TIP OF THE WEEK –
USING THE DAR WEBSITE

You don’t have to be a DAR member to use the DAR website and its resources. If you had an ancestor in the Colonies during the American Revolutionary War, here are the steps to finding out what the DAR might have on them:

1. Log onto www.dar.org

2. Click on GRS (green button at top of home page)

3. Click on Ancestors

4. Enter at least your ancestor’s last name and hit Search

A results list will be displayed showing full name, rank, birth and death date, service description. Click on the individual entry and you’ll get some additional data such as residence and spouse. Hint: click again on the member number (aka “Natl Num”) to see even more info. Sometimes you can purchase the associated membership application and/or supplemental supporting documentation as noted by the green Purchase button. Also don’t forget some lineage applications are on Ancestry.

TIP OF THE WEEK –  SANBORN FIRE INSURANCE MAPS

Sanborn Maps were originally created in the 1860’s for assessing fire insurance liability in urbanized areas.  The maps include detailed information about buildings in approximately 12,000 US towns and cities. They are a very useful resource for historical research, genealogical research, and they are the most frequently consulted maps in public libraries.

The good news is The Library of Congress has already placed 25,000 of these maps online and they are in the process of adding more maps monthly. The goal is to have all the maps (approximately 500,000) available online by 2020.

While still hit and miss, maybe the map you need is already online. Check it out at:
https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-17-074/?loclr=fbloc-new

TIP OF THE WEEK –   Elephind,
 the Search Engine for Historical Newspapers

Many genealogist love the Library of Congress –  Chronicling America – historical, digitized newspapers website, but have you heard of Elephind.com? Their goal is to search all the world’s digitized, historical newspapers from one place at one time; it’s similar to the idea behind Travelocity.com with the airline industry.

Elephind currently is at about 175 million items from over 3,300 newspaper titles worldwide. That is more than 10 fold what you will find at Chronicling America.  In fact, Chronicling America is one of the sites Elephind has covered. Also like Chronicling America, Elephind is adding volume almost daily.

At the website  www.elephind.com ,  start with the Search Tips.

The “proximity search” is particularly useful.  An example, using this syntax  “Jane Doe”~4 in Search will find for you :
•Jane Doe
•Jane E Doe
•Jane Elizabeth Doe
•Elizabeth Jane Smith, nee Doe

But it will exclude something like “Jane and Sally found a young, frightened doe in the woods”.

Elephind.com will be a good addition to your arsenal of historical newspapers websites and someday it might become the only one you will ever need.

TIP OF THE WEEK –   FREE 5 DAY CONFERENCE

The  folks at FamilySearch.org are putting on a  five day conference that you can attend for free!  Even better than that, you have the choice of traveling to Salt Lake City, UT to attend in person, or you may attend the online webinar version from the comfort of your home.

Although the conference is free, space is limited and registration is required for either mode of attendance, so sign up soon.  Don’t miss out.

The Western European Family History Conference 2017 that runs May 15-19 will cover, as it names suggests, genealogical research advice for the countries of Germany, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

Class details, more information, and registration can be found at : https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Western_European_Family_History_Conference

TIP OF THE WEEK –   ANCESTRY ACADEMY VIDEOS NOW FREE

Check out the dozens of free how-to videos Ancestry has made available to the general public on a range of topics from Ancestry Products  (of course), to Records (census, probate, military), Methodology, and Locality-Ethnicity Research.  Videos range in length and subject complexity; everything from “Needle & Thread: Piecing Together African American Families” at almost 2 ½ hours to “1920 Census : An Overview” at only 2 ½ minutes. The latter is in their Short Course Videos series.

There is plenty of subject here to help novice genealogists as well as more seasoned ones.   Find your way to : www.ancestry.com/academy

TIP OF THE WEEK –  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
 ON-LINE RESOURCES ORIENTATION

The Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world with more than 162 million items including books, recordings, photographs, maps, sheet music, and manuscripts in its collections. Through its website, www.loc.gov,  it provides access to many resources and services.

Monthly the Library of Congress puts on an orientation webinar to help you learn to navigate this sea of information. The webinar is an hour long and there are opportunities to ask questions and try out the search tools. This orientation will provide an overview of what’s available, provide strategies for accessing the materials, and introduce you to the resources created by staff to further your research into the Library’s collections.

The next two orientation sessions scheduled are for :
•Wednesday, March 15, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm PDT
•Tuesday, April 4, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm PDT

Registration is required. Confirmation and log-on instructions will be sent to you via email once you are registered. Here’s the link to the registration form:
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/orientation_form.php