Learn for Free: Big Genealogy Sites' Blogs and Videos

Even if you don't subscribe to big-name genealogy sites, you can read their blogs and learn from their YouTube channels for free. Lots of interesting tidbits about historical context, details about info that is and is not in particular data collections, surprising genealogy discoveries, backgrounds of notable historical figures, and many other insights. I especially like browsing blog posts, but informative videos are also readily available without charge.

Here are links to six blogs to browse:

• FindMyPast (blog is here) posts blog entries about history, building a family tree, starting your genealogy journey, customer discoveries, and more. Not just United Kingdom.
• MyHeritage (blog is here) posts blog entries about social history, family history customs, immigration, new collections, DNA discoveries, and more. Posts span the globe.
• FamilySearch (blog is here) posts often about new collections, using the Familysearch site/tree more effectively, involving family in genealogy, RootsTech developments, and much more.
• Ancestry (blog is here) posts about a broad range of genealogy topics and cultures, including strategies for uncovering female ancestry, DNA details, surnames, and more. 
• Fold3 (blog is here) posts blog entries about new collections, military history, wartime experiences, and more. Posts pertain mainly to US, but some also cover Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Part of Ancestry.
• Forces War Records (blog is here) posts blog entries about military history involving the United Kingdom, World War I and II, women in the military, and more. Part of Ancestry.

Here are links to big sites' video vaults on YouTube. Of course, genealogical videos are also available on each proprietary site.

• Ancestry YouTube channel
• FamilySearch YouTube channel
• MyHeritage YouTube channel
• FindMyPast YouTube channel

Genealogy Clues on Find a Grave

Find a Grave can be a very rich source of genealogy clues! I'm continuing my project of posting brief bios of ancestors online, to keep their memories alive. (This is a way to repurpose content from bite-sized family history projects, my talk for the New England Regional Genealogy Conference in April!)

Having written a few paragraphs about Arthur Albert Slatter (1887-1917), my husband's 1c1r who, sadly, was killed in action during WWI, I set out to repurpose it on multiple websites, including Find My Past, Fold3, Family Search, and Find a Grave.

Linked family members = clues

I've visited cousin Arthur's Find a Grave memorial page in the past. The page was originally created by a group focused on war graves, with photos of the Arras Memorial by another dedicated volunteer. 

To post a bio on a memorial I don't manage, I use the "suggest edits" function, and type (or paste) in a few sentences or even a few paragraphs. If I manage the memorial, it's easy to post the bio with a click.

In the process, I also look at any linked family members related to the person on the memorial page. Here, checking the links to Arthur Albert Slatter, I recognized the name and photo of his father (Henry Arthur Slatter, 1866-1942). I posted Henry's photo myself a while back. 

See image of Arthur's memorial page at top, where I've circled Arthur's parents' names? Alice is shown with a maiden name. A clue for me to check out! Of course, everything is a clue until confirmed.

"Alice Good, widow" 

I had previously noted, from Henry Arthur Slatter's military records, that he married widow Alice Good in 1887 (document excerpt at right). But until now, I haven't actively looked for Alice's maiden name. 

Alice's Find a Grave memorial offered me the clue I needed to investigate further. Using Ancestry, I quickly located Alice's 1882 marriage (to Harry Thomas Good) and added not only her first husband and her maiden name but also the name of her father to my Slatter family tree.

Then I inserted Alice's maiden name into my bio of her oldest son and submitted the request to the manager of Arthur Albert Slatter's memorial page, asking that the bio be posted. It's already up on Family Search, Find My Past, and Fold3, to help future generations know something of his name, his service, and his sacrifice.

--

"Genealogy clues and cousin bait on Find a Grave" is the title of one of my most popular presentations. Links between relatives with Find a Grave memorials can be  wonderful clues to family history -- and excellent cousin bait as well!