Genea-Musings

...
The San Diego Genealogical Society program meeting for September is on Saturday, 10 September at 10 a.m. at St. Andrew's Methodist Church (8350 Lake Murray Blvd in San Diego). 

The program speaker is Del Ritchhart on two topics:

1.  "Ten Tips for Stimulating Your Family's Interest in Their History (or How to Clear up those 'Glazed Over Eyes.'"  Ask any genealogist when they were "bitten by the family history bug" and the odds are they can tell you that moment.  For many, it was a seed planted in childhood.

This presentation will discuss methods to get your children and grandchildren more interested in Family History.

2)  "Expanding Your Genealogical Horizons."  Are you using all available resources to further your research?  In a pop-quiz, could you name the local assets, many of which are only a couple of hours drive from San Diego?  Del will provide information on many San Diego and Southern California venues.

Labels: genealogy resources, San Diego area, SDGS

...
I'm posting old family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they won't be wordless posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.

Here is one of the most precious (to me) images from my Seaver family collection:


This is a picture of my father's sister, Geraldine Seaver, daughter of Frederick W. and Alma Bessie (Richmond) Seaver, taken in 1918 when Gerry was about one year old.

Gerry was the seventh (and last) child of a seventh child (Bessie was the seventh child of Thomas and Julia (White) Richmond), and was always considered "special." 

This photo was included in the Geraldine (Seaver) Remley "Red Album" of family photographs, and was scanned from the pasted page in that album.

Labels: photographs, Seaver Research, Wordless Wednesday

...
It was a long day, but the travel was easy - on time, no problems, and Lynda the Southwest Airline flight attendant was awesome - funny comments and even seat exercises!  We landed in Chicago at 1 p.m., got our rental car and headed for Springfield, where we are in the Abraham Lincoln Hotel.

I found myself trying to figure out where we were over Kansas and Iowa, and if some of my ancestral homesteads were going past the window.  Central Kansas has a regular pattern of square sections laid out nicely, but the roads don't always follow the section boundaries.  Once we got over northeastern Kansas and southern Iowa, it was difficult to discern the sections sometimes.  It's the end of summer, and the dendritic pattern of the creeks and rivers was amazing to see from the air.  Water runs downhill and creates fascinating patterns!  Living in a large city, I am always amazed by how unpopulated the Far West and the Midwest are, at least away from the population centers.  Many of the small towns in Kansas and Iowa dominate only one section of land, and then it;s one or two farms per section as you get further away from town.

We got to the hotel by 6:30 p.m., just enough time to get unpacked and check out dinner options.  I went over to the Hilton Hotel for the Blogger reception hosted by the FamilySearch team.  I met many bloggers that I had not met before in person, and enjoyed chatting with them and the bloggers I've met before.  It is almost instant bonding here, because we have a common interest and purpose, and our little community is very open and friendly.  FamilySearch provided an interesting presentation about their activities to the 30 or 40 bloggers present.  Ginger Smith has the best summary I've seen so far - check out her post Family Search Bloggers Reception at FGS.

I was intrigued by the mention of a consortium to index the 1940 U.S. Census.  That was the first I'd heard of it.  Jim Ericson would not talk about who is participating in the consortium.  I could guess, but I won't, because I'm usually wrong on things like this and don't want to ruin my accuracy average even more!

Then it was back to the hotel for dinner with Linda in the restaurant, and up to the room to see if the free wireless internet works.  It does, but it sure loads slowly!  I managed to read the 280 posts in my Google Reader (since last night) and the 60 emails since this morning, then wrote this post.

Wednesday morning is the start of the FGS Conference, and I look forward to holding up my end of the Official Blogger bargain.  The problem is, of course, if I write blog posts I don't get to go to a learning session, so I'll have to balance those needs out.

Labels: Conferences/Seminars, FGS, musings

...
I listened to the MySociety Radio show on Saturday on Blog Talk Radio - did you?  The subject was Digital Publishing for Preservation and Community Building, hosted by Thomas MacEntee, and featuring Mark Weaver of Ancestry.com.

The Ancestry Content Publisher page describes the concept as:

"Ancestry.com Content Publisher Beta is a FREE online publishing service which provides easy-to-use tools and dedicated support to help you convert your historical digital records into professionally indexed, searchable collections to better serve your patrons and build a more active community."

A society needs to Set Up an Organization Profile, and then after acceptance can start providing imaged records and/or indexes to historical record content that they can legitimately provide.

There is a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page which covers most of the questions that individuals and societies might have about the concept, the process and digitizing/indexing collections.

The San Diego Genealogical Society (SDGS), of which I am a proud and active member, is the first society with published records online using Ancestry Content Publisher - the SDGS Group Profile is here.  There are six collections currently available - three are completely indexed, and three are being indexed.  Here is a screen shot of the page:



Most genealogists can see the real benefits of partnering with Ancestry.com on this venture.  The advantages I see include:

*  Free hosting of a society's record images a branded page, accessible for free by any user.

*  Entries in the searchable index can be found in an Ancestry search.

*  The society can make the index available on Ancestry.com, and keep the digital images behind their subscription wall (according to what I heard on the radio show).

What are the drawbacks?

*  The society has to create the scanned images of the records and create the indexes.

*  The society group profile is on an Ancestry.com page, which will bring out the "Ancestry.com is stealing free content..." frenetics. 

I think it's a Win-Win-Win for all concerned - societies get their content published, Ancestry gets more content, and researchers get access to more digital record collections, most of which will be  unavailable anywhere else.  

I look forward to discussing this concept and the details with Mark Weaver and his staff at the FGS Conference this week.

For more information about Ancestry Content Publisher, please see their web page http://publish.ancestry.com/.

Labels: Ancestry.com, genealogy resources, genealogy societies, Online resources

...
This week's Tuesday's Tip is:  Use FREE genealogy forms to organize your collected records, and your search.

There are several websites with FREE genealogy forms available.  for instance:

*  Family Tree Magazine (http://www.familytreemagazine.com/info/researchforms)  has many different types of forms - including a research calendar, note-taking, online database tracker, repository checklist, research worksheet, correspondence log, article reading list, book reading list, and a book wish list.

*  Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/charts/census.aspx) has blank U.S. census forms, and links to seven basic forms, plus links to England/Wales and Canadian census forms.

*  The About.com Genealogy site (http://genealogy.about.com/od/free_charts/Free_Genealogy_Charts_Forms_Family_Tree_Chart.htm) has links to many other websites with free genealogy forms. 

