Category: Guest Blogger
Young Genealogists and Your Society
June 20, 2016
How can you engage the next generation of genealogists in your society?
7 Strategies for Success
1. Be respectful. Never assume that young genealogists are inexperienced; while they might be new to the field, it’s also entirely possible that they are not. Always treat your fellow genealogists as the peers they are, regardless of age. Not sure how to strike up a conversation with a young genealogist? Ask about his or her favorite area of research!
2. Be welcoming. Many people may find it daunting to go to a society meeting or event for the first time. Take a positive first impression to the next level by assigning a designated greeter to welcome visitors at the door, make them feel at home, and answer any questions. Without this effort, a young genealogist in particular might feel out of place or even unwanted among a group of individuals who have known each other for years. Hosting a NextGen Genealogy Network Meetup is another excellent way to reach out to and welcome young genealogists.
3. Recognize their strengths. Give young genealogists a reason to invest their time and energy in your society. All members bring talent to the table, but at times, young genealogists may be overlooked. Offer them a chance to chair a committee, volunteer at a conference, design marketing materials, write a blog post, manage a social media account, or lead a presentation—or simply ask how they would like to be involved.
4. Reduce fees. More and more genealogical societies are welcoming young genealogists by offering membership discounts to students or young professionals. Does your society host conferences or workshops? This is another area where reduced fees can increase attendance. If printing costs are holding you back, offer digital versions of your news materials to young genealogists and other members who choose to opt-in.
5. Mix up your meeting times. Whether young genealogists work, study, or have children at home, meetings held in the daytime during the week may be impossible to attend. Does your society routinely offer meetings and other events in the evenings or on weekends? Do your meetings and events have clear start and end times so that attendees can make childcare arrangements or otherwise as needed?
6. Put yourself out there. Your society won’t gain members if they don’t know it’s there. Keep your website, e-mail contact information, and social media accounts up-to-date, and if you’re not already online, know that there are many free platforms available. In addition, volunteer with local events to raise awareness of your society within your community. Has your society offered to lead genealogy classes or activities for local schools, guilds, churches, clubs, and youth organizations such as Scouts or 4-H?
7. Embrace long-distance members. Young genealogists may live far from the homes of their ancestors, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be involved in societies based in other cities, counties, states, or even countries. Offer live-streamed meetings or webinars, online databases of exclusive local records, local research assistance, and a dynamic social media presence to welcome active, tech-savvy members from around the world.
Download “Young Genealogists and Your Society” as a resource to share!
Melanie Frick, MLS, holds a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University and is Editor of the APG eNews and Content Coordinator for the NextGen Genealogy Network. A genealogist, writer, editor, antique photograph aficionado, and Midwestern transplant, Melanie lives in Southern California. She blogs at Homestead Genealogical Research.
Shannon Combs-Bennett is a Genealogist with the National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century, Director of The In-Depth Genealogist, and Education Co-Coordinator for the NextGen Genealogy Network. An Indiana native based in Virginia, Shannon frequently writes and lectures on a variety of topics from genetics to methodology. She blogs at T2 Family History.
Making the Most of a Family Reunion
May 16, 2016
Last summer, thanks to some last minute flight deals, I was fortunate to be able to attend my first official family reunion! Although my mom’s immediate family gathers together frequently, this was a reunion for everyone descended from my 2x great-grandparents, so there were lots of family members attending who I had never even met before. Plus, it was held at my great-grandparents’ homestead in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Here are a few (hopefully helpful!) tips for attending a reunion to help you prepare to visit with family this summer and learn from my mistakes and successes:
1. Double-check your existing genealogical research. Before I left for the reunion, I dedicated a few days to doing a thorough review of that particular family branch. I finished up some of the “boring” updates/edits I had been putting off like scanning, attaching files, and cleaning up any duplicated facts. I also finished up some neglected descendancy work which I found very helpful in situating how the people I was meeting at the reunion fit into my tree. Because I tend to jump back and forth between lines quite a bit as I research, it was nice to have the relevant family information fresh in my mind while I was at the reunion.
2. Take a camera or scanner. If your family is anything like mine, most people will bring at least a small envelope or album of pictures to share. This was an amazing opportunity for me to have access to a lot of different picture collections all at once. My family’s reunion was hosted on my great-grandfather’s homestead in Saskatchewan, so there were lots of landmarks (the barn, schoolhouse, and general store) and scenery pictures that I wanted to take as well. Sadly, because it was a last minute arrangement, I didn’t have time to order a mobile scanner so I had to rely on my camera, but that was still much better than nothing. And of course, whatever electronics you bring, make sure to always have extra batteries/charger!
3. Suggest a family history session. If there isn’t already a formal family history session scheduled, offer to organize one. At my family’s reunion we had about an hour set aside on the first day for a presentation about the general family history. This was a really good way to get people to start talking about family stories!
