Electronic Magazine and Genealogy
address book, announcement, cemetery, companion, court house, email, meeting, organization, repository, research, substitute, tour, travel, trip gregathcompany
10:31 pm
Sometimes there is no substitute for the effort you could put in researching off the computer and outside of your home. Sometimes this takes the form of traipsing to cemeteries and court houses. Other times it means taking a trip (sometimes consisting of several days) to a targeted or major research repository.
When a repository trip is called for, consider traveling with other researchers. Most groups take travel time as “sounding board” time. It’s also nice to know someone else already when you enter a repository – even if it everyone’s first trip. General research trips are offered through lots of places, from a school, library, organization, researcher travel agent, to us: http://www.gregathcompany.com/tours!
When a cemetery/court house trip is needed, go ahead and ask for research travel companions (make an announcement at all your research related organizational meetings, poll you email address book, etc.), you never know who may want to go – for their own research, or just to “get away” for a bit.
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Electronic Magazine and Genealogy
collecting, collection, copy, document, documentation, family, Library of Congress, online, photocopying, preservation, replace, update gregathcompany
10:28 pm
If you or your family have been collecting documentation for quite sometime, you should consider replacing your copies that are over 20 years old. As each copy loses clarity, it is suggested preservation photocopying should be considered to reduce the times the copy will need re-copied. For more information visit the Library of Congress online.
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Electronic Magazine and Genealogy
gregathcompany
10:26 pm
Consider making digital copies of all photos. This can be accomplished by scanning or taking digital photos of the photographs. This way they can be filed and shared more easily. Also, for identifying help, once they are digitized, they can be submitted online to http://www.deadfred.com for help, etc.
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Electronic Magazine and Genealogy
gregathcompany
10:21 pm
Come see Cyndi Howells this month at our annual event.
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Electronic Magazine and Genealogy
ancestor, census, church, county, document, fraternal, local, material, newspaper, organization, reference, research, search, source, state gregathcompany
10:19 pm
Many people when researching forget to use reference materials in concert. While this sounds strange, sometimes it doesn’t even cross their minds. Example: Found the ancestor in the census but that year doesn’t have everything you want (or you prefer more than one documented source) – look in other state, county, and local records as well as local newspapers. Could they have belonged to a local church or (fraternal) organization? Don’t leave these out of the search!
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Electronic Magazine and Genealogy
census, death, funeral home, help, hint, idea, information, listing, mortality, obituary, period, record, schedules, searching, time gregathcompany
10:17 pm
Don’t forget when searching the census that several “schedules” exist for different time periods. If available, use them together. For instance, if you find someone on a mortality schedule, you will probably be able to find them on the main census. Mortality listings also point to other non-census places that may have information such as death records, obituaries and funeral home records.
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Electronic Magazine and Genealogy
Ancestry, collection, genealogical, Internet, library, local, online, pay, services, subscribe gregathcompany
10:15 pm
Can’t see yourself subscribing to a lot of online pay services such as Ancestry? Check you local libraries and genealogical collections that are “online”. Many strong collections already subscribe to some extent for their patrons.
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Electronic Magazine and Genealogy
ancestor, fellow, friend, group, line, pedigree, peer, period, researcher, swap, time gregathcompany
10:13 pm
Have an “ancestor swap”. Have a pre-determined time period that you and a fellow researcher (or group) works on your line while you work on theirs. This can sometimes produce better results than just “picking their brain” for helpful suggestions on a problem you have.
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Electronic Magazine and Genealogy
area, coordinator, county, email, gen web, geography, Internet, list, online, project, subscribe, US, usgenweb gregathcompany
10:11 pm
Though you are probably already using US Gen Web Project (see previous tip), have you added your query/queries to the email lists that correspond geographically to your problem area(s)? To get started, go to the county in question. We suggest you then subscribe to their email list (see below for definition). If you prefer not to, email the county coordinator with your query and request it be added to the email list.
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