Most of the charts and forms are provided in PDF format, so the user can download them and print them, then write in them. 

I tend to create my own form in my word processor by using the good ideas of others and adapt them to my needs.  In a word processor, I am not limited to a set form length and can add content to whichever field I choose.

Labels: data management, genealogy resources, Online resources, Research tips, Tuesday's Tip

...
Tuesday is the magic day for us - we're leaving home at about 5:30 a.m. and going to the airport to catch a Southwest Flight to Chicago-Midway.  From there we'll drive the 200 miles to Springfield, Illinois and the start of our two week Midwest vacation.

First on the agenda is the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) Conference from Wednesday through Saturday.  Then it's off to Fort Wayne, Indiana, Lake Michigan, Dodge County, Wisconsin, Dane County, Wisconsin, Old World Wisconsin and Chicago. 

Needless to say, blogging and social networking will probably be "light."  I have prepared several of the daily theme posts but not every day is covered.  I am lugging the laptop along with all sorts of cables and things, so I may be able to blog a bit and might even post some pictures of uor travels if I can find the time in the midst of the conference, research, and visiting with friends. 

If you really miss your Genea-Musings fix every day, then play a little Genea-Musings roulette - go to my archive of posts by week, pick one and read it until you're bored, or until you're inspired to do something creative or useful.  There are over 5,200 posts in this archive!

Labels: musings, Vacations

...
It's Labor Day, and I thought somebody (my readers? my kids? my friends?) might be interested in my job history. It is really a short list over a long period of time!

1) My first job was as a newspaper delivery person - a paper boy. I was 11 when my friend Gordon and I got a route for the twice-weekly San Diego Independent newspaper. Our area was between 32nd Street and 34th Street, and Juniper Street to Laurel Street, in the North Park area of San Diego. We held this job for about six months, delivering papers on Thursday and Sunday mornings to subscribers, using bicycles and flexies (Flexible Flyers, not a sled, but with wheels and steering bar) to throw them on porches. The highlight each month was collecting the subscription fees from the subscribers - we got stiffed a lot for what they considered a throw-away newspaper.

2) My second job was an extension of the first - my brother and I had a San Diego Independent newspaper route for about five years, but closer to home (28th Street to Fern Street, Date Street to Fir Street, 10 blocks, about 100 addresses). We got really good at doing this job through experience, got to know our customers, and made some pocket money. The customer that I remember is old Mr. Stoddard, who lived on Dale Street. He had his buddies over to play cards regularly, and when we came to collect, he would ask us in to show off what we learned. He actually paid us 25 cents or 50 cents each month to learn something new - the State Capitals, the National Parks, say the alphabet backwards, etc.

3) I wrote about my first "real" regular paying job in the summer of 1963 with the San Diego Chargers in http://www.geneamusings.com/2007/10/my-first-real-job.html.

4) After three years at San Diego State University studying aerospace engineering, I got my first real "professional" job with Wagner Aircraft in San Diego in the summer of 1964 - I spent about three months there. This was a spinoff company (from Convair) trying to build a 25-seat commuter propeller-driven aircraft designed for small airfields. The innovative feature was a boundary layer control system that would permit takeoffs and landings at 60 miles/hour. I worked as an analyst doing aerodynamics analysis (performance, stability and control, etc.) with several veteran aerodynamicists, including Bob Gusky, who would play a big role in my life a few years later.

5) I went back to school in September 1964, and Wagner Aircraft folded before the summer of 1965. However, Sunrise Aircraft was formed with new investors and Fred Wagner at the helm, but with few of the Wagner Aircraft employees, and none of the aerodynamicists. I got a summer job there for 1965, doing essentially the same things I had done at Wagner in 1964. Larry F. was the only aerodynamicist at the time and he was happy to have someone help out. I stayed on as a part-time employee in late 1965, and then came on full-time in January 1966 after graduating from SDSU. In addition to the aerodynamics work, I picked up some of the Boundary Layer Control (BLC) work and traveled to Cambridge MA twice for model tests and technical discussions with DynaTech, a technical company. In the end, I wrote a NASA Contractor's Report with the DynaTech people. Unfortunately, Sunrise Aircraft couldn't meet payroll in March 1967, and I kept working there for essentially promises (which never came about) until September.

This was the first real crisis in my life - I had my own apartment, was living the good life, but now had to move back in with my parents and borrow money from the bank. I applied for unemployment, started a job search, had several interviews, and finally accepted a job in Thousand Oaks CA with Northrop Ventura as an aerodynamicist. I was going to start on Monday, 24 October 1967. My plan was to live a month in a cheap motel, eat on my credit card, pay the bills with my first paychecks, and then get an apartment there.

My father had worked at Rohr Corporation in Chula Vista in the 1940's, and still had some contacts there in management, to whom he had given my resume. Bob Gusky was at Rohr then, and my resume passed his desk and he asked the employment folks to set up an interview. Gil from Employment called on Friday morning, 21 October, and asked if I could come down the next week for an interview. I explained that I was starting at Northrop Ventura on Monday - could we do an interview on Friday afternoon? The answer was yes - I put on my only suit and tie, drove down to Chula Vista (8 miles), interviewed, and was offered the job on the spot.


6) I worked at Rohr Corporation (later Rohr Industries, Rohr Inc., and now Aerostructures Group of Goodrich) from October 1967 until I retired in August 2002, starting as an Aerodynamicist, then a Senior Aerodynamicist, an Aero/Thermo Group Engineer, Chief of Aerodynamics, Chief of Aero/Thermo and finally as a Senior Staff Engineer. I became an expert in nacelle aerodynamics; turbofan engine performance; thrust reverser design, performance and testing; fluid dynamics; aircraft performance; boundary layers; and FORTRAN programming. I worked on most of the commercial aircraft built by Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Airbus, and traveled all over the USA and Europe. It was a great 35-year career in a good company.


7) After being retired for two years, I went back to Goodrich Aerostructures in August 2004 for two years as a Contract Engineer, working on the Boeing 787 nacelle design and analysis (above).

8)  Genealogy research and Genea-blogging!  After the 2002 retirement, I joined the Board of Directors of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society and have served as Treasurer, Program Chairman, President,, Research Chairman and Newsletter Editor (my present position).  I started writing Genea-Musings in April 2006.  This "job" includes writing, speaking, attending conferences, consulting with genealogy companies, meeting lots of other enthusiastic and committed researchers and bloggers, etc.  I've never had so much fun! 

One of my favorite sayings is "There are things that happen in a second that take a lifetime to explain." This is certainly true for me - with my job search in 1967, meeting my wife in 1968, reading Roots in 1987, and starting to blog in 2006.

What would my life have been like if Rohr had not called me on Friday, 21 October 1967? I really don't know. I would have worked in Thousand Oaks, perhaps met and married a woman near there, or perhaps moved on to Seattle, Long Beach, or some other aerospace center.  Would my daughters and grandchildren be as smart and beautiful as mine are?  Would I still be in my home town enjoying my family and friends?  Would I have become interested in genealogy in 1987 if my life course had been different?   Who knows!

Labels: Holidays, musings

...
Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started a Monday blog theme many months ago called Amanuensis Monday. What does "amanuensis" mean? John offers this definition:

"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

The subject today is the will of George Stearns (1690-1760) of Waltham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.  He was the son of John Stearns and Judith Lawrence, and married Hannah Sanderson (1689-1770) in 1712.  They had eight children:  Jonathan Stearns (1713-1758); Abigail Stearns (1716-1798); Judith Stearns (1716-????); David Stearns (1717-????); Hannah Stearns (1719-????); Lydia Stearns (1724-????); John Stearns (1727-????); Daniel Stearns (1729-1779).

George Stearns died testate. His probate records (original papers) are in Middlesex County Probate Records, Packet #21,234 (accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,421,526). The will of Mr. George Stearns, yeoman late of Waltham, written on 8 February 1760, was presented to the Probate Court by his son, Daniel Stearns, the Executor, and was proved on 14 July 1760. Daniel Stearns (yeoman of Waltham), David Stratton (yeoman of Waltham) and Ebenezer Cutter (Gentleman of Lincoln) posted bond of 300 pounds. The will reads (transcribed by the author):

"In The Name of god Amen. I George Stearns of Waltham in ye County of Middlesx in ye Province of Massachtts Bay in New England yeoman upon this Twenty Eighth day of Febry Anno Dom 1760 In the Thirty Third year of His Majtes Reign, being of sound & Disposing mind & memory for it I Bless God, Calling to mind ye Mortality of my Body, Do make this my Last Will & Testamnt. Vizt. First I recomend my precious & Imortal soul into ye merciful hands of God that gave it in Hope of ye forgiveness of all my sins for ye merits sake of my Gracious Redeemer, & my Body I comit to the Earth from whence it was Taken to be buried in a Decent Christian manner ... Hopes of a Glorious Resurrection at ye Last day. And as for ye Worldly Estate wherewith it hat pleased God to bless me with in this Life I dispose of in the following manner:

"Imps. I Give to my Beloved wife ye Improvemnt of one Third part of all my Estate During her natural Life. My Exectr to bury me & my wife in a Decent & Christian manner.

"Itm. I Give to the heirs of my Dutiful son Jona Stearns Decd Thirteen pounds six shillings & eight pence Lawful money to be Equally Divided amongst them and to be paid to them after my wifes Decease as they come of Lawful age being with that their Fathr had recd is their full portn of my Estate.

"Itm. I Give to my Dutiful son David Stearns his heirs &c thirteen pounds six shillings & eight pence Lawful money and all my wearing apparrel which together with that he hath already recd is his full portion of my Estate to be paid in four years after my wifes Decease.

"Itm. I Give to my Dutiful son John Stearns Fifty three pound six shillings & eight pence Lawful money it being his full portion of my Estate to be paid in two years after my Decease.

"Itm. I give to my dutiful Daughtr Abig Peirce her heirs &c the Sum of Eight Pounds six shillings & Eight pence Lawful money to be paid in one year after my Decease.

"Itm. I give to the Children of my Daughtr Hannah Hager Decsd Thirteen pounds six shillings & eight pence Lawful money to be paid to them as they arrive at Lawful age.

"itm. I give to my two grand-daughters Vizt. Molly & Eunice Hammond thirteen pounds six shillings Lawful money to be Equally Divided between them to be paid in Seven years after my wifes Decease.

"Itm. I give to my three Grand-daughters Vizt. Sarah, Lois & Lydia Fuller thirteen pounds six shillings & eight pence Lawful money to be paid to them as they arrive at Lawful age.

"Itm. I give to my grand-daughter Hannah Hager one Cow at ye time she arrives at Lawful age.

"Itm. I further give to my Daughtr Abigl Peirce and to my Daughtrs children vizt ye children of my Daughter Hager Decd, my Daughtr Hammond Decd, & my Daughtr Fuller Decd, all my Houshold Goods of Every Denomination and my Three cows it being their full portion of my Estate and to receive the same At my wife's Decease. This article to be Equally Divided to my sd Daughter and my sd Grand Children.

"Itm. I give to my Dutiful son Danll Stearns his heirs and assigns all my Lands and Tenements in the Town of Waltham & also I give him all my utincils of Husbandry & my oxen & sheep & hereby will & require him to provide for his mother all needful assistance of Every Kind durign her Life. Likewise I do appoint my sd son Danll my residuary Legatee & Executor of this my Last Will & Testament hereby willing & requiring him to perform the same in Every article thereof And do hereby utterly revoke & Disanull all other & former wills by me heretofore made & Do Ratifie this to be my Last Will & Testament In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal the day & year above written.

"Signed Sealed published & pronounced ....................................George Stearns
by ye sd George Stearns to be his Last Will
& Testamt in presence of
David Stratton
Phinehas Child
Ebenr Cutter"

The will mentions these children by name:  Jonathan (who died in 1758); David; John; Daniel (executor); Abigail (Stearns) Peirce; Hannah (Stearns) Hagar (who died before 1760).  It mentions children of daughters Hannah (Stearns) Hagar, Elizabeth (Stearns) Hammond (who died before 1760) and Lydia (Stearns) Fuller (who died before 1760).

My ancestry is though Abigail (Stearns) Peirce (1716-1798), who married  Samuel Peirce in 1739.  This will provides an original source with primary information and direct evidence that Abigail Peirce is the daughter of George Stearns.  Of course, more evidence is required to prove that this Abigail is the wife of Samuel Peirce.

Labels: Amanuensis Monday, Probate Records

...
In Comments on the 1940 U.S. Census RFQ and SOW, I linked to the Federal Business Opportunities website with the Request For Quote (RFQ) and Statement Of Work (SOW) for the National Archives (NARA) pending contract to host the 1940 United States Census images, and provide links to census pages in each Enumeration District.

The due date for responses to the RFQ was extended to 8 September at 4 p.m., and now the NARA answers to contractors' questions have been posted.  The link to the Q&A is here (under Amendment 2 on the right-hand side).

