17,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Research your family history using the latest online toolsand apps Genealogy Online For Dummies, 7th Edition is the perfectbook to help you conduct genealogical research. Updated to coverthe latest online tools, this new edition shows you how to leveragesocial networks and the rapidly increasing number of mobile apps tolocate family members and trace their histories. You?ll discoverhow to start your investigation, develop a research plan of action,identify sites and resources that will be of the most use to you,get information from government records, preserve electronicmaterials, and share your findings with the rest of the family. * Shows you how to conduct research into family history using thelatest online tools, mobile apps, and other resources * Explains how to use online and offline research techniques andtools for genealogical research, find and share information withother genealogists, and create your own site to showcase yourfamily tree, digital images, and compiled genealogies * Includes access to free versions of RootsMagic Essentials andLegacy Family Tree Standard Edition as well as information on freewebsites for storing your genealogical information * Covers DNA research and testing, new geocoding applications,U.S. Census information available online, international records,public access catalogs, and more Genealogy Online For Dummies, 7th Edition helps youfollow the clues to uncover your family?s legacy ? the fun and easyway.
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 558
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014
Ähnliche
Genealogy Online For Dummies®, 7th Edition
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY:THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.
For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013954204
ISBN 978-1-118-80810-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-80816-0 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-80818-4 (ebk)
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Genealogy Online For Dummies®
Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/genealogyonline to view this book's cheat sheet.
Table of Contents
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I: Getting Started with Genealogy Online
Chapter 1: Beginning Your Ancestral Journey
Sketching Yourself
Using an online resource
Using genealogical software
Entering Information into RootsMagic Essentials
Completing the Pedigree page
Sourcing your information
Creating the Virtual You
Beefing up your profile
Citing your sources
Getting the full media experience
Reaching out to others
Hinting around about your ancestors
Member Connect
Giving Your Ancestors Some Mobility
Chapter 2: Hunting for Sources and Ancestral Treasures
Learning about Sources
Getting the 4-1-1 from Your Kinfolk
Striking It Rich in Closets, in Basements, and under Beds
Dusting Off Old Photo Albums
Organizing Your Genealogical Finds
Establishing good organizational skills
Evernote: An alternative to keeping a binder filing system
Understanding genealogical charts and forms
Assigning unique numbers to family members
Making copies of source documents
Deciding on a storage method
Preserving Your Family Treasures
Storing vital records under the right conditions
Protecting your photographs
Visiting Libraries, Archives, and Historical Societies
Getting Involved with Genealogical Societies
Discovering Family History Centers
Chapter 3: Searching Primar y Resource Sites
Selecting a Person to Begin Your Search
Trying a semi-unique name
Narrowing your starting point
Choosing someone you know about
Selecting a grandparent's name
Touring Ancestry.com
Trying Ancestry.com for Free
Searching Ancestry.com's vast collection
Sifting through the results
RootsWeb.com at a Glance
Investigating FamilySearch
Creating a free account
FamilySearching records
Using FamilySearch results
Other FamilySearch search functions
Giving Back through FamilySearch Indexing
Looking through Archives.com
Creating a trial account
Searching Archives.com
Saluting Fold3
Creating a trial account
Searching at Fold3
Finding Your Past
Chapter 4: Using All of Your Censuses
Coming to Your Census
United States census schedules
Using American Soundex to search U.S. census records
State, territorial, and other census records
Finding your ancestors in U.S. census records
Finding individuals in subscription indexes
Using a transcribed online census
Census Records from Afar
Australia
Argentina
Austria
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Ghana
Guatemala
Germany
Ireland
Italy
Ivory Coast
Luxembourg
Mexico
Moldova
Netherlands
Norway
Russia
Spain
Slovakia
Switzerland
United Kingdom
Part II: Bringing Your Ancestor to Life
Chapter 5: Digging Deeper into Your Ancestors’ Lives
These Records Are Vital
Reading vital records
Gauging vitals online
Investigating Immigration and Naturalization Records
Passenger lists
Naturalization records
Land Ho! Researching Land Records
Surveying land lovers in the U.S.
Using HistoryGeo.com to map your ancestor's land
Marching to a Different Drummer: Searching for Military Records
Taxation with Notation
Trial and Error at the Courthouse
Chapter 6: Searching for that Elusive Ancestor
Letting Your Computer Do the Walking: Using Search Engines
Diving into general Internet search engines
Looking at general Internet metasearch engines
Flying with Genealogy Vertical Search Engines
Mocavo
Genealogy Toolbox
Finding the Site That's Best for You
Personal genealogical sites
One-name study sites
Family associations and organizations
Surnames connected to events or places
Taking the Plunge
Family Trees Ripe for the Picking: Finding Compiled Resources
Narrative compiled genealogies
Compiled genealogical databases
Online Subscription Databases: Goldmines of Genealogy?
Browsing Comprehensive Genealogical Indexes
Query for One: Seeking Answers to Your Surname Questions
Chapter 7: Mapping the Past
Are We There Yet? Researching Where “There” Was to Your Ancestors
Using documents that you already possess
Grilling your relatives
Where is Llandrindod, anyway?
