On the twenty-third day of Christmas,
Christmas Tree Ornaments are the rage.
Did your family have heirloom or cherished ornaments? Did you ever string popcorn and cranberries? Did your family make ornaments?
I really don't remember many heirloom or cherished ornaments from my childhood. Almost all of the ornaments were small or medium sized round glass balls of varied colors. We usually applied a lot of tinsel to the tree branches.
As school children, we brought home paper chains for the tree. Sometimes we had a popcorn string, but never cranberries.
I don't think we made ornaments - we were boys! We did have some of Dorothy's home-made ornaments on our trees.
When we had children, my mother made Christmas ornaments for each of her grandchildren. Each was unique and incorporated angels into the design. They were kiln-fired enamels on flat copper plate. Each had the child's name and the year on it. These were given featured places on our family Christmas trees as my kids grew up. After my mother died, and as my daughters started their family, we gave them to our daughters. Each has chosen to display them year round in a case on the wall rather than put them on their Christmas trees.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Friday, November 30, 2007
Day 24 - The Christmas Tree
On the 24th Day of Christmas,
I'm supposed to talk about the Christmas Tree.
Did you have a real tree, or was it artificial? How big was the tree? Who decorated the tree?
When I was a kid ... we always had a real tree, but a dead one. My folks would get it from a tree lot somewhere. The tree was usually 6 to 7 feet tall, and was almost always a Douglas Fir. I think we had several flocked trees over the years.
The tree was set up in the "cubby-hole" at 2119 30th Street in San Diego - the upstairs flat. It was visible from the street. I think my dad attached the tree stand, and strung the lights - they were multi-colored bulb lights on a continuous string - if one went out, they all went out. My mom would put most of the ornaments on the tree, especially the "nice" ones that were up at the top where little boys couldn't touch them. Then she had a gauzy white covering to put over the tree stand.
The "cubby-hole" was out of the traffic areas of the living room, but it was highly visible to anybody in the living room. If one of we boys were caught shaking, feeling up or opening the wrapped gift boxes, there were threats made about taking them back to the store.
There were other Christmas trees in my life as a kid. My grandparents always set up a tall Douglas Fir in their living room - in the corner by the window looking out toward the Bay. We went there for Christmas Eve because they had a fireplace (made sense - Santa could visit us much better - although he never neglected us at 2119).
The other Christmas Tree was at cousin Dorothy's house in Kensington. Dorothy was my dad's first cousin - her mother Emily (Richmond) Taylor was my father's mother's sister. Dorothy was an artist, and always had a non-traditional tree. Not an evergreen - usually a manzanita bush without leaves, or some other hand-cut bush or tree. She decorated this tree with hand-made ornaments of her own design. My mother always loved the originality, to we boys (including my dad), this wasn't really a Christmas Tree.
A side note: I'm going to concentrate in these posts on my childhood, rather than on my married family times, or the current post-children years. My goal in writing these is to be able to provide a nice collection of memories so that my children and grandchildren can read them if they are interested.
Another side note: The B&B in Julian does have wireless access, so I will post a time or two each day. We got here after stops at Dudley's Bakery in Santa Ysabel and at the Santa Ysabel casino, which is fairly new, and relatively small. We met two couples at the B&B, and shared life stories with them over hors d'oeuvres. We went to dinner at Romano's - Italian food, decent. Linda called an old friend that lives in Julian - we'll meet them tomorrow. It rained all day and will get down in the 30's tonight. We're in the lodge so we don't have to go out in the weather.
I'm supposed to talk about the Christmas Tree.
Did you have a real tree, or was it artificial? How big was the tree? Who decorated the tree?
When I was a kid ... we always had a real tree, but a dead one. My folks would get it from a tree lot somewhere. The tree was usually 6 to 7 feet tall, and was almost always a Douglas Fir. I think we had several flocked trees over the years.
