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.
August 31 – Brush up on your archiving techniques with the
guides at www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 30 – Read a comparison of popular note-taking options
at www.familytreemagazine.com/websites/notion-for-family-history-projects.
My advice: Don’t create your Notion account using your Google or Apple account. I have stated this before, if either of those accounts get hacked, you could lose access to Notion too. Instead, enter your personal email in the work email box, they will send you a code. After you enter your code, you will be asked for your preferred name and to set a password. Use a unique password for this account and don't duplicate your passwords across the accounts you use. I have a little password book where I write all my passwords. I know they say don’t write it down, but let's be honest, how will we remember them.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 29 – Search the death records, cemetery listings and
funeral cards at www.ancestorsatrest.com.
When I went to this website, I noticed a lot of places to
search people or find your ancestors, however these were advertisers and not
part of the website.
It took me a while to see where the actual links for within this website was found.
My advice, before clicking on a link, hover over
the link with your mouse and see what address it will take you too. I did find
some broken links when it took me to another website called The Genealogy Spot.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 28 – Get genealogy advice from Family History Daily www.familyhistorydaily.com.
My advice: always check out the free resources before signing up for fee paid products. If you do decide to sign up, be diligent and see if there are any reviews about the courses. Also, make sure you have plenty of free time to do the course work. Get the most out of your money by devoting as much time as possible to take advantage of what you just paid for. Don't forget to cancel your subscription before your year is up, put a reminder on phone one or two weeks before the end of your subscription, to remind you cancel it.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 27 – Search the Nationwide Gravesite Locator
<gravelocator.cem.va.gov> for military ancestors buried in Veterans Administration
cemeteries.
Along with his burial record, there is link to the cemetery map. Thus, if I ever wanted to visit, I could find his grave much easier with this map.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 26 – For International Dog Day, study the canines in your family tree. Maybe have your pup test with AncestryDNA’s pet service <petdna.ancestry.com/products>.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 25 – Search the American Battle Monuments Commission
database www.abmc.gov for military dead from
the early 20th century.
I didn’t know anyone off the top of my head to check, so I
just put in a last name and selected one of the individuals that came up. The
information found on the individual included which war they died in, the place of
burial, what state they enlisted from, their actual date of death, their unit
and rank.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 24 – Learn to craft source citations for those
articles you found through PERSI. Citations guru Elizabeth Shown Mills has
suggestions at www.evidenceexplained.com.
Don’t be afraid of being perfect with your citations. I know
that my citations might not be academically perfect, but I try my best. If I
can find the source again using my citation, then I know I have all the necessary
information. I do go to this website, if I have a new source and I am unsure
what I need to capture.
For example, on their Find A Grave’s citation, I don’t have exactly everything they include. However, it states that at the bottom of each memorial is a new link that when clicked gives you a source citation. I didn’t know that. How, simple is that?
My advice to everyone, learn to craft source citations, keep
a sample of each type of citation you craft and be consistent with future citations.
Before you know it, your citations will become easier. My genealogy software
program makes it easy for me to find a previous source citation and to copy and
reuse it as a template for future citations.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 23 – Search for your ancestor’s hometown among the
thousands of groups or pages on Facebook www.facebook.com
I belong to many general genealogy groups based on software, websites, DNA and methodology. However, I didn’t even thing about looking up my ancestor’s hometowns. I have a branch of my family that came from Herkimer County, New York and I found the group “Herkimer County History & Genealogy”. It states that this is a place to share the history and genealogies of Herkimer County, NY. WOW! It’s a private group, and they ask a few questions and you answer them and wait to be accepted.
What group could you join?
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 22 – Don’t overlook overseas connections when
searching pedigree databases, such as UK-based Genes Reunited www.genesreunited.com for British
ancestors.
My suggestion or warning: Don’t create your account by using
your sign in with Facebook. Why? If your Facebook account ever gets compromised,
so will your Genes Reunited account. Your Genes Reunited account will have more
personal information than your Facebook account will have. If you build a tree
or upload your tree, you have personal information about you, your siblings,
your parents, their siblings, and all the other family in your tree. Therefore,
create an account with your email, and make a unique password that is different
from your other accounts.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 21 – consider adding the surnames you’re researching
to your email signature.
I first suggest you get a dedicated email for your genealogy
use. I have a separate email from the one I use to pay my household bills. It’s
more of a personal email, however, it’s the one I always use for genealogy
purposes, and having a special genealogy related signature isn’t a bad idea.
I have a business card that I use for genealogy purposes, and in the past I had it printed with surnames from my pedigree chart. However, I noticed that my current one doesn’t have this. I could easily print out some address labels with this information and place it on the backside.
On my business card, I don’t have
my phone number listed because I don’t usually answer phone calls from unknown
numbers and thus, I would not answer it. I rather deal with email first and
then if a phone call is necessary, we can exchange numbers. I use this as a way
to quickly share my information to people I might meet at a library, genealogy
organizations I belong too or even conferences that I attend.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 20 – The Periodical Source index (PERSI) contains 3.1
million citations to historical publications. Search it for free at www.genealogycenter.info/persi
I haven’t heard PERSI spoken in many years. This was produced by the staff of The Genealogy Center of the Allen County Public Library.
I decided to look up the surname of Hilts to see what it
would tell me. It listed the periodical, year published and publisher of the article.
Several of the titles were very interesting.
These are all in the holdings for the Allen County Public Library
and there is way to order the article at $7.50 for each order form, up to 6
articles and then you will be billed 20 cents per page. My advice: find six articles are you
interested in, before ordering.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 19 – Go back to Behind the Name www.behindthename.com to check the
means of your ancestors’ first names.
It was funny to read what people think of this name, one response was strange.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 18 – Look up the origin and meaning of your surname at www.forebears.io/surnames and surnames.behindthename.com
I looked up my maiden name and there was no meaning giving. There are 656 worldwide occurrences and Ireland being the most popular. It’s 501,369th most common surname in the world. There are 143 occurrences of the surname in the United States.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 17 – Explore the history of your childhood home or an ancestor’s house. Check deeds and tax assessments.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 16 – Scrutinize your immigrant-ancestor research for
in-laws, relatives, friends and neighbors who may have been traveling
companions.
I love reading the section of old newspapers that report on
people coming into town visiting or those leaving town to visit others. There
are so many clues there, one needs to just find them.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 15 – Ancestral adoptions can stop your research in its tracks. Learn key strategies for success in our online article www.familytreemagazine.com/adoption-records-and-research-strategies.
However, if a person is adopted, like two of my cousins, they have no names to go on. This page doesn’t just have one article but several that sound very interesting. Who knows, perhaps you have an adoption in your ancestry, but just don’t know it yet. Besides, my mother, my DNA appears to confirm my paper research.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 14 – Search several versions of the Social Security Death Index for free at www.stevemorse.org/ssdi/ssdi.html.
You have to select a search engine and some of them might take you to a paid site, but you should at least visit the site and check it out.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 13 – More and more state archives are digitizing records. Check out our guide www.familytreemagazine.com/best-state-genealogy-websites for all the states where you research.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 12 – Dig out your old 35mm slides or negatives and start scanning them If you don’t have a compatible scanner, research a service that can digitize them for you.
One summer, many moons ago, I had my eldest son start scanning the pictures. When I went to look at them, I realized that he scanned the images in reverse because we were all left-handed kids roasting marshmallows. Trust me when I say, we are not that talented to do anything left-handed.
Thus, I did some research and found a service that would my slides, but their prices are based on a box of 25 slides, having over 50 carrousels of slides which contain over 100 slides per carrousel, I know I need to scale down the ones I want.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 11 – Do a “happy dance” the next time you find a new
detail about an ancestor. Make sure you record the discovery in your research
journal or log.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 10 – Stay in your jammies and chase down some record
hints.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 9 – For Book Lovers Day, curl up with your favorite
genealogy read.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 8 – Check for free record collections on
Ancestry.com, Findmypast and MyHeritage. See if your library subscribes to
institutional versions of any.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 7 – Almanacs gave your ancestors planting schedules,
local event listings and weather forecasts. Look for historical almanacs at
libraries and societies.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 6 – Get help translating a foreign-language document.
For a few sentences, use an online translator such as Google Translate https://translate.google.com/.
Longer documents may require a translator.
Have you tried an AI translator for images of documents to help with translating or even transcribing English documents?
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 5 – St. John’s, Newfoundland, became the first
English colony in North America on this day in 1583. Start exploring your
British roots at https://www.genuki.org.uk/
I briefly explored this site and it has links to resources, some free and some paid. Check it out and see if you can find a new resource for your genealogy journey.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 4 – Stay informed by subscribing to Eastman’s Online
Genealogy Newsletter (a staple in the genealogy community) https://eogn.com/
I subscribe to a lot of Genealogy Newsletters; I don’t necessarily read everyone all the time. I usually skim over the newsletter, and if I don’t have time to read it, I will flag it and check it out later that week.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 3 – What ship did your immigrant ancestor sail on?
Look for pictures of the vessel online.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 you rbest research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.
August 2 – The first US census was taken today in 1790. Have
you checked all the census your ancestors might show up in?
My current research is a little more methodological. When
researching a person, I try to go from the most current time and work my way
back to their birth. Thus, when I look at US census, I look for the one closest
to today, if they are still alive or the one closest to their death date. I try
going back every 10 years to find them in census records. However, those earlier
census records can be a challenge since they only list the head of the household
and the remaining family are recorded as hash marks based on their ages. I have
had some luck trying to figure out if this is my family, but I will be honest
and say that I do not like using the Census Records before 1850.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
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.
August 1 – Explore the resources of a public library in a
state different from your own.
Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!
