Friday, May 27, 2016

Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for May 27, 2016


NOTE: Fab Finds will be on hiatus for the whole month of June.

June is going to be an incredibly busy month for me and my family. Events that month include the funeral for my mother-in-law, our third-oldest son’s wedding, reception, and open house, my speaking engagement for the Fresno County Genealogical Society on June 14th, and my wedding anniversary. Whew! Oh, and we also have another flooring installation to schedule in June too.

Fab Finds will resume on July 1, 2016. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

My Fab Finds for this week are (in no particular order)
  1. Becoming an Accredited Genealogist: Level 1 Study Group by Diana Elder, author of Family Locket
  2. 3 Clues for Discovering Military Service AND Creating Family History Videos Easily and for Free by Amy Johnson Crow, author of the Amy Johnson Crow Blog
  3. A Grave Mistake - Even if it's Written in Stone it Could be Wrong AND Everyone Makes Mistakes: Why You Should Review Your Research Notes by Lorine McGinnis Schulze for Legacy News
  4. Some Mistakes I've Made by John Newmark, author of Transylvanian Dutch
  5. Researching your Family History on Facebook by Ruth Blair, author of The Passionate Genealogist
  6. A Great Genealogical Find – Lord Baltimore’s Receipt Book by Eileen A. Souza, author of Old Bones Genealogy
  7. Slave Name Roll Project: RELEASING Nell, Hannah, and Harry by Cathy Meder-Dempsey, author of Opening Doors in Brick Walls
  8. My Journey of the Certification Process: What's the Cost? by Amie Bowser Tennant, author of My Kith N Kin
  9. Qualified, Certified, Accredited, Member? Choosing a Professional Genealogist by Sue Adams for Worldwide Genealogy ~ A Genealogical Collaboration
  10. Happy 15th Birthday FamilySearch! by Steve Anderson for FamilySearch Blog
  11. 8 Tips for Planning a Family History Memorial Day Road Trip by Nicole Dyer, author of Family Locket
  12. Just a Beat up Ole Fork by Michelle Ganus Taggart, author of A Southern Sleuth
  13. I took a deep breath and created my first video by Becky Jamison, author of Grace and Glory
  14. Breaking Down a Major Brick Wall – for Someone Else! by Carla Love Maitland, author of Sassygenealogist
  15. Is Genealogy Dangerous to Your Health? by Thomas MacEntee, author of GeneaBloggers
  16. 7 Tips When Researching U.S. Army World War II Soldiers by Schalene Dagutis for Worldwide Genealogy ~ A Genealogical Collaboration
  17. A Most Unusual Genealogical Record by Sheri Fenley, author of The Educated Genealogist
  18. Test: Treasures from Old Newspapers (Using Adobe Spark) by Pat Richley-Erickson, author of DearMyrtle


Last week's "May I Introduce To You" Interview on GeneaBloggers.com

New Blog Discoveries

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

Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog
Jana’s Place

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Thursday, May 26, 2016

My Speaking Engagement in June


I am pleased to announce that I will be speaking at the upcoming Fresno County Genealogical Society's June General Meeting. I was given a copy of the flyer and thought I'd share it here on my blog. As the flyer says, the meeting is open to the public and is a free event.

The description of my presentation is as follows: "From cousin connections to document translation help, this class will explore the many benefits of using social media for genealogy research."

My presentation will basically be divided into the following areas:

Family History Blogs
  • The Benefits
  • Blogging Platforms
  • How-To's and Recommendations
Online Family Tree Websites
  • FamilySearch
  • Ancestry
  • WikiTree
  • MyHeritage
  • FindMyPast
Other Social Media Tools
  • Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.

I hope to see you there.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

We Love and Miss You Mom Last



Jean Last

My dear mother-in-law, Jean Last, passed away yesterday morning.  She was 90 years old. She had suffered from Alzheimer's Dementia for many years.

Before Alzheimer's Dementia took hold, my mother-in-law was a very well-read, sharp-minded and knowledgeable woman. She was a gospel scholar and taught early-morning seminary for a total of 30 years. Seminary is a gospel class taught to high school students. The course of study centers on the scriptures. She also taught the adult Sunday School class, called Gospel Doctrine, at church for many years as well.

My mother-in-law was also very politically active. She even ran for congress twice!

Jean was a brilliant woman. She was also kind and compassionate, and was a wonderful mother and mother-in-law.

She is now free from her frail body. What a joyful reunion she must be having now with her husband, Charles, and other family members.



Photo Above: Charles and Jean Last in 1969.

We love and miss you Mom Last! But, we know that because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, death is not the end. We can all be together again someday.

I'm so grateful that families can be together forever.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Back to Blogging After a Fun Week with Family


Last week was pretty quiet here on my blog. As I mentioned in my previous Fab Finds post, we had family coming to visit. Well, they left on Sunday evening and so I'm pretty much back to my usual routine now.

Maybe I shouldn't say "usual" routine because I'm also in the midst of wedding preparations. Our third-oldest son is getting married in June. So exciting! The wedding and reception is out-of-state, but we will be having a wedding open house here where we live.

More exciting news: in addition to the upcoming wedding in June, we have another wedding to look forward to. Our youngest son is also engaged. He's getting married in September. Our family is growing, and it's all so wonderful!

Last week our daughter and grandson stayed with us while our son-in-law was on a business trip. Our son-in-law also stayed with us before and after his trip. We had lots of fun together.  It was wonderful! I was able to spend a lot of time with our adorable grandson. During the week we went to the park, played with toys, read books, and just had a good time.

Our daughter and I also spent time on wedding preparations, which I really appreciate. She is making the beautiful labels for the candy buffet and the cupcakes for the wedding open house in June.


Our little grandson has me (Grandma) wrapped around his little finger. I mean, how can I say no to him when he says, "Up, up" while he reaches his cute little arms up to me? Of course I'm going to pick him up. Then when I do, he points to where he wants to go. We go to the pictures of family members and when he points to them, I tell him who they. We go to the curio cabinet and I name the various items inside. We go to the refrigerator because he wants to hold one or two of the pretty magnets there.


He especially likes the magnet with the picture of Jesus Christ on it. When we ask him who He is, he says, "Jesus" in his cute little toddler voice.

If you've been following our home improvement adventures on my personal blog, Jana's Place, you may remember that we recently had carpet installed throughout our home. In preparation for that, we had to remove everything from the floors of the closets, everything from the curio cabinet, and everything from bookcases. It was a pretty huge job. There were boxes and pieces of furniture in our garage, back patio, and even in our kitchen/dining room area.

The carpet has been installed and we have unpacked quite a few of the boxes, but we aren't quite done unpacking yet. So, that's another thing to do around here in addition to the wedding preparations.

I began writing this post yesterday up to this point. This morning we received news that my sweet mother-in-law, Jean Last, passed away. She had suffered from Alzheimer's/Dementia for many years. She was 90 years old. I will share a post about her in the near future. She was an exceptional woman.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Friday, May 13, 2016

Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for May 13, 2016


NOTE: There will not be a Fab Finds post next week due to family coming to visit. Fab Finds will resume on May 27, 2016. Thank you for your patience!

My Fab Finds for this week are (in no particular order)
  1. Family History and the Daffodil Principle AND How to Improve the FamilySearch Family Tree by Applying the Genealogical Proof Standard by Diana Elder, author of Family Locket
  2. Where the Common Feel Famous by Michelle Ganus Taggart, author of A Southern Sleuth
  3. Genealogy for Millennials: 4 Reasons to Start Blogging Your Family History Today by Amie Bowser Tennant for RootsBid Blog
  4. FamilySearch for 8-year olds by Jana Greenhalgh, author of The Genealogy Kids
  5. Spreadsheet Magic - Importing Data From Ancestry.com by Mary Kircher Roddy, author of Searching For Stories
  6. Cousin Russ helps me share a new idea for Genealogy Collaboration by Becky Jamison, author of Grace and Glory
  7. Cite This For Me by Dick Eastman, author of Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter
  8. Are In-person Genealogy Events Dead? AND 5 Unspoken Laws of Genealogy by Amy Johnson Crow, author of the Amy Johnson Crow Blog
  9. Searching for Ethel by Peggy Clemens Lauritzen, author of Anxiously Engaged
  10. Family History Consultants: Inspiring Others in Family History by Nicole Dyer, author of Family Locket
  11. The First Time I Saw my Mother by Genealogy Jen, author of Repurposed Genealogy
  12. Ah the joy! by Michele Simmons Lewis, author of Ancestoring
  13. Heirlooms and Hand Me Downs – Who Cares?! by Lori Samuelson, author of Genealogy At Heart
  14. Would you like to contribute to the Honor Roll Project for Memorial Day 2016? by Heather Wilkinson Rojo, author of Nutfield Genealogy
  15. Trello - another tool for Genealogy by Hilary Gadsby for Worldwide Genealogy ~ A Genealogical Collaboration
  16. Sepia Saturday: All the News That's Fit to Print by Wendy Mathias, author of Jollett Etc.
  17. Family Bible Has Arrived! by Colleen G. Brown Pasquale, author of Leaves & Branches
  18. How to Take a Break From Your Genealogy Research by Laura, author of Almost Home
  19. Have You Ever Had a Genealogy “Duh Moment?” by Elizabeth O'Neal, author of Little Bytes of Life

RootsTech 2016 ~
NGS 2016 ~

The past two week's "May I Introduce To You" Interview on GeneaBloggers.com

New Blog Discoveries

In Case You Missed Them….My Contributions to the Blogosphere Since My Last Fab Finds Post

Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog
Jana’s Place

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Monday, May 9, 2016

Exploring the Person View on the FamilySearch Tree App

In a previous post, I shared a tutorial about how to add sources using the FamilySearch Tree app. Today I'd like to show you some other neat features of this app. I'll take you on a little tour, if you will, specifically about the features while you're on the Person view of a specific ancestor.

On the person view, there are different tabs across the top. See them? Details, Spouses, etc.

Here's the Details view.



The Spouses view shows Amanda's spouse as well as their marriage information and their children.



Here's the Parents view.


Here's the Sources view.



The Photos view. I'm thankful to have this photo of Amanda.


The Stories view. As you can see I haven't uploaded any stories about Amanda.


I also don't have any audio listed for Amanda.


The Charts view. You can download PDF charts from here. How cool is that?


The last tab is the Ordinances tab which shows LDS Temple ordinances performed for that person.

I hope you check out the FamilySearch Tree app. It really is wonderful.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Mother's Day 2016


Happy Mother's Day!

This is a photo collage showing three generations of mothers in my family tree. I made it using PicMonkey.

Left to Right:
Top Row: Hilda Maria Carlsson, Esther Matus Villatoro, Willis Quillin
Middle Row: Ingrid Anna Gillberg, My Mother
Bottom Row: Anna Christopherson, Rosalia Rodrigues Vasques, Sarah Vasques Madeira

My Paternal Side

Grandmother: Ingrid Anna Gillberg.
Great-grandmothers: Hilda Maria Carlsson and Anna Christopherson.

My Maternal Side

My mother: Elizabeth
Grandmothers: Sarah Vasques Madeira, who died when my mom was a child. Willis Quillin, my step-grandmother, but the only maternal grandmother I knew and who for me was Grandma.

I'm grateful for my mother, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers and I thank them for their love, sacrifice, and service.

I'd like to share this wonderful Mother's Day video with you all. I hope you enjoy it.


Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Monday, May 2, 2016

Now I Know Iver's Burial Date

In February I received an email from Ancestry.com saying that there were possible record matches for people in my family tree. One especially caught my eye. It was a hint for my 2nd great-grandfather, Iver Iverson, who was born in Norway and immigrated to the United States in 1858. He was a US Civil War veteran and settled in Minnesota.


This hint for Iver turned out to be a burial record listed in the church records of the Rolling Forks Lutheran Church in Glenwood, Pope, Minnesota. Rolling Forks Lutheran Church was previously known as the Chippewa Lutheran Church. The name was changed to Rolling Forks Lutheran Church in 1958, according to Minnesota Reflections

TIP: If you have ancestors from Minnesota, check out Minnesota Reflections. It's part of the Minnesota Digital Library and contains thousands of images and documents. You can access the Minnesota Digital Library by clicking HERE. On the Minnesota Digital Library website, click on the Projects tab and you'll see Minnesota Reflections in the list.

Here's a screenshot from Ancestry.com showing Iver Iverson listed in the church record.1 I also included a screenshot of the column headings, which are in Norwegian.



This is a screenshot from Ancestry.com containing the information about this record.


I created a Find A Grave memorial page for Iver in 2012. Iver's tombstone was photographed by Jim Olsen and was added to Iver's Find A Grave memorial page several years ago. I'm grateful to Mr. Olsen for the photo. To see Iver's memorial page, click HERE.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved



1 "U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Records, 1875-1940," Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 February 2016), Iver Iverson, 1895, page 428, Rolling Forks Lutheran Church; citing Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Archives; Elk Grove Village, Illinois, Congregational Records.