Use the RootsTech 2018 App

by | Feb 26, 2018 | 01 What's New, Apps, RootsTech

The RootsTech 2018 app will help you find your way around the world’s biggest genealogy event this weekend in Salt Lake City. Here’s how to use it to plan your days!

Get the RootsTech 2018 App

The app for RootsTech 2018 is the same as 2017. If you downloaded it last year, just open it, tap Exit to show list in the bottom right corner, and select RootsTech 2018. If you haven’t downloaded it yet, you can do so from the App Store and the Google Play Store.

The app will help you navigate the conference, build your daily schedule, and connect with other attendees. Here’s a quick overview of how to use the app to plan your classes and Exhibit booth visits. You don’t want to miss the ones you care about most! But first, an at-a-glance explanation of each of the icons across the top of the home screen:

Choose RootsTech classes

From the home screen, tap the Schedule icon for a list of all workshops, classes, and activities, sorted by day. Tap on individual sessions to read more about the presenter, the topic and location. When you see an interesting one, tap the star on the left side to add it to your calendar. It will turn yellow, as shown here.

You may already know certain speakers you want to hear. (Hopefully, that includes the Genealogy Gems team, Lisa Louise Cooke, Diahan Southard and me, Sunny Morton.) From the home page, tap the Speakers icon and then search by name. Under their names, scroll down to see what they’re teaching. Only one teaching session shows up until you tap Show More. Then you can star their individual sessions to add to your master calendar.

Here’s a tip: Go ahead and “star” more than one session per time slot if you haven’t quite decided what to attend. After selecting them all, tap the My Schedule icon on the home page. You’ll see an hour-by-hour schedule with all those sessions in it. You can then pare down your list—or give yourself a couple of options each hour. Leave yourself some open time slots to give your brain a break and to visit the Exhibit Hall.

Find must-visit booths in the Exhibit Hall

Tap the Exhibitors icon to see a list of all 200+ exhibitors at RootsTech 2018. Use the search box to find the ones you want (type Gems to bring up Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems). Tap on them to read more about them and see their booth numbers. Again, tap the star to mark the ones you want to visit. (Remember, tap Maps from the home screen for a map of the Exhibit Hall.)

Party at the Genealogy Gems booth

Don’t forget: we are celebrating this huge event all week at the Genealogy Gems booth. We’re teaching a full lineup of free, expert classes, giving away over $2,000 in free prizes and looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible. Click here to see what’s going on in Booth 1203 all week!
About the Author: Sunny Morton

About the Author: Sunny Morton

Sunny is a Contributing Editor at Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems; her voice is often heard on the Genealogy Gems Podcast and Premium Podcasts. She’s  known for her expertise on the world’s biggest family history websites (she’s the author of Genealogy Giants: Comparing the 4 Major Websites); writing personal and family histories (she also wrote Story of My Life: A Workbook for Preserving Your Legacy); and sharing her favorite reads for the Genealogy Gems Book Club.

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!

Beginning German Genealogy: Defining “German”

by | Feb 25, 2018 | 01 What's New, Beginner, German, Legacy Tree Genealogists | 3 comments

Beginning German genealogy research starts with a key question: “What does ‘German’ really mean?” A Legacy Tree Genealogists expert responds with a story about ancestors whose German identity in the U.S. census seemed to keep changing—and why that was so.

Thanks to Camille Andrus of Legacy Tree Genealogists for providing this guest post.

What does “German” really mean?

My great-grandmother Erika was German. She was adamant about the fact that she was German. After her arrival in the United States, when she was asked to fill out information about her place of birth, she indicated that she was born in Germany. Erika was born in 1921 in Waschulken. Today, this small town is located in northeastern Poland. However, at the time, it was part of Germany. Although borders have since been moved, she never stopped claiming she was German.

In the United States, many German immigrants were listed on various federal censuses and other documents generically as being from Germany. Instructions given to census takers for the 1870 census notes that the country of birth for individuals who were born outside the United States was to be listed “as specifically as possible.” In the case of those from Germany, census takers were to “specify the State, as Prussia, Baden, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, Hesse Darmstadt, [etc].” (Click here to read those instructions for yourself.) This makes sense, as the unification of Germany had not yet occurred.

Above: 1870 census for Henry Blaser household (Henry listed as from “Wuertemberg” and Christina listed as from “Hesse Darmstadt”). Click here to view on FamilySearch.org.

