VGS Latest News & Tips: 29 November 2016

How We Tell Our Stories:

Verissima Productions

"We tell stories with video and audio. In the personal histories we create we hope to capture the successes and happy moments, but also the moments of pain, mistakes, and repair."

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I've Taken AncestryDNA And 23andMe Genetics Tests — Here's What I Tell People When They Ask Me Which One Is Best:

Yahoo
"Each one I've tried so far has offered a different experience, a different approach to how they present the data, or what information they provide — whether it's my great-grand relative or how much Neanderthal DNA I have."
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’Tis the Season: Maximising the Benefits of the Holidays:

The In-Depth Genealogist
"It ‘s that time of year when families get together and we frantically try to find appropriate gifts. This is not always without accompanying stresses and strains but the holiday season can be a gift to family historians."
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Got The Family History Bug? Start Your Search Close To Home.

FamilySearch
"The desire to connect with your family heritage strikes most people at some point in their lives. Maybe it happens coincident to the passing of a dear family member, maybe at the birth of another child. Whatever the reason, that hunger, as Alex Haley called it, leads you to start. But, how do you start well?"
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How to Customize and Tweak Your System Tray Icons in Windows:

How-to-Geek
"Not all apps run in the foreground. Some sit quietly in the background, doing work for you with an icon in the Notification Area–also commonly (but apparently incorrectly) known as the System Tray. Windows helps you manage this clutter, controlling which icons appear on your taskbar and whether certain system icons appear at all."
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This Day In History: 29 November

1787: Louis XVI promulgates an edict of tolerance, granting civil status to Protestants.
1903: An Inquiry into the U.S. Postal Service demonstrates the government has lost millions in fraud.
1948: The Metropolitan Opera is televised for the first time as the season opens with “Othello.”
1832 Birthday: Louisa May Alcott, novelist (Little Women).

State Timelines:

Even though it is hard to tell what made people move or disappear, these are just a few possibilities.
Louisiana:
1763: France ceded land to Spain
1788: 900 houses destroyed by fire in New Orleans
1800: Spain ceded to France

VGS Latest News & Tips: 8 November 2016

Today: November 8, 2016
Genealogy Writers SIG Meeting

This meeting has been cancelled due to Election Day!

Tomorrow: November 9, 2016

Irish Genealogy SIG Meeting

10:00 AM in the Osceola Room at the Chula Vista Recreation Center

Double Bubble, Toil And Trouble: Names Of Witches In Scotland, 1658 Collection Launches:

Ancestry
"The Names of Witches in Scotland, 1658 collection, digitised from original records held by the Wellcome Library, holds the names of both women and men who were accused of witchcraft during a period of Scottish history in which persecution of supposed witches was rife."
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What’s New on FamilySearch—October 2016:

FamilySearch
"Each month, FamilySearch publishes a list of new changes and updates to the FamilySearch.org website. This list includes changes to Family Tree as well as other parts of FamilySearch.org. In some cases, these changes will also be published as individual articles where the need to do so exists."
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Beginning Genealogy: How to Get Started the Right Way:

FamilySearch
"If you’ve seen TV shows such as “Who Do You Think You Are,” you might have wondered about this whole genealogy thing and how you find your own ancestors. One way is to get famous and wait for someone to invite you onto that show. A more practical way is to start finding the information yourself."
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No, Actually, We’re Not Related:

Judy G. Russell, The Legal Genealogist
"The Legal Genealogist refused to trade her lederhosen for a kilt just because the AncestryDNA ethnicity estimates might have said so.
And I refuse to add cousins to my family tree — even cousins I might like to be able to add — just because of some app from Ancestry either."
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How to Take and Attach Photos to Messages in iOS 10:

How-to-Geek
"In iOS 10, Apple made a change to how you take and attach photos in iMessage. It’s a small change but it might take you a moment, or five, to figure it out."
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This Day In History: 8 November

