Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Nuts about genealogy blogs? Check out GeneaBloggers!

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GeneaBloggers logoI recently became aware of GeneaBlogger, which is a great resource for bloggers and blog readers alike. In its Genealogy Blog Roll it lists (alphabetically) over 3,000 genealogy blogs (including this one) you can peruse. I didn’t know there were that many genealogy blogs in existence!

If you’re a genealogy blogger, it offers daily blog prompts and a weekly e-newsletter.

I’ve been wanting to take the time to explore more genealogy blogs and I’m so delighted to have this resource to make it so easy! I’ll be “liking” the Facebook pages of favorite blogs, so I’ll have their updates handy. (If you’re on Facebook and haven’t done so already, please like the Organize Your Family History Facebook page.)

Happy GeneaExploring!

Help for my tired eyes

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Carson illuminated magnifier and desk lamp

One of many reasons that I wish I had started getting serious about genealogy when I was  younger (the #1 being that could have quizzed my grandparents), is that my 50-year-old eyes have a hard time with small type. When I print out census and other documents, as I’m prone to do, I find it challenging to make out the type, even with my reading glasses on.

A few months back, I bought an unlighted magnifying glass, which I use a great deal.

I upped the ante earlier this month and bought myself a Illuminated Magnifier and Desk Lamp. It has a goose neck, so I can angle and lower the magnifying glass. And the best part is the light that shines down on the paper. There’s also a little 5X magnifier if you need to get extra close. It reminds me of the magnifying glass you can use on Ancestry when viewing censuses online. It runs on batteries or a power cord. I take could see taking this with me to the library, though it’s by no means tiny.

I just received it last week and I haven’t put it to a whole lot of use yet, but I’m pleased. And I imagine it will come in handy for papers not related to genealogy.

Picking my parents’ brains

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I’m going next week to visit my parents in Walla Walla, Washington. I’ve kicked myself over the past year for not asking them more questions (or listening better when they volunteered information) about family lore and ancestors when we were all younger. Their memories aren’t as good as they were twenty years ago, naturally.

When I’m there visiting, I plan to ask a few questions that have come up as I’ve been doing genealogy research this year. I don’t know if they’ll be able to answer them, but I have to ask.

And here’s the tiny thing I’m doing that feels kind of radical. I’m actually writing down the questions, even the small curiosities. I’m not relying on my memory. I’m not going to assume that there will be a natural opportunity to ask these questions. I’m writing them in my notebook and at some point I’m going to pull out that notebook and interview my parents. And the notebook will be handy for writing down their responses.

My parents’ memories aren’t the only ones deteriorating with age. My memory is definitely not what it used to be (I’m 50) and I’m not going to take any chances.

If you’re visiting with family members over the holidays, you might jot down some questions to ask them. I so wish I’d done it years ago!

 

A great resource for Ancestry.com subscribers

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I’ve been a subscriber to Ancestry.com for years but just this week learned about a resource there that I’m really excited about. In its Learning Center, Ancestry offers a Family History Wiki with some terrific information and links.

I learned about the Wiki while watching an archived Livestream lesson from Ancestry, on finding death records. I clicked on Vital Records at the top, then on the state I was interested in and simple as that, I got the information I need about the availability of vital records and how to go about getting them. In the past, my first choice in searching for vital records from a specific state has been Google. Now it’s going to be this Wiki. So far, I’ve used the Wiki only for vital records, but there are sections on census records, immigration records, military records, African American research, Jewish American research and more.

Much of the vital record information provided comes from the resource, Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources. I’m so excited at how easily accessible the information is!

This is just one of the many reasons that I am happy to fork over $155 a year to Ancestry. I have found it to be an invaluable resource. I’m hopeful that their recent acquisition (as reported on Family Tree’s Genealogy Insider blog) by the European private equity firm Permira doesn’t affect the quality and accessibility of the content.

I clearly have not explored the learning opportunities available via Ancestry. Time to do more investigating of the Learning Center!