stephanie.erickson@live.com

603.425.8114

  • Home

  • About

  • Programs

  • Projects

  • Lesson Plans

  • Technical Papers

  • More

    STEPHANIE ERICKSON

    Archive

    April 2019

    May 2018

    April 2018

    March 2018

    February 2018

    December 2017

    November 2017

    October 2017

    September 2017

    June 2017

    May 2017

    April 2017

    Please reload

    Tags

    edtech

    growthminset

    middleschoolscience

    #STEM

    #breakout

    #breakoutedu

    #edtech

    #escapetheclassroom

    #gamification

    #problemsolving

    8thgradescience

    GIS

    GISDay

    NHgeology

    PSU

    STEM

    STEMbadges

    acciokey

    back to the future

    backyardsugaring

    baconcipher

    binary code

    binarycode

    blackdogsugar

    boelterhall

    breakout

    breakoutedu

    browniegirlscouts

    brownies

    ciphers

    circuitry

    climatechange

    code.org

    codes

    coding

    computerscience

    cooperativelearning

    criticalthinking

    cs

    csunplugged

    cyrptology

    daisies

    daisygirlscouts

    digital games

    earthandhumanimpact

    earthandspacescience

    earthscience

    edtech

    elementarySTEM

    engineering

    escape from gringotts

    esri

    fidget spinner

    genealogy

    geology

    geology of adventure

    geologylessons

    geologyofadventure

    girlscoustgwm

    girlscoutbadges

    girlscouts

    girlscoutsgwm

    girlsout badges

    gis

    gis4education

    gisintheclassroom

    glaciers

    googletools

    gsusa

    gsways

    highschoolscience

    innovation

    integratedscience

    iteacheighthgrade

    juniorgirlscouts

    juniors

    lemko

    lemkodnaandancestry

    lesson plans

    maker

    makerspace

    maple syrup science

    maythe4th

    middleschoolSTEM

    morse code

    movie physics

    nationalpark

    ngss

    ngssphenomena

    nhcmtc

    nhearthquakes

    nps

    paleoclimatology

    physicalscience

    physics

    pinnaclesnp

    problemsolving

    programming

    realworldgeology

    robotics

    roboticsbadges

    rusyn

    scienceteaching

    simplecircuits

    spatial analysis

    spatial reasoning

    squishycircuits

    starwars

    stem

    storymaps

    teaching

    teachingSTEM

    teched

    technology

    technologyeducation

    tetonics

    ucla

    Please reload

    Using Google Maps to Support Genealogy Research

    May 3, 2017

    |

    Stephanie Erickson

    One of my many hobbies is genealogy. I have been researching my family tree since 2001 ans am the self professed family historian for both my and my husbands families. In the last two years,  I expanded my research to my husband's family lines. My husband is Irish and Finnish on his paternal lines and Eastern European on his maternal side. After conducting Ancestry DNA tests, I was contacted by an administrator of a Facebook group that focused on  descendents from a particular villages in the former Galician region of present day Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine. This led me to another Facebook group the Lemko DNA and Ancestry group. This group is again focused on making DNA connections of descents with Lemko ancestry. After a time, I began to realize I could volunteer my technical skills to assist in managing the many surname and village lists. Many of the members expressed a want that they wished they could see a map with all the villages to help with making connections. I had one of those lightbulb moments and thought about the Google Treks I had made in the past for some lessons. As such, the Lemko Ancestry and DNA map database was born.

     

    “Maps are an essential part of your genealogical research for a variety of reasons. Maps can show you where and when boundaries changed. Some maps provide you a bird's eye view of the city your ancestor lived in. They can help you recreate your ancestor's community leading you to additional resources. Maps can show the migration route your ancestor took.” (Ortega, 2011). The area identified as Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian empire has been ruled by many different countries over the years, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Ukraine. Maps are scarce for this region. 

     

    Using Google Maps, I created an online map database that visually connects members of the Lemko DNA and Ancestry group and their ancestral surnames and villages. Pinned ancestral villages include links to cadastral maps, photos, member surnames, links to metrical document scans and more. The members of the group are connected through DNA connections as identified through the GEDMatch website. However, known common ancestors are often a struggle to find. Members of the Facebook group can search the map database for  ancestral villages and common surnames, and locate resources for their genealogical research. Connecting through surnames provides additional avenues of research for our family trees, in the hopes that a common ancestor will be identified.

     

    The Lemko group Google Map Database is comprised of user contributed information. Over 350 respondents provided surnames, village names, filial parish, links to document scans or personal websites, immigration year, occupation and church affiliation information though a Google Form as well as original collaborative Google sheet.  I have mapped over 300 villages with associated surnames in Eastern Europe. Villages encompass not only the former region identified as Galicia and Lodomeria, but also areas east and south into Romania, Hungary and the Ukraine. 

     

    Surname, village, cadastral, metryical, personal websites and village photographs resources are consolidated into one place. This consolidation provides a visual depiction of data and resources but also provides members additional avenues to connecting with DNA cousins. Using Google Maps in this methods allows the Lemko group to compile different surname spellings, connect and share information with shared surname contacts, as well as to track migration of family member through several villages.The database additionally includes "new world" villages, locations where immigrant ancestors settled, as well as church affiliations and "new world" occupations. These additional locations allow for additional connections between families to be made as well as additional resources that can be searched for family information. 

     

     

    The  Google map also allows for KML/KMZ map overlays such as the early 20th century ethnographic group boundaries for the ethnicities such as of Lemko, Boiko, Hutsul, Pokutians, Opolians, Podilians, Volhynians and Polisians that was created by another member. These ethnographic boundaries represent an approximate time period of 1920-1930’s and represent demographic and changes in self-identification and not political identity.  These additional overlays provide an additional level of information for group members to assist in identifying ancestor and village ethnicity within a snapshot of time.

     

    To date the Lemko DNA and Ancestry Facebook group has over 600 members.

     

     

    References

    Ortega, G. P. (2011, December 2). 5 Maps Sites Every Genealogist Should Know. Retrieved from Archives.gov: http://www.archives.com/experts/ortega-gena/genealogy-maps.html

     

     

     

    Please reload

    Recent Posts

    Paleoclimatology

    April 26, 2019

    "New Hampshire gets earthquakes?"

    May 4, 2018

    If I could have titled my week....

    April 8, 2018

    Please reload

    Address

    New Boston, New Hampshire

    Contact

    stephanie.erickson@live.com

    Follow

    ©2017 by Stephanie Erickson. Proudly created with Wix.com