Tag: Tuesday’s Tip Page 2 of 5

Tuesday’s Tip: RootsBid

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On 30 June 2015

In Research, Resources

Have you all heard of RootsBid?

Rootsbid

(The video is at the bottom of this post.)

Registration is easy and free. You need your name, email, where you live, etc.

You can then post a project:

Post a Project

Here you fill in all the information about the project. Create a descriptive title and make a very detailed explanation about the problem; there’s an option to upload a document too. You can then designate this project to be done in a specific area or you can click anywhere. You can make it more searchable by adding keywords as well. Then simply review the project and submit! Then just wait for the bidders!

You can also bid on a project:

Bid on project

 

A few things to note:

  • According to their Terms, once a person bids on your project and you accept, RootsBid will hold that payment until the project is complete. That means that you pay right away when you accept a bid for your project. However, the bidder won’t receive payment until you, the project creator, release the funds after receiving the completed project.
  • RootsBid will credit the bidder once the project owner receives the work and releases the money. It can go to PayPal.
  • You can cancel the bid or the project at anytime
  • RootsBid does take a percentage (20% according to their how-it-works page)
  • There is a rating system in place too. This helps people choose their bidders wisely!

RootsBid was one of the competitors at RootsTech this last January. You can read about their introduction here, which also has another video and introduces you to their business idea.

 

So have any of you used this website? What did you think? If you haven’t tried it, would you?

Tuesday’s Tip on Wednesday: FamilySearch.org

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On 24 June 2015

In Method, Research, Resources

This would normally be a Tuesday’s Tip but I was trying to finish many things yesterday and didn’t get the chance to do a blog post. So here it is today!

familysearch main page

Yesterday evening, one of the local genealogy groups hosted someone from the LDS church to come and talk about FamilySearch.org. I am already familiar with the website and I have an account because I index with them, so I wasn’t quite sure what I would learn from the talk as I thought she would discuss some of the beginner type of items. I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderfully informative the chat was!

Here are two of the best things that I learned:

  • When you have a family tree on their site (free and ALWAYS public – you can’t make it private), there are many different ways to view it:
The familiar landscape view

The familiar landscape view

The familiar portrait view

The familiar portrait view

My FAVORITE way to see things! The Fan Chart

My FAVORITE way to see things! The Fan Chart

New to me, the Descendancy View

New to me, the Descendancy View

I did not know there were that many options! As you can see, my tree is very sparse on familysearch.org but I plan on changing that!

  • Once you begin a tree on FamilySearch.org you can go to treeseek.com, which is part of FamilySearch.org. You can sign in with your familysearch log in, and then you can create a BEAUTIFUL fan chart with 9 Generations!!!! There are other very neat things you can do there as well like photo charts, name clouds, pedigrees, and smaller generational charts:

Treeseek

 

Overall, the presentation was great and left me excited to put a tree on FamilySearch.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when using FamilySearch for your online tree:

  • The purpose of FamilySearch is to find the dead, not the living. So if you want to find more and more cousins, this may not be the best site for you.
  • FamilySearch has open, public trees ONLY. If you want private, you won’t want to use this site, but you will also lose out on some of the neat things I showed you above.
  • People can change your tree – because it’s public. Of course, you can discuss these changes with the person who changed it and undo the changes or keep the changes as the discussion progresses. This is a big hurdle for many people to get over, if at all. Having documentation to prove one way or the other is incredibly helpful.

One thing I found interesting is that our presenter showed a video where they discussed “my-tree-itis” where you don’t want to share your information or allow others to make changes on your tree. Since I have a private tree on ancestry.com, I completely get this! When people want to change things I admit that sometimes I take it personally; however, if they have evidence to back up their claim, I will gladly change the information!

I can see both sides to the arguments: keep it private so you know the information is correct and share with those you choose; keep it public so others can benefit from it as it is their family as well, which is also what genealogy can do for you: find new family members!

With those two arguments in mind, I did create a tree on the website. I’m starting from scratch on there though, not uploading a GEDCOM. The reasoning is because the ancestor may already be in the system and this prevents creating new people when a merge would be plenty. So, now I have a place to keep all my familysearch research! Will I add items I find outside of FamilySearch? Maybe, more so if it helps to get further back in a generation. I appreciate that this site is for helping and sharing with others who are family. I also appreciate that you can discuss changes on your tree to show why you believe as you do. I’m willing to give it a shot!

 

Have any of you used familysearch.org as your main tree online? Pros? Cons? Advice?

 

Happy hunting everyone!

Tuesday’s Tip: Look Before You Search

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On 16 June 2015

In Method, Research, Resources

Where to begin???

Where to begin??? By Bobak Ha’Eri (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

As a teacher, I learned very quickly that reinventing the wheel was a waste of time and effort. After trying that a few times (yes, sometimes I can be a slow learner!), I decided to always look to see if what I had in mind had been done before. Often I’d be able to find what I was looking for or something very similar that required only small modifications. This was a lot less work and headache for me!

