Rasputin, Time Travel, Worm Holes - oh my!

One of my CVGS society colleagues pointed me to an article by Robert Krulwich titled "'Rasputin Was My Neighbor' And Other True Tales Of Time Travel" that was published yesterday on the Krulwich Wonders blog on NPR.  


He writes:


"There are people who live long enough to create a link — a one-generation link — to figures from what feels like a distant past, and their presence among us shrinks history. When 'Long Ago' suddenly becomes 'So I said to him ...,' long ago jumps closer.

"There are many examples of people who shrink history this way. The blogger Jason Kottke has been collecting examples. He calls them 'human wormholes,' because these people help us leap across space/time."

The article discusses several "human wormhole" instances, including:


*  In 1973, a man who said that his father was a friend of Rasputin and he remembered that came over for tea.


*  In 1956, Samuel Seymour discussed being at Ford's Theater when President Lincoln was shot


*  Oliver Wendell Holmes, the famous Supreme Court Justice, shook the hands of Presidents John Quincy Adams and John F. Kennedy.


*  President John Tyler has two grandsons still alive.


*  The last Civil War widow, Alberta Martin, died in 2004.


I thought that it was interesting.


The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/02/rasputin-time-travel-worm-holes-oh-my.html


Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Treasure Chest Thursday - Death Index Record of Abigail Gates (1774-1855)

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

I have quite a few index records from the Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841 to 1910 database, I have not collected Death certificates for all of them.  In almost all cases, the information on the indexed records are exactly the same that are available from the town records or on a death certificate obtained from the specific Massachusetts town.

As an example of one of these indexed records, here is a death index page from 1855 for Gardner, Worcester County, Massachusetts:  


The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/02/treasure-chest-thursday-death-index_09.html


Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

This image was obtained from the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) database on www.AmericanAncestors.org.  The source citation for this entry is:

"Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910," online database, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.AmericanAncestors.org), citing original data at Massachusetts State Archives, Deaths, 1855, Worcester County, Gardner town, Volume 95, Page 117, Abigail Gates entry.

The entry for my fourth great-grandmother, Abigail (Knowlton) Gates (1774-1855) is the fourth from the top of the page.  The column headings and the entries for Abigail are:

No.:  4
Date of Death:  Jany 28th 1855
Name and Surname:  Abigail GatesAge, Years, Months, Days: 83 - 1 - 7
Place of Death:  Gardner
Disease or Cause of Death: Old Age & Palsy
Sex and Condition:   Widow
Occupation:  
Place of birth:  Chelmsford
Name Parents: Widow of Nathan Gates



Unfortunately, this record does not provide the names of Abigail Gates's parents.  My records say that she was born 21 January 1774 in Lincoln, Massachusetts to Jeremiah and Abigail (Pierce) Knowlton.  The evidence for Abigail's parents is scanty - there is a birth record.  In addition, she and her husband named their second son Jeremiah Gates (1792-1801) and their 13th child Jeremiah Knowlton Gates (1808-1845).  That's it!


The marriage record of Nathan Gates to Abigail Knowlton in Westminster occurred on 17 June 1790.  The intentions were posted in Gardner on 9 May 1790, and say "Nathan Gates and Abigail Knowlton of Westminster."  Evidently, Abigail was living in Westminster at the time of her marriage.  However, there are no Knowlton families residing in Westminster in the 1790 census, and no birth or death records for the surname Knowlton in the 1770 to 1820 time period.  It is probable that she was living there with a family with a different surname - perhaps a guardian or an aunt or uncle.  


There is a conflict of Abigail's age at death versus birth date.  She was aged 83-1-7 at death, which translates to 21 January 1772 as a birth date.  The Lincoln record says 21 January 1774.  So she was only age 16 at her marriage, not 18.  She may have maintained the fiction for all of her life.  This age at death is actually the best indication that she was the daughter of Jeremiah and Abigail (Pierce) Knowlton - if it was a different day of the year then I would think that she is not the daughter of Jeremiah and Abigail (Pierce) Knowlton.  


