Since my last summary of the status of my genealogy database (Steadily Improving my Family Tree Database) in late February, I've done these tasks in my family tree database using RootsMagic 4:
* All of my master sources are now in free-form style, but are modelled after Evidence! Explained quality citations. I completed the free-form census citations last week (there were over 200 to do for the 1900 census).
* I ran a Problem Report several weeks ago and corrected many of the errors found in the database.
* My "to-be-entered-into-the-database" pile of papers was about two feet tall, so I sorted it out and put the "best source material" on top and started working my way through it. The "to-be-filed" paper pile is now about four inches high. This goes pretty quick because I don't have to enter many new people - it's mostly adding source citations to the database events, dates and places. There is LOTS more to do here! I also have quite a few document images on my computer from the FHL and FHC that I need to go through and enter into the database. A data miner's work is never done!
* I started making surname notebooks for my 16 great-great-grandparents, but am stuck on four of them. There is no room in the bookcase for more notebooks. I'm not sure what I can do, except try to make more piles to make space so that I can create more surname notebooks. I need to buy more "nice" notebooks and dividers to continue this task (which is actually relatively fun). If I did one a day, the job would be over sooner.
* With so many state vital record databases appearing on FamilySearch.org, I've started "data mining" for my ancestral families and my Seaver, Carringer, Auble and Vaux one-name studies. This involves picking a state and going through the vital records databases for the surnames or family names. In the process, I've added quite a few marriages and deaths, female spouse's surnames, and mother's surnames to the database. FamilySearch makes it easy to create the Sources from their Research Wiki page for the collection. So far, I've done DC, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and New Jersey. These are mainly IGI extracted data, I think, although it's hard to tell. There are many more states to go, although my folks were mainly from the northern tier from Nebraska to Maine. I had the New England states pretty well done years ago before the databases came online.
The database status is now (with additions since the 23 February update):
* People: 39892 (+ 173)
* Families: 15830 (+ 85)
* Events: 105397 (+ 540)
* Alternate names: 394
* Places: 4577 (+ 90)
* Sources: 652 (- 19)
* Citations: 21130 (+ 938)
* Repositories: 61 (+ 4)
* Multi-media items: 0 (+ 0)
The only category that was lower than three months ago is the number of Sources. I had some duplicates, so I combined them. I had some "widows" with no citations, so I deleted them.
At this point in time, the database is about 20% sourced to EE quality (I'm not saying that all of the sources are authoritative!), has standardized place names, and is almost ready to be sent off to Ancestry.com to replace the one that I uploaded in January. It will be a big improvement.
This has been a challenging task to get to this point over the past year or so. I'm not done, but I'm a lot happier, and prouder, of the product.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
The New FamilySearch Family Tree - Post 3: A Person's Data
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In the last post, The New FamilySearch Family Tree - Post 2: Searching for Ancestors, I went searching for Isaac Seaver, and found a mishmash of data that purported to be for my great-great-grandfather, Isaac Seaver (1823-1901), with at least six different Person Identifiers.
In this post, we will look at the information in the NFS Family Tree database for one of Isaac's entries, and how to navigate through the Family Tree data on the website.
Clicking on the first entry (Isaac's underlined name, or the "Go To" button) in the "Close Matches" list (in the last post, the only one with five stars), I saw this screen:
The screen above has two major components - the "Family Pedigree" (three generations, plus list of descendants) and "Details." The "Details" component has eight buttons on the left side of the page - "Summary," "Details," "Time Line," "Map," "Parents and Siblings," "Spouses and Children," "Possible Duplicates," and "Discussions." At the bottom of the page are links for "Individual notes," "Individual sources" and "Combined Records."
In the screen above, the "Summary" button is highlighted, and the summary information for this Person Identifier (LWL3-LN4) is shown. Only one entry is shown for Name, Gender, Birth, Christening, Death and Burial. One person's user name and the change date is provided on the right-side of the "Summary" panel.
Note: In all of the screens shown below, the "Family Pedigree" component appears on all of the screens - I've chosen to show the information in the lower component.
The "Details" button provides all of the information for this person identity:
In the screen above, all of the information for name, gender, birth, christening, marriage, death and burial that has been submitted and combined for this person identity is included, along with the Contributor of the information. Each piece of information has an "Edit" link, but the only person who can edit the information is the person that submitted it. A person that did not enter the information can add an opinion about the information. Each item on the list can be clicked on to see details of the information and the contributor(s).
The next button on the left-hand side is the "Timeline" button:
A timeline for all of the events in the person's birth and spousal families are listed - birth and deaths of his siblings, deaths of his parents, his marriages, births of his children, death of his spouse, etc.
The "Maps" button shows a Google Map of the localities shown on the parents, siblings, spouses and children pages (I'm not sure about that, but it's logical).
If you click on one of the stick-pins on the map, then the assertions associated with the family and with the location are listed in a popup box.
The next button down the left-hand side is the "Parents and Siblings" button:
In the screen above, the Siblings are listed in birth order, and the parents are shown with a marriage record between their names. The user can click on the "View family group record" link in the upper right corner of the screen and see a family group sheet that can be printed. At the bottom of the panel,. there are links for "Add or find sibling," "View Relationship Details, "View or Add Family Notes," "Other Parents" and "Parent Options" (includes Add or Find Parents).
The "Spouses and Children" button shows a similar view - the family structure of the Person Identity:
The next button on the left-hand side is the "Possible Duplicates" button:
On this screen, a user can Combine records or Compare records with more detail. There are buttons to "Compare in more detail" (you have to select one or more of them in order to compare them). There are also links for "Advanced Possible Duplicate Search" and "Overview: How Combining an Individual's Information Affects Your Family line."
The last button on the left-hand side is the "Discussions" button:
On the "Discussions" page, the researcher can add a title and add remarks about the Person's identity or any of the assertions made for the person.
The information for the parents, siblings, spouses and children of this Person Identifier (Isaac Seaver LWL3-LN4) convince me that it is not for my Isaac Seaver (1823-1901). It is for his uncle, Isaac Seaver (1802-1870), who married the mother of Isaac Seaver (1823-1901) - Abigail (Gates) Seaver - in 1832. Therefore, I should not combine my Isaac Seaver with this Isaac Seaver LWL3-LN4.
Most of the data on the "Parents and Siblings" and "Spouses and Children" pages are correct, or nearly so -- there are some duplicate assertions, incorrect dates and places, even some incorrect ancestors.
This has been a quick overview of the available options to display all of the information through the eight buttons on the left of the Person Identifier Details screens.
In the next post, we will look at some of the other links on this Person Identifier page, and discuss them.
In the last post, The New FamilySearch Family Tree - Post 2: Searching for Ancestors, I went searching for Isaac Seaver, and found a mishmash of data that purported to be for my great-great-grandfather, Isaac Seaver (1823-1901), with at least six different Person Identifiers.
In this post, we will look at the information in the NFS Family Tree database for one of Isaac's entries, and how to navigate through the Family Tree data on the website.
Clicking on the first entry (Isaac's underlined name, or the "Go To" button) in the "Close Matches" list (in the last post, the only one with five stars), I saw this screen:
 |
In the screen above, the "Summary" button is highlighted, and the summary information for this Person Identifier (LWL3-LN4) is shown. Only one entry is shown for Name, Gender, Birth, Christening, Death and Burial. One person's user name and the change date is provided on the right-side of the "Summary" panel.
Note: In all of the screens shown below, the "Family Pedigree" component appears on all of the screens - I've chosen to show the information in the lower component.
The "Details" button provides all of the information for this person identity:
In the screen above, all of the information for name, gender, birth, christening, marriage, death and burial that has been submitted and combined for this person identity is included, along with the Contributor of the information. Each piece of information has an "Edit" link, but the only person who can edit the information is the person that submitted it. A person that did not enter the information can add an opinion about the information. Each item on the list can be clicked on to see details of the information and the contributor(s).
The next button on the left-hand side is the "Timeline" button:
A timeline for all of the events in the person's birth and spousal families are listed - birth and deaths of his siblings, deaths of his parents, his marriages, births of his children, death of his spouse, etc.
The "Maps" button shows a Google Map of the localities shown on the parents, siblings, spouses and children pages (I'm not sure about that, but it's logical).
If you click on one of the stick-pins on the map, then the assertions associated with the family and with the location are listed in a popup box.
The next button down the left-hand side is the "Parents and Siblings" button:
In the screen above, the Siblings are listed in birth order, and the parents are shown with a marriage record between their names. The user can click on the "View family group record" link in the upper right corner of the screen and see a family group sheet that can be printed. At the bottom of the panel,. there are links for "Add or find sibling," "View Relationship Details, "View or Add Family Notes," "Other Parents" and "Parent Options" (includes Add or Find Parents).
The "Spouses and Children" button shows a similar view - the family structure of the Person Identity:
The next button on the left-hand side is the "Possible Duplicates" button:
On this screen, a user can Combine records or Compare records with more detail. There are buttons to "Compare in more detail" (you have to select one or more of them in order to compare them). There are also links for "Advanced Possible Duplicate Search" and "Overview: How Combining an Individual's Information Affects Your Family line."
The last button on the left-hand side is the "Discussions" button:
On the "Discussions" page, the researcher can add a title and add remarks about the Person's identity or any of the assertions made for the person.
The information for the parents, siblings, spouses and children of this Person Identifier (Isaac Seaver LWL3-LN4) convince me that it is not for my Isaac Seaver (1823-1901). It is for his uncle, Isaac Seaver (1802-1870), who married the mother of Isaac Seaver (1823-1901) - Abigail (Gates) Seaver - in 1832. Therefore, I should not combine my Isaac Seaver with this Isaac Seaver LWL3-LN4.
Most of the data on the "Parents and Siblings" and "Spouses and Children" pages are correct, or nearly so -- there are some duplicate assertions, incorrect dates and places, even some incorrect ancestors.
This has been a quick overview of the available options to display all of the information through the eight buttons on the left of the Person Identifier Details screens.
In the next post, we will look at some of the other links on this Person Identifier page, and discuss them.
Tuesday's Tip - Find Revolutionary War Ancestors in DAR Records
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This week's Tuesday's Tip is to: Find Revolutionary War ancestors in the Daughter's of the American Revolution (DAR) FREE databases.
Connie Walton Moretti gave an excellent presentation last Saturday at the San Diego Genealogical Society about the online DAR resources. Researchers can access the DAR Online Resources through:
* Home page (http://www.dar.org/)
* click on "Online Research" (http://www.dar.org/library/online_research.cfm)
* click on "Click Image to Open GRS" (http://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search/)
On the "DAR Genealogical Research System" page, there are seven tabs:
* "Ancestor" - search for Revolutionary War Ancestors
* "Member" - search for DAR members (over 850,000 records)
* "Descendants" - search for descendants of DAR patriots (over 7 million names)
* "GRC" - Genealogical Records Committee Index (records donated or transcribed by DAR members)
* "Resources" - Revolutionary Pension Extract Card Index, DAR Analytical Card index, and links to genealogy sites
* "Library Catalog" - DAR Library Catalog (housed in Washington DC)
* "Record Copy" - purchase and download record copy papers
Researchers can find the ancestral lines that were submitted and approved using the Ancestor and "Descendants" tabs. If a researcher finds a line that they are interested in, they can request a "Record Copy" of the application for $10 and immediately download a file containing the application and accompanying proofs of the events (usually births, marriages and deaths) for each generation approved. A sample copy of a "Record Copy" is online at http://www.dar.org/library/SAMPLE_Online_Record_Copy.pdf.
There are, of course, some limitations in the Ancestor and Descendants databases - they are submitted by researchers and have only specific lines back to the Revolutionary War soldier. However, the lines submitted may provide significant details for specific persons in the 19th century, and these clues may help researchers find elusive ancestors. If a researcher finds a soldier, they can apply for DAR membership by submitting their own application detailing their ancestral line back to the soldier.
This week's Tuesday's Tip is to: Find Revolutionary War ancestors in the Daughter's of the American Revolution (DAR) FREE databases.
Connie Walton Moretti gave an excellent presentation last Saturday at the San Diego Genealogical Society about the online DAR resources. Researchers can access the DAR Online Resources through:
* Home page (http://www.dar.org/)
* click on "Online Research" (http://www.dar.org/library/online_research.cfm)
* click on "Click Image to Open GRS" (http://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search/)
On the "DAR Genealogical Research System" page, there are seven tabs:
* "Ancestor" - search for Revolutionary War Ancestors
* "Member" - search for DAR members (over 850,000 records)
* "Descendants" - search for descendants of DAR patriots (over 7 million names)
* "GRC" - Genealogical Records Committee Index (records donated or transcribed by DAR members)
* "Resources" - Revolutionary Pension Extract Card Index, DAR Analytical Card index, and links to genealogy sites
* "Library Catalog" - DAR Library Catalog (housed in Washington DC)
* "Record Copy" - purchase and download record copy papers
Researchers can find the ancestral lines that were submitted and approved using the Ancestor and "Descendants" tabs. If a researcher finds a line that they are interested in, they can request a "Record Copy" of the application for $10 and immediately download a file containing the application and accompanying proofs of the events (usually births, marriages and deaths) for each generation approved. A sample copy of a "Record Copy" is online at http://www.dar.org/library/SAMPLE_Online_Record_Copy.pdf.
There are, of course, some limitations in the Ancestor and Descendants databases - they are submitted by researchers and have only specific lines back to the Revolutionary War soldier. However, the lines submitted may provide significant details for specific persons in the 19th century, and these clues may help researchers find elusive ancestors. If a researcher finds a soldier, they can apply for DAR membership by submitting their own application detailing their ancestral line back to the soldier.
Monday, May 16, 2011
California Vital Records Alert
I received this email from the California State Genealogical Alliance about the cost of Vital Records in California.
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From: Legislative Watch Chair, CSGA
Assemblyman Gordon has introduced AB1053 and the bill has been referred to the Committee on Appropriations. Hearing will held on May 18, Wednesday. See links below to contact information for author and members of the Committee on Appropriations.
This bill would raise the basic fee for certified copies of vital records by $ 9 from the current $ 3. In other words, $ 9 will be added to the current fee for vital records. Example: If a county currently charges $19 for a birth record, the new fee would be $28. This is an enormous increase!
For questions regarding various fee elements being charged for vital record copies, please reference the pie chart in the 2011 Jan-Feb CSGA newsletter. The basic fee is being increased and added to other surcharges and program fees.
This increase would affect all vital records regardless of when the records were created. It is unfortunate that the increase would also apply to records created prior to 1906.
Today and tomorrow, you may wish to contact your Assemblyman, or Assemblyman Gordon, or members of the Committee to object to this proposed fee increase as 'unreasonable' before it goes to committee on Wednesday.
