The Genealogy Gems Podcast

"Walker County Genealogical Society is hosting two presentations by internationally known presenter, author, genealogical guru Lisa Louise Cooke during the annual Summer Genealogy Weekend right here in Huntsville." https://www.itemonline.com/news/summer/article_fe253dbe-4db5-11ef-85c7-377def3ff77b.html

Summer Genealogy Weekend is coming Walker County Genealogical Society is hosting two presentations by internationally known presenter, author, genealogical guru Lisa Louise Cooke during the annual Summer Genealogy Weekend right here in Huntsville.

The highlights for the 10th challenge of the year are out!
Join us at 8pm (EDT) to see what we found, how many relatives & connections were added to Lisa Louise Cooke! The Genealogy Gems Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1-jzM2yvqM&list=PLEqK4ICkQWXT4kwLj9-k-CydpZjq8yhfK

Advance registration is required for this free event in Huntsville, Texas. Lisa Louise Cooke will be presenting in person on Saturday, August 3.
https://www.wcgstx.org/summer-genealogy

Summer Genealogy | My Site 1 The Walker County Genealogical Society strives to further the knowledge of genealogical research, to assist and encourage others with their family lines, to exchange knowledge gleaned from experience in the various areas of research, to collect and preserve historical documents, to support the genea...

Ready for your genealogical listening pleasure! https://lisalouisecooke.com/2024/07/11/cemetery-genealogy-research/

Cemetery research Guide Learn cemetery research strategies, the meaning of tombstone symbols, how to clean gravestones and more.

Join Lisa for the newly updated Google Search Success for Genealogy course at Family Tree University. Enroll now as spots are limited. Course begins July 15, 2024. Get direct access to Lisa for all your questions during this 4-week self-paced online course. https://store.familytreemagazine.com/google-search-success-for-genealogy-july-2024/ Family Tree Magazine

2 expert interviews with 1 goal in mind: FINDING YOUR ANCESTORS in old newspapers!

https://lisalouisecooke.com/2024/04/20/newspapers-obituaries-episode-282/

Newspapers and obituaries for genealogy. Best strategies for finding newspaper articles about your ancestors including their obituaries which can contain a wealth of family history information.

NEW: A genealogy tip and Premium sneak peek!

Genealogy Tip for Burial Records - Family History #shorts Get all my video show notes pages here: https://lisalouisecooke.com/elevenses/(Premium Member Bonus Downloadable PDF in the Resources section.) 💎 Become a P...

3 important steps to reserving your family's Thanksgiving and holiday traditions for generations to come with my friend and family history expert Gena Philibert-Ortega. https://youtu.be/rJZY7oeC1RA

3 Ways to Preserve Thanksgiving and other Holiday Traditions for Your Family History 👇🖱 Click SHOW MORE to get all the details on this video✔ SHOW NOTES: Get all my video show notes pages here: https://lisalouisecooke.com/elevenses/(Premium...

In this Elevenses with Lisa episode for Premium Members, we’ll talk about how to start and execute a family tree clean-up plan. I’ll be using RootsMagic as an example, but the plan can be applied to any family tree, whether in another genealogy database software program or online.
https://lisalouisecooke.com/2023/07/12/premium-clean-up/

https://lisalouisecooke.com/2023/06/29/ellis-island-records-tutorial/ (INCLUDES a downloadable cheat sheet.) The free Ellis Island Passenger Search database is home to 65 million records of passengers arriving at the Port of New York from 1820 to 1957. In this video, Kathryn Marks, Manager at The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation explains the best strategies for finding your ancestors’ passenger list records in the Passenger Search Database on the Ellis Island website. Along the way, you’ll learn some surprising facts about Ellis Island and these invaluable records that will have your genealogy jumping for joy!

Ellis Island Records Best Search Strategies How to search the free Ellis Island Passenger Search database, home to 65 million records of passengers arriving to the Port of New York from 1820 to 1957.

https://youtu.be/EFfM2KEhi7k I recorded this yesterday afternoon. Last night, when I sat down to produce this video, something shocking happened. It really opened my eyes and changed my initial opinion on whether or not we should be using AI chatbots like Bard and ChatGBT for genealogy. Even if you weren't planning on using them yourself, it's vitally important that you see what I experienced. Other people are going to use this technology. They are going to be integrating their findings into what they share online, which could affect all of us. PLEASE SHARE!

SHOCKING RESULTS! Should you use AI Chatbots for Genealogy? We're tackling questions like: What are AI chatbots? What are the top chatbots? Are they private? Why are they free and will they stay free? Should you trust...

https://www.davisenterprise.com/news/community/genealogy-club-hosts-nationally-known-speaker/ Delighted to be returning to the Davis Genealogy Club.

Genealogy club hosts nationally known speaker The Davis Genealogy Club invites the public to an exciting free presentation, “Inspiring Ways to Capture the Interest…

https://store.familytreemagazine.com/google-search-success-for-genealogy-july-2023/ If you want to get really serious about finding what you need for your research, join Lisa Louise Cooke for this Family Tree Magazine 4 week online course.

What You Will Learn:
A step-by-step process for using google search
How to effectively use search operators
How to alter your queries based on the search type
The secret to googling ancestors with common names
How to turn a single discovery into more discoveries
What to look for inside YouTube and Google Books
How to run reverse image search with Google Images
How to get the most from Googles platforms
Unique and hidden features to look for and how to use them

Google Search Success for Genealogy - July 2023 This great tool for genealogists will help you pinpoint the starting location of your immigrant ancestors and experience faraway locations to bring depth and a new perspective to your family history research.

We're honored once again to be named a "best website" by Family Tree Magazine! In celebration of the new list, Family Tree Magazine is holding a Family Tree Magazine Best Websites 2023 Giveaway. Click this link to enter for your chance to win some great prizes now through 6/14/23. : https://familytreebestwebsites23.shortstack.com/WZtk9s

https://lisalouisecooke.com/2023/05/24/ancestry-compiled-family-histories/ Lisa's sharing one of her favorite record collections and best tips for getting the most from it.

Compiled Family Histories at Ancestry Published Compiled Family Histories provide you with research conducted by previous genealogists. Ancestry’s collection includes 4 million records!

Get free access to all 1.1 billion U.K. historical records at MyHeritageMyHeritage now through May 8, 2023!

United Kingdom - Genealogy, Vital Records - MyHeritage Discover your ancestry - search Birth, Marriage and Death certificates, census records, immigration lists and other records - all in one family search!

Join Lisa for the live Elevenses with Lisa show on Thursday 3/15 at 11 am CT where she'll show you how to create an emigration path in Google Earth. It's a free, exciting way to visualize your ancestors' travels. (Premium Membership required) Go to https://lisalouisecooke.com/blog/ for this show and all the latest videos, tutorials and cheat sheets.

The latest innovations at MyHeritage from the CEO.

What’s New at MyHeritage: Our Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet Addresses RootsTech 2023 - MyHeritage Blog MyHeritage Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet shares the latest updates and features from MyHeritage at RootsTech 2023.

If you received last night's newsletter, and clicked the "Wiki Wow" video class only to find it was unavailable, please revisit the page. IT turns out RootsTech has now set the class video to "private". However, you can watch the "Wiki" video on their website by going to the video page in their on-demand library. You will need to sign in to your free FamilySearch account in order to watch it. You'll find the direct link on our website, as well as the full show notes. https://lisalouisecooke.com/2023/03/08/familysearch-wiki-tutorial/

FamilySearch Wiki Tutorial for Beginners Discover what the FamilySearch Wiki has to offer, and the secrets to navigating it with ease. Presented by genealogy expert Lisa Louise Cooke at Rootstech.

Have you ever dreamed of publishing a book about your family history? Although it’s never been easier to do, there are some things to keep in mind and pitfalls to avoid. https://lisalouisecooke.com/2023/02/22/self-publish-book/ In this video, Lisa Louise Cooke interviews Dale Spaulding, author of the book "Fortitude" Dale shares the most important items to keep in mind when self publishing, as well as the greatest lessons he learned along the way.

Self Publish Your Book! Show Notes: Have you ever dreamed of publishing a book about your family history? Although it's never been easier to do, there are some things to keep in mind and pitfalls to avoid. In this video…

In this month's "Elevenses with Lisa" LIVE Premium show we’re going to cover how to put a solid genealogy organizational plan in place once and for all. Lisa Louise Cooke personally uses these systems that are reliable and efficient.

Watch Live: Thursday, Feb. 09, 2023 at 11:00 am CT at https://lisalouisecooke.com/ Available afterward as an on-demand video. Includes 4-page downloadable cheat sheet.

She will cover 4 systems: paper & physical items, data, digital files, and web content.

https://lisalouisecooke.com/2023/02/07/gedcom-episode-273/ The GEDCOM digital file format is essential to genealogy. In this new podcast episode, an expert from FamilySearch explains what a GEDCOM is, how to use it, and the most recent changes. He’ll also answer some of the most common GEDCOM questions.

All About GEDCOM Genealogy Files – Audio Podcast Episode 273 The GEDCOM digital file format is essential to genealogy. My expert guest from FamilySearch explains what a GEDCOM is, how to use it, and the most recent changes. He’ll also answer some of the most…

If you’ve created a MyMap in Google Maps, there’s a lot more that you can do with it if you import it into Google Earth. However, exporting it out of MyMaps as a KMZ that can be used in Google Earth isn’t really obvious. The good news is that it’s not hard to do. I’ll explain how and I’ll also show you how to import the KMZ file into Google Earth. https://lisalouisecooke.com/2023/02/01/export-mymaps-kmz/

How to Export Google MyMaps to KMZ for Google Earth Show Notes: If you've created a MyMap in Google Maps, there's a lot more that you can do with it if you import it into Google Earth. However, exporting it out of MyMaps as a KMZ that can be used in…

https://lisalouisecooke.com/2023/01/18/newspapers-google-books/ Discover how to dig for newspapers quickly and easily at Google Books for FREE. One viewer commented: "This information was fantastic. I actually found a newspaper article/ad for my Great Great Grandfather in 1897 getting fitted for specially ground lenses." Premium Members: download your exclusive PDF handout.

How to find newspapers in Google Books for free Show Notes: Google Books is known for having millions of free digitized books. But did you know that it's also packed with hidden old newspapers? Since newspapers don't typically appear in your…

Wow, so many additions and innovations at MyHeritage to explore! https://blog.myheritage.com/2023/01/wrapping-up-2022-year-in-review/

Wrapping Up 2022: Year in Review - MyHeritage Blog Another year has flown by, and what a year it’s been! 2022 saw many ups and downs. For much of the world, it was a year of reopening and readjusting after

Is Free your favorite price? Then check out this new podcast episode: https://lisalouisecooke.com/2023/01/13/genealogy-freebies-episode-272/

https://lisalouisecooke.com/2022/12/07/myheritage-ai-photo-tool/
Last week we talked about how technology can wreak havoc in genealogy. This week we're talking about how tech can make genealogy a lot of darn fun!! Tune in for this quick free video and watch as I try out MyHeritage's AI Time Machine™. Along the way, I'll share some tips on getting great results. Video Premiere's 12/8/22 at 11 am CT on the Genealogy Gems website (click link) and the Genealogy Gems YouTube Channel.
MyHeritage

Trying out the MyHeritage AI Time Machine Photo Tool Show Notes: I'm trying out the MyHeritage AI Time Machine photo tool! Check out the results and get tips for getting the best results. Video Premiere with Live Chat Watch Live: Thursday, December 8…

https://lisalouisecooke.com/2022/11/29/premium-tech-havoc/
Premium Member show 12/1/22 at 11am CT then video replay.

Family History comes in many forms. But one of the most exciting is old home movies. I’m going to show you the five best ways to polish them up and make them shine so that your family can enjoy them for generations to come! Don't miss the final improved version at the end of this video!

5 Ways to Improve Old Home Movies Show Notes: In this video, Lisa Louise Cooke demonstrates 5 ways to improve your old family home movies so that they are more enjoyable to watch. See how you can transform a short home movie into an…

https://lisalouisecooke.com/2022/11/08/researching-witnesses-genealogy/ Have you ever wished you could have been peering over your ancestors' shoulders as they made key decisions in their lives? We may not have been around when our ancestors lived, but there were witnesses and they have stories to tell!

In this week's new video, Robyn Smith, author of the article "Witness Testimony" (Family Tree Magazine Jan / Feb. 2023 issue) shares her 3-step process for researching the witnesses who appear on our ancestors' records. Join me for the free video premiere and live chat on Thursday 11/10 at 11 am CT. The show will then be available as a video replay on the show notes page (link above)

This is the perfect follow-up to last week's "Elevenses with Lisa" 1-hour webinar available with Premium Membership. In this video, Robyn will be sharing some of her favorite transcription tools, and a fantastic case study of how researching witnesses and transcribing documents can really pay off in a big way! (Premium Members be sure to download the handout for this video!)

Researching Witnesses for Genealogy Success Show Notes: You may not have been around when your ancestors lived, but there were witnesses to the important events in their life. Genealogist Robyn Smith shares her 3 step process from her new…