The Year Ahead – February 29

 In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 29 – Leap Day - Enjoy an extra day of genealogy! Chase down research BSOs (bright shiny objects), such as record hints from Ancestry.com or MyHeritage.

It is recommend to have a research plan to avoid chasing down BSO's. However, spending a day or two a month, just letting the BSO's lead the way, may take you to some new discoveris. How about checking out a new website for doing your research. 

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 28

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 28 – RootsTech 2024 is about to begin in Salt Lake City. Make sure you're registered to watch virtual presentations <www.rootstech.org>.

Check out the schedule and see what programs you want to view. Even though they will have the videos available for viewing later, I like to watch as many as I can while RootsTech is being held. It make it more fun for me to feel as if I am at the Seminar.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 27

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 27 – Is your genealogy software working for you? Check the manufacturer's website for updates, or try a different program.

Genealogy software is a wonderful tool for maintaining our family trees. Make sure that you have signed up for update notices. An update and an upgrade are two different things. Updates, which are usually free, will fix programming issues while an upgrade is a newer version of the program. Upgrades usually offer new features that the previous version doesn't have. You don't have to upgrade, but it is recommended to make sure to update all your software. This assures you are running an error free version of your software. 

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 26

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 26 – Start a digital scrapbook by collecting files and photos. You can publish using social media, scrapbooking software or a book-printing service.

Think about who you want to share these files and photos? Photos of your family, share on Facebook, Instagram, or even on a Facebook Family Group. Scrapbooking software can help you produce scrapbook pages easier, or look into Shutterfly (as an example) to create books for yourself or to give as gifts to your family.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 25

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 25 – Share ancestral photographs with a relative who may have new information about them.

This is where the Family Facebook Group will come in handy. Post pictures and ask if anyone knows who these people are. Ask them to ask the elders in their family. Encourage others to post their pictures.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy! 

The Year Ahead – February 24

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 24 – Start organizing a family gathering, such as a reunion. Contact relatives who can help, or the relative who’s run events in the past.

My family hasn’t had a family reunion in yeas. Perhaps starting a Family Facebook Group, that is private but visible so people will ask to join. Have some questions that you get to know how they are related. Through this group you could possibly see if there is interest for a family gathering.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 23

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 23 – Learn how to add scanned phots (as well as any metadata) to your genealogy software and/or online tree.

Don’t know what metadata is? Just google it and/or check out YouTube Videos on how to manage metadata.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 22

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 22 – George Washington is honored today. This founding father didn’t have biological children, but you might still be related to him www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/family

If you aren’t related to George, are you related to any other presidents? My half siblings are related to four presidents. Once I found one president, I just looked to see if any other President’s were related to him and if that lineage was through one that my half-siblings were related to.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy! 

The Year Ahead – February 21

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 yourbest research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 21 – Start scanning stray ancestral photographs. Use your smartphone or desktop scanner.

Do you feel overwhelmed by that scanning your project you have. Set aside a block of time, 30 to 60 minutes, once a week, once every other week or once a month. Think about a filing system for those scanned images.  

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 20

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 20 – Search for genealogy related titles on Google Books <books.google.com>, and set up your virtual library.

It was through Google Books that I found the name of my brick wall female and her husband. The book ended with their marriage information, but the book was on her family. That book opened up that branch of the family for me. It was a wonderful find.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy! 

The Year Ahead – February 19

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 yourbest research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 19 – Post offices are closed for Presidents’ Day. But you can still check your online family tree accounts for messages!

Not getting replies. Maybe, you should look at your messages and see if there are written well. Make sure to specify the tree you are referencing; they may have more than one tree. Ask a specific question, not just general information such as “how are we related”. Do a little research first, how do you think you might be related. Is this a DNA question? If so, what branch does the matches seem to be from? Perhaps ask about certain surnames or locations.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

February 24 – The Year Ahead – February 18

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 18 – Review our list of the best websites for African American genealogy www.familytreemagazine.com/best-african-american-genealogy-websites.

If you don’t have African American genealogy, did you have ancestor’s who own enslaved American’s. We can’t change the past, but we can help the future. Can you help those descendants of those enslaved American’s by transcribing any wills that listed the first name of their enslaved?  

