI. He put together an extensive index of obituaries/death notices printed in the papers.
This database, largely of newspaper articles and obituaries, can be accessed on the web site of the Spies Public Library of Menominee :
http://joomla.uproc.lib.mi.us/Spies/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81&Itemid=131
Although the index does not provide links to the actual obituaries, it will give you the date/page number to find them yourself using online newspapers, or to request them from the local public library or historical/genealogical society.
While you are at their web site, check out the other resources in the drop down list of the Genealogy tab. There’s a link to a list of Menominee Count Cemeteries as well as a link to Riverside Cemetery Burial Records, plus a few other resources.
TIP OF THE WEEK –
MISSOURI DEATH CERTIFICATES, 1910-1966
Scanned images of Missouri death certificates from 1910 through 1966 are now available online for free! An index of the Missouri death certificates can be found here:
https://s1.sos.mo.gov/records/Archives/ArchivesMvc/DeathCertificates#searchDB
Their search engine is very comprehensive. The database can be searched by first, middle, and/or last name, county, year and month, or many combinations of these parameters. Digitized images of the original death certificates are linked to the search results, and may be viewed or downloaded at no charge.
This site will be very valuable to people with ancestors who died in Missouri within this time period.
This is a newsletter that helps people find the person you are looking for in an index when the name was miss-indexed due to poor or hard to read handwriting. Since I have been doing a lot of indexing for Scribe I am familiar with most of the possibilities shown, except they do not say how easy it is to mistake an “n” for a “u”.
TIP OF THE WEEK –
A FANTASTIC TUTORIAL ON FAMILY TREE MAKER
This tip is for current users of Family Tree Maker (FTM), and those who are considering FTM for their genealogy software program. It requires a subscription to Ancestry.com. If you are not an Ancestry subscriber, remember you can always come access it on the computers in the SGS Library. Ancestry is also available at many public libraries.
Ancestry Academy (one of the Extra Features on Ancestry.com) has a terrific tutorial that reviews all the main features available in FTM 2014 and later versions. The tutorial is about 75 minutes long, and consists of 13 segments, each addressing one component of FTM.
Topics include:
•Adding Notes, Media, Web Links and Tasks
•Tree Sync How To Merge Individuals and Files
•Creating Charts and Reports
•and more …
Each tutorial segment is about 5 minutes long, and it’s possible to scroll from one segment to the next, to revisit a specific topic, or to resume where you left off.
Here’s the URL: https://www.ancestry.com/academy/course/family-tree-maker
Long-time users of FTM highly recommend this tutorial to everyone, novice and expert alike. It showcases many nifty tricks and details all the features in FTM.
This tutorial is recommended for everyone using FTM, even if you do not access Ancestry from within Family Tree Maker or put your trees online at Ancestry.
TIP OF THE WEEK –
FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY CLASSES/WEBINARS
The Family History Library is a genealogical research facility in downtown Salt Lake City. It is open to the public, free of charge, and is operated by FamilySearch.org, associated with the LDS.
Each month they present a couple dozen classes/webinars. You can attend online or in person, and as always it’s free of charge. All you need to do is check the schedule, and then register for the class or classes that interest you. Some of the classes/webinars are available in Spanish or Chinese.
If you would like to start receiving the monthly class/webinar schedule via email, sent a email message to FHLClasses at FamilySearch.org
The webinars use AdobeConnect which can be accessed from your computer, tablet, or mobile device. The links in the monthly schedule are active and you can connect simply by clicking on the blue webinar link. If you are going to attend one of their webinars, they recommend that you connect about 30 minutes before the class starts to check your audio and visual. A further tip, connect your audio and test with YouTube before connecting to AdobeConnect. This will ensure that your sound is working before you join the webinar. The audio device you wish to use must be on before you enter AdobeConnect.
Here’s a sample of the classes/webinars that will be presented next week. The link at the very end of this article will take you to the online site where you can view the full schedules for August and September.
• Using the FamilySearch Catalog Effectively
• Researching in Prussian Poland
• FamilySearch Wiki
• Kissing Cousins or Not?
• Finding Records of Chinese Americans
• Using Metasuche or Metasearch
https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Family_History_Library_Classes_and_Webinars
Who Do You Think You Are?
Associated with the TV show of the same name, based in United Kingdom, 13 issues/year
Your Family History
Based in United Kingdom, 13 issues/year
Family Tree Magazine
Based in United States, 7 issues/year
Irish Roots
Based in Ireland, 4 issues/year
Thanks to Art Kelly for sharing that information.
Also, you can find the last two years of Family Tree Magazine at the Kennewick (Union) library. If you are a member of Mid-Columbia Libraries you can use their e-magazine service, Zinio, to download digital issues of Family Tree Magazine. You can borrow issues indefinitely and can receive a notice when the next issue is available for download.