Tag: YouTube

New(er) Genealogy Resources For Your Toolbox

I’ve been consumed with my Hollingsheads for the last two months so I’ve not blogged about a few awesome resources I’ve come across that may benefit you.  Some are free, some are not.  Here they are:

  • MyHeritage Photo Enhancer is a wonderful tool not just to fix blurry photos but also get a better view of fuzzy documents.  I tried this out in June when I was having difficulty transcribing handwriting from a Quaker document.  I also tried it on an extremely blurry group photo I had of my husband’s Harbaughs but the original photo was too small so it didn’t work well.  You can read more about this here.
  • New York Genealogical and Biographical Society began Beta testing in March their new online collections.  I was not a participant due to other commitments though I did use it briefly in June and July when I was in need of New York records.  Here’s more info about the update.
  • Want to attend a training/conference/Zoom/GoToMeeting, etc. session but know you’re not available at the day/time it’s being presented?  No worries – most organizations will record and make the session available for viewing later.  Go ahead and sign up anyway.  You’ll probably get an email with a link to view later.  I had to miss an APG Virtual Chapter meeting in June and an American Ancestors class in July but was able to watch what I missed at my convenience later.  So, go ahead and sign up for the event even if you can’t attend!
  • Academia.edu is a new tool in my toolbox and I honestly couldn’t have analyzed my Hollingsheads in Barbados as I did without it! There is a membership fee, ballpark about $50 annually, that I’ve more than gotten my money’s worth in the last two months.  The site allows you access to unlimited journal articles and papers by educators on a wide variety of topics.  I selected history and the Caribbean in particular to learn more about the time period I was researching (1650-1750).  That allowed me access to archaeological studies recently done to gain a better perspective of what life was like then, historical works revisited (so I could easily find primary sources), and opportunity to contact social scientists with questions directly.  The site is not just for history enthusiasts but that’s the only part I’ve used.  Membership also provides you your own website, which I have not set up since I already have my own, but it’s a nice feature and looks like it’s quick and easy to use if you’re new to webdesign.  If you’ve used JStor, this is similar but I’ve found that it contains more info if you’re focusing on a sliver of time and place.  
  • Don’t forget YouTube and your local Genealogy Society!  I recently watched a wonderful video about River Pirates.  I had no idea there was such a thing in the Midwest, nor was I aware of some of the terror that reigned in small communities due to deranged families. It also never occurred to me that there was poor workmanship back in those days that resulted in lives and supplies being lost.  I heard about the topic from my local genealogy society; one of the member’s brother was the speaker and I’m so glad I viewed it.  Hubby and I went to school in Indiana and that topic was never addressed in the curriculum!
  • Last but not least, and probably more important than everything mentioned – if you haven’t noticed Ancestry.com has updated their messaging system.  Gone are the folders you may have previously used to save correspondence with other members.  You can download it so you don’t lose anything.  I strongly urge you to do so TODAY as it will be gone this month.  I don’t know what they did yesterday but I had 11 messages.  I had recently reached out to several folks who had some Hollingsheads in their trees but it wasn’t 11.  In reviewing the messages, I discovered most were not new (9) and the two that were were old – one was from November 2019 and the other from June 24, 2020.  Guess they got lost in cyberspace but it did make me look bad as I try to respond within 48 hours!  Check out this feature to see if the update they did before dawn’s early light this past week affected your messages.

More Shelter in Place Genealogy Ideas

Part 2 

Last week my blog was a whole lot longer than usual but I figured now that you’re housebound, you’ve got time to read.  I have seven additional ideas to work on since you can’t run down to your local archive or call a library to access a record.  Now is a wonderful opportunity to…

1.      Review what you have on that brick wall ancestor.  Take every scrap of evidence and spread it out on your workspace.  Now arrange it in chronological order and study it.  Next arrange it by connections, such as every document that has the spouse’s name, too.  Do you see any missing time frames?  Maybe there was a marriage certificate for 1842, a deed in the same county for 1852 but one of the individuals isn’t mentioned in the 1860 U.S. Federal census but shows up again in 1870. That’s a clue to figure out where the individual was in 1860 – maybe they were ill and placed in a sanitarium, perhaps they were visiting an adult child in another area, the person may have had to find work elsewhere or attend the funeral of a family member.  Not sure where the person might have been?  I recommend reading my last blog article and doing item 3.  After you do that …

2.      Take your time to synthesize the information.  Don’t rush – we aren’t going anywhere for awhile.  Let the information just percolate in your brain.  Write down what you find odd or missing.  Now it’s time to…

3.      Do some exercise.  Hubby and I now start our day with a beginner yoga video we found on youtube.  Stretching and breathing will help your brain process the information so give it a try.  The workout may have made you hungry so now think about…

4.      Family recipes.  My hubby’s birthday is coming up and I may have to dig up the family Depression Cake recipe because I don’t know what ingredients will be available at the grocery.  That recipe makes me think of other recipes that got my family through difficult times.  When my grandparents were quarantined with their young family because of a scarlet fever outbreak, she practiced social distancing by speaking with her neighbors through their open windows.  Reminds me of the people singing together on the balconies in Italy or exercising in Spain.  In my family’s case, grandma got a great spaghetti sauce recipe from the Italian neighbor and what we call corn meal mush, from the southern neighbor on the other side of her home.  That was nearly 100 years ago.  Think about the legacy you’re leaving your descendants…

5.      Write down your experiences. I realize how spoiled and privileged we are.  I miss going to restaurants the most.  I only recall both sets of my grandparents going to a restaurant once.  My maternal grandparents, my mother and I went with a neighbor to the Beach Café in Miller, Indiana when I was about 6 years old to get perch on a Friday night during Lent.  Mr. Bauer had just become a widow and missed going to the café with his wife so my family joined him.  I didn’t know then that he had been a character witness 20 years earlier for my grandparents so they could become citizens.  My paternal grandparents, my parents and I went to a diner in Hobart, Indiana when I was about 3 years old.  I have no idea why we only went once or why we went there but I recall there were other people with us so I suspect visiting relatives must have come to town.  They ordered a large pizza and to me, it looked disgusting so I refused to eat it.  I ended up getting the chicken drumstick child’s dinner.  My dad bought me a plastic rocket that came apart in three pieces – it was the Cold War and we were going to beat those Russians.  That was 60 years ago.  Those are my memories of dining out – now write yours and if you get stuck…

6.      Ask an older relative about their recollections.  Now is the time to connect so give them a call, email, Skype or even write a snail mail letter.  I wish I had thought to ask my grandparents about the 1919 Influenza pandemic.  I know my grandfather and great grandfather both got it in January; my grandmother blamed their resistance being shot to working the night shift at U.S. Steel and riding their bikes home in the cold rain.  My grandfather got over it quickly; my great grandfather died.  He had been known to have asthma and epilepsy and the flu turned into pneumonia.  I have the funeral photo with no social distancing practiced.  I know how the family coped – my grandmother took in borders to help pay the bills now that half the money was gone.  What I don’t know is how they prepared for the epidemic.  Perhaps they never did.  The family raised chickens and rabbits and canned their garden vegetables.  I really wish I had asked more questions.  If you aren’t able to connect with an older generation because you are the older generation then…

7.      Reach out to those your DNA says are family.  Sure, you tried that before but they didn’t respond.  Well, try, try again because they’re probably home now, too, and just might have time to respond to you.

Remember, Shakespeare and Newton did their best work during a pandemic.  Keep up your spirits by thinking about how your ancestors handled adversity.  Let them serve as a model for you.

Gedmatch How To

Since I last blogged I explored Gedmatch. It was simple (and free!) to use and I highly recommend it. Here’s how:
First watch the Youtube video Gedmatch Basics. There is no handout but you really don’t need one.
I had already created an account on the site but if you haven’t, you can make one as you’re watching the video.
Once you’ve logged in to Gedmatch, look on the right side where you’ll upload your DNA files. I had one 23andMe and one Ancestry to upload and compare.
If you’re not sure how to get your DNA files, don’t worry! The video and the Gedmatch site will direct you to the provider and step you through downloading it to your computer and then uploading it to Gedmatch.
Now you’re ready to analyze what you’ve uploaded. Not all features are available immediately but that’s okay, what you’ll be most interested in is the 1 to Many which compared shared DNA to everyone who’s uploaded on the site and the 1 to 1 which compares two people. I was interested in 1 to 1 as I uploaded my son and my results.
Your options to view the results are position, graph or position with graph. I chose position with graph. I like seeing the color comparison; my son preferred the position table only. See the picture at the top as that shows what you’ll see for position with graph. The yellow denotes the match from person 1 to person 2 is half, the green are full matches. There’s a lot of green looking at all 22 chromosomes and the rest yellow as our relationship is mother-son.
Check the bottom of the data to see the estimated relationship, how many segments matched and the largest matching segment.
There are other analysis tools available which I haven’t checked out. I plan on doing that when I get my daughter tested as I’d like to compare her to my son.
DNA offers continue this week – Ancestry and FTDNA both have promotions for $69.00.

We’re still waiting for hubby’s results to be returned from 23andMe.