VGS Latest News and Tips: May 16, 2017

Reminders:

Today: May 16, 2017

Italian Genealogy SIG Meeting

1:00 PM in the Atlanta Room in the Savannah Center
Topic: VP Annette Lyttle will present a session on "Finding Ancestors Through Free Online Newspapers."

Tomorrow: May 17, 2017

Mid-Atlantic States SIG Meeting

9:30 AM in the Defender Room at the Lake Miona Recreation Center
Topic: "Immigration to Mid-Atlantic States and resources to use for your investigation."

Tomorrow: May 17, 2017

New to Genealogy SIG Meeting

2:30 PM in the Chateaugay Room at the Chatham Recreation Center
Topic: "Using Traditional Sources for Research"

Gen News:

Monday Mailbox: FamilySearch Change or User Change?

The Ancestry Insider
"Did Familysearch.org change how personal family trees are managed?
Last week I looked up my Wilmot tree there, and found someone had changed a last name of an ancestor to Wilmont, when the father and grandson were right there as Wilmot. Duh???"
Continue reading...

Mitochondrial DNA – Your Mom’s Story:

DNAeXplained
"Have you ever wondered why you would want to test your mitochondrial DNA? What would a mitochondrial DNA test tell you about your ancestors? What would it mean to you and how would it help your genealogy?"
Continue reading...

The Genealogy Gems Podcast: Episode 203

Lisa Louise Cook
"This episode features a special interview with renowned Canadian expert Dave Obee. He shares his favorite tips on researching the Canadian census—his insights are fascinating whether you have Canadian ancestors or not!
Also in this episode: an inspiring adoption discovery, DNA testing news at 23andMe, a tip for incorporating family history into a wedding, and a brand-new resource that can finally help you solve one of genealogy’s most perplexing questions."
Listen now...  69 minutes

Tech:

How to View Your Facebook Page as Someone Else:

How-to-Geek
"Facebook page can reveal a lot about you to anyone who visits. If your posts are Public, everyone can see whatever you share. There are ways to lock down your Facebook account, like making it harder for people to find or changing the privacy on all your old posts. But if you want to double-check what people can see, you can view your Facebook profile as someone else."
Continue reading...

How to Share Your iCloud Photos with Friends Who Don’t Use Apple Products:

How-to-Geek
"You’re busily sharing vacation photos in an iCloud Photo Stream when somebody announces they don’t have an iPhone and can’t participate. What do you do?"
Continue reading...

Education:

Why You Should Incorporate Periodicals into Your Genealogy Research:

Ancestral Findings
"On today’s episode, I’ll talk about what are periodicals, and how can they help you with your genealogy research? These are actually highly valuable and woefully underutilized tools you need."
Listen now... 8.09 minutes

VGS Latest News & Tips: 20 December 2016

Understanding What Is Meant By “Second Cousin Once Removed” And Similar Relationships:

Family Tree Tips
"A lot of people and myself included when they start researching don’t know the actual meaning of relationships like “Second Cousin Once Removed” or “Third Cousin Twice Removed” and only know the simple stuff like great grandfather, great great grandmother etc."
Continue reading...

AncestorSearch using Google Custom Search:

randymajors.com
"This tool helps you build a better Google search for finding web pages mentioning your ancestors. It returns a more focused set of search results by using advanced Google search techniques including exact phrases, forward and reverse name order, alternate name spellings, logical operators, and so on. Nothing magical, just a big time-saver!"
Continue reading...

The Genealogy Gems Podcast: Episode 198

Lisa Louise Cooke
"This episode’s got a bit of holiday sparkle! Lisa Louise Cooke welcomes Genealogy Gems Book Club author and Victorian lifestyle expert Sarah Chrisman to the show to talk about Victorian holiday traditions, some of which may still live on in your own life. Following that conversation, Lisa shares a fun description of Victorian-era scrapbooking: how it’s different than today’s scrapbooking hobby but also how it reminds her of modern social media."
Continue reading...

How Refrigeration Changed the United States:

Ancestry
"Refrigeration and air conditioning are conveniences that we mostly take for granted in modern buildings and houses. At least I certainly do, after living on the Gulf Coast of Florida for the greater part of my life. Although my ancestors have lived in this sub-tropical environment since the early 1900s, I can’t imagine going through the summer without it."
Continue reading...

UK History:

Ancestry

" Don't let your UK history go undiscovered. Download our research guide and learn 3 tips on discovering your UK ancestors.

Download guide...

Android Guide: Keeping Your Device Secure:

How-to-Geek
"Whenever you walk out your front door with your phone, you carry with you the contents of your life. “Security” may seem like a boring topic, but your phone has all kinds of important, personal, and sensitive information on it—even if you think it doesn’t. When it’s so easy to lose your mobile device or have it stolen, you have to ask yourself: why take chances when protecting your data is so simple?"
Continue reading...

This Day In History: 20 December

1802: The United States buys the Louisiana territory from France.
1933: The German government announces 400,000 citizens are to be sterilized because of hereditary defects.
1938: First electronic television system is patented.
1914 Birthday: Harry F. Byrd Jr., first independent ever elected to US Senate by a majority of the popular vote (Virginia).

State Timelines:

Even though it is hard to tell what made people move or disappear, these are just a few possibilities.
Mississippi:
1825: Vicksburg incorporated
1898: Gulfport incorporated
1907: Boll weevil attached cotton crop
1917: Payne Field established in West Point to train Army Pilots

VGS Latest News & Tips: 20 October 2016

Today: October 20, 2016

New England Genealogy SIG Meeting

Noon in the New Smyrna Room at the Sea Breeze Recreation Center
Topic: Webinar: "Get What You Came For" by Tom Kemp

Tomorrow: October 21, 2016

Scandinavian Genealogy SIG Meeting

10:00 AM in the Clearwater Room Sea Breeze Recreation Center
Topic: This month will be an open discussion. Bring your questions to help you get started with your Scandinavian research.

Genealogy News Episode 91:
Geneatopia
Topics:
New DNA Test Living DNA
FamilyTreeDNA Introduces Pedigree View
New Records at FamilySearch and more...
Continue reading...
Go directly to the podcast in a new window...
You can also download this podcast for listening convenience.

Editor's Note: I've been asked this question more than once... What's a podcast?
A podcast is a digital audio file made available on the Internet. It can be played directly from the website, or for downloading to a computer or portable media player, like your smartphone. They typically are available as a series with new installments received by subscribers automatically.

Civil War Signal Corps:
Fold3
"Both the Union and the Confederacy developed an army Signal Corps during the Civil War. The job of the Signal Corps in both the North and South was to quickly and accurately relay information and orders between the commanders of different units within the two forces (which was especially crucial during battles). The main way they did this was through the use of a flag system called wig-wag (not to be confused with semaphore), which was invented by Albert J. Meyer, an army surgeon, shortly before the war."
Continue reading...

Find A Grave Community Weekend Adds 211,655 New Photos:
Ancestry
"The third annual Find a Grave Community Weekend took place on October 7th through October 9th across the globe.  Thanks to the hundreds of volunteers across 175 cemeteries who:

• added 211,655 new photos
• fulfilled 8,232 photos requests
• added 203,448 new memorials"

Continue reading...

To the letter: Tracing The Footsteps Of A Victorian Postman:
Ancestry
"Born in Wollaston, a Northamptonshire shoe-making village in 1802, he’d settled in Leicester by the mid 1820s. Invariably he appears in the records as a shoemaker or, in his later years as a shoe warehouseman. His was a working life spent cutting leather, sewing uppers, nailing on soles ¬– one of thousands working in the boot and shoe industry for which Victorian Leicester was renowned.
It all seemed straightforward, until I spotted him in the 1851 census listed as a ‘Letter Deliverer’."
Continue reading...

Collection Spotlight: Matagorda County Texas School Records:
FamilySearch
"Most children, ages 4–5, in the United States attend free public schools beginning with preschool or kindergarten. While newer school records are not available to the public, some older public records created by schools are beginning to become available to researchers. Records kept by teachers may be found at historical societies or..."
Continue reading...

How to Stop Apple Pay from Opening on Your iPhone All the Time:
How-to-Geek
"If you don’t use Apple Pay, there’s no reason you should have to see it on your iPhone’s lock screen every time you accidentally double-click the Home button. Here’s how to turn that shortcut off, while still allowing access to Apple Pay when you need to."
Continue reading...

