The Genealogy Guys Podcast & Genealogy Connection

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**The Genealogy Guys Podcast & Genealogy Connection**

“The Genealogy Guys” are two avid genealogists who host a weekly chat. The podcast includes news of the genealogy community, book and software reviews, guest interviews, and a lot of fun chat.

Latest Episodes:

The Genealogy Guys Podcast #220 - 2011 April 26 Apr 27, 2011

Show notes

News stories discussed on this episode:

The Federation of Genealogical Societies announces that it is beginning a series of online webinars concerning a wide range of society management topics. These are part of their new online education initiative. The first webinar will be held on Saturday, April 30, 2011, from 3:00 to 4:30 PM Central Time (US) with technology expert and FGS board member Thomas MacEntee presenting "Social Networking for Genealogy Societies." There will be one free webinar each quarter open to the general public, and more webinars for FGS members only. All webinars hold up to 1,000 pre-registered participants. All webinars will be recorded and made available in the FGS Members Only area of its website. Registration for the first webinar is available at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/401693254.
The Federation of Genealogical Societies announced and has launched its weekly live radio program on the Internet called My Society. The weekly programs will be broadcast over the Internet at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mysociety at 1 PM Central Time (US). They will be hosted by a variety of well-known genealogists and FGS board members, and will feature conversations with leaders in the genealogical community and society officers and members. A society will also be spotlighted in each show. The show debuted on Saturday, April 23, 2011, with Curt Witcher, manager of the Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Shows will be recorded and archived for later download.
A new genealogy-specific search engine has been launched. Mocavo (http://mocavo.com) is free and searches free websites including genealogy message boards, family trees, state and local historical societies, the Library of Congress, National Archives, Ellis Island, Find A Grave, the Internet Archive, various U.S. state archives, and many tens of thousands of genealogy sites built by individuals.

The Guys discuss upcoming conferences where they will be speaking in coming months.

George announced that he has begun working on a third edition of his book, How to Do Everything: Genealogy, for McGraw-Hill Professional. The new book will be available at the end of 2011 or early 2012.

Listener email includes:

Joanne asks how to handle information for individuals about whom you are are unsure.
Matt asks about the preferred method of long term care and preservation of gravestones and gravesites.
Melanie updates us about her multiple-choice grandfather (Episode #206), and she asks The Guys about their take on a child being listed in a parent's will after the child is deceased.
George asks about some snafus in past podcasts.
Cheryl reports on billing changes at NewspaperArchive.com.
Beverly asks for suggestions about a quandary she has encounted in Canadian immigration. George suggests visiting the Library and Archives Canada website at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca and searching The Genealogy Centre there at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/index-e.html.
Gene comments about an image of a Stephenville, Newfoundland, baptismal certificate in George's How to Do Everything: Genealogy, 2nd edition.
Gavin shares a wonderful story about having requested information from St. Michael's Industrial School for Boys at which his paternal grandfather lived in the 1930s, and the tremendous treasures he received.
Mac asks about U.S. Agricultural Census Schedules online at Ancestry.com and how to correctly read them. George shares details on the types of information to be found on these census schedules and how they can be used to place your ancestors into context of their activities on their farms.
Shaun comments on the Flip-Pal portable scanner and the fact that he uses an Eye-Fi memory card which can automatically transfer scans to a computer.
Lynda asks about conflicting vital records, as in the example of a discrepancies in the name of her great-grandmother's name.
Kenneth writes to comment again about the tintype he had sent in earlier and the colorization and gilding on it.

The Genealogy Guys Podcast #219 - 2011 April 9 Apr 10, 2011

Show notes

The news includes:

The New England Historic Genealogical Society, together with the Jewish Cemetery Association of Massachusetts and the American Jewish Historical Society of New England have made available for the first time online acess to a growing database that currently includes 13 Massachusetts Jewish cemeteries, with more added each week.
Genealogist Anthony Ray of Palmdale, California, has been named the recipient of the 2011 Suzanne Winsor Freeman Memorial Student Genealogy Grant.
WikiTree announces that it has reached 1 million profiles.
The California Genealogical Society will host a family history day with Ancestry.com on 4-5 November 2011 at the Hyatt Embarcadero in San Francisco.

George extends a special thank you to Miriam in Spokane, Washington, for taking photos of a tombstone there and for locating and sending a copy of the obituary.

Listener email includes:

Russ enjoyed the episode in which Drew unpacked a box of family materials that his brother sent to him.
Lee has enjoyed the interviews that Drew conducted at RootsTech, but suggests that RootsTech provide a quieter venue for such interviews next year.
Bill reports that NARA will hold its annual genealogy fair on 24 April 2011 in Washington, DC. One of the main themes is WPA records. View the schedule at http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/know-your-records/genealogy-fair/2008.html#schedule
Judy is seeking advice on researching her mother's family in Southwest Virginia.
Mark in Plymouth, UK, asks about the availability of apps for the iPhone, Android, Windows Phone 7, and Blackberry phones.
Sean reports on the status of RootsMagic's work to import freeform source citations and place them into formatted source citation templates.
Gordon provides excellent advice for flattening curled or rolled up paper by humidifying it. He also strongly warns that photographs should not be treated this way. He suggests a more detailed discussion in Photographs: Archival Care and Management, by Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler and Diane Vogt-O’Connor published by the Society of American Archivists.
Cheryl provides the pricing at NARA for copies of military files.
Michelle thanks The Guys for their help in making contact with her Irish cousins. It's a real success story.

The Guys review and recommend a number of great genealogy books:

Our Daily Bread, German Village Life, 1500-1850, by Teva J. Schee, is published by Adventis Press. It sells in softcover for $19.95. It is also available in eBook format for Kindle for $9.95.
The Last Muster: Images of the Revolutionary War Generation, by Maureen Taylor, is published by The Kent State University Press. It retails for $45 but is currently listed at Amazon.com for $29.70.
The Ultimate Search Book, 2011 Edition, by Lori Carangelo, is published by Genealogical Publishing Company for the Clearfield Company. It sells for $39.95.
Revolutionary War Pensions (Awarded by State Governments 1775-1874, the General and Federal Governments Prior to 1814, and by Private Acts of Congress to 1905), by Lloyd de Witt Bockstruck, is published by Genealogical Publishing Company. It sells for $89.50.
The Family Tree Sourcebook: Your Essential Directory of American County and Town Records, from the editors of Family Tree Magazine, is published by Family Tree Books. It also provides a 30-day free membership to http://www.familytreemagazine.com. It sells for $34.95.
Online State Resources for Genealogy, by Michael Hait, is published at Lulu.com as an eBook. It sells for $15.00 and is delivered electronically.

The Genealogy Guys Podcast #218 - 2011 March 21 Mar 23, 2011

Show notes

Drew gives George one more week off by making this another all-interview episode (the remaining 3 interviews that Drew conducted while attending RootsTech 2011 in Salt Lake City in February). The interviews were with:

Tami Glatz, President of the Second Life chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and genealogical lecturer;
Paul Nauta, Manager of Public Affairs for FamilySearch;
Audrey Collins, Family History Specialist at The National Archives, UK.

The Genealogy Guys Podcast #217 - 2011 February 27 Feb 27, 2011

Show notes

Drew gives George the week off by making this an all-interview episode (3 of the interviews that Drew conducted while attending RootsTech 2011 in Salt Lake City earlier in the month). The interviews were with:

Louise St Denis, Director of the National Institute for Genealogical Studies (www.genealogicalstudies.com), an educational organization affiliated with the University of Toronto. NIGS has just acquired the social networking site Genealogy Wise.
Brewster Kahle, Chairman of the Internet Archive (www.archive.org) and long-time Internet entrepreneur and activist.
Anne Roach, Chair of RootsTech 2011 (rootstech.familysearch.org).

