Facebook - A Genealogist's Tool for Record Keeping, Research, and Collaboration

Benefits of Using Facebook for Genealogy

• Facebook serves as a type of journal and records everything you post in chronological order.

• Facebook can keep you up-to-date with your family, both immediate and extended.

• Facebook can re-connect long-lost family members.

• Facebook can aid genealogical research with pages specific to localities, families, organizations, businesses, etc.

• Facebook offers a place to store and share family history information.

Issues to Be Aware of and Work Around

Privacy – Restrict your personal information, choose your friends carefully, take advantage of extra security measures such as two-step verification.

Photo resolution – Photos are not stored on Facebook in a high resolution.

Technology Comfort Level – Not all your family will be comfortable with Facebook due to experience with technology. Think of it as an opportunity to connect with some, but not all, family members. 

Facebook may not replace methods you already use as a genealogist, but it can certainly be a useful addition. You may make discoveries and see pictures you never would have known, and offer that same opportunity to family you know and to cousins you might never have met.

LDS Pioneer Resources - Mormon Migration

For those with LDS Pioneer ancestors, there are websites to find and share information about your family.

The Mormon Migration website is a "remix" of the old Mormon Migration Index CDs. The data from the old cd's has been added upon and put on the site in an easily searchable format. 


You can search by name of person, name of ship, or date. A search for the name "John Kelly" yielded the these results:

You would click on the name of the ship (Camillus, above) to access all available resources about the voyage including personal accounts, passenger lists, and (when you're lucky) images of the ship manifest, as seen below:

Wherever you see blue writing on the site, you can click and learn more. The images of passenger lists are also clickable in order to view them larger. You may have to go through several images in order to find the person you're looking for.

If you have information the Mormon Migration website doesn't, you can submit your information and have it considered as an addition to the database. You would click on "Share what you know about this voyage", as seen in blue italicized writing in the center of the image above.

Go to the site, Mormon Migration, and see what you can learn and share about your Mormon Pioneer ancestors. It's a really easy site to navigate...no pun intended! 

Thine in the bonds of happy sailing - Caroleen

Free Digitized Newspaper Collections, Part 1

Tips to take full advantage of sites

with digitized newspapers:

• Search the site extensively. You can't get yourself into trouble unless you're downloading something so point and click and see what you can find.

• Look for tabs and sidebars which may lead to more information.

• Take advantage of tutorials and "how to use this site" buttons. Sometimes "?" and and "what's this?" appear at various places on a page. You can click on them and learn more about using the site.

•  Make sure you're searching correctly. Watch for correct dates, locations, parts of the newspaper you're searching (ie, advertisements, articles, editorials, headlines, etc.)

Here is a list of some digitized newspaper 

collections available to search online:

Online Historical Newspapers Website:

https://sites.google.com/site/onlinenewspapersite/Home

The Olden Times - Historic Newspapers Online:

http://theoldentimes.com


BYU Family History Library Periodicals and Newspapers 
(Scroll down to the "Newspapers" section for many links to digitized newspaper collections. Some are indexes but many are fully searchable sites with images of articles. Contact the BYU Family History Library regarding passwords, if needed. Some may be freely available.):

http://lib.byu.edu/sites/familyhistory/periodicals

Utah Digital Newspapers: 

http://digitalnewspapers.org
  

Tips to find digitized newspapers 

specific to your research: 

  

• Visit the "Chronicling America" website as discussed in a previous blog post on this site. You can learn which newspapers were available in which locations at which time in American History. If you know what you are looking for, it may be easier to locate.

• Use specific words on Google to do your search: Newspaper(s), Historical, Genealogy, County Name, City Name, State Name, Online, etc. I used the words: Grosse Pointe Michigan Genealogy Newspapers. It turned up results that lead me down a winding path to an elaborate collection of digitized newspapers from the ealy 1900's through today.

• Visit state university and college sites to view their digitized holdings. Many have extensive collections.

Though the Internet is vast, and digitized collections may be elusive, finding your ancestors in free online digitized newspapers is not only possible, but highly likely. Use newspaper sites and creative searches as a start. Use your desire to find your family as your motivation for discovery. Desire is the biggest factor in the finding.

