Phyllis' Blog

The 1940 United States Census Indexing Project

2011-12-17T09:03:00.000-08:00

A genealogy volunteer opportunity. We can index a page, a set of pages, a neighborhood or a city from the 1940 census. We can download the software and pick a project now. The census will become available in April 2012. I'm going to volunteer to index at least two pages. The pages that show where my parents were living as small children in 1940.

RootsWeb - Social Security Death Index no longer available

2011-12-15T20:00:00.000-08:00

RootsWeb has removed their free Social Security Death Index. Per the note, you can access the fee required SSDI at Ancestry.com.

Good news! We can still access the Social Security Death Index for free at FamilySearch.org.

Find A Grave - Elsie Lyon Ward

2011-12-13T09:50:00.000-08:00

A volunteer that maintained my Gramma's memorial became ill. I sent an e-mail to Find A Grave and they gave me maintenance responsibility for her memorial. Elsie Mae Lyon Ward. I updated her birth and death information.

Time Goes By

2011-09-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

I was really surprised to see it's been almost a year since I posted anything. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Homework takes up a lot of time. Fall quarter will be starting soon and it's my last quarter. I will be looking full-time for a job, but I think I will have some time for genealogy research.

During this break, I've been trying to catch-up on household chores, home maintenance and gardening. Yesterday and today, I have been updating my web site a little bit. I am way behind on it, too. If you haven't been there for a while, please check it out. Maybe you'll find a helpful link or maybe find we are distantly related.

While, I'm here, I will mention Find A Grave. A lot of volunteers post cemetery records and many more volunteers will gladly take photos of headstones and post them. Volunteers have helped me and I've decided I will help, too. I'm starting with my family in the area and then I'll volunteer to help other genealogists searching for their ancestors in this area.

After Fall Quarter, I will be back and posting regularly.

Phyllis

Library and Archives - Canada

2010-09-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

* Births, Marriages, Deaths
* Census
* Immigration and Citizenship
* Military
* Land
* Employment

View and print original images.

Canadian Genealogy Centre

I found Haynen ancestors in the 1891 Census of Canada and Soldiers of the First World War.

HP Creative Studio - Free Genealogy Scrapbook Kit

2010-09-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

Family Roots, Genealogy, Family History, Generations Album by Martha Stewart, Family Tree Fan Chart by Martha Stewart, Timeless Scrapbook by Smilebox. Download and print.

HP Creative Studio - Free Genealogy Scrapbook Kit

facebook

2010-09-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

I've been back and forth thinking about joining facebook. What all is involved? Do I have time to post messages? Well, a week ago, a cousin (third cousin twice removed) sent an invite. That finalized my decision. I joined facebook and now I think it's really cool. I added other friends (family, friends, old co-workers) and I've been adding other pages that I like such as Ancestry.com and Footnote.com. On my facebook page, I have a news feed page that displays posting for these facebook pages, including my other friends. With my busy schedule, I can take a quick look to see what everybody's been posting and chatting about. Then when I have time, I can post a note. There is much more I'm learning about and deciding what I want to try next, like a Family Tree Application. A friend said facebook has been very helpful in his genealogy research and I'm hoping I will have some luck, too.

The journey & classes

2010-09-14T08:52:00.000-07:00

Since I was laid off in April 2009, I have been taking classes every quarter to pursue an Information Systems Associate of Arts Degree. A lot of the classes are related to the work I did as a data analyst and web developer for 14 years. Summer quarter, one class was American Culture. I really enjoyed this class because it related to genealogy research and how it helps to understand our ancestors' countries when we are doing research. I did my research report on genealogy research, too. It seems like most of us are in a rush to jump across the pond to find the original country are ancestors came from, including me. I realized my ancestors have been in the United States and Canada at least 100+ years. There is so much history on this continent that I would like to learn to help me understand why my ancestors chose to live where they did and what they did.

I am definitely going to do some more researching and reading about these various areas where my ancestors lived.

Fall quarter starts in a week. I hope to post some new information before then.

New Year's Resolutions for the Genealogist at Heart

2010-02-10T18:36:00.000-08:00

Getting a head start on Spring cleaning, I came across this. Not sure where I came about it. I have it hanging my wall now. Enjoy!

Resolution #1: Organize what you have.
Resolution #2: Interview your older relatives.
Resolution #3: Computerize.
Resolution #4: Visit a Family History Center or genealogy library.
Resolution #5: Write out the "stories."
Resolution #6: Add your sources.
Resolution #7: Review your research.
Resolution #8: Clean up your database.
Resolution #9: Print our your data.
Resolution #10: Take the time to order documents.
Resolution #11: Concentrate on one area.
Resolution #12: Don't try to do everything.

GenSmarts

2009-11-07T19:51:00.000-08:00

You have manually created a To Do list for your ancestors. Which records or pieces of information you are looking for? Did you forget something?

GenSmarts analyzes your genealogy data file. It will automatically create a To Do list and provides suggestions on what to research next on your ancestors.

Example: GenSmarts suggests I look at the 1880 North Carolina census because my ancestor, Joseph Allen, was born there and his father's birthplace and mother's birthplace have not been recorded. GenSmarts also tells me the 1880 North Carolina census is available online at FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com.

GenSmarts provides suggestions for the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. It supports all common genealogy software programs like RootsMagic, Family Tree Maker, PAF, The Master Genealogist, Legacy, Ancestral Quest, Brother's Keeper, and Ultimate Family Tree.

Genealogy Software - Which one?

2009-10-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

I found this web site that I think is really helpful for deciding which software to document all that research. Genealogy Software Review - Top Ten Reviews. This web site provides a scale of Poor to Excellent and check marks for features included in Data Enter & Sourcing, Management Tools, Views, Reports & Charts, Online Integration, Printing, & Publishing, Help & Support, and Supported Configurations. My two favorite genealogy software programs are Family Tree Maker and RootsMagic. I've used Family Tree Maker for years. Just the last couple years, I've been playing with RootsMagic. One feature I like in RootsMagic is creating web pages for my own web site.

Available at Amazon.com:
Family Tree Maker 2010 Essentials and RootsMagic Family Tree Genealogy Software

10 Ways to Celebrate Family History Month

2009-10-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

October is Family History Month and About.com: Genealogy provides 10 Ways to Celebrate Family History Month, including free Family Tree Charts.

Holocaust Records available Free through October

2009-10-01T22:15:00.000-07:00

Footnote has provided free access to Holocaust Records for October 2009. This includes Holocaust assets, to death camp records, to interrogation reports from the Nuremburg trials. These records were made possible through a partnership with the National Archives.

"Digging for your Ancestors using Google"

2009-09-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

Heritage Quest Research Library presents a one-day genealogy seminar at Autumn Quest 2009. "Digging for your Ancestors using Google", Saturday, October 10, 2009, 8:15 am - 3:30 pm at the Tacoma Elks Club: 1965 S. Union Ave., Tacoma, WA 98405. Daniel M. Lynch, author of Google Your Family Tree: Unlock the Hidden Power of Googlewill demonstrate the tools in Google. For additional information, go the HQRL's web site at http://www.hqrl.com.

Census of Ireland 1911

2009-09-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

The Census of Ireland 1911 is available for free searching on The National Archives of Ireland web site. All thirty-two counties are available.
Search by Surname, Forename, County, Townland/Street, DED (District Electoral Division), Age + or - 5 years in 1911. When the results from the search are displayed, there is a link to view the Census image. The Census image is displayed in PDF, which requires the Adobe reader. The image can be saved to a computer's hard drive.

Arkansas Gravestones Photos

2009-09-09T20:06:00.000-07:00

I received a reply on my post about Mattie Belle Peters on the Lawrence County GenForum. Peggy, the person who replied to me, told me about a Lyon family in the Minturn Cemetery in Lawrence County. I am so excited!

