Memorial Day 2013

Ft. Roscrans National Cemetery. Photo by Gary W. Clark, PhotoTree.com Used with permission.

I wrote about the way our family honors Memorial Day over at the GenealogyBank blog. You can read Remembering Our American Veterans on Memorial Day 2013 here.

Riverside National Cemetery (California), Photo (c) 2011 Gena Philibert-Ortega

In 2011 in  a blog posting for Memorial Day, I provided a short history of the holiday and the poem In Flanders Fields. You can read that post here.


To learn more about the men and women in your family who fought for our freedom, check out the webpage Research Military Records on the National Archives website.

Have a safe and meaningful Memorial Day.

Church Record Sunday: The American Methodism Project

There is so much on the Internet that can benefit our research. Much of it isn't always easy to find. One of my favorite websites is the Texts collection on Internet Archive. There is so much there that a whole presentation could center on just that one website. For Church Record Sunday, you may want to check out The American Methodism Project.

From the home page, it states:

The American Methodism Project is a digitized collection of interdisciplinary and historical materials related to American Methodism. The primary goal of this project is to provide both the digital tools and the digitized texts of American Methodism to better understand both Methodism and the United States. Contemporary questions of church and state boundaries, the role of government, moral development, education, leadership, labor, immigration, family, etc. are topics which can benefit from debates and reflections contained within this corpus of materials.

There's some interesting works here including memoirs and histories.One series of books, Martyrdom in Missouri discusses persecution during the Civil War. Make sure to browse the "M" titles for a list of memoirs that includes women's letters and diaries. There are also minutes from various conferences posted here. The great thing about Internet Archive is because all of the work is in the public domain you can download the entire book for free.

The American Methodist Project is a partnership between the United Methodist-related seminary libraries, the Internet Archive, the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History, and the Methodist Librarians Fellowship. Additional materials will be selected from the partner libraries, other related institutions, historical societies, scholarly societies, publishers, other libraries and archives, annual conferences, United Methodist agencies, local churches, and other Methodist-related denominations.

Ephemera Find: Grandma Belle's Children

I love ephemera and like my friends Denise over at the Family Curator and Caroline at 4YourFamilyStory, one of the things I look forward to is shopping for ephemera.

One of my more recent finds was a short family history.

I love the Foreword because it  is a good reminder to us all to write our family history, memories, and life story before it is too late.

Surnames found in this booklet include Rumsey, Harvey, Ford, Marvin, Clark, Cummings, Clemensen, McFarlane, McBeath, Carter, Heinze, Parker, Hoppe, Zingery, Ramon and Lehman. Of course, if this booklet is part of your family history I would be happy to send it to you. Just leave me a comment below.

Church Record Sunday: Catholic Archives of Texas

Were your ancestors Texas Catholics? Have you checked out the holdings of the Catholic Archives of Texas? While they will not do genealogical research for you, you can access the archives during business hours or hire a researcher to conduct the research on your behalf. Their collections include sacramental records, manuscripts, and a library.

Generalized descriptions of their holdings can be found on their website. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an online catalog with more specific information.

Heroic Moms of the Past

I know I'm a little late for Mother's Day but I thought I would pass on this  infographic courtesy of FindMyPast.

Earthquake!: The Documents Left Behind: #NGS2013 Links

Libraries/Archives

WorldCat:  http://www.worldcat.org/

NUCMC (National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections:  http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/

ArchiveGrid: http://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/

Online Archive of California:  http://www.oac.cdlib.org/

Libraries in  the United States: http://www.librarysites.info/

Digitized Books

Google Books: http://books.google.com/

Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/

Internet Archive: http://archive.org/index.php

Hathi Trust: http://www.hathitrust.org/

Newspapers

Finding Newspapers

• Public and Academic  Libraries
• State Archives and Libraries (Don’t forget about Interlibrary Loan).
• Historical Societies
• Clipping Files found through libraries, archives, genealogy and historical societies.
• Family History Library includes books that are indexes are various records from newspapers.
• Websites
• Kansas State Historical Society: http://www.kshs.org/

Online Newspaper Collections

Genealogy Bank:  http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/keyword.html

Godfrey Memorial Library:  http://www.godfrey.org/

Ancestry.com:  http://www.ancestry.com

Newspapers.com:  http://www.newspapers.com/

WorldVitalRecords:  http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/

New England Historical and Genealogical Society:  http://www.americanancestors.org/

Newspaper Archive:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/

California State Newspaper Project:  http://cnp.ucr.edu/

Chronicling of America:  http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/

Google News (list of newspapers):  http://news.google.com/newspapers

Historical Earthquake Resources

California Historical Earthquake Online Database  http://redirect.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/rghm/quakes/historical/index.htm

San Diego History Center. Facts about California Earthquakes http://www.sandiegohistory.org/links/earthquakes.htm

USGS. Historic Earthquakes in the United States and its Territories http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/historical_state.php

Images of Historical Earthquakes. The Jan T. Kozak Collection     http://nisee.berkeley.edu/kozak/

California Repositories

California Genealogical Society and Library:  http://www.californiaancestors.org/

California Historical Society:  http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/

California State Library:  http://www.library.ca.gov/

California State Archives:  http://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/

Eastern California Museum:  http://www.inyocounty.us/ecmsite/

Los Angeles Public Library:  http://www.lapl.org/

USC Digital Library:  http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/

UC Berkley Bancroft Library:  http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/

1872 Lone Pine Earthquake

Earthquake! Newspapers Record Destruction in California History http://blog.genealogybank.com/earthquake-newspapers-record-destruction-in-california-history.html

Rinehart, C D, Ward Smith, and Genny Smith. Earthquakes and Young Volcanoes Along the Eastern Sierra Nevada at Mammoth Lakes 1980, Lone Pine 1872, Inyo and Mono Craters. Palo Alto, Calif: Genny Smith Books, 1982.

Philibert-Ortega, Gena. Cemeteries of the Eastern Sierra. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub, 2007.

1906 San Francisco Earthquake

Gilbert, Grove K, J A. Holmes, Richard L. Humphrey, John S. Sewell, and Frank Soulé. The San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of April 18, 1906: And Their Effects on Structures and Structural Materials. Washington: Govt. Print. Off, 1907. 

Klett, Mark, Michael Lundgren, Philip L. Fradkin, Rebecca Solnit, and Karin Breuer. After the Ruins, 1906 and 2006: Rephotographing the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.

Kurzman, Dan. Disaster!: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906. New York: W. Morrow, 2001.

O'Connor, Charles J, Francis H. McLean, Helen S. Artieda, James M. Motley, Jessica B. Peixotto, and Mary R. Coolidge. San Francisco Relief Survey: The Organization and Methods of Relief Used After the Earthquake and Fire of April 18, 1906. New York: Survey Associates, 1913.

Winchester, Simon. A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906. New York: HarperCollins, 2005.

Documenting the Lives of Mormon Women: #NGS2013 Links

Libraries/Archives

Libraries in  the United States: http://www.librarysites.info/

WorldCat:  http://www.worldcat.org/

NUCMC (National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections:  http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/

ArchiveGrid:  http://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/

Mountain West Digital Library: http://mwdl.org/

Utah State Archives: http://www.archives.state.ut.us/

Online Archive of California: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/

U.C. Berkley, Bancroft Library, Western Americana Collection: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/westernamericana.html

Digitized Books

Google Books: http://books.google.com/

Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/

Internet Archive: http://archive.org/index.php

Hathi Trust: http://www.hathitrust.org/

FamilySearch: http://familysearch.org

Newspapers

Utah Digital Newspapers: http://digitalnewspapers.org/

Chronicling America: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

Missouri Digital Newspaper Project: http://shs.umsystem.edu/newspaper/mdnp/index.shtml

GenealogyBank: http://www.genealogybank.com/

19^th Century Mormon Article Newspaper Index: http://lib.byu.edu/digital/19cMormonArticles/

LDS Repositories and Websites

International Society Daughters of the Utah Pioneers (DUP): http://www.dupinternational.org/

Church History Library:  http://churchhistorylibrary.lds.org/

Harold B. Lee Library, BYU : http://lib.byu.edu/

Early Latter-day Saints: http://www.earlylds.com/

FamilySearch Research Wiki: https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Main_Page

(Conduct a keyword search on   “Early Church Information File,” “Mormon” and Tracing LDS Ancestors.”)

The Research Center ( Utah State Archives and Utah State History): http://historyresearch.utah.gov/

Cyndi’s List- LDS: http://www.cyndislist.com/lds

LDS Women Resources

Relief Society Magazine Index: http://lib.byu.edu/digital/rsmag/ 

The Relief Society Magazine, begun as The Relief Society Bulletin, started publication in 1914 and was discontinued in 1970. 

Mormon Women’s Studies Resource: http://mormonwomen.byu.edu/inside.html

Mormon Women’s History Initiative: http://mormonwomenshistory.org/resources

Women’s Manuscript Collection, BYU: http://lib.byu.edu/sites/muw/womens/

Books

Carter, Kate B. The Mormons in Mexico. Utah: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Central Co, 1953.

Carter, Kate B. Heart Throbs of the West. Salt Lake City: Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, 1939.

Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Salt Lake City: A. Jenson History Co, 1901. (Digitized on FamilySearch).

Larson, Carl V, and Shirley N. Maynes. The Women of the Mormon Battalion. Logan, Utah: The Author, 1995.

Madsen, Carol C. In Their Own Words: Women and the Story of Nauvoo. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Co, 1994. 

Maynes, Shirley N. Five Hundred Wagons Stood Still: Mormon Battalion Wives. Sandy, Utah: S. Maynes, 1999.

Nielson, Carol H. The Salt Lake City 14th Ward Album Quilt, 1857: Stories of the Relief Society Women and Their Quilt. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2004. 

Noall, Claire A. W. Guardians of the Hearth: Utah's Pioneer Midwives and Women Doctors. Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers, 1974

Romney, Thomas C. The Mormon Colonies in Mexico. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 2005.

Sessions, Patty B, and Donna T. Smart. Mormon Midwife: The 1846-1888 Diaries of Patty Bartlett Sessions. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1997. 

Sperry, Kip. A Guide to Mormon Family History Sources. Provo, Utah: Ancestry Pub, 2007. 

Social Media Tools for Genealogy: #NGS2013 Links

Wednesday afternoon marks my first of three presentations given here at #NGS2013 and I wanted to share some of the links with my readers who are not at the conference.

The main point of this presentation is to remember that social media is about:

• Sharing

• Networking

• Curating

• Education

There's so many websites that allow you to do this. It's important to try them out and see which ones help you with your genealogical goals.

Are you using Rebel Mouse to follow #NGS2013? https://www.rebelmouse.com/NGS2013/

Websites

Genealogy Related

FamilySearch Research Wiki: https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Main_Page

GenealogyWise: http://www.genealogywise.com/

Geni: http://www.geni.com/

WikiTree: http://www.wikitree.com/

We Relate: http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Main_Page

Social Networking

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com

GooglePlus: https://plus.google.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/

MicroBlogging

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ 

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com

Images

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/

Flickr the Commons: http://www.flickr.com/commons

Instagram: http://instagram.com/

1000Memories:http://1000memories.com/

Maps

Google Maps: http://maps.google.com/

Historypin: http://maps.google.com/

WhatWasThere: http://www.whatwasthere.com/

Panoramio: http://www.panoramio.com/

Blogs

Blogger:http://www.blogger.com/

WordPress: http://wordpress.org/

Type Pad: http://www.typepad.com/

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/

Virtual Worlds

Second Life: http://secondlife.com/

Genealogy to Follow

#GenChat on Twitter

Dear Myrtle’s Genealogy Community on GooglePlus

Tech for Genealogy & Family History Researchers on Google Plus

What's Up Genealogy? on Google Plus

Social Media for Genealogy on Facebook

Places to Find Information

Blogging Genealogy: http://www.blogginggenealogy.com/

Facebook Blog: http://blog.facebook.com/

All Facebook: http://www.allfacebook.com/

Geneabloggers Twitter Tip Sheet: http://www.geneabloggers.com/twitter-cheat-sheet/

Makeuseof : http://www.makeuseof.com/ (Make sure to check out their Cheats and Guides section)

Mashable: http://mashable.com/

FamilySearch Tech Tips: https://familysearch.org/techtips/

Social Media and Genealogy: https://familysearch.org/techtips/

Cyndi’s List – Social Networking:  http://www.cyndislist.com/social-networking