Shannon M. Thomas | Mostly Genealogy

While I was writing Top 10 Blog Posts for 2019 I discovered that my top post was US Marine Casualty Cards from 2014.  Wow!  {There is also an update to the original post here  where I show some more information that was sent to me.}  I went back to read the post and discovered that the links no longer work.  I did a little digging and found a link to the Casualty Card Database at the Marine Corps University website.  At this site you click on the war you want to search and download a searchable spreadsheet.  Once you locate your Marine you send an email to request the card.  There are also links to download information about what the codes mean on the cards. I also found that you can search the U.S. Marine Corps Casualty Index, 1940-1958 , at Ancestry.com.  It gives the casualty date, type, unit, and service number.  There is a link to go to another website from the Ancestry database but that link does not work. {I believe...

You might be wondering why I would do a post like this when my blog only had two posts in 2019.    I looked at my stats at the end of 2019 and was amazed at the hits my blog was still getting and what the popular posts were.    This year I included the top 5 searches on my blog.    You can see the 2018 list  here . Top 10 of 2019 US Marine Casualty Cards  - 2014 (+1) Goodbye Evernote, Hello OneNote  - 2018 (+2) Evernote Research Checklist -- update  - 2018  Using Evernote for my Planner  - 2017 (+2) OneNote | A Look Inside  - 2019 (new) Evernote To Do List Update  - 2015 (-1) The Great Genealogy Shape Up of 2018!  - 2018  (new) Evernote to OneNote | Importing Notes  - 2018 (new) OneNote | Anatomy of a Notebook  - 2018 (new) Top 10 Posts for 2018  - 2019 (new) Top 5 Searches of 2019 Evernote Legacy Family Tree OneNote Thomas Rutan Some Thoughts I'm surpris...

Originally posted at Lost Tree Project as a guest post February 2019. Eventually we all hit a brick wall.  My first brick wall was with Joseph Thomas {my husband's 3rd great grandfather} I spent months searching.  Brick walls can last weeks to months to years.  Below are some quick tips to help you break through that brick wall. Research another ancestor for a while and then go back to your brick wall .  You will see your brick wall ancestor with new eyes. Use a checklist to see if you missed any records.  {You can find my Evernote Research Checklist in my shared genealogy notebook.} Revisit your research.  Maybe you missed a piece of information in a document.  Maybe something seemed like it wasn't important but now that you have more information you find it is important. Learn something new.  It does not need to be genealogy related.  When you shift your thinking to something...

The top ten posts for 2018 were as follows: The Great Genealogy Shape Up of 2018 US Marine Casualty Cards (from 2014) Evernote Research Checklist (from 2018)   Goodbye Evernote, Hello OneNote (from 2018) Evernote To Do List Update (from 2015) Using Evernote for My Planner (from 2017) Tagging and Notebooks in Evernote (from 2015) How I Process Death Certificates using Evernote Reminders (from 2017) How to add the Genealogy Notebook to Your Evernote (from 2016) Putting Pen to Paper (from 2018) The most surprising one was the US Marine Casualty Cards post from 2014.

I still have a few more notes to move over from Evernote but I am loving OneNote.  I keep to do lists, goals, projects, ideas, genealogy research and so much more in OneNote.  So what does my setup look like?  Lets take a look! {I usually use OneNote 2016 but I have tried the Windows 10 app and it works just as good.} The first screen shot below is OneNote 2016 and the second is from the Windows 10 app.  My first notebook is my task management notebook.  In this notebook I have my Inbox, which is my default section for incoming stuff, calendar and lists.  {Emails that I have sent to OneNote and screen clips go in my Inbox section.} The next notebook is for my blog, and then the Genealogy notebook is for research notes, then I have the GBT notebook which I use for notes and reminders for GeneaBloggersTribe, the Reference notebook is for things that don't belong in one of the other notebooks,  and the last notebook is the Archive. Let...

For this post on OneNote I was going to show you inside of my notebooks but I thought you should know how the notebooks work first.   Notebooks have sections, pages, and groups.  A section can have a page and a page can have subpages.  A group can have sections with pages, subpages and also groups.  Some things you can do in notebooks are: You can name sections, pages, subpages and groups whatever you would like. You can click anywhere on the page and start typing. You can add images, tables, etc. {you can even add calendars}. You can add audio files as well. There is a lot you can do in OneNote to make it your own and make it work for you.  It took me some time to get it to where it is now.  I will be showing you inside my notebooks next time! Do you use OneNote?  How do you make it work for you?

Dec 1982

A few weeks ago I posted about moving to OneNote from Evernote .  To start the process I searched for a way export my Evernote notes into OneNote.  At the OneNote website you can download a OneNote importer.  Once it is downloaded double click to open and follow the instructions to link your Evernote account.   {Save the importer because you will be using it a lot to import your notes} .    I do not suggest selecting all of your notebooks and doing them at one time, especially if you have a lot of notes.  Before I started the importer I did a little housekeeping in my Evernote notebooks and deleted notes that were not needed.  You can also create some dummy notebooks in Evernote to break up your notes into smaller chunks so you do not run into any issues when importing to OneNote.  Once in OneNote you will want to move your notes around into your new organization system. Select your notebook, select next an...

What?  I'm leaving Evernote behind! As most of you know I have been a huge Evernote supporter from the beginning and I have had a paid membership from the beginning {until October 1st}.    There has been a lot of talk about Evernote not lasting much longer because they have been making a lot of changes and letting people go.   That got me thinking about what I would do if they did cease to exist.   I started looking at all of my options and the best option, for me, is OneNote.   I already have it on my computer and it is free.   I can use OneNote on my desktop, laptop, phone, and table all for free.   I can still use tags {a bit different than what I am use to but it works and I am finding that I really don't need that many tags}.   I can still search for things and actually find what I am looking for.   I can still clip stuff from the web using the OneNote clipper.   I'm currently working on moving notes from Evernote t...

2018 Pumpkins My family has been having a pumpkin carving party for the last several years.  Each year I go on a hunt for some new patterns.  Today, I want to share some of my favorite places to get patterns.  The Pumpkin Lady Pumpkin Pile KOA - Camping themed Military Themed CelebratingHalloween Disney Stoney Kins DLTK Band of Cats Dotcom Women BHG HGTV College Football DIY Network Do you carve pumpkins with your family?  Please share your pumpkins with me.

2016

Easter 1980