Genealogy research can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re dealing with piles of documents and countless family lines. That’s where genealogy software like Goldie May comes in.
Goldie May is designed to make your research more organized and efficient. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been researching for years, it can make your journey a lot smoother.
In this blog post, you’ll learn step-by-step how to use this powerful tool to simplify and advance your genealogy research.
What Is It?
Goldie May was created by Richard Miller, a software developer with experience at several genealogy companies. Now, he’s put his expertise into his own product.
This is genealogy software you use through a browser extension. All data is stored in the cloud. It works along side other websites like Ancestry and FamilySearch, but also any other website you find helpful to your research.
Price
When you talk about genealogy software, you want to know what it can do, but you also want to know what it will cost. Let’s cover that first. As of the date of this post there is a free version and two paid tiers:
These are the monthly costs. If you pay annually, it is less expensive.
Getting Started
When you visit www.goldiemay.com be sure to watch the introductory video. It only takes a few minutes and gives highlights of what this product can do.
On the homepage click the Install for FREE button. Click Add Chrome Extension and then agree that it can make changes on your computer.
Now, go to the extensions icon in the upper right-hand corner of your screen. It looks like a puzzle piece:
Click on the pin next to Goldie May and a “g” will appear in the extensions list.
This is how you access Goldie May every time you want to use it.
Goldie May requires you have an account on FamilySearch and will ask you to sign in. You don’t have to worry about price here as FamilySearch is free.
It works on Apple, Windows, and Linux based computers running a Chrome based browser like Google Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge.
Now let’s see what this can do for you!
Goldie May Features
Like any new software you need to play around with it, but here are some of the features to get your started.
Projects
Let’s start with the top option which is Projects. Click anywhere in the Projects box and you’ll get this screen:
If you have a project already in the system, click on the name, but for today, I’ll choose New Project.
The title is where you type your research question: Who are the parents of Sarah Rock born in 1827 in Virginia? If I were writing a paper, I would include more information like her husband and marriage date, but for today, this is fine.
People
Under People, click Add Person. From her FamilySearch profile, I copy and paste Sarah’s ID here. Let’s stop and see what you can do.
Click on the gold down arrow next to her name:
This will bring up her vital information, spouse, children, and parents. Notice all the names of people and places are links.
If the link is a person, you’ll be taken to their FamilySearch profile. If the link is a place you’ll see choices like the FamilySearch Wiki, FamilySearch Catalog, or The Family History Guide. Some place links will also take you to the card catalog on Ancestry or MyHeritage. Each jurisdiction has it’s own link so click on all of them.
The FamilySearch Wiki is one of my favorite research sites. To find out how to use it, click here.
Tasks
In the Tasks section you could click on “Add Task,” but there’s something much cooler than that!
If you go to the FamilySearch catalog, for example, and right-click on a record group you think will be helpful, choose “Goldie May” and “Add task to project from link.” That record group link is now listed under your tasks. This can be part of your plan for this phase in your genealogy research.
You can add a link from any website you find. Just pull up the website on your computer and under Tasks click “Add Page to Tasks.”
For example, I had Cyndi’s List and the Giles Circuit Court website open on my computer. I added these as part of my research plan with just a few clicks.
Research Log
We all know we should be logging our research…keeping track of what we find or don’t find. This keeps us organized. Goldie May has a research log section, so let’s go through it.
Manual Logging
You can choose to manually log the page you are on by clicking the “Log Page” button. If you find information that’s useful, you can like it. If you don’t find what you’re looking for or your person is not where you think they should be, you can dislike it. This would equate to a negative search. You can also write an abstract for the record and make comments.
If you find an image you want to keep, right-click and choose “Take a screenshot.” Outline the area you want to save and it will be added to that item in your research log.
Automatic Logging
You can also choose to automatically log your research. Turn on “Automatic Logging” and every page you view will be saved. We all know the rabbit holes we go down so your log may become very long, very quickly. Use this feature wisely. You can always turn it on so you have a record of what you’re doing and delete the pages you no longer need.
Notice towards the top of the Research Log page there is a search bar. This allows you to search for keywords or even your liked/disliked entries. You do have the option to export your log as a CSV or TSV file. I exported a CSV file to both Excel and Airtable and it worked great!
Subway Map
This feature acts as a timeline for the person you’re researching. The free version allows you to select 5 people per month. The paid version is unrestricted.
This is an important feature as you can see where your ancestor lived over time. This may also help you separate people of the same name if you’re seeing strange migration patterns. Perhaps you’re looking at two people (or more) rather than just one.
This will pull from your family tree on FamilySearch or Ancestry. If you have both tabs open you can compare the two on the Subway Map. You can also go into Public Member trees and open up those tabs to compare the data that many people have on the same person.
At the bottom of the page, you can turn on additional information like child births, hints, or boundary changes. Clicking on “Map the places” will bring up a Google map, so you can visualize where these events took place.
Childbirth Option
You can turn on the Childbirth option to show the birthdate and place for each child in the tree. Adding this extra information could help sort out locations in their timeline or show you descrepancies you didn’t see before.
Hints Option
If you turn on Hints, you’ll see gold circles in the timeline that link to records that could be helpful. You’ll have to research them further to know whether they pertain to your ancestor. They are targeted to that name, place, and date to help you narrow your focus.
Likewise, if you see gold bars, they indicate a list of newpapers that may mention your ancestor. At the very least, you’ll see what papers were available for that time and place.
Boundary Changes Option
You can also see boundary changes of where your ancestor lived. The gray bars show you the dates of when boundaries changed. If you click on one, then choose the source link you’ll be taken to the Atlas of County Boundaries for that location. Learn more about this in my blog How To Track Your Ancestors Through Boundary Changes.
Windows & Tabs
This next feature is for paid Goldie May subscribers.
How many times have you gone down a rabbit hole and found you have 10 tabs open on your computer. You don’t have time to look at them, let alone thoroughly analyze each website, but you don’t want to lose them either. The Windows & Tabs section is for you.
You can save groups of tabs by hitting the Save button. You can then rename the group. So, if you come back later, the same tabs will open up exactly as you left them.
Catalog
From the Home screen click on “Catalog” and type in any place. This brings together records from multiple providers including Ancestry, FamilySearch, Newspapers.com, and so many more. This is where you go to know what records are available for a particular location.
Finally
At the bottom of every Goldie May page you’ll find Richard Miller’s email address and a link for videos about that feature. I had a question and emailed him. He responded quickly and was eager to help.
As you can see Goldie May is one-stop shopping for keeping your genealogy research organized and efficient. Play around with all of the features to see how you can further your research with this powerful tool.
Genealogy tip: If you have a FamilySearch Affiliate Library near you, you can add the Goldie May extension to a computer there, use the free and pro tools, and then delete the extension before you go. It’s not a software download, so it won’t harm the library computers.
If you need help with your genealogy research, I’d love to learn about your latest project. Click below to begin.
