Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Dear Genea-Santa Letter

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

 It's Saturday Night again - 

time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision. Here's your chance to sit on Genea-Santa's lap (virtually) and tell him your Christmas genealogy-oriented wish list:

1) Write your Genea-Santa letter. Have you been a good genealogy girl or boy? What genealogy-oriented items are on your Christmas wish list? They could be family history items, technology items, or things that you want to pursue your ancestral quest.

2) Tell us about them in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook Status or Google Stream post.

Here's mine:

Dear Genea-Santa,

I tried so hard to be a good genea-boy this year. I worked hard speaking all over Southern California and teaching at OASIS, serving my local societies, writing my society newsletter and over 1,000 blog posts, participating in some Google+ Hangouts On Air, attending three genealogy conferences and a genealogy cruise, and helping several friends and colleagues with their research. In addition, I have added more names, facts, media and (especially) sources to my database.  

Thank you for last year's gifts - a 23andMe autosomal DNA test, an Acer 15.6" laptop computer (8 gb memory, 1 tb hard drive) with Windows 7, and a CDROM with 500 photos from Linda's cousin.  That was really good stuff...but you didn't bring me the other things I asked for.  Was I a bad genea-boy, or maybe you thought I had enough, or you were out of the other things.  I'll ask for them again!

I  still BELIEVE!!!!! Come on, Santa, all I want for Christmas in 2013 are:

* My iPhone 4 is full, I can't load the newest apps or iOS, and it's slow.  I would love to have a new iPhone 5s with lots of gigs and a better camera and a hot spot and ... and ... who knows what apps! 

*  A genea-robot that can work 24 hours a day on getting my genea-piles organized - that is so boring and there is so much to do ... but a robot would not have to sleep or eat or spend time with my wife (I promise!).  Maybe I could even train it to write blog posts.  Or enter Find A Grave source citations.  Or search Ancestry and FamilySearch for ancestral records.

*  A solid lead on the ancestry of William Knapp (1775-1856), Thomas J. Newton (ca 1800-ca 1840) and Devier James Lamphear Smith (1839-1894) would be welcome too!  

Thank you, Genea-Santa, for listening to my pleas. I will leave a nice personal meat-lovers pizza in the freezer for you (you can heat it in the kitchen microwave), a rosy red apple and some delicious chocolate chip cookies on the fireplace hearth, and some eggnog (in the refrigerator) for you on Christmas Eve just in case you need fortification. You can get a yummy Dove chocolate ice cream bar out of the refrigerator if you'd like. Nothing's too good for Genea-Santa - mi casa es su casa!  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-your-dear.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Surname Saturday -- HELME (England > Colonial New England)

It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week.  

I am in the 7th great-grandmothers and I'm up to Ancestor  #745, who is Elizabeth HELME (1677-1727) [Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 7th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through three generations in this HELME family line is:

1.  Randall J. Seaver (1943-living)

2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)

4. Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942)
5. Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962)

10.  Thomas Richmond (1848-1917)
11.  Julia White (1848-1913)

22.  Henry Arnold White (1824-1885)
23.  Amy Frances Oatley (1826-1864)

46.  Jonathan Oatley (1790-1872)
47.  Amy Champlin (1798-1865)

92.  Joseph Oatley (1756-1815)
93.  Mary Hazard (1765-1857)

186.  Stephen Hazard (1730-1804)
187.  Elizabeth Carpenter (1741-????)

372.  Thomas Hazard (1707-1745)
373.  Hannah Slocum (1710-1737)

744.  Stephen Hazard, born about 1665 in Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island, United States; died 29 September 1727 in South Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island, United States.  He was the son of 1488. Robert Hazard and 1489. Mary Brownell.  He married before 1695 in North Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island, United States.
745.  Elizabeth Helme, born 1677 in Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island, United States; died 1727 in South Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island, United States.  

Children of Stephen Hazard and Elizabeth Helme are:
*  Mary Hazard (1695-????)
*  Hannah Hazard (1697-????), married 1717 Joseph Mumford (1691-????).
*  Susannah Hazard (1699-1756), married 1718 Samuel Perry (1695-1775).
*  Stephen Hazard (1700-1746), married 1723 Mary Robinson (1703-????)
*  Robert Hazard (1702-1751), married 1728 Esther Stanton (1708-????).
*  Samuel Hazard (1705-????), married 1730 Abigail --?--- (1705-????)
*  Thomas Hazard (1707-1745), married (1) 1727 Hannah Slocum (1710-1737); (2) 1738 Hannah Updike.
*  Elizabeth Hazard (1709-1774), married 1729 Benjamin Perry (1700-1772).
*  Sarah Hazard (1711-????).