Questions and answers that I found interesting include:

Q1	How should we interpret the following condition found on page 3 for the SOW? "The contractor may take no action to develop or create a name index or any other product prior to April 2, 2012."
Q1(a)	Does this only refer to indexing fields that would be considered Personally Identifiable Information (PII) - as listed on page 2 of NAMA-11-Q-0081 or any of the fields on the images?
A1(a)	The contractor may not create a name index using names or other information found on the Census schedules.
Q1(b)	What is the scope of 'or any other product' in this context?
A1(b)	The contractor may not create or develop any product created using the information found on the Census schedules until after April 2, 2012.
Q1(c)	Would this clause prohibit [XX] from creating collection specific functionality for our own site prior to April?
A1(c)	The Contractor could develop functionality on their own site but could not use the 1940 Census schedules until April 2, 2012.

This very clearly answers, several times, that the contractor cannot do anything to create an index until after 2 April 2012.  The contract is host the images and link to them.  After 2 April, the contractor can create an index and link to the images.

Q8	Will a user be denied access based on his location? Example: user coming from a hostile country.
A8	At this time, NARA does not intend to restrict access to the census data.

That is clear also - anyone anywhere can view, and capture, the census images from the contractor's site.

Q13	Given the rapidly approaching deadline of April 2, 2012, what date does NARA expect to award the project?
A13	NARA expects to award the contract by early October.

So the contractor will have about six months to complete the work required to allow thousands of users to view the 1940 census on 2 April 2012 within the specified requirements set out by the Statement of Work.

Q16	What specific browsers and versions are to be supported by the website?
A16	The browsers and versions required to be supported are Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Mozilla Firefox, backward-version (versions 4.x and up), and cross-platform (Windows and Mac) compatible

I think that the NARA response here is unclear - shouldn't they have specified specific versions for each browser?

Q18	Is there any additional detail available on the requirements for sharing images through social media tools?
A18	No.

A short answer for a specific question.  Entrepreneurs, start your social media engines!

Q23

Given NARA’s intent to offer the complete Census for sale in digital format beginning April 2, 2012, what anti-crawling policies should be established and/or what other methods are expected to be employed to prevent parties from simply downloading all images from every Enumeration District (as enabled by specifications in the RFQ) thus circumventing the process of ordering and paying for the digital images?

A23

The National Archives Trust Fund is selling Census data in digital as well as microfilm format as a convenience. We do not wish to limit downloading in any manner.

This seems to say that you can buy it (every page for $200,000) digitally or on microfilm, or download it ED by ED, it's your choice.  I hope you have enough terabytes.

Q24	Please clarify if the image presented on the website for viewing in the browser needs to be a 4 MB file or if the file can be compressed and optimized for online viewing, zoom, and pan? It appears the 4MB file size only needs to be available for actual download to save to a user’s computer.
A24	The files can be compressed and optimized for online viewing, zoom, and pan.  We would like the file size to remain at the full compressed size (approximately 4MB) for customer downloads.

Q26	Can a link be provided from the search results on the website to the Contractor’s name-index search?
A26	No, however the search interface and search result displays include a link to the Contractor’s web site.

NARA says that the Contractor cannot put a link to the Contractor's name-index search site on the website, only to the Contractor's website. 

Q32	Para 9:  Will the contractor be involved with the sale of data or will only NARA sell the data?
A32	The National Archives Trust Fund will offer the census information in digital form through their online store, and the contractor will not be involved.

Some Contractor was looking to monetize their involvement here.  Um, no.

There are 32 questions and answers in the document. 

Hopefully, some Contractor will be awarded this contract in early October, and will flawlessly host the 1940 census page images, permit their viewing, and permit the ability to download one page, or a whole Enumeration District, on 2 April 2012. 

The challenge for the selected Contractor, and any other interested party, will be to create a useful name-index to the census as quickly as possible.  Who will those parties be?  We'll have to wait to find out.

The challenge for genealogists will be to have patience when the 1940 U.S. Census is released.  Each of us can try to find the EDs where our family members lived in 1940, using the process described in How to Access the 1940 Census in One Step (by Steve Morse, PhD, Joel Weintraub, PhD, and David R. Kehs, PhD).

More patience will be required waiting for the overload on the Contractor's servers on 2 April 2012 to reduce so that we can actually see the page images and download them, and then to wait for the name-index search capabilities to be developed after 2 April 2012.  There are about 130 million names to index, along with their personal identity information.  It's going to take 6 to 24 months to complete, I think. 

Labels: Census Records, National Archives, Online resources

...
Hundreds of 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 genealogy carnivals, 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:

*  What To Do With a 547-Page Probate File by Kerry Scott on the Clue Wagon blog.  Silly question for a genealogist...Kerry got it and didn't pay $1 per page.  Very well played!

*  All I Really Need to Know About Genealogy I Learned in Kindergarten by Elizabeth O'Neal on the Little Bytes of Life blog.  Elizabeth's daughter is going to kindergarten, so Elizabeth passes some "rules" about genealogy to us based on rules that kindergartners should follow.  Works for me!

*  Brick Wall Breakthrough: A Case Study by Susan Farrell Bankhead on Susan's Genealogy Blog.  Susan uses the FAN Club concept to knock down her brick wall problem. 

*  Are you doing research? by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog.  James discusses the nature of "research," stating that it really means finding new information.

*  Things I Don’t Care About in Genealogy by Greta Koehl on the Greta's Genealogy Bog blog.  Greta's interesting list hits most of my items too.

*   And Still I Write by Mel Wolfgang on the Mnemosyne's Magic Mirror blog.  Mel has it right, I think...he has to write!

*  And Never the Twain Shall Meet – Using Divorce Records in Your Research by Carolyn L. Barkley on the GenealogyAndFamilyHistory.com blog.  Everything you've always wanted to know about divorce records.

*  The Situation of Family & Genealogy by Caroline J. Pointer on the Family Stories blog.  Caroline nails it, I think, about what the family really wants from us.  Snooki!

*  If Genealogists Were In the Tabloids by Amy Coffin on the We Tree Genealogy Blog.  Amy's humorous post hits nails well - recognize anyone here?

*  The Bash by Barbara Poole on the Life From the Roots blog.  Barbara provides an ice photo essay of the geneabloggers bash in New Hampshire last weekend, just before Irene blew through.  It's good to see all of the names and faces (well, not Barbara's, I see).