4. Make sure your research is accessible for sharing. Once people realize you are interested in genealogy, they will often want to see your more of research outside of a formally organized family history session, so make sure you have a few good stories or finds prepared to share with people. This is when having the Ancestry.com app on my phone was very useful, as the home that the reunion was held at did not have Internet access so I wasn’t able to show any of my online trees and research. In retrospect, I wish I had a desktop software downloaded beforehand as it was hard to really show details on photos or documents on just my little phone screen.
5. Listen to (and record) stories. At my family’s reunion, there were many people present from the older generations, so I found it incredibly fascinating to discuss the stories that added context and color to the lives of ancestors who I didn’t have the chance to meet. I also noticed that for more delicate family stories I sometimes inferred more by staying quiet and letting people talk as if I already knew what happened, than by asking direct questions about the topic. Don’t forget to record these stories in some way, even if it seems like an unforgettable tale at the time.
6. But don’t be afraid to speak up. Sometimes I find it intimidating being the youngest person interested in genealogy,especially when I’m in a room full of older family members who actually know some of the people being talked about. But sharing research and knowledge can help establish you as the person to come to with family history questions or to share artifacts, pictures, etc. Politely correct those wild family tales if you have found evidence to the contrary. For example, at my family’s reunion someone said that our relatives who fought in WWI were twin snipers who were killed on the last day of the war, when in fact they were just two brothers who served, one as a sniper, and were killed in 1917 and 1918. Speaking up in this instance not only prevented incorrect lore from being passed on, but also resulted in a number of people starting genealogy-related conversations with me over the course of the weekend.
7. Connect with living relatives. This is the main thing that I wish I had done better. When I got home from the reunion, I realized that somehow in all my excitement about the historical photos and family stories, I had only taken exactly ONE picture of any of the living relatives present! I really wish I had arranged a group photo and just in general documented the present better. Also make sure to share your contact information with all the new family members you are meeting. Keep in mind that a lot of the older people may not be on social media (or even have e-mail!), so be sure to get phone numbers or addresses as appropriate in case you want to follow up on something that was discussed once you get home.
Hopefully these tips will be useful and help you have an enjoyable reunion that builds on connections with living family while also being beneficial for deepening your genealogical research.
Chelsea Ruiter is a twenty-three year old genealogist who is passionate about uncovering the stories in her family history. Originally from Canada’s west coast, she now lives in Ottawa and is currently working towards a Masters degree in International Affairs. Her genealogy blog can be found at Time Wanderer.
Transcribing Old Handwriting
April 18, 2016
“What do you do?” is a question that I bet all of us have answered countless times throughout our lives. Depending on your career, it can be a question you either learn to dread or love. Fortunately for me, I love it. I started working as a translator while earning my German Masters degree in 2010, and within the last year, moved my focus more to the German genealogical field. Now, when someone asks me, “What do you do?” I need to stop myself from getting too excited, as I could go on for ages about translating letters from a lady in 1868 writing her sister about Indian attacks in America or a family in World War II describing the war-torn conditions of their city.
So what does this have to do with you? Well, as genealogists, it is likely you have come across documents in languages other than your own. As you are eager to learn all you can about your ancestors, you then send the document to a translator to have him or her decipher the text. But how does it proceed from there?
For me, although every document is unique, the process itself is relatively the same. First, I examine the copy of the document (usually received via e-mail) and try to estimate how long the handwriting transcription and the actual translation will take me. To be honest, the transcription from handwriting to text is usually much more time-consuming than the translation itself. This is due to the fact that the handwriting in Germany pre-1950, known as Kurrentschrift, is completely different than the modern day handwriting taught in schools today (so different, in fact, that my Austrian husband cannot even read it). Although I am now able to read the script myself (learned through video tutorials, alphabet keys, and a lot of practice!), everyone’s handwriting is different, and what looks like an “e” in one letter may be an “h” in another. Below are some transcription tips I have learned the past few months.
Five Things I Have Learned Transcribing Old Handwriting
1. As stated above, everyone’s handwriting is different. Just because one shape is a certain letter in one document does not necessarily make it that same letter in another.
2. Words can be spelled wrong. The authors of these letters were only human, and it was not uncommon for them to make mistakes while writing. As 7th grade spelling bee champion of Little Flower School (yes, it is really called that-St. Theresa of the Little Flower), this was a little hard for me to come to terms with at first, but once I started thinking outside the box, I was able to recognize previously undecipherable words.
3. Some words were actually spelled differently in the 18th and 19th century. The German language has undergone multiple spelling reforms over the years, so being able to recognize old spellings of words is crucial. An easy example is that the word for married–”verheiratet”–is usually written with an extra “h”–verheirathet.
