DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog: September 2015

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

#30Waysin30Days SHARE A Memory LIGHTENING ROUND (17-30)

DearREADERS,
Since travels to visit Mr. Myrt's side of the family took Ol' Myrt here away from her computer, we're having to play catch-up. But no worries. Here's the line-up of previous posts with videos and a lightening round to bring us up to date with our #30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY series.

OTHER POSTS IN THIS SERIES

#30Waysin30Days to SHARE A MEMORY Intro

#30Waysin30Days to SHARE A MEMORY - JibJab

#30Waysin30Days to SHARE A MEMORY - Perpetual Family Calendar

#30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - Email is so 20th century

#30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - 3-Ring Binders

#30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - Tweaking that Google Calendar
We also added an Ancestor Calendar to our blog (no living people!)

#30Waysin30Days Blog Tweak - page tabs and layout

#30Waysin30Days - Share pics of THEIR parents

#30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY Respect for Country

THE LIGHTENING ROUND:
17. #30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - Make useful memorabilia
18. #30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY -Teach them the love of reading
19. #30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY -Make jam and tell them why
20. #30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - Tell them about Angels
21. #30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - Collecting rocks
22. #30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - Old Sea Captains
23. #30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - The importance of education
24. #30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - Save their photos, display them proudly
25. #30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - A chip off the old block
26. #30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - When their parents were little
27. #30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - The Old Homestead
28. #30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - Coffee table books
29. #30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - Trials of thumb sucking weren't just yours
30. #30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - Visit the ancestors' graves

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.

Blog: http://blog.DearMYRTLE.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DearMYRTLE
G+ DearMYRTLE Community
Twitter: @DearMYRTLE
Second Life: Clarise Beaumont
http://www.youtube.com/user/DearMYRTLE

Hangouts: Pay what you want. So it's simple. If you value the work Ol' Myrt, +Cousin Russ and our beloved panelists do week in and week out on your behalf, please:

Check the GeneaWebinars Calendar for exact dates of DearMYRTLE study groups and Hangouts on Air, in addition to over 200 hours of online genealogy classes, webinars and tweetchats from other hosts and presenters in the next 12 months.

IMAGE: www.GeneaWebinars.com

31 days a la Amy Johnson Crow

DearREADERS,
Looks like our friend Amy Johnson Crow has a genealogy research prompt for the month of October called 31 Days to Better Genealogy.

So instead of a major genealogy do-over, Amy will provide ideas each day in October to help you spruce up your methodolgy and make progress with family history research.

It's an email sign up, and the URL is www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/31days

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.

Blog: http://blog.DearMYRTLE.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DearMYRTLE
G+ DearMYRTLE Community
Twitter: @DearMYRTLE
Second Life: Clarise Beaumont
http://www.youtube.com/user/DearMYRTLE

Hangouts: Pay what you want. So it's simple. If you value the work Ol' Myrt, +Cousin Russ and our beloved panelists do week in and week out on your behalf, please:

IMAGE: www.GeneaWebinars.com

WACKY Wednesday: Tonight and Friday

DearREADERS,
We've got two WACKY Wednesday hangouts this week - one this evening and one on Friday. Can you have a WACKY Wednesday on Friday? Certainly! Both hangouts are designed to bring new information to light, just in time to help family historians get their jobs done. That last statement begs the rhetorical question: Are we ever done? I think not, but I digress.

Both hangouts will broadcast live at http://bit.ly/MyrtsNext as follows:

WACKY WEDNESDAY ONE
WACKY Wednesday - Fraternal Organizations, featuring +Jen Baldwin whose pet project is documenting fraternal organizations on her facebook group by the same name. Powerful #genealogy breakthroughs happen in our video hangouts. Tune to see which of DearMYRTLE's very distant cousins will visit to explore this topic in depth.
30 Sept 2015
9pm Eastern (New York)
8pm Central (Chicago)
7pm Mountain (Denver, Salt Lake City)
6pm Pacific (Los Angeles)
UTC-7 hours

WACKY WEDNESDAY TWO
WACKY Wednesday on Friday - HELP Files. Seems everyone is complaining about problems with websites and software, yet few realize HELP is already there. DearMYRTLE and Cousin Russ canvas a few resources about overcoming the technological challenges rather than just grousing about them.

2 Oct 2015
Noon Eastern US (New York)
11am Central US (Chicago)
10am Mountain US (Denver, Salt Lake City)
9am Pacific US (Los Angeles)
UTC-7 hours

If you need a time zone converter, here's one DearMYRTLE recommends:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

Archived videos are found at http://bit.ly/MyrtsPrevious

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.

Blog: http://blog.DearMYRTLE.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DearMYRTLE
G+ DearMYRTLE Community
Twitter: @DearMYRTLE
Second Life: Clarise Beaumont
http://www.youtube.com/user/DearMYRTLE

Hangouts: Pay what you want. So it's simple. If you value the work Ol' Myrt, +Cousin Russ and our beloved panelists do week in and week out on your behalf, please:

IMAGE: www.GeneaWebinars.com

NGS 2016: Footprints in Time

DearREADERS,
WOW, the National Genealogical Society is getting spunky and techie in promoting the 2016 NGS Family History Conference. Check out this YouTube video featuring Angie Bush, Elizabeth Shown Mills and Thomas W. Jones. Even the music is compelling. Way to go NGS - on to Ft. Lauderdale!

Exploring the Centuries: Footprints in Time
NGS 2016 Family History Conference

4-7 May 2016
1950 Eisenhower Blvd
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

"The NGS 2016 Family History Conference will find genealogists from around the country gathering in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 4–7 May 2016 for a four-day conference with more than 150 lectures on a wide range of topics. Topics like federal records, the law and genealogy, methodology, analysis and problem solving, military and land records, DNA, BCG Skillbuilding, and the use of technology. Among the local topics planned are Florida and Caribbean research. Registration for the conference and all related events opens on 1 December 2015." Source: http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.

Blog: http://blog.DearMYRTLE.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DearMYRTLE
G+ DearMYRTLE Community
Twitter: @DearMYRTLE
Second Life: Clarise Beaumont
http://www.youtube.com/user/DearMYRTLE

Hangouts: Pay what you want. So it's simple. If you value the work Ol' Myrt, +Cousin Russ and our beloved panelists do week in and week out on your behalf, please:

IMAGE: www.GeneaWebinars.com

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Curious about Fraternal Organizations?

DearREADERS,

Tune in to this week's WACKY Wednesday featuring one of our favorite NextGeners Jen Baldwin. She's been collecting info on secret societies, retired military organizations and such for years. I'm sure one of my very distant cousins will thoroughly enjoy hosting this hangout. Before Mr. Myrt takes me for dinner, I'll be sure to remind my cousin that congratulations are in order. Jen was just appointed FindMyPast.com's Data Licensing Manager for North America.

Sure, you can watch the video feed right here, or catch the archived video on DearMYRTLE's YouTube Channel embedded below, but it's much better to JOIN the DearMYRTLE G+ Community to watch and comment on WACKY Wednesday -Fraternal Organizations. That's where we will be posting all comments and links!

WHERE: http://bit.ly/MyrtsNext

WHEN:

9pm Eastern (New York)

8pm Central (Chicago)

7pm Mountain (Denver, Salt Lake City)

6pm Pacific (Los Angeles)

UTC-7 hours

If you need a time zone converter, this is the one Ol' Myrt uses:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

IMAGE: www.GeneaWebinars.com

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Online educational opportunities this week

DearREADERS,
Thanks to the centralized calendar at GeneaWebinars.com, genealogists interested in learning more about our craft may register for these online seminars coming up this week. Be sure to verify the time in your neck of the woods. If you need a time zone converter see: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

This centralized calendar provides information about how to attend genealogy-related online meetings, classes, hangouts, seminars and webinars, where there is a visual slide share and/or website or software demo for attendees to view.

Hosts may use a variety of platforms including Adobe Connect, AnyMeeting, Captera, Google Hangouts on Air, GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, Live Meeting, Skype, Second Life, Web-Ex, and Wiggio, to name a few.

There are currently over 40 hosts with posting access to this calendar and blog, and over 200 hours of scheduled instruction for genealogists wishing to hone their research skills during the coming year.

AMAZING!

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.

Blog: http://blog.DearMYRTLE.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DearMYRTLE
Hangouts: http://bit.ly/MyrtsNext
Twitter: @DearMYRTLE
G+: +Pat Richley-Erickson
Second Life: Clarise Beaumont
http://www.youtube.com/user/DearMYRTLE

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

ANNOUNCING: Tonight's WACKY Wednesday - FS Indexing

DearREADERS,
Powerful #genealogy breakthroughs happen during our video hangouts. Come on over to see which of DearMYRTLE's very distant cousins will visit to explore the FamilySearch Indexing software *live* during tonight's hangout.

Sure you can watch this WACKY Wednesday video stream here, but it's more fun to head on over to DearMYRTLE's Google+ Community where you may view AND comment before, during and after the live hangout.

WHERE in DearMYRTLE's Google+ Community?
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/102461242403735457058/+DearmyrtlePage/posts/4q9fJNr5a2o

WHEN
9pm Eastern (New York)
8pm Central (Chicago)
7pm Mountain (Denver, Salt Lake City)
6pm Pacific (Los Angeles)
UTC-7 hours

If you need a time zone converter, this is the one Ol' Myrt uses:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

FEE
This DearMYRTLE Hangout on Air is presented at no cost. If you find the information useful, consider the Pay What You Want business model Ol' Myrt employs:
http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/2015/03/hangouts-pay-what-you-want.html

VIEW and post COMMENTS before, during and after the Hangout on Air here:
http://bit.ly/MyrtsNext

We open the "green room" 15 minutes early if you'd like to test out your microphone and webcam. Consider JOINing the panel when we "scramble" to mix up the conversation a bit with new panelists

RECORDED VERSION
If you miss the live events, catch the archived version at your convenience:
http://bit.ly/MyrtsPrevious

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.

Blog: http://blog.DearMYRTLE.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DearMYRTLE
G+ DearMYRTLE Community
Twitter: @DearMYRTLE
Second Life: Clarise Beaumont
http://www.youtube.com/user/DearMYRTLE

Hangouts: Pay what you want. So it's simple. If you value the work Ol' Myrt, +Cousin Russ and our beloved panelists do week in and week out on your behalf, please:

IMAGE: www.GeneaWebinars.com

#30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - RootsTech Style

DearREADERS,
Just a few minutes ago, our friends at FamilySearch published "Be a Part of RootsTech—Submit your Family Memories!" by Chad K, Schumacher. The idea is to upload a video or pictures to be considered for the opening segment of the 2016 RootsTech Conference. And one entry will win a full pass to the conference itself.

During today's video, Ol' Myrt shows you what the screen looks like to submit your video. The link is found in the blog post here:
https://familysearch.org/blog/en/part-rootstech-submit-family-memories

The next #30Waysin30Days segment will show you what it looks like when uploading a video to your YouTube channel.

OTHER POSTS IN THIS SERIES

IMAGE: www.GeneaWebinars.com

Google+ for shared interest groups

DearREADERS,
Facebook or Google+ are two different resources for family historians. Say what you will, my DearREADERS. Google+ is here to stay. In fact, Google is planning enhancements designed for focused interest groups, like our DearMYRTLE Genealogy Community, where substantive content can be shared, rather than lost 'in the stream' so to speak.

From Google's Bradly Horowitz, Vice President of Streams, Photos, and Sharing:

"A more focused Google+ experience Google+ is quickly becoming a place where people engage around their shared interests, with the content and people who inspire them. In line with that focus, we’re continuing to add new features like Google+ Collections, where you can share and enjoy posts organized by the topics you care about." Source: Bradly Horowitz, "Everything in it's right place," Google Official Blog 27 June 2015, (http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/everything-in-its-right-place.html : viewed 23 Sept 2015.)

IMAGE: www.GeneaWebinars.com

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

#30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY Can this desk speak?

DearREADERS,
Perhaps you are fortunate to have inherited a few heirlooms like Mr. Myrt. This is his "Nanna's Desk." Now, to my grandchildren, they know it as Nanna's desk, but they don't know it doesn't descend through my side of the family.

Mr. Myrt is their step-grandfather, and this heirloom comes to him from his maternal grandmother Anna Louise Halverson born 9 Sept 1883 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois and died 14 July 1969 in Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa. On 2 May 1908 in Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa, she married Ole Jurgen Sogge, who was born Jun 1876 in Christiansund, Norway and died 25 July 1925 in Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa at the young age of 49. I've written about him before in my post titled Ole J. Sogge, 1st SD Volunteer Infantry.

IMAGE: "Nana's Desk" from the author's personal collection.

Though now the desk graces a spot in our front parlor, it was once the work space of a business-savvy widow. View this short video to find out more. These are the types of memories we need to hand down through the generations. In particular keep an eye out for what I learned about an circa 1920s white porcelain door knob I found in the desk this afternoon along with Ole's pocket knife.

OTHER POSTS IN THIS SERIES

IMAGE: www.GeneaWebinars.com

#30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - Create a Facebook Group

DearREADERS,
After a brief hiatus, we return with another suggestion for sharing family memories. Facebook is arguably the largest social media space, so why not create a Facebook Group for your family to share memories about family members?

Remember you are going to set up a GROUP not a PAGE, to more readily encourage posts from your group members.

TYPES OF Facebook groups:

Ol' Myrt here has her genealogy group on Facebook for my DearREADERS. It is public, but any posts must be approved by admins, to keep the spammers out.
We have a private Orcas Island Family Group - where we post all important communication before during and after a family retreat. This has proved more reliable than text messages and email. We know which ferry to meet on, and where to gather for dinner.
We planned a week of family meals when on retreat to my sister's Timberlake cabin in the woods in a private, family members-only, Facebook group.

