Apps for Genealogy

-
How often have you been at a library or archive and found something -- but didn't bring the right paperwork with the person in question in it? Of course if you brought and can use your laptop or tablet, you can possibly access your database or online tree(s). 

 There are phone apps! Some are getting really good. The major sites have them, and there are some standalone apps too - and browser plugins too. While traveling, these apps can be quite useful.
Ancestry app

 Ancestry: two apps. First, for your tree: 
https://www.ancestry.com/cs/ancestry-app and

 AncestryDNA:  activate your test in the app! 
https://www.ancestry.com/cs/dnaapp

 Ancestry also owns FindaGrave, which has their own app. Photograph and upload grave photos right from your phone: https://www.findagrave.com/mobileapp

The very latest on the apps from Rootstech:
https://www.rootstech.org/video/ancestry-on-the-go-ancestry-app-suite

MyHeritage mobile app

 MyHeritage app is very full-featured, and has added DNA and research to the mix. If you have a tree there, and you should!* and DNA -- again, you should*, try out the app. 

https://www.myheritage.com/mobile




FamilySearch app
FamilySearch app just keeps getting better. One option is Relatives Around Me which is a fun way to find cousins around you at big genealogy meetings or conferences. The FamilySearch blog mentioned a new feature: My Contributions. Easy to use, and encouraging! 

 New for the app at RootsTech: Mapping Your Ancestors

 https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/mobile/




PhotoScan



PhotoScan by Google Photos just could replace TurboScan on your phone. Testing it out and see if it works well for you. 

 Once you take a picture, a new screen pops up with four circles in it. Move the indicator into each circle until prompted to move to the next one. This ensures very clear images, no matter how much your phone moves during the process. At that point you can adjust the borders to your liking. The image can be moved into Google photos for more post-processing, if needed.

https://www.google.com/photos/scan/
While you are working with pictures, Color Savvy is an excellent light table to illuminate slides and negatives for scanning.  Use the app on a tablet and take the picture with a phone.  This is a free app, available at your app store.

After you have scanned that photo or negative, you may need to do some adjusting.  Adobe Photoshop has several free apps available; my favorite is PS Express.  It has several preset effects that can be applied as well as adjustments for brightness, etc.  It is the only app I have found that will invert an image from negative to positive.


Add a simple temperature adjustment, and in two steps, you have


https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-express.html


Evernote



Evernote isn't new, but you might not realize that it is a phone app, as well as a standalone application and a browser plugin. Very handy to have access to your notes as well as your people; some use Evernote for research plans and logs along with screen grabs. Once you login, all of your Evernote contents are available on all your devices.

 https://evernote.com/download


 Have you found other apps you find useful in your research? Please mention them in the comments.

 ---
* Why you should: https://skcgs.blogspot.com/2020/01/fish-in-all-ponds.html
Valorie Cowan Zimmerman

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Looking for a Needle in a Haystack? GAME CHANGER at FamilySearch

-
Image
Generated with Bing ImageCreator (AI), March 13, 2024 Where is YOUR Needle, Your Missing Record? Genealogical Proof Standard When we use the GPS (Genealogical Proof Standard) as our guide, we all know that "exhaustive research" can be both tedious and exhausting. Is life long enough to search page by page through all the counties where all the members of a family might have lived, paid taxes, bought, leased or sold property, made a will or died intestate? It is possible that the new Full Text Search at FamilySearch will  eventually  allow us to do just that. It has been estimated that 75% or more of the records at FamilySearch were browsable but not searchable; the only indexes those found in the records themselves. Those records are certainly attainable by using those indexes and browsing to the record of interest, but the process is tedious, often frustrating, and slow. And once found, the record must be read and transcribed to be useful. This new Full Text Search tackles a...
Read more

What's the Question?

-
Image
We genealogists are often told by experienced researchers how important it is to begin with a research question. I resisted doing this for a long time, but now that I use a series of questions to guide my research, the search is more focused and actually finds more of the history of the family I'm investigating. I use a Google Doc as the  research proceeds, where I keep the question(s), the plan, timelines, checklist of resources to search, etc. all in one place. I've seen others use spreadsheets in the same way, perhaps splitting up things in tabs (Excel or Google Sheets). I prefer a document because I add source citations as I find them and I can begin writing up the case right there in the doc as the hypotheses are proven. Specific Questions in Previous Successes As beginners we often have no clue how much and what details we already know about a person, event or relationship, so it's hard to specify what we want to know. But when looking back at successful research, it ...
Read more

Help Save This Abused and Neglected Cemetery

-
Image
Screen capture from Google Maps History In an exchange of emails this past week in both the main SKCGS group, and in the Washington-State-Genealogy group, many facts were revealed about the history of the I.O.O.F. Comet Lodge Cemetery, also known as the Old Burying Ground, the Georgetown Cemetery, the Graham Street Burying Ground and maybe more.  FindAGrave sums it up this way: "Since it was established in 1881, the Comet Lodge cemetery site has been whittled away to less than half its original 5 acres. Records are sketchy but it's safe to say that some 500 pioneers were buried here, atop unknown numbers of native Duwamish people. New burials ended in the 1930s. Since then, homes and streets were built on top of many of the plots as the neighborhood around the cemetery grew.  "Upkeep and ownership of the cemetery bounced between the city, civic groups, relatives of Comet Lodge residents, and nearby neighbors. For years, much of the property was allowed to deteriorate int...
Read more