Genea-Musings

Is CensusRecords.com the new brightsolid USA Venture?

2012-01-28T09:01:00.000-08:00

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The Scottish company brightsolid has said that there would be a major announcement about a new USA venture at RootsTech 2012.

Who will be the Product Manager for this venture? I think that it will be D. Joshua Taylor, formerly at the New England Historic Genealogical Society. He is listed with a brightsolid email address on his syllabus articles for RootsTech 2012, and as a Business Development Manager in the FGS Conference brochure.

What is the new product for the U.S. market?

Tamura Jones broke the news about the brightsolid www.CensusRecords.com website on his Modern Software Experience blog yesterday in http://www.tamurajones.net/BrightsolidintroducesCensusRecords.com.xhtml. Read Tamura's post for details.

The Genealogy In Time magazine dated January 2012 apparently picked up on Tamura's post, and wrote:

"US – A major new genealogy website has just quietly and unofficially been launched. It is from the Scottish genealogy company brightsolid. It clearly shows the company has moved into the US genealogy market in a big way. The company has yet to make an official announcement, but the website is called CensusRecords.com As the name implies, this website is all about US census records."

The new brightsolid website is www.CensusRecords.com:

The site says:

"Find your ancestors using the U.S. census:

"A historical record of the entire U.S. population, the census is the nation’s largest record set for family history and genealogy. Taken every ten years, from 1790 to the present day, each entry provides a unique snapshot of the lives of your ancestors.

"censusrecords.com brings this vast resource to you online, allowing you to quickly to discover your family history."

The site offers either a pay-per-view option or a subscription option, similar to other brightsolid commercial genealogy websites (like FindMyPast.co.uk).

The pay-per-view cost is $7.95 for 1,000 credits (payable by credit or debit card) usable for 60 days. This option is explained at https://www.censusrecords.com/payments/creditsexplained. Basically, to view a census record will cost you 40 cents for each view (20 views for $7.95).

The subscription costs are:

* A 12-month subscription is $34.95
* A 6-month subscription is $24.95
* A 1-month subscription is $12.95

At present, the www.CensusRecords.com site has these census records available:

* 1790 to 1840: transcriptions available (for free), images "coming soon"
* 1850, 1880, 1900 transcriptions available (for 50 credits), images "coming soon"
* 1860, 1870, 1920 transcriptions (for 50 credits) "coming soon," images "coming soon"

Search features are described on this page:

It appears that there is a Soundex-like search for a surname in the "Variants" section. The asterisk (* for zero to any number of letters) ) and question-mark (? for one letter) wild cards are available. There is an Advanced Search feature, and a "faceted search" feature useful to narrow your search.

Stay tuned!! RootsTech 2012 is going to be very interesting, I think!

Hat tip to Tamura Jones for the website, to GenealogyInTime magazine for the news item, and to Chris Paton for catching it on his British GENES blog.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/is-censusrecordscom-new-brightsolid-usa.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012.

Updated 9:30 a.m. to credit Tamura Jones with original find.

Surname Saturday - WAITE (England to Rhode Island)

2012-01-28T08:07:00.000-08:00

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It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week. I am now up to number 359, who is Meribah WAITE (1720-1803), 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 WAITE ancestors 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)

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

22. Henry Arnold White ((1824-1885)
23. Amy Frances Oatley (1826-before 1870)

44. Jonathan White (1806-1850)
45. Miranda Wade (1806-1850)

88. Humphrey White (1758-1814)
89. Sybil Kirby (1764-1848)

178. David Kirby (1740-1832)
179. Martha Soule (1743-1828)

358. Benjamin Soule, born 18 November 1719 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States; died 31 January 1803 in Westport, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of 716. Jacob Soule and 717. Rebecca Gifford. He married about 1742 in probably Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States.

359. Meribah Waite, born 20 July 1720 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States; died 03 February 1803 in Westport, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States.

Children of Benjamin Soule and Meribah Waite are: Martha Soule (1743-1828); Patience Soule (1745-1780).

718. Thomas Waite, born 22 April 1683 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States; died after 1743 in probably Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States. He married 25 January 1711 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States.
719. Mary Tripp, born 22 August 1689 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States; died after 1754 in probably Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States. She was the daughter of 1438. Joseph Tripp and 1439. Mehitable Fish.

Children of Thomas Waite and Mary Tripp are: John Waite (1711-1770); Reuben Waite (1713-????); Thomas Waite (1716-1790); Mary Waite (1718-????); Meribah Waite (1720-1803); Mehitable Waite (1722-????); Martha Waite (1725-????); Alice Waite (1729-????).

1436. Reuben Waite, born about 1656 in Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island, United States; died 07 October 1707 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States. He married about 1681 in Probably Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States.
1437. Tabitha Launders, born about 1662 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States; died after 1707 in probably Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States. She was the daughter of 2874. Thomas Launders and 2875. Jane Kirby.

Children of Reuben Waite and Tabitha Launders are: Thomas Waite (1683-1743); Eleanor Waite (1689-????); Benjamin Waite (1690-1772); Joseph Waite (1693-1774); Abigail Waite (1693-????); Reuben Waite (1695-????); Tabitha Waite (1695-????); Jeremiah Waite (1698-1754).

2872. Thomas Wait, born before 13 June 1612 in Rigsby-wi-Ailby, Lincolnshire, England; died before 13 September 1665 in Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island, United States. He was the son of 5744. Richard Wait and 5745. Margaret Carter. He married before 1640.
2873. Eleanor, born about 1618 in England; died before 13 June 1671 in Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island, United States.

Children of Thomas Wait and Eleanor are: Samuel Waite (1640-1694); Joseph Waite (1643-1665); Benjamin Waite (1645-1704) Jeremiah Waite (1646-1675); Thomas Waite (1638-1733); Mary Waite (1650-1713); Reuben Waite (1656-1707).

Two articles are available for this Waite family:

1) The English ancestry of this Waite family was discussed in the article:

Edwin G. Sanford, "'Judith at the Island,' Judith (Smith) Fisher, the Wait Family of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and Their English Origins." The American Genealogist, Volume 67, Number 4 (October 1992), pages 193-200.

2) The biography and family data for several generations of the descendants of Thomas Waite of Portsmouth RI was discussed in the article:

G. Andrews Moriarty, "Thomas Waite of Portsmouth, R.I. and Some of his Descendants," New England Historical and Genealogical Record, Volume 73, Number 4, October 1919, pages 291ff.

Questions for Ancestry.com at RootsTech 2012

2012-01-27T17:07:00.001-08:00

I've been compiling questions that I want to ask of the developers whom I hope to meet at the RootsTech 2012 conference.

Here's my list so far for Ancestry.com developers (for Ancestry.com, Rootsweb, Genealogy.com, Fold3, Family Tree Maker. I will probably update it before and during the conference as I think of more questions. I will try to post a summary of the answers, probably after the conference):

* When will you drop the Old Search capability in Ancestry.com?

* What happened to the Article Archive on the Learning Center? Will it disappear?

* Why doesn't the Search field on the Learning Center work better?

* Will the source citations created by attaching an historical record to a Member Tree ever comply with Chicago Manual Of Style or Evidence Explained style standards?

* Which states will be indexed first in the 1940 U.S. Census?

* Why don't you include Fold3.com matches in Ancestry.com search results? And vice versa? Especially the FREE collections.

* Have you considered a "package deal" for an Ancestry.com subscription and a Fold3 subscription?

* Why do you charge customers every year for a Family Tree Maker upgrade which has marginal changes from the previous version?

* Are you working with the BetterGEDCOM group or the GEDCOM X group on GEDCOM-like standards?

* Are there any historical record collections on Genealogy.com that are not on Ancestry.com?

* Is www.Mundia.com still a beta website under development? What are the plans for Mundia?

What other questions should be asked of the Ancestry.com website developers? Please add them to comments to this post, or on Facebook or on Google Plus so that every reader can see them. I will add them to the list above as they come in.

If Ancestry.com personnel wish to answer the questions, I hope that they will comment also, and I will highlight their responses.

I hope to do this type of Question post for several other developers of genealogy databases, software and services. If readers have suggestions for other websites, please forward them to me as comments on this blog, or on Facebook or Google Plus. I will give credit to those who provide questions.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/questions-for-ancestrycom-at-rootstech.html

copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012.

Follow-Up Friday - a Potpourri of Comments that need reading

2012-01-27T14:14:00.000-08:00

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For Follow-Up Friday, I want to highlight some comments that were made on my blog posts over the last two weeks. I thought these were valuable to have posted so that search engines can find them:

1) On my post Do you have Loyalist Ancestors? Check out the UELAC Site, there were two comments:

* Geolover wrote:

"For those who find www.archive.org extremely difficult to navigate, some background on the Loyalist claims process and some transcripts of the claims documents are available to read on the fabulous USGenWeb site for Herkimer Co., NY (so many thanks due Martha S. McGill and many volunteers):
http://herkimer.nygenweb.net/regiments/loyalistclaims.html"

* Brenda Dougall Merriman commented:

Randy, nice to see some promotion of the UELAC website and newsletter, thanks. I have an intermittent series of Loyalist posts on my blog, http://brendadougallmerriman.blogspot.com/. They are geared more to a newbie than my book on Upper Canada's (Ontario) Loyalists.

2) On my post Follow-Up Friday - in which I Confess to Using Derivative Sources, David Newton commented that:

"Something that is even sillier about the situation in England and Wales about the access to registers is the situation with marriage registers.

"What I said about the registers themselves not being open to public inspection is perfectly true about birth, death, civil partnership and adoption registers. The stillbirth registers are even more tightly controlled and there is not even an index published for them. However it is not true for certain copies if some marriage indexes.

"If a marriage takes place in a civil venue such as a register office or a hotel registered to perform marriages then the registers are not available for public inspection. If a marriage takes place in an ecclesiastical venue then very often the copy of the registers in the venue is available for public inspection. Furthermore for these sort of venues said registers are also often eventually deposited in local record offices. However the copies of the same registers sent to the local registrar and by them onto the GRO are not open for public inspection because according to the GRO it is "illegal". To see how many marriage registers are actually available for public inspection consider the recent collections of parish registers and non-conformist registers made available by Ancestry for the London area and for the counties of Dorset, Warwickshire (less Birmingham), West Yorkshire and the Liverpool area and then extrapolate that situation to the whole of England and Wales.

"Even if the register has not been deposited at the local record office and is still at the church in question, if that church is Anglican it can be inspected upon payment of a fee as determined by the General Synod in statute.

"It is a ludicrous situation to have all birth and death registers and a significant proportion of marriage registers locked away from public view with information in them only obtainable upon payment of a fee for a certificate. Very rarely is it necessary for genealogists to have certificates for their work, with the most common reason being work with things like tracking down relatives for probate cases or intestate estates. The Scottish situation is much preferable in this case where certificates can be obtained in much the same way as in England and Wales, but where images of the registers themselves are available after statutory periods there for privacy have expired. In the case of Scotland it is 100 years for births, 75 years for marriages and 50 years for deaths. The only problem with Scotland is that the index itself is not available for free and is instead locked behind a paywall at the Scotlandspeople website.

"The situation in certain US states is even more ludicrous with showboating legislators locking things away for spurious "privacy" reasons."

