Ancestry.ca Subscription Giveway on Olive Tree Genealogy

Olive Tree Genealogy is excited to announce a Giveaway from Ancestry.ca!

If you live in Canada you can enter for a chance to win a free Ancestry Family History Subscription! This giveaway is only available through Olive Tree Genealogy.

What does an Ancestry Family History Subscription do?

Ancestry Family History Subscription

A subscription to Ancestry allows your friends or family members to build their family tree and, with access to billions of searchable historical records worldwide, discover the stories of their ancestors’ lives: where they lived, how and when they arrived in Canada, if they served in the military, who they loved and who they lost. Ancestry is continually adding records to the site, fueling continuous discoveries.

Contest Rules:

1. You must be a resident of Canada to enter
2. No purchase necessary.
3. Winner will be chosen at random from entries received. See details below for entry requirements
4. One winner will be chosen by a random draw on November 28, 2019.
5. Giveaway starts immediately and ends at midnight EDT on November 27, 2019
6. You are responsible for anything in regards to the legality of entering a contest in the area in which you live.
7. The winner will be notified via Facebook or Twitter and must contact me at OliveTreeGenealogy@gmail.com WITHIN 48 HOURS so I can arrange the free subscription for you

How to enter for a chance to win:

1. Share this blog post on Facebook OR Twitter. Be sure to tag Olive Tree Genealogy (see instructions for tagging below). If you don't tag me I won't know you shared the post and your name will not be entered in the giveaway.

2. If you share this blog post on both Facebook AND Twitter and tag me on both your name will be entered twice. 

How to Tag Olive Tree Genealogy: 

On Twitter, follow me at https://twitter.com/LorineMS and then tag me with @LorineMS when you share the post on your Twitter Feed

On Facebook, join my Olive Tree Genealogy page at https://www.facebook.com/OliveTreeGenealogyPage/

Share this post on your Facebook personal page and tag me with @OliveTreeGenealogy when you share the post on your personal Facebook page or in an appropriate group.

AncestryDNA Giveaway on Olive Tree Genealogy Blog!

Olive Tree Genealogy is excited to announce a Giveaway from Ancestry.ca!

If you live in Canada you can enter for a chance to win a free AncestryDNA kit! This kit giveaway is only available through Olive Tree Genealogy.

What does an AncestryDNA kit do?

AncestryDNA lets you pique family members or friend’s curiosity about their heritage and family history by taking them on a journey with AncestryDNA that can:

• Provide an ethnicity estimate from more than 500 regions around the world going back up to thousands of years;
• Reveal the migration journeys of their ancestors, showing the places and paths that are part of their family story;
• Offer the potential to connect with family members that they never knew about or lost touch with through the ‘DNA Matches’ feature;
• Help fill in gaps in their family history based on their results 

Contest Rules:

1. You must be a resident of Canada to enter
2. No purchase necessary.
3. Winner will be chosen at random from entries received. See details below for entry requirements
4. One winner will be chosen by a random draw on November 22, 2019.
5. Giveaway starts immediately and ends at midnight EDT on November 21, 2019
6. You are responsible for anything in regards to the legality of entering a contest in the area in which you live.
7. The winner will be notified via Facebook or Twitter and must contact me at OliveTreeGenealogy@gmail.com to arrange having the AncestryDNA kit sent to you.

How to enter for a chance to win:

1. Share this blog post on Facebook OR Twitter. Be sure to tag Olive Tree Genealogy (see instructions for tagging below). If you don't tag me correctly I won't know you shared the post and your name will not be entered in the giveaway.

2. If you share this blog post on both Facebook AND Twitter and tag me on both your name will be entered twice. 

How to Tag Olive Tree Genealogy: 

On Twitter, follow me at https://twitter.com/LorineMS and then tag me with @LorineMS when you share the post on your Twitter Feed

On Facebook, join my Olive Tree Genealogy page at https://www.facebook.com/OliveTreeGenealogyPage/

Share this post on your Facebook personal page and tag me with @OliveTreeGenealogy when you share the post on your personal Facebook page or in an appropriate group.