This same principle applies to genealogy as well. You may be searching for an ancestor that has already had some of your questions answered! The question then is how do you find this out?

  1. Check the library – libraries are one of the best places to start depending on your question. It’s best to use the library in your ancestor’s locality as well since they will have access/knowledge about records specific to that area, not to mention that if the family was prominent in the area there could be one or more books about the family too.
  2. Contact the local genealogy group – I’ve talked about this here and what a great resource this is for people! They can have many unknown to you resources that could be possibly help smash that brick wall of yours.
  3. PERSI – libraries will often have access to PERSI which means you can search historical and genealogical journals for your ancestor. Check out the PERSI link for more information on how to do that!
  4. Internet Resources: Here are some examples of what I mean
    1. State Library – MANY states have a section on their website dedicated to genealogy. Sometimes you can even find a great treasure like SeekingMichigan.org, which is founded by the Library of Michigan and the Archives of Michigan. Their death records have saved me MANY trips!
    2. State Archives – Same thing as above – some great resources/documents are already available online and may point you in the right direction!
    3. USGenWeb Project – This volunteer run website has something for every state (although some more detailed than others). A lot of these has some historical tidbits that could possibly mention an ancestor or something that can give you clues as to what is available in that county/state.
    4. Cyndi’s List – a great place to look for some ideas and other resources
    5. FamilySearch Wiki – probably one of my favorite places to go to for some preliminary research. Not every state/county will have the same amount of information but these are still wonderful places to search through. They will usually tell you about boundary changes, any record loss, the county seat, nearby counties, and resources available, at least on FamilySearch, for that county/state. Such great information!
    6. Google – of course, you can always google the name you’re looking for. Sometimes websites can be brought up that mention them (I’ve been contacted by cousins who found my blog this way). There are many tips and tricks out there for using Google as well. EOGN has discussed this many times, there is a Cyndi’s List for it, and even FindMyPast has discussed it. It’s a great place to look!
    7. Google Books/Archive.org/Genealogy Gophers – there are several ways to search through old books without leaving your home. I discussed Genealogy Gophers here. There is also archive.org which, among other things, is a library of free books that you can read (and search!). And there is Google Books – which can be free to read as well. Getting the book depends on the copyright, of course, but these are all places to check out before you really dive into that brick wall of yours.

One thing to remember though is that this is just the beginning of your search. It doesn’t end there! Many times you’ll still need to verify the information you find with documentation since many old books won’t tell you what source the information came from. Preliminary searches are simply to see what has already been done or who else is looking for them. Searching this way can give you insights on what records to search, what records still exist, if there are any cousins out there looking for them, if the ancestor has already been a subject of someone’s research, etc.

 

Are there any websites or places I left out for preliminary searches? Comment below!

 

Happy hunting!

 

Tuesday’s Tip: GEDmatch.com

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On 9 June 2015

In DNA, Resources

If you’ve had your DNA tested with one of the three major companies (AncestryDNA, 23andme, or FamilyTreeDNA), you should be using GEDmatch as well! GEDmatch is a FREE website where you can upload your raw DNA data if you tested with one of those three companies and use their tools for genetic genealogy! Plus, adding your DNA to another database is absolutely worthwhile in finding as many connections as possible!

GedMain

Registering is very simple – you give a first and last name (optional alias), email address, and a password. Once you’re set up, you can upload your raw DNA:

Ged1

Clicking on the test you used will bring up the upload page. Each page has either instructions there or a link to detailed instructions on how to get your raw DNA and how to then upload it to the system. It’ll take a bit to have the information processed, which I believe varies. While waiting for it to be processed (or before you upload), I highly recommend going through the Learn More section which includes:

The DNA for ‘Dummies’ section has WONDERFUL information for those who are just getting started in genetic genealogy. It’s a list of of resources that explain how to use GEDmatch, explains Autosomal DNA, discusses the X-Chromosome, and more.

Once your DNA has been processed, there are several fun things you can then do!

  • You can look at your admixture (which has many options – here I highly recommend reading through Kitty Cooper’s slides and explanations on this as well) – here is an example of mine using the MDLP Project, admixture proportions with link to oracle, and the World 22 calculator (it pretty much matches what AncestryDNA and FamilyTreeDNA say):

Ged2

  • You can compare your DNA to others in the database using a one-to-many comparison (you decide the CentiMorgan range to narrow down your results), or a one-to-one match (where if you know someone else’s DNA kit number and you want to compare it to yours).
  • There is also a 3D chromosome browser you can use (see below for a link that explains how to use that)
  • and LOTS more like “Are your parents related?” and “What color are your eyes?”

I am still learning about genetic genealogy and am by no means an expert, FYI. GEDmatch is something I am still learning how to use and how to apply that to genealogy but it’s a great tool for those interested in genetic genealogy!

Here are other resources that discuss using GEDmatch:

 

If I missed anything you want to add put it in the comments or leave a comment on my FB page!

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