Mapping your ancestor's way
Positioning your family: Using global positioning systems
Plotting against the family
There's No Place Like Home: Using Local Resources
Geographic-specific websites
Genealogical and historical societies
Libraries and archives
Professional researchers
Looking at directories and newspapers
Localizing your search
Chapter 8: Going Beyond Borders: International and Ethnic Records
Fishing for International and Ethnic Sources
Wiki-ing for answers
Surveying sites with comprehensive genealogy indexes
Using search engines
WorldGenWeb
Translating sites
Records from the English-Speaking World
Gathering information from England and Wales
A lot more than haggis — finding Scottish records
Researching the north o’ Ireland
Traversing the Emerald Isle
Other Irish genealogy resources
Heading north for Canadian records
Accessing Australian sources
Hispanic and Portuguese Roots
Within the United States
Exploring south of the border: Mexican sources
Continental resources
Central and South American research
Swimming through Caribbean genealogy
Auchtung! Using Sites for the German-Speaking World
Along the beautiful Danube: Austrian roots
Consulting German resources
Focusing on French Resources
Scanning Scandinavian Countries
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Sweden
Iceland
Italian Cooking
Other European Sites
Asian Resources
Researching African Ancestry
Mailing lists focusing on African research
Genealogical resource pages on the web
Transcribed records pertaining to ancestors with African roots
Special ethnic pages about African ancestry
Original records
American Indian Resources
Where to begin looking for information about American Indians
American Indian resource pages on the web
Transcribed American Indian records
Part III: Making Sure Your Family History Checks Out
Chapter 9: Specializing in Your Family History
Researching Religious Group Records
Finding Fraternal Orders and Service Clubs
Finding clues on gravestones
A Photo Is Worth a Thousand Words
Accessing Adoption Records
Preparing to Be Schooled
Turning to Bible Records
Snooping through Great-Grandma's Diary
Nosing through Newspaper Records
Chapter 10: Fitting into Your Genes: Molecular Genealogy
Delving into DNA
A friendly word of caution
What can molecular genealogy do for you?
Getting down to bases
Selecting the Right Test for You
Y chromosome DNA testing
Mitochondrial DNA testing
Autosomal DNA testing
X chromosome DNA testing
Finding Helpful DNA Sites
Part IV: Doing Things the Genealogical Way
Chapter 11: Share and Share Alike
Why Would Anyone Want Your Stuff?
Developing Your Marketing Plan
Perfecting the Art of Networking via Facebook
Jumping on the Facebook bandwagon
Making Facebook friends
Sorting your Facebook friends
Posting statuses and messaging on Facebook
Sharing photos via Facebook
Networking Genealogy-Style
Blogging for Attention
Hunting blogs
Getting a blog of your own
Building Your Own Home
Commercial Internet service providers
Free web-hosting services
Do you speak HTML?
Deciding which treasures to include
Including Your GEDCOM
Privatizing your database before sharing
Generating GEDCOM files
Reporting Your Results
Earning a Good Citizenship Award
Mandatory lecture on privacy
Respecting copyrights
Citing your sources
Chapter 12: Finding Your Research Path
Introducing the Helm Online Family Tree Research Cycle
Planning your research
Collecting useful information
Researching: Through the brick wall and beyond
Consolidating information in a database
Validating your findings
Distilling the information that you gather
Too Many Ancestor Irons in the Research Fire
Verifying Your Information
Chapter 13: Help Wanted!
Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone
The Shotgun Approach
Making Friends (And Keeping Them) Online
Joining a Herd: Research Groups
Becoming a Solid Member of (Genealogical) Society
Geographical societies
Family and surname associations
Gathering Kinfolk: Using the Family Reunion for Research
Rent-a-Researcher
DNA Consulting
Chapter 14: Taking It on the Road
Planning Your Trip Using the Web
Narrowing Your Target
Remembering Your Laptop or Notebook
Opting for a Tablet
Flashing Your Treasures
Capturing a Picture-Perfect Moment
Using Your Cell Phone as a Cell Phone
Positioning Yourself for Success
Have Scanner, Will Travel
Part V: The Part of Tens
Chapter 15: Ten Sites Worth Bookmarking
Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
Family Tree Magazine
About.com Genealogy
The Ancestry Insider
DearMYRTLE
Genealogy Gems
The Genealogy Guys Podcast
The Genetic Genealogist
NARAtions
GeneaBloggers
Chapter 16: Ten Helpful Sites
Ancestry.com Learning Center
FamilySearch Help Center
WeRelate
Genealogy Today: Guide to Genealogy
Guide to Family History Research
GEN-NEWBIE-L
National Genealogical Society
ProGenealogists: Genealogy Sources and Resources
Getting Started in Genealogy and Family History
About.com Genealogy: Genealogy Learning and Guidance
About the Authors
Cheat Sheet
More Dummies Products
Guide
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Pages
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
109
110
111
112
113
114
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
419
420
Introduction
There could be any number of reasons that you picked up this book. Maybe you've become curious about genealogy after watching a television show. Perhaps you've always been interested but you didn't have the time to pursue it until now. Possibly, you're a student with a project to complete on your family history. No matter what the reason, you probably need some help getting started, and we're here to help!