The tree was set up in the "cubby-hole" at 2119 30th Street in San Diego - the upstairs flat. It was visible from the street. I think my dad attached the tree stand, and strung the lights - they were multi-colored bulb lights on a continuous string - if one went out, they all went out. My mom would put most of the ornaments on the tree, especially the "nice" ones that were up at the top where little boys couldn't touch them. Then she had a gauzy white covering to put over the tree stand.
The "cubby-hole" was out of the traffic areas of the living room, but it was highly visible to anybody in the living room. If one of we boys were caught shaking, feeling up or opening the wrapped gift boxes, there were threats made about taking them back to the store.
There were other Christmas trees in my life as a kid. My grandparents always set up a tall Douglas Fir in their living room - in the corner by the window looking out toward the Bay. We went there for Christmas Eve because they had a fireplace (made sense - Santa could visit us much better - although he never neglected us at 2119).
The other Christmas Tree was at cousin Dorothy's house in Kensington. Dorothy was my dad's first cousin - her mother Emily (Richmond) Taylor was my father's mother's sister. Dorothy was an artist, and always had a non-traditional tree. Not an evergreen - usually a manzanita bush without leaves, or some other hand-cut bush or tree. She decorated this tree with hand-made ornaments of her own design. My mother always loved the originality, to we boys (including my dad), this wasn't really a Christmas Tree.
A side note: I'm going to concentrate in these posts on my childhood, rather than on my married family times, or the current post-children years. My goal in writing these is to be able to provide a nice collection of memories so that my children and grandchildren can read them if they are interested.
Another side note: The B&B in Julian does have wireless access, so I will post a time or two each day. We got here after stops at Dudley's Bakery in Santa Ysabel and at the Santa Ysabel casino, which is fairly new, and relatively small. We met two couples at the B&B, and shared life stories with them over hors d'oeuvres. We went to dinner at Romano's - Italian food, decent. Linda called an old friend that lives in Julian - we'll meet them tomorrow. It rained all day and will get down in the 30's tonight. We're in the lodge so we don't have to go out in the weather.
Dashing to the snow...
Maybe it will snow on us this weekend. Where - in San Diego County? Sure - up in our mountains, they get snow several times each year.
We are off to Julian (4,000 foot elevation) today for the weekend - about 60 miles away. Julian is a small mountain town with character - apple pies, mines, old-fashioned drugstore, antique stores, small cemetery, leaves turning colors, etc. The fires of the last five years have burned all around it, but not the town itself. We'll stay at a Bed and Breakfast, find neat places to eat, do a little shopping, visit the local casino and bookstore, and celebrate my Angel Linda's birthday.
I have no idea if the B&B has Internet access (I forgot to ask), so Genea-Musings and my other blogs may be dormant until Sunday evening. I'm taking the laptop so if there is access, I may post a time or two. Maybe I'll just work on the Advent Calendar posts that are supposed to start tomorrow.
The latest weather report says that it won't snow - it will only rain hard, and that's probably good for all of Southern California - it will preclude more fires, at least for the next month or so. I was really looking forward to snow.
If you have to satisfy your blog-reading obsession, then please read some of the wonderful posts by my genea-blogging colleagues. Go back and read the posts in my weekly "Best of the Genea-Blogs" series, or revisit the Carnival of Genealogy posts.
We are off to Julian (4,000 foot elevation) today for the weekend - about 60 miles away. Julian is a small mountain town with character - apple pies, mines, old-fashioned drugstore, antique stores, small cemetery, leaves turning colors, etc. The fires of the last five years have burned all around it, but not the town itself. We'll stay at a Bed and Breakfast, find neat places to eat, do a little shopping, visit the local casino and bookstore, and celebrate my Angel Linda's birthday.
I have no idea if the B&B has Internet access (I forgot to ask), so Genea-Musings and my other blogs may be dormant until Sunday evening. I'm taking the laptop so if there is access, I may post a time or two. Maybe I'll just work on the Advent Calendar posts that are supposed to start tomorrow.
The latest weather report says that it won't snow - it will only rain hard, and that's probably good for all of Southern California - it will preclude more fires, at least for the next month or so. I was really looking forward to snow.