The Genealogy Guys Podcast #216 - 2011 February 19 Feb 21, 2011

Show notes

The news includes:

Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, nationally known author, editor, instructor, lecturer, researcher and much loved friend in the genealogy community, died on 17 February 2011.
Ancestry.com marks Black History Month with the addition of 250,000 new African-American records.
Moorshead Magazines has published a new issue of Family Chronicle with a new article by George.
The Guild of One-Name Studies extends a special offer to attendees of the Who Do You Think You Are LIVE show in Olympia, London, England this coming weekend, and also to anyone else unable to attend. The latter offer is available at http://www.one-name.org/specialoffer.html for one week from the beginning of the show on 25 February 2011.
Real-Time Collaboration, Inc., acquires Ohana Software LLC to help extend compatibility of genealogy collaboration.
The Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) announced that the dates of next year's institute will be January 23-27 at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City. The RootsTech 2012 conference will be held there the following week, February 2-4, 2012.
The Tri-City Genealogical Society has concluded a vast indexing project of photographs from South Central Washington State. You may search the indexes at their website.
GeneaPress is a new site that publishes press releases/announcements for the genealogy community. The Guys have alse embedded a link in their website. Check it out!

The Guys discuss Drew's experiences at the GenTech conference in Salt Lake City. Interviews from the conference will follow in forthcoming podcasts.

Listener email included:

Margie asks for guidance about where to locate materials about the WPA concerning the area around Springfield, Massachusetts.
Carole asks for guidance about migrating from one genealogy database program to another, and what to do with free-form source text and formal source templates.
Steve commented on episode #215, and he also has just ordered the Flip-Pal scanner.
Kenneth was fortunate that he has inherited 17 photo albums and his mother's journals. He has been scanning these items, and he shared a wonderful, restored timtype of his great-grandfather in Union Army uniform.
Karen asks about why we should save of our own records and artifacts for future generations.
Melanie has some rolled up documents that she would like to flatten but not frame.
Marcie asked us to always include the year in the dates of events we mention in the podcast.
Maureen is looking for software to handle records for the National Orphan Train Complex in Concordia, Kansas.
Gus is seeking guidance about how to enter names of royal personages into his database. Calling all listeners to provide feedback and suggestions!

The Genealogy Guys Podcast #215 - 2011 January 25 Jan 26, 2011

Show notes

The news includes:

The Suzanne Winsor Freeman Memorial Student Genealogy Grant has been established and will be awarded to a student attending the 2011 Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree. Application deadline is March 1, 2011. For more information, contact Denise Levenick at dmlevenick@gmail.com or at 626.688.8974.
NBC launches the second season of "Who Do You Think You Are?" on Friday, February 4th.
Ancestry.com has announced the discontinuation of its Expert Connect service.
Moorshead Magazines, publishers of Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy, and History Magazine, have a special offer. Buy two books, Life During the Civil War and Tracing Your Civil War Ancestors, and pay shipping for just one. Visit Family Chronicle at http://www.familychronicle.com for more information and to order these books.
MyHeritage.com has announced a major upgrade on its Smart Matching (tm) technology at its website.

The Guys open one of the boxes of family materials that Drew's brother, Jeff, sent him in December. Drew explores the wealth of new materials he has received and he and George describe and discuss them in detail. Photographs, letters, certificates and diplomas, V-mail, letters, and more are included. Here are links to two pages:

Drew's Mother and Friend beside Jeep (ca. 1943) Marriage Card received by Drew's Parents

The Genealogy Guys Podcast #214 - 2011 January 17 Jan 18, 2011

Show notes

The news includes:

GenSoftReviews announced its 2010 Users Choice Awards. Our sponsor, RootsMagic, was awarded first place.
Ancestry.com announced the release of Family Tree Maker for the Macintosh. They also announced new and updated collections, including Swedish Church Records and Maine births, marriages, and deaths collections.
The Illinois State Genealogical Society announced the unveiling of their new website at http://www.ilgensoc.org, using EasyNetSites.
A new genealogy site has been announced. It is Tpstry at http://tpstry.com.

