I'm trying to fill in narrative data for some of my ancestral families that are in my database, but are unsourced in my database. For most of these families, I obtained family trees or narrative data from other researchers many years ago, and I also have "paper" from derivative books for many of these in notebooks on my bookcases in my genealogy cave.
I have quite a few Dutch and English families who immigrated into the Hudson and Mohawk valleys in the 1600's and early 1700's. There are several well-known books that summarize these families, and some of them are transcribed and available on several web sites.
The most useful ones to me today were found on the excellent USGenWeb site for Schenectady County, New York Genealogy and History, at http://www.schenectadyhistory.org. Here there are links to:
1) The People link has the following databases available:
** Genealogies of Schenectady County families
** Jonathan Pearson's Genealogies of the First Settlers of Schenectady
** Schenectady families in Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs
** Surnames of Schenectady County Families (from the family files of the Historical Society)
** Congressional Representatives serving Schenectady County
** New York State Senators serving Schenectady County
** New York State Assembly Members serving Schenectady County
** Officials of the City of Schenectady
** Our Hall of Fame (1938)
** List of Pensioners on the Roll 1883
The Jonathan Pearson books on the First Settlers of Schenectady families and the Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical Family Memoirs were the most useful to me today. The latter work has an overall surname index, and is separated by counties of the Hudson and Mohawk region. Volume IV is not completely online yet - the list of surnames not covered is here.
2) Places
3) Research Topics
4) Books -- There is an excellent bibliography of Schenectady area books.
5) Research Sites -- records available, researchers and repositories.
This web site is a marvelous help to researchers like me who are trying to understand the history, geography, commerce and other features of this area, and how my ancestral families lived in this area.
If you have Schenectady area ancestry, and haven't visited this web page recently, you should!
Monday, July 7, 2008
Can Your Software Do This? - Series 3: PAF/AQ
I posted my latest genealogy software question on 6 July - Can your genealogy software provide a list or report with the ages at death of selected people in your database? Preferably the ancestors of a person, in order from most years to fewest years. Or just the top 20 persons, say.
Here is how reader Tamura Jones made a custom report in Personal Ancestral File 5 to make a list of ancestors and their age at death:
======================
Here's how to do it in PAF. Reports in Ancestral Quest are practically identical.
* Choose File Print Reports (PAF's programmers apparently think reports are always printed)
* Choose the Custom tab to create a custom report
* There are four steps:
1. Choosing the persons
2. Choosing the fields
3. Choosing the sort order
...to get to
4. Viewing the results
Step 1. Choosing the persons
** Hit the Select button to select the person and his ancestors
** Choose the proband from the list, by name or by number
** Choose "Ancestors" from the drop-down relationship filter
** PAF will display the number of selected persons
** Choose "Select"
In the Ancestors dialog box that pops up
** Allow the default of 999 generations of ancestors
** be sure to set the descendants generations to zero to not include other descendants of your ancestors
** be sure uncheck "include spouses" (other spouses really)
** leave "include all parents" unchecked
** Choose OK to go back the custom report tab
Step 2. Choosing the fields
** Choose the "Fields" button
** Add "Full Name"
** Add "Age at Death"
** Choose OK to go back the custom report tab
Step 3. Choosing the sort order
** Choose "Sort Order" button
** Add "Age of Death"
** Add "Surname, Given" instead of "Full Name" for better sort results
** Choose "Ascending" or "Descending" as you like it
** Choose OK to go back the custom report tab
Step 4. Viewing the results
** Here you usually choose "Preview", after which you can save to RTF
** You may need to change the page layout from portrait to landscape
** You can print directly to a comma delimited file if you like
** You can save the custom report for future use.
=======================
Thank you, Tamura, for the directions for PAF. Well done! Here is a screen shot from Tamura of the results (a later page in the report):
Here is how reader Tamura Jones made a custom report in Personal Ancestral File 5 to make a list of ancestors and their age at death:
======================
Here's how to do it in PAF. Reports in Ancestral Quest are practically identical.
* Choose File Print Reports (PAF's programmers apparently think reports are always printed)
* Choose the Custom tab to create a custom report
* There are four steps:
1. Choosing the persons
2. Choosing the fields
3. Choosing the sort order
...to get to
4. Viewing the results
Step 1. Choosing the persons
** Hit the Select button to select the person and his ancestors
** Choose the proband from the list, by name or by number
** Choose "Ancestors" from the drop-down relationship filter
** PAF will display the number of selected persons
** Choose "Select"
In the Ancestors dialog box that pops up
** Allow the default of 999 generations of ancestors
** be sure to set the descendants generations to zero to not include other descendants of your ancestors
** be sure uncheck "include spouses" (other spouses really)
** leave "include all parents" unchecked
** Choose OK to go back the custom report tab
Step 2. Choosing the fields
** Choose the "Fields" button
** Add "Full Name"
** Add "Age at Death"
** Choose OK to go back the custom report tab
Step 3. Choosing the sort order
** Choose "Sort Order" button
** Add "Age of Death"
** Add "Surname, Given" instead of "Full Name" for better sort results
** Choose "Ascending" or "Descending" as you like it
** Choose OK to go back the custom report tab
Step 4. Viewing the results
** Here you usually choose "Preview", after which you can save to RTF
** You may need to change the page layout from portrait to landscape
** You can print directly to a comma delimited file if you like
** You can save the custom report for future use.
=======================
Thank you, Tamura, for the directions for PAF. Well done! Here is a screen shot from Tamura of the results (a later page in the report):
Ancestry Census Indexing errors
On the APG mailing list, Neal Underwood just posted a note concerning Ancestry census indexing errors - particularly with "India" as a birthplace instead of Indiana. Neal's list:
1850 - 16
1860 - 9,023
1870 - 27,984 (9,603 in the state of Indiana; 7,303 in Iowa)
1880 - 1,291 (indexed by LDS volunteers)
1900 - 17,953
1910 - 13,284
1920 - 20,283
1930 - 5,291
The search for "India" finds West India, East India, India and other anomalies. The search for "Ind" finds "Indies" and "Indian" also - there are 157,865 entries with a birthplace including "Indian."
In 1900, there were 2,508,257 persons listed with "Indiana" as their birthplace, and another 551 with "Ind." The error rate for "India" and "Ind" is about 0.74% - about 1 in 135. But if your family is that one, then you won't find them if you specified "Indiana" as a birthplace.
** I had heard that "Kenya" was also indexed in place of Kentucky and found (but not nearly as many as India!):
1850 - 0
1860 - 1,592
1870 - 908
1880 - 0
1900 - 460
1910 - 239
1920 - 393
1930 - 25
Most of the "Kenya" listings are really for Kentucky, although there may be some for the African country, but it's nearly impossible to sort them out.
There are 2,422,891 people with a birthplace of "Kentucky" in the 1900 census, so the error rate is a bit lower - only about 0.03%, or 1 in about 3700.
** There are some listings for "Africa" as well - 1,558 in the 1900 census.
** There are also some listings for "Old" in the census indexes:
1850 - 18
1860 - 37
1870 - 479
1880 - 1,580
1900 - 785
1910 - 437
1920 - 1460
1930 - 652 and 58 "O" also
Many of the later "Old" were for "Old Mexico" (as opposed to "New Mexico"), many of the earlier ones were for "Old Deu" or similar.
** The Ancestry census indexes are not always consistent. For instance, in the 1930 census there are:
Washington - 174,417 (including some for District of Columbia)
Wash - 165 (including Wash DC and Wash Terry) - the latter meaning "Territory" I think
Was - 10 (including "this child was" - huh?
Using a wild card for Washington - "Was*" resulted in 174,629, or 212 more than just using "Washington".
** The same thing happens when you use a two word state abbreviation, like "North Dakota"
North Dakota - 128,633
ND - 10
South Dakota - 198,035
SD - 6
Dakota - 333,838
Several thousand people just listed Dakota or Dakota Territory for the birthplace.