1490.  Rouse Helme, born about 1644 of Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island, United States; died 17 May 1712 in Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island, United States.  He married about 1673 in Rhode Island, United States.
1491.  Mary Eldred, born 15 June 1646 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 09 May 1712 in Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island, United States.  She was the daughter of 2982. Samuel Eldred and 2983. Elizabeth Miller.

Children of Rouse Helme and Mary Eldred are:
*  Samuel Helme (1675-1728), married Dorcas (????-1727).
*  Elizabeth Helme (1677-1727), married 1695 Stephen Hazard (1665-1727)
*  Margaret Helme (1679-1727), married 1699 Ichabod Potter (1677-1755).
*  Mercy Helme (1680-????), married 1711 Samuel Watson (1686-1740).
*  Rouse Helme (1682-1751), married 1709 Sarah Niles (1685-1749).
*  William Helme (1685-????).

2980.  Christopher Helme, born about 1620 in Long Sutton, Lincolnshire, England; died before 19 March 1650 in Warwick, Kent, Rhode Island, United States.  He was the son of 5960. William Elmes and 5961. Priscilla Wentworth.  He married 
2981 .  Margaret Rouse, died before 13 January 1661 in Rhode Island, United States.

Children of Christopher Helme and Margaret Rouse are:
*  William Helme (????-????)
*  Christopher Helme (????-????)
*  Samuel Helme (????-????)
*  Rouse Helme (1644-1712), married 1673 Mary Eldred (1646-1712).

Information about these families was obtained from:

*  Donald Henry Strahle, Some Descendants of Christopher Helme of Rhode Island  (Ontario, Canada, the author, 2002). 

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Michael Hait Publishes Version 3.0 of His eBook, Online State Resources for Genealogy.

Michael Hait emailed me today with the announcement of the revision of his book, Online State Resources for Genealogy, Version 3.0.

============================
I am pleased to announce that my popular ebook Online State Resources for Genealogy has once again been updated, and version 3.0 is now available for purchase.

The Online State Resources for Genealogy ebook was originally released in January 2011, containing links to online record indexes and images. Unlike many resource guides the focus of this ebook is on those websites that contain record indexes and images but are not genealogy-based sites. You will not find references to Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, U. S. GenWeb, or Find-A-Grave.

Instead you will find links to resources found on the websites of state and county archives, county clerks, historical societies and museums, university libraries, public libraries, and others. These sites contain many records that have never been previously digitized or made available online. Many of these have never even been microfilmed.

In its 1,100+ pages, Version 3.0 provides information for over 600 repositories, containing over 9,000 links! In addition to the new links, all of the previously listed links have been verified and updated when necessary. I have also introduced two new chapters to accompany the individual state chapters, focusing on National and Regional sites.

To purchase version 3.0 of Online State Resources for Genealogy, visit http://haitfamilyresearch.com/onlineStates.htm.

I would also like to announce the debut of a companion blog, also entitled Online State Resources for Genealogy. This blog will explore one or two individual resources from the book each week. Subscribe at http://onlinestateresources.wordpress.com and expect the first post later today.

================================

This is a very useful book, especially for those researchers who are looking for information in local, county, state, regional and national libraries, archives and historical societies.  Digital resources are added continuously by libraries and archives, and this book provides links to the repositories and their holdings.

Once a researcher has exhausted online genealogical resources on websites like Ancestry.com and FamilySearch, then repositories like the ones in this book should be searched for digital sources of published or manuscript information about their ancestors.  However, the researcher's task is not finished - much more research material may be held in a non-digital format, and the catalogs at these repositories listed in this book may lead you to them.

I reviewed Version 1.0 of this book in Book Review: Online State Resources for Genealogy (posted 3 February 2011) and Version 2.0 in Book Review - Online State Resources for Genealogy E-Book, Version 2.0 (posted 27 August 2012).  Those reviews should be consulted for further information.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/michael-hait-publishes-version-30-of_6.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

List of United States Records on FindMyPast.com

The FindMyPast.com website has been adding United States-based genealogy records for the past 18 months, and has created a sizable list of historical record collections.

Here is the list (from http://www.findmypast.com/articles/world-records/full-list-of-united-states-records) as of today:

Census, Land & Substitutes

1790 US Census
1800 US Census
1810 US Census 
1820 US Census 
1830 US Census 
1840 US Census 
1850 US Census 
1860 US Census 
1870 US Census 
1880 US Census 
1890 US Census
1900 US Census 
1910 US Census
1920 US Census 
1930 US Census 
1940 US Census (Free Access)

Immigration & Travel

Germans to America, 1850-1897
Irish Famine Immigrants, 1846-1851
Italians to America, 1855-1900
Japanese-Americans WWII Relocation Files
Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960
Russians to America, 1834-1897

Military Service & Conflict

American Prisoners of Korean War, 1950-1953
Korean War Casualty File
Korean War Deaths, 1950-1954
United States, World War One (WWI) Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
US Army Casualty File, 1961-1981
Vietnam War Casualties
Vietnam War Casualties Returned Alive
Vietnam War Deaths
World War II Army Enlistment Records
World War II POWs

Vital Records (Birth, Marriage, Death)

Connecticut Death Indexes, 1949-2010
Kentucky Birth Records, 1911-2007
Kentucky Death Records 1911-2007
Kentucky Marriage Records 1973-1999 
Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850
Montana Deaths, 1954-2011
Ohio Death Records 
Ohio Divorce Records, 1962-2011
Ohio Marriage Records, 1970, 1973-2011 
Social Security Death Index
Texas Divorce Index 1968-2010 
Texas Marriages, 1968-2010
US Veteran's Gravesites

There is a U.S. Newspaper Archives collection at http://www.findmypast.com/articles/world-records/newspaper-archives/us-newspaper-archives with over 5,350 newspaper publications and over 120 million newspaper pages.  This collection is from the NewspaperARCHIVE collection.  It is a significant addition to the FindMyPast services.

All record collections from all areas (United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia/New Zealand and the United States) are listed on http://www.findmypast.com/articles/world-records.  There is a section for Canada, but there no collections in that section yet.

As you can see, FindMyPast.com has quite a few of the most common and most used record collections available, but by no means all of the available collections.  The benefit for me is the United Kingdom record collections which are very extensive.  I look forward to the Canadian record collections when they become available.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/list-of-united-states-records-on.html

copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Disclosure:  I have not received any remuneration for this post, nor any complementary gifts or subscriptions.  I am a paid annual subscriber of FindMyPast.com.

First Look at Legacy Family Tree Version 8.0 - Post 6: The Migration Report

Rather than do a comprehensive look step-by-step at Legacy Family Tree Version 8.0 - I did that for Version 7.0, and 8.0 is an improvement on Version 7.0 - I'm going to highlight things I find as I work through the program screens.

Today, it's the "Migration Report."  I saw a preview of this on the Legacy Family Tree cruise, and wanted to check this out for some of my ancestors.

The "Help" information for this report says that the locations found are the birth location for the persons in the report.

1)  From any "View" screen for the selected person, click on the "Reports" menu item, and then the "Other Reports" button and select the "Migration Report:"

I chose Robert Seaver (1608-1683) as the starting person for this report.  How many descendants do I have in my database, and where did they migrate to?

2)  The "Migration" dialog box opens, and I can choose the number of generations to show, plus some other selections using check boxes:

I chose 6 generations, to "include starting person and all descendants;" to "Include location list and bar chart;" and to "Go down to the state level" and "Show State flag."

3)  The report took several minutes to generate, but when it did, I saw the two-page text report for "Descendant Migration for Robert Seaver" for six more generations on the first page:

The bar chart showing descendants of Robert Seaver (1608-1683) through 6 more generations is:

Through 6 generations, I have 1,033 descendants of Robert Seaver (1608-1683), and 67.9% of them were born in Massachusetts, 13.4% in Vermont, 8.6% in New Hampshire, 5.2% in New York, etc.