The number of family history resources that are available online has skyrocketed in the 15 years since we wrote the first edition of this book. This is an exciting time because scanned images of key records are coming online at an unprecedented rate. Also, new technologies such as DNA testing have been refined and are now invaluable tools to confirm evidence from paper records.
Although the technology and amount of material available online has changed over the years, you still need a solid foundation for your research. We've written Genealogy Online For Dummies to give you the necessary resources and advice to balance online sources with traditional research to ensure you are successful every step of the way.
If you're a repeat reader of Genealogy Online For Dummies, we think you'll be pleased to find all sorts of new and updated information. And if you're brand new to genealogy, we think you'll be equally pleased with easy-to-understand directions and information about the resources that await you.
At this point, we feel obligated to give you a couple of warnings or reminders. First, genealogy is an addictive pursuit and a long journey. You might find yourself staying up all hours of the night chasing down that elusive ancestor. Please don't blame us if you start falling asleep at work due to your genealogical research routine. Also, on a more serious note, keep in mind that online research is merely one tool among others for finding information about your family. To thoroughly research your genealogy, you must use a number of tools — many of which we talk about throughout this book.
Now that the disclaimers are out of the way, put the kids to bed, let your pets out, and boot up that computer. Your ancestors are just waiting to be found!
About This Book
If you type in the word genealogy into a popular search engine like Google, you'll see millions upon millions of pages that mention the subject. In fact, at the time we wrote this, such a search returned 182,000,000 results. With so many choices, it's impossible to know where to start without a map. That's what this book is all about. Although we won't cover every available resource, we will point you toward the sites and technologies that'll give you the best chance for researching many different family lines.
You're probably asking yourself how this book differs from the many other genealogy books on the shelf. Some books tell you only the traditional methods of genealogical research that have you traveling hundreds of miles to visit courthouses and archives in other states. Unfortunately, these books neglect the many opportunities that online research and new technologies provide. Other books that do cover online genealogy tend to group resources by how users access them (all link-based sites are listed together, all subscription sites are listed together, and so on), rather than telling you how you can integrate the many online resources to achieve your genealogical goal. As genealogists, we understand that researchers don't conduct searches by trying all the link sites, then all the subscription sites. We search by looking for surnames or places anywhere we can find them — through websites, blogs, e-mail, or any other source.
Web addresses (or URLs) throughout the book are in a different font to set them apart from regular text. This way, you can easily see the sites we recommend that you visit to try something or read more online. Additionally, to make it easier for you to follow a set of specific instructions, when you should type something, bold type indicates what to type.
Foolish Assumptions
In writing and revising this book, we made a few assumptions. If you fit one of these assumptions, this book is for you:
You're psyched up and ready to jump into researching your family history with both feet.You have at least a little computer experience, are now interested in pursuing your family tree, and want to know where and how to start.You have a little experience in genealogy and some experience with computers, but you want to find out how to put them together.You're an experienced genealogist or family historian and you're looking for ways to make your research more efficient.You can have a lot of computer experience and be a novice to genealogy or online genealogy and still benefit from this book. In this case, you may want to dive right into the chapters about strategies for finding online resources.
Icons Used in This Book
To help you get the most out of this book, we created some icons that tell you at a glance whether a section or paragraph has important information of a particular kind.
The Remember icon marks important genealogical stuff, so don't forget it.
When you see the Tip icon, you know we're offering advice or shortcuts to make researching easier.
Look out! The Warning icon indicates something tricky or unusual to watch for.
Beyond the Book
We've provided additional information about genealogy online to help you on your way:
Cheat Sheet: Check out www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/genealogyonline.Online articles: On several of the pages that open each of this book's parts, you'll find links to what the folks at For Dummies call Web Extras, which expand on some concept we've discussed in that particular section. You'll find them at www.dummies.com/extras/genealogyonline.Where to Go from Here
Depending on where you're reading this introduction, your next step is one of the following:
You need to go to the front of the bookstore and pay for this book so that you can take it home and use it.If you've already bought the book and you're at home (or wherever), you can go ahead and start reading in depth, following the steps for the online activities in the book as they come along.We don't expect you to read this book from cover to cover, in the order we wrote it. It definitely doesn't hurt our feelings knowing you may skip through the sections looking for only the information that you're interested in at a particular moment! Each section in each chapter can stand alone. If we think something relevant in another section can supplement your knowledge on a particular topic, we provide a note or reference telling you the other place(s) we think you should look. However, we tried hard to do this referencing in a manner that isn't obnoxious to those of you who choose to read the book from cover to cover. We hope we've succeeded in addressing both types of readers!
Now that we've explained a bit about the book, are you ready to get started and to become an official genealogist? You might be asking yourself, “What are the requirements for becoming an official genealogist?” You simply need an interest in your ancestry and a willingness to devote time to pursuing information and documents. So dive in and start collecting the puzzle pieces of your family history and remember to have fun!
Part I
Getting Started with Genealogy Online
Visit www.dummies.com for more great content online.
