Abundant Genealogy- Week Four: Free Offline Genealogy Tools

Week 4 – Free Offline Genealogy Tools: For which free offline genealogy tool are you most grateful? How did you find this tool and how has it benefitted your genealogy? Describe to others how to access this tool and spread the genealogy love.  This challenge runs from Sunday, January 22, 2012 through Saturday, January 28, 2012.

My favorite offline genealogy tool is our local library.  The Columbia-Marion County Public LIbrary has a room specific to genealogy research and I've spent many hours there, browsing through books, newspapers, family files and using the microfilm reader.  I don't go as to the library as often as I used to but I plan to begin going again on my days off because I want to obtain more information on our local history.  

I also like to go to the local courthouses and browse through the books of marriage records.  

I know there are many more available offline resources in our area, such as the Family Research Center, the South Mississippi Genealogy Society and the genealogy library at the University of Southern Mississippi.  I need to make the time to visit these places- who knows what I might be missing out on.  

Abundant Genealogy- Week Three: Free Online Genealogy Tools

Week #3 – Free Online Genealogy Tools Week 3 – Free Online Genealogy Tools: Free online genealogy tools are like gifts from above. Which one are you most thankful for? How has it helped your family history experience? This challenge runs from Sunday, January 15, 2012 through Saturday, January 21, 2012.

Recently I have been browsing the Find A Grave web site (www.findagrave.com) and I am so grateful for the generosity of the people who have donated their time and effort to make the site a success!  I have found several photos of head stones of ancestors of myself and my husband.  I also like being able to leave a note and flower graphics on their memorial pages.  I have signed up on the site and although I have only one memorial page (my Mom's), I plan to add more later.  Some of the memorial pages have photos of the person and their families, links to other family members, and obituaries.  Find A Grave is currently one of my most favorite free online genealogy tools.

Abundant Genealogy- Week Two: Paid Genealogy Tools

Week 2 – Paid Genealogy Tools: Which paid genealogy tool do you appreciate the most? What special features put it at the top of your list? How can it help others with their genealogy research?  This week’s prompt runs from Sunday, January 8 through Saturday, January 14, 2012.

First of all, I want to point out that I haven't yet tried many of the paid genealogy tools available so I have little experience in that area.  I can, however, relate my experience with Ancestry.com.  I signed on with a paid subscription to Ancestry.com a few months ago so I could view other family trees and census records, hoping to fill in some gaps in my own family history.  I'm so thankful now that I made the choice to do that!

Some of the features I like about Ancestry.com:

Census records online:  No more going to the library and straining my eyes trying to view census records on microfilm, oh how that tired me out!  I can easily view the census records on my own personal computer now and most of them have been clear and easy to read.  However, it is not totally fool-proof!  It is easy to overlook names in the index because of misspellings of the names.  The index usually (but not always) reflects the spelling of the names as listed on census records.  So, just as I did when I used to look through census records on microfilm, I imagine the possibilities of how the surname could be spelled.

Home Page:  My home page at Ancestry.com informs me of-

• Recent family tree activity:  Informs me how many people are in my family tree, Photos section that I can click on to view those I've saved, and the name of the person that I last viewed.  
• Recent historical records and name searches I've done
• My "Shoebox" records which contains items I've saved for later viewing
• New records added to Ancestry.com
• "Quick links" for research
• Recent member connect activity which shows who is saving what records to their files
• 
  

Transfer of information:  I like being able to transfer information from my tree on Ancestry.com to my Family Tree Maker program via GEDCOM

Collaberating with others:  Ancestry.com allows members to collaberate with others online through their inbox and a direct link to the message boards

Individual profiles and family group sheets:  I like the layout of the individual profiles listing demographic information, media gallery, and timeline.  The profile sidebar features information about the individual's family, including parents, spouses and children. 

Some of the features that need improvement:

Printing of family group sheets:  Maybe it's just my inexperience since I'm fairly new to Ancestry.com but the few family group sheets I've printed out on Ancestry.com have been difficult to read because the type is so small and the page looks crowded.  I followed the instructions using the Help menu but the results were the same.

Merging specific individuals:  Merging specific individuals is not currently an option

Recommendations:  I recommend Ancestry.com to anyone seeking to expand their family tree.  Overall it is easy to learn the program and easy to navigate.  However, as thrilling and tempting it is to find new information on our ancestors, there is a LOT of incorrect information on family histories posted on Ancestry.com.  A researcher must learn to wade through the erroneous information and decipher fact from fiction.  

Abundant Genealogy- Week One: Blogging

I'm a "newbie" to genealogy blogging, having only started my family history blog a little over 3 weeks ago, but I have discovered so much in such little time!  There's an abundance of information available online nowadays and I've found several genealogy related blogs which offer great advice and helpful hints for both us "newbies" and seasoned genea-bloggers.

For example, 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2012) that invite genealogists and others to discuss resources in the genealogy community including websites, applications, libraries, archives, genealogical societies and more. You do not have to be a blogger to participate. If you do not have a genealogy blog, write down your thoughts on your computer, or simply record them on paper and keep them with your files.

Week 1 – Blogs: Blogging is a great way for genealogists to share information with family members, potential cousins and each other. For which blog are you most thankful? Is it one of the earliest blogs you read, or a current one? What is special about the blog and why should others read it? This challenge runs from Sunday, January 1, 2012 through Saturday, January 7, 2012.

Now, on to answer the above questions:

There are actually two blogs that I am thankful for, the first being The We Tree Genealogy Blog, hosted by Amy Coffin.  Amy's blog is one of the firsts I discovered while browsing genea-blogs and I have visited her site frequently, acquiring ideas to incorporate into my own blog and reading articles on the latest news in genealogy research.  I mentioned in one of my Friday Finds post that one of my favorites is the post by Amy on Jump Start Your Genealogy Blog which gave me some wonderful ideas to use in future posts.  I recommend The We Tree Genealogy Blog because Amy frequently updates her blog with the latest news in the online genealogy community and there is something for everyone who is interested in genealogy research.

Second, I am thankful for the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog, hosted by Lorine McGinnis Schulze.  Her blog is packed with information on several genealogy topics including various locations, history, technology, documentation and so much more.  I also enjoy reading her personal family stories.  I also acquired the idea of Sharing Memories from Lorine's blog, which I have incorporated into my own.  What a wonderful way to share the memories I have accumulated over the last half-century!  For anyone interested in genealogy research or just to enjoy some great reads, the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog has much to offer!

I can not complete this post without mentioning GeneaBloggers.  I acquired a host of new ideas from their site by reading the Daily Blogging Prompts.  I also found other great family history blogs by browsing through the list of over 2,000 blogs posted at GeneaBloggers.  I haven't participated in their GeneaWebinars yet, but I plan to in the future.  This is a great genealogy related site that helped me to "get the ball rolling" with my own blog.

I owe a big "THANK YOU!!!" to all those who make the genealogy online community a great success!  I'm looking forward to new discoveries this year as we travel this path together!