Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Cemeteries


Cemeteries are everywhere. I've noticed over the years how many will take time during the summer months to visit family, both living and passed on.

I recall our sons assisting over memorial day with placing American Flags on the graves of veterans who had passed away. They were return home being uplifted from the experience. One's final resting place is usually all that is visible to show of your stay here on this earth.

In research, we often find a missing date or name on them and other times we are lucky to get more. With all of the wonderful tools available to us today, taking photos of these graves and uploading them to either FindAGrave or Billion Graves is a wonderful help to many who may be looking for the grave of the one you uploaded.

As you travel from town to town, you'll find some in the most unlikely of places, but they are there waiting to be found. Overseas, many of them are very difficult to read because of weather and the number of years they have been standing. Fortunately, back in the 1970s, many of the historical societies started taking an inventory of those in the cemeteries born before 1850. Later they went back and retrieved the rest. Those entries are called "Monumental Inscriptions" and can be found through the Family History Library's catalog. Depending on the copyright they may be available online!

We send our thanks to all who are helping by uploading of the tombstones around the world to share with all. Some cemeteries have posted their own lists of who is buried in their area; it's worth checking it out if you don't find it listed in either FindMyGrave or BillionGraves. 

Note there is an index to Billion Graves on FamilySearch. DeceasedOnline is a paid site, however, they are considered "the central database for UK burials and
cremations.

To find other locations where there are listings for your ancestral area, be sure to check the FamilySearch Research Wiki as well as Cindy's List.
Enjoy this and many other websites already discussed in past blog articles.

Comments Are Always Welcome!

Building Bridges for All Generations!
claire@timelessgen.com

(c) 2005-2018, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved



Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Friday, January 20, 2017

Social Media Helps – FamilySearch


Most people are familiar with social media in one form or another, even email is classifed as social media. Webster's dictionary states:

"Social Media is various forms of communication (as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages and other content (as videos)". (1)

There are many different types of communities on Facebook and with a little bit of looking, each individual can find a community for their interests as well as keeping in touch with family and friends. For genealogists, this is a great aid to their research and Facebook has a lot to offer regarding genealogical research.

FamilySearch has created "Genealogy Research Groups" in Facebook as a "place where individuals researching the same general location can help one another through asking and answering questions, and sharing helpful resources and information". (2)

Go to FamilySearch Research Wiki and type in "genealogy research groups", when you do this, you will be brought to a page that lists all of the groups supported by FamilySearch and the areas in the world they cover. Here is a partial clip of that webpage.

When you click on any of the links in the webpage, it takes you to that community group in Facebook. Once there, you can click the "Join" button to join. These are monitored groups and so you may be asked what places in that group your ancestors are from but at some point you'll be able to be part of the group where you'll interact with others from the same areas as your ancestors.


The ressearch questions and help provided varies according to each locality, however, everyone needs help at some point in their research. In return, often an individual can help another from their own research experience and answer someone elses questions.

This is a great way to gain additional help and share your own genealogical knowledge, sign up for one or more of these communities and grow your family tree while helping others grow their family tree!

Enjoy this and many other websites already discussed in past blog articles.

Comments Are Always Welcome!

Building Bridges for All Generations!
claire@timelessgen.com

(c) 2005-2017, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved
Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Website: Family Legends - can they be trusted?


Often one hears of a story or a legend that has been handed down through the generations about a ancestor and unless you take the time to investigate how true it is, you could continue to pass this same story down and just assume it is correct.

With this particular website, Family Legends, the individual was told this particular story:

"One of our ancestors was an aide-de-camp of Governor Macquarie. He left his Will in a tree, and when he was speared by the natives his widow was given a grant of land. His son was asked by the Governor what trade he wanted to follow, and he decided to be a shipwright."