Assemblyman Gordon:
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0021
Tel: (916) 319-2021
Fax: (916) 319-2121
Assemblyman Gordon:
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0021
Tel: (916) 319-2021
Fax: (916) 319-2121
Assemblyman Gordon:
District Office:
5050 El Camino Real Suite 117
Los Altos, CA 94022
Tel: (650) 691-2121
Fax: (650) 691-2120
5050 El Camino Real Suite 117
Los Altos, CA 94022
Tel: (650) 691-2121
Fax: (650) 691-2120
** For the link to full text, see below. Here are portions of AB1053 for your ready information:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
...(a) The fees charged for providing certified copies of birth and
death records have not kept pace with the true cost of providing
certified copies of those records. Sections 5 and 6 of this act address
those deficiencies by raising the fees charged for those records to a
level that more accurately reflects the true costs incurred by the
agencies providing those certified copies.
...(b) The fees charged for the issuance of certified birth and death
records shall continue to reflect the true costs of the services provided
as those fees are to be adjusted annually by the formula set forth in
Section 100425 of the Health and Safety Code, and the amounts collected
are prohibited from exceeding the total increased reasonable cost for
the services provided.
(The following reflects the $9 increased fee): SEC. 5. Section 103625 of the Health and Safety Code, as amended by Section 9 of Chapter 529 of the Statutes of 2010, is amended to read:103625. ...(a) A fee of twelve dollars ($12) shall be paid by the applicant for a certified copy of a fetal death or death record....(b) (1) A fee of twelve dollars ($12) shall be paid by a public agency or licensed private adoption agency applicant for a certified copy of a birth certificate that the agency is required to obtain in the ordinary course of business. A fee of eighteen-dollar ($18) shall be paid by any other applicant for a certified copy of a birth certificate. Four dollars ($4) of any eighteen-dollar ($18) fee is exempt from subdivision (e) and shall be paid either to a county children's trust fund or to the State Children's Trust Fund, in conformity with Article 5 (commencing with Section 18965) of Chapter 11 of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. Two dollars ($2) of any eighteen-dollar ($18) fee is exempt from subdivision (e) and shall be paid to the Umbilical Cord Blood Collection Program Fund in conformity with Section 1628.......(2) The board of supervisors of any county that has established a county children's trust fund may increase the fee for a certified copy of a birth certificate by up to three dollars ($3) for deposit in the county children's trust fund in conformity with Article 5 (commencing with Section 18965) of Chapter 11 of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code....(c) A fee of three dollars ($3) shall be paid by a public agencyapplicant for a certified copy of a marriage record, that has beenfiled with the county recorder or county clerk, that the agency isrequired to obtain in the ordinary course of business. A fee of sixdollars ($6) shall be paid by any other applicant for a certifiedcopy of a marriage record that has been filed with the countyrecorder or county clerk. Three dollars ($3) of any six-dollar ($6)fee is exempt from subdivision (e) and shall be transmitted monthlyby each local registrar, county recorder, and county clerk to thestate for deposit into the General Fund as provided by Section 1852of the Family Code....(d) A fee of three dollars ($3) shall be paid by a public agencyapplicant for a certified copy of a marriage dissolution recordobtained from the State Registrar that the agency is required toobtain in the ordinary course of business. A fee of six dollars ($6)shall be paid by any other applicant for a certified copy of amarriage dissolution record obtained from the State Registrar....(e) Each local registrar, county recorder, or county clerkcollecting a fee pursuant to subdivisions (a) to (d), inclusive,shall transmit 15 percent of the fee for each certified copy to theState Registrar by the 10th day of the month following the month inwhich the fee was received....(f) In addition to the fees prescribed pursuant to subdivisions(a) to (d), inclusive, all applicants for certified copies of therecords described in those subdivisions shall pay an additional feeof three dollars ($3), that shall be collected by the StateRegistrar, the local registrar, county recorder, or county clerk, asthe case may be....(g) The local public official charged with the collection of theadditional fee established pursuant to subdivision (f) may create alocal vital and health statistics trust fund. The fees collected bylocal public officials pursuant to subdivision (f) shall bedistributed as follows:......(1) Forty-five percent of the fee collected pursuant tosubdivision (f) shall be transmitted to the State Registrar.......(2) The remainder of the fee collected pursuant to subdivision (f)shall be deposited into the collecting agency's vital and healthstatistics trust fund, except that in any jurisdiction in which alocal vital and health statistics trust fund has not beenestablished, the entire amount of the fee collected pursuant tosubdivision (f) shall be transmitted to the State Registrar.......(3) Moneys transmitted to the State Registrar pursuant to thissubdivision shall be deposited in accordance with Section 102247....(h) Moneys in each local vital and health statistics trust fundshall be available to the local official charged with the collectionof fees pursuant to subdivision (f) for the applicable jurisdictionfor the purpose of defraying the administrative costs of collecting and reporting with respect to those fees and for other costs as follows:......(1) Modernization of vital record operations, includingimprovement, automation, and technical support of vital recordsystems.......(2) Improvement in the collection and analysis of health-relatedbirth and death certificate information, and other community healthdata collection and analysis, as appropriate....(i) Funds collected pursuant to subdivision(f) shall not be usedto supplant funding in existence on January 1, 2002, that isnecessary for the daily operation of vital record systems. It is theintent of the Legislature that funds collected pursuant tosubdivision (f) be used to enhance service to the public, to improveanalytical capabilities of state and local health authorities inaddressing the health needs of newborn children and maternal healthproblems, and to analyze the health status of the general population....(j) Each county shall annually submit a report to the StateRegistrar by March 1 containing information on the amount of revenuescollected pursuant to subdivision (f) in the previous calendar yearand on how the revenues were expended and for what purpose....(k) Each local registrar, county recorder, or county clerkcollecting the fee pursuant to subdivision (f) shall transmit 45percent of the fee for each certified copy to which subdivision (f)applies to the State Registrar by the 10th day of the month followingthe month in which the fee was received....(l) The additional three dollars ($3) authorized to be charged toapplicants other than public agency applicants for certified copiesof marriage records by subdivision (c) may be increased pursuant toSection 114....(m) In providing for the expiration of the surcharge on birthcertificate fees on June 30, 1999, the Legislature intends thatjuvenile dependency mediation programs pursue ancillary fundingsources after that date....(n) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,2018, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enactedstatute, that is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or extendsthat date.SEC. 6. Section 103625 of the Health and Safety Code, as added bySection 10 of Chapter 529 of the Statutes of 2010, is amended to read:103625. ...(a) A fee of twelve dollars ($12) shall be paid by theapplicant for a certified copy of a fetal death or death record....(b) (1) A fee of twelve dollars ($12) shall be paid by a publicagency or licensed private adoption agency applicant for a certifiedcopy of a birth certificate that the agency is required to obtain inthe ordinary course of business. A fee of sixteen dollars ($16) shallbe paid by any other applicant for a certified copy of a birthcertificate. Four dollars ($4) of any sixteen-dollar ($16) fee isexempt from subdivision (e) and shall be paid either to a countychildren's trust fund or to the State Children's Trust Fund, inconformity with Article 5 (commencing with Section 18965) of Chapter11 of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.......(2) The board of supervisors of any county that has established acounty children's trust fund may increase the fee for a certifiedcopy of a birth certificate by up to three dollars ($3) for depositin the county children's trust fund in conformity with Article 5(commencing with Section 18965) of Chapter 11 of Part 6 of Division
