BROADCASTS.com

b'Published Sept 17, 2011 Everyone has a special name for grandparents in their family. \\xa0In ours we have Nanna, Grandma, and even Pat-Pat. \\xa0I look forward to the day my grandson Davy calls me Grandma. \\xa0While I wait, tell me the unusual terms of endearment used in your family for grandparents. \\xa0Email or leave a voice mail and be included on the show: \\xa0(925) 272-4021 \\xa0 Listen to the episode: \\xa0 NEWS: FamilySearch has added millions of new records of both Confederate and Union soldiers who served in the American Civil War. Also now available for viewing are newly added notarial records from Canada, church records and civil registrations from Mexico, and records from England.\\xa0 From the UK National Archives:\\xa0The UK National Archives announced that findmypast.co.uk has just released 1 million , dating from 1918 to 1941.\\xa0 at the UK National Archives website to help with your research into merchant seamen. \\xa0 Apprenticeship recordsOver half a million have been added to the site.\\xa0 They cover Scotland, England & Wales during the years 1710-1811. To learn more about apprenticeship records, check out the \\xa0 Australian military recordsYou can now access the records of Australian soldiers who fought in the Great War free at the . If your relative was an Australian soldier, the Office of Australian War Graves at the offers free photographs of Australian solder\\u2019s graves. Our wonderful sponsor absolutely free. \\xa0 \\xa0 What\'s New in Personal Historian 2 Creating a Shareable CD with RootsMagic If the webinars don\\u2019t fit your schedule they will be posting a recording of the class on their website at that you can watch at your convenience absolutely free!\\xa0 And it stays free \\u2013 it doesn\\u2019t disappear in a month.\\xa0 I love that about the RootsMagic webinars! \\xa0 Lisa\\u2019s Upcoming Speaking Engagements:\\xa0 9/25/11 - Sacramento Public Library, Sacramento, CA 10/7 & 8/11 - Northern California Family History Expo, San Mateo, CA 10/21/11 - Waterloo Iowa Public Library Webinar 10/22/11 - Webinar for the Hayden Idaho Family History Center Fall Family History Seminar 10/29/11 - Victoria Genealogical Society Seminar, Victoria, British Columbia 11/11 & 12/11 - Georgia Family History Expo, Duluth, GA Feb 2 \\u2013 4, 2012 \\u2013 RootsTech, Salt Lake City, UT \\xa0 MAILBOX: As you\\u2019ll remember I had an interesting conversation with DearMYRTLE in Episode 117 about the abbreviation FL that showed up in podcast listener Dot\\u2019s family history research. She was wondering what it stood for, and DearMYRTLE was intrigued as well so she did a bit of investigation on it which we discussed in the show. Well several of you wrote in with your thoughts on the subject: Sean writes: \\u201cMy first thought was that the abbreviation would stand for "found living" and it sort of makes sense based on the discussion. \\xa0Finding this abbreviation in research could provide an important clue to narrow down when and where a person lived.\\u201d And Dot chimed in with: \\u201cRob and I do however think there is a time when it is handy for genealogists to use it. If you don\\u2019t have birth and death dates, we think that\\xa0 instead of having nothing, fl. gives you dates\\xa0 as a rough guide as to when the ancestor lived\\xa0 and you can always extend the dates once more information is found.\\u201d Dave wrote in with a different take: \\u201cIt does refer to someone\\u2019s \\u201cproductive\\u201d time, but typically it refers the time that someone is known to have practiced their profession.\\xa0\\xa0 Usually, it is used when no biographical information exists\\u2026In genealogy, it is less likely that this kind of sourcing is useful, since the person is tied, biologically, to a time and place.\\xa0 We know the age ranges for life events, so we can guess better. That said, it is very useful to be able to interpret information of this kind.\\u201d It\\u2019s always nice to hear when the gems I talk about here on the show sparkle in your own research.\\xa0 Tina wrote in recently to share not one but two examples: \\u201cI just wanted to thank you for putting the idea into my head that Paula Sassi might be able to contribute something to my knowledge about a relative\\u2026\\xa0 I gave her a bit of background to the handwriting I submitted and she came back with insights and suggestions in areas that I hadn\'t mentioned, but nonetheless knew or suspected - all astonishingly accurate.\\xa0 I am just so grateful to her - and to you!\\u201d \\u201cAnd can I give you another thank you?\\xa0 This is an old one, but still the most useful tip I think I have ever had: go back and look at original documents again, and again, and again.\\xa0 Each time I do so, I seem to notice something I had missed the first few times, or now meant more because I had more information.\\xa0 Invaluable.\\xa0 Thank you!\\u201d \\xa0 Thomas On Facebook asked about using children\\u2019s sidewalk chalk as a mediaum to read gravestones better. Lisa says: Tombstone rubbing is a touchy subject and there is no concensus on the matter.\\xa0 Some people are against rubbing any substance on a tombstone because each one reduces the clarity of the stone. Certainly the chalk wouldn\'t harm it, but the application could.\\xa0 Be\\xa0 careful to check with the local authorities at the cemetery to get permission if you decide to go forward. My preference is to take multiple photograph and manipulate them with an editing program to alter the light, contrast and sharpeness which can often reveal what can\'t be seen with the naked eye. Watch the video I produced for Family Tree Magazine called\\xa0 "Grave Transformation" iGoogle ChangesBeing the Genealogy Google Guru has some challenges.\\xa0 It seems like as soon as I tell you about something Google is doing, or publish a tutorial video or article Google goes and changes everything.\\xa0 Like the Google News Timeline which bit the dust recently. Well all iGoogle hasn\\u2019t been immune to that constant change and after some serious hair pulling Pam wrote in asking for help. She says: \\u201cMy iGoogle page has changed in the last week. The whole left side is different but I can\'t remember what was there before.\\u201d Lisa answers: The only significant change I see is that "add stuff" link has been removed and now is an "add gadgets" button on the left above the tab names.\\xa0 If you don\'t see your tabs it\'s because the are now retractable.\\xa0 There is a little arrow that hides and reveals the tabs column. \\xa0 GEM:\\xa0 PERSI with Allison Stacy of Family Tree MagazineAs you know in addition to the Genealogy Gems Podcast I also produce and host the monthly for my friends at Family Tree Magazine.\\xa0 In the September 2011 episode I recorded a segment with Allison Stacy the publisher of Family Tree Magazine about PERSI at Heritage Quest Online.\\xa0 My guess is that you\\u2019ve heard of PERSI but maybe it\\u2019s been a long time since you checked it out or maybe you\\u2019ve never gotten around to searching this incredible database. It\\u2019s been ages for me, so I really enjoy chatting with Allison about it and it really reminded me what a goldmine it is.\\xa0 \\xa0 GEM: Another Free Transcription Software ProgramA big hat tip to podcast listener Phil Rowly who wrote in to share a gem he spotted recently. Phil writes: \\u201cI keep a regular eye on some of the best sites covering freeware and I\'ve recently noticed another piece of transcription software - with the advantage of being free - which is specifically aimed at transcribing data in tabular - rather then free-form - layout. The resulting data is then saved as a csv file, which can be imported into a wide range of standard programs for further analysis &c - eg Excel, Word, databases, etc.\\u201d \\xa0 \\xa0 Family History: Genealogy Made Easy podcast, it was GenScriber is a desktop application, designed for transcribing genealogy documents from images of census registers, church/parish records etc. and was designed to be easy to use. No installation is required. Just unzip and run it. You can even run it from a pendisk.\\xa0 There are versions for Linux and Windows, and it\\u2019s free for personal and non-commercial use'