As the descendant started working backwards through death and marriage certificates, there were conflicts withing the collected data but she kept researching. She ended up researching the wrong Green family at first but met up with a cousin and together through diligent research came up with the correct version of the above statement that had been passed down for over 160 years:

"One of our ancestors, Thomas Green, an ex-convict constable, while returning from the Bathurst Plains in Governor Macquarie's party, disappeared with a group of natives. His widow Catherine was given a cow, £5, and possibly a block of land in payment for Thomas's services in helping to build the first road over the Blue Mountains. His son William became a shipwright after an apprenticeship at the Government Dockyards, possibly through Governor Macquarie's intervention."

This author has also put together a presentation where she takes a family legend and shows through research how the story was very much altered from the truth to perhaps bring in a bit of romance to this couple's story.

If you have a family legend that has been handed down through the generations, working your way through the legend will help you sort the truth from the fiction. Our current culture places very little trust in oral history and prefers to believe in the written words. There usually is some truth to the legend and always worth the research to determine what is correct.

 This site reminds us that we need to check all of these things as we build our family trees and gather information from other family members.
Enjoy this and many other websites already discussed in past blog articles.

Comments Are Always Welcome!


Building Bridges for All Generations!

claire@timelessgen.com



 (c) 2005-2016, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved
Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: , , , ,

Friday, September 2, 2016

Website: Geneanet


Back in the 1600s the French headed out to settle Canada, 99% of my ancestry comes from this endeavor on their part. Those original settlements were rough and brought in the "King's Daughters" to help settle the area with those men who had ventured forth into this new territory. 

According to various records, about 800 young French women immigrated to "New France" 1663-1673 at the expense of the King, hence, they were known as the "King's Daughters". Many of my ancestors stem from the families created by these women and those men who had braved a new wild and very difficult frontier.

Geneanet began back in 1996 and is the first "French" genealogy website with a combination of free and paid access, the choice is yours. They offer every kind of genealogy record published by researchers, genealogy societies, commercial companies, etc. It is up to the contributor whether they charge for the records provided online.

From their website they list the following to be available for free and for a fee:
  • Members are sharing more than 400 million individuals in their online trees
  • Hundreds of thousands of free digitized records which includes registers
  • Some free indexes and some for pay
  • Hundreds of digitized books, post cards, family pictures, a wiki, a blog and a wonderful genealogy community

Once you upload your tree through a "Gedcom", you can have anyone in your tree born within a 100 years blocked out completely or have just their names shared to protect their identity. Once this is complete, you can see if others match any of your family as well as check out their digitized records.

They show a chart on their collection of indexes:

When you hover over an area/number, it tells you the name of the location. They do have registers from surrounding countries, click here to see their list.

They have a number of projects that allows individuals to upload additional record sets to aid all, this is a great way to collaborate. Some of these records are actual scanned records which provide proof of an event in your ancestor's life.

Searching this site will take some time, the cost to become a "Premium" member is $45 a year which is reasonable when you consider all you are able to access and the relatives you can connect to.

This is a great site for anyone with French/Canadian ancestors!

Enjoy this and many other websites already discussed in past blog articles.

Comments Are Always Welcome!


Building Bridges for All Generations!

claire@timelessgen.com


 (c) 2005-2016, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved




Posted by at 3 comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Website: The Library of Congress



At first glance, the Library of Congress website does not look like a great resource for genealogists and yet it is a great resource.

 Just the title of the website can steer individuals away, however, the resources available are only a few clicks away. Type in "Family History" in the search box at the top:

The very first entry is clearing where genealogists want to be:


One can easily see some of the valuable resources available from their first screen, but once you start checking out the various links, one quickly finds many great resources to help ancestral research efforts.

When clicking "The Collections" you are informed under "Books" that "they have more than 50,000 genealogies and 100,000 local histories. The collections are especially strong in North American, British Isles, and German sources. Their international strengths are further supported and enriched by the Library's incomparable royalty, nobility and heraldry collection."

Under "Vertical File" you are informed that it contains "miscellaneous materials relating to specific family names, to the states, towns, and cities of the U.S. and to genealogical research in general" The description goes on and is worth looking into as they also have newspaper clippings and genealogical charts and so much more. Here are links to their Vertical File Subject Index and Family and Regional Newsletters.

They have a vast array of subscription services to those who visit their library, here is a link to that section which lists all of their subscription databases. They have a large selections guides and aids, here is a link to that section. 

The last section this blog will cover is the "American Memory Project":


It is worth noting the large selection of topics available and this does not include the millions of photographs available that represent our history.

"Cities and Towns" provides access to over 5.5 million historical maps, 80,000 atlases and much more. Their military section has 7 different collections including recordings of individuals and leaders regarding historical events.

Each section provides additional helps for the genealogical researcher. Lastly, there are orientation tours that one can view before going to the library.


As well as some rules and regulations:


Adding this library to your future travels will be well worth the effort. Preparing ahead of time will assure you'll be able to make the most of your time. In closing, here is a link to some of their online collections.

Enjoy this and many other websites already discussed in past blog articles.

Comments Are Always Welcome!


Building Bridges for All Generations!

claire@timelessgen.com


 (c) 2005-2016, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, August 15, 2016

Website: Indiana State Library


For those who have family and ancestors from Indiana, you have a great resource in the Indiana State Library.

They have a whole area dedicated to 'Genealogy':


They state they have "one of the largest collections of family history information in the Midwest" and that it includes more than 40,000 print items combined with their one on one assistance and their 'online collections', they are able to help those who have family in Indiana and the bordering states, as well as eastern and southern states. One can check their site to have those one on one helps with their staff.

In addition to their subscription sites, they have a vast collection of online records. To view a list click here. Some of these collections lead you to a transcription and others are the actual scanned records. There are also collections by the counties. For this blog, lets go to "Howard County" and view their online resources.


The last section has over 20 different choices to help you with your ancestral research. Choosing "General Vital Records" and then "Marriage Records" provides access to records with indexes and scanned images beginning in 1844.


The above is their first recorded marriage license issued August 26, 1844 to Samuel Bates and Philinda Hinkley. It goes on to stay they were 'joined together in the holy bans of matrimony on the 29th day of August 1844. Its signed by John Love, Minister of the Gospel.

The indexes are provided along with the scanned images. This is a great resource to any one with ancestors in this area and in other counties in Indiana.

To all who have family in this great state, enjoy the access to these records online and to their great in person collection. Their staff will aid all those conducting research and they can be reached through "Ask-A-Librarian" online or calling in to their number set up for their "Genealogy Collection" at 317-232-3689.

What a great asset to all those who need this awesome resource!

Comments Are Always Welcome!


Building Bridges for All Generations!

claire@timelessgen.com


 (c) 2005-2016, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved








Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Website: DeathIndexes.com


Unfortunately, death is part of life and something we all have to deal with at some point. The recent unexpected death of a close cousin reminded me of how we never know when it will happen, we simply know it will happen.

As genealogists, we search through vast collections of records to find names, dates and places of ancestors and are amazed at the unexpected stories we may find in these ancestral pursuits.

DeathIndexes.com provides a list of searchable death indexes and records by state and is maintained by Joe Beine who maintains multiple sites to help all those who are researching their ancestors as well as having a blog site of his own called Genealogy Roots Blog. When you click on his profile you find out he is a genealogist from Denver, Colorado.

This site was started back in 2003 and I'm sure has become even more useful over time as more and more sites are added. The various links lead to online death indexes, death records, death notices, obituaries, wills, probate records and cemetery burials. Pick a location from the list:



For this blog, I'll click my home state of Rhode Island and view the results:


The results are well worth my time and energies in checking each link out. The RI Historical Cemeteries Transcription Project has been going on for years, it started when I was a Family History Director there back in the 1990s. It has come a long way from its origins and founder John Sterling and Deby Nunes who are dear colleagues. According to the site, there are over 458,000 inscriptions in this one database!

In addition there are listings by county, Catholic burials and newspaper obituaries. One can definitely make use of this great resource when doing their US research!

Comments Are Always Welcome!


Building Bridges for All Generations!

claire@timelessgen.com


 (c) 2005-2016, Timeless Genealogies, All Rights Reserved












Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)