It is Geni.com's image OR Mellin Patch Quilt's image?

DearREADERS,
At 3:09pm today, the genealogy website Geni.com shared a public social media post on Google+ with an image from someone else's website without URL or attribution for the quilter in question. This bugs Ol' Myrt here as a quilter and as a genealogist.


IMAGE: Geni.com's Google+ post.

With this post, Geni.com has provided a dead-end for the viewer. An image. That's it. Oh, yes, there is the notation:

(IMAGE: Mellin Patch Quilts)

To my mind this isn't enough.

How about the link to the location of the quilt photos?
Doesn't the quilter own the copyright to the quilt design and the image?
Doesn't Geni.com benefit by booting interest in it's own site when posting someone else's colorful family tree image in Genie.com's social media streams?
If that image is ~~painstakingly~~ created by someone else, isn't that a bit unfair?
Without providing a true spotlight of that quilter's work by including a clickable URL, isn't Geni.com promoting "quick" clicks without thinking of the other site's legal or at the very least moral rights to the image?

By the way, if you do a web search for Mellin Patch Quilts you find so much more that Geni.com could have blogged about. It could have been a win-win.

www.MellinPatchQuilts.com
Jody Mellin of Casper, Wyoming displays her quilts online here.
The page with the family tree quilt in question includes three closeups of the quilt, and the heartfelt story behind the quilt's creation.
Jody offers custom hand-quilting services.

CONSIDERATIONS
It isn't evident whether Geni.com has permission to use the quilt image since the Google+ post doesn't include that information.

If Genie.com had included the URL to http://www.mellinpatchquilts.com, or better yet, actually created a blog post about Jody's cool quilt, don't you think this might attract new business to Jody?

I think playing together nicely in the genealogy sandbox takes into account spotlighting the good work others are doing. I'm not sure Geni.com's social media person quite inderstands that concept. It's all about networking, isn't it? Win-wins, not one-sided benefit equations.

(Stepping down off my soapbox now.)

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.

Blog: http://blog.DearMYRTLE.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DearMYRTLE
G+ DearMYRTLE Community
Twitter: @DearMYRTLE
Second Life: Clarise Beaumont
http://www.youtube.com/user/DearMYRTLE

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Hone research skills by attending these online events

Saturday, September 19, 2015

How to add a "Follow on Feedly" button to your blog

DearREADERS,
Folks who watch Mondays with Myrt know that +Cousin Russ and I use Feedly to pull all our favorite blogs into one location for easy reading. With Feedly.com we don't have to click here there and everywhere all over the net to see what's trending in the world of genealogy. There's even a Feedly app for our tablets and smart phones.

Adding the "Follow on Feedly" button to your blog is a service to your readers and ensures they won't miss a single one of your posts.

Here's how I installed that bright green "Follow on feedly" button shown above:

Go to http://feedly.com/factory.html

Complete the three steps illustrated at left, namely:

-- STEP 1: Select your button design There are also directions for creating your own button.

-- STEP 2: Insert your feed URL
Feedly explains how to find your feed URL.

-- STEP 3: Copy and embed the HTML code snippetThis page automatically generates the code.

The site explains how to add your button to your blog:
-- In Wordpress, add your button as a widget (Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets)

-- In Tumblr, add your button as a custom HTML (Customize > Theme > Use Custom HTML > insert under < div id="sidebar">)

-- In Blogger, add your button as a gadget (Dashboard > Design > Add a gadget > HTML/JavaScript)

I guess today is my day for sharing technology ideas, eh?

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.

Blog: http://blog.DearMYRTLE.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DearMYRTLE
G+ DearMYRTLE Community
Twitter: @DearMYRTLE
Second Life: Clarise Beaumont
http://www.youtube.com/user/DearMYRTLE

Hangouts: Pay what you want. So it's simple. If you value the work Ol' Myrt, +Cousin Russ and our beloved panelists do week in and week out on your behalf, please:

IMAGE: www.GeneaWebinars.com

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Wednesday, September 30, 2015

#30Waysin30Days SHARE A Memory LIGHTENING ROUND (17-30)

31 days a la Amy Johnson Crow

WACKY Wednesday: Tonight and Friday

NGS 2016: Footprints in Time

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Curious about Fraternal Organizations?

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Online educational opportunities this week

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

ANNOUNCING: Tonight's WACKY Wednesday - FS Indexing

#30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - RootsTech Style

Google+ for shared interest groups

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

#30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY Can this desk speak?

#30Waysin30Days SHARE A MEMORY - Create a Facebook Group

It is Geni.com's image OR Mellin Patch Quilt's image?

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Hone research skills by attending these online events

Saturday, September 19, 2015

How to add a "Follow on Feedly" button to your blog