Thine in the bonds of finding your family - Caroleen

 

US Historic Newspapers Finding Aid - Chronicling America's US Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present

Newspapers are a great resource for family history research. They can help you fill in basic facts about ancestors, but more importantly, newspapers can "add life" to the people in your pedigree. 

In order to effectively use newspapers as a resource, you need to know which newspapers were published in the places and times your ancestors were living. Once you know the name of the newspapers, you'll want to see if copies still exist and where they are held. You'll also want to do a search for digitized copies online.

The best resource for finding all newspapers published in the United States since 1690 is "The US Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present" in the Chronicling America section at the Library of Congress website. It is the authority on US newspapers. Here you can find the name of any newspaper published in the US since 1690...before we were even a nation.

*Note that the US Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present is not a list of online newspaper resources. A separate tab on the Chronicling America site will take you to their digitized collection...a subject of a future blog post.

Go to Chronicling America and click on the tab labeled US Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present, as seen in the image below:  

The green arrow shows the US Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present. Notice the tabs for searching the digitized newspaper collection. This will be the subject of a future blog post. By the way, the Digitized Newspaper Collection at this site, while extensive,  is by no means complete.

After clicking on the US Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present tab, you'll be here:

If you happen to know the name of the newspaper you're looking for, search by newspaper title as shown by the green arrow. If you want to see what which newspapers were published in a particular area at a particular time, choose from the drop down boxes as shown by the brown arrows.

After choosing a state, county and city (if desired) and a date, you'll be given a list of papers available such as this:

Next, choose one of the papers you'd like more information about. I clicked on The Martin County Herald and got the following page about the paper:

Next I clicked on the "View complete holdings information" under the heading of "Holdings". The results, below, show which issues still exist and at which libraries they can be read. Contact the libraries noted. Some may be available through inter-library loan. Unfortunately, links to digitized collections available online are not given.

Notice that not all issues are available to be read. Interesting that some of the holdings are outside the state of publication. Check for availability of inter-library loans. Also, search for digitized versions available online.

Remember, two valuable purposes of the "US Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present" at Chronicling America on the Library of Congress website are: First, to tell you the location, dates of publication, and the names of newspapers published in the US since 1690. Second, to tell you the repository of the newspapers and the issues available.

Thine in the bonds of learning more than names and dates.  – Caroleen

PS - Though most of the newspapers in the US have not been digitized and will take a lot of effort to find and read, it wouldn't hurt to search for a digitized copy online. But even if you can't find newspaper articles about your ancestors the easy way, the effort you put into tracking down newspapers through the Chronicling America website will be well worth it when you discover something new.

Source Writing - Don't Let It Scare You!

In the first months of learning how to research my family history, I felt paralyzed by the prospect of writing correct source citations. I wanted to do it right, and the thought of making a mistake kept me from doing anything. I overcame this unfounded fear and have advice for those experiencing similar feelings of anxiety.

1. Elizabeth Shown Mills, the master of genealogical source writing, says "Citation is an art, not a science". Remember that when you start feeling uptight about writing a source citation. (Evidence Explained, p. 39)

2. The purpose of a citation is to get back to the source you are citing. If you can do that, your citation is a success.

3. Attach the information necessary for a source citation to every image you download, print, copy, photograph. You don't want to try to figure out later where you got it.


4. To make source writing easy, use the templates in the most current release of your favorite genealogy database programs. (Rootsmagic and Legacy both attempt to closely follow the standards found in Elizabeth Shown Mill's books Evidence! and Evidence Explained.)

5. In the absence of a template, write down everything you can about your source. You can worry about formatting later.

6. If you want to be professional in your source writing, follow the established and current genealogical standards.

7. Remember that the most correctly written citation does not establish proof. Evaluation of the quality of a source and it's application to the fact you're trying to document could be the subject of a whole other blog post.

Click on the following links for articles, blog posts, and books about source writing:

The Genealogy Source Citation Quick Reference Card - Thomas McEntee


Evidence Explained - The Book - Elizabeth Shown Mills 


Evidence Explained - The Website - Elizabeth Shown Mills

The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual (2000) - Board for Certification of Genealogists

Genealogical Standards of Evidence: A Guide for Family Historians - A book by Brenda Dougall Merriman reviewed by Olive Tree Genealogy

An Extensive List of Blog Posts about Citing Sources- Michael Hait blog author of Planting the Seeds


Don't let source writing make you nervous. If you want to do it correctly, there are plenty of resources available to teach you how. If you've been able to find elusive records, you're most certainly able to format a citation. Just like with your research, it all depends on how badly you want it.


Thine in the bonds of wanting it!  Caroleen

Create an Online Genealogical Survey to Capture the Interest of Your Family

Asking your relatives a lot of questions to aid your genealogical research can be an overwhelming, tedious or boring experience for them. What if you created a colorful survey to capture their interest and enthusiasm?

Google Docs will allow you to create an online survey that is so fun to fill out, your family will be asking you to send them another.

Here's how to do it:

Go to docs.google.com

Sign in or Create an Account and then click on the red "Create" button. 

From there a dropdown box appears where you will click on "Form".

When you click on "Form" you'll be brought to the page where you write your survey:

After filling in the survey form, you can share it with the people you want to fill it out. Click on the Google+ share button to share it with your Google+ Circles. Click on "Email this form" to send it to people through email. Be sure to UNcheck the "Include form in this email" if you want people to see the pretty background as they fill out your survey.

 This is what the email looks like when you send it to someone:

If they click on the link, they'll see a survey like this: 

When you go back to your Google Docs, you'll see the survey you created in your list of documents.

Click on it to be brought to a spreadsheet of responses to your survey.

The answers your respondents give will be in the spreadsheet. You have all their answers in one place!

From the spreadsheet you can also edit your form or view it live by clicking on "Form" at the top.
 

And that's how you make a survey that can be used for family history.

If you'd like to see the Family History Photo Survey I created, CLICK HERE.

You may find survey making has other useful applications, too. I used it to find out what kind of Easter treats my family want this year. (We're at 17 descendants and still counting so holidays are getting a bit more complicated!) If you want to see it, Click Here to see the Easter Treat Survey. You can fill it out, but I can't guarantee you'll get a treat!


Now try making a survey yourself!

Thine in the bonds of family history fun!  Caroleen

Blogs - They're not just for reading...

This is the symbol for Blogger, a blog hosting service offered by Google.

Ever thought about starting your own blog?

Here are some good reasons to do it:

1. Just like you can learn a lot by reading others' blogs, others can learn a lot by reading a blog hosted by you. Be a giver of information!

2. Blogs are an easy way to get started using the cloud. The data you upload to a blog is saved in "the cloud". Who knew?!


3. A blog is a cheap (as in free!) way to back up your data. Everything you put on the blog is backed up by whatever blog hosting service you use.


4. Sharing your family history finds on a blog gets the info to interested family members quickly. Find it, post it - it's that easy. Forget the photocopies! Eradicate the emails! Lose the links! It's all on the blog for whomever wants it. They can print the images and documents you post or they can save it to their own computer.

Following are a couple examples of using 

a blog to share family history information.

The first blog holds images from a scrapbook. Sharing the scrapbook on a blog has several advantages over printing books for family members. One, it's free; two, it can be shared widely; three, it can be printed or downloaded by others...saving you time; and four, distant cousins (whom you may not even know) can find it on the web.

Shea Story Blog (Click Here)

The second blog holds documents and images. It's organized more like a file cabinet of information than like a scrapbook. Viewers can download or print anything from the blog.

Gramps and Mamaw's Girls Blog (Click Here)

Watch these short videos about

how to create a blog on Blogger:

Blog your Family History Part 1

(Click on "YouTube" at the bottom of the screen to 
watch it on YouTube with a larger screen.)

Blog Your Family History Part 2 

(Click on "YouTube" at the bottom of the screen to 
watch it on YouTube with a larger screen.)

Blog Your Family History Part 3

(Click on "YouTube" at the bottom of the screen to 
watch it on YouTube with a larger screen.)

Now go share your family history with your own blog!

Thine in the bonds of family history fun!  Caroleen

Dropbox - A Virtual Flash Drive

As great as a flash drive is for storing and easily moving your data, Dropbox is even better. Dropbox is a cloud based data storage site with benefits far beyond the basic storage a flash drive can deliver.

Reasons to Use Dropbox

1. Unlike a flash drive, you can't forget to take your Dropbox with you. You can't drop it in a sink, a puddle, or a bowl of soup. You can't step on it, drive over it, or mow it with your lawn mover. In other words...since you can't physically hold it, you can't physically lose it.

