(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 264: Practicing for the Next Day

I'm posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they aren't Wordless Wednesday posts like others do - I am incapable of having a wordless post.

Here is a photograph from the Seaver/Carringer family photograph collection passed to me by my mother, or taken by Linda or me in the 1970s: 

This is a photograph of my bride-to-be, Linda Leland (left) carefully drinking champagne from the unsteady hand of the nervous bridegroom-to-be, moi, on Friday, 20 March 1970.  The setting is the home of my grandparents, Lyle and Emily (Auble) Carringer, at the family dinner following the wedding rehearsal.

We didn't practice the "cake-stuffing," which turned out to be a mistake.  

We were much younger then...and had more hair...and had hopes and dreams about the future together.  It's worked out pretty well!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/07/not-so-wordless-wednesday-post-264.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Creating a Source Citation for an Online Newspaper Collection in RootsMagic 6

I have been "mining" the GenealogyBank newspaper collection for Seaver, Carringer and Auble surnames so that I can add more information for persons in my "One Name Studies" in my genealogy database.  The historical and recent obituaries and death notices found on GenealogyBank are numerous - I have over 700 for Seaver alone (although some are repeated items.

The beauty of these obituaries and death notices is that they often provide a birth date, a death date, parents names, spouse names, children names, sibling names, etc., in addition to information about the person's life, occupation, interests, etc.

As part of my seemingly continuous "let's improve your source citations" effort (now in its fourth year, I think), I am trying to add Evidence! Explained quality  source citations to my database for the Facts that are obtained from the newspaper article.

I looked at Chapter 14 of Evidence! Explained, at the "Citing Online Historical Resources" QuickSheet, at the "Citing Ancestry.com Databases & Images" QuickSheet, and in the RootsMagic 6 Source Templates for sample source citations.  They were all very consistent.  I decided to use the RootsMagic source templates, since they appear to mimic the EE examples and are easy to use.

1)  As an example, here is an obituary from the "Recent Obituaries" collection on GenealogyBank (www.genealogybank.com):

As you can see, this obituary is from The Daily News newspaper in Wahpeton, North Dakota, published 2 February 2011.  It is a transcription of a specific article, titled "Douglas Seaver, 86" in the "Recent Obituaries" collection on GenealogyBank.  I found it by doing an online search.

What should be the source citation type?  It's a transcription of a published article in a local newspaper found in a searchable online database.  I need to include all of that information in the source citation.

2)  In RootsMagic, I entered the Fact for the birth and death dates from the obituary, and then for one of the Facts I clicked on the "Sources" button to open the list of Source Types.  I scrolled down to the "Newspapers" area on the list:

There were six different templates listed for Newspapers.  The two that seemed to be most applicable to my situation were "Newspaper, images" and "Newspaper, Online images."  There was no source template for the specific case of a transcribed article in the online database - or did I miss it?  I decided to try the two identified above.

3)  The "Newspaper, Images" source template in RootsMagic looks like this:

Before the user adds information to any field, there are descriptions in the field to help the user decide what would be appropriate in each field.

I used the information on the GenealogyBank page to fill in the information as best I could for both the Master Source and the Source Detail.  Here are the fields after I named the Master Source and edited the information a bit:

I added the word "obituary" to the "Item type" field, the word "transcription" to the "Specific content" field, and the words "online search" to the "Access type" field.  There was no apparent author of this obituary.  The page number was not provided by GenealogyBank.  I couldn't figure out what to put in the "Type" field.  The resulting Footnote created by RootsMagic is:

"Douglas Seaver, 86," obituary, The Daily News (Wahpeton, N.D.), 2 February 2011, transcription; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.GenealogyBank.com : online search, accessed 9 July 2013), Recent Obituaries collection.

4)  The "Newspaper, Online Images" source template in RootsMagic looks like this:

I used the information on the GenealogyBank page to fill in the information as best I could for both the Master Source and the Source Detail.  Here are the fields after I named the Master Source and edited the information a bit:

Again, I added the word "obituary" to the "Item Type" field, the word "transcription" to the "Specific Content" field and the words "online search" to the "Access type" field.  There was no apparent author of this obituary.  The page number was not provided by GenealogyBank.  I couldn't figure out what to put in the "Edition Type" field.  The resulting Footnote created by RootsMagic is:

"Douglas Seaver, 86," obituary, the Daily News (Wahpeton, N.D.), 2 February 2011, transcription; GenealogyBank (http://www.GenealogyBank.com : online search, 9 July 2013), Recent Obituaries collection.

5)  I think I prefer the second one, created by the "Newspapers, Online Images" source template.  It doesn't have "digital image" in the source citation (note that I have a transcription, not a digital image, for the obituary itself).  Perhaps I should have put "transcription" in the "Access Type" field also.