3) On my post What is this Ancestry.com Feature Called? And more questions..., there were several useful comments:

* John noted:

"Ancestry's reliance on the Soundex Code to produce possible matches produces some weird results. In your results, instead of Carringer you get photographs of Crankshaw, Cuerings, and Carmichael. When I searched for one of my Cruvant ancestors, I got several photographs of Carpenters.

"I wonder if Ancestry and other sites should consider utilizing some of the newer variations on Soundex."

* GeneGinny observed:

" What's particularly interesting is that you don't have to sign in to Ancestry to access this information. Very strange! "

* Andy noted:

"The following thread will explain what you are seeing.

http://boards.rootsweb.com/topics.ancestry.ancsit/11028.1/mb.ashx

* Geolover commented:

"...what you were doing searches from is a years-old test that was not rolled out for public use, and does not search current databases. It should have been removed."

* JG in MD commented:

"I just found my dad's picture in his 1923 MIT yearbook on that page. It's not all bad."

* My comment: This is the remnant of Ancestry Labs' PersonView effort. I'm glad that JG got some redeeming value from it!

4) On my post Amanuensis Monday - the Will of Walter Allen (1601-1681) of Charlestown, Massachusetts, Martin commented:

"Every week you have another will from a 17th century ancestor. I have a slew of such ancestors myself, not many of whom left wills. You realize that having that many ancestors with full wills is the exception and not the rule, don't you?"

My comment: Yes, I know, and appreciate my landed ancestors very much! With over 50% of my ancestry, and maybe 75% of my known 10th generation ancestry, being rooted in colonial New England, my probate cups runneth over. Hopefully, posting them will help other researchers solve some of their research challenges .

Thank you all for your comments.

Questions for FamilySearch at RootsTech

2012-01-27T11:58:00.000-08:00

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I've been compiling questions that I want to ask of the developers whom I hope to meet at the RootsTech 2012 conference.

Here's my list so far for FamilySearch developers (I will probably update it before and during the conference as I think of more questions. I will try to post a summary of the answers, probably after the conference):

* When will the FamilySearch Family Tree be completely open to the public?

* When will the FamilySearch Family Tree be a conclusion based tree?

* Will you permit GEDCOM uploads to the FamilySearch Family Tree?

* Will there be a FamilySearch Family Tree access application for smart phones and tablets?

* At the rate that you are adding Historical Collections, how long will it take to complete the available
microform collection?

* Would you please indicate which collections are Newly Added on the Historical Collections list?

* Would you please indicate the completion percentage of each Historical Collection on the list?

* Will there be a new Historical Collections page with easier navigation to continents, countries and states?

* Which states will be indexed first in the 1940 U.S. census?

* What are you doing to create an improved GEDCOM-like standard?

* If you are creating an improved GEDCOM-like standard, when will it be available?

* Are you working with software developers (e.g., RootsMagic, Family Tree Maker, Reunion, etc.) and/or online family tree providers (e.g., Ancestry, MyHertiage, Geni, WikiTree, etc.) to implement a new GEDCOM-like standard?

What other questions should be asked of the FamilySearch website developers? Please add them to comments to this post, or on Facebook or on Google Plus so that every reader can see them. I will add them to the list above as they come in.

If FamilySearch personnel wish to answer the questions, I hope that they will comment also, and I will highlight their responses.

I hope to do this type of Question post for several other developers of genealogy databases, software and services. If readers have suggestions for other websites, please forward them to me as comments on this blog, or on Facebook or Google Plus. I will give credit to those who provide questions.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/questions-for-familysearch-at-rootstech.html

RootsTech 2012 - Livestreaming Schedule

2012-01-27T10:39:00.000-08:00

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RootsTech has announced the live-streaming schedule for this year's conference. I watched many of the live streaming events last year and it helped overcome the disappointment I had over not attending the conference.

The live-streaming will cover all lectures taking place in Room 155 of the Salt Palace Convention Center. The times listed for the presentations are Mountain Standard Time, so be sure to convert to your timezone (in the USA, add two hours for Eastern time, add one hour for Central time, subtract one hour for Pacific time. GMT is 7 hours ahead of Mountain time).

The lectures to be live-streamed are:

Thursday February 2

8:30 a.m.- 10 a.m.
Inventing the Future, as a Community (Keynote) by Jay Verkler

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Do I Trust the Cloud? by D. Joshua Taylor
Description: With iCloud, Dropbox, and other cloud computing services taking center stage in data storage, genealogists are asking, “Do I trust the cloud?” Discover the basics concepts of cloud computing and how they relate to storing your genealogical data. In addition, relevant case studies will provide you with the resources needed to make a decision on whether or not cloud storage is for you.

1:45 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.
Effective Database Search Tactics by Kory Meyerink
Description: Online genealogy research requires effective searching of databases. With billions of names in thousands of databases, it’s easy to get lost. This dual focus presentation helps researchers search more effectively while also encouraging developers to incorporate more advanced search techniques, such as truncation, keyword, fielded data, proximity, phrase, and wild word searching.

3:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m.

Twitter – It’s Not Just “What I Had For Breakfast” Anymore by Thomas MacEntee
Description: Twitter. You’ve heard about it on the news and read about it in magazines and newspapers. You’ve seen televisions shows display their “tweets” especially for celebrities like Oprah and others. You wonder what all the fuss is about, why so many people are talking about it, and if you really should be interested in what someone else is doing. And more importantly, you wonder if you are missing out on something which could be useful as a genealogy research tool. Social media applications such as Twitter allow you to build a group of subscribers or “followers” who can follow your conversations or broadcasts of information and respond automatically or pass the information along to their own followers. Sort of like the child’s game of Operator – but one that actually works!

Friday February 3

8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Exabyte Social Clouds and other Monstrosities (Keynote) by Josh Coates
Description: Josh presents and discusses the origins, implications and possible eventualities of key technologies that are shaping our technological infrastructure.

9:45 a.m.- 10:45 a.m.
Publish Your Genealogy Online by Laura Prescott
Description: This lecture will discuss the fundamentals of publishing family data to a website, whether it is done through a big-name genealogy site, or by using genealogy software and a personal domain. We will explore options for appearance, access, costs, and privacy issues. Even without a computer-based genealogy program, there are some reasonable alternatives for placing a genealogy online. Whether you use a PC or a Mac, or even a public computer at your local library, you have choices for software, online access, and the final presentation. We’ll also review additional important considerations like degree of interaction, multimedia, and sources. Although the process may seem intimidating, after we work through each of the steps and explore the various options, the adventure into publishing an online genealogy will enter the realm of possibilities.

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Optimizing Your Site for Search Engines by Robert Gardner
Description: With the explosion of genealogical information available on the World Wide Web, it is becoming more and more important to make that information available and prominent on Internet search engines, such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. This session is targeted at site owners and software engineers. It will discuss standards and techniques for making the information on your site easy for search engines to crawl, index, and rank. Topics will include optimal page layout, sitemaps, and a proposal for a new genealogy-specific microdata standard that will allow search engines and other internet tools to make the most of your genealogy content.

1:45 p.m.- 2:45 p.m.
Genealogists “Go Mobile” by Sandra Crowley
Description: Instead of a backpack that contains a laptop, camera, portable scanner, flash drives with our files, and maybe even printed copies of our research, we now have SmartPhones, electronic tablets and other devices. The world of genealogy and technology is rapidly changing, and we want to know how to use the future to find our past. Our family tree is truly in our pocket – in a form that we can access, update, print and share. This session will take a look at the latest trends in hardware, software and cloud storage and examine what the future might look like.

3:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m.
Google's Toolbar and Genealogy by David Barney
Description: The web is a vast resource for finding genealogical data, but the problem has always been filtering through all the irrelevant content to find just what you are looking for. Google’s mission is to make the world information (and that includes genealogical data) universally accessible and useful. Learn about Google’s recent efforts to organize genealogical data and make it easier to find the specific information you are looking for.

Saturday February 4

8:30 a.m.- 9:30 a.m.
Making the most of technology to further the family history industry (Keynote) by Tim Sullivan
Discussion: Get the inside details of the technology behind Ancestry.com from some of their top technology leaders in this don’t-want-to-miss panel discussion, moderated by Tim Sullivan, President and CEO of Ancestry.com.

9:45 a.m.- 10:45 a.m.
Genealogy Podcasts and Blogs 101 by Lisa Louise Cooke
Description: Genealogy podcasts and blogs are the perfect way to pursue your family history no matter where you are. They are packed full of genealogy news, tips, entertainment and interviews with the experts. In this session Lisa Louise Cooke, host of the Genealogy Gems Podcast and author of the Genealogy Gems News Blog, will teach you how to locate them, subscribe to them for free, and the variety of listening methods. You will be up and running in one session!

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Future of FamilySearch Family Tree by Ron Tanner
Description: Discuss how FamilySearch has changed recently and the new features that are being planned for new.familysearch.org including new concepts to allow people to change data.

1:45 p.m.- 2:45 p.m.
Privacy in a Collaborative Environment by Noah Tutak
Description: When we work together on genealogy, we’re no longer are constrained to “My tree” or “Your tree." Suddenly, we’re all working on “Our tree.” In this presentation, Noah Tutak, CEO of Geni.com, will explain how to properly handle private and public data in a collaborative genealogical environment.

Interested readers can see all of the conference sessions at http://rootstech.org/schedule/index and can read and/or download the syllabus articles for almost every session.

Disclosure: I am an Official Blogger for RootsTech 2012, and have had my registration fee paid for by the organization. I look forward to attending this conference!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/rootstech-2012-livestreaming-schedule.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Follow Friday - This Weekend's Genealogy Radio Shows

2012-01-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

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There are two genealogy-related radio shows on Blog Talk Radio (www.blogtalkradio.com) this weekend. They are:

1) GeneaBloggers Radio Episode 52 -- Angela Walton-Raji of the African Roots Podcast hosts the show titled “Walking Together on the Same Path: Slave and Slave Holder Descendants Collaborating.“  This show is on:

Friday, January 27, 2012
9pm-10:30pm Eastern US
8-9:30pm Central US
7-8:30pm Mountain US
6-7:30pm Pacific US
* 2am London UK
* 1pm Saturday Sydney AUS

The show guests are:

* Bernice Bennett, a South Carolina researcher and host of the “Research at the National Archives & Beyond” radio show here on Blog Talk Radio. Bernice will speak about finding and meeting a descendant of her ancestor’s slave holder;
* Betty McDade, genealogist and researcher of Edgefield, South Carolina who is a descendant of slave holders and works diligently to document the history of slaves held by her ancestors and throughout the community;
* Toni Carrier, host of the Lowcountry Africana website, who works to document descendants of slaves in the Low Country, and has worked with both slave holder descendants and slave descendants in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
You can read more information about the guests at GENEABLOGGERS RADIO – SHOW NOTES FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012

Don’t forget that there is a chat room where all the “cool kids” hang out on Friday night! Sign in to BlogTalkRadio with your Facebook account or set up a free BlogTalkRadio account to join in the fun.

2) FGS Radio - My Society, an Internet radio show on Blog Talk Radio presented by the Federation of Genealogical Societies. This week's show is  Email Marketing Solutions for Your Genealogy Organization.  It will be hosted by Thomas MacEntee. The show airs at:

Saturday, January 28, 2012
2-3pm Eastern US
1-2pm Central US
12-1pm Mountain US
11am-12pm Pacific US

The special guests and features include:

* . Our guest will be Kathryn M. Doyle, of the FGS-member society California Genealogical Society and Library in Oakland, California. Kathryn will discuss the many ways in which her society has effectively used email marketing to not only communicate with members but to reach the larger genealogy and family history community.
* We’ll be featuring FGS member society, California African American Genealogical Society, in our weekly Society Spotlight feature.