9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code....(c) A fee of three dollars ($3) shall be paid by a public agencyapplicant for a certified copy of a marriage record, that has beenfiled with the county recorder or county clerk, that the agency isrequired to obtain in the ordinary course of business. A fee of sixdollars ($6) shall be paid by any other applicant for a certifiedcopy of a marriage record that has been filed with the countyrecorder or county clerk. Three dollars ($3) of any six-dollar ($6)fee is exempt from subdivision (e) and shall be transmitted monthlyby each local registrar, county recorder, and county clerk to thestate for deposit into the General Fund as provided by Section 1852of the Family Code....(d) A fee of three dollars ($3) shall be paid by a public agencyapplicant for a certified copy of a marriage dissolution recordobtained from the State Registrar that the agency is required toobtain in the ordinary course of business. A fee of six dollars ($6)shall be paid by any other applicant for a certified copy of amarriage dissolution record obtained from the State Registrar....(e) Each local registrar, county recorder, or county clerkcollecting a fee pursuant to subdivisions (a) to (d), inclusive,shall transmit 15 percent of the fee for each certified copy to theState Registrar by the 10th day of the month following the month inwhich the fee was received....(f) In addition to the fees prescribed pursuant to subdivisions(a) to (d), inclusive, all applicants for certified copies of therecords described in those subdivisions shall pay an additional feeof three dollars ($3), that shall be collected by the StateRegistrar, the local registrar, county recorder, or county clerk, asthe case may be....(g) The local public official charged with the collection of theadditional fee established pursuant to subdivision (f) may create alocal vital and health statistics trust fund. The fees collected bylocal public officials pursuant to subdivision (f) shall bedistributed as follows:......(1) Forty-five percent of the fee collected pursuant tosubdivision (f) shall be transmitted to the State Registrar.......(2) The remainder of the fee collected pursuant to subdivision (f)shall be deposited into the collecting agency's vital and healthstatistics trust fund, except that in any jurisdiction in which alocal vital and health statistics trust fund has not beenestablished, the entire amount of the fee collected pursuant tosubdivision (f) shall be transmitted to the State Registrar.......(3) Moneys transmitted to the State Registrar pursuant to thissubdivision shall be deposited in accordance with Section 102247....(h) Moneys in each local vital and health statistics trust fundshall be available to the local official charged with the collectionof fees pursuant to subdivision (f) for the applicable jurisdictionfor the purpose of defraying the administrative costs of collectingand reporting with respect to those fees and for other costs asfollows:......(1) Modernization of vital record operations, includingimprovement, automation, and technical support of vital recordsystems.......(2) Improvement in the collection and analysis of health-relatedbirth and death certificate information, and other community healthdata collection and analysis, as appropriate....(i) Funds collected pursuant to subdivision (f) shall not be usedto supplant funding in existence on January 1, 2002, that isnecessary for the daily operation of vital record systems. It is theintent of the Legislature that funds collected pursuant tosubdivision (f) be used to enhance service to the public, to improveanalytical capabilities of state and local health authorities inaddressing the health needs of newborn children and maternal healthproblems, and to analyze the health status of the general population.Full Text of AB1053:
Committee on Appropriation Members:
Assembly Roster:
==================================
I hope that the formatting of the bill's language isn't mangled too badly - copying Courier text from an email into Blogger creates all sorts of problems for me. I tried to get the different sub-sections to start on a new line but didn't try to fix the word-wrap problem.
The bottom line is that the California Legislature wants to charge more for certified vital records certificates so as to balance the State budget. In the process, it appears that they want to help bail out the counties too.
I don't know what the Law says now, and if I had it handy, I probably couldn't understand what it says. All I know is that it costs about $13 to obtain a vital records certificate in San Diego County.
Please don't ask me to interpret any of this - I'm just passing it on so that people smarter than I can try to do something about it.
The New FamilySearch Family Tree - Post 2: Searching for Ancestors
...
In my previous post in this series, The New FamilySearch Family Tree - Post 1: I Have Access, I described some of the educational opportunites for researchers to learn ab0out the New FamilySearch Family Tree - an online inter-connected family tree that is currently open to all LDS church members and some non-LDS church members, including myself.
In this post, I want to go Searching for some of my ancestors to see what is in the existing family tree.
I'll start with logging into the system at http://new.familysearch.org/:
I entered my userID and password, and clicked on "Sign In" and saw:
This welcome screen gives me four options in the tabs - "Home," "Me and My Ancestors," "Search," and "Add New Information." The links below the menu include all of those, plus "Whats New in FamilySearch," "Learn How to Use FamilySearch," "Update My Profile and Preferences," and "Help Center."
I wanted to Search for my grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents in the existing New FamilySearch Family Tree. My grandparents had no search matches, but there were several entries for two sets of my great-grandparents. However, the information was very sparase and had either no dates and locations or they were wrong.
I usually use my great-great-grandfather, Isaac Seaver as my "test case" for online family trees, so I'll do that here. He was born in 1823 in Westminster, Mass. to parents Benjamin and Abigail (Seaver) Gates, died in 1901 in Leominster, Mass., married (1) Juliet Glazier in 1847, (2) Lucretia Townsend Smith in 1851, and (3) Alvina Matilda (Bradley) Lewis in 1888.
I clicked on the "Search" tab in the screen above, and received this screen:
I clicked on the "Advanced Search" screen to see what it included, as shown above. The only difference between the "Basic Search" and "Advanced Search" is the addition of "Exact search" check boxes to every search field, and a "Match all terms exactly" match (all shown above). The default screen is for "Multiple name field" (shown above), and the other choice is "Single name field" (which has no advanced search feature).
I entered "Given name" = "Isaac" and "Last name" = "Seaver" and "Event" = "Birth" and "Event Date" = "1823" (shown in screen above). I did not select any "Exact match" boxes because I wanted to see what possible matches there might be in the database.
Here is the first page of results (two screens):
There were 10 "Close Matches," which match the names (not exactly) and the event date within plus or minus 5 years. You can see the information about each person on the list by clicking on the underlined name or the "Get Info" blue button to the left of the index entry.
Of those 10 close matches, my Isaac Seaver is:
* The first match (five stars) is for Isaac Seaver, born 1823 Westminster, Mass., died 1 July 1870, Westminster Mass., spouse Abigail Gates, parents Benjamin Seaver and Abigail Gates. His "Person Identifier" number is LWL3-LN4. Hmm, that's not an "exact match." The birth date is correct (but not exactly right), the birth place is correct (but not in standard format), the death date and death place are not correct, the spouse is not correct, but the parents are correct.
* The second match (four stars) is for Isaac Seaver, born about 1824 in Westminster, Mass. The birth date is approximately correct, and the birth place is correct. No other data is provided. His "Person Identifier" number is KDSC-2TY.
* Matches 3 through 10 of the "Close matches" are not my Isaac Seaver, and all of them have different "Person Identifier" numbers.
There are 7,869 "Possible Matches" on the screen (there are 20 matches per screen). Of those on the first page, there are three that are my Isaac Seaver:
* Match 3 (three stars) is Isaac Seaver with spouse Juliet Glazier, and no other information.
* Match 9 (three stars) is Isaac Seaver with spouse Lucretia T., and no other information.
* Match 10 (three stars) is Isaac Seaver with spouse Lucretia, and no other information.
On the next "Close Matches" page, there is one more match:
* Match 18 (three stars) is Isaac III Seaver with spouse Lucretia, and no other information.
It appears that there are at least six entries for my Isaac Seaver in the New FamilySearch Family Tree. None of them have the correct birth, marriage or death data for Isaac Seaver, although there are some entries that are correct. The one entry with a death date is wrong, and that entry has a wrong spouse (the person named is actually Isaac's mother!).
It's painfully obvious to me that none of Isaac Seaver's descendants are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! If someone had been, they would have found every birth, marriage and death record for Isaac Seaver because they are all available in free or subscription online websites. The birth and first marriage are in Massachusetts Vital Record books. The other two marriages and his death are in the Massachusetts Vital Record Indexes, 1841-1910 available on microfilm or at NEHGS.
Some questions:
* How did all of these entries occur?
* How do we merge the different entries into an entry with documented and sourced information?
* How does someone with the correct information for my great-great-grandfather fix the erroneous data?
I'm not exactly sure of the answers yet, but we'll go look at some of the details to the first question in the next post.
Please note that I did not "cherry-pick" this example. I chose the person that I usually choose to look in online family trees, because there are enough birth, marriage, death, census, and military records to find him in any online family tree and many genealogy database collections. This example sure shows up the "duplication problem" in the New FamilySearch Family Tree.
The information about the New FamilySearch Family Tree says that the goal of FamilySearch is to be the very best online family tree there is. I sincerely hope that it becomes that. It's going to take time, however, and we all need to practice patience with it.
I'm not trying to embarrass FamilySearch here. I'm trying to understand this online family tree, and to show my readers some of the navigation processes and results that result from a Search of the tree. FamilySearch said they wanted feedback from me in their email, and they will receive it, more or less in real time.
If knowledgeable readers want to make comments to this post, or email me privately (rjseaver@cox.net), or write their own blog post about this, please feel free. If you write comments on the blog, or email me, I would like to publish your responses, but will keep your name confidential if you desire.
In my previous post in this series, The New FamilySearch Family Tree - Post 1: I Have Access, I described some of the educational opportunites for researchers to learn ab0out the New FamilySearch Family Tree - an online inter-connected family tree that is currently open to all LDS church members and some non-LDS church members, including myself.
In this post, I want to go Searching for some of my ancestors to see what is in the existing family tree.
I'll start with logging into the system at http://new.familysearch.org/:
I entered my userID and password, and clicked on "Sign In" and saw:
This welcome screen gives me four options in the tabs - "Home," "Me and My Ancestors," "Search," and "Add New Information." The links below the menu include all of those, plus "Whats New in FamilySearch," "Learn How to Use FamilySearch," "Update My Profile and Preferences," and "Help Center."
I wanted to Search for my grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents in the existing New FamilySearch Family Tree. My grandparents had no search matches, but there were several entries for two sets of my great-grandparents. However, the information was very sparase and had either no dates and locations or they were wrong.
I usually use my great-great-grandfather, Isaac Seaver as my "test case" for online family trees, so I'll do that here. He was born in 1823 in Westminster, Mass. to parents Benjamin and Abigail (Seaver) Gates, died in 1901 in Leominster, Mass., married (1) Juliet Glazier in 1847, (2) Lucretia Townsend Smith in 1851, and (3) Alvina Matilda (Bradley) Lewis in 1888.
I clicked on the "Search" tab in the screen above, and received this screen:
I clicked on the "Advanced Search" screen to see what it included, as shown above. The only difference between the "Basic Search" and "Advanced Search" is the addition of "Exact search" check boxes to every search field, and a "Match all terms exactly" match (all shown above). The default screen is for "Multiple name field" (shown above), and the other choice is "Single name field" (which has no advanced search feature).
I entered "Given name" = "Isaac" and "Last name" = "Seaver" and "Event" = "Birth" and "Event Date" = "1823" (shown in screen above). I did not select any "Exact match" boxes because I wanted to see what possible matches there might be in the database.
Here is the first page of results (two screens):
There were 10 "Close Matches," which match the names (not exactly) and the event date within plus or minus 5 years. You can see the information about each person on the list by clicking on the underlined name or the "Get Info" blue button to the left of the index entry.
Of those 10 close matches, my Isaac Seaver is:
* The first match (five stars) is for Isaac Seaver, born 1823 Westminster, Mass., died 1 July 1870, Westminster Mass., spouse Abigail Gates, parents Benjamin Seaver and Abigail Gates. His "Person Identifier" number is LWL3-LN4. Hmm, that's not an "exact match." The birth date is correct (but not exactly right), the birth place is correct (but not in standard format), the death date and death place are not correct, the spouse is not correct, but the parents are correct.
* The second match (four stars) is for Isaac Seaver, born about 1824 in Westminster, Mass. The birth date is approximately correct, and the birth place is correct. No other data is provided. His "Person Identifier" number is KDSC-2TY.
* Matches 3 through 10 of the "Close matches" are not my Isaac Seaver, and all of them have different "Person Identifier" numbers.
There are 7,869 "Possible Matches" on the screen (there are 20 matches per screen). Of those on the first page, there are three that are my Isaac Seaver:
* Match 3 (three stars) is Isaac Seaver with spouse Juliet Glazier, and no other information.
* Match 9 (three stars) is Isaac Seaver with spouse Lucretia T., and no other information.
* Match 10 (three stars) is Isaac Seaver with spouse Lucretia, and no other information.
On the next "Close Matches" page, there is one more match:
* Match 18 (three stars) is Isaac III Seaver with spouse Lucretia, and no other information.
It appears that there are at least six entries for my Isaac Seaver in the New FamilySearch Family Tree. None of them have the correct birth, marriage or death data for Isaac Seaver, although there are some entries that are correct. The one entry with a death date is wrong, and that entry has a wrong spouse (the person named is actually Isaac's mother!).
It's painfully obvious to me that none of Isaac Seaver's descendants are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! If someone had been, they would have found every birth, marriage and death record for Isaac Seaver because they are all available in free or subscription online websites. The birth and first marriage are in Massachusetts Vital Record books. The other two marriages and his death are in the Massachusetts Vital Record Indexes, 1841-1910 available on microfilm or at NEHGS.
Some questions:
* How did all of these entries occur?
* How do we merge the different entries into an entry with documented and sourced information?
* How does someone with the correct information for my great-great-grandfather fix the erroneous data?
I'm not exactly sure of the answers yet, but we'll go look at some of the details to the first question in the next post.
Please note that I did not "cherry-pick" this example. I chose the person that I usually choose to look in online family trees, because there are enough birth, marriage, death, census, and military records to find him in any online family tree and many genealogy database collections. This example sure shows up the "duplication problem" in the New FamilySearch Family Tree.
The information about the New FamilySearch Family Tree says that the goal of FamilySearch is to be the very best online family tree there is. I sincerely hope that it becomes that. It's going to take time, however, and we all need to practice patience with it.
I'm not trying to embarrass FamilySearch here. I'm trying to understand this online family tree, and to show my readers some of the navigation processes and results that result from a Search of the tree. FamilySearch said they wanted feedback from me in their email, and they will receive it, more or less in real time.
If knowledgeable readers want to make comments to this post, or email me privately (rjseaver@cox.net), or write their own blog post about this, please feel free. If you write comments on the blog, or email me, I would like to publish your responses, but will keep your name confidential if you desire.
Amanuensis Monday - the Will of John Loker (1608-1653) of Sudbury MA
...Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started a Monday blog theme many months ago called Amanuensis Monday. What does "amanuensis" mean? John offers this definition:
"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."
The subject today is the will of John Loker (1608-1653) of Sudbury, Massachusetts. He married Mary Draper (1625-ca1697) in about 1650, and they had two children - John Loker (1650-????), and Mary Loker (1653-1735), who married Jonas Prescott in 1672.
John Loker died on 18 June 1653, before his daughter, Mary Loker, was born. He died testate, having written a will on 17 June 1653, and it was proved on 17 August 1653. The will reads (Middlesex County [Massachusetts] Probate Records, Probate Packet 14,283, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,421,460, paragraphs by myself):
"I John Loker of Sudbury beinge sicke in body but of perfect minde and memory (blessed be God) doe make this my last will and testament as followeth:
"I beinge by Gods providence posessed of a house and certayne lande in Sudbury, I beinge maryed and haveing one childe beinge a Sonne his name John Loker and consideringe that the law here established doth allow a wife after the death of her husband to enjoy a third parte of his house and lande during her naturall life, for the settinge of things in order, my will is that my wife shall enjoy my house and all my lande to her use if she remayne a widow untill my sonn come to the age of one and twenty yeares, but if she be maryed then shee shall enjoy the house and all the lande but untill my sonne comes to the age of eighteen yeares, and from that tyme two third parts of the rent of the house and lande shall bee to the benefit and particular use of my sonne and one third parte to the use of my wife untill my sonne come to the age of one and twenty yeares, but if my wife remaine a wyddow then my will is that shee should enjoy one third parte of my house and lande soe longe as shee soe continues, but if shee be married then my will is that my house and lande shall bee wholly surrendred unto my sonne John Loker when hee is one and twenty yeares old, and my will is that my wife shall kepe the house and fences in good reparations and soe leave them.
"And because my sonne is younge and in probability my wife may bee with child againe my will is, that my wife shall bringe up my sonne and that child or children with who shee now goes unto full age if she soe longe live, And in consideration thereof, I give unto my wife after my debts and funerall is discharged, All my goodes and cattle whatsoever (except my gunn and sword) and I give my gun and my sword unto my sonne John Loker and in case he dye before he come to age then I give my gun and sword to my brother Henry Loker Provided alwayes that if my wife dye before my children are brought up then my will is that my brother in law Robert Davies and my sister Bridget his wife livinge shall take up my sonne or children to bringe them up, And shall have the use of the lande and house to their use untill my sonne come to the age of eighteene yeares, And then the house and lands to returne wholly to the use of my sonne.
"And further if my sister Bridgett davies shall dye then my will is that my brother Henry Loker shall take my sonne or children to bringe them up And hee to have the use of my house and lands, As my brother and sister davies were to have it till my sonnne come to the age of eighteene yeares, And then it is to be surrendred to the use of my sonne John Loker. But in case my sonne John dye and there remayne another child of mine alive, then the house and land to bee to him or her surrendred when such child shall come to the age of eighteene yeares, but in case my child or children dye and that I have noe issue, then my will is that my wife shall enjoy my house and land to her proper use whether she bee maryed or a widdow duringe her naturall life. And then after her decease my will is that my house and lande shall bee equally divided betweene my brother henry Loker my sister davies and my sister Newton.
"And I doe hereby make my wife my brother henry Loker and my brother in law Robert davies to bee my executors desiringe them to see this my will and testament performed.
"In wittnes whereof I have hereunto sett my hand the 17th day of June 1653.
(mark) the marke of John Loker sett with his owne hand in the presence of
John Parmeter
Hugh Griffyn"
John Parmeter appeared before the Middlesex Probate Court on 17 August 1653 and deposed and testified under oath that John Loker deceased was of good understanding and memory when he made his last will and testament.
An inventory of the estate of John Loker of Sudbury was taken on 5 July 1653 by John Parmintir, Roger Draper, Robert Davies and Hugh Griffyn. The real estate included the house and lot with an acre and a half of upland upon the hill before the house (24 pounds), 9 acres of upland in the south part of the town (5 pounds) and six acres of meadow in the three divisions (5 pounds). The personal estate including livestock, the crop of corn and hops, arms and ammunition, bed and bedding, tools and implements, wearing apparel, household goods, tools, etc. There were also items jointly owned with his brother, Henry Loker, and debts due at Boston for hops. The sum came to 95 pounds, 17 shillings and 6 pence, besides the last grant of land which was not valued.
This will is different from many of the others that I've transcribed - John Loker died at age 45, relatively young, and had a young wife and one young child, with another in the womb. He had to provide for his wife and children, and so selected his brother, Henry Loker and his sister Bridget (Loker) Davies, to help settle the estate and raise his children in case his wife died. In case everyone died, he left his property to his brother and two sisters. He did a wonderful job of covering all of the potential events, I think.
I don't know what happened to the wife, Mary (Draper) Loker, but my database says she died after 1697 (source unknown at this point). Did she marry another man, who brought up the children? I don't know what happened to the son, Henry Loker. Did he survive childhood, marry and raise a family? My own ancestry is through the daughter, Mary Loker, who married Jonas Prescott and has thousands of descendants, including me!
"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."
The subject today is the will of John Loker (1608-1653) of Sudbury, Massachusetts. He married Mary Draper (1625-ca1697) in about 1650, and they had two children - John Loker (1650-????), and Mary Loker (1653-1735), who married Jonas Prescott in 1672.
John Loker died on 18 June 1653, before his daughter, Mary Loker, was born. He died testate, having written a will on 17 June 1653, and it was proved on 17 August 1653. The will reads (Middlesex County [Massachusetts] Probate Records, Probate Packet 14,283, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,421,460, paragraphs by myself):
"I John Loker of Sudbury beinge sicke in body but of perfect minde and memory (blessed be God) doe make this my last will and testament as followeth:
"I beinge by Gods providence posessed of a house and certayne lande in Sudbury, I beinge maryed and haveing one childe beinge a Sonne his name John Loker and consideringe that the law here established doth allow a wife after the death of her husband to enjoy a third parte of his house and lande during her naturall life, for the settinge of things in order, my will is that my wife shall enjoy my house and all my lande to her use if she remayne a widow untill my sonn come to the age of one and twenty yeares, but if she be maryed then shee shall enjoy the house and all the lande but untill my sonne comes to the age of eighteen yeares, and from that tyme two third parts of the rent of the house and lande shall bee to the benefit and particular use of my sonne and one third parte to the use of my wife untill my sonne come to the age of one and twenty yeares, but if my wife remaine a wyddow then my will is that shee should enjoy one third parte of my house and lande soe longe as shee soe continues, but if shee be married then my will is that my house and lande shall bee wholly surrendred unto my sonne John Loker when hee is one and twenty yeares old, and my will is that my wife shall kepe the house and fences in good reparations and soe leave them.
"And because my sonne is younge and in probability my wife may bee with child againe my will is, that my wife shall bringe up my sonne and that child or children with who shee now goes unto full age if she soe longe live, And in consideration thereof, I give unto my wife after my debts and funerall is discharged, All my goodes and cattle whatsoever (except my gunn and sword) and I give my gun and my sword unto my sonne John Loker and in case he dye before he come to age then I give my gun and sword to my brother Henry Loker Provided alwayes that if my wife dye before my children are brought up then my will is that my brother in law Robert Davies and my sister Bridget his wife livinge shall take up my sonne or children to bringe them up, And shall have the use of the lande and house to their use untill my sonne come to the age of eighteene yeares, And then the house and lands to returne wholly to the use of my sonne.
"And further if my sister Bridgett davies shall dye then my will is that my brother Henry Loker shall take my sonne or children to bringe them up And hee to have the use of my house and lands, As my brother and sister davies were to have it till my sonnne come to the age of eighteene yeares, And then it is to be surrendred to the use of my sonne John Loker. But in case my sonne John dye and there remayne another child of mine alive, then the house and land to bee to him or her surrendred when such child shall come to the age of eighteene yeares, but in case my child or children dye and that I have noe issue, then my will is that my wife shall enjoy my house and land to her proper use whether she bee maryed or a widdow duringe her naturall life. And then after her decease my will is that my house and lande shall bee equally divided betweene my brother henry Loker my sister davies and my sister Newton.
"And I doe hereby make my wife my brother henry Loker and my brother in law Robert davies to bee my executors desiringe them to see this my will and testament performed.
"In wittnes whereof I have hereunto sett my hand the 17th day of June 1653.
(mark) the marke of John Loker sett with his owne hand in the presence of
John Parmeter
Hugh Griffyn"
John Parmeter appeared before the Middlesex Probate Court on 17 August 1653 and deposed and testified under oath that John Loker deceased was of good understanding and memory when he made his last will and testament.