If you have to satisfy your blog-reading obsession, then please read some of the wonderful posts by my genea-blogging colleagues. Go back and read the posts in my weekly "Best of the Genea-Blogs" series, or revisit the Carnival of Genealogy posts.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Should Genealogical Societies Go Virtual?
Jasia posted today about the birth of a new genealogy society blog for the California Genealogical Society and Library - at http://calgensoc.blogspot.com/.
Welcome to Kathryn Doyle and the CGS people - and congratulations on taking an exciting step into the genealogy blogosphere.
In Kathryn's first post, she mentioned attending the FGS conference and witnessing David E. Rencher's 2005 keynote address on "Societies Going Virtual." David's presentation slides in PDF format are here.
There are many challenging issues facing genealogy societies of all kinds, and David addresses them well, and concludes "Go Virtual or Perish." Now that doesn't mean a society has to have a blog, but it does have to have a web site. It also needs to attract "distance members" who have an interest in a town, county, region, state, country, ethnic group, church denomination, etc. On the web site, it could have a "members only" area for publications, databases, presentations, etc. It could have a sales operation for publications on paper, CDROM, etc.
To be sure, there are genealogy societies that have many of the "virtual" characteristics - the New England Historic Genealogical Society comes to mind because I am a member. They have an online store, a members-only area with databases, a regular email newsletter, but they also have a physical building, a large manuscript, books, and periodical collection, and members across the country.
David's presentation material should be "must-reading" for every society leader struggling with membership, budgets, projects, and programs. I'm going to pass the link to it to my Board members for their perusal, comments, and ideas.
Thank you to Jasia for the 17 part series on genealogy societies in August 2006, to Kathryn for her link to the Rencher material, and to David for his presentation which made me think a bit tonight.
Welcome to Kathryn Doyle and the CGS people - and congratulations on taking an exciting step into the genealogy blogosphere.
In Kathryn's first post, she mentioned attending the FGS conference and witnessing David E. Rencher's 2005 keynote address on "Societies Going Virtual." David's presentation slides in PDF format are here.
There are many challenging issues facing genealogy societies of all kinds, and David addresses them well, and concludes "Go Virtual or Perish." Now that doesn't mean a society has to have a blog, but it does have to have a web site. It also needs to attract "distance members" who have an interest in a town, county, region, state, country, ethnic group, church denomination, etc. On the web site, it could have a "members only" area for publications, databases, presentations, etc. It could have a sales operation for publications on paper, CDROM, etc.
To be sure, there are genealogy societies that have many of the "virtual" characteristics - the New England Historic Genealogical Society comes to mind because I am a member. They have an online store, a members-only area with databases, a regular email newsletter, but they also have a physical building, a large manuscript, books, and periodical collection, and members across the country.
David's presentation material should be "must-reading" for every society leader struggling with membership, budgets, projects, and programs. I'm going to pass the link to it to my Board members for their perusal, comments, and ideas.
Thank you to Jasia for the 17 part series on genealogy societies in August 2006, to Kathryn for her link to the Rencher material, and to David for his presentation which made me think a bit tonight.
To answer my own question - I do think that genealogy societies should have a strong online presence that complements and supplements the physical meetings and projects of an existing society anchored at a location with members and resources. Going"completely virtual" is not feasible for most societies now or perhaps ever. We'll see - the future has a way of sneaking up on us, doesn't it?
Dear Genea-Santa
The current Carnival of Genealogy topic is - Wish Lists! Christmas and Hanukkah are just around the corner and these are the seasons of gift giving and receiving. What are you wishing for this Christmas? The Genea-Santa wants to know! Do you have any suggestions for the folks who have to buy a gift "for the genealogist who has everything"?
I posted my 2006 wish list here - and did get some of those wishes answered - just not the ones that would advance my research! I guess I was a "naughty genealogist" or something (I did have a lot of risque census whacker posts last year, was it that?). Anyway, this is a different year, so maybe Santa will be kinder.
My genealogy wish list for Christmas (in addition to what I asked for and didn't get last year):
1) A genealogy software program called, say, "Genealogy Seance" that will contact the spirits of my ancestors wherever they may be. I'd like to ask many of my ancestors a lot of questions, and be able to follow up with more questions. I hope someone will take my wish and run with it - think of the profits!
2) Travel and cruise tickets for the Legacy Cruise in July 2008 to the Baltic Sea. My wife is ready to go ... we can spend some time in England before and after.
3) Another good deal at www.NothingButSoftware.com for a World Deluxe subscription to Ancestry.
4) Travel and registration fees for one of the major genealogy conferences - Philadelphia in September would be great!
5) Another healthy and happy grandchild to make new family history with. And more time with all of my grandchildren to make more family history with.
6) A safe return from Iraq for my Marine son-in-law so that he can continue to make wonderful family history with his wife and sons.
That's enough for now. Does somebody want Linda's email address (hint hint)?
I posted my 2006 wish list here - and did get some of those wishes answered - just not the ones that would advance my research! I guess I was a "naughty genealogist" or something (I did have a lot of risque census whacker posts last year, was it that?). Anyway, this is a different year, so maybe Santa will be kinder.
My genealogy wish list for Christmas (in addition to what I asked for and didn't get last year):
1) A genealogy software program called, say, "Genealogy Seance" that will contact the spirits of my ancestors wherever they may be. I'd like to ask many of my ancestors a lot of questions, and be able to follow up with more questions. I hope someone will take my wish and run with it - think of the profits!
2) Travel and cruise tickets for the Legacy Cruise in July 2008 to the Baltic Sea. My wife is ready to go ... we can spend some time in England before and after.
3) Another good deal at www.NothingButSoftware.com for a World Deluxe subscription to Ancestry.
4) Travel and registration fees for one of the major genealogy conferences - Philadelphia in September would be great!
5) Another healthy and happy grandchild to make new family history with. And more time with all of my grandchildren to make more family history with.
6) A safe return from Iraq for my Marine son-in-law so that he can continue to make wonderful family history with his wife and sons.
That's enough for now. Does somebody want Linda's email address (hint hint)?
Internet Genealogy TOC - Dec/Jan 2008 Issue
The Internet Genealogy magazine Table of Contents includes:
* "What's coming in Internet Genealogy" - page 4
* "Home Page" - page 5
* "Net Notes" - page 6
* "The Hidden Web: Beneath the Surface" by George G. Morgan - page 9
* "Do You Need a Genealogy Agent?" by Lisa A. Alzo - page 13
* "Case Study: There's something About Mary" by Lisa A. Alzo - page 16
* "Old Soldiers Homes" by Donna Murray - page 20
* "Unearthing Those Hidden Gems on Ancestry.com" by Lisa A. Alzo - page 23
* "Lineage, First Family and Pioneer Societies on the Web" by Diane L. Richard - page 29
* "In Praise of Genealogy 2.0" by Marian Press - page 33
* "American Indian Ancestry: An Introduction" by Pat Wohler - page 35
* "E-mails and Old Newspapers: A Story of a Diabolical Deed" by Denise A. McGlinchey - page 39
* "Wills and Administrations in Britain and Ireland" by Alan Stewart - page 41
* "National Genealogical Society" by Diane L. Richard - page 45
* "Paying it Forward in Genealogy" by Donna Potter Phillips - page 46
* "WorldVitalRecords" by Diane L. Richard - page 49
* "A Different Type of Family Reunion" by Andrew Gudgel - page 53
* "More Than One Way to Lose a Document" by David A. Norris - page 54
There is a lot of information in these 56 pages. I learned a lot from George Morgan's article on the Hidden Web, and really enjoyed Lisa Alzo's Case Study article. The web site is http://www.internet-genealogy.com/. You can subscribe or renew for $22.50 per year. Access to each issue comes in your email - you have to click a link, put in the username and password, and see a PDF format file. You can download the PDF file for future reference on your computer. You can print pages if you wish.
A more complete Table of contents can be found at http://www.internet-genealogy.com/issue_contents.htm (but today it shows the October/November issue - go figure!). The Current Issue list of web links is at http://internet-genealogy.com/IG_currentlinks.htm (but it is for the August/September issue - someone is falling down here!).
