Genedocs to Prepare You and Your Family for Emergencies

With the recent spree of horrific tornados that just swept the southern states killing over 300 people and turning thousands of homes upside-down and inside out, we really don't need any more reminders that unexpected things do happen and we can only be prepared.

As a recent transplant from Colorado Springs to North Texas I took for granted the last decade the threats of mother nature's fury - no more!

With a mother-in-law currently sleeping the weekend in the hospital recovering from completely unexpected pnuemonia detected only after she went in for microsurgery on her shoulder again I too find the genedocs Emergency Wallet Card one of the best tools any family member can have.

Just like we as researchers prepare to preserve and protect our priceless family photos, we must be prepared to identify ourselves and loved ones including minor children, have a list of emergency contacts, and other pertinant medical and other information that can be essential in any emergency.

I kept hearing about the beautiful and smart young female college student who was literally ripped from her boyfriend's arms by one of the twisters and was killed - and thought would my family be prepared for that?

Homes across mississippi exploded, imploded, and were tossed around like toothpicks along with all the beloved family treasures - would you be prepared for that?

Please carry and EWC and scan, back up, and share your family photos. You won't regret either precaution.

Photo Discovery Help from facebook Friends

My recent excitement over identifying this photo's context has led to a good bit of reading and viewing more Spanish and Philippine American war content. War is grusome and the imagery of this one is rough to take in at times. It has been suggested Victor Edlund may be the man 2nd from the left standing, but further NARA research must be done to verify if he even served.

Thanks to the folks at the fb Ancestorville page for helping put the photo in correct historical and geographical context - Googled it all so now I'm off!

American Civil War and Genedocs Military Forms

American Civil War 150 years Later:
As researchers everywhere are abuzz now that the 150th Anniversary of the start of the American Civil War has just passed, I want to remind those with civil war ancestors portrait photos to post them on findagrave.com now. It is FREE and will make a lasting legacy which I will be encouraging on facebook shortly after this post is finished. About 600,000 soldiers and sailors lost their lives during the four years of war which only WWII surpassed in all of American history with it's over 1 million.

GENEDOCS MILITARY FORMS

Even as the April issue of Genedocs E-Magazine was just posted with Census, pedigree mapping, document tracking, and more form and photo ideas, I am already looking two what July's issue will offer since it has ben a Military Tribute since the 2009 Unveiling. I wish I had more military photos of my family members from the War but only know of one other Pvt Francis M. Pool(e) who served with the 2nd MS something , but no photo of him can be found yet. So I will undoubtedly resort to adding unusual Civil War photos that most haven't seen like Lincoln's whisper that I added on facebook yesterday.

Whatever graphics I decide upon, I will also be sure to augment the usual three featured form templates with a few extras that readers can both enjoy and benefit from using for themselves.

Sorry I don't blog everyday with job searching and keeping up with facebook and life's necessities, hours run out as I fall asleep on a plate of creativity each night ;-)

April Buds and Blossoms

As we drift into springtime and the birds and bees sing and pollenate the landscape around us into a budding and blossoming panorama of Spring we, as researchers, need to focus some of our time and efforts to creating new beautiful ways to preserve our family legacy.

A few handy tools I have found recently for free or on trial to help enhance family photos are GIMP 2.6 which is basically a free alternative to more pricey Photoshop for those who don't see a need to pay for it and Xara 3d Maker which is a remarkable free trial animation tool for your text which saves in GIF or even flash formats. Here are a few of my novice creations with less than a week experience using each of these programs:

GIMP definitely is worth the time and effort to make literally outstanding ancestor charts! Another effect that everyone enjoys is the perspective manipulation tool which keeps nearly all of the pixel detail as you warp any picture to your desired angle of viewing (example shown two pictures after this)

XARA 3D has some amazing animation for dext and other special effects that I hadn't seen eslsewhere - 2 trials - 7 day and 15 day depending on what you prefer - my first ran out so maybe they allow a renewal of expired ones after you uninstall completely?

This discharge certificate from WWII of my father's was angled as if you are looking down at it, yet kept the image quality of the two service photos of him that I embedded prior to perspective manipulation with GMP 2.6