Obviously, if you cannot find an ancestor using a birth place fully written out, you should try the wild card and also the common abbreviation for the state.
1850 - 16
1860 - 9,023
1870 - 27,984 (9,603 in the state of Indiana; 7,303 in Iowa)
1880 - 1,291 (indexed by LDS volunteers)
1900 - 17,953
1910 - 13,284
1920 - 20,283
1930 - 5,291
The search for "India" finds West India, East India, India and other anomalies. The search for "Ind" finds "Indies" and "Indian" also - there are 157,865 entries with a birthplace including "Indian."
In 1900, there were 2,508,257 persons listed with "Indiana" as their birthplace, and another 551 with "Ind." The error rate for "India" and "Ind" is about 0.74% - about 1 in 135. But if your family is that one, then you won't find them if you specified "Indiana" as a birthplace.
** I had heard that "Kenya" was also indexed in place of Kentucky and found (but not nearly as many as India!):
1850 - 0
1860 - 1,592
1870 - 908
1880 - 0
1900 - 460
1910 - 239
1920 - 393
1930 - 25
Most of the "Kenya" listings are really for Kentucky, although there may be some for the African country, but it's nearly impossible to sort them out.
There are 2,422,891 people with a birthplace of "Kentucky" in the 1900 census, so the error rate is a bit lower - only about 0.03%, or 1 in about 3700.
** There are some listings for "Africa" as well - 1,558 in the 1900 census.
** There are also some listings for "Old" in the census indexes:
1850 - 18
1860 - 37
1870 - 479
1880 - 1,580
1900 - 785
1910 - 437
1920 - 1460
1930 - 652 and 58 "O" also
Many of the later "Old" were for "Old Mexico" (as opposed to "New Mexico"), many of the earlier ones were for "Old Deu" or similar.
** The Ancestry census indexes are not always consistent. For instance, in the 1930 census there are:
Washington - 174,417 (including some for District of Columbia)
Wash - 165 (including Wash DC and Wash Terry) - the latter meaning "Territory" I think
Was - 10 (including "this child was" - huh?
Using a wild card for Washington - "Was*" resulted in 174,629, or 212 more than just using "Washington".
** The same thing happens when you use a two word state abbreviation, like "North Dakota"
North Dakota - 128,633
ND - 10
South Dakota - 198,035
SD - 6
Dakota - 333,838
Several thousand people just listed Dakota or Dakota Territory for the birthplace.
Obviously, if you cannot find an ancestor using a birth place fully written out, you should try the wild card and also the common abbreviation for the state.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Can Your Software Do This? - Series 3: FTM 16
I posted my latest genealogy software question earlier today - Can your genealogy software provide a list or report with the ages at death of selected people in your database? Preferably the ancestors of a person, in order from most years to fewest years. Or just the top 20 persons, say.
Here is how I managed to make a custom report in FamilyTreeMaker 16 to at make a list of my ancestors and their age at death:
1) click on the [Reports]icon
2) Select [Custom]
3) Click on [Contents]menu item
4) Click on [Individuals to Include in Report] item
5) Click button for [Selected Individuals]
6) Clickbutton for [Individuals to Include]
7) Put the name of a person in the box - I chose myself
8) Click on the [Ancestors>] button. The list of ancestors of the selected person should be in the right hand column
9) Click OK.
10) Click on the [Content] menu item
11) Click on the [Items to Include in Report] item
12) Select items from the left hand list to be included. Use the right [>] button to put the items in the right-hand column. I included [Name], [Spouse}, [Age at first marriage] and [Age at death] for my report.
13) Click on the [OK]button
14) You should see a text report of all of your ancestors with the items requested. Mine is 29 pages long.
15) Click on the [Format] menu item
Here is how I managed to make a custom report in FamilyTreeMaker 16 to at make a list of my ancestors and their age at death:
1) click on the [Reports]
2) Select [Custom]
3) Click on [Contents]
4) Click on [Individuals to Include in Report] item
5) Click button for [Selected Individuals]
6) Click
7) Put the name of a person in the box - I chose myself
8) Click on the [Ancestors
9) Click OK.
10) Click on the [Content] menu item
11) Click on the [Items to Include in Report] item
12) Select items from the left hand list to be included. Use the right [>] button to put the items in the right-hand column. I included [Name], [Spouse}, [Age at first marriage] and [Age at death] for my report.
13) Click on the [OK]
14) You should see a text report of all of your ancestors with the items requested. Mine is 29 pages long.
15) Click on the [Format] menu item
16) Click on [Sort Report]
17) In the "Sort by" box, pick [Age at death], click on [Descending] in the Oder button, and hit [OK]
18) A great 29 page report sorted by maximum age down to minimum age at death appears.
That seems like a very convoluted process, doesn't it? But the software did exactly what I wanted it to do - it made a list from oldest ancestor's age to youngest.
The Help button for FTM16 doesn't help at all - it doesn't describe how to do this task - I learned it by experimenting with the Custom Report buttons.
The following persons in my database who died at an age 100 or greater:
* Thomas Follansbee (ca 1621 - 1726) - 105 years (married to Mary --?--)
* John Wooden (ca 1620-1721) - 101 years (married to Mary --?--)
* Mary Samborne (1690-1790) - 100 years (married to William Healey)
* Mary Brownell (ca 1639 - ca 1740) - 100 years (married to Robert Hazard)
* Laurence Copeland (ca 1599-1699) - 100 years (married to Lydia Townsend)
Did you notice that all of the centenarians in my ancestry are from the 17th and early 18th centuries? Why is that? It shows that people did live to be 100 in those centuries, but also that the more ancestors you have in a time period, the more likely you are to have a centenarian! If I included everybody in my database, I might have many more "centenarian relatives," and perhaps some in the 19th and 20th centuries too!
Of course, my database is incomplete - I don't have birth or death dates for many people, so I probably have several more centenarians. Also, my database may have errors in it and the birth and death dates for individuals may be wrong.
What am I going to use this for, you ask? Well, the next Carnival of Genealogy is about AGE and I thought I'd better get a head start on it before I forget about it.
UPDATED: 8:30 pm. - figured out how to get it in age order, so I edited out some things and added several steps. Early versions of this post might be incomplete because I used the forward and backward carat signs and it thought I was an HTML programmer. Sorry about that!
UPDATED: 7 July, 9 a.m.: I knew I was going to embarrass myself if I put the names and ages in this post. Tamura Jones kindly informed me via email that Catalyntje deVos was born around 1627, and not in 1609, so I removed her from my list. Tamura also questioned the Henry Beck age - which I will address soon.
UPDATED: 7 July, 9:30 a.m. Caleb Beck died in 1686, not 1727-8, so he is off the list too! I admit that I was a great "name collector" in my early days of genealogy, but not a good genealogist... I'm trying to get better, but there are lots of errors lurking in my databases. Everybody else keeps finding them!
Can Your Software Do This? - Series 3
Can your genealogy software provide a list or report with the ages at death of selected people in your database? Preferably the ancestors of a person, in order from most years to fewest years. Or just the top 20 persons, say.
Rather than bumble my way through six different software programs and be embarrassed by my lack of ingenuity, I'm going to ask my faithful and really smart readers to help me out with this task. When I get good answers, I will post them in a summary blog post.
I would appreciate either comments to this post, or emails to me at rjseaver@cox.net, describing the process you would use in your genealogy software program to obtain the list or report that I want to generate.
If possible, I would love to have the process for FTM2008, Legacy Family Tree, RootsMagic, The Master Genealogist, Personal Ancestral File or Ancestral Quest, Reunion, or any other genealogy software. I will post how I did this task in FamilyTreeMaker 16. If you want to send me a screen shot of the results you obtain, please do.
Thanks for any and all help!
Rather than bumble my way through six different software programs and be embarrassed by my lack of ingenuity, I'm going to ask my faithful and really smart readers to help me out with this task. When I get good answers, I will post them in a summary blog post.
I would appreciate either comments to this post, or emails to me at rjseaver@cox.net, describing the process you would use in your genealogy software program to obtain the list or report that I want to generate.
If possible, I would love to have the process for FTM2008, Legacy Family Tree, RootsMagic, The Master Genealogist, Personal Ancestral File or Ancestral Quest, Reunion, or any other genealogy software. I will post how I did this task in FamilyTreeMaker 16. If you want to send me a screen shot of the results you obtain, please do.
Thanks for any and all help!
Best of the Genea-Blogs - June 29 - July 5, 2008
Several hundred genealogy and family history bloggers write thousands of posts every week about their research, their families, and their interests. I appreciate each one of them and their efforts.
My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for the Carnival of Genealogy, or other meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.
Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week:
* A Blog Finder Reminder by Chris Dunham on The Genealogue blog. Chris talks about how he updates the Genealogy Blogfinder, one of the indispensable web sites for genea-bloggers and readers IMHO. The statistics about the number of genea-blogs updated, and how often, are interesting.
* The Genetic Mess in California - A Round-Up and My Thoughts by Blaine Bettinger on The Genetic Genealogist blog. Blaine summarizes the situation well, and has excellent answers to the important questions. Read the comments, too.
* Genealogists Joining Social Networks - Is It a Trend Yet? by Dean Richardson on the Genlighten Blog- Genealogy Documented blog. Dean comments on social networking sites, and provides results from his own survey about proposed web site services, including social networks. Unfortunately, the chart is difficult to read.
* 2008 French and Indian War Grand Encampment, Ticonderoga and More F&I From Fort Ti by Tim Abbott on the Walking the Berkshires blog. Tim takes us into the heat of the battles at Fort Ticonderoga with great pictures and stories. Later in the week, he wrote You and Me, Kid about making more family history with his kids - great pieces all!
* Married in 1820 by Michael John Neill on Juliana Smith's 24/7 Family History Circle blog. Michael gives great advice for a persistent problem for all researchers - read it, learn it, apply it, and hope for the best!
* Kinship and Human Society by Carolyn Earle Billingsley on the Life in Possum Holler blog. Carolyn is an expert on this topic, and provides a book review of a new book, Early Human Kinship, which sounds fascinating.
* How to Order a Big Family Tree Wall Chart by Diane Haddad on the Now What? Expert Answers to Your Genealogy Questions blog. Diane provides advice on what to look for, and the questions to ask, before you invest in a large family tree wall chart. I needed this!
* July 4 - Friday from the Collectors: Reading Women's History by Denise May Levenick on footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed blog. Denise takes us into the classroom and describes her effort to connect teenagers with family history. Excellent work!
* Cook County Vital Records and CookCountyGenealogy Tip by John Newmark on the Translyvanian Dutch blog. John describes and demonstrates use of this new web site. He has some useful comments too.
* Unusual Places to Look for Genealogy by Kathy Jones-Kristof on the Genealogy Help and Hints blog. Kathy posted a great list of unusual resources that might help solve genealogy brick wall problems. A keeper!
I encourage you to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blog to your Favorites, Bloglines, reader, feed or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - we all appreciate feedback on what we write.
Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me!
My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for the Carnival of Genealogy, or other meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.
Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week:
* A Blog Finder Reminder by Chris Dunham on The Genealogue blog. Chris talks about how he updates the Genealogy Blogfinder, one of the indispensable web sites for genea-bloggers and readers IMHO. The statistics about the number of genea-blogs updated, and how often, are interesting.
* The Genetic Mess in California - A Round-Up and My Thoughts by Blaine Bettinger on The Genetic Genealogist blog. Blaine summarizes the situation well, and has excellent answers to the important questions. Read the comments, too.
* Genealogists Joining Social Networks - Is It a Trend Yet? by Dean Richardson on the Genlighten Blog- Genealogy Documented blog. Dean comments on social networking sites, and provides results from his own survey about proposed web site services, including social networks. Unfortunately, the chart is difficult to read.
* 2008 French and Indian War Grand Encampment, Ticonderoga and More F&I From Fort Ti by Tim Abbott on the Walking the Berkshires blog. Tim takes us into the heat of the battles at Fort Ticonderoga with great pictures and stories. Later in the week, he wrote You and Me, Kid about making more family history with his kids - great pieces all!
* Married in 1820 by Michael John Neill on Juliana Smith's 24/7 Family History Circle blog. Michael gives great advice for a persistent problem for all researchers - read it, learn it, apply it, and hope for the best!
* Kinship and Human Society by Carolyn Earle Billingsley on the Life in Possum Holler blog. Carolyn is an expert on this topic, and provides a book review of a new book, Early Human Kinship, which sounds fascinating.
* How to Order a Big Family Tree Wall Chart by Diane Haddad on the Now What? Expert Answers to Your Genealogy Questions blog. Diane provides advice on what to look for, and the questions to ask, before you invest in a large family tree wall chart. I needed this!
* July 4 - Friday from the Collectors: Reading Women's History by Denise May Levenick on footnoteMaven's Shades of the Departed blog. Denise takes us into the classroom and describes her effort to connect teenagers with family history. Excellent work!
* Cook County Vital Records and CookCountyGenealogy Tip by John Newmark on the Translyvanian Dutch blog. John describes and demonstrates use of this new web site. He has some useful comments too.
* Unusual Places to Look for Genealogy by Kathy Jones-Kristof on the Genealogy Help and Hints blog. Kathy posted a great list of unusual resources that might help solve genealogy brick wall problems. A keeper!
I encourage you to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blog to your Favorites, Bloglines, reader, feed or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - we all appreciate feedback on what we write.
Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Wheel of Genealogy Fortune - Post 6
You all know how to play Wheel of Fortune -I've given you R S T L N and E just like in the Final Round on the TV game!
Take a crack at this quote:
_ _ .... _ _ _ .... _ _ N N _ T .... _ E T
.... R _ _ .... _ _ .... T _ E .... _ _ _ _ L _
.... S _ E L E T _ N, .... _ _ _ .... _ _ _ .... _ S
.... _ E L L .... _ _ _ E .... _ T .... _ _ N _ E.
Can you figure this out, determine who was the speaker, and find it on a web page?
Please put your answer in Comments.
Take a crack at this quote:
_ _ .... _ _ _ .... _ _ N N _ T .... _ E T
.... R _ _ .... _ _ .... T _ E .... _ _ _ _ L _
.... S _ E L E T _ N, .... _ _ _ .... _ _ _ .... _ S
.... _ E L L .... _ _ _ E .... _ T .... _ _ N _ E.
Can you figure this out, determine who was the speaker, and find it on a web page?
Please put your answer in Comments.
The MoSGA Messenger
What is an MoSGA? The Missouri State Genealogical Association, of course!
The MoSGA Messenger is the name of the MoSGA blog, and they have written over 1,000 posts since the blog started in November 2007. Congratulations to MoSGA on this accomplishment of averaging about 4 posts per day.
The MoSGA Messenger blog is different from most blogs, in that it often provides just a snippet of information and then a link to the web page with the original content- it's pithy and terse at times. Go there and see what I mean. This is an effective means of communication - I wish I was more pithy and not as prolix!
The MoSGA Messenger blog is one of my favorite blogs because they post often about interesting genealogy web sites and activities. It is an excellent model of a genealogy society blog that keeps its members up-to-date on the genealogy news of the day, plus interesting web sites to peruse.
Check out the MoSGA web site also to see their programs, their newsletter, their surname list, and much more. If I had any Missouri ancestry, I would join this great society.
It's funny how blogging works sometimes - I started this post after reading about the 1,000th post on their blog on Bloglines, and when I clicked on the link to the blog there was a post about Bloglines linking to my post about Bloglines! Cool.
Thanks for the links, MoSGA, and I wish you many more years of blogging and serving your members, and the entire online genealogy community.
I'm embarrassed to say this, but I don't know the name(s) of the prolific bloggers on the MoSGA Messenger. Martha Henderson is the President of MoSGA. You can read their latest newsletter using the Newsletter web site link.
