Supporting Genealogical Societies.
By Sara-Jane Gilb

I shelf periodicals received from genealogical societies by my
genealogical society library. I recently noticed that a central U.S.
genealogical society was disbanding. This society had been in existence
since 1955 and this was the 45th volume of its quarterly. I was amazed
that a society with that number of years of existence could fold.

Then I attended my local genealogical society meeting. I noticed the
number of attendees had declined to less than half of the attendees from
when I first joined the society 15 years ago. At that time I was one of
the youngest members. Today I am still one of the youngest members.
Societies need the influx of new members to keep them active.

Local societies need to be supported. They index obscure local
documents, record cemeteries, and answer questions on local genealogy
and history. The Internet will not answer all your genealogical
questions. Support the local genealogical society and the societies in
the areas in which your families lived. These societies will usually do
local research for a nominal fee and provide free queries in their
quarterlies to members. Don't let another society fold.

* * *
Creating DVDs on Macs
By Frances Roth

Ms. Heinrich mentioned in her recent article that she made her DVD of
family photos and videos on a PC using the Pinnacle. Not to leave out
Mac users, I want to note that what she did can be done with the iLife
package, which is included on newer Macs and can be bought separately if
it wasn't on the one you have.

Another Mac tip (and I think the new iPods may also be able to do this
on a PC as well) -- you can mount your iPod on your computer and use it
as an external disk (in addition to using it as an MP3 player) to back
up your genealogy files. You can also get accessories that will let you
use it as a tape recorder and a memory card reader for digital camera
(and then copy the recordings and photos directly to you computer).
It's kind of your handy, dandy genealogy field trip assistant.
Unfortunately the cheaper mini is a bit more limited in its
capabilities and I'm not sure what other little boxes out there might
also provide similar tools.

* * *
'Buried' in Two Places
By Kathleen from Ohio, USA

I have something I want to share with all genealogists. I started
interviewing my grandchildren every six months and it makes a real nice
gift for their mother and fathers. However, no one seemed to be to
interested in exploring our family tree other than my sister-in-law and
me -- and it took us from about 1992 until 1999 to get going.

But, the other reason I am writing, is because my mother's sister died
in 1992. She lived in Florida and, of course, I took it for granted she
was buried in Florida, but I was wrong. My aunt had 11 children, half of
them lived in Florida and the others in Ohio. She was cremated and her
ashes were buried in two different places.

I thought about this and wondered about her great-grandchildren and
maybe one of them would get into genealogy and what would they think?
Did this happen in the 1800s? What about cremation back then?

[Editor's note: It's something researchers should always consider when
looking for burial and death information. Modern cremation practice
began in England, Germany, and the USA in the 1870s and 1880s.]

from
RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine9 February 2005, Vol. 8, No. 6, Circulation: 811,065+(c) 1998-2005