Frugal Genealogy: Photos

 Wishing you had a photo of your ancestor, her home, or her tombstone? Check out both FindAGrave and Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK). Both sites have volunteers that will offer to take photographs; FindAGrave volunteers are limited to tombstone photos only. However, see if FindAGrave already has a memorial page for your ancestor. The above photo is of Martha Susan (DEADMOND) WILBOURN, my husband's 3rd-great-grandmother, which I found on a memorial page for her after casually clicking on the "Find all Wilbourns in Chico Cemetery" link while viewing her daughter's memorial page that my sister-in-law created. We had no idea that Martha had immigrated from Texas to California to be near her children after she was widowed, and we certainly had no idea this photograph existed!

Volunteers at RAOGK have also taken tombstone photos for me, and one of my volunteer acts for the site has included taking photos of homes in the Spokane area in which requesters' ancestors lived.  Be gracious and make sure to thank the volunteer who filled your request, and pay it forward by becoming a volunteer yourself!


This post is part of a ten-part series on Frugal Genealogy, based on my most-requested presentation, "Frugal Genealogy, or How Not to Spend a Fortune on Your Family Tree." Each post in this series will focus on one of ten topics I discuss in my presentation, and I freely share one tip from each topic. If you would like me to speak to your group anywhere in the Pacific Northwest on this or any other subject, please contact me.

Madness Monday: Update to James W. BARBER in the 1910 U.S. Federal Census

When I wrote my Madness Monday post two weeks ago on the enumeration of James W. BARBER in the 1910 U.S. Federal Census, I had a reader, Kathy Nitsch, send me some information that corrected and clarified what I had written in that post. In it, I had written, "...James was renting the farm and listed as an employee..." On the census sheet, James has "Emp" listed in column 20. Using Google, I looked up the list of abbreviations for the 1910 census, and on several sites I found, "Emp" was listed as standing for "employee." However, Kathy referred me to a website that had the enumerator instructions for the censuses from 1850 through 1950 listed, which is a very useful resources (one worth bookmarking!). The instructions for the 1910 U.S. Federal Census very clearly state:

Column 20. Whether employer, employee, or working on own account.—For one employing persons, other than domestic servants, in transacting his own business, write "Emp" (for employer). For a person who works for wages or a salary, write "W" (for wage earner). For a gainful worker who is neither an employer nor an employee, write "OA" (for own account). For all persons returned as having no occupation, leave the column blank.— 

Further explanation states "Employer.—An employee is one who employs helpers, other than domestic servants, in transacting his own business."

So it appears that James had hired help to assist him on the farm, a farm he rented, probably because he was too crippled to do a lot of the work himself. As Kathy pointed out, it probably wasn't very profitable to farm a rented farm with a hired worker, and it's likely that James gave up the farm after harvest to live with one of his sons in Lansing by year's end.

I also wrote:

I could obtain the microfilmed copy of the agricultural census taken that year and the farm schedule number would help me locate the farm he was renting. It would give me information on how successful this farm was; what crops were raised, what the harvest had been, how many acres, etc.

Kathy informed me that the 1900 and the 1910 Agricultural Censuses were destroyed by an Act of Congress, so I actually will not be able to find census data on this particular farm for 1910.

The last thing mentioned was a question: Was James BARBER's neighbor, Chancey STREETER, an in-law of James and Elizabeth's daughter, Lavinia (BARBER) STREETER? I actually remember looking at Chancey's name and wondering why it looked familiar! I did some initial checking of the Michigan vital records at FamilySearch Record search and discovered that Chauncey was the son of William and Catherine STREETER who had come from New York, whereas Lavinia's husband Everett was born in Ohio. If there is a connection, it is further back and it's likely that this is just a coincidence.

So what have I learned from this? One, there is always more to learn about a resource about which we might think we are very knowledgable or one in which we have a lot of experience. Also, always check the neighbors, as they may turn out to be relatives. Third, pay attention to those niggling thoughts: I should have noticed that the STREETER name was a possible connection, even though it's very likely that it's not. And most importantly, blog about or somehow share your brickwall ancestors with others; they will have an objective viewpoint and may notice details you've missed. Reach out to others to help you solve these cases!

Next week, we'll look at James's enumeration in the 1900 U.S. Federal Census.

This Madness Monday series featuring my brickwall ancestor, James W. BARBER (1841 - 1912) has been written to highlight and analyze all records of this individual with the hope that I can eventually uncover information that will lead to his specific birthplace and the names of his parents and any siblings he may have had. Other posts on this topic include:

The Death Certificate of James W. BARBER

Madness Monday Post Delayed

Update on James W. BARBER's Death Certificate

The Obituary of James W. BARBER
Cemetery Records of James W. BARBER
James W. BARBER in the 1910 U.S. Federal Census
The Death Notice of James W. BARBER's son, Orlando

GeneaBlogger 2010 Winter Games

In the Summer of 2008, AnceStories hosted the opening ceremonies of the GeneaBlogger 2008 Summer Games. Genealogy bloggers were encouraged to enter the games and compete to the high standards of blogging, research, and citation. Readers and other bloggers who were too busy to participate in the events became our cheering spectators, as 35 bloggers representing three nations and a diversity of heritages and cultures competed to earn medals designed by the talented footnoteMaven. The GeneaBlogger Games corresponded with the 2008 Summer Olympics, and in the same vein, the upcoming GeneaBlogger 2010 Winter Games will correspond with the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  Be looking for more posts explaining the games, plus the opening ceremonies on February 12th at the GeneaBloggers website!

52 Weeks of Online American Digital Archives and Databases: Colorado

This is the fifth post in a weekly series of Online American Digital Archives and Databases found for free at state, county, municipal, college and university history, library, and archive websites, as well as public and private library and museum sites, and historical and genealogical society sites.

(Sorry for the delay in posting--Firefox crashed right before I finished researching and listing all my resources. Although I had continuously saved my post while blogging, somehow it reverted back to an earlier version and I had to re-write everything!)

Colorado State Archives - http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/ - as well as being the entry page to the Historical Records Database, the Family History Page, and the State Digital Archives (see next three entries), you can also check out D-Day Radio Broadcasts, Governor Owens' Historical Archive and Digital Trademarks

Colorado State Archives Historical Records Database - http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/hrd/index.htm - a searchable database of court, census (federal and Indian), vital, land, military, naturalization, voter, cemetery, and probate records, and much, much more!

Colorado State Archives Digital Archives - http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/digital/index.htm -a small but interesting collection of scanned photographs, postcards, and ephemera arranged by topic (mining, places, government, business, etc.)

Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection - http://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/ - "currently includes 147 newspapers published in Colorado from 1859 to 1923...contains over 477,000 digitized pages and is a joint endeavor of the Colorado State Library, the Colorado Historical Society, and generous donors throughout the state."

Colorado Historical Society - http://www.coloradohistory.org - no digital archives; however, there are online exhibits and many indexes of directories, biographical subjects, and maps, allowing you to determine which resources they have on site/offline.

Colorado Virtual Library - http://www.aclin.org/ - provides access to information resources of Colorado libraries, plus a megasearch engine of the Colorado School of Mines Image Database, the Denver Public Library Western History and Genealogy Photo Collection, and Heritage West

Heritage West - http://www.bcr.org/dps/cdp/hw_search.html - "a database that brings together thousands of digital objects from the collections of museums, libraries, historical societies and archives from throughout the Western United States. Included in this database are photos, documents, artifacts, costumes, diaries, oral histories and manuscripts representing the West's cultural, scientific and historic heritage."

Rocky Mountain Online Archive - http://rmoa.unm.edu/ - a megasearch engine for archival collections in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming

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Colorado College Tutt Library Special Collections - http://www.coloradocollege.edu/library/index.php/SpecialCollections/#cdp - Century Chest (time capsule), Colorado Springs area early views, Colorado Menus Collection, Camp Amache - Japanese-American Relocation Center in Granada, Sand Creek Papers (1861 - 1864), and Rubén Cobos Collection of Spanish New Mexican Folklore

Colorado Plateau Digital Archives (from Northern Arizona University's Cline Library) - http://www.nau.edu/library/speccoll/digitalarchives.html - "...thousands of vintage and contemporary photographs, diaries and letters, oral history interviews, films, and maps"

Colorado State University Libraries Digital Collections - http://digital.library.colostate.edu/ - includes the University Historic Photograph Collection, Colorado Agricultue and Rural Life Collection, Germans from Russia Collection, Caspar Collins Map Collection, Carpenter Family Collection, and the Rock Mountain Farmers Union Collection

Fort Lewis College Center for Southwest Studies Research - http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu/research.shtml - college archives, info on Old Fort Lewis, digital archives includes maps, photographs, postcards and other materials, and naturalizations for Durango County

University of Colorado Digital Library - https://www.cu.edu/digitallibrary/ - aerial photos, Ben Hyde Papers (original maps of Indian and military positions), Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps (346 maps of 79 principal cities in 52 counties), plus links to digital collections at other institutions

University of Colorado Boulder Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Collection - http://libluna.lib.ad.colorado.edu/sanborn/index.asp - "346 maps of 79 principal cities in 52 counties covering the years 1883-1922"

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Aspen Historical Society - http://aspenhistorysociety.com/ - shared stories, video gallery archives (skiing to mining), historic photos, Pitkin County marriage records (1882 - 1930), census records (1900 - 1920), city directories and phone books (various years from 1885 - 1933), cemetery records, naturalization records, research papers, some indexes of special collections

Bessemer Historical Society - http://www.steelworks.us/ - museum of industry and culture; history and online photos

Boulder Library Carnegie Branch Library for Local History - http://boulderlibrary.org/carnegie/ - includes oral histories, digital photos, Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium Collection

Clear Creek County Marriage Records Index - http://www.co.clear-creek.co.us/Depts/records.htm

Columbine Genealogical and Historical Society Online Archives - http://www.columbinegenealogy.com/hub/ - member surnames index, Littleton Independent obituary index, Colorado Territory Civil War Volunteer Records 1861-1865, Arapahoe County Marriages 1940 - 1965, Littleton Cemetery records 1869 - 1981, Nickels-Hill-Drinkwine Mortuary records 1915 - 1950, various cemetery locators and indexes, and various church records

Denver County Assessor's Office - http://www.denvergov.org/tabid/37889/Default.aspx?link=http://www.denvergov.org/apps/realpropertyapplication/realproperty.asp&title=Real%20Property - check out an ancestor's home!

Denver Library Western History and Genealogy Collection - http://history.denverlibrary.org/collections/index.html - digital image collection, 10th Mountain Division name database, and the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library Obituary and Biographical databases

Douglas County History Research Center - http://douglascountyhistory.org/ - interactive timeline, aerial and historical photographs, oral histories, Declarations of Intention index, biography index, county censuses, business directories, school and government records, plus much more!

Evans City Cemetery Burial Index - http://www.cityofevans.org/department.cfm?depID=16 - records from 1860 through October 2008

Fort Collins History Connection - http://history.fcgov.com/ -images of historic buildings, city directories, historic maps and photographs, Coloradoan newspaper database and obituary index, oral histories, and much more!

La Plata County Marriage Records Index - http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu/inventory/LaPlataCouMarr.htm

Longmont Museum and Cultural Center - http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/museum/research/index.htm -history, timeline, online photos, landmarks, historic architectural survey

Pikes Peak Library District Special Collections - http://www.ppld.org/specialcollections/ - digital photo archives, regional history series available in .pdf or audio downloads, Newsfinder ("contains citations to local news articles and obituaries from the Colorado Springs Gazette and other local newspapers. Wire stories (e.g. AP or Reuters), syndicated columns, editorials, letters to the editor, reviews, births, weddings and anniversaries are not indexed. The site also contains citations to the Colorado Springs Death Registers")

Surname Saturday: TUINSTRA

The surname TUINSTRA is Frisian for "from the garden." Friesland is a province and a ethnic area in the northwest of the Netherlands. My TUINSTRA ancestors were gardeners both before and after their immigration to the United States in 1874. They lived in the Franeker area for many generations; around 1852, they moved to the Sneek area. Franeker and Sneek are cities that were known for their produce and cheese markets respectively, so they must have lived in or near these cities and farmed outside the communities, selling their produce in town.

The TUINSTRAs were a part of a mass migration from Friesland and Groningen provinces to Western Michigan in the mid-nineteenth century which was motivated by religious freedom during the Seceder movement - a group of religious conservatives that seceded from the state-run church. It was also precipitated by the same Northern European potato blight that affected Ireland.

When the TUINSTRAs first arrived in Michigan, they farmed in Wyoming Township, southwest of the city of Grand Rapids. This family was quite large, with many sons; the head of the household, Auke Caspers TUINSTRA, survived at least two of his three wives. A few years after settling in Wyoming Township, they moved to the edge of town on the west side across the Grand River, where it's likely they had quick access to the rural farmland near them. Some of the TUINSTRA family members were produce peddlers, while others ran grocery stores. A florist shop and nursery originally started by one of the TUINSTRA brothers is still in existence in Grand Rapids today.

Stories and History:

The TUINSTRA Family History on my website - includes drawing of the ship on which the family immigrated!

Ahnentafel #416 - Harmen TUINSTRA

Ahnentafel #208 - Auke Harmens TUINSTRA - m. 1784 to Eelkje Kaspers WITTEROUW

Ahnentafel #104 - Caspar Aukes TUINSTRA (1787 - 1864)

Ahnentafel #52 - Auke Caspars TUINSTRA (1818 - 1898) - immigrated to the United States in 1874 with his third wife and children

Ahnentafel #26 - Geert Aukes TUINSTRA (1851 - 1928) - immigrated to the United States in 1874 with his father, step-mother and many siblings - read his AnceStory here

Ahnentafel #13 - Agnes TUINSTRA (1885 - 1921) - read her AnceStory here; a tale of tragedy

Ahnentafel #6 - William VALK (1912 - 1989) - read his AnceStory here

Ahnentafel #3 - my mother

Ahnentafel #1 - myself

More about the TUINSTRA family:

1. Online database (I update this at least once a month): TUINSTRA ancestors and relatives (no info on living persons available)

2. Some TUINSTRA obituaries

3. Posts about TUINSTRA ancestors and relatives on this blog

6. My TUINSTRA Virtual Cemetery on Find A Grave

7. The TUINSTRA Mailing List on RootsWeb


My TUINSTRA immigration trail:

Franeker, Friesland, the Netherlands > Sneek, Friesland, the Netherlands > Kent Co., MI > AK > Stevens Co., WA > Spokane Co., WA

The 89th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is Posted

poster courtesy of the footnoteMaven

"Ode to My Family's History" is the theme of the 89th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, recently posted by Jasia on her blog, Creative Gene. Eighteen bloggers participated by writing a variety of types of poetry honoring their ancestry, reflecting sentiment, humor, and pride. You'll want to stop by and see who the feature blogger is for this edition!

Jasia then announces: 

The topic for the next edition (#90!) of the COG will be: The Third Annual iGene Awards, The Best of The Best! It's Academy awards time... time for the Academy of Genealogy and Family History, aka AGFH, to honor their best blog posts of 2009 in the following 5 categories:

• Best Picture - Best old family photo that appeared on your blog in 2009. Tell us which you liked best and why.
• Best Screen Play - Which family story that you shared in 2009 would make the best movie? Who would you cast as your family members?
• Best Documentary - Which was the best informational article you wrote about a place, thing, or event involving your family's history in 2009?
• Best Biography - Which was the best biographical article you wrote in 2009?
• Best Comedy - Which was the best funny story, poem, joke, photo, or video that you shared on your blog in 2009?

Please feel free to use this graphic on your post.

Start digging back into your archives and choose which of your blog posts deserve to be recognized for outstanding achievement. This is not a competition between bloggers but a chance for you to spotlight your own shining efforts at recording your genealogy and family history in 2009.

There is no nomination process. You just need to announce your winning blog posts for the 5 categories mentioned above in an article on your blog and submit it to the Carnival of Genealogy. Please act as your own "award presenter" by writing an introduction and include it in the "Remarks" box on the BlogCarnival submission form. The deadline for submissions is February 15th, 30 submissions will be accepted.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

MyHeritage.com Acquires Major Family Network OSN

MyHeritage.com Acquires Major Family Network OSN (Verwandt.de) to Accelerate Building the World’s Family Graph

With 13 million family trees, 47 million members and 530 million profiles, MyHeritage.com becomes the largest international site dedicated to families on the web

Hamburg, Germany, London, UK and Tel Aviv, Israel – February 3, 2010 – MyHeritage.com, the company that connects families to their past and to one another, today announced a significant expansion of its global family network through the acquisition of the Hamburg-based OSN Group, which operates a network of 10 market-leading family sites, including Verwandt.de (Germany), Moikrewni.pl (Poland) and Dynastree.com (USA).

“MyHeritage.com has established itself as the trusted home for families on the web. By integrating these market-leading services into a single international platform, we are taking a great step towards realizing our vision of connecting families around the world,” said Gilad Japhet, founder and CEO of MyHeritage.com and the father of three children. “We’re thrilled to welcome millions of new families from some of the Internet’s most important markets to our platform. We look forward to offering our new members an effortless migration which preserves their privacy, and we will deliver the best that our combined network and technologies can offer to support them in exploring their family history, sharing important memories and staying connected”.

MyHeritage.com now holds a formidable international registered member base of 47 million, and offers its services in 35 languages. The acquisition helps MyHeritage.com build on its existing strength in the USA, UK, Canada, France and Australia while making significant inroads into key European markets such as Germany, Poland and the Netherlands as well as many major Latin American markets.

Combining these services into a single international platform expands the size of MyHeritage.com’s unique user-generated family graph to 13 million family trees including 530 million genealogical profiles. The increased scale of this privacy-enforced family graph provides instant value to families, making it even easier for them to find long-lost relatives and discover more about their unique family histories. This will help, for example more North American members connect with their European relatives and ancestors. As part of the acquisition, MyHeritage.com will be establishing an office in Hamburg where experienced OSN team members will be based.

“Facebook has built an amazingly useful graph of our social connections and LinkedIn of our professional connections, and MyHeritage.com is building a uniquely valuable graph of our family life, both past and present”, said Saul Klein, board member at MyHeritage.com, partner at Index Ventures and the father of two children. “By extending the scale and geographic reach of its family graph and offering a private place online for families across the world to securely share photos, important events and explore our family history, MyHeritage.com's service has the potential to become part of the fabric of our online lives.”

MyHeritage.com offers a powerful suite of tools and technologies for managing family connections online, including:

· Award-winning free downloadable genealogy software,

· Powerful Smart Matching™ technology that connects family trees across different languages, pronunciations and spellings, and

· Advanced facial recognition technology that auto-magically tags family photos

New technologies from OSN will be integrated into MyHeritage.com, starting with the Family Crest Builder, which will go live on MyHeritage.com this week.

"We’re really excited to be able to combine the best of OSN and MyHeritage.com’s services to bring even more value to our members” said Daniel Grözinger, co-founder of OSN Online Social Networking GmbH. "Since 2007, we have built our services into market leaders in key European and Latin American markets and we’re excited to work with Gilad and his team to make it easier for families to keep in touch and bridge gaps of geography, language and time. Our members' family trees are now safely and securely migrated to MyHeritage.com where they can continue to enjoy the service for free and benefit from many additional features of the combined platform, such as Smart Matching and photo tagging technologies".

About MyHeritage.com
MyHeritage.com was founded by a team of people who combine their passion for family history with the development of innovative technology. Since launching in November 2005 MyHeritage.com has become the world’s leading international online network for families and the second largest family history website. The fastest growth rates in the industry combined with the acquisitions of Pearl Street Software (2007), Kindo.com (2008) and OSN (2009) have made MyHeritage.com the home for 47 million family members and 530 million profiles. The company has offices in London, UK; Hamburg, Germany; Boulder, Colorado, USA and Tel Aviv, Israel. MyHeritage.com has received funding by Accel Partners and Index Ventures. For more information, visit www.myheritage.com.

About OSN Online Social Networking GmbH
OSN’s website group -- Verwandt.de, Moikrewni.pl, Dynastree.com and Dynastree.co.uk, Miparentela.com, Meusparentes.com.br and Meusparentes.com.pt, Parentistretti.it, Verwant.nl, Familleunie.fr, Akrabaonline.com and Semyaonline.com -- has been among the fastest growing family social networks worldwide in the last two years. OSN was founded by the experienced Internet entrepreneurs Daniel Grözinger and Sven Schmidt. The two have cooperated successfully in the past on getgo.de, an online ticketing site; the FIFA Soccer World Cup Ticketing Center and dialo.de, a portal for yellow pages. Recently, they have been involved in Farbflut Entertainment GmbH that runs Germany’s most successful web game, pennergame.de. OSN is funded by Germany-based VCs Hasso Plattner (co-founder of SAP) Ventures and Neuhaus Partners. For more information, see http://www.dynastree.com/resources/press/fact-sheet-dynastree.pdf

Footnote Releases New Vietnam Records and Photos

FOOTNOTE.COM AND THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES RELEASE NEW VIETNAM WAR PHOTOS AND RECORDS ONLINE

-Over 27,000 Photos And Records Are Added To The Largest Online Vietnam War Collection

Lindon, UT – February 4, 2010 – Today Footnote.com announced a major addition to its Vietnam War Collection: Army Photos and Unit Service Awards.  Now totaling over 100,000 photos and documents, this collection helps visitors gain a better perspective and appreciation for this often misunderstood event in U.S. History.

“Our partnership with the National Archives has proven to be invaluable as we work to make these records more accessible,” explains Russell Wilding, CEO of Footnote.com. “Previously you were required to travel to Washington, D.C. to see these records.  Now anyone can access the original records through the internet.”

Army Unit Service Awards include documents relating to Presidential Unit Citations, Valorous Unit Awards and Meritorious Unit Commendations.  These were usually awarded to units going above and beyond the call of duty, and in most cases, showing exceptional valor.  These documents contain:

·        Dates of service

·        Duties performed

·        Letters of recommendation

The Army Photos feature various activities of the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.  In nearly every case there is a caption or description of what was happening and the names of the soldiers featured in the photos.  Everything ranging from daily duties to Bob Hope’s Christmas program is captured, providing a glimpse into what life was like for the soldiers.  

“My dad is a Vietnam War hero, but I rarely can get him to share his experiences from the war,” says Justin Schroepfer, Marketing Director at Footnote.com. “Going through these photos allowed me to visualize a little more what he went through and the sacrifices he made for his country.”

In addition to these new records, the Footnote Vietnam War Collection also includes:

·        The Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial – featuring service records for each name on the wall

·        Photos of the Marine Corps in Vietnam - color

·        Photos of the Marine Corps in Vietnam - black and white

Footnote.com will continue to work with the National Archives to add more Vietnam War content online.

“These documents and photos tell a part of the Vietnam War story that you just can’t find in textbooks,” explains Russell Wilding, CEO of Footnote.com.  “It’s imperative that we preserve and share this side of history for future generations. We are encouraging everyone to come to Footnote.com and enhance these stories by adding their own comments, photos and documents.”

The Vietnam War Collection will be made free to the public during the month of February.  To view these documents, visit www.footnote.com/vietnam.

Additional Resources

Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/footnote

Join us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Footnotecom/52981708480

About Footnote, Inc.

Footnote.com is a subscription website that features original historical documents, providing visitors with an unaltered view of the events, places and people that shaped the American nation and the world. At Footnote.com, all are invited to come share, discuss, and collaborate on their discoveries with friends, family, and colleagues. For more information, visit http://www.footnote.com.

52 Weeks Equals One Year of Great Genealogy!

It's only been six weeks since the New Year began. Many of us made resolutions to increase our learning in genealogy or--if we are bloggers or write journals--to improve our writing in some way.

Several well-known and experienced bloggers have come up with "52 Weeks" prompts to help the rest of us learn or write better and more in regard to family history and research.

Lorine Massey of Olive Tree Genealogy has "52 Weeks of Sharing Memories," a journal exercise that started in December. It's not too late to play catch up or just jump in right with her! And you don't have to have a blog to do this...just get an "old fashioned" journal and pen!

Amy Coffin of We Tree has done it again! Last year she created writing prompts for new and not-so-new bloggers called "Jump Start Your Blog: 52 Ideas, 52 Weeks." This year she is posting "52 Weeks to a Better Genealogy." These are learning opportunities that can be expanded into blogging or journaling exercises once you've explored the different resources and activities.

Gena Ortega of Gena's Genealogy is highlighting little-explored genealogy resources in "52 Weeks of Genealogy Sources." Who knew we should be looking for our ancestors in dog tax records and letters to the editor? If you have some hard-to-find people in your family tree, get creative and find them in some quirky records!

Finally, I hope you'll join me every Sunday to discover "52 Weeks of Online American Digital Archives and Databases," a weekly series here on AnceStories of Online American Digital Archives and Databases found for free at state, county, municipal, college and university history, library, and archive websites, as well as public and private library and museum sites, and historical and genealogical society sites.

Saving and Printing Newspaper Articles at Chronicling America

Please note: I did some editing to this post, adding more images and changing some of the steps to clarify the process of printing and saving images from the Chronicling America website.

I was recently asked by a fellow member of our genealogical society how to print articles found in newspapers at the Library of Congress's Chronicling America website. I decided to demonstrate using an article I found for the ROBBINS family in Stevens County, Washington in the early twentieth century. I myself lived in Stevens County from 1979 through 1984, and my parents still live there. We mistakenly thought we were the first of our family to live in the area, but some research proved that Benjamin Leander "Lee" ROBBINS, brother of my 3rd-great-grandfather, Charles H. ROBBINS, lived there from at least 1910 until his death in 1929. His wife, Florine DUTTON, as well as their surviving children, Perry C., Charlotte L. "Lotta", and Odell, all lived in Washington State as well, Perry and Lotta being married adults when they came out West. An infant, Lee, died in Michigan prior to the ROBBINS' migration.

My first step was to search for the ROBBINS family in the Colville Examiner at the Chronicling America site. The Examiner was the precursor to today's Statesman-Examiner, a newspaper I read during my teen years when I lived in the Colville area. I tried various search terms, and the one that was most successful was when I used the phrase "lee robbins" without quotations in the Exact Phrase search:

This search yielded four results:

I clicked on the third image and received the following view of the page:

Next, I clicked on the Zoom + button in the toolbar menu above the window to zoom in. Notice that you can see the search term highlighted in red the whole time:

Next I clicked on the Draw Zoom Box tool. This allowed me to draw a "frame" around just the article I wanted:

When I clicked the Zoom + button again, I was able to zoom in on just the article:

To print, I chose the Print icon from the toolbar:

Notice that the red highlights disappear for easy-to-read black-and-white printing:

To download this image to my computer to save it, choose the Download Image button:

The Chronicling America website is a wonderful one, and should be bookmarked by every genealogist! This site will eventually have newspapers from every state in the union!