Several genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts and news summary posts this week, including:

*   Monday Morning Mentions by Lynn Palermo on The Armchair Genealogist blog.

*  Links, 8.29.11 by Liz Haigney Lynch on The Ancestral Archaeologist blog.

*  Monday's Link Roundup by Dan Curtis on the Dan Curtis ~ Professional Personal Historian blog.

*  Ruth's Recommendations by Ruth Blair on The Passionate Genealogist blog.

*  Genealogy Round Up, September 1 by Megan Smolenyak on Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak's Roots World blog.

*  Genealogy News Corral, August 29-September 2 by Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog.

*  Week in Review by John Newmark on the TransylvaniaDutch blog.

*  Around the Blogosphere: September 4, 2011  by Susan Petersen on the Long Lost Relatives.net blog.

I encourage readers to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blogs to your Favorites, Google Reader, RSS feed or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - all bloggers appreciate feedback on what they write.

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me! I am currently reading posts from over 1030 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

NOTE:  I will be away from home for most of the next three weeks - on our Midwest vacation to Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.  I doubt that I will have the time, or inclination, to compile this post every week.  I will try to post something, but it may be only pointers to the other Best Of lists that my genea-blogging colleagues compile each week, as listed above!

Labels: BestofGeneaBlogs, genealogy blogs

...
Hey there, genea-lovers, it's Saturday Night - time for more Genealogy Fun!!
Your mission, if you decide to accept it, is to (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1) How old is your great-grandfather now, or how old would he be if he had lived? Divide this number by 4 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ahnentafel (ancestor name list). Who is that person?

3) Tell us three facts about that person with the "roulette number."

4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook or Google Plus note or comment, or as a comment on this blog post.

5) If you do not have a person's name for your "roulette number" then spin the wheel again - pick a grandparent, a  parent, a favorite aunt or cousin, or even your children!
Here's mine:

My great-grandfather, Henry Austin Carringer, was born in 1853, so if he were alive he would be 158 years old.  Divided by four (doing this in my head) is 39.5, rounded off to #39.

Number 39 in my ancestor name list is Sophia Buck (1797-1882) - here is her entry:

39. Sophia Buck was born on 3 May 1797 in Holden, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States, daughter of Isaac Buck and Martha Phillips. She died on 6 Jan 1882 at the age of 84 in Westborough, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States.  Sophia Buck and Thomas J. Newton were married about 1832 in probably Worcester, Massachusetts, United States.
Three facts about Sophia Buck:

1)  Sophia Buck was married three times - first to Lambert Brigham in before 22 February 1817 in Sterling MA ("Columbian Centinal" newspaper, Boston, Massachusetts, 22 February 1817, "Sophia Buck m. Lambert Brigham, formerly of Westborough, in Sterling."). Secondly, to Thomas J. Newton after 1830 and before 1832, place unknown (no record found to date).  Thirdly, to Jonathan Stone on 7 July 1862 in Northborough MA. She was listed as Sophia (Buck) (Brigham) Newton, age 63, born in Holden MA, in this record ("Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910," online database, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.AmericanAncestors.org), citing original data at Massachusetts State Archives, Marriages: Volume 155, Page 224).

2)  Sophia had at least four children - Augustus Brigham (1820-1903), Aurelius Brigham (1830-1878), Thomas J. Newton (1832-1915), and Sophia Newton (1834-1923).

3)  Sophia Stone died 6 January 1882 in Westborough MA ("Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910," online database, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.AmericanAncestors.org), citing original data at Massachusetts State Archives, Deaths: Volume 339, Page 452). The extracted data from the record includes:

"Sophia (Buck) Stone, widow, age 84y 7m 3d, resident of Westborough MA, died of heart disease, born in Holden MA, parents Isaac and Martha (Phillips), father born in Southboro MA, no listing for mother."

Doing this exercise makes me wonder if I ever looked to see if there was a probate file for Sophia (Buck) (Brigham) (Newton) Stone in the Worcester County Probate Records.

Labels: Ahnentafels, Genealogy Fun, SNGF

...
It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week. I am up to number 271, who is Abigail STEARNS (1716-1798), one of my 6th-great-grandparents. [Note: The 6th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts]

My ancestral line back through four generations of STEARNS  families is:

1. Randall J. Seaver

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

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

8. Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922)
9. Hattie Louise Hildreth (1857-1920)

16. Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
17. Lucretia Townsend Smith (1827-1884)

32. Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825)
33. Abigail Gates (1797-1869)

66. Nathan Gates (1767-1830)
67. Abigail Knowlton (1774-1855)

134. Jeremiah Knowlton (1745->1783)
135. Abigail Pierce (1750-1776)

 270.  Samuel Peirce, born 03 July 1712 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 30 March 1772 in Waltham, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 540. John Peirce and 541. Elizabeth Smith.  He married 03 June 1739 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
 271.  Abigail Stearns, born before 01 January 1716 in Lexington, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 25 July 1798 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  

Children of Samuel Peirce and Abigail Stearns are:  Abigail Peirce (1740-1747); Samuel Peirce (1741-1806), Elizabeth Peirce (1743-1808); Daniel Peirce (1746-1747); Nathaniel Peirce (1748-1749); Abigail Peirce (1750-1776); Judith Peirce (1753-1805); Ezra Peirce (1755-1795); Beulah Peirce (1764-????).

 542.  George Stearns, born before 22 June 1690 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 26 June 1760 in Waltham, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He married 23 October 1712 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
 543.  Hannah Sanderson, born 31 May 1689 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 21 May 1770 in Waltham, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  She was the daughter of 1086. Jonathan Sanderson and 1087. Abiah Bartlett.

Children of George Stearns and Hannah Sanderson are:  Jonathan Stearns (1713-1758); Abigail Stearns (1716-1798); Judith Stearns (1716-????); David Stearns (1717-????); Hannah Stearns (1719-????); Lydia Stearns (1724-????); John Stearns (1727-????); Daniel Stearns (1729-1779).

 1084.  John Stearns, born 24 January 1657 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 22 February 1722 in Lexington, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He married about 1681 in probably Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
 1085.  Judith Lawrence, born 12 May 1660 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died before 02 April 1713 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  She was the daughter of 2170. George Lawrence and 2171. Elizabeth Crispe.

Children of John Stearns and Judith Lawrence are:  Rebecca Stearns (1683-????); Judith Stearns (1690-????); Sarah Stearns (1690-????); George Stearns (1690-1760); Benjamin Stearns (1690-????); John Stearns (1692-????); Abigail Stearns (1700-????); Thomas Stearns (1701-1772); Daniel stearns (1701-????); Isaac Stearns (1701-????); Mary Stearns (1701-????); Elizabeth Stearns (1701-????); Charles Stearns (1701-????).  Many of these "birth" dates are baptism dates.

 2168.  Charles Stearns, born before 07 January 1616 in Fordham, Essex, England; died in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 4336. Charles Stearns and 4337. Martha Lasall.  He married 22 June 1654 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
 2169.  Rebecca Gibson, born about 1634 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  She was the daughter of 4338. John Gibson and 4339. Rebecca.
Children of Charles Stearns and Rebecca Gibson are:  Shubael Stearns (1655-1734); John Stearns (1657-1722); Isaac Stearns (1658-1692); Charles Stearns (1660-1695); Rebecca Stearns (1661-1746); Martha Stearns (1663-????).
 
The biography and descendants of Charles Stearns is ably summarized in the book:

Mrs. Avis Stearns Van Wagenen, Genealogy and Memoirs of Charles and Nathaniel Stearns, and their Descendants (Syracuse, NY: Courier Printing Co., 1901).

Labels: My genealogy research, Surname Saturday

...
In How do I catch up to 13 years of genealogy sloth? I lamented that I had fallen behind in keeping track of the genealogy and family history resources that I have in my possession, and knowing what resources were available to seek out for my ancestral families.

Please understand that much of my "research" is really finding what has already been published, hopefully by competent researchers.  My "real research" uses that information as a starting point, and tries to find original source records to verify the information, and to find new information (especially probate, land, tax, and other records not available in online databases).  I tend to rely on "authoritative" and "reliable" sources for ancestral families (e.g., The Great Migration Begins, Mayflower Families), especially those in the early colonial time period and before.  There are not enough years to check all of the records available in New England and England personally! 

Two weeks ago, I set a goal to get my "Source Reference Lists" in order, and to update my "Books and Journals to Review List."  I finished those today.  I took these steps:

1)  Went through my piles of "to-be-filed" papers and entered the source on my Source Reference Lists. 

2)  Used Martin Hollick's book, New Englanders in the 1600s, to add content for my colonial New England families and most of my colonial New Jersey families.  Martin's book indexes published genealogical research from 1980 to 2005 for New England families, and is invaluable!  I added items to my "Books to Review: list, noting author, title, and volume/page numbers.  I did the same thing for periodicals, separating them into three categories - the New England Historic Genealogical Register, The American Genealogist, and all other periodicals. 

3)  Edited and printed the lists, and put them in my master research notebook.  They are also in a file on my flash drive and my laptop, which is going to the Midwest with me.

What I don't have is a complete listing of resources by family before 1980 or since 2005.  Oh well, I only had two weeks! 

I don't have listings of resources for non-New England locations for my surnames either, but nearly all of my ancestral families, and brick walls, are in New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

I am going to check PERSI (the Periodical Source Index) for my brick wall surnames (well, not Smith...) and for many of my localities outside of New England and see what is available.

The primary research repository on this trip is the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where I plan to be on Monday, 12 September.  I only planned for one day, so I'm going to go for the "low hanging fruit" of the periodicals that I cannot easily access here in San Diego, and the recently published books that I find to be authoritative and well-sourced.

At the Watertown, Wisconsin Library and the Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, Community Library, I'm going to search for local newspapers in the 1840 to 1870 time period that might have information about my Devier J. Lanphear Smith and the Samuel Vaux family.  I'm particularly interested in Devier's marriage in 1861 and his name official change in 1866.  Perhaps there will be leads there about his birth parents.  Or not.

At the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison, I will ask about the court records for Devier's name change in 1866, look for "vertical files" for my Smith, Vaux and Seaver families, and search local newspapers for information about my wife's Norwegian families, plus cemetery transcriptions and information about the towns they settled in (Cottage Grove and Deerfield.  I only have one day here, so I will do a survey first and then search the most promising leads.

Then we will visit the towns where the Leland/Natvig homesteads were located, and visit the churches and cemeteries that they worshipped in and are buried in.  I need to look for local historical societies also, if they exist.

Finally, we'll visit Old World Wisconsin in Eagle, Wisconsin where the Ranslow Smith Four-Mile Inn has been relocated and refurbished in their living history collection.  Ranslow Smith was the adoptive father of Devier J. Smith.  Devier grew up in this Inn, and ran the livery stable when he was a young man.  I hope that they have the stable at OWW! 

I'm almost ready to go!  Blogging may be light...

Labels: Computer Files, data management, genealogy resources, musings, Oldtime newspapers, Research techniques

...
I was invited to attend a Breakfast Panel meeting, hosted by 1000Memories, at 7 a.m. on Thursday, 8 September at the Federation of Genealogy Societies conference.  Michael Katchen of 1000Memories sent me this information and asked me to write about it.  The 1000Memories blog post is Engaging your family in genealogy: A panel at FGS 2011:

The Panel is titled "Engaging your family in genealogy" and the panelists include two of the genealogy community’s top personalities, D. Joshua Taylor and Pat Richley (Dear Myrtle).

Joshua is Conference Chair for the 2011 FGS Conference and a nationally recognized genealogical speaker, author, and researcher. Myrt is a prolific genealogy blogger and author of DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog, currently rated among the top blogs in the industry.

This all-star team (which also includes Jonathan Good, co-founder of 1000memories), will tackle one one of the biggest issues confronting the genealogy community today: how to get the next generation excited about family history. All the hard work of assembling and documenting your family’s genealogy and history is something that should be shared with future generations so that they too can understand where they come from - the panelists will share strategies and tips to excite the next generation.

If you plan to be at the conference, we would love for you to join us for breakfast on Thursday morning. Space is limited so please email Michael to register.

Labels: Conferences/Seminars, Family Stories, FGS

...
The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) 2011 Conference, "Pathways to the Heartland," is September 7 to 10 in Springfield, Illinois. I'm looking forward to attending and being an Official Blogger.

The program schedule is at http://fgs.org/2011conference/program/index.php. I decided that I'd better think about the presentations I want to attend. Here's my list for Saturday, 10 September:

*  8 a.m.:  S-404: The Parish, by Audrey Collins -- The basic unit of administration throughout most of the British Isles: there is a lot more to it than just baptisms, marriages and burials

*  9:30 a.m.:  S-410: Porkopolis to Bonanza Farms: Midwest Historical Geography for Genealogists, by J. H. Fonkert -- Natural resources, transportation and technology shaped the settlement of migrating Americans and immigrants in the Midwest. Learn how the pivotal role of Chicago as the Midwest developed, from Cincinnati on the Ohio to the Bonanza farms of Dakota.

