Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog

My 14th Blogiversary

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 18:56:00 +0000

My fourteenth blogiversary was yesterday, April 5th.

I began this blog on April 5, 2012 after watching Lisa Louise Cook's live streamed February 2012 RootsTech presentation called Genealogy Podcasts and Blogs 101. I had never heard of genealogy blogs before and the thought of blogging about my ancestors had never even occurred to me before that time. I decided to be brave and jump into the genealogy blog pool and here I am today fourteen years later. I'm grateful to Lisa for her presentation and to RootsTech for live streaming it.

THANK YOU

Thank you to my wonderful readers for taking the time to read my posts and for leaving comments over the years. I appreciate your support very much!

BLOGGING YEAR IN REVIEW

Here are my posts from the last year (since my last blogiversary).

Phebe Waterman's Signature - April 30, 2025

An Exciting Ancestry Hint for Raymunda Villatoro Vasques - July 17, 2025

Family Memories ~ A Christmas Visit - December 21, 2025

Tip: Find All of Your Ancestors' Obituaries - February 3, 2026

Again, thank you for taking the time to read my posts!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

Tip: Find All of Your Ancestors' Obituaries

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 01:07:00 +0000

This is a photo of my maternal 2nd great-grandmother, Cynthia Maria (Waterman) Webster.

Until March 2019 I did not know the cause of her death. And now I'm finally sharing this discovery here on my blog.

I love to find newspaper articles about my ancestors. I found three obituaries for Cynthia in different newspapers, but only one of them included her cause of death. Each of them contained different, but valuable information.

Before I share the obituary with Cynthia's cause of death, here are the other two obituaries I found.

This first obituary was printed in The Western News, Stockton, Kansas, on Thursday, 26 September 1895.¹

Transcript of this obituary:

Death of Mrs. Webster.

Mrs. Cyntha [sic] M. Webster died at her home in Marysville, Kansas, at 9:40 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22. She had been lingering at death's door for several months, and at different times during that time her children had all been summoned to her bedside to see her pass away, but each time she would revive and linger yet a while. She was the mother of Fred E. Webster of this place, and Frank S. Webster, formerly of this place, but now of Wymore, Neb. She was aged 61 years, 4 months and 2 days.

Information gleaned from this obituary:

Name of Deceased: Mrs. Cyntha [sic] M. Webster

Place of Death: At her home in Marysville, Kansas

Time of Death: 9:40 a.m.

Date of Death: Sunday, September 22nd

Name and Residence of Sons: Fred E. Webster of Stockton, Kansas and Frank S. Webster formerly of Stockton but now of Wymore, Nebraska

Age at Death: 61 years, 4 months and 2 days

This obituary contains fantastic family history information about where Cynthia lived (Marysville) and where two of her sons lived as well. It also provides her date, place, and even time of death as well as her exact age at death. Her exact age at death was listed as 61 years, 4 months and 2 days.

In my research, I have seen different dates and years listed or calculated as her birthdate and/or her birth year ranging from May 20 or May 21 and 1834 to 1844. I love that this obituary was so exact with her age at her death. I wonder if either or both of her sons, Fred and/or Frank, provided information for this obituary. Using this exact age at death information, I used a helpful website called timeanddate.com to calculate her birthdate. The result was 20 May 1834.

This second obituary was printed in The Marshall County Democrat, Marysville, Kansas, on 27 September 1895.²

Transcript of this obituary:

Died, in this city, Sept. 22d, Mrs. Cynthia M. Webster, in the 62d year of her age. Funeral from their residence Sept. 24th, and the remains were interred in the Marysville cemetery, followed by a large procession of their many friends.

Information gleaned from this obituary:

Name of Deceased: Mrs. Cynthia M. Webster

Place of Death: Marysville, Kansas

Date of Death: September 22nd

Age at Death: In her 62nd year

Date of Funeral: September 24th

Place of Burial: Marysville Cemetery

Again we find wonderful family history information in this second obituary. In addition to the same information provided in the first obituary, this one also includes Cynthia's funeral date and burial place.

And this third obituary was printed in the Marshall County News, Marysville, Kansas, on Friday, 27 September 1895.³ The is the obituary that included her cause of death.

Transcript of this obituary:

Mrs. Cynthia M. Webster wife of E. P. C. Webster died at their home in this city, Sept, 21st, after a long and painful illness, with dropsy. The funeral services were held Tuesday Sept. 23, and a large gathering of sorrowing friends followed the remains to their last resting place in the Marysville cemetery. The deceased was a daughter of Asher and Basheba Waterman, was born May 6, 1834, near Coolville, Athens county, Ohio, and and [sic] grew to womanhood at the same place. She married E. P. C. Webster July 25, 1858. She was the mother of six children, three sons and three daughters. The first child, a daughter, died at the age of three years. The other five are now grown men and women. She has been a christian from childhood; was cradled in the M. E. church and affiliated with the same until the last five pears [should be years]. Since her marriage, she and her family have lived in ten different neighborhoods and communities and everywhere she made hosts of friends and never knew of having an enemy; universally loved by all. She was a remarkable kind and loving mother and a kind, gentle, amiable wife. She filled a place in the hearts of her family that will forever be vacant. Peace to her memory.

What a beautiful obituary! Cynthia must have been a wonderful woman. Like the other two obituaries, this obituary is full of valuable family history information. However, the dates for Cynthia's birth, death, and funeral are incorrect. Her date of birth was actually 21 May 1834.⁴ And her date of death was 22 September 1895.⁵ And the obituary stated that her funeral was on Tuesday the 23rd of September 1895 but the 23rd was on a Monday, not on a Tuesday. It is likely that Cynthia's funeral was held on Tuesday, 24 September 1895, two days after her death.

Information gleaned from this obituary:

Name of Deceased: Cynthia M. Webster

Name of Spouse: E. P. C. Webster

Place of Death: At home in Marysville, Marshall County, Kansas

Date of Death: 21 September 1895 (should be 22 September 1895)

Cause of Death: Dropsy

Date of Funeral: Tuesday, 23 September 1895 (should be 24 September 1895)

Place of Burial: Marysville Cemetery

Father's Name: Asher Waterman

Mother's Name: Basheba [Bathsheba] Waterman

Date of Birth: 6 May 1834 (Should be 20 May 1834)

Place of Birth: Coolville, Athens, Ohio

Marriage Date: 25 July 1858

Number of Children: Six, three sons and three daughters

Church Affiliation: M. E. Church

Additional information in this obituary that is not included in the first two obituaries include the name of Cynthia's husband and their marriage date, Cynthia's cause of death, her parents' names, her date and place of birth, how many children she had including how many sons and daughters, and her church affiliation. All of this information is extremely valuable for family history research.

With this third obituary, I was able to learn that Cynthia's cause of death was dropsy. Dropsy is an older term, known today as edema.

I'm so glad that I didn't stop searching for obituaries after finding the first obituary for Cynthia. If I had stopped searching, I may not have discovered her cause of death. So what's the lesson here? We need to try and locate all obituaries and other documents that we can find about our ancestors to see if they have additional details about our ancestors' lives.

I'm so happy that I was able to finally discover Cynthia's cause of death.

What have you been able to discover through newspaper research about your ancestors?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

1 "Cynthia M. Webster," obituary, The Western News (Stockton, Kansas), 26 September 1895, page 4, column 4; online digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/379433198/ : accessed 26 March 2019), Newspapers.com by Ancestry.^↩
2 "Cynthia M. Webster," obituary, Marshall County Democrat (Marysville, Kansas), 27 September 1895, page 8, column 1; online digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/290552521/ : accessed 26 March 2019), Newspapers.com by Ancestry.^↩
3 "Cynthia M. Webster," obituary, Marshall County News (Marysville, Kansas), 27 September 1895, page 5, column 4; online digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/290184469/ : accessed 26 March 2019), Newspapers.com by Ancestry.^↩
4 "USGenWeb, The Tombstone Transcription Project" database, Marysville City Cemetery (www.usgwtombstones.org/kansas/marysvillecitycem.txt : accessed 29 January 2026), C. Marie Webster.^↩
5 Donald Lines Jacobus and Edgar Francis Waterman, The Waterman Family. Vol. 1 (New Haven, CT: E.F. Waterman, 1939), 566.^↩

Family Memories ~ A Christmas Visit

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Sun, 21 Dec 2025 23:04:00 +0000

My maternal grandparents, Debs Warren Webster and Willis (Quillin) Webster, were from Brazil. In the summer of 1952 their family immigrated to the United States of America. My mom was fourteen years old at the time they immigrated to the USA. They settled in Southern California. To learn more about their immigration story, click the The Debs Webster Family Immigration Story tab at the top of this blog.

When I was growing up, my maternal grandparents lived in Hacienda Heights, California. My family traveled to visit them quite a bit while I was growing up, and my grandparents would travel to visit us. It was fun and interesting when we'd get together. I remember hearing Portuguese spoken all around me. Unfortunately, I was never taught the language.

Since it's almost Christmas, I figured it was the perfect time to share some photos from when our family traveled to spend Christmas with my grandparents at their home in Hacienda Heights in 1969.

This is a photo of my Grandpa Debs and Grandma Willis Webster at their house in Hacienda Heights, California. Technically, my Grandma Willis was my step-grandma. My mom's mother died when my mom was almost four years old and my Grandpa Debs married Willis when my mom was five years old. Willis was the only maternal grandma I knew. So to me she was just Grandma. And she was a wonderful grandmother!

Here's a photo of my parents, brothers, and myself with my grandparents.

After all the festivities it was time for our family to head back home. But before we left, Grandpa Debs took a couple more photos.

The first one is of my grandparents with my brothers and myself. I love what Grandpa Debs wrote on the top margin of this photo: "They Came For Christmas." I like to think that this little statement meant that our Christmas visit meant a lot to him.

Here's a photo of my parents, brothers, and myself posing in front of our little 1964 green Volkswagen Beetle. Again, my Grandpa Debs wrote a little something on the top margin of the photo. This time it was, "Bye Bye."

I miss my grandparents. They were so kind and loving. I also miss my parents, who were also kind and loving.

At this joyous time of year when we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, I'd like to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

An Exciting Ancestry Hint for Raymunda Villatoro Vasques

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 22:17:00 +0000

A couple of years ago I clicked on a hint on my tree in Ancestry.com. I'm so glad I did because it turned out to be a very important hint. Of course, hints should be analyzed for accuracy. Thankfully, this hint was accurate.

The hint was for my maternal second great-grandmother, Raymunda Villatoro Vasques, who was from Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico.¹ The hint was this baptism record (below) for Adolfo Villatoro, which states that he was born on 27 September 1885, and was baptized in November 1885 at Tonala, Chiapas, Mexico.²

The baptism record states that Adolfo was the son of Raymunda Villatoro and that Adolfo's maternal grandparents were Demetrio Villatoro and Ysabel Vasquez. I know that this Raymunda Villatoro is my 2nd great-grandmother because the names of her parents in this record are the same as her known parents in other records I have.

I had no record or knowledge of Adolfo Villatoro before this hint, so this is an exciting discovery. Unfortunately, the baptism record does not include Adolfo's father's name. Hopefully I will be able to find records that include the name of Adolfo's father.

What exciting discoveries have you found through Ancestry hints?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

1 "Chiapas, Mexico, Civil Registration Deaths, 1861-1987," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 October 2015), image 151 of 2067, entry for Raymunda Villatoro (Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico), November 1923; citing Chiapas Civil Registry State Archives, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico, Academia Mexicana de Genealogia y Heraldica.^↩
2 "México, Chiapas, registros parroquiales y diocesanos, 1557-1978," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-3LWC-9?cc=1616412&wc=MCS8-CPX%3A123518301%2C123518302%2C123718501 : accessed 8 June 2022), image 1141 of 3013, entry for Adolfo Villatoro, September 1885; citing Parroquias Católicas, Chiapas (Catholic Church parishes, Chiapas).^↩

Phebe Waterman's Signature

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 23:46:00 +0000

Here it is. The signature of my maternal 4th great-grandmother, Phebe (Barker) Waterman. I wrote about her in a previous post.

Phebe (Barker) Waterman was the wife of my 4th great-grandfather, Dr. Luther L. Waterman, who served as a surgeon in the Revolutionary War.

I found Phebe's signature at the bottom of Page 3 in her husband Luther's Revolutionary War pension file.¹ She was 82 years old at the time she signed this document.

In this document, dated 8 September 1838, Phebe appeared before an Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Athens County Ohio. It looks like Phebe was unable to appear in court. The bottom paragraph states the following:

Sworn to and subscribed before me on the day & year above written. And I hereby certify that the said Deponent is a credible person, and that she is unable from bodily infirmity to appear in open court.

Geo. Walker, Associate Judge

The purpose of this document was to obtain a widow's pension due to Luther's service in the Revolutionary War. In the document, Phebe gave an account of Luther's service during the war to the best of her ability. She also explained where and when she and Luther were married and that she remained a widow since Luther's death.

I have added Phebe's signature to the My Ancestors' Signatures tab at the top of this blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

1 “U.S. Revolutionary War Pensions, 1800-1900," database with images, Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/ : accessed 13 January 2013), (W. 4,379 Conn. Continental), pg. 3, headed “U.S., Revolutionary War Pensions, 1800-1900,” entry for Luther Waterman; citing Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, compiled ca. 1800 - ca. 1912, documenting the period ca. 1775 - ca. 1900, National Archives and Records Administration microfilm publication, Record Group 15, NAID: 111514579.^↩

My 13th Blogiversary

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 18:31:00 +0000

My thirteenth blogiversary was this past Saturday, April 5th. I had a busy weekend, plus I'm currently under the weather, so here is my blogiversary post a couple days late.

I began this blog on April 5, 2012 after watching Lisa Louise Cook's live streamed February 2012 RootsTech presentation called Genealogy Podcasts and Blogs 101. I had never heard of genealogy blogs before and the thought of blogging about my ancestors had never even occurred to me before that time. I decided to be brave and jump into the genealogy blog pool and here I am today thirteen years later. I'm grateful to Lisa for her presentation and to RootsTech for live streaming it.

THANK YOU

Thank you to my wonderful readers for taking the time to read my posts and for leaving comments over the years. I appreciate your support very much!

BLOGGING YEAR IN REVIEW

Here are my posts from the last year (since my last blogiversary).

Have You Tried The MyHeritage In Color™ Tool? - April 29, 2024

Preserving Memories ~ Disneyland in the Summer of 1955 - June 24, 2024

Death Dates in US-City Directories - September 4, 2024

Ancestor Relocation Information in US-City Directories - October 11, 2024

Preserving Memories ~ The Mystery of Grandpa Webster's Property - January 23, 2025

Again, thank you for taking the time to read my posts!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

Preserving Memories ~ The Mystery of Grandpa Webster's Property

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 23:32:00 +0000

As I've mentioned previously, I've worked on a large family history project. I've scanned photos, slides, and negatives of various sizes that I inherited from my parents and my maternal grandparents. I have also scanned photos and negatives from my own collection. I'm not finished with this scanning project yet.

