Blog
3 Reasons to Post on a Message Board
If you have attended one of my classes about using social media or beginning genealogy, you know that I always recommend reading and posting in message boards. My favorite is boards.rootsweb.com which is also tied to boards.rootsweb.com. All of the boards are searchable, so only put your post on one board. 1. Organizing material helps you understand it I have always my college and graduate students to send the questions that they had outside of the classroom in an e-mail. The act of reviewing the material and formulating a question...
read moreWWI Battles and Cemeteries
A little while ago, I saw a request on a genealogical Facebook page and tried to locate an obituary for a soldier who died in World War I. Although I did not find the obituary, it led to some interesting websites and resources that I was able to share with the obituary seeker. If you have an ancestor who died overseas in WWI, you should search the American Battle Monument Commission website. If you have not lost an ancestor overseas in WWI, you should still check out the resources about the battles and the World War I accessible from this...
read moreLooking for the 51st Pioneers in the New York State Military Museum
The New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center is part of the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs (DMNA). It is located in Saratoga Springs, NY. This blog post takes you on a tour of the Museum’s website. Hopefully will inspire those who have military ancestors from New York to investigate the material that can be found. Remember to look not only for your ancestor, but for information about the places and times that s/he served. Letters from or pictures of contemporaries may shed light on your...
read more51st Pioneer Infantry in the Library of Congress American Memory Collection
The American Memory Collection documents the American experience. I searched for the 51st Pioneer Infantry in this collection. In the search box, I entered “51st Pioneer Infantry” and got only two results. So I tried “51st Pioneer”. The results were: There is a choice to download the pdf of the page or of the whole issue. Be sure to note the page number and position of the article; searching in the pdf may not work. The first result in “The Stars and Stripes” was: The second result in “The Stars and...
read moreThe St. Mihiel Offensive and the 51st Pioneer Infantry
General Pershing’s American Expeditionary Force (AEF) launched the Saint-Mihiel offensive. This was the AEF’s first independent offensive, with an American Army under American command. The goal was to cut off the rail lines between Paris and the Eastern Front. The St. Mihiel salient was a fortified bulge into France that was 15 miles on either side of St. Mihiel, 20 miles south of Verdun. The 51st Pioneer Infantry was divided. My Grandfather’s Company, B, was attached to First Division. They had their first experience with exploding...
read moreSending A Spouse to Rootstech
What if you can’t make it to Rootstech? What if your spouse is in Salt Lake City on business that week? Send the spouse! I put together a binder for him to bring. It included: His electronic receipt for the keynote / vendor hall ticket A list of the vendors, with notes about which ones to visit His pedigree chart His line of descendancy from Mayflower passenger Stephen Hopkins My guidance for him was to check out the new products, take pictures and check out the product offerings and special sales. While he walked around the vendor...
read more5 Questions with the DC Metro Rootsmagic User Group Leader, Dr. Margaret Ezell
Recently I asked Dr. Ezell to answer a few questions about her favorite genealogy software program, Rootsmagic. 1. Why should a genealogist use a genealogy software program? My biggest reasons for using a genealogy software program are: Good software programs like RootsMagic make it easy to share information. Some also have iPad, or Smartphone versions. The mistakes in my database are my own, and all changes are mine. I decide when something is proven, when I have enough sources, and who is related to whom. There are two types of...
read moreGoogle is shutting down Picasa
Google is shutting down Picasa in favor of Google Photos Yesterday Google announced that it is shutting down Picasa in favor of Google Photos. Standby, the changes will begin starting May 1, 2016. Here are your options: 1) Login to Google Photos and your pictures will be there. 2) If you do not want to use Google Photos, there will be a new place created for you to access your Picasa Web Albums data. You can view/delete/download your albums from this new place, but you will not be able to create/organize/edit your albums. That means you will...
read moreGet Children Involved: Revolutionary War
My son had to do a PowerPoint presentation for his social studies class about the Battles of Lexington and Concord. His Father’s family has been involved in many of the military conflicts throughout the history of the United States. I recalled one ancestor in Massachusetts, so I dug out the details. I looked at the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) Membership Applications on Ancestry.com. The application I found included both John Fife and his Father-in-Law, Return Strong. Sure enough, John Fyfe (Fife) had been a minute man in Groton,...
read moreReprieve of Family Tree Maker and More
Ancestry.com made an exciting announcement of interest to Family Tree Maker and RootsMagic alike. 1) Family Tree Make will live on! Software MacKiev, the six-year developer of Family Tree Maker, will be taking the software line into the future on both Mac and PC platforms. 2) By the end of 2016, Rootsmagic will be able to connect Ancestry.com for hints and searches. You will also be able to sync your tree on Ancestry.com with your desktop RootsMagic program. To read more: New Family Tree Maker Options RootsMagic and Ancestry: Working Together...
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