You can read more information about the guests at Email Marketing Solutions for Your Genealogy Organization.

You can also listen to the archived shows on Blog Talk Radio by going to the two show sites:

* Geneabloggers Radio: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/geneabloggers/

* FGS Radio - MySociety: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mysociety/

Enjoy!!

Ancestry.com Revamps Their Learning Center

2012-01-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

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I love the Ancestry.com Learning Center, and often refer beginning genealogists to the site, which is free.

Ancestry.com recently changed the format of the Learning Center - but the old links to it still work as of today (http://learn.ancestry.com/Home/HMLND.aspx).

Let's take a look at the new Learning Center. On the Home, Family Trees, Search, Collaborate or Learning Center tabs, clicking on the Learning Center tab leads to this screen:

There are four main sections to this Learning Center (with the light green background in the screen above), and we'll look at each of them in succession:

1) The What's New page:

The "What's New page has five main links:

* New Content - links to selected new historical record collections
* New Features - links to selected features for using the Ancestry.com site
* Our Social Network - join the online community and learn about education opportunities
* Ask Ancestry Anne - Anne Mitchell writes on the Sticky Notes blog, and answers submitted questions
* Livestream Videos - watch Desktop Education videos prepared by family historians

2) The First Steps page:

This page has four sections:

* Getting Started - links to selected articles about starting your research
* Learn More - links to selected articles about using Ancestry.com to grow your family tree
* Links to a video on Why Start a Family Tree?; a pedigree chart at Start with Paper and Pencil?; and the Ancestry.com app at No Matter where you go, your tree can grow.
* Links to videos two First Steps webinars.

3) The Next Steps page:

This page has three sections:

* Census Records - links to three articles about census records
* Immigration Records - links to three articles about immigration records.
* Links to a webinar on Finding the U.S. Military Heroes in Your Family, an article on Vital Records on Ancestry.com, and a link to a page for Free Research Guides. There are 12 links to illustrated articles for specific research areas (e.g., Irish, UK, Sweden, Germany, Canada, Immigrants, Passenger Lists, Census, American Revolution, Civil War, World War II, and black Sheep).

4) The Family History 101 page:

There are three major parts to this page:

* How-To Articles - links to seven selected articles on different topics
* Beyond Family Trees - links to four selected articles about family history topics
* Links to pages about joining the Facebook page, the Livestream Videos, the Sticky Notes blog, the YouTube Channel, the Twitter feed, and the Ancestry.com Blog.

There is also a link to sign up for the free monthly newsletters by email.

5) There are links to all of the Webinars, to the Help - FAQ area, and Family History Wiki in the Learning Center button on the top menu dropdown list, but those links are not on the Learning Center pages.

6) A user can search for articles by topic in the search field at the top of each Learning Center page. Searching for "census records" comes up with 289 matches; for "immigration records" comes up with 261 matches; for "military records" brings up 258 matches. However, not every article that comes up with these searches seems relevant. The first ten matches for "military records" do not mention military records in the titles. Most of the articles do not have publication dates. I tried searching for authors like Michael John Neill and George G. Morgan, and got a lot of matches. Again, none of the first ten articles mentioned them.

All in all, it's a pretty decent makeover. I am concerned that the search doesn't return relevant matches, and that there are no apparent links to the Ancestry Article Archive that I value.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/ancestrycom-revamps-their-learning.html

copyright (c), Randall J. Seaver, 2012.

RootsTech 2012 Presentations - 1:45 p.m., Saturday, 4 February

2012-01-26T12:27:00.000-08:00

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I'm going to list all of the presentations at RootsTech 2012 session by session in a series of posts. You can see the full schedule of all sessions at http://rootstech.org/schedule/index.

Here is the schedule for Friday, 3 February at 3:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. The links provide information on the presentation and the speaker:

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 355D

Presentation for Beginner Developers

Software Forecast 2.0: What Genealogists Need for the Future by D. Joshua Taylor

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 255F

Presentation for Intermediate Users

Inspiring Ways to Capture the Interest of the Non-Genealogists in Your Life by Lisa Louise Cooke

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 155

Presentation for Beginner Users

Privacy in a Collaborative Environment by Noah Tutak

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 255C

Presentation for Intermediate Users

Top 10 Data Issues in new FamilySearch and How to Avoid Them by Amanda Terry and Merisa Robbins

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 259

Presentation for All Developers

How to Succeed as a Development Entrepreneur by Tim Shadel

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 355A

Presentation for Intermediate Users

One-Step Webpages: A Potpourri of Genealogical Search Tools by Stephen Morse

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 255E

Presentation for Beginner Users

Lassie! Go for Free Genealogy Help! By Ancestry Insider

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 255D

Presentation for Beginner Developers

FamilySearch Web Architecture by Timothy Stokes

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 255B

Presentation for Advanced Users

Geo-caching for Ancestors: Using Smartphones & GPS to Crowdsource Cemetery Data Collection by Rob Moncur and Curtis Tirrell

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 255A

Presentation for Beginner Developers

Reputation Systems for Genealogy by Jimmy Zimmerman

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 258

Hands-on Workshop for Intermediate Users

Self Publish Your MS Word Book Like a Pro by Nancy Barnes and Biff Barnes

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 257

Presentation for Intermediate Developers

Building an open source genealogical search engine with Apache Solr by Brooke Ganz

The sessions that I might attend include:

* D. Joshua Taylor's talk

* Lisa Louise Cooke's talk

* Noah Tutak's talk

Which session would you like to attend?

Disclosure: I am an Official Blogger for RootsTech 2012, and have had my registration fee paid for by the organization. I look forward to attending this conference!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/rootstech-2012-presentations-145-pm_26.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Pennsylvania Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 on Ancestry.com

2012-01-26T10:58:00.000-08:00

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The press release today from Ancestry.com highlights the Pennsylvania, Church and Town Records, 1593 to 1708. However, the database available is really for 1708 to 1985, as shown below:

I checked that Ancestry Card Catalog for a Pennsylvania database spanning 1593-1708, and didn't find one.

The database description says:

"This database is a large collection of records containing vital (birth, marriage, death) information and other details from churches and other organizations in Pennsylvania.

Records in this Database

"The documents in this database are primarily Protestant church records from congregations in Pennsylvania, but there are additional sources as well, including funeral homes, cemeteries, newspapers, historical societies, and personal records, among others. They include a wide variety of records, such as

lists of church officers
communion lists
marriages
registers of members
registers of elders, deacons, etc.
baptisms
confirmations
burials
probationers
histories
receipts, agreements, other miscellaneous items
newspaper extracts

"The documents list millions of names, and many contain details on vital events such as births, marriages, and deaths. In them, you may find

names
birth dates
marriage dates
spouse’s name
parents’ names
places where an event (baptism, marriage, death, burial, etc.) took place

"For more information about church and town records in Pennsylvania, visit the Historical Society of Pennsylvania website."

I've been poking around in the database for two days now, and have found some useful Seaver records, especially in Philadelphia church and burial records. I had hoped to find church and town records out in the western counties (Westmoreland, Beaver, Lawrence, Mercer) to help sort out some of my Carringer, Spangler, Feather and Remley challenges.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/pennsylvania-church-and-town-records.html

Treasure Chest Thursday - Affidavits of Tabitha Cutter in Revolutionary War Pension Files

2012-01-26T09:20:00.000-08:00

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It's Treasure Chest Thursday - a time to reveal another gem in my treasure chest of family history.

My friend, Russ Worthington who writes A Worthington Weblog and Family Tree Maker User blogs, told me in email that there is an affidavit dictated by Tabitha (Randolph) Cutter (1752-1841) of Woodbridge, New Jersey in a Revolutionary War Pension File on www.Fold3.com. Thank you, Russ!

Actually, there are two! The first one is in the Pension File of Abraham Johnson (File S13552), on Page 51:

The transcription of this document is:

State of New Jersey
County of Middlesex

Personally appears before the Subscriber Tabitha Cutter widow of Stephen Cutter a Revolutionary War soldier who being duly sworn on her oath saith that during the Revolutionary War she was intimately acquainted with Abraham Johnson. That said Johnson served continually during the whole war. He served a part of the time under the command of Capt. Nathaniel Randolph. That in the years 1781 & 1782 said Abraham Johnson served under said Abraham Johnson served under the command of Capt. Asher Randolph in the enlisted service. the Deponent further saith that the said Johnson was wounded she thinks in the battle of Elizabeth Town and was brot to her house while suffering under the effect of that wound.

Sworn and subscribed this}
8th day of Nov-r 1839 before} ........................ Tabitha Cutter
Henry Sillcocks, J.P. }

I certify that the above named Deponent is a credible person
...................................... Henry Sillcocks, J.P.

The second affidavit was in the Pension File of Thomas Hadden (File R4413), page 30:

The transcription of this affidavit is:

State of New Jersey}
Middlesex County}

On this thirtieth day of June 1840 personally appeared before me, Ichabod Potter a Justice of the peace... in and for said county. Tabitha Cutter a resident of the township of Woodbridge in said County, aged near 87 years, who being duly sworn according to law, doth depose and say that she was well acquainted with Thomas Hadden late the husband of Mary Hadden, now a widow, whose Maiden Name was Mary Baker. That at the Commencement of the Revolutionary War in the year 1776 she resided with her husband at Woodbridge in state of New Jersey and that Thomas Hadden, the late husband of the said Mary, resided at the same place, that in the month of June, 1776, or near about that time, the particular day she has forgotten, there was companies raised for five months as she then was informed and that the said Thomas Hadden had enlisted in one of the companies she then also understood that they were taken to Long Island and she well recollects that the said Thomas Hadden was absent from Woodbridge untill the return of the said troops in companies which was in the month of November in said year.

Sworn and subscribed }
the day and year aforesaid} ........................... Tabitha Cutter
before me
Ichabod Cutter Justice of the Peace

I do hereby certify that I am well acquainted with Tabbitha Cutter who has subscribed & made the above affidavit who is a person of good Character & is a woman of veracity & that full credence may be given to her declarations
June 30th 1840 ............... Ichabod Potter, Justice of the Peace

The real prize in these affidavits, for me at least, is the signature of Tabitha (Randolph) Cutter:

Not bad for an 87 year old woman. The two affidavits provide some useful information about Tabitha and her husband, Stephen Cutter (1745-1823), including:

* That Stephen Cutter was a Revolutionary War soldier (but there is no Revolutionary War Pension File for him)
* That Tabitha Cutter was 87 years old in 1840
* That they resided in Woodbridge, New Jersey
* That they knew Abraham Johnson and Thomas Hadden in 1776.

Being able to find these affidavits dictated by a married female ancestor, who did not have a Revolutionary War Pension File of her own, on Fold3 is wonderful. The names of the deponents, of other persons named in the files, etc. are all indexed.

It is a good idea to go through all of your ancestral family members that might be named in Revolutionary War Pension Files and see if you can glean some information about them and their friends, associates and neighbors (the FAN club).

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/treasure-chest-thursday.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

RootsTech 2012 Syllabus articles are online...