The MoSGA Messenger is the name of the MoSGA blog, and they have written over 1,000 posts since the blog started in November 2007. Congratulations to MoSGA on this accomplishment of averaging about 4 posts per day.
The MoSGA Messenger blog is different from most blogs, in that it often provides just a snippet of information and then a link to the web page with the original content- it's pithy and terse at times. Go there and see what I mean. This is an effective means of communication - I wish I was more pithy and not as prolix!
The MoSGA Messenger blog is one of my favorite blogs because they post often about interesting genealogy web sites and activities. It is an excellent model of a genealogy society blog that keeps its members up-to-date on the genealogy news of the day, plus interesting web sites to peruse.
Check out the MoSGA web site also to see their programs, their newsletter, their surname list, and much more. If I had any Missouri ancestry, I would join this great society.
It's funny how blogging works sometimes - I started this post after reading about the 1,000th post on their blog on Bloglines, and when I clicked on the link to the blog there was a post about Bloglines linking to my post about Bloglines! Cool.
Thanks for the links, MoSGA, and I wish you many more years of blogging and serving your members, and the entire online genealogy community.
I'm embarrassed to say this, but I don't know the name(s) of the prolific bloggers on the MoSGA Messenger. Martha Henderson is the President of MoSGA. You can read their latest newsletter using the Newsletter web site link.
Ancestrally Challenged - a Texas Death Date/Place
One of my CVGS colleagues is trying to find one of her "Walking Dead" (as she calls them) ancestors - she knows that he's dead, but she doesn't know when or where, or where he is buried.
The man is James Matthew Peace (sometimes Pease), who was born 1n Texas in about 1843, the son of Henry and Rachel (Cole) Peace. James married Susan Cerilla Hendricks on 23 April 1863 probably in Texas, and they had children Osborn (born 27 Dec 1864), Ella Nannie (born 31 Jan 1867) and Carrie (born 31 Jul 1869).
In the 1870 census, James M Peace is living with his uncle (?) B[lackburn] Peace in Shelby County, Texas, while Susan and the children are not found in any census record (so far). Susan was born in 1844 and died in early 1880 in Madison, Jefferson County, Indiana, where her Hendricks and Stapp families lived. In the 1880 census, the three children are living with Ella Stapp in Madison, Jefferson County, IN.
The Henry Peace family is in Goliad County TX in 1850 and Dewitt County, TX in 1860, but I didn't find Henry or Rachel in the 1870 census.
Most of the BMD information above is probably from a family Bible or other paper, which my colleague does not have a copy of, nor does she know where to find it..
My colleague wants to know when James Matthew Peace died and where he is buried.
We've checked:
* www.FindAGrave.com
* www.Interment.net (tough with a name like "Peace")
* US GenWeb Archives
* Ancestry databases
* Ancestry and Rootsweb user-contributed databases
* Google search
Do any readers have ideas for where else to search? All suggestions appreciated!!
The man is James Matthew Peace (sometimes Pease), who was born 1n Texas in about 1843, the son of Henry and Rachel (Cole) Peace. James married Susan Cerilla Hendricks on 23 April 1863 probably in Texas, and they had children Osborn (born 27 Dec 1864), Ella Nannie (born 31 Jan 1867) and Carrie (born 31 Jul 1869).
In the 1870 census, James M Peace is living with his uncle (?) B[lackburn] Peace in Shelby County, Texas, while Susan and the children are not found in any census record (so far). Susan was born in 1844 and died in early 1880 in Madison, Jefferson County, Indiana, where her Hendricks and Stapp families lived. In the 1880 census, the three children are living with Ella Stapp in Madison, Jefferson County, IN.
The Henry Peace family is in Goliad County TX in 1850 and Dewitt County, TX in 1860, but I didn't find Henry or Rachel in the 1870 census.
Most of the BMD information above is probably from a family Bible or other paper, which my colleague does not have a copy of, nor does she know where to find it..
My colleague wants to know when James Matthew Peace died and where he is buried.
We've checked:
* www.FindAGrave.com
* www.Interment.net (tough with a name like "Peace")
* US GenWeb Archives
* Ancestry databases
* Ancestry and Rootsweb user-contributed databases
* Google search
Do any readers have ideas for where else to search? All suggestions appreciated!!
Friday, July 4, 2008
51st Carnival of Genealogy is Posted - Independent Spirits!
Thomas MacEntee has posted the 51st Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy on his Destination: Austin Family blog. The topic for this edition was Independent Spirits, and there are articles highlighting really special people in the ancestry or lives of 22 genealogy bloggers. Great job, Thomas, and all of the bloggers!
My own submission was Martin Carringer (1758-1835), an Independent Spirit.
The topic for the next Carnival of Genealogy will be:
AGE: As family historians, we take time to carefully mark the birthdates of our forebearers. We print out family tree charts including this all-important data. We make it a point to note at what age family members have married, had children and passed away.
Take some time to look over the data that you have collected on members of your family tree, and share a story of age with us for the upcoming edition of the carnival. Do you have a member of the family who went to work to support the family while still of a tender age? Someone who accomplished something that was typically done by others beyond his or her years? A couple who married young? A couple with disparate ages? A family member who accomplished something of note at an advanced age? How about family members that lived many years, outlasting many of their relatives and friends?
With the understanding that "age is often a state of mind," share your family story about someone whose story stands out because of their age, either young or old.
Submit your blog article for the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Lisa at 100 Years in America will be the hostess for the 52nd Carnival -- the deadline for submissions is July 15th.
My own submission was Martin Carringer (1758-1835), an Independent Spirit.
The topic for the next Carnival of Genealogy will be:
AGE: As family historians, we take time to carefully mark the birthdates of our forebearers. We print out family tree charts including this all-important data. We make it a point to note at what age family members have married, had children and passed away.
Take some time to look over the data that you have collected on members of your family tree, and share a story of age with us for the upcoming edition of the carnival. Do you have a member of the family who went to work to support the family while still of a tender age? Someone who accomplished something that was typically done by others beyond his or her years? A couple who married young? A couple with disparate ages? A family member who accomplished something of note at an advanced age? How about family members that lived many years, outlasting many of their relatives and friends?
With the understanding that "age is often a state of mind," share your family story about someone whose story stands out because of their age, either young or old.
Submit your blog article for the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Lisa at 100 Years in America will be the hostess for the 52nd Carnival -- the deadline for submissions is July 15th.
Happy 4th of July
Citizens of the United States celebrate the writing and signing of The Declaration of Independence today.
At least one signer had the foresight about what it would mean to his countrymen --
"The day will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.
"It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward and forever more."
-- John Adams in a letter to his wife, Abigail, following the reading of the Declaration of Independence at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
"The day will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.
"It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward and forever more."
-- John Adams in a letter to his wife, Abigail, following the reading of the Declaration of Independence at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
For many of us in San Diego, this is a day to go to the beach early, frolic in the waves with your kids, build sandcastles, bury the kids up to their neck in the sand, get snow-cones at the concession stand, walk up and down the beach looking for neat shells, roast hog dogs in the fire rings, have S'mores as the sun goes down, watch fireworks from across the bay, and arrive home exhausted and sunburned. That's the typical San Diego experience. Half a million people here will do it today - and the high temp at the beach will be 75F.
Our celebration of the holiday will be much more subdued, since our kids are gone and I'm very sensitive to the sun. I put up the flag. I'm going to blog a bit, play with Lolo, then I might work on my probate record transcriptions, and reflect a bit on the stories about the Revolution, my ancestral soldiers, the Signers and the Framers. I'll take a nap this afternoon to get ready for our big night out.
We're going down to church in the afternoon for a picnic (hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, dip, veggies, and ice cream), sit in the shade and talk/share with friends, and watch Lolo have fun with the other kids. About 8 PM, after the sun goes down, we'll look up and west - the country club next door has a decent fireworks show that is almost overhead! Then we'll drive one mile home - not sunburned, not tired, and watch the end of the Padres game. Life is a little more relaxed these days!
