Is that tombstone incomplete? The Bible verses were never completely inscribed on this stone from Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery south of Carthage in Hancock County, Illinois.
Monthly Archives: December 2015
Webinars on Writing Proof, Making Charts, Archive.org, & Females
We are excited to offering four webinars this week on the following:
- Archive.org
- Female Ancestors
- Writing Proof Summaries and Making Your Case
- Charts, Charts, and More Charts
Preserving Past You Webinar
At long last we’ve released my “Preserving Past You” presentation.
It is an overview of prepping for preserving your genealogical material past your lifespan. It’s not a technical presentation, but focuses on things to think about, getting started, actually doing something, thinking about what is practical to preserve, and planning as much as possible
Don’t put off saving your stuff.
The presentation (media file and handout) can be ordered here for immediate download.
Charting My Failures
Keep a chart of your failures–so you know where you have looked.
A good column to add to this chart would be one for the reason why this person was eliminated as the person of interest. That’s a good thing to keep track of as well.
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Genealogy Tip of the Day is sponsored by GenealogyBank. Search there for your relative.
My Blogs
I host several blogs–all have separate email lists and need to be subscribe to separately (there’s more about me here
). Each has a subscription link on the top portion of each page. The blogs are:
- Genealogy Tip of the Day-one tip every day, rain or shine.
- Search Tip of the Day–one tip as they come across my path. We post periodic FamilySearch updates here as well.
- Rootdig–where I blog about my research, research methods, and whatever else crosses my path.
- Daily Genealogy Transcriber–one piece of handwriting everyday–with answers posted. Try your hand at guessing the writing.
If you get one one of the lists and can’t get off, forward the message to me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com. Thanks!
And please let others know about our blogs!
A Discrepancy Chart
We’ve mentioned this before, but it’s worth a repeat for those who might not have seen it and for those who need a reminder. Charting out inconsistent information can help you to notice patterns and trends–or just make you a little more organized. 
Help support Genealogy Tip of the Day by visiting any of the following sites:
- Try a GenealogyBank Genealogy Search to see what you find.
- AncestryDNA offers
- Books on Michael’s Genealogy Shelf
In “her” or in “the”–One Word Matters
Tooth outline by Michael John Neill
It’s an extremely minor thing, but it makes a good point about the importance of one word. My grandmother had dentures and either got them in “her thirties” or in “the thirties.” Sometimes one word makes all the difference.
Relative Abbreviations
Everything is about context–even abbreviations. From the illustration it should be apparent that these 1840-era abbreviations are for places in the Boston area. Abbreviations can be used for more than just place names, can change over time, and may vary from one location to another.
When trying to determine what an abbreviation references, keep in mind the context–the time period and the location. Abbreviations, like many things, are all about context.
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This item was located on GenealogyBank. Search there for your relative.
File Names That Don’t Confuse
File names for images made from county records should be as specific as possible in terms of location. I should have included at least the county and state. I saved file names that indicated the year of the tax list, a volume number, and the last name of interest. I should have included the state as well. The page numbers were included in the actual image–in this case.
Preserving Past You Webinar
It’s more important than ever before to think about how to make “your stuff survive you.”
Preserving Past You on 13 December 2015-SUNDAY–2 PM Central Time.
In this session, we’ll see ways to preserve your genealogical legacy beyond your own lifetime. We will look at a variety of options, large and small, digital and non-digital, simple and not-so-simple, and more. Prioritizing what to save will be an integral part of this presentation. We will see why preserving is more than a simple clause in your will and ways you can immediately start preserving some of what you have immediately. If you registered for the session of this that had to be rescheduled, you will receive an attendance link at no charge–you do not need to re-register or repay.