Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for February 27, 2015

My Fab Finds for this week are (in no particular order)

1. 31 Sessions of RootsTech 2015 now online AND 10 Surprising Things about Mobile App Use and Genealogy and why they are not a surprise by James Tanner, author of Genealogy's Star
2. Three Questions from Spitland by Sally Knudsen, author of Sally Searches
3. Tuesday's Tips: Norwegian Research Aids Coming to My Rescue by Mary Perkinson Nelson, author of Celebrating Family Stories
4. 50 Free Genealogy Sites to Search Today by Family History Daily
5. 20 Free and (Relatively) New Genealogy and Family History Resources, Part 1 AND 20 Free and (Relatively) New Genealogy and Family History Resources, Part 2 by Diane L. Richard for Upfront With NGS Blog
6. Insanity, Guardianship, Account Books and Family History by Heather Wilkinson Rojo, author of Nutfield Genealogy
7. Mexican Newspaper Archives by Moises Garza, author of Mexican Genealogy
8. A Transcription Toolbox by Sue Adams for Worldwide Genealogy ~ A Genealogical Collaboration
9. MooseRoots Is a New Genealogy Research Engine AND More Information About MooseRoots.com AND Generasi.me Does Interactive Family Timelines by Randy Seaver, author of Genea-Musings
10. DNA Proves I've Got The Right Family! by Andrea Kelleher, author of How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey
11. Stories at FGS / RootsTech, or, Why I’m Not Brandishing a Pitchfork by Amy Johnson Crow, author of No Story Too Small
12. Is Genealogy Evolving? (My thoughts on Mommy bloggers) by Mary Foxworthy, author of Roots & Stuff
13. Genealogy is Hacking by Tammy Hepps, author of Treelines Blog
14. An Open Letter To The Genealogy Community AND An Open Letter to the Genealogy Community--Part Deux by Janet Hovorka, author of The Chart Chick
15. Ethics, Genealogists and Conferences by Family history across the seas
16. Finding Charlotte by Marian Pierre-Louis, author of Marian's Roots & Rambles
17. Tuesday Tips ~ Keeping a Brick Wall Ancestors File! by Angela M. Money, author of Northern Mama: Family History ~ Family Life
18. Quick tip – Check your photos. Again. by Yvette Hoitink, author of Dutch Genealogy
19. Do Statewide Reports Mention Your Ancestor? by Michael John Neill, author of Genealogy Tip of the Day
20. I just discovered a new fact about my great grandparents by Becky Jamison, author of Grace and Glory
21. Putting It All Together by Valerie Hughes, author of Genealogy With Valerie
22. GeneaBlogger Beads at Congress by Jill Ball, author of GeniAus

The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge by Amy Johnson Crow, author of No Story Too Small -

• 52 Ancestors Challenge 2015: Week 8 Recap

This week's "May I Introduce To You" Interview

• May I Introduce to You . . . Andrea Kelleher

New Blog Discoveries

• Breathing Life & Building Bridges Genealogy Blog
• Past, Present, Future
• THE KEEPER OF STORIES
• Genealogy on my Mind
• TRAVELING THROUGH THE GENERATIONS
• Mehling Family from Germany to Russia to America
• Diligent Daughter of Slave Ancestry
• Kylie's Genes
• Genedocs: Family Research and Legacy Preservation
• ACROSS THE ROLLING PRAIRIE
• 64 Families; 7 Generations

In Case You Missed Them….My Contributions to the Blogosphere This Week

Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog

• Iver and Marit ~ My 2nd Great-Grandparents

Jana's Place

• Temple Square: Winter 2014 ~ Part 2

Thanks for reading!

Jana

 

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Iver and Marit ~ My 2nd Great-Grandparents

Iver Iverson and Marit Thorsdatter were my paternal 2nd great-grandparents. I've written a couple of blog posts about them in the past.  Iver served in the U.S. Civil War. I wrote a bit about that in a post back in 2013. You can read that post by clicking HERE. I shared Marit's death certificate in a blog post which you can read by clicking HERE.

Iver and Marit were both born in Norway. He emigrated from Norway in April of 1858. When I wrote about Iver in 2013, I didn't have any concrete evidence about when he immigrated to the United States. But thankfully I do now and I will share Iver's immigration record in a future post. Unfortunately, I don't have immigration information for Marit, or Mary as she was known in the United States.

Iver Iverson married Marit Thorsdatter on 23 February 1860 in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Iver and Marit were the parents of nine or ten children.*

1. Edward Theodore Iverson (1860-1916)

2. Caroline Lena Gioline Iverson (1864-1882)

3. Mathelda Iverson (1866-1910)

4. Christopher Iverson (1868-1925) [my grandfather]

5. Iver Martin Iverson (1870-1940)

6. Oscar Iverson (1871-1958)

7. William Iverson (1873-)

8. Julia Randina Iverson (1875-1973)

9. Emely or Emily Maria Iverson (1878-1880)

10. William Franklin Iverson (1883-Abt 1885)

* Child No. 7 and Child No. 10 may be the same person. This needs further research to resolve.

As I mentioned, I now have concrete evidence showing when Iver immigrated to America. I have a digital copy of the document that lists Iver leaving for America in April of 1858. I also have digital copies of documents that list Iver's brother Ole and Ole's family, Iver's parents and another brother named Christopher, leaving for America as well. I'll be sharing these documents and other information about my Norwegian family lines in future posts.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

 
© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for February 20, 2015

My Fab Finds for this week are (in no particular order)

1. Are You Doing the Genealogy Do-Over with GeneaBloggers Thomas MacEntee? by Denise Levenick, author of The Family Curator
2. DNA Quick Reference Notes by Debbie Parker Wayne, author of Deb's Delvings in Genealogy
3. Ten Things To-Do for your Civil War ancestor by Cindy Freed, author of Cindy Freed's Genealogy Circle
4. Sneak Peek of The New Ancestry Website Coming! by Dan Lawyer for Ancestry.com Blog
5. Something in this book could kill you! by TK, author of Before My Time
6. Copyright and the genealogy lecture AND Credit and copyright by Judy G. Russell, author of The Legal Genealogist
7. New Book by Geoff Rasmussen - "Kindred Voices: Listening for our Ancestors" by Randy Seaver, author of Genea-Musings
8. Are You Missing Genealogy Gems in Military Records? by Anne Gillespie Mitchell, author of Finding Forgotten Stories
9. Genealogy Factoids -- What Are They And Are They Worth Saving? (February 17, 2015) AND Want To Preserve All Your Genealogy Blog Efforts? Better book it! (February 20, 2015) by John D. Tew, author of Filiopietism Prism
10. Louise's Lost Files - Cancelled Checks by Ginger R. Smith, author of Genealogy By Ginger's Blog
11. Was Grandma a Cover Girl? by Debi Austen, author of Who Knew?
12. Ancestor Cards by Michele Simmons Lewis, author of Ancestoring
13. 5 Ways to Use Pinterest for Genealogy by Nichelle Barra, author of Copper Leaf Genealogy
14. Five Fabulous Digital Tools To Power Your Life Story by Lisa Alzo, guest blogger for the Armchair Genealogist
15. Evernote as a Genealogy Research Toolbox by Shannon Thomas, author of Our Life Picture by Picture
16. What Did It Take to Become a Census Enumerator? by Dana Leeds, author of The Enthusiastic Genealogist
17. Genealogists as Storytellers by Joanne Cowden, author of Researching Relatives
18. Fun and Challenging FamilySearch Family Tree Games on Ancestor Guru by James Tanner, author of Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad…
19. MyHeritage puts exclusive Scandinavian records online by Emma for MyHeritage Blog
20. It’s not about climbing the tree by Janine Adams, author of Organize Your Family History

 
Updated RootsTech 2015 and FGS 2015 Blog Post Compendium by Randy Seaver, author of Genea-Musings

• RootsTech 2015 and FGS 2015 Conference Blog Post Compendium

The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge by Amy Johnson Crow, author of No Story Too Small -

• 52 Ancestors Challenge 2015: Week 7 Recap

This week's "May I Introduce To You" Interview

• May I Introduce to You . . . Vera Marie Badertscher

New Blog Discoveries

• Genealogy Trot
• THE BEGATS
• Cousin Smith
• The Genealogy Declutterer
• Talespin
• LDC: The Zombie Genealogist
• Deanna's Dailey Genealogy Blog
• Leaves on my Family Tree
• My Moynahan Genealogy Blog
• RELATIVITY ~ It's all relative…
• Heritage Detective
• The History Tree

In Case You Missed Them….My Contributions to the Blogosphere This Week

Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog

• The Benefits of Genealogy Blogging

Jana's Place

• Temple Square: Winter 2014 ~ Part 1

Thanks for reading!

Jana

 
© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

The Benefits of Genealogy Blogging

I was asked to write a couple of paragraphs about how genealogy blogging has helped me find distant cousins, find more information about my ancestors, etc. for our local Family History Center's wiki page on FamilySearch.org. Of course I said yes to this request. I also thought this would be a great topic for a blog post.

Just what are the benefits of writing a genealogy blog? Before I talk about those benefits, here's a little background on how I began my genealogy blog.

In February of 2012 I watched Lisa Louise Cooke's live streamed RootsTech presentation called Genealogy Podcasts and Blogs 101. I had never heard of genealogy blogs before and the thought of blogging about my ancestors had never even occurred to me before that time. I decided to be brave and jump into the genealogy blog pool and here I am today, almost three years later. I'm grateful to Lisa for her presentation and to RootsTech for live streaming it.

Am I glad I began my genealogy blog? Absolutely! Here are some of the benefits I've discovered from writing my genealogy blog:

• My blog acts as cousin bait, which means that if a relative of mine searches for one of our common ancestors on the internet, they may find my blog and contact me. I've had this happen several times. I wrote about a recent and very exciting cousin connection in a previous blog post. This newly discovered cousin lives in Brazil. Blogs have a global reach. They can be read by people all over the world, which is amazing.

• Writing about my ancestors helps me to better analyze the research I have about them.

• Writing about my ancestors helps me to get to know them better. It's fascinating to learn about them. It also helps me to appreciate them and what they experienced during their lives.

• My immediate and extended family members near and far can learn about their ancestors by reading my blog. And hopefully my future descendants will read my blog and enjoy learning about their ancestors too.

• Even if distant cousins don't contact me when and if they find my blog, the information, stories, and photos I share may be helpful and interesting to them. They may see a photo of an ancestor that they'd never seen before. I know how exciting that can be.

• Each person in my family tree deserves to be remembered. And writing about them in a genealogy blog is a great way to remember them.

• I've made lots of genealogy blogging friends online. These friends are from all over the world. There's an active online genealogy blogging community and its members are very kind and helpful. One of the major online communities is GeneaBloggers. If you already have a genealogy blog and haven't joined the fun at GeneaBloggers, I encourage you to do so.

• Blogging about ancestors is fun!

Can you think of other benefits of genealogy blogging? Feel free to add those in the comments below.

Update: I presented a class in which I shared the benefits of genealogy blogging and social media at our local Family Discovery Day on May 16, 2015. If you'd like to see my blog post about my presentation, click the link below. I've also been asked to teach this class at the Merced Family Discovery Day on October 24, 2015.

My "Family History Blogs and Social Media" Class

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for February 13, 2015

My Fab Finds for this week are (in no particular order)

1. Family Trees With a Creative Twist by Angela, author of NORTHERN MAMA: FAMILY HISTORY ~ FAMILY LIFE
2. A genealogist’s guide to using Pinterest by Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman for Worldwide Genealogy ~ A Genealogical Collaboration
3. Going Digital with Genealogy by Moises Garza, author of We Are Cousins
4. The Blessing of Finding a Cousin through my Blog by Becky Jamison, author of Grace and Glory
5. It's official! My PA roots go back prior to the Civil War by Lisa, author of Small-leaved Shamrock
6. Tuesday's Tip ~ Losing American Citizenship by Marriage by Elizabeth Handler, author of A Jewish Genealogy Journey
7. TUESDAY’S TIP - DRAGGING & DROPPING PICTURES INTO LEGACY MEDIA GALLERY AND THE FORGOTTEN PLAGUE–KILLED MILLIONS OF PEOPLE FOR CENTURIES by Diane Gould Hall, author of MICHIGAN FAMILY TRAILS
8. No excuses by Michele Simmons Lewis, author of Ancestoring
9. Cemetery Records by Nichelle Barra, author of Copper Leaf Genealogy
10. GIVING BACK – PART 2 – INDEXING IN YOUR JAMMIES by Cari Taplin, author of GENEALOGY PANTS
11. My New Resources Pages Are Up! by Jo Henn, author of Climbing My Family Tree
12. A Mysterious But Witty Tribute by Leslie G. Robertson, author of The People of Pancho
13. Preacher Cookies (Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies) by Denise Smith, author of Appalachian Heart Wood
14. Revolutionary Resources by Jacqi Stevens, author of A Family Tapestry
15. Queen’s Telegram on Diamond Day by Simon Last, author of Charnwood Genealogy

 
RootsTech 2015 and FGS 2015 Blog Post Compendium by Randy Seaver, author of Genea-Musings

• RootsTech 2015 and FGS 2015 Conference Blog Post Compendium

The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge by Amy Johnson Crow, author of No Story Too Small -

• 52 Ancestors Challenge 2015: Week 6 Recap

This week's "May I Introduce To You" Interview

• May I Introduce to You . . . Celia Lewis

New Blog Discoveries

• NORTHERN MAMA: FAMILY HISTORY ~ FAMILY LIFE
• Revealing Roots and Branches
• Resurrecting Roots
• J. Gray Researching
• Massachusetts Backwards
• Pat Burns Family History and Ancestry
• StraitFromNJ
• A WISE HEART'S JOURNEY

In Case You Missed Them….My Contributions to the Blogosphere This Week

Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog

• Crazy Icicles
• RootsTech 2015 is Almost Here

Jana's Place

• City Creek Center ~ Part 2

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

RootsTech 2015 is Almost Here

Guess what? RootsTech 2015 is almost here! Many fellow genealogists and genealogy bloggers are already in Salt Lake City, Utah getting ready for the beginning of RootsTech.

Unfortunatley, I'm not attending this year. For those of us unable to attend, we can still watch some of the sessions online.

RootsTech will be providing live streaming sessions this week on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (February 12th through the 14th). To watch the sessions, just go to RootsTech's home page at RootsTech.org. If you can't watch these sessions live, don't worry. They will be available to view on the RootsTech website after the conference ends. I'm not sure how long they will be available, however.

Here's a screenshot of the schedule.



To view the schedule online, click HERE.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

 

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Crazy Icicles

In a previous post, I shared some photos from our vacation in Utah. We were there the week after Christmas.

During the week we spent in Utah, the temperatures never rose above freezing. And it snowed at the beginning of our week-long visit.

As we drove around town, I saw lots of icicles. Even some cars had icicles hanging from them. Our car was no different.

See what I mean? Here are two photos of our car.



This isn't a sight I'm used to seeing every day since I live in a warmer climate. So, of course I had to take pictures.



I don't know who owns this car, but it looks like it had been sitting there for a while. Lots of snow and icicles.



There were some crazy long icicles hanging from buildings too.



And check out this row of icicles on this house and those snow-covered bikes and that car.



There were even icicles hanging from bushes.



We spent our vacation week in a beautiful winter wonderland and had a great time with our family. I'll share more photos from our trip in a future post.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

 
© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for February 6, 2015

My Fab Finds for this week are (in no particular order)

1. WordPress for Genealogy: Adding a Lineage Snapshot Box to Blog Posts About Ancestors, Part I AND Blogging for Genealogy: Adding a Lineage Snapshot Box to Ancestor Posts in WordPress.com & Blogger by Colleen Greene, author of CollenGreene.com
2. 10 Unexpected Places to Find Family History Online by Heather Wilkinson Rojo, author of Nutfield Genealogy
3. Ancestry Introduces Beta "Improved Website" - And A First Look by Randy Seaver, author of Genea-Musings
4. TLC Reveals Celebrities for Spring 2015 Season of Who Do You Think You Are? AND Calling RootsTech attendees: Ancestry needs you! by Thomas MacEntee, author of GeneaBloggers
5. GIVING BACK – PART 1 – CEMETERY PHOTOGRAPHY by Cari Taplin, author of GENEALOGY PANTS
6. Valentine's Day Competition: Family romances by Emma for MyHeritage Blog
7. Developing a Historical Timeline by Melvin J. Collier, author of Roots Revealed
8. Getting the Most Out of AncestryDNA AND Autosomal DNA 2015 – Which Test is the Best? by Roberta Estes, author of DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy
9. NARA now live streaming "Know Your Records" lectures on YouTube & they are FREE by Diane L. Richard for UPFRONT WITH NGS
10. Leaving Your Lessons Behind by Valerie Hughes, author of Genealogy With Valerie
11. Are You Looking Back or Looking Forward? by PastSmith, author of PastSmith
12. New BYU Family History Library Videos up on YouTube.com AND Photos on FamilySearch Memories lead to priceless discoveries by James Tanner, author of Genealogy's Star
13. Minnesota Genealogical Society announces 2015 webinar series AND Free access to Ancestry this weekend by Gail Dever, author of Genealogy a la carte
14. Land Records AND Local Genealogy Societies by NikiMarie, author of Copper Leaf Genealogy
15. Genealogical "Extras" by Elise Ann Wormuth, author of Living in the Past: A Family History
16. Civil War Recipe: Beef Stew by Vera Marie Badertscher, author of Ancestors in Apron
17. A Tractor, Grandpa and Me by Michelle Ganus Taggart, author of A Southern Sleuth
18. Electrocuted in the Frederick Mine by Schalene Dagutis, author of Tangled Roots and Trees
19. Banishing the stubborn pile by Janine Adams, author of Organize Your Family History

The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge by Amy Johnson Crow, author of No Story Too Small -

• 52 Ancestors Challenge 2015: Week 5 Recap

This week's "May I Introduce To You" Interview

• May I Introduce to You . . . Elise Ann Wormuth

New Blog Discoveries

• Knit Genealogist
• ancestrystuff
• CurryAus
• Expanding Branches
• Genealogie
• Jenny's Genealogy Blog
• Linda Newman's Family Tree

In Case You Missed Them….My Contributions to the Blogosphere This Week

Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog

• Have You Tried Grandma's Pie?

Grandpa's Postcards

• Panorama del Puente, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico

Jana's Place

• City Creek Center ~ Part 1

Thanks for reading!

Jana

 
© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Have You Tried Grandma's Pie?

Have you tried Grandma's Pie?


One of my friends shared something cool on my Facebook timeline yesterday. It's an online tool by the creators of Relative Finder. It's called Grandma's Pie.

Grandma's Pie is one of the projects listed on Brigham Young University's Family History Technology Lab's (FHTL) website. Click HERE to see a list of their projects.

Here's a partial screenshot from the FHTL project page showing Grandma's Pie. Grandma's Pie is described as follows on their page:

"This ain't your mom's pie. Grandma's Pie shows you where your ancestry is from, in interactive pie form! Currently, Grandma's Pie uses stale data (2-4 months old)."

I decided to give Grandma's Pie a try. Here's a screenshot of the login page. You will need a FamilySearch account to use this fun tool. It's easy to sign up for a FamilySearch account and it's free.




I clicked on "Show Multiple Generations" on the left side of the page to create my Great Grandparents pie chart. For the pie chart at the top of this post I clicked on "Show Single Generation."



See that little slider bar at the top of the page? To show more generations, just slide the button to the right or click anywhere on the bar with your cursor.

This pie chart shows where my ancestors were from through my 2X great-grandparents.



Another cool feature I discovered while playing with this fun tool is that when you hover your cursor over each section of your pie, the name and birthplace of that ancestor will appear.



What do you think? Pretty cool, right? If you'd like to try Grandma's Pie, click HERE. Give it a try and see how your pie chart looks.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved