Saturday, October 27, 2012

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - The Music Generator


Hey genea-philes - it's Saturday Night again --
 time for more Genealogy Fun!!



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


1)  Go to www.p22.com/musicfont/ and enter a text phrase or sentence into the P22 Music Text Composition Generator.  Enter a file name, the beats per minute you want (120 is slow, 1200 is really fast), and the instrument (from the dropdown list).

2)  Play your music text composition.  Can you find a way to put it on your blog?  

3)  Tell us about your musical text compositions - what did you try, what sounded great?  Have fun!

My thanks to M. Diane Rogers who suggested this to me on Facebook - suggesting it be called "The Music of Our Ancestors."

Here's mine:

*  My first try was the first names of my Seaver ancestral line (600 bpm, Acoustic Grand Piano):  [randall frederick frederick frank isaac benjamin benjamin norman robert joseph shubael robert seaver] .  I captured the notes below:



*  My second attempt was (900 bpm, Trumpet):  [I am a native San Diegan, a graduate of San Diego State University, a retired aerospace engineer, a genealogist and a family guy. My wife (Angel Linda) and I have two lovely daughters, and four darling grandchildren. We love to visit them and have them visit us. Angel Linda and I love to travel to visit friends and relatives, to sightsee, to cruise or to do genealogy. Our travels have taken us all over the USA, to England and Scandinavia. ]  Pretty boring...

*  A "Music of my Ancestors" with ancestral surnames back 3 generations (900 bpm, Dulcimer): [seaver carringer seaver richmond carringer auble seaver hildreth richmond white carringer smith auble kemp ]  Pretty good...

*  Another "Music of my Ancestors" with birth places of my ancestors (900 bpm, Dulcimer): [san diego leominster san diego leominster killingly san diego chicago medfield northborough hilperton killingly mercer burnett newton delhi]  I like this one the best, and I like the Dulcimer.

*  I could save each composition file to my computer as a MIDI file, but could not figure a way to put it here on Genea-Musings (a Blogger blog).

Come on now, show me yours!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/10/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-music.html

copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Surname Saturday - BLODGETT (England > Massachusetts)

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


I am in the 7th great-grandmothers, up to number 533: Huldah BLODGETT (1689-1777). [Note: The 7th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through two American generations of this BLODGETT family is:

1. Randall J. Seaver

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

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

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

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

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

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

132.  Simon Gates (1739-1803)
133.  Susannah Reed (1745-1833)


266.  Nathan Reed (1719-1802)
267.  Susannah Wood (1724-1780)

532.  Ebenezer Reed, born 06 March 1689/90 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 09 July 1767 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 1064. George Reed and 1065. Abigail Pierce.  He married about 1714 in probably Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

533.  Huldah Blodgett, born 09 February 1688/89 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 11 May 1777 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  
Children of Ebenezer Reed and Huldah Blodgett are:  Ebenezer Reed (1715-????); Huldah Reed (1717-1775); Nathan Reed (1719-1802); Abigail Reed (1721-1806); George Reed (1723-1804); Eliphaz Reed (1726-1776).

1066.  Samuel Blodgett, born 10 December 1658 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 05 November 1743 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He married 30 April 1683 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
1067.  Huldah Simonds, born 20 November 1660 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; died 13 March 1745/46 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  She was the daughter of 2134. William Simonds and 2135. Judith Phippen.
Children of Samuel Blodgett and Huldah Simonds are:  Samuel Blodgett (1683-1762); Daniel Blodgett (1685-1762); William Blodgett (1686-1750); Huldah Blodgett (1689-1777); Caleb Blodgett (1691-1745); Joshua Blodgett (1694-1756); Josiah Blodgett (1695-1775); John Blodgett (1699-1757); Benjamin Blodgett (1701-????); Nathan Blodgett (1704-1747).

