Ottawa County Genealogical Society to Host Carrie Ann Cook as Speaker Friday, Apr 29 2011 

The Ottawa County Genealogical Society will meet Monday, May 16, 2011, in the Community Room of the First National Bank, 1749 North Main Street, Miami. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. and refreshments will be served. The public is invited to attend this free event. 

Presenting the program will be Carrie Ann Cook of the Twin Bridges area. Topic for the evening will be “Valuating & Evaluating Your Sources”. The basic debate is which standard is golden when researching family history. This lecture will explain the value and use of both the newer Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) and the older Preponderance of Evidence, as integrated into a thriving research plan. 

Carrie Ann Cook is a published author, illustrator and free-lance photographer. She holds an AA and BS in Elementary Education. Having certified for teaching in several states, she has taught elementary classes as well as genealogy, writing and computer classes at the Northeast Technology Center, Afton, Oklahoma, as well as briefly serving the Miami Public Library as the Genealogy Department. Miss Cook has served in library and archival capacities for many years and participated in numerous ProQuest and Genealogical Library workshops and seminars. Her company continues to present professional workshops and seminars in library, archival, genealogical and historical areas. She has been lecturing across the country on genealogical and historical topics for nearly two decades. Currently, she serves as president of the Gregath Company, Inc. Carrie has been active in various professional, service and lineal organizations throughout the years, including the Association of Professional Genealogists, National Genealogical Society, Federation of Genealogical Societies and Genealogical Speakers Guild.

December 2006, V5 #12: Computer Friday, Mar 20 2009 

99.9% of the books we produce are from Microsoft Word. However, it will depend on what the focus of your book is, as well as what software you are familiar with, and how much work you want the software to do for you. For instance, if the book is to contain many charts, a program that is geared toward generating these charts would be important. If you are working toward mainly fact oriented and are hoping the program will organize a manuscript, a program such as Family Tree Maker might be best. If you are looking for word processing and are familiar with the Corel family of products, you may not want to learn Microsoft Office. If you are wanting to go with fancy margins, clip art, photos, charts, tables, graphic elements on each page, etc., Microsoft Publisher may be the way to go. The bottom line, like so many other decisions comes down to you. It’s hard to beat making a wish list (I want the program to be able to…) and then looking for a product that fits best. Other factors, besides current software knowledge may be cost for new software, compatibility (if looking toward a hybrid or e-book).

Overall software we utilize most (remember, this doesn’t mean they are the best for you):

Manuscript: Microsoft Word (other Office programs such as Excel, Access, Publisher, and FrontPage can be helpful or used with Word, depending on project.)

Photographs: Adobe Photoshop

“Genealogy” Program (Charts, etc.): Family Tree Maker

November 2006, V5 #11: Production Friday, Mar 20 2009 

Hybrids Continued:  Disks can be placed in envelopes or slim-line jewel cases to be delivered (or shrink wrapped) with printed books, or spindles may be attached to the end sheets to secure a CD in a hybrid book. Content ideas for this include:

  • Containing GEDCOM files (alone, or in addition to other formats) so readers can update and add information in a variety of genealogy programs including Family Tree Maker

E-books fitting this have also been known to be sold as a stand alone book or even as an “add on” price to the standard book retail.

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This section is drawn from
http://www.gregathcompany.com/epublish.html

September 2006, V5 #9: Computer Friday, Mar 20 2009 

Larger Type (MS Word and Internet Explorer – at least)
Software: (Mis)Spelling with Microsoft

While this trick may work with other programs, it seems to work like a dream in most MS Office programs. Do you have a word that seems misspelled but you don’t want to run the spell check? Right click the word, a option menu will pop up with several alternatives. Just click the correct on and the word will be fixed without having to run spell check.

2009 Retreat Programming Update Wednesday, Jan 14 2009 

 Nine hours of genealogy instruction (four more hours to go) and all six hours of the writing track have been programmed for the 2009 Retreat on the Lake. More area information has also been added, for those who want to add “on your own” time to their all-inclusive retreat.

October 2008, V7#10: Genealogy Saturday, Jan 10 2009 

Use Funeral Homes When Researching

 Genealogists are fascinated with cemeteries.  Besides being the final resting place for ones ancestors, cemeteries provide vital information.  Tombstone and cemetery records often reveal more than death information.  Cemeteries, however, are not the only sources of information regarding the deceased.  Do not forget funeral homes. 

Funeral homes are another resource for providing family information.  Their records often contain biographical information not found on the deth certificate or in the obituary.  They may also have a copy of the funeral program, printed eulogies, as well as a copy of the death certificate and obituary. 

Funeral home records are private business documents.  You do not have a legal right to view them.  They are not covered by the Freedom of Information Act.  Most funeral directors, however, are individuals who are more than willing to help genealogists. 

Many funeral directors have allowed their records to be microfilmed.  Often genealogical societies have published the records.  For example, the Tulsa Genealogical Society has published 12 volumes of funeral home records.  The Lawton Ritter-Gray funeral home records to 1994 are on microfilm and available at the Lawton Public Library.

If you do not know what funeral home was used, the death certificate or obituary should provide this information.

If you are looking for a list of funeral homes and cemeteries currently operating, go to www.imortuary.com.  Select by location or browse the state and town.  The address, phone number, web address and location on a map are given. 

That web site is a quick and easy way to locate funeral homes and cemeteries throughout the country.  Memorial parks, such as Sunset Memorial (Lawton) are listed under funeral homes and not cemeteries. 

The site does not list all known cemeteries for an area.  Not included are rural, inactive, family and small cemeteries.  For example, Highland Cemetery (Lawton) is listed, but not the cemeteries in Cache, Indiahoma or Elgin.  Local funeral homes can often provide you with a list of local cemeteries.  They are experts on this subject. 

The National Yellow Book of Funeral Directors and The National Directory of Morticians, both published annually, are excellent print guides to funeral homes.  Arrangement is by state and town.  Genealogy libraries, including the Lawton Public Library, often own a copy. 

What if the funeral home is no longer in business? Again, ask the funeral home still in business as it may have the records of the old funeral homes or know where they may be located. 

(This information was taken from Paul Follett’s column Tree Tracers published in the Lawton Constitution on December 10, 2007.)

August 2007, V6#8: Genealogy Wednesday, Jan 7 2009 

Have you checked out PERSI lately? It is available through HeritageQuest. While this is a subscription program, many libraries with strong genealogy programs allow access on site, and some do from your home. More about PERSI from the Allen County Public Library (http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/genealogy/persi.html):

“The Periodical Source Index, or PERSI, is the largest subject index to genealogical and historical periodical articles in the world. Created by the foundation and department staff of the Genealogy Center of the library here in Fort Wayne, Indiana, PERSI is widely recognized as being a vital source for genealogical researchers.

PERSI is a comprehensive subject index covering genealogy and local history periodicals written in English and French (Canada) since 1800. The time period of the articles ranges from the 1700s to the present. More than 1.8 million index entries from nearly ten thousand titles are represented by this work.

If you are in one of the fourteen Allen County Public Library facilities, you may search the PERSI resource by clicking on “E-Resources” on the main webpage <www.ACPL.Info> and scrolling down to “HeritageQuestOnline.” Clicking on that link and then choosing the “Search PERSI” option with open the index for you. If you do not live in Allen County, IN, check with your local library about the availability of HeritageQuestOnline in your area.”

March 2006, V5#3: Genealogy Tuesday, Jan 6 2009 

Always be sure to double check with your library to see if they participate in an inter-library loan program. Many books/microform, etc. you may be interested in researching from may be available through one of these programs. Many libraries do ask for payment to help defray postage for this service.

March 2008, V7#3: Computer Tuesday, Dec 30 2008 

In MS Word, some files look different “on the page” in the computer. What causes this?

It’s called page view. Yes, you can set your program to show you the pages in different ways. It’s easy once you know how. Look down the screen to near the start button – where there are several “lines” of gray “stuff” before you see the bottom edge of the document. At the top left of all of this gray are 4 buttons before the side-to-side scroll bar starts. The page view with the dotted line to show page break is called “normal” and it is that far left button (depressed) – the arrow below is pointing to these buttons:
v711

To see how the other 3 views work, position a file where you can see the page break and just left click each button in turn. Besides normal view, I sometimes like print view which is the third button from the left, as it shows me virtual sheets of paper with the correct margins and page number too. – CAC

December 2007, V6#12: Computer Tuesday, Dec 30 2008 

Not sure if files written in MS Office 2007 are compatible? The truth is that they are with a bit of work on your part. If you are running an older version of a program and try to open the 2007 file, it will prompt you do download a conversion program. If you are online, follow all directions – including downloading other updates first. Your computer can then convert the 2007 file to something your computer can work with. Word of warning though, if the file contains features that became available in 2007, your converted file won’t have them.

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