I also have an apparent conflict of birth place here between Chelmsford (in the death record) and Lincoln (birth record based on the available evidence).  One of Abigail's 15 children was probably the informant for her death record, and where s/he obtained the birth place information is unknown.  Lincoln is about ten miles from Chelmsford.  Perhaps Abigail lived in Chelmsford before she moved to Westminster.


I've looked for other Abigail Knowlton (and Knolton, Nolton, etc.) births in the Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 on American Ancestors, and find only one - an Abigail Knowlton born 26 June 1771 in Hardwick to Jacob and Sarah Knolton.  There are no other births in the records for the 1770 to 1780 time period.  That doesn't mean there wasn't an unrecorded birth for an Abigail Knowlton, of course!


The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/02/treasure-chest-thursday-death-index_09.html


Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

San Diego Genealogical Society Meeting on 11 February - Hal Horrocks Presentations

The February program meeting of the San Diego Genealogical Society is Saturday, 11 February at 10 a.m. at St. Andrews Lutheran Church (87350 Lake Murray Boulevard, near Jackson Drive).

The program speaker is Hal Horrocks, who will present:

10 a.m.:  British Research - Parish Registers and Census

In this presentation, Hal will explore the important dates necessary for proper British research, and how they relate to baptism, marriage and burial registers and census records, with many examples provided and how to find them.  The British census will be explored from 1841 to 1911 with examples of each along with their anomalies and how to search the online records.  Finally, an example of tracing an individual through the census records from 1841 onward using only the information given in a will as the clue will be shown using online resources.

11 a.m.  Break for refreshments, followed by society announcements.

11:15 a.m.:  British Research - Beyond the Census

In this presentation, Hal will discuss BMD certificates, wills and probate records, town records, poor laws, poll books and electoral registers, directories, and other record types and how to locate and access these records.  British records on Ancestry.com and FindMyPast.co.uk and other websites will be explored to find these treasures.  GenesReunited will show how to find living cousins in the U.K.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/02/san-diego-genealogical-society-meeting.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012.

RootsTech 2012 Photos - Geneabloggers!

I didn't take as many pictures at RootsTech 2012 as I wanted to, but I did take some, mostly around the Media Hub ("Blogger Island."  Here are some from my iPhone camera:

1)  The Media Hub from the left side of it.  There were two tables for bloggers, and two booths for interviews (video and audio).  I don't know who these people are at the table - there were non-genealogy bloggers.  This photo shows the video booth:

 2)  This is the right side of the Media Hub.  You can see the RootsTech minder (they controlled entry to the Media Hub) on the right in the chair.  You can see Drew Smith in the audio booth behind the table.  i think that is FamilySearch CEO Dennis Brimhall leaning over someone at the table, perhaps taking a piece of candy from the blogger stash (we were well provided for by FamilySearch!):

3)  One of the genea-bloggers I really enjoyed meeting and talking with was Lynn Palermo (The Armchair Genealogist) in front of the Unconferencing Board:

4)  Thomas MacEntee was interviewed by the RootsTech television crew.  The balloons above their heads are in the MyHeritage booth:

5)  At the Geneablogger table, DearMYRTLE (DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog) and Audrey Collins (The Family Recorder) are standing behind Jill Ball (Geniaus) and Amy Coffin (The We Tree Genealogy Blog):

6)  Genea-Musings reader and geneablogger Kay Haden (Leaves of the Tree) and myself.  We're distant cousins on several lines:

7)  Thomas MacEntee talking to several of his genea-fans, with Jay Verkler (blue shirt) and Bruce Buzbee (RootsMagic) in the background, Kim von Aspern (Le Maison Duchamp) standing, and Kerry Scott (Clue Wagon) and Denise Levenick (The Family Curator) in the foreground in deep discussion:

8)  Julie Cahill Tarr (GenBlog) and Kimberly Powell (Kimberly's Genealogy Blog) in deep discussion, while Thomas checks his calendar (while wearing his genea-jester hat):

9)  Lisa Louise Cooke (Genealogy Gems Podcast) going through the new MyHeritage material with Gilad Japheth:

That's enough for now!  I'll have more pictures tomorrow!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/02/rootstech-2012-photos-geneabloggers.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Save the SSDI: Sign the RPAC Petition - and then write letters

I’ve signed the SSDI petition — have you?  I'm number 388.  The goal is 25,000 signatures, so there is a long way to go.

The petition of the Records Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC) is now up at the Whitehouse.gov website.  You need to register (email address and name), receive an email, and then click the link in the email to get your name on the list.  Note - your full name is not used - mine says "Randy S. Chula Vista, CA."

The petition says:

"Take steps to stop fraudulent tax refund claims based upon identity theft from recently deceased infants & adults NOW.

"We have all been outraged by reports of identity thieves filing fraudulent tax refund claims using the SSNs of recently deceased infants & adults.

"The IRS could curtail such claims almost immediately if tax refund claims were screened against the SSA's Death Master File & matching cases identified for special processing.

"This filter, together with other viable and easily implemented safeguards, could actually EXPEDITE the processing of such claims.

"The National Taxpayer Advocate has also endorsed the use of IRS- issued Identity Protection PINs and allowing taxpayers to turn OFF the ability to file tax returns electronically using specified SSNs.

"There's no need to wait for legislation to stop this travesty and protect families of deceased infants and adults. Stop Identity Theft NOW!"

Judy G. Russell, at The Legal Genealogist blog says:

"This isn’t all the genealogical community needs to do. We still need to tell the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Social Security that we strongly oppose all legislation to close the Social Security Death Index. Find out how exactly to speak up on that in SSDI Call to Action. And then each of us needs to write letters (and/or emails and/or faxes) to both Senators from the state we live in (get the names and address of your Senators here) and to the member of the House of Representatives for the District where we live (get the name and address of your House member here) explaining where we stand and asking for their support.

"We need to tell them, clearly and simply, in our own language, using our own experience, that the answer to identity theft is not closing public records, but rather using them. And that freedom of information should never be a casualty in the war on identity thieves."

You can find out more at RPAC’s website,

My view is that the White House petition is too difficult to use and the goal of 25,000 signatures will be difficult to achieve.  More effective will be personal letters (not form letters!) to your Representatives and Senators.  I think it's too late to influence the House Ways and Means Sub-Committee members - they've already made up their minds.  

The petition has it exactly right - the problem is with the bureaucracy in Washington DC - they do not use the SSA Death Master File to screen Social Security Numbers at the Internal Revenue Service.  

Commercial businesses and agencies (banks, credit companies, insurance companies, etc.) use it routinely to prevent identity fraud - that is the purpose of it!  Do any government agencies use the SSA Death Master File to prevent identity fraud?  If not, why not?  

Surely, the United States government has smart programmers who can write a routine or app for the IRS to easily compare taxpayer return SSNs to the SSA Death Master Index.  Or do they?  If not, perhaps they could hold a contest for programmers to provide one to the government.  It's probably a trivial exercise for a computer science student.  


The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/02/save-ssdi-sign-rpac-petition-and-then.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 191: Randy's Little Red Pedal Car

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

Every kid wanted a little red, one person, pedal car to drive on the sidewalk around the neighborhood, right?  Or even in the street...I seem to recall getting several blocks away from home with this luxurious model.


This is your humble correspondent (I used to be pretty cute, eh?  and blond, too) and his red pedal car in the late 1940s.  My guess is about 1947-1949, since I look age 4 to 6 in this picture.  


This photograph was in the treasure box of Seaver/Carringer family photographs given to me by my mother in the 1988 to 2002 time period.


The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/02/not-so-wordless-wednesday-post-191.html


copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Glimpses of GEDCOM X

One of the major news flashes at the RootsTech 2012 Conference was the unveiling of GEDCOM X, a development of a replacement GEDCOM standard for transferring data between different programs and websites.  For those unfamiliar with GEDCOM, it is how users like me share my family tree information with other researchers (who might use a different genealogy software program than I do) or to put my genealogy  information in an online family tree.