1864: President Abraham Lincoln is re-elected in the first wartime election in the United States.
1904: President Theodore Roosevelt is elected president of the United States. He had been vice president until the assassination of President William McKinley.
1960: John F. Kennedy is elected 35th president, defeating Republican candidate Richard Nixon in the closest election, by popular vote, since 1880.
1887 Death: Doc Holliday, who fought on the side of the Earp brothers during the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral 6 years earlier, dies of tuberculosis in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

State Timelines:

Even though it is hard to tell what made people move or disappear, these are just a few possibilities.
Iowa:
1820: As part of the Missouri Compromise made a non-slave state
1833: Burlington settled
1836: Census reported 10,500 living in the Iowa District

VGS Latest News & Tips: 21 October 2015

Today: Wednesday, October 21, 2015

New to Genealogy SIG Meeting

2:30 PM in the Chateaugay Room at the Chatham Recreation Center

10 Simple Tips to Start Researching Your Family History:
Crestleaf
"The following guidelines will put you on a plan to kickstart your family history research, plus help you develop good research habits that you can pass on to your family members."
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BARNES OLD CEMETERY: An Abandoned Graveyard Being Reclaimed By Nature:
Flickering Lamps
"Most of the information to be found about the burial ground is negative.  One or two posts on online forums warn that it’s a known cruising spot, and others slam its state as being disrespectful to those buried there.  It was with some trepidation, then, that I made my way to Barnes Common in search of this abandoned cemetery."
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Tip: Finding Women in Civil War Photos:
Fold3
"Did you know that you can find photos of women in Fold3's collections Civil War Photos and Brady Civil War Photos?
While it's true that these collections are composed predominately of photos of men, there are numerous photos of women if you know how to look. One way to look is by simply browsing, but as it can take quite some time to go through the collections photo by photo, a faster way is to search, limiting your results to the Civil War photo collections."
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Firefox is Killing Support for Browser Plugins, and That’s a Very Good Thing:
How-to-Geek
"Firefox used to lead the charge when it came to making a better web experience, but these days they are a little behind — thankfully the good news is that they are catching up quickly. Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge have both abandoned plugins and integrated Flash in a more direct way to make sure that it stays updated, and now Firefox is joining the party." Whis is this happening? "Browser plugins are the biggest security risk on your computer at this point. If you download and run something bad, nothing can really protect you."
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This Day In History: October 21
1837: Under a flag of truce during peace talks, U.S. troops siege the Indian Seminole Chief Osceola in Florida.
1872: The U.S. Naval Academy admits John H. Conyers, the first African American to be accepted.
1879: After 14 months of testing, Thomas Edison first demonstrates his electric lamp, hoping to one day compete with gaslight.
1833 Birthday: Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Prizes.

VGS Latest News & Tips: 28 May 2015

Meeting Reminder - Today, May 28:

New to Genealogy SIG Meeting

2:00 PM in the Gladiola Room at the Allamanda Recreation Center.

Do You Have Hessian Descendants? SAR Wants to Talk to You:
"The Sergeant Lawrence Everhart Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution needs the public’s help with writing a book of genealogy about local descendants of German Hessians: mercenary troops hired by the British Army to fight American revolutionaries."
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The Amateur Genealogist: The importance of searching original records...
Peterborough This Week: by Fraser Dunford
"One of the remarkable features of beginning genealogists is their startling reliance on data on the web. Only a few per cent of all genealogical records are on the web and I doubt that any of us will live to see a quarter of the available records available from our living rooms.:
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Duffy's Cut: Irish emigrants' plight highlighted as murder victim returned home...
By Fiona Murray: BBC News NI
"A priest who will conduct the funeral service of a woman murdered in the US 183 years ago has said it brings into sharp focus the plight of Irish emigrants."
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This Day In History:
1987: A robot probe finds the wreckage of the USS Monitor near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
1888: Jim Thorpe, an American athlete, is born. He died in 1953
1863: American Civil War: the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first African-American regiment, leaves Boston, Massachusetts, to fight for the Union