I have fallen slightly behind on my 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy prompts from Amy Coffin and wanted to catch up before week 46 is posted later today.

Week 44: Research ways to give back to the genealogy community. A great deal of genealogy information on line was put there by volunteers. This week, your challenge is to examine some different ways genealogists can donate their time and effort in kind.  Find-a-Grave, Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, FamilySearch Indexing, the World Archives Project,Unclaimed Persons and the USGenWeb project are all dependent on volunteer effort. Perhaps you’ll even discover a new tool to use. You do not have to volunteer as part of this challenge, just increase your knowledge of the available opportunities. Genealogy bloggers, are there any other online groups and organizations you can think of that may be of benefit to your readers?

I am a huge fan of many of these projects and have worked actively as a RAOGK volunteer in the past (I had to stop with school).  Mostly I went to take photos of tombstones in the area, but would sometimes do look-ups at the library (namely obituaries) and at the county clerk’s office or city hall.

Another way I have found to give back to the community is through genealogical societies.  I belong to a few societies in areas my ancestors lived that are no where near where I live.  In order to participate, I assist with transcription projects that I can easily do at home.  Check with your local society to do the same.

Week 45: Examine genealogy societies in your region. Many genealogists belong to their local societies, but it’s helpful to be aware of other organizations within a few hours of your home. Sometimes these societies have good programs or resources to share. Cyndi’s List has an impressiveSocieties and Groups Index to browse, but it might not include certain smaller or newer societies. You may have to do some creative keyword searching on the Internet to find a list of societies near you. Use this week to see what types of groups meet in your part of the county, state or country. Don’t forget groups with specific research interests, such as ethnic societies. Genealogy bloggers can use this week to highlight some of the societies in their neck of the woods.

By doing a search, I found a list of all the societies in New York State.  I am amazed at all the ones that are in driving distance that I did not know about, such as Rochester, Finger Lakes, Yates and Ontario.  I could even head to Albany if the program was good.  Recently, I also found out about the society in Cortland, (found from the speakers calender on GeneaBloggers) and will be attending a presentation there Tuesday.  I also attend, when able, events for the Central NY and Western NY societies.

This week,  Amy Coffin says: ”Week 43: Brush up on your knowledge of citations. The most detailed element of genealogy is also the most important. Take some time to review articles, books and web sites on the subject. If you have a copy of Elizabeth Shown Mills’ Evidence Explained, you can read it as part of this challenge. If you do not, consider getting the book, then review some of these pages and the links they contain: Genealogy Source Citations Quick Reference by Thomas MacEntee at Genealbloggers.com (this is a PDF file), Citing Sources at Cyndi’s List and Documenting Your Research / Citing Your Sources at About.com. Bloggers, do you have a favorite book, web site or tool for helping you craft quality citations?”

I haven’t taken part in this challenge in a while, but am glad I got back into it for this week in particular.  I am going over my copy of Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills.  I have one professor in school who has us use Chicago style for our papers, which is what genealogical source citation is based on, from what I have seen.  Therefore, I am also going through that manual to pick up any hints I can.

Currently, I use Legacy Family Tree to hold my research, which has SourceWriter, an easy way to input your sources and know that they are created correctly.  SourceWriter crafts citations based Evidence Explained.  The user enters information into a form, which makes it very simple for even the beginning genealogist to source their information.  There is the option to create your own or edit the citations created for you, if necessary.

Amy Coffin at the We Tree blog is challenging bloggers to become better genealogists, with a new prompt each week through her 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy:

Week 20: Play with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Government Land Office (GLO) Federal Land  Records web page. This is a great resource. Your task this week is to explore the land patents and land surveys sections. Input some search terms and see what pops up. Don’t be afraid to click links and see what happens. You’ll be surprised by what you find. Genealogy blog authors can share what they find from this site on their blogs.

I have never been to this site before.  There are no land patents for NY, so I searched the surveys for Erie Country, New York and looked at the one result of the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation.  The image is pretty cool.  I remember when I worked at a real estate law firm I always liked looking at the survey and trying to figure out where the house or land was located in our town.  This weeks challenge reminded me of my goal to work with deeds and other land records, as I have never done so for genealogy.  Hopefully I will be able to do that in July in Buffalo.

Amy Coffin at the We Tree blog is challenging bloggers to become better genealogists, with a new prompt each week through her 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy:


Week 7:  Play with Google Maps. This is a helpful tool for determining the locations of addresses in your family history. Where your ancestral homestead once stood may now be a warehouse, a parking lot or a field. Perhaps the house is still there. When you input addresses in Google Maps, don’t forget to use the Satellite View and Street View options for perspectives that put you were right there where your ancestors once stood. If you’ve used this tool before, take sometime and play with it again. Push all the buttons, click all the links and devise new ways it can help with your personal genealogy research. If you have a genealogy blog, write about your experiences with Google Maps, or suggest similar easy (and free) tools that have helped in your own research.


I learned about the miracle of Google Maps for genealogy, particularly for timelines, while at the Genealogy Reference Desk Institute.  I have been meaning to play with them ever since and this weeks challenge gave me the perfect opportunity.  I recommend looking at the help articles, as they are very clear and concise and helped my greatly.



View German Ancestral Villages in a larger map


This is my map on my German (with a couple in the Alsace Region of France) ancestral towns.  I will be living in Hamburg – way up at the top if you scroll the map up – and hope to visit these places over the next five months.  If you click on the map, I listed each ancestral line who lived in each town so that I remembered who was where.  This is also one of my GeneaBloggers Games entries.

• HeritageQuest
• Newbank (which has the Buffalo News from 1989 – present, the most complete I have found online)
• NewspaperArchive – National
• Gale Newspapers
• American National Biographies
• Gale Biography Resource Center
• Reference USA

Amy Coffin at the We Tree blog is challenging bloggers to become better genealogists, with a new prompt each week through her 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy:


Play with WorldCat.org. WorldCat is a massive network of library content that the public can search for free (user name and password not required). Not every library is a part of WorldCat, but the vast size of the network makes it an important genealogy tool. If you are looking for a specific book or publication, enter the identifying information into the WorldCat search box and see which libraries hold the item. You may even find that you can get the item through your library’s inter-library loan program. Don’t forget to search for some of your more unusual surnames and see what comes up. The goal is to play with WorldCat and examine its possibilities for your own research. If you’re already familiar with WorldCat, play with it again. The network and collection grow and change constantly. If you have a genealogy blog, write about your experiences with searching WorldCat for this exercise.


I love WorldCat! So much so that I have even downloaded their app to my iTouch and use it often to check if I can get a book I read about on a blog or magazine review.  As a college student, inter-library loan is tremendously easy – I can even do it from the comfort of my couch and they email me when the book or article comes in.  Although I did not find any of my surnames for books, I did come up with a few books on towns I am researching that I will have to order.

Amy Coffin at the We Tree blog is challenging bloggers to become better genealogists, with a new prompt each week through her 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy:


Week 4: Learn about your local public library’s inter-library loan (ILL) policy. Pick a genealogy-related book that you want to read that is not in your library’s collection. Ask the librarian how to request the book from another library. Find the different library systems from which you can request books through your own library, as this can dramatically increase the number of genealogy books to which you have access. If you have a genealogy blog, write about your experience with requesting items through your library’s ILL service.



I adore inter-library loan.  As a college student, I tend to use the universities system, because I can do it from my couch, while for the public library I have to go in to request an item.  I recently received my first ILL for a genealogy book.  While looking for films on Knockholt, Kent, England from the FHL, I noticed a book that seemed useful: A History of Knockholt in the County of Kent by David Waldron Smithers.  This was published in England in 1991 and is currently out of print.  Only 3 libraries in the USA own it, according to WorldCat: Princeton, Harvard and the Library of Congress.  I ILL requested it through SU and a couple weeks later arrived the apparently never before used (it is pristine!) book from Princeton University.


This book is FANTASTIC!  It was written by a lifelong resident of Knockholt and it mentions surnames such as Bond, Whitehead and Wells.  Are they my Bonds, Whiteheads and Wells’?  It was a small town, so I am sure there is some relation (hopefully I will know for sure when my films come in…)  It also gives the towns history, beginning in the stone age, has photographs, gives information about the parish church records and has more information that gives a genealogist a background on the town their ancestors came from.


If you are new to ILL, be sure to check out WorldCat.  According to their website, “WorldCat is the world’s largest network of library content and services. WorldCat libraries are dedicated to providing access to their resources on the Web, where most people start their search for information.”  Although not every library in the world is a member, most large libraries, particularly in the US, are and it will give you an idea of what books are out there and where they are located.

Amy Coffin at the We Tree blog is challenging bloggers to become better genealogists, with a new prompt each week through her 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy:
Assess yourself! You’re great at researching everyone else’s history, but how much of your own have you recorded? Do an assessment of your personal records and timeline events to ensure your own life is as well-documented as that of your ancestors. If you have a genealogy blog, write about the status of your own research and steps you may take to fill gaps and document your own life.


This is an aspect of my research that I have pretty much skipped over entirely.  I do have a few events for my life in my genealogy program, mainly addresses, schools and diplomas.  Outside of this, I have no information that will help my (future) descents.


Plan of attack:  I need to do some (it will someday be) Spring Cleaning!  I will go through my folders and boxes and pull out important documents and give myself a space in my genealogy binders.  I will also write up a short narrative of my life thus far.  Additionally, I need to start adding information about my memories to this blog, as that will make it more useful.


Although I would like to say that I plan to do this soon, the odds are that it will not be until I get back from Germany in July, as I have my plate pretty full for the next month before I leave.

Go to your local public library branch again. Examine the local history, archives and/or special collections section. Ask a librarian if you don’t know if your library has special collections or where they are located. Be sure to check the reference section, too, as many of the newer and more valuable books are held in that area. If you have a genealogy blog, write about what you find in your library’s local history and special collections.


Slightly late, but better than never;-)


At the Onondaga County Public Library Central Branch, the Local History/Genealogy room is amazing.  It is on the 6th floor and contains a tremendously large amount of books and microfims.  Some of the items I have used in the past or need to check out that are useful to my searching are: