June 26th meeting

Great stories from our members about their personal genealogy research over the last 6 weeks.

There will be no DIRT meetings in July 2019.

The main discussion was on "Using Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets for Genealogy".  After reviewing some very basic Excel concepts, we jumped right into some examples of using this for genealogy.  One source was Thomas McEntee Research Log: Click here, then scroll down on the page until you see the list of resources: select Genealogy Research Log.   As we discussed uses for excel, this became more of a "what would you use it for, would it be useful to you" instead of a "basic features of Excel". So it was decided our time would be spent showing ways to use it, then during our next DIRT meeting in August to have everyone build or use their own spreadsheet and show more tips.

I did show how to export your data from Family Tree Maker to a .csv file, then to convert this to Excel and have all your choosen data automatically populate an Excel table, saving lots of re-typing of information.  I will post a video "how-to" do this in the coming days.

June 12th meeting

We covered the following

1) Research questions and reading a tips on reading a U.S. census: click here
2) how to prepare for a Research Trip handout: Click here
3) How to prepare for a Family Reunion: Click here
    - interview questionnaire: Click here
    - family genealogy questionnaire: Click here

We will not have any DIRT meetings on July 10 or July 24th.

Our May 22nd session focused on
     (1) Ancestry updates and
     (2) Creating a book with Family Tree Maker. 

We reviewed several new tools provided by Ancestry.com (1) TreeTags for use with your trees, (2) New DNA Matching tools and (3) DNA Thrulines.  If you are interested in these updates, please review the slides used for last nights meeting on Ancestry updates: Click here.

We then spent time reviewing how to create a book using Family Tree Maker.  Each person used their own computers to build a sample book.  They had experimented with Family Tree Maker using the knowledge and slides from our May 8th meeting and came with excellent questions.  Everyone who had Family Tree Maker finished the meeting with their own sample book and a strategy to start using the various "collections" in Publish to start creating pdf files or printouts of their work.  All paid members of our club received the instructions from the 8th May meeting.

During our 8 May session we did a quick overview of the Four Genealogy Giants, with emphasis on each of their strengths and data.

The main topic for this meeting was to "Create a book" using Family Tree Maker.  We went through each of the steps for creating the title page, table of contents, photo pages, pedigree charts, descendant charts, index and much more.  There is tremendous power are your fingertips to pull out of Family Tree Maker a great printed book of pdf file for sharing with your family (free).  I will send a pdf file of the presentation (steps) to all the 2019 paid members of our genealogy club.  All of our attendees with laptops at the meeting created their own example book along the way.  There was a quick overview for using Ancestry "MyCanvas" online book creation and also using the plug-in from Family Book Creator to automatically generate a book from Family Tree Maker - both of these options do cost money ($).

At our next meeting we will review "Create a book" using Family Tree Maker, answering questions.

We had a great class today to discuss and Family Tree Maker (FTM) and how to create books or manuscripts from FTM.  Also, how to use MyCanvas (part of Ancestry) for online publishing and "Family Book Creator" as a plug in to FTM for producing books.  Our major focus was on how to use FTM to create your own customize book or pdf file.  If you are interested in the handout or guide on how to do this, please send bakerlynnd@gmail.com an email and he will send you the presentation used at todays session.

Keep exploring your family past and fun new discoveries.

Lynn Baker
845-242-2344

The Charleston Family History will change its hours beginning on May 1, 2019.   The new schedule is as follows:

11 am to 7 pm - Tuesdays, Wednesdays, & Thursdays
11 am to 3 pm - Fridays
11 am to 3 pm - 2nd & 4th Saturdays only
Closed Sundays & Mondays

DIRT Meeting - Doing State Research in the USA

We discussed and showed 9 websites for doing research at the state level.  Then each person pick "one" site (not to overlap) and took 45 minutes to investigate that site for information.  Then each person discussed with everyone else what they had found and how to use the site.  Here is a handout with the 9 suggested sites for today:  Click here

Items that were re-enforced:
- Use different websites for looking up the same information, do not depend upon only one place
- Use different search criteria
- Go back to the site later, there is always new information being posted
- Write down your path and what you find or do not find
- Explore
- Have fun

We also discussed the following:
Charleston Chapter South Carolina Genealogical Society: https://charlestongenealogy.org/
Upcoming: Census Puzzle, do you know all the pieces by Pat Kruger
          - Sunday, 28 Apr, 2:30-3:30 Masonic Temple, 1285 Orange Grove Rd, West Ashley
Upcoming Creating your own Free Blog for Genealogy: May 23: 7:00-9:00 PM

There is a change in topic for the next meeting on May 8, we will demonstrate and for those of you with Family Tree Maker, have you create a book of one of your ancestors.