Roots & Branches

No I am not making a typo.  Thanks to About.com Genealogy, Kimberly Powell and her staff have put together information to help us with some of the new technology.  One of the new sites that they focused on was TPSTRY (http://tpstry.com). 

This new exciting site is an addictive new family website that focuses on helping users reach out to their families to share memories and combine them to a centralized family history.  You get the page started and capture your family’s undocumented family memories and stories.  Great questions like has your grandmother ever ridden a bike or is anyone is your family famous in any way.  This is a new and different take on the family history. 

So often we concentrate on the relatives that have passed on.  Here you concentrate more on the living relatives and everyone joins in to tell an in-depth portrait.  Imagine how much fun it will be to share with your kids or nieces and nephews the story of Grandpa working on the local dam or Aunt Joan writing a book and having it published. 

From what I can tell the person that starts the site will be the administrator.  You will be able to edit anything that is added and can manage the entries.   I like this feature so that for my site I can monitor if someone is say having a conflict and they try to enter negative entries. I like keeping things positive, so for me this will be a nice tool. 

Taken from the website:

As we, the Tpstry founders, got older, we began to realize that we wanted to know more about many of our relatives who had already passed away. We wanted to know what they were like as kids, who were there favorite entertainers, what jobs had they worked at. Unfortunately we couldn’t talk directly to them, but we could talk to our other living relatives who knew them. By using the combined knowledge of our living relatives, we could learn so much more about our deceased relatives. Since we had already missed our chance with our deceased relatives, we didn’t want to miss our chance with our living relatives. So we could ask them the same questions and learn even more about everyone in our family.

Thus, Tpstry was born as a place to discover and share not only past family memories, but also the new memories made everyday.

For those that are looking for a new way to keep family together, this just might be the tool.  Take time to check it out.  I think you will be surprised. 

Best of Luck!

The Sweetwater County Library System provides many subscriptions to an array of databases for your use. Be sure to check out our website at http://www.sweetwaterlibraries.com/.

One of my personal favorite databases is Heritage Quest.  I use this site for work as well as personal use. The best feature is that this site can be accessed from home with the use of your library card and PIN number. If you have never used this wonderful took, take a bit of time and check in out.  I have no doubt you will love it as much as I do. 

What is HeritageQuest Online?

ProQuest Information and Learning’s HeritageQuest Online provides libraries with a unique, growing collection of research materials for tracing family history and American culture. Beginning or professional genealogists can now use this powerful online library, with original page images for all documents, from the convenience of their home or at the library. Indexes and original page images mean no additional trips, inter-library loan requests or work by researchers or staff.

HeritageQuest Online is the marriage of ProQuest’s Genealogy & Local History Online, a collection of over 22,000 family and local histories, and content from HeritageQuest^®, the largest genealogical data, products, supplies and equipment provider to consumers and institutions in the United States. In August 2001, ProQuest acquired HeritageQuest. Founded in 1983, HeritageQuest has been in business for over 20 years and brings a wealth of genealogy data to ProQuest.

HeritageQuest Online is designed specifically for patrons in public libraries who are either just beginning their family research or who after years of work are still uncovering their past. With over 22,000 books currently available, the entire U.S. Federal Census, PERSI™, Freedman’s Bank Records, Revolutionary War Pension Records, and other expanding collections, HeritageQuest Online gives any library the opportunity to tap into one of the largest collections of genealogy material in the country.

Content

HeritageQuest Online includes the following content:

1. ProQuest’s Genealogy & Local History Collection of 22,000+ family and local history books, every word searchable. Every page of each book is presented and can be easily downloaded or copied. Few genealogical collections in the country have this many titles. Now even the smallest library can instantly begin to offer the information power of a large research library.

These titles have been digitized from ProQuest’s microfiche collection, Genealogy & Local History, which assembles genealogies, local histories and primary source materials from all 50 states and Canada. Titles were obtained from libraries nationwide including the American Antiquarian Society, the California State Library – Sutro, Detroit Public Library, The Newberry Library, The New York Public Library, the University of Illinois at Urbana, the Harvard University Widener Library, and others.

1. U.S. Federal Census, 1790-1930. The page images for the entire census, 1790-1930, are included in HeritageQuest Online. Many corresponding name indexes are also available. These are completely new indexes created by ProQuest. In addition to the ability to search by name, our census records can be searched by place of birth, age, ethnicity and other variables making this the most versatile census searching available online. Researchers can quickly see all African-Americans or all persons born in Ireland living in a state or county.
2. PERSI™ – The PERiodical Source Index is a comprehensive subject index covering more than 6,600 genealogy and local history periodicals written in English and French (Canada) since 1800. PERSI™ provides the researcher the ability to search on surnames, locations, and methodologies as well as the ability to browse the journals by title and keyword. There are more than 2 million article citations currently available, with updates occurring annually. PERSI™ is produced in cooperation with the Allen County Public Library Foundation. For more information, read About PERSI.
3. Freedman’s Bank Records. At the close of the Civil War, the Freedman’s Savings & Trust Company was the primary bank for America’s freed slaves and others from 1865-1874. This HeritageQuest collection documents more than 105,000 bank depositors and over 480,000 of their dependants and heirs. It is considered one of the most important resources for African-American genealogical research.
4. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files. This HeritageQuest collection details records of 80,000+ individuals who served in the Revolutionary War and contains both genealogical and historical information. Each veteran’s file usually contains six or more pages on each veteran and normally includes the veteran’s former rank, unit, and period of service, age or date of birth, residence, and sometimes-genealogical information on other family members.
5. U.S. Serial Set. This collection offers a fascinating glimpse into the people and places on whose behalf Congressional action was sought during the period 1789-1969. Consisting of documents and reports prepared for the U.S. Congress, it includes Private Relief Actions, Memorials, and Petitions. The subject matter covered by this collection includes: pensions, military and naval matters, claims of election fraud, public works projects, immigration and naturalization, land grants, taxation, and many types of monetary claims made by individuals and businesses. The U.S. Serial Set is produced in cooperation with and licensed by LexisNexis Academic & Library Solutions, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
6. And more… HeritageQuest Online will continue to grow with material from ProQuest’s and HeritageQuest’s vaults. Working with an advisory board of genealogical librarians and professional genealogists, we are constantly considering new content.

Features

HeritageQuest Online makes searching easy. Users can search across the ASCII text as well as indexed names and subjects to find information on ancestors and local areas. Each record is linked to the corresponding page images and is downloadable in Adobe® PDF format. HeritageQuest Online also makes it easy to save, retrieve and take notes on your research through the Search History and Notebook features.

Within HeritageQuest Online you can:

• Search for documents related to people or places
• Perform a basic or advanced search on available census materials
• Browse or search publications, including both magazines and books
• Browse through census data
• Access a list of results that link to detailed citations for each result
• Access scanned census images to view pages of census data
• View and download scanned images of the documents
• Create a list of citations to print, email or download
• Edit and combine searches using the Search History function
• Save selected results to a personal Notebook, where you can take notes on your findings