The third annual Find a Grave Community Weekend took place October 7th through 9th across the globe. Why is this interesting? Thanks to the hundreds of volunteers working in 175 cemeteries, we now have access to 211,655 new photos and 203,448 new memorials. In addition, they completed 8,232 photo requests.
Lisa Louise Cook has an interesting article on how to take advantage of the browse-only collections at Ancestry and Findmypast. These are collections that haven’t been indexed yet so they won’t be included when you do searches on those sites. That doesn’t mean they aren’t useful. Lisa shows you how to put these collections to work in your research.
Are you familiar with Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective? Not only can she help you preserve and protect your old family photos, she can help you discover more about them. She has a collection of informative videos at YouTube along with lots of guides and tips at her website.
Don’t forget the National Archives Virtual Genealogy Fair takes place October 26 and 27. If you want to learn what the National Archives has that can help your research effort, this is a good place to begin.
Support Spotlight
Have you visited the SAGS Support site lately? There’s a growing collection of research resources and guides waiting for you there. Click on any item in the Tag Cloud (in the right sidebar) to display all articles associated with that tag. The Online Events Calendar lists all the upcoming webinars and hangouts you can attend – most of them free.
Faire Ideas
Emma Barker and George Rauschenberg
Photo albums and scrapbooks are great ways to generate interest with your younger family members. Who can resist wanting to learn more about a fascinating photo? And, if there’s a mystery surrounding that photo, even better! Asking for help in solving the mystery could start a lifelong fascination. Here’s one example.
This is the wedding photo for Emma Barker and George Rauschenberg. They married sometime before 1892. They had two daughters, Pauline and Georgia. Sometime before 1900, George left Emma. He remarried Dixie Harvey and they moved to Texas where he spent the rest of his life. So far I haven’t found a marriage license for either marriage or any divorce records.
Fortunately, one of my young cousins in Georgia – where Emma lived – saw this photo in one of my photo albums on Flickr and he’s as fascinated with this mystery as I am. He’s already pumping his older relations to see what they know. I think he’s on his way to becoming a genealogist. I’m doing what I can to help get him there.
Final Notes
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