Whatever you do, I hope that you have a great time with family, friends or just yourselves! Do something fun and relaxing, and I urge you to reflect on the gifts of liberty and independence that we were given by the sacrifices of our forefathers and foremothers.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Genea-Musings Stats for January through June, 2008
I signed up for Google Analytics on January 3, 2008 in hopes of being able to gather more information about the site traffic. I just recently figured out how to get more than the last month's information (I'm not the sharpest iPod in the Technology drawer, I fear) from Analytics, so here is a summary of the first six months of 2008:
* 22, 812 Absolute Unique Visitors (average 127 per day)
* 39,138 Visits (average 217 per day)
* 62,439 Page Views (average 347 per day)
* 1.59 PageViews per Visit
* 00:01:48 Average Time on Site
* 58.13% New visits
Where did these visitors come from? 121 Countries in all - the top 10 are:
* United States - 32,041
* Canada - 2,311
* United Kingdom - 1,754
* Australia - 487
* Netherlands - 377
* Ireland - 366
* Israel - 173
* Germany - 141
* Finland - 129
* New Zealand - 96
Genea-musings "biggest hits" so far this year have been:
* World Records for Number of Children (posted 21 July 2006) - 2,234 views
* 5 Year statistics for Ancestry.com Traffic (posted 25 March 2008) - 711 views
* Family Tree Tattoos (posted 11 January 2007) - 607 views
* John Tyler's Grandson is Still Alive (posted 20 February 2007) - 450 views
* Sam Champion's Roots on ABCs Good Morning America (posted 2 November 2006) - 394 views
* Genealogy Software Reviews (posted 2 January 2008) - 360 views
* Make Your Own Gravestone (posted 29 July 2007) - 346 views
* How Rare is Your Personality Type? (posted 20 June 2007) - 344 views
* "I Am My Own Grandpa" (posted 30 June 2006) - 324 views
* VP Dick Cheney is My Cousin Too! (posted 19 October 2007) - 251 views
My observation based on the hit list is that no one is really interested in my opinions on genealogy articles or web sites or my own family history posts. Quite a bit of the traffic in this period comes from Google (or other) search engine queries. Oh well...
There are more people reading Genea-Musings than just the ones noted above, which come via a link or an URL - the statistics above do not count RSS feeds (e.g., Feedburner, Google Reader, Yahoo Reader, etc.). I am not sure if the stats count Bloglines or not (I think so?). These readers are probably 100% genealogy devotees, unlike a majority of my visitors to the URL that come via a search engine.
To all of my readers - Thank You for visiting and reading. I hope you learn something about genealogy and have a chuckle once in awhile.
* 22, 812 Absolute Unique Visitors (average 127 per day)
* 39,138 Visits (average 217 per day)
* 62,439 Page Views (average 347 per day)
* 1.59 PageViews per Visit
* 00:01:48 Average Time on Site
* 58.13% New visits
Where did these visitors come from? 121 Countries in all - the top 10 are:
* United States - 32,041
* Canada - 2,311
* United Kingdom - 1,754
* Australia - 487
* Netherlands - 377
* Ireland - 366
* Israel - 173
* Germany - 141
* Finland - 129
* New Zealand - 96
Genea-musings "biggest hits" so far this year have been:
* World Records for Number of Children (posted 21 July 2006) - 2,234 views
* 5 Year statistics for Ancestry.com Traffic (posted 25 March 2008) - 711 views
* Family Tree Tattoos (posted 11 January 2007) - 607 views
* John Tyler's Grandson is Still Alive (posted 20 February 2007) - 450 views
* Sam Champion's Roots on ABCs Good Morning America (posted 2 November 2006) - 394 views
* Genealogy Software Reviews (posted 2 January 2008) - 360 views
* Make Your Own Gravestone (posted 29 July 2007) - 346 views
* How Rare is Your Personality Type? (posted 20 June 2007) - 344 views
* "I Am My Own Grandpa" (posted 30 June 2006) - 324 views
* VP Dick Cheney is My Cousin Too! (posted 19 October 2007) - 251 views
My observation based on the hit list is that no one is really interested in my opinions on genealogy articles or web sites or my own family history posts. Quite a bit of the traffic in this period comes from Google (or other) search engine queries. Oh well...
There are more people reading Genea-Musings than just the ones noted above, which come via a link or an URL - the statistics above do not count RSS feeds (e.g., Feedburner, Google Reader, Yahoo Reader, etc.). I am not sure if the stats count Bloglines or not (I think so?). These readers are probably 100% genealogy devotees, unlike a majority of my visitors to the URL that come via a search engine.
To all of my readers - Thank You for visiting and reading. I hope you learn something about genealogy and have a chuckle once in awhile.
Fourth of July Quick Quiz
My Family Tree Magazine weekly newsletter came in email today, with several interesting and useful items, including:
* A Quick 5-question Quiz to test your knowledge of the Declaration of Independence and Paul Revere's ride. You can take the Family Tree Magazine quiz here.
* Quick Look: Resources for Revolutionary War Ancestors. Learn about ancestors who witnessed our country’s struggle into existence.
* A Match Made in History. Read about the wedding of "Benjamin Franklin" and "Betsy Ross." A great love story.
* Family Tree Magazine Podcast Episode 2. Sounds good - go listen to it!
You can sign up for the free email newsletter at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/newsletter.asp.
* A Quick 5-question Quiz to test your knowledge of the Declaration of Independence and Paul Revere's ride. You can take the Family Tree Magazine quiz here.
* Quick Look: Resources for Revolutionary War Ancestors. Learn about ancestors who witnessed our country’s struggle into existence.
* A Match Made in History. Read about the wedding of "Benjamin Franklin" and "Betsy Ross." A great love story.
* Family Tree Magazine Podcast Episode 2. Sounds good - go listen to it!
You can sign up for the free email newsletter at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/newsletter.asp.
Another View of the Blogger Summit
Gilles Cayouette is a genealogy blogger who writes Le chercheur nomade - The Nomadic Researcher blog "about genealogy in Quebec with examples pertaining to the direct descendants of Gilles Caillouet (the Caillouet, Caillouette and Cayouette...)."
Gilles read the posts about the SCGS Genealogy Blogger Summit and posted his observations in French and English, raising some interesting issues and questions. Read his blog post for his observations.
His questions include (my paraphrases):
* Are genealogy bloggers journalists?
* Does the quest for instantaneity affect post quality?
* What about ethics in blogging?
* How can bloggers improve blog post quality?
* What are the opportunities to create both a society web site and blog?
Read the whole post - definitely a different point of view and one that needs to be included in the genealogy blogger "social network."
My thanks to Gilles for emailing me with the link to his blog. I wish I spoke French, but I don't.
UPDATED 11:15 a.m. Gilles wrote me to correct the spelling of his surname and to tell me that he was not at the Jamboree, that he read the comments about the Jamboree online. My apologies for not double-checking those facts!
Gilles read the posts about the SCGS Genealogy Blogger Summit and posted his observations in French and English, raising some interesting issues and questions. Read his blog post for his observations.
His questions include (my paraphrases):
* Are genealogy bloggers journalists?
* Does the quest for instantaneity affect post quality?
* What about ethics in blogging?
* How can bloggers improve blog post quality?
* What are the opportunities to create both a society web site and blog?
Read the whole post - definitely a different point of view and one that needs to be included in the genealogy blogger "social network."
My thanks to Gilles for emailing me with the link to his blog. I wish I spoke French, but I don't.
UPDATED 11:15 a.m. Gilles wrote me to correct the spelling of his surname and to tell me that he was not at the Jamboree, that he read the comments about the Jamboree online. My apologies for not double-checking those facts!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Current Everton's Genealogical Helper FREE to download until 12 July
Leland Meitzler just posted "Everton’s Genealogical Helper “Online Edition” FREE for the Next Week" that announced that for the next week, the Jul-Aug, 2008 issue will be “in the clear,” and available to anyone that wants to check it out.