If I had the actual image of the newspaper page (and could therefore determine a page number!) available, then both of the source templates would be appropriate, I think.

6)  Source templates like this are very difficult to create in a free-form source citation, which is my preference unless and until GEDCOM export and import will render citations created by software source templates completely.  They are difficult to create because, in the case of newspapers, and several other resource types, the "Source Details" elements are mixed with the "Master Source" elements in the source citation.

Users should note that they will have to create a separate "Master Source" for every newspaper cited that are found in an online database like GenealogyBank (or NewspaperARCHIVE, or Ancestry, etc.) because the newspaper title goes into the "Master Source."  You cannot avoid that.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/07/creating-source-citation-for-online.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

This Week's Genealogical Eclectica - 9 July 2013

This week's collection of genealogical eclectica includes:

1)  Elizabeth Lapointe does a Canada Week in Review every Monday on her Genealogy Canada blog - it's very useful for Canadian researchers.  Her post for July 8, 2013 is here.

2)  Mick Southwick has a weekly British and Irish Genealogy News post each week on the British & Irish Genealogy blog - see his post for 9 July here.

3)  DearMYRTLE hosted her weekly "Mondays With Myrt" panel Hangout on Air on 8 July 2013 - you can watch the YouTube video on her YouTube channel.

4)  This week's Legacy Family Tree webinar is "Canadian Ports of Entry: Ship Passenger Lists, Immigration Records, and Border Crossing Records" with Kathryn Lake Hogan.  It airs live on Wednesday, 10 July 2013 at 2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. PDT, 2100 GMT).  You can register at http://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=51.  The webinar will be free to view for one week after the live program.

5)  You can see a complete list of upcoming genealogy webinars and Hangouts on Air on the GeneaWebinars website calendar - http://blog.geneawebinars.com/

6)  Thomas MacEntee had a wickedly funny screen shot (real - I tried it myself!) on his 50 Shades of Genealogy blog; the post was titled "When You Discover on Ancestry that New Search Died in 2006."

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/07/this-weeks-genealogical-eclectica-9.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Checking How Sources From RootsMagic 6 Transfer to FamilySearch Family Tree

I posted about how source citations in the latest version of RootsMagic 6 transferred to the FamilySearch Family Tree in Sources Can Now Be Interchanged Between RootsMagic 6 and FamilySearch Family Tree, posted 20 June 2013.

What do the sources look like in FamilySearch Family Tree?  Are they exactly what was input in RootsMagic 6?  Did formatting in the RootsMagic 6 sources transfer to the Family Tree?

I have 17 sources in the FamilySearch Family Tree for my grandfather, Frederick Walton Seaver (KL8K-54D).  Here is the top of his "Person" Profile on the Family Tree:

The "sources" section of his profile (before expansion, not all sources shown):

On thel ist of "sources" above, there are icons to the left of each one listed.  The "World" icon indicates that the source citation came from outside of FamilySearch, while the "Tree" icon indicates that it was created by adding a record to the Tree by using the "Source Box" on FamilySearch Record Collections.

After I clicked on each source listed above, the actual citations were shown (there are 7 screens, first screen only shown here):

For the longer ones, I had to click on the "More" link to see the entirety of the source citation.

Here are the last two source citations, both of them were obtained from the "Source Box" feature:

Some conclusions:

1)  For the source citations I attached using RootsMagic 6, the source title and the source citation (reference footnote format) were added to the FamilySearch Family Tree Person Profile.

2)  The source formatting in RootsMagic (italics, bold, underline, etc.) did not transfer to the Family Tree

3)  Some RootsMagic Source features, such as the Source Text, Source Comments, Detail Text, Detail Comments, Source Quality, or Repository did not transfer.

4)  I attached the Find A Grave link using Tree Connect several months ago, and it is signified with a "world" icon.  When it transferred to the Source box, the source Title, source URL, source citation (created by FamilySearch? I don't know!) and a Note were transferred.

5)  There are significant differences between a source citation created to Evidence! Explained standards in RootsMagic 6 and what the FamilySearch "Source Box" creates.  I uploaded my census source citations and also had the citations created by FamilySearch.  Here are source citations (Reference Footnote) for one census year as an example

From RootsMagic 6:  
1900 United States Federal Census, Population Schedule, Worcester County, Massachusetts; Leominster: Enumeration District 1645, sheet 16, line 44, Frank W. Seaver household; online database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T623, Roll 692.

From FamilySearch "Source Box:"

"United States Census, 1900," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M9B3-2J7 : accessed 08 Jul 2013), Fred W Seaver in entry for Frank W Seaver, 1900.