Learn How to Spot a Bot, Sockpuppet or Troll

In this day and age of the popularity and influence of Social Media, we all need to be cautious. We need learn how to spot disinformation, lies, and automatic bot tweets and comments. If we don't understand how to recognize bots, sockpuppets, and trolls, we may be guilty of sharing the lies and disinformation that these bots spread.
 
Bots

There are good bots, and bad bots. It is the bad bots we need to be aware of, recognize them, and avoid or ignore them. A bot performs an automated task without involving a human. Bad bots exist only to deceive. They exist to disrupt, to cause chaos and confusion in the population. They spread disinformation and sometimes malware as they attempt to trick readers into clicking on malicious links.

Retweet Bots are dangerous as they exist to take disinformation and normalize it. On Twitter they retweet false stories (we've all seen them!) and immerse social media users in the lie until it is believed, or at least widely shared and sent into mainstream media.

Sockpuppets

What is a sockpuppet? A sockpuppet is an online identity used for purposes of deception. The term originally referred to a false identity assumed by a member of an Internet community who spoke to, or about, themselves while pretending to be another person.  Sockpuppets use a phony name or identity to argue and bully while hiding and pretending to be someone else.

Trolls

What are trolls? A troll doesn't hide behind a phony identity, usually they post under their own name. They post inflammatory and offensive comments meant to entice others into responding. They exist to disrupt and create an angry hostile environment.

Why should we care about learning to recognize these malicious bots and trolls? Because they help gaslight the population. They share lies and misinformation so often that the general population starts to believe lies are truth, reality is false, and that we cannot and should not believe our own eyes and ears.

Fact-Checking

Sharing stories or articles without fact-checking is one of the worst things we can do. As genealogists we should be fact-checking every "fact" or document or story we encounter. There are sites online that will help with that task - we can consult FactCheck.org , Snopes, or PolitiFact for example.

The bottom line is that we need to not only protect ourselves from bots, we need to protect others. So please, my fellow genealogists, do your fact-checking before you share or before you respond to online trolling.

The following is the best and most comprehensive article I have read on this new, and dangerous, phenomenon.

Spot a Bot: Identifying Automation and Disinformation on Social Media

Genealogy Chats on Twitter

 Did you know that there are chat sessions on Genealogy being held on Twitter? I've dug around and tried to find out what they are about, when they happen and who runs them. I don't have all the answers but this is what I was able to come up with:


Genchat. #genchat is a genealogy based Twitter chat. 
@_genchat on Twitter. Join us for #genchat every other Friday! Great #genealogy conversations, lots of learning, and good times! 9pm Central.

GenchatDNA
#GenchatDNA @genchatDNA ‏ on Twitter. A monthly group for newbies wondering where to start when testing their DNA

AncestryHour
@ancestryhour  on Twitter.  #AncestryHour Tuesdays 7.00pm GMT. See website

GenChatDE
#genchatDE @GenchatDE 
@BarbFFm is the host for this German version of GenChat. Held every three weeks on Thursdays. See full schedule

IAmNextGen
#iamnextgen @Nextgennetwrk 
Usually on Saturdays, Schedule not known

RogueGen
#roguegen See the website

Victoria BC Genealogy SIG
#vgstwittersig Victoria Genealogy
Every 2 weeks, Wednesdays same week as #genchat
 
ABGenealogy
@ABGenealogy  starting  soon

If I missed any or if I made any errors, drop me a line in the comment section and I'll update this blog post.

Are You Missing Out on Olive Tree Genealogy's Blog Posts?

An update on Google Friend Connect from Google: 

In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs. 

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

HOW TO FOLLOW OLIVE TREE GENEALOGY BLOG
 
Here's the important part - if you use a non-Google Account to follow Olive Tree Genealogy blog, you will need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow my blog. With a Google Account, you’ll get blogs added to your Reading List, making it easier for you to see the latest posts and activity of all the blogs you follow.

One Goal Met! 10K Followers on Twitter!

Yesterday, January 4th, I made my goal of reaching 10,000 followers on my Twitter page.

I'd hoped to reach it by December 31, 2015 but better late than never! This was a huge goal for me, one that I set early last year. It has not been easy. In fact it was a great deal of hard work!

Some of you may be puzzled. Why bother getting more followers on Twitter? In fact, why bother with Twitter at all? And why am I so excited about having reached that 10K number?

If you have any interest in making money from genealogy you need Twitter. In fact you need every social media channel you can join. I use Twitter for business and for my personal enjoyment. It's no secret that I earn a living from my genealogy business. But I'm an avid, obsessed genealogist and want to connect to others in the field. I want to meet new cousins. I want to learn new things. Twitter is an enabler in the sense that it enables me to do all of the above.

My Twitter persona may be quite different from yours. I talk about, and share, posts on genealogy, history, archaeology, DNA, military history, women's issues, antiques, cooking, social media, affiliate marketing and more. Twitter connects me to experts and hobbyists in all those fields.

It also allows me to promote my books and my other genealogy business ventures. The bottom line is - the more (quality) followers I have, the more people I have the potential to reach. Think of it this way - if I post (tweet) something to my 10K followers, and 20 of them repost (or retweet) it, and each of those 20 have 1K followers, I've reached another 20K people! 

I'm such a fan of Twitter and have learned so much in the past year about how to attract quality followers, how to engage them and how to keep them from leaving, and how to connect with other genealogists, that I'm actually in the process of writing an e-book about it. It's a fascinating field and I'm eager to find more followers and more interesting and influential people who I can follow. 

If you want to connect with me on Twitter just reach out and follow me on my Twitter page. As long as you have a profile picture of some kind (I do not follow "eggs", that is those who don't put up a profile photo but instead use the Twitter generic egg), and a brief description of your likes and interests,  and we share some common interest, I'll follow you. 

If you are not on Twitter, there's no time like the present. It's fun and it's educational. The only problem I have is the challenge of saying what I want to say in 140 characters or less! But I like a challenge and I am slowly improving.

How Did I Do in 2015 and New Year's Resolutions for 2016

On December 29, ,2014 I wrote a blog post New Year's Genealogy Resolutions for 2014 - Did I Achieve Them?

At the end of reviewing my 2014 resolutions and deciding I was writing too may resolutions and expecting too much of myself, I set one resolution for 2015.

 "So 2015 will be my year of writing - novels, tutorials, family histories - I plan on writing and creating ebooks and paperbacks. It's going to be my fun year."

HOW DID I DO?

 2015 is almost over. So how did I do? I'm pretty happy with my progress. I focused on my writing and am pleased to say I accomplished quite a bit. In March I published the first two volumes of my planned series on the Loyalist Isaac Van Valkenburg aka Vollick and his children.

From Van Valkenburg to Vollick: The Loyalist Isaac Van Valkenburg aka Vollick and his Vollick & Follick Children (Volume 1)  and From Van Valkenburg to Vollick:  Cornelius Vollick and his Follick and Vollick Descendants to 3 Generations (Volume 2) are both for sale on Amazon.com 

A third volume about Isaac's son Storm Follick is almost ready for publication and I feel very good about that.

I also published several private family history books which are not for sale but I distributed to family members. My 4-volume set of books on the McGinnis family (my maiden name) is finished and each of my children has copies.

Work on a book of the Beardmore family is in progress for my nephew's wife. It's almost done and that's another achievement I feel very good about.

BLOG POSTS

I stuck to my commitment to write a daily blog post on Olive Tree Genealogy - another thumbs up because it was not always easy.

Many days I did not feel like writing or I couldn't think of anything to say! But I like the discipline of meeting the commitment and I love writing so I was able to see even the bad days through.

EXPANDING MY WRITING VENTURES

 My writing took off even more when I also began writing articles for Legacy Family Tree in 2015. That has been a wonderful experience and a different style of writing which I am thoroughly enjoying. Then just last week another well-known Genealogy company asked me to write for them. That recognition is very gratifying, and the topic for January is a fun one.