4)  I was particularly interested in 12 generations of descendants of Robert Seaver (1608-1683).  I'm in the 11th generation, so this includes my children. Here is the text chart:

And the bar chart for 12 generations:

There is another page with the continuation of the chart.

There are 3,342 descendants of Robert Seaver (1608-1683) in 12 generations in my database.  Only 39.6% were born in Massachusetts, 15.3% in Vermont, 15.3% in New York, 10.3% in New Hampshire, 2.9% in Wisconsin, 1.5% in California, etc.

5)  This is a very useful and informative report!  I've always wondered how Seaver descendants spread out, and this report tells me.  

However, a report like this really only "works" if the researcher has made a concerted effort to find all descendants of the starting person.  I've tried to do this with Seaver, Carringer, Auble, Vaux and several other surnames, but I'm lacking many persons born in the last 70 years of the 20th century and later.  

I know that I've not identified or connected all descendants of Robert Seaver over the past 400 years because of lack of records or lack of information.  For instance, I haven't followed descendants of Seaver daughters more than one generation in most cases.  These issues make the list and chart inaccurate.  But it is still interesting!

An even more interesting report (to me, at least!) might be a table that lists the countries or states with descendants in 25 or 50 year increments.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/first-look-at-legacy-family-tree_6.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

RootsTech 2014 Keynote Speakers Announced

I received this announcement today from RootsTech:

	Exciting RootsTech 2014 Keynote Speaker Lineup Includes Ree Drummond - The Pioneer Woman
We're excited to announce an all-star lineup of keynote speakers at RootsTech 2014. They will inspire us all to discover and share the stories that connect our families-past, present, and future.
Thursday, February 6           Ree Drummond, blogger and author, The Pioneer Woman  Ree is an award-winning blogger and New York Times bestselling author. Her popular website, The Pioneer Woman, was founded in 2006 and showcases her cooking, photography, and stories about country life.  Annelies van den Belt, CEO, DC Thompson Family History Annelies is changing the way digital genealogical records are published and organized. Her company hosts 1.8 billion genealogical records across a family of online brands.    Friday, February 7   Judy Russell, blogger and professional genealogist, The Legal Genealogist Judy is a certified genealogist with a law degree who enjoys helping others understand the interplay between genealogy and the law. She blogs and maintains The Legal Genealogist website. Dr. Spencer Wells, project director, National Geographic Genographic Project The indiana Jones of genetics, Dr. Wells has traveled the world and captured the DNA of more than a half-million people to tell the story of the human journey.  Saturday, February 8   Todd Hansen, TV host, The Story Trek Behind every door there is a story. This TV series consists of random door-to-door interviews to discover who lives behind those doors and their real stories. Stephanie Nielsen, blogger and author, NieNie Dialogues  Stephanie's story of survival and recovery after a plane crash captured the hearts of the nation. She has inspired others through interviews with Oprah Winfrey and on the Today Show.
The fourth annual RootsTech conference, hosted by FamilySearch, will be held February 6-8, 2014 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah. In addition to renowned keynote speakers, the conference features over 200 classes, hundreds of booths in a huge Expo Hall, and evening events. Early bird pricing is available until January 6, 2014. Register today! The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/rootstech-2014-keynote-speakers.html

SDGS Seminar on Saturday, 11 January Features Lisa Louise Cooke!

The next San Diego Genealogical Society Family History Seminar is on Saturday, 11 January 2014 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Captain's Room at Marina Village, 1936 Quivira Way on Mission Bay in San Diego.  Registration starts at 8 a.m.

The featured speaker will be Lisa Louise Cooke, world famous Family History Author, Speaker and Media Producer.  Her topics will be:

*  Google Search Strategies for Common Surnames

*  Inspiring Ways to Capture the Interest of Non-Genealogists

*  Get Your Scoop on Your Ancestry With Newspapers

*  How to Save Your Research From Destruction and Ensure Its Future

A Welcome coffee/tea/Danish, a Box Lunch, and Door Prizes are included in the $40 (members) or $45 (non-members) registration fee.

There is an online registration system at http://casdgs.org/files.php with a credit card, or you can download the registration form, print it out and mail it in with a check.