At the start of the conference, Tamura Jones on the Modern Software Experience blog posted about it in

FamilySearch releases GEDCOM X.  Most genealogists got their first look at the vision of GEDCOM X during Jay Verkler's Keynote address on Thursday, titled "Inventing the Future, as a Community."  Jay showed this diagram to define how GEDCOM X will work:

He then went on to describe some of the requirements for inclusion in GEDCOM X as:

*  Links and linked information 

*  Embedded media

*  Clear model

*  RESTful Interfaces

*  Extensible

Somebody smarter than me will have to explain all of those.  

If you are interested in FamilySearch's vision of the future for genealogy, I urge you to watch Jay Verkler's Keynote talk on Thursday, which you can see at www.rootstech.org/live.

Some RootsTech attendees attended two talks by Ryan Heaton of FamilySearch about GEDCOM X.  The Ancestry Insider summarized the first talk in his post Ryan Heaton: A New GEDCOM.  Unfortunately, there is no syllabus for either of Ryan's presentations.  There are links, however, to three GEDCOM X websites at http://gedcomx.net, http://gedcomx.org and http://github.com/FamilySearch/gedcomx.

On the GEDCOMX.org site, the Project Definition and Project Goals are stated as:

GEDCOM X is the technological standard whereby genealogical data is stored, shared, searched, and secured across all phases of the genealogical research process.  GEDCOM X defines the fundamental building blocks of genealogical data and is the foundation of integration with the genealogical development community.

• Discover their family and heritage, preserve their identity, and publish their life story.
• Reduce duplication of sources, relationships, and identities.
• Identify people in photos, in documents, on gravestones, and in other sources of information.
• Keep track of the progress made in family research.
• Distribute and share genealogical information.

The site also defines the Value of the Community as:

• Development will happen more quickly.
• The standards should meet the needs of a wider range of family history products and services.
• The people who shape the standards will be in the best position to use them effectively.
• We can better incorporate the requirements of the mobile and social media technologies that have already changed the way we discover and share family history.
• Those who create genealogical apps and services should be involved in shaping the standard toolset.

That sounds all well and good, doesn't it?  Reviewing the GEDCOM X Wiki on the Github site home page (https://github.com/FamilySearch/gedcomx/wiki) reveals that this effort started in May 2011 at FamilySearch.  

Here is a graphic depicting the Conceptual Model of GEDCOM X:

There is discussion of this model on the page.  The home page also links to a Data Models wiki page for three different models - the Record Model, the Conclusion Model and the Metadata Model.  The Conclusion Model graphic is shown below:

I won't pretend that I understand all of this, but I hope that some of my readers do, and will use the links to these pages to educate themselves and then educate the community at large.

Lastly, there was an Unconferencing session at RootsTech on Friday with a panel discussion titled "Metadata, GEDCOM and Source Citations" moderated by The Ancestry Insider.  My notes for this session are summarized by:

"I went off at 4:15 p.m. for the UnConference panel discussion on Metadata, GEDCOM and Source Citations hosted by the Ancestry Insider.  There were seven panelists including Dallan Quass (WeRelate.org), Ryan Heaton (FamilySearch GEDCOM X ), Robert Godfrey (Google and Genealogy), John Vilburn (Ohana Software), Louis Lessler (Behold! software), Robert Burkhead (FHISO/BetterGEDCOM) and Bruce Buzbee (RootsMagic).  

"After an hour of talking about metadata, the questions finally turned to GEDCOM and sources.  Ryan summed up the GEDCOM X initiative saying FamilySearch has developed a model and now wants community involvement.  Robert summed up the BetterGEDCOM effort saying they had good community involvement but had no model work done.  Everyone wants to collaborate ...  I asked if they thought that the historical collection providers, the family tree systems, and the genealogy software companies will all collaborate?  Bruce and John said their companies would, and said that once a standard was announced that they could implement it within one month.  That's a start.  I also asked if Ancestry.com had been approached and Ryan and Robert said yes, but would divulge no [further] information.  Louis said that if the genealogy community wanted the new GEDCOM standard then Ancestry would lose market share and influence if they did not implement it.  Hopefully, someone with better note taking ability will summarize the whole thing."

That's all I know about GEDCOM X.  I hope that this does come to fruition in a relatively short period of time, with collaboration from all of the major "players."

Defining a new standard is one thing.  I think that adoption of a new standard by everyone involved - the developers, the family tree software programmers, and the family tree providers - is a significant challenge.  I'm pretty sure that FamilySearchGEDCOM standard.  I'm not so sure about all of the online family tree websites, because of the additional programming required.  Will Ancestry.com, MyHeritage, Geni, WeRelate.org, WikiTree, and other family tree sites enthusiastically adopt a new GEDCOM standard, especially if it is significantly different from the present standard?  

What about the non-North American genealogy software companies and family tree websites?  Will there be sufficient flexibility in the new GEDCOM standard to accommodate different languages, alphabets, naming systems and calendars?  

I'm sure that I've left out a lot in my discussion above.  What do you think?  What are your issues?  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/02/glimpses-of-gedcom-x.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012

Family History Library Photos - Geneabloggers!

Here are some photographs of Geneabloggers at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, 1 February, before the RootsTech 2012 Conference:

1)  I found Jill Ball (http://geniaus.blogspot.com) on the bottom floor (B2) of the FHL (her husband was there too, and took the picture):

2)  Somehow, my Knapp research colleague Russ Worthington (http://ftmuser.blogspot.com and http://worthy2be.wordpress.com) managed to find us down on B2:

3)  Sitting at the same table was Banai Feldstein (.http://idogenealogy.com/blog/):

4)  Right after lunch, I was wandering around the main floor and lookee who I found on her first visit to the FHL (www.elysesgenealogyblog.com):

Please read their blogs for their FHL and RootsTech 2012 experiences.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/02/family-history-library-photos.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012.

Tuesday's Tip - Download and Read the RootsTech 2012 Syllabus

This week's Tuesday's Tip is to:  Download, and then read, the articles in the RootsTech 2012 Syllabus.  It's FREE!

RootsTech 2012 broke with many traditions - and one of them benefits every researcher that takes the time to download the syllabus files.  The entire syllabus (almost every presentation, but not all -  notably the Keynotes) is available at http://rootstech.org/downloads.  It's not known how long this will be available, so finish reading my blog and go download it now.

Under the "Session Syllabi" heading is a link to download

"RootsTech-AllSyllabi.zip (ZIP - 82MB)
Every RootsTech 2012 Syllabi, organized by day and time."

The 82 mb file should download to your computer.  Be sure to put them in an appropriate file folder (mine are in Education > Conferences > RootsTech 2012).  There are three file folders - one for each day, and those folders contain file folders for each presentation, and each one of those contains PDF or DOC files.  

Instead of downloading the entire Syllabus file, you can also click on the Schedule link (http://rootstech.org/schedule) and go to each presentation and download the individual syllabus article for the presentation.  

I've spent several enjoyable hours reading through quite a few of the articles, and have printed out a number of them for my voluminous and overflowing files.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/02/tuesdays-tip-download-and-read.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012.

A Genea-Musings Makeover

Schelly Dardashti told me to do this two years ago ... I didn't switch from "old blogger" at the time because I feared losing over 4,000 posts.  Now it's up to 5,600 posts...and Blogger was showing only 10 posts on the home page and in the weekly archives.

So today I decided to bite the bullet.  I exported the file just in case something went wrong, and tonight after DearMYRTLE's webinar I clicked on the Template link and it took just minutes to make the changeover to "new Blogger."  I tweaked the colors and font sizes and will probably tweak some more.  I haven't figured out yet how to change the background color for the sidebar.

With this change, I now have:

*  A list of Labels with the number of posts in each on the sidebar.

*  A complete set of weekly archives on the sidebar.

*  A background image (I may change it at some time - need to learn how)

*  The blog title and post titles are active links (they weren't before)

*  A search box to search within Genea-Musings.

What do you think?  Do you like it?  Does it work on your particular computer system and operating system?  If not, please let me know in comments or email (rjseaver@cox.net).

The URL for this post is http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/02/genea-musings-makeover.html

Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012.