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Letter to Franciscan Missionary Sisters regarding Resta Reeves Finch, 1947
I enjoyed doing my last Amanuensis Monday post so much, I think I’ll make it a regular feature of the blog. Today’s transcription is part of a mystery I’m trying to solve. It involves my great-grandmother on my father’s side, Resta (Reeves) Finch, wife of Chester Finch. This document popped up in my Ancestry hints about two years ago, and it immediately brought up several questions.
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Research Plan – September 2018
Happy September! I’m now in my final semester at library school, which means I need to write/complete a portfolio as well as finish my last class. I may not get a whole lot of time to actually DO genealogy, but I’m going to try to accomplish a few things each month anyway.
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Merrill David Johnsen and Jennie’s wedding day, 1946
Today’s GeneaBloggers Tribe daily prompt is: “Wedding Wednesday – display those old wedding photos or scan wedding invitations and announcements, suggested by Carol of Reflections from the Fence.” I love old wedding photos! Unfortunately, I don’t (yet) have a huge collection of them, though I do have some wedding announcements and anniversary photos which I’ll probably post on other Wednesdays. For this one, though, I’m featuring my 2nd great uncle Merrill Johnsen and his wife Jennie [maiden name currently unknown].
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Obituary for Ira Dyson Briner, 1935
In an effort to write more regularly for this blog, I decided to go through the awesome list of daily prompts at the GeneaBloggers Tribe website. The prompt I picked for today is: “Amanuensis Monday – this daily prompt, developed by John Newmark at Transylvanian Dutch, encourages bloggers to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. (An amanuensis is someone employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.).” I actually really enjoy transcribing data, especially if it’s something unique like a family document. For today’s post, I decided to transcribe an obituary I found in my grandmother’s family photo collection. There…
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How I use Google Maps for genealogy research
My grandparents, John Briner and Nancy Vespa Briner, were traveling ministers in the early years of their marriage. They spent a good chunk of the 50’s and 60’s traveling up and down the east coast, hosting revivals and church meetings. Luckily, these church visits were often heavily publicized, and I’ve found lots of advertisements in newspapers and church newsletters detailing their visits.
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How I organize my genealogy research
I use Google Drive (+ related apps) for the majority of my research. This has developed over the course of three or so years, after trying several different on- and offline tools and systems. Digital tools are great for several reasons: digital documents take up less space, I can search by keyword for specific people/places/dates, I can take it with me everywhere I go– even places with no wifi!, and I can share documents/research notes with fellow historians, if need be. Also, it’s all FREE! This post will be a quick overview of my Google Drive research system. I’ll do more in-depth posts for specific digital tools I use, such…