If you want to subscribe to the Online Edition of Everton's Genealogical Helper, the cost is only $12 per year for the full six issues of the magazine. Traditional Magazine subscribers get FREE access.
You can read the download information and download the July-August 2008 issue at http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/onlinegh/. It does require Adobe Acrobat 6 or higher. This issue is 26.6 mb, so you might not want to do it on a dial-up connection. My cable connection took about 30 seconds.
I subscribed to the online edition of Everton's Genealogical Helper at the SCGS Genealogy Jamboree for $10. That seems like a very good deal for me, and I hope that other genealogy magazines will follow suit.
Well done, Leland - a great marketing move, I think.
If you want to subscribe to the Online Edition of Everton's Genealogical Helper, the cost is only $12 per year for the full six issues of the magazine. Traditional Magazine subscribers get FREE access.
You can read the download information and download the July-August 2008 issue at http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/onlinegh/. It does require Adobe Acrobat 6 or higher. This issue is 26.6 mb, so you might not want to do it on a dial-up connection. My cable connection took about 30 seconds.
I subscribed to the online edition of Everton's Genealogical Helper at the SCGS Genealogy Jamboree for $10. That seems like a very good deal for me, and I hope that other genealogy magazines will follow suit.
Well done, Leland - a great marketing move, I think.
The New Ancestry Home Page
A post this morning on the Ancestry.com blog alerted many of us to the fact that Ancestry.com has changed the Home Page content and format for subscribers. Read the comments on the blog post for "fan reactions."
The screen shots below illustrate the new start page:
1) The top half of the Home page shows the following for my subscription:
* Top left - the last three screens I looked at in my own search in family tree databases.
* Bottom left - the Basic Search box for searching Ancestry databases. I used the old Search box so this shot shows the tabs for Historical Records, Family Trees, Stories and Publications, and Places and Maps. If the user is using the New Search box, then the tabs don't appear. You can select Advanced Search and enter more information.
* Top right - Add a Quick Link: plus 3 pre-designed quick links that take you right to the BMD, Census and Immigration database collections. You can add any number of other web links, including non-Ancestry sites.
* Bottom right - an advertisement.
2) The bottom half of the Home page shows the following for my subscription (using the old Search box:
* Top left - What's Happening at Ancestry: an advertisement for an Ancestry service, plus a list of the latest databases, and a link to the list of the most recently added new or updated databases.
* Bottom left - My Shoebox, which is where a user can put images of records for later use.
* Top right - My To-Do List, where a user can write out tasks to be done, presumably on Ancestry.
* bottom right - Recent Activity - in historical records, recent searches, and Ancestry Press Projects.
The screen shots below illustrate the new start page:
1) The top half of the Home page shows the following for my subscription:
* Top left - the last three screens I looked at in my own search in family tree databases.
* Bottom left - the Basic Search box for searching Ancestry databases. I used the old Search box so this shot shows the tabs for Historical Records, Family Trees, Stories and Publications, and Places and Maps. If the user is using the New Search box, then the tabs don't appear. You can select Advanced Search and enter more information.
* Top right - Add a Quick Link: plus 3 pre-designed quick links that take you right to the BMD, Census and Immigration database collections. You can add any number of other web links, including non-Ancestry sites.
* Bottom right - an advertisement.
2) The bottom half of the Home page shows the following for my subscription (using the old Search box:
* Top left - What's Happening at Ancestry: an advertisement for an Ancestry service, plus a list of the latest databases, and a link to the list of the most recently added new or updated databases.
* Bottom left - My Shoebox, which is where a user can put images of records for later use.
* Top right - My To-Do List, where a user can write out tasks to be done, presumably on Ancestry.
* bottom right - Recent Activity - in historical records, recent searches, and Ancestry Press Projects.
There is also a link to a summary of the changes to the new Ancestry Home page, as shown below:
I like the addition of the Add a Quick Link, the To-Do List, the Shoebox, and the link to the recently added databases. Users can add links to the mailing lists, message boards, FamilySearch, or any other web site that they desire so that they have one click access. I'm not enthusiastic about the top left links to recent Family Tree activity - since I don't really use Family Trees that often. I would rather have the Search Box right at the top of my screen.
What was eliminated from the Ancestry Home screen? The complete list of the US Federal census years and the major collections were below the Search Box on the Home page (at least on my home page). The BMD, Census and Immigration database collections are listed at the top right of the Home Page, but not all of them. They should add Military, Newspapers, Family Trees, etc. More clicks...
I'm sure that I'll find more to like and probably some things to not like also ... change is hard for many people, and Ancestry has been changing their look and feel and search a lot in the past few months. I'm living with it, but I still feel like I am clicking more and having a harder time finding results.
One of my favorite sayings is "Progress requires Change, but not all Change is Progress."
The only way to convince Ancestry to improve their Home page is to comment constructively about it. Just complaining about it doesn't help much - tell them what you want to see. They have a link at the top of their Home Page that allows you to do just that.
UPDATED: 4 p.m. - deleted a paragraph that I found was wrong about Exact Searches. Funny, it wasn't there when I looked an hour ago!
Specific Family Name Blogs
One of the questions asked at the Blogger Summit at the SCGS Genealogy Jamboree was along the lines of "can you actually make contact with cousins using a blog?" The answer for many of the panel bloggers was essentially "yes, but not often."
There are, of course, more blogs than you can shake a long stick at - Chris Dunham's Genealogue's Blogfinder lists over 900 genealogy blogs now, and some of them are devoted to information about a specific surname or group of surnames. Chris lists 77 in the current "Single Surname" blog list.
Interestingly, Bob and Reb's Genealogy Blog about the Orrell Family is not on the single surname list (I found it on the Personal Research list of 459). I've been reading Bob and Reb's work for about two years now, and am real impressed by the depth of their research posted online, not only on the blog but on their web site.
Bob and Reb Orrell decided a month ago to shut down their blog and web site due to lack of time and some health problems. Then fate intervened and Reb retired, so now he has more time to devote to their site. They will keep it active, but perhaps not blog as much as they have in the past. Of course, we all know that every time a new database comes online, that these guys won't be able to resist using it, and blogging about it.
I'm ecstatic that Bob and Reb will keep their web site and blog active for now. I was dreading seeing it go into digital limbo, even though they have saved the blog and web site content to more permanent storage like CDs.
For me, this site is an excellent example of what a Single Surname blog site should look like and how it should work. I've thought about a single surname blog myself (let's see - Seaver, Carringer, Vaux, Auble, ...), but haven't pursued it intensively due to my other time commitments.
There are, of course, more blogs than you can shake a long stick at - Chris Dunham's Genealogue's Blogfinder lists over 900 genealogy blogs now, and some of them are devoted to information about a specific surname or group of surnames. Chris lists 77 in the current "Single Surname" blog list.
Interestingly, Bob and Reb's Genealogy Blog about the Orrell Family is not on the single surname list (I found it on the Personal Research list of 459). I've been reading Bob and Reb's work for about two years now, and am real impressed by the depth of their research posted online, not only on the blog but on their web site.
Bob and Reb Orrell decided a month ago to shut down their blog and web site due to lack of time and some health problems. Then fate intervened and Reb retired, so now he has more time to devote to their site. They will keep it active, but perhaps not blog as much as they have in the past. Of course, we all know that every time a new database comes online, that these guys won't be able to resist using it, and blogging about it.
I'm ecstatic that Bob and Reb will keep their web site and blog active for now. I was dreading seeing it go into digital limbo, even though they have saved the blog and web site content to more permanent storage like CDs.
For me, this site is an excellent example of what a Single Surname blog site should look like and how it should work. I've thought about a single surname blog myself (let's see - Seaver, Carringer, Vaux, Auble, ...), but haven't pursued it intensively due to my other time commitments.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Wheel of Genealogy Fortune - Post 5: An epitaph?
You all know how to play Wheel of Fortune -I've given you R S T L N and E just like in the Final Round on the TV game!
