Tag Archives: internet

Many Paths to Sources: Newspapers, Part 3a

newspapers, Research - General, ,

(I know these titles are getting a little bit ridiculous, but there are a couple of steps to this third part and I figured I’d break it down into bite-sized chunks.)

The last two posts talked about online options for finding newspapers. You’ve got the “bigger” websites such as Newspapers.com, but there are also smaller, lesser-known projects out there to discover as well. Now, once you’ve exhausted every online resource you have been able to discover, what then?

I know this might come as a shock to some, but it isn’t all online. I know it seems like it is, because so much is! But it’s not. So, what do you do when you’ve discovered that there are no online options for what you are hoping to find in terms of newspapers. You have to jump in to what I refer to as “two-step” research. The first step is to determine if and where an offline record exists, and most of this first step can be done online or from home with some phone calls. The second step is determining how best to access those offline newspapers.

The first step of this I also call the “pre-research.” If you’ve listened to any of my lectures, I use this phrase a lot. It is the research you have to do to be able to do the research. Make sense? Clear as mud? Well, let’s clear it up. I have a perfect example. I conduct a lot of research in Bowling Green, Wood County, Ohio. That’s where I was born. Many generations of my ancestors lived in Wood county since at least the 1840s. Newspapers from Wood County are only slightly digitized and available online. The main newspaper for Bowling Green is not. So, what’s a researcher to do.

My first stop when looking for any newspaper in the United States is Chronicling America’s “US Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present.” The Library of Congress has put together this directory of newspapers published in the United States since 1690. The best part is that it tells you what newspapers existed for a time and place, AND how to access them.

Chronicling America’s US Newspaper Directory

Selecting Wood County, Ohio shows that there are 104 titles in Wood County. The one I most want to access is the Daily Sentinel-Tribune (in red below).

Clicking on that link provides you with a nice informative screen about that particular newspaper, including when it was published and preceding and succeeding titles.

If there were a digitized version at Chronicling America, there would be a calendar view of available issues in the large white space to the right of the catalog entry. In this case, there is not. If you want to see other titled in that city, county, or state, there is a button for that. However, the most valuable button on this catalog is the “Libraries that Have It” link at the top. I issue a word of caution, however. This particular entry does not list the Wood County District Public Library in Bowling Green, which I know for a fact holds the entire run on microfilm. I’ve spent countless hours there going through the films.

My point here is to not stop looking… again. Just because the LOC doesn’t list a local library for a source for newspapers, do not stop looking. ALWAYS, ALWAYS check that local public library for the possibility that they hold the records you are looking for.

The Wood County District Public Library Website for Local History and Genealogy

If I hadn’t already known that the WCDPL holds those microfilms, I may have stopped there and assumed that the newspapers did not exist anywhere. Which is not unreasonable. Newspapers were not printed on acid-free paper and stored in temperature and humidity-controlled rooms until sometimes it was too late.

Newspaper crumbles, photo taken by author

Do you see what I mean by “pre-research”? You have to research where the sources are before you can access them. Next up, how to best to access the newspapers that are not online.

Many Paths to Sources: Newspapers, Part 2

Beginning Concepts, Resources, , , , , ,

Last time we looked at some of the big and obvious sources for finding online newspapers. But there’s more out there. You just have to have a lot of persistence and a little bit of luck. I’m talking about not stopping at just the major sites I shared last week. That is literally the tip of the iceberg. There are so many digital collections that are separate, part of a small local project, and just not known to the larger outside world. Here’s where you start (one of these, not in any particular order):

  • Local public libraries, especially if they have a local history collection
  • Local historical societies and museums
  • Local genealogical societies (“local” might mean regional, look at the next biggest town)
  • Nearest university (and then the next, etc.)
  • Town, city, county, state (and whatever the jurisdiction setup is in other countries) repositories such as an archive, library, historical and genealogical society, and so on

To learn about these you could do a simple Google search (‘Wood County Ohio public library,’ for example) or you could use other resources such as Cyndi’s List or the FamilySearch Wiki for genealogically specific information. Let’s look at an example.

I had a client who’s ancestors were from Glengarry County, Ontario but one of a set of sisters had moved to New York City where she became a nurse. I needed to prove that the particular sister was in New York City at the right time to have given birth to my client’s grandmother. Of course, this is between census years; city directories were not easily available for the right years for the right borough; and etc. I was also unable to find mention of this sister in any newspaper in New York City and vicinity. However, I found a treasure trove of digitized newspapers at the Glengarry County archives.

