Saturday, October 8, 2011

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Genealogy Database Statistics

...
Hey genea-philes - it's Saturday Night!  Time for more Genealogy Fun!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  If you have your family tree research in a Genealogy Management Program (GMP), whether a computer software program or an online family tree, figure out how to find how many persons, places, sources, etc. are in your database (hint:  the Help button is your friend!).

2)  Tell us which GMP you use, and how many persons, places, sources, etc. are in your database(s) today in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook status or Google+ stream comment.

Here's mine:

I use RootsMagic 4 at present for my Genealogy Management Program of choice.  In File > Properties this window popped up:


The information in this window says my current database has:

*  People: 41324
*  Families:  16331
*  Events: 107906
*  Alternate names: 377
*  Places: 4839
*  Sources: 686
*  Citations: 22917
*  Repositories: 65
*  To-do tasks: 4
*  Multimedia items: 9
*  Multimedia links: 8
*  Addresses: 1
*  Correspondence: 0

If I do this in other programs, the process is:

*  Family Tree Maker 16 (and earlier):  Tools > Family File Statistics
*  Family Tree Maker 2008 (and later):  in "Plan" workspace, click "More" button
*  Legacy Family Tree 7: Help > General Information

*  Ancestry Member Tree:  Select your tree, then click on "Tree Pages," and select "Tree Overview."

While I use each of these programs, the only program file that is "up-to-date" is my RootsMagic 4 database.

Surname Saturday - PEIRCE (England > Massachusetts)

...
It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week. I am up to number 281, who is Mary PEIRCE (1682-1713), 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 PIERCE  families is:

1. Randall J. Seaver

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

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

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

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

34. Alpheus B. Smith (1802-1840)
35. Elizabeth Horton Dill (1791-1869)
70.  Thomas Dill (1755-after 1830)
71.  Hannah Horton (1761-1797)

140.  Thomas Dill (1708-1761)
141.  Mehitable Brown (1714-1758)

 280.  Thomas Dill, born 27 January 1682 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 29 January 1718 in Medford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 560. Peter Dill and 561. Thanks Shepard.  He married 17 January 1706 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
 281.  Mary Peirce, born 31 December 1682 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died before 1713 in Medford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  


Children of Thomas Dill and Mary Peirce are: Mary Dill (1706-????); Thomas Dill (1708-1761); Elizabeth Dill (1712-1714).


562.  Nathaniel Pierce, born 04 December 1655 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 1692 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He married 23 March 1680 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
 563.  Elizabeth Pierce, born 25 December 1646 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.  She was the daughter of 1126. Thomas Pierce and 1127. Elizabeth Cole.

Children of Nathaniel Pierce and Elizabeth Pierce are:  Mary Peirce (1682-1713); Hannah Peirce (1684-????); Ichabod Peirce (1686-????).


 1124.  Robert Pierce, born about 1621 in probably Norwich, Norfolk, England; died 10 September 1706 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He married 16 October 1645 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
 1125.  Mary Knight, born 14 July 1620 in Southampton, Hampshire, England; died 18 March 1702 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  She was the daughter of 2250. John Knight.
 

Children of Robert Pierce and Mary Knight are: Judith Pierce (1651-1689); Mary Pierce (1654-1695); Nathaniel Pierce (1655-1692); Thomas Pierce (1657-1693); Elizabeth Pierce (1658-????); Joseph Pierce (1660-1672); Jonathan Pierce (1663-1694); John Pierce (1664-1716); Benjamin Pierce (1667-1715); Sarah Pierce (1669-????); Joseph Pierce (1672-1749).

 2248.  Thomas Pierce, born about 1584 in probably Norwich, Norfolk, England; died 07 October 1666 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.  He married in England.
 2249.  Elizabeth, born about 1595 in England; died after 22 March 1667 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

Children of Thomas Pierce and Elizabeth are:  John Pierce (1610-????); Thomas Pierce (1617-1683); Elizabeth Pierce (1619-1692); Robert Pierce (1621-1706);  Persis Pierce (1626-1683); Mary Pierce (1628-1703); Samuel Pierce (1630-1678).


The wife of Nathaniel Peirce, Elizabeth Peirce, was his first cousin, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Cole) Pierce, and granddaughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (--?--) Pierce. Nathaniel was Elizabeth's third husband, after Thomas Whittemore and Hopestill Foster, and Elizabeth was Nathaniel's second wife, after Hannah Converse.
My sources for these families include the Massachusetts town vital record books and:

*  Frederic Beech Pierce, Pierce Genealogy (Worcester, Mass.:  Charles Hamilton Press, 1882).

