Online Genealogy Tools and Apps: Episode 94

Learn about some great online tools, apps and resources you can use in your genealogy research.



Ep. 94: March 2016





Back to the episode list







In this episode:







News from the Blogosphere with Diane Haddad



Diane covers the demise and return of Family Tree Maker, plus Ancestry.com’s partnership with RootsMagic.







Top Tips: Triple Threat



There are three big players in online genealogy records: Ancestry, FindMyPast, and MyHeritage. Just how do they measure up to each other – and to your research needs? In today’s Top Tips segment, Lisa Louise Cooke invites Family Tree Magazine Contributing Editor Sunny Morton back to the show to share what she learned when she dug into all three of them for her article that appears in the March/April 2016 issue of the magazine.







101 Best Websites



In our 101 best websites segment we’re going to take another look at Ancestry, and you might be surprised to hear that Ancestry features many database collections that don’t require a paid membership. Lisa chats with author Dana McCullough about exactly where to look. he has divided these free collections into about 4 main categories:



* US Genealogy: 1940 census* Regional City and State: PA: Philadelphia Bank Immigrant Passage Records, 1890-1949* Military: Index of Revolutionary War Pensioners at americanancestor.org, and full records available at Fold3.com* Ethnic records: Brandenburg, Prussia Emigration Records







Family Tree University Crash Course



So you’ve been assembling some great stuff on your family history and you want to share it with relatives near and far. One of the best ways to do that is with a website. In today’s FTU Crash Course, Lisa Alzo shares tips on How to Make a Family Website. In addition to being a great vehicle for sharing family history with our relatives, a website also gives us our own online bulletin board of sorts, that can help us connect with cousins who are Googling the same ancestors. So just about anyone can benefit from having a website. Thinking about creating your own family history website?



Here’s where Lisa recommends you start:



* Importance of having an idea of what you want in a family website before you choose a platform, including evaluating a free site or a top level domain.* Run a small trial site before investing a lot of time and effort, to get to know the features, etc.* A few tips on what to include on your family website (photos, stories, family trees, history, etc.)







The Publisher’s Desk with Allison Dolan



Allison shares 3 must-see sessions from the Winter Virtual Conference. These sessions teach you how to maximize technology in your genealogy work.







Your Host: Lisa Louise Cooke







Listen to Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems and Genealogy: Family History Made Easy podcasts in iTunes and visit her website for great research ideas, podcast episodes and videos.



Have fun climbing your family tree!