Remember the New Meeting place

NEW MEETING PLACE!!  May 15, 7:00 pm

                 We have a new meeting place for our monthly meetings!  It’s the Nebraska Methodist College (Josie Harper Campus), at 720 N. 87th Street (87th and Burt) — where we have our workshops.  The facility has comfortable seating and ample parking in a large, flat, well-maintained parking lot adjacent to the building, with several handicapped spaces.  The site is centrally located and easily accessible from I-680 and main Omaha arteries.  Head for the intersection of W. Dodge Road and 90th Street—Swanson Library and American National Bank are on the corners.  Go north on 90th Street from W. Dodge Road.  At the first traffic light (Burt Street), turn right and go about 3 blocks.  At the first stop sign (N. 87th St.), turn right.  The building is on that corner; just turn right at the first opportunity and you will be in the parking lot.            The building also has “wi-fi” so it will now be possible to do programs that require an internet connection.  May program will be Gary Wasden.  Talking about the Omaha Public Library.

2013 Free Classes will begin in January

3rd Saturday, January—June, from 9:15 a.m. to Noon.
Mormon Trail Center, 3215 State St., Omaha. Classes are free but pre-registration is requested; call 402-706-1453 or email genclass@aol.com.

May 18, 2013
Part I: Where’s the Dirt? An Overview of Land Records: Learn how to locate and use land records to document family history. Part II: What’s Black & White and Read All Over? Using newspapers to learn more about our ancestors.
June 15, 2013
Part I: Genealogy Problem Solving. New this year! Submit serious questions by the March class for ideas on how to solve genealogical problems. We will use real life case studies (if possible). Part II: Internet Genealogy. Discover hot spots for research.

PAL: A New Tool for Genealogists

When researching for ancestors, what do you do when you come across a name you think may be an ancestor, but are not certain? Do you add it to your genealogy data base anyway? Do you write it down in a note book? Do you just pass it by?

Terry, our society “techie”, has developed a handy Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, formatted especially for situations like that. Now you can keep all your “maybe/maybe-not” names in one place, without cluttering up your genealogy database or keeping a list of them in a note book. Functional and attractive, the spreadsheet is very simple to use. In it you list the name of the suspected ancestor, pertinent information such as birth, marriage, and death date, and who in your genealogy database you suspect this person might be related to. The database also accepts whatever notes you may wish to enter about the suspected ancestor. The system is named PAL, short for Potential Ancestors List. Each potential ancestor you enter into your PAL database will have a “PAL number”. In your genealogy database, you will keep track  of which of your ancestors might possibly be related to someone in your PAL database by indicating the PAL #  (or the PAL # and the name of the suspected ancestor), in the notes section of that ancestor in your genealogy database. This essentially ties the two databases together. You can list all your “possibles” in PAL, keeping your main genealogy database clutter-free. And if you do prove a suspected link, the information is right at hand in PAL and easily transferred to your main genealogy database.

PAL has room for 2,000 name entries. Instructions for using PAL–should you need any–are located on the same Excel worksheet to the right of where you enter information about possible ancestors.

PAL is a FREE download from this website–just scroll down to the blue download box in the right sidebar.  There are two versions of PAL—one for Microsoft Excel 2007-2010, and one for earlier Excel versions.  All the column headings, etc. in PAL are protected so that you can’t change any of them by accident. However, if you are knowledgeable in Excel and think you’d like to tweak PAL to suit your own needs, the “unprotect sheet” command does not require a password, so have at it.

Milestone Acheived

The eleven genealogy information web sites (Omaha Obits, Omaha Marriages, et al.) that are sponsored by Greater Omaha Genealogical Society and are maintained primarily by society members Karen and Terry Tippets, this morning achieved a combined total count of over one-half million listings. Years of extracting the information from microfilms of old Omaha newspapers have been spent in achieving this goal.

Kudos to Karen for the thousands of hours of work she has donated in achieving this milestone!

FamilySearch.org Tech Tips

What does the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society have in common with FamilySearch.org? Their TechTips web site has published an article writtne by our newsletter editor and computer guru, Terry Tippets. The article, titled “Going Digital At The Cemetery”, gives pointers and advice on how to shorten the time it takes for groups or genealogy societies to read a cemetery and get that information onto a data base. According to the TechTips staff, the article has generated “a lot of positive feedback” from readers. The article is an expanded and updated verson of the one that appears on this website. If your group or society is planning a cemetery reading project, this article will help you shorten the time of the project. Click on the following link to read the article:

https://www.familysearch.org/techtips/2011/07/going-digital-at-the-cemetery

Announcing: Faster Access to this Web Site

Instead of typing “gogsmembers.wordpress.com” which has always been a handful (pun intended), to access this site, you now only have to type “gogsmembers.com”.  This shortened web address will be easier for new members, potential members, or other interested persons to remember.

Lost and Found

We have found an original document at the W. Dale Clark Library. The person’s name is Mike Jaber. Please contact Karen at gogsworkshop@radiks.net to claim.