Instructions for the 1900 census, however, indicate that census takers should “not write Prussia or Saxony, but Germany.” Also, in the case of Poland, they were to “inquire whether the birthplace was what is now known as German Poland or Austrian Poland.” (Click to read.) Thus, at least in theory, earlier census enumerations should indicate a more specific area or region rather than the generic “Germany.” (In practice, some census takers still used “Germany” in lieu of a more specific place.

 

Above: 1900 census for Henry Blaeser household (husband and wife both listed as from “Germany”). Click here to view this entry on FamilySearch.org.

The unification of territories in January 1871 created the German Empire, which lasted until 1918. Prior to the merger, the area consisted of a multitude of separate kingdoms, duchies and provinces. When an individual claims to have German ancestry, they often mean that their ancestors lived within German Empire borders (although not necessarily only during the empire period). These borders were much larger than that of modern Germany, with the most striking inclusion being a large portion of northern Poland. Even after the fall of the empire in 1918, it took many years for the borders to shrink to their current position.

Beginning German genealogy research

Because the concept of who is “German” and what areas are considered “Germany” have changed frequently over time, it is vital to keep shifting historical boundaries in mind if you have ancestors who claim to be German. They may not be from the area of modern Germany.

However, even knowing the province your immigrant ancestor came from is usually not enough to begin researching in German record collections. You need to know the name of the town your ancestor came from. Although in some rare cases you may be able to identify your immigrant’s foreign hometown through indexes created from German collections, more often than not, traditional research will necessitate using church records, civil vital records, passenger lists, naturalization records, newspapers, and other such records in the country to which your ancestor immigrated in order to identify their place of origin.

Church records can be especially useful if the immigrant attended a church associated with their native language, as these records often list foreign hometowns in marriage and death entries. For German immigrants belonging to various Protestant faiths in the Midwest region of the United States, the book series German Immigrants in American Church Records is a quick source to see if your immigrant’s name appears in the extracted records. (Click here to see this book series in the FamilySearch Catalog. Look at the description for each volume, then click View this catalog record in WorldCat for other possible copy locations to look for the volume you need at a library near you.)

Newspaper articles including obituaries can also provide the name of the immigrant’s hometown. Where available, foreign language newspapers should not be overlooked as obituaries in such papers often provide additional details not listed in their English language counterparts. Check with local libraries or historical societies to see if they have copies of foreign language newspapers.

Although early passenger lists and naturalization records usually only list a province or “Germany” as an individual’s place of origin, naturalization records post-1906, as well as more modern passenger manifests, often do list exact towns of birth. On occasion, less-obvious records, such as wills, list the town of birth. So it is important to check all record types in search of the immigrant’s town of origin.

Once the town has been identified, church records and civil registration records, mandatory for the whole German Empire as of 1876, will be the most widely used sources for researching your German ancestors in Europe. (Click here to read about German census records, too.) As many of these records will be written in the antiquated German script, one will not only need to learn basic German genealogy vocabulary but also learn to recognize those words written in the old script. (Click here for a list of top German translation websites.)

Get help beginning your German genealogy

Camille Andrus is a Project Manager for Legacy Tree Genealogists, a worldwide genealogy research firm with extensive expertise in breaking through genealogy brick walls. She and their other German specialists are skilled not only in identifying German hometowns of immigrants, but also in reading and analyzing old German church and civil records. They would love to help you trace your German immigrant ancestors back to their hometowns and extend their lines there. To learn more about Legacy Tree services and its research team, visit www.legacytree.com. Exclusive Offer for Genealogy Gems readers: Receive $100 off a 20-hour research project using code GGP100.

Disclosure: This article contains offers with affiliate links, which may expire without notice. Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!

New! North American Genealogy Records Online

by | Feb 23, 2018 | 01 What's New, Records & databases | 1 comment

New North American genealogy records online this week! Featured are U.S. military, passenger and yearbook records (including WWII film footage); regional collections for New England and Great Lakes; Congressional statutes; and over 63 million Mexican genealogy records now free at FamilySearch.org.

North American genealogy records

New online recently are North American genealogy records from all four “genealogy giants,” plus tons of other websites, including the Library of Congress and the U.S. National Archives. For those with Mexican roots, you’ll also love the enormous new cache of Mexican civil registration records online, all free to search from a central portal listed below.

U.S. military collections

World War II film footage. The U.S. National Archives has uploaded over 16 minutes’ worth of silent film footage identified as outtakes from the 1944 documentary, “Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress.” The film images are from 1942 and 1943. The shot scenes include combat missions and tour scenes.