This Day In History: 20 October
1818: The United States and Britain establish the 49th Parallel as the boundary between Canada and the United States.
1903: The Joint Commission, set up on January 24 by Great Britain and the United States to arbitrate the disputed Alaskan boundary, rules in favor of the United States. The deciding vote is Britain’s, which embitters Canada. The United States gains ports on the panhandle coast of Alaska.
1924: Baseball’s first ‘colored World Series’ is held in Kansas City, Mo.
1931 Birthday: Mickey Mantle, baseball great who played for the New York Yankees

State Timelines:
Even though it is hard to tell what made people move or disappear, these are just a few possibilities.
Georgia:
1776: Became one of the 13 original colonies
1785-1820: Passports issued into Indian lands
1805: First land lottery when Creek Nation ceded land to United States

VGS Reminders: 3 - 7 October 2016

Today is October 1st...
It's Family History Month!

In 2001, Congress first passed a resolution introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who wrote, "By searching for our roots, we come closer together as a human family." Family history enthusiasts continue to celebrate Family History Month every October.

Wednesday: October 5, 2016

French Canadian Genealogy SIG Meeting:

9:00 AM in the Julio Iglesias Room at the La Hacienda Recreation Center

Thursday: October 6, 2016

Eastern European Genealogy SIG Meeting:

1:00 PM in the Daytona Room at the Sea Breeze Recreation Center

Friday: October 7, 2016

British Genealogy SIG Meeting

9:30 AM in the Courageous Room at the Lake Miona Recreation Center

The Genealogy Gems Podcast: Episode 195
Lisa Louise Cooke
"In this episode, I’m celebrating the 100th episode of another podcast I host: the Family Tree Magazine podcast. So I’ll flashback to one of my favorite interviews from that show, an inspiring get-in-shape conversation for your research skills: how you can strengthen your research muscles and tone those technology skills to find and share your family history."
More episode highlights:

• News on Chronicling America and Scotland’s People;
• Comments from guest expert Lisa Alzo on millions of Czech records that have recently come online;
• A YouTube-for-genealogy success story from a woman I met at a conference;
• An excerpt from the Genealogy Gems Book Club interview with Chris Cleave, author of Everyone Brave is Forgiven;
• Diahan Southard shares a DNA gem: the free website GEDmatch, which you might be ready for if you’ve done some DNA testing.

Listen to the Podcast...  60 minutes

Storyworth: Preserving Family History, One Story at a Time:
FamilySearch
“But Mom, when are you going to write your life story?” On several occasions, my youngest son has goaded me to record my own stories. “We really don’t know them—you really don’t talk about yourself much.” It is true?"
Continue reading...

Find A Grave Is the Closest Thing to Being There:
FamilySearch
"I admit that the first time I heard of Find A Grave, I imagined creepy, otherworldly creatures who were robbing cemeteries. I couldn’t fathom who would choose to spend time in a graveyard."
Continue reading...

How to Customize Windows 10’s Appearance:
How-to-Geek
"Windows 10 includes bunch of professionalization settings that let you change your desktop background, windows colors, lock screen background, and more. Here is what you need to know to get your computer looking exactly how you want it."
Continue reading...

Off the Cuffs: Ancestry Search Might Not Be Wise:
Cecil Whig
"The last society told Billy his limb of the Bibbs’ crooked family tree was filled with miscreants, lawbreakers, tax dodgers and no-account losers."
Continue reading...

This Day In History: 1 October
1847: Maria Mitchell, an American astronomer, discovers a comet and is elected the same day to the American Academy of Arts—the first woman to be so honored. The King of Denmark will award her a gold medal for her discovery.
1878: General Lew Wallace is sworn in as governor of New Mexico Territory. He goes on to deal with the Lincoln County War, Billy the Kid and write Ben-Hur. His Civil War heroics earned him the moniker Savior of Cincinnati.
1908: The Ford Model T, the first car for millions of Americans, hits the market. Over 15 million Model Ts are eventually sold, all of them black.
1837 Birthday: Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment during America’s Civil War.

State Timelines:
Even though it is hard to tell what made people move or disappear, these are just a few possibilities.
Delaware:
1856: Delaware Railroad made first trip to Dover
1861: Although a slave state, Delaware remained in the Union
1923: Broiler chicken industry began