2. Your Dropbox can be accessed from any computer you've installed it on. If you're not connected to the Internet when you access your Dropbox, it will be synced to all your devices next time you're online.

3. Your Dropbox can be accessed from any computer that's connected to the Internet, whether or not Dropbox is installed on that computer. Just go to Dropbox.com and sign in to your account.

Image from Dropbox

4. Dropbox has an app for iPhone, Android and Blackberry. You can access your files on the go!

5. Dropbox allows you to share folders with others who can collaborate with you and edit files. No more emailing files to others and getting lost in multiple revisions.

6. A "Public" folder is available on your Dropbox which enables the sharing of files or folders without allowing edits or alterations.

7. A "Photos" folder is available on your Dropbox for sharing images with others by way of a unique link. They can only see the images you allow them to access.

Are you convinced? It's time to get started.

Go to the Dropbox website and watch the demo. Then download it to your computer and create an account.

Just about anything you need to learn about Dropbox can easily be found in videos at YouTube. Some users of Dropbox upload videos to YouTube (usually just out of the goodness of their hearts) in order to help others learn more about the service. Some are more professional than others, and some are in languages other than English, but you're sure to find a few that are beneficial to you.

Go to  YouTube (click here) and search topics such as "using Dropbox" or "Dropbox tutorials". 

Watch for further posts on FHClassNotes about specific features of Dropbox that are beneficial to your efforts in genealogy.

- Caroleen

 

Flash Drives

A "flash drive" (aka thumb drive, jump drive, pen drive) is a portable device that allows you to carry your digital information with you. 

There are many reasons and ways to use a flash drive:

1. If you ever work from more than one computer, a flash drive is a great way to transfer your information from one place to another. A flash drive will allow you to keep your files at hand without having to email them to yourself or worry about which file is the most current.

2. You can share files with other people by giving them digital copies of photos or documents on a flash drive. At about $4 for a 1 GB flash drive, it's an inexpensive way to give someone a lot of information.

3. Flash drives can be erased and new information can be added, making them a better alternative to cds that cannot be overwritten.

4. Digital photo displays sometimes use a flash drive as a storage device for the photos on display. Photos can be changed or added to the flash drive.

5. Flash drives can be password protected in order to secure the data on them.

6. Flash drives can store all kinds of data...music, executable files, documents, photos, videos, etc.

How to use a Flash Drive

A flash drive plugs into a USB port on your computer. After it is plugged in, "plug and play" software makes it viewable and usable on your computer. The computer assigns it a "drive" such as "E", "F", "G", etc. The drive assigned to the flash drive will not necessarily be the same on any one computer, nor across multiple computers. Pay attention to the drive assigned to your flash drive.

When you first plug the flash drive into the computer, a box like this will probably appear:

 You may either close it or click on "Open folder to view files" if you'd like to see what's on your flash drive.

When you look at the "My Computer" view on a PC, you will see something like this:

Image from the SanDisk website: www.SanDisk.com

 You can see that this flash drive was assigned drive "J". You can see that there is a default name for the flash drive which was chosen by SanDisk, the company that manufactured it. In this case, the name of the flash drive is "Cruzer 32 GB".

How to Change the Name of your Flash Drive

In order to help you recognize your flash drive and the contents of it, you may change the name of your flash drive. Right click on the flash drive name and choose "Rename". You can then choose a short name such as "Fam History" or "Genealogy" or "Carole Flash". That way when you plug it into a computer and look for it, it will be easy to recognize no matter how many other devices, removable disks or flash drives are installed.

You can see in this photo of the "Computer" or "My computer" screen that the drive assigned to this flash drive is "E" and that the flash drive was renamed from "Cruzer" to "CKELLY FH" for "Caroleen Kelly Family History". Renaming it makes it a lot easier to recognize.

 

The Flash Drive Contents are Organized the Same as any 
Other Drive on Your Computer

When you double click on the flash drive in "Computer" or "My Computer", you'll see all of the folders and files as in the photo below:

 The arrow points out the flash drive and the area to the right shows the contents of the flash drive. Access these folders and files just as you would any file on your computer.

 Remember the Drive Name Assigned to Your Flash Drive (E, F, etc)

Be careful when working from your flash drive that you really are working from it! Check the file location at the top of whatever program you're working in to be sure you're working from the drive assigned to your flash drive:

When you save your work be sure you're saving it in your flash drive and not on the computer's hard drive: 

Where to Purchase a Flash Drive

You can purchase a flash drive at just about any store that sells computer accessories, including online stores like Amazon.com. Prices are very reasonable and have come down in the last couple years. A 32 GB SanDisk Cruzer can currently be purchased for about $26. A 4 GB SanDisk can be purchased for just under $7.

How Much Data Will a Flash Drive Hold?

The amount of data that will fit on your flash drive depends upon how many GB the flash drive will hold and how large your files are. Video files at a high resolution take up more space. Documents take up very little space. According to CFgear.com, a 32 GB flash drive will hold over 50 hours of high quality video; or 30,000 photos; or 6,000 PowerPoint Presentations. For smaller flash drives just divide by the number of GB available. For the average person storing family history information without much video, a 4-8 GB flash drive should be large enough, but with the price so low on even the largest flash drives, it doesn't hurt to go bigger. If you buy a smaller flash drive and run out of space, all you need to do is buy a larger one and transfer your information to the new one.

Removing (or Ejecting) your Flash Drive from Your Computer

When you're on the go again and want to remove your flash drive from the computer, don't just pull it out! If it's removed when a file is being accessed, the file may not be saved correctly or, even worse, may be damaged. 

There is a protocol for removing a flash drive from a PC:

1. Close all files being accessed from your flash drive. For instance, if you're using a family history program and the file used is stored on your flash drive, save it and close it.

2. Right click on the "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" icon on your toolbar or the hidden icons area of your toolbar:

The cursor shows where to find the hidden icons.

Clicking on "Show Hidden Icons" will bring up a box where you may find your "Safely Remove Hardware" icon shown with the red arrow below.

Right click on the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon to open a box like the one shown below:

 Click on "Eject Cruzer" (or whatever your device was named by the manufacturer). The name you gave your flash drive will appear below it to help you recognize your flash drive. If it's safe to remove your flash drive (meaning your flash drive is not being accessed by your computer), the following message box will appear on your screen and you may remove your flash drive from the computer:

The "Safe To Remove Hardware" message

If you get a message box that says the device cannot be stopped, then make sure to close all programs that may be accessing the flash drive and repeat the process to safely remove your flash drive.

Early Adopter of Family Tree

Logo registered to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

New FamilySearch will soon be Old FamilySearch and users of the New FamilySearch system will be signing into their "New FamilySearch" account at the "Family Tree" tab at the top of the FamilySearch.org website. At present, the "Family Tree" tab will allow access to those who sign up to be "early adopters" of the system. Early adopters can view their tree and see all that they are able to see at "New Family Search", but the system is not fully functional.

As of March 14, 2012, the "Family Tree" will allow you to add dates and locations to events (such as birth, christening, and death) which don't yet have dates assigned, change dates and locations (but not contribute additional dates), add sources, add names and "other information", and participate in discussions. You may also "unreserve" or "reassign" temple ordinances. The "Family Tree" will not yet allow you to reserve temple ordinances, add individuals, combine individuals, nor upload gedcoms.

Eventually the "Family Tree" will be fully functional. It has an intuitive interface and is much cleaner and more user-friendly than "New FamilySearch". All those benefits aside, the biggest difference I expect to see between "New FamilySearch" and the "Family Tree" will be the the attention paid to source citations, evidence, and analysis. The current "New FamilySearch" is full of mistakes and conflicting information. Those who put the effort in to correct the mistakes have their sources (if they bother to add them) buried deep and virtually not accessible to others. With the words "source", "evidence" and "analysis" everywhere on each "ancestor" view, it should be obvious to those collaborating on an ancestor that verification of information is a priority. Those adding or changing information will easily be able to add their sources and those accessing information will have sources and analysis front and center.

If you would like to be an "early adopter" of the "Family Tree", click below and sign in with your LDS Account:

Click HERE to be directed to the "Early Adopter" invitation!

This is the page you will be directed to when you click on the link above:

Notice that those who sign up are known as "early adopters" of the system. Eventually everyone will use this new system. When you get to this page, sign in with your LDS Account, if you have one. If you don't have an LDS account, click on "Register". After signing in you will automatically be brought to the "Family Tree" on the FamilySearch.org site.

When you want to access the "Family Tree" again, you will go to the FamilySearch website where you will see a screen like this:

 

You can see from this screen shot that no "Family Tree" shows up at the top of the page between the FamilySearch logo and the "Learn" tab. You will need to sign in. After signing in the "Family Tree" tab will appear as seen below:

After signing in you will see the "Family Tree" tab to the left and the name you registered with your LDS Account to the right. Click on the "Family Tree" to access your family tree. Remember the site is not fully functional, but it's worth spending your time in as it is developed.

If you're on a shared computer, remember to "sign out" when you are done so that the next person to use the computer will not be able to access your account.

Sharing - Free Charts! Fan, Pedigree, and a Name Cloud

This is an example of the Fan Chart from the: BYU-Idaho Family History Center Blog

TreeSeek has partnered with FamilySearch and Geni.com to provide users with a number of free charts including a fan chart, a few types of pedigree charts, and a name cloud. Click on TreeSeek.com to try it out.

The home page looks like this:

Click on "My Trees" or the "Start Now!" button to go to this page:

From here you will login. Choose to login to either your FamilySearch account or Geni account. (Currently no other online trees are supported.)

Click on "Create Tree". You'll be brought to a page where you choose the person you would like to be the start of your tree...usually yourself, one of your parents, or one of your children. Then click on "Create Data Set". It may take a few minutes to generate. Then you will see this page:

In the dropdown box above the "Create Chart" button, you can choose from three different size pedigree charts, a 9 generation fan chart, or a "name cloud". After selecting the type chart you want, click on "Create Chart". A box will open that allows you to either "open" or "save". You may save it to your computer and then print it. My print box allows me to choose either one page, a poster, or a tiny image on a page (multiple and booklet...neither of which are very practical). Make your choice and click on "print".

Here's an example of the name cloud:

The name cloud should be printed from your browser's "print" option.

TreeSeek is in Beta. For this reason, you may see the site change over time, or there may be a glitch or two. Click on "Give Feedback" to let the TreeSeek people know what you think!

Technology - New Indexing App for iOS and Android

FamilySearch is keeping up with techies and people on the go by offering an app for FamilySearch Indexing on iOS (Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad) and Android operating systems. Download the app at the Apple App Store or the Android Market. Click here to read more about it...and then get it on your phone. As Mary Jane Saylor, a fellow genealogist friend, said, "It's more addicting than Angry Birds!"

This screen shot shows the snippet view from which you index a name. You can also tap to have the whole page opened on your screen. Be sure to read the guide before you get started. It's simple to use, though, and quite fun!

Sharing Family History - Word Search Puzzle

A simple way to share some information with all ages in your family is to create a word search puzzle. Choose themes like "Ancestors' Surnames" or "Occupations of Your Ancestors" and make it fun for your family to meet their ancestors. 

Go to DiscoveryEducation.com's PuzzleMaker and choose Word Search to create something like this:

Ancestors Occupations and Avocations

H R C L M C D R A D C X T T O A

M P R U E B A N F F O P V W S U

L T Z E C K N R X A T H I O I A

N Y X N H N R U P N T Z N R W R

R S J Q A C Y E A E O J O F X E

Z F K M N U A I D H N N T A D M

U W C Q I E R E I N M T A F R R

A P G T C A T G T O I R E G E A

K C A J R E B M U L L B Z R K F

U V U B Q G I L C W L K K P A G

S C I B Q L D R I B W T A O M P

K L N A M E R I F O O O P B O U

K M C P R H F K T A R V C D T B

W P F V R Q V D P L K Z B U U I

L V N D C W Q I D Y E Y F G A M

S H O E M A K E R D R N W G X A

AUTOMAKER

BOOKBINDER

CARPENTER

COTTONMILLWORKER

FARMER

FIREMAN

IRONMOULDER

LIBRARIAN

LUMBERJACK

MECHANIC

SHOEMAKER

TEACHER

You can print directly from your browser or copy and paste it into another application like Microsoft Word. Solutions can be printed, too. 

At Discovery Education's website you'll see other puzzle options. The simplest is this word search, but give others a try. 

You can also do a web search for other websites offering free puzzles. Just check to make sure it's really free (or not too pricey for you) before investing a lot of time into creating a puzzle you may have to pay for in order to print.