Veterans History Project adds Guadalcanal coverage. The Library of Congress blog recently announced, “The Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project (VHP) today launched its new “Experiencing War” website feature, titled “Guadalcanal: 75 Years Later,” recognizing the anniversary of the end of the major World War II campaign known as the Battle of Guadalcanal. The feature highlights 12 digitized collections found in the VHP archive, each of which includes the first-person narrative of a veteran who fought in this epic, six-month offensive in the South Pacific during 1942 and 1943.”

Military service rolls and records: Revolutionary War through Indian Wars. The always-free genealogy giant, FamilySearch.org, has added significantly to its resources about Revolutionary War soldiers:

Genealogy giant and subscription website Ancestry.com has added a new database, “U.S. Army Indian Campaign Service Records Index, 1815-1858. According to the collection description, this database contains alphabetical card indexes to compiled service records of Volunteer soldiers who served 1836-1939 from units in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee or the Volunteer Field and Staff of the Army of the Cherokee Nation. Also included are others who “served in various Indian wars or participated in the quelling or solving of Indian disturbances or problems, 1815-1858.”

More historical statutes online

The Library of Congress has posted new materials that will enable you to more easily research the laws relating to your ancestors’ lives. According to the site, “The individual statutes for congresses 68 through 81 are now available on the Law Library of Congress website. This addition closes the gap for the years for which the Statutes at Large were not available on the Internet. As with the volumes for previous congresses, each of these statutes is tagged with tailored, descriptive metadata to help users search and browse by facets.” Click here to explore these online collections for free.

U.S. passenger lists: Virgin Islands arrivals

FamilySearch.org has published a small but significant new collection of indexed records,  United States, Virgin Islands Index to Passenger Arrivals, 1906-1947. According to the collection description, “This collection corresponds with NARA publications A3404 and A3407, both of which are passenger index lists. Publication roll A3404 serves as an index to the series “Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, July 16, 1907- May 12, 1923” NAID 2953525 and “Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, June 5, 1925 to-June 30, 1948” NAID 2953511. Publication roll A3407 consists of microfilmed index cards, which contain passenger list information for ships arriving at Honolulu 1900-1952 (ARC identifier 4493348).” Note that the title doesn’t reference Honolulu arrivals but the collection description does.

U.S. yearbooks

MyHeritage has published US Yearbooks, 1890-1979, a new collection claiming 36,207,173 digitized pages in 253,429 yearbooks, “one of the largest collections of digitized US yearbooks in existence,” states the collection description. “Yearbooks are excellent genealogical records that include personal portraits and group photographs. These books can give a researcher insight into students, faculty, and staff who attended or worked at a school. The yearbooks in this huge compendium are primarily from high schools, which in the United States normally comprise grades 9 to 12 or 10 to 12.”

New England

The New England Historic Genealogical Society has published new resources for those with New England heritage:

  • “Thanks to our volunteers, we’re announcing three improved databases this week. These databases are now indexed by first name, last name, parents’ names, spouse’s name, location, date, and record type. They also now include images scanned from our manuscript collection. The improved databases are Guilford, CT Deaths, 1883-1890, Lincoln County, ME: Commissioners Marriages Records, 1759-1777, and Westfield, MA: Deaths in the First Church, 1728-1836.”
  • “The Jewish Heritage Center at NEHGS is pleased to announce the launch of our new website, JewishHeritageCenter.org. This enhanced website will be another resource for patrons to explore the history of Boston and New England’s Jewish communities, and provide the Jewish Heritage Center at NEHGS the opportunity to further tell the stories of families, organizations, and synagogues. The website offers subject guides, links to featured exhibits and events, collection finding aids, and a variety of other resources for those with an interest in Jewish history and genealogy. Make sure to bookmark our website, and check back often for updated content!”

Great Lakes rail history

The Lake States Railway Historical Association is working to build an online archive and expand awareness of its important historical collections. According to this article in the Baraboo News Republic, “The collections at the Lake States Railway Historical Association contain countless stories of early railroads and the people who worked on them, and the organization’s leaders want to share them with the world. The 5,000-square-foot historical archive on Lynn Street in Baraboo is home to thousands of books, negatives, photographs, blueprints, drawings and other historical documents that detail early railroads, with a principal focus on the Western Great Lakes Region from 1880 to 1916. Volunteers are in the process of cataloging the collections in an online database so railroad enthusiasts around the globe can see what resources the organization has to offer.” Click here to explore their online catalog to their collection.

