Arizona Vital Records

Rede was asked how he found death certificated for just one town in Arizona. In this video I show you how to use "FamilySearch" https://www.familysearch.org/ , and "Arizona Genealogy Birth and Death Certificate" http://genealogy.az.gov/ websites to research one town. Even though he only used Arizona in video it might help you search other places.

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Rede has licensed this work under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Create A Free Genealogy Website Part 2: Add & Hide Your Email Address

Part 2 of Rede's series on making a genealogy website, here he helps keep your email address safe from spam bots.

Rede:
In this video I show you how to get, add, and hide your email address to keep the spam bots from finding it.

I recommend you get a separate email account from your own & use an instant messaging program to check & see if you have any new emails.

Links:
Gmail http://mail.google.com/
Hotmail http://hotmail.com/
Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com/
Pidgin http://pidgin.im/
ReCaptcha http://www.google.com/recaptcha

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Rede has licensed this work under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Google News Genealogy Style

In this video Rede shows you how to search Google News Archives & how to filter out the pay per view hits. Some of the papers are kind of spotty on the issues they have, but you can’t complain about the price ;-)

Maybe not as good as subscription sites, but on the other hand I have found information not on them.

Direct link to Advance Archive Search:
http://news.google.com/archivesearch/advanced_search?ned=us&hl=en

Just remember to change the “Price” to “No Price” for the free papers.

Download Video (let me know if you like the download link):
http://bit.ly/9imcXT

Rede has licensed this work under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Plotting Land With Google Earth

For me land records are fun & useful when researching your ancestors.

In this video Rede shows you how to use Google Earth, Earth Point, and FS Capture to find and plot land with Google Earth.

Links used in this video:

• Google Earth http://earth.google.com/
• Earth Point http://www.earthpoint.us/Townships.aspx
• Portable FS Capture http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=775

Reference links:

• Federal Land Patents http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/
• (Video) Searching Land Patents Part 1 http://genealogyscrounge.blip.tv/file/506725/
• (Video) Searching Land Patents Part 3 http://genealogyscrounge.blip.tv/file/506740/

Free Screen Capture Utility

In this video Rede shows you how to use a free portable screen capture utility & your “Prt Sc” key on your keyboard.

I have found this very useful if you need to print or save what is showing on your monitor. I have found some websites that don’t allow printing or saving, with this method I have been able to work around this. I have also used this method when I need screen shots for presentations.

The disadvantage is if you can’t read it on your monitor, you won’t be able to read it when you print or save the image.

Software can be downloaded from Portable Freeware:
http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=775

Free Rede Videos

Rede has organized some of his videos into 2 CDs & they can be downloaded for free. They work like a website but can be run on your computer, your memory stick or burned to CDs. No internet required to play them, just an internet browser & flash 9 or higher, which is probably already installed on your computer. Just extract (unzip) the “ZIP” file, open “Index.html” and your on your way.

Free Internet Research
(free_genealogy_research.zip 522MB)
http://bit.ly/b8NJUC

• Get The Story: Examples on how to make a story from your sources.
• Online Family Trees: How to use other’s information.
• Online Book: How to use free online books
• Census: How to search HeritageQuest censuses, but the technique works on other sites.
• Newspapers: How to search free online newspapers.
• Land: How to find locations & land records, and plot them on a map.
• Internet Search: Tips on using search engines.
• Tips: Computer tips.
• Useful Links: Free links on the internet.

Repairing Old Photos With GIMP
(gimp_photo_repair.zip 362MB)
http://bit.ly/bnWaeJ

• Introduction: Introduction to GIMP
• Picture File Format: Pros & Cons of different picture formats.
• Scanning & Acquiring A Photo: Loading pictures into GIMP.
• Using The Selection, Curves & Levels Tools: Using different tools in GIMP.
• Wrinkle Repair: Repair wrinkles and other defects with GIMP.
• Fixing A Torn Picture: Fixing a picture torn in half.

Rede has licensed this work under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

So feel free to copy, share, remix just respect the license & keep it free.

Photographing Documents on Microfilm Readers

In this video Rede goes into the use of using a digital camera to photograph images from Microfilm & Microfiche Readers. The pros & cons of a digital camera with a tripod, camera mount, and holding the camera. He also goes into editing the digital images with Picasa & GIMP, free imaging software.

The advantages of these techniques are cost, time, and quality. Not as good as a real microfilm scanner, but scanners are not available everywhere.

Looks like the DCM-1 Microfilm Camera Mount that he shows in this video is still available: http://www.gscassociates.com/camera_mount.html

Software used in this video:
Picasa: http://picasa.google.com/
GIMP: http://www.gimp.org/

GenealogyScrounge Has His Second Year Anniversary

Were has the time gone??? Rede and his genealogy channel turns two on October 20th 2009 and has authored over 50 videos. His 1st video went up on October 20, 2007 on http://genealogyscrounge.blip.tv/ , a couple of months later he started putting non genealogy videos on ShowMeDo http://showmedo.com/videos/?author=3583 , and finally started uploading to YouTube to reach the most people http://www.youtube.com/genealogyscrounge . He started out to teach & demo the tricks of free research, and along the way he was noticed by RootsTelevision, Dick Eastman, Genea-Musings, TraceYourRoots and others.

Genealogy Videos In The Quartzsite Library

Rede put together a twin pack video CD series, Newspaper Research & Internet Book Search, for the Quarzsite Library that runs on your computer. This will be ideal for people on dialup Internet & can’t view his videos online.

Newspaper Research
Resent Newspapers:

• American Newspapers/NewsBank (may require a non resident library card)
• Local Newspapers Websites
• Legacy.com for obituaries 30 days old or less

Older Newspapers

• ICON: Many free & pay websites, they are clearly marked.
• Utah Digital Newspapers
• Olive Software Newspapers
• Newspaper Archive

Internet Book Search

• Google Books
• Google Scholar
• Heritage Quest (may require a non resident library card)
• Internet Archives
• Family History Archives

Should you wish any other topics, please leave a comment.

Family History Archives

Google Scholar

Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com is a very good site for doing your research. More & better sources for the people you are looking for, without all the hits that won't do you any good.

Rede says "This was a very tough video to make because I just kept getting too much good information and suddenly I was in research mode" ;-)

Rede on RootsTelevision.com: Round 2

Another one of Rede’s videos has made it to RootsTelevision. This video is Site Search Genealogy Style http://www.rootstelevision.com/players/player_howto.php?bctid=9119681001

Photographing Oversized Pictures

Occasionally it is impossible or impractical to use your scanner on old photos and documents. A camera & tripod or copy stand is a good alternative.

These two websites may help:
How to build a (Cheap) copy stand.
http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=19857

Getting Started: Copy Stand Shooting (uses a tripod & music stand and also teaches good technique)
http://www.videomaker.com/article/6807/

One problem when using a camera on old photos and documents is you can get a barrel effect & it is hard to get a perfect angle. In GIMP http://gimp.org/ (a free open source program) has a filter called “Lens Distortion” in Filters>Distortion where you can manually correct it (use the “Main” slider bar in the “Lens Distortion”). Then you can take care of any angle problems with the “Perceptive button” or Tools>Transform Tools>Perceptive. I just click & drag the ruler guides from the ruler across the 4 sides, then I use the “Perceptive Tool” to click & drag the corners of the frame or edges of the picture to the corners of the guide.

In Episode 038 of Meet The GIMP http://meetthegimp.org/episode-038-a-phython-in-a-barrel/ Rolf Steinort has written a plugin for GIMP that makes taking care of the Barrel Effect created by your camera easy. Some of my pictures it over corrected but it got me in the ballpark, others it did a wonderful job. I recommend watching his video & downloading the “Python source code” and adding it to your GIMP plugins. For Windows users unzip the file & paste the 3 files into “C drive>Documents and Settings>[[User name]]>.gimp-2.6>plug-ins” it will then appear as “Barrel distortion removal CA65” in “Filters>Distort”.

Rede made a video specifically dealing with the Barrel Effect & Perceptive Tool and how it applies with old photos & documents: http://blip.tv/file/1554370

Free Online Newspapers

I have talked about ICON in the past "ICON: International Coalition on Newspapers", and "Newspapers On The Library of Congress Website". Rede has been working on some tutorials on how to use free online newspapers. ICON is a great place to start http://icon.crl.edu/digitization.htm . If anyone has problems using any of links off ICON maybe he can make another tutorial video on it.

Online Newspapers - ICON
http://genealogyscrounge.blip.tv/file/1499639/
ICON: International Coalition on Newspapers http://icon.crl.edu/ is a wonderful place to get started looking for your family in your genealogy. What I like the most is the free & pay sites are clearly marked. The database for the individual newspapers can be found here http://icon.crl.edu/digitization.htm

Online Newspapers - Utah Digital Newspapers
http://genealogyscrounge.blip.tv/file/1508426/
Using online digital newspaper to find gems on your family. In this we are exploring Utah Digital Newspapers http://digitalnewspapers.org/ . Several tips on how to do a successful search.

Online Newspaper - Historic Missouri Newspaper Project
http://genealogyscrounge.blip.tv/file/1514425/
A demo of online newspapers that use the older ActivePaper by Olive Software. In this video I briefly go over the Historic Missouri Newspaper Project http://newspapers.umsystem.edu/ .

Online Newspapers - Chillicothe Constitution Tribune
http://genealogyscrounge.blip.tv/file/1518694/
In this I use the Chillicothe Constitution Tribune http://chillicothe.newspaperarchive.com/ a free Missouri newspaper from NewspaperArchive. More & more libraries are offering NewspaperArchive so check out your county & state library system to see if it is available. If not ask for it ;-)

Bouse Genies Meeting Schedule

The Bouse genealogy club is in full swing. We are welcoming back our winter visitors as well as all others that are interested in learning about or continuing in the pursuit of your ancestors. Our meetings are open to all who wish to attend. We have modified our regular meeting schedule to meet the needs of those who work. We meet in the Bouse Community Building which is right next to the Bouse Public Library on Plomosa Road, Bouse, AZ.

Our program schedule for December and January is:

• December 5, 2008 - 10:00 AM to 12:00 noon - Program - a Training CD on "Beginning Legacy Family Tree" software.
• December 19, 2008 - 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM - Program - "Beginning Genealogy Research" by Carolyn H. Brown
• January 2, 2009 - 10:00 AM - 12:00 noon - Program - a Training CD on "Using AniMap" software
• January 16, 2009 - 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM - Program - "Using the Federal Census" by Carolyn H. Brown
• January 30, 2009 - 10:00 AM - 12:00 noon - Open meeting for discussion

Palo Verde Valley Genealogy Society December Meeting

December 8th meeting will be a program on "Gifts from Your Genealogy". There will also be a number of books and other items for sale at the meeting. The December meeting will be held at the main PVC campus on the mesa: One College Drive in Blythe. We'll meet in Room CS123 in the John O. Crain Student Services Bldg.

The PVVGS meetings are the second Monday of the month at 7:00 p.m. they finish up about 8:45 (California Time). They usually meet at the Palo Verde College campus located at 145 N. Spring St. in Blythe, but occasionally they have to move to another location.

Homepage:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~capvvgs/Site/index.html

Blog:
http://paloverdevalleytimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=160&SubSectionID=658&l=1

Bouse Genies Nov. 21st Meeting

On November 21st Carol Brown will be talking about DNA at the Bouse Genies Meeting, 10:00 A.M. in the Bouse Community Building (building east of the library), 44031 Plomosa Rd, Bouse, AZ.

Rede Videos

Rede has now authored over 20 videos on ShowMeDo, so I added the Author Button for an easy access to the site (scroll down below links). Some of the videos that might interest to the genealogist is Reparing Old Photos with GIMP, and editing sound files that you could use with lectures, podcasts or interviews.

Don't forget aboutt his GenealogyScrounge videos on blip.tv and youtube.

Bouse Genies Will Be Starting Soon

The Bouse Genies, a genealogy interest group from Bouse Arizona will be starting up soon. To date these are just tentative dates but they will be starting soon:
September - 26
October - 10, 24
November - 7, 21
December - 5, 19
January - 2, 16, 30
February - 13, 27
March - 13, 27
April - 10, 24
May - 8, 22

They will be meeting at the Bouse Community Building, which is the old cafeteria, the building to the East of the Bouse Public Library 10:00 AM to Noon (44031 Plomosa Rd, Bouse, AZ).

Please keep checking here or at http://bousegenies.weebly.com/bouse-genies-meetings.html for any changes.

Giving Back - Genealogy Style

Direct Link

Elyse90505 is going a great job of teaching genealogy, it is simple to understand. In this video she talks about giving back, a way to help others. She mentions UsGenWeb, unclaimed persons on facebook, make you own genealogy website, offer to do lookups for others.