Suleman Sadiq Gill - Ten Tips For Researching Genealogy Online

By Guest Blogger Christopher Flowers

Researching your family history can be a rewarding and satisfying experience. Here are some tips to make your exploration go smoothly.

1. Gather All of Your Genealogy Information

Before starting any type of genealogical research, it's a good idea to gather all of your known information. This way you will not waste time searching for people that you could have easily found with just a phone call or a letter. You will be amazed at how many names, birthdates, marriage dates and other details about your ancestors you can collect just by talking to family members.

You can also look through old records that family members may have including journals, wills, deeds, baptism records and marriage, birth and death certificates. Spread the word that you're beginning a family tree or pedigree chart, and other family members may want to get involved.

2. Become a Member of an Online Genealogy Chat Room

Computers and the Internet connect thousands of people from all over the world each day and there are tons of genealogy chat rooms. Take advantage--you can learn a lot from other genealogists. This is a great way to learn the tricks of the trade and share success stories.

3. Subscribe to an Online Genealogy Search Website

Genealogy websites come with various features and capabilities. You may want to use more than one during your research. Some websites are free of charge, like Rootsweb.com, while more comprehensive sites, like

Ancestry.com, require a subscription fee. Before choosing a site make sure it's going to provide the information that you need. Remember some sites search by country or ethnic background--these can work to your advantage if you're looking for ancestors from a certain country. However, if you're not, the site will do you little if any good.

4. Make Genealogy Research Fun and Gratifying

There is usually no monetary award for doing genealogy, and knowing who your great-great-great-grandfather is, typically won't get you ahead in life. So--why do people do genealogical research?

People research their past for a number of reasons, but everyone who is involved in genealogy does it because they enjoy it. They find satisfaction in learning about their roots. Remember you are learning about real people who once walked the earth. Instead of just learning names and dates, try to find stories about your ancestors, look for pictures and diaries. In some cases, you may be able to interview someone who knew the person.

5. Use Various Genealogical Resources

There are so many sources available to genealogists it's a good idea to use a number of them during your investigations. Don't put all of your efforts into one website. Use a number of different websites and databases.

There are also genealogy libraries where you can conduct your research. The largest of these libraries, The Family History Library, owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has satellite libraries all over the world and is open to the public at no charge. It houses the records of close to a billion people and offers other resources as well. A library like this can be a great asset if there is one in your area.

6. Involve the Entire Family

Build a family tree and family relationships at the same time--genealogy is a project the entire family can work on and contribute their findings. You can start an email or snail-mail newsletter to share experiences and information with family members. Family reunions are also a time when the whole family can get together, share stories about forefathers and foremothers and work on genealogy.

7. Subscribe to a Genealogy Newsletter

Many online genealogy websites offer a newsletter. Newsletters offer great tips on how to locate those hard-to-find ancestors. Newsletters will often explain how to use different databases or tools and let you know when new databases become available. It's also great to hear motivational and inspiring success stories of others, or share one of your own.

8. Create a hard copy of the Genealogy Information

In today's world of technology, we tend to want to digitize everything, but there are some good reasons to create hardcopy information to go along with your digital data.

Primarily, you're going to come across a lot of hard copy information as you do your research. Remember computers have only been used to store information for a quarter century. You will likely come across old documents, journals, records and photographs.

Making a scrapbook of your findings is a great way to present your research to others. Looking at a computer screen with scanned documents just isn't the same as flipping through a book. It really helps some people to create a giant pedigree chart or family tree in their office or den so they can visualize the entire puzzle at one time.

Binders are a good way to store information. As your library increases, develop a binder system so information is organized and easy to find.

9. Backup Genealogy Data Often

Maybe you've heard horror stories, or have one of your own that ends with the words, "and that's when I lost everything." The importance of backing up computer data cannot be stressed enough. Today's backup software makes protecting and storing your valuable data more convenient than ever. There are a number of different programs to get the job done. Find the one that has the features you need, is user-friendly and in your price range.

There are also various ways of storing data. You can use 3.5-inch floppy disks, zip drives, CDs, DVDs, USB flash drives and external hard drives. Again, choose the one that suits you best. As you gather more information, you may want to invest in a safety deposit box or a fireproof safe to protect your family history.

10. Verify Genealogy Information Found on Web Sources

We like to think that everything found on the web is accurate and true. However, you should always verify any genealogy information found on the web, no matter where you found the information. The best way to verify information is to locate and research the source. Many databases include a list of sources but sometimes you'll come across one that doesn't. In this case, look at dates and the type of information and ask yourself what type of source would provide that information.

At some point in your research, you will encounter conflicting information--maybe different middle initials or birthdates. Carefully evaluate each source and try to find other sources with the same information to shed light on the inconsistencies.

Genealogy is an exciting and rewarding pastime that will link the generations and bring families together.

References

Casselman, Bryce. Why Backup your Computer Data?. [2005] 22 Sept. 2005
http://data-backup-software-review.toptenreviews.com/why-backup-your-computer.html>

Powell, Kimberly. Five Steps to Verifying Online Genealogy Resources. [2005] 22 Sept. 2005 http://genealogy.about.com/od/basics/a/verifying_2.htm>

Sowton, Robin. The History Slice: Getting Organized--Setting Up a Binder System. [1999] 22 Sept. 2005 http://www.historyslice.com/beginners/i0015/index.htm>

Cristopher Fowers

Cristopher Fowers is a Writer/Reviewer for TopTenREVIEWS.com. TopTenREVIEWS features expert reviews for technology and entertainment products and services. For more information and an in-depth review on online genealogy search websites, see http://genealogy-search-review.toptenreviews.com We do the research so you don’t have to™.

Plagiarism not unusual in genealogy

The website Plagiarism.org uses the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary definition to define plagiarism as follows:

• to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own

• to use (another’s production) without crediting the source

• to commit literary theft

• to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

Plagiarism is not only a fraudulent act, it is a lie perpetrated by the plagiarist who passes someone else’s work off as his own.

Read the rest of the story on the Genealogy Today website:

http://www.gvnews.com/get_out/genealogy-today-plagiarism-not-unusual-in-genealogy/article_746f8070-0d90-11e6-94b0-4b2956767f3e.html

Unscripted: PBS celebrity genealogy show unearths hidden roots

By Mary Ellen Wright

If family lore and the online genealogical records my relatives and I have been able to piece together are reasonably accurate, I have some colorful stories hidden in the branches of my family tree.

From what I’ve learned so far, my ancestry apparently includes war heroes and scalawags, blue bloods and moonshiners, people who thrived in the New World’s earliest settlements and ancestors who came to desperate ends in the Old World.

It’s funny how I tend to embrace the heroes, imagining their blood flowing in my veins, while I have so much trouble coming to terms with stories of my slave-owning ancestors and other notorious characters in my family’s past. I view them almost like fictional tales that don’t really have a connection to my life.

I get to watch celebrities experience the very same thing every week on one of my favorite TV shows, “Finding Your Roots.”

Each Tuesday night on PBS, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. traces the ancestry of two or three well-known actors, musicians, comedians, TV stars, authors or government officials, helping them uncover secrets hidden in their family stories — and even in their own DNA.

The celebrities gasp or wipe away tears as they turn the pages of their “book of life” — a scrapbook of photos, archival records and newspaper clippings Gates gives each guest. They learn the show’s researchers have traced their roots back to King Charlemagne, or to the Jewish Pale of Settlement in Imperial Russia.

The DNA tests they’ve allowed Gates’ researchers to conduct might show they have Native American relatives, or tell them in which part of Africa their ancestors lived.

Like me and my relatives, these celebrities marvel at the coincidences and incongruities found in their ancestors’ journeys through life.

Earlier this season on “Finding Your Roots,” actor Bill Hader giggled as he found brave war heroes on his family tree, admitting they possessed the courage he lacks. “Modern Family’s” Ty Burrell was clearly moved to learn he is descended from both a slave owner and a slave.

Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette learned she had a Civil War soldier in her ancestry. The Civil War memorabilia of her grandfather, comedian Cliff (“Charley Weaver”) Arquette, was the founding collection of what eventually became the Soldiers National Museum in Gettysburg.

Political opposites Bill Maher and Bill O’Reilly sarcastically embraced the news that they’re distantly related.

The program often teaches me something new about world history. Through the examination of celebrity chef Lydia Bastianich’s ancestry on Tuesday’s show, for example, I learned about the post-World War II “Istrian exodus,” in which Italians fled the Istrian Peninsula when it was taken over by Yugoslavia.

I think the most moving “Finding Your Roots” episode so far came a couple of weeks ago, when actor and rapper LL Cool J learned that the grandparents he’d spent a lot of time with weren’t his biological relatives.

Through DNA testing and a serendipitous “hit” in a genealogy database, the actor’s mother learned she had been adopted, and who her birth parents were.

LL Cool J, a big boxing fan, found out his biological grandfather was boxer Nathaniel Christy Lewis, brother of hall-of-fame pugilist John Henry Lewis.

By the end of the episode, the actor and his mother were laughing and talking with cousins they’d never known they had. This story of these hidden roots unearthed was more dramatic than any episode of “NCIS: Los Angeles,” the show on which LL Cool J stars, could ever be.

I’m glad “Finding Your Roots” wasn’t slowed down by the Ben Affleck controversy, in which the actor apparently convinced the program not to have Gates mention he had slave-owners in his family tree.

“Finding Your Roots” is a descendant itself, of Gates’s two previous PBS genealogy programs, “African-American Lives” and “Faces of America.” On the latter show, talk-show host Stephen Colbert learned he had farming ancestors who settled in 18^th-century Lancaster County.

My family is, I think, pretty typical in the way my parents passed down the stories of our ancestors. There were proudly told stories of hard-working immigrants opening their own store, along with sordid tales of murder and mayhem in the Deep South that my father was hesitant to share.

“Finding Your Roots” helps its celebrity guests separate fact from fiction in their family lore, and fascinates and entertains the rest of us in the process.

I only wish I had Gates’ access to archivists and scientists, to fuel my family’s own, continuing genealogical journey.

Staff writer Mary Ellen Wright welcomes email at mwright@lnpnews.com. You can learn more about the ancestors on her family tree at bit.ly/LNPFamilyTree. “Finding Your Roots” airs at 8 p.m. Tuesdays on WITF. Unscripted is a weekly entertainment column produced by a rotating team of writers.

Franklin Graham Denounces Obama's Visit to Mosque

The Rev. Franklin Graham denounced President Barack Obama's recent visit to a mosque in Maryland, declaring that "Islam cannot save anyone."

For the first time in his presidency, Obama visited a mosque on Wednesday, delivering remarks at the Islamic Society of Baltimore.

In a post on his official Facebook page, Graham wrote that the trip and the media coverage of it were "an attempt to recast what [Obama] said was 'a warped image of Islam.'"

"The foundations of this nation have nothing to do with Islam, but everything to do with the Church of Jesus Christ. Islam cannot save anyone from Hell or open the gates of Heaven," posted Graham.

"Only One can do that — Jesus Christ, the Son of God who paid the debt of sin for all mankind by giving

His life as a sacrifice on Calvary's cross where He suffered and died for our sins, took our sins to the grave, and on the third day God raised Him triumphantly to life. He's alive today. Muhammad is dead. I worship a risen Lord! Islam can't compete with that."

Graham's comment came in response to Obama's first official visit to a mosque during his presidency, giving a speech at the Islamic Society of Baltimore.

During his speech, Obama said the recent wave of "inexcusable political rhetoric against Muslim Americans has no place in our country."

"We've seen children bullied. We've seen mosques vandalized. Sikh Americans and others who are perceived to be Muslims have been targeted, as well.

"We're one American family. And when any part of our family starts to feel separate or second-class or targeted, it tears at the very fabric of our nation."

Graham's post, which as of Friday morning has garnered over 200,000 likes and more than 63,000 shares, appears to be in response to the portion of the speech wherein Obama said that "Islam has always been part of America."

"Starting in colonial times, many of the slaves brought here from Africa were Muslim. And even in their bondage, some kept their faith alive," continued Obama.

"The first Islamic center in New York City was built in the 1890s. Muslim Americans worked on Henry Ford's assembly line, cranking out cars. A Muslim American designed the skyscrapers of Chicago."

Over the past few years Graham has garnered headlines for his controversial comments about Islam both in interviews and through posts on social media.

For example, last November in response to a wave of brutal terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris and Beirut, Graham wrote on Facebook that "Islam has declared war on the world."