More Mexico civil registration records now online

FamilySearch.org has recently added over 63 million Mexico civil registration records! Among them are records from Aguascalientes, Baja California (and Sur), Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Colima, Distrito Federal, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacan, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Yucatan and Zacatecas. Search them all from the main search portal for Mexican genealogy.

Please share these North American genealogy records

We scour the internet every week looking for the best new collections you’ll want to see, then group them to help you better find the ones you need. These Friday record roundups are some of our most popular posts. Please help us get the word out about these new North American genealogy records online! Share this post on your favorite social media site or email it to your genie friends and society buddies. Thank you for sharing! You’re a gem!

About the Author: Sunny Morton

About the Author: Sunny Morton

Sunny is a Contributing Editor at Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems; her voice is often heard on the Genealogy Gems Podcast and Premium Podcasts. She’s  known for her expertise on the world’s biggest family history websites (she’s the author of Genealogy Giants: Comparing the 4 Major Websites); writing personal and family histories (she also wrote Story of My Life: A Workbook for Preserving Your Legacy); and sharing her favorite reads for the Genealogy Gems Book Club.

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!

Party at the Genealogy Gems Booth: RootsTech 2018

by | Feb 21, 2018 | 01 What's New, Conferences, RootsTech | 3 comments

We are rolling out the red carpet all week at the Genealogy Gems booth at RootsTech 2018! Don’t miss exclusive free classes, prizes worth over $2000, a Saturday prize wheel for Family Discovery Day, and more.

It’s time for genealogy’s biggest party of the year: RootsTech!

Tens of thousands of people from around the globe will descend on the world’s family history capital, Salt Lake City, Utah, for a week of learning and fun from February 28 – March 3, 2018.

Attendees can choose from hundreds of classes, attend star-studded keynote addresses and lively, family-friendly evening entertainment. All while rubbing shoulders with others who share their passion for discovering their roots.

The Genealogy Gems Booth at RootsTech 2018

We believe that RootsTech attendees are the real stars of this event, so we’re rolling out the red carpet all week long for YOU at the Genealogy Gems booth at RootsTech 2018.

We’ll open early this year in the Exhibitor Hall with a special preview night: Wednesday, February 28, 6:00-8:00 pm. Don’t miss our “Beginning DNA” presentation by Your DNA Guide Diahan Southard at 6:30 pm. If you haven’t done DNA yet, it’s time! Learn what you need to know before jumping on one of the many DNA test RootsTech specials. Better yet, be at her class in the first five minutes to win a chance at a FREE DNA TEST.

Stay at the booth for a double-feature: Lisa Louise Cooke will follow at 7:00 with her essential “Google for Genealogy Methodology” class. She has literally helped thousands learn to maximize the power of Google to find ancestral answers. Come learn Google search strategies you may be missing and enjoy a chance to win a Kindle Fire!

The rest of the week, the red carpet will be out for you to learn from Lisa Louise Cooke, her Genealogy Gems team and her friends from Family Tree Magazine. Ask our experts your burning questions, get a book signed, or take a selfie with one of the Gems team. And LEARN from them! Here’s their schedule of classes at the Genealogy Gems booth in the Exhibitor Hall (sign up at the booth for a free e-book with all the class handouts):

Throughout the week, at the beginning of each class, we’ll be giving away prizes with a total value over $2000, donated by our generous sponsors and friends. Among the prizes are four Kindle Fire tablets, 8 DNA testing kits, best-selling books, Premium Memberships, subscriptions to MyHeritage, Animoto, and Backblaze, and more! Attendees should arrive early to grab VIP seating in the Genealogy Gems booth and receive their free drawing ticket (no purchase necessary) as we’ll be handing them out in the first 5 minutes only. Visit the booth for official rules.

Be sure to stop by the booth on Family Discovery Day, Saturday, March 3. We will have a fun prize wheel that day. Spin the wheel, answer trivia questions about your family, and win prizes! It’s free to participate and totally fun for kids.

Not going to RootsTech 2018?

If you won’t be at RootsTech this year, sign up for our free weekly newsletter. Genealogy Gems keeps you up-to-date with the best new “gems” that come out of RootsTech every year! Over the coming weeks, we will share the best RootsTech news, presentations and exclusive interviews in the Genealogy Gems Podcast, on our blog and on our YouTube channel–and we’ll point you to them in the newsletter. From the Genealogy Gems homepage, click GET MY FREE NEWSLETTER & EBOOK.

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