In this part…
Learn how to use information that you know on yourself to begin your online research.Discover how primary sources can jump-start your genealogical journey.Locate large collections of records that you can use to find details on the lives of your ancestors.Learn how census records can be used to track the movements of your ancestors every ten years.Discover how you can use primary sources to find the details of your ancestors’ lives.Chapter 1
Beginning Your Ancestral Journey
In This Chapter
Starting research with yourself
Getting familiar with a genealogical database
Creating an online family tree
Entering data with an app
We know you're ready to go! You have a mouse in hand and are set to learn all there is to know about your ancestors. However, we need to go over a few useful things before that mouse runs wild.
If you're new to genealogy, we strongly suggest that you begin your journey with this chapter. (That's why we made it Chapter 1.) We'll walk you through the basics of recording genealogical data by starting with a very familiar person — you! Then we'll explore how to get valuable information from relatives, locate key documents around the house, how to use photographs to further your research, and explore easy ways to get organized.
Sketching Yourself
Late one night, you decide to start looking for information on your great-great-grandfather Absalom Looney. After booting up your computer and connecting to the Internet, you put good old Absalom's name into your favorite search engine. Within a couple of seconds, a page appears telling you there are more than 51,000 results for Absalom Looney. How can you possibly sift through all the Absaloms onscreen and find the one you're looking for? Well, before you go any further, we should let you in on a little secret: Instead of starting your journey with Absalom, it's better to begin with the information you have about someone you know better — yourself.
Regardless of what your spouse thinks, we're convinced that you're really the expert on you. You know your birth date, place of birth, parents’ names, and where you've lived. (We recognize that not everyone knows all this information; adoptions or other circumstances may require you to do the best you can with what you know until you can discover additional information about yourself.) Knowing some things about yourself, it's time to start sketching out your life — and, at the same time, learning some good research skills that will help you delve into the lives of others.
When working on your life's sketch, we recommend beginning with current events and working back through your life. This is the method you'll likely use when researching an ancestor. First, note the basics: your current marital or family status, occupation, residence, and activities. Then move back to your last residence, occupation, and so on until you arrive at your birth date. Make sure that you include milestones such as children's birth dates, marriage dates, military service dates, educational experience, religious affiliations, participation in organizations and sports, and other significant events in your life. If you prefer, you can cover your life by beginning with your birth and working forward to the present. Either way is fine, as long as you list all the important events.
You have several ways to store your sketch. Some people prefer to start with index cards, placing a particular event on each card — or, if you want to use a digital tool, you can store notes in a product such as Evernote (www.evernote.com) or Microsoft's OneNote (office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote). Others use a database or word processor to write up things that they recall over a certain period of time. If you don't have time to type something out, why not use a digital voice recorder to record all those nuggets of information? Using any of these methods, you can begin to arrange historical events to form the basis of your biographical sketch.
The biographical sketch that you create now may become an important research tool for one of your descendants who decides to conduct research about you in the future. So, when you have the time, turn that sketch into a full-blown autobiography. This way, your descendants not only know the facts about your life, but also gain some insight as to why you chose the paths you did throughout your life.
Using an online resource
Because this book deals with online resources, we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't mention an online resource for writing your biographical sketch. One site that assists you with creating your autobiography is Story of My Life (www.storyofmylife.com). Story of My Life contains a simple way to assemble chapters together to form your biographical sketch.
To begin your biographical sketch on Story of My Life, follow these steps:
Point your browser towww.storyofmylife.com.In the top-right corner, click the Register Now image to register for free.Fill out the Personal Info form. You can check the availability of your Story of My Life ID by clicking the Check Availability button. Also, make sure you read the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and select the appropriate box for the level of notifications that you would look to receive. Keep in mind that you can opt out of receiving notifications by deselecting the Notifications check boxes.
Click the Continue button.The confirmation page appears. You should also receive an e-mail confirmation. To progress to the next step of the registration process, confirm your e-mail address.
Go to your e-mail program and open the confirmation e-mail from Story of My Life.The title of the e-mail is Registration | Email Validation. Open the e-mail and locate the link to validate your e-mail.
Click the link in the e-mail to validate your e-mail address or copy and paste the validation link into your web browser.The web page shows that your e-mail address has been verified. The page also allows you to choose a Forever Space package, which requires payment. Don't panic! You don't have to purchase a plan to use the site. If you're not interested in purchasing a package, just make sure to choose the I Will Buy Later. Continue with My FREE Story Account option.
Click the green Continue button near the bottom of the screen.The next page in the registration process is the Checkout page. If you don't want to order anything, make sure the package is set to Free and the total at the bottom of the page is $0.00.
Click Continue.The My Story page appears, shown in Figure 1-1.
Click the Click Here link (in the middle of the page, under the Stories tab) to begin writing your story.You can add chapters or categories by using the prompts under the My Story menu on the left.
Figure 1-1:The My Story page on Story of My Life.
Using genealogical software
You can use a biographical website to document your life (as described in the previous section), but another option is to use a tool of the genealogy trade from the beginning — genealogical software. Over time, you'll collect a lot of information on your ancestors. You need something to help you keep everything straight and make sense of it all. Not only can genealogical software keep track of the names, dates, and places of your ancestors, but it can also show you the gaps in your research and point you where to go next.
Several software programs on the market can store and manipulate your genealogical information. They all have some standard features in common. For instance, most serve as databases for family facts and stories, have reporting functions to generate predesigned charts and forms, and have export capabilities so that you can share your data with others. Each software program also has a few unique features (for example, the capability to take information out of the software and generate online reports at the click of a button or integrate with data stored on subscription genealogical websites) that make it stand out from the others. Here's a list of some simple features to look for when evaluating software packages:
How easy to use is the software? Is it reasonably intuitive from a graphics standpoint so that you can see how and where to enter particular facts about an ancestor?Does the software generate the reports you need? For instance, if you're partial to Family Group Sheets, does this software support them?Does the software allow you to export and import a GEDCOM file? What other formats does it export to? GEDCOM is a file format that's widely used for genealogical research. For more info about GEDCOM, see the nearby sidebar “GEDCOM: The genealogist's standard.”How many names can this software hold? Make sure the software can hold an adequate number of names (and accompanying data) to accommodate all the ancestors about whom you have information.Keep in mind that your genealogy continues to grow over time.
Can your current computer system support this software? If the requirements of the software cause your computer to crash every time you use it, you won't get very far in your genealogical research.Does this software provide fields for citing your sources and keeping notes? Including information about the sources you use to gather your data — with the actual facts, if possible — is an important and a sound genealogical practice. Take a look at later parts of this chapter, as well as in Chapter 11, for more information about the importance of citing sources and understanding how to do so.Does this software have utilities that warn you of incorrect or incomplete data? For example, some software can check the place-name that you enter against a database of locations and suggest a standard way of spelling the location.Does this program integrate with genealogical websites? Integrating content between websites and genealogical software is an easy way to build your genealogical database, as well as to share your findings with others.GEDCOM: The genealogist's standard
As you probably have already discovered, genealogy is full of acronyms. One such acronym that you'll hear and see repeatedly is GEDCOM (GEnealogical Data COMmunication). GEDCOM is the standard for individuals and software manufacturers for exporting information to and importing information from genealogical databases. Simply put, GEDCOM is a file format intended to make data transferable among different software programs so that people can share their family information easily.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints developed and introduced GEDCOM in 1987. The first two versions of GEDCOM were released for public discussion only and were not meant to serve as the standard. With the introduction of version 5.x and later, however, GEDCOM was accepted as the standard.
Having a standard for formatting files is beneficial because you can share the information that you collect with others who are interested in some (or all) of your ancestors. It also enables you to import GEDCOM files from other researchers who have information about family lines and ancestors in whom you're interested. And you don't even have to use the same software as the other researchers! You can use Reunion for Macintosh, and someone with whom you want to share information can use Family Tree Maker; having GEDCOM as the standard in both software programs enables each of you to create and exchange GEDCOM files. Similarly, GEDCOM enables you to transfer data from your smartphone genealogical application to your home computer.
To convert the data in your genealogical database to a GEDCOM file, follow the instructions provided in your software's manual or Help menu. You can create the GEDCOM file relatively easily; most software programs guide you through the process with a series of dialog boxes.
In addition to creating GEDCOM files to exchange with other researchers, you can generate GEDCOM files to submit to larger cooperatives that make the data from many GEDCOM files available to thousands of researchers worldwide. You can also convert your GEDCOM file to HTML so you can place the data directly on the web for others to access.
Although GEDCOM has been a reliable standard for a while, the implementation of it in some genealogical software products has been less than ideal. As a result, some genealogical software developers have created products that can import files made from one software package into software that uses a different file format — without the need to save the file to GEDCOM. One such product is GenBridge, which is part of the Family Tree SuperTools product from Wholly Genes Software (www.whollygenes.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?screen=FTST). Before purchasing a converter product, check the documentation that came with your genealogical software to ensure that your software doesn't already have the conversion capability built into it.
Although GEDCOM has been around for a while, efforts are underway to engineer the future of the standard. GEDCOM X (www.gedcomx.org) is a project to develop a new model to improve the capability of genealogical software and websites to share data.
Entering Information into RootsMagic Essentials
To help you get a better idea of how software can help you organize your records and research, and to help you figure out what features to look for in particular software packages, this section examines how to use RootsMagic, a popular genealogy program.
You can download a free trial version of RootsMagic Essentials software and install it on your computer:
Open your web browser and go to the RootsMagic site atwww.rootsmagic.com/Products.Scroll down to the RootsMagic Essentials section and click the Free Download button.Complete the information fields, including typing your name and your e-mail address. Enter your e-mail address again in the Verify E-mail field shown in Figure 1-2.Figure 1-2: Information fields for the RootsMagic install.
The instructions for downloading the product appear.
Click the RootsMagic Essentials Installer link.The software downloads to a directory on your computer.
To begin the installation, double-click the downloaded file.When we installed it, the filename was RM6Setup.exe. The Welcome to RootsMagic Setup wizard pops up.
Click Next.The license agreement appears.
Read through the licensing agreement. If you agree to its terms, click the I Accept the Agreement option and then click Next.In the window that appears, choose where to have the RootsMagic Essentials software stored on your computer.
Identify where to store the software and then click Next.The Select Start Menu Folder field appears. This enables you to identify where to put shortcuts for the program. The default location is a folder called RootsMagic.
If you want the shortcuts listed inRootsMagic, leave the default location in the field. If you prefer to have shortcuts in another folder, browse and select the folder or enter the location.Click Next.The Select Additional Tasks window opens. If you want to set up any additional tasks (such as creating a desktop icon for the program or downloading a place database for geocoding and gazetteer components), select the appropriate check box.
Click Next.The final information for the installation appears.
Review the installation information and, if everything looks correct, click Install.The software installs on your computer. When it's finished installing, the Completing the RootsMagic Setup Wizard box appears.
If you want to open RootsMagic now, select the Launch RootsMagic check box and click the Finish button.A window opens welcoming you to the software and asking you to identify which version of the product you're opening.
Click the RootsMagic Essentials — Free Version link.Now that you have the RootsMagic Essentials software installed on your computer, let's get down to the nitty-gritty and start entering data. When you open the application for the very first time, you get a RootsMagic News window containing links to various announcements and stories of interest to RootsMagic users. If you want to read any of these, you can click the links; otherwise, just click Close.
When the RootsMagic News box closes, you see a Welcome to RootsMagic screen. To begin your family tree, follow these steps:
Click Create a New File.A box appears, enabling you to do several things:
Identify the new filename.Determine the location for the file.Set options, including the date format for the file, whether to display a number after a name, whether to display surnames in all capital letters, and whether to set up and support some additional fields for the Latter-day Saints and FamilySearch family tree support.Choose whether to start a file from scratch or import data from another program.Enter the new filename in the New File Name box, set any of the optional formatting items, and identify whether you're starting a new file or importing an existing one; then click OK.In our case, we're starting a family tree for the Abell family, so we entered Abell as the filename. We set the date format and selected the option for starting a new file.
Click OK.The database is created and the Pedigree view opens, as shown in Figure 1-3.
Figure 1-3:The Pedigree tab.
You can start entering information about yourself in the Pedigree chart (presuming that you choose to start with yourself). Then you can add information for four additional generations.
Completing the Pedigree page
Usually, it's easiest to enter information about yourself, your spouse, and your children, and then work backward through your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on. After you complete your direct lines back as far as you can, enter information about each of your siblings, nieces and nephews, cousins, and other relatives. Always enter as much information as you can in each of the fields in the Add Person dialog boxes. Follow these steps to fill in the Pedigree page:
Select the Click to Add a Person box in the Pedigree chart.The Add New Person dialog box appears, and then you can fill in details about yourself or an ancestor.
Complete the Add New Person box and click OK.Type the first and middle names in the Given Name(s) field and the last name in the Surname field. Then complete the remaining fields to the extent that you know the biographical facts about that person. Remember to use your maiden name if you're female — regardless of your marital status. Of course, we want to set a good example in this book when it comes to privacy for living relatives, so rather than typing information about one of us, we type in Matthew's great-great-grandfather, Samuel Clayton Abell Jr.
After you click OK, the Edit Person dialog box appears.
Complete the Edit Person dialog box and click Save.You can add more facts about yourself or an ancestor by clicking these buttons in the edit window — Notes, Sources, Media, Address, and To Do. You can also add or delete facts by clicking the appropriate button and then following the prompts in the Fact Types box that appears. After you finish adding the details, click Save.
Make sure that you use the four-digit year when you enter dates in RootsMagic. If you inadvertently use only two numerals for the year, the software accepts the year as is, leaving it ambiguous for anyone who references your database in the future.
Click Close.After you've entered your first person, you can click the next person box you want to complete or click the Add People to the Database icon on the toolbar and enter information for people related to the individual, such as spouse, children, and parents. You can keep track of family units by clicking the Family tab.
Sourcing your information
As you enter information about people, it's critical that you cite your data sources. Most genealogical software programs, including RootsMagic, allow you to enter source information. For specific instructions on how to enter info in your particular software, see the Help file or user's manual that comes with the software. In RootsMagic, you add sources through the Edit Person box.
To add a source for your information, follow these steps:
From the Pedigree chart, double-click the person that the source references.We have the source documents for the marriage of Samuel and Martha. So for this example, we double-click Samuel Clayton Abell Jr. The Edit Person box appears.
Select the fact or event that you want to source.We select the marriage fact in the left side of the box.
Click the Sources button in the lower-right side of the box.The Citation Manager opens for the marriage fact.
Select Add New Source.The Select Source Type box appears, as shown in Figure 1-4.
Figure 1-4: The Select Source Type box.
In our case, we search for the source type Marriage and then select one of the results — Marriage Record (Bound Volumes). If you can't find an existing source type to fit your need, select Free Form and enter your own source type.
Click OK.Enter details about the source of your information. You should complete as many of the fields as you can for every source.
Complete the Edit Source fields and click OK.You should now see a check mark under the Source icon in the Edit Person box.
You may have already noticed another way to get to the Source Manager. Choose Lists⇒Source List, click the Add a New Source button, and follow the preceding steps. This enables you to add a source that's not necessarily tied to one specific event in that person's life. If your ancestor kept a diary or memoirs of sorts, you might prefer to use this method of citing sources. Similarly, you have functionality to add sources that pertain to more than one person (called Family Sources in the drop-down list accessible from the Sources icon).
After you've used RootsMagic Essentials for a while, you may find that you need more features. You can compare the features between RootsMagic and RootsMagic Essentials at www.rootsmagic.com/RootsMagic/Features.aspx to determine whether you need an upgrade.
Creating the Virtual You
If you're going to be researching using a variety of computers, perhaps a better option is to use an online genealogical database rather than a genealogical database stored on one computer. One full-featured online genealogical database is Ancestry.com. Not only can you enter genealogical information, but you can also upload media files and integrate your data with the content found on the Ancestry.com subscription site through the Hints function.
To get started, try the following:
Point your web browser towww.ancestry.com.The Ancestry.com home page appears.
In the upper-left corner of the home page, click the Family Trees button on the menu bar to open the Family Trees page.A new page appears labeled Start your tree. Organize facts. Find answers.
Near the top of the page, enter your first name and last name, select your gender, and click Start Your Tree.The resulting page shows a three-generation Pedigree chart with you as the first person on the left side; see Figure 1-5. Note the helpful tips along the right side of the chart.
Figure 1-5:A three-generation Pedigree chart to fill in with your ancestors.
In the pop-over box that appears, enter the first and middle names, maiden (or last) name, gender, birth date, birthplace, and, if applicable, death date and death place. A pop-over box is similar to a dialog box except that you must complete its fields and click a button to make it disappear. When you begin to enter a location in the Birthplace field, a list of potential matching locations appears beneath the field. You can select from the list to enter the information more quickly. You can also use this list to standardize the location that makes searches easier in the Ancestry.com database.
Click Save.The Save and Build Your Family Tree pop-over box appears. To save the family tree, complete all of the fields on the form, including the tree name and your first name, last name, and e-mail address. You can also choose to allow others to view the tree by selecting the check box. If you don't want others to view it, deselect the check box. You may also want to review the privacy policy by clicking the link on the right side of the box.
Click the Save My Tree button.If your e-mail address matches a registered user of Ancestry.com, the Provide a Password page appears. Type your existing password to continue. If your e-mail address is new to the site, Ancestry.com automatically registers you and gives you a default user name and password. To change the default user name and password (randomly assigned values that you aren't likely to remember), click the link. The family tree you just created is displayed. A pop-up box may also appear describing the Ancestry Hints feature. After reading it, click the X in the upper-right corner. If you want to see the hints, click View Hints. In our case, we clicked the X to continue to the Pedigree chart.
Add information about other family members by clicking the Add Father, Add Mother, or Add Relative links.Clicking any of these links opens a pop-over box. Enter the individual's first name, middle name, last name, gender, birth date, birthplace, death date, and death place. Click the Save button when you're finished.
The Pedigree page is shown again with the names of the new family members.If you see the green shaky leaf symbol, as shown in Figure 1-6, Ancestry.com has found a hint, meaning that Ancestry.com has searched its databases and thinks it has found further information on that particular individual. Sometimes the hint applies to the person and sometimes it doesn't.
Figure 1-6: Shaky leaves indicate a hint about your ancestor.
Not every individual triggers a hint, so don't be concerned if you don't see one. If you follow a hint that leads to part of the paid subscription database, the site prompts you to subscribe to the Ancestry.com site.
As time allows, add more generations to your family tree.Beefing up your profile
Just like your ancestors’ lives, your life is a lot more than just names and dates. To get a better picture of you, or your ancestor's life, you need to include details about important events such as marriages, buying a house, starting a new job, moving to a new town, and so on. To add some facts, try the following:
If your family tree isn't onscreen, place the mouse cursor over the Family Trees button at the top of the Ancestry.com home page. A secondary menu drops down showing the family tree you created. Click the family tree name to display your family tree.Your family tree is displayed with the Pedigree view.
Place the mouse cursor over the name of a person on your family tree.A pop-over box appears with more information about the person on your family tree.
Select View Profile.Several tabs are available on the Profile screen: Overview, Facts and Sources, Media Gallery, Comments, Hints, and Member Connect. As you might expect, the Overview tab, shown in Figure 1-7, shows a summary of the information contained within the other sections.
Figure 1-7:The Family Tree Overview tab.
The new page contains some basic facts that you already entered, such as gender, birth, and death.
Click the Add a Fact button on the right side of the green menu bar.The Add a New Fact or Event page appears.
Click the Add a New Fact or Event drop-down box and select an event, as shown in Figure 1-8.One or more fields appear on the page depending on the event that you selected.
Figure 1-8:The Add a New Fact or Event drop-down box.
The information that you entered now appears on the Facts and Sources tab.
Citing your sources
A source is any material (book, document, record, or periodical, for example) that provides information for your research. We strongly encourage you to cite the sources of all facts and information that you enter into profiles on your family tree.
Keeping track of sources helps you remember where you discovered the information and helps other researchers retrace your steps. If you find conflicting information later, returning to the source can help you sort out the reliability of your information.
Follow these steps to cite a source for a fact you've added to your tree:
Display the profile page for the person you want to cite a source for.Follow Steps 1 through 3 in the earlier section “Beefing up your profile.”