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 17

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 17 – Determine spelling variations for the name of an ancestral hometown. Also study any border or jurisdictional changes it’s had throughout history.

Many hometown locations might not even be located anymore. They might even be merged into a larger metropolitan area. Plus, border changes can change where you will find documents. For example: your parents might have been married in a town that is now part of a different county then when they were married. Therefore, their marriage record, if it exists will be found in the original county, not the current county. When counties split, they don’t go through all their records and send those that apply to the new county. They keep all those records. Thus, know what county the location was, when the event happened.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 16

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 16 – Gather your research materials and visit your nearest FamilySearch Center or partnering library.

Go online and see where the nearest Center is located. Make sure to call before going, I recently found out that even though the website states my Center is open once a week, it really isn’t. Plus, if someone answers the phone, they maybe able to direct you to a center that is open.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 15

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 15 – A new episode of the free FamilyTreeMagazine Podcast debuts today www.familytreemagazine.com/genealogy-podcast.

The wonderful thing about podcasts is that you can listen while doing something else. I love having background noise while researching. My office can feel quiet and isolating. Thus, hearing someone talk is nice. I can always pause the podcast, if I need to concentrate on something in my research or pause my research to listen to something interesting in the podcast.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 14

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 14 – Happy Valentine’s Day! Write the story of how your favorite ancestral couple (or you and your partner) met.

We sometimes think our own stories are boring. However, think about your grandchildren, great grandchildren or even later descendants might react to reading your story. I would love to know how my grandparents met. I learned much later in my live how my parent’s met. It was through my mom’s brother-in-law, he worked with my dad and thought he was a good match for my widowed mother of six.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 13

 In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 13 – Study the FAQ or tips page at your favorite genealogy website to power up your searches. Then, try the advice there!

You can take your knowledge one step further to see if there are any helpful books on using your favorite genealogy website. Since I used Ancestry.com as my primary research tool, I purchased the book “Unofficial Guide to Ancestry.com” and then the “Unofficial Ancestry.com Workbook”. Even though, some of the example screens have changed over the years, I was still able to gain helpful tools to search smarter not harder. For example: it helped me to better utilize the Ancestry Card Catalog which I applied similar concepts on FamilySearch.org.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 12

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 12 – Today is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. See his family tree (and the trees of other famous people) at www.wikitree.com

WikiTree is a collaborate single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever. It boosts to be the most accurate and trusted global tree because they work together, carefully evaluate sources and incorporate DNA. Modern family history is private which means living people are private. Plus, if you sign the Honor Code, you don’t even see advertisements. It started 15 years ago and now the community has 1,078,488 members with 37,133,967 profiles and 12, 8222,782 DNA test connections. 

I highly recommend you create a free login (remember don’t recycle your passwords) and add yourself to the tree, along with your parents and grandparents. Once you reach deceased ancestors, you might be surprise to find your ancestors have already been added and researched. What a great way to find new information and since sources are the backbone of WikiTree, you can evaluate the sources too.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

 

The Year Ahead – February 11

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 11 – Write a character sketch about your favorite ancestor, as if they were in a film or novel.

I find that when you write about your ancestor, you may discover clues you may have overlooked previously. Also, you might think of new places to look for more additional information. Maybe there was something you totally forgot about your ancestor.

Enter this information into your genealogy software program in a person note (if available).

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

 

The Year Ahead – February 10

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 10 – With today’s Lunar New Year, the Year of the Dragon begins. What signs are associated with your ancestor’s birth years. 

Looking this up for some of your ancestor’s might make a fun distraction from your normal genealogy research. Enter this information into your genealogy software program as a birth note (if available).

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

 

The Year Ahead – February 9

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 9 – Move your photographs to the storage boxes you bought earlier this month. Try to sort them chronologically and label back with names and dates.

If you have time, you may want to scan these photos too. Having a digital copy of these photos is another great way of preserving these treasures. Scan both sides of the photos, after you label the back with names and dates. Give it the same name as the front, but add the word backside to the end of the name. 

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 8

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 8 – Create timelines for ancestral family to place it in historical context. Use your genealogy software, or try Timetoast www.timetoast.com or Genelines (www.progenygenealogy.com/products/limeline-charts>.