The one area of writing where I failed miserably was in getting my Genealogy Murder Mystery Novel finalized for publication. Life and my health got in the way and I simply could not set aside enough quality time to focus on that task. To be very honest I am a little nervous about publishing it. What if no one likes it? What if it gets panned? What if it's not as good as I think it is? What if.......

I recognize this anxiety. It is the same anxiety I felt at the first (and only!) showing of my artwork. I was very worried that viewers would say it was terrible and not fit to be hung in the show. It's a type of stage fright and I have to work very hard to overcome it. I actually sold a painting at that show so I guess my nerves were not warranted. That is something I need to work on next year - overcoming that anxiety hurdle and finishing my novel. 

SOCIAL MEDIA 

One other quiet goal I had was to focus more on Social Media, in particular Twitter. I set a goal to reach 10,000 followers on my Twitter account (@LorineMS) by the end of 2015. I'm happy to report I now have 9,922 but somehow I doubt I will have 78 more followers in the next 4 days. I also joined some new Social Media channels, namely Instagram and Periscope but I have not been able to devote as much time to them as I'd like to. 

2016 GOALS & RESOLUTIONS

I'll make that one of my goals in 2016 - continue growing my Twitter profile with quality followers, and find time to work on Instagram and Periscope.

But mainly in 2016 I will continue to focus on my writing - both non-fiction and fiction. Of course I will continue my genealogy research as well. I look forward to new challenges and opportunities in the New Year!  What are your goals for the coming year?

All I Want For Christmas is 10K......

Followers at 10:50 a.m. ET December 10/15

All I want for Christmas is 10K. No I don't mean in dollars although that would be nice. I'm talking about Twitter followers. 

I am hoping to reach 10K Twitter followers by the end of 2015! I've been working on a goal to build my Social Media presence online with Twitter as my main focus. 

Since you don't get that magic "K" after your numbers until you reach 9,999 plus 1, that has been my goal - I want the big K! Then instead of seeing 9,757 as I do today, I will see 10K under the title "FOLLOWERS". Yep it doesn't take much to make me happy.

It's been really fun and informative learning how to do this while staying true to who I am, and what Olive Tree Genealogy is all about. 

A bit of shameless begging never hurts so if you or anyone you know thinks it might be cool to follow the Olive Tree Genealogy lady on Twitter at https://twitter.com/LorineMS please put the word out! I don't just tweet about genealogy. I also talk about Social Media, about cooking and antiques and... well, lots of other topics.  

Sometimes I even put up pictures of my dogs. Or something I cooked. Or one of my favorite antiques. 

So if you haven't joined me yet, why not do that today - come over to Twitter and join the fun!

Palaeography: reading old handwriting 1500 - 1800 A practical online tutorial

Thanks to Twitter follower @FPLDGenealogy for passing this link on to me!

"UkNatArchives has an amazing paleography exercise area you need to see!"

Palaeography: reading old handwriting 1500 - 1800 

It is indeed wonderful! There are lessons in reading 15th, 16th and 17th century handwriting as well as 10 interactive lessons. I'm still on Lesson One and enjoying the challenge.

If you have early English documents you will want to give this a try.

Are You on Social Media Channels?

My Twitter Page

Are You on Social Media Channels? If not, you might want to have a peek at some. You could be quite surprised at how many genealogists can be found on various sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram,  Google+ and Periscope (and LinkedIn but it's more business oriented)

I am all of the above. They are great for making connections with other genealogists and if you are trying to generate any kind of income from your genealogy pursuits, they are a must.

My Instagram Page Today

Each Social Media channel has its own flavor and rules. Facebook for example is more casual where Twitter is a bit more formal (and you are constrained by a limit of how many characters can be each of your tweets or updates). Periscope is streaming video which you create yourself to show your followers or you are the watcher, and there are some intriguing "scopes" out there! Instagram relies on photos to capture other people's attention.

If you want to check out these Social Media Channels, here's where I can be found:

• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Olive-Tree-Genealogy/16127378259
• Twitter https://twitter.com/LorineMS
• Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/lorinems/
• Instagram https://instagram.com/olivetreegenealogy/
• Perisocope Get the app on your iPhone or iPad and look for me under Olive Tree Genealogy @LorineMS
• Google + https://plus.google.com/+LorineMcGinnisSchulze/posts
• LinkedIn https://ca.linkedin.com/in/lorineschulze 

My Facebook Page

So come on over to one of my channels (or all of them if you want!), check them out and join me. Say hello once you get there, I'd love to see you. I am most often found on Twitter and Facebook but I am on Pinterest, Instagram and Periscope daily. 

Search Alternates to Ships Passenger Lists to Canada Before 1865

Barbara asked about finding a ships passenger list for her great-grandmother Elizabeth Hayes, born 1841 in Newcastle, England.

Read my answer at Search Alternates to Ships Passenger Lists to Canada Before 1865

Legacy Family Tree recently tweeted about my latest blog post  Find Your Ancestor on Ships Passenger Lists to Canada after 1865 at  http://bit.ly/1LydBpm

Find me on Twitter @LorineMS 

 

My First Live Periscope Video!

Yep I was nervous. And it shows.

I forgot to say a lot of stuff I meant to say. Oops. 
 
I'll do better next time. And the time after that and.... I will improve with practice.

But here it is, my first Periscope Video!!  It was LIVE on ‪#‎Periscope‬: 3 Tips For Writing a Blog but you can watch it for 24 hours after it aried  at  https://t.co/8C6JjHO3iL

It went live at 12:20 p.m Eastern Time.

What is Periscope? It's the latest Social Media live streaming app. It's pretty popular and it's fairly new. It's interactive, viewers can chat with you and send you love in the form of hearts. 

And it's free so it's win-win. I plan on using Periscope to do weekly 5-10 minute videos (they're called "scopes" on Periscope) that range from Tips to Q&A.  If you download the free app for your Android, iPhone or iPad, just follow me (@LorineMS) if you want to know when I'm scoping. 

There are so many interesting and fun scopes out there! I've watched subway musicians in New York City, learned about using Periscope, watched a 4 year old boy rocking it to hip hop music, and yes, even watched a guy making a fancy drink in his kitchen. 

Hope you join me on Periscope and if you do, be sure to let me know that you read my blog.

Introducing Ken McKinlay, Professional Genealogist

Ken McKinlay is an Ottawa Ontario based genealogist. Olive Tree Genealogy recently interviewed Ken so that I could introduce him to my readers. 

I've seen Ken's meticulous research on various Facebook groups and am very impressed with his research skills and citing of his sources. Read on for my questions and Ken's responses:

How and when did you become involved in the field of genealogy?

I first became involved in genealogy and family history due to my curiosity. I had always heard stories that a branch of the family was descended from Loyalists, another branch came to North America on the Mayflower, and yet another branch came to Scotland from Ireland. I wanted to find the truth behind each of these family tales. Amazingly enough those stories have all turned out to be true. I have been able to document that I am a descendant of Lt. Caleb Howe of the Queen’s Rangers (I have three or four other Loyalist lines I’m working on too), I can trace one of my lines to Elizabeth Tilley of the Mayflower (I’m also looking at a possible Brewster connection), and the McKinlay family that settled in Thornliebank, Scotland did come from Londonderry, Ireland around the late 1830s.

What is your main genealogical focus?

Over time my genealogical focus has gone from researching my own roots to doing research for clients and also helping out those that post to certain genealogy related groups on Facebook. What I enjoy most is sharing my knowledge. What I’ve found is that I enjoy teaching people how to do research, whether it be speaking at a society meeting (a little stressful for me but I do enjoy it), blogging, or telling someone where I found the information I had posted in response to their Facebook query. If I can educate someone as to how the information can be found that then means they can better learn how to do their own research.
 
What are your website(s) and blogs?

I do have a blog called Family Tree Knots found at http://familytreeknots.blogspot.ca/. There the focus is on the methodologies of genealogy research and where to find those oftentimes elusive records. When I’m dealing with my own research my blog becomes a “lessons learned” post plus a way to share the findings with family members.
 
Do you have a Social Media presence? 
I can be found on various social media sites including:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kmwebott

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kmckinlay

Google+: https://www.google.com/+KenMcKinlay
 
Do you believe a Social Media presence is important?
I find that a Social Media presence is important since it allows me to interact with a much larger audience than just that found in the Ottawa region. It may be that I have information that someone is looking for or, more often, someone else has the information I’m trying to find. A simple post or query using the applicable site can lead to the key answer or document to resolve an outstanding problem.

Are you a member of any genealogical societies or organizations?

I’m a member and director at large of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO), a member of the Ottawa branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS), a member of the United Empire Loyalists’ of Canada (UELAC), and a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG).
 
What does genealogy mean to you? Why do you believe it is important?

Genealogy is not only a way of learning about where the family came from but also the impact that history and society has had on each of us. We all have heroes and villains in our tree and they make the research interesting. Yet it is the common person that has helped bring us to where we are today. Finding out the causes of why the family moved from Ireland to Scotland or from a village in Yorkshire to the industrial city of Glasgow can make the history that they teach in school much more interesting.

What do you believe is the most exciting development in genealogy today?

I think there have been two important and exciting developments in the past several years. The first is the increased amount of documents that are now available to researchers without the need to either visit an archive or library or to send away and way weeks or even months for a response. That isn’t to say that archives and libraries aren’t important. Those brick and mortar buildings are a vital component to our research. However, with more records available at relatively low costs or even free anyone can start research their family tree. The second is genetic genealogy. As an adjunct to tracing the various lines using the well-known paper records, DNA testing has helped make connections to possible distant cousins.
 
Do you have a prediction or hope for the field of genealogy in the future?

In the near future I think that with the continued digitization projects more “lost” clues on our families will be uncovered. However, I don’t think it will be a rosy future 50 to 100 years from now when it comes to future genealogists trying to figure out our lives. So much of what used to be recorded in newspapers or even in letters is now being done electronically. Yet we don’t know if that information will survive us.

Found Easter Bunny on Twitter!

Those who followed my blog post on the weekend Easter Bunny Returns With His Family Tree
know that I had hear rumours that E.B. was on Twitter. Well I'm happy to say I found him yesterday! His Twitter handle is @IamEasterBunny if you want to see what he's been up to.

I read his tweets (See below for images) and it looks like he's hot on the bunny trail of a few of his brick walls. Plus he announced yesterday that he's been chosen as a Celebrity Bunny on the next season of the TV show "Hop to Find Out Who You Think You Are" Wow I can't wait to watch that episode!

Easter Bunny Returns With His Family Tree

Easter Bunny's Family Tree Found!

This was announced previously on Olive Tree Genealogy blog but I felt it was worth repeating!

 

Easter Bunny's Family Tree Found! 

 

Breaking news - yesterday a little girl named Alice was playing in the garden of an old house in England when she fell down a large rabbit hole. Before climbing out she made a unique discovery. In a small wooden box under a pile of rabbit fur hats Alice spotted a yellowed letter. The letter was addressed to "Dear Easter" and signed "Uncle Wiggily", and it provided details of an interesting family tree!

The complete letter has been transcribed below:

Dear Easter,
I'm glad you asked about your family. Time is getting short for me and I think I'm the only one left who knows the stories of our family.

Your great-grandfather, Bugs, was one of three brothers (Bugs, Peter and Brer). The brothers left their home and sailed for America in the late 1800s. The ship they were on was caught up in a terrible storm and the brothers had to tie themselves to the mast. The ship sank but Bugs, Peter and Brer were lucky enough to find a plank and they climbed up on it and drifted for several days until they were rescued by the SS Lollipop.

When they got to Ellis Island, the customs officials changed the brothers' last names before allowing them to leave the ship, and so the three branches of our family began.

Bugs, Your great-grandpa, kept his Bunny name. Peter's was changed to Cottontail and all his descendants have kept that name. Brer's name was changed to Rabbit and it is from his line that our famous cousins White and Velveteen descend.

Great grandpa Bugs later met and married your great-grandmother Bunny Fufu. I don't know anything about her parents. My cousin Willy Bunny has photos and her family bible but he is stingy with the family information and refuses to share. Apparently Bunny Fufu's family bible was tossed into a fire by Indians when they attacked the settlement where she and her parents lived, but Bunny's father leapt into the flames and saved the bible. I wish Willy would not be so secretive with the information!

It gets a bit confusing, but Velveteen Rabbit, your mother, was your father Energizer's second wife and his third cousin once removed. It wasn't unusual for cousins to marry each other, but it does get confusing as we all seem to have large families.

Velveteen's father (your maternal grandfather) was Peter but I don't know too much about your mom's side of the family. I did hear there was an Angora in there somewhere way back. Some say she was a Princess and Peter rescued her from pirates!

Of course you know your grandparents - Buster and Trix. One day you should ask your grandma Trix why she calls your grandpa Buster by his nickname "Hassenfeffer" whenever she is mad at him, it's a cute story.

I've done some research on our family but am stuck on your great-great-grandmother. That would be your Great-Grandpa Bugs' mother. Great-Grandpa Bugs' father (your great-great-grandpa) was named Cadbury but I think your great-great-grandma was left by aliens. She is my brick wall. I know Cadbury called her Flopsy and they had 54 children but even though I've searched everywhere, I can't find what her SIRname was.

I guess I should tell you about the family scandal involving your Great great grandpa Cadbury Bunny. My Aunt Babbity told me she heard the grownups whispering about this when she was little. It seems that Cadbury's father fell in love with a chicken and Cadbury was the result of that love match! This might explain Cadbury's strange behaviour....

Well Easter, I think I've given you enough details to confuse you, but I hope I've gotten you interested in learning more! I know where some of the graves are of your ancestors and will take you there one day if you want to go. It's just a hop, skip and jump away.

Give my best to all the little children when you make your rounds this year,

As ever,
Uncle Wiggily

Since that exciting discovery in 2009, Easter Bunny has found more genealogy goodies!  In 2010 Easter found a family tree chart! You can see it here

In 2011 Easter was delighted to discover a Family Bible that once belonged to his great-grandmother Bunny Fufu! He's been hunting ever since, tracking down leads on the Bunny Trail and exploring every nook and cranny he can find.

UPDATE! I have learned that Easter opened a Twitter account last year and I'm trying to ferret that out so I can publish his tweets here as an exclusive Olive Tree Genealogy blog post on Monday. 

Genealogy Selfie Contest

Selfie with WW1 ancestor,
WW2 ancestor & coffin plate
2nd Great grandpa

This sounds like fun! Enter Gould Genealogy's Genealogy Selfie Contest for a chance to win a  Conversion Pack (Video Converter and PhotoMaker X4 slide/negative scanner) from Kaiser Baas.

To enter, take a selfie pic of yourself with something genealogy related. Maybe you are standing in front of a stack of microfilm or at a microfilm reader. Maybe you're in a cemetery hunting for the grave of an ancestor. Or perhaps you are surrounded by a mountain of genealogy paperwork or charts. Next time you find yourself doing something genealogy related, grab your cell phone and snap a selfie.

You must then post it on Gould Genealogy's Twitter Account, Facebook Page or Google + page.  Details are at Genealogy Selfie Contest

Tweets From Beyond the Grave: Olive's Diary

"Olive Higgins was a 16-year-old English girl who began writing her diary as she set off to school in Paris in January 1914. Tragically, eight weeks later she died. Her last words echo here exactly a century on..." [Source: Tweets From Beyond the Grave - Olive's Diary]

To follow Olive's tweets see https://twitter.com/OlivesDiary1914 

Out of curiousity I had a brief look for Olive's family and found her grave. She is buried with other family members in Ladywell and Brockley Cemeteries in London England. You can see a photo of her gravestone on BillionGraves.com

The inscription on the stone reads

In Loving Memory of Victor Thomas beloved child of Thomas R. and Martha Higgins Aged 6 weeks 

Camelia Jones wife of the above aged 73 

Also Martha Emma wife of Thomas R. Higgins Aged ?? ?? of 

Olive Hilda daughter of above who died ?? school in Paris Aged ?6 [Lorine's note: the stone should read aged 16]

Elizabeth Vivian Higgins 

Thomas Richard Higgins Died at ?ourne?? Aged 88 years

The burial information allowed me to find Olive with her family in census records. In 1911 the family lived in Margate where her fatther owned a hotel

Olive's birth was recorded in the Parish registers of Deptford St. Mark in London. 

