Join me for Elevenses with Lisa, the online video series where we take a break, visit and learn.
In this episode I share viewers’ family tree display, the latest genealogy news, answer your questions about my genealogy organization method, and show you how I file use Evernote and cloud notetaking in conjunction with my organization system. (This series on genealogy organization began with Elevenses with Lisa episode 6.) Scroll down for all the show notes for this episode.
Today’s “Teacup”
About a month ago YouTube alerted that our Genealogy Gems channel had qualified to have a merch store. I couldn’t resist the temptation to create a mug of our very own for our time together each week!
The Elevenses with Lisa mug is now available here.
Elevenses with Lisa Merch availabe at the Genealogy Gems Store on YouTube
Genealogy News:
Free Access to Military Records and Yearbooks at MyHeritage for a Limited Time
In honor of Memorial Day, MyHeritage is offering free access to all if their military records from May 20–26, 2020. The MyHeritage collection consists of 57 million records and includes draft, enlistment, and service records, pension records, and other military documents from North America and around the world, dating back to the American Revolutionary War in the late 18th century.
Remember, Colorized U.S. Yearbooks are available at MyHeritage for free through May 23, 2020.
From You:
Linda wrote in this week and shared her family history display. She said her daughter-in-law started it in 2009 and she took the ball and ran with it, and she even added family photos.
“I am really enjoying your Elevenses videos.”
Linda’s Family Tree Display
Organizing Your Genealogy Files Q&A
From Lynnette:
Q: I have my “working” tree on Family Treemaker 3–a very old version and not supported now. Can I make a GEDCOM from this program to upload into Roots Magic?
A: Yes!
From Barbara:
Q: By “master database” do you mean, e.g., My Heritage or Ancestry?
A: The buck stops with you.
Click here to listen to Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode #229 to hear more on the importance of a genealogy master database.
From C Davis:
Q: How will your family know how to use your genealogy database, let alone program name?
A: It’s the same challenge your passwords, bank accounts, etc. The Family Heirloom Tracking Binder offers a solution. Download the template from Elevenses with Lisa
Episode 6 Show Notes here.
From Janice
Q: So, if you have recent documentation(not available online) for living people, like birth certificates, do you save those in a binder?
A: You can. I have mine in easy to grab folders with “official documents” in my file cabinet.
From Robin:
Q: Do you download and save the census docs from the main sites like Ancestry and FamilySearch – as those are not most likely going to close and can be retrieved anytime…
A: Absolutely! Click here to read my article “If My Ancestry Subscription Expires, What Happens to My Tree?”
From Linda
Q: What year do you put first? Is it the birth year of the person or the date and place of the photo?
A: The year and location of the photo.
From Robin:
Q: Why do you use underscores in your file names?
A: It’s not necessary. Nice for spacing.
From MargtheCar
Q: Does Evernote work if the URL is behind a paid wall?
A: No. You will be prompted to log in to the website.
From BeeMelo
Q: What kind of scanner do you use?
A: My scanner: The Epson Perfection V550 Photo flatbed scanner. (I LOVE this scanner! It can do the high resolution I need for all my projects. If you decide to buy online, I appreciate it when you use my links because we will be compensated at no additional cost to you. This helps support this free show.)
Organizing Web Information with Evernote
- Note-taking software is your active research.
- Final archiving of documents: on your hard drive backed up to the cloud.
Select a free note-taking tool such as:
- Evernote
- OneNote
Benefits:
- Web Clipper built in
- Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
- Syncing across devices
- Note restoration to a new device
- Free software, mobile app
- Universal use
Get the Evernote Web Clipper from your browser’s app store.
Types of Notes: typed, handwritten, audio, photos, videos, drawings.
Don’t Print, Clip!
Types of Tags I recommend:
- Record Type (ex. Census)
- Surname (ex. Jones)
- Locations (ex. Minnesota)
- Action to be taken (ex. Follow Up)
- BSO (AKA Bright Shiny Object!)
The options are limitless!
Resources:
25% Genealogy Gems Premium Membership
Terry asked: When do you typically have a sale for your prime membership?
So I created a special discount coupon code for you. Now through May 27, 2020 get 25% off with the coupon code ACTION25
- Read my free updated article Evernote vs. OneNote, Free vs. Paid, What’s a Genealogist to Do?
- Learn much more about strategic web clipping with Evernote in Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast episode #101
- Evernote for Genealogists Quick Reference Guide by Lisa Louise Cooke in the Genealogy Gems Store.
Stay Smart, Stay Brave
I always think very carefully about what I want to say to you each and every week, and particularly how I close each episode and the thoughts that I leave you with. Lately, it seems like everyone says “stay safe” particularly as they say goodbye or end an email. I’d just like to share a few thoughts with you about this phrase. “Be safe” implies fear, and when fear kicks in, it replaces reason. “Be safe” also implies that it’s attainable in this life, and it’s not really possible to be completely safe.
I like more empowering salutations like “be smart”, “think, and make good decisions for yourself”, and “be brave”.
At the end of episode 6 I told you that I believe that not knowing your family history is like arriving 60 minutes into a movie and expecting to understand the story.
Family History is Knowing the Full Story – Lisa Louise Cooke
And of course if we know this story then we can also help our kids and our grand kids know theirs. And that’s so important for children to hear about the adversity the family has faced and how it overcame it. This helps them be resilient. This current adversity we face, like all adversity, is temporary in nature, and will evolve. We have the opportunity to help the kids in our lives understand that and gain a longer range perspective. (Click here to watch my conversation with New York Times best-selling author and television personality Bruce Feiler on How Family History Creates Happy Families.)
