Most of us have spent much of our time searching online for our family connections.  The search can be long and costly.  Recently a co-worker needed assistance in an online search.  She was worried that she was down on funds, but seriously wanted to continue her research.  Luckily for her I knew a solution.

The Sweetwater County Library System provides for its patrons, Ancestry Library Edition.  By paying a yearly subscription fee the library makes access possible to many of the same records that are available on Ancestry.com.  Many of these include:

Australia Census Collection, Canada Census & Voter Lists, Germany Census & Voter Lists, U. K. Census Collection, U. S. Census Collection, Immigration & Travel, Birth, Marriage & Death Records, London Parish Records, to name a few.

Do note that you will not receive the “hint leaf” as you will with Ancestry.com, but you can continue your research by using the record links that are available.  There some differences but it is well worth looking into.  For instance, I began to help my friend with her research to show her just what was available by simple searches.  We entered her grandfather’s information.  Because he was a well known person of a certain area and that fact he was a businessman, he was fairly easy to find.  Several records immediately came up and with each to the right was a listing of other records that might match the person we were looking for.  This was a boon of great records.  By checking each of the possibilities we were able to find several new records showing her grandfather’s father and mother as well as his siblings.  Needless to say, my friend was thrilled.

As the search continued we were able to add three generations to her growing family tree.  One of the best parts was there was no fee to be paid by the user.  The SWCLS had come to the rescue.  My friend is continuing her research and reports she is still finding more and more information.  This could be you as well.  Be sure to check with your local library, school, college, etc.  to see if they subscribe as we do to Ancestry Library Edition.  Because Ancestry Library Edition is “in library use only” you will have to visit the local providing facility.

The SWCLS also provides several other databases that can be accessed from your home computer.

They are:

Eighteenth Century Collections Online
An essential collection for 18th century studies featuring over 180,000 titles from a variety of materials – books, directories, bibles, sheet music and advertisements.

GoWYLD: Genealogy
Wyoming Genealogy Resources

GoWYLD: History
Wyoming History Resources

Heritage Quest
Expand your family history research with ProQuest’s Genealogy & Local History Collection of 26,000+ family and local history books, the U.S. Census from 1870 – 1930 and more. This genealogy database is available for home use.

Historic Map Works
An extensive digital map collection, with more than 400,000 high-resolution, full-color historic maps.

History Makers
an archive of filmed oral history interviews of 20th century African Americans who have shaped modern history.

History Reference Center |   mobile access
A comprehensive, full text database designed for secondary schools, public libraries, junior/community colleges, and undergraduate research. Material from journals, books, as well as historical photographs and video are included.

History Study Center
Over 40,000 digitized documents arranged around more than 500 historical topics worldwide

Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
Full text and images from numerous urban and rural papers bring the 19th century to life.

Proquest Obituaries

Over 10.5 million obituaries and death notices from the complete historical runs of major national newspapers.

Proquest’s African American Heritage
A genealogy resource exclusively devoted to African American family history research.

Sanborn Maps
View Sanborn fire insurance maps for U.S. cities and towns from 1867 – 1970. These documents are invaluable primary resource material for historical and genealogical research.

World History in Context
From ancient Europe to Latin America and from the Far East to the Renaissance, an array of primary sources, images, maps and charts provide expansive geographic and chronologic research materials for the study of world history.

Wyoming Newspaper Project
Discover the stories that formed Wyoming. Browse or search the more than 900,000 newspaper pages converted from microfilm to a digital format. All text is searchable, including news articles, news briefs, obituaries and other items of interest.

Wyoming Places
Discover the history behind place names in Wyoming

Be sure to stop by our website at http://sweetwaterlibraries.com/

and take a look at all the great databases that the library provides.

The press release states:

WDYTYA returns for its third season on Friday, February 3 (8-9 p.m. ET).  The celebrities who star in the series are Martin Sheen, Marisa Tomei, Blair Underwood, Reba McEntire, Rob Lowe, Helen Hunt, Rita Wilson, Edie Falco, Rashida Jones, Jerome Bettis, Jason Sudeikis and Paula Deen.

“We’re very excited about the stories we have this season. This fantastic group of people we have will take us to countries we haven’t visited before which is thrilling and gives us glimpses into crucial details of history that not only shaped their families, but our world,” said executive producers Kudrow and Bucatinsky. “This is what we love about this series; it’s so enriching for us the viewer, as well as the participants and their families.”

From Ireland’s freedom fighters to the American Revolutionary War, and from the African nation of Cameroon to Bulgaria, “Who Do You Think You Are?” will reveal the fabric of humanity through everyone’s place in history. Each week a different celebrity takes a journey into their family’s past, traveling all over the world. While giving viewers an in-depth look into their favorite stars’ family tree, each episode will expose surprising facts and life changing encounters that will unlock people’s emotions, and show just how connected everyone is not only to the past, but to one another.

Ancestry.com continues in its role as NBC and Shed Media’s official partner on the series, helping to provide the exhaustive research used to build each story. “‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ is such a beautiful showcase for the type of discoveries people can make through family history research,” said Josh Hanna, Executive Vice President for Ancestry.com. “We are extremely proud to help produce a program that inspires so many to begin their own journey of discovery and are excited to see it grow more this season.”

I am sure this season will be as interesting as the last two.  Enjoy!!

What do I do next?  I have tried the family.  I have tried the census records.  What do I do next!!  Do you ever find yourself saying those words?  I know I have.  Genealogy can be fun, interesting and stimulating to say the least, but there is another side “frustrating”. Not meaning to send a negative vibe out there, but many of you know what I mean.  If you do genealogy long enough, chances are you too will walk in these shoes.

For many years I have been looking for my great-grandfather David A. Brown.  He divorced my great-grandmother in Rock Springs, Wyoming and was thought to have died in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.  There was never any official obituary or documentation, but this was the oral history that had been handed down through the generations.  The family generally took this as gospel.

About 10 years ago I was visiting a relative and we started talking family history.  Luckily Ted was one that was always willing to share any information he had.  The subject of David A. Brown came up and it seemed that he had a side story to tell.  Somewhere back- in-time someone, he could not remember who, had stated they thought David A. Brown had actually survived the earthquake and lived in California with a second family.  I was shocked.  Could this be true?  Had David A. lived on and remarried?  This definitely put a new spin on things.

I began searching census records.  There are so many David Browns in California during the early 1900’s I was overwhelmed. A very distant cousin Keith and I had been comparing notes from time to time.  Keith is retired and has lots of time to do research (yeah!).  He decided he would look in to this and get back to me.  A year or so later Keith did just that.  He found who we think is our David A. Brown on a census record in Santa Monica, California.  All this time we have been working on the death index for the 1906 Earthquake, and now we needed to change direction.

The main reason I am sharing this story with you to show that even for the seasoned genealogist there are stumbling blocks.  For this instance it was made more difficult because in this line there is David A., David B., David A., and David Brown.  Many of the older records do not show the middle name and those of us looking had to take more time to scrutinize the census records a bit closer.  Also oral histories are a great source, but as you see they are not always correct.  You must do the fact checking to be sure.

If you are lucky you might enlist the help of other family members to help with the research.  Contact family members or do a post on Facebook, MySpace, etc. to see if there are others that would join in the hunt.  You never know.  Some may not have ever worked on family history but might be willing now.  Don’t pass up the great opportunity.

Now that we have a general area to search we are trying to find this other family.  It may take a bit of time but we feel it will be well worth it.  We know that he was born in Scotland but we have no idea where.  Once we find the records on this other family, there is usually a good chance more information will be learned.  With genealogy it is always the perpetual hunt.

I am stealing a line from the Ancestry.com commercials but “I really do feel like the family detective”.

Just a quick note to all my readers:

I sincerely wish you and all your loved ones

a very safe, healthy, and Happy Holiday

season.

In August my family hosted our annual Schultz Family Reunion.  Reunions can be stressful and a huge amount of work.  I started my list of activities some time ago and I found that I was missing a little something just before.  Luckily I have a wonderful sister Tracy that is always an amazing helper.