I like this magazine - it's timely, has useful articles, and is very readable.
* "What's coming in Internet Genealogy" - page 4
* "Home Page" - page 5
* "Net Notes" - page 6
* "The Hidden Web: Beneath the Surface" by George G. Morgan - page 9
* "Do You Need a Genealogy Agent?" by Lisa A. Alzo - page 13
* "Case Study: There's something About Mary" by Lisa A. Alzo - page 16
* "Old Soldiers Homes" by Donna Murray - page 20
* "Unearthing Those Hidden Gems on Ancestry.com" by Lisa A. Alzo - page 23
* "Lineage, First Family and Pioneer Societies on the Web" by Diane L. Richard - page 29
* "In Praise of Genealogy 2.0" by Marian Press - page 33
* "American Indian Ancestry: An Introduction" by Pat Wohler - page 35
* "E-mails and Old Newspapers: A Story of a Diabolical Deed" by Denise A. McGlinchey - page 39
* "Wills and Administrations in Britain and Ireland" by Alan Stewart - page 41
* "National Genealogical Society" by Diane L. Richard - page 45
* "Paying it Forward in Genealogy" by Donna Potter Phillips - page 46
* "WorldVitalRecords" by Diane L. Richard - page 49
* "A Different Type of Family Reunion" by Andrew Gudgel - page 53
* "More Than One Way to Lose a Document" by David A. Norris - page 54
There is a lot of information in these 56 pages. I learned a lot from George Morgan's article on the Hidden Web, and really enjoyed Lisa Alzo's Case Study article. The web site is http://www.internet-genealogy.com/. You can subscribe or renew for $22.50 per year. Access to each issue comes in your email - you have to click a link, put in the username and password, and see a PDF format file. You can download the PDF file for future reference on your computer. You can print pages if you wish.
A more complete Table of contents can be found at http://www.internet-genealogy.com/issue_contents.htm (but today it shows the October/November issue - go figure!). The Current Issue list of web links is at http://internet-genealogy.com/IG_currentlinks.htm (but it is for the August/September issue - someone is falling down here!).
I like this magazine - it's timely, has useful articles, and is very readable.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
One of Ancestry's patents
There was an intriguing post on the APG mailing list today - about Patent 7,249,129 issued 24 July 2007 to The Generations Network for "Correlating genealogy records systems and methods." The patent abstract reads:
"A method of consolidating genealogy records includes partitioning the records using at least one index file to form one or more partitions, sorting the records in a partition based on a data element in the records, comparing records within a sort range, based on the comparison, identifying same person records, consolidating information in the same person records, receiving a request from a user to view at least a portion of the consolidated information for a particular group of same person records, and sending a file that includes the portion to the user. "
The background, description and claims are very detailed with a high "fog factor" - it is difficult to understand exactly what they mean without being able to see the figures (the Images didn't show for me when I clicked on the link).
My summation is "what you see on Ancestry.com when you do a search is obtained by what they describe in this patent." The patent describes the methods used to interrogate a number of databases, determine that certain entries meet the search criteria, and then present the information to the requestor.
Having patented this particular "correlation process," will TGN now legally go after other database providers if they use the same record correlation methods? How will they determine that the methods are the same as what they have patented?
The two comments (so far) to the APG post lament that what TGN has patented is "logic" and is what researchers have been doing for many years with pencil and paper. They may be right, but TGN took it a step further and defined it step-by-step as part of a computer program, and now have a patent on it. You and I can still apply all the logic we want in our searches - we just can't create a correlation system using the same methods that TGN has described and use it to make money unless we have a license from TGN to do it. I wonder what a license would cost?
Some may see this as a "big brother" thing where the "genealogy bully" is stomping on the little guys. In reality, it is a sound business decision taken to protect intellectual property. I wonder what else they've patented?
Hugh Watkins posted about this here and Dick Eastman posted it here (there are many comments).
