LATEST POSTS
I’m trying something new and I invite you to follow along!
Rather than add posts to my blog here, I’m trying out Substack – a more social experience for my longer writing pieces. Come...
Are you tired of juggling numerous apps and tech products while delving into your family history? I totally understand the struggle. That’s why I want to share my streamlined “tech stack”...
As family history researchers, organizing our military ancestors is vital for efficient and effective research. During Memorial Day, we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service, and many...
Like my content?
- Everything
- Genealogy
- Memory Keeping
- Organization
- Technology
Streamlining the Genealogy Tech: My Top 5 Must-Haves
Are you tired of juggling numerous apps and tech products while delving into your family history? I totally understand the struggle. That’s why I want to share my streamlined “tech stack&#...
Command Your Research: 3 Tactics for Organizing Your Military Ancestors
As family history researchers, organizing our military ancestors is vital for efficient and effective research. During Memorial Day, we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service, and many...
Genealogy and the Rubik’s Cube: A Shared Journey of Patience and Problem-Solving
When I was just five years old, my mother bought me a Rubik’s Cube, hoping to nurture my problem-solving skills. Well – Little did she know, that innocent-looking puzzle would turn into a ...
3 Ways That Comic Conventions and Genealogy Intersect
Do you know what goes on at comic conventions? Our family enjoys going to comic conventions; we go often! My husband is a photographer and he takes pictures of all the people there in cosplay. I...
Efficiency Hack: Pomodoro Your Genealogy
As a family history enthusiast, isn’t it so easy to get carried away as we travel up and down the branches of our family trees? Sometimes, that’s good because it can lead to serendipitous ...
1950 US Census Indexing – We Ranked 3rd!
Are you still exploring the 1950 US Census? I am and I am sure I’m not the only one, right? There are many family members I still want to look up in it! I purposely waited until the indexing and...
3 Updates to FamilySearch Person Profiles
Is FamilySearch one of your research “go-to” sources? FamilySearch, given the many records and features on the site (which are all free) is a must-have for my own personal genealogy resear...
Legacy Lost & Found #2: Ella Stine
Do you ever see family history lying around in places like antique stores, used book stores, eBay even and wonder who those families are? Me too! So, I research them! Here is the story of Ella Stine. ...
Would You Scan Both?
I am on a mission. A mission to get as many family documents from my mother, as I can. It seems like every time I visit her, she pulls out more and more photos and papers that I did not previously kno...
The New York Public Library Loves Genealogy Researchers!
Do you use the New York Public Library (NYPL) for your family history research — even if you are not from New York? If not – here is a reason why you may want to reconsider! I recently gav...
How Notion Helps Me Organize My Genealogy
Are you looking to be more organized with your genealogy and family history work? If so, you may want to watch this video of my friend Julie (of Genealogy In Action) and I did recently. We chatted abo...
My Key to Organization – Building A Second Brain
Information. Genealogists and family historians are swimming in it all.of.the.time. You have many ways of managing all of that info you consume. What if I told you that you probably have not even be...
Legacy Lost & Found: Dr. Orion Ayer
When I see family history materials out “in the wild,” it pulls on my heart strings. Why? Because I think of that person’s legacy and I want to do my part to ensure they are fully fi...
3 Steps I Take to Avoid a Genealogical Disaster
If your computer crashed RIGHT NOW, how long would it take you to get your genealogy setup back with a new computer? Fortunately, for me, I would be back up and running within 30 minutes. Let me tell ...
Here’s what I’ve learned from indexing my first 1000 names for the US 1950 Census!
The US genealogy world has been waiting for this for 10 years! The release of a census is a big deal and we now get millions more data points to digest about our ancestors/relatives! A big part of the...
Two Reasons Why Adding Metadata to Your Family History Photos Is Important
I was prompted to do this post after getting some questions last week about metadata as it applies to our family history photos. I had to share because this is a topic where you may not realize you ...
3 Steps to Take Now that RootsTech is Over
I had a blast attending RootsTech virtually this year! I even made several short videos (each one is under 1-minute) that I invite you to watch. If you’ve been attending RootsTech these past few...
Genealogy Recap 2021, Genealogy Goals 2022
Do you set goals for your family history? As 2021 is now over and today is the first day of 2022, I thought this would be the perfect day to recap last year and set goals for next year. My friend, Jul...
Taking My Own Advice 🙂
As for many across the country, this past weekend has been one filled with enjoyable moments with family! And I imagine we have all learned at least one family history story that we did not know abou...
New Site for my Vanderbilt Surname Project
Just about a week ago, I gave a presentation for the Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society on Surname and One-Place Studies. It was so enjoyable! Everyone had good questions to ask and I myself even u...
She Wanted to Be a Nurse
My grandmother, Alice, wanted to be a nurse. I only discovered this a few years ago, when my mother was passing along some of her mother’s papers to me. Among the papers was this letter my grand...
What an Incredible Birthday Gift!
I am ecstatic and over the moon today! For, last night, I received a wonderful gift from a cousin. That was the gift of family pictures! This is a picture of my paternal grandfather William Koonce Sr....
Clubhouse Connections Provide Clues – Just Like Your Genealogy FAN Club!
Have you tried out the audio-only app, Clubhouse, yet? I have been using the app since December 2020 and enjoy it; there are many different types of content to explore. One feature of the app is that ...
Will I Hear My Grandmother’s Voice?
This week, I’ve done something I am anxiously excited for. And, I am hoping that I get what I hope I get! Let me tell you more… I do not have a VCR – probably, a majority of us don&#...
Genealogy Society Workshop Kickoff – What Fun!
As a family history enthusiast, one of the ways I have worked to advance my learning and connect with others is through participation in genealogy societies. Over the past 16 years, I have been a memb...
Mini-Series Announcement – National Preservation Week
Each year in April, the American Library Association has National Preservation Week – a week designed to help share information and resources for preserving our collections. Much of the emphas...
Exploring FamilySearch’s Improve Place Names Tool
Back in May, I did a blog post describing my approach to how I document place names in my family tree. I shared that I follow the conventions used by FamilySearch – primarily, to follow the form...
Digital Photo Organization Happy Dance!
Don’t ya love it when you can celebrate an accomplishment? We are just a few days into July and I’m so proud for all of my January – June 2020 digital photos are fully ORGANIZED a...
Announcing the Family Photo Legacy Platform Selection Series
Are you struggling with how to best wrangle your vast photo collections? Then, you might enjoy hearing the exciting news I have to share! I recently started my “Academy of Legacy Leaders™...
Transfer Your Facebook Photos to Google Photos
How we manage our photos is an important aspect of doing family history work; whether photos from the past or photos from our present – they all tell stories. Today, Facebook announced th...
Physical Photo Organization – May 2020 Update
It’s Mother’s Day and I am quite assuredly taking advantage of the day to do something for me. That’s how it should be done, right? So, over the past week or so, I’ve worked on...
12 Years Later – A Video Preserved
Today is the culmination of the American Library Association’s National Preservation Week, a week dedicated to ensuring that institutions and individuals are aware of the importance of preservin...
My 5 Minute Photo Book
Oh my! I’ve just created a photo book in less than 5 minutes! Let me share more. I’ve shared here on my blog before that I scrapbook throughout the year and make family yearbooks. I starte...
Physical Photo Organization – March 2020 Progress Update
This past week has been a hard one for my city and the surrounding region. Nashville and the Mid-Tennessee region experienced bad storms Monday night and a tornado that covered a 50-mile path along th...
Is My Book Finally Going to Happen?
I’ve been blogging for 14 years and I find it an excellent way to share my research findings and the processes I use for my family history research. Digital is my forte and I embrace it wholly! ...
Let’s Talk About that ‘Loretta’ Ad
We’ve just had the Superbowl and part & parcel of the Superbowl are the ads. Did you see the Loretta Ad? Oh my goodness! I was half paying attention to it when it aired, but as I heard the t...
My Digital Photo Organization Approach
One of my goals this year is to incorporate more videos into the content I share. I’m delighted to be able to share a full-length presentation today! Through multiple blog posts over the past fe...
My Digital Photo Organization: Principle 6 – Follow Metadata Standards
Intro: This post is #6 is a series I am writing about my digital photo/file organization processes. In previous posts, I covered 1) how I gather my photos into one place, 2) how I name my files, 3) ho...
She Does it to me EVERY TIME!
Just when I start to get comfortable thinking that I have my family history organization all squared away, my mother asks me a question that makes me realize how much more progress I still have to mak...
Reducing My Research Clutter
As I get started into this new year, I continue to remain focused on reducing the clutter I have in my genealogy files. A few days ago, I took some time to deconstruct a research binder I put together...
My Digital Photo Organization: Principle 5 – Add Metadata
Intro: This post is #5 is a series I am writing about my digital photo/file organization processes. In previous posts, I covered 1) how I gather my photos into one place, 2) how I name my files, 3) ho...
My Christmas Present to Myself – Organizing My Physical Photos
Today is Christmas and one of the things I enjoy about the time off work and spending it with my family is having time to do things for myself too. As my Christmas present to myself, I buckled down th...
Improving My Forever Storage Photo Organization Workflow
Don’t you love it when you feel like you’ve made an accomplishment? I’ve been working intensely on increasing efficiency in my digital photo management this week and I hit a mileston...
My Digital Photo Organization: Principle 4 – Create Your Structure
Intro: This post is #4 is a series I am doing on my digital photo/file organization. In previous posts, I covered how I gather my photos into one place, how I name my files, and I described my backup...
Sunday Basket & My Genealogy Scanning
In my ongoing quest for improved organization, I’ve picked up a new system – it’s called the “Sunday Basket” and it is designed by Lisa Woodruff of Organize 365. The prem...
My Digital Photo Organization: Principle 3- Backup Plan
As I write this, we are in the midst of photo saving month here in September – which is perfect timing for this current post as I continue in the sharing of my digital photo management processes...
My Digital Photo Organization: Principle 2 – Naming Files
This post is part of a series I am writing on my digital photo/file organization, based on a presentation I recently presented. I first gave an overview of the talk. I then shared information on tak...
My Digital Photo Organization: Principle 1 – Gather Into One Place
Last week, I posted about a presentation I did for the Genealogical Society of Maury County on digital photo management and shared some of the details of my presentation. In follow-up, I thought it wo...
Always Bring this Card With You…
Back in March of 2014, I blogged about a set of medical appointment cards that my maternal grandmother kept throughout her lifetime (note – most of the images in that post are broken – I n...
Using SOAP for Digital Photo Management
This evening, I gave a presentation to the Genealogical Society of Maury County about managing digital photos. We had a great crowd and there were many questions that came up from the group. I covered...
My Photo Game is About to Level Up!
My daughter has been watching a lot of gaming videos lately, so I’ve got gaming terminology on my mind. Let me tell you about my next level coming up for my digital photo management game! First ...
The Power of an Index
My graduate project when I obtained my library and information science degree from UNC-Chapel Hill was to index a rap music magazine. I came up with controlled terminology, created a database, and ind...
What a Wonderful Seminar!
Yesterday, I was delighted to have the opportunity to present at the 30th Annual Genealogical Seminar of the Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society. I gave a talk about using digital book collections (...
Progress Check: My Digital Photo Organization
At the beginning of the year, I shared my strategy for how I am approaching the management of my digital photos. I have been working more on it lately and I thought it time for a progress check! You c...
Upending Google Photos: An Organizational Strategy for Digital Photos
Just a tad bit late, here is my second post up for the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks series. The Week 2 prompt is “Favorite Photo,” but rather than sharing a specific photo from my family his...
Tech Tuesday: My Digital Photo Organization
Note: This post is updated as of November 18, 2018, to reflect changes I have made in my strategies. A couple of days ago, I posted an update on my 2017 New Year’s resolutions; particularly, my ...
Our Very Own MTGS Genealogy Roadshow
This weekend, I was pleased to have the opportunity to present as part of a special programming event of the Middle Tennessee Genealogy Society. We had a session yesterday afternoon loosely based on t...
My Genealogy Software Workflow
Back in 2015, I started the Genealogy Do-Over process. It was an opportune time to revisit my research & documentation procedures as it had been about 10 years since I’d started doing geneal...
Related to President Harry Truman?
Hat tip to DearMyrtle who shared news of Ancestry’s new app – We’re Related. The announcement stated that the app tells you what famous people you are related to – currently th...
My Family Treasure Boxes
A couple of years ago, I made the decision to ensure I had a robust method in place to ensure my genealogy research is preserved for future generations. I do have my own self-hosted family history web...
My WordPress Article Published in FGS Forum
Yay! I’ve got another article published in FGS Forum on using WordPress for genealogical society websites. If you are an FGS member or subscribe to the journal, be sure to go check it out! In ...
Sneak Peek of New FamilySearch Pilot Tool
I have to share this cool news! For the TNGenWeb project I’ve done a blog post about a new beta version of a tool that FamilySearch is making available. The new tool (once it is out of beta) wil...
Lessons Learned from my 1st Google Hangout On Air
I am so pleased to share that yesterday I held my very first Google Hangout on Air! I presented a webinar demonstrating how to contribute to an indexing initiative for student newspapers of historical...
A Whiteboard Animation for the TNGenWeb Project
I’m a huge fan of the work that is done by the CommonCraft team – Lee and Sachi. For several years now, they’ve blessed the internetz with fabulous explanation videos. As their tag...
Using Evernote and Trello
Approximately 18 months ago I started using Evernote; that is, seriously using it. It took me awhile to jump on the bandwagon because I am a Google Drive user and I found GDrive to be meeting my needs...
Do RSS Feeds Puzzle You?
Then you need to sign up for my upcoming, free webinar – “Genealogy News at Your Fingertips: From RSS Feeds to Digital Magazine Platforms.” I was honored to be selected to do this...
I’m Featured on Treelines.com!
Have you used Treelines.com yet? I would highly suggest checking it out – it’s a great site that allows you to create visually interesting stories. I learned about the site after learn...
I’m a 2013 Jamboree Webinar Presenter!
A few weeks ago, I shared that I’d submitted a webinar presentation for the Jamboree Webinar Extension Series the Southern California Genealogical Society hosts. I am so pleased to share that my...
Come Browse My Genealogy Digital Bookshelf
Approximately two years ago, I created an online site to help me organize all the great books and resources I was finding on the Internet Archive’s website. I call it my Genealogy Digital Booksh...
WordPress for Your Genealogy Site
Wow! What a great couple of months it has been! I’ve recently completed my 4-part webinar series with DearMyrtle on using WordPress for your genealogy website and have been ever so pleased with ...
My State Library & Archives Going Even More Digital
Don’t you just love it when you visit a library and they are on the ball when it comes to using technology? I visited the Tennessee State Library & Archives yesterday and was happy to lear...
Follow-Up: WordPress Webinar Part 3: Features, Features & More Features
Thanks again to all that turned out for last night’s webinar with DearMyrtle on using WordPress for your genealogy site. In this part of the series, we focused on using the self-hosted version...
Follow-Up: WordPress Webinar Part 2: Dissecting the Dashboard
Last night we had another great webinar on WordPress! We had around 75 attendees or so as I checked throughout the session. While last week we introduced everyone to WordPress and looked at the .com...
Follow-Up: WordPress Webinar Part 1
Tonight was a great night! I completed my very first full webinar and had the opportunity to start teaching how to use WordPress! Many thanks to DearMyrtle for offering it and extending the invitati...
I’ll be on FGS Radio to Discuss WordPress for Genealogy
Today I am appearing on an episode of FGS Radio to discuss how WordPress can be used for your genealogical society website (or, historical society, family society, USGenWeb site, etc.). I am delight...
My New (Old) Microfilm Reader
Can you say ecstatic! That is the feeling I am having this weekend after my geneabuddy Billie gave me a microfilm reader. She got it from a library that was closing several years ago. Finding herself ...
Site Engagement or Big Brother-ish Stalking?
Today I learned of a website analytics software package called Woopra that is a very interesting application for sure! The premise of it is that you install a tracking script on your site, and you a...
Microfilm Scanners at Tennessee State Library
I heart the Tennessee State Library & Archives 🙂 This week they announced on their blog the new availability of two microfilm scanners attached to computers to allow for digital capture. I wa...
A Glimpse at BillionGraves.com
Today I learned of a new iPhone app and service called BillionGraves.com. I don’t have an iPhone, but I am excited by the potential. My first reaction was “oh no – we already hav...
I Created an iPhone App!
I just can’t do anything with it. Inspired by RootsTech I finally decided to further investigate something I’ve been curious about – how to go about creating apps for Android & i...
Educause Conference 2011
Yesterday I posted details on how to follow along to the Tools of Change in Publishing conference hosted by O’Reilly Media. Books + technology is their focus. Well, I realized last night that ...
Tools of Change in Publishing Conference
Over the weekend, many of us were busy online tweeting & blogging about (as well as following along) to all the events at RootsTech. I personally spent hours reading about all the great things g...
Flipboard for Genealogy
Do you have an iPad? Do you use Flipboard? If not, you are missing out! Flipboard turns content from various resources from basic streams into a visual smorgasbord. Today, I realized I should add a ...
2011 Blog Design
Happy New Year everyone! If you read this in a feed reader – click through – my blog has a new look. For my 1st post of the 2011, I am sharing my new blog design. In January 2010 I a...
What the Hashtag?! RootsTech Version
The upcoming RootsTech conference is beginning to get blogged & tweeted about quite a bit. Official RootsTech bloggers have been announced and I’m looking forward to following along in the...
My RootsTech Request
The first annual RootsTech conference is scheduled to take place February 10-12, 2011 in Salt Lake City. The conference is sponsored by multiple partners, including Brigham Young University, Ancest...
52 Weeks to Better Genealogy – Week 22 (Part II) – Find-A-Grave
In my last post, I expressed my desire for a Find-A-Grave app for my smartphone and outlined several specific features I wished to see in the app. After posting and sharing the link, I learned from ...
52 Weeks To Better Genealogy – Week 22 (Find-A-Grave)
A couple of months ago I read an article about a Vanderbilt Engineering student named Ben Gotow and his work developing iPhone apps. He developed an iPhone app for artists that has sold more than 20...
Welcome to the e-conference
Back in October, I posted about my desire to see more genealogy societies and organizations leveraging webconference technology. For those of us that may be interested in attending but aren’t...
Portable Hand Scanner
I have an idea. I’m always on the lookout for something that will help me capture information most effectively for my genealogical research and I like to experiment. This morning, I’ve...
Home Microfilm Digitization
I know I shouldn’t be shopping for me, but, an opportunity presented itself to me this afternoon and I could not say no. Background: Last week I emailed a co-worker of mine who has years of phot...
Smartphone Compatible
Oooh – this is the ultimate of cool. Okay, so I spent my Thanksgiving night in complete geekdom, but I’m loving it! Tonight, I made one of my websites smartphone compatible! One of my ge...
Video Conferencing & Genealogy Societies
Some random thoughts from me as I’ve pondered this over the past several weeks. Are there any genealogy societies out there that Skype in (or use other videoconferencing apps) to the meeting p...
My Week
This week I have not been very involved with my own family genealogy. I started classes again this week, so during the week I am very busy with them. However, this weekend, I did spend some time w...
Day 2 – Genea-Blogger Games
At the close of Day 2, I’ve marked off two additional tasks in my list of goals. Category 4: Write, Write, Write Task: Participate in a genealogy or family history related blog carnival. Accompl...
WorldCat.org adds "Lists"
Being a librarian, I have been using a resource called WorldCat for about 10 years now, since I was in library school. In the past few years, the company that provides WorldCat has made it more open...
Why I Love My Genealogy Software
Randy has posted about his desire to have the ability to generate date-specific lists in genealogy software. So far, he’d been unsuccessful in locating a software program that gave him the abili...
Ancestry Profiles
Last week Ancestry made changes to their member profiles pages – see announcement on their blog. I’ve taken a few minutes to update my profile and after doing so, I think this is a good ...
My Battle With FootNote
Since I first learned about FootNote a couple of years ago, I have been excited about the possibility of the site’s Genealogy 2.0 potential. However, I have found that for me personally, it has ...
Ancestry Family Beta
I am apparently late to the game, having just discovered a feature at Ancestry.com that has been available for almost two months now! But, I just discovered their Family Beta view. This is exactly t...
Using DabbleDB to Keep Track of Sources
I’ve been meaning to blog about this for awhile, but I wanted to share how I manage a problem that I was encountering. Towards the beginning of the year, I began to realize I needed a way to kee...
Light blogging
My blogging these days has been light but I have been working on genealogy. I have been helping my stepmother’s cousin work on his mother’s tree. Also, I’ve been taking a look at Fam...
Audio @ Ancestry
I have just read over on the Ancestry Blog that Ancestry has added the ability to add audio to your family tree. I tried it out and it is the coolest thing! Maybe I can convince some of my family memb...
Genealogy & Web 2.0
Dick Eastman has a WONDERFUL post about the changes we are witnessing in the Internet and how it can apply to genealogy – the web 2.0 revolution. I personally have adopted a philosophy of transf...
Roots TV
Roots TV is just awesome! Today, after reading Megan’s post of the changes to the site, I decided to take a look again and see what new videos have been posted. There are several videos that I h...
Ambitious Goal
Why am I plagued with huge, ambitious goals! It seems that for my hobbies, I tend to develop grand schemas for things I want to accomplish. With my stitching, it was to create a database of cross-stit...
Online Genealogy Programs
Seems I have a lot to post about these days! Well, today I’ve been reading various posts on other genealogy blogs about online genealogy programs (Eastman has a post, Randy has a post, as does J...
A New Printer
Yeah! I got a new all-in-one printer this past week. I can now finally scan all my documents that I send away for, so I have been busy doing that these past few days. My other printer developed a shor...
I’ve finally made it!
My family history site is now included in Google! 🙂 I have a suspicion this is how my cousin recently found me!...
Scrapbooking
This past week still sees me doing more organization of my genealogy files. I have requested a few more certificates and they are starting to trickle in. Also, my mother found some of her papers, so I...
Organizing my Files
Over the past week, I have started to really organize all the papers, notes, etc I’ve been collecting into a workable system. My mother found a copy of Dollarhide’s “Managing A Genea...