*  One line of the Thomas Pierce family was treated in the book:  Joan S. Guilford, The Ancestry of Dr. J.P. Guilford (Orange, Cal.: Sheridan Psychological Services, Inc., 1993), Volume 1, page 607.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Follow-Up Friday: Creating a Naturalization Source Citation

...
In my post Treasure Chest Thursday - A Certificate of Naturalization for T.S. Leland, John Carruthers left this comment:

"Randy, I would like to suggest you have a Follow-Up Friday following your Treasure Chest Thursday.  In particular I would like to know how you sourced/cited the Certificate of Naturalization in RootsMagic. Did you add any Facts? Did you put the complete transcription in the Notes? Did you link the scanned image to your database? Where and How?
"I realize there is no right or wrong way to cite a source but I would value knowing how you approach the problem."

The process I used to add this Fact, the Source Citation for the Fact, and the image of the record to my RootsMagic 4 database was this:

1)  In the "Edit Person" window for Torger Sjurson Leland, I clicked the "Add a Fact" button and selected the "Naturalization" Fact from the dropdown list.  I entered the Date (13 April 1876), the Place (Madison, Dane, Wisconsin, United States), and the Place Details (Circuit Court) to the fields.

2)  With the Naturalization Fact highlighted, I clicked the "Sources" button and selected the "Add  New Source" button in the "Citation Manager" window.  I scrolled down the "Select Source Type" list until I found "Naturalization Record."  That entry noted that the source template was based on:

"National-level Court records; declaration of intention, certificate of arrival; Location optional for E! compatibility; Court as lead element in source list
Ref: [EE, sec 11.49, p 618; E!, p 92]"

I found the entry in the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives for this collection - at http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-dane0088 - in order to obtain information to enter into the source template.

I clicked on the source template for "Naturalization Record" and the entry fields (with my entries) were:

Master Source: Dane County Circuit Court
*  U.S. Court: Dane County (Wisconsin) Circuit Court
*  Series: Dane Series 88
*  Record group: Naturalization Records, 1841-1954
*  Repository:Wisconsin Historical Society Archives
*  Repository location: Madison, Wis.
*  Case or file: Volume 10

Source Details:
*  Name: T.S. Leland
*  Item of Interest:  Certificate of Naturalization, Page 349

I added information to the "Quality" button - I selected Original Source, Primary Information, Direct Evidence.  I added information to the "Repository" button - the  name and location of the Archives.

The completed "Edit Source" screen looked like this:


The Footnote created by this source template is:

T.S. Leland, Certificate of Naturalization, Page 349, Volume 10, Dane County (Wisconsin) Circuit Court; Naturalization Records, 1841-1954; Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Madison, Wis.

3)  With the Naturalization Fact highlighted on the "Edit Person" window, I clicked on the "Media" button and used the "Add new media" button, found the image in my files, and added the media item, including a caption.  The "Media Album" screen looked like:


4)  I clicked on Torger Sjurson Leland's name, and then on the "Note" button (I prefer to keep all of my notes in the Person Note rather than in the specific Fact Note) .  I went to my blog post, copied the transcription of the Certificate of Naturalization, and added the Source citation created above (I try to put source citations in my Notes also).  The Note screen looks like this:


I did have to add italics to the underlined text, and noted that my crossed out word is not crossed out in RootsMagic (there apparently is no option for that in RootsMagic).

5)  The final "Edit Person" screen with the Naturalization Fact highlighted is shown below:


While the actual actions above took me about five minutes, it took me almost 30 minutes to write this post to explain the process!

 Using the RootsMagic Source Templates is really easy to create an EE-quality source.  If you have the book Evidence! Explained, then you can follow that model to write a similar source citation in notes or your software program without using the source templates.  I don't know what I would do without the source templates in genealogy software!

That's my process, John. Thanks for the question!  And thanks for the geneablogging meme idea of "Follow-Up Friday."

More on Norwegian Names

...
I wrote about Norwegian naming systems in Serendipity Happens? Dear Randy: Can you Help with my Lelands? and Dear Randy: How do you enter Scandinavian farm names in your database?  Reader Mike offered the following information about the Norway patronymic system via email:

"While the change from the patronymic system in Norway began about 1870, it wasn't until the 1920s that it became mandatory.  Lots of people apparently thought it was a good idea early on and began to change their names or adopt invariable surnames in the American style early on.  Nonetheless, lots of women were known as someone's daughter (Kari Petersdatter, for instance) when they married in the US.

"Further, the change from Sjur to Sivert is apparently a fairly common one.  Sjur is not a name that American tongues find convenient (pronounced roughly Shoor).  The names Sjur, Sigurd, Siegfried, and Sivert apparently constitute a package of interchangeable names (something like John and Jack or William and Bill in American/English speech).  Americanization of difficult names seems to have been a frequent occurrence in both Scandinavian and  Germanic families.  Alternatively, farm names which were often chosen as surnames in America sometimes were so difficult in English that they were dropped entirely in favor of the patronymic.  My own grandfather, born Sjur Oliver Iversen Aasen, became Sivert Oliver Iverson in the States."


Thank you, Mike, for the information.  Interested readers should also read:

Norwegian naming practices, by John Føllesdal

Scandinavia: Names article in the FamilySearch Research Wiki

Follow Friday - Weekend Genealogy Fun

...
Here are my recommendations for some Genealogy Fun this weekend:

1) Listen to Geneabloggers Radio tonight (Friday night, 10 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. CT, 8 p.m. MT and 7 p.m. PT) hosted by Angela Walton-Raji. This week's topic is "Ethnic Genealogy." The special guests include:

* Linda Geiger CG℠, CGL℠ who will discuss Native American research
*  Lisa B. Lee, PLCGS who will help us learn more about Black Canadian research.

2) Listen to the FGS Radio - My Society show on Saturday (2 p.m. ET, 1 p.m. CT, 12 noon MT, 11 a.m. PT) hosted by Drew Smith this week. The topic is "Focus on Genealogy Society Bylaws." 
The special guests are:

*   Robert a“Bobbi” King will join us as we review issues involved with society bylaws and ways to use them to strengthen your organization.
*  In addition, we’ll be highlighting the Anchorage Genealogical Society in our weekly Society Spotlight feature.

3) Check out the recent Webinars on:

* Researching Your Connecticut Ancestors. by Marian Pierre-Louis (free until 3 October 2011)
* Exploring FamilyLink.com and WorldVitalRecords.com by their founder, Paul Allen.
* "Newspapers for Genealogists: Using GenealogyBank.com to document every day of your ancestors' lives" with Tom Kemp.
* "Organizng for Success" with Karen Clifford (available free indefinitely from Legacy Family Tree)
* "The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships," with Ugo Perugo (available indefinitely from Legacy Family Tree)
* "Leveraging the Power of "We": a Watershed Event in Discovering Where to Find Your Ancestors (Research Wiki, Research Courses, and FamilySearch Forums)," with Michael Ritchey (available from Legacy Family Tree).

* RootsMagic Webinars (all free) available at http://www.rootsmagic.com/Webinars/

* National Genealogical Society (NGS) Videos (some are free to view) at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/videos_online

* Thomas MacEntee's Explorinar on Easy Website Creation (free to view).
* Thomas MacEntee's Explorinar on Evernote - Easy Note Taking UPDATED (free to view)

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

5) Go to a local genealogical society program.  I'm going to the San Diego Genealogical Society program on Saturday morning, featuring Linda Serna, and then going to the Chula Vista Genealogical Society workshop in Bonita in the afternoon.

6) Go to a local or close repository with genealogy and family history material. Do some research in traditional resources or order FamilySearch microfilms online with original source records.

7) do some online research in the latest record collections at FamilySearch (free, https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/list), Ancestry ($$, http://www.ancestry.com/cs/reccol/default), Fold3 ($$, www.fold3.com), WorldVitalRecords ($$, www.WorldVitalRecords.com), American Ancestors ($$, www.AmericanAncestors.org), GenealogyBank ($$, www.GenealogyBank.com), etc.

8) Add material (names, dates, places, notes, images, sources, etc.) to your genealogy software program. I still have three inches of paper collected from my vacation, and will try to enter some of it into my database this weekend.

9) Spend time with your family doing fun things.  Linda and I are going to a wedding on Saturday evening.

10) Go to a local cemetery and clean stones, take gravestone pictures, or transcribe epitaphs for your local society, for Find-a-Grave, or a similar online service.

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

Thursday, October 6, 2011

CVGS Workshop on Saturday, 8 October: "Expanding Your Usage of the Internet"

...
The October CVGS Workshop will be at the Bonita-Sunnyside Library (4375 Bonita Road) at 1 p.m. on Saturday, 8 October. CVGS Member Shirley Becker will lead "Expanding Your Usage of the Internet."

Please bring your laptop as we will be doing things on the Internet, but we will not be able to print. The first part will be on exploring your computers and the second on expanding Internet usage. If you don't have a laptop and know someone willing to share, you are welcome to bring them. If you think you might be getting a laptop and want to sit in, again, you are welcome.

This Library has wireless access and is a little more up-to-date than the lab in Chula Vista, so we will be able to to go to a few sites not available on our third Wednesday Computer Group meeting.

If you have questions, both Gary with a Windows laptop and Shirley with a Mac will try to answer them. We will demonstrate a little bit of copy and paste technique for those not sure how to use it with an internet site.

For more information, contact Virginia via email (irishdoll@cox.net) or phone (619-425-7922).

