What do not-so-local genealogical societies have to offer? PLENTY!

Someone posted a question on Facebook today that actually startled me. She wrote, “what do the individual state societies offer?” For me the benefits seemed obvious - connect with researchers who are in the area that your ancestors lived, and access “local” databases and information. Well not only that, but joining a distant society broke one of my long-standing brick walls, so the concept is near and dear to my heart.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
To answer the question, “What do the individual state societies offer”? (and here I would include county societies as well, I’d like to start with the obvious - they offer information specific to their locale. Many larger societies take pride in their websites, and their collection of online databases, often compiled by volunteers from within their own group, indexing local records. I've seen not only cemetery lists and indexes, but vital records of all kinds - marriage and divorce records, obituaries, biographies - even on very small county-level society websites!

"PREMIUM" & JUST-PLAIN AWESOME DATABASES
A few societies also offer access to well-known premium databases with membership. Even if you don’t care to join a society, take the time to peruse the websites of those societies at both the state and county levels of where your ancestors lived. Many offer free databases, and/or links to other websites of interest for research in that area.

PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS
Most all society memberships include a newsletter or magazine, ranging from bi-monthly to semi-annual publications. One great reason to join a distant society where you will most likely never attend a single meeting, is to be able to post queries in their publications. Many societies also offer discounts on publications they have for sale. Other benefits of society membership might include access to online webinars, powerpoint presentations, or lecture notes from past meetings. Most websites offer surname databases, which often link to other researchers working on those names.

INEXPENSIVE RESEARCH
Some memberships include discounted research rates. One society offered members research in their facilities by a volunteer genealogist for as little as $5/hour. But by far the best deal going, if you have Massachusetts ancestors in the Berkshire county area, is a $12 individual membership in the Berkshire Family History Association. Your membership includes two hours of research by a volunteer, in the Berkshire Athanaeum, the area library and archives. It was by taking advantage of this offer that I broke my brick wall on my distant grandfather, David Stevens. The researcher photocopied every resources that mentioned my ancestor, and one was a will listing him, along with several others that I knew for sure to be his siblings, as heirs to Eliphalet Stevens of Pittsfield.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SOCIETY
Sadly, many genealogical society websites begin with pleas for members to show interest so they can continue as a society. The extreme opposite of those sites, was the one society that stated if you didn’t attend at least 5 meetings in a year, you would be dropped from active membership.

While I’ve only addressed US genealogy societies in this post, however I am certain that the same is true of other countries.

Finally, I’d just like to share a few special deals, in addition to many of the above-mentioned benefits of genealogical society membership offers that I found by perusing the web:

ARIZONA
West Valley Genealogical Society Ind. $35, Couple $60
- Access to Footnote & World Vital records in library and in home

CALIFORNIA
Southern California Genealogical Society From $35/year
- From-home use of Access NewspaperARCHIVE
- 24-hour access to archived sessions of the Jamboree Extension Webinar Series

CONNECTICUT
Berkshire Family History Association Ind. $12, Fam. $14, Student $5
- Two hours of research time by a genealogist in the Berkshire Athanaeum. (photocopy charges extra).

Middlesex Genealogical Society Ind. $25, Fam. $30
- A membership card which gives you access to vital records at town and city record offices in Connecticut. (Many of the Connecticut societies offer this)

INDIANA
Indiana Genealogical Society Ind. $30, Joint $35
- Access to 696 databases, representing all 92 Indiana counties

NEW YORK
NY Genealogical & Biographical Society Ind. $60 - 1 yr, $100 - 2 yr
- So many proprietary databases, its an absolute must for research New York ancestors

OHIO
Ohio Genealogical Society Ind. $35, Joint $40
- Home access to World Vital Records

NEW ENGLAND
New England Historical & Genealogical Society Ind. $79.95
- A kajillion New England databases. Worth every penny if you have New England ancestors.

These are just a few of the additional benefits of membership that these societies offer. Spend some time checking out their websites. You just might break your own brick wall.