"A method of consolidating genealogy records includes partitioning the records using at least one index file to form one or more partitions, sorting the records in a partition based on a data element in the records, comparing records within a sort range, based on the comparison, identifying same person records, consolidating information in the same person records, receiving a request from a user to view at least a portion of the consolidated information for a particular group of same person records, and sending a file that includes the portion to the user. "
The background, description and claims are very detailed with a high "fog factor" - it is difficult to understand exactly what they mean without being able to see the figures (the Images didn't show for me when I clicked on the link).
My summation is "what you see on Ancestry.com when you do a search is obtained by what they describe in this patent." The patent describes the methods used to interrogate a number of databases, determine that certain entries meet the search criteria, and then present the information to the requestor.
Having patented this particular "correlation process," will TGN now legally go after other database providers if they use the same record correlation methods? How will they determine that the methods are the same as what they have patented?
The two comments (so far) to the APG post lament that what TGN has patented is "logic" and is what researchers have been doing for many years with pencil and paper. They may be right, but TGN took it a step further and defined it step-by-step as part of a computer program, and now have a patent on it. You and I can still apply all the logic we want in our searches - we just can't create a correlation system using the same methods that TGN has described and use it to make money unless we have a license from TGN to do it. I wonder what a license would cost?
Some may see this as a "big brother" thing where the "genealogy bully" is stomping on the little guys. In reality, it is a sound business decision taken to protect intellectual property. I wonder what else they've patented?
Hugh Watkins posted about this here and Dick Eastman posted it here (there are many comments).
CVGS Research Group summary
The November meeting of the Research Group for the Chula Vista Genealogical society had 11 attendees today.
The first order of business was to talk about the "genealogy news of the month" which is summarized here. As part of that, I passed several US passport applications around and several of the township maps from the Ancestry collection. I also passed the great "Finding local history buried in the past" article from the Union-Tribune around.
Shirley H. presented the first "research problem" discussed. She has an ancestor named Sarah/Sally Pearce born ca 1787 in RI, who married Peter Hazelton, and they resided in Genesee and Orleans Counties in NY, and then in Berry County MI. They were in the 1850 census in Michigan. A Pierce/Pearce book lists a Sarah/Sally born in 1787 to James and Phoebe (Wood) Pearce in Little Compton RI, but James' will in Cayuga County NY gives her married name as Jayne, not Hazelton. Shirley wanted ideas on how to find Sarah's parents. We suggested that she follow a cluster research approach - find out who the associates of Sarah's family were (the witnesses to deeds and wills, the neighbors on plat maps, deeds or census records, etc.), and find out where they were from (look in surname books, county history books, land deeds, probates, message boards, etc.). Then search Pearce (and other spellings) families in those places, especially looking for vital records, probate records and land records.
Shirley B. shared her success in finding information about her Daniel Miller in NY. A correspondent of hers found a number of obituaries in the Utica NY newspaper for descendants of Daniel Miller in collateral lines, and passed them on to Shirley. She now knows a lot more about the family, and in particular Daniel's birthplace, which will help narrow her search.
Phyllis told us about her serendipity experience - she has been unable to find James Regnol in the immigration records on Ancestry, but she knew the year and ship he came on to New York. She input "james" "ontario" and "1855" into the database and found the complete James "Regwell" family - her missing folks!
Cynthia asked how she could find information about the "American Ammunition Company" in New York City that her grandfather founded in the early 1900's. We suggested a Google search with her grandfather's name, a Wikipedia search for the company, NYC City Directories (on Ancestry, FHC microfilm, NYC library), NYC newspapers online, and NYC library vertical files.
Finally, I discussed finding living people in public records, obtaining death certificates at the County Clerk's office, and finding an unmarked grave using a cemetery map showing "neighbors" of the deceased.
This meeting was helpful and productive - the attendees openly shared their problems, successes, knowledge and experiences to help others.
The first order of business was to talk about the "genealogy news of the month" which is summarized here. As part of that, I passed several US passport applications around and several of the township maps from the Ancestry collection. I also passed the great "Finding local history buried in the past" article from the Union-Tribune around.
Shirley H. presented the first "research problem" discussed. She has an ancestor named Sarah/Sally Pearce born ca 1787 in RI, who married Peter Hazelton, and they resided in Genesee and Orleans Counties in NY, and then in Berry County MI. They were in the 1850 census in Michigan. A Pierce/Pearce book lists a Sarah/Sally born in 1787 to James and Phoebe (Wood) Pearce in Little Compton RI, but James' will in Cayuga County NY gives her married name as Jayne, not Hazelton. Shirley wanted ideas on how to find Sarah's parents. We suggested that she follow a cluster research approach - find out who the associates of Sarah's family were (the witnesses to deeds and wills, the neighbors on plat maps, deeds or census records, etc.), and find out where they were from (look in surname books, county history books, land deeds, probates, message boards, etc.). Then search Pearce (and other spellings) families in those places, especially looking for vital records, probate records and land records.
Shirley B. shared her success in finding information about her Daniel Miller in NY. A correspondent of hers found a number of obituaries in the Utica NY newspaper for descendants of Daniel Miller in collateral lines, and passed them on to Shirley. She now knows a lot more about the family, and in particular Daniel's birthplace, which will help narrow her search.
Phyllis told us about her serendipity experience - she has been unable to find James Regnol in the immigration records on Ancestry, but she knew the year and ship he came on to New York. She input "james" "ontario" and "1855" into the database and found the complete James "Regwell" family - her missing folks!
Cynthia asked how she could find information about the "American Ammunition Company" in New York City that her grandfather founded in the early 1900's. We suggested a Google search with her grandfather's name, a Wikipedia search for the company, NYC City Directories (on Ancestry, FHC microfilm, NYC library), NYC newspapers online, and NYC library vertical files.
Finally, I discussed finding living people in public records, obtaining death certificates at the County Clerk's office, and finding an unmarked grave using a cemetery map showing "neighbors" of the deceased.
This meeting was helpful and productive - the attendees openly shared their problems, successes, knowledge and experiences to help others.
MyHeritage.com is a Super Genealogy Search site
One of the problems with a blog post like my last one ("FamilyTreeSearcher.com is Useful") is that it doesn't provide much context - meaning "what else does the same job or better?"
There are several other web sites that provide some sort of "survey many web site databases" for a name search.
The one with by far the most web sites searched is at MyHeritage - http://www.myheritage.com/. You have to register to use the site, but it is free. You can input a given name and last name and the search engine will look in over 900 different databases. It takes a little time to do this, but for a unique name it might find just the database you haven't found yet. Many of the databases surveyed are commercial for-fee sites, but at least you get an idea that some information may reside on those sites.
For example, today I input "David" "Auble" into the MyHeritage search engine. It first asked me to specify some spelling variations (I chose "Aubl" and "Huble" - it didn't have "Aubel" as an option). MyHeritage searched 957 web sites and found over 50,000 matches in 129 databases, with 15 databases timed out. There are some web sites on this list that I haven't seen before - mainly English shire or town sites. MyHeritage finds entries in Rootsweb, USGenWeb, FamilySearch, obituary sites, people search sites, newspaper sites, vital records sites, etc.
All in all, it is an excellent search site, especially for an uncommon name. For a common surname only search, the results would be way too many to effectively find a nugget in the coal mine.
While MyHeritage was "working," it used 100% of my computer CPU for much of the time, effectively preventing me from doing anything else on my computer. I had to cancel all running programs, reload IE7 and sign back in to MyHeritage and Blogger. The David Auble search took about ten minutes to complete on my system. You can progressively see how many matches it has found and the number of databases searched until the search is complete.
UPDATE 11/29: Please read Gilad's comments about my post in Comments. Thanks, Gilad, for taking the time to respond to my concerns.
There are several other web sites that provide some sort of "survey many web site databases" for a name search.
The one with by far the most web sites searched is at MyHeritage - http://www.myheritage.com/. You have to register to use the site, but it is free. You can input a given name and last name and the search engine will look in over 900 different databases. It takes a little time to do this, but for a unique name it might find just the database you haven't found yet. Many of the databases surveyed are commercial for-fee sites, but at least you get an idea that some information may reside on those sites.