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 2: Syncing Both Ways

...
In Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 1: Loading and Syncing, I installed Family Tree Maker 2012, imported a GEDCOM file, and uploaded that file to a new Ancestry Member Tree.  I then used the "shaky leaves" on Ancestry.com to add two records, including one image to my Ancestry tree, and also added an image of my own birth certificate to my profile. 

As a result, my FTM 2012 database was no longer the same as my Ancestry Member Tree, so I needed to synchronize ("sync") the two trees.  I chose to do this manually (when I want to do it), rather than automatically (when I open FTM 2012) when I uploaded the FTM database to Ancestry.

Here is the screen when I opened Family Tree Maker 2012 after changing the Ancestry Member Tree content:


In the "Plan" Workspace shown above, the "Online Access Via Ancestry" box says "Sync Needed."  I clicked on the "Sync Now" button in the upper right-hand corner of the "Online Access Via Ancestry" box.  After about ten minutes, the screen looked like this:


The "Online Access Via Ancestry" box says "In Sync" but the Media was still "processing."  After more than three hours of "processing," it still wasn't finished.  I decided that it would never finish, so I exited the program.

\I started FTM 2012 again, and went to the "Media"  Workspace and saw:



There are three media items in the program.  The middle one is the one that did not finish processing - it's the California Marriage Index page with my marriage information from Ancestry.com.  The 1880 census record (which was in the FTM 2012 database initially) and my birth certificate (which I uploaded to my Ancestry Member Tree) are there also, and are complete.

The FTM 2012 "Online Access Via Ancestry" box says that I'm "In Sync."



Once again, there's a hiccup here - sometimes the download from the Ancestry Member Tree to Family Tree Maker 2012 gets hung up, and needs to be restarted to recover using the program.  I will now delete the partially downloaded image from the FTM 2012 database, and see if the sync works flawlessly this time. 

I deleted the partially downloaded image from the FTM 2012 file, and then synchronized the tree again. It quickly told me that I was "In Sync:"


That's great!   Let's look at the "Media" Workspace:


The Marriage Index image that was in my Ancestry Member Tree file was not in the "Media" Workspace after I synced FTM 2012.  Why not?  I have no clue!  I went into my Ancestry Member Tree and the image wasn't there either.  But it was there two days ago, and the only place I deleted it was in FTM 2012 so that I could download it again. 

I went back into my Ancestry Member Tree and attached the record to myself again.  The link to the image shows up in my birth and marriage record:


When I sync again with FTM 2012, the source citation is present, but there is no link to the Ancestry.com image, or to the image itself:


The screen above shows the Source tab for the Marriage source obtained from Ancestry.  The Media tab for the Marriage source shows:


There is no Media shown.  However, there is a button for "Download Image if Available."  I clicked that and saw:


That worked!  The image for the Marriage record was downloaded.  Is it in my "Media" Workspace?


Yes, it is.  However, it doesn't show up in my People > Person > Media tab for some reason:


The source citation list (in the right-hand sidebar) shows that there is a Media item for the marriage, but the "Media" tab for myself, with the Marriage Fact highlighted, does not show the media file.

I don't quite understand what happened in the sequence above.  I've written the last 50% of this blog post as it happened, being really confused by what Ancestry does, and what FTM 2012 does.  It does raise some questions:

1)  Why did the first sync download an image file for the marriage record, but the more recent sync did not?

2)  The "Download Image If Available" button in the People > Person > Edit Source Citation > Media tab downloaded the record image from Ancestry.  Will I have to do this for each image or record that I "Attach" to a person in my Ancestry Member Tree? 

My initial reaction to this synchronizing is that it usually works well... but there are occasional problems that seem to be fixable by trying again.

However, my earlier conclusion that I really want to download record images to my computer and attach them to persons and facts in my genealogy software database, rather than attach them to persons in my Ancestry Member Tree, is still operative.  Why? 

1)  Because I don't want the poorly crafted Ancestry.com source citations in my software database when I have my beautifully crafted source citations :) in my software database already.

2)  Because I don't want to go through the hassle of figuring out how to download Ancestry images in FTM 2012 when it's easier, for me, to get them into FTM 2012, and attached to my software source citations, by saving them from Ancestry.com to my computer files using my file naming system and file organization.  It's all about organization, consistency, and efficiency - doing it right once, and not doing tasks over and over again.

What do my readers want me to investigate in Family Tree Maker 2012?  Please make suggestions in Comments or in email - rjseaver@cox.net - or on Facebook or Google Plus.  This may be an endless FTM 2012 Compendium!

Genealogical Referral Coupon for Scandinavian Research

...
I have talked on the phone and in email with Kim Melchior, who has over 30 years experience as a Scandinavian Researcher, and is located in Utah with access to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.  Kim passed along this Referral Coupon for Genea-Musings readers (I have it in a PDF file if readers want it - email me at rjseaver@cox.net):



Kim Melchior  
Accredited Genealogist

GENEALOGICAL
REFERRAL COUPON 

Expiration Date: 31 December 2011 

Scandinavian Ancestors at Bargain Prices

Get a 10 % discount on your Scandinavian Genealogical Research done by a Native
Scandinavian Accredited Genealogist®.

Coupon MUST be mentioned during initial contact.

Referring genealogist: ______Randy Seaver___________________

Coupon can be used on continual work if arrangements are made in advance.

CONTACT :
Kim Melchior
P O Box 2412
Salt Lake City, Utah 84110
Phone: 435-531-6767
Email: scangen@infowest.com
Web page: www.Scandinaviangenealogy.com

If you need Scandinavian research done, especially in the Family History Library, I recommend Kim's services.

Disclosure:  Kim has offered a 10% referral fee for the referring person when somebody uses the referral coupon.  I have received no compensation for writing this blog post.

Treasure Chest Thursday - A Certificate of Naturalization for T.S. Leland

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

This week, the "treasure" is the Certificate of Naturalization of Torger Sjurson (T.S.) Leland in the Dane County, Wisconsin, Circuit Court Records at the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives.  Finding the records was a two-step process - checking the card file index, and then finding the actual record in a bound book.

Here is a photograph of the Card File Index:


The photograph below is of one of the cards from the file (not T.S. Leland - I had to photocopy his at the direction of the curator, and haven't scanned it yet):


The actual Certificate of Naturalization is below, from Volume 10 of the Court records:


The transcription of this record is (handwritten text in italics and underlined):

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Be it Remembered, That on this 13th day of the month of April
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty 76, and of the Independ-
ence of the United States the 100th T S Leland
an alien, being a Free White Person, appeared before the Circuit
Court of the State of Wisconsin for Dane County, and applied to the Court to be
admitted to become a Citizen of the United States; and the said T.S. Leland
having, more than two years ago, made declaration of his
intended application as aforesaid, in the manner and form prescribed in an Act of Congress
entitled "An Act to establish an uniform rule of Naturalization, and to repeal the Acts
heretofore passed on that subject;" and the Court being satisfied by the testimony of
L.J. Erdall and A. Flom
citizens of the United States, that the said T.S. Leland
has resided within the United States for the continued term of five years last past, and
within the State of Wisconsin one year at least; and that during that time he has behaved
as a man of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United
States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same;  and the said appli-
cant declaring on oath before the Court that he will support the Constitution of the United
States, and that he doth absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidel-
ity to every foreign Prince, Potentate, State or Sovereignty whatsoever, and particularly to
Oscar 2d  King of Norway
whereof he was before a subject.

"Thereupon the Court admitted the said T.S. Leland
to become a citizen of the United States."

I found similar records for L.J. Leeland (13 April 1876) and Ole S. Leland (12 April 1878) in the same collection.  Ole S. Leland was the brother of Torger Sjurson (T.S.) Leland.  I'm not sure who L.J. Leeland is - it may be Torger's uncle, Ivar Torgerson Leland, or his cousin Lars Ivarson Leland (son of Ivar Torgerson Leland).  L.J. Leeland received his certificate on the same day as T.S. Leland, and the same two witnesses are on his certificate.

A separate copy of this Certificate of Naturalization was certainly given to Torger Sjurson Leland at the time that this record was entered into the Circuit Court records above. 

The Certificate above refers to a declaration of intention to naturalize given more than two years before.  I did not find any information on that declaration in the card file or in the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives.  Perhaps it is in another archive or repository.  Does any reader have any idea where it might be found? 

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Open Source Community Source Templates

...
Dovy Paukstys, Chief Technical Officer at Real-Time Collaboration, Inc., passed along this press release about the SourceTemplates Model:

Real-Time Collaboration And Legacy Family Tree Announce the Donation of AncestorSync™ SourceTemplates Model and Legacy’s Source Templates to the Open Source Community.

Legacy Family Tree is donating 1,400 SourceTemplates to complement the AncestorSync SourceTemplates Model
Orem, Utah (Real-Time Collaboration) Oct. 5, 2011- Real-Time Collaboration and Legacy Family Tree have announced the addition of thousands of SourceTemplates and a SourceTemplate model to help standardize the tracking of source materials.   This addition of SourceTemplates and the SourceTemplate model have culminated in a comprehensive resource available for the genealogy community. 

