Genealogy Insider - Family Tree Magazine articles

Free MyHeritage CD With January 2010 Issue

Diane — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:00:54 GMT

If you’ve already gotten your January 2010 Family Tree Magazine, you’ll notice it’s wrapped with a little present: a CD containing free FamilyTreeBuilder software from MyHeritage, a genealogy and family networking website.

The CD works on Windows 98 or newer. Pop in the CD and the download should begin automatically. If it doesn’t, use the finder to navigate to your CD drive and click on the icon. Need technical help or have questions about the software? See the MyHeritage Help Center or Family Tree Builder pages.

The CD comes with both subscriber issues (now being delivered) and newsstand issues (available Dec. 1 at bookstores and on ShopFamilyTree.com).

And Our January 2010 Cover Model is …

Diane — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:04:44 GMT

Way back in September, when we put out a call for readers’ ancestral family photos, one of which we’d feature on the January 2010 Family Tree Magazine, we didn’t know we’d get so many terrific candidates. It was difficult to choose just one, but we persevered.

Gracing our January 2010 cover—and helping us unveil the new look of Family Tree Magazine—is [cue drum roll] Marjorie May Newell, grandmother of submitter Sandra Simon-Rosa of Belgrade, Mont.

Sandra says Marjorie was a fashionista with a great sense of humor.

Subscribers are starting to receive the January issue now; it’ll be available on newsstands and at ShopFamilyTree.com starting Dec. 1.

See the rest of the photos in our slideshow and on Flickr.

You’ll see the images inside issues throughout the year, and in the 2010 Family Tree Magazine Desk Calendar, available soon (we’ll let you know) from ShopFamilyTree.com. Thanks to Sandra and all who sent photos for sharing their family memories with us.

Ancestral Cover Photos Slideshow

Diane — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:54:31 GMT

The redesigned January 2010 Family Tree Magazine—our 10th anniversary issue—is going to subscribers this week!

This is the issue featuring a reader’s family photo on the cover. We’ll announce the winner and show you the cover tomorrow, but first we wanted to share this slideshow of the 300-plus lovely, amusing and touching photos you sent.

Created with flickr slideshow.

Click here to see the ancestral cover photo submissions on Flickr.

Online Military Research Guide Free Through Nov. 15

Diane — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:22:36 GMT

Many of you are honoring the veterans in your family by researching their service with Ancestry.com’s free-through-Friday military records access and in other resources.

To give you a hand, our online military research overview—regularly part of the Family Tree Magazine Plus membership—is free through Sunday night, Nov. 15. It tells you about available records and where to find them for major conflicts back to the Revolutionary War.

Access our military research guide here. Want more military research resources? Here are some recommendations.

Free articles:

Military Records Toolkit: Web sites, books and organizations for military research
At Your Service: use this chart to determine which conflicts an ancestor may have served in, depending on his birth date
US Military Campaigns: A timeline of conflicts from the Powhatan Wars through World War II

Family Tree Magazine Plus articles (you must be a Plus member to access these):

A House Divided: Nine steps for researching Civil War soldiers in your family tree
Over There: How to trace your ancestors in records of World War I
Operation Online Records: Join the march to military records on the web.

ShopFamilyTree.com:

The Everything Civil War Book, 2nd Edition: Everything You Need to Know About the Conflict That Divided a Nation by Brooke C. Stoddard and Daniel P. Murphy, PhD

Now's the Time to Start on Family History Gifts

Diane — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:07:21 GMT

We don’t mean to rush you into the winter holidays—it was just Halloween—but if you’re thinking of giving family history-related gifts this year, now’s the time to start.

Many such gifts require prep work: For example, you’ll need to gather, scan, digitally touch up and label photos for a photo CD; start laying out an online photo book or calendar; or collect and transcribe family stories. Maybe you want to check another record or two before finalizing a compiled family history.

And by starting early, you can watch for coupon codes and sales; and make sure anything you order online will get to you in time.

As our early gift to you, here’s our December 2006 article with 13 family history gift ideas you can make. The projects range from very quick and easy to moderately quick and easy. The article has supply lists and step-by-step instructions for seven of the projects.

A few more sources of family tree gift ideas:

Perennially popular gifts for genealogists, from inexpensive to a little pricey

Maureen A. Taylor’s gift ideas for photo fanatics

How to create a family cookbook

Family Tree Magazine Plus members can access this article on making photo gifts using online services

Our very own how-to books, CDs and other helps for your genealogy friends (or wanna-be genealogy friends). You can sign up for our e-mail newsletter to learn about specials in ShopFamilyTree.com.

I’m kinda partial to this one: Family Tree Legacies, a book Family Tree Magazine editor Allison Stacy and I put together for recording all kinds of family history information—not just names and dates, but also family stories, news articles, house history, military service details, where people lived and more.

Tell Us Your New Year's Traditions (You Could Win a CD)

Diane — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:29:36 GMT

We’re still taking entries for our November 2009 All in the Family challenge, but only for another week. If we publish your entry in Family Tree Magazine, you’ll win our Organize Your Genealogy Life! CD.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Think of your family’s weird, wacky or wonderful New Year’s traditions. Did you irritate the neighbors by banging pots and pans at midnight? Play board games and watch the ball drop on Times Square? Consume cabbage, donuts or black-eyed peas for luck?

2. Next, describe that tradition in 200 words or less.

3. Send us your description either by posting it to our Talk to Us Forum (you must register with the FamilyTreeMagazine.com Forum to post) or by sending us an e-mail.

Please include your name and your city and state with your entry, like so: Diane Haddad, Cincinnati, Ohio. If we pick your entry, that’ll make it easier for us to credit you in the magazine.

And in that case, we’ll contact you by e-mail to ask for your mailing address so we can send the CD (so keep an eye on your in box).

You have until Nov. 10 to enter. Let’s hear those New Year traditions!

Last Week to Vote in the Family Tree 40!

Diane — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:28:22 GMT

Remember to cast your vote for your favorite genealogy blog—the top 40 will be in a May 2010 Family Tree Magazine article.

Click here to see more information on the voting categories.

And click here to vote. Thanks for taking part!

Watch for Family Tree 40 updates here and on Twitter (look for the hashtag #FT40).

10 Ways to Use Your December 2009 Family Tree Magazine

Diane — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:38:18 GMT

The December 2009 Family Tree Magazine should be hitting subscribers’ mailboxes during the next week (yes, it’s already December in Magazine Land). I randomly picked out 10 ways this issue might figure into your family history pursuit:

1. Start a family medical history with nine sources that can help you learn what illnesses your ancestors suffered and died from. (See, I thought I’d start this post on a bright note.) Click here for our online listing of health history books and Web sites.

2. And for a slightly morbid yet somewhat educational five-minute time-killer, try to match up 12 archaic maladies with their modern equivalents.

3. Plan your heirloom preservation strategy with a guide to preserving a variety of keepsakes—including a quilt, a delicate wedding ring and other items our coworkers at Family Tree Magazine headquarters brought in. (Associate editor Grace Dobush blogged about the shady past of one such heirloom.)

4. Are genetic genealogy tests really 99.9 percent accurate? Will they pinpoint where your ancestors lived? Discover the truth behind common beliefs about DNA and genealogy, and use quick-reference lists of testing companies, definitions and online DNA databases.

5. Follow along with our step-by-step guide to entering genetic genealogy test results in two genealogy software programs.

6. Did you know the historical newspaper search at GenealogyBank treats personal names like keywords? That means if your name is also a word, such as White or Banker, you’ll get lots of false matches. (The site’s obituaries and SSDI database are indexed by name). You’ll find search tricks in our Web Guide to GenealogyBank.

7. Can’t find your ancestor’s town of “Gross Herzogtum, Baden?” That’s because gross Herzogtum isn’t a town, but a term for “grand duchy.” Find explanations for this and other place terms related to ruling nobility in our guide to research in German states, including Prussia, Hesse, Bavaria and others. (See articles in our online German research toolkit here.)

8. Thinking of adding (or already have added) a genealogy app to your Facebook page? Get the lowdown on FamilyLink's We're Related and Family Builder's Family Tree, two popular genealogy apps for Facebook.

9. Chuckle over six readers’ captions for a giant-fish photo and enter our newest All in the Family Challenge.

10. Where's that one article ... the one about the census ... not the regular census but the special ones ... ? Stop flipping through all this year’s magazines and open to the 2009 index on the last page of your December issue. You'll find that the article on nonpopulation censuses was in the July 2009 Family Tree Magazine on page 20.

Of course, there are even more great resources and tips in the December 2009 Family Tree Magazine. It'll be available starting Nov. 3 at ShopFamilyTree.com.

Announcing Family Tree Magazine Plus!

Diane — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:00:35 GMT

Along with our Web site’s new look unveiled a couple of weeks ago, we started something else: Family Tree Magazine Plus, an online membership that gives you access to archived articles from the print Family Tree Magazine.

That’s nine years’ worth of advice on researching ancestors from around the world and in the United States, help finding and using genealogy records, recommendations for genealogy Web sites and books, guidance on researching and preserving photos and heirlooms, product and Web site reviews, ways to celebrate your heritage, and more.

In addition, Plus members will get access to new articles when an issue is published, as well as exclusive content that’s not in the print magazine (such as decorative family tree charts that I’ll post about next week).

The cost is $39.99 per year or $5.99 per month. Check out our money-saving VIP program, too, which includes the Plus membership, a year’s subscription to the print Family Tree Magazine, an automatic discount at ShopFamilyTree.com and other goodies.

(Genealogy Insider newsletter subscribers will get a special message about the VIP program this weekend.)

Of course, much of our site is still freely accessible by anyone. We’ll still add new free content, and all the articles and forms that were free before are still free.

When you search FamilyTreeMagazine.com using the search box in the top right corner, you’ll get a list of both Plus and free article titles that match your search.

Next to articles that are part of the Plus membership, you’ll see a green plus icon. Here’s an example:

The Sort By Menu at the top of the results lets you sort the list of articles by Plus/Free (the free articles will then be listed after the Plus articles).

You can click on a Plus article title to read the first paragraph or two, which looks something like this:

Click one of the “Join Plus” buttons to start a membership. Or, if you're a Plus member and you're logged in, you'll see the whole article.

Plus articles show up right on the Web site—no need to download anything.

There’s also a printer-friendly link at the end of every Plus and free article, so you can easily take articles with you to the library.

For a shortcut to starting a Plus membership, just click the orange Join now! button on our home page.

We’re glad to be able to offer this convenient, online way to access the tips and resources in past issues of Family Tree Magazine. If you prefer a more-traditional way to get your genealogy how-to information, though, you can download many back issues and individual articles as PDFs from ShopFamilyTree.com. Most recent back issues are still available in print, too.

Announcing Our 2009 Difference Maker of the Year!

Diane — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:32:14 GMT

If you’ve used USGenWeb, RootsWeb, a genealogy society library, the databases on FamilySearch Record Search Pilot, the Ellis Island passenger database, Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, the photos on Dead Fred, or innumerable other resources and organizations, you’ve been helped by a stranger who just wanted to make it easier for people to find their ancestors.

Nope, your average genealogist wouldn’t get very far without relying on the work of volunteers.

Which is why we started our Difference Maker series—to highlight the efforts of all these unknown volunteers. Family Tree Magazine readers nominated volunteers throughout the year, and we profiled one nominee in each issue. Then readers voted, and the results are in—our 2009 Difference Maker of the Year is Gail Reynolds of Myrtle Beach, SC.

Voters told us how this library volunteer and genealogy instructor has made a difference in their research. “She’ll get you maybe not through that brick wall, but under it or over it. She’ll go to immeasurable lengths to help you—and enjoy every moment.”

Reynolds will receive a year’s subscription to Family Tree Magazine and $100 toward her favorite genealogy cause.

We’re proud of all the genealogy volunteers you’ve met in the magazine this year. In addition to Reynolds, they are:

Ellen Thompson, collecting history of local schools
Robin Dickson, volunteering and indexing records at her library
John Jackson, creating a virtual cemetery for Civil War soldiers
Susan Steele, preserving historical insurance records
Bennie W. White, compiling records and posting resources free online

Family Tree 40 Blog Voting is Open

Grace — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:37:39 GMT

Voting is now open for the Family Tree Magazine 40 Best Genealogy Blogs (“Family Tree 40” for short).

Go to FamilyTreeMagazine.com to vote. Voting takes place from Oct. 5 to Nov. 5, and you can vote more than once. We grouped the nominated blogs into categories, and you'll be asked to vote for a specified number of blogs in each category. (We aimed to have you vote for a quarter of the total number of blogs in each category, but rounded the number in some cases because, well, you can't vote for half a blog.)

URLs are included on the voting form, so you can check out the blogs if you want. For those who wonder how the categories were determined, here's a rundown:

All-around
These bloggers give you a little (or a lot) of everything: news, research advice, their own family stories, photos, opinions and more. There’s no one quite like the Genealogue, so we thought about that blog for awhile. It landed in this category because the Genealogue posts a satirical take on genealogy news, holds occasional research challenges and blogs about his own family history every so often.

Personal/Family
These blogs primarily cover the blogger's (or, in a case or two or more, bloggers') own research and ancestors. Family historians write what they know and what’s important to them, so this is our biggest category.

Local/Regional
Most posts in these blogs cover resources, genealogy events and history for a city, town, state or region.

Cemetery
These blogs focus on cemetery research, gravestone photos and the like.

Photos/Heirlooms
Content on these blogs is primarily about sharing, researching and preserving family photos and/or heirlooms.

Heritage
Here, blog content focuses on a particular heritage group, such as African-American, Jewish or Irish. We had some tough decisions in this category, as some family-related genealogy blogs by nature also examine that family’s ethnic heritage.

News/Resources
Blogs in this category deliver a range of genealogy news and information about new resources.

How-to
These blogs have instructional content on genealogical resources and methodology. In some cases, bloggers wrote about their own research and ancestors, but framed posts in an instructional manner.

Genealogy Companies
Blogs in this category are written on behalf of a genealogy company, and contain helpful (but not overly advertising-oriented) information on the company’s products, as well as other resources.

Genetic Genealogy
Blogs that are primarily about genetic genealogy and family health history.

The top 80 vote-getting blogs will make it through to a "final" round, and our editorial staff will select 40 blogs from that list. The Family Tree 40 will be announced in the May 2010 Family Tree Magazine and in the Genealogy Insider e-mail newsletter. You also can follow us on Twitter for contest updates (we'll use the hashtag #FT40).

Click here to get voting!

By the way, feel free to grab either of the little logos below to promote your blog or someone else's!

Thanks for Sharing Your Family Photos!

Diane — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:56:19 GMT

Late last month we put out a call for photos of your ancestors; one person’s photo will be on the cover of the January 2010 Family Tree Magazine, our special 10th Anniversary Issue. I’m excited that you were excited to share your family photos. Thank you!

Our art director Christy Miller, who designs Family Tree Magazine covers, wanted to add her thanks and an update on how selection is going. This from Christy:

We were thrilled to see your response to our call for photos. With more than 300 submissions (and a few more waiting in our in-boxes), it's definitely going to be a challenge choosing just the right photo for the cover.

Every picture you sent tells a story about your family—such as the three sisters having a tea party, the 1909 off-roaders, this American Indian family whose members were removed to Oklahoma, the young woman in this gorgeous hand-colored portrait, this fun wedding-day photo, this one showing some old-fashioned PhotoShopping … we could go on.

A few people even sent unidentified photos, hoping someone else will recognize the faces of those pictured.

So all the pictures speak to us. For magazine cover purposes, we’re especially liking photos where you can see the subjects’ faces clearly, they’re making eye contact with the viewer, and their expressions are open and friendly (as if to say, “pick up this magazine!”).

