Breaking Down Brick Wall Resources

June 13th, 2013  Presentation

 

Outine for Discussion:

1.     Assess the Problem

2.     Create a Time Line

3.     Develop and “flesh out” the life in a narrative

4.     Make a “to do” list

5.     Do a source check

6.     Go around, search sideways –Cluster and Collateral searches

7.     Take a step back and challenge current assumptions

8.     Find Living Relatives for additional information

9.     Create a “Wanted Poster” –seek a message board

  Suggested Websites:

1.     Cyndi’s List

2.     Researchguides.net (by Joe Beine) free

3.     Family History Library Catalog, look for the various locations and see \what is available.  Microfilms can be rented.

4.     NEGH also can rent microfilms, both from the LDS library or their own

5.     CLDS have a “Mormon Pioneer Index” available in microfilm

6.     Family Tree University has a Webinar scheduled  for July 1st, 2013,    7PM on “Ellis Island”

7.     Stephen P. Morse Website:  www.stevenmorse.org - was recommended by the family tree instructors

8.     www.geneaBloggers.com  and www.hidefgen.com  (Thomas Mac Entee – speaker for seminar)

9.     free spread sheet which can be downloaded to Excel or Word – http://bit.ly/reasearchlog (has  citation formats which can be copied and pasted into the body of the log.

10.   

11. Look at “Google.docs” and their search functions.

12.   www.newspaperarchive.com

13. www.newslink.org

14. www.newslibrary.com

15. www.chronicling america.loc.gov  (library of congress)

16.  www.news.google.com/newspaper

17.   Evernote.com – good site for researchers

18. Our time Lines.com

19. www.timetoast.com  (check to be sure it is public or private)

20. Time Line Maker (30 day free trial)        time line construction

21. Smart Draw.com

22. Family tree magazine.com/freeforms

23. Non google search engines:  Bing.com, Yahoo (people.yahoo.com), Yippy (aka Clusty) or search.yippy.com (this compliments google and considered a good source by FamilyTree)

24. People Search Engines – this will only reveal so much , a lot of pop-up ads.  Be careful to avoid tricks and bait

25. 123people.com (good for Canada too)

26. peoplefinders.com

27. people smart.com (owned by Archieves.com)

28. pip/.com

29. ussearch.com

30. whitepages.com

31. social media tools (facebook (for those in their 20’s and 30’s), linkedIn or twitter)

32. look in public records to search for court cases: www.intelius.com, veromi.com, zebasearch.com – experiment with names

33. family trees via Ancestry, geni.com, my heritage.com

34. Alumni associations- alumni.net or classmates.com (register for free)

35. try eBay Favorites – ebay.com (free account), can do a search and have future options with email contact returns

36. Message Boards – i.e. rootsweb.com (put postings out there)

37. Genealogy forums – http://forum.familytreemagazines.com/forum

38. Create a free genealogy blog or website – blogger.com (owned by Google)

39. Use Ancestry.com or My heritage.com or WikiTree.com

40. Google Alert - <google.com/.alerts>

41. - <google.com/+/learn more/hangouts>

42. www.ihrc.umn.edu  (Immigration History Research Center)

43. Check the stories or accounts of immigration:

a.    www.ellisisland.org

b.    www.storycorps.net

c.     www.theaccidentalgenealogist.com

44. www.acpl.lib.in.us/genealogy/persi.html 

 

Podcasts  (free apps to download, via i-tunes and websites)

1.     Genealogy gems.com

2.     Genealogy made Easy

3.     Family History

 

Articles for Reference

1.     Family Tree magazine, Summer 1998, Searching for Women”

2.     Case Study examples by Elizabeth Shown Mills, http://historicpathways.com/articles.html

3.     See Family Tree articles from Jan. 2008, “Ladies First”

4.     “Maiden Voyage”, July 2019

 
Books to Consider:

 

“101 Brick Wall Busters”, Family Tree Magazine, see web site

 

Colonial history:

1.Dollarhide, William, “British Origins of American Colonists, 1629 – 1775, Bountiful, UT, FGLL Genealogical Services, 1997

 

2.  Dollarhide, William, “Map Guide to American Migration Routes”,

Bountiful, UT, AGLL Genealogical Services, 1997

 

3 “Law and People in Colonial America” by Pewter Charles Hoffer from Johns Hopkins University Press.

 

4.  “Immigration and the Origins of the English Atlantic World” by Alison Games

 

Videos

Dr. Tom Jones has an online video explaining how to deduce ancestors identities by digging below the surface information.  He refers to collateral and cluster searches.  It is apparently a 2 hr. free recording from Family Search’s learning center.  See familysearch.or/learningcenter/lesson/inferential-genealogy/25/

 

For copies of the records checklist and worksheet contact Susie Hedrick at the next meeting .