TIP OF THE WEEK –
A FANTASTIC TUTORIAL ON FAMILY TREE MAKER

This tip is for current users of Family Tree Maker (FTM), and those who are considering FTM for their genealogy software program. It requires a subscription to Ancestry.com. If you are not an Ancestry subscriber, remember you can always come access it on the computers in the SGS Library. Ancestry is also available at many public libraries.

Ancestry Academy (one of the Extra Features on Ancestry.com) has a terrific tutorial that reviews all the main features available in FTM 2014 and later versions. The tutorial is about 75 minutes long, and consists of 13 segments, each addressing one component of FTM.

Topics include:
•Adding Notes, Media, Web Links and Tasks
•Tree Sync How To Merge Individuals and Files
•Creating Charts and Reports
•and more …

Each tutorial segment is about 5 minutes long, and it’s possible to scroll from one segment to the next, to revisit a specific topic, or to resume where you left off.

Here’s the URL: https://www.ancestry.com/academy/course/family-tree-maker

Long-time users of FTM highly recommend this tutorial to everyone, novice and expert alike. It showcases many nifty tricks and details all the features in FTM.

This tutorial is recommended for everyone using FTM, even if you do not access Ancestry from within Family Tree Maker or put your trees online at Ancestry.

TIP OF THE WEEK –
FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY CLASSES/WEBINARS

The Family History Library is a genealogical research facility in downtown Salt Lake City. It is open to the public, free of charge, and is operated by FamilySearch.org, associated with the LDS.

Each month they present a couple dozen classes/webinars. You can attend online or in person, and as always it’s free of charge. All you need to do is check the schedule, and then register for the class or classes that interest you. Some of the classes/webinars are available in Spanish or Chinese.

If you would like to start receiving the monthly class/webinar schedule via email, sent a email message to FHLClasses at FamilySearch.org

The webinars use AdobeConnect which can be accessed from your computer, tablet, or mobile device. The links in the monthly schedule are active and you can connect simply by clicking on the blue webinar link. If you are going to attend one of their webinars, they recommend that you connect about 30 minutes before the class starts to check your audio and visual. A further tip, connect your audio and test with YouTube before connecting to AdobeConnect. This will ensure that your sound is working before you join the webinar. The audio device you wish to use must be on before you enter AdobeConnect.

Here’s a sample of the classes/webinars that will be presented next week. The link at the very end of this article will take you to the online site where you can view the full schedules for August and September.
• Using the FamilySearch Catalog Effectively
• Researching in Prussian Poland
• FamilySearch Wiki
• Kissing Cousins or Not?
• Finding Records of Chinese Americans
• Using Metasuche or Metasearch

Click Here

https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Family_History_Library_Classes_and_Webinars

TIP OF THE WEEK –
OKLAHOMA VITAL RECORDS INDEX

Oklahoma’s Dept. of Health now has an online vital records index, called OK2Explore. This is a free, searchable index of births and deaths in the state of Oklahoma; included are details of births more than 20 years ago, and of deaths more than 5 years ago. One may search this site using any combination of the subject’s name, date of event (birth or death), county of event, and sex of the subject.

Records of births occurring more than 125 years ago and those of deaths occurring more than 75 years ago are open to the public, and no proof of eligibility is required to order them. More recent records require proof of eligibility.

If you find a record you want a copy of, the site provides several ways in which to order it.

Here is the URL for this site:

https://ok2explore.health.ok.gov/

TIP OF THE WEEK –
USING LOCAL LIBRARIES TO FIND OBITUARIES

While on-line newspaper vendors like GenealogyBank.com and NewspaperArchive.com are terrific resources, these databases often do not have newspapers for the geographical area you are researching. When online sources fail to find an obituary, what is a person to do?

One excellent resource to check with is the local public library in the city, town, or county in which your ancestor died. Provide them with the name, the date of death, and ask them if they have newspapers for that period that they can search for you. Sometimes this query can be done via the local library’s web site. And some local libraries even have links to an obituary index that you can search.

Libraries might charge a nominal fee for this service, but some may provide it for free, especially when they can email you a scanned image of the obituary, rather than mailing it to you.

So don’t forget the local library in the area where your ancestor lived or died can be a valuable resource

TIP OF THE WEEK –
USING THE DAR WEBSITE

You don’t have to be a DAR member to use the DAR website and its resources. If you had an ancestor in the Colonies during the American Revolutionary War, here are the steps to finding out what the DAR might have on them:

1. Log onto www.dar.org

2. Click on GRS (green button at top of home page)

3. Click on Ancestors

4. Enter at least your ancestor’s last name and hit Search

A results list will be displayed showing full name, rank, birth and death date, service description. Click on the individual entry and you’ll get some additional data such as residence and spouse. Hint: click again on the member number (aka “Natl Num”) to see even more info. Sometimes you can purchase the associated membership application and/or supplemental supporting documentation as noted by the green Purchase button. Also don’t forget some lineage applications are on Ancestry.