Thanks for sharing your photos with Family Tree Magazine. We're thoroughly enjoying looking through them. And don't worry if your photo doesn't get chosen for the cover—we may use it inside the magazine during the year (we'll contact you in that case).

P.S. Does anyone else see a resemblance between the young woman in this photo and actress Julia Roberts?

More on the Family Tree 40

Diane — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:21:12 GMT

Thanks to the genealogy blogging community for helping spread the word about our Family Tree Magazine 40 Best Genealogy Blogs, an article scheduled for the May 2010 issue. We hope it will draw readers’ attention to the great work being done on genealogy blogs.

We wanted to get readers involved in the article for a few reasons:

To encourage people to check out more blogs, including ones they might not be aware of
To make the selection process more of a bottom-up effort, not just our editors’ choices
To get genealogists’ help and input in selecting from the huge blogging universe

We chose to do this through a nomination period, followed by a voting period. Genealogy blogger FootnoteMaven raised some questions about the process in her recent “Hmmmmmm” post, so I wanted to clarify some points here. I apologize in advance for the long post!

Voting
We’d planned to explain more about voting once we saw how nominations went. Not having done this before, we didn’t know what kind of response to expect, which is why we weren’t more explicit about judging and criteria from the outset—it wasn’t a secret; we just weren’t sure how our criteria would work, based on the number and quality of nominations we might receive.

Voting is intended to make the process participatory, but voting alone won’t determine which blogs are featured in the article. When the voting concludes—assuming we receive adequate nominations—the top 80 vote-getting blogs will make it through to a “final” round, and then our editorial staff will select 40 blogs from that list.

Narrowing the list of nominees
There’s no predetermined limit to how many nominees will be included in voting. But we do anticipate a need to eliminate some nominations from consideration. Criteria that would disqualify a blog:

It isn’t primarily about genealogy.
The blogger doesn’t post original content (for example, if he/she simply aggregates feeds from other blogs).
The blog is no longer updated, or does not post new content on a regular basis (say, at least once a week).

In narrowing remaining nominees, we’ll look at the quality of the posts—rampant misspellings (beyond typos—those happen to everyone) and poor language can make posts hard to follow. We’ll look hard at blogs associated with paid services—such a blog might be helpful to readers, or it might be primarily a marketing tool. Those made up strictly of advertising content would likely be eliminated.

If a blog gets just one or a few nominations, that won’t keep it out of the voting. If one blog is nominated many times, though, we’ll note that it’s probably a blog many people are reading.

Categories
We thought we’d divide nominees into categories because it’ll be easier for readers to choose from, say, a list of 20 similar blogs than one huge list of all 500 or 1,000 (or however many) nominees. We feel it’s important to see the nominees before setting categories in stone, so we can make sure we have categories that account for all the blogs in the running. We also don’t want to end up with categories containing only two or three nominees, or 100 nominees, which would be unmanageable for voters.

FootnoteMaven asked specifically about categorizing wide-ranging, very frequently updated genealogy blogs such as Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings. We’ll come up with a broad, all-encompassing category for such “super bloggers.”

She also wondered whether the “excellent genealogy advice,” “offer insight,” etc. qualities mentioned in our first Family Tree 40 post might hint at the voting categories. They’re not meant to. Instead, we just wanted to get nominators thinking about why they’d want to take the step to nominate a particular blog.

Finally, FootnoteMaven also wanted a Family Tree 40 badge that encourages blog visitors to vote for their favorite genealogy blog, not just her own. Here’s an alternate version of the badge she and other bloggers can use:

and the original, which blogger also could choose:

If you have a comment or question, please click Comments and let us know.

Nominate a Genealogy Blog for the Family Tree 40

Diane — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:15:31 GMT

Do you have a favorite few genealogy blogs that you read regularly? Maybe the blogger offers excellent genealogy advice, insightful analysis or a unique point of view. Or the writing especially creative or humorous.

If so, we want to know about it. In the May 2010 issue, we’ll be naming the Family Tree Magazine 40 Best Genealogy Blogs (“Family Tree 40” for short).

First, we’re asking the genealogy community to nominate the genealogy blogs they read most. Later, family historians will vote on their favorite blogs in several categories.

Click here to nominate your favorite blogs by filling out our online form.

The nomination period is from Sept. 3 to 30. You can nominate as many blogs as you want (one at a time), your own included, as long as each blog is related to family history in some way.

Voting will take place from Oct. 5 to Nov. 5. We’ll let you know here and in the Family Tree Magazine E-mail Update newsletter when voting is open.

You also can follow us on Twitter for contest updates (we’ll use the hashtag #FT40).

The Family Tree 40 will be announced in the newsletter and in the May 2010 Family Tree Magazine. Start nominating and stay tuned!

Special All in the Family Challenge: Ancestral Anniversaries

Diane — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:18:42 GMT

For the All in the Family department in the 10th anniversary issue of Family Tree Magazine, we thought it would be fun to go with the theme by including readers’ stories of ancestral anniversaries.

Tell us about your family's longest-wedded couple: who they are, when they were married, how they met or how they celebrated a milestone anniversary, and maybe even their secret for a long, happy union.

If we publish your story in the January 2010 issue, we'll send you one of our genealogy how-to CDs.

Things to remember before you enter:

Post your entry to the Ancestral Anniversaries thread in the Talk to Us Forum. (To help combat spammers, forum registration is required for posting. You can register by clicking here.)
Please keep your entry under 125 words, so we can include more stories in the magazine.
Please add your city and state to your entry for publication in the magazine.
We'll contact you for your mailing address and possibly for a photo of your anniversary couple, so please keep an eye on your e-mail account.
By submitting, you give Family Tree Magazine permission to feature your contribution in all print and electronic media.

We'll need your entry for this All in the Family challenge on or before September 15. Thanks for sharing your family's stories!

Put Your Ancestors on Our Cover!

Diane — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:36:48 GMT

We're looking for a great ancestral photo to feature on the cover of the January 2010 Family Tree Magazine (that's our 10th anniversary issue!).

Maybe your family photo is the one.

Post your ancestral photo to our Ancestral Cover Photos Flickr group or e-mail it to us (we'll then post it on Flickr), and we may use it on the cover!

Before you start flipping through those albums, please note these requirements:

The image must be dated before 1920 and not show any individuals still living (we don't want to upset any of your more-modest relatives).
The image must be high-resolution (at least 300 dots per inch) so it will reproduce well in print.
The image must show people (five or fewer is best, that way we'll be able to see everyone).
Include your e-mail address and/or phone number with your submission—we'll need to be able to get a hold of you if your image is chosen.

Some disclaimers for you to be aware of: By submitting your photo, you affirm that you are the owner of the image and it is not subject to copyright by any other party. You also grant Family Tree Magazine permission to crop the digital image as necessary for publication, and to use the image in any and all print and electronic media.

Got questions? Click Comments to ask them, or e-mail them to us.

Update: Please submit your photo(s) by September 15. Also, it's fine to submit more than one image, but please try your hardest to choose up to your five favorites to send. Thanks!

NewsInHistory.com Database Launches

Diane — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:34:17 GMT

NewsBank, which produces the GenealogyBank newspaper subscription site as well as news services for libraries, has introduced another site called NewsInHistory.com.

This subscription site, which you can access from home, lets you search the full text of “thousands of historical newspapers and millions of articles” from US newspapers published between 1800 and 2000.

A subscription costs $99.95 for a year or $19.95 per month.

See a title list sorted by state on the site. The content appears similar to GenealogyBank’s Historical News collection, at least for the 1800-to-2000 time frame.

So what’s different? NewsInHistory.com targets a more-general audience of history buffs and scholars. The announcement of its launch emphasizes how the articles “capture the civic, political, social and cultural events of American life.” You search it by a keyword, date and place of publication.