For example, today I input "David" "Auble" into the MyHeritage search engine. It first asked me to specify some spelling variations (I chose "Aubl" and "Huble" - it didn't have "Aubel" as an option). MyHeritage searched 957 web sites and found over 50,000 matches in 129 databases, with 15 databases timed out. There are some web sites on this list that I haven't seen before - mainly English shire or town sites. MyHeritage finds entries in Rootsweb, USGenWeb, FamilySearch, obituary sites, people search sites, newspaper sites, vital records sites, etc.
All in all, it is an excellent search site, especially for an uncommon name. For a common surname only search, the results would be way too many to effectively find a nugget in the coal mine.
While MyHeritage was "working," it used 100% of my computer CPU for much of the time, effectively preventing me from doing anything else on my computer. I had to cancel all running programs, reload IE7 and sign back in to MyHeritage and Blogger. The David Auble search took about ten minutes to complete on my system. You can progressively see how many matches it has found and the number of databases searched until the search is complete.
UPDATE 11/29: Please read Gilad's comments about my post in Comments. Thanks, Gilad, for taking the time to respond to my concerns.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
FamilyTreeSearcher.com is useful
I was reading the latest issue of Internet Genealogy magazine and Lisa Alzo's article about the Genealogy Agent web site (www.genealogyagent.com). It mentioned three web sites I wasn't familiar with -
* www.FamilyTreeSearcher.com - searches 8 web sites with online databases using the name and some vital record dates/places.
* www.Genealogy-Search-Advice.com - a question-and-answer site to help you determine what records you need to find, based on what you already know.
* www.Genealogy-Fast-Track.com - a decision-tree site that helps you perform search tasks based on what you have already done.
The last two sites are fairly useless for an experienced researcher.
However, the www.FamilyTreeSearch.com site is very useful. When you input a given name and a surname, and perhaps a birth date and/or death date, you can then click on links to search databases at these 8 web sites:
* www.Ancestry.com (if you have a subscription)
* www.sanbachs.net - the Computerized Ancestor
* www.familysearch.org - the LDS FamilySearch site (1880 US census, 1881 Canada census, 1881 UK Census, Ancestral File, IGI, Pedigree Resource File)
* www.Gencircles.com - user-contributed databases
* www.genealogy.com (some free, some subscription based) - includes free Genforum message boards, and User Pages
* www.geneanet.org - user-contributed databases
* www.KindredKonnections.com - user contributed databases (need subscription)
* www.OneGreatFamily.com - user-contributed databases (need subscription).
This site is pretty efficient, although the windows it opens are fairly small. Some of the databases don't show you matches unless you have a subscription.
* www.FamilyTreeSearcher.com - searches 8 web sites with online databases using the name and some vital record dates/places.
* www.Genealogy-Search-Advice.com - a question-and-answer site to help you determine what records you need to find, based on what you already know.
* www.Genealogy-Fast-Track.com - a decision-tree site that helps you perform search tasks based on what you have already done.
The last two sites are fairly useless for an experienced researcher.
However, the www.FamilyTreeSearch.com site is very useful. When you input a given name and a surname, and perhaps a birth date and/or death date, you can then click on links to search databases at these 8 web sites:
* www.Ancestry.com (if you have a subscription)
* www.sanbachs.net - the Computerized Ancestor
* www.familysearch.org - the LDS FamilySearch site (1880 US census, 1881 Canada census, 1881 UK Census, Ancestral File, IGI, Pedigree Resource File)
* www.Gencircles.com - user-contributed databases
* www.genealogy.com (some free, some subscription based) - includes free Genforum message boards, and User Pages
* www.geneanet.org - user-contributed databases
* www.KindredKonnections.com - user contributed databases (need subscription)
* www.OneGreatFamily.com - user-contributed databases (need subscription).
This site is pretty efficient, although the windows it opens are fairly small. Some of the databases don't show you matches unless you have a subscription.
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