An inventory of the estate of John Loker of Sudbury was taken on 5 July 1653 by John Parmintir, Roger Draper, Robert Davies and Hugh Griffyn. The real estate included the house and lot with an acre and a half of upland upon the hill before the house (24 pounds), 9 acres of upland in the south part of the town (5 pounds) and six acres of meadow in the three divisions (5 pounds). The personal estate including livestock, the crop of corn and hops, arms and ammunition, bed and bedding, tools and implements, wearing apparel, household goods, tools, etc. There were also items jointly owned with his brother, Henry Loker, and debts due at Boston for hops. The sum came to 95 pounds, 17 shillings and 6 pence, besides the last grant of land which was not valued.
This will is different from many of the others that I've transcribed - John Loker died at age 45, relatively young, and had a young wife and one young child, with another in the womb. He had to provide for his wife and children, and so selected his brother, Henry Loker and his sister Bridget (Loker) Davies, to help settle the estate and raise his children in case his wife died. In case everyone died, he left his property to his brother and two sisters. He did a wonderful job of covering all of the potential events, I think.
I don't know what happened to the wife, Mary (Draper) Loker, but my database says she died after 1697 (source unknown at this point). Did she marry another man, who brought up the children? I don't know what happened to the son, Henry Loker. Did he survive childhood, marry and raise a family? My own ancestry is through the daughter, Mary Loker, who married Jonas Prescott and has thousands of descendants, including me!
Excellent Genealogy Conference Suggestions from Mel Wolfgang
...
Thomas MacEntee created the Genealogy Conference week long theme on Geneabloggers two weeks ago. I know that Greta Koehl created a compendium of these posts here, but don't think she completed the task. Did someone create a complete list? If so, please let me know and I'll link to it in this post.
In Genealogy You Can Touch, Denise Barrett Olson on The Moultrie Creek Gazette blog, pointed me to Mel Wolfgang on the Mnemosyne's Magical Mirror. Mel has interesting, challenging, and provocative ideas about genealogy conferences. Please take time to read:
* Genealogy Conferences, Long Time Passing. Okay, I'm In!
* The Genealogy Conference Model, The Speakers’ “Big Bucks”, And Maybe a Turducken?
* More on Big Conferences: Volunteers and The Exhibit Hall (Part the Fourth)
* Genealogy Conferences - Some Thoughts On “The Money Thing”, PR, and How “Free” Is Often An Illusion (Part Three)
* If I Had A Crystal Ball and a Magic Wand – What I Think About Conference Improvement
* Conferences and Events: Getting It Right, Making It Great - The Last Post of the Series
I really enjoyed reading Mel's posts this morning - he has lots of conference experience (in genealogy, rare books and manuscripts, quilts, medicine, academia, etc.), thinks outside of the box, and has a great sense of humor. Thank you, Mel, for an interesting and challenging discussion.
Every seminar and conference planner should read Mel's posts and see how they can tailor genealogy conferences to be more exciting, more educational, etc. Every attendee should read the posts in order to demand some of these ideas be put into practice.
My thanks to Denise Barrett Olson for her blog post that led me to Mel's blog and posts.
Thomas MacEntee created the Genealogy Conference week long theme on Geneabloggers two weeks ago. I know that Greta Koehl created a compendium of these posts here, but don't think she completed the task. Did someone create a complete list? If so, please let me know and I'll link to it in this post.
In Genealogy You Can Touch, Denise Barrett Olson on The Moultrie Creek Gazette blog, pointed me to Mel Wolfgang on the Mnemosyne's Magical Mirror. Mel has interesting, challenging, and provocative ideas about genealogy conferences. Please take time to read:
* Genealogy Conferences, Long Time Passing. Okay, I'm In!
* The Genealogy Conference Model, The Speakers’ “Big Bucks”, And Maybe a Turducken?
* More on Big Conferences: Volunteers and The Exhibit Hall (Part the Fourth)
* Genealogy Conferences - Some Thoughts On “The Money Thing”, PR, and How “Free” Is Often An Illusion (Part Three)
* If I Had A Crystal Ball and a Magic Wand – What I Think About Conference Improvement
* Conferences and Events: Getting It Right, Making It Great - The Last Post of the Series
I really enjoyed reading Mel's posts this morning - he has lots of conference experience (in genealogy, rare books and manuscripts, quilts, medicine, academia, etc.), thinks outside of the box, and has a great sense of humor. Thank you, Mel, for an interesting and challenging discussion.
Every seminar and conference planner should read Mel's posts and see how they can tailor genealogy conferences to be more exciting, more educational, etc. Every attendee should read the posts in order to demand some of these ideas be put into practice.
My thanks to Denise Barrett Olson for her blog post that led me to Mel's blog and posts.
NGS 2011 Presentations Online
I really appreciate people that post online presentations from genealogy programs, seminars and conferences.
Jordan Jones, of GenealogyMedia, has posted his NGS 2011 presentations on SlideShare. See:
1) Cloud Computing and Genealogical Collaboration (Birdie Holsclaw Memorial Lecture)
2) Social Media: Share Your Genealogy
3) Beyond Google: Advanced Search
Has anyone else posted their NGS 2011 presentations? If so, please tell me. I'll keep my eyes open for them also, and post links here.
Thank you to Jordan Jones for his willingness to share his presentations. I thought that they were excellent, although it's difficult to judge from only the presentation slides. I find them more useful than the printed syllabus pages, though. I much prefer to view the presentation slides over listening to an audio tape of the presentation. The ideal is, of course, a video presentation where you hear the speaker and see the slides.
By the way, is the syllabus from NGS 2011 available to purchase online as a CDROM?
Jordan Jones, of GenealogyMedia, has posted his NGS 2011 presentations on SlideShare. See:
1) Cloud Computing and Genealogical Collaboration (Birdie Holsclaw Memorial Lecture)
2) Social Media: Share Your Genealogy
3) Beyond Google: Advanced Search
Has anyone else posted their NGS 2011 presentations? If so, please tell me. I'll keep my eyes open for them also, and post links here.
Thank you to Jordan Jones for his willingness to share his presentations. I thought that they were excellent, although it's difficult to judge from only the presentation slides. I find them more useful than the printed syllabus pages, though. I much prefer to view the presentation slides over listening to an audio tape of the presentation. The ideal is, of course, a video presentation where you hear the speaker and see the slides.
By the way, is the syllabus from NGS 2011 available to purchase online as a CDROM?
Sunday, May 15, 2011
"Casefile Clues for Beginners" newsletter for beginning genealogists
I received this in an email from Michael John Neill, who speaks at many conferences and seminars, writes several genea-blogs and also writes the weekly Casefile Clues newsletter detailing his family research. Michael is starting a second newsletter for beginning genealogy researchers:
--------------------------------
We are very excited to start this new endeavor geared towards those who have just started the search for their ancestors.
Thanks!
Michael
--------------------------------
We are announcing a new how-to genealogy newsletter for the beginning genealogist starting June of 2011. Reader and survey feedback indicated an interest in a newsletter aimed toward the genealogist who needed some guidance in starting their search for their ancestors and who needed more than just a summary of what records contained. Casefile Clues for Beginners will help orient genealogists to the basic records genealogists use and how to make the best use of their research time and money.
Tentatively titled "Casefile Clues for Beginners" this new newsletter will be bi-weekly and feature beginning level material written by a variety of genealogists, not just me. We'll have a question and answer section, interpret the handwriting section, one or two articles every issue, and more. This new periodical will be written in a down-to-earth, practical format. Casefile Clues for Beginners will concentrate on those who are starting or have just started their search for their ancestors.
There is more information about "Casefile Clues for Beginners" on our blog:http://blog.casefileclues.com/2011/05/casefile-clues-for-beginners.html
Questions can be sent to me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com.
Tentatively titled "Casefile Clues for Beginners" this new newsletter will be bi-weekly and feature beginning level material written by a variety of genealogists, not just me. We'll have a question and answer section, interpret the handwriting section, one or two articles every issue, and more. This new periodical will be written in a down-to-earth, practical format. Casefile Clues for Beginners will concentrate on those who are starting or have just started their search for their ancestors.
There is more information about "Casefile Clues for Beginners" on our blog:http://blog.casefileclues.com/2011/05/casefile-clues-for-beginners.html
Questions can be sent to me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com.
We are very excited to start this new endeavor geared towards those who have just started the search for their ancestors.
Thanks!
Michael
--------------------------------------
This sounds like an excellent tutorial newsletter for beginners. I encourage new researchers to subscribe to it.
Disclosure: I subscribe to Michael's "Casefile Clues" Newsletter and read it every week. I received no remuneraton for writing this blog post.
Best of the Genea-Blogs - 8-14 May 2011
...
Hundreds of genealogy and family history bloggers write thousands of posts every week about their research, their families, and their interests. I appreciate each one of them and their efforts.
My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for the genealogy carnivals, or other meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.
Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week:
* Name Changes at Ellis Island by Philip Trauring on the Blood and Frogs: Jewish Genealogy and More blog. Philip's post describes some of the reasons people changed their surname, but it wasn't at Ellis Island.
* A Most Curious Case and ". . . And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon." by Sheri Fenley on The Educated Genealogist blog. Sheri's working on this case of an attempted murder and ... well, go read it. Interesting material, with more to come.
* My Jurisdictional Approach (R) and Your New York Genealogy by Arlene Eakle on the Arlene Eakle's New York Genealogy Blog. Arlene's advice for pursuing jurisdictions is right on, and she has words or wisdom about chasing ancestors and sources.
* Local Museums - an Overlooked Genealogy Treasure Trove! by Lorine Schulze McGinnis on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. Lorine asks, and receives! A wonderful research story and great advice.
* Going Prepared to Learn a Lot by Ruby Coleman on the You Go Genealogy Girls blog. The girls are off to Salt Lake City soon for two weeks in the genea-mecca. Ruby shares her packing tips and research goals.
* Top 3 Reasons to View the Actual Vital Record by Amanda R. on Amanda's Athenaeum blog. You can't go wrong with Amanda's advice - great examples!
* Names Tell All in 1881 British Census by Lee R. Drew on the Family History with the Lineagekeeper blog. Have a laugh at the names found in the 1881 English census. Funny post! Censuswhacking redux!
* A Speaker's Perspective by Leslie Albrecht Huber on The Journey Takers blog. Leslie tells about her journey from writer to speaker - fascinating.
* What’s With Other Genealogy Software Developers? by Louis Kessler on the Louis Kessler Behold! Blog. Excellent questions by Louis, and I agree with him - software companies should be responsive to customer comments and questions and problems.
* Wagon Trains 1840-1860 by Kathleen Brandt on the a3Genealogy blog. Kathleen authors an excellent article describing print and online resources to find records of persons on the wagon trains.
* Evan hits a home run by Geoff Rasmussen on The Rasmussen Review blog. Geoff has a great "making family history" and "making memories" post about his son playing Little League. Read it - you'll feel good about it! I guess I like it because I never hit a home run, except in my dreams! My grandsons are playing baseball now, and I love watching them.
* Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary by the writer of the Walking My Tree blog. S/he starts out looking for Connecticut divorce records, and ends up in the Santa Cruz (CA) Public Library! A fascinating research post.
* Going Public with New FamilySearch by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog. James mentions my post about New FamilySearch, and summarizes his experiences with it over the past three years. I hope his summary will help readers determine when or if to use the website.
I intentionally did not include any posts from the NGS Conference attendees on the list above - but I collected all I could find in NGS Conference Posts Compendium.
Several other genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts this week, including:
* Best Bytes for the Week of May 13, 2011 by Elizabeth O'Neal on the Little Bytes of Life blog.
* Around the Blogosphere: May 15 2011 by Susan Petersen on the Long Lost Relatives.net blog.
Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me! I am currently reading posts from over 870 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems.
Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.
Hundreds of genealogy and family history bloggers write thousands of posts every week about their research, their families, and their interests. I appreciate each one of them and their efforts.
My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for the genealogy carnivals, or other meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.
Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week:
* Name Changes at Ellis Island by Philip Trauring on the Blood and Frogs: Jewish Genealogy and More blog. Philip's post describes some of the reasons people changed their surname, but it wasn't at Ellis Island.
* A Most Curious Case and ". . . And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon." by Sheri Fenley on The Educated Genealogist blog. Sheri's working on this case of an attempted murder and ... well, go read it. Interesting material, with more to come.
* My Jurisdictional Approach (R) and Your New York Genealogy by Arlene Eakle on the Arlene Eakle's New York Genealogy Blog. Arlene's advice for pursuing jurisdictions is right on, and she has words or wisdom about chasing ancestors and sources.
* Local Museums - an Overlooked Genealogy Treasure Trove! by Lorine Schulze McGinnis on the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. Lorine asks, and receives! A wonderful research story and great advice.
* Going Prepared to Learn a Lot by Ruby Coleman on the You Go Genealogy Girls blog. The girls are off to Salt Lake City soon for two weeks in the genea-mecca. Ruby shares her packing tips and research goals.
* Top 3 Reasons to View the Actual Vital Record by Amanda R. on Amanda's Athenaeum blog. You can't go wrong with Amanda's advice - great examples!
* Names Tell All in 1881 British Census by Lee R. Drew on the Family History with the Lineagekeeper blog. Have a laugh at the names found in the 1881 English census. Funny post! Censuswhacking redux!
* A Speaker's Perspective by Leslie Albrecht Huber on The Journey Takers blog. Leslie tells about her journey from writer to speaker - fascinating.
* What’s With Other Genealogy Software Developers? by Louis Kessler on the Louis Kessler Behold! Blog. Excellent questions by Louis, and I agree with him - software companies should be responsive to customer comments and questions and problems.
* Wagon Trains 1840-1860 by Kathleen Brandt on the a3Genealogy blog. Kathleen authors an excellent article describing print and online resources to find records of persons on the wagon trains.
* Evan hits a home run by Geoff Rasmussen on The Rasmussen Review blog. Geoff has a great "making family history" and "making memories" post about his son playing Little League. Read it - you'll feel good about it! I guess I like it because I never hit a home run, except in my dreams! My grandsons are playing baseball now, and I love watching them.
* Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary by the writer of the Walking My Tree blog. S/he starts out looking for Connecticut divorce records, and ends up in the Santa Cruz (CA) Public Library! A fascinating research post.
* Going Public with New FamilySearch by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog. James mentions my post about New FamilySearch, and summarizes his experiences with it over the past three years. I hope his summary will help readers determine when or if to use the website.
I intentionally did not include any posts from the NGS Conference attendees on the list above - but I collected all I could find in NGS Conference Posts Compendium.
Several other genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts this week, including:
* Best Bytes for the Week of May 13, 2011 by Elizabeth O'Neal on the Little Bytes of Life blog.
* Around the Blogosphere: May 15 2011 by Susan Petersen on the Long Lost Relatives.net blog.
I encourage readers to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blogs to your Favorites, Google Reader, RSS feed or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - all bloggers appreciate feedback on what they write.
Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me! I am currently reading posts from over 870 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems.
Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.
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