Glengarry County Archives – Browse Local Newspapers

Lo and Behold! I found articles describing when the sister went to New York for nursing school, when she came home for visits, her progress, her graduation, her new job in a New York hospital, and more. I was able to prove that she was in New York City at the right time and place. This is not a collection that is highly visible through other sites. These digital images are not a part of a large subscription service.

I found this resource that helped solve my client project because I have a list of places I start looking when the “big” sites fail. That list is the bullets listed above: libraries, historical societies, genealogical societies, universities, county and state level archives. This method has worked too many times for me not to follow it. If it helps, make a sticky note with that list on it and keep it near your computer.

Whatever you do, don’t give up when those major sites do not provide what you are looking for. You can’t give up until you’ve exhausted those and this list. Next time, we will discuss what to do when you’ve exhausted both of those. Keep searching!

Many Paths to Sources: Newspapers, Part 1

Beginning Concepts, newspapers, Research - General, , ,

First, let’s take a look at newspapers. Newspapers are one of my favorite subjects to speak about. Finding your ancestors in the newspaper gives you a nice, albeit often short, snapshot into their lives and gives their lives extra flavor. It helps turn them into real people that existed rather than just names on a document.

There are some fantastic online options for finding newspapers. The big three sites for subscriptions:

And there is not one that is better than the other. They all have different collections, so the one that is right for you, is the one that has the series of newspapers with your ancestors in them. Be sure to check their catalog for coverage before buying a subscription. All of these sites let you do that, so don’t skip this step and then get disappointed if they don’t have the papers you needed.

There are many free sites for newspapers across the U.S. Many states have a state digitization project and corresponding website. Here are just a few:

Of course, there is the Library of Congress’s collection of digitized newspapers:

Internationally, there are also some free digital newspaper sites as well. I know of a couple where I’ve done research:

Then there are link sites such as:

The above, is a lot. But is is literally just scratching the surface of what you can do with newspaper research. In Part 2 we will look more closely at finding newspapers online. In Part 3, we will delve into finding and accessing newspapers offline.

NGS Conference Live Stream Details Announced

Genealogy Conferences, , , ,

The National Genealogical Society’s Annual Conference is coming right up! I am honored to be going to present three lectures among a wide variety of very talented speakers. The conference is being held in Grand Rapids, Michigan from 2-5 May 2018. If you are unable to attend in person, NGS just announced their live stream schedule option. You can read the full release with sign-up instructions and fees here.

ngs-2018-conferencesitebanner-060
National Genealogical Society Conference Banner

The schedule is as follows:

  • Thursday, 3 May 2018: Viewers will be able to stream five lectures from 9:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m., including:
    • Reasonably Exhaustive Research of African American Ancestors who came out of Slavery—LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, JD, LLM, CG®
    • The Price of Loyalism: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary War—Terry Koch-Bostic
    • The Y-DNA Test Should be Your Favorite—Diahan Southard
    • Your Cousins are Your Secret Weapon—Angie Bush
    • Native American DNA: Separating Fact from Fiction—Blaine Bettinger, PhD, JD
  • Friday, 4 May 2018: Five BCG Skillbuilding lectures will be live streamed from 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m., including:
    • History, Records, and Context: Researching the Locations Your Ancestors Lived—Angela Packer McGhie, CG
    • Samuel Witter vs. Samuel Witter: Separating Same-Name Soldiers, War of 1812—Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGLSM, FASG, FNGS, FUGA
    • Using Indirect and Negative Evidence to Prove Unrecorded Events—Thomas Wright Jones, PhD, CG, CGL, FASG, FNGS, FUGA
    • A Matter of Standards: DNA and the GPS—Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL
    • Deeper Analysis: Techniques for Successful Problem Solving—Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL

Details about the live stream program, plus additional conference recordings, can be found on the PlaybackNGS Website.

If you’d like to attend, but can’t make it in person, this is a wonderful opportunity to attend from home.

Thoughts About Online Trees

Genealogy General, , ,

IMG_3012In our time as genealogists, we have probably uploaded a GEDCOM file or two (or a dozen). It seems that every month a new site (or an old one) has a system for uploading and managing your family tree on their website. The most popular site today for building a tree is probably Ancestry.com. There are others:

Each of these has their advantages. Ancestry.com probably has the best system for locating hints from their databases as seen by the “shaky” leaves that appear. FamilySearch’s Family Tree is more like a wiki where you don’t actually “own” the individuals in the tree but instead collaborate with other researchers and have the ability to have discussions or post proof arguments.

