Lacie's Genealogy Blog

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash I haven’t blogged in a while. For two years, I put this blog on private as I’d no longer had the willpower to push out blog posts the way that I did six years ago. I write a little more about this in my blog post Why Do You Do… ?  Recently, I have revamped my blog. I have unpublished posts that didn’t reflect who I was then or who I am now, or those that felt too personal to share ‘out there’. I also removed posts I wrote  just for the sake of posting content and main taining an audience,   even when  inauthentic to me. It means more to me that others feel the value and quality of what I share rather than the quantity. I am not sure how often I will post, all I know is when the inspiration and curiosity strike, that’s when it will occur. My intention for this blog is to lead with more spontaneity than usual, structured content, along with transparency, authenticity, and vulnerability to whatever degree feels right. My inte...

I began blogging five years ago on January 12, 2019. In the last three years, I wanted to write a post about the blog posts I have written that I think are "the best", helpful, thought provoking or just fun. So now I am doing it. Here it is below. Photo by  Guille Alvarez  on  Unplash These posts are not in any particular order.  Why Do You Do...? What Kind of Genealogist Are You Are There Changes to Come?- Find A Grave Ancestry's NEW Changes To Terms & Conditions The Truth May Come Out with DNA Tests   Mapping Out a Family My Document Processing Workflow   Are There More Changes to Come to Find A Grave?   Sharing Photos of Ancestors Online Reopen the National Archives   How COVID-19 is Impacting The Genealogy Community   Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - You Might Be A Genealogist If Local History is Important Too Education is Everywhere Giving Back To the Genealogy Community Creating A Digital Library With Goodreads  Google Books Fo...

I know that Lorine McGinnis Schulze wrote a blog post on the same topic several years ago, but I feel there are even more categories. So with that said, which kind of genealogist are you? The Grave Hunter - Goes to every local cemetery and takes photos of headstones, then uploads them to FindAGrave. The Reunion Planner - Plan every yearly family reunion. Picks the date, the location, and the place the event is held. Creates genealogy-themed activities. The Learner - Always asks questions, attends genealogy conferences, webinars, and watches many videos. Always excited to learn and use new techniques and tools. The Time Traveler - Questions every aspect of family circumstances. Tries to gather the whole picture. (Social, economic, historical context) (ie, why did so and so do that, how did they feel making that decision, how did it affect them).  The Cycle Breaker - Heals the beliefs, behaviors, and patterns for themselves, their ancestors, and their family. The Traveler/...

Do you have a workflow when you find a new document? If you don’t, I will share one you can use. Here are some steps you can follow once you find a document online.   Step 1: Download the image Generally, there is an option on genealogy sites to download images.  On Ancestry, you can click on the tool icon, which is on the right side of your screen once you view the image in full screen, then select "download". Step 2: Name It If you have already established your naming convention for your digital files, you can use that. If you haven’t already, you can use mine. My naming strategy is  Year State Name of Record - Ancestor Name.jpg Step 3: File it Select the file in which you want to put the document in. Step 4: Attach images to your genealogy software program  First, add a fact and details (which may include notes) to the person(s) the document mentions. Then import images into the person's media album. Add a caption, description, and date to the document. Step 5:...

This topic may seem basic to you, but sometimes it can get confusing about the two. So, what are a transcript and an abstract? How do you transcribe and abstract a document? I will share what each of these terms mean and demonstrate them using an example . Terms to Know A transcript is an exact copy of the document. This means not correcting spelling, punctuation, and the wording (in the context of the document). If there are 5 words in a line and continuing to the next line, keep 5 words in a line. Preserve the way it's written. An abstract  is a summary of what the document contains. The abstract should include all the important (main) details of the document. Now that you have a little understanding of the terminology, it's time to put them into focus. Transcribing If there is a specific software that you use, go ahead and use it. Whatever works for you is best. I will be using Microsoft Word for this demonstration. I've transcribed the 1st page of a ...