GenealogyBank content goes back to 1690, for one thing, and the search places more importance on finding ancestors' names. It also has genealogy-friendly collections including America's Obituaries, the Social Security Death Index and Historical Documents.

GenealogyBank costs $69.95 per year or $19.95 per month. Look for our special pull-out guide to using the site in the December 2009 Family Tree Magazine.

Pick a Mascot for Family Tree University

Diane — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:58:30 GMT

Would you rather be a Fighting Kin-garoo or a Family History Hawk? Or maybe a Missing Lynx?

We’re on the hunt for a mascot for Family Tree University, the series of online genealogy classes we’re launching in late fall. Family Tree Magazine subscribers can read more about it in the November 2009 issue—coming your way right about now—or visit the Web page and sign up for e-mail notifications.

You can help choose a Family Tree University mascot by clicking here and voting for your favorite (or if you don’t see a mascot you like, you can suggest one).

We'll let you know when classes are starting. Hope to see you on "campus"!

Full Circle

Diane — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:21:51 GMT

In April, I interviewed Ian Frazier, who penned the story of his northern Ohio ancestors into a book called Family, for the November 2009 Family Tree Magazine (on newsstands Sept. 8).

A half-hour after our interview, Frazier was the keynote speaker at the Ohio Genealogical Society's golden anniversary banquet. During dinner, he sat next to the loquacious Kenny Burck, president of the Hamilton County (Ohio) Genealogical Society.

Frazier’s account of their conversation about Kenny’s son Bobby, aka New York City's Naked Cowboy, appears in the Aug. 24 New Yorker.

And my husband of almost a year was Bobby Burck’s lab partner in high school.

Help Choose the Genealogy Difference Maker of the Year!

Diane — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:03:50 GMT

From the unofficial town historian who helps out at the library three days a week to the legions of people doing FamilySearch Indexing, your average genealogist wouldn’t get very far without relying on the work of volunteers.

If you’ve used USGenWeb, RootsWeb, a local genealogical society, the databases on FamilySearch records search pilot, the Ellis Island passenger database, Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, cemetery inscriptions on Find-A-Grave, or innumerable other resources and organizations, you’ve been helped by a stranger who just wanted other people to be able to find their ancestors.

We started our Difference Maker series to highlight the efforts of all these unknown people. Family Tree Magazine readers nominated volunteers throughout the year. We selected a nominee to profile in each 2009 issue—they are

Ellen Thompson, for collecting history of local schools
Robin Dickson, for volunteering and indexing records at her library
John Jackson, for creating a virtual cemetery for Civil War soldiers
Gail Reynolds, for being a library volunteer and genealogy teacher
Susan Steele, for preserving historical records
Bennie W. White, for compiling records and posting resources free online

Now it’s up to you to help choose a Difference Maker of the Year. That person will win a year of Family Tree Magazine and $100 toward his or her genealogy cause.

Click here to learn more about the work of these six volunteers, then hit the voting link on that page to cast your vote.

Voting closes Sept. 16 at midnight EDT. One vote is permitted per computer.

Congratulations to these six people, and thanks to all the genealogy volunteers out there who make it easier for us to research our roots.

UGOs (Unidentified Genealogical Objects)

Diane — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:05:30 GMT

Yesterday evening, our company had a trade show, wherein each community (genealogy, writing, woodworking, crafts, etc.) displayed its latest how-to publications and resources.

The Family Tree Magazine staff enjoyed showing off our CDs, webinars and forthcoming Family Tree Legacies book, and sharing genealogy tips with coworkers. I think one guy is searching the free 1911 Irish census as I type this.

The best part was our guessing game. For a chance to win a prize, our colleagues guessed the identity of this object, commonly used in the course of genealogy research:

Here were some of their guesses (obviously, we’re dealing with some wise guys here):

“toddler’s crayon”
“fossilized chocolate cake”
“worry stone” (over those unsolved brick walls, we presume)
“paper weight”
“scrubber to get your pen started” (huh?)
“thumbprinter thingie”
“It’s used to help you separate papers. You rub your fingers on it so you can easily rifle through your records”
"a secret listening device"
“a template for drawing circles for names on your family tree”
“a starter for the center of your family tree”

What’s your guess?

The correct answer is tombstone rubbing wax, used for making impressions of tombstones. The astute Holly Davis, an editor over at The Artist’s Magazine, is the winner of a scrapbook album kit!

For step-by-step instructions on making tombstone rubbings (including ensuring the stone is sound), see this FamilyTreeMagazine.com article.

And to avoid arrest while making said tombstone rubbing, read our Now What? blog post.

Playing Heirloom Detective

Grace — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:51:25 GMT

I just finished writing a super-comprehensive article on heirloom preservation for our December issue. We asked our coworkers if they had any particularly interesting heirlooms to show off, and got some great items to photograph for the magazine.

An item we didn't use was very intriguing, though. Kelly wrote:

Let me know if you guys ever do an article on gruesome heirlooms—my family has this shirt that my great-great grandfather was wearing when he was shot and murdered. (Gross! And weird—who keeps that kind of stuff?)

Genealogists do! I wanted more details.

Basically, all I know is my great-great grandfather was a pig farmer who had a farm in Lockville, Ohio. According to the story, my great-great-grandpa turned to go back into the house after refusing to sell land to this guy, and when he did, the guy shot him in the back. Yikes! And that's how my grandpa ended up with a bloody shirt in a trunk in his basement.

All I knew was her grandpa's last name, Boyer, and that the murder took place in Lockville, Ohio. Surely there would have been newspaper articles about the fracas, but I couldn't search GenealogyBank until I had a specific name. I decided to do an old-fashioned Google search, for Lockville Ohio murder.

One of the very first results was a Google Books excerpt of a tome of Ohio penitentiary pardon petitions. Bingo! A John L. Tisdale pleading for clemency after serving eight years for the murder of a George L. Boyer in 1890. With that name, I searched GenealogyBank and found this article in the June 24, 1890, Cleveland Plain Dealer:

It reads:

Murder at Lockville.

LANCASTER, June 23.—[Special.]—George (sic) Tisdale, a farm laborer, shot George L. Boyer, a prominent famrer, at Lockville, this county, this morning. As the two sons of Tisdale were quarreling with a son of Boyer about hogs that had trespassed on Boyer's farm, he came up to protect his son, when Tisdale came out of his house and shot Boyer in the right breast, Boyer dying in five minutes after.

The Google Books result gives a little more insight into Tisdale's side of the story. He says Boyer was "a coarse, passionate man, of cruel heart" and was "a quarrelsome man and possessed a violent temper." (If you were trying to suss out your ancestor's personality, what a find! Read the September 2009 issue for more on ancestral psychoanalysis.)

With a little searching on Ancestry.com, I found the Boyer family in the 1880 census:

(Click to enlarge)

And going back, the family appeared in the same spot in every census going back to 1850. Amazing, what one bloody shirt can do for a family's research!

Learn more:

Crimes of Your Great-Grandfathers

Diane — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:47:24 GMT

A couple of months ago, when I was editing an article criminal ancestors for the forthcoming November 2009 Family Tree Magazine, I asked Family Tree Magazine E-mail Update newsletter readers about murders and other crimes in their family history.

Dozens of you responded with stories—some are fascinating (in a can't-look-away kind of way), some are amusing (in a gallows-humor kind of way) and some are sad. Here's a sampling of them:

Carol Clemens' family legend was that her great-grandfather Martin Franchetti was accidentally shot and killed by a stray bullet from a saloon brawl in 1902.

After finding references to seven newspaper articles within a couple of months, she discovered her ancestor was shot during an argument with a former boarder who’d developed a crush on Franchetti’s wife. Clemens says help from the Schenectady County Clerk’s office was invaluable in locating the perpetrator's criminal trial records.

Cheri Adams couldn’t find anything about her the family of her great-great-grandmother’s second husband. A Google search brought up a New York Times article stating that the husband, Elijah Godfrey, was killed while handling dynamite in his cabin. Another article revealed that the medical examiner thought it was murder. “It seems Elijah had been speaking with authorities regarding stills in the area," writes Adams, "and undoubtedly due to his loose lips, the owners of the stills took revenge.”

Tom Neel of the Ohio Genealogical Society found an account in a 1915 county history about John Gately, his fourth-great-grandfather from North Carolina. “Sometime after the year 1793,” Gately’s father-in-law, thinking the younger man had stolen his money, killed him.

Neel found corroboration in court records while at this year’s National Genealogical Society conference in Raleigh, NC. Turns out the aging father-in-law had misplaced his stash.

Domenic Parenty, great-grandfather to Janice Gianotti-Zakis, was "gunned down in the street, defending a woman" in Chicago in 1894. In 2002, she confirmed the story in police records from microfiche at Northeastern Illinois University. Now, her ancestor’s case is chronicled on the site Homicide in Chicago: 1870-1930.

Kathleen Anders wasn’t interested in genealogy when she found a tombstone in a Nebraska cemetery with the names of two young people who died on the same day. On a return trip, the caretaker furnished a file of newspaper clippings: Anders' great-grandfather had taken the lives of his brother and sister-in-law in 1903. Over the next two years, she found the trial transcript and interviewed people who remembered her family.

With the mystery solved, she’s turned to ancestors whose less sensational lives still deserve to be known. “I now focus on the other lines of the family that have, in their own right, great stories to be researched and written about.”

Carol Heap’s grandfather Frederick Hirsch, a Nassau County, NY, police officer, was killed in the line of duty May 6, 1931, by a 19-year-old nicknamed "Two Gun Crowley." Crowley was convicted and sent to Sing Sing prison in New York, where he was executed in the electric chair in 1932. Hirsch's wife raised four young children alone; Heap remembers her father saying he really missed having a Dad.

Connie Parott received a copy of a relative's 1970s school essay detailing her third-great grandfather's efforts to track down the murderer of his brother Thomas at a Sylamore, Ark., Christmas Eve dance in 1877.

She found several news articles, “but to my amazement,” she writes, “the stories favored excessive details about the murderer, but nothing about the victim. The murderer had accidentally shot himself in the leg while hiding in the woods. His leg was amputated, so the newspapers had a field day describing a one-legged man hanging from the gallows.”

Forum members also posted stories and tips for researching ancestral crimes here. You'll also find advice in the previously mentioned November 2009 Family Tree Magazine, on newsstands Sept. 8.

101 Best Web Sites for Genealogy in 2009

Diane — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:52:34 GMT

Our 2009 list of 101 Best Web Sites for genealogy is now online!

For this year's edition of our annual list, we went with 10 categories of 10 sites each, plus one site (maybe you can guess which one) that’s in its own class. We also turned the focus a bit more to the Web 2.0 sites that are changing how you do online genealogy.

We also adjusted our system for indicating free and fee-based sites: Sites that are mostly free but for which you might eventually get out your credit card for some thing or another are marked by one dollar sign ($). Subscription sites and those where you must pay for any meaningful content get a double dollar sign ($$).

Go on over to the list and click through to these great genealogy resources. Got any favorites you’d add, or beefs with any of our picks? Post your feedback to our 101 Best Sites forum.

Sale on Genealogy CDs, Downloads and Books

Diane — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:54:16 GMT

I’m letting it slip about the sale on genealogy how-to CDs (including the much-coveted State Research Guides CD), digital downloads and books in our MyCraftivity online store.

But you'll need the secret code!

When you’re ready to check out, enter FTSUMMER15 in the Special Offers box, and we'll take 15 percent off your entire order. That’s on top of the sale prices already in effect for most items—so, for example, the aforementioned State Research Guides CD becomes $32.30 (regular price is $49.99).

The code expires June 12, so start shopping.

Technical Issues

Diane — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:50:23 GMT

So. Our blog software had to be upgraded this morning, and the URL format for individual posts is different in the new version.

We discovered too late that the links to all our previous blog posts also have been retroactively changed. Which in one fell swoop rendered incorrect a number of links in our weekly E-mail Update newsletters and in the magazine.

We're going to do as much as possible to make it easy for you to find the posts you want. In the mean time, you can find recent articles on the main page of the blog.

To find past posts, you can use the date or topic categories in the left margin, or run a search using the Search box below the categories (enclose phrases in quotation marks).

If you're looking for some Genealogy Insider post in particular, leave a comment and we'll give you a link.

Enter to Win Our Organize Your Genealogy Life! CD

Diane — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:02:44 GMT

We’re hard at work putting together a CD called Organize Your Genealogy Life! with Family Tree Magazine’s best advice and resources for sorting and storing your genealogy research, computer files, heirlooms and photos. We hope it’ll make you a more efficient researcher and ease your clutter-induced stress.

Whenever we tell people about this CD, they describe their overstacked desks (or dining room tables), overflowing file drawers and overstuffed hard drives. Maybe something resembling this:

So we thought we’d hold a little drawing—you submit a photo of your disorganized genealogy space, and we’ll randomly select three photos whose submitters will receive this CD free.

There are two ways you can enter:

Uploading your photo to our Flickr group. This is be easy if you’re already on Flickr: Just click Join to join our Flickr pool. If you’re not on Flickr, you’d need to become a member, which requires you to have a Yahoo! ID—click the aforementioned Join link to be guided through the steps. It’s not hard; but it does take a few minutes, which brings us to option two.

You also can e-mail your photo to us (we’ll post it to Flickr).

Either way, your photo should be 72-dpi JPG files, and you should include your name, hometown and e-mail address. Post or e-mail your photo by June 16 (updated). By entering, you agree to let us use your name and submitted photo in any and all print and digital media.

Just for the record, the photo above isn't my genealogy space—it's that of the researcher who won an organization contest we ran in 2002. She also had stuff int eh trunk of her car. Just goes to show any year is a good year to get organized.

Meet Our Family Tree Huggers

Diane — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:19:09 GMT

For people who research genealogy, “tree hugging” has a second meaning. That's the one we have in mind as we recognize several members our online community as Family Tree Huggers.

Over the years the FamilyTreeMagazine.com Forum has been up and running, these especially active members have enhanced the entire community’s experience with their observations, research advice, questions and inspiration.

These folks, who represent a range of research levels, will have this nifty badge to use as a forum avatar and to put on their own Web sites and blogs. They’ll serve as a sounding board for feedback on article topics, genealogy Web sites, industry news, etc.

Thanks to Valerie Craft, Jackie Fry, Linda Matthews, Dae Powell, Cat Smith and Linda Swisher for helping to make our Forum a welcoming place. Get to know this group of researchers a little better.

And we’re on the lookout for more Family Tree Huggers who post frequently to the Forum and help make it a great place for genealogists to hang out. Let us know if you're interested.

Free Download: Where to Find 1880 DDD Census Records

Diane — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:46:08 GMT

I wanted to let you know we’ve just uploaded a new genealogy Cheat Sheet to our online Research Toolkit: A state-by-state listing of where to find 1880 supplemental census schedules of “defective, dependent and delinquent" classes (“DDD schedules” for short).

Download it as a PDF from our Record References page.

You'll know to look for your ancestor in DDD schedules if his 1880 US census listing has a mark in columns 15 through 20, showing whether he was ill or had a physical or mental disability. If so, DDD schedules might give more information about his condition or reasons for being institutionalized.

These special schedules, recorded only for the 1880 US census, aren’t in online databases such as Ancestry.com’s. Some states’ DDD records are on microfilm at the National Archives and/or genealogy libraries; other states' records are in original form at state archives and libraries. Few are indexed.

We can’t promise our listing is comprehensive, but it does give locations and Web site addresses of repositories where we could find DDD records for each state or territory. If you’re still having trouble finding DDD schedules for your ancestor, start by contacting the state archives where he lived.

For help using DDD and more special census records—including agriculture, manufacturing, mortality, slave and other schedules—look for our guide in the July 2009 Family Tree Magazine. It starts mailing to subscribers this week.

Help Tracing Roots in Europe

Allison — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:00:29 GMT

Need a hand crossing the pond? You'll find help in our newest CD, the Family Tree Passport to Europe.

Given the popularity of our heritage articles in Family Tree Magazine—"When are you going to do an article on [insert ancestral homeland]?" is an oft-asked question in our inbox—we're excited to have a way for folks to tap into the great advice we've offered on European genealogy.

The CD combines 22 guides to researching in these nations and regions
(some articles cover more than one country):

Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Scotland
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Wales

Plus articles on Jewish roots and major ports of emigration. The guides include hints for finding and using records, identifying ancestral villages, dealing with foreign language barriers and understanding historical events that affect your ancestors' circumstances—and your genealogy search. Many guides include helpful maps to put your family in geographic context.

And of course, there are lots of recommended resources for learning more—and all the Web sites are hyperlinked for one-click access.

For those of you who subscribe to our e-mail newsletter, look for a special discount offer on this CD to hit your inbox tomorrow.

Don't get the newsletter? Now's a great time to sign up—in addition to genealogy news, tips and advice each Thursday, you'll get the opportunity to download our 42-page PDF e-book Best of the Photo Detective. Visit our newsletter page to subscribe for free.

Footnote Launches 1930 Census, New Look, New Search

Diane — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:36:19 GMT

Historical records site Footnote just announced its new Great Depression Collection, anchored by an interactive version of the 1930 census that CEO Russ Wilding calls “a gathering place for the American story.”

Footnote members can attach family photos and stories to names on the census images and automatically create Footnote Pages for them.

That opens up at least one back-door genealogy research avenue, suggests spokesperson Justin Schroepfer: If someone left a note on your ancestor’s neighbor’s listing, you could contact the member through the site and possibly get in touch with the neighbor’s descendants.

Also in the Great Depression Collection are digitized and indexed documents from the era, including newspapers with articles on President Roosevelt’s New Deal and ads revealing how much your ancestors paid for groceries.

Along with this release, Footnote revealed a new home page and new search. Duplicate home page links to the same place have been eliminated for a more streamlined look, and there’s no longer a separate advanced search—you expand the search box on the home page to bring up additional search fields.

Footnote searches for plurals and stem names (such as Michael for Mike), but doesn’t automatically look for alternate spellings. I couldn’t find my Haddad ancestors in the 1930 census until I entered the enumeration district and sheet number as keywords—they’re indexed under Haddah. But you can look for alternate spellings by using an asterisk (*) as a wildcard to stand in for any number of letters.

Look for more search tips in our Footnote Web Guide in the July 2009 Family Tree Magazine (on newstands May 5).

The Great Depression Collection is part of Footnote’s subscription offerings. (There’s a limited-time special offer of $55.95.) Footnote also offers a pay-per-view option for many of its records.

The 1930 census actually went live yesterday, but Footnote postponed the announcement to work out a few bugs (it was killing me to keep my mouth shut, but I distracted myself by updating the abovementioned Web Guide).

Speaking of Irish Roots and Women's History ...

Diane — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:42:08 GMT

March is both Irish-American Heritage Month and Women's History Month. (If you're an Irish-American Woman, double hats off to you!)

March 2, President Obama followed his predecessors' example and proclaimed March Irish-American Heritage Month. (Wonder if he was thinking of his own Irish roots when he signed the paper?)

The next day, again following precendent, Obama also proclaimed March Women's History Month.

You're guaranteed a reason to celebrate: Even if you're not one of the 30.5 million Americans who have Irish ancestry, I'm pretty sure you have female ancestry. See FamilyTreeMagazine.com for resources on tracing both:

Access all our Irish research tools in our online Toolkit. The March 2008 Family Tree Magazine has our seven-step guide to tracing Irish roots.

For help finding women, see our list of best records, article on search strategies, and tips on discovering maiden names. The February 2008 Family Tree Magazine has our research guide (sold out on paper, but a digital downloads is available).

To Save or Not to Save?

Diane — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:15:12 GMT

My mom’s been helping clean out Grandma’s garage. Last night when I visited, Mom was telling me about the piles of old receipts Grandma’s been hanging onto all these years.

Mom had pulled out some papers—the hospital bill for my aunt’s birth, the building materials order for the family’s first home—and the rest were in what-do-we-do-with-this? limbo.

Of course, I had to go through it all. I took a bunch of papers, including the bill for Mom’s first communion around 1954

and the receipts for her second-grade schoolbooks (someone played connect-the-dots on the back)

and 12th-grade tuition (including a $25 graduation fee).

I’ll definitely save stuff related to my mom. But what about the other kids’ schoolbook lists, random furniture receipts, a refrigerator repair ticket, ancient correspondence from an insurance company, BBB reports on business schools an aunt was thinking about attending, and similar items?

Theoretically, it’s great to keep every piece of paper. But with limited space and crowded lives, reality demands most of us be choosy about what we save. What would you do with these papers? Click Comments (below) to reply.

Added to my to-do list: Review the February 2007 Family Tree Magazine guide for what to do when you inherit the family archives (print copies are sold out, but this issue is available as a PDF download). And if you're considering donating family materials to a historical archive, see the advice on our Now What? blog.

Free Photo Detective Download with Newsletter Sign-up

Diane — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:43:42 GMT

Tell your friends about this one: We've got a free gift for those who sign up to receive our weekly E-mail Update newsletter (which, coincidentally, is also free).

What is it? Our Best of the Photo Detective 42-page digital download, containing photo historian Maureen A. Taylor’s best tips for identifying mystery family photographs.

After you submit your newsletter sign-up, you’ll get a link to download the booklet. It’s a PDF, so you’ll need the free Adobe Reader software to open it.

And yes, if you’re already a newsletter subscriber, you still can get the download. Go to the sign-up page, enter the same e-mail address where you already receive the newsletter, update any other preferences you want, and click Submit. We won’t send two newsletters to the same e-mail address.

Superstitious Ancestors? Enter Our Challenge for a Chance to Win

Diane — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:25:38 GMT

It’s both 15 days till St. Patrick's Day and your last chance to get in on Family Tree Magazine’s March 2009 “Lucky Charms” All in the Family Challenge.

To enter, tell us about a lucky charm or superstition in your family. For example, when I was a kid, whenever someone was getting married or we had a soccer tournament or good weather was needed for some other reason, Mom would set a figurine of Mary in the kitchen window (facing outside, or it wouldn't work).

Maybe you’ve saved Grandpa’s lucky penny or you throw a pinch of salt over your shoulder while cooking, just like Grandma always did.

Cross your fingers and describe your family’s lucky charm or superstition for us. E-mail your entry before March 9, and be sure to include your name and hometown.

If we select your entry to publish in the July 2009 Family Tree Magazine (knock on wood), you’ll win our Beginner’s Guide to Genealogy digital download.

Our Organizing Extravaganza

Diane — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:29:39 GMT

If you’re feeling guilty because you haven’t jumped on that New Year’s resolution to organize your genealogy files, this post won’t make you feel any better. (But be consoled by the tips at the end.)

The accumulated paper and other stuff was getting to be a bit much here at Family Tree Magazine. So last Friday, we held an all-out, all-day organizing extravaganza.

Not a file drawer, bookshelf, box, or folder on the server escaped our critical “do we really need this?” collective scrutiny. (Here, Allison displays her recycling skills.)

Associate editor Grace Dobush and art director Christy Miller sorted through props and film from way back before photo shoots went digital.

Where was I? Taking care of my desk drawer, an “after” desperately waiting to happen.

It always looks worse before it looks better. We emptied boxes in a requisitioned cubicle and sorted and arranged. This …

became this …

and this …

I feel refreshed. Energized! Like our time investment in revising filing systems and straightening storage spots will make us more efficient and quicker on the job.

If you want to have your own organizing day, pizza for lunch helps the motivation. And see these tips on FamilyTreeMagazine.com:

Organizing photos

Getting your e-mail in order

Ellis Island Hospital Documentary Airs in February

Diane — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:42:11 GMT

Forgotten Ellis Island, a documentary based on film producer Lorie Conway’s book of the same name about the immigrant hospital at America’s busiest port of arrival, is set to air on many PBS stations Feb. 2 at 10 p.m. (It'll air Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. in some places.)

See the Forgotten Ellis Island Web site and check local TV listings for updates. (The online schedule for our PBS affiliate let me set up an automatic e-mail reminder.)

I interviewed Conway for the November 2008 Family Tree Magazine, and the Ellis Island hospital is among my favorite topics I’ve covered. Conway shared photos and stories of immigrants treated there, revealing the hospital’s history and how the staff handled patients' varying cultures, languages and illnesses—while trying to balance a mission of humanity with a duty to protect the US population from diseases.

As mentioned in the November 2008 article, patient records are missing except a few documents scattered in other files. The hospital buildings are under the care of Save Ellis Island and awaiting restoration.

Get Family History Help in the Latest Family Tree Magazine Podcast

Diane — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:27:05 GMT

In the busy-ness of attending a genealogy expo and tying up loose ends before offices everywhere are deserted for Thanksgiving, I haven’t yet told you our November 2008 podcast is now available for your listening pleasure.

(Of course, if you subscribe through iTunes or another service, you already know this.)

In this new episode, hosted by Lisa Louise Cooke of Genealogy Gems, you’ll get quick research-project ideas from the author of “Power Hour” in the January 2008 Family Tree Magazine, insight into family traditions from professional researcher Lisa A. Alzo, and a verbal peek at the vast resources inside the New England Historic Genealogical Society Library.

You’ll hear from other Family Tree Magazine writers and the editors, too—see all the November 2008 Family Tree Magazine Podcast topics in the show notes. As always, the podcast is free.

Where Do We Find All That Old Stuff?

Grace — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:41:33 GMT

Readers occasionally ask us if we have information on the photos or letters we show in our articles. Unfortunately, for the most part, we don’t. "Many of our old photos have come from antiques stores and flea markets," says our editor, Allison Stacy. "We used to have a photo stylist go out and buy props for us—kind of like a mystery shopper." So where do we get all the stuff we show in Family Tree Magazine?

Without a stylist these days, we have to get a little creative in finding props, and we aren’t too proud to scavenge. "I brought home copies of some documents and burned the edges of them on my patio one night for a photo shoot" for a story about burned courthouses, says our art director, Kathy DeZarn. "The next morning on my way to work I spotted a bunch of charred wood and broken bricks from a house fire just a few blocks from my home. It was just too good to pass up."

Kathy got the Mason jars in the May 2008 History Matters from her aunt’s basement, and "the boxes of stuff I inherited when my parents died has been the source for all sorts of letters, photos and stuff including one (I only found one) of the shoes my mom wore on her wedding day."

Managing editor Diane Haddad’s grandmother's purse and burgundy dress have been in photo shoots for the magazine, as have various family pictures. My own parents happen to have a house full of antiques and ephemera, which comes in very handy! That's a picture from their living room below. (The telephone, directory and telegraph key in the "Getting the Message" article in the January 2009 issue pictured above came from them.)

Google Love

Diane — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:07:32 GMT

Life before Google? Sometimes it hurts to think about.

Even before learning some tricks while working on our January 2009 Family Tree Magazine genealogy Googling article, my favorite Google trick was the site search. I’d be racking my brain because I knew I saw something about probate records on some page of a site, and for the life of me I couldn’t find it again.

I go to my Google toolbar and type in site: plus the URL and the search terms, and Google will search just that site. For example, say I want to find FamilySearch’s Denmark research outline. Here’s my Google search: site:www.familysearch.org denmark research outline.

The first result is exactly what I'm looking for.

Other tools I love: language translation (handy when editing foreign-research articles), area code lookup and—since I found out about them from the googling article—the currency converter and calculator tools.

On our Web site, you'll find five time-saving Google shortcuts and an excerpt from Google Your Family Tree, a book by Daniel Lynch. Our readers share their Google love on our Forum.

Learn more about making the most of Google in the January 2009 Family Tree Magazine (it's mailing to subscribers right about now; you can get it Nov. 11 on newsstands and from FamilyTreeMagazine.com).

Your Family in the Great Depression

Diane — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:33:36 GMT

Pack-rat tendencies, the Clean Plate Club, freezers crammed with food, and a fear of borrowing money: These are Great Depression legacies CNN’s iReporters mention an article on CNN.com.

We've had our own Great Depression storytelling session going on in the Forum (it’s related to an upcoming Family Tree Magazine article).

One Forum member how her grandfather tracked his salary in his diary, watching it fall from $224 a week to $135 a month. Things improved when he got a new job in 1941.

Ask your relatives how your family made do during the Great Depression and how their lives changed, and share those memories in the Forum. Nowadays we all probably could use the perspective.

Coming Soon: Help for Genealogy Newbies

Allison — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:12:19 GMT

In keeping with the "behind-the-scenes" aspect of this blog, I thought I'd give everyone a sneak peek at one of the projects the Family Tree Magazine staff is working on.

Beginner's Guide to Genealogy is a primer that culls together some of our best articles on getting started tracing your roots. It's been fun to revisit "classic" advice we've published throughout the years—I've found at least a few nuggets of information I'd forgotten. (Which, for me, is really saying something—the staff accuses me of having a photographic memory of the entire magazine archive. It's what happens after you proofread every article four or five times. But I digress.)

Here's a sampling of topics in the Beginner's Guide:

overview of basic records
oral history interviewing
writing queries that get answers
Web search techniques

And a sneak peek at the cover:

Beginner's Guide to Genealogy will be available as a digital download from our online store by Oct. 15. Which means I better get back to work!

Tales of Terrific Family Tree Teamwork

Diane — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:49:27 GMT

Waaaaaay back in April, to play up the promising possibilities of genealogical research collaboration, we asked for your entries in our Terrific Family Tree Teamwork Contest.

We heard a lot of great stories, but managed to winnow them down to the winners, who're portrayed in the November 2008 Family Tree Magazine. There’s something to learn from each example:

Our grand prize-winners, Bev Ophoven Ewing and Kathleen Lenerz, have never actually met. In 1998 they discovered a cousin connection online. Now, they tackle family mysteries by bouncing ideas around, building off each other’s thinking and divvying up research tasks.

Gwendolyn Cameron and her cousins wanted to learn about their great-grandfather, a Civil War veteran. They traced him to the state hospital where he'd died. The group organized a memorial service, and since our November issue went to press, the hospital has restored its historic graveyard. A rededication is scheduled for tomorrow.

In 2006, Melissa Hogan found a team in the Chilton County (Ala.) Yahoo! genealogy group. They turned out to be relatives, and set their sights on discovering the fate of an ancestor rumored to have served prison time.

Susie Bullion recruited her team by creating a memory quilt with squares relatives filled with stories. To share the history, she and her siblings typed up the stories, researched background information and turned them into a family memory book.

Valerie Craft’s family history research began as a college project that never ended. Her mom served both as fan and teammate, especially helpful in putting Valerie in touch with distant relatives.

All the teams won our State Research Guides CD; the grand prize also includes Family Reunion Organizer software from RootsMagic, a Web site from MyGreatBigFamily.com and free batch photo scanning from ScanMyPhotos.

See these and other teamwork tales in our Exclusives for Registered Users Forum (note you must be registered with the Forum and logged in to view this section).

Cast Your Vote for the Genealogy Difference Maker of the Year!

Diane — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:55:55 GMT

We've been profiling an unsung genealogy volunteer in our Difference Makers section of each 2008 Family Tree Magazine issue.

Now you can help choose one of these volunteers as our 2008 Difference Maker of the Year. That person will win $100 toward his or her pet genealogy project, plus a free year of Family Tree Magazine.

Visit FamilyTreeMagazine.com to meet all six of this year's Difference Makers and cast your vote for the Difference Maker of the Year. Hurry! Voting ends at midnight Sept. 24.

You also can see names of all the hard-working volunteers Family Tree Magazine readers have nominated as genealogy Difference Makers.

We're so inspired by these folks that we're continuing the Difference Makers series for 2008. Nominate someone you know who's made a difference in genealogy (scroll to the bottom of the linked page to make a nomination).

Olympian Phelps Joins Ellis Island Fundraising Campaign

Diane — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:28:19 GMT

Olympic swimming phenom Michael Phelps is the newest member of the We Are Ellis Island campaign, which is raising funds to restore the South Side of Ellis Island.

On the campaign Web site, you can watch a promotional video featuring Phelps (hard to recognize with facial scruff and a few inches of hair) and others.

Phelps’ ancestors immigrated through Ellis Island. A campaign spokesperson told me she doesn't yet have full details on their names and immigration dates, since Phelps signed on and shot the video just before leaving for Beijing.

Ellis Island's well-known immigration museum opened in 1990 on its North Side. The largely abandoned South Side was home to a state-of-the-art hospital where sick immigrants were treated—and sometimes ordered to return home.

Look for the November 2008 Family Tree Magazine article on Forgotten Ellis Island, a documentary and book about the hospital, and the patients and staff who spent part of their lives there.

New Blog Series: 101 Best Web Sites Profiles

Diane — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:20:49 GMT

I’ll be highlighting two of our 101 Best Web Sites for genealogy (selected at random) each week right here. My math skills aren’t the greatest, but I figure at this rate, we’ll finish up in time to start next year’s list.

Let’s start with Documenting the American South, where the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill library publishes digitized texts, images and audio files.

We called this site one of the “Best for African-American Researchers” because of its strong African-American collections, including information on slavery, biographies and Southern black churches. But it covers a wide range of Southern history topics, including literature, North Carolinians in World War I, and southerners’ letters and other writings.

Next up: Family History Online, a fee-based site that lets you search records compiled by family history societies in England, Wales and Australia. The 67 million records now available include parish registers, memorial inscriptions, censuses, poor law documents and more. (See a breakdown by place under the Databases menu.)

You’ll need to register with the site to search the name index. You see limited results for free; the cost to view full record entries starts at 5 pounds (that's about $10).

The September 2008 Family Tree Magazine (which hits newsstands next week) has the full 101 Best Web Sites list, or click through to them all from FamilyTreeMagazine.com.

And you can visit our Forum to nominate your favorite family history site for honors in 2009.

Fourth of July Sale!

Grace — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:26:01 GMT

Want to experience some genealogical fireworks? Our State Research Guides CD will spark your US research—and for a limited time, get 20% off, plus free shipping! You can save on any Family Tree Magazine CD with this special offer, good only through Wednesday, July 9. Take advantage of the Fourth of July Sale by visiting our store and entering the coupon code FAM4TH when indicated during the order process; the discount will be applied at checkout.

Here's what you'll save:

State Research Guides CD
Retail: ~~$49.99~~ Sale: $39.99
Contains how-to guides and recommended resources for genealogy in all 50 US states, plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico.

2006 Annual CD
Retail: ~~$24~~ Sale: $19.20
Includes all six regular issues plus the Genealogy Guidebook special issue.

2007 Annual CD
Retail: ~~$20~~ Sale: $16
Contains five issues plus a bonus family tree chart and directory.

International Genealogy Passport
Retail: ~~$12.95~~ Sale: $10.36
Features a region-by-region directory of resources to trace your roots anywhere in the world, plus our 2005 Sourcebook special issue.

Click here to visit the shop.

Would You Read a Digital Magazine?

Diane — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:59:10 GMT

Right on the heels of Dick Eastman’s blog post about the disappearance of print newsletters and magazines, Everton’s Genealogical Helper announced the debut of its digital edition.

Everton’s is still doing its print edition, too. Ancestry (published by Ancestry.com’s owner, The Generations Network) also publishes both on paper and digitally, as does Internet Genealogy. Digital Genealogist is available only online.

I was proud to see Dick’s description of Family Tree Magazine as a “combined online and offline magazine." That’s what we’re going for: We’ve found readers are accustomed to getting information in a variety of ways, so we’re responding with extra online content, our weekly E-mail Update newsletter, back issues and special editions on CD, digital downloads of our State Research Guides, our blogs and online Forum, online videos and our recently launched podcast.

The entire publishing industry is caught up in the “digital vs. print” discussion, with some swearing it's just a matter of time before all print publications go away, and others insisting people always will want to curl up with a paper magazine or book.

Many who commented on Dick’s post said they’d rather read paper. What about you all—would you read a digital version of your favorite genealogy magazine?

USCIS Genealogy Service to Handle Citizenship Record Requests

Diane — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:26:46 GMT

A rule published in last Thursday’s Federal Register announces the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS, formerly the INS) will set up a fee-based Genealogy Program for responding to historical naturalization records requests. The rule takes effect Aug. 13.

Currently, requests are processed through the Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act (FOIA/PA) program, which according to the agency, delays fulfillment.

The new program's fees will be $20 for an index search, $20 for record copies from microfilm, and $35 for copies of paper records.

USCIS initially proposed charging $16 to $45 in April 2006. During the ensuing public comment period, the agency received 33 comments, 28 of them positive and many addressing fee levels. You can see a comments summary in the Federal Register announcement.

Records you can request through this program include:

Naturalization Certificate Files (C-Files) dated Sept. 27, 1906, to April 1, 1956

Alien Registration Forms on microfilm from Aug. 1, 1940 to March 31, 1944.

Visa Files from July 1, 1924, to March 31, 1944

Registry Files, from March 2, 1929 to March 31, 1944. These records document the creation of immigrant arrival records for persons who entered the United States prior to July 1, 1924, and for whom no arrival record could be found later.

Alien-Files (A-Files) numbered below 8 million (as in A8000000). A–files were the official file for all immigration records after April 1, 1944. A–numbers ranging up to approximately 6 million correspond to aliens and immigrants who were in or entered the country between 1940 and 1945. A-numbers from 6 to 7 million date from about 1944 to May 1, 1951.

Documents dated after May 1, 1951, even if they’re in an A–File numbered below 8 million, are still subject to FOIA/PA restrictions.

Starting Aug. 13, you’ll be able to submit requests and credit card fee payments through the USGIS Web site on Form G–1041. For records naming someone born less than 100 years ago, you’ll have to prove the person is deceased.

To request an index search, you’ll need to supply the immigrant’s full name and date and place of birth (at least as specific as a year). To request copies of records, you’ll need to provide a file number.

Before the naturalization process was centralized under INS Sept. 27, 1906, local and federal courts kept citizenship records. See the May 2008 Family Tree Magazine and FamilyTreeMagazine.com for tips on finding pre- and post-1906 naturalization records.

Enter to Win a Genealogy Insider T-Shirt!

Diane — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:19:04 GMT

You, too, can be a Genealogy Insider! To celebrate the Genealogy Insider’s first blogiversary tomorrow, we’re holding a drawing for one of our new T-shirts.

To enter, click Comments below and answer these three questions:

How many times a week do you read the Genealogy Insider blog?

What is your all-time favorite Genealogy Insider blog post?

What family history topics would you like to see the Genealogy Insider cover more often?

We’ll draw one commenter at random to win a short-sleeve T-shirt proclaiming his or her Genealogy Insider status. Remember, you must provide your e-mail address when you post—we’ll contact the winner for a size and mailing address. (Your e-mail address will appear with at, NOSPAM and dot to keep spam robots from harvesting it.)

You have until 5 p.m. EDT next Tuesday, May 27, to post your comment.

Want to guarantee you get a shirt? Genealogy Insider T-shirts and other gear are available in our CafePress store.