Further research indicates that Olive's parents were Thomas Richard Higgins son of Henry Jeremiah Higgins and Martha Emma Jones daughter of Samuel Jones. Thomas and Martha were married 17 Oct 1888 in Lewisham

Credits: The 1911 census, birth record and marriage record were all found on Ancestry.com

Who Do You Think You Are? Live Tweets From Trisha Yearwood

Who Do You Think You Are? on  TCL  in partnership with Ancestry.com features Country & Western singer Trisha Yearwood tonight. She will be live tweeting throughout the episode so that should be very interesting.

I suspect her tweets will also add more details as to how the research was conducted, how long it took and so on.

The show airs at 9/8c. Be sure to follow her here: https://twitter.com/TYcom

Don't Be an Egg (Twitter Tips)

   Twitter is a really great Social Media Tool. But it can also be an aggravation. There are ways to use Twitter and there are ways to not use Twitter!

So if you are a genealogist and you are on Twitter because you want to follow (and be followed) by others with similar interests, here are some tips to make your Twitter experience a positive one

1. Don't be an egg! That is the faceless default profile picture that Twitter assigns every user until they upload their own photo. An egg is anonymous, faceless and doesn't fit with being social. Spammers often have an egg as their profile photo so it's a red flag to many of us. I don't follow eggs and I know many other genealogists pass them by too. My tip is to upload your profile photo before you start following others on Twitter.

2. Don't lock your account  Why make those you have followed jump through hoops to follow you back? To be very honest, I won't wait while you decide if I'm worthy of following you. Because if you followed me, I assume you'd like a follow in return. If I see that lock on your Profile Summary I'm not going to click the follow button .

3. Fill out your Twitter bio before you start following other Twitter users. It's important to let others see what your interests are so they know whether or not to follow you. My Profile Summary (bio) says "Genealogist, author, history buff, Creator of Olive Tree Genealogy website, antique collector" - just enough to let others know if there's something we have in common. When someone follows me I click on their name (which pops up their profile summary) to see what interests they have (i.e., do I want to follow them back) If all I see is "wife and mother" or "lives in xxx" or nothing but their name I don't follow back.

4. Set up your Twitter notifications so that you know whenever someone new follows you. The social convention is to return the follow if you have something in common with that person. But if you aren't getting notified when you get a new follower you won't be able to follow back. I get dozens of new followers daily. So every morning I check my email to go through the names, click on their Profile Summary and make a quick decision about following back. That is why the first 3 tips I've given you are most important for me and for other busy genealogists as well. 

5. Interact with your followers with tweets that are not just auto tweets from your blog. This is common sense advice (remember Twitter is a SOCIAL place!) and I need to do it more myself. I get busy and I neglect this for too long. Say good morning or share a link to a story you read that you found interesting or comment on someone else's tweet. 

If you want to follow me on Twitter you can do so at https://twitter.com/LorineMS

If you want more tips on Twitter you might want to read my friend and fellow blogger Caroline Pointer's 4YourFamilyStory blog. I call Caroline the Queen of Social Media and I think you will find her Twitter articles very helpful. Here's one to get you started called New to Twitter?

Need Help? Join D. Joshua Taylor on Twitter for a LIVE Q and A

Mark your calendars! 

Genealogy expert D. Joshua Taylor from findmypast.com will be holding a live Twitter question and answer session on April 15, at 1 pm EST.

Interested genealogists can follow along with the #fmpExpert hashtag or ask a question using @findmypastUS