Tech Tuesday: Using the Flipboard App

As the title suggests, I want to talk about the 'Flipboard' app for Apple devices such as the iPad and iPhone. Flipboard collates information from the web and puts it into a magazine format. A quick search on the internet tells me that it is also available for Android. Here's a brief video I made to explain how it works!

I love things like this: That make navigating stories in a blog easier! So in a nut shell - you download the app from the app store then when it loads in your phone or on your iPad find the search bar in the top right hand corner.

You can type anything into the search bar. So to find my blog I typed "Tall tales of a family." To find my friend Bill's stuff I typed "West in New England." Then a list appears and you select the blog or video or magazine you wish to see. Once you have selected that it will open up the blog site in magazine format.

If I want to create a specific magazine - like one specifically about the series I created on my Grandma then I click the little 'plus' buttons you can see appear in the image above. Each 'post' should have it's own 'plus' sign. Once I select this button it gives me an option to put it in an existing magazine I have created or to create a new one - I get to title it etc.

In the picture above you can see that I have three magazines. One is the stories of "The hymns of my fathers." One is "The Grandma I Never Knew" and the other is just a 'favourites' where I put my favourite selections from all over the web. It's not specific to genealogy - hence the "Man of steel" image. Once you have your magazine created you can select to view it and then on the left hand side is the option to share it. You can share it on a social network or you can share it via email like this:

Once it is shared a link is created that you can then send to others as well. The link for the magazine about "The Grandma I Never Knew" is here: https://flip.it/9VnSp

You can't see it without the actual Flipboard app but if you have the app go ahead and try it.

It might seem like alot of work but I'm always looking for ways to engage my generation of genealogists and those that are even younger than me. If they already have this product and you've created your 'magazine' it's so easy for them to add and see any updates. I've already had friends of mine that aren't generally interested in 'genealogy' begin reading my blog and the stories within because of this discovery.

"The Grandfather I Never Knew" Part 1

“The Grandfather I Never Knew” Part 1

Idris Davies was born on December 2nd 1914 to Price and Annie Davies. His birth was registered in the borough ofMerthyr Tydfil on the 11th January 1915. [1] His hair would become dark, nearly black and his eyes were blue. He had what can only be described as ‘A real welsh nose.’ At the time his father, Price Davies had been asked to pastor at Aberaman Assembly. Idris had an older brother, David John Davies and a sister Mair Davies who had died in 1910. In 1917 the family moved to the Old Prince Of Wales Public House. This had five living rooms and the front part, where the bar used to be, was used as a meeting hall for a new church congregation. [2]

His mother Annie used to make jam[3] and store it in the pantry for later use; strawberry was the preferred flavor and at age four while Idris was sleeping his parents stepped out for a short while. Idris awoke and made his way into the pantry where he began to open the stored containers and with a spoon he ate all of the jam. By the time Price and Annie returned home they found him on the floor unconscious.




They immediately called for the itinerant doctor and nurse, which must have been done by running to the local clinic since they did not have a phone. By the time the doctor. and nurse arrived on the scene there was little that could be done and they pronounced him dead, apparently issuing a death certificate. Price and Annie were devout Christian believers and they invited a small group of people from the church over to the house, wanting them to pray for Idris before they gave up on him.Annie had witnessed her own miraculous healing when younger and they hoped for the same thing to occur now. [4]

As Idris’ children, Glyn and Wendy, remember it being told to them; "this small group of Christians was delightedly disturbed when a voice was heard from the bedroom in which they had placed their child. Idris was singing loudly, “I’m three three three, I once was lost and now am found, Christ has set me three.”" Yes, the pronunciation of the word ‘free’ had changed but his family was ecstatic. They believed God had healed their son and brought him back from the dead.

Now fortunate to live the rest of his life, Idris was mischievous and full of fun, like any young boy would be. When living in Brynithel and Six Bells they would fill up buckets of water and spread it over the ground so that it would freeze at night creating an ice slide. The boys would get someone to chase them who did not know about it and at the last minute the person doing the chasing would turn and Idris with the others would slide on down and make their escape.

While in Brynithel, aged 7, Idris became a Christian and was ‘saved’. While it was at Six Bells that Idris was baptized in Bethany Baptist Chapel at age 11. [5] Both these events set the scene for a life of missions and church work but before much of that could occur Idris must first navigate his way through such major cataclysms as World War 2

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[1] Birth Certificate for Idris Davies, registered 11 Jan 1915, Ref No 11a 1603, County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil U.K. Certified copy in possession of author

[2] Much information is provided courtesy of "A TESTIMONY and a brief record of the of the BEGINNING of the PENTECOSTAL MOVEMENT in the MERTHYR BOROUGH,BEDLINOG AND THE ABERDARE VALLEY by PASTOR PRICE DAVIES – annotated by RoyDavies

[3] Americans use the word jelly.


[4] There is no death certificate to officially document this miracle, it is likely that before the records were sent to authorities they had realized the mistake in certifying him as dead and did not send his name with the records. There is however a record of Annie’s healings, to be found in 'The WesternMail', 'South Wales Echo', 'South Wales Daily News', 'Merthyr Express', and theWelsh language newspaper 'Tarian Y Gweithwyr' in September 1905.


[5] This is again found in the written Testimony of Price Davies.