Happy Holidays!!!

We had our DIRT Holiday party, where members shared family stories and Christmas Projects.

We started with a Christmas Genealogy Poem read: Click Here

We played Virtual Trivia and everyone was laughing and having fun before the holidays, with "The DIRT Girls" beating the "Treasure Hunters" by 2 points.

Lynn is still offering to enhance/colorize 2 photos from each DIRT member, just send him your photo (jpg or Tiff).

Suggestion for making Christmas Cards with Genealogy: Click Here

Remember the Christmas Star (close proximity of Jupiter and Saturn conjunction) will happen Monday, Dec 21 about 45 minutes after sunset in the Southwestern Sky).  Hope for a clear night.

Have a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

 Great discussion today.  Major focus items

1. Photo enhancement
2. Closing out Genealogy for 2020, click here for replay
3. Restructuring DIRT Blog to make it easier to access past presentation topic

Links to items discussed

• North Carolina Maps: Click Here
• It's Not about the Nail: Click here

 We had a great discussion today about what member's are doing in their genealogy journey as well as an overview of the "Big Four Genealogy Companies."

As we talked about Christmas projects, Brenda Larsen shared her project on making notecards.  She took pictures of her "old family pictures", then using Microsoft word, she "insert" image, selected "image format" and then "artistic effects".  What a wonderful gift to her family.

We then covered the latest overview of the "Big Four Genealogy Companies", Click here to see video recording of presentation.  It is important to pick the company that can best answer your current genealogy questions, for example FindMyPast has the best resources on England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.  You an always join, then dropper your membership after you have done your research.  One highlight was reviewing how MyHeritage can now "enhance" and "colorize your photos.  You do not have to colorize to get the enhancement to your old photos.

Lynn has offered to do "one or two" photos for each DIRT member if you will send him your photo (the higher the resolution, the better outcome).  

Fun video about Family Gathering: Would you bet your Family Christmas Dinner: Click Here 

 Our meeting today went well, we focused upon "Cleaning Up Your Digital Data" with two areas of particular interest - using Shortcuts on the Desktop and managing the bookmarks. There are many other areas of computer data that we discussed as well. 

If you are interested in the replay, Click Here

 Wonderful meeting today: Focus on "Using Audio to Share" as the main focus

    We did take some time to discuss our current achievements and frustrations with our genealogical research before diving into the main topic.  Just sort of catching up on squirrel stories.

Next we focused on the main topic of "Using Audio to Share", to get the recording: Click Here

Questions to ask in an interview:

• Tell me about your Life: Click here
• Great Questions: Click Here

Some resources referenced during the discussion were:

• Audacity: https://www.audacityteam.org/
• Adobe Spark: https://spark.adobe.com/

For yesterday's FHC Evening recorded session on: Genealogy Wall Charts: Click Here

• To access his website for Genealogy Wall Charts: Click Here

  Our meeting went well today.  Here are some materials for your use:

Today's meeting: Improving Your Genealogy Research Skills Recording: Click Here

Link to other resources discussed

• The Family History Guide: Click Here
• YouTube Channel: Click Here : Search Ancestry
• RootsWeb: Click Here : select Wiki

Social History Sites:

• Google Books: Click Here
• Internet Archives : Click Here
• History Net : Click Here
• Floridamemory : Click Here
• Digital Collection : Click Here
• Chronicling America : Click Here
• New York Public Library : Click Here

DAR Sheets

• DAR Source Citation: Click Here
• DAR Source Abbreviations: Click Here
• DAR Source State Abbreviations: Click Here

 Hi to all the Genealogist out there!

• Today's session was focused on Creating Family Short Stories using the video recording ability in the FREE Virtual App called Zoom.  Many of you have been using zoom for your social and business virtual meetings (or Teams, Skype, etc.)  
• After reviewing how to prepare your short story, we carefully went through the Zoom application and steps for the PC or Apple computer to do many of the functions.  Lastly, we all merged onto a smartphone call, ended the virtual meeting and worked on our own computers to set up zoom for ourselves.  Some successes and some frustrations with getting this new app installed on our machines.
• Overall positive feedback, even with the challenges of the technology.
• To watch the session, click here

We also took a few minutes to look at the FamilySearch.org "Activities" called "Where Am I From" and "Compare a Face".

  Hi everyone!  It is always great to get together and share.  Today's meeting was another sharing and learning from each other.

1. Sharing session
2. Discussion about the Family History Center Oct 17 virtual workshop
3. Presentation on Creating and Sharing Short Stories for Family History using Zoom, Click Here for recording
4. Checklist guide for putting together short story using Zoom: Click here
5. Discussion about Land Grants for Genealogy: Click here for recording of session used n Oct 17

The Family History Center on Sam Rittenberg road is open again, their hours are

• 10 - 7: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
• 10-2:   Friday
• 10-2: 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month

They are also looking for additional volunteers to help with researchers

Our next meeting is on Wednesday October 28 and will focus on "Using Zoom to do Short Stories"

 Light attendance - such a beautiful day outside

We discussed what people had done with the Irish Information from our last meeting.

Everyone had some wonderful results from their personal research.  For video recording of the session: Click Here

We covered several areas that may warrant further investigation:

• Sign-up for October 17th, Family History Center Workshop: Click Here for document
• Click here to pay the $10 fee
• Updated Genealogy Website list (copy to desktop, then open): Click Here
• 5 Productivity tips for Windows 10 Users: Click Here
• New Newspaper Navigator (Library of Congress) Click here
• Centennia Historical Atlas of Europe: Click Here

The DIRT Meeting on October 14 is cancelled and I hope you will consider joining the Event on Oct 17th.

 Great session today, here are the highlights

1) Discussed the upcoming Family History Center Workshop on October 17

    - if you want to join the fun for $10, Click here

    - if you want to know more, here is a link to the flyer: Click here

2) Marian Chamberlain shared her approach to Irish Genealogy Research

    - for website links click here

    - for handout from Genealogical Treasures in Irish Archives: Click here

    - for handout from Irish Foundations 1 Syllabus: Click here

3) Making Short Stories from Family History

    - mind map: Click here

4) AncestryDNA Ethnicity calculations - how it works

5) Ten Steps to Organizing Genealogy

Full video recording of this session: Click here

 You Won't Want to Miss It! The world’s largest family history conference will be virtual and completely FREE!

FamilySearch’s RootsTech conference is known for incredible keynote speakers, the latest industry news, and inspiring classes to help you discover your family story. This next year, it will also be FREE! Join us on February 25–27, 2021, as we uncover more about the story of you. Sign Up for Free  at  https://www.rootstech.org/?lang=eng

 DIRT Meeting on Land Records For Genealogy part 3 - Metes and Bounds

I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe.  I look forward to when we can meet at the Lakehouse again.

For the recording of today's session: Click Here

For the glossary of Deed terms: Click Here

DIRT Meeting Sept 16 Land Records part 2

 I hope this finds everyone safe and healthy.  

Our session today was on: Using Land Records for Genealogy Part 2

    Click here for the recording of today's session

    Click here for Glossary of Deed terms

Other announcement:

RootsTech 2021 is virtual and free.  Sign up: Click here

Marian Chamberlain has found two wonderful free sources on Facebook, join their group page

  - FindMyPast: has great records on Britain and Ireland: Weekly Q&A Webinar - Click Here

  - Irish Family History Dublin: Weekly Q&A Webinar: Click Here

Ten Tools for Writing Genealogy: Click Here

DIRT Meeting Aug 26

 Another group session.  The main topic was

1) Using Land Records for Genealogy Part 1: Click here

2) Glossary of Land Deed Terms: Click Here

Links shown in Presentation:

•        Atlas of Historical Boundaries from Newberry Library

•        Red Book: American State, County and Town Sources

•        Common indexing system in U.S.

In our session today we discussed:

1.  Free webinars
2. Thoughts on Blackstone Group purchase of 75% of Ancestry.com
3. Christmas / Holiday Projects (this session will be given again at the FHC Oct 17 Event.  

It will be recorded at that time.  For the handout Click here.

 DIRT Meeting

Our meeting went well, we covered the following two subjects:

1) Blackstone purdhase of 75% stake in Ancestry.com, WHAT DI I DO NOW? 

    - for video replay of session Click here

2) AncestryDNA Thrulines: One way to use it: Video Replay Click here

DIRT Meeting on:


1) Discussion
2) New websites: for replay click here

Creating a Genealogy Research Plan Like a Detective – ThoughtCo.

NARA’s Access to Archival Database (Social Security database):
   Genealogy Roots Blog explaining SSD : Click here

Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War Graves Registration Project:

RootsWeb Family History Wiki: Red Book / State / County

On-line historical directories website  Source Book and Red Book (state, county)

The topic of Family Interviews will be covered at another meeting in the future

DIRT Meeting: You are all welcome to join our sessions via the virtual link.

We had a good round the room discussion of what people are working on and their new discoveries.

The recorded session was on: 

   Finding Graveyards and Cemeteries: click here for replay

   Click here for handout

Hi everyone!  I hope you are all safe.

We had a DIRT meeting today and talked about:

1) General discussion about member reseasrch
2) Brend Larsen took us through her results upon using the Mind Mapping exercise
3) Reading and understanding the 1790 t0 1840 US Federal Census: Click here for recorded session
     - getting Census Cheat Sheets from FamilySearch.org Click here

Two other sources recommended:

Correspondence and writings from Founding Fathers: Click here
FamilySearch is offering 20 minute free consultations: Click here

See you next week.

DIRT Meeting today.  We covered the following major topics:

1) New Free webinars, Family Tree Maker Places, Using Mind Mapping and group help to break down brickwalls (an example): To see the video recording: Click Here
  - I used FreeMind software (free) : Click Here
  - Examples of Mind Mapping for Genealogy use: Click Here

2) Overview on Reading 1850 to 1900 US Census Records: To see replay: Click Here

DIRT Meeting today.

Our discussion today was:

1) reviewing some of the genealogy research websites submitted by members to be added to our Spreadsheet of websites.  Please send to Lynn Baker any and all websites (urls) that you have found useful in doing your regional and statewide family research.

2) Everyone discussed where they currently are on their own research

3) Recording of the program began with : Click here for video recording of session
    a) How to correct Places and duplicate names in Family Tree Maker (0 - 53 min)
    b) How to use a timeline for structuring research and finding gaps (53-86 min)

DIRT Meeting today.

Our Virtual Meeting today was all about working together.  The first 45 minutes members shared their experiences and what they were working on.  Several new potential members joined the call to see what our club is all about.

The second half of the meeting focused on "Genealogy Websites".  Lynn Baker is putting together a MS Excel spreadsheet of useful Genealogy Websites.  To observe the replay of today's meeting, Click here.  WE reviewed the current list of 137 websites and were asked to contribute other sites that we have personally found useful.  The link to the spreadsheet will be posted after next weeks meeting and after additional inputs are added.  Lynn will then send out a request to everyone on our distribution list to contribute their useful websites.  We will continue to grow the document and have it available to all members.

DIRT Meeting:

Today we covered "Timesaving Apps for Genealogist".  To see the recording of the virtual session, Click here.

For the handout: Click here

Tuesday (yesterday) evening at the FHC, Sarah Nesnow presented on "Navigating FamilySearch Wiki", for a recording of her presentation, Click here.

We discussed both Mind Sharing and Timelines for Genealogy, several members have given me their brick wall or ancestor of concern. In a future session we will use some of the tools together in collaboration to use these two approaches to solving genealogical problems.

DIRT Meeting on Family Tree Maker.  Our session today was a great dialog between members on use of Family Tree Maker, with specific emphasis on correcting errors such as: finding duplicate people and merging them, finding duplicate facts and merging them, finding individuals, resolving relationships and deleting people.  Also we covered Places - resolving place names, using the maps and using FTM to look at migration of individual as well as immediate family and ancestors.  Lastly, we went over media, including into FTM, linking to various individuals and creating your own Movie Slide Show.

If you want to see the entire video of the session, Click here.

Another resource that you may want to take advantage of this Legacy webinar on Google Chrome Bookmarks from Legacy Family Tree Webinars.  Click here to view.

I also did a session with the Summerville Genealogy Club on May 28.  Subject: Using Excel for Genealogy.  Click here if you would like to view this session.

Virtual Session Summary

We had a virtual DIRT meeting today from 1:30-3:30 PM.  We discussed the new Genetic Detective show (I hope you all get a chance to see it on ABC).  There were some great new breakthroughs made by members that were shared.  Some folks took advantage of the Fold3 for FREE over the Memorial Day weekend and found some wonderful family information.

Today our focus was again on Ancestry.com and how to take better advantage of their 24 billion records.  We work with Searching All Collections and also the Card Catalog.  A link to the recording of our session will be posted soon for anyone to review (unfortunately the full video was not captured).  Click here.  New video: Click here

Have a great week and keep busy searching for family information.

Or next meeting will be on Wednesday, June 3, 2020 from 1:30-3:30 PM EST.  The focus will be on using Family Tree Maker.  Please send me your questions ahead of time.

Hi all,

We had our session today from 1:30-3:30 PM,  where we covered some of the new enhancements made by Ancestry.com to their site.  Some of the specific examples are the Search Hints, Connections, AncestryDNA and general navigation of the site.  We drove down to "how to save a file" and either using a subscription account or just an account.

Please click here to see the video of our meeting.

I hope you are all getting a lot done while being locked down.

We had a good session today - Our next Virtual Session will be May 13: 1:30-3:30 PM.

1) General discussion of what members are working on
2) Suggested members to watch some of the Free Videos
     - Legacy Family Tree Webinars: post 1 per day in May, will be free
       for 1 week, if you want the syllabus: Click Here
     - Youtube: BYU Family History Library: Click Here
3) Family Tree Maker, how to do a backup: Click Here
4) How to find yearbook photos in Ancestry.com and download
5) How to colorize your  Black and White photos - For FREE
6) Watched part of the new Legacy Family Tree Webinar, "Smarter Search
     Strategies for Genealogy" by Thomas MacEntee
7) Tips on using Google for Genealogy and the wildcards: Click Here

DIRT Meeting 29 April

We had another fun time together, discussing the latest discoveries and tips.  Then we dove directly into discussing Family Tree Maker, using some of the modules created for each area of FTM.  Major areas discussed were:

Color Coding -why use it and how?
Letting FTM find mistakes in my Tree
Using Filters to create reports or indexes to focus my attention
Making a Book using the collections in FTM
Fixing Relationships and deleting a person from the tree

Syncing with Ancestry.com and when to use Ancestry or FTM to open up hints.

I hope you are all safe and healthy,

We will have another virtual DIRT session next Wednesday: May 6 from 1:30-3:30 PM.

DIRT Meeting - So great to interact with so many members.

I know everyone is staying safe and social distancing.  We held our second Zoom Virtual DIRT meeting, thanks to Kyle Kane for allowing us to use her paid account,

We first talked about how everyone was doing and if there were any questions.  There are some FREE genealogy webinars that you may want to take advantage of watching:

RootsTech 2020 (18 sessions): Click HERE
Legacy Family Tree (free for one week): Click HERE
BYU Youtube Channel: Click HERE

Our focus then shifted to Family Tree Maker.  I have sent out an Overview template for the Tree & Person Sections, which we discussed in more detail.

For help with Family Tree Maker, you can use their Live Chat Feature: Click HERE

I did offer to provided my "Home Developed Module" of some of the FTM features, Click HERE to see list of modules.  If you would like to dig deeper into one of these areas (only one at a time), please send me an email and I will provide you a link to the module.  Once you have looked at it and tried it for yourself, you an request another module (feedback would be appreciate so I can refine and improve the modules).

There was a recording made of this session and when it is available, it will be posted HERE.

If you want to practice some of the examples given today, here is a list of some of the areas covered: Click HERE

If you want to see the other Videos of FTM (like the one shown today), please send me an email.

We will hold another DIRT meeting next Wednesday from 1:30-3:30 PM to continue exploring the features of FTM and answering your questions.

Our first Virtual DIRT Meeting

It was a great meeting, everyone was helpful on the Zoom video.  Thanks to Kyle Kane for hosting the Zoom session.  We had fun together and got a chance to catch up with one another.

We covered the following areas:
1) Free Genealogy webinars are available on a variety of
    topics - go take a look
   - RootsTech 2020: Click here
   - Legacy Family Tree: Click here
   I do have the syllabus for most of these (the ones that provided a syllabus)
2) Getting involved in 52 questions/stories is still open
   - just send me an email if you want to join
3) Beginners Step #3 Know the area and time frame handout: Click here
   - we did an exercise where each group explored on of the
     following for finding where to get information
      - FamilySearch Research Wiki - Click here
      - The Family History Guide - Click here
      - Cyndi's List - Click here
4) Some still find the Genealogy Checklist helpful: Click here
5) Remember the Ancestry Library edition through CCPL is available
    from home during this "Stay at Home" time

Please stay safe and have some fun with GENEALOGY.

DIRT session was well attended. We had a variety of subjects.  

The first hour was:

New Items for discussion:

   - 52 Questions was a success in 2019, Lynn will send out

     an email to find out who wants to participate in 2020

   - Land Grant presentation: need 3 case studies, 3 states, first

     to request will get a case study done

   - GoogleGroup - to have members of DIRT ask questions and

     get answers from group - resounding yes - cover details

     at next meeting

   - Lynn will develop a survey for DIRT members for input

   - Introduced new FamilySearch.org - Research wiki -

        - Guided Research - try it

1) RootsTech 2020:

    - link to 18 free Live Streaming: Click here

    - Also provided 159 Handouts to DIRT mbrs at meeting

1) Cool new apps on FamilySearch, Ancestry, and Find A Grave

       Click here for handout:

       see 2 of the RootsTech Live Stream for more information

2) Bob's Corner on Special Collections: Click here

Second hour was focused on Beginners

1) Ancestry DNA color coding recommendation: Click here

2) Step #2 Organize and cite sources

    - Organize handout: Click here

    - Cite sources handout: Click here

    - Research Log: Click here

    - If you want the xls spreadsheet on citations, send an email

      to Lynn Baker

Covered a number of topics today:

1) Figuring out who is your Cousin - see chart: Click here
2) Bob's Corner - Newspapers at CCPL : Click here
3) What is new at Ancestry.com
4) Best 10 MyHeritage Databases (free at FHC)
5) Main topic: AncestryDNA - How to Use the Tools: Click here
    - Setting up your security and linking your tree
    - DNA Matches - color coding and exploting
    - Thrulines - how to use and also show on pedigree tree
6) Upcoming local genealogical events
7) Available webinars

A great upcoming event in Charleston and a good website for Tennessee research from Brenda and Debbie.

Event:
Location: Old St Andrew’s Parish Church, 2604 Ashley River Road, Charleston, SC 29414
Program title: Researching Your Scots-Irish and Irish Ancestors
Hosts: Old St Andrew’s Parish Church, SC: Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan  from the Ulster Historical Foundation
Date: Wednesday, 18 March 2020
Time: 10:00- 17:00
Cost: General Admission - $25 (Additional $15 for a Tea Room Lunch)
Website for more information: https://www.ancestryireland.com/charlestonregistration/

Website for Tennessee research: Click here

Our Kickoff of Beginner 1 Session:

Great to have so many attendees and the new comers interested in genealogical research.
We covered the introduction of our Blog site: Click here
Then reviewed the materials available in a USB Flash drive given to all the new comers (10), some of the provided materials were:   To get Family Tree Maker: Click here

1) Genealogy Checklist (pdf): Click here
2) Person Page checklist (doc): Click here
3) Genealogy Checklist (xls): Click here
4) Genealogy Research Log (xls): Click here
5) Where do you find information (pdf): Click here

Contents of beginner USB Drive: Click here

Started the stages for a beginner, starting with #1 Research Known Information

The handout given to all our attendees was: Click here

The challenge for all attendees: (1) order Family Tree Maker (Lynn Baker will come to your house and give you a 1 hour introduction session, (2) get a FamilySearch.org account, (3) get an Ancestry.com account (do not need to keep the subscription).

Bob's Corner: Click here

Upcoming events on Charleston:
Feb 16 (Sunday) 2:30-3:30 PM: Topic "The Mayflower Society and How to Prove your Lineage"
hosted by Charleston Chapter South Carolina Genealogical Society: Location: Mosonic Temple, 1285 Orange Grove Rd, Charleston, SC 29407
Feb 29 (Saturday) 2:00 - 3:30 PM: Topic "Find Millions of Free Genealogy Records on FamilySearch", South Carolina Room (3rd floor) Charleston County Public Library: Location: 68 Calhoun Street, Charleston, SC.

Updates:

Recently replaced the DIRT blog follow button so it now works.  For those of you who have been asked to follow and accepted, please let me know if you get this update, send me a separate email - thank you.

Working on a new googlegroups approach where anyone in our club can post a topic (question) and others can then answer it if they have something to contribute (all using email - no new technology required).  I hope this will help with breaking down brick walls.  This is in beta test with several of our members and will go live after discussion at the next DIRT meeting on 12 Feb 2020.

I have removed the Blog follow button and replaced it with one that works.

Please take some time to put your email in the Follow spot so you will be automatically notified of updated blog posts.

22 Jan 2020 DIRT Meeting summary

Our meeting today was well attended and we had 3 new members join us.  Our focus items for this meeting were:

1) Review and feedback on the Genealogy Fair 2020 "Working Together - New Discoveries"
2) Summary of 2019 Genealogy activities
3) Bob's Corner focused on the card catalog in FamilySearch.org: Click here
4) List of Webinars since last meeting
5) Deadends : Know Alternate Approaches discussion, see two handouts
    Click here for Genealogy Checklist
    Click here for Alternate Sources
6) Each of the 5 tables used a different website to explore finding more information about Obituaries
7) Each of the 5 tables selected 2 people with death dates and used one or more sources to find obituaries on those individuals - hooray - most tables found new information from obituaries of their ancestors
8) Upcoming events for Feb/Mar were shared

Genealogy Fair 2020 - Working Together - New Discoveries held 14 Jan 2020

There were 42 attendees at the Fair and 15 were new.  It was a great turnout.  The session was designed with 1) Short introduction to the Genealogy Club, 2) Guest Speakers, 3) break and looking at information tables, 4) Working together in separate tables for New York/New Jersey; North Carolina ; Virginia ; Beginners with DIRT members sharing experiences and answer questions, then he final Raffle ticket prize giveaway.

We hope that many of the new attendees will join the genealogy club and attend our sessions.  Starting in February the first meeting of the month will focus on Beginners and the steps to success, the 2nd meeting will be more in-depth topics.  Let us get together and work together.

Here are the presentations and handouts used at the tables:
1) Overall presentation: Click here
2) South Carolina Room Charleston County Pulic Library
        - Marianne Crawley - Click here
3) Charleston Chapter South Carolina Genealogical Society
        - Charlie Black - Click here
                - for their website: Click here
4) Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints Family History Center
        - Dave/Delsa Biorn - Click here
5) Genealogy Checklist : Click here
6) Beginners handout : Click here
          (please experiment with the links on the page
7) Photo of raffle winners: Click here

For those of you who have FamilySearch.org and want to use the Relatives around me app, please follow these instructions to get this onto your phone.
  1) download FamilySearch app onto your phone
  2) open the app with your account and password
  3) Select more
  4) Select Relatives around me
If others with about 60 feet have the same application open on their phone, it will tell if you are related or not based upon the ONE FamilySearch tree.

Please send to Lynn Baker any feedback pertaining to the event.  What did you like, what would you suggest for improvements

2020: Its the new year and our first meeting.

Remember there is the Seabrook / Kiawah Island Genealogy Club (DIRT) Annual Genealogy Fair on Tuesday, 14 January 2020 from 1:00-3:30 PM at the Live Oak Room, Lakehouse.  Bring your friends and enjoy the speakers, food/drinks, working together and prizes.

Review of available webinars from December 2019 for members who bring USB drive to session.

Our focus today was on:
1) Beginners Step 4 "Know What Records are Available for the time period"
           During the session we used the following sites to investigate time period
              - FamilySearch Research Wiki: Click here
              - The Family History Guide: Click here
              - Google search
2) Presented what the new Baxter-Patrick James Island Library has to offer
              - to get an appointment call: 843-795-6679 or
                                                 email: bpcreative@ccpl.org
3) Reviewed strategy for Genealogy Fair and got volunteers to help
4) Open session for questions and brick wall questions from participants