Listener email includes:

Questions about the downloads of the Podcast.
Donna asked about the Federation of Genealogical Societies' Save the Pensions! fund and its place in the Stern-NARA Fund at FGS.
Tim writes about Drew's connection to the Perry-Boddies lines.
Samuel asks about DNA testing to locate relations to males in Ireland.
Victoria wants to know the reasons behind two couples in England (1851 and 1893) whose marriage registers show living at the same address at the time of their marriages.
Ken asks about using Dropbox with his Family Tree Maker files.
Mary asks how to shorten a rediculously long URL. George suggests the use of TinyURL and Drew suggests using bit.ly.
Tim asks about free vs. pay information.
Victoria relates a funny story about quirky genealogists.
Another Victoria tells us about Shakespeare's genealogies in his plays.
Gus tells us about obtaining military records.
Donna asks George about differences between RootsMagic and Reunion.

George tellss everyone that there are several new book reviews coming.

The Genealogy Guys Podcast #213 - 2011 January 5 Jan 07, 2011

Show notes

This week's news includes:

NBC announces that season two of "Who Do You Think You Are?" premieres on Friday, February 4th.
The Federation of Genealogical Societies has appointed Matthew Wright as the new Editor of the FGS FORUM electronic magazine. He succeeds Sandra Hargreaves Luebking who has worked on FORUM for the last 25 years.
The 1910 Census for Norway is online at http://www.digitalarkivet.no. An English version of the site is available at http://www.digitalarkivet.no/cgi-win/WebFront.exe?slag=vis&tekst=meldingar&spraak=e.
The New England Historic Genealogical Society (at http://AmericanAncestors.org) announces 4 upcoming events:
- New Visitor and Welcome Tour - January 8
- Using AmericanAncestors.org - January 12
- Dom's, An Odyssey - January 19
- Winter Weekend Research Getaway: Effective Use of Technology - January 19
The revamped ScotlandsPeople is up and running
The Ontario Genealogical Society announces the appointment of Elizabeth Lapointe as editor of its journal, Families
The new book, Atlas of East and Coastal Georgia Watercourses and Militia Districts, by Paul K. Graham, has been published. Visit http://pkgraham.com/atlas for more information.
WikiTree announces a host of new widgets at http://www.wikitree.com/articles/draft-widgets.html.
Moorshead Publishing has released its new book, ttracing Your Civil War Ancestors, by David A. Norris. For more informaation, visit http://www.familychronicle.com.
Genealogical Publishing Company (http://www.genealogical.com) has issued its new laminated "Genealogy at a Glance" reference sheet for Scottish Genealogy Research.

This episode's listener email includes:

Claire shares how she can best clean up family trees and copy people from one tree to another using RootsMagic.
Judy attests to the fact that the book we recently reviewed, Shaking the Family Tree, by Buzzy Jackson, is a great read.
Chris has military woes, and asks questions about obtaining copies of military records.
Barbara wrote to tell us about an article in American Ancestors magazine from Fall 2010 about the article titled "Tracing the Origins if Joseph Herbert," and recommends it for the way the sources are cited.

The Guys discuss the use of CrossOver, and George tells about how simple it was to relink all the graphics for his ancestor research using RootsMagic.

Drew discusses his personal research and the fact that his brother has sent him two new boxes of materials.

The Genealogy Guys Podcast #212 - 2010 November 28 Nov 29, 2010

Show notes

The news includes:

Ancestry.com unveils Family Tree Maker for the Macintosh.
Ancestry.com and The Genealogist in the UK have announced an agreement with The National Archives (UK) to acquire and publish online the 1911 England and Wales Census.
Ancestry.com has reached an agreement with National Geographic Digital Media, part of National Geographic, in which the latter will host a new family history experience related to the Genographic Project Online.
Ancestry.com has just launched a major enhancement to its online search templates, the new "Add an Event" facility.
Moorshead Magazines Ltd., publishers of Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy, and History magazines, announces a new book, Tracing Your Civil War Ancestors, available on 1 January 2011. More details are available at http://www.familychronicle.com.
The Muskogee Phoenix reports that the Cherokee Nation has begun development of a Virtual Library of Cherokee Knowledge and expects to complete the project in Spring 2011.
MyHeritage has announced that it can generate a wide variety of pre-defined famiy tree charts easily. High resolution export of charts is free and these can be shared via email and printed in PDF format on home computers. The company has also added a professional poster printing service.
The National Genealogical Society has announced the appointment of a new board director, Jordan Jones, of Raleigh, NC, to support information technology and solutions.
The New England Historic Genealogical Society (at its new web address at http://www.AmericanAncestors.org) will host a Winter Weekend Research Getaway - Effective Use of Technology on 27 to 29 January 2011 in Boston. Visit the website for more information.
The Kansas City Star posteed an article at http://www.kansascity.com/2010/11/08/2409249/search-for-kc-potters-fields-documents.html?story_link=email_msg concerning searches for three large potter's fields.

Ideas for holiday gifts include:

The New England Historic Genealogical Society (http://www.AmericanAncestors.org) offers its Family Discovery Package for $99 and an annual membership to NEHGS for $75.
Ancestry.com is selling NEW subscriptions to its databases.
The Technology Tamers have produced an Everyday Genealogy 2011 calendar. It is available in a desk pad format from http://www.everydaygenealogy.com for $12.59 with a genealogy tip for every day of the year and as an app for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch from the iTunes store for $3.99.

The Guys review the following books:

Sto Lat: A Modern Guide to Polish Genealogy by Cecile (Ceil) Wendt Jensen (See http://mipolonia.net for details and ordering information.)
Cherokee Citizenship Commission Dockets, Volume II, 1888-1884 and 1887-1889 by Jeff Bowen (Clearfield Company, 2010)
The Journey Takers by Leslie Albrecht Huber (2010) (See http://www.thejourneytakers.com for details and ordering information.)
Shaking the Family Treeby Buzzy Jackson (Touchstone, 2010)

Listener email includes:

Mac asks about his scan wand. (And George talks about his Flip Pal scanner.)
Eric responds about Mitch's problem reading the 1852 California Census for Placer County.
Brandt has questions about researching adoptions.
J.T. shares information about another alternative to Parallels, VMWare Fusion, and CrossOver as software that allows Mac users to run Windows programs. He suggests Wine (http://www.winehq.org) - a free open-source program that needs your configuration.
Tim has three items for The Guys:
- He suggests the wealth of digital materials online at Georgia's Virtual Vault (http://cdm.sos.state.ga.us/index.php).
- He asks about copyright ownership for digitized U.S. census images at Ancestry.com, and sourcing them.
- He has questions about how to greate effective source citations for indexes, books, and other materials.
Peter McCracken shares information with The Guys about ShipIndex.org, a site at which you can research specific ships to determine where information is available in books, journals, CD-ROMs, websites, and more. The free area contains more than 140K citations and the premium database contains more than 1.5M entries.
Michael suggests the use of website http://www.library.illinois.edu/hpnl/newspapers/historical.php at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. There is a vast collection there, and there are links to many other newspaper resources.
Richard reminds us that another great website to post one's genealogical material to is the Free Pages at http://freepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com.

The Genealogy Guys Podcast #211 - 2010 November 12 Nov 14, 2010

Show notes

This episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the annual conference of the Florida State Genealogical Society, held at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota. (Note: At one point during the episode, Drew tries to recall the name and URL of the national program that manages the archiving of local newspapers. After the recording, a helpful audience member let Drew know that it was the United States Newspaper Program.)

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