Real-Time Collaboration, Inc’s AncestorSync™ Division recognizes the following companies whose original work and generous contributions allowed AncestorSync™ to aggregate their efforts into this model:  Ancestral Quest, Family Tree Maker, Legacy Family Tree, MacFamily Tree, Personal Ancestral File (PAF), and Roots Magic. 

The AncestorSync™ Division is also working with Better GEDCOM to create additional templates to better serve the global community.

BetterGEDCOM issued this statement, “BetterGEDCOM is an independent group of end users and software developers working toward the next generation of open standards for communicating genealogy information electronically.  We also welcome SourceTemplates.org (http://sourcetemplates.org/) to the effort to develop a widely supported international model for source citations.”

About Real-Time Collaboration, Inc.
Real-Time Collaboration, a genealogy process automation company, melds social networking capabilities with state-of-the-art family history and genealogy technologies to connect individuals around the world who share common ancestors. Real-Time Collaboration is based in Orem, Utah.

For more information about AncestorSync™, contact us at info@ancestorsync.com or 1.877.436.3256 or visit our website at www.ancestorsync.com.

About Legacy Family Tree
Founded in 1984, Millennia Corporation publishes the award-winning Legacy Family Tree genealogy software program, with headquarters in Surprise, Arizona. More information can be found at www.LegacyFamilyTree.com.

My commentary:
 Currently, if a user creates a source citation using a source template in one of the software programs, and tries to use GEDCOM to import their genealogy data file into another program, or to an online tree, the source citations sometimes get mangled. Free-form source citations (which use a limited number of fields) do better than source citations created by the Evidence! Explained source templates because each program uses a different set of GEDCOM tags.
I think that this is fantastic.  What I think it means is that:
*  A user can create their own source citations from scratch using the source templates provided by Legacy Family Tree.
*  A user with source citations created by one of the participating software programs can be transferred to an online tree or to another software program using the AncestorSync program without getting mangled. 

SDGS Meeting on Saturday, 8 October Features Linda Serna

...
The Saturday, 8 October meeting of the San Diego Genealogical Society is at 10 a.m. at St. Andrews Lutheran Church (8350 Lake Murray Blvd in San Diego).

The featured speaker, for both sessions, is Linda Serna.  Here is the meeting summary (from the SDGS Newsletter):

October is Family History Month and all researchers, from beginner to advanced, have something to gain by attending our October meeting to hear our guest speaker, Linda Serna.

The first lecture "What Does It Really Say?" focuses on foreign language records.  Some may feel intimidated when thinking about trying to tackle a research project using foreign records and Linda has some excellent tips that will help get you on your way.

"Hints for More Effective Research" is a road map for planning and successfully executing your research from the conception stage to documenting your research results.

Linda was first bitten by the genealogy bug at age 12.  She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Genealogical Speakers Guild, the Orange County California Genealogical Society, the Polish Genealogical Society, and the Genealogical Society of Hispanic America.  Public speaking is a passion as well as history, writing and traveling.

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 1: Loading and Syncing

...
I received my purchased copy of Family Tree Maker 2012 for Windows in the mail last week, and was finally able to work with it on Tuesday.  I want to share some of my experiences in this series, especially exploring the new features, and looking at things that I've complained about in earlier versions..

The program installed easily and relatively fast (I already had the right Microsoft .NET installed from the Beta work).  I imported a recent GEDCOM file from RootsMagic with over 41,000 persons in it. 

I wanted to test the new FTM 2012 synchronization feature, so I went to the Plan Workspace (top menu button) and saw:


The screen above tells me information about my database, and notes (in the middle panel titled "Online Access via Ancestry") that my file is "Not Uploaded and Linked."  There is a button to "Upload and Link to Ancestry."  Sounds like a plan - who can resist?

I clicked on the button, and a window popped up to help me.  I had to choose a tree name, whether the tree on Ancestry will be "public," and if I want automatic (meaning when I start FTM 2012) or manual
(meaning I have to intentionally start the synchronization): 


I made my choices, and after 31 minutes of waiting, I got this screen:



It says:  "An error occurred during the data upload to Ancestry."  Okay... what's Plan B?

I decided to try again, and this time (without changing anything from before!) it took 34 minutes and I saw this:




It says "Your tree data was uploaded to Ancestry and linked successfully.  Media items will continue to be processed in the background until all are uploaded."  I clicked the box "View online tree now" and clicked the "OK" button:


There's my tree online, populated already (after a minute or so) with little green leaves!  I couldn't resist seeing what hints they had for me!  The two hints were my birth record in the California Birth Index, 1905-1995, and my marriage record in the California Marriage Index, 1960-1985.  I gleefully added them to my online tree.  I then uploaded my Birth Certificate to the online tree from my computer files and linked it to my Birth Fact. 

Obviously, since I just changed my online tree, then FTM 2012 will want to sync with the online tree when I open it again.  We'll look at what happened tomorrow.

Conclusion:  The installation of FTM 2012 was flawless, as was the GEDCOM import.  However, it took two tries to upload the tree into a new Ancestry Member Tree.  I haven't tried to "synchronize" at this point.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 173: Hunting for Natvig Land in Cottage Grove WI

...
I've been posting old family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but now I want to post some current photographs. This is not a wordless posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.

On Day 12 of the Seaver Family History Mystery Tour three weeks ago, we stopped in Cottage Grove, Dane County, Wisconsin in search of the land and houses owned by Linda's great-great-grandfather, Elling Erikson and Anna (Ellingsdatter) Natvig.  They resided in the Town of Cottage Grove (Township 7N, Range 11E)  off Natvig Road, which intersects County Road N just north of US Highway 12/18.  I found several land parcels in Section 28 on the 1873, 1890, 1899 and 1911 plat maps on Ancestry.com, and at one time the Natvig family owned almost the entire Section.

We took some pictures:

1)  Here is Linda beside the Natvig Rd. street sign:


2)  We drove along Natvig Road several times, and the oldest house we saw was this one near the southern end of the road, right where it jogs:



This house looks too modern, but it's on the Natvig land.

3)  The 1890 and 1899 plat maps showed Natvig land on the very west side of the Section 28, which is now along Vilas Rd (runs north-south and intersects US 12/18).  There was a house on the east side of the road right about where one of the Natvig properties was in the plat maps:


The house above looks too modern, but it may enclose parts of an earlier house.

4)  On the above property, there was an older, smaller building north of the house above, set well back from the road alongside a metal barn:



I wonder if that was the site of the original Elling Erikson Natvig home?

We did not go up to any of the houses and knock on doors.  We probably should have. 

After this frustrating adventure, we moved on to the Town of Deerfield (the town just east of Cottage Grove) and stopped at the gas station, and saw the public library next door.  I copied the Cottage Grove and Deerfield pages from the 2005 Dane County Government Book which has an atlas of current land ownership in each Town in Dane County. 

While I was refreshing my memory about the pictures above with the Cottage Grove page, I noticed that the land where photos 3 and 4 above are owned by G. & C. Natvig.  It is actually in Section 29 of Cottage Grove on the east side of Vilas Road.  Now I'm really bummed that we didn't knock on the door of that house on Vilas Road!  I sure wish that I had found the Dane County book before we rode around the area.  There are several lessons here painfully learned. 

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

New FamilySearch Historical Collections - September 2011

...
I last listed the new or updated collections on the FamilySearch Historical Collections website on 1 September, when there were 707 collections on the list. During September, these Historical Record Collections have been added to make a total of 800 collections as of 1 October:

North Carolina, Estate Files, 1663-1917 added 28 Sep 2011, 25,085 records
Georgia, Death Index, 1933-1998 added 28 Sep 2011, 2,701,430 records
United States, Civil War Confederate Papers of Citizens or Businesses, 1861-1865 added 27 Sep 2011, 2,040,863 records
Germany Deaths and Burials, 1582-1958 added 27 Sep 2011, 3,507,357 records

United States, Civil War Confederate Applications for Pardons, 1865-1867 added 27 Sep 2011, 79,992 records
United States, Civil War Unfiled Papers of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 27 Sep 2011,  924,845 records
Florida, Confederate Veterans and Widows Pension Applications, 1885-1955 added 26 Sep 2011, browse images
Oregon, Columbia County Records, 1854-1958 added 23 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Arkansas, Sebastian County Births and Deaths, 1877-1963 added 23 Sep 2011, 32,250 records

Chile, Civil Registration, 1885-1903 added 23 Sep 2011, 70,449 records
Spain, Valencia, Miscellaneous Records, 1251-1950 added 23 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Utah, Probate Records, 1851-1961 added 23 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Spain, Diocese of Albacete, Catholic Church Records, 1504-1979 added 22 Sep 2011, 1,121,420 records
Ohio, Cuyahoga County Probate Files, 1813-1900 added 22 Sep 2011, Browse Images

Spain, Diocese of Avila, Catholic Church Records, 1502-1975 added 22 Sep 2011, 107,897 records
Australia, Tasmania, Miscellaneous Records added 21 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Estonia, Church Books 1835-1940 added 20 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Maine, Washington County Courthouse Records, 1785-1950 added 20 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Estonia, Petseri County, Surname Register Cards 1921-1923 added 20 Sep 2011, Browse Images

Czech Republic, Censuses 1843-1921 added 20 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Mississippi State Archives, Various Records, 1820-1951 added 20 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Minnesota, County Birth Records, 1863-1983 added 19 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Mexico, Puebla, Civil Registration, 1861-1930 added 19 Sep 2011, Browse Images
New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1925-1942 added 17 Sep 2011, Browse Images