I'm looking forward to attending and seeing all of Lisa's presentations.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/sdgs-seminar-on-saturday-11-january.html

RootsMagic 6 Update - Adds Source Citations to Pedigree Charts

I saw Bruce Buzbee's social media item on Google+ today that RootsMagic 6 had been updated (to Version 6.3.0.6)  - adding source citations to pedigree charts and the ability to share Notes to FamilySearch Family Tree.  These are both welcome additions!

I updated RootsMagic 6 to the latest version, and then created a Pedigree Chart with source citations.

1)  From the "Family" View screen for myself, I clicked on "Reports" menu and selected "Pedigree Chart" from the dropdown list:

The "Report Settings" dialog box opened, and I could check the box to "Include sources" (to the left of the "Color coding" box):

 2)  I clicked on the "Generate Report" button on the screen above, and saw the five-generation pedigree chart (color-coded, with source citations):

Each person's name, and each vital record date, with a source citation has a superscript source citation number at the end of the name or date.

My five-generation  "Pedigree Chart" now has 8 pages - one for the chart and 7 pages of source citations.  Here is the top of page 2:

The source citations are presented as Endnotes.  Each Endnote may have more than one source citation included.  If there is more than one, then they all run together.  It is difficult to determine where one ends and the next begins, and it's difficult to tell how many citations there are in each Endnote.

On the screen above, Endnote 1 for my name has 3 source citations;  Endnote 2 for my birth has 3 source citations.  Endmote 4 for my father's name has 5 source citations.

I was concerned that the font on the Pedigree Chart for the superscript Endnote was too large.  The user can go to "Fonts" in the "Report Settings" dialog box and choose a smaller font size of "Chart Labels."  I made the "Chart Labels" set at 8 and it looks better:

3)  My preference is that each source citation be separated from the others in one Endnote - perhaps by using a blank line between each citation.  That would make the Endnotes more readable and understandable.  It would add length to the report, but that doesn't matter much to me - I don't usually print them out - I save them in my computer file folders and pass them to correspondents as a digital file.

Another good use for having source citation superscripts on the Pedigree Chart is to see what Names and Events don't have a source citation.  Until recently, I did not attach sources to Names, but now I can see if I've done it to my ancestral persons.

I like the addition of the superscript source citation feature to the RootsMagic 6 Pedigree Chart, and appreciate the addition.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/rootsmagic-6-update-adds-source.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 191: 1852 Marriage Certificate for Edward Hildreth and Sophia Newton in Northborough, Mass.

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the 1852 marriage certificate for my great-great-grandparents, Edward Hildreth and Sophia Newton in Northborough, Worcester County, Massachusetts.

The transcription of this document is (typed information underlined, handwritten information italicized):

THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

COPY OF RECORD OF MARRIAGE

TOWN OF NORTHBOROUGH

I, the undersigned, hereby certify that I am clerk of the Town of 
Northborough that as such I have custody of the records of marriages required
by law to be kept in my office; that among such records is one relating to the
marriage of:

    EDWARD HILDRETH         and       SOPHIA NEWTON       

and that the following is a true copy of so much of said record as relates to
said marriage, namely:

================================================================

          Date of Marriage                       DECEMBER 25, 1852        
          Place of Marriage                      NORTHBOROUGH, MA   

================================================================

                            GROOM                                         BRIDE

Name             EDWARD HILDRETH            Maiden Name          SOPHIA NEWTON    
Age/Birth Date              21                             Age/Birth Date                   18                    
Residence       NORTHBOROUGH, MA         Residence                NORTHBOROUGH, MA
Number of Marriage  1ST                               Number of Marriage           1ST                 
Place of Birth     TOWNSEND, MA                Place of Birth           VERMONT               
Name of Father  (NOT LISTED) HILDRETH  Name of Father         THOMAS NEWTON
Name of Mother    NOT LISTED                    Name of Mother         NOT LISTED         
Name, Residence and Official status of person by whom married:
         S.S. ASHLEY, MINISTER; NORTHBOROUGH, MA

================================================================

Date of Record:   JANUARY 1, 1853       Volume    3    Page   1    Record   10   

================================================================

I do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy from said records.
                                     Witness my hand and seal of said Town of Northborough on
{ Seal }                          this    13th      day of    SEPTEMBER       1994

                                                              Hillary Hamilton            
                                                              Northborough Town Clerk

The source citation for this document is:

Northborough, Massachusetts, Copy of Record of Marriage, Edward Hildreth and Sophia Newton; citing Volume 3, Page 1, Record 10 (1853), Town Clerk's Office, Northborough, Mass. (document dated 13 September 1994).

I received this document in 1994 by postal mail from the town clerk of Northborough.

Since this certificate was created 142 years after the marriage event, it is an official certified record of the marriage.  It is a Derivative Source, with Primary Information and Direct Evidence as to the names, marriage date and place.  The information was obtained  by the Town Clerk from the Town Clerk's record book - Volume 3, Page 1, entry 10.  I found the Town Clerk's record on Ancestry.com, but it's not the original town clerk's record - it's the list of marriages submitted in 1852 by the town clerk to the State of Massachusetts.  It does provide Edward's father's name as Zachariah, his occupation as combmaker, and Sophia's father's name as Thomas J. Newton.  

This is the only record I have that provides the name of Sophia Newton's father.  I also have a marriage record for Sophia's brother, Thomas J. Newton, that provides his father's name and his mother's name.  

Sophia (Newton) Hildreth's death record in 1923 lists her birthplace as Springfield, Vermont.  In the birth and death record for her son, Clarence Hildreth (1874-1878), and the death record for her daughter, Hattie (Hildreth) Seaver in 1920, her birthplace is given as Cambridge, Vermont.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/treasure-chest-thursday-post-191-1852.html

copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Using RootsMapper and FamilySearch Family Tree to See Ancestral Migration Paths

Jana Last posed Tech Tuesday: Rootsmapper.com ~ Ya, This is Pretty Cool about six weeks ago, and I agree - it is pretty cool!  I had some time today to try it out and wanted to show you what I found:

RootsMapper is at www.RootsMapper.com, and the opening screen looks like this:

To do anything with RootsMapper, you need to have a FamilySearch account (they're free, just register and respond to an email, and you're in) and have yourself in the FamilySearch Family Tree (and it helps to have ancestors in the FSFT for several generations back in time).

There is a red FAQ button on the screen that provides more information about RootsMapper at http://blog.rootsmapper.com/p/faq.html

I logged into FamilySearch, and RootsMapper came back on and named Me as the "Root Person" with my FamilySearch Family Tree ID number (LH5N-K6D):

The screen above showed me a blue line from New England to California, and my name with my vital information in a popup box.

There is an entry field with a dropdown menu to the left of the green "run" button at the top of the screen above.  I selected 5 generations, and clicked on the green "Run" button (this is important - nothing happens until you do this!).

It took several seconds (maybe 30?) and the map below appeared:

Each dot and line on the screen is color coded - blue for males, and pink for females.  There is a number inside each dot - that represents the number of generations back from the Root Person.  In this case, I have a person with a "5" in France and two with "5" in England.

The user can click on the small X in the upper right-hand corner of the popup box with the name in it to close the popup box.

The user can zoom in using the mouse wheel, so I did that and saw:

Zooming in further on New England and the upper Midwest, I can see the migration trails easily:

I decided to do 8 generations (that's the maximum), and I saw (after zooming out):

And zooming in to see the area abetween Wisconsin and New Jersey:

On the screen above, I clicked on one of the dots in Ontario - the one for Mary Jane Hutchinson -  and it shows me the birth and death information in the FamilySearch Family Tree for her. 

RootsMapper only shows birth and death locations for each ancestor back up to 8 generations from the Root Person in the FamilySearch Family Tree.  Note that it doesn't identify intermediate migration stops on an ancestor's life's journey, only the beginning and the end.

I poked around clicking on the pink and blue dots, and I see quite a few wrong or at least questionable locations shown on the 8 generation Rootsmapper field.  That means there is more work for me to do in the FamilySearch Family Tree correcting and adding information in the Family Tree for my ancestors.

To print the map, the user has to make a screen shot and save it as an image file.  On my Windows computer, I clicked on F11to go full screen and then PrintScreen (PrtScr key), which put it into the clipboard, copied it (Ctrl-V) to a word processor window, right-clicked on the image and did a Save As with a file name to a file folder.

All in all, I agree with Jana - this is a pretty cool application that interacts with the FamilySearch Family Tree to show a user his/her ancestral birth and death localities.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/using-rootsmapper-and-familysearch.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver