Help! I’m Stuck!

“Genealogists are time travelers.” – Genealogybank.com

Sometimes, when using a genealogy website, you know what you are looking for but don’t quite know how to find it. That’s where the help section comes in.

If you use Ancestry, you can visit www.support.ancestry.com and you can view articles about frequently asked questions. Some of these helpful articles include information on locating AncestryDNA results, activating an AncestryDNA kit, how to share a family tree, information about managing sources in trees, and many others.

Or, if you are a FamilySearch user you can visit this link:

https://www.familysearch.org/ask/landing

The FamilySearch help center has a search bar if there is a specific question that you have. There are also categories that you may comb through including, memories, indexing, genealogy assistance, DNA testing, etc.

For help with MyHeritage, you can view this link:

https://www.myheritage.com/help-center/en

MyHeritage also has a search bar for its help center. If you’d rather find a topic by category, categories include, Subscriptions & Payments, Account & Settings, DNA, Discoveries & Research, etc.

No matter what site you use to do your research or save your family tree, it is good to remember that the help center of the website is available to you if you become stuck or are not sure how to use a certain feature. It is easy to forget that this feature exists, or that it can be helpful. I recommend checking it out, so that you can use the website in a fuller capacity.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Library!

“A great genealogist is a time unraveler.” – Genealogybank.com

Today, it seems like there are almost infinite digital resources to aid in our genealogy resources. There are websites, software, videos, apps, and more. With all of this convenient technology, we tend to forget the value of our local library in genealogy research.

If you live in Cincinnati, you can go to the main branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (third floor, south building). The genealogy section of the library provides research resources and local history artifacts. The genealogy department of the library “presents monthly tours, co-sponsors programs with the Hamilton County Genealogical Society, and will develop programs tailored to the needs of any size class or group, including family reunions”, (Services, PLCHC).

Or, if you live down the road in Clermont County, you may visit the Batavia branch of the Clermont County Public Library. The Batavia branch houses the Clermont County Genealogical Society Collection. Library staff are able to answer specific research queries – such as obituary look-ups from local newspapers, death dates, marriage dates from 1800-1874, and, will, estate, and guardianship records from 1800-1900. The library has many genealogical books – some are for Ohio counties and there are also many genealogical books for neighboring states such as Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

I do all of my genealogical research online, but decided to check out the genealogy section of the Batavia library. A lot of my ancestors on my mother’s side of the family are from Brown County, Ohio, so I checked out the books related to that county. As I looked, I came across a small booklet. It was from the anniversary of the town of Russellville, Ohio in 1992. The booklet talked a lot about the town’s history and people who lived there. As I was skimming the booklet, I came across a section on the life of Russell Shaw (my 6^th great-grandfather), who founded Russellville, Ohio. There was a lot of information on the early years of his life and how he came to move his family from New York to Ohio. It also mentioned that his onions won first prize in the first-ever Brown County Fair, which was held in Russellville. If I had never gone to the library and took a look at the genealogical collection, I would have never seen this information about my ancestor!

I recommend checking out the genealogical section of your local library. Don’t be afraid to look at books or ask the librarian for help. They may have helped someone with a similar genealogical question, so just ask J

Links:

Clermont County Public Library:

https://www.clermontlibrary.org/genealogy-information-request-3/

The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County:

https://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/main/genlocal.html

All About Me

“Definition of mythology: genealogy without documentation.” – Genealogybank.com

Of course, this blog focuses on exploring and examining the lives of our ancestors. But, genealogy is about reflecting on yourself and your own personal life experiences too.

An example which shows what the All About Me
feature will look like on FamilySearch.

FamilySearch has a feature called, ‘All About Me’. Using your name and the year that you were born, FamilySearch will generate information that you can click to “learn more about yourself”. This includes information about the meaning of your name, the heritage of your name, top news stories the year that you were born, and how much a gallon of gas cost, among other interesting facts.

Here is some information from mine…

I was born in 1997.

-A gallon of gas was $1.23

-A stamp was $0.32

-The Florida Marlins won the World Series

-Wi-fi was invented

-Electrolux invented the robotic vaccum

-A movie ticket cost $4.50

Go ahead and check out the All About Me feature on FamilySearch. Remember, when you are searching for your ancestors, you are searching for yourself too J

Link - https://www.familysearch.org/discovery/about

Coincidences and Lookalikes

“There is no strength without unity.” – Irish saying

As I have done my research, I realized a few genealogy coincidences that have occurred. I love looking through old family photos too – seeing if I can find any lookalikes, and comparing traits to see where different features came from…

Here, I’ve listed a couple of my genealogy coincidences and lookalikes.

1.     My 2^nd great-grandmother, Anna Fedczak came to America on the S.S Batavia. I live in Batavia…how weird is that?

Myself and my grandmother

2.     I ordered a military record for my great-grandfather, Michael Fedczak. I waited a couple of weeks to receive the record. There was also a photograph of him included, but it had to go to a lab to be digitized. I waited several more weeks and was starting to lose confidence that I would receive this photo. I finally did receive the photo…on August 22, 2018. I then remembered that August 22^nd was his birthday. It was a coincidence that of all the days that I could have received this photo…it came on his birthday!

3.     Every genealogist loves old photos J When looking through some of mine, I realized how much I looked like my grandmother when I was very young. In this side-by-side, you can see that we had the same light blonde hair, the same eyes, a similar nose…and we were both wearing a cardigan!

If you love old photos and comparing them to see who looks like who, then I’ve got a FamilySearch feature for you!

FamilySearch Compare-A-Face feature example,
using photos of myself and my aunt 

The FamilySearch website has a feature called ‘Compare-A-Face’. With this feature, you can add a picture of yourself, or someone else, and another photo of a relative. The photo will be scanned and the website will tell you how much you look like someone by providing a percentage. Of course, this isn’t scientific, but it’s still fun!

I uploaded a photo of myself and one of my aunt. The site gave us an 84% lookalike rating. I thought this was interesting because I have always been told that I look like her. I have also uploaded photos of myself and other family members (who I know that I don’t resemble) and have received lower percentages. So, even though it isn’t scientific it still seems to work pretty well.

Here is a link to the feature: https://www.familysearch.org/discovery/compare