2132.  Samuel Blodgett, born before 12 July 1633 in Stowmarket, Suffolk, England; died in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He married 13 December 1655 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
2133.  Ruth Eggleton, born before 08 November 1631 in Biddenden, Kent, England; died 14 October 1708 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  She was the daughter of 4266. Eggleton and 4267. Jane.
Children of Samuel Blodgett and Ruth Eggleton are:  Ruth Blodgett (1656-1695); Samuel Blodgett (1658-1743); Thomas Blodgett (1661-1740); Susanna Blodgett (1665-1715); Sarah Blodgett (1668-1692); Mary Blodgett (1673-1752); Martha Blodgett (1673-1710).

4264.  Thomas Blodgett, born before 17 November 1604 in Stowmarket, Suffolk, England; died 07 August 1642 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 8528. Robert Bloggatt and 8529. Mary Whitlock.  He married before 1622 in probably Stowmarket, Suffolk, England.
4265.  Susanna, born about 1600 in Stowmarket, Suffolk, England; died 10 February 1660/61 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.
Children of Thomas Blodgett and Susanna are:  John Blodgett (1622-1632); Nathaniel Blodgett (1628-1630); Daniel Blodgett (1631-1672); Samuel Blodgett (1633-????); Susannah Blodgett (1637-1697); Thomas Blodgett (1639-1639).

Information about these families were obtained from:

*  Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635 (Boston, Mass. : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1999), Volume 1, pages 324-326.

*  Edwin A. Blodgett, Ten Generations of Blodgetts In America (Barre, Vermont : Modern Printing Co, 1969).

*  Bradley Deforest Thompson & Franklin Condit Thompson, Blodget-Blodgett, Descendants of Thomas of Cambridge, Vols. 1-6 (Concord, New Hampshire: Self published, 1955), Volumes 1-2 accessed on FHL US/CAN Film 896,868 Items 2-3.

*  Massachusetts town vital records.


Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver


Friday, October 26, 2012

Two More Days for Second Genea-Musings Ancestry Contest

I announced the second Genea-Musings contest for a 3-month Ancestry.com World Subscription on Tuesday in Enter Second Genea-Musings Contest to Win a 3-Month Ancestry World Explorer Membership.



The deadline for entries is Sunday, 28 October 2012 at 8:59 PM PDT (11:59 PM EDT).  I have only about 45 entries at this time, so there is a decent chance of winning.

Please submit your entry immediately to be included in this drawing.

There will be a second contest next week with all new entries.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/10/two-more-days-for-second-genea-musings.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Follow-Up Friday - Helpful and Interesting Reader Comments

It's Friday, so I'm highlighting helpful and interesting reader comments on Genea-Musings post made in the last week:

1)  On Follow-Up Friday - Useful Reader Comments (19 October 2012):

*  Michael Hait offered an improved source citation for my Daniel Spangler probate record:  "With digital images, there are two approaches. You can either cite the original record first, then describe the format; or you can cite the image as a digital publication. I prefer the first option, because digital images--like microfilm--are to be generally treated like the original.

"Here is how I would cite the record you describe:

Mercer County, Pennsylvania, Orphans Court Docket D, page 93, Petition of Carringer and Robinson, 15 Sep 1851; digital image, "Pennsylvania, Probate Records, 1683-1994," *FamilySearch* (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 15 October 2012); source not identified but likely FHL microfilm no. 878,977.

"The FHL source microfilm is relatively easy to find using the Catalog. Including this in the citation is recommended because FamilySearch did not scan the original records--they scanned the FHL microfilm. It is not always easy to determine the source, but if you can, you should include it."


My comment:  Thank you, Michael!  I think you're right about the microfilm, and will modify my citation to include it.  I like the "Petition of ..." part too.  


*  Lineagekeeper (Lee Drew) noted:  "I use a similar system but name records by surname first name middle name so they automatically sort by surname saving me from needing to remember the first name of a person to start the search."

*  OneRhodeIslandFamily (Diane Beumenot) said:  "...adding the generation to the beginning if the file folder name, to sort them in order from most recent to farthest back, is really clever."

*  Jackie Corrigan offered:  "I have a similar system, only with fewer folders. For example, I have one folder with my father's surname. Within that folder, all documents and pictures relating to his ancestors are named this way "Smith Tom b1880 marriage1907". No matter what I am looking for, the files are sorted with all items relating to that person in one place."

*  Lisa Suzanne Gorrell commented:  "My system is very close to yours. However I numbered my generations in the opposite order and then when I found an ancestor further back I had no more numbers to use except 00! I think I will reverse the numbering like you did and then I have room for more generations. I didn't see any census records under Betty Carringer. How do you handle records with multiple people in them?"

*  J. Paul Hawthorne asked:  "I have a question, what do you do with all the cousins from each generation. Let's say you have documents, headstone pictures, etc. for Henry Carringer & Sarah Feather's other children, and then their children. Do you make a folder 'Other children'?"

*  Nancy asked:  "My system for photos is somewhat similar to yours but yours is more streamlined -- and I think I will adopt it. I think it will make things simpler for me.

"Do you file women's photos (and documents) under their married or maiden names? Maiden names before marriage, married names after? Or...?

"When you have a family group photo in which there are people with several surnames, how do you save it? Do you have a system for including the names of all the people in the photo?"


My comments:  I'm glad that I could offer something to help people out.  We all seem to do this a little different, and it's helpful to see the different ideas.  To each their own!  To address some of the comments and questions:

*  I use given names first in order to easily find a person with the givenname-surname.  A long list of file names with surname-givenname is more difficult for me.  

*  I file records and photos of children in their parents file folder until they get married, then their files go into their married couple folder.

*  Unmarried children are usually with their parents in census records, so I don't need a separate document for them unless they are not with their parents.  In the case when they are not with their parents, I save the census record with the child's name.  

*  Records with multiple persons are a problem.  For something like a census record, I usually use the head of household name in the file name.  For photos with a number of persons, I add more detail in the file name with plus signs, like these:

**  Carringer+Smith+Crouch-Families-1916-SandiegoCA-Christmas-1.jpg
**  DellaCarringer+AbbieSmith+HattieLoucks-1910-SanDiegoCA-1.jpg

*  For families that are not my ancestral families, I put them in the "Other [Surname] Families" file folder under the [Surname] file folder.  So for a sibling of my great-grandfather, I would put the documents and pictures of that family in the Other Family folder with an appropriate file folder name (e.g., "Harry C Seaver + Rose Noel") in the "Other Seaver Families" file folder in the "Seaver" file folder.  I do put married female families in their maiden Surname file folder (e.g., a file folder for "George Taylor + Emily Richmond" would go in the "Other Richmond Families" in the "Richmond" file folder).  

*  If a photo includes persons in an ancestral family, I put it in the ancestral family.  I might copy it to the Other family folder too.

Your file folder system may vary - whatever works for you is recommended!  But once you've set it up, and you have linked the media to persons in your family tree, you create a big problem for yourself by changing the file folder system structure or the file names.

3)  On Ancestry.com Chart and Report Print Options (25 October 2012):

*  Barbara Mathews, CG noted:  "Ancestry World Tree would let me choose a Register-style printout. This gave me details on multiple generations. I really miss that.

"Now, to get such useful printouts, I have to export from Ancestry and import into my genealogy program. Then I have to put up with the horrid version of footnotes that Ancestry exports."


My comment:  The Ancestry World Trees seem to be gone from the Ancestry record collections.  When did that happen?  Ancestry Member Trees always were the same as the Rootsweb WorldConnect trees, just on a different platform.

If the tree in question is still online in the Rootsweb WorldConnect family tree (http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com), you can still make the useful printouts of ancestor and descendant reports, and usually can download a GEDCOM file if you want (I don't...).  I use and recommend WorldConnect all of the time, and it's the largest free set of online family trees.  It doesn't have ALL of the Ancestry Member Trees, of course.

The horrid Ancestry.com source citations are another issue addressed several times on this blog.

4)  I got a lot of spam comments on my post Amanuensis Monday - Will of Solomon Keyes (1631-1702) of Chelmsford, Mass. (24 September 2012) for some reason, including this one:

"What a stuff of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious knowledge on the topic of unexpected feelings. Look into my page ..."

My comment:  Hmmm.  Somehow this person was able to overcome the dratted Captcha, but the Spam filter caught it.  

5)  Thank you to all of my readers who commented on my blog posts - I know the Captcha is a PITA for everyone, it is for me also on other blogs.


Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Ancestry.com Chart and Report Print Options

One of the significant problems with online family trees is that they have not offered many readable charts as print or save file options.  I've been critical of Ancestry.com Member Trees in the past for not creating readable and quality standard charts - pedigree charts, family group sheets and individual reports.

Since I had not tried to do this recently, I decided to check it out today, and was pleasantly surprised that Ancestry.com has improved some of their standard chart offerings in the Ancestry Member Trees.  Here is what I found:

1)  Pedigree Chart -- in the Pedigree View for a person, the screen shows four generations with the green shaky leaves for Hints for record collections:


There is a "Print" icon in the upper left of the screen, and when I clicked that I saw a five generation pedigree chart suitable for printing:


That looks much better than I recalled...but it has only "United States" for a place name in all of the ancestral generations.  That's unfortunate.

At the top of the screen above, there are options to "Create a book," "Create a poster" and "Create a calendar."  I clicked on "Create a poster and saw:



This is a 24" wide by 36" high poster that displays nine generations, and Ancestry.com will sell it to me for $39.95.

2)  Family Group Sheet -- On the Person Profile page, I clicked the "Tree pages" link at the top and saw a link for "Family Group Sheet."  I clicked on that and saw:


I like the presentation on the web page.  Unfortunately, there is no printer-friendly Family Group Sheet option.  I printed it using the File > Print for the web page, but it came out fairly small with the Ancestry page header and ad banner footer.  It didn't print my thumbnail photos, either.

3)  Individual Summary -- On the Person Profile page, I clicked the "Print" link in the menu below the Person's name, and then the "Printer Friendly" link and saw this (2 screens shown):


This printed out on three pages, including all of the Facts, the Family Members (with birth and death dates only), and all of the Source citations.  It included the thumbnail image, but not the media items attached to Event source citations.

This is better than it used to be, but is still not "wonderful."  I would like to see a source number on the Event list, and I'd like see the list of source citations with the source number and complete source citation, rather than just the Source name.

One of the major reasons that I still prefer to use genealogy software to enter all of my research data, names, dates, places, events, sources, notes, and media is because the variety and quality of the reports and charts produced by the genealogy software is much better than online family trees.

I know, I'm picky... but presentation is everything in genealogy!  I also know that Ancestry really wants users to buy their coffee table books, their posters and their calendars.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/10/ancestrycom-chart-print-options.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Trying Out the RootsSearch Chrome Extension - Part 2

I posted Trying Out the RootsSearch Chrome Extension - Part 1 yesterday, showing how to download and activate the RootsSearch tool that can be used to search a number of websites for records of a person from within another website (e.g., while in FamilySearch, then search Ancestry.com or Find-A-Grave).

Following up yesterday's post, I want to check out what happens when I click on the links in the RootsSearch extension.  Here are some of my search results for records of Lucretia Townsend (Smith) Seaver, one of my second great-grandparents:

1)  Here's the Search fields filled in for Lucretia Townsend Smith (1828-1884), born in Medfield, married to Isaac Seaver, with parents Alpheus Smith and Elizabeth Dill (this is where I ended in Post 1).  I consider these terms to be typical of what a researcher might enter when offered a search form of this nature:


2)  I clicked on the blue "Ancestry" button on the RootsSearch screen, and a new tab opened and I saw:



You can see the search terms transmitted by RootsSearch to Ancestry.com in the upper left-hand corner.  The only thing different from what I entered was the death year - I entered 1884 and it used 1883 for some reason.  The search used the Ancestry Ranked Matches algorithm (non-exact) for all search terms.  There were over 8 million matches.  It found Lucretia's birth record, her 1850 US Census record, and her 1851 marriage record easily, but not her census records with her married name in 1860, 1870, and 1880, and not her death record in 1884.  I didn't check every match...but it looks like the search did not find Lucretia with her married name Seaver in any records but the Member Trees.

I could edit the search terms on the Ancestry screen - when I clicked on "Exact matches" for the search terms entered, it found only Ancestry Member Trees.  That is not unusual - actually it's to be expected, since I over-specified the search field information.

My lesson learned here is that a user really needs to search for both a maiden name and a married name for females.  Users should not over-specify search field entries, and be ready to edit their search fields to narrow their search.  The search for males is much more reliable and complete, unless the user over-specifies the search field entries.

2)  Back on the RootsSearch screen with the same Lucretia Townsend Smith search terms, I clicked on the blue "FamilySearch" button and saw:



You can see the search terms used on FamilySearch.  A plus/minus 10-year range was used on the birth date and death date.  The spouse's first name was used, but not the spouse's last name.  The parents names were added (not shown above).

This specific search found Lucretia's birth record and the 1850 US Census record.  The 1851 marriage record was far down the list, to Isaac "Leavir" rather than "Seaver."

Again, the lesson learned here is the same as above - females are difficult, don't over-specify, and edit the search terms in order to narrow your search.

3)  Back on the RootsSearch screen with the same Lucretia Townsend Smith search terms, I clicked on the blue "Find A Grave" button, and saw:



I clicked on the "Refine Search" link on the left, and changed the search terms to be FirstName="Lucretia" and LastName = "Seaver" and searched and received two matches, including Lucretia Townsend Smith Seaver:


I could have used a MiddleName = "Townsend" to get the match, but did not get a match with  FirstName = "Lucretia Townsend" and "MiddleName" = Smith;" or with FirstName = "Lucretia" and MiddleName = "Townsend Smith;" or with FirstName = "Lucretia" and MiddleName = "Smith."

Again, the user must be prepared to change the search terms to reflect a female's married surname, and to modify or delete a middle name or maiden name from the search.  Again, males work better.

4)  Back on the RootsSearch screen with the same Lucretia Townsend smith search terms, I clicked on the blue "WeRelate" button and saw:


All of the search terms I specified are in the search fields on WeRelate.org, but the 1884 death date has been made "31 Dec 1883" and the dates have a range of plus/minus 5 years.

The first result on the match list is the correct Lucretia Townsend Smith who married Isaac Seaver.  

5)  I expect online family trees to be found by RootsSearch when the person's name, birth data, death data, spouse's name and parents names are specified.  I did not check if a Geni.com match comes up, because I don't have a current subscription.  My guess is that it would, since Lucretia Townsend Smith is there with that name.

My conclusions from this search effort are:

*  RootsSearch works fairly well, but not perfectly, at this time.

*  The user must have subscriptions to the subscription sites that the tool accesses (Ancestry.com,  Archives.com and Geni.com at this time).

*  The search terms can be edited by the user in order to narrow a search.  If the user changes any search field entries, they need to click on the "Update Links" button.

*  Users should not over-specify search terms.  Start with first name, last name, birth year and birth state/country.

*  Each website searched receives the pre-entered search terms specified by the user (although some sites don't get all of the search entries entered).  These search field entries need to be carefully reviewed and edited if necessary to narrow the search.  The user can use Exact Search for one or some or all terms, or use wild cards for names, if desired.

*  Users should do searches for female maiden names, and their married names, in order to find all of the records that match the person.  Obviously, users should not expect matches for records of females after marriage, except for records that might list her maiden name in a child's birth, death or marriage record.

*  RootsSearch has real potential, but it needs the users to understand the limitations of the tool.

Thank you to Justin York for creating a useful genealogy search tool.  I hope that he continues to improve it, perhaps add more record collection websites, etc.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/10/trying-out-rootssearch-chrome-extension_25.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Treasure Chest Thursday - 1900 U.S. Census Record for Henry Carringer Family


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

The treasure today is the 1900 United States Census record for my Carringer great-grandparents and their family in San Diego, San Diego County, California:



The entry for the Henry A. Carringer family is:



The extracted information for the family, residing on Watkins Avenue (now Hawthorn Street) in San Diego, taken on 11 June 1900, is:

*  Henry A. Carringer -- head of household, white, male, born Nov 1853, age 46, married, married 12 years, born Pennsylvania, parents born Pennsylvania, a carpenter, 0 months not employed, able to read, write, and speak English, owns house with a mortgage
*  Della A. Carringer -- wife, white, female, born Apr 1862, age 38, married, married 12 years, 2 children born, 1 living, born Wisconsin, parents born New York, able to read, write and speak English
*  Lyle L. Carringer -- son, white, male, born Nov 1891, age 8, single, born California, father born Pennsylvania, mother born Wisconsin, able to read
*  Abby A. Smith -- mother-in-law, white, female, born Oct 1844, age 55, widowed, 2 children born, 2 living, born New York, father born England, mother born New England, able to read, write and speak English.

The source citation for this census entry is:

1900 United States Federal Census, San Diego County, California, Population Schedule, San Diego City 4th Ward; ED 194, Sheet 19A, Dwelling #440, Family #488, Henry A. Carringer household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T623, Roll 99.

The new information for me in this record was Henry's employment information, and that they had a mortgage on their home.  

The birth month/year information is correct for all four persons.  

The errors or discrepancies I see in this record include:

*  I wonder why Lyle's entry did not have him able to write or speak English.  At age 8, he should be able to speak English in this household of English speakers.
*  Abby A. Smith's entry has several errors - she had 5 children born, and 3 living in 1900; her mother was born in New York, not New England.

While the address is "Watkins Ave." in San Diego, this is the house which was built on the northeast corner of the present intersection of 30th Street and Hawthorn Street in San Diego.  The street names in this part of San Diego were changed after 1900 and before 1910.  


Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

APG Professional Management Conference in March 2013 Announced

I received this information today via email from Corey Oieson:


Save the date: APG PMC

19–20 March 2013, Salt Lake City, Utah

Association of Professional Genealogists Announces Details for 2013 Professional Management Conference

All-Star Speakers to Address Strategies for Building a Successful Business

WESTMINSTER, Colo., 24 October 2012−The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG®) today unveiled the details of its upcoming Professional Management Conference (PMC). Top genealogical speakers will address this year’s theme, “Strategies for Building a Successful Business.” Tom Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS, will kick off the event with a workshop and lectures on Tuesday, while Judy Russell, J.D., CG, will open day two of the event with a hands-on workshop on court records. The event will be held in Salt Lake City the 19th and 20th of March, 2013, the two days prior to the RootsTech conference (http://www.rootstech.org).

“Given the success of last year’s conference, as well as the breadth of this year’s theme, we have expanded the event to a day and a half,” said APG President Kenyatta D. Berry. “We are excited by our speakers’ topics and are pleased that we have been able to continue offering fresh, exciting conferences that help our members develop their businesses.”

Speakers and topics include:

Workshop: Overcoming Research Barriers---An Interactive Case Study;
Variables in Professional Genealogists’ Approaches to Research;
Client Reports: Dos, Don’t, and Maybes
Thomas W. Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS

Order in the Court: Hands-on with Court Records;
More Than the Begats: Using the Law to Spice up a Research Report
Judy G. Russell, J.D., CG

Launching an Effective Marketing Campaign
Thomas MacEntee

Video Marketing: Killer YouTube Strategies
Lisa Louise Cooke

The Best Educational Plan for You: The Workshop
Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL

Organization for Genealogy Speakers
Jean Wilcox Hibben, Ph.D., M.A., CG 

APG will also hold at reception and roundtable from 6:30–8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 20 March, which is open to members and non-members.

Register Now for APG PMC 2013

Attendance at PMC is open to members and non-members. Attendees may choose to attend the full conference or a single day. Details on pricing and the conference sessions are available at http://www.apgen.org/conferences/index.html

About the Association of Professional Genealogists

The Association of Professional Genealogists (www.apgen.org), established in 1979, represents more than 2,600 genealogists, librarians, writers, editors, historians, instructors, booksellers, publishers and others involved in genealogy-related businesses. APG encourages genealogical excellence, ethical practice, mentoring and education. The organization also supports the preservation and accessibility of records useful to the fields of genealogy and history. Its members represent all fifty states, Canada and thirty other countries. APG is active on LinkedIn, Twitter (www.twitter.com/apggenealogy) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/AssociationofProfessionalGenealogists).

Media Contacts:

Kathleen W. Hinckley, CG
Executive Director
Association of Professional Genealogists
P.O. Box 350998, Westminster, CO 80035-0998
Phone: +1-303-465-6980, fax: +1-303-456-8825
email: admin@apgen.org 

Corey Oiesen
Communications Officer
Association of Professional Genealogists
email: corey@genealogyheroes.com
###

APG is a registered trademark of the Association of Professional Genealogists. All other trade and service marks are property of their respective owners.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/10/apg-professional-management-conference.html

Trying Out the RootsSearch Chrome Extension - Part 1

The RootsSearch Chrome Extension developed by Justin York was announced several weeks ago - but I can't find any reference to it!  Where did I see it?  No matter ...

RootsSearch is a Chrome browser extension available in the Google Chrome Web Store for free. This means that you have to be using Google Chrome as your browser.  Here is the RootsSearch screen at the Chrome Web Store:


The screen says, about RootsSearch:

"Search across multiple genealogy sites for matching records.
"RootsSearch allows you to search the most popular genealogy websites for records relating to your ancestors.

"When viewing an ancestor in an online tree or a record from a genealogy website, RootsSearch allows you to search for matching records on other genealogy record sites.

"RootsSearch works on:
* Ancestry
* Billion Grave
* FamilySearch
* Find A Grave
* WeRelate

"RootsSearch allows you to search on:
* Ancestry
* Archives
* BillionGraves
* FamilySearch
* Find A Grave
* Geni
* WeRelate"
downloaded it (it was free!), but had no real clue how to use it.  I didn't use it for several weeks.  Today, Lee Drew gave me the key hint today on Google+, saying:


"It activates when you are on a page that contains genealogy data.  Try this.  Search for someone in your tree on FamilySearch.  Watch the address field at the top of your screen.  When a small blue magnifying glass appears, click on it and a pop up list of other sites to search will appear .. pre-populated based on the FS page info ..  name, birth, state, etc."
That was really helpful, so I went on FamilySearch, searched for Lucretia Townsend Smith (born 1828 in Massachusetts), and when I clicked on one of the matches, I saw:




There is a small magnifying glass in the browser address line as shown above inside the red circle.  That is the RootsSearch icon - the indicator that RootsSearch is present.  When I clicked on that magnifier icon, I got the RootsSearch form as a popup over the search result:



The form fields were populated with FirstName, LastName, Birth Date, Father's FirstName and LastName, and Mother's FirstName and LastName.  I believe those entries came from the indexed information on the record that I had found on FamilySearch.

I knew that at least one of those items was wrong - her Father's LastName was Smith, not Dill.  I fixed thast, and also added some data to the empty fields, I added a BirthPlace, a DeathDate, and the Spouse's FirstName and LastName:



In order to make those edits active, I had to click on the "Update Links" button at the bottom of the popup screen.  

The way that RootsSearch works is:  When you click on one of the blue buttons on the right side of the RootsSearch popup screen, it transmits search parameters to the selected website.  The selected website opens in a new browser window and search results are presented.  


I'll show you tomorrow what happened when I did that for several of the sites on the list.

My thanks to Lee Drew for providing the understandable key to using this browser extension tool.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/10/trying-out-rootssearch-chrome-extension.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Reader Resources Used in First Genea-Musings Contest

In the first Genea-Musings Contest to Win a 3-Month Ancestry World Explorer Membership, I asked the entrants to provide this information:

"What was the exact death date of David Jackson ("D.J.") Carringer (1828-1902), and where was he buried?"

Entrants must provide a link to the information (which can be found on Genea-Musings, and elsewhere). 


The correct answers were:

*  David Jackson Carringer died 20 January 1902 (in San Diego, California)

*  David Jackson Carringer was buried in La Vista Cemetery in National City, California.

My own source citation for the death date is the Carringer Family Bible pages in my possession.  There is no public vital record available to my knowledge.  Readers Barry Sheldon and Martha Grenzeback actually found an article in GenealogyBank that said he died on 21 January 1902 that I had heretofore overlooked (thank you, Barry and Martha!).  

As you might expect, I have written many Genea-Musings posts and have quite a few online family trees that have both the death date and the burial location included.  A Google search for ["david jackson carringer" died] yields results on Ancestry, WikiTree, Find-A-Grave, Mocavo, Scribd, Genea-Musings, Geni, and other sites, with variants.

I was curious as to the sources of the information found by my contest entrants.  Here is a summary by source for both questions (note that the numbers add up to 83, not 79, because several entrants provided more than one link):

1)  Death date of David Jackson Carringer:

*  Genea-Musings posts:  22
*  Ancestry Member Trees: 17
*  WikiTree.com family tree: 17
*  Geni.com family tree: 3
*  Find-A-Grave memorial:  19
*  Scibd PDF report:  4
*  GenealogyBank:  1

2)  Burial Place:

*  Genea-Musings posts:  20
*  Ancestry Member Trees: 12
*  WikiTree.com family tree: 13
*  Geni.com family tree:  2
*  Find-A-Grave memorial:  33
*  Scribd PDF report:  3

The big surprise on both lists for me is the WikiTree numbers.  It was #2 on the Google search list, and my guess is that folks without access to Ancestry Member Trees (#1 on Google search list) may have used the first free link available to them.  

Of course, all of the information was on the Find-A-Grave memorial for David Jackson Carringer (1828-1902):



Note that the gravestone does not list the exact death date.  The person who posted this memorial on Find-A-Grave found the birth and death dates on the Internet, probably on my blog or in an online family tree.

My thanks to all of the contest entrants for participating in my contest and playing by the rules.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/10/reader-resources-used-in-first-genea.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 228: Gerry, Ed and Ruth in 1982

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

Here is a photograph from the Geraldine (Seaver) Remley family collection handed down from my Aunt Gerry in 2007 after her passing. 
 



I actually took this picture in 1982 (and sent it to Aunt Gerry) of three of the four living (at that time) siblings of my father.  The persons in this picture are:

*  Geraldine (Seaver) Remley (1917-2007)
*  Edward R. Seaver (1913-2004)
*  Ruth W. (Seaver) Fischer (1907-2000)

The picture was taken at the home of Edward and Janet (Roukes) Seaver in Leominster on Helena Street.  We stayed with Ed and Janet on this visit and had a wonderful time exploring Leominster, seeing family, and talking about family.  This visit sparked my interest in genealogy.  

At the time, Gerry and her husband lived in Florida (winter) and Maine (summer).  Ruth and her husband Bowers lived in Leominster, but soon moved to Florida.  Ed and Janet moved to Arizona within several years.  

All three of these siblings of my father had fond memories of him (he died in 1983), and shared them with me in personal letters, audio tapes, and shared time together.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/10/not-so-wordless-wednesday-post-228.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

I'm on MyHeritage Webinar about "Record Matches" on Thursday, 25 October

I'm about to make my Webinar debut with a short segment on the next MyHeritage Webinar titled "Record Matching with special guest Randy Seaver."

The webinar will be on Thursday, 25 October, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. PDT (that's 4 p.m. EDT, 3 p.m. CDT, 2 p.m. MDT, and 8 p.m. GMT).  

You can register at https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/909178007.



The webinar description is:

"Record Matches is a brand new technology from MyHeritage, designed to automatically find and match historical records (from our growing collection of 4+ billion records) to the 23 million family trees on MyHeritage...but with a twist! It's the first and only technology to automatically search newspaper articles, books and other free-text documents. This will add even more color to the 1.1 billion profiles on MyHeritage.

"In this session, expert genealogist and geneablogger Randy Seaver will share his experiences of Record Matching. We’ll also explore:

• An introduction to Record Matches
• How to check your Record Matches
• How to use that information to discover more about your relatives

"Record matching saves you time by bringing your family’s historical documents directly to you.

"Visit your family site now to check your Record Matches.  "

Please tune in and see what the MyHeritage Record Matches features offer you as a genealogy researcher.  My segment should be about 10 minutes long.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/10/im-on-myheritage-webinar-about-record.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver