iFamily History

Pinterest to share with others

Share with Others

Pinterest is a good place to share genealogical stories and experiences. What you have learned, how you found something, websites you like, etc.

Write a blog post and then pin that post to your Pinterest account. Pinterest is used to share blog posts or websites. It does not hold information like Facebook.

Share with Family

I would not, however, use Pinterest to share family photos with other family members. There are better websites for that such as Flickr.

Pinterest to Research Your Family

Research your family
Pinterest is not a site that you will be able to do a lot of research for your family. There are no births, deaths and marriage information on Pinterest. But if you search for the right items, you might find a post with a link to a website with that information. Pin them for future reference.

Family Names
I searched for one of my family names:
Dowd

The pins that came up had the words "down", "downing" and "don't" in it. Not helpful at all!
So Pinterest isn't good for last names.

Locations
I then searched for a location of my ancestors.
I typed in
County Galway Ireland

Now I got great pins.
Places to visit
Scenic places
Castles
Places to stay
Culture
Maps!

These pins are great if I am going to go there for a genealogy trip. Places to stay, places to see.
Churches were also listed.That is great for records.

Even if you aren't going there in the next year, pin these. These are pins you might want to pin for future reference.

I add the word map to the previous search.
County Galway Ireland map

Now I have many different maps. Some of the maps are all of Ireland, some of just County Galway in Ireland and some of County Galway by itself.

I then changed the word map to churches
County Galway Ireland churches

Not all the churches are useful although very beautiful.

I then changed the word churches to genealogy
County Galway Ireland genealogy

Now I got lots of great posts of history and old photos.

Pin the posts you like into different boards ready to refer to later when you are ready.

Pinterest: Why Use in Genealogy

Pinterest is a popular Social Media medium.

These posts are for those interested in learning how to use Pinterest in their genealogical research. This is not for those who are professional genealogists or have a genealogy business. That will be a separate post, although this post is a great place to start.

You might already have a Pinterest account and now want to know how to use it for genealogy.
You might have no idea what Pinterest is but think you might want to use it to help your research.

Why Use Pinterest?

Free
Many people on there already
Visual
Pins are links to websites
Lots of pins to helps
Organize pins by categories

Four areas of Social Media

I go through four different ways each Social Media can be used in genealogy.

Click on one of the above areas to learn how to use Pinterest in each of those areas.

Terms
Pins
Each individual item in Pinterest is called a Pin. A pin is a picture with a description with a link

Board
A board is a collection of pins.

Post
Each item in Pinterest with content is called a post.

Repin
If you find a post you really like and want in your boards, then you click Pin, which repins it onto the board you pin.

Like
You can click on the heart to like the post. This does not Repin.

Go through
Clicking to the actual site.

Writing Family Histories

“The best way to show your love for those who are gone is to tell their stories.”[1]

I love this quote. This illustrates why we need to collect, record and compile our own and our ancestors' stories and photos.

I am presently writing my husband's maternal South African family history. It is so exciting. I am learning the white history of South Africa as I collect and write their stories. Every one of these ancestors has a very exciting story. To them, they were just living their lives but for us now it is so interesting.

I too look at my life and think it is very ordinary and boring, but will my grandchildren think so?

Write your life story. Write down or record the stories of your parents and grandparents now.

Please add comments on how you have collected family stories.

Posts on ideas of how and what to write coming soon.

[1] Once Upon A Time, Season 4 Episode 21, 2015.

Google Maps & Graveyard sites

There is a graveyard that my husband and I drove by often while driving to family in Southern Alberta. One day we went to the graveyard, visited it and took pictures. We love history and checking things out. It is the Frankburg Mormon Pioneer Cemetery and it is in the middle of farmlands miles from a town or city. We had to know why? What was the history?

The other day driving near there again, my husband checked on Google maps. The graveyard/cemetery was not on the map.

He emailed Google and asked them to add it to the map.
Google emailed back the next day and said they would check into it to verify it. Two days later Google emailed to say they have added it to their maps!! See the email below

Success

Based on your suggestion, the listing for Frankburg Mormon Pioneer Cemetery has been added to the map. See your addition. Note that some changes might take up to 24 hours before appearing on Google.

Thank you for improving Google Maps! Your insights make it a better, more useful map for everyone.