With a one email to her I stated that I was looking for a little something to liven things up.  A couple days later she answered back with a great idea “Family Fun Facts”.  Why hadn’t I thought of that?  What a great idea.  Family Fun Facts are basically facts about the family that you would like to share.  Everyone is given paper so they can write down a fact or several facts that they would like to share.  These are gathered and placed in a receptacle and drawn out one by one.

One example was “Who in our family has a street named after him?” and the answer is our great-uncle Howard Schultz.  He was one of the first men killed in action in WWII from this town.  Interestingly enough, many of the younger family members did not know this fact.  I was more than happy to share with them all I had on this man and the honor the town bestowed on him as well as several others.

The great part about including this into your family reunion is that it gets people talking.  As we pulled more questions someone would answer and the whole group would then talk about that subject as well as the additional…..and do you remember when…..  It was fun to see everyone getting into the conversation.  Young and old started sharing stories and there were a few definite surprises!  Who knew that a couple of people had been streaker!

Along with the Family Fun Facts I took my family history books.  A number of years ago my aunt and cousin collaborated and put together a five binder set compiling our family history.  It is fabulous.  With these we were able to use to show pictures and documents to explain to the younger members and new members of the family.  One thing I always nudge others to do is to share information.  If for you the Family Fun Facts idea does not work try anything else you may think of.  Just get those people talking and sharing.

One other idea we tried was to make a poster board with family photos.  Some old, some new, some crazy.  It too was fun to see if anyone could guess who they were.  I included the oldest photo we have from the Family History Books.  No one but me remembered who they were.  That was a bit sad.  I had luckily made copies of it to hand out.  Once the family members knew who they were they all wanted copies.  I can not tell you how happy I was to see the excitement and rekindling of family pride.  It was great.

Just remember to always introduce Family Fun Facts or any family information whenever possible.  These are ways we can keep our families connected at reunions, Christmas parties, or any other family event.

Just Stay Connected!

When working on genealogy we usually find names, birthdates, death dates, places, etc. Sometimes it can seem a bit boring.  Every now and then a little something will pop up and make me laugh.  I have to say I look forward to these little surprises.   Sorry folks.  I have a crazy sense of humor.  I stumbled across a blog called GRAVE HUMOR and it does makes me laugh.

We should all be so clever.  Here is a great way to liven up your day.  Take a look and you will see some of the silly, ridiculous, and totally hilarious tombstones left in this world by those gone to the next.  According to the site they ask for our help.  If you know of a headstone that fits this description and would care to share, they would love to have it.  Just click on the tab, ”Submit Your Photo” and follow the instructions.  It looks easy.

According the site, November 2^rd, is the National Write Your Epitaph Day. (Who Knew?)

One online website states:

Plan Your Epitaph Day is an international observance featured in Chase’s Calendar of Events and in Wireless Flash News Service. Mark your calendar — it occurs every year on November 2 to coincide with the Day of the Dead.

Lance Hardie, creator of Plan Your Epitaph Day, has been interviewed by media personalities across the United States, Canada, England and Australia. He is at work on a book titled How to Write Your Own Epitaph — and Live Long Enough to Enjoy It, due to be in print by the Day of the Dead. Contributions are welcome, preferably accompanied by anecdotal notes, references, and pictures if possible. Credit will be given, of course.

As a committed epitaph crusader and consultant, he lives by the motto: “Make it worth dying for.” He also writes epitaphs for pets, including pet projects that have bit the dust and pet peeves that have been laid to rest.

It seems while I have been busy typing and researching the worlds funny people have been busy writing their epitaphs.  There is one problem.  Now I want to think of something clever and ridiculous to put on my headstone.  You know something lasting and memorable.  Problem is, I can’t think of anything great and wonderful.  Is there such a thing as an “epitaph writer”?   Wow, this may take some work.  J

If you have any great ideas, send them in.

Be sure to check out the website Grave Humor.  I dare to try not to smile.

All but gone are the days of hand written letters, information typed on an actual typewriter, or a phone call made on an actual landline telephone.  This is the electronic age for sure.  For some of us that are middle aged or older it can seem a bit daunting to say the least to use many of the high tech items available today. 

Facebook

There are many ways to use the high tech to our advantage.  Facebook is one that I personally use on a regular basis.  You can create an account by visiting the website www.facebook.com.  You will need to enter basic information and provide an email address and password.  Once on the site you can add information about yourself if you choose or only keep your information private.  I personally have my basic information available to anyone.  Why you may ask.  I do this so anyone looking for me for genealogy purposes, class reunions, etc. can find my phone or email address.  I have been contacted by several and we are currently exchanging information.  You do not have to share as much as I do.  There is a place where anyone looking to contact you may send a message directly to you and you will have the chose of answering or declining.

Personally I find Facebook a great tool for many projects.  This month alone I have posted information for family members, a family reunion, and genealogy requests.  One of its useful tools is the ability to create a “group”.  For each family line I have a group.  Example: Schultz Family, William and Harriet Cook, etc.  I find it time saving and useful for all the members in the group, not just myself.   

Luckily I have had the great fortune of becoming connected to several distant family members that were willing to post old family photos.  Once you have created your group, everyone in the group will see the postings and photos.  I can not stress how much time this has saved me.  As we work on our individual projects we ask questions of the others.  Many times this spurs me on to ask other questions and it helps me to go in a direction I might not have taken otherwise. 

Facebook, along with many other Social Networks, can be accessed on your smartphone by downloading an app or application.  IPhones and Droids are two of the most popular smartphones out there.  This can be very helpful, but remember to put your phone on vibrate or silent when visiting a library or research center.  This can be annoying to others.

If you find Facebook does not work for you here is a link to a Wikipedia page listing many others available:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

I subscribe to several of the online genealogy sites and blogs.  I recently received a great post on About.com.  Their writer Kimberly Powell gives great insight to the overwhelming task of researching you family history.  I appreciate the work that is put into her postings.  I find them very helpful and I always read them. 

If you are a busy person and you do not always have time to visit all the genealogy sites.  This is one that I feel you will always benefit from. 

 Here is an excerpt from her site:

Family Legends – Fiction or Fact?

By Kimberly Powell, About.com

Nearly every family has a cherished story or two regarding their distant ancestors – one that has been handed down from generation to generation. While some of these stories probably have a lot of truth in them, others are actually more myth than reality. Perhaps it’s a story that you’re connected to Jesse James or a Cherokee princess, or that a town in the “old country” is named after your ancestors. How can you prove or disprove these family stories?

Write Them Down
Hidden in the embellishments of your family’s story are probably at least a few grains of truth. Ask all of your relatives about the famous legend, and write down everything they tell you – no matter how insignificant it may seem. Compare the different versions, looking for inconsistencies, as they may indicate those parts are less likely to be rooted in fact.

Ask for Backup
Ask your relatives if they know of any items or records which may help document the family story. It doesn’t often happen, but sometimes if the story has been carefully handed down from generation to generation, then other items may have been preserved as well.

Consider the Source
Is the person telling the story someone who was in a position to have experienced the event first-hand? If not, ask them who they got the story from and attempt to work your way back to the original source. Is this relative known as the storyteller in the family? Often “good” storytellers are more likely to embellish a story so as to elicit a favorable response.

Bone Up on History
Spend some time reading about the history of the time, place or person which relates to your family’s story or legend. Background historical knowledge may help you prove or disprove the legend. It’s unlikely that your great, great Grandfather was a Cherokee, for example, if he lived in Michigan in 1850.

Test Your DNA
While your genes may not have all the answers, a DNA test may be able to help you prove or disprove a family legend. DNA can help you determine if you descend from a particular ethnic group, your family came from a particular region, or you share a common ancestor with a particular person.

I find it helpful to bookmark or subscribe to this site.  Check it out.  I think it will give you new insight. 

This subject recently came up for a very dear friend.  She and her husband have been friends of mine for over 30years.  They no longer live in the area and haven’t for years and that makes it hard to help when things go wrong.  Our good friend Jeff lost his fight with cancer.  If you have ever been in those shoes my heart goes out to you. 

Loosing a loved one it tough enough, but then there is the planning of the funeral.  A few of my friends and I were chatting a bit about genealogy and how you can use this to honor that person.  Here are a few of our ideas:

Use the photos that you have collected, baby, graduation, special events, and happy/funny odds and ends.  Funerals are hard enough and a laugh with love is usually appreciated. 

Prepare a photo collage or memories movie.  In the past so many years these have become very popular.  Most computers now come with a program that will help you make your own, but there are professionals out there that will also do this for a price of course. 

Place the family book on a table at the service where anyone attending my look through.  This is a nice touch and many may find there are many things they were not aware of about this person.

If the person was in the military, their medals and awards as well as the military photo could be displayed in a frame.  (I have seem this done and it was beautiful)

For larger funerals, especially for well known persons, a computer webcasting may be used to reach those persons not able to attend.  This is the computer age.  This can be archived on several formats and watched again later.  Also video clips from the service may be of use for other family functions later on.  I know this sounds a bit odd, but I have heard of a special niece singing at her uncle’s funeral and that clip was used later at a family reunion.

Gravestone microchips are become more common.  This is a microchip that is embedded in the person’s headstone that contains photos and personal information.  Anyone interested can use a cell phone to access this information.  Along these same lines some savvy people are engraving a personal website on the headstone so that anyone looking for information may access it there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiIPhYKgNsI&feature=related

For anyone that is creative in any way, displaying the items they made is a great way to honor them.  If that person wrote a book, poems, histories, worked with wood, handcrafts, etc. any of these things would show that persons personality and their love of a craft.  Information about these things may help future generations to understand who the loved one was. 

Music is always a huge part of funerals as I know them.  Traditional music from each culture can add a strong sense of the heritage of the person.  One example is bagpipes or lutes played for those from Scotland or Ireland.  Each country or culture has its own music.  Not long ago I attended a funeral were AC/DC the rock band was played.  It was John’s favorite band.  This too can help to more about who the person really was. 

These are just some of the ideas out there.  Use your imagination and I have no doubt you will find your own great ideas to honor your loved ones.  We all work hard to gather our family history and this is one more way to make it work for us as well.

Finding the right material for research is always essential part of doing genealogy. Blank forms, worksheets, databases, websites, etc. are just a few of the available tools for your use.  Maps and charts can also be of help.  One item that may give you a better grasp of the area you are researching is a Historical Atlas.  There are many types available these days.  Your local library would be a great place to find one.   

What exactly is a historical atlas?  By definition provided by Wikipedia, a historical atlas is the following:

A historical atlas is an atlas that includes historical maps and charts depicting the evolving geopolitical landscape. They are helpful in understanding historical context, the scope and scale of historical events and historical subjects (such as the expansion of the Roman Empire), and macro-history. Some historical atlases try to present the entire history of the world, such as the Historical Atlas of the World, while others are more specialised, for only one time period or location, such as the Historical Atlas of the American West or the Historical Atlas of China. They may also include historical photographs and explanatory text or essays. The first known historical atlas was the Parergon by Abraham Ortelius in 1579, which was a supplement to the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. William R. Shepherd produced a well-known Historical Atlas in 1911 [1]. Psychiatrist Colin McEvedy was one of the first to produce historical atlases using the same base map throughout many time periods, in his Penguin atlas of history series, which has become common in modern atlases. Recently, historical atlases have been made available online.

Information about the past is gathered and compiled, stored and made available in a variety of ways.  One of these ways is historical maps.  Historical maps provide a chronology of important events and show the impact these events had on the places where they occurred.  Historical maps support and extend information form primary historical resources such as letters, treaties, and census data.  Historical maps are summaries of the past events presented in a graphic form.

Most libraries will carry a Historical Atlas, just check the card catalog or ask at the front desk.  Here are a few titles that the Sweetwater County Library carries:

Atlas of Islamic World by David Nicolle

Atlas of Medieval Europe by Angus Konstam

Atlas of Russian History from 800 B.C. to the present day by Martin Gilbert

Atlas of the World in the age of discovery, 1453-1763 by Duncan Townson

Atlas of World History edited by R. R. Palmer

Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd

Historical Atlas of the Celtic World by Angus Konstam

Historical Atlas of the World by Rand McNally