*  11 a.m.:  S-419: Discovering the Goldmine of Knowledge in Court Records, by Anne Roach -- Learn how to locate court records that are often overlooked, but may be full of vital record information, biographical details, or information that isn't available anywhere else!

*  2 p.m.:  S-432: Online, On Microfilm, And In Print: Finding Ancestors in Newspapers, by James L. Hansen -- Newspapers are vitally useful sources, often including details recorded nowhere else. This lecture will discuss what can be found in newspapers (in whatever form/format), how to identify and track them down, and how to search them most effectively and efficiently.

*  3:30 p.m.:  S-441: U.S. Census Agricultural Schedules: Placing Your Farming Ancestor in Context, by George G. Morgan -- The 1840 through 1910 U.S federal censuses included an Agricultural Schedule. It details your ancestor's farm including crops, livestock, timber, mining, and production of commodities such as honey, butter, and eggs. Learn how to find and use these insightful documents.

*  5 p.m.:  S-452: How Mature are you (Genealogically)?, by Robert Raymond -- You will learn an easy system to rate your own genealogical skill level and identify your strengths and weaknesses. You will learn a simple framework for improvement using Genealogical Maturity Levels. After attending this class you will have the knowledge you need to become a better genealogist.

I'm sure that I'll wander through the Exhibit Hall several times during the day talking to vendors, providers and friends. I'll also camp out at the Media Hub, where there will be Internet connections for Official Bloggers, of which I am one.

Paula Stuart-Warren has been publicizing FGS Conference activities on the FGS Conference News Blog for several months. See that blog for more information. I was chagrined to learn in Miscellaneous Conference Tips, Part 3 that attendees cannot use extension cords for their electronic in the meeting rooms. I guess I'll have to take notes the old-fashioned way. RootsMagic is sponsoring a CyberCafe where attendees can charge their devices, check email and the web, and print out syllabus pages (is there a charge?).

Disclosure: I am an Official Blogger for this FGS Conference, and have had my conference registration comped. One of my duties as an Official Blogger is to write stories leading up to and during the FGS Conference in order to publicize the event.

Labels: Conferences/Seminars, FGS, genealogy education

...
Here are my recommendations for Genealogy Fun this Labor Day weekend:

1) Listen to Geneabloggers Radio tonight (Friday night, 10 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. CT, 8 p.m. MT and 7 p.m. PT) hosted by Thomas MacEntee. This week's topic is  "The Way We worked - Genealogy and Labor." The special guests discussing occupations and researching them will include:

*  Ginger Frere of the Newberry Library in Chicago discussing her presentation Cobbler, Tailor, Trunkmaker: How My Grandpappies Made a Living;
*  genealogist Tim Pinnick will help us understand how to research our coal miner ancestors;
*  Beverly Rice, CG℠ will lead a fascinating discussion of the volunteer aspect of the labor force and its paper trail.

2) Listen to the FGS Radio - My Society show on Saturday (2 p.m. ET, 1 p.m. CT, 12 noon MT, 11 a.m. PT) hosted by Thomas MacEntee this week. The topic is "Digital Publishing for Preservation and Community Building." The special guests are:

*  Mark Weaver of Ancestry.com. Mark will discuss how digital publishing can be used to achieve society’s goals – both in terms of needing to preserve your historical documents but also leverage published content to better serve and promote your society. He will also introduce Ancestry’s fledgling Ancestry Content Publisher program and share examples of how it’s being used today by various institutions to provide open access to its collections and increase reach to potential members.
*  Debbie Mieszala CG℠ is our FGS 2011 Conference Speaker of the Week about upcoming presentations at the conference in Springfield, Illinois this September.

3) Check out the recent Webinars on:

*  "Best Internet Resources for African American Genealogy," with Angela Walton-Raji (free until 15 September from Legacy Family Tree)
* "Newspapers for Genealogists: Using GenealogyBank.com to document every day of your ancestors' lives" with Tom Kemp. (available from Legacy Family Tree)
* "Organizng for Success" with Karen Clifford (available free indefinitely from Legacy Family Tree)
* "The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships," with Ugo Perugo (available indefinitely from Legacy Family Tree)
* "Leveraging the Power of "We": a Watershed Event in Discovering Where to Find Your Ancestors (Research Wiki, Research Courses, and FamilySearch Forums)," with Michael Ritchey (available from Legacy Family Tree).
*  "Further Your Research and Unify Your Family Reunion with Beautiful Genealogy Charts," with Janet Hovorka (available from Legacy Family Tree).

* RootsMagic Webinars (all free) available at http://www.rootsmagic.com/Webinars/
* National Genealogical Society (NGS) Videos (free to view) at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/videos_online
* Thomas MacEntee's Explorinar on "Easy Website Creation" (free to view).
*  Thomas MacEntee's Explorinar on "Evernote - Easy Note Taking" (free to view)

4) Respond to my Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge, posted on www.geneamusings.com soon after 12 noon Pacific time (that's 1900 GMT for those who understand time zones).

5) Go to a local genealogical society program, or go to a library or repository with genealogical resources. My plan is to publish this month's CVGS Newsletter on Saturday and then go to the CVGS Workshop at Bonita-Sunnyside Library to catch Susi Pentico's talk on "Research Methods in Pennsylvania."  I'm also going to work on preparing for my trip to the FGS Conference, researching at the Allen County Public Library, and visiting Wisconsin to explore ancestral homes and do research at repositories.

6) Add material (names, dates, places, notes, images, sources, etc.) to your genealogy software program. I collected 127 pages three weeks ago at Carlsbad Library, and have been slowly adding that to my database.  Not much hope to do this over this weekend, and when I get back I'll have lots more data!

7) Spend time with your family doing fun things.   Linda and I are going to the Padres game on Saturday night, and packing for our trip.

Whatever you decide, please tell us about your genealogy endeavors on a social network or in a blog post. You never know when your experiences may stimulate or encourage others to do useful genealogy work.

