FREE Webinar Family Tree University

Researching your family history can be a great adventure. In this free Expert Webinars, Desmond Walls Allen, author of Family History Detective: A Step-by-Step Guide to Investigating Your Family Tree, will discuss research principles guaranteed to give you success.

Date: Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Starting Time: 1 p.m. Eastern/10 a.m. Pacific
Presenter: Desmond Walls Allen, author of Family History Detective: A Step-by-Step Guide to Investigating Your Family Tree


Duration: 60 minutes
Price: FREE!

REGISTRATION FOR THE LIVE SESSION INCLUDES:
Participation in the Live presentation and Q&A session
Access to the webinar recording to view again as many times as you like
A PDF of the presentation slides for future reference

WHO SHOULD ATTEND
Anyone who has an interest in family history
Genealogists looking for general guidance on conducting family history research

Family Tree University Kits

Kit of the Month

I have been a student and huge fan of Family Tree University for almost 2 years. This is where I have gotten the 101 Brick Walls, Google For Genealogists, Photo Rescue, and Cemetery research. There are so many kits, Expert Webinars, and books to explore in Family Tree University. I will look there before anywhere else first when I am looking for Genealogy Resources. They still have plenty of the Google for Genealogist packs available.

Using Google Books

This was part of the Google for Genealogists package that Family Tree University is offering this month. The instructors there are really helpful in finding ways to solve brick walls or other area's to search. This video is by Allison Stacey an Instructor at Family Tree University. Right now they are having a special on the Google for Genealogists package.

Google for Genealogists

Last summer I read that Google had wonderful ways of helping Genealogists discover information. Lisa Louise Cooke wrote a book called “The Genealogists Google Toolbox” that I first heard about on Family Tree University.  Family Tree University is now offering a limited amount of her book, a webinar, and other goodies for Genealogists to expand their research on Google successfully. Today was the first day of this special and already nearly half of the 200 available are gone. You can even watch the free Webinar with Lisa Louise Cooke http://www.familytreeuniversity.com/free-webinar-ask-google-guru

Genealogist’s Google Toolbox book signed by Lisa

Google Earth for Genealogy DVDs (2 volumes)

Search Engine Tips & Tricks (1 hour on-demand webinar)

Google Tools for Genealogists independent study course

101 Brick Wall Busters Part 2

Grandma Ola, Aunt Lovella, and AJ at Aunt Lovella's home in Corona, NM

This was a common sight when visiting my Aunt Lovella. Many a day we sat around this table sharing photos, stories, documents. I was always amazed by all the documents she had. She had dedicated all her life in being the Family Historian, listening to stories, gathering documents and keeping photographs. 

Nancy Ola and Gip Akin with their two eldest children Joy and Roy Akin

Returning to the Brick Wall Busters, the next three steps will really help you. 

4. Identify your Sources, make a list of sources that you could find the information you need. Not only is family a great source for records, especially if family was born prior to record keeping, but Churches are wonderful places to search. Long before states started collecting data and information, Churches were the record keepers of births and deaths. Local Newspapers, censuses, naturalization papers, are great places to look. The Family History Library Catalog is a wonderful tool.

5. When you cant find the information needed online, and there are lots of records still being digitized. Expand your search, try different spellings of your ancestors names. On one census my Great Grandma was listed as Carla, instead of Ula. The location, parents, siblings all matched except her name. On the same census report her Mom was listed as Old N. Akin instead of Nancy Ola. Names got reversed, comparing with other information on these reports will help confirm the lineage. 

6. Research those who lived and were part of your family. Many multiple families lived together during those times and may have served as witnesses to their lives. Land deeds, tax records, the paper trails in communities can also help verify family members. 

Maggie Coffee Randell sister to Nancy Ola Akin

101 Brick Wall Busters

A few months back I took a wonderful course through Family Tree University, called 101 Brick Wall Busters. It is something that happens when researching our family. Records are lost, destroyed in fires, or never even existed. Record keeping wasn't as wide spread in the early days of our Nation, many areas never kept records until the past century, less in some areas.

In the age of Technology and instant information, it is shocking to many that there isn't a data base somewhere with every article of information on our ancestors. The LDS Church has done a wonderful job of gathering many records, but there are still gaps in the research.

In the course 101 Brick Wall Busters it discusses several ways to find this information or at least find information that can lead you in the right direction.
I will be touching on a few points each post.

1. You have to access the problem, what records do you have, what is it that you are trying to find out. Birthplace? Maybe the Date of Birth was left off or the common brick wall of a mothers lineage. For some reason the woman's line is always incomplete.

Ask family first, see if a relative ended up with a box of photographs, documents, letters between family, or land deeds. Recently while researching the death of my Grandma's little brother, I couldn't find any state records for 1929 of his death. My Great Grandma had given a trunk of paperwork, birth records, love letters between her and Great Grandpa to my Grandma's sister and now her Daughter has all the information. It was a real break through on proving his death and burial area. The photograph we believed was Grandma with her father and brother standing by a grave was not the grave of her brother, but her Grandfather who passed away in 1926.

2. Don't skip any steps, check all records here in the US before venturing overseas. If there are not State or County records, see if the papers of the time have any articles on your ancestors. I recently found a wonderful article written by the Senior Center that my Grandma was active in, honoring her crafts and involvement at the Center. County Fairs, Senior Centers, newspapers are a few places you can look for more information.

3. Create a time line of their life. Do you know when they lived, who else in your family was around during that time. My Aunt Lovella was my Grandma's Mother's youngest sister of seven children. I always referred to her as Aunt, when really she was my Great Great Aunt. Knowing the time line of the family helped when filling out the lineage chart. Other things to know is what sort of things were going on in the world during the time of their life. Was it during War time, there are a lot of War records that can help bridge the gaps.

 Gip and Nancy Akin, with their children.