4. The choice of words can also be completely different from words we would use today. German, as any language, has developed over time. Just as we no longer walk around using “thee” and “thou”, many German words have also gone out of style. This makes these words hard to find in an online dictionary, but the internet is an amazing tool. Creative googling can usually provide you with at least an example of how the word was used, which provides more context than simply the document in front of you.
5. The lines on a page are not always taken into account. If, for the life of me, I cannot figure out how those four letters on one line are supposed to make a word, I then remember to look at the next line and realize that the word simply continues there. There are no hyphens or clues that the word was cut off, just a mere continuation of the word below.
As you can see, reading old handwriting is definitely a learning process. But a fun one! And once the transcription is finished, the actual translation begins. This is usually my favorite part of the process, because this is where the documents come to life. From excitement about riding on the new methods of transportation in the late 1800s to worries about cooking a lamb large enough to feed the nosy neighbors who dropped by, these letters and documents never cease to fill me with wonder. After going through the translation a first time, I then double-check my work against the source document, making sure I did not miss a word or idea. Finally, I read through the translation on its own (without the source) to ensure that it flows well in English. A mark of a good translation is that it sounds like it was originally written in the second language–it should not be awkward or stilted and should read as if written by a native speaker. As I enjoy writing and editing, this part is usually fun for me.
And that’s it! With the translation complete, I send it on to you, the family historian, for your reading pleasure. I hope that it helps you on your journey to learn about your ancestors, and wish you all the best for your future search!
Katherine Schober is a German translator at SK Translations, specializing in genealogy. After spending several years living in beautiful Salzburg, Austria, she recently moved back to the States with her Austrian husband. She now works with old German handwriting in letters, marriage and baptismal certificates, church registers and other documents.
Getting Started Offline
March 14, 2016
With the advent of electronic technology, software, and shiny new gadgets for data storage, genealogists everywhere always have something to look forward to. But for somebody new to the hobby, easily overwhelmed by this multitude of options, where do you start? I recently had this conversation with my cousin Teresa. She married into the family almost six years ago and heard countless stories about “the weird cousin who dances in cemeteries.”
“Which website is better?” she asked. “What software program should I buy?”
Before she opened her purse and dropped in front of the computer and got pulled into this contagious and addicting disease called “genealogy” (of which there is no known cure), I asked her if she liked coffee talk—the art of sharing coffee or tea while talking with family. Her answer was positive, so I then gave her some insight:
1. Get a good notebook, write down what you know about your family history, and then talk to your parents. Next, locate your oldest relatives and speak with them, because when they are gone, you will never again have access to their knowledge of the generations before them. Write down everything! The dates might be off by a few years or the names backwards, but this is rough work—it is an estimate to get you pointed in the right direction. Once you’ve written stuff down, then it will be time to prove it; as they say, without proof you have mythology.
2. Shoot everything—with a camera, silly! If you can borrow it (or have a portable scanner), scan it. Things like WWII love letters, obituaries clipped from unknown newspapers that are stashed in the family Bible in Great Aunt Bertha’s possession, and school yearbooks and report cards (if your family members are brave enough to share). And what about Gram’s photo albums?
3. Look through old photo albums. As you enjoy your coffee talk with relatives, make note of identities of family members and any memories that the photos might spark. Get prepared to shoot (or scan) away!
4. Don’t be afraid of cemeteries. In my experience, it was very commonplace as recently as fifty years ago for neighboring cemetery plots to belong to members of the same family. I have seen a row of four plots belonging to four siblings. The first sibling laid with his spouse to his immediate right, then in the next plot was his brother and sister-in-law, followed by his sisters and their husbands, respectively. In old pioneer graveyards, you might still find stones clustered together. The tallest stone could be considered equivalent to our modern-day celebrity or rockstar (head of the family), where their groupies (other family members) would be gathered around them. The black sheep or least favored in the family might be buried the furthest from the “celebrity” relative.
5. Check out your local library and genealogy society! The former may have online subscriptions to genealogy websites and databases, local newspapers on microfilm, and local history books that you probably won’t find (yet) online. The latter may or may not have online subscriptions, but they will have volunteers who can help you find your puzzle pieces. If your family is local, they might even introduce you to a society member or two who is a distant relative!
Online genealogy is popular for good reason, but there some very priceless pieces to your family story that you can only find rummaging locally and through the homes and possessions of family, like Dad’s Army footlocker in the attic or Great-Gramma’s recipe books in the microwave stand. What has been your best family find?
K. Liam Hobbes of Alberta, Canada, began his genealogical journey at a young age. Active in his local and online community, he’s been involved in several societies and has had many articles published. He keeps two entertaining blogs, is a regular participant in #genchat, and plays on many venues of social media as “Sir Leprechaunrabbit.”