2012-01-25T18:40:00.000-08:00

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In a significant move, the RootsTech 2012 syllabus articles, for most presentations, are available online at http://rootstech.org/schedule/sessions. click on the day of the week, and the specific session, and there may be the syllabus available in some format (usually .doc or .pdf).

Here is a screen shot of the Sessions page:

The titles of the presentations are active links. I clicked the Steve Morse presentation link and saw:

This page provides a summary of the presentation, including title, date, time, room, session number, type, difficulty, track, and syllabi (with links to the pages). Below that is the presentation description and the biography of the presenter.

I don't know if any major conference has done this before - meaning posting the syllabus pages for most of the presentations on the Internet. I appreciate having this information before the presentation, and not have to wait for the CD in order to judge which presentation I might want to attend.

I checked the RootsTech app, but neither the Apple or Android app currently provides a link to the syllabus material. Disclosure: I am an Official Blogger for RootsTech 2012, and have had my registration fee paid for by the organization. I look forward to attending this conference!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/rootstech-2012-syllabus-articles-are.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

The Genealogy Bucket List Meme (Courtesy of Geniaus)

2012-01-25T14:43:00.000-08:00

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Jill Ball, on her Geniaus blog, has created another genealogy meme for geneabloggers, and readers, to think through and respond to.

Here are the rules, the list, and my responses:

The Bucket List GeneaMeme

The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you would like to do or find: Bold Type (I'm going to use Bold Red)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type
You are encouraged to add extra comments after each item

The genealogy conference I would most like to attend is... NERGC (New England Regional Genealogical Conference)
The genealogy speaker I would most like to hear and see is... this is hard, I've seen quite a few now in person and on webinars. I'll go with Claire Bettag
The geneablogger I would most like to meet in person is... Michael Hait
The genealogy writer I would most like to have dinner with is... David Lambert (of NEHGS)
The genealogy lecture I would most like to present is.... "Solving the Thomas J. Newton Puzzle" (my biggest brick wall ancestor)
I would like to go on a genealogy cruise that visits.... England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Holland...
The photo I would most like to find is... the gravestone of Thomas J. Newton in a cemetery full of Newtons, all with dates and relationships
The repository in a foreign land I would most like to visit is... The National Archives in London
The place of worship I would most like to visit is... the Pilgrim's church in Leyden, Holland
The cemetery I would most like to visit is ...... wherever Thomas J. Newton is buried
The ancestral town or village I would most like to visit is...... wherever Thomas J. Newton was born
The brick wall I most want to smash is... um, Thomas J. Newton (ca 1795-ca 1840)
The piece of software I most want to buy is.... one that creates perfect, standard reports, books and charts with immaculate source citations (and fixes mine automatically)
The tech toy I want to purchase next is ..... a Notebook computer
The expensive book I would most like to buy is... Evidence! Explained (I have the first edition in a PDF format)
The library I would most like to visit is..... Family History Library in Salt Lake City, over and over
The genealogy related book I would most like to write is.... "Breaking Down My Brick Walls One Record at a Time"
The genealogy blog I would most like to start would be about.... the Seaver/Sever Family
The journal article I would most like to write would be about... "Solving the Devier J. Lamphier Smith Adoption Problem" - sometime after I actually do it!
The ancestor I most want to meet in the afterlife is.... Devier J. Lamphier's birth father.

Is there anything else on your Genealogy Bucket List?

Thank you for asking, Jill:

* Being on Who Do You Think You Are? as a researcher, or a subject.

* Presenting at a National Conference.

* Taking all of the Genealogy Cruises offered!

Enough for now!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/genealogy-bucket-list-meme-courtesy.html

RootsTech 2012 Presentations - 11 a.m. Saturday, 4 February

2012-01-25T12:20:00.000-08:00

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I'm going to list all of the presentations at RootsTech 2012 session by session in a series of posts. You can see the full schedule of all sessions at http://rootstech.org/schedule/index.

Here is the schedule for Saturday, 4 February at 11:00 a.m. until 12 noon. The links provide information on the presentation and the speaker:

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 255A

Presentation for All Developers

Refactoring, the Neglected Art by Robert Lee

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 257

Presentation for Advanced Developers

Persistent Identifiers by Rob Lyon

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 355A

Presentation for Intermediate Developers

The Semantic Web, RDF, Dublin Core, and FOAF by Ryan Heaton

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 355D

Presentation for Beginner Users

Introducing the FamilySearch Indexing & Linking Tool by Grant Echols

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 255C

Presentation for Beginner Users

A Dozen Ways to Use Your iPad 2 for Genealogy and Writing by Lisa Alzo

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 155

Presentation for Beginner Users

Future of FamilySearch Family Tree by Ron Tanner

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 255F

Presentation for Beginner Users

Everything You Wanted to Know About Fold3 by Peter Drinkwater

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 255B

Presentation for All Developers

Creating Cross-Platform Mobile Apps with Titanium by Scott Flinders, Randy Hall and Kevin Willford

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 255D

Presentation for All Developers

H-TREE: A Compact Tree-Visualization Technology by Sean Roylance

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 258

Hands-on Workshop for Intermediate Users

How to do a Webinar by Geoff Rasmussen

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 255E

Presentation for All Users

Don't Do Genealogy Alone by Charles Edmonds

The sessions that I might attend include:

* Lisa Alzo's talk

* Ron Tanner's talk

* Geoff Rasmussen's talk

Which session would you like to attend?

Disclosure: I am an Official Blogger for RootsTech 2012, and have had my registration fee paid for by the organization. I look forward to attending this conference!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/rootstech-2012-presentations-1100-am_25.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 189: Fred Shaw of Leominster, Mass.

2012-01-25T08:35:00.000-08:00

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I am posting photographs from my family collections for (Not So) Wordless Wednesday (you know me, I can't go wordless!).

This is a picture of Fred Richmond Shaw (1909-1967), the son of Fred and Grace L. (Richmond) Shaw. The picture was taken, I think, in the 1920s. The picture was in the photograph bounty handed down from my parents in the 1988 to 2002 time frame.

Fred was a first cousin of my father and his siblings, since their mother was Alma Bessie Richmond, the sister of Grace Richmond.

Fred Shaw was slightly older than my father, Fred (born in 1911) and his brother, Edward (born 1913), but he was the only male cousin of about the same age in Leominster, so they saw a lot of each other and played together throughout their childhoods.

I have connected with Fred's granddaughter, Laura (my second cousin once removed), who has provided me with more photographs of this Richmond/Shaw family line. She is the closest Seaver/Richmond cousin I have contact with, and it occurred through writing Genea-Musings posts and Laura finding them online. Blogging works!

RootsTech 2012 App Available for Download to iOS and Android Units

2012-01-24T13:28:00.000-08:00

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I downloaded the RootsTech 2012 app to my iPhone this morning. You can download the app, for Free, from the Apple iFreeware store or the Android Market. Here is a screenshot of the app (on an Android tablet, the one on my phone is similar):

The different buttons on the Dashboard are:

* My Schedule - lists the events I want to attend

* Maps - maps of the Exhibit Hall and the Salt Palace

* Events -- All, Developer, or User tracks. I can favorite any of these and they go onto My Schedule

* Speakers - a short biography, and their event summaries, is provided

* Conference Documents - information about the conference, exhibitors, two keynote speakers, the demo theater schedule and the unconferencing schedule. It can be downloaded to the device, or emailed to the user

* Photo Gallery - I can add pictures to the gallery taken by my camera. There are some extraneous pictures in the app for some reason - nobody I recognize.

* Videos - a list of FamilySearch YouTube videos (about 20 right now) that you can watch on your device.

* Twitter - finds all tweets with the #RootsTech hashtag. This will be interesting in the different sessions!

* Friends - friends are added by exchanging friend codes. You can enter a friend code or request a friend code. The Twitter feed is active with folks exchanging their codes. Mine is 978-758.

* News - an RSS feed for selected genealogy Official Bloggers. Right now, I see only Dick Eastman, Joan Miller, and TechTips.

Once I had the App loaded, and added several Events to My schedule, the top of the app shows "Upcoming Schedule" with the next item an my list (with date and time, but not location).

This should be very useful while at the conference. Methinks this conference is going to be heavy on technology - so much so that not much real blogging will get done!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/rootstech-2012-app-available-for-download.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012.

Rootstech 2012 Presentations - 9:45 a.m. Saturday, 4 February

2012-01-24T12:13:00.000-08:00

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I'm going to list all of the presentations at RootsTech 2012 session by session in a series of posts. You can see the full schedule of all sessions at http://rootstech.org/schedule/index.

Here is the schedule for Saturday, 4 February at 9:45 a.m. until 10:45 a.m. The links provide information on the presentation and the speaker:

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 255E

Presentation for Beginner Users

GeneTech: YDNA Solutions to Common Genealogical Problems by Nathan Murphy

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 355D

Presentation for Advanced Developers

Phonetic Matching: An Alternative to Soundex with Fewer False Hits by Stephen Morse

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 255D

Presentation for Beginner Users

Advocating Genealogy and Growing the Market: Issues of the New Genealogist by Janet Hovorka

9:45 - 9:45 am, Room 255C

Presentation for Intermediate Developers

Modeling Messy Metadata with MarkLogic by Fernando Mesa

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 255F

Presentation for Beginner Users

loc.gov: Using Our Nation’s Library Online by Laura Prescott

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 155

Presentation for Beginner Users

Genealogy Podcasts and Blogs 101 by Lisa Louise Cooke

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 259

Presentation for All Developers

Event Driven Web Applications with Node.js by Stephen Lynn

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 258

Hands-on Workshop for Intermediate Users

The FamilySearch Wiki as Social Media by Lise Embley

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 255A

Presentation for Beginner Developers

Open Source: Who Owns What Is in Your Head (and Should It Stay There?) by Dave McAllister

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 260

Presentation for All Developers

Public Cloud vs. Private Cloud by Larry Beck

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 355A

Presentation for Intermediate Developers

PHP and MySQL: A Powerful Combination for Presenting Data by Amy Johnson Crow

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 257

Presentation for Advanced Users

Web Analytics: Measure and Improve by David Crowther and Colin Lewis

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 255B

Presentation for Intermediate Users

Is Your Ancestor Hiding in This Photograph? New Family History Revelations by Patricia Van Skaik

The sessions that I might attend include:

* Janet Hovorka's talk

* Laura Prescott's talk

* David Crowther/Colin Lewis talk

Which session would you like to attend?

Disclosure: I am an Official Blogger for RootsTech 2012, and have had my registration fee paid for by the organization. I look forward to attending this conference!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/rootstech-2012-presentations-945-am_24.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Tuesday's Tip - Check Out the FamilySearch TechTips Blog for Technology Topics

2012-01-24T09:08:00.000-08:00

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This week's Tuesday's Tip is to: Check out the FamilySearch TechTips blog (https://www.familysearch.org/techtips/) for tips on learning about, purchasing, and using technology tools for your genealogy research.

There are six tabs across the top menu:

* How To's and Tips (with categories of Collaborating with Others, Managing Your Data, Working with Digital Media, Researching Online, Photography, Using Mobile Devices for Genealogy, Staying Safe, and Accessing the Internet)

* Learn About (with categories of File formats, Mapping and GeoLocation, Preservation, Scientific Research and Social Media)

* Apps and Tools (with categories of Browser Plug-Ins, Email Add-ons, Image Tools, Mac Apps, Phone apps, Printing Utilities, Web Apps and Windows Apps)

* Learn How To Buy (with categories of Scanners, Cameras and Lenses, Computers, GPS Devices, Mobile Devices and Tablets, Printers, and Storage Media)

* Viewpoint

* Contribute

There are over 230 articles in the database now, posted over the past 15 months. These articles are written by genealogy bloggers (including James Tanner and Denise Barrett Olson) and FamilySearch staff.

Having recently bought both an iPhone and an Android tablet, I found the articles on mobile devices and apps to be very helpful and informative.

If you are interested in Technology as it applies to genealogy research, I urge you to add FamilySearch TechTips to your blog reader.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/tuesdays-tip-check-out-familysearch.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

"The Chart Chick's Quick Insider's Guide to Salt Lake City" book is out!

2012-01-23T19:40:00.000-08:00

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An indispensable book for RootsTech 2012 attendees is Janet Hovorka's "The Chart Chick's Quick Insider's Guide to Salt Lake City."

You can send an email and obtain a free PDF version of it using a link on Janet's The Chart Chick blog. You can also obtain a printed copy using a link on her blog post for the Lulu Marketplace.

Congratulations to Janet on the publication of her book!

I've already downloaded it, and put it on my Dropbox file so I can access it on my iPhone and laptop when we're in Salt Lake City next week!

Rootstech 2012 Presentations - 3:00 p.m. Friday, 3 February

2012-01-23T14:20:00.000-08:00

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I'm going to list all of the presentations at RootsTech 2012 session by session in a series of posts. You can see the full schedule of all sessions at http://rootstech.org/schedule/index.

Here is the schedule for Friday, 3 February at 3:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. The links provide information on the presentation and the speaker:

3:00 - 4:00 pm, Room 255E

Presentation for Intermediate Users

Wielding the Electronic Gavel: Managing Genealogical Discussion Forums by Drew Smith

3:00 - 4:00 pm, Room 255B

Presentation for Intermediate Users

Taking Your Family History Electronic - Creating Your Own Amazing Ebook by Luana Darby

3:00 - 4:00 pm, Room 155

Presentation for Intermediate Users

Google's Toolbar and Genealogy by David Barney

3:00 - 4:00 pm, Room 255C

Presentation for Intermediate Users

Genealogist's Viewpoint -- Copyright Law for Genealogists by James Tanner

3:00 - 4:00 pm, Room 355D

Presentation for All Developers

Advertising Revenue Model by Joshua R Iverson

3:00 - 4:00 pm, Room 259

Presentation for All Developers

Creating Performant and Maintainable Large JavaScript Applications by Brian Pugh

3:00 - 4:00 pm, Room 257

Presentation for Beginner Developers

Collaborating with Mom via P2P by Trent Larson

3:00 - 4:00 pm, Room 255D

Presentation for All Developers

Family History and Gamification by Chris van der Kuyl

3:00 - 4:00 pm, Room 255F

Presentation for Beginner Users

What does it take to get a good result? The inner-workings of the Ancestry.com search engine by John Bacus

3:00 - 4:00 pm, Room 255A

Presentation for Intermediate Developers

An Open-source Similar-name Finder by Dallan Quass

3:00 - 4:00 pm, Room 355A

Panel or Discussion for All Users

FGS Society Leadership Brainstorm by Randy Whited

The sessions that I might attend include:

* Luana Darby's talk

* James Tanner's talk

* Randy Whited's panel

Which session would you like to attend?

Disclosure: I am an Official Blogger for RootsTech 2012, and have had my registration fee paid for by the organization. I look forward to attending this conference!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/rootstech-2012-presentations-300-pm.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Do you have Loyalist Ancestors? Check out the UELAC Site

2012-01-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

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I received an email last week from Oma Rose in Nevada saying that she would like to see "...some recognition of Loyalist research, and those who participate in it, mentioned in your blog. It would help those who are new to the idea of having a Loyalist ancestor to know that resources are not only available but rich in content."

As many of my readers know, I have several Loyalist ancestors that settled in New Brunswick and Ontario, so this suggestion struck a chord in me. Thank you, Oma, for the suggestion.

The link to the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada website (www.UELAC.org).

There is a link to the page on "Making the Loyalists" that provides information about them, links to other articles and lists of loyalists, and a list of the important dates in Loyalist history.

The UELAC has a near-weekly publication called "Loyalist Trails" online for FREE on the UELAC Newsletter Archive Page:

The newsletter archive has issues from 2004 to the present. An interested reader can subscribe to receive an email with this newsletter. If you do subscribe after reading this post, please tell them where you learned of this newsletter (I will not receive any remuneration!).

The current newsletter (for 15 January 2012) looks like this:

There is a wealth of information and helpful research aids in these newsletters.

The lead article in the 8 January and 15 January 2012 issues is

Loyalist Times and Transcripts: Part One -- by Stephen Davidson. In this article, Stephen notes that :

Have you ever read the transcripts of the Royal Commission on the Losses and Services of American Loyalists? Don't let the words "royal commission" or "transcript" frighten you. These documents are anything but dull. Want to hear the story of an individual loyalist's persecution, war service and resettlement? It can be found in the RCLSAL transcripts. Need to know how the common man and woman experienced the Revolution? The transcripts provide that perspective. Want to know the status of a given loyalist? Inventories of lost property and possessions are part of almost every claim. This amazing primary source should be in the library of every loyalist genealogist, UELAC branch, and loyalist historian."

Read the two articles published to date and note that these records are available on www.archive.org.

I have not. So now I'm curious about this resource and will try to see if any of my Loyalist ancestors appeared before this commission. Even if they did not file a claim, there may be a member of the local area that they resided, or a member of their regiment, who did file a claim and gave testimony. The experiences of my ancestors may have been similar.

The one thing I have done so far on this site is to do a site search using a Google search like ["john kemp" site:www.uelac.org] for my Loyalist ancestors. I also tried "kemp john." There were three matches which provided some family information.

This UELAC website is well known among UELAC members, but for those of us that were unaware of it, the resources available and discussed on the site may provide excellent genealogical resources.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/do-you-have-loyalist-ancestors-check.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

VOTE NOW on Genealogy Rock Stars

2012-01-23T10:04:00.000-08:00

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John D. Reid has compiled a list of 74 nominated "Genealogy Rock Stars" on his Anglo-Celtic Connections blog in his post Vote now for your favourite rock star genealogists.

John defines "genealogy rock stars" to be:

"... women and men who give 'must attend' presentations at genealogy conferences and/or write "must read" family history articles or publications is now open."

A voter can select as many rock stars as they think appropriate.

The voting will end late on Saturday, 28 January 2012.

It will be interesting to see who will be selected as Genealogy Rock Stars. I have my selections done already.

Amanuensis Monday - the Will of Nathaniel Wade (1709-1754) of Scituate RI

2012-01-23T09:07:00.000-08:00

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Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started his own 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 Nathaniel Wade (1709-1754) of Scituate, Providence County, Rhode Island. Nathaniel married Ruth Hawkins (1711-1789) in 1731 in Scituate. They had six children: Simon Wade (1731-after 1790), Dudley Wade (1734-1803), Mercy Wade (1736-ca 1779), Ruth Wade (1740-????), Deborah Wade (1744-ca1754), and John Wade (1746-1804).

Nathaniel Wade died testate, having written a will on 30 May 1754 that was proved on 13 July 1754. The will (transcribed from Scituate (RI) Probate and Civil Records, 1731-1886, Volume 1, pages 231-235, on FHL Microfilm 0,941,155) reads:

"The Last Will and Testament of Nathaniel Wade of Scituate aforesaid was presented to the Council and Read in the Following Words (Viz:)

"In the Name of God Amen. the Thirtieth Day of May in the Twenty Seventh year of his Majesties Reign George the Second King of Great Britain &c Annoq. Domi 1754: I Nathaniel Wade of Scituate in the County of Providence in the Colony of Rhode Island &c being very sick and Weak of Body but of Perfect Mind and Memory Thanks be given to God: And Calling to Mind the Mortality of My body and Knowing that it is appointed for Man once to Die do make and Ordain this My last Will and Testament in Manner and Form Following That is to Say principally and first of all My Soul I Recomend into the Hands of God that gave it and my body to the Earth to be Buryed Decently at the Discretion of my Executors herein after Named and as Touching of Such Worldly Estate wherewith it hath Pleased God to Bless me in this present Life I ??? Demise and Dispose of the same in the following Manner and Form, Viz:

"Imprimis My will is and I do hereby order that all my Lands and Real Estate be Sold as Soon as Conveniently as can be after My Decease by my Executors herein after Named and My one Hereby fully Impowered to Sell the Land and a Deed or Deeds of Conveyance Shall be good and ???? to all Intents and purposes that is by them Regularly Made.

"Item I Give and bequeath to My Loveing Wife Ruth Wade the use and Intrest of Three Hundred pounds old Tenor of the Money that Shall be Raised or paid upon the Sale of the Land for and During the full Term of her Naturall Life in this World.

"Item I give and bequeath all the Remaining part of the Money that Shall Rise upon the Sale of My Land after the sd Three Hundred Pounds is Taken out that I have given the use of to my Wife: To my Three Sons Simon Dudly and John to be Equally Divided between them as Soon as it is Collected or paid and also the said Three Hundred Pounds after my said Wifes decease to be Divided Between them in Like Manner.

"Item My Will is that all my just Debts Shall be paid out of my Moveable Estate and the Remaining parts thereof I give and bequeath to My aforesaid Wife and My Two Daughters Mary and Ruth to be Equally Divided Between themselves.

"And I do hereby Nominate Constitute appoint and ordain Ruth my aforesaid Wife and My said Son Simon to be the Sole Executors of this My Last Will and Testament and I do hereby Utterly Revoke Disallow and Annull all and Every other and Former wills Testaments Legacies bequests and Executors by Me heretofore Made Willed or bequeathed Ratifying allowing and Holding Firm and Effectuall this and No others to be My Last will and Testament: In Witness whereof I have Hereunto Set my hand and seal the Day Month and Year first above Written.

"Signed Sealed Published Pronounced and Nathaniel Wade (seal)
Declared by the sd Nathaniel Wade as his Last
Will and Testament in presence of us the Subscribers
Gideon Harris Aaron Aldrich Abiel Aldrich (her mark)"

"We Gideon Harris Aaron Aldrich and Abiel Aldrich all personally appearing Declared on their Several Engagements that they Saw the above Subscriber Nathaniel Wade Sign Seal and Declare what is hereabove Written to be his Last Will and Testament and that he was then of a Sound and Perfect Mind and Memory and that they and Each of them Did at the same time in the presence of sd Testator and of Each other Subscribe their Names thereunto as Witnesses.
Test. Gideon Harris Court Clerk."

"And the said Ruth Wade and Simon Wade prayd that the said Last will and Testament of the said Nathaniel Wade Might be proved and that Letters of Administration on the personall Estate of the sd Nathaniel Wade Might be granted to them. Whereupon it is Voted that the above will be approved and allowed to be a good and Lawfull Will and be Recorded and that Letters of Administration of the personall Estate of the sd Nathaniel Wade be granted to the sd Ruth Wade and Simon Wade which was done as Followeth (Vizt.)