Oregon, Baker County Records, 1862-1950 added 17 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Oregon, Benton County Records, 1856-1984 added 17 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Ecuador, Catholic Church Records, 1565-1996 added 17 Sep 2011, Browse Images
United States, National Homes For Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938 added 17 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Louisiana, New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1820-1945 added 17 Sep 2011, Browse Images

Brazil, Immigration Cards, 1900-1965 added 17 Sep 2011, 125,830 records
Maine, Aroostook County Deed Books, 1865-1900 added 17 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Oregon, County Marriages, 1851-1975 added 17 Sep 2011, 55,959 records
Oregon, Polk County Records, 1857-1972 added 17 Sep 2011, Browse Images
United States, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011,  275,550 records

Mexico, Chiapas, Civil Registration, 1861-1990 added 14 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Oregon, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 53,945 records
United States, Civil War Service Records of Union Colored Troops, 1863-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 2,278,211 records
United States, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1864-1866 added 14 Sep 2011, 119,672 records
Dakota Territory, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 4,693 records

North Carolina, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 53,422 records
West Virginia, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 686,688 records
Maryland, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 639,773 records
United States, Civil War Records of Confederate Nonregiment Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 498,640 records
Utah, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 231 records

Texas, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 33,955 records
New York, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 60,000 records
Louisiana, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 119,515 records
New Mexico, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 118,866 records
Nevada, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 25,709 records

Nebraska, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 74,800 records
Missouri, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 2,099,748 records
Mississippi, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 9,701 records
Tennessee, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 578,993 records
Virginia, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 14 Sep 2011, 15,239 records

Mexico, Sonora, Civil Registration, 1861-1995 added 14 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Mexico, Coahuila, Civil Registration, 1861-1998 added 14 Sep 2011, Browse Images
New York, New York City, Saint Peter's Lutheran Church Records, 1862-1955 added 13 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Nova Scotia, Queens County, Notes of Thomas Brenton Smith, 1700-1950 added Browse Images
West Virginia, Naturalization Records, 1814-1991 added 13 Sep 2011, Browse Images

Vermont, Town Records, 1850-2005 added 12 Sep 2011, Browse Images
California, San Francisco Passenger Lists, 1893-1953 added 12 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Cote d'Ivoire, Census, 1975 added 12 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Illinois, Chicago, Catholic Church Records, 1833-1925 added 9 Sep 2011, Browse Images
New York State Census, 1875 added 9 Sep 2011, Browse Images

United States, War of 1812 Index to Service Records, 1812-1815 added 9 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Mexico, Zacatecas, Civil Registration, 1860-2000 added 9 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Switzerland, Church Records, 1277-1992 added 9 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Mexico, Nuevo LeĂłn, Civil Registration, 1859-1962 added 9 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Saskatchewan Judicial District Court Records added 9 Sep 2011, Browse Images

Mexico, Durango, Civil Registration, 1861-1995 added 8 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Mexico, QuerĂ©taro, Civil Registration, 1864-2005 added 7 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Mexico, Baja California and Baja California Sur, Civil Registration, 1860-1934 added 7 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Mexico, Michoacán, Civil Registration, 1859-1940 added 7 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Washington, Seattle, Passenger Lists, 1890-1957 added 7 Sep 2011, Browse Images

Mexico, Colima, Civil Registration, 1860-1997 added 7 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Mexico, Nayarit, Civil Registration, 1868-2001 added 7 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Alabama, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 31,582 records
Virginia, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 2,252,877 records
Kentucky, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 267,987 records

Louisiana, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 778,925 records
Kentucky, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 1,256,188 records
Florida, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 285,975 records
United States, Applications for Headstones for Military Veterans, 1925-1941 added 6 Sep 2011, Browse Images
Alabama, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 1,213,534 records

Tennessee, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011,  1,117,605 records
Florida, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 25,416 records
Arkansas, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 532,541 records
Georgia, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 1,776,643 records
United States, War of 1812 Index to Pension Application Files, 1812-1910 added 6 Sep 2011, 91,259 records

Delaware, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 179,813 records
Mississippi, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 1,269,694 records
North Carolina, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 1,773,886 records
Arkansas, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 158,093 records
Georgia, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 1,613 records

United States, Records of Headstones of Deceased Union Veterans, 1879-1903 added 6 Sep 2011, Browse images
Maryland, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 43,508 records
Missouri, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 added 6 Sep 2011, 348,259 records
Illinois State Census, 1865 added 5 Sep 2011, 380,262 records

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

There are 99 items on the list above, but 93 newly added databases since 1 September, so I have missed six. Oh well! I will update the list as I receive information about the new databases.

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