Memorial Day Special on Casefile Clues

Michael John Neill is offering a Memorial Day discount offer of $15 for an annual subscription to his e-newsletter, Casefile Clues, through Monday, May 31st. I wrote a review about Casefile Clues a while back, and I highly recommend it! You can order a subscription securely through Paypal. Check it out!

Check out all the Memorial Day specials on my Special Offers page!

Acknowledgments

I need to do a few shout outs to some awesome people:

Leslie Albrecht Huber mentioned AnceStories as one of the "15 Genealogy Blogs You Need to Read" in the April 2010 issue of Discovering Family History (one of my favorite genealogy magazines!). Thank you so much for the kind words, Leslie!

Pat of Genealogy Gals and Mavis of Conversations with My Ancestors were two more people who kindly awarded me the Ancestors Approved Award. Thank you, ladies!

Thank you so much for thinking of me, and for your patience in my public acknowledgment of your thoughtfulness!

Special Offer on Casefile Clues

I've been a subscriber for some time now to Michael John Neill's Casefile Clues. Last November, I wrote the following review, which is just as pertinent today:

Every week, I receive a copy of Casefile Clues in my email as a .pdf attachment. Each newsletter is about eight or nine pages long and focuses on a distinct research strategy and its process, whether it is determining if an individual with the "wrong" name in a census is actually the individual whom you are seeking; knowing when a record has missing information and why; or understanding whether it is time to hire a professional and exactly what you should ask him or her to research. Going to the Casefile Clues website provides document images and links that correspond with each newsletter.

There are several reasons I'm excited about Casefile Clues. First, it doesn't matter if you are someone who prefers offline research over online, or vice versa. Casefile Clues newsletters are timeless in that the strategies they offer can be used for any type of research, including ethnic records. The information is not going to change in three months! Another point is the focus I've seen on court and land records (although he discusses all record groups), areas in which I feel I am an "advanced beginner," having read a lot about these records but not having as much experience as I'd like in them. I'm looking forward to delving further into these record groups. The third reason I enjoy Casefile Clues is one I've seen listed in other bloggers' reviews: reading these newsletters is causing me to reexamine my own lines with a different focus. I'm very excited about this, as I have been working on some brickwall ancestors for the past couple of months and am now starting to chip away at some of the obstacles, just by the inspiration and tips I've received from Michael's writings!

A year's subscription--52 issues--is normally $17.00. However, in the next 24 hours, Casefile Clues is being offered for a discount of $14.50! Take advantage of this special offer now!

(if the button is not visible, please click here)

[Disclosure: Although I am a subscriber to Casefile Clues, I have not been compensated monetarily in any way for this review or for posting this special offer.]

Casefile Clues

A couple of months ago, I saw that Michael John Neill was starting a subscription genealogy e-newsletter called Casefile Clues. I've always enjoyed Michael's writing, from his articles at Ancestry (free even if you don't have a subscription) to his Genealogy Tip of the Day. I've also had the pleasure of hearing him speak, as he was the featured presenter at my local genealogical society's October Workshop in 2006.

Michael offered to email me a sample copy of his Casefile Clues, which I gladly accepted. I was impressed by the content and the quality of the newsletter, and signed up for a year's subscription, $15.00 - easily purchased via Paypal or with a credit or debit card. I have not since been disappointed. Every week, I receive a copy of Casefile Clues in my email as a .pdf attachment. Each newsletter is about eight or nine pages long and focuses on a distinct research strategy and its process, whether it is determining if an individual with the "wrong" name in a census is actually the individual whom you are seeking; knowing when a record has missing information and why; or understanding whether it is time to hire a professional and exactly what you should ask him or her to research. Going to the Casefile Clues website provides document images and links that correspond with each newsletter.

There are several reasons I'm excited about Casefile Clues. First, it doesn't matter if you are someone who prefers offline research over online, or vice versa. Casefile Clues newsletters are timeless in that the strategies they offer can be used for any type of research, including ethnic records. The information is not going to change in three months! Another point is the focus I've seen on court and land records (although he discusses all record groups), areas in which I feel I am an "advanced beginner," having read a lot about these records but not having as much experience as I'd like in them. I'm looking forward to delving further into these record groups. The third reason I enjoy Casefile Clues is one I've seen listed in other bloggers' reviews: reading these newsletters is causing me to reexamine my own lines with a different focus. I'm very excited about this, as I have been working on some brickwall ancestors for the past couple of months and am now starting to chip away at some of the obstacles, just by the inspiration and tips I've received from Michael's writings!

This publication is definitely worth putting on your Christmas wish list! Additionally, now through Monday, November 30th, Michael is offering a Cyber Monday deal of only $12.00 for a year's subscription (52 issues). Believe me, even at the regular price of $15.00, this publication is well worth it and is, in my opinion, a better resource than many of the genealogy magazines offered out there! This is a publication that should be on your must-have genealogy resources list.

[Disclosure: I received a sample copy of Casefile Clues--at no charge to me and available to any requester--with no obligation to publish a review. I have not been compensated monetarily in any way for this review.]

Click on the Image Above to Adopt a Needy Child or Senior in Your Community

Free E-Book Offer From Family Tree Magazine

Family Tree Magazine is giving away a free e-book to those who sign up for our free, weekly E-mail Update newsletter.

The book is our 42-page Best of the Photo Detective, a step-by-step guide that helps you examine old family photos for hidden clues to when they were taken and who’s in them. It includes an exclusive excerpt from Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs by our Photo Detective, Maureen A. Taylor.

Family Tree Magazine’s E-mail Update newsletter delivers the latest news, tips and resources for doing family history research. You can sign up at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/enews. After you submit your registration, you’ll get a link to download the book as a PDF file.

News from Ancestry

Ancestry Magazine
Did you know you can access a preview edition of the March/April 2009 issue of Ancestry Magazine? This includes articles about Jesse James and facial recognition, handwriting analysis, and how to make a custom family history timeline. Or check out the current issue and archive at www.ancestrymagazine.com for links to articles on a variety of family history topics.

MyCanvas Publishing Service
MyCanvas has recently added some great new features to their publishing software, including checkmarks that help you keep track of which photos you've already used in a project; the ability to start a calendar with any month of the year; and a color picker, which lets you create a border or background that exactly matches a color in a photo. To learn more, visit their blog.

Genetic Genealogy Testing is Now Only $79
At $79 a DNA test, many more people can afford to take the basic paternal lineage test (Y33), so they can connect with genetic cousins and build family trees. Ancestry's growing database automatically compares results, letting some users connect instantly. And they notify all users of potential new matches as the Ancestry.com DNA database grows.

Also, it is now possible to attach DNA to Ancestry.com family trees. The attached results instantly populate up the tree, showing implied meaning for all relevant family tree members. This feature increases the chances for meaningful family contacts and connections. For example, if a man attaches test results to his tree, the profile for his paternal uncle born in 1845 will now display the fact that genetic data relevant to that uncle exists. If another user comes across the uncle (using any research method), they'll now be able to trace the test back to the man who took the test and contact him. Otherwise, that user may never have followed the thread past the uncle.

The $79 test also lets users know which Ancient Ancestral group they belong to, like the Stonemasons, the Artisans or the Reindeer Herders. Users learn their likely story of origin and explore Fun Facts for their modern-day group. A great visual pie chart reveals things like 20% of all Stonemasons drive hybrids, 10% eat chocolate ice cream and 55% watch Saturday Night Live!

New Issue (Vol. 4, No. 4) of the Michigan Genealogist Available

The latest issue of the Michigan Genealogist is available. You can find the .pdf document, along with past issues here.

Everton Staff Put the "Help" in "Helper"

Last summer, I subscribed to the Everton's Genealogical Helper online edition, for an over 50% savings of the cost of their print edition. I downloaded the July-August 2008 issue and enjoyed reading the articles and being able to click right on the links to be taken immediately to the corresponding websites to which they referred.

About a month ago, I realized I hadn't accessed the September-October issue. I went to the website, but was having difficulty. I could log in, but when I clicked on the link to access the online edition, I was brought back to the login screen. So using the "Contact Us" feature, I sent off an e-mail explaining my predicament. I received an response the next day from Walt Fuller, President and Publisher of Everton with some suggestions and another one from Miste Newport, Office Administrator, the following day, with step-by-step instructions. I'm still not sure what the problem was (user error? faulty links?), but I have to say that the customer service is out of this world! Thanks to Everton's Genealogical Helper helpful staff, I was able to download both the September-October 2008 issue as well as the November-December one. You can be sure they've got a repeat customer!

Everton Online Edition FREE Access

Since the initial launch of the Genealogical Helper as an Online Edition, it has been determined that hosting the magazines on World Vital Records' servers was causing too much confusion and difficulty of access for subscribers. To alleviate the confusion, Everton's have undertaken the hosting themselves, with a much simpler user interface.

Everton apologizes for any inconvenience that genealogists experienced with the initial launch of the Online Edition, and are confident that your experience will now be a pleasant and rewarding one. Everton is offering access to the two Online Edition issues now available at the site: Jul-Aug 2008 and Sept-Oct 2008 absolutely FREE until October 17. Simply go to: www.everton.com. ALSO - until October 27 the $12 annual subscription fee to the Online Edition of the Genealogical Helper will be reduced to $10.00, and the $29.00 annual subscription fee for the hard copy edition of the magazine (includes access to the Online Edition) will be reduced to $25.00.

The Genealogical Helper is widely recognized as having no equal in terms of amount of total content, educational and research information, and lists of organizations, events, and repositories. The complete magazine is online, and all websites listed in either the content or advertisements are hot-linked.

Family Tree Magazine Has a New Website!

Have you seen Family Tree Magazine's new website? It's amazing! Not only am I a devoted reader of their magazine, which is a fabulous resource in and of itself, but I have been a regular user of their website for quite a while, recommending it as a necessity to the students of my online genealogy courses. Completely apart from their magazine, this website is a must-visit one for anyone serious about their genealogy. I particularly enjoy the 101 Best Websites of the Year lists they've been running for a number of years now, plus all the heritage resources.

The site now has a new, clean look with easy-to-find links to the many resources available: links to articles, free forms and charts, state research guides, videos and podcasts. Nearly everything on this site is free, and the few for-sale items (such as their helpful state research guides) they offer are priced are very reasonably. You can now order them easily online! Family Tree Magazine has worked hard to create an online presence that's user-friendly, and their forums and blogs are great places to interact with others and stay abreast of all the current genealogy news. Many of the links now have RSS feeds, so you can be alerted whenever there are updates!

You do not have to have a subscription to their magazine to access the site, but I'm telling you, once you see how wonderful it is, you'll want to subscribe! The magazine offers articles of interest to those at any level of research experience: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. I encourage you to check out the website and seriously consider subscribing to their magazine.

This and That

Scanfest
WOW! Thanks to the great publicity over at facebook's Genea-Bloggers Group, we had the Best Scanfest Ever. We had three records broken! The first was a total attendance of 20, which means that in all, 20 Scanfesters participated at some point between 11 AM and 2 PM, PDT, but not all at the same time. The second was the highest number of Scanfesters in the chat conversation at once, at 18. The third record was the highest number of first-time Scanfesters in attendance: 11! My only regret was that I did not get as much scanned as anticipated because my hard drive was filling up (I've since been working on remedying that problem by deleting unnecessary files and programs). So who were our participants? Besides your humble hostess, we had Colleen, Diana, Diane, Elizabeth, footnoteMaven, George, George, Jasia, Kathryn, Kathryn, Kathy, Laura, Lori, Lorine, Michelle, Randy, Renee, Sheri, and Thomas! Too bad Craig couldn't make it! Thanks to Diane, Thomas, Randy, Kathy, and George for your announcements or follow-up posts on Scanfest, too.

Online Photo Storage
Speaking of scanning, Lee at the Footnote Blog shares how you can store your photos online for free at Footnote...and do a whole lot more with them, too!

Find A Grave now has 25 million grave records in the non-famous side of their website! Take a look...you might find an ancestor or two.

Facebook
The Facebook craze has hit the genealogy community, thanks to Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak's Unclaimed Persons project. A side effect of this is a new Facebook group, the Genea-Bloggers, started by Thomas MacEntee of Destination: Austin Family. This group is for those who either blog about genealogy, or are fans of genealogy blogs. Genealogy bloggers have been learning more about each other in this terrific social networking community, and thanks to Thomas' great administrative skills, we're kept up-to-date on all sorts of blogging and other events, such as carnivals and Scanfest. Thomas recently started the Facebook® Bootcamp for Genea-Bloggers blog to help out those genea-bloggers learn how to navigate and use Facebook. I encourage you to join Facebook (a social networking site, similar to MySpace, but a little more "grown up") and add me as your Friend (contact) by searching for "Miriam Robbins Midkiff." (Don't be afraid to challenge me to a round or two of Scramble!) Besides adding genealogy community contacts, I've added real-life friends, family members, members of my local genealogical society and acquaintances from church and schools I've attended. I also recently searched for and found some cousins I've been out of touch with for years.

And if you're already a member of the Genea-Bloggers Group, stay tuned to the FB for GB blog to hear of an exciting new event coming in August!

An Award

Fellow Washington State genea-blogger Carol Wilkerson of iPentimento honored me with a BFF (Blogging Friends Forever) Award. The rules for passing on the award are:

1. Only five people are allowed to receive this award
2. Four of them must followers of your blog.
3. One has to be new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. You must link back to who ever gave you the award.

I hereby pass this on to Jasia, footnoteMaven, Apple, Renee, and Diane (the newbie to my blog, who technically doesn't live that far away - British Columbia - but it is another country, after all!)

Photos of Ancestors' Ports of Emigration
My primary heritages are Dutch and Frisian, and thus I've been a fan of Henk van Kampen's Trace Your Dutch Roots. Lately, he's been featuring photographs of Dutch ports. Do you have Mayflower ancestors? Take a look at the Delfshaven pictures. Did your ancestors (Dutch or not) traverse the Atlantic on one of the Holland-American Line ships? See the Wilhelminakade.

North Frisian Resource
The Frisians are an ethnic minority who live in present-day Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany, whose language, customs, and ethnicity are more closely related to the English than the Germanic peoples of the countries wherein they reside. I blog often about my Frisian ancestors from the Netherlands, and if you're a fan of Michael John Neill's RootDig, you'll hear about his Ostfrisians (West Frisians from Germany). Recently, Jennifer of Our Future Rooted in Our Past blogged about the North Frisian Emigrant - Archive of the Nordfriisk Institute in Denmark. Thanks for sharing this great resource, Jennifer!

Family Ties
My parents returned home in the wee hours of this morning after a trip back to Michigan to visit my paternal grandmother, who was diagnosed about a year or so ago with Alzheimer's. As well, they enjoyed visiting the families of their respective brothers and one of Dad's sisters. I was relieved to hear that Grandma recognized Dad and Mom and that they had an enjoyable time together. My parents have made similar trips in the past to say their last goodbyes to their parents. Grandma is my last biological grandparent, although my mother's step-mother is still in good health. They also got to see one of the newest members of the family. I know this was a bittersweet time for the folks...a part of the circle of life.

Internet Genealogy
And finally! I received the latest issue of Internet Genealogy magazine today (I think I was the last person on the planet to do so!). One of the many reasons I love this publication is that I see so many familiar names, sites, and blogs mentioned. footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed blog was featured in the Net Notes column by Donna Pointkouski. If you're interested in the photography side of genealogy (and who isn't?), be sure to read this article, then drop by Maven's blog.

Donna Potter Phillips of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society has two articles. One is "E.W.G.S. at 75: Thriving' and Survivin'" and highlights the many ways our terrific society has kept up with the times and has stayed growing and vibrant in an age when we're seeing a demise of many societies. Her "Cold Case Research: Genealogy Style" reminds me of the Campbell House and Unclaimed Persons projects, and explains how doing family tree research on strangers from history is not only fun, but educational! If you're stuck or tired of your own family lines, why don't you and some genealogy friends or fellow society members do a similar project?

And that's a wrap!

Everton’s Genealogical Helper Adds New Online Edition!

New Online Edition of Everton’s Genealogical Helper will debut July 1!
Subscribe today for only $10.00!

LOGAN, Utah, June 12, 2008. Genealogy Online, Inc., publisher of Everton’s Genealogical Helper, today announced the publication of the Genealogical Helper in an Online Edition. The Online Edition is an identical copy of the 176-page paper edition – complete with hotlinks to the hundreds of website addresses found therein.

Launch Date – The new Online Edition will launch on July 1 – simultaneous with the home delivery and newsstand date of the paper edition of the July-August issue.

Free Access – Subscribers to the traditional Genealogical Helper will have 100% FREE online access to the magazine – with no extra fees whatsoever. See http://www.everton.com for sign-up information.

Online Edition subscriptions – Everton’s Genealogical Helper, Online Edition, will sell for just $12.00 per year! That is only $2 per issue! And it’s only $10.00 for subscriptions made before July 1 at http://www.everton.com or phone 1-800-443-6325.

Net Family History – An important feature of Everton’s Genealogical Helper is the magazine within a magazine entitled Net Family History. New information specific to using the Internet for genealogy is always found in this portion of the bimonthly publication. Extensive website reviews are always located here, as well as articles dealing with Internet-related activities.

Why an online edition? – Every issue of Everton’s Genealogical Helper now contains hundreds of website addresses. The Internet is where some of the most exciting genealogical resource advances are taking place, so it’s required that information about these resources be disseminated to the Helper’s thousands of readers in every issue. Everton’s Genealogical Helper, Online Edition, will allow readers to go from their paper edition to the hotlinked Online Edition and access any of the websites with just a keystroke or two – no more typing in those lengthy website addresses! The Online Edition offers more than just the links found in the magazine – it is the entire magazine itself!

Format & hosting – Everton’s Genealogical Helper, Online Edition, will be in .pdf format, readable by anyone, with any computer running an Adobe Acrobat Reader (Available at Adobe.com as a FREE download.) The Online Edition will be hosted by FamilyLink.com, Inc.

Why subscribe to the Genealogical Helper? – Subscribe to have access to the Helper’s how-to & historical articles, Net Family History (see above), genealogical sharing, extensive book and CD-ROM reviews & announcements, queries, the most complete event calendar available anywhere, and hundreds of ads detailing new products and services. In addition to these day-to-day features, you will also have access to the NEW updated, hotlinked Directory of Genealogical and Historical Societies – to be published in the Sept/Oct and Nov-Dec issues! Edited by Leland K. Meitzler, the Helper is guaranteed to help you extend your lines and fill in those blanks in your family tree.

WHAT A DEAL! – Your cost for a full subscription (the paper magazine & online access both) is less than 3 cents per page – delivered to your home, and now accessible online. Subscribe to the Online Edition alone for just over a penny a page! Subscribe by July 1 and it’s less than a penny per page!

Subscribe NOW at: http://www.everton.com or phone 800-443-6325.

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About Genealogy Online, Inc.

Genealogy Online, dba Everton Publishers, is the publisher of Everton’s Genealogical Helper, now in its 62nd year of helping genealogists find their ancestors. Genealogy Online, Inc. also publishes the Handybook for Genealogists, 11th edition, a top-selling guidebook for family historians. Their website is found at: http://www.everton.com. Also see: http//www.GenealogyBlog.com.

Family Tree Magazine Launches Podcast

From Diane Haddad, editor of Family Tree Magazine:

Family Tree Magazine Podcast Offers Genealogy News and Tips

Now you can hear about the best genealogy tools and tips by tuning into the free, monthly Family Tree Magazine Podcast.

In this online radio show, host Lisa Louise Cooke—creator of the popular Genealogy Gems podcast—takes you behind the scenes to learn more about the topics covered in Family Tree Magazine. Each 30-minute episode features interviews with genealogy experts and Family Tree Magazine editors on using genealogy Web sites, records and resources. Plus, editor Allison Stacy gives you sneak previews on upcoming issues and managing editor Diane Haddad delivers the scoop on the latest genealogy news.

You can listen whenever it’s convenient to you by visiting the FamilyTreeMagazine.com podcast page at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/podcast/.

I heard about this new Family Tree Magazine podcast through Lisa Louise Cooke's podcast, Genealogy Gems, and since I'm a big fan of Lisa's podcasts AND a big fan of the magazine, I went and listened to the FTM podcast. It was well done, of course, and I look forward to many more in the future!

What's a podcast? Remember how you loved to listen to your favorite radio show as a kid? Well, podcasts are like radio shows, only they are offered through the Internet. There are podcasts for nearly every subject under the sun, and you can use Google to find podcasts for history, quilting, gardening, or whatever your second-favorite hobby may be (genealogy being your number one favorite, of course!).

By the way, you don't need an iPod or an MP3 player to listen to a podcast. All you need is a pair of speakers or headphones plugged into your computer and you can listen. If you have dial-up for your Internet connection, you probably will need to download the audio file to your computer first (instructions below), then listen to it with Windows Media Player, Quick Time, Real Player, or whatever you have on your computer, rather than listening to it straight off the Internet. There are many genealogy podcasts, and links to them can be found at Cyndi's List here.

Instructions: I've found that using Firefox (my browser of choice) does not allow me to download the podcast easily. So I connect to the Internet using Internet Explorer and go to the podcast site. At the bottom of each of the site notes for each podcast is usually a link that says "download." Right-click and chose "Save Target." Decide where you want to download the file (I have created a podcast folder in "My Music"). After the file has downloaded, go to the file wherever you have stored it on your computer. Double-left-click on the podcast file for it to start playing. If you have a little trouble getting it going, or want to choose which player will play the file for you, right-click instead on the file and choose the player you prefer.

"Using Podcasts to Further Your Genealogy" is on the list of computer classes we will be offering EWGS members in our new lineup for 2009 - 2010!

Halvor Moorshead Retiring February 29th

I received the following e-mail today. I had the opportunity to meet Halvor and his wife Marian at the EWGS Spring Seminar in 2007--what a charming couple! Many of us have enjoyed the magazines that Halvor started: Family Chronicle, History Magazine, Internet Genealogy, and very recently, Discovering Family History. I wish Halvor and Marion the best in their retirement, and know that the individuals he's chosen to sell Moorshead Magazines to will continue to publish quality publications for the genealogical community.

I am retiring on Friday, 29 February 2008.

I wish I had the capacity to e-mail everyone with whom I do business - and my friends – individually about the following but this is not practical so I am sending out this general announcement about important changes affecting our publishing company.

I have sold Moorshead Magazines - which includes Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy, History Magazine and the new Discovering Family History and will be retiring. The sale finalizes on Friday 29 February 2008.

This is not quite as radical as it first sounds.

I am selling the company to two of the staff - Ed Zapletal and Rick Cree. They have made it clear that their main reason for buying the company is that they do NOT want any changes. There will obviously be some differences as I will be out of the picture, but there will be no staff changes. Victoria, Marc and Jeannette will be continuing in the same roles.

I turned 65 in November and want time to travel and do other things with Marian (my wife) while we are still capable (I also plan on spending a lot of time researching my own genealogy!). I also want to do more lecturing.

I am intensely proud of what we have done with Moorshead Magazines - we have dedicated, loyal and highly experienced staff. Ed and Rick have both been with me for 24 years - way, way before we published Family Chronicle. We work very well
together and we have been pretty successful. Things are going well – Discovering Family History looks as though it will become another success story and this is important to me; I very much want to retire on a high note.

Part of the sale agreement is that I will act as a consultant related to the magazines for three years so I am not entirely cut off. In addition, I plan to be at the NGS Annual Convention in Kansas City in May, largely to say goodbye personally to the many friends I have made in the genealogy field over the years.

Halvor Moorshead

New Beginner's Genealogy Magazine

I'm a big fan of the magazines that Halvor Moorshead publishes: Internet Genealogy, Family Chronicle, and History Magazine. They contain interesting, well-written, brightly-illustrated articles and are very affordable. I was delighted to receive the following message from Halvor, and gladly share it with you:

Discovering Family History – a new beginner’s magazine from the publishers of Family Chronicle and Internet Genealogy

Toronto – 15 February 2008 Discovering Family History, a new genealogy magazine targeted at beginners, will shortly start publishing. A 24-page preview is included in the March/April issue of Family Chronicle and the April/May issue of Internet Genealogy. A full 56-page preview issue can be downloaded at http://www.discoveringfamilyhistory.com.

Halvor Moorshead, the publisher and editor of all three magazines, says that the seed of the idea for Discovering Family History was sown when Family Chronicle and Internet Genealogy magazines exhibited at an event in Toronto last September, called “The Word on the Street”. Some 200,000 people attended this event, put on for those interested in books and literacy.

“We sold plenty of subscriptions to both magazines,” said Moorshead, “but I found that I was continually explaining to new subscribers some real genealogy basics, ­ steering them to Cyndi’s List and other places that listed beginner’s courses. These people were smart enough; they just needed something more basic than what we were selling. It was sobering to realize that there might be a big market for a genealogy magazine that dealt with the basics.

“This triggered us to conduct market research among Family Chronicle and Internet Genealogy readers. We sent out questionnaires, via the Internet, to 1,000 readers and were more than pleasantly surprised by the response. A few people said they thought the idea for a beginner’s magazine was a bad one, but for each one of these, 12 people were excited by the idea. We had not expected to find that many people, who had been researching their genealogy for many years, still considered themselves beginners. But then we realized that most of us are beginners when we tackle a new area for research. Most of us are beginners in some area or another.”

The free online preview issue contains such articles as Free Family History Websites, Obituaries, the Ultimate Guide to Subscription Databases, Who Else is Researching Your Name?, What is a Vital Record?, Citing Sources, a genealogical Case Study, The 10 First Steps, Computer Basics, It’s All About Parents, Genealogical Societies, Web 2.0 and Making Sense of the US Census. The articles are targeted at beginners, but Moorshead says that great care has been taken not to talk down to the reader.

“I consider myself a fairly experienced genealogist but I continue to come across aspects of research that bewilder me. For example, until recently I had never investigated land records – I would find a basic article on this subject very useful,” said Moorshead. Discovering Family History will be published six times a year. There is an introductory subscription rate of $20 per year (same rate for the US and Canada). For more information visit the magazine’s website
http://www.discoveringfamilyhistory.

The March 2008 Issue of Internet Genealogy

On Monday, I received my March 2008 issue of Internet Genealogy. A bi-montly publication, I absolutely love this magazine, published by the same company as Family Chronicle and History Magazine. Many of the articles are written by authors who I know personally or from faithfully reading genealogy blogs, making reading each issue like getting a letter of helpful genealogical advice from an old friend! This month's issue contains the following articles:

"Jumping Over Hurdles in Western European Research" by Leslie Albrecht Huber

"Free Genealogy Software!" by Rick Crume

A Case Study, "The Case of John Barron, Early Illinois Settler," by Richard Crooks

"That's My Family" by Janice Nickerson (looking at a new database for Canadian researchers)

"Creating the Context for Your Ancestors' Lives" also by Leslie Albrecht Huber, in which she lists social history websites

"Researching Your French Ancestry Online" by Donna J. Pointkouski - hmmm, this looks especially interesting. Both hubby and I have a couple of lines that lead into France!

"Extend Your Research Reach with Mailing Lists" by George G. Morgan

"Checking the (Cyndi's) List" by Cindy Thompson

"Finding Huguenot Ancestors" by David A. Norris - another interest of mine, as it is believed that my Frisian surname, Renema ("of the family of Rene"), is actually a Huguenot line

"The Hidden Treasures of Gazetteers" by Leslie Albrecht Huber

"Passenger Records and Naturalization Records" by Diane L. Richard - I highlighted this one for my Intermediate Online Genealogy class, since that is the topic of our next session

"Libraries in Genealogy" by Mary Penner, looking specifically at online resources, of course

And in "Researching for TV," Janice Nickerson reveals what happens behind the scenes when researching family history for the Canadian television show, "Who Do You Think You Are?"

In addition, the following websites have been highlighted in the "Net Notes" column:

Lost Cousins - http://www.lostcousins.com

RadixIndex: Hungarian Genealogy and Local History Databases - http://www.radixindex.com/

ChicagoAncestors.Org - http://chicagoancestors.org

The Workhouse: England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Elsewhere - http://www.workhouses.org.uk

One of the nice things about Internet Genealogy is that they list all their links for each issue on their website, both current and past. Another is their very affordable subscription rate: $22.50 for a year's subscription (6 issues).

A Terrific Day of Genealogy!

Every once in a while, I have one of those great genealogy days that makes up for those frustrating ones of researching dead ends and brick walls! Today was one of those terrific days of genealogy! First of all, when I came home from work, I found treasures in the mail: the November issue of Internet Genealogy; the May/June issue (overdue?) of Michigana, the quarterly of the Western Michigan Genealogical Society, of which I am a member; and a package from my maternal uncle containing--among many things--originals and copies of family birth, marriage, and death certificates, obituaries, funeral cards, graduation and wedding announcements, napkins from weddings and anniversaries, and photographs of every home in which my maternal grandmother lived in Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan, as well as assessors' records of Grand Rapids family homes and properties going back five generations! Wow! I'll be blogging the details about this soon! And I've got plenty more material for my next Scanfest!

I finished off my day by teaching my first evening of my latest Beginning Online Genealogy class through the Community Colleges of Spokane's Institute for Extended Learning, with eight eager students. A student from a computer class next door wandered in and asked about my courses and said she'll sign up for my next one, as well. It's hard to imagine a nicer day!

Spokane's Lost Battalion Veteran Remembers The War

This morning's front page story in Spokane, Washington's local paper, The Spokesman-Review, is about Fred Shiosaki, a Japanese-American who served in the Lost Battalion, which will be featured in Episode 5 of Ken Burn's The War on PBS tomorrow evening. The links include audio interviews of Mr. Shiosaki, and the site's home page (on 29 Sep 2007, only) includes a photograph of the veteran:

Shiosaki was a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, 3rd Battalion, Company K, which spent a week on a wooded ridge in northern France trying to break through to the Lost Battalion, a unit from Texas that was surrounded by German troops. He was wounded by shrapnel – not seriously, he adds, but enough for a Purple Heart and five points towards his discharge – and many of his unit were killed. Scenes of the casualties in the documentary might jog some unpleasant memories.

“I know I saw them get killed but I can’t remember anything about it,” the 83-year-old said this week in an interview.

Unlike many Japanese-Americans who were relocated to interment camps, Spokane's "enemy aliens" were not, probably because the city is located so far from the Pacific Coast; thus they were not considered such a "threat." Spokane has a good-sized Japanese-American population with a proud, celebrated heritage, which directly or indirectly influences most Spokanites today, including myself. Besides my having several good friends and co-workers of Japanese descent, my sister and her children retain a Japanese surname legally taken by my ex-brother-in-law, in honor of the Japanese stepfather who raised him.

The Spokesman-Review archives most of its articles into pay-per-view format after only one day, so read it now! You can also purchase a month-long online subscription for only $7 here, which will give you access to all portions of their website.

Internet Genealogy Magazine Highlights Genea-bloggers

I received my September issue of Internet Genealogy magazine today, and was pleased to see an article titled "Genealogy Blogs" by Donna Pointkouski. She highlighted six bloggers, five of whom are on my daily must-read list: Jasia (Creative Gene); Craig Manson (GeneaBlogie); Chris Dunham (The Genealogue); Randy Seaver (Genea-Musings); and Steve Danko (Steve's Genealogy Blog). Also included was Lorelle VanFossen from Family History, whose blog was new to me.

Ms. Pointkouski's interviews with these genea-bloggers demonstrated how genealogy blogs are social networking and genealogy tools, by touching on getting started, determining a focus for a blog, finding something to say, how blogging can help your research, and getting the word out to let others know about your blog. In this last part, she highlighted the Carnival of Genealogy.

She also mentioned Chris's Genealogy Blog Finder, Ancestry.com's 24/7 Family History Circle, DearMYRTLE, (Dick) Eastman's Online Genealogical Newsletter, George G. Morgan's Along Those Lines..., and Joe Beine's Genealogy Roots Blog (Joe's Online County Histories, Biographies & Indexes--USA: A Genealogy Guide is also featured in Rick Crume's article, "Online Local Histories: Family History at Your Fingertips").

Other great reads I found in my initial skim include an article on Footnote by Diane L. Richard, "Getting the Most Out of Google's Tools" by George G. Morgan, and "Internet Blessings," a philosophical look back on the impact of the Internet on genealogy, written by my friend and co-member of EWGS, Beverly Smith Vorpahl.

I encourage you to pick up your own copy today!

New Prompt (Week Twenty) Posted at AnceStories2

I just posted another prompt over at AnceStories2: Stories of Me for My Descendants. It's been a month since I posted a journaling prompt; life's been very busy this past month, but it's been more than that. I was enjoying posting my own responses to my prompts here on this blog, but I got bogged down with the last one, "Your Community." I started writing a great post, got a touch of writer's block on it, and additionally, could not find the photos I wanted to scan to illustrate it. It was too much and I gave up! Blogging, in my opinion, is supposed to be fun, so if it stops being fun, I don't do it!

Anyway, this week's prompt is "Your Reads," and it's all about the magazines, newsletters, or newspapers that you grew up with or subscribe to today. When I was little, my maternal grandmother always used to subscribe me to Humpty Dumpty and Highlights! magazines. My mother had had Highlights! as a child, and I purchased subscriptions for my children when they were little, too. Highlights! has always accepted children's submissions of short stories, poems and drawings for publications. I wasn't into writing back then, but I would occasionally send off some original artwork. They never were published, and looking back, I know why!

My parents always received Guideposts and Reader's Digest and National Geographic. Dad had his NGs encased in specially purchased storage boxes. Some of the oldest were water-damaged from when the Nenana River flooded Fairbanks, Alaska when I was a baby, filling our apartment with 2 1/2 feet of water. And speaking of National Geographic, when I was 12, I received a year's subscription to National Geographic World (for kids). I always liked the posters of wild animals in those.

I don't really remember our family having a subscription, but the local newspaper for our area was the Ketchikan Daily News. Our barn made the front page in 1978 when a tremendous windstorm blew through Southeast Alaska and uprooted and snapped trees all over Prince of Wales Island. A huge spruce next to the barn was uprooted, and it took the barn with it. Another regional magazine was Alaska magazine (of course!).

Being in the ministry, my parents also received religious publications. I remember New Wine magazine (the Charismatic movement), Decision (Billy Graham's publication) and The War Cry (the publication of The Salvation Army). I also enjoyed reading Sunday School papers, because they usually had a serial story done up in comic book style on the back page. At school, I remember getting Scholastic newsletters, and being able to order paperback books from them.

As my parents really got into their little homestead and farming lifestyle, they subscribed to Mother Earth News, and received the National Pygmy Goat Association newsletter (Dad was on the board for a few years, and even wrote a couple of articles for the newsletter, including one about shooting the bear on our front porch. What? I haven't told you that one? Maybe later...). They also received a magazine about New England rural life (which I can't for the life of me remember), and the newsletter for a Frisian-American ethnic society (again, the name slips my mind).

In my home today, you'll find my genealogy magazines, Internet Genealogy and Family Tree Magazine, as well as quarterlies and/or newsletters from the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society, the Western Michigan Genealogical Society, the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Historical Society and the Potter County (Pennsylvania) Historical Society. We also receive Energy Times, Smart Computing, Guideposts, and Nostalgia (Inland Empire edition), as well as quarterly publications from our health insurance and auto/home insurance companies. My husband subscribes to Reminisce, Reminisce Extra! and Good Old Days magazines. My teenage daughter receives Seventeen and Cosmo Girl, and my son loves his subscription to Mad magazine. We also tend to pick up many favorites at our local library, as well as visit magazine and newspaper websites online.

What do you read? What did your ancestors read? What (and how) will your descendants read?