What's FREE this month?!

As you probably know, I am a family history researcher, as well as a Heritage Makers Personal Publishing Consultant. It's the perfect match for me, marrying my passions for heritage and the preservation of family photos and stories in a way that brings me and my clients a great deal of joy.

This month, I wanted to share some places on the web where you can go to find out some fun things about your family tree for FREE! Family Tree Magazine (a great magazine, if you're not familiar with it) posts a list of top 101 websites every year. This time, they've only included the free sites, so check out this list

As I mentioned in my October Celebrations newsletter, one of my favorites is the Bureau of Land Management site At this site, you can plug in the name of an ancestor you think may have purchased a homestead in one of the federal land grant states (anything other than the 13 original colonies, MN, VT, WV, KY, TN, TX & HI). The Homestead Law was a series of enactments beginning with the Act of 20 May 1862. Its purpose was to distribute public lands to those who did not own any and, later, to encourage settlement in the less-developed western states. Most claims were made between 1863 and 1917, though the law was not abolished until 1976.

The Bureau of Land Management, over the past 10 or so years, has been indexing and digitizing the land patents - certificates issued when the land was finally granted to the claimant. These patents provide some interesting information as well as the "key" to gaining even more: your ancestors Land entry case file.

If you have an ancestor in mind, here's what to do:
1. Go to the BLM website
2. Identify the state where your ancestor lived when he applied for land
3. Go to "Search Land Patents"
4. Enter your zip code and Continue
5. Search for your ancestor's land application

You can copy or print the certificate and use Form 84 to fill in the information needed to order your ancestor's Land Entry Case File from the National Archives.

Why send for your ancestor's Land Entry Case File?! There is a fee to send for the case file, and this file may contain only the name of the claimant, the location of the land, acreage, price, dates of final papers and the name of the land office. However, files made after 1840 may also contain things like copies of birth certificates and marriage records, citizenship records, military service information, information on other family members and more. These files can be a true peek into the life of your ancestor in a way you never thought was possible.

So, if you think you might have an ancestor who was a homesteader (I did and I never would've guessed!), give this a try - and make sure you tell me what you find out!

Ginealogy tips for September

Back Up Your Digital Photos

Don't Neglect Digital Photos in Your Backup Routine

By Sue Chastain, About.com Guide

You do have a backup routine, don't you?

Some people will save film negatives for generations, but when they make the switch to digital, they may never even consider the idea of making a second backup copy of their images.

Folks, any kind of digital storage is susceptible to failure. It can't be predicted, but you can certainly plan for it. Please get in the habit of making at least monthly backups of your digital pictures--and by backup, I mean a second copy. Archiving your photos to a single CD and then deleting them from hard disk is not a second copy.

Currently, the most convenient backup solution is a second hard drive. The most affordable solution is recordable CDs and DVDs. HP's SimpleSave Photo DVDs are a very easy and affordable solution for anyone with a DVD burner drive.

For the best protection, consider making duplicates of all your archive CDs and pass one copy along to a family member or put it in a safety deposit box or fire-proof safe. Then, even in the event of a fire or theft, your precious photographic records and memories will not be lost.

Personally, I keep copies of my most recent and my best photos on my hard drive for convenience. Every night, my pictures are copied to my HP MediaSmart Server where the files are automatically duplicated. Whenever I make a CD of pictures, I make an extra copy or two to pass along to a family member to have.

In addition, my best photos are usually uploaded to an online photo sharing site such as Picasa Web Albums or Photoshop Express **. If you do rely on an online storage site for backups, be sure to choose a company that does not resize or recompress your pictures, and one that you feel confident will not go out of business.

**Gin's note: Of course, you'll want to upload them to your Heritage Makers account so you can not only have them safely stored, but also have them available to use to create fabulous gifts for your loved ones this holiday season.

Wedding photo before and after restoration

Wedding photo

Monsignor Kiernan's Commemorative Book

Click on the image at left to preview Monsignor's book, which is 12 x 12", hardcover, library-quality, with 22 pages. Email Gin at gShaw1234@aol.com to order. Include your name, address, phone number and number of copies. Gin will reply with payment details.

Samantha's Book - Click on each page to enlarge, use back button to return

Fourth Grade Class Cookbook

http://www.heritagemakers.com/?event=projectBrowse&projectId=b78f5cd0-9fd8-4bf4-926c-378dc42b1148&productId=73&projectSponsor=250202