“Walking, I can almost hear the redwoods beating. And the oceans are above me here, rolling clouds, heavy and dark. It is winter and there is smoke from the fires. It is a world of elemental attention, of all things working together, listening to what speaks in the blood. Whichever road I follow, I walk in the land of many gods, and they love and eat one another. Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands.” — Linda Hogan

 

 

Welcome to Maryland LAOH Genealogy Site

Louise McDonald, MD LAOH State Genealogy Chair

Each quarter our website will focus on a particular website/area that supports genealogical research.

Genealogy Focus By Quarter •Winter(“Geimhreadh“) – November, December, January •Spring (“Earrach“) – February, March, April •Summer (“Samhradh“) – May, June, July •Autumn (“Fómhar” Harvest) – August, September, October

Have you ever come to a webpage and feel like you are clicking and clicking and feel you have missed valuable information? Our approach to helping you with your genealogical research will be to carve a path for you through the site to find pieces and parts that you may otherwise not encounter on a first pass. We are going to call these explorations.

Genealogy Focus by Quarter – Autumn (“Fómhar” Harvest)  October 2024

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

*FREE*

Located within the Library of Congress collections. This is a searchable and freely accessible digital collection of historic newspaper pages. It contains millions of newspaper pages from every state and almost every territory in the United States published through 1963. The website also provides access to information about historic newspapers and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

EXTERNAL REVIEW

Family Tree Magazine says:

“Chronicling America is the Library of Congress’ free newspaper portal. At its heart is the U.S. Newspaper Directory, a comprehensive inventory of 150,000-plus titles dating back to 1690. It’s an excellent resource for identifying papers that may have served your ancestral communities, including those for specific audiences (e.g., labor groups, religions, or political parties). You can search by title or browse by place or year…You’ll find more than 2,500 results each for African American and German language titles, plus 200 titles published in Chinese, 42 in Dutch, and 41 in Hebrew…Chronicling America boasts its own growing library of 20 million pages from 3,810 newspapers across the United States: all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Chronicling America’s digital collections are all in the public domain…”

WEBSITE NAVIGATION

Chronicling America is part of the vast online presence of the Library of Congress.  Provided here are ways to start your search directly to the collection/Project known as Chronicling America.

DIRECT JUMP – This link takes you directly to the newspaper search page.  https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov    

The tabs on this page are as follows:

• Search Pages – quick look at the collection and some topics
• Advanced Search – here is where you get into the fun selecting state, city, etc.
• All Digitized Newspapers 1756-1963 – listing by state of papers available with links to go directly to the item on the list
• US Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present – This is a Wiki of sorts. It gives you publication information and where you can find it.  This link covers all newspapers not just those available on Chronicling America.

Special Note:  There will be a change in the view of this collection at some time in the future.  If you are interested here is a link to the BETA view.

BETA VIEW

https://www.loc.gov/collections/chronicling-america/

Visualization Options

There are many visual displays that have been created for this collection.  This link takes you to a listing of all those visualization options

https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/data-visualizations/

WHAT I LIKE

Here is a quick list of what I like.

• It is free
• It is huge
• Scan quality is very good
• Reference and guide material is extensive

THINGS TO CONSIDER

• Why have I not gone here before?        : )

RELATED

Family Tree magazine has a very good article covering other online newspaper collections.  You can read this here:

https://familytreemagazine.com/records/newspapers/historical-newspaper-websites-compared/

Genealogy Focus by Quarter — Summer(“Samhradh“) June 2024

 

Ancestry (https://ancestry.com/)

Yes Ancestry.com.  Everyone knows about this website. It is the most well-known place to build a tree.   What I have found is that many people are not aware of some features that are available, and many are free.  For this posting we will dig into some tips and tricks with Ancestry.  The information will be identified when it applies to a paid account and to a free account, or lapsed subscription account.

External Opinion by PC Magazine

PROS

• Attractive and intuitive interface with lots of guidance.
• Handy collaboration feature.
• Family trees can be shared easily across your devices and with nonsubscribers.

CONS

• Monthly subscription fee can get expensive, fast.

Moving into the Website itself:

Free Access

There are two ways to get free access (a) via a Library portal or (b) establish a free “guest” account

• 1. Many family historians have utilized the Latter-Day Saints centers across the country to use the Library version of Ancestry.com.  The library edition is available at many of your local Libraries.  Make sure you call first.  Here is a link that explains what you can access utilizing the Library Edition by clicking here.
  2. Click here to set up a Free Ancestry Guest Account .  this will provide you the ability to create trees and access all the free data that is resident within their files. Yes, there are lots of free data collections. Below are links to help you get started.

• Charts and Forms – links to free charts on ancestry
• Link to Search the Free Records on Ancestry
• List of the collections that are free on Ancestry
• Tips on using what is free on Ancestry.

These discussion points apply to both paid and unpaid with the major difference being the information being returned and what part you can see.

• CARD CATALOG(click). This is a very effective tool for drilling down to specific data sets.  If you use the catalog, you can select “by location” down to the state and even county when looking for records.  This is done by selecting the category “by location” provided on the left margin and drilling down to a particular state then county.

• Browsing from the Normal Search Page – Also available from the popular search page is the same location information discussed in the card catalog.  Go to the normal search link provided.  Those with a subscription can scroll down the page until you see a map.  From here select the location. You will then have options to see information about counties to the right.  You will immediately see all the collections available for the location you selected.  At the top of the page there are tabs for history and resources.  These will be specific to the area you selected.   Many people never scroll down below the search parameters. Try it. I know you will find a new path to the records you search.

For those with a non-subscription account, when your search page comes up you must click the “Advanced Search” tab.  When you do this just scroll down and you will see the same information as described above.

Browsing by Collection -This feature is on the same search form.   You can change the way your query returns the information by clicking a small button on the right-hand side of the page.  This tab is labeled “Browse by Collection”.  This little feature allows you to collapse the records returned from the search form tab. They will be returned by collection.   Here are two screen shots to show you how to use it. First one shows you the normal position of the tab. Each record comes up and you go through page by page.  The second screen shot shows the selected position.

It takes all the data that was returned by your search criteria and puts it together by the name of the collection.  This allows you to focus your search by and through a single collection, one at a time.

Special Note –It you can’t find the record you are looking for try your search from the common search form and the card catalog search form.  Each access point starts from a different focus. This means that you may see something more clearly when you perform it on the additional form.

Saving Records to Your Tree – Be aware that when you find a record that applies to your ancestor, and you accept a hint or attach it to your tree that in most cases you are only attaching the link to your ancestor and not the document itself.  If you want that you would need to make a copy and then drop it to your gallery.

If your subscription ends – Be aware that if your subscription ends, your tree will be there however if you have “attached” records as I described above and they are only links, you will not see them any longer.  If you have a picture of that record dropped in your gallery you will.

PRO TOOLS – this is the new element at Ancestry.  Here is the list:

• Tree checker: Find potential duplicates and possible errors in your tree.

• Advanced filters: Search, group, and sort people in your tree using key details beyond names.

• Charts & reports: Create and share detailed family histories.

• Tree mapper: See where people in your tree lived in relation to one another.

• Tree insights: Discover familial trends and see patterns in your tree

Pro tools – This is a separate subscription and renews monthly.  Pro tools can only be used on trees you own or that you have been authorized to edit. By themselves the Pro tools do not grant you access to any paid records.

WHAT I LIKE

• Easy to use and to create a tree and attach records
• The size of their data collections is considered the largest commercial entity
• You own your tree. Changes can only be made by you or people you authorize
• The large number of family trees that have been built provides enormous potential for making connections
• Having the DNA results that can be connected to a family tree pushes your search further

THINGS TO CONSIDER

• The cost of the subscriptions is heavy.
• Attaching records via the link process will not maintain those records for you when your subscription is not active.

Other WEB Locations – Supported or related to the same organization

Crista Cowan is a familiar face and voice to those who have been hanging around Ancestry for a while.  She is a representative and deploys plenty of educational videos and live Q&A. Here is a link to the official Facebook page for Ancestry.  Every other Thursday there is a 30-minute live session.  Or you can watch the replay at any time. 

You can also do a search of her name on You tube and see plenty of educational videos as they relate to Ancestry.

 

Genealogy Focus by Quarter — Winter(“Geimhreadh“) January 2024

 

IrelandXO (https://irelandxo.com/

 

Let’s start with an independent review of what this site is. When first encountering a site, I like to see what others (non-sponsored) say about it. This site has a unique approach by building its base from those of Irish descent who register and begin to share with one and another. Below is a link that gives a quick look.

https://www.recordclick.com/ireland-reaching-out-irish-genealogy-in-reverse-is-no-blarney/

• IRISH Genealogy Resource Checklist – Jump inside to find a 12 item list denoting resources. These 12 items will

take you to multiple resources. https://www.irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/news/irish-genealogy-resource-checklist

• Ten FREE Sites for IRISH Genealogy – Find your way to the 10 best sites for Irish genealogy. These 10 items contain much more than 10 sites. Be sure to scroll down and jump within each item to discover search.

locations https://www.irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/news/irelandxo-insights-top-free-irish-genealogy-resources

• Summary page for Irish Records – this link takes you directly to an itemized list of Irish records along with some educational materials. https://irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/news/irish-records

• Joining the site – You can access the links above and many other features of this site without having to create an account. The feature of having an account is to enter your “validated” information which in turn starts the process of connecting and collaborating with our family historians.

• JOIN the mailing list – the mailing list can be set at your own frequency. These newsletters come with updated sites and information. This is one of the newsletters that I continue to subscribe to

WHAT I LIKE

• Information about Irish genealogy and records locations are all free. Registration is not required to look.

• When you join you have your own detailed home location. The site has groups for parishes, counties and other areas of interest. Once you join, these links are stored for you at your home. Anything you post is recorded and saved for your quick reference.

• When you enter an ancestor’s information, a source is an important factor. It does allow you to label your record “circa” when you don’t have a source and it informs the viewer – love this.

THINGS TO CONSIDER

• The depth of information for those who register is completely dependent on the entries of fellow family historians. The more who participate the more data to be shared. If the area you are in has very few participants, the amount of information you will see behind the registration will be less.

• The Ads – Can be so annoying. They can get in the way, visually, when trying to pull information. While Annoying, it is free and that is the price pay.

Other WEB Locations – same organization

Ireland Reaching out/Irelandxo has a Facebook group. It can be found here

https://www.facebook.com/IrelandXO

Irelandxo is on YouTube – users guides and webinars can be found here

https://www.youtube.com/@Irelandxo

Questions on genealogy can be emailed to Louise McDonald , MarylandLAOH@gmail.com