Let's get ready to go back to school - family history school! And I've got some exciting new to tell you about!

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode #139 brought to you by two times Grandma Lisa Louise Cooke.  Yes, indeed my second little Grandson was born on August 15, 2012 about 2 ½ weeks early, and he and his mommy my daughter Vienna are doing marvelously. His name is Joseph, and we’ll all be calling him Joey which I absolutely adore, and even better his middle name is Cooke.

Life is good, and being a Sha Sha as Davy calls me is heaven on earth that’s for sure.

Genealogy News:

This month Ancestry announced that it has completed the records indexing process for the 1940 U.S. Federal Census, which you can find at www.ancestry.com/1940census.

Since the initial release of the 1940 U.S. Census by the National Archives in April, Ancestry.com has progressively published information state by state.  But now, no longer will you have to look up enumeration districts.  Now all 134 million records are now searchable for free by name, date, place of birth and other key information recorded in the census.

You’ll also be able to make corrections or update information that is incomplete, leading to a better overall database of information.

Assisting you with navigating the 1940 U.S. Census is Ancestry.com’s Interactive Image Viewer, which enables users to browse document pages with simple graphical overlays. The viewer adds highlights, transcriptions and other functionality directly on the Census page. This enables users to access small census fields by scrolling over them and getting a pop up that magnifies the information that was recorded by census takers.

In the 1940 census you find information on whether your ancestor’s owned or rented their home, the value of the residence and how many people lived there. For the first time, census takers in 1940 also asked questions specific to income and education. And you may be surprised what you will not find, like details on military service, whether they could read or write, and whether they spoke English which were all questions that were asked in prior censuses.

You will find the 1940 census in its entirety at www.ancestry.com/1940census

FamilySearch Volunteer Opportunity: US Immigration & Naturalization Genealogy Project
FamilySearch also has indexed the 1940 Census with the help of more than 160,000 volunteers, and they are launching a new volunteer opportunity. Now they are turning their attention to the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Community Project, an indexing effort to make passenger lists, naturalization records, and other immigration related records freely searchable online. Hundreds of thousands of North American volunteers are expected to contribute over the next 18-24 months, focusing initially on passenger lists from the major US ports. If you of your genealogy society wants to pitch in you can visit familysearch.org/immigration for all the details.

Read more about it: Indexing Volunteers Invited by FamilySearch to Join new US Immigration and Naturalization Community Genealogy Project

Bids to Buy Ancestry Reported by Reuters to be Lower than Hoped

 

In my last Premium podcast, I mentioned that Chronicling America, the Library of Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov Congress’ historical newspaper website, sent out a newsletter on using Civil War maps printed in the New York Daily Tribune. I just have to share more on this with everyone!

 

Civil War Maps for Genealogy Available in Online Newspapers

And finally, here’s something fun from George Mason’s University’s History News Network website:

If you have teens in your family then chances are you have heard the phrase OMG which stands for oh my God. But have you ever wondered who started it? You may have thought it was Alicia Silverstone in the 1995 movie Clueless, but actually you have to dig much further back in history to find its origins. All the way back to 1917 in fact.  Read the rest of the story

In Google Books:

MAILBOX:

Amy in Santa Rosa, CA posted the following question on the Genealogy Gems Facebook Fan page:
"On your podcast, I hear you recommend Roots Magic for genealogy software, but I have a Mac and as far as I can tell, it only works with PCs. I thought at one point you mentioned you were starting to use a Mac, so I'm wondering if you use different software on the Mac or if you use a PC for your genealogy software. I used to use Family Tree Maker before my PC crashed, but thought I'd do some research before buying software for the new Mac …Just thought I'd get your opinion, since I value your expertise on the podcast. It is probably just as well that my PC crashed because I never did any source citations (didn't know about it when I started genealogy and now it just scares me!), so I'll be learning how to do that as I add names back in..."

Lisa’s Answer:
While I use both Mac and PC, I only do genealogy on the PC which I prefer. I did publish a series of segments on comparing genealogy programs for the Mac starting with Genealogy Gems Podcast episode 51. Go to www.genealogygems.com and click PODCAST in the menu to get to them.

Amy has one more question:
"Do I include the grandpa I grew up knowing on my family tree or the biological grandfather. I'm inclined to include the biological one, that feels right. How do others in this situation do it? Wouldn't it be "blood" lines, not "fake" lines? My father really wants to know about his biological father, whom sadly never knew he existed. He died in a VA hospital, would that be a good place to contact for information? I have his birth and death certificates and his mother's death certificate. The only people I know anything at all about in that family are my biological grandfather and his parents."

Lisa’s Answer:
In regards to your other question, I'm afraid you may not have much luck with the VA hospital. Hospitals are notorious for closed records, although in my interview with author Steve Luxenberg, he talked in episodes 120  and episode 121 about how he worked around some of those challenges.

Stick to proven genealogy methodology to find out more about him. Start with his death and move backward in time. I would look for a newspaper obituary, census records (if he was alive prior to 1940), general ancestry.com searches, and military records.

As for the family tree in your database, adoptive parents are just like step parents (which are included on our trees) and can, and I believe should, be included.

RootsMagic forum explaining how many users have accomplished this. It's perfectly ok to have 2 sets of parents because that was the reality of the situation. And it only seems right as adoptive parents do the actual parenting. I can't imagine leaving them out. I hope that helps. Good luck and thanks for listening to the podcast!

Brandt has a question about place names
"In going through some of my records, I've come across a few where the records were created here in the States, but name places back in Europe or elsewhere. The place names are often spelled phonetically, and sometimes I can't figure out what they were trying to say even with a Google search. Do you have any tips on figuring out how to find misspelled foreign place names"

Lisa’s Answer:
Gazetteers are always great resources, but when I'm really stuck I often (not surprisingly) turn to Google.  Type the location name (to the best of  your knowledge) and run a search.  Google will do it's best to suggest the closest matches to names it can find.  It's even better if you can include an additional key word or two to help Google narrow it down.  So if the place name is a village in Germany, type the village name in, and add the keyword Germany.  If you have a surname associate with it you could even try adding that as perhaps there are people today in the location with that surname.  With a few tries you might just get the answer.  And consider running the search in Google Earth since it is geographic in nature.  It's the same Google Search engine.

Ricky in Alabama also has two questions
"I'm still working my way through your genealogy gems podcasts. One thing I'm curious about. I have gone to a library and found obituaries on microfilm. I print the image, then scan it when I get home. So it saves as a .jpg.

When I save it to my database (FTM right now but I just got roots magic5) it saves just like a photo. Should I create a word document and insert the image making it a document? Same for death certificates I've saved from microfilm."

Lisa’s Answer:
I just save them as jpeg, and make a note in the source citation in RootsMagic. No point in creating extra work. If you want more detail attached to the image, consider going into your computer files and adding data into the Properties of the image.

On    On the PC:
 1.    Open Windows Explorer and locate the image on your hard drive

         2.    Right click on the image

         3.    Select Properties

         4.    Click the DETAILS tab

         5.    Enter keyword tags and details about the image

To keep jpegs and other files organized and coordinated with your genealogy database, check out the Hard Drive Organization video series that is part of Premium Membership.

Ricky’s second questions:
"I was listening to an older Genealogy Gems podcast recently, and I heard mention of the web site Random Act of Genealogy Kindness…is this site back online. If not, are there any sites similar to it??"

Lisa’s Answer:
With Social Networking sites so abundant now, my first stop would be Facebook. Many genealogists befriend genealogists around the country and put out a request when looking for help. And you can search for friends by location. 

If you're not active on Facebook, I would recommend going to the www.usgenweb.org  and going to the state and then county website for the county where you need the help.  Many county sites have LookUp help and ways to connect with those in the area who can be of help.  And of course if you are looking for help with obtaining a photograph of a grave, try www.findagrave.com  or www.billiongraves.com

This time of year everyone is heading back to school, and it’s a good reminder that not only could we benefit from continuing to pursue our own genealogical education, but in an effort to foster an appreciate for our family history and ensure its survival we really need to be educating the children in our families about family history, what it means, why it matters and even how to learn more about it on their own. 

Earlier this year at the National Genealogical Society conference that was held in Cincinnati, Ohio a young mom approached me and told me she just published some books on how to teach your children about genealogy.  And this wasn’t just a book but rather a curriculum.

Branching Out Curriculum by Jennifer Holik

Branching Out: Genealogy for High School Students Lessons 1-15 (Volume 1)

Branching Out: Genealogy for 4th - 8th Grade Students Lesson 1-15 (Volume 1)

Branching Out: Genealogy for 1st - 3rd Grade Students Lessons 1 - 15: Lessons 1-15 (Volume 1)

Engaging the Next Generation: A Guide for Genealogy Societies and Libraries

If you’re not quite ready to jump into a curriculum, maybe you’re just not sure that your kids could actually really get interested you’ve got to check out the Chart Chick blog by my friend Janet Hovorka.  Janet has been sharing her personal genealogy journey with her kids, and she calls it like it is. You’ll be inspired and entertained and you’ll pick up some great gems along the way for working with kids on family history . 

Learn more about getting your kids involved in genealogy at the The ChartChick Blog: http://thechartchick.blogspot.com/

Fall Virtual Conference

A “virtual” conference is an online event which you can attend from the comfort of your own home. If you haven’t attended one before the upcoming Fall Virtual Conference presented by Family Tree University September 14-16, 2012 is a great opportunity to get involved. It’s your chance to head back to school this Fall, gaining new research strategies, and brushing up on proven genealogical research techniques. Click here to Register and enter the coupon cod:  FRIENDSOFLISACOOKE

 

Google Earth for Genealogy video series on CD.

Read my Family Tree Magazine Facebook Interview: http://www.familytreeuniversity.com/qa-lisa-louise-cooke

Exciting New Book

Turn Your iPad into a Genealogy Powerhouse
by Lisa Louise Cooke
Available at the Genealogy Gems Store - http://lisalouisecooke.com/lisa-louise-cookes-store

Here's a Preview:

In the last episode we took a big bite of food family history, and in today’s episode I’ve got part 2 of my interview with Gena Philibert Ortega, author of From the Family Kitchen: Discover your Food Heritage and Preserve Favorite Recipes.

MAILBOX:

From Alvie in Lakeland Florida: “Would it be possible to share the recipe for the cookie - was it a sour cream cookie?  The one your husband loves.  My wife loves to bake cookies to share and she has all sorts of recipes and folks rave about her cookies.”

Lisa’s Answer: You'll find the sour cream cookie recipe that I talked about in the interview at the bottom of a blog post that I did a while back called “Family History Never Tasted So Good”  You’ll see a picture there of my husband with his Nanna, and at the bottom of the post just click the image of the cook book page and it will be large enough to read the recipe. http://lisalouisecooke.com/?s=sour+cream

From Tina: “I've just been watching your video about the Toast-tite.  I remember we had something similar (although it wasn't called a Toast-tite) when I was growing up in Brazil - except that it was square (kind of makes more sense when the bread is square ...) and it made simply the best toasted cheese sandwiches ever! And when I went back to Brazil in the mid-1980s, you could STILL buy them!  I wish I still had one - they were far better than the electric toasted sandwich maker that I bought later on ... I love foodie memories!” 

From Laurie in Ridgefield, WA: “I want to share with you a craft project that I created for my two grown sons.  I didn’t realize at the time that what I created fit into the topic you have discussed about how to get the family involved in history.  At the time I not even created a family tree yet! 

As I am sure you are aware we pass down recipes within a family and as it grows and moves away those tastes of “home” are often missed. It could be Grandmas bread baking or an aunts cookies. Memories etched deep in our senses.  Both of my boys have called me from the grocery store to ask how to cook a favorite dish. This got me to thinking close to the holidays about a homemade cook book filled with family favorites.  I scoured the old copy of the church fund raiser, a cookbook my mother in law submitted recipes too. 

Digging up more favorites from my recipe box and contacting family members asking them for a favorite recipe along with any story that went with it.  I then purchased blank cookbooks in a binder style.  Transcribed onto the computer as documents printed to PDF, each recipe has its own page that lists the person’s name and any story & tips. 

This gift turned out to be the highlight of the day and they poured over it and then I heard them talking about the food and memories.  Now, my boys tell me when I cook something new and very good… that’s one for the book.  It has turned out to not be just a book on a shelf but one they use often.”

From Carol in Flagstaff, AZ: “I have several interesting cookbooks pertaining to my history. One is a Joy of Cooking, published during WWII, which includes a section on meal planning during rationing. The other is from a Norwegian heritage society in Seattle…What would be good ways to share this information with other Family Historians?  (I could scan portions of the books.)”

Lisa’s Answer: Be sure to check the copyright of the old cook books you have. Do a Google Search on “copyright guidelines” for more information.  I think a great way to share them would be to blog about them.  And if you want a quick and easy way to start blogging for free watch my How to Blog Your Family History Videos at the Genealogy Gems YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/genealogygems

Blogging is not only a great way to share with your family and friends, but your articles will be searchable by Google which means other folks out there who are interested in the same things can find your blog and comment. And chances are you could possibly use brief excerpts of the books in an editorial fashion in a blog, but again just read through some of the copyright guidelines available online.

You could also create a book where you share the original recipe, then include “your take” on the recipe, and include photos of you making the dish and old family photos that tie in.  I have a series of Premium Podcast Episodes with videos that show you how to use print on demand services to create your book quickly and easily online, and affordably. The beauty of print on demand is that you only pay for exactly the number of books you want.  There’s no minimum order number. And if your family and friends want a copy than can buy it right from the website rather than you having to be the middle man, which is especially nice for folks who live across the country from you.

From Sean: “I enjoyed that episode and it got me thinking of our cookbooks.  I've got a recipe box that came to us via my wife's grandmother that I'll be taking a closer look at this weekend.  As for me, my first cookbook was a copy of The Joy of Cooking that my parents bought me when I first left for college.  Although as the family chef I haven't made a lot of markings in it yet, we have pressed many leaves and flowers between its pages (within wax paper between the book's pages).  Several of the leaves and flowers are still there, but now with our 20th wedding anniversary tomorrow, I'm going to take some time with Jennifer to see if we can identify where and when those artifacts were saved.”

Lisa’s Answer: I think it would be great if you starting making notes in the margins – like that a recipe is someone’s favorite dish, or the first time you make it – I think we could all do some of that to share a little more with our descendants.

 

 

GEM: Culinary Family History with Gena Philibert Ortega Part 2

In this gem I’m going to welcome you back to the warmest room in the home, the kitchen. Here amongst the pots and pans we are going to meet back up with my friend Gena Philibert Ortega, author of the book From the Family Kitchen: Discover your Food Heritage and Preserve Favorite Recipes. In the last episode #137 we talked old cookbooks, where to find them, and what they can tell us about our family history. In the final part of this interview I get to turn the table on Gena a bit and ask her some food family history questions that she encourages her readers to ask in their families. 

 

When you click this link to buy Gena’s book you are helping to financially support the free Genealogy Gems Podcast at no additional cost to you, and you'll save money. Thank you!  Family Tree $10 Off Purchase at Shop Family Tree. Use coupon code FAMILY1050 during checkout. Expires 07/31/2013.  

Watch the Companion Interview Video at the Genealogy Gems YouTube Channel

Please be sure to click the SUBSCRIBE button while you are there!

 

BONUS VIDEO:  Gena and I hit the kitchen to make a blast from the past.  Watch the video at the Genealogy Gems YouTube channel.  Be sure and leave a comment, "Like" the video, and pass it along to your friends!

Genealogy Gems App users will find the video in the BONUS CONTENT for this episode.

 

Cool Cooking iPad Apps (click images below:)

 

      

I really hope you’ve enjoyed this look at family history and food, and that it’s inspired you to rummage through the back of the cupboards, and ask around the family for those recipes, cookbooks, memories and even old cooking utensils so that you can bring your family’s culinary history back to the forefront and preserve it like a Ball jar of good peaches.

And one last little gem for you: If you enjoy reminiscing about the food of days gone by I want to recommend a video series to you that I have enjoyed for years. It’s called Clara Cooks and I’ve added a few of my favorite episodes to my Food and Family History Playlist at the Genealogy Gems YouTube channel. Just go to www.youtube.com/genealogygems and scroll down and you’ll find the playlist in the column on the right.  And there you’ll also find my video interview Gena and our little cooking in the Cooke kitchen segment.  Bon Appetit!

GEM: Getting the Scoop from the Genealogy Gems Facebook Fan Page

From Kat on Facebook: “Love Genealogy Gems :) I just listened to the podcast that was talking about adding pages to your news feed up in the like button option. I am not convinced that your feed stays visible with just saying show in the news feed since Facebook is constantly changing things.

Another tip for seeing pages on Facebook: On the home page of your news feed, on the far left column you will see pages and groups that you recently visited. If you hover your mouse over that address a little edit icon pops up and then you can add that page or group to your favorites. These favorites stay pinned to your left column and when people make comments or the page updates a little number shows up next to the page link. I hope this helps someone here :)”

Join us at the Genealogy Gems page at Facebook:www.facebook.com/genealogygems