This is the face of genealogy

This post is in response to a recent newspaper article about the upcoming So Cal Jamboree, which featured, as it's "artwork" a hideous picture of two toothless rednecks, along with the caption "Inbreeding". Sure, we all may have a few toothless rednecks in our history, but they are OUR toothless rednecks, and they are OUR strange aunts and uncles, and OUR quirky parents or grandparents. The face of genealogy is OUR family. The true face of genealogy is the representation in a photograph of the love, patience and determination that is FAMILY. *That* is the face of genealogy.

Anything PC can do, I(pad) can do better..

Okay, so the title may be a stretch, but I can't help hearing tune from "Annie Get Your Gun" playing in my head.

I just installed an app for the Ipad that really expands the capabilities of the Ipad. The Splashtop application was $2.99 for the ipad, and free to download on your PC, Mac or laptop. Once installed and running, with your laptop or PC on, plus an internet connection, you can make your Ipad actually operate as if it were your PC. You can open files, make changes, save, create new documents in any program that you have on your PC right from your Ipad, as if you were on your PC. As their webpage says (http://www.splashtop.com), "With Splashtop® Remote Desktop, you can fully access and control your PC in any way imaginable."

Accessing the program actually makes your PC desktop screen appear on your Ipad, and you just go from there. You can work in any of your genealogy programs, like Legacy, RootsMagic, PAF, etc. You can open and work in Word, Excel, and even play games you have on your PC - It will even run Flash programs (yep, that means Facebook games like Farm Town, etc!) Heck, you can even run Second Life on your Ipad using this.

If you want to transfer files from your PC to your Ipad, using Splashtop in association with your Dropbox is the way to go. Open Splashtop to access your PC. Put the files you want to transfer into your PC Dropbox. Open Dropbox on your Ipad, open the file you want, then save it to your Ipad. Voila! No cables, no syncing.

It's really easy to use, and really extends the limitations of the Ipad.

Summertime in Arkansas means War

There are so many awesome events going on this summer around the United States... well, okay, mostly around the South ... celebrating the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. My father lives in Arkansas, and emailed me this list of events sanctioned by The Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission for the month of June. It sounds like Civil War buffs will be in hog heaven this summer! Please see http://www.arkansascivilwar150.com/events/ for details about these events and more information
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ARKANSAS CIVIL WAR SESQUICENTENNIAL EVENTS FOR JUNE
* 11th Annual Natural State Chautauqua, a living history and teacher in-service program at the Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources in Smackover June 2 and 3.

* 22nd Annual North Arkansas Ancestor Fair, a genealogical workshop, Civil War lecture series and genealogy swap meet in Marshall June 3 and 4.

* Southern Memorial Day, a commemoration of the Confederate dead at the Fayetteville Confederate Cemetery June 4.

* Civil War Event, a day-long program about the lives of soldiers and the battles and activities of the Civil War in southeast Arkansas at Lake Chicot State Park on June 4.

* African-American Legislators, 1868-1893, a day-long June 11 seminar, sponsored by the Black History Commission of Arkansas and the Arkansas History Commission, on Arkansas’s Reconstruction-era black legislators, including a session on why African Americans commemorate the Civil War.

* Confederate History Weekend and Cannon-Firing Demonstration, occurring all day June 11 at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park.

* DAH Teacher Professional Development: “The Civil War in Arkansas,” a series of summer professional development workshops presented by the Department of Arkansas Heritage at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, Little Rock, June 14; Northwest Co-op, Farmington, June 16; Old State Museum, Little Rock, June 24; Southeast Co-op, Monticello, June 30.

* Grand Opening for Hindman Hall, unveiling the new exhibits in the revamped visitor center at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park June 18.

* Teacher Workshop: “The Sesquicentennial of the Civil War in Arkansas,” an Arkansas State University Heritage Sites Summer Teacher Workshop at Lakeport Plantation in Chicot County June 22.

* Summer Theatre Camp, a two-week, Civil War-themed theater camp sponsored by the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas June 13-24.

* Celebrate Juneteenth Performance, a June 25 performance by participants in the theater camp sponsored by the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff.

and the winner is...

The name drawn completely randomly (with my eyes closed and each name on a little slip of paper in a big bowl) to win the one year Geni.com Pro Account was.... (drum roll please) Gloria Motter. Congratulations Gloria, and thanks to everyone that entered.

Win a 12-month Geni.com Pro Account! Hurry!!!

The good folks over at Geni.com have given me the opportunity to give away a 12-month Geni.com Pro Account to one of my lucky blog readers. Your odds may be pretty good, considering there are what, about four of you out there? But since I spent Monday and Tuesday travelling, I'm a little slow getting this posted, and now you only have until this Friday, April 1st (no fooling!!) to enter.

Geni.com is a genealogy and social networking site where you can build your family tree, search for relatives, and invite other family members to collaborate (or not). While a basic account is free, a Pro account offers all sorts of bells and whistles that make connecting to others a breeze, among other things.

To enter, 1., sign up for a free Geni.com account. Then, 2. send an email to me at RelativelyCurious (at) gmail.com by this Friday, April 1st at 3:00 p.m. with GENI in the subject line. I will randomly choose a winner from the entries.

But wait, there's more! You can also enter over at the Geni.com blog itself. Just read through their instructions on how to enter, and increase your chances of winning!

Hurry! and Good Luck!!!

Some handy tips for organizing your research with Evernote

Evernote is a wonderful computer tool that I love to use to organize my genealogy research projects. With Evernote, you can create a folder for each project, and easily organize your notes by surname, location or however you like.

ACCESS ANYWHERE
Your Evernote account is resident online as well as on your computer so you can log in and access your information from any computer. You can download an Evernote ap to your mobile device, and access your data anywhere, anytime. And if all devices are internet connected, your data will automatically sync without any effort on your part.

CLIP AND SAVE
One of the features that I really love is being able to save anything from part of a web site to the entire page. When I am at a website with text that interests me, or an image such as a photo or even an entire census record, all I need do is click on the handy Evernote icon installed along my browser bar, and a box pops up asking me what to title the saved clipping, how to tag it, and which notebook I’d like to save the page or highlighted copy to. By using this button, the URL of the page is automatically included in the note, so I can easily click on it again from my note page, and return to the exact web page I had saved.

TAG!
The ability to "tag" saved clippings makes it very easy to find them again. I will usually tag by surname, record type, and location. Another tag I use a lot is “unsure” . I use this one when I find information that seems to be related to the family but I am as yet not sure if it belongs or not. By easily saving it off, though, I don’t have to try to remember where it was later on, when I’ve determined that the person in fact was a cousin, or brother, or whatever.

With the ability to collect, tag and save all the cool stuff I find in my internet research, it reduces the number of times I revisit the same websites.

This what my desktop version of Evernote looks like. All my notebooks run down the left side. The highlighted notebook's index runs vertically next to that. You can choose several ways of viewing it - this is the "mixed view". And to the right of that is the higlighted notebook page, including the title of the page, the URL where the original was located, and any tags that I have added.

ORGANIZE YOUR RESEARCH
I keep a checklist page in each of my genealogy folders. This also helps me quickly see what I have and what I don’t have in terms of the basic information I want for everyone. I created the table in Word and cut and pasted it into Evernote. I make this my first note in any new research folder. The second note is the State Vital Records Availability Chart that Family Tree Magazine offers on their website, so I can easily check to see what years records were kept for the United States.

I also love that I can print out an entire notebook, complete with images, URLs and tags if I want. I can email notes to others too. It’s very handy.

APPS GALORE!
There are several add-ins and phone apps that you can download to use with your Evernote as well. There is a voice-to-text program that will turn any of your audio notes into text. There is a “smartpen” you can buy that will record audio as well as capture anything you write and turn them into Evernote notes as well, making transcribing an oral interview with your grandmother a breeze. Snap photos with your phone’s camera and import them directly into your Evernote folders easily. A variety of phone apps give you the ability to filter and organize your Twitter streams and save tweets into your Evernote as well. You can even record phone calls as audio notes and save them into Evernote. All of these are available by clicking on the “Trunk” button on the top of your Evernote screen.

There is a free version, limiting the amount of usage per month, or a paid version with unlimited usage. I started out with the free one, but found I was using it so much that the paid version fit my needs better, and has definitely been worth the minimal investment. It saves a lot of work printing out internet findings and trying to keep them filed and organized.