Part of my family history scanning project included scanning small black and white photos from a Kodak envelope. The writing on the outside of the envelope looks like my mom's handwriting. She wrote, "Pictures from the lot Dad had and Oswaldo Silva is the agent."

My mom's dad was Debs Warren Webster. Regular readers of my blog may remember that Debs and my mom were born in Brazil and immigrated to the United States of America in the summer of 1952, along with their family. I wrote a series of blog posts about their immigration trip, which can be found by clicking "The Debs Webster Immigration Story" tab at the top of my blog.

The Kodak envelope contains eleven photos with writing on the front and/or back of each photo. They were written in Portuguese. Unfortunately, I can't speak or read Portuguese so I turned to Google Translate for help. I won't share all eleven photos here.

I wish I knew the story behind these photos. Sadly I can't ask my mom about them because she passed away in October 2018. I'm thankful she wrote what she did on the Kodak envelope to give me a sense of what was happening in the photos.

From the photos, it looks like my grandfather, Debs Warren Webster, owned a piece of land (lot) in Brazil. I think the piece of property was in Brazil because the sign indicating my grandfather was the owner of this property is written in Portuguese, and my grandfather was born and lived in Brazil.

According to Google Translate, the writing on this photos says, "Sign on Site" and the sign says, "Property of D. Warren Webster, Attorney Dr. O.A.Silva," and I assume that is the telephone number at the bottom. Unfortunately, I don't know the specific location of this property.

Here are more photos from the Kodak envelope.

I believe the man wearing a tie was Oswaldo Silva, my grandfather's attorney (agent). I don't know who the other men were in this photo.

As you can see in these next few photos, it appears that my grandfather's lot was subsequently enclosed by a wall and a door was installed to access the property.

This looks like my grandfather's Attorney (agent), Oswaldo Silva in front of my grandfather's lot. The arrow is pointing to the "Property of D. Warren Webster" sign in this photo and in the next one.

Here is a photo of Oswaldo Silva in front of his 1950 Chevrolet. On the back of the photo Oswaldo wrote that his car was a dark green 1950 Chevrolet 4 door Fleetline, that he owned it for four years, and that it only had eighty-thousand kilometers on it.

I have questions about the circumstances surrounding these photos. When were these photos taken? And who took the photos? The information about Oswaldo's car is an interesting clue. The car was a 1950 Chevrolet that Oswaldo owned for four years. Did Oswaldo buy the car when it was new or later as a used car? Were these photos taken in 1954 or later? My grandfather and his family immigrated to the U.S.A. in the summer of 1952. Did my grandfather go back to Brazil in 1954 to help oversee the sale of his property? Or were these photos taken by Oswaldo Silva and sent to my grandfather at his new home in the United States? I know my grandparents visited Mexico in 1955 because I have their pictures from that trip. But, I am not aware of any trip they may have taken to Brazil in the 1950s. They did visit Brazil in 1986. And my grandfather visited Brazil in 1992 after my grandmother passed away.

In any case, this is an interesting find in my scanning project.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

Ancestor Relocation Information in US-City Directories

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Fri, 11 Oct 2024 23:51:00 +0000

In my previous blog post, I shared that death dates can be found in US-City Directories. I also said that I would write a blog post about another interesting and helpful item that can be found in US-City Directories. Today I'm going to tell you about that helpful item.

While indexing the record set, US-City Directories, 1902-1935 [Part I], at FamilySearch.org, I noticed that instead of a street address, the words "removed to" followed by a specific place were listed next to some people's names. "Removed to" next to a person's name means that they moved away from that particular city. In other words, if a person moved from Kalamazoo, Michigan that person may not have been excluded from the Kalamazoo City Directory. Instead, the city directory may include that person's name and the place to where that person moved. How cool is that?! So, if you've been wondering why you can't find an ancestor in the place you think they should be, a US-City Directory may be able help you find them.

Here is an example from the 1891 Seattle, Washington, US-City Directory.¹ James S. Adams is listed with an occupation as a printer who "removed to S F, Cal." (By the way, this is not my ancestor.)

I did a search for James S. Adams in San Francisco, California and found a James S. Adams in the 1891 City Directory for San Francisco California, living at 743 Pine.² His occupation was listed as a compositor. Wikipedia has several definitions of Compositor, one of which is the following: "Compositor may refer to: Compositor (typesetting), a person or machine which arranged movable type for printing."³

This James S. Adams, compositor, living in San Francisco, at 743 Pine in 1891 very well could be the same James S. Adams, printer, in the 1891 Seattle, Washington, City Directory, who removed to San Francisco, California.

US-City Directories are very valuable resources for family history research. Removals (where someone "removed to") are just one of many items listed in the Potential Content section of the FamilySearch Research Wiki article, United States Directories.

Have you been able to trace your ancestor using US-City Directories?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

1 U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, image 70 of 597, James S. Adams; image, “Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1891.”, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 October 2024).^↩
2 U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, image 101 of 1668, James S. Adams; image, “San Francisco, California, City Directory, 1891.”, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 October 2024).^↩
3 Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), “Typesetting,” rev. 20:27, 25 August 2024.^↩

Death Dates in US-City Directories

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 22:53:00 +0000

Last week I was doing some indexing at FamilySearch.org. One of the record sets I indexed was US-City Directories, 1902-1935 [Part I]. While indexing this record set, I noticed that some of the entries included the age of the person and a death date. Here is a screenshot of one of them.

Wow! I don't remember seeing this kind of vital event information in US-City Directories before during my personal family history research.

I looked up United States Directories in the FamilySearch Research Wiki and saw that death dates are included in the long list of potential content found in directories.¹ How awesome is that?!

These death dates should be taken as clues that can help us find the actual death record for an ancestor. While preparing this post, I did more research in US-City Directories and found another person with a death date and age next to their name.² (This is not one of my ancestors.)

Highlighted in this directory is a Bernard M. Desenberg (aged 74) who died on September 14, 1901. I did a search for his death certificate and found it in Ancestry.com. His death certificate listed his death date as September 27, 1901.³ So, yes, the death date listed in the US-City Directory is a helpful clue, but as you can see, his death day was incorrectly listed as 14 in the directory instead of 27.

I was curious about the source of the death information found in US-City Directories. And I found my answer at the Library of Congress website. I learned from their US-City Directories Research Guide that "City directories are compiled through door-to-door surveys...."⁴ Interesting! So, it's possible that whoever was providing information to the survey-taker that day gave the wrong day of death for Bernard M. Desenberg. But, they were correct about the month and year of Mr. Desenberg's death.

US-City Directories are fantastic resources. I found another interesting and helpful item that can be found in US-City Directories. I'll share more about that in an upcoming post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

1 FamilySearch Wiki (www.familysearch.org/wiki), “United States Directories,” rev. 03:29, 21 March 2024.^↩
2 U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, image 121 of 355, Bernard M. Desenberg; image, “Kalamazoo, Michigan, City Directory, 1902.”, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 September 2024). ^↩
3 U.S. City Directories, Library of Congress, (www.guides.loc.gov/united-states-city-telephone-directories/city-directories, accessed 4 September 2024).^↩
4 "Michigan, U.S., Death Records, 1867-1952," database with images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 September 2024); certificate image, Bernard M. Desenberg, 27 September 1901, no. 400; citing Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics; Lansing, Michigan.^↩

Preserving Memories ~ Disneyland in the Summer of 1955

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 22:07:00 +0000

Today I want to share some digitized images that were scanned from medium format negatives that belonged to my maternal grandparents, Debs and Willis (Quillin) Webster. They are photos of a trip they took to Disneyland in the summer of 1955. I have some printed photos from this trip that have an August 1955 date stamped on them. Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955.

My mom's mother, Sarah Vasques Madeira, died when my mom was almost four years old. Her father, Debs Webster, married Willis Quillin a couple years later in 1944. Willis was the only maternal grandmother I knew. And she was a wonderful grandma to my brothers and me. Although technically she was our step-grandma, she was lovingly referred to as grandma by us. So, that's how I will refer to her in this post.

My mom, her parents, her brothers, and grandmother immigrated to the United States from Brazil in the summer of 1952. They settled in the Los Angeles area, specifically Pomona. I think it's so awesome that my mom and her family went to Disneyland three years after their immigration to the USA. And it's awesome that they went to Disneyland shortly after it opened. I wish I knew if they were there on the day it opened or not. But, even if they didn't go on opening day, they were there soon after Disneyland opened, which is very cool. My mom turned seventeen years old on July 24, 1955. I wonder if they went to Disneyland for her birthday. I'm so glad they took photos of their time there.

It's also neat to see what Disneyland looked like in the summer of 1955.

Here they are on Main Street standing in front of the Wurlitzer Music Hall. My mom is the third from the right. She's standing next to her younger brother, Edwin (second from the right). Her other brother is seventh from the right. He's standing in front of my grandma (in the plaid skirt). My mom's grandmother, Helena Rohwedder Quillin, is the sweet lady holding her purse (sixth from the right). Apparently, the Wurlitzer Music Hall closed sometime in the late 1960s. Something else is there now.

Here's another photo in front of the Wurlitzer Music Hall. My grandma (in the plaid skirt) and her mom (my great-grandmother) are standing next to the man in the baseball cap.

And here's another photo of Main Street. My mom and some of her family were walking on the sidewalk close to the street. My mom is the one with her left arm up and a bow in her hair. Her two brothers are on her left and my grandma is on her right. It's pretty cool to see Main Street back then.

Here's my mom and her family walking along at Tomorrowland. My mom is second from the right in this photo. My grandma is on her right.

It's difficult to see my mom and her family in this photo but it's a pretty cool photo because it shows Autopia on the left. See that Richfield sign above all the people on the left? That was Autopia. I had to look up what Richfield was and learned that it sponsored Autopia back then. My mom and her family are facing away from the camera in this photo and are close to the TWA Moonliner. My mom had a bow in her hair.

Speaking of Autopia, here is a photo of my grandma in an Autopia car. She's in the light car on the left. Interestingly, there wasn't a center guide rail on the track like there is now. Wow!

Well, that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed going down memory lane with me as we visited Disneyland in the summer of 1955 with my mom and her family.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

Have You Tried The MyHeritage In Color™ Tool?

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 23:01:00 +0000

In 2020, MyHeritage announced their new MyHeritage In Color tool. In just a matter of seconds it can colorize black and white photos. I used this tool to colorize a black and white photo of my mom. She was eleven years old when this photo was taken.

Here is the black and white photo of my mom. By the way, I absolutely love this photo.

And here is the colorized photo.

MyHeritage's tool also includes an Enhance and a Repair feature. You can see those features in the photo at the top of this post. I decided to try the Repair feature on the colorized photo of my mom. Here it is.

I then decided to add the Enhance feature to my mom's photo and here is the result.

For some reason, the color of my mom's blouse became discolored in several areas. However, the Enhance feature did improve the photo by eliminating the pixelation in the original photo. The original photo is a rather small jpg file at 146 KB.

What do you think? Which version of these colorized photos do you prefer? Have you used the MyHeritage In Color tool? How did it work on your photos?

I really do like this tool and appreciate being able to colorize black and white photos. It's really fun to see this adorable photo of my mom in color. Thank you MyHeritage!

You can read more about this new tool at Colorize your black and white photos automatically with MyHeritage In Color™

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

My 12th Blogiversary

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 22:01:00 +0000

Oops! I missed my April 5th blogiversary again!

How has it already been twelve years since I began this blog on April 5, 2012? So much has happened since then.

Here are some things that have happened since I started this blog twelve years ago:

My husband and celebrated the marriages of our five children.
My husband and I now have eleven grandchildren and are expecting our twelfth grandchild this summer.
In 2016, my husband and I bought a new-construction home, put our old home on the market, sold it, found a rental home to live in while our new home was being built, moved to our rental home, and then moved to our new home in Spring 2017.
My sweet, beautiful mom, Elizabeth Webster Iverson, passed away in October 2018.
In April 2019 I went back to college online and in April 2022 I graduated from BYU-Idaho with two degrees: an Associate of Applied Science in Family History Research and a Bachelor of Science in Professional Studies.
I served as an Official Conference Blogger at the 2015 BYU Conference on Family History and Genealogy.
I served as a RootsTech Ambassador and Influencer.
I spoke at the Fresno County Genealogical Society's June 2016 General Meeting. My presentation was titled "Family History Blogs and Social Media."
My genealogy blog was mentioned and quoted in a FamilySearch Blog article on 9 January 2015.
I have been able to "meet" previously unknown cousins because of this blog and because I've put my family tree online.
I have learned more about my ancestors and have shared information about them here on my blog.
I have met wonderful fellow genealogy bloggers from around the world virtually and in person.
Recently, I have started working on a large family history scanning project that includes photos, slides, and negatives I've inherited from my parents and my maternal grandparents, as well as photos and negatives from my own collection.

THANK YOU

Thank you to my wonderful readers for taking the time to read my posts and for leaving comments over the years. I appreciate your support very much!

BLOGGING YEAR IN REVIEW

Here are my posts from the last year (since my last blogiversary).

A Favorite RootsTech 2023 Class Session - May 19, 2023

Going Down Memory Lane ~ My Storyworth Book - September 13, 2023

My Adorable Grandparents - March 11, 2024

Lillian Waterman's Obituary ~ I Have Questions - March 19, 2024

Again, thank you for taking the time to read my posts!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

Lillian Waterman's Obituary ~ I Have Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 21:37:00 +0000

MyHeritage recently introduced a new newspaper website called OldNews.com. The other day I did a search in OldNews.com for Homer C. Waterman, my maternal 2nd great-granduncle, and an obituary for his daughter, Lillian, was listed in the search results. I had never seen her obituary before. It contained some intriguing family history information.

I also found Lillian's obituary on the Library of Congress Chronicling America website. The digital image of her obituary from Chronicling America is what I am sharing today.

Here is Lillian's obituary, dated 29 January 1931, in the Morgan County (Ohio) Democrat newspaper¹:

Transcription of Lillian's obituary:

Miss Lillian Waterman Dies

Lillian Waterman, aged 77 years, mention of whose critical illness was made in this paper last week, passed away at the family home in East Bloom, Sunday evening. For several days preceding death, her condition had been very critical. She was a daughter of the late Dr. Homer C. Waterman and wife of Zanesville, and was born at Middleport, Ohio. For many years she and her brother-in-law Elmer E. Richardson and wife made their home together. The deceased for a number of years had been an invalid, and for the last three years had been blind. Notwithstanding her afflictions, she was bright and cheerful until the last. She was conscious of the fact that she was soon to be taken from this earth---a change which she expressed to those about her she cheerfully welcomed. Surviving are a brother, William Waterman of Rockwell City, Iowa, and a sister, Mrs. Ralph Ebert of Zanesville. Three sisters are deceased---Mary, who was the wife of Willis Helmick of Zanesville; Clara, who died in infancy, and Helen, wife of Elmer E. Richardson, who died last June. Miss Waterman was a good musician, and for some time was church organist at Mt. Zion. She was a member of the Universalist church.
Funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon at 2 o'clock, at the Wesley Chapel church, and interment was made in the church cemetery.