Labels: Genealogy Fun, Genealogy Video, Radio/Podcast Shows, Webinars and Bloginars

....
I last listed the new or updated collections on the FamilySearch Historical Collections website on 2 August, when there were 683 collections on the list. Since then, these Historical Record Collections have been added to make a total of 707 collections as of today:

Mexico, San Luis Potosí, Catholic Church Records, 1586-1970 , added 1 Aug 2011, browse images only

North Carolina, Confederate Soldiers and Widows Pension Applications, 1885-1953, added 31 Aug 2011, browse images only

Mexico, Chihuahua, Civil Registration, 1861-1997 , added 1 Aug 2011, browse images only

Idaho, Cassia County Records,, added 31 Aug 2011, browse images only

Mexico, México Estado, Civil Registration, 1861-1941, added 31 Aug 2011, browse images only

United States, Index to Passenger Arrivals, Atlantic and Gulf Ports, 1820-1874, added 31 Aug 2011, browse images only

Idaho, Teton County Records, added 31 Aug 2011, browse images only

Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1883-1945, added 30 Aug 2011, browse images only

Oregon, Yamhill County Records, 1857-1963, added 30 Aug 2011, browse images only

Michigan, Detroit Manifests of Arrivals at the Port of Detroit, 1906-1954, added30 Aug 2011, browse images only

United States, Records of Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861-1865, added 30 Aug 2011, browse images only

Spain, Cádiz, Testaments, 1550-1920, added 26 Aug 2011, browse images only

Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh City Deaths, 1870-1905,  added 25 Aug 2011, 154,203 records

Mexico, Jalisco, Civil Registration, 1857-2000, added 25 Aug 2011, browse images only

Kentucky, Probate Records, 1792-1977, added 24 Aug 2011, browse images only

Denmark Civil Marriages, 1851-1961, added 22 Aug 2011, browse images only

North Carolina, Estate Files, 1663-1917, added 20 Aug 2011, 13,273 records

 Austria, Seigniorial Records, 1537-1888, added 19 Aug 2011, browse images only

Russia Tver Church Books, 1722-1918, added 19 Aug 2011, browse images only

Mexico, San Luis Potosí, Civil Registration, added 18 Aug 2011, browse images only

England, Essex Parish Registers, 1538-1900, added 18 Aug 2011, 537,583 records

Ohio, Stark County Coroner's Records, 1890-2002, added 16 Aug 2011, browse images only

Belgium, Oost-Vlaanderen, Parish Registers, 1588-1799, added 16 Aug 2011, browse images only 

Virginia, Winchester, Evening Star Obituaries, 1899-1909, added 12 Aug 2011 5,819 records

United States, Civil War Widows and Other Dependents Pension Files, added 9 Aug 2011, 1,351,000 records

Austria, Upper Austria, Linz Citizen Rolls, 1658-1937, added 3 Aug 2011, browse images only

In the list above, I tried to identify many of the collections as newly added by comparing them to last months listing. When FamilySearch sends their email notifications to interested parties, they are identifying whether they are new or previously existing collections - they don't say which collections are added to the list for the first time..

There are 25 items on the list above, but 24 newly added databases since 2 August, so I have missed one. Oh well! I will update the list as I receive information about the new databases.

All FamilySearch Historical Record Collections can be accessed at https://www.familysearch.org/s/collection/list. You can see the date that collections were recently added or updated by clicking on the "Last Updated" link.

Labels: FamilySearch, genealogy resources, Online resources

I received this news from Fold3 via email:

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

Content from SmallTownPapers and Gannett Leaving Fold3

On September 15^th we will be removing from Fold3 some of the newspapers that came from two of our partners, SmallTownPapers^® and Gannett.  This is due to contractual issues and we have no plans to remove any other content from the site.

Here are a few questions that you may have about this change:

Which titles will be removed and which will still be available on Fold3?

All titles from SmallTownPapers and Gannett will be removed.  Nearly all of these titles are from our newspaper collection.  To help you see which titles will be affected, we've collected those that will be removed into a category called "SmallTownPapers and Gannett" in the "Other Records" category of the browse on the site until they are removed on the 15^th.

Only titles from SmallTownPapers and Gannett will be removed and we will still have great historical newspapers on the site including The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, The Atlanta Constitution and The London Times.

What about images from these titles that I have added to my Gallery or downloaded?

All Gannett images will be removed from the site and will no longer be accessible on Fold3. From the SmallTownPapers collection, we have negotiated ongoing rights to images to which users have contributed (for example, bookmarked, commented on, annotated, spotlighted or added to their Gallery or to a memorial page). All other SmallTownPapers images will be removed from the site. Of course this will not affect any copies of images you have downloaded to your hard drive.

How does this affect other titles on Fold3?

This only affects titles from SmallTownPapers and Gannett. We have ongoing rights to all the other titles on the site and have no plans to remove any other content.

Labels: Fold3.com, Footnote.com, Newspaper/Obituary listings, Oldtime newspapers

...
In Archives.com has 1790 to 1930 U.S. Census Records, I highlighted what was indexed and provided to users in the U.S. Census records available on www.Archives.com.  In general, Archives.com has access to the FamilySearch census record collections, which includes an index to all of them and page images for the 1850, 1870, and 1900 U.S. census.

I wanted to show some screen shots and make some observations about searching these census records.

A general search in the census records (all years) for Isaac Seaver, born in 1823 in Massachusetts, produces a screen like this:


There are links to each match on the right.  If an image is available, then an image is shown and can be clicked on to view the image.

The search fields are shown on the left-hand side of the screen so the user can modify their search criteria - the fields are First Name, Last Name (required), Middle Name, Maiden Name, Residence (Required), Birth State, County, Birth Year (with range), and census Year.  The user can check a box for Exact matches for the First Name, Last Name and Residence. 

An 1840 census record looks like this:


As you can see, there is no other information, or links to other information, except for the name and residence.

The 1870 U.S. census match looks like this:


In the screen above, you can see the links to other persons in the household, and you can click on the image to see the image, which is shown below:


The 1920 U.S. census search matches for Fred Seaver (born 1852 in Massachusetts) is shown below:


I tried to use a wild card for his names in the search box, and saw this:


A user cannot use wild cards for any name - the acceptable characters are letters, spaces and dashes. The user can select either "All" or a specific state for the Residence and Birth State fields.  The user can add a birth year range of plus/minus 0, 1, 2, 5, or 10 years. An "Exact" check box produces only an Exact Match.

The lack of wild card capability makes census searches much more difficult, because of the many errors in enumerating and indexing the records.  The free FamilySearch.org website permits wild card searches, why doesn't Archives.com?

Disclosure: Archives.com provided a free subscription to their collection at the SCGS 2011 Jamboree which I appreciate. This did not influence my statements in this blog post, but it did enable them to be made!

Labels: Archives.com, Census Records, Online resources