During our first session after our August break we welcomed new member Robyn, who brought along one of the five Arch folders she has developed to store records for her family. Robyn said that she enjoys and learns a lot by reading through them. Helen reported back on travels to Ireland in which an 8 day isolation for Covid sadly inhibited chances for family research. Val described taking a complete break from family research while holidaying 'up north' for a month, then coming back and to find her skills in using Trove had deserted her!
Following Dawn's presentations in July on writing and sharing a family history using the My Heritage book report feature, we previewed the geneological report Malcolm Sanders developed and had printed for his cousins. We also checked out David Hall's informative and thought provoking presentation on the Virtual Records Treasury of Ireland, a recently launched project to recreate the records of the destroyed Public Records Office in Dublin. Here are links suggested by David:
In news via a message from Julie, Ancestry have a half price promotion on at the moment, including DNA, Finally, news from Bev via Scotland's People that the time consuming process of digitising the 1921 Census is almost complete and should be available by the end of the year.
- A news item covering the project.https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/irish-virtual-record-treasury
- A review by Irish Genealogist John Grenham.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-FAfkJBX-o&t=6s (Other YouTube posts, that look to be very useful.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh1WNp17x-hGdMdbpChrE6Q)
- A brief outline of using the site.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0PSa_Ugb3c
- The site itself.https://virtualtreasury.ie/'
In news via a message from Julie, Ancestry have a half price promotion on at the moment, including DNA, Finally, news from Bev via Scotland's People that the time consuming process of digitising the 1921 Census is almost complete and should be available by the end of the year.
With Robyn keen to check out the downloadable photo restoration app Hotpot.ai, we worked on some before and after images of Helen's half brother John, then some photos with scratches across faces to demonstrate that while the free hotpot.ai version is suitable for simple restorations; it doesn't handle scratches on people's faces well, leading to distortions in the image. Mentor Judy Barry suggested working on the scratches on faces beforehand, then applying Hotpot.ai.
In discussing learning needs for the remainder of the year, we decided to include a 'hands component'. We talked about writing and sharing stories each class, with Robyn reading her stories 'There's No Place Like Home' and 'Occupations' from the Family Research topic list. Helen then read out a story she is currently drafting about a colourful character in her family who designed the sleeve for the drum on the cover of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band! The suggestion is to prepare something of between 150 and 400 words to share at the '1st Thursday' session, either drawing from the Family Research Group monthly topic or something you are currently working on.
Julie returned to class in our second session, delighted at her tech savvy daughter's interest and support in helping her to develop her family tree on ancestry.com and fired with enthusiasm to develop it further!
The second session was largely 'hands on'. Class members identified what they wanted to work on, then spread out, using PC's/laptops/phones to work on particular learning needs, with Judy and Bev providing mentoring support. The hands on component was warmly received and will continue on the '2nd Thursday' session for the rest of the year.
Our guest speaker on Thursday 6 October at 1pm will be Graham Jensen. Graham has a particular interest in the creative writing of family history and will speak on researching, writing, printing and sharing his family history, 'Leaving the Shore'.
Bev Lee
In discussing learning needs for the remainder of the year, we decided to include a 'hands component'. We talked about writing and sharing stories each class, with Robyn reading her stories 'There's No Place Like Home' and 'Occupations' from the Family Research topic list. Helen then read out a story she is currently drafting about a colourful character in her family who designed the sleeve for the drum on the cover of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band! The suggestion is to prepare something of between 150 and 400 words to share at the '1st Thursday' session, either drawing from the Family Research Group monthly topic or something you are currently working on.
Julie returned to class in our second session, delighted at her tech savvy daughter's interest and support in helping her to develop her family tree on ancestry.com and fired with enthusiasm to develop it further!
The second session was largely 'hands on'. Class members identified what they wanted to work on, then spread out, using PC's/laptops/phones to work on particular learning needs, with Judy and Bev providing mentoring support. The hands on component was warmly received and will continue on the '2nd Thursday' session for the rest of the year.
Our guest speaker on Thursday 6 October at 1pm will be Graham Jensen. Graham has a particular interest in the creative writing of family history and will speak on researching, writing, printing and sharing his family history, 'Leaving the Shore'.
Bev Lee