Sitting Around the Online Radio

Do you or your relatives reminisce about sitting around the radio waiting for favorite radio broadcasts? Well, you can still do that!

Today I tuned into one of the monthly 42 minute podcasts from Family Tree Magazine at: http://www.familytreemagazine.com/info/podcasts
Every month this podcast (iPod broadcast) comes across the Internet airwaves with its segmented format. You won't need an iPod/iPad to enjoy a podcast: they would just makes the show recordable and portable. I listened to the show through iTunes on my computer but you could use any Internet browser, instead. You can even subscribe to the podcast and listen to past broadcasts.

July's segments included interviews with the blogger from Genealogy Insider, Genealogy Insider home, Diane Haddad. Diane had hints and techniques for getting prepared for the release of the 1940 US Census on April 2, 2012. Diane recommended using the one-step website of Steve Morse, now, to prepare for this release. Don't forget that when the census is released that it won't be indexed. This means you'll need to know the enumeration district for anyone you are searching for and be prepared to read through the pages of that district. The Steve Morse One-Step site will help you figure the district out at http://www.stevemorse.org/.

The Family Tree Magazine author David Fryxell talked about his article in the September 2011 issue: Dazzling Destinations Covering the 101 Best Websites. David gave his insight into the best re-designed/updated websites: http://www.dar.org and http://www.virginiamemory.com/collections/. His pick for biggest surprise: http://www.cookcountygenealogy.com/. This Illinois website has over 500,000 records that include naturalization records from Illinois and Indiana that were filled in Cook County, (home of Chicago) Illinois.

Thought Google Earth was just for street views and armchair travel? Nope - it's Google maps on steroids. More on that tomorrow.

The Postman Commeth

I belong to multiple online genealogy websites, yet nothing beats old-fashioned postal mail for bringing the past to life. In today's mail I received the long searched for obituaries of four of my ancestors. Thanks goes out to the Mt. Carmel Public Library for their quick and complete response.

Megan Smolenyak mentioned the online index to the Mt. Carmel, PA area obituary index in one of her Google+ posts and $15 later I hit pay dirt.

I found yet another spelling variation for one of the surnames I research. Who would have thought "Gottschall" would end up in a newspaper as "Gudchall." A vivid reminder that spelling is a whimsical thing in genealogy. I also discovered that one of the ancestors I'd been tracing was a step-parent instead of a blood relative. I guess that means that I can stop looking for Thomas Magee's parents. I found out so much more that I may have to stop typing here so I can enter the data!


So for those of you with Mt. Carmel, PA ancestors, I leave you with this http://mountcarmelareapubliclibrary.com/genealogy

Today's the day

Yup, today is the day I get more organized. No, No, I really mean it this time. It was so frustrating yesterday. I spent hours tracking down my great-great grandparent's marriage record and celebrating my success when I found it at FamilySearch.org.  I dutifully saved it to my surname organized family history folder on my computer WITH THE OTHER TWO COPIES. AARGH. I already had the information and did not know it. So frustrating. So ....


Today's the day I will open my Family Tree Maker (FTM) software and attach the records I've saved to my computer to the appropriate people. I'll have the program copy the media files to the FTM folder so I don't have to worry about where the media files are when I back-up the file from FTM.


Then I'll do the final step. I'll delete the original media file in the original file folder so I won't think it's not attached to proper person in Family Tree Maker.


Yup - today's the day.