Take a crack at this quote:
_ E ' S .... _ _ _ S E _ .... _ _ S .... _ N _ E S T _ R S ....
_ L L .... _ _ S .... L _ _ E --- _ E ' S .... _ _ N E ....
T _ .... _ E T .... T _ E .... _ N S _ E R S.
Can you figure this out, determine who was the speaker, and find it on a web page?
Please put your answer in Comments.
Take a crack at this quote:
_ E ' S .... _ _ _ S E _ .... _ _ S .... _ N _ E S T _ R S ....
_ L L .... _ _ S .... L _ _ E --- _ E ' S .... _ _ N E ....
T _ .... _ E T .... T _ E .... _ N S _ E R S.
Can you figure this out, determine who was the speaker, and find it on a web page?
Please put your answer in Comments.
Using Bloglines.com to read many blogs
During the Genealogy Blogger Summit at the SCGS Genealogy Jamboree on Saturday, several attendees wondered how readers can read many genealogy blogs without spending a lot of time. Dick Eastman answered the question by suggesting signing up for an RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed and receiving blog posts via email or via an aggregator web site like Google or Yahoo (and several others).
Many blogs, but not all, permit using an RSS feed to capture blog posts. On Genea-Musings, you can sign up to receive blog posts using Feedburner by entering your email in the box down on the lower right column of this blog. Many readers have chosen this option, as you can see!
If you want to minimize email in your Inbox, but still want to read blog posts in a reader of some sort, you can use Google, Yahoo, or another aggregator.
I use http://www.bloglines.com/ because it is free, it is easy to use, and it is reliable. I am not a really ept "techie" - I like simple things that I can understand and control.
Let me walk you through signing up for and using Bloglines to read blogs (and it can be any type of blog - genealogy, history, politics, religion, whatever you find!).
First, go to www.bloglines.com. You can create an account by putting in a real email address and a password of your choice, choose your time zone and language. The registration box is shown below.
When you click on the Register button, you get the screen below that tells you that you are registered and that you have an email that will complete your registration.
Many blogs, but not all, permit using an RSS feed to capture blog posts. On Genea-Musings, you can sign up to receive blog posts using Feedburner by entering your email in the box down on the lower right column of this blog. Many readers have chosen this option, as you can see!
If you want to minimize email in your Inbox, but still want to read blog posts in a reader of some sort, you can use Google, Yahoo, or another aggregator.
I use http://www.bloglines.com/ because it is free, it is easy to use, and it is reliable. I am not a really ept "techie" - I like simple things that I can understand and control.
Let me walk you through signing up for and using Bloglines to read blogs (and it can be any type of blog - genealogy, history, politics, religion, whatever you find!).
First, go to www.bloglines.com. You can create an account by putting in a real email address and a password of your choice, choose your time zone and language. The registration box is shown below.
When you click on the Register button, you get the screen below that tells you that you are registered and that you have an email that will complete your registration.
At this point, go to your email address, find the email from Bloglines, and click on the link to activate your account. Another window with your registered account will open, and you can now choose any pre-selected type of blog that interests you. Genealogy is not on the list, as shown below:
The key step in this whole process is to now select the Feeds tab on the far left top of the left-hand frame, just under the Bloglines logo. The screen will look like this:
You automatically get the Bloglines news feed.
Do you want to add genealogy blogs to your Bloglines? Click on the Add link just below the Playlist tab.
You will see the box in the center of the right-hand panel that says Blog or Feed URL. Type or copy the blog URL into this box (please start with www.geneamusings.com). Then click on the Subscribe button below the box.
Bloglines revises the list of blogs that you have subscribed to, and usually chooses the last 10 blog posts for the added feed. The screen with Genea-Musings added looks like this:
Finally, you can click on the blog name in the left-hand panel and see the blog content in the right-hand pane. In the screen below, I clicked on Genea-Musings in the left-hand panel and received 10 posts in the right-hand panel, as shown below (you have to scroll down to see the others).
If you want to comment on a specific blog post, you can click on the post tile on the right-hand panel and it will take you to the specific blog post where you can read it, see the previous comments, and comment yourself if you care to (we genea-bloggers love comments!).
If you want to add another blog to your Bloglines list, you can do it any time by finding the blog URL (the Internet address) somehow (you can use my list of blogs on the right-hand side of my blog page), copying the URL (use Ctrl-C for Windows computers), then click on the Add button and enter the new blog URL (use Ctrl-V on Window computers) into the box, and now you have two of them. You can add as many as you like!
That wasn't so hard, was it? I was able to create a Bloglines account, get my registration email, and start my blog list using the Add button in less than 3 minutes.
When there are new blog posts in each blog on your list, the blog name will be in bold print with the number of new posts since you last clicked on that specific blog.
As you find new blogs that you want to read, you can add them to your list using the Add button process above. Each one takes about 15 seconds to add, but then you have it available for your use. In Windows XP, I leave Bloglines on one tab and open other tabs for other web pages. Bloglines updates the list every 30 minutes or so. I presently have 279 blogs I read whenever there is new content. My blog reading takes no more than 30 minutes each day, and often less.
If you want to edit your subscription to a blog, you can do that easily by clicking on the Edit Subscription link above the right-hand pane. If you want to delete a blog, you can do that by clicking on the blog name in the left-hand panel and then clicking on the Unsubscribe link above the right-hand panel.
Don't forget to put your Bloglines account into your browser Favorites or Bookmarks - then you can click on it and see what blogs have added content since you last used it.
Bloglines saves me a lot time online, is easy to use and permits me to read the latest information from my fellow genea-bloggers.
More on Ancestry "Ownership" of User Databases
At the SCGS genealogy Jamboree, I attended Cath Madden Trindle's presentation on Sunday morning titled "But It's My Family; Copyright Issues for the 21st Century Genealogist," and learned (perhaps re-learned what I had forgotten) a lot.
One of the attendees near me stated emphatically that "Ancestry owns the copyright on anything that you put there. They can publish any information they have and you can't stop it" (not an exact quote, but that was my understanding of what he said). I mildly disagreed, since I thought that user-contributed content (such as a family tree) was still owned and copyrighted by the user and that Ancestry was licensed to distribute the information.
So I checked The Generations Network Terms and Conditions of Use page (revised 10 January 2008) again today. The two most applicable paragraphs seem to be:
"Ancestry.com License and Terms and Conditions of Use
"Ancestry.com is an Internet service (the “Service”) owned and operated by The Generations Network, Inc. ("we", "our" or "us"). "You" or "your" means an adult user of the Service for itself and you as parent or guardian for any minor who you allow to access the Service, for whom you will be held strictly responsible. Your use of the Service indicates that you are bound by this Agreement with us. If you don't agree with any of these terms and conditions, don't use the Service. We may alter this Agreement at our discretion and your continued use after any change indicates your acceptance of that change. If you don't want to be bound by a change, discontinue use of the Service.
"Ancestry.com contains graphics, information, data, editorial and other content accessible by any registered Internet user and similar content which is accessible only to our subscribing members “(the Content)”. Whether in the free section or in the subscription section of the Service, all Content is owned and/or copyrighted by The Generations Network, Inc., or third party providers and may be used only in accordance with this limited use license. Ancestry.com is protected by copyright as a collective work and/or compilation, pursuant to U.S. copyright laws, international conventions, and other copyright laws."
and:
"User provided content
"Portions of the Service will contain user provided content, to which you may contribute appropriate content. For this content, Ancestry is a distributor only. By submitting content to Ancestry, you grant The Generations Network, Inc., the corporate host of the Service, a license to the content to use, host, distribute that Content and allow hosting and distribution of that Content, to the extent and in that form or context we deem appropriate. Should you contribute content to the site, you understand that it will be seen and used by others under the license described herein. You should submit only content which belongs to you and will not violate the property or other rights of other people or organizations. The Generations Network, Inc. is sensitive to the copyright of others. For more concerning copyright issues, view our corporate policy. We will not edit or monitor user provided content, with the exception that, to promote privacy, an automated filtering tool will be used to suppress, and omit from display, information submitted to the tree areas of the site which appears to pertain to a living person. We also reserves the right to remove any user provided content that comes to our attention and that we believe, in our sole discretion, is illegal, obscene, indecent, defamatory, incites racial or ethnic hatred or violates the rights of others, or is in any other way objectionable."
I am not an attorney, so the following is my interpretation as an interested person only - don't quote me, please!
The second paragraph above clearly states that "Whether in the free section or in the subscription section of the Service, all Content is owned and/or copyrighted by The Generations Network, Inc...." Apparently, that applies to all of the content on the web site, including the databases obtained from other providers. Does it include user-contributor databases, as the fellow at the Jamboree stated?
The User provided content paragraph above clearly states that "Portions of the Service will contain user provided content, to which you may contribute appropriate content. For this content, Ancestry is a distributor only..."
That seems clear to me - Ancestry is a distributor, not an owner or copyright holder of information submitted by users to family trees or other databases (such as Rootsweb hosted web pages, mailing lists, message boards, USGenWeb archive pages, etc.). I interpret this to mean that I still own and have copyright protection for the content that I submit to Ancestry/TGN web sites, including Ancestry. I can publish my own work whenever or wherever I want, and I still hold the copyright for the material I have created.
However, this same paragraph also states that "By submitting content to Ancestry, you grant The Generations Network, Inc., the corporate host of the Service, a license to the content to use, host, distribute that Content and allow hosting and distribution of that Content, to the extent and in that form or context we deem appropriate..."
Hmm, this is one of the things that the fellow mentioned - it clearly states that Ancestry/TGN could publish user-contributed information in a book, on a CD or DVD, or on a web page.
One very useful example of how Ancestry/TGN could "use" and "distribute" my submitted content would be to search for terms in the content, find other researchers with the same person(s), create a genealogy report from it (such as the WorldConnect or Ancestry World Tree database reports), etc.
In summary, I believe that I own and have copyright protection for any creative work in my genealogy database that I intentionally submitted to Ancestry.com. Ancestry/TGN could publish the information if they chose to. Am I interpreting these paragraphs correctly?
What about my copyrighted creative work -- my analysis, my original text, my abstracts of documents, etc.? Can they put that in a book or on a CD and sell it? Can someone else - another researcher, who finds it in an Ancestry/TGN database, do that also?
There are other portions to the Ancestry/TGN Terms and Conditions that need to be considered, but I am only addressing the specific user-contributed content issue here.
If a user does not want Ancestry/TGN to be able to use or publish their data for whatever purpose, the T&Cs also notes that "If you don't agree with any of these terms and conditions, don't use the Service."
Our genea-blogging colleague, Craig Manson published has a Geneablogie blog archive for Copyright here - he has discussed many aspects of Copyright Law over the years. Check it out for more information.
Cyndi Howells also has a lot of links on general copyright issue at http://www.cyndislist.com/internet.htm#Copyright.
One of the attendees near me stated emphatically that "Ancestry owns the copyright on anything that you put there. They can publish any information they have and you can't stop it" (not an exact quote, but that was my understanding of what he said). I mildly disagreed, since I thought that user-contributed content (such as a family tree) was still owned and copyrighted by the user and that Ancestry was licensed to distribute the information.
So I checked The Generations Network Terms and Conditions of Use page (revised 10 January 2008) again today. The two most applicable paragraphs seem to be:
"Ancestry.com License and Terms and Conditions of Use
"Ancestry.com is an Internet service (the “Service”) owned and operated by The Generations Network, Inc. ("we", "our" or "us"). "You" or "your" means an adult user of the Service for itself and you as parent or guardian for any minor who you allow to access the Service, for whom you will be held strictly responsible. Your use of the Service indicates that you are bound by this Agreement with us. If you don't agree with any of these terms and conditions, don't use the Service. We may alter this Agreement at our discretion and your continued use after any change indicates your acceptance of that change. If you don't want to be bound by a change, discontinue use of the Service.
"Ancestry.com contains graphics, information, data, editorial and other content accessible by any registered Internet user and similar content which is accessible only to our subscribing members “(the Content)”. Whether in the free section or in the subscription section of the Service, all Content is owned and/or copyrighted by The Generations Network, Inc., or third party providers and may be used only in accordance with this limited use license. Ancestry.com is protected by copyright as a collective work and/or compilation, pursuant to U.S. copyright laws, international conventions, and other copyright laws."
and:
"User provided content
"Portions of the Service will contain user provided content, to which you may contribute appropriate content. For this content, Ancestry is a distributor only. By submitting content to Ancestry, you grant The Generations Network, Inc., the corporate host of the Service, a license to the content to use, host, distribute that Content and allow hosting and distribution of that Content, to the extent and in that form or context we deem appropriate. Should you contribute content to the site, you understand that it will be seen and used by others under the license described herein. You should submit only content which belongs to you and will not violate the property or other rights of other people or organizations. The Generations Network, Inc. is sensitive to the copyright of others. For more concerning copyright issues, view our corporate policy. We will not edit or monitor user provided content, with the exception that, to promote privacy, an automated filtering tool will be used to suppress, and omit from display, information submitted to the tree areas of the site which appears to pertain to a living person. We also reserves the right to remove any user provided content that comes to our attention and that we believe, in our sole discretion, is illegal, obscene, indecent, defamatory, incites racial or ethnic hatred or violates the rights of others, or is in any other way objectionable."
I am not an attorney, so the following is my interpretation as an interested person only - don't quote me, please!
The second paragraph above clearly states that "Whether in the free section or in the subscription section of the Service, all Content is owned and/or copyrighted by The Generations Network, Inc...." Apparently, that applies to all of the content on the web site, including the databases obtained from other providers. Does it include user-contributor databases, as the fellow at the Jamboree stated?
The User provided content paragraph above clearly states that "Portions of the Service will contain user provided content, to which you may contribute appropriate content. For this content, Ancestry is a distributor only..."
That seems clear to me - Ancestry is a distributor, not an owner or copyright holder of information submitted by users to family trees or other databases (such as Rootsweb hosted web pages, mailing lists, message boards, USGenWeb archive pages, etc.). I interpret this to mean that I still own and have copyright protection for the content that I submit to Ancestry/TGN web sites, including Ancestry. I can publish my own work whenever or wherever I want, and I still hold the copyright for the material I have created.
However, this same paragraph also states that "By submitting content to Ancestry, you grant The Generations Network, Inc., the corporate host of the Service, a license to the content to use, host, distribute that Content and allow hosting and distribution of that Content, to the extent and in that form or context we deem appropriate..."
Hmm, this is one of the things that the fellow mentioned - it clearly states that Ancestry/TGN could publish user-contributed information in a book, on a CD or DVD, or on a web page.
One very useful example of how Ancestry/TGN could "use" and "distribute" my submitted content would be to search for terms in the content, find other researchers with the same person(s), create a genealogy report from it (such as the WorldConnect or Ancestry World Tree database reports), etc.
In summary, I believe that I own and have copyright protection for any creative work in my genealogy database that I intentionally submitted to Ancestry.com. Ancestry/TGN could publish the information if they chose to. Am I interpreting these paragraphs correctly?
What about my copyrighted creative work -- my analysis, my original text, my abstracts of documents, etc.? Can they put that in a book or on a CD and sell it? Can someone else - another researcher, who finds it in an Ancestry/TGN database, do that also?
There are other portions to the Ancestry/TGN Terms and Conditions that need to be considered, but I am only addressing the specific user-contributed content issue here.
If a user does not want Ancestry/TGN to be able to use or publish their data for whatever purpose, the T&Cs also notes that "If you don't agree with any of these terms and conditions, don't use the Service."
Our genea-blogging colleague, Craig Manson published has a Geneablogie blog archive for Copyright here - he has discussed many aspects of Copyright Law over the years. Check it out for more information.
Cyndi Howells also has a lot of links on general copyright issue at http://www.cyndislist.com/internet.htm#Copyright.
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