This obituary provides additional family history information and clues including the following:

Name of Deceased: Lillian Waterman

Age at Death: 77

Place of Death: Family home in East Bloom

Day and Date of Death: Sunday, 25 January 1931 (based on date of newspaper article and January 1931 calendar)

Father's Name: Dr. Homer C. Waterman

Lillian's Birthplace: Middleport, Ohio

Surviving Family Members Mentioned:

Brother: William Waterman of Rockwell City, Iowa (his location on January 29, 1931 can be added to his timeline)

Stepsister: Mrs. Ralph Ebert of Zanesville (Jennie Metcalf)

Deceased Family Members Mentioned:

Sister: Mary, wife of Willis Helmick of Zanesville

Sister: Clara, who died in infancy

Sister: Helen, wife of Elmer E. Richardson (Lillian lived with her and Elmer for many years)

Date of Helen (Waterman) Richardson's Death: June 1930

Lillian's Church Membership: Universalist Church

Date of Burial: Tuesday, 27 January 1931 (based on date of newspaper article and January 1931 calendar)

Place of Burial: Wesley Chapel Church Cemetery

There is so much helpful family history information in Lillian's obituary, including married names of her sisters, which is amazing! Here are some things I could do with the information provided in this obituary: order Lillian's death certificate, research Universalist Church records for any mention of Lillian or her family members, research cemetery records, research the lives and families of Lillian's brother and sisters. The obituary also stated that Lillian's illness was mentioned in the newspaper the previous week. I will be looking for that article to see if there is any additional helpful information.

My family history records already include information about Lillian's parents and her siblings, Helen, William, and Mary. But I did not know anything about her sister Clara, who died in infancy. In Lillian's obituary, another sister is mentioned as Mrs. Ralph Ebert. This was Lillian's stepsister, Jennie Metcalf. Lillian's mother, Sarah Rathburn, died in 1874.² Lillian's father, Homer, married Nancy (Kenison) Metcalf in 1877.³

I have questions about Lillian's sister, Clara, who died in infancy. Was she the daughter of Homer and his first wife, Sarah, or Homer and his second wife, Nancy? Where was Clara born? Where and when did she die? What was her cause of death? In what cemetery was she interred? I have done some research to find Clara on Ancestry, FamilySearch, Find a Grave, and BillionGraves, but haven't found her yet. I will continue my research efforts to find Clara.

Obituaries and newspaper research in general are valuable family history resources. What family history discoveries have you found through your newspaper and obituary research?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

1 Library of Congress, "Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, database with images, Morgan County Democrat (McConnelsville, Ohio) (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87075008/1931-01-29/ed-1/seq-1/ : accessed 19 March 2024), "Miss Lillian Waterman Dies," obituary, 29 January 1931, p. 1, col. 2, image provided by Ohio History Connection, Columbus, Ohio.^↩
2 "Ohio, U.S., Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center Obituary Index, 1810s-2016," database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/ : accessed 18 March 2024); Mrs. Sarah A. Waterman, citing Gallipolis Bulletin, 25 February 1874, p. 3, col. 1, Bossard Library (Gallipolis).^↩
3 "Ohio Marriages, 1800-1958," database, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XDK4-82Q : accessed 14 March 2017); H. C. Waterman and Nannie Metcalf, 16 September 1877.^↩

Preserving Memories ~ My Adorable Grandparents

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 02:01:00 +0000

For several months I've been working on a large family history project. I've been scanning photos, slides, and negatives of various sizes that I inherited from my parents and my maternal grandparents. I've also been scanning photos and negatives from my own collection.

I finished scanning all of my parents' and grandparents' slides and have lately been focused on scanning photos and negatives.

Some of the images I've scanned from my parents' and maternal grandparents' collections have been new-to-me images. In other words, I don't remember seeing them before. So that has been fun!

Today I'm sharing a new-to-me image of my maternal grandparents, Debs Warren Webster and his second wife, Willis Quillin Webster. I remember Willis very well. She married my grandfather when my mom was a little girl. Debs' first wife, Sarah Vasques Madeira (my mom's mother), passed away when my mom was almost four years old.

This adorable photo of my maternal grandparents was scanned from a medium format negative. It looks like Debs and Willis were on a trip.

The negative envelope did not provide a location for my grandparents trip, but there's a hint on the chalkboard on the building in this photo. The word Crannell is written on the chalkboard. And Crannell is also on the side of the building behind my grandfather, and it's in the sign above the chalkboard. I did a Google search for Crannell and it's a "former settlement in Humboldt County, California" and used to be a "company town for sawmill workers of the Little River Redwood Company."¹

I'm not sure what kind of building this was, but I think it may have been a store. On the side of the building behind my grandfather, I think the word Store is under the word Crannell, but Store is partially hidden by my grandfather. What do you think?

Check out that old phone booth near the entrance of the building and check out my grandparents car! So awesome! I'm not an expert in vintage cars, so I did a Google image search for the car and it looks like it was a Renault Dauphine.

I just love this photo of my grandparents! It looks like it could have been an advertisement in a travel brochure.

I'll share more photos from my scanning project in future posts.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

1 Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), "Crannell, California," rev. 18:33, 29 November 2023. ^↩

Going Down Memory Lane ~ My Storyworth Book

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 21:10:00 +0000

On Mother's Day 2022 my children and their spouses gave me a one-year gift subscription to Storyworth. Storyworth is a service that provides a way for people to write stories from their lives each week and then have these stories printed in a book.

Each week Storyworth sent an email to me with a question about my life. I could either answer that question or choose another question to answer. Storyworth included a list of question options on their website. For more question ideas I also turned to FamilySearch's Blog Post, 52 Questions in 52 Weeks: Writing about Your Life Has Never Been Easier. The way I did it was that before the questions were sent to me each week, I chose or even wrote a question that I wanted to answer that week.

My gift subscription includes a free black and white bound book with my weekly questions and answers about my life. A full-color option is also available, which is the route I'm choosing. The full-color option is not free, though, but will be discounted using the gift subscription.

My free gift subscription officially ended on June 6, 2023, but I had a 3-month grace period to finish up, which ended on September 6, 2023. I am in the final process of reviewing my book and will order it soon.

During the weekly question period of my gift subscription, I spent a lot of time going through mementos, my diaries and journals, my parents' diaries and journals, photos, letters, cards, etc. to answer my weekly questions. This was a labor of love and although it took a lot of time and effort, it was actually a lot of fun to look through my mementos, diaries, etc. It was also fun reminiscing with my brothers about our lives when we were growing up. I definitely went down memory lane during the time I was writing my life stories. And that phrase is how I closed each week's story: "Thanks for going down memory lane with me!"

I wanted to make my life stories fun and interesting, so I included lots of photos, diary entries, etc. My Storyworth book ended up being two volumes. I will need to pay full price for the second volume, but that's okay.

I hope that my descendants enjoy learning about me and my life from the pages of my Storyworth two-volume book.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana Last

A Favorite RootsTech 2023 Class Session

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Fri, 19 May 2023 20:39:00 +0000

One of my favorite RootsTech 2023 class sessions was "How to Milk a Source for All It's Worth" by Amy Johnson Crow. It was an excellent class. I highly recommend this class whether you are a beginning, intermediate, or advanced family history researcher.

The description for this class is as follows: "If you’re finding a record, pulling out a fact, and then moving on to your next search, you’re probably leaving valuable clues behind. See how to get everything you can out of each source that you use."

In her class, Amy Johnson Crow pointed out that a source can help us with our immediate research and it has the potential to help us with ideas for other sources to research.

Using examples, Amy demonstrated how to get all the information we can from a source.

To view Amy's excellent class, click on the following link ~ How to Milk a Source for All It's Worth

RootsTech.org has provided great year-round learning opportunities on their website. In addition to Amy Johnson Crow's wonderful class, RootsTech has class sessions from multiple speakers, subjects, and RootsTech years available on the Video Library tab of their website. Here's the link to the RootsTech Video Library ~ RootsTech Video Library

You can also search the full video library using search filters such as Speaker, Year, and Content Type. To search the On-Demand Video Library, click the following link ~ RootsTech On-Demand Video Library

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

My 11th Blogiversary

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 21:38:00 +0000

Oops! I missed my blogiversary again. Ugh! My eleventh blogiversary was actually on April 5th. Wow! It's hard to believe it's already been eleven years since I began this blog.

THANK YOU

Thank you to my wonderful readers for taking the time to read my posts and for leaving comments over the years. I appreciate your support very much!

BLOGGING YEAR IN REVIEW

Here are my posts from the last year (since my last blogiversary).

I Did It! I'm a College Graduate! - May 9, 2022

My AncestryDNA Ethnicity Inheritance Results - July 13, 2022

RootsTech 2023 Influencer - November 1, 2022

Fun With the New MyHeritage AI Time Machine - November 19, 2022

Enter to Win a Free In Person 3-Day Pass to RootsTech 2023 - January 9, 2023

RootsTech 2023 Keynote Speaker ~ Jordin Sparks - January 20, 2023

And the Winner of the RootsTech 2023 3-day Pass is... - January 23, 2023

RootsTech 2023 Early Bird Price Ending Soon - January 27, 2023

How to Create Your RootsTech 2023 Virtual Class Schedule - February 3, 2023

RootsTech 2023 Keynote Speaker ~ Me Ra Koh - February 18, 2023

RootsTech 2023 Keynote Speaker ~ Sean Astin - February 22, 2023

Exploring the RootsTech 2023 App - Part 1 - February 24, 2023

Exploring the RootsTech 2023 App - Part 2 - February 24, 2023

My RootsTech 2023 Recap ~ Thursday - March 10, 2023

My RootsTech 2023 Recap ~ Friday - March 14, 2023

My RootsTech 2023 Recap ~ Saturday - March 15, 2023

Again, thank you for taking the time to read my posts!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

My RootsTech 2023 Recap ~ Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 02:54:00 +0000

Welcome to my RootsTech 2023 recap for Saturday, March 4, 2023. If you missed my RootsTech recaps for Thursday, March 2, 2023 and Friday, March 3, 2023, you can read them by clicking on these links: THURSDAY and FRIDAY. As I mentioned in my previous recap, I attended RootsTech 2023 virtually.

Saturday, March 4, 2023

My first class session on Saturday morning was "Expanding Your Family Tree with SideView and More AncestryDNA Innovations" presented by Crista Cowan. It was a great class! During her class she said, "So one of the things that I love about DNA is that when somebody shows up on your match list...I know that I'm related to those people. It's just a matter of figuring out how and then making that connection." She also said, "...I've learned that DNA is a little bit like learning a foreign language and the best way to learn it is by immersion."

Crista shared that AncestryDNA is "the largest consumer DNA network in the world" with "23 million people who have taken the AncestryDNA test." She also explained, "Why is bigger better in this case? Because there is more opportunity for discovery." I am one of those 23 million people who have taken an AncestryDNA test. My mom did too before she passed away. I wish my dad had the opportunity to have taken an AncestryDNA test too, but he passed away in 2009 and AncestryDNA launched in 2012.

Crista spoke about two new features on AncestryDNA: SideView and DNA Compare. Using ethnicity inheritance estimates, SideView splits your DNA inheritance into two parts: Parent 1 and Parent 2. Then we have to decide who Parent 1 and Parent 2 is. For instance, here is my SideView on AncestryDNA.

It was pretty easy to determine my maternal and paternal sides because I already knew my dad was Swedish and Norwegian and my mom was from Brazil and had Portuguese ancestry.

DNA Compare can be accessed at the bottom of your Ethnicity Estimate. Crista explained that when you click on the "Compare my DNA" button, "it's going to bring up a list of your DNA matches and allow you to compare them with other people." Crista said, "it's automatically going to pull in your two closest matches." I tried this new feature, and it brought in my two closest matches which were my mom and one of my brothers. As you can see, you can add more people to your comparison. You can also change from comparing ethnicity estimates to DNA communities at the top of the page.

This class is available to watch on RootsTech.org at the following link: Expanding Your Family Tree with SideView and More AncestryDNA Innovations.

Next up for me was watching General Session 3 featuring Sean Astin as the keynote speaker. Yes! That Sean Astin who played Samwise Gamgee in Lord of the Rings! Yay!

It was such a great keynote address. The amazing emcee, Kirby Heyborne, introduced Sean Astin as "the nicest man on the planet." It was so wonderful to listen to Sean Astin on the RootsTech main stage. Regarding four of Kirby Heyborne's favorite Sean Astin movies, Kirby asked Sean Astin to tell him "one word, what they meant to [him]...what [he] learned, who [he] became because of that." And this was Sean's answer: Mikey from Goonies - Hope; Rudy - Grit; Samwise Gamgee - Home; and Bob from Stranger Things - Decent.

Paraphrasing, Sean Astin also shared that six of his eight great-grandparents immigrated from Ireland. And that the immigrant experience lives in his family. Sean also shared that one of his daughters, Ali, "about six or seven years ago discovered genealogy." She has traveled to relatives to do family history research. Amazing! Sean said he had sent Ali a text asking her why she loves genealogy. She wrote, "It's the way to learn about the ancestors that live on through me. We are the key to our ancestors' eternal life and through my children in a way I'll live forever so it's important to honor them." Wow! That is amazing! She continued, "I think we all repeat certain generational patterns and learning from my ancestry is the biggest cheat sheet to solving life's greatest problems."

After Sean Astin left the stage, a surprise guest appeared on stage, but first there was a touching video of her learning about her ancestry. That surprise guest was singer and actress, Adassa. You may recognize her as the voice of Dolores in the movie, Encanto. She treated the audience to her amazing vocal talent.

To hear Adassa's amazing singing voice and Sean Astin's keynote address, you can watch the General Session 3 at RootsTech.org at the following link: General Session 3 with Sean Astin.

The next class session I watched was Judy Russell's "Follow the Money! Records of the Record Makers." It was an excellent class! Her class description is as follows: "Researching the lives of our ancestors takes us through a wide variety of census, land, tax, court, probate and related records. But conducting reasonably exhaustive research--the kind best designed to produce the results we need--means we not only have to find the records; we need to find the record-makers. By following the money trail to the doctors, lawyers, preachers, teachers, bankers, merchants and others in their communities who made and kept records may well lead us to details they recorded that no-one else did."

She recounted how the death information for her third great-grandfather was discovered in a diary of someone not related to her family. Regarding this discovery, she said, "There, in this diary, in this record kept by this record-maker is what I couldn't find anywhere else." That is amazing! So who are the record makers? She answered that question. They include doctors, nurses, midwives, lawyers, bankers, merchants, union leaders, business associations, schoolteachers, and more. She provided so much more information in her excellent class session. I highly recommend watching it at the following link: Follow the Money! Records of the Record Makers.

My last class session on Saturday was "Shared DNA Matches - the only DNA Tool You will Ever Need" presented by Diahan Southard." She shared the following statement: "You can find the ancestor that you are looking for using your DNA and one tool that's available at every DNA testing company." To watch this wonderful DNA class, click on the following link: Shared DNA Matches - the only DNA Tool You will Ever Need.

RootsTech 2023 was so informative and fun! I highly recommend watching and even rewatching the class sessions and the keynote addresses at RootsTech.org.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

My RootsTech 2023 Recap ~ Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 22:49:00 +0000

Welcome to my RootsTech 2023 recap for Friday, March 3, 2023. If you missed my RootsTech recap for Thursday, March 2, 2023, you can read it by clicking HERE. As I mentioned in my previous recap, I attended RootsTech 2023 virtually.

Friday, March 3, 2023

My first class session on Friday morning was Lisa Louise Cooke's "Reconstruct Your Ancestor's Lives with Google." It was a fantastic class! One of the things Lisa talked about was using Google Earth Pro to create a family history tour of our ancestors' lives. I really need to give that a try! She also shared that Google Earth Pro is now free and that it used to cost around $40. Wow! I highly recommend watching this class. It's available on the RootsTech website at the following link: Reconstruct Your Ancestor's Lives with Google.

Next up I watched the General Session featuring Me Ra Koh. She shared her inspirational story of her life. She is a famed professional portrait photographer who taught herself how to take photos. That's incredible!

She said that she didn't find photography, it came and found her (paraphrased). After she finished her presentation, we all got to experience the incredible moment when Tamra Stansfield of FamilySearch presented Me Ra with her family history, including 32 generations of her Korean genealogy.

Me Ra said, "This is amazing." Among other responses to this incredible moment, Me Ra also said thank you and that she was stunned. It really was wonderful to witness Me Ra Koh receiving her genealogy. If you missed Me Ra Koh's keynote address, you can still watch it on RootsTech.org at the following link: General Session 2

My next class session was "The Anatomy of a Story" by Crista Cowan. Of course, she was fantastic, as usual! She gave us the following (paraphrased) advice called Homework for Life: At the end of each day, write a couple words or a sentence about what happened that day. This is such great advice/homework. She also said that one of the first things she wanted to teach us about being a good storyteller is that we need to capture the information when we can because memories are faulty.

Crista also said "The greatest storytellers are those who listen to other people's stories." There is so much more that she shared in her class. It was a great class and I highly recommend it. You can still view it on the RootsTech website by clicking on the following link: The Anatomy of a Story

The last class that I watched on Friday was "How to Milk a Source for all It's Worth" by Amy Jonson Crow. This was an absolutely amazing class that was chock full of very helpful information. She said, "...it's a good skill to have to be able to take whatever source we find, whatever source we are using and really be able to pull out all of the information that we can which will also not only help our immediate research but can also give us some wonderful ideas of other places we can look for even more sources." She also said, "We don't want to overlook any clues that are in a record." I highly recommend this class whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced family history researcher. To view this class on the RootsTech website, click on the following link: How to Milk a Source for all It's Worth.

Well, that's it for this RootsTech recap. I'll share more about my RootsTech 2023 experience in my next RootsTech Recap post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

My RootsTech 2023 Recap ~ Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 06:32:00 +0000

Welcome to my RootsTech 2023 recap for Thursday, March 2, 2023. I attended RootsTech virtually this year. Many of my genealogy friends attended in-person and from their social media posts it looks like they had a lot of fun at RootsTech, which is awesome! From my experience attending RootsTech in-person in the past, there really is a feeling of energy and excitement at RootsTech when attending in-person.

Before RootsTech began I looked through the class sessions that would be available for us virtual attendees and then created my Show Planner, or as it is called on the RootsTech website, My Playlist. The RootsTech app refers to my playlist as My Show Planner.

During RootsTech I shared my posts about RootsTech on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram instead of here on my blog. So now I will be sharing my experience attending RootsTech virtually here on my blog. I'll be sharing three recaps, one for each day of RootsTech 2023.

Thursday, March 2, 2023

My first class session on Thursday morning was "What's New at FamilySearch in 2023" presented by Craig Miller. Some of the things I learned from that class were these amazing statistics about FamilySearch: There are 1.47 billion persons in the FamilySearch Family Tree, 2.6 billion total sources, 83 million total memories, 8.9 billion searchable names in records, 4.6 billion historical record images, and 1 billion new record images published in 2022. Wow! One of the sneak peaks for the future that intrigued me is the "Shared Family Trees" feature that will be within Family Groups. With this new feature, we will be able to work on our family tree collaboratively with others in our Family Group. To learn more about this upcoming feature, and more from this class, click HERE.

Next up for me was the General Session which included the very talented Jordin Sparks. She said that her family helped her keep her feet on the ground and her head screwed on straight. And that her family brings her back to center. And can I just say how amazing her voice is! Wow! What a treat to hear her sing at RootsTech!

Can I also say a word about the wonderful emcee for the RootsTech General Sessions? His name is Kirby Heyborne and he was such a great emcee! He was so fun and did a fantastic job. To learn more about him, click HERE.

The next class session I watched was "1950 Census Secrets" by Lisa Louise Cooke. Unfortunately, inclement weather where she lives caused a power outage and her class was cancelled part way through. But one thing I learned from her abbreviated class is that Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, and the NARA each have a different version of the 1950 census index. That's quite helpful because if we can't find our ancestor in one of these indexes, we should search the other indexes.

I also watched the Innovation and Tech Forum 2023, or at least part of it. One of the company's presenting in this forum was MyHeritage. Maya Lerner from MyHeritage spoke about their new AI Time Machine. I've tried this feature and it is very fun. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI), MyHeritage creates "imaginary images of a person, as he or she may have looked in different periods throughout history." Here is one of my 1950s Chic photos using MyHeritage's AI Time Machine. If you'd like to give the AI Time Machine a try, click HERE.

My next class session was "What's New at Ancestry in 2023" presented by Crista Cowan. She did a fantastic job with her presentation. One thing Crista pointed out was the comparison of time it took Ancestry to index the 1940 census versus the 1950 census. It took nine months to index the 1940 census and only took nine days to index the 1950 census using AI and handwriting recognition technology. Wow! A new feature on Ancestry is group messaging in the message center. Another new feature in the message center is the ability to archive messages. An upcoming feature on Ancestry is Info Request. So watch for that. A new and exciting feature is called Storymaker Studio. This feature is included in the Ancestry App. Storymaker Studio will allow us to "enhance photos," "capture audio," and "craft and share stories." To learn more about this new feature, click HERE.

My last class session of the day was "An Overview of Recent MyHeritage Photo Feature Releases" presented by Tal Erlichman. The AI Time Machine was discussed, which I already shared information about here in this post. Another feature that was discussed is the list view option for viewing photos uploaded on MyHeritage. Here is a screenshot of some of my photos on MyHeritage using the list view option. The red arrow is pointing to the list view icon. The icon next to list view is grid view.

With the list view, I am able to easily see which photos need place and date information, as well as which people havn't been tagged in my photos. There's also a filter option to view the photos in my list.

Another feature that was discussed is called Photo Tagger. This feature helps with tagging our photos. Rather than manually tagging the people in our uploaded photos, Photo Tagger tags them for us. It sounds like this will be done based on who we've already tagged in our photos. It also appears that we will be able to review tagging suggestions as well. I don't have this Photo Tagger feature yet.

An exciting upcoming MyHeritage feature is called Photo Dater. Using AI, this feature will be able to estimate the year a photo was taken. I am looking forward to trying this feature, which was announced to be coming in a few weeks.

Well, that's it for this RootsTech recap. I'll share more about my RootsTech 2023 experience in my next RootsTech Recap post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

Exploring the RootsTech 2023 App - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 23:40:00 +0000

Welcome to Part 2 of Exploring the RootsTech 2023 App! I thought I'd go ahead and show the app's homepage again for those who missed Part 1.

If you haven't read Part 1, you can see what else you've missed by clicking HERE.

Next up in our exploration of the RootsTech 2023 app is a look at the Expo Hall. Clicking on "Expo Hall" takes us to the Expo Hall map.

This map is zoomable and interactive. Here's a screenshot of a zoomed-in portion of the Expo Hall map.

By clicking on one of the exhibitors on the map, you can learn about the exhibitor and can add them to your Show Planner.

You can also see where they are located in the Expo Hall and can mark the exhibitor as having been visited.

Here's the screenshot with the app showing the location of the exhibitor in the Expo Hall.

Once you've added exhibitors to your Show Planner, they will appear in blue on the Expo Hall map.

Next up is the RootsTech.org tile on the homepage. This tile takes you to RootsTech's website.

The app's homepage also includes a Relatives at RootsTech tile, which is a pretty cool feature. Relatives at RootsTech provides a way for you to find relatives attending RootsTech 2023. When you click this tile, you will see this screen.

Click on "Relatives at RootsTech" and you will be taken to this screen.

Sign in to your FamilySearch account or create a new one. Once you do this, you will see a screen that shows how many relatives have joined.

So far, I have 9,116 relatives who have joined. Be sure to click on View Relatives to see how you're related. You can search by location, ancestor, and family line. You can also search by attendees. And you can turn on the map feature to see a general idea of where your relatives live.

You also have the opportunity to see how you are related to your relatives, message your relatives, and add them to your contact list.

Also, don't forget to scroll down below the "View Relatives" tile on the Relatives at RootsTech screen to view more interesting information such as how many people with your last name have joined, total participants, a map showing the hometowns of relatives at RootsTech, and even a way to share Relatives at RootsTech with your friends on social media to see if you're related to them.

Relatives at RootsTech ends March 31, 2023. So don't wait to try this fun feature.

The last app tile I'm going to share with you is the "Restaurants Nearby" tile. Clicking on this tile provides you with a map showing restaurants near the Salt Palace Convention Center, which is where RootsTech 2023 will be taking place. You can also view restaurant options in a list view.

If you haven't registered for RootsTech 2023 yet, there's still time. To register for RootsTech 2023, click HERE. Virtual attendance is FREE and in-person attendance is currently $98.

If you haven't downloaded the RootsTech 2023 Mobile App yet, here are the links to the app:

RootsTech 2023 Mobile App in Google Play Store

RootsTech 2023 Mobile App in Apple App Store

Thanks for reading!

Jana

Exploring the RootsTech 2023 App - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 19:09:00 +0000

RootsTech 2023 is right around the corner. In fact, it begins next week on Thursday, March 2, 2023. Are you attending RootsTech? I am attending virtually this year. If you haven't registered yet, there's still time. To register for RootsTech 2023, click HERE. Virtual attendance is FREE and in-person attendance is currently $98.

Did you know that RootsTech has an app? Yep, it does. I have downloaded the RootsTech 2023 mobile app and have been exploring it lately.

Today I'm going to give you a tour of the RootsTech 2023 app. Here is a screenshot of the app's homepage.

As you can see, the app has tiles titled My Show Planner, Classes, Speakers, Expo Map, Exhibitors, RootsTech.org, Relatives at RootsTech, Restaurants Nearby, and Notifications. I'll show you what you'll find after clicking on these different tiles. But first, I'd like to point out that you can access some of these by clicking on the menu icon (three horizontal lines) at the top left and by clicking on the icons at the bottom of the homepage.

I clicked on the menu icon and this menu list appeared.

Clicking on "My Show Planner" brings me to this screen with the following list: Exhibitors, Calendar, Show Features, Products, and On-Site Photos.

Each of the items on this list are clickable live links. The Calendar shows you the events that you've added to your Show Planner. Here's my Calendar so far.

I added an Exhibitor on my Show Planner and this is what it looks like when I clicked on "Exhibitor."

Now I'll show you how to add items to your Show Planner.

To add Classes, click on "Classes." This is what you'll see.

You can scroll through the list of classes or search for them by Speakers, Date, Type, or Booth Demos. This is what you'll see when you click on "Type."

I added a class in the "Live Webinar" category.

After finding a class I simply clicked on the blue "Add to My Show Planner" tile.

If I change my mind, I can removed the class from my Show Planner by clicking on the blue "Remove from My Show Planner" tile.

Because I added the class to my Show Planner, it now shows up in my Calendar.

The same process is used to add Exhibitors to your Show Planner as well.

To remove an Exhibitor from your Show Planner, simply click on the blue "Saved to My Show Planner" tile. It will toggle back to the blue "Add to My Show Planner" tile.

There is more to explore in the RootsTech 2023 app, but this post is getting long. So, I'll share more about the app in Part 2.

If you haven't downloaded the RootsTech 2023 Mobile App yet, here are the links to the app:

RootsTech 2023 Mobile App in Google Play Store

RootsTech 2023 Mobile App in Apple App Store

Thanks for reading!

Jana

RootsTech 2023 Keynote Speaker ~ Sean Astin

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 05:22:00 +0000

Have you heard the exciting news? Sean Astin will be a keynote speaker at RoostTech 2023! Yep, that Sean Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I love those movies! Sean Astin is a successful actor who has played various roles in film and TV.

Sean Astin will be the RootsTech 2023 keynote speaker on Saturday, March 4, 2023 at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

If you haven't registered for RootsTech 2023 yet, there's still time. Here's the link to register: Register for RootsTech 2023.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

RootsTech 2023 Keynote Speaker ~ Me Ra Koh

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Sat, 18 Feb 2023 19:01:00 +0000

It has been announced that Me Ra Koh will be a keynote speaker at RootsTech 2023. Me Ra is a famed portrait photographer and will be the keynote speaker on Friday, March 3.

As stated in the FamilySearch news release, "Koh rose from humble beginnings, including physical and emotional challenges, to become a famed photographer featured on Oprah, Live with Kelly & Ryan, and other popular television shows, sought after photography expert, best-selling author, Disney Channel host, and one of the first two women photographers to be Sony-sponsored. Her family portraiture work has been featured in galleries in London, New York, and Los Angeles, and published in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Martha Stewart, Parenting, and Women’s World."

"She is also a sought-after motivational speaker whose inspiring story weaves in and out of personal tragedy, homelessness, and a period in a psychiatric hospital to a successful life as a wife of 25 years, a mother of two young adults, and the co-owner with her husband Brian Tausend of the renowned FIORIA portrait studio in Frisco, Texas, whose sole purpose, she says, is to celebrate people's resilience."

To learn more about Me Ra Koh, click on this link: Fioria.us.

If you haven't registered for RootsTech 2023 yet, there's still time. Here's the link to register: Register for RootsTech 2023.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

How to Create Your RootsTech 2023 Virtual Class Schedule

noreply@blogger.com (Jana Iverson Last) — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 23:39:00 +0000

RootsTech 2023 is less than three weeks away. I am attending virtually this year and have begun to create my virtual class schedule.

Today I'd like to show you how to create your own virtual class schedule.

First, go to RootsTech.org and sign in to your RootsTech account. Then click on the RootsTech 2023 tab at the top of the page. On the dropdown list, select Calendar.

You will be taken to The 2023 Calendar page that contains a list of classes.

To learn about a class, click on the class tile and it will expand, as you can see in the screenshot above. To select a class, simply click on the plus sign for that class. If you change your mind and want to delete that class, click on the "X" in the pink circle.

You can select classes based on the day and then by Main Stage and Sessions.

To view your class schedule, click on the triangle at the top of the page.

And there it is. Your playlist, or class schedule, will be listed in this page. As you can see, I only have a few classes listed. I'm not finished adding classes to my schedule yet.

If you haven't registered for RootsTech 2023, there's still time to do so. The price for attending RootsTech 2023 in-person is still $98. That's the early bird price. Virtual attendance at RootsTech 2023 is free. To register to attend RootsTech 2023 in-person or virtually, click HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana