Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Exercising my microfilm muscle

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I headed to Salt Lake City this morning to attended RootsTech. I landed at 11:30 a.m., dropped my suitcase off at my hotel and made a bee-line for the Family History Library. I had a list of things to look up and I was raring to go.

Just a few days ago, I had come across an index to deed books for Hopkins County, Kentucky, covering 1807-1939. Both the index and the deed books themselves are available at the Family History Library. But only the index has been digitized; the books themselves (with the exception of a couple) are available only on microfilm.

I was so happy to find the index right before, rather than right after, I was going to be in Salt Lake City! So today, I looked up the microfilm numbers, found the six rolls of microfilm (I didn’t realize I was supposed to limit myself to five at a time) and took up residence at the microfilm reader. At first, I was uncertain and slow. But by the third reel, I was a microfilm ninja!

At the Family History Library, in order to get a copy of the document you find on microfilm, you take the microfilm spool, along with the take-up reel, and carry them to a scanning machine. This way you’re saving your place on the film.

I was intimidated at the prospect of scanning from microfilm using unfamiliar software, but the staff member gave me a patient lesson (she used a pointer to point at the screen!) and after getting help just once, I was able to do it on my own the next eleven documents. It’s a little more complicated than it sounds because you have to zoom in and out, straighten pages and adjust the brightness. I felt so empowered!

I found some great stuff in those deed books and though I was a bit bleery eyed four hours later when I’d made it through all my lookups, it was well worth the effort. I’m grateful that I seldom have to use microfilm. Searching and browsing digital copies of documents and downloading with a single click is so much easier. But I always like it when I gain an appreciation for all the work that pre-internet genealogists went through.

It was a great start to my RootsTech week!

Poll: What genealogy software do you use?

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I’m curious, what software do you use to keep track of your family tree? I use Reunion, the software I started out with six years ago, and I really like it. But I don’t have any point of comparison.

I put together this poll to learn what my readers use, so I can figure out which software I should learn more about. I’d appreciate it if you’d take a moment and fill it out. I’d love to hear in the comments what you like and dislike about the software you use. Thanks!

2018 RootsTech livestream schedule

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I’m excited that I’m attending RootsTech, but for those who can’t make it, RootsTech is livestreaming a small selection of the keynotes and breakout sessions at next week’s conference.

Here’s the schedule. The sessions will be streamed live on the RootsTech homepage and then afterward recordings will be posted on the website for a limited time.

Visit the Livestream page on the RootsTech website for descriptions of each of these sessions.

Wednesday, February 28

9:30 a.m.–10:30 a.m. | Family History in 5 Minutes a Day
Speaker: Deborah Gamble

11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. | DNA–One Family, One World
Speaker: David Nicholson

1:30 p.m.–2:30 p.m. | Organizing and Preserving Photograph Collections
Speaker: Ari Wilkins

3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. | Finding the Answers: The Basics of WWII Research
Speaker: Jennifer Holik

4:30 a.m.–5:30 a.m. | Wednesday General Session and Innovation Showcase
Speaker: Steve Rockwood, CEO of FamilySearch International

Thursday, March 1

8:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m. | Thursday General Session
Speaker: Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York

11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. | MyHeritage DNA 101: From Test to Results
Speaker: Yaniv Erlich

1:30 p.m.–2:30 p.m. | Google Photos: Collect, Organize, Preserve, and Share
Speaker: Michelle Goodrum

3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. | Unlocking Roman Catholic Records
Speaker: Brian Donovan

4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m. | A Gift of Life: Who’s Writing Your Story?
Speaker: Deborah Abbott

Friday, March 2

8:30 a.m.–9:30 a.m. | Friday General Session
Speaker: Scott Hamilton

11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. | findmypast’s British and Irish Hidden Gems
Speaker: Myko Clelland

1:30 p.m.–2:30 p.m. | Finding the Right DNA Test for You
Speaker: Jim Brewster

3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. | How Not to Leave Your Genealogy Behind
Speakers: Amy Johnson Crow and Curt Witcher

4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m. | Finding Elusive Records at FamilySearch
Speaker: Robert Kehrer

Saturday, March 3

8:30 a.m.–9:30 a.m. | Saturday General Session
Speakers: Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Natalia Lafourcade

11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. | Civil Registration Indexes of England and Wales
Speaker: Audrey Collins

1:30 p.m.–2:30 p.m. | Advancing Your Genealogy Research with DNA
Speaker: Anna Swayne

3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. | Pain in the Access: More Web for Your Genealogy
Speaker: Curt Witcher

That’s a lot of free information available to you! I heartily encourage to attend as many of these talks as you can, from the comfort of your computer, tablet or phone. In my experience, RootsTech presentations are top notch.

 

A fun way to link family history with the Olympics

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Ancestor Olympics!I was contacted by Ann Golightly Jeffs of the crafty blog Ivory Bloom about the free printables she’s created in honor of the Olympics. They’re Ancestor Cards, like baseball cards, that you can download and then add your ancestors’ names and birth/death dates and places and even their pictures. (You can do the adding either in software or by hand, after printing.) The idea is that you root in the Olympics for the countries your ancestors are from.

The blog post is full of advice on ways to incorporate family history into the Olympic celebrations (including making Olympic torches!). I think if you have kids or grandkids, it would be a great way to teach them an appreciation for their roots.

Included among the printables is a medal count chart, which would be a fun way to see ancestors competing against one another.

I think these are great ideas. I’m definitely in favor of anything that helps promote an appreciation of family history!