tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21755016290134464002012-01-23T11:17:39.610-08:00This blog chronicles the pros and cons, stories and experiences of the author using the internet for genealogy and ancestry research. Tips and tricks for great websites to use, how to effectively use the internet for research, and other ways to get the full value out of online genealogy work.Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.comBlogger361100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-25517672059790680882012-01-23T11:16:00.001-08:002012-01-23T11:17:39.629-08:00

RootsTech is coming up next weekend, February 2nd-4th, in Salt Lake City, at the Salt Palace Convention Center. This is a great conference for genealogy users and developers (those of us that are both REALLY love this conference), with keynotes, sessions, and workshops focused on the use of technology in the family history field. I am sad to say I will be unable to go again this year due to a

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-10453703642633611532011-08-12T11:37:00.000-07:002011-08-12T11:37:32.589-07:00

Doing genealogy utilizing the latest technology is just awesome. Being able to do it with a multitude of resources that are free is even better. The FamilySearch website, a website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, now has a new great offering for genealogists. They are providing over 100 research courses available on their site for free, ranging from beginning genealogy basics

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-29856443107067374112011-02-24T09:53:00.000-08:002011-02-24T09:55:00.406-08:00

I am obsessed with cemeteries. If you read this blog, you probably are, too, so I'm in good company. Some people have an obsession with cars, or celebrities, or food, or geo-caching (don't ask). Mine is headstones. Anytime I drive past a cemetery, I have to fight the urge to pull over and explore the grounds. It's like finding a "buried" treasure. I know you're rolling your eyes at this point,

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-32635895212803009162011-02-04T10:27:00.000-08:002011-02-04T10:27:38.092-08:00

I have to admit that I'm not really into the whole reality television craze. Of course, this is coming from someone who is so fascinated by family history that driving past an old cemetery can make my whole week. However, that said, I will be seated on my sofa at 7pm this evening for NBC's "Who Do You Think You Are?" premier. My children get excited over Santa Claus. I get excited for this. If

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-42218418422833958982011-01-27T08:20:00.000-08:002011-01-27T08:20:11.250-08:00

Another day, another new piece of evidence to add to the pile. I had a distant relative contact me through my family website the other day asking about some family members with the surname of Wineman. She had run into a brick wall with her great-grandfather and great-grandmother, Daniel Raphael Bradley and his wife, Ellen. My relative's grandmother, who married their youngest son, James, had

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-20996763396364697112010-07-31T12:31:00.000-07:002010-07-31T12:31:04.429-07:00

Yep, it's been months since I've added an entry. No, I haven't been on a months-long European tour, or in a coma in the hospital, or on a voluntary sabbatical to a Caribbean island (yes, people take sabbaticals there, too). I have had my hands full working on my own genealogy research and raising four very busy children. My youngest is now a year old so I'm at least able to slow down and catch my

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-51931602566229682442009-11-16T09:10:00.000-08:002009-11-16T11:49:54.263-08:00

I recently received the following question from realbeale about organizing inherited research and genealogy files.My mother was the family historian and completed 2 or 3 family genealogy books when she passed. I inherited 5 bins of primary research. Any advice on what I should keep and how to organize it?Help! Thanks for the great question! While no one system of organization works for everybody,

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-61067981742500210842009-11-16T08:40:00.000-08:002009-11-16T09:04:55.869-08:00

I've gotten some emails recently from readers of my blog with specific questions so I'm going to use the next few blog posts to respond to those questions.A few days ago, I received the following question on my previous post of New Family Search and Your Software. Jessica,I am moving from a PC to a Mac before the year is over. I like everything I have been introduced to the Mac by my son,

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-50527034130621056832009-11-05T08:53:00.000-08:002009-11-05T10:12:51.755-08:00

My children love to watch re-runs of the children's show Lamb Chop. If you've ever seen the show, one of the things you probably remember the most from it was the ending song, "The Song That Never Ends." Well, with genealogy, it's more like "This is the work that never ends. Yes, it goes on and on my friend." I apologize if that song is now going to be stuck in your head for the rest of your day.

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-73423779133195938342009-08-26T10:26:00.000-07:002009-08-27T07:50:38.733-07:00

If you haven't already, at some point in your research, you will likely have a need to use one of the older Soundex indexes on microfilm. With that in mind, here are some basics about Soundex.Soundex is an indexing system that is phonetic-based and groups together names that sound alike but are spelled differently, for example, Pearson, Pierson, and Pehrson. You can probably understand the need

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-37084483853546370352009-06-08T13:31:00.000-07:002009-06-08T13:50:27.725-07:00

I had to report on my first big success using the pilot program for Family Search. As many of you know from my previous posts, I do indexing on a regular basis as a volunteer for the LDS Church's Family Search Indexing project. As fast as these records get completed, they are being put up on the pilot site for the public's free use. The pilot site can be reached by going to the Family Search

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-54800219767188567212009-05-27T15:22:00.000-07:002009-05-27T15:42:25.460-07:00

I have heard this countless times as a reason why many LDS people don't spend any time doing their genealogical research. Perhaps you have family members that joined the church clear back in Kirtland or Nauvoo. Those ancestors have lots of LDS descendants now, and when you go to research your direct ancestors, you find that "the work has all been done." Trust me, that is not possible no matter

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-83279349409945506392009-05-11T13:39:00.000-07:002009-05-11T14:46:04.847-07:00

Especially when we are just starting out our genealogy research, we can make the mistake of narrowly focusing on only certain types of records, such as birth, death, marriage, and census records. However, there are billions of records out there that can assist us in our research. With that in mind, many of my future posts will focus on a specific category or type of record, where to find it on

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-88374159105091056512009-05-06T13:23:00.000-07:002009-05-06T14:54:44.784-07:00

NARA is the acronym for The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Basically, NARA is the records administration and preservation arm of the federal government. Whether you know it or not, you have probably accessed a record from the NARA holdings at one point or another in your research. The NARA records that are most valuable to genealogists in our research are census records,

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-80623552904419402512009-04-23T08:34:00.000-07:002009-04-29T11:50:32.790-07:00

Since my most recent post was on organizing your digital genealogy files, I thought it would be appropriate to include some information on organizing your physical genealogy files. There's a good chance you'll eventually want to digitize your physical genealogy files at some point, if you haven't already. It saves a lot of physical space, makes it easier to share your files with others, and

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-58805984537059202672009-04-18T09:10:00.000-07:002009-04-18T09:41:28.632-07:00

Where did that photo of great aunt Jeanine go? You know you saved it on your computer somewhere... As genealogy moves more and more into the digital realm, you'll need to have a system for organizing your digital files. It doesn't have to be complex, and there is no one right way to set up your digital filing system. The important thing is that you have one that works for you.Start by taking

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-41241923773403616592009-03-24T14:04:00.001-07:002011-01-27T08:49:41.935-08:00

I've mentioned several free genealogy websites up to this point in my previous posts, but I get asked this particular question quite often about Ancestry.com and whether it is worth it to pay for a subscription. Many of you probably already use Ancestry.com and know the answer to this question. However, the truth is, whether or not it is worth the cost is entirely dependent upon your situation.

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-84981833380873133892009-03-20T12:50:00.001-07:002009-03-20T13:01:13.268-07:00

This post is a little bit of a departure from my advice, website reviews, and general research tips. In fact, it is probably a little personally indulgent, but nonetheless, I get a lot of questions from relatives and visitors to my blog and genealogy sites about why Mormons care so much about and do so much in the realm of genealogy. I used to write articles for a popular writing site that

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-26278801984418121292009-03-17T15:22:00.000-07:002009-03-17T15:44:01.383-07:00

This will be a short post, but an important one. A couple of my last posts focused on advice for beginners and one discussed free genealogy courses from BYU. There is another great way for beginners or even more advanced researchers to hone their skills and broaden their research know-how. Volunteer! Yes, I know. You want to spend as much time as you can doing your own research. However, it

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-71970716446189317642009-03-07T09:05:00.000-08:002009-04-14T13:18:00.142-07:00

One of my previous posts discussed the use of a photo scanning and restoration service to help you in your efforts to digitize your photos. I wanted to give some tips and information that you'll need if you want to digitize your own photos. If you don't want to do all of this yourself, I recommend ScanCafe. Otherwise, keep reading.First of all, why digitize? Chances are, if you're reading this

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-9899541181680234322009-03-03T11:26:00.000-08:002009-03-03T16:43:42.826-08:00

If you have done any significant genealogy research on the internet, you already know about this website, as it is one of the oldest and most well-known genealogy sites on the web. This brief post is for those of you who are new to researching family history online or for those intermediate-level researchers who have yet to discover the power of this particular website.This website has been

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-31835227997993474342009-02-25T09:41:00.000-08:002009-02-25T11:36:46.327-08:00

If you have followed the steps in the previous post, by now, you should have a basic familiarity with pedigree charts and family group records, your genealogy software should be installed, and you should have started your genealogy file with as much information as you have on yourself and your living relatives. Now it's time to really get into the nitty-gritty of research.1) - Create an organized

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-62601800920011937902009-02-23T12:02:00.000-08:002009-02-23T12:36:12.557-08:00

There are literally hundreds of articles out there on the web about how to get started doing genealogy research if you are a beginner. There are even free web courses (see previous post on free BYU courses) that offer good information for getting started. As a 30-year-old genealogist with over a decade of research experience, I wanted to offer some advice for beginners who want to learn the

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-49429892081506958302009-02-18T13:13:00.000-08:002009-02-18T13:34:00.114-08:00

There are so many great resources and articles currently available on how to begin family history research for the first time. I will soon add a short post giving my own insights on that topic, particularly as it pertains to starting your family history research in an internet-driven world. For today, however, I just wanted to share a great resource for the genealogist just getting started.

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-16385042503784702542009-02-04T09:51:00.000-08:002009-02-04T10:28:39.199-08:00

For the LDS genealogists out there, a lot of questions are popping up about the new Family Search (nFS) program and how that will (or won't) integrate well with the most popular genealogy software programs for individual users. Hopefully, this post will help break down the issues you might face transitioning to nFS, and specifically, how that will affect the desktop software you use for your

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-67234454496616422752008-11-21T13:28:00.000-08:002008-11-21T14:26:16.496-08:00

We, the genealogists, hold these truths to be self-evident, that not all information is created equal, that it should be endowed by its creator with specific source citations, that among these are clarity, reproducibility, and the pursuit of accuracy. How many of us are as diligent as we should be in making sure we find and cite credible sources before publishing information on the internet, or

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-19211025624013234322008-11-12T14:03:00.000-08:002008-11-12T14:35:18.902-08:00

I have to apologize for the long break between posts. I have been overwhelmed with trying to complete a third genealogy book for a family member for Christmas this year, and I'm up to my neck in stories and formatting guidelines. Anyway, on to my ramblings for the day. There are so many "beginner's guides" to family history out there, and they offer very helpful information to get yourself

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-19672021771941648872008-10-07T10:40:00.000-07:002008-10-07T11:40:28.246-07:00

Google Books is a complete treasure trove for any genealogist. I found Google Books over a year ago when I was doing a regular Google search on an ancestor from Massachusetts. One of the first results popped up, and I noticed it was a book title from Google Books. In seconds, I was viewing the full text of the Vital Records of Hull, Massachusetts to the Year 1850. This book was an alphabetical

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-67398224250649090722008-09-30T16:09:00.000-07:002008-10-06T15:33:27.651-07:00

Next to impossible to read handwriting. Using abbreviations that no one else understands. Who knew census takers and doctors would have so much in common? If you've ever had *just a little bit of trouble* deciphering handwritten records, including census sheets and vital records, hopefully this post will offer some helpful tips.First of all, let's start with the shorthand that census takers often

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-6502914367615626102008-09-17T14:51:00.001-07:002008-09-17T15:40:09.474-07:00

I've been working for the past couple of years as a volunteer indexer and arbitrator for the Family Search Indexing project being done by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (See my previous post about the New Family Search for more details on the project.) As I've gone through thousands and thousands of United States census records, it is extremely clear that names can provide big

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-42274937164947196072008-09-17T14:51:00.000-07:002008-09-17T15:00:30.388-07:00

I decided to post an update to my previous blog entry about affordable photo and slide digitizing. A blog reader left me a comment with some more information on various companies that handle scanning and digitizing of photos, negatives, and slides.For the purposes of my first post, I only listed one company, ScanCafe. This was simply because this was a company that I had personally used for

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-72993800142248262132008-09-08T12:50:00.001-07:002008-09-08T13:07:05.677-07:00

This is not really new news in the online genealogy world, but I did want to blog a little about the New Family Search web sitethat the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is working on right now. In case you haven't already heard, the church is working on digitizing the millions of records they have on microfiche, microfilm and paper to make them available online to anyone in the world

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-14410866723546974252008-09-05T10:07:00.000-07:002008-09-05T10:29:44.623-07:00

Vital records are vital to genealogical research, as all of us are aware. However, since vital records were not uniformly kept among states and counties in the early centuries of American history, they may not always be available for every single person in a family. If that is the case, and we rely solely on vital records to find all members of an immediate family, we may be leaving someone

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-6138304134906739702008-08-29T13:54:00.000-07:002008-08-29T14:50:06.808-07:00

I know it sounds like it, but this blog entry will not be a dissertation on either Peter Pan's unruly band or Kiefer Sutherland's rise to stardom as a vampire in the 80s. You have to learn to live with disappointment. Really...I want to share an experience I had in getting some divine help in finishing a family's history in my husband's line. We were planning a trip to see his grandmother in

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-75568881214742222882008-08-27T13:12:00.000-07:002009-04-14T11:42:27.270-07:00

I have to admit it! I am hooked on the $$$ values I find all over the Internet, but especially in the areas of family history research. As any genealogist will tell you, hobbyist or professional, genealogy is not necessarily a cheap pursuit, particularly if you want to do it right. It is pretty clear that the Internet has made genealogy so much more affordable and convenient with records

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2175501629013446400.post-62716426978098844242008-07-22T14:01:00.000-07:002008-08-27T17:34:21.198-07:00

In February of this year, my paternal grandmother passed away.  She lived in a very rural area of south-central Missouri. Her biggest hobby was genealogy, so of course, her house was just packed to the gills with a disorganized array of boxes containing thousands of potential family history gems for our family. I was not prepared, however, to discover such treasures for a family I'd never met.The

Jessica Hall Graylesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06957130567162288247noreply@blogger.com0