"These are in his Majesty's Name George the Second King over Great Britain &c to Authorize order and ImpowerRequireth and Impowereth Executors Relating the ???sises and True and Perfect account to ?????? to this Council are to them ?????? have you ??? ?????????? Said Estate with other you D??ings thereon And for you so doing ??? Shall be your Sufficient Authority: Given at a Town Council held in Scituate and Signed and Sealed by order of said Court. Gideon Harris their clerk.

"And the Ruth Wade and Simon Wade Exhibited an Inventory of the personall Estate of the said Nathaniel Wade Deceased to this council in the Following Words (Viz.)

"A True Inventory of all and Singular the goods Chattels Rights and Credits of Nathaniel Wade of Scituate in the County of Providence &c Yeoman Who Departed this Life on the 29th Day of June Last past Apprised this Thirteenth Day of July Annoq. Dom: 1754 by us the Subscribers.

"Imprimis to his Wearing Apparrell .............................. 25:00:00
Item to one Horse ..................................................... 40:00:00
Item to Two cows ..................................................... 72:00:00
Item to one Calf ........................................................ 6:10:00
Item to Six Swine ..................................................... 31:00:00
Item to one Saddle and Bridle .................................... 6:00:00
Item to one Loom and Some Tackling ......................... 9:00:00
Item to Ten Pounds of Sheeps Wool ........................... 5:00:00
Item to Some Flax Seed and Some Callovants ............ 1:08:00
Item to one Box with Some Salts and Some
Other Small Things in it .......................................... 1:10:00
Item to some old Casks and a peck Measure
and a Chest to keep Grain in ................................... 6:03:00
Item to one pair of Plow Irons and Irons for Heifer Horses .2:10:00
Item to one pair of Bottle Rings and two Grain Wedges .. 1:18:00
Item to one Broad Ax 90/ one Harrow Ax 5/ .................. 4:15:00
Item to Four Mill Pecks and an Iron Wedge .................. 3:18:00
Item to Carpenter Tools and Some ShoeMakers Tools
and old Irons ........................................................... 6:12:00
Item to Some Turning Tools 20/ and one Scyth
and Tackling 69/ ..................................................... 4:09:00
Item to one Iron Bar .................................................... 4:16:00
Item to one Cow Hide and one Calf Skin ....................... 4:04:00
Item to Two Bells 40/ one H???ell 20/ .......................... 3:00:00
Item to Seventeen Bushells of Indian Corn ................... 21:05:00
Item to one pair of Cards 33/ and
Two Spinning Wheels 75/ ........................................ 5:08:00
Item to one Feather Bed and Furniture ....................... 20:10:00
Item to one Ditto and Furniture ................................... 20:10:00
Item to one Flock Bed and Furniture ........................... 12:12:00
Item to one Chest 30/ and one Warming pan 50/ .......... 4:00:00
Item to Pewter ???ssells ............................................ 6:16:00
Item to Two Fire Shovels 40/ and one Trowell 40/ .......... 4:00:00
Item to one Iron Pot and Two Iron Kettles ..................... 4:12:00
Item to one Box Iron 20/ one CandleStick 5/
and Frying Pan 12/ ................................................. 5:17:00
Item to one Earthen Jugg and some Mollasses
and a Glass Bottle .................................................. 1:05:00
Item to Some Milk Juggs and other Wooden Wair ......... 2:00:00
Item to Two pails 23/ Two Washing Tubs 19/
Three Chairs 13/ one Table 20/ ................................ 3:15:00
Item to Three Knives and Forks 17/ one Razor 7/
some Nails 10/ ....................................................... 1:14:00
Item to Some Sall??s and some Candles 40/
and Some Books 26/ .............................................. 3:06:00
Item to Three pounds of flax 21/ one ounce of Indego 13/ . 1:14:00
Item to about 40 lb salt pork L8 and Meat Rass?ll 23/ .... 9:05:00
Item to paper Bills of Credit .......................................... 1:05:00
Item to Bank Accounts ............................................ 104:08:05
-----------------
Total 321:07:05
John Howland Gideon Harris"

"And Ruth Wade and Simon Wade Both Declared on their Engagements that they has put the Personall Estate of the said Nathaniel Wade into the above Inventory that was come to their Knowledge and that if any Thing More thereof does thereafter appears or Come to their Knowledge they will add the Same to sd Inventory. And John Howland and Gideon Harris Both personally appearing Declared on their Engagement that the above Inventory is a True Apprisall of all that was Set Fourth to them to be of the Estate of the sd Nathaniel Wade Decesd. Whereupon it is voted that the above Inventory be accepted and allowed to be a Good and Lawfull Inventory and be Recorded.... Test. Gideon Harris Court Clerk."

Nathaniel names his wife and five living children in his will. The personal estate listed in the inventory was substantial. There is no inventory of his real estate, which he directed to be sold, and 300 pounds of the proceeds were to be given to his wife, Ruth, and the balance to be divided by his three sons. I have not searched yet for the real estate sales. It will be interesting to see how much was gained by the sale.

Nathaniel's widow, Ruth (Hawkins) Wade married (2) Zebedee Hopkins (1697-1789) in 1758 in Scituate, and they had no children. Ruth died on 7 December 1789 in Glocester, Rhode Island and her estate was probated there in early 1790. I transcribed her will and presented it two years ago in Amanuensis Monday - the Will of Ruth (Hawkins) (Wade) Hopkins. She names her living children, a cousin and a granddaughter.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/amanuensis-monday-will-of-nathaniel.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

CVGS Program on Wednesday, 25 January: "Genealogy Is Fun! Seriously!"

2012-01-22T17:56:00.000-08:00

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The January program meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society is this coming Wednesday, 25 January 2012, at 12 noon in the Auditorium of the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street in Chula Vista).

The program speaker will be Randy Seaver on the topic "Genealogy Is Fun! Seriously!"

The presentation summary:

Believe it or not, there is a lot of humor in genealogy research – names, epitaphs, wills, cartoons, videos, sayings, poetry, apparel, wisdom, genealogisms, etc. This presentation takes a light-hearted look at the best of the genealogy humor sites and humorous entries in genealogical databases. In addition, attendees will play a special game during the presentation - the winner gets to take Randy out for dessert!

Randy's genea-CV:

Our speaker, Randy Seaver, is a native Chula Vistan. His ancestry is mainly colonial New England and Upper Atlantic, with some colonial German, French and Dutch forebears, and several 19th-century English immigrants. He has been pursuing his elusive ancestors since 1988, and has been online since 1992.

Randy is a former President of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society, and is currently the Newsletter Editor and Research Chair. He speaks to Southern California societies, libraries and groups; teaches "Beginning Computer Genealogy" adult classes at OASIS; and writes the Genealogy 2.0 column for the FGS FORUM magazine. He is a member of NGS, NEHGS, SDGS, CGSSD, CVGS and SCGS. Randy blogs daily about genealogy subjects at Genea-Musings (www.geneamusings.com), The Geneaholic (www.Geneaholic.com) and the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe (http://CVGenCafe.blogspot.com).

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/cvgs-program-on-wednesday-25-january.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 15 to 21 January 2012

2012-01-22T12:10:00.000-08:00

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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:

* Path of Least Persistence by Daniel Hubbard on the Personal Past Meditations - A Genealogical Blog. Where are you in Daniel's list of modes?

* Who Are the Genealogy Rock Stars? by John D. Reid on the Anglo-Celtic Connections blog. John makes some nominations, asks for others. The deadline is 22 January, and then we can vote!

* The 6 basic principles of sharing your family history with your children by Janet Hovorka on The Chart Chick blog. Janet has been having her children work on their family history, with positive results.

* Open-Mindedness and Compromise Not Dirty Words by Polly Kimmitt on the PollyBlog. Polly has great advice for technology and traditional genealogists and societies - play nice and get along for everyone's benefit.
* Part 1: How old did folks have to be, Part 2 and Part 3 by Judy G. Russell on The Legal Genealogist blog. Judy provides the answer for a number of scenarios in this series.

* Have You Hugged a New Genealogist Today? by Diane Beumenot on the One Rhode Island Family blog. Diane offers ten things about being a new genealogist.

* Android Tablets and Genealogy by Banai Feldstein on The Ginger Jewish Genealogist Blog. Banai disagrees with Dick Eastman on this subject and explains why.

* Indexes, Indices and the Enemy by Kathleen Brandt on the a3genealogy blog. Kathleen reviews a census record on Ancestry, solves her clients problem, and shares insights on indexing and indexes.

* 11 Tips for Attending RootsTech 2012 by Julie Cahill Tarr on the GenBlog blog. Julie has great suggestions - I printed it out.

* What is left to digitize? by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog. James reviews some of the big digitizers, and finds there's still lots to digitize!

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.

* Monday Recap for January 16, 2012 by Amanda on the Geni.com Blog.

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

* Genealogy Round Up, January 19 by Megan Smolenyak on the Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak's Roots World blog

* Follow Friday: This Week's Favorite Finds by Jen on the Climbing My Family Tree blog.

* Follow Friday - January 20, 2012 by Wendy Littrell on the All My Branches Genealogy blog.

* Genealogy News Corral - Jan 16-20 by Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog.

* Follow Friday Gems - 1/20/12 by Deb Ruth on the Adventures in Genealogy blog.

* Notable Genealogy Blog Posts, 22 January 2012 by Michael Hait on the Planting the Seeds 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 1140 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/best-of-genea-blogs-15-to-21-january_22.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012.

Rootstech 2012 Presentations - 1:45 p.m. Friday, 3 February

2012-01-21T16:16:00.000-08:00

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I'm going to list all of the presentations at RootsTech 2012 session by session in a series of posts. You can see the full schedule of all sessions at http://rootstech.org/schedule/index.

Here is the schedule for Friday, 3 February at 1:45 p.m. until 2:45 p.m. The links provide information on the presentation and the speaker:

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 257

Presentation for Intermediate Developers

Introduction to Groovy and Grails by Bill Carroll

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 155

Presentation for Intermediate Users

Genealogists “Go Mobile” by Sandra Crowley

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 355A

Presentation for Intermediate Users

A Report Card for the Genealogy Software Industry by Ron Tanner

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 255D

Presentation for Intermediate Developers

Implementation of a REST API for the new FamilySearch Family Tree by Sam Fletcher

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 355D

Presentation for All Developers

Instant Databases in the Cloud for Genealogy Practioners and Developers by Brent Juelich and Jonathan Vincenzo

1:45 - 4:00 pm, Room 258

Hands-on Workshop for Intermediate Users

Word Processing Tricks for Genealogical Publishing by Jeri Steele

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 255E

Presentation for Beginner Users

5 New Things to Try at Ancestry.com by Crista Cowan and Anne Mitchell

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 255C

Presentation for Intermediate Users

Genealogical Uses for QR Codes by Thomas MacEntee

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 255B

Presentation for Intermediate Users

Use Adobe Creative Suite to Self Publish Your Family History Book by Nancy Barnes

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 255F

Presentation for Beginner Users

Learning Genealogy Online: So Many Choices, So Little Time! By Lisa Alzo

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 255D

Presentation for Beginner Users

Understanding WordPress by Amy Johnson Crow

1:45 - 2:45 pm, Room 259

Presentation for All Developers

Ancestral Lines Pairing System: Uniquely Numbering Each Ancestral Line, Generation, Pairing and Sibling by Capers McDonald

The sessions that I might attend include:

* Sandra Crowley's talk

* Lisa Alzo's talk

* Ron Tanner's talk

Which session would you like to attend?

Disclosure: I am an Official Blogger for RootsTech 2012, and have had my registration fee paid for by the organization. I look forward to attending this conference!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/rootstech-2012-presentations-145-pm.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Do Some Random Research

2012-01-21T12:04:00.000-08:00

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Hey genealogy buffs - it's Saturday Night and time for more Genealogy Fun! Play along with us and tell us about it.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to follow Chris Staats' rules (from Freaky Friday: Random Research Reports) for picking a random person's name and then doing some online research about that person. Here are Chris's rules:

1. Go to The Random Name Generator and click the red “Generate Name” button at the top of the screen (more than once if you want). Pick one of the names you see.

2. Go to Ancestry.com and enter your generated name in the search box on the main search page. [Randy's add: If you don't have Ancestry.com, go to https://www.familysearch.org/ and do it there - it's free.]

3. From the results, your research target will be the first census result for your generated name.

4. Using whatever online resources are at your disposal, see what else you can discover about your random person and write about it. It can be a formal report complete with footnotes, or just a “research story” about what you tried, problems you overcame, or success you had. Maybe you want to create a research plan for practice?

5. Post about it on your own blog, or as a comment here, or a comment on Facebook, Google Plus or Twitter.

Here's mine:

1) My random name is Juliette Wood.

2) On Ancestry.com, the first census record was the 1870 U.S. census, and the first Juliette Wood was:

3) Juliette Wood - age 47, female, black, born South Carolina. She resided in Four Mile, Barnwell County, South Carolina. She was married to Spencer Wood (age 50), and had six (probable) children living with her - Willoughby (age 26), Linda Wood (age 25), Ellen Wood (age 23), Spencer Wood (age 20), George Wood (age 18) and Joe Wood (age 12).

4) I looked in the 1880 and 1900 US Census records, and did not find her using all of my search tricks. I couldn't find Willoughby Wood or Spencer Wood (father or son). I also tried putting just the first names "Spenc* or Willo* in the search, with a parent of Spenc* or Juli* without success (meaning there were no likely matches in the results in SC or the US).

Putting Juli* Wood born 1818-1828 in South Carolina on the Ancestry.com global Search page resulted in just a few hits, including the 1870 census record.

Over on FamilySearch, a search for Juliette Wood (born 1818-1828 in SC) gave over 13,000 matches, but none were the 1870 census record seen on Ancestry. Strange. A search for Juli* Wood (exact) born 1818-1828 in SC resulted in 6 possible matches, none of them this woman.

Being African ancestored, she and her family were probably slaves before emancipation. On the page before Juliette's 1870 page, there is a Wm. Wood (white, age 30) with a wife and child, who may have been the son of the plantation owner who owned the Woods. The Spencer Wood family may have changed their names, may have moved away, or may have died before the 1880 census.

A Google search for the terms [juliette "spencer wood" barnwell carolina] turned up no results.

A search for Spencer Wood with a keyword of Barnwell resulted in several pages on GenealogyBank, but none with the names together.

I'll give up, and hope that some descendants of Juliette's children Google her name and find my post and can see her listed in the 1870 US Census.

The URL of this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-do-some.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Surname Saturday - ALLEN (England > Massachusetts)

2012-01-21T07:35:00.000-08:00

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It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week. I am now up to number 357, who is Rachel Allen (1708-????), one of my 6th-great-grandparents. [Note: The 6th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts]

My ancestral line back through five generations of ALLEN ancestors 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)

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

22. Henry Arnold White ((1824-1885)
23. Amy Frances Oatley (1826-before 1870)

44. Jonathan White (1806-1850)
45. Miranda Wade (1806-1850)

88. Humphrey White (1758-1814)
89. Sybil Kirby (1764-1848)

178. David Kirby (1740-1832)
179. Martha Soule (1743-1828)

356. Ichabod Kirby, born about 1710 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States; died about 1794 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of 712. Robert Kirby and 713. Rebecca Potter. He married 21 February 1733 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States.
357. Rachel Allen, born 11 July 1708 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States.

Children of Ichabod Kirby and Rachel Allen are: John Kirby (1734-1809); Ruhamah Kirby (1737-1807); David Kirby (1740-1832); Rachel Kirby (1747-1818).

714. Joseph Allen, born 04 March 1667 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States; died 31 January 1735 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States. He married before 1700 in probably Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States.
715. Rachel, died 10 April 1731 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States.

Children of Joseph Allen and Rachel are: Lidia Allen (1700-1772); Phillis Allen (1703-1790); Joseph Allen (1704-????); Rachel Allen (1708-????); Elizabeth Allen (1710-1759).

1428. Joseph Allen, born about 1647 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States; died September 1704 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States. He married July 1664 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States.
1429. Sarah Holloway, born about 1642 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States; died about 1675 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States. She was the daughter of 2858. Joseph Holloway and 2859. Rose Allen.

Children of Joseph Allen and Sarah Holloway are: Abigail Allen (1663-1733); Rose Allen (1665-????); Joseph Allen (1667-1735); John Allen (1669-????); Philip Allen (1671-????); William Allen (1673-1760); Josiah Allen (1675-1718).

2856. Ralph Allen, born about 1615 in England; died before 19 March 1698 in Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States. He married about 1638.
2857. Susannah, died before 1691 in Massachusetts, United States.

Children of Ralph Allen and Susannah are: Philip Allen (1640-1671); Benjamin Allen (1642-1669); John Allen (1644-1706); Joseph Allen (1647-1704); Ebenezer Allen (1650-1725); Increase Allen (1659-1724); Zachariah Allen (1662-????); Mary Allen (1664-1675); Patience Allen (1666-1711).

5712. George Allen, born before 1585 in Weymouth, Dorset, England; died before 02 May 1648 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of 11424. John Allen.

Children of George Allen are: Samuel Allen (1605-1669); John Allen (1607-1689); Rose Allen (1609-1692); Joan Allen (1613-1638); Robert Allen (1615-1661); Ralph Allen (1615-1698); George Allen (1618-1693)

The best information that I have, with significant biographical information about these families, is:

The English ancestry and New England descendants of George Allen have been treated in several works, but the conclusions drawn have not been consistent or complete. One line of the family was treated in the book The Ancestry of Dr. J.P. Guilford by Joan S.Guilford (published by Sheridan Psychological Services, Inc., 1990), Volume 1, page 1. This work extensively discusses the available English data and the New England family, including a transcription of George Allen's will. This work discusses the hypotheses that this particular George Allen married Katherine Starkes or Catherine Davis, and states that the available data does not support either supposition. Another hypothesis offered by Guilford is that George Allen was the one baptized on 4 April 1582 in Exeter in Devonshire, son of John Allen, who died in Landkey in Devonshire and left a will naming sons siblings William, George, James, Mathew and John. Guilford makes a strong case that this George Allen had a brother named Ralph Allen, born about 1590.

The most recent work is the book Ancestral Lines, Third Edition by Carl Boyer, 3rd, published by the author, Santa Clarita, CA, 1998. Boyer reviews the previous works and concludes that the first George Allen and the first Ralph Allen of Sandwich, Massachusetts were brothers, and the sons of John Allen of Saltford in County Somerset in England. He discussed the possibility that the George Allen who married Katherine Starkes in 1624 in All Hollows Church in London, the son of Richard Allen, moneyer of the Tower of London, is this particular George Allen, but the age of this Katherine was not consistent with the age of the immigrant Katherin Allen in 1635. Boyer suggests that he married (lastly) Katherine Davis of Tickenham in County Somerset, the daughter of Rice Davis. Unfortunately, the surviving Saltford parish registers start in 1712, and the extant Bishop's Transcripts are not helpful.

Are there any Allen cousins with authoritative information?

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/surname-saturday-allen-england.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Follow-Up Friday - in which I Confess to Using Derivative Sources

2012-01-20T13:09:00.000-08:00

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I really enjoyed the Thomas W. Jones seminar last weekend, and wrote about it in SDGS Seminar Review - Four Thomas W. Jones Presentations.

One of my comments was:

"The idea I found most intriguing was that an index is not really a source to be cited, whether it's in the back of a book, or an online searchable database with names, dates and places. Researchers should use the index as a finding aid and obtain the original source record since indexes are derivative sources with secondary information."

Reader David Newton commented on my blog post, saying:

"That a false choice. Indexes to books are not sources to be cited because the book in question is available automatically. Indexes to things like birth registers and the like can be sources to be cited legitimately because the registers themselves might not be available or only available after the payment of more money etc.

"If I had not cited the GRO in England and Wales' BMD indexes as a source for my family tree I would have not known where I got an awful lot of information. I do not have the certificates so I cannot cite them and the registers themselves are not open to public inspection so I cannot cite them. In the 20th century these indexes alone can sometimes be used to reconstruct significant proportions of the trees of unusual names as they contain mother's maiden name information for births and spouse's surname information for marriages.

"They are not a perfect source, but at the moment they are the only one I have for significant proportions of my tree. Just because they are derivative sources with secondary information does not mean that they should not be cited where access to the source they are derived from is not possible/has not taken place yet."

My response is:

1) I was just reporting what Tom Jones said, not that I totally agreed with it. He used an example of a California Birth Index available on Ancestry.com (and other sites). The birth index provides only the child's full name, the birth date, the birth county, and (usually) the mother's maiden name. He noted that these were all clues for the child's birth information, but the "primary" information is recorded in the birth register at the county level from which birth certificates are created by the county and the state. The Birth Register is the "original source," the Birth Certificate is a derivative source (treated as "original" by many researchers and heritage societies) and the online birth index is a derivative source (several times removed from the original source). The birth certificates are available for a fee. If a researcher wants to obtain direct evidence and primary information for the name, date, place, parents, etc. for a birth in California, they should order the Birth Certificate. In this case, the records are available, but there is a fee and a wait time.

2) Thomas W. Jones professional work is in proving difficult to solve cases. He routinely uses derivative sources, like indexes and databases on microfilm or online, as finding aids to the original sources with primary information that will solve his research problems. He is usually spending someone else's money to do this. His advice in his presentation was absolutely correct, but I think he, and other professional researchers like him, realize that researchers like David, myself and many others have to use derivative sources in order to work on our ancestral problems.

3) David cites the situation in England with respect to births, marriages and deaths since 1837. The actual register entries for the events are not available for public inspection, and the researcher must obtain a certificate from the GRO, for a fee, in order to obtain primary information from an original source. There are, however, publicly available register indexes with the name, approximate date, and registration district to use as a finding aid for researchers. In some cases, the birth is also recorded in parish registers after 1837, which are available in repositories or on microfilm. In this case, similar to the California case, the records are available, but there is a fee and a wait time.

4) There are some U.S. states and countries where vital records are not available due to privacy restrictions, except the person named, some family members, or legal representatives can obtain access to vital records certificates or registers. In this case, the researcher will have to wait until the restrictions expire or are lifted by law, or use alternative resources (census, directories, family papers, etc.) in order to obtain vital records information.

5) True confession: My family tree database is full of derivative source material derived from published books (including what I consider authoritative works, such as Anderson's The Great Migration Begins series for 1620-1633 New England immigrant colonial families), online databases (including the Massachusetts Vital Records Index, 1841-1910, the California Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes, Find-A-Grave, USGenWeb transcriptions, etc.), and even online family trees. The database is a working file - it's where I put my event assertions (birth, baptism, marriage, death, occupation, residence, census, burial, etc.) and where I select a Conclusion from those assertions based on my analysis of the available evidence. Not every conclusion has been the result of a "reasonably exhaustive search." I also discard assertions that have been superseded by higher quality information (e.g., a census record might indicate a birth in "about 1857" .but a death record might provide an exact date).

6) Many published books provide footnotes referring to "original sources" (e.g., English parish registers, German church records, town records, vital record certificates, land records, probate records, etc.).
and these are the "finding aids" for researchers to go find to raise their source quality from "derivative" to "original." Some researchers cite the published book (derivative source) that they use, and add a phrase such as "citing Charlestown Town Records, Volume 1, Page 46" to lead the reader to the original source.

7) There is merit to pursuing the "perfect" source but we often have to settle for the "good" source. I understand Tom Jones comment, and realize that he tries to pursue the "perfect" because that's his job, and is the ideal "best practice" in genealogy research. In my opinion, the next best "practice" is to use authoritative published books and periodicals, and online databases, to obtain "good" information, and cite it, and then to strive to find the original source information. But there is only so much time in the day to pursue these issues.

8) Thank you, David, for the extensive comment, and I agree with you that there are some original sources that are unable to be viewed, or are expensive to obtain, and that derivative sources in books or databases have research value.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/follow-up-friday-in-which-i-confess-to.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Rootstech 2012 Presentations - 11:00 a.m. Friday, 3 February

2012-01-20T11:10:00.000-08:00

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I'm going to list all of the presentations at RootsTech 2012 session by session in a series of posts. You can see the full schedule of all sessions at http://rootstech.org/schedule/index.

Here is the schedule for Friday, 3 February at 11:00 a.m. until 12 noon. The links provide information on the presentation and the speaker:

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 255E

Presentation for Beginner Users

Using a Blog as Your Online Research Log by Drew Smith

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 255B

Panel or Discussion for Intermediate Users

Genealogy 2.0: international panelists discuss their use of social media to connect with cousins, collaborate on projects, discuss issues, market and promote genealogy services and perform acts of genealogical kindness. by Jill Ball, Audrey Collins, Amy Coffin and Lorine McGinnis-Schultze

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 255D

Presentation for Beginner Developers

Citation Principles for Tech Creators by Robert Raymond

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 355A

Presentation for Beginner Users

Database Design 101 by Amy Johnson Crow

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 255F

Presentation for Intermediate Users

No More Guessing, Secure Your Computer and Data in 10 Easy Steps by Barry Ewell

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 255C

Presentation for Intermediate Users

Telling stories: transforming the bare facts of genealogy into the astonishing tale of you and your family. by Ian Tester

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 155

Presentation for Intermediate Developers

Optimizing Your Site for Search Engines by Robert Gardner

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 257

Presentation for Beginner Developers

Tools and methods for internationalization of applications by Aaron Davis

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 258

Hands-on Workshop for Beginner Users

Snagit for Genealogists by Barbara Renick

11:00 am - 12:00 pm Room 355D

Presentation for All Developers

Scalable Applications: Handling Big Data on the Public Cloud by Sam Fletcher

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 255A

Presentation for Intermediate Developers

A Robust Open-source GEDCOM Parser by Dallan Quass and Ryan Knight

11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Room 259

Presentation for Intermediate Developers

Developing iOS applications using Apple's Core Data and iCloud Storage APIs by Joshua Proulx

The sessions that I might attend include:

* The Genealogy 2.0 panel with four geneabloggers

* Barry Ewell's talk

* Ian Tester's talk

Which session would you like to attend?

Disclosure: I am an Official Blogger for RootsTech 2012, and have had my registration fee paid for by the organization. I look forward to attending this conference!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/rootstech-2012-presentations-1100-am.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Follow Friday - This Weekend's Genealogy Radio Shows

2012-01-20T08:48:00.000-08:00

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There are two genealogy-related radio shows on Blog Talk Radio (www.blogtalkradio.com) this weekend. They are:

1) GeneaBloggers Radio Episode 51 -- Go Local: Local History and Genealogy. This show is hosted by Thomas MacEntee and is on:

Friday, January 20, 2012
9pm-10:30pm Eastern US
8-9:30pm Central US
7-8:30pm Mountain US
6-7:30pm Pacific US
2am London UK1pm Saturday Sydney AUS

The show co-host this week is Lisa Alzo. The show guests are:

* Marion Woodfork Simmons of The Discovering Yesterday blog and author of Memories of Union High: An Oasis in Caroline County, Virginia 1903-1969 – she’ll tell us how she has combined her love of local history and genealogy into her recent book.
* Steve Glauberman, CEO of Enlighten Ventures and creator of the startup site What Was There – a virtual time machine you have to see to believe.
* Author Dan Burns, known as “the cop who could write more than tickets,” who has written four local history books about the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area.

You can read more information about the guests at GENEABLOGGERS RADIO – SHOW NOTES FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2012

Don’t forget that there is a chat room where all the “cool kids” hang out on Friday night! Sign in to BlogTalkRadio with your Facebook account or set up a free BlogTalkRadio account to join in the fun.

2) FGS Radio - My Society, an Internet radio show on Blog Talk Radio presented by the Federation of Genealogical Societies. This week's show is Crafting an Effective Member Survey. It will be hosted by Randy Whited. The show airs at:

Saturday, January 21, 2012
2-3pm Eastern US
1-2pm Central US
12-1pm Mountain US
11am-12pm Pacific US

The special guests and features include:

* Paula Hinkel, of the FGS-member society Southern California Genealogical Society in Burbank, California, and
* Taneya Koonce, a member of the FGS Education Committee. Paula and Taneya will discuss all facets of survey design, implementation methods and analysis.
* Spotlighted FGS member society, Idaho Genealogical Society.

You can read more information about the guests at FGS Radio -- Crafting an Effective Member Survey.

You can also listen to the archived shows on Blog Talk Radio by going to the two show sites:

* Geneabloggers Radio: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/geneabloggers/

* FGS Radio - MySociety: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mysociety/

Enjoy!!

Rootstech 2012 Presentations - 9:45 a.m. Friday, 3 February

2012-01-19T13:48:00.001-08:00

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I'm going to list all of the presentations at RootsTech 2012 session by session in a series of posts. You can see the full schedule of all sessions at http://rootstech.org/schedule/index.

Here is the schedule for Friday, 3 February at 9:45 a.m. until 19:45 a.m. The links provide information on the presentation and the speaker:

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 355D

Presentation for All Developers

Supercharge the Experience with HTML5 and Ajax by Dovy Paukstys

9:45 - 10:45 am , Room 155

Presentation for Intermediate Users

Publish Your Genealogy Online by Laura Prescott

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 259

Hands-on Workshop for Intermediate Developers

Building high-performance web services with SCALA by Timothy Stokes

9:45 - 10:45 am , Room 255E

Presentation for Intermediate Users

Can You Hear Me Now? Voice Recognition Software and Genealogy by Luana Darby

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 255A

Presentation for Intermediate Developers

Deep Linking and Deeper Linking: How I get the most out of existing Search Applications by Stephen Morse

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 255D

Presentation for Beginner Users

Awesome Family Websites: Record Your Living Family History by Tevya Washburn and Kurt Francom

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 258

Hands-on Workshop for All Users

Google Search 2012 by Dan Lynch

9:45 - 10:45 am , Room 255C

Presentation for Intermediate Users

A User’s Perspective: Developing a Universal Metadata Structure for Genealogical Content Providers by D. Joshua Taylor

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 257

Presentation for Beginner Developers

Implementing a continuous interaction and deployment strategy for PHP/LAMP applications by Don Stringham

9:45 - 10:45 am , Room 255B

Presentation for Beginner Users

New Avenues in Genetic Genealogy by Jane Buck and Elise Friedman

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 255F

Presentation for Beginner Users

Genealogy Internet Gems by Ancestry Insider

9:45 - 10:45 am, Room 355A

Presentation for Beginner Developers

Introduction to jQuery and Family Search by David Hansen

I may attend any one of these presentations:

* Laura Prescott's talk

* Dan Lynch's workshop (but I think it's sold out)

* D. Joshua Taylor's talk

Which session would you like to attend?

Disclosure: I am an Official Blogger for RootsTech 2012, and have had my registration fee paid for by the organization. I look forward to attending this conference!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/rootstech-2012-presentations-945-am.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Who are the Genealogy Rock Stars? Nominate your Favorites

2012-01-19T10:50:00.000-08:00

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John d. Reid, on his Anglo-Celtic Connections blog, has asked for nominations for "Genealogy Rock Stars" in his post "Who are the genealogy rock stars?"

John doesn't provide criteria, but does note:

"Who gives "must attend" presentations at genealogy conferences? Who is it, when you see a new family history article or publication by that person, makes it a must buy? Those are the genealogy rock stars. Who are they? Please leave your nomination as a comment, which you can do anonymously. You can even nominate yourself!"

The current list of nominees, many provided by readers, is in "Genealogy rock star nominations update."

If you have nominees that you want to suggest, please make a comment on one of those two blog posts (not on my blog post).

Nominations will be open until midnight on Sunday, 22 January (presumably Eastern time). Separate lists for the different countries (presumably USA, Canada and the British Isles) will be presented for voting.

Stay tuned to John's blog and get ready to vote your favorite genealogy rock star!

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/who-are-genealogy-rock-stars-nominate.html

Copyright (x) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Treasure Chest Thursday - Kemp/Wilson Marriage Record

2012-01-19T08:10:00.000-08:00

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It's Treasure Chest Thursday - a time to reveal another gem in my treasure chest of family history.

I found the marriage record of James Abraham Kemp and Melissa Wilson online at Ancestry.com ("Ontario, Canada Marriages, 1801-1928," online database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), Melissa Wilson and James A. Kemp, Registration No. 10111, page 670, Simcoe County, 1876; citing original data at Ontario, Canada. Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928. MS932, Reels 1-833, 850-880. Archives of Ontario, Toronto).

A record transcription is also in the FamilySearch historical record collection titled "Ontario Marriages, 1869-1927" without the record image. That record points to the microfilm that the Ancestry.com image was obtained from: "Marriages, no. 8460-12497 (v. E-H) 1876, on US/CAN Film 1863647 at the Family History Library.

The image obtained on Ancestry.com is:

The information on this marriage record includes:

County of Simcoe
Division of Innisfil
His Name: James Abraham Kemp
Age: 42
Residence When Married: Norfolk co. Canada
Place of Birth: Canada
Bachelor or Widower: W
Rank or Profession: Builder
Names of Parents: Abraham & Sarah Kemp
Her Name: Melissa Wilson
Age: 35
Residence When Married: Bell Ewart Innisfil
Place of Birth: Canada
Spinster or widower: S
Names of Parents: Alfred & Martha Wilson
Names & Residences of Witnesses: ____ Wilson, ____ Law, Bell Ewart Innisfil
Date and Place of Marriage: 16th November 1876 Brides Residence
Religious Denomination of Bridegroom: Methodist
Religious Denomination of Bride: Baptist
By Whom Married: Rev. Wm McConnell
By License or Banns: L

This was the second marriage of James Abraham Kemp (1831-1902), who married (1) Mary Jane Sovereen (1841-1874). They were the parents of my great-grandmother, Georgianna (Kemp) Auble (1868-1952).