Family Tree Magazine: Articles of Interest

Introducing longtime Ferndale Genie and guest contributor Rick Bell who wants us to know about the wealth of information found in Family Tree Magazine.  All of the articles listed are from Family Tree Magazine and are available from the Whatcom County Library System website using Zinio.  

June 19, 2017 “Ferndale Genies”

Ohio State Guide

FTM 2017 January-February issue, pages 37-40

Here you will find a short history of the state, date records were first collected and many

websites to aid in researching your Ohio families. Land records, Military records, Census

records as well as a map of all the counties can be found in these pages.

Total Coverage

FTM 2016 March-April issue, pages 42-46

Many option are listed in this article, which can be used to save and back up research files

as well as you family pictures.

Underused and Undiscovered

FTM 2017 March-April issue, pages 64-72

29 websites (which in general are not used regularly in genealogy research), but may provide you with important information.

Four Must-Have Genealogy Apps

FTM 2016 January-February issue, page 60

Since these are “Apps” for your smart phone, iPad or tablet they will be more help to the more advanced researchers than the beginners. 

Fold3

FTM 2017 March-April issue, pages 32-36

This article explains Fold3 and how to use the website for research military records. This site is a “membership site” but, there is an option for some basic information, which is FREE.

May 15, 2017 “Ferndale Genies” list of articles:

America Gets Digitized, FTM 2016 December issue, pages 22-27

Family Search, FTM 2017 March-April issue, pages 24-27

Funeral Records, FTM 2016 December issue, pages 64-65

Obituaries Online, FTM 2015 May-June issue, pages 8-9

United Kingdom Census Records, FTM 2017 March-April issue, pages 58-63

Accessing Family Tree Magazine Online with Zinio

Guest post from Sarah Koehler, Ferndale Library Manager

Did you know you have full access to Family Tree magazine through the Whatcom County Library System’s digital collection? Using Zinio you can check out the current issue, and back issues as well. 

The best part is that you do not have to return the magazine, nor is there a limit.

To get started you will need your Whatcom County Library System card, or a Bellingham Public Library card and your 4 digit pin (usually the last four digits of your phone number). You will sign up for a Zinio account, and if you are planning to read the issues on your Desktop or Laptop you are now good to go!

If you would rather read ‘zines on your device simply follow this link for directions: https://www.rbdigital.com/bellinghamwa/help or stop by any of our branches and we’ll help you get started.

Thank you, Sarah

Genie Happenings 5/19/17

We had a fantastic meeting this week.  A smaller group with lots of sharing.  

A new book getting rave reviews from our group is The Foundling, the true story of a kidnapping, a family secret, and my search for the real me by Paul Joseph Fronczak.  We have three copies and three on order in Whatcom libraries.  It’s a real page turner.  Don’t miss it!

People have been asking for a combination of content and hands-on at our meetings.  This month we went overboard on content.  Four topics resulted in four new blog pages.

In “Planning a Research Trip” I talked about my trip to North Carolina and provided a tip list on the blog.  Hand-in-hand with the Research Trip was the topic “Researching by Place” with lots of links for online searching from home. 

In our Tech Time we talked about using Google for more effective targeted genealogy searches.  A variety of operators are listed on the “Tech: Google” blog page.  Then we revisited “Tech: Keyboard Shortcuts”. Today I was worried when an email I was typing disappeared but I went straight to the blog page where I found Redo: CTRL Y and recovered my email quickly. 

We all agreed that we know a lot more operations than we actually use on a regular basis.

Find these new pages in the left sidebar of our blog ferndalegenies.blogspot.com.  There are local resources, event schedules, and lots of genealogy and technology tips.  We welcome guest posts and we could use some help on “Favorite Websites”.

Our June meeting is on June 19.  We have some possible topics but always need your suggestions for topics you need.  During Tech Time we’ll learn to create a simple Excel spreadsheet.  Come to the meeting and find out how to use spreadsheets.

We have a Getting Started class on Tuesday, May 30 from 1-4 pm.  You will hear the genealogy basics, use our blog to find resources and information, and use familysearch.org to begin building your tree and researching your family.  Good for beginners and second-timers.  Three spaces are available.  Leave a comment to reserve a place.

Until next time, Happy Hunting, Judith