Family information didn’t trickle down the family tree evenly. My cousins probably know more about my Businger ancestors than I do because they lived nearby whereas my branch of the family moved “out west.” They most likely have more family photographs and papers than I do stored in their attics or basements. I happen to have a lot of information on my Miller ancestors simply due to the relationships formed and the relatively small “competition” pool to get old photos and papers (there’s me, my brother, and our one cousin Andy). However, think about those families not so many generations ago that bore eight, ten, twelve, or more children. There were a lot of children to pass these treasures down to, and it didn’t all flow evenly. If there was a rift in the family, these artifacts may have followed one line only. If there was estrangement, these might have gone to a family friend, or not have been saved at all.

Just like family information, online trees today are not all located on one site. Some people only put their tree up in one location. I happen to have mine in a few, but not “all” of them. Posting your tree online can be an exceptional research tool, especially if you are looking for collaborators; people who may have been on that side of the family tree where the information flowed more fully. By posting your tree online, and in several locations, you can cast a wider net and reach more potential cousins who are researching the same or connected family lines.

I have a few ideas on what I think are some best practices for posting your tree online:

  • Make sure your email address or other contact information is up-to-date. You could even include your social media contacts if you have them, your Facebook profile, Twitter handle, or other social media of your choice.
  • Make sure you keep your tree at least moderately updated. The problem with having many trees online is that there is not an easy way to keep them all updated at the same time, no syncing across sites. If you are not doing any attaching of documents like what happens at Ancestry.com, you could simply delete an old tree and upload a new GEDCOM periodically. However, I don’t recommend this if you do a lot of attaching from the host site. One solution: you can post a “skeleton” tree with basic information in order to “catch” those collaborators, then invite them to your better tree, wherever that is hosted, once you’ve made contact.
  • Attach as many source citations to your trees as possible. If you keep one main tree and then post skeleton trees to a variety of sites, make some mention of this in your profile information. Something like “This tree does not contain many sources, but if there is a name or family group you are interested in, please contact me for more information.” This will at least let them know that there are sources available.
  • There are other more obvious “rules” I like to follow such as not posting personal information of my living relatives, not spreading gossip or rumors about living people, or the recently deceased, and not copying the trees or work of others without their permission (and I mean by asking them directly, not just clicking “add to my tree” because of the “well, if it is out there, they must not mind sharing” attitude to sharing.

If you do not know how to make what I call a “skeleton” GEDCOM file, I recommend reading some of the help files and/or video tutorials that came with your genealogical software. But in a nutshell, there is usually a way to mark a line of people you’d like to create a GEDCOM for. For example, if I only want to post a tree for my Kindervater ancestors, I can choose to begin with one particular person and then in Reunion (for Mac) there is a command to mark all ancestors of said person, and I can also choose whether to include all children or not, all spouses or not, etc. What you choose here will create a larger or smaller file to post.

These are just some thoughts I have about online trees. I have been working on a project trying to identify the parents of a female ancestor. I have been combing through many online trees, most of which have no sources and appear to repeat the same information that I am not sure is correct. It is a lot of time-consuming work. Most trees have no sources, they don’t all have working emails, and not everyone responds to emails when they are working. Online trees can offer many useful clues and hints and send you in directions you may not have known to go, and perhaps some of the people posting these trees online were on the side of the family tree where the information flowed down more freely than mine. I will keep investigating.

Some helpful articles or resources I found online:

http://lisalouisecooke.com/tag/online-family-tree/

http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2014/10/01/6-tips-to-get-your-family-tree-off-to-a-good-start/

http://enchantedfamily.com/blog/family-tree-tips/

http://www.archives.com/experts/breland-claudia/online-family-trees.html

http://www.cyndislist.com/family-trees/online-family-trees/

*I love the Find My Past site a lot, and it is growing on me more and more with every addition and update. This is the only like of which I am an affiliate. If you click through this link and sign up with Find My Past, I will get a small amount of compensation. This is one of the ways I try to supplement my income and to allow me to provide educational opportunities for low cost. Many of the things I do are pro-bono. So consider using an affiliate link (from me or any other generous genealogists who are in the same boat I am).
**Please know that I am not affiliated with any of the other above links and do not receive any compensation from them when you click on their links.

Moving Part 4: Creating a New FAN Club

FAN Club, Relocation, , , , ,

a kitchen cutlery drawer full of knives, forks and spoons
a kitchen cutlery drawer full of knives, forks and spoons

[Author’s note: Sorry for the delay between posts! I’ve been exceedingly busy with some projects lately. One of them was preparing for the Northwest Genealogical Conference. I am excited to be presenting three lectures this Friday and Saturday in Arlington, Washington (near Seattle) and took some time to get prepared. I had some other projects in the works as well and so these posts had to wait a little bit. So, without further ado…]

When we relocate everything is different, except for the stuff you brought with you, and even that ends up in different locations. (The spoons are no longer to the left of the sink. They are now in the island drawer.) For the first few months, I had a bit of anxiety when needing to do something simple like go to the grocery store. Traffic patterns are different. Road signage is different. The stop lights are sideways here instead of up and down. It took us a while to locate a decent breakfast restaurant. Not to mention all of the work that went into getting our new driver’s licenses, license plates, health care professionals…I’m still in the process of finding a decent dentist. (I miss you Dr. Simpson in Boulder!)

Moving to a new location forces you to create a new network, a new FAN club. (I described the FAN Club in the previous post.) One of the most common ways to do this is to get to know your neighbors. (Unfortunately, we have found that the neighbors down here are not as friendly and/or talkative as our old neighbors. We miss you Judy and Williams Family!) Our neighbors tend to keep to themselves. In fact most people in our neighborhood keep to themselves. (Except for one child who lives down the block and made friends with my kids… she’s always coming over to visit.) So we are still working on this one.

My favorite way to meet new people, especially like-minded people, is to join a new genealogical society (or three, as I have done). This puts you in contact with others who appreciate family stories, research, sharing tips and tricks for genealogy, and who won’t roll their eyes at you when you start talking about the latest record you located. (Not that my husband does this, but my kids certainly do.) Near me there are two dues-paying societies that I have joined, the Austin Genealogical Society and the Williamson County Genealogical Society. There is also an informal genealogy group that meets at the Pflugerville Public Library. I have also joined the Texas State Genealogical Society. They don’t have monthly meetings but do have many member benefits, one of which I’ve already benefited from: their speaker’s bureau. I’ll have the pleasure of speaking to the Central Texas Genealogical Society meeting in a couple of weeks.

Other ways to meet people and get acquainted with new people includes volunteering for those genealogical societies or other community organizations such as the library, school, or animal shelter, finding a new church or other house of spirituality, attend events in the community such as festivals or neighborhood events, or take a class (art, exercise, dance, cooking, etc). These are just some of the ways to expand your FAN club after you relocate. These can be quite fun and engaging.

As an aside, an interesting thing I’ve realized after relocating: I didn’t have to give up my Colorado friends as much as I did when we moved during my childhood. Back then, keeping in touch involved actual letters sent via the US Postal Service (*gasp*) or long distance phone calls that were expensive, both of which are being eradicated from our modern lives. The internet has allowed me to keep in touch through social media and video chatting and smart phones allow these communications to happen anywhere. Also, it doesn’t hurt that I moved to a town very near where one of my best Colorado pal’s parents live, so I get to see her every time she comes to visit them. The same is true with my kids. They still chat, text and video call their friends from Colorado. Even though we may have spread out physically as a society, the internet has brought us the ability to remain connected in ways our ancestors would probably find magical or mystical. (Heck, I find it to be magical myself.)

Next up… Learning to research in a new community.

What I Don’t Know, Part 11: That’s a lot of stuff I don’t know!

Illinois Research, , , ,

Ok, so this is really just a follow-up. Remember in the post on military records, I said that the information about Franklin Dimick being a Justice of the Peace led to some interesting information. Well, this is that story.

Sometimes I begin with this, sometimes I remember to do it later. But sometimes, I do a straight up Google search with the name I’m researching in quotes. Sanders Scroggins, Jeduthan Dimick and Franklin Dimick are such unique names I did just that. They didn’t turn up much except when I decided to look more into the fact that Franklin was a Justice of the Peace. A Google search for “franklin dimick” “justice of the peace” turned up a county history I hadn’t found before when searching for Hardin County histories.

2014-03-31 11.15.03 pm

The first entry, “Memoirs of the lower Ohio valley: personal and genealogical…” leads to a Google Book. This is a full digitized version of that county history and gives biographical sketches for two of Franklin’s sons and discusses details about Franklin’s origins.

That was quite a long journey through records you can locate on the Internet (and I’m sure I missed many) in a short amount of time. One of my next steps is to begin writing up a biographical sketch of the research subjects. This is one of the quickest ways to highlight any holes in your research and where you might need to do more to strengthen your proof.

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I hope this series helped you learn more about distance research, what can be done online and in a short amount of time, and about Illinois research.

What I Don’t Know, Part 10: Repository Research Plan

Illinois Research, , ,

Eventually we all have to leave the comforts of home and do some research in a repository whether it be a courthouse, library, archive, or cemetery. There are many things you can and should do from home before you go to be prepared. I will first scour the Family History Library’s catalog to see what can be ordered in to a local family history center for viewing.

For Hardin County, Illinois the catalog looks like this:

2014-03-31 10.52.23 pm

Depending on what is available under each of those topics, I will order in at least the films containing the indexes for such things as deeds, wills, probate and vital records especially if I am planning a research trip to Salt Lake City in the near future.

Also, I will examine online information regarding local libraries, courthouses, archives and cemeteries for information on hours of operation, any costs involved, parking issues, copy fees, restricted items, and so on. There is nothing more frustrating than arriving at a small library only to discover they are closed on Wednesdays, the day you had set aside for a visit. I also visit their online catalogs and know exactly what I want to look at before I arrive.

If I can’t make a research trip in person, I will examine the online information for ordering procedures for courthouses and libraries, local volunteers or genealogists for hire, and local societies who offer look-ups. The Rosiclare Memorial Public Library has a list of genealogical resources available and an email for questions.

2014-03-31 11.06.14 pmCreate your research plan before you leave home. Do as much as possible before you even get dressed and you will have a more successful, productive and efficient research trip!

What I Don’t Know, Part 9: Other Online Sources Searched

Illinois Research, , , , , ,

After all of the “main” record types I mentioned in previous posts, I also looked at my favorite newspaper websites such as GenealogyBank, Newspapers.com, and Chronicling America. I did not find anything relevant in the time I had allotted to work on this project.

Another favorite online database is FindAGrave.com. This is a collection of tombstone photographs and cemetery listings. I did find several relevant entries for Dimick and Scroggins family members:

2014-03-31 10.28.26 pm
There are several entries, including Sarah Scroggin(s) and Franklin Dimick in “Dimick Cemetery.” However, there are no photographs for either of them. Further research indicates that there are no tombstones or they are quite weathered and that this is a cemetery on private property, at one time being owned by the Dimick family. It is located near the town of Rosiclare, Illinois.

So, EVERYTHING is NOT on the Internet. At some point we have to put on clothes other than jammies and slippers and go to some repositories to further our research. However, there are still things you can do from home before you step outside and blink at the sun, that will be covered in the next post.

What I Don’t Know, Part 8: Military Records

Illinois Research, , , , ,

It is always wise when working in the early to mid 1800s to check military records, either for War of 1812 or Civil War soldiers. There are growing collections coming online all the time for these 2 groups of soldiers’ records. The first place I look to determine if a person I’m researching was involved in the Civil War is the National Parks Service’s Soldiers and Sailors Database. This is an index to all who served in the Civil War on either side of the conflict. A quick search for Dimick and Scroggins provided the following 2 results:

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There was a soldier named Sanders Scroggins from Illinois.

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There was no soldier named Franklin Dimick (Sarah’s brother).

This told me that Sanders Scroggins enlisted during the Civil War. Sarah (his wife) had a brother named Franklin Dimick. No entry was found for him. Once I determined Sanders had enlisted, I began searching for more information about his service. One great online repository for military records is Fold3.com. There I found a copy of a Widow’s Pension from his widow (and third wife) Josephine Scroggins.

 

2014-03-31 09.59.49 pmFurther searching (at Internet Archive) revealed a copy of the Adjutant General’s report:

2014-03-31 10.02.38 pm

It appears that Sanders only served for about a month from August to September 1864. The AG report also gives some description of what the company was doing during that time:

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Franklin Dimick was not to be left out, however. Searching at Fold3.com revealed that he performed an important role in his town:

2014-03-31 10.07.16 pm

Franklin Dimick was a Justice of the Peace in Hardin County! (This information leads to an interesting find that I will share in a future post.)