This is SO on my mind because my family is my number one priority. So, I’ve been looking carefully again at my family history these last few weeks, and I noticed something very interesting about my ancestors. None of them appeared to be preoccupied with staying safe.
In fact, there were an overwhelming number of brave and hard-working people in my family. So this week, consider taking an inventory of your family, and cultivate the simple stories of bravery and persistence that exist there in your family tree.
With Memorial Day approaching this weekend here in America, it’s a timely reminder that we are a country with a rich history of risk-taking and bravery, particularly in the name of freedom. So I’d like to end this episode with a short video I produced a few years ago that pays tribute to the very brave men and women who have served their country, featuring an historical author who happens to be from the other side of the ocean.
Stay wise, stay brave, and thanks so much for watching friends.
Note: Author Chris Cleave was my guest in Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast episode 139. Premium Members can click here to listen now.
Click here or the image below to get your copy of this wonderful book:
From New York Times bestselling author and Genealogy Gems Podcast guest Chris Cleave.
I’d Like to Hear from You
In this episode I encouraged you to leave your comments in the Comments section below the video on YouTube. Silly me, I didn’t realize that the Comments section doesn’t appear under the Live video because there is a live chat in progress. It only becomes available after the show has ended and the video replay is posted. However, I thank all of you who left comments in the Live Chat about what you would like to talk about in future episodes of Elevenses with Lisa. Two topics I suggested were How to Save Your Research from Destruction and Using Google Photos for Genealogy. Please leave a comment below to let me know what you would like to hear about and learn about in upcoming episodes. And of course I welcome your questions. Thanks for watching!
I like the idea of “Save Research documents” as a future topic
Really awesome episode again! Thanks so much. I have been wanting to get into using evernote, but haven’t started because it looked complicated. After watching this, I can see how much easier it will be to use than what I have been doing. Yeah!
I would love to have episodes about Google photos. I uploaded all my pictures to it and have used it some. I would also love to learn more about making wonderful short videos like the one about Memorial Day in this episode. I have also seen ones you have done using Google earth and the Dave Rumsey historical map collection. You have taught about all these things, but taking the leap and actually using them is hard for me.
Thanks so much for all you do to help us research better and smarter!
I would like to learn about Google Photos for Genealogy! Thanks for your Elevenses podcast. I am enjoying it immensely.
I would love to have something on the topic of saving research from destruction. I also want to thank you for doing this wonderful series. I live in Australia and so watch the video afterwards. Our lock-down has been less severe than you have been experiencing but we are still spending a lot of time at home. Your show has been a very welcome part of my week.
Hello Lisa, I had just finished watching “Elevenses” and turned to my Feedly site. There was a link to “organiseyourfamilyhistory.com”, Janine Adams’ page – about helping your kids know your family heirlooms’ stories! I thought you might be interested to see her blog and the one to which she referred “https://seedstotree.blogspot.com/2020/05/pandemic-de-cluttering-and-heirloom-book.html”, as they tie in so well with your heirloom record page!
Many thanks for all you do and particularly for the Elevenses, it is so much like a real gathering of friends!
I’ve really enjoyed Elevenses and hope you continue doing this. Please share the “Save Your Research from Destruction” presentation here as well! Even though my family is well aware than I am a genealogist, I don’t know that they’d be thinking about that as they sort through my things. It would be such a shame to not pass this info on to someone who is interested in continuing what I’ve started. Thanks!
Hi Lisa,
I was so inspired by your Evernote presentation that I watched the Premium Evernote videos, set up my Evernote account, and have begun creating a Genealogy Reference center. I was “drowning” in handouts and notes from webinars with no easy way to retrieve them or to even remember what I had. Thank you for sharing your expertise and knowledge in such a fun, organized, and understandable way. BTW I’m using my collection of pottery mugs for my morning coffee time with you during “Elevenses”.
Gwen Jackson (in North Carolina)
Keep those Elevenses coming.
You had mentioned Clipping newspapers for stories or obituaries. I have received many clipped obituaries from family with nothing to identify the newspaper or date of the article. Last year, visiting my relatives in Bristol, Rhode Island(Portuguese town) … my mother’s birth place and she being 1 of 24… I have many, many clipped obituaries. So, I called the local newspaper and asked if they have previous years…..they said, “we do.”
They gave me the URL – The Digital Archives of the Bristol Phoenix. I went straight to the site and WOW, newspapers
from 1830-2019. The site breaks down in 10-year intervals and the name change of the paper during these years. I can’t tell you, but I will, of how many actual full page obituaries I found from those clippings……and additional stories…giving me the date, page and the actual title of the paper.
Thought I share the goal mined I found.
Hugh
I’m doing a happy dance for you right now 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to share your success!
Hi Lisa, You have become a good friend, in fact I am sure I see you more than any of my friends, esp. since this quarantine time. You are so pleasant and interesting and I esp. liked all the information on Evernote today and the answers to the questions which came in were such good tips.
I would be very interested in both the subjects you brought up about saving my research and google photos. Let’s do them.
Thank you for all the time and energy you put into sharing what you know about family research, and I am so happy you love it, too.
Hoping we can continue to meet on Elevenses even after quarantine (if that ever ends).
I have an old dinosaur Epson V330 – at least 10 years old and it just keeps scanning and scanning! I cant believe it still works…and I’m excited to know you are using a more current model. If mine dies, I’m getting one like yours!
I can’t find the podcastnotes in Session 6 notes about telling your relatives how to use your filing and digital files.
Click here for episode 6. All Elevenses with Lisa episodes can be found in the menu under “Video”.