This is on the Arkansas Gravestones Photos web site.

Minturn Cemetery
Lawrence County, Arkansas

Mary daughter of E.E. and H.C. Lyon 1 Jan 1871-18 Dec 1889
William son of W.E. and M.B. Lyon 14 Nov 1882-30 Aug 1902

E. E. and H. C. Lyon are Edward E and H. Cordelia Lyon, my great-grandfather's (William E.) parents, my great-great grandparents. The Lyon's are from Indiana.

I found Edward, Cordelia and their children on some Indiana census records and then they disappeared. Of course, I knew my great-grandfather moved to Arkansas. What a surprise! His parents and family moved to Arkansas, too. Now, I'll have to look into some history to find a possible reason why the family moved to Arkansas.

I'm posting a link to this Arkansas Gravestones Photos website to my Genealogy Resources - United States web page, too. Volunteers take photos of the head stones and post the photos and information to the web site.

I hope this web site will be as helpful to you as it has been for me.

Genealogy Resources web page

2009-09-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

I added a Genealogy Resources web page to my web site. On this web page is links to new web pages for United States, Canada, Northern Ireland and DNA. These are web sites that have been helpful in my research and may be helpful to you, too. I will be adding more links and categories to these web pages. Have fun!

Genealogy Message Boards

2009-08-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

It's been a few years since I posted messages searching for my great-grandmother, Mattie Belle Peters. I posted my message on Ancestry's Lawrence County, Arkansas message board and GenForum's Lawrence County, Arkansas. Never know which message board a distant cousin might be reading. Hope I find a connection or possible suggestion on where to search next.

Phyllis' Family Genealogy

2009-08-18T19:32:00.000-07:00

I just updated many genealogy links on my Family Genealogy web page. This is for the United States, Canada, Ireland and more. I also updated the Books section, too. Happy Hunting! More updates and helpful information to come.

Indiana State Library Marriage & Other Databases

2006-06-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

Indiana State Library has two Marriage Databases available to search on the web site.

Marriages through 1850 http://199.8.200.229/db/marriages_search.asp and
Marriages 1993 through 2000 http://199.8.200.229/db/in_marriages_search.asp .

I found my 3rd great-grandparents, David and Julia (Oldham) Lyon! They were married September 1, 1836 in Dearborn County, Indiana.

The Indiana State Library has more unrestricted access databases, too.
http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/isl/whatwehave/dbindex.html
Biography, Cemetery Locator, World War II Servicemen, Newspapers and more.

Family Tree Maker 2006

2006-06-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

I have been using Family Tree Maker since version 1.0 to record my genealogy. Entering information about a person is like entering information into a 3 x 5 recipe card. I have made Descendant Family Tree Charts for Family Reunions. The charts were great to help relatives understand how they were related to their new found cousins.

Today, Family Tree Maker 2006 makes it easier to edit information about a person in the individual box. There are more charts that can be created with the new Charting Companion for Family Tree Maker.

There is a helpful Family Tree Maker 2006 book to show you how to record information. If you still have questions, you can post your question on the GenForum Genealogy Software and Internet Message Boards for Family Tree Maker.

Family Tree Maker 2006 software

GenForum for Family Tree Maker

RootsWeb Mailing Lists

2006-05-27T15:25:00.000-07:00

I have subscribed to many Mailing Lists on RootsWeb over the years. They have been extremely helpful in my genealogy research. There are Surnames, States & Counties, Countries and more. I post information about the ancestors I'm researching, where I'm researching and for what type of information. There are lots of helpful researchers. We may not be related, but there is always someone who can tell me where to look for information or they might have the information!

You subscribe for free to these lists. When you send a message to the list, everyone on the list receives the message. The message is delivered to your e-mail address. I really recommend trying these Mailing Lists. I have subscribed to various states and countries like Indiana, Canada and Northern Ireland.

RootsWeb Mailing Lists