Click the Facts and Sources tab.The Facts and Sources page appears.
Click the Source Citations button.The button is located just under the Facts and Sources tab.
Click the Add a Source Citation link on the right.The Create Source Citation Information page appears, as shown in Figure 1-9.
Figure 1-9:Create Source Citation Information page.
The link appears just below the Select a Source drop-down box. The Create a New Source page appears.
Fill out fields for the source of the information.You don't have to fill out all fields. The only required field is Title.
Near the bottom of the page, click the Create a New Repository link.A repository is a place that holds the source that you're citing, such as a library or a person's house, in the case of the location of family photos. The Create a New Repository page appears.
Fill out the fields to describe the repository. When you're finished, click the Save Repository button to save the repository and return to the Create a New Source page.Note that after you've created a repository once, it's then available for you to use in future citations.
Click the Save Source button.The source title is now reflected in the drop-down box under Step 1 on the Create Source Citation Information page; see Figure 1-10.
Figure 1-10: A new repository appearing on the Create Source Citation Information page.
The Detail field is the only required field in this section.
If you have a scanned document, an audio recording, or a video recording that you want to include as part of the source, click the Yes radio button under Step 3 on the Create Source Citation Information page.Under Step 4 on the Create Source Citation Information page, select the box next to the fact or event that you want the source to document.Click the Save Source Citation button.Getting the full media experience
To provide a rich experience for your sources, consider adding media. For example, you can scan a birth record of an ancestor and add the image of the actual record as part of your source citation. Follow these requirements to upload media to Ancestry.com:
Photo: A photo must be in .bmp, .gif, .jpeg, .jpg, .png, or .tiff format. No individual photo can be larger than 15 megabytes (MB).Story: Type your anecdotal story on the site, or upload it in .doc, .docx, .pdf, .rtf, or .txt format. No individual story can exceed 15 megabytes (MB).Audio: Add audio recordings directly via the Ancestry.com site.Video: A video must be recorded using a webcam and the Ancestry.com site. Videos must be less than 12 minutes long.Follow these steps to add media to your Ancestry.com family tree:
Display your family tree and open the personal profile to which you want to add media.Click the Media Gallery tab.Click the Add Media button on the right side of the screen.On the drop-down menu shown in Figure 1-11, you can choose to upload media from your computer (either a photo or a word processing file), type a story, record audio, or record video.
Figure 1-11: The Add Media drop-down menu.
The Upload Media page appears.
Click the Content Submission Agreement link.Read the submission agreement so that you know the terms and limitations of posting content to the Ancestry.com site. Click the Close button (the X in the upper-right corner of the pop-up screen) to close the content submission agreement.
Select the check box labeled I Accept the Content Submission Agreement.Agree only if you have read it and you're comfortable with its terms and conditions. If you choose not to accept it, you cannot submit media to Ancestry.com.
Click the Select Files button.The Open dialog box appears.
Select the files you want to upload and then click the Open button.While the files are uploading, you'll see the progress bar on your screen. After the upload is complete, the Add Details to Your Media page opens.
To select multiple files to upload at the same time, hold down the Ctrl key in Windows or the Command key on a Mac.
Replace the title of the image in the Title field.The Title field must be filled in. The default title is the filename of the imported image. The filename isn't always a descriptive title, so feel free to make the name more meaningful.
Change the category type in the drop-down box, if necessary.Fill in the Date, Location, and Description fields if you have this information.If you want to attach media to additional people in your family tree, click the Attach to Another Person link and enter the person's name in the box that appears.For example, if you want to attach a photograph of a family to each of the people in the photo who are included in your family tree, attach the photo to the names of the appropriate individuals.
When you begin typing, the name begins to fill in based on the people in your family tree. You can also click the Browse List link and then select the individual from the list of individuals in the family tree.
Click the Save Added Information button.The photo shows up as a thumbnail image in the Media Gallery. Of course, if the media isn't a photo, you see a different icon in the Media Gallery, such as a microphone labeled Audio for an audio file.
You can add the new media to a Fact and Event entry by clicking the Fact & Events button and then the Add Media link on the right side of the event.
Reaching out to others
At some point you might decide to make your research results available to the public. To clarify some information that you put into the database, you might want to create a comment about a particular ancestor.
It's important to know that comments placed on records of living individuals will not be viewable to the public unless you specifically give permission for others to see living individuals in your tree.
To post a comment:
Display your family tree in Pedigree view, and then open the personal profile to which you want to add a comment.Select the Comments tab.Fill in the Subject and Comment fields.When you're finished, click the Add Comment button.Hinting around about your ancestors
A special function in the online family tree is the Ancestry Hint. Ancestry Hints are designed to search through the names that you enter and match them to records available on the Ancestry.com website. Even if you don't have an Ancestry.com subscription, you can use the Hints to point you to record sets that you may be able to find in other repositories.
To see what Hints might offer for a particular ancestor, follow these steps:
Display your family tree, and then open the personal profile for which you want to review Hints.Click the Hints tab.The Hints page shown in Figure 1-12 appears, listing record sources that contain a potential match with your ancestor:
The first column is the name of the record source.