Timelines are a great research and analysis tool very genealogist should know how to use. A chronological look at the events in an ancestor’s life can answer many research questions. Timelines can focus on the whole lifespan of an individual or focus on important events that happened in a particular place.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy! 

The Year Ahead – February 7

 In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 7 – Today is Safer Internet Day. Consider changing your passwords, and install any updates to your apps, browser and virus-protection program.

This is something you might want to added to your calendar, plus, you might want to do this several times a year. I find that if my computer suddenly is acting slow, I always manually check for operating system updates, or browser updates. I even found that after a windows update, one of my computer settings was turned off and left it open to hackers. 

As for passwords, make sure you are not using the same password for multiple sites. I don’t even like using my Facebook login or my Google login to access some websites. Thus, if they allow you to setup a login using your email and a unique password, select that option.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 6

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 6 – Create a travel-friendly research binder that includes: copies of your charts; your to-do-list; a list of alternate spellings for surnames and places; and blank pages for note-taking.

In this day an age of technology, you might wonder why do I need paper copies. Many courthouses won’t allow you to bring in anything but pencil and paper. Your phone, computer and other electronic devices will need to be kept outside the research room. 

I start with a research folder. When I find something that I need to actually visit in-person, because it is not available on-line, I will print out a page with the index I found. I make sure I also add it to my to-do-list. Then when I go to the repository, I bring my folder, a spiral notebook, several pencils, an eraser, along with anything else I might find useful. I also have a dedicated bag for carry these items. I even have some business cards, with my name, email address, my city and state along with my twitter (now known as X) name and website address. You never know who you might run into and want to give this information to. Leave your pens and highlighters at home. 

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 5

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 5 – Purchase archiving essentials such as photo-storage boxes and an archival-safe pencil from a suppler such as Gaylord www.gaylord.com

It’s easy to skip this step. However, our photos are irreplaceable. Once they are destroyed, they maybe lost forever unless, someone else has a copy. Whatever you buy and where ever you buy them from, make sure they are true archival-safe quality. Many sellers may call something a photo-storage box, however, if it isn’t archival-safe, you are not preserving your photos. 

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 4

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 yourbest research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 4 – Continue Yesterday’s biography project, It’s a big job.

My advice, don’t just do this for your entire tree. Do it on the person or people you are currently researching. The biographical outline can help with brick walls to see where you might be missing information.

I know as a heavy genealogy researcher, I don’t need more piles of paper, but less. So again, use this template for your current research project, not just everyone in your tree.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

The Year Ahead – February 3

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 3 – Start a biographical outline for each person you’re researching. Download their free template www.familytreemagazine.com/freebie/biographicaloutline. 

My software program, Family Tree Maker has a Timeline view that allows me to see a biographical outline for any person in my tree. I can even print out that timeline. If you are using Family Tree Maker, have you checked out this feature? If you are using a different software package, does it have a similar feature. Perhaps you find writing the information down on the template very useful. Do what you find is the best for you.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

 

The Year Ahead – February 2

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 2 – Feeling in a rut, like Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day”? Save yourself from running the same ancestor searches over and over again by consulting your research log.

I find this very helpful. I like not only consulting my research log, but I even change gears and look at my entire tree as a whole. Since I started my genealogy journey over 40 years ago and I have been using Family Tree Maker since 1997, the program has expanded and information is entered differently today than back then. Plus, I wasn’t using source citations in the past. Thus, I could just pick a random person and review their data. Does every fact have a source? If not, can I find a source for this fact. Is the fact entered the way I want. For example, does the location only have a city, county, state information or do I have a cemetery location in a burial fact location field. I now put that information into the description field. Back in 1997, there was only person notes. Now there are notes for every fact. Do I have any person notes that would be better in a different fact note? Do I have any tasks for future research. Sometimes looking at a different problem for even a day can help 

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!

 

The Year Ahead – February 1

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

February 1 – Kick off Black History Month by picking up Alex Haley’s seminal novel Roots, or watch the TV miniseries based on it.

I googled where one could stream the original series and it showed up that it’s on Vudu, Apple TV or Prime Video, all at the cost of $5.99. 

There is also a 2016 miniseries version that I saw on freevee for free. 

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!