52 Weeks to Better Genealogy - Week #7

Amy Coffin at the We Tree blog is challenging bloggers to become better genealogists, with a new prompt each week through her 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy:


Week 7:  Play with Google Maps. This is a helpful tool for determining the locations of addresses in your family history. Where your ancestral homestead once stood may now be a warehouse, a parking lot or a field. Perhaps the house is still there. When you input addresses in Google Maps, don’t forget to use the Satellite View and Street View options for perspectives that put you were right there where your ancestors once stood. If you’ve used this tool before, take sometime and play with it again. Push all the buttons, click all the links and devise new ways it can help with your personal genealogy research. If you have a genealogy blog, write about your experiences with Google Maps, or suggest similar easy (and free) tools that have helped in your own research.


I learned about the miracle of Google Maps for genealogy, particularly for timelines, while at the Genealogy Reference Desk Institute.  I have been meaning to play with them ever since and this weeks challenge gave me the perfect opportunity.  I recommend looking at the help articles, as they are very clear and concise and helped my greatly.



View German Ancestral Villages in a larger map


This is my map on my German (with a couple in the Alsace Region of France) ancestral towns.  I will be living in Hamburg - way up at the top if you scroll the map up - and hope to visit these places over the next five months.  If you click on the map, I listed each ancestral line who lived in each town so that I remembered who was where.  This is also one of my GeneaBloggers Games entries.

Surname Saturday: Fleeman

Each Saturday this year I am posting one of my surnames, going in alphabetical order.  This weeks surname is Fleeman.  The names in red are my direct line ancestors.

1-Adam FLEEMAN
b: about 1820, , , Hesse, Germany
d: 25 November 1889, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
+Barbara GRISS
b: calculated 23 January 1824, , , , France
d: 1 October 1870, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . 2-Barbara FLEEMAN
        b: 13 February 1846, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
        d: 1 January 1929, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . +Gottlieb FINK
        b: 1 October 1838, Bretton, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
        d: 7 April 1910, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . 3-George FINK
                b: 26 May 1865, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . 3-Elizabeth L. FINK
                b: 6 July 1867, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
                d: 24 April 1957, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . +Jacob J. GRESS
                b: 26 January 1869, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
                m: Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
                d: 11 August 1932, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . . . . . 4-Chester E. GRESS
                        b: June 1888
. . . . . . . . . . . . 4-May GRESS
                        b: 19 September 1890
                        d: 11 June 1970, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . . . . . 4-Walter L. GRESS
                        b: 6 December 1891, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . . . . . 4-Elsie GRESS
                        b: 13 May 1894
. . . . . . . . . . . . 4-Howard J. GRESS
                        b: 18 March 1896, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . . . . . 4-Beulah GRESS
                        b: 27 January 1898, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
                        d: 7 May 1968, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . . . . . 4-Vera Julia GRESS
                        b: 11 January 1900, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
                        d: 2 February 1976, Cheektowaga, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . 3-Ella FINK
                b: 18 September 1869, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . 3-Edward FINK
                b: 23 December 1871, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . 3-Ida FINK
                b: 16 August 1873, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . 3-Emma FINK
                b: 9 June 1875, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . 3-Lydia FINK
                b: 3 May 1877, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . 3-Louis A. FINK
                b: 16 July 1879, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . 3-Frank FINK
                b: 16 October 1882, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . 3-Edna FINK
                b: October 1884, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . . . . . 3-Walter T. FINK
                b: April 1887, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . 2-Mary FLEEMAN
        b: about 1848, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . 2-Adam FLEEMAN Jr.
        b: about 1850, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . +Henrietta S.
. . . . . . . . 3-Adam L. FLEEMAN
                b: calculated 3 April 1884, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
                d: 27 July 1884, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . 2-Elizabeth FLEEMAN
        b: about 1853, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . 2-Lewis C. FLEEMAN
        b: calculated 9 May 1855, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
        d: 5 August 1874, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . 2-Caroline FLEEMAN
        b: about 1858, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
. . . . 2-Charles FLEEMAN
        b: calculated March 1860, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA
+Magdalena
b: calculated 7 May 1826
m: after 1870
d: 17 May 1874, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA

Let the Games Begin!

I love watching the Olympics every other year and will be following the games in Vancouver,particularly the skating, the skiing and the curling (which is a sport I have to take up, as it is the only way I will ever get to the Olympics;-))

Luckily, while I am spending all that time watching TV I can now participate in the Winter 2010 GeneaBloggers Games!  As a new contestant, I will carry my flag high:

My flag represents a part of my diverse heritage.  I was born and raised the the USA, the background flag in this conglomeration.  To me, the US represents diversity, a mix of cultures and backgrounds.  I also have the Italian and United Kingdom flags.  Growing up, Italian was the culture I most identified with and what my family most often talked about being.  In genealogy, the ancestors I have traced the most and with the most success are those from the United Kingdom, namely in the Kent area of England.

During the games I will be participating in a wide variety of events:

• Go Back and Cite Your Sources!
• During this event you will see me whirl through my RootsMagic program, catching up to un-cited sources and, with the help of Evidence Explained, getting them up to par.
• Back Up Your Data!
• After citing all my sources the last thing I need happening is all of my hard work disappearing, so I will be backing up all of my digital sources.  I will also be working on backing up paper sources, but I am not anticipating to medal very high on that.
• Organize Your Research!
• In this event, I will dive feet-first into my blue bin of genealogy paperwork and come out with binders and page protectors.  This event will be part two of the source citation biathlon.
• Expand Your Knowledge!
• Maps, timelines and wordles, oh my!  Watch as technology is used for the creation of new and unusual research techniques!
• Write, Write, Write!
• With all my new sources, organization and knowledge, I will astound judges and spectators alike in the number and frequency of blog posts - even when I am not there (the miracle of pre-publish).
• Reach Out & Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness!
• The games are all about connecting with others and what better way to do that than through Genealogical Acts of Kindness?

I hope you will watch my performance in the GeneaBloggers Games, beginning tomorrow, 13 February 2010, right here at A Tale of Two Ancestors

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy - Week #6

Amy Coffin at the We Tree blog is challenging bloggers to become better genealogists, with a new prompt each week through her 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy:

Online databases at your public library. Search your library’s web site and see if your card grants you access to online databases. Libraries (even small ones) often have wonderful online tools including genealogy databases, historical newspapers and more! Take some time and play with these little perks that come with a library card. You just may get some help in your own genealogy research and gain some free research tools to boot. If you don’t know how to access online library databases or you’re not sure if your branch has them, ask a librarian for guidance. If you have a blog, discuss which databases (if any) to which your library subscribes.

Online databases are one of my favorite things my library offers.  My library breaks them down by topic, so I often look in genealogy, but make sure to look under other headings, too, such as newspapers and biographies.

 From home, I can access:

• HeritageQuest
• Newbank (which has the Buffalo News from 1989 - present, the most complete I have found online)
• NewspaperArchive - National
• Gale Newspapers
• American National Biographies
• Gale Biography Resource Center
• Reference USA

At the library, I can access:

• Ancestry

My mother has access to:

• Sanborn Maps of New York 1867-1970

I hope one day they will get Footnote!

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy - Week #5

Amy Coffin at the We Tree blog is challenging bloggers to become better genealogists, with a new prompt each week through her 52 Weeks to Better Genealogy:


Play with WorldCat.org. WorldCat is a massive network of library content that the public can search for free (user name and password not required). Not every library is a part of WorldCat, but the vast size of the network makes it an important genealogy tool. If you are looking for a specific book or publication, enter the identifying information into the WorldCat search box and see which libraries hold the item. You may even find that you can get the item through your library’s inter-library loan program. Don’t forget to search for some of your more unusual surnames and see what comes up. The goal is to play with WorldCat and examine its possibilities for your own research. If you’re already familiar with WorldCat, play with it again. The network and collection grow and change constantly. If you have a genealogy blog, write about your experiences with searching WorldCat for this exercise.


I love WorldCat! So much so that I have even downloaded their app to my iTouch and use it often to check if I can get a book I read about on a blog or magazine review.  As a college student, inter-library loan is tremendously easy - I can even do it from the comfort of my couch and they email me when the book or article comes in.  Although I did not find any of my surnames for books, I did come up with a few books on towns I am researching that I will have to order.

Episode 1 of Faces of America

Episode 1 of Faces of America premiered last night on PBS.  I viewed it this morning online, which I highly recommend you do if you were unable to watch yesterday.

I am tremendously impressed by the episode.  I had been anticipating one full or half episode per celebrity, but instead they weaved in and out of numerous peoples' stories, discussing the effects of early to mid-twentieth century events, mainly World War II, on the lives of their ancestors.

I love how Henry Louis Gates makes a simple scrapbook with photos and primary source documents and has the celebrities flip though while telling stories.  The journey of discovery is fascinating to watch, as are the emotions that run across their faces as they learn more about their family.

It has never ceased to amaze me how interested my relatives are about their family tree.  They may not want to research or know understand a pedigree chart, but when they flip through my binders filled with vital records, passenger lists, newspaper articles and census extracts, they look on in amazement at their history.  Though we have no one who was famous or wealthy or saintly in our tree, the lives of our ancestors are fascinating none the less.

GeneaBloggers also posted a link on twitter called What Happened in My Birth Year? yesterday.  The way they go through what has happened so far in your (or your ancestors) lifetime is a wonderful representation of how to integrate history into writings about your ancestors.  It should also give ideas about what events to look at in history that effected your family.

If you have not yet viewed Faces of America, I hope you will.  I am looking forward to next weeks episode!

Smile for the Camera - Valentine

My Valentine and I right after we got engaged.