Accessible Archives Inc.

Yesterday we shared a link to the first post in Lorine Massey’s Genealogy and Family Hope Chest blog series that she published in 2009.

Passing on Your Family Genealogy Treasures to a Descendant http://t.co/ZvufEShNzg

— Olive Tree Genealogy (@LorineMS) August 25, 2015

The link was very popular and shared widely on Facebook, but a few people asked about links to the rest of the series.

Here is a quick set of links to each of the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog’s posts on creating a Genealogy and Family Hope Chest.

Colleen Greene, MLIS is a librarian, web developer, content strategist, and educator who regularly teaches and presents on web content strategy, social media, digital history tools, and other emerging technology tools and topics. She has a knack for being able to explain complex technology concepts in easy to understand terms.

Colleen Greene

She has taken the time to put together a wonderful series of posts on her website that walk bloggers and website operators through exactly how to add Genealogy Snapshots to WordPress based sites. She broke it down into three parts to make it easier to digest.

These posts explain how to do this for almost any website, including Blogger and WordPress.com, but what makes her efforts special is the work she put into teaching readers how to get the most out of a self-hosted WordPress site using plugins and re-useable code.

What makes these guides really stand out is how thorough they are. Colleen makes clear exactly what you should see at each stage of the process and she takes the time to explain her thought processes and why she selected the specific tools and techniques used for this project.

WordPress for Genealogy Guides

• Adding a Lineage Snapshot Box to Blog Posts About Ancestors, Part I
• Adding a Lineage Snapshot Box to Blog Posts About Ancestors, Part II
• Adding a Lineage Snapshot Box to Blog Posts About Ancestors, Part III

If you are using Blogger or other platforms, be sure to check out Colleen’s Blogging for Genealogy: Adding a Lineage Snapshot Box to Ancestor Posts in WordPress.com & Blogger post.

The Montgomery County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society 2013 Annual Educational Seminar will be held on Saturday, November 2nd from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sinclair Community College.

The event will feature well-known genealogist, author, and teacher, J. Mark Lowe, CG, FUGA, a favorite speaker at national and local genealogical events. Mark is Director of the Regional In-depth Genealogical Studies Alliance, an instructor at the Institute for Genealogical & Historical Research at Samford University and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, and has appeared on the popular series Who Do You Think You Are.

Topics for the seminar are:

• Land Barons or Dirt Farmers: Finding Land Transactions — Following the land will often identify the Ancestor and family. Learn how to trace an individual through property records and how to trace a specific property.
• Making Those Early Census Records Talk To You – Stop avoiding those pre-1850 census records. Turn those 1’s and 0’s into clues and lively pictures of your family.
• Write That Source Down – Did you ever wonder where you found that date for Great Aunt Sally’s birth? Learn the basics of documentation and discover why it can become your most important family research tool.
• Finding Black Roots in a White World – Learn how to find African-American family members in the pre-1870 U.S. Utilize the tools and techniques that will help you identify and find resources to lead you to a family.

Registration Begins at 8 a.m.  Sessions will start at 9 a.m.  There are Question & Answer periods planned as well.

Download the registration form here.

Accessible Archives is pleased to be providing two annual Personal Subscriptions to our complete set of databases as door prizes at this event.

MCOGS Event Location

About MCOGS

This chapter was formed in 1974 to create and promote interest in collecting, indexing, preserving and publishing material on Montgomery County, and to assist individuals in tracing their ancestry and in compiling family and local histories by means of lectures, educational classes, and the Chapter’s Family Tree newsletter.

Regular chapter meetings are held the 2nd Saturday of each month at 1:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Dayton Metro Library, 215 East 3rd Street, Dayton, Ohio 45402.

Searching for historical information in newspapers and magazines section of the database for the settlement of Nutfield, part of which is now Derry, New Hampshire, yielded some interesting results. One was a rather sad article about a shipwreck of the snow Catherine off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1737. Although the original settlement of Nutfield began about eighteen years prior, emigrants were still leaving Ireland to come to the New World for a chance at a better life.

The account from The Pennsylvania Gazette tells the tale of those Scotch-Irish emigrants who lost their lives on a snow from County Antrim, Ireland bound for Boston. Ninety-eight people died in the wreck and four more died of their injuries after they made land. Obviously, not everyone who left survived the trip. Unfortunately, the account tells of the dead being buried where the Catherine washed up just north of Canso, Nova Scotia. Since this land was largely uninhabited by European settlers, it is unlikely that a burial ground is extant. No further information about whether they were re-interred elsewhere or remained buried where they died was available in the article.

But, like any great mystery, the article brings up many questions and possibilities for further research. For example, what exactly is a snow?

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The word necrology comes from the Greek words meaning, literally, “words of the dead.” These lists of those citizens who had died began to appear in many of the county histories published in the nineteenth century. In the days before vital registration took hold in many states, these necrologies provide evidence of the dates of death of many citizens—both prominent and common.

Necrologies appear in multiple forms in these county histories.

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