The link in the FamilySearch source citation is to the Record Summary web page on FamilySearch, which is supposed to be a permanent link.  The Record Summary web page provides more information about the state, county, city, ED, page number, etc.  From that web page, the user can click to see the image of the record (if it's available).

6)  I had a problem when I tried to transfer a source that contained more than one Fact type (i.e., Leominster Vital Certificates, which I used for birth, marriage and death certificates).  When I transferred them, I connected them to more than one event type, and on FamilySearch Family Tree only the first source citation was picked up by the Family Tree.  for example, I had a birth and death certificate for Frederick Seaver.  The citation in the Death Event said it was for the Birth - it didn't pick up the second Citation Detail in that case.  The fix was to separate the Master Sources - one for Birth, Marriage and Death.

7)  I find it much easier to add source citations from RootsMagic to the Family Tree than to go back into the FamilySearch Record Collections and find specific records and put them in "My source box" and then attaching them to a Person Profile.

8)  A user can edit any source citation in the FamilySearch Family Tree, but it's easier to get it right in the software program first.

Users of the software and FamilySearch Family Tree need to be aware of these capabilities and limitations.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/07/checking-how-sources-from-rootsmagic-6.html

copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Ancestry.com Help I Don't Need

I don't complain a lot about Ancestry.com's Search features because I don't find many things that I don't like about them.  There is one "feature" however that I can really do without.

When I'm on the "Search" page with my form selections just the way I want them ("Exact Search," "Given Name" and "Last Name" filters selected, "Location" filter selected), I start to put in a given name - like "isaac."

As I'm typing, Ancestry.com tries to help me by giving me a list of all of the persons named "isaac" in my current Ancestry Member Tree:

While this happens, my mouse sometimes wanders unintentionally over the list and when I hit the "Tab" key to go to the Last Name field in the search box, look what happened:

Without me wanting to search for Isaac Fitz Randolph at the moment, I got the search box filled in for me.  Completely.  Birth and Death facts, with years and places.  The parents, the siblings, the spouses and the children.  How special.

Sometimes I don't even pay attention to what I see (searching on Ancestry has become fairly automatic), and when I hit "Enter" I see the results for the person in the Search fields:

That's all very well and good, but I wanted to search for Isaac Seaver.  not Isaac Fitz Randolph.  Sometimes I see the list before it messes up my train of searching, and look down the list for the right person, but then it fills in the form completely for me.  Which I usually don't want.

The only way to recover back to the search form I want is to click on the "Clear form" link at the top of the search form, or click on the "Search" tab on the top menu.  If I do that, I see:

The system goes to a blank search form - now I have to reset all of my filters ("Exact search," "Given Name" and "Last Name" filters, and "Locality" filter).

It's a pain in the patoot, and I curse almost every time it happens to me (once or twice a night) because it disrupts my train of searching and upsets me.

One thing that does turn it off before it does damage is to use a wild card for the Given Name.  The list disappears!

Is there any way to turn this darn thing off?  Pardon me, disable this darn thing?

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/07/ancestrycom-help-i-dont-need.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Amanuensis Monday - Probate Records of Ann (--?--) Collins (1605-1691) of Lynn, Mass.

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started a Monday blog theme 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 probate file of Ann Collins (1605-1691) of  Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts.  She married Henry Collins(1606-1687) in about 1629, and they had nine children:

*  Henry Collins (1629-1722), married Mary Tolman (1632-1723)
*  John Collins (1632-1679), married Abigail Johnson (1644-1680)
*  Margery Collins (1633-1702), married Isaac Williams
*  Hannah Collins (1635-????), married Nathaniel Ingersoll (1632-1718)
*  Mary Collins (1641-1682), married Samuel Johnson (1640-1723)
*  Joseph Collins (1643-1724), married (1) Sarah Silsbee (1646-1682), and (2) Mariah Smith (1664-after 1724)
*  Riall Collins (1645-1681)
*  Elizabeth Collins (1647-1690), married John Tolman (1635-1725)
*  Benjamin Collins (1648-1711), married (1) Priscilla Kirtland (1648-1676), and (2) Elizabeth Leach.

Ann Collins died testate, having written a will dated 8 September 1690, and proved 24 November 1691 at the Probate Court in Salem.  The will reads (transcribed by Randy Seaver from Essex County [Mass.] Probate Records, Volume 303, page 064, accessed on FHL US/CAN Microfilm 0,860,485), with some words or phrases not readable:

"Ann Collins of Lynn,the 8 day of Septr 1690 In the name of our Lord god everlasting amen.

"I Ann Collins of Lynn in the County of Essex in New England widow and the relict of Henry Collins Senr of Lynn afores^d  deceased.  I the said Ann being very aged and my tyme of departure out of this world most uncertain and may be very sudden as I have cause to think by reason of ... ... providences of god in visiting me with some touches of his hand upon my frail body and hath taken away my naturall fright(?) I thought ... to ... be the present by me the lord affords me and comes through mercy free from my paines and distempers and in my perfect memory and clear understanding to make my last will & testa^t And dispose of what estate the lord hath afforded me of wt was left unto me by the last will of my husband aboves^d deceased.

"First I therefore Commend and committ my Spirit into the hands of my dear lord Jesus Christ In whom I doe believe only for eternal life & Salva^n, on whom alone I trust and Rely, Renouncing wholly my own righteousness believing his to be alsufficient and yt I shall be covered yrwt and so accepted of god my hear only father through Jesus Christ my blessed mediater and redeemer, In which faith I w.. & trust that after breath is spent and natural life is gone from me I shall ascend in my Spirit unto god.  And therefore I ... commit my body to the grave there to rest till the glorious resurrection of the dead by Jesus Christ Comitting my dearly beloved children and grand children all of ym to the grace of god in Jesus Christ, humbly desyring his peace and love may be bestowed on them soe as it may keep them in his ... and in love & peace one wth another continually Amen.

"As for my temporall estate that god of his mercy hath ... to me to dispose of, I give and bequeath to be devided & disposed of after my decease as hereafter foloweth Renouncing all former wills.

"It.  I gr.. my eldest Sone Henry Collins my horse.  Item  I give to my grandson Nath^ll Collins a cow and a young mare, and after my decease, twenty shillings out of my estate then left if it will ... do and so I  leave that to my executors.  Item I give to my grandchildren viz those children of my Son John Collins deceased & not named in my will viz Elizabeth Mary Daniel Hannah Loice the Sume of three pound to be pd to each and soe much out of my estate if it will reach yrunto as a testimony of my love to them who were suddenly deprived of their father & of their estate.  Item I give to my two grandsones the sones of John Collins deceased viz Samuel and Joseph Collins ... the sume of five shillings to each of ym after my decease And so to Abigail now Townsend.  Item I give to Susannah Collins the daughter of Benj^a Collins twenty shillings.

"I doe ordain & appoint my sone Henry Collins and my sone Joseph Collins to be my two executors of my estate and unto this my last will & testat and to make me a comely and decent buriall and to performe all my just and honest paymt & legacies according to my will Satisfying all their and my necessary charges And well consider what my estate will beare in honesty and honour.

"Moreover I give unto my grand children Johnsons viz Mary Richard Ruth Samuel to each one the sume of twenty shillings after my decease that is as is expressed for all if my estate shall reach to perform all moreover I doe ordain & defyne my well respected and trusty friends Mr Jeremy Shepherd pastor of the church of christ in Lynn and Oliver Purchase to be my overseers to see this my last will and testa^t to be performed and fullfilled.  And now that ye promisses yt are contained & expressed in this sheat of paper is my last will & testa^t for confirmation of the same that it is soe I the said Ann Collins widow & relict of Henry Collins Sen^r deceased affix and set my own hand & seale hereunto, as also that I have pd unto Elizabeth Collins now alias Basset soe much of my legacie to her in Indian corne the sume of 21s.

Signed Sealed & Delivered in the presence of                       The Signe of
these undernamed                                                                         Ann   N  Collins & a seale
Henry Silsbey
Oliver Purchase
Henry Collins junr."


The inventory of the estate of Ann Collins, with 7 cows the only asset listed, was apprised by Jer. Shepard and Henry French to be 17 pounds, 10 shillings (at 2 pounds 10 shillings per cow).  The inventory was presented by Henry Collins as a full and perfect inventory of the estate of Ann Collins deceased, and he said that if more comes to his hand, he will add it.  The inventory was recorded by the Court on 6 December 1692 (Essex County [Mass.] Probate Records, Volume 303, page 095, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,860,485).

Note that, other than the horse for her son Henry, she did not bequeath anything to her three living sons, Henry, Joseph and Benjamin.  She did bequeath money or livestock to her grandchildren by her deceased son John and her deceased daughter Mary (who married Johnson).

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/07/amanuensis-monday-probate-records-of.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 30 June to 6 July 2013

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 daily blog prompts or 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:

*  Genealogical Change? - No Big Deal - Ida Could Have Handled it by Kenneth R. Marks on The Ancestor Hunt blog.  Kenneth thinks his 108-year old aunt would handle retiring Old Search and Google Reader without batting an eye.

*  Finding Living Relatives Can Be Challenging and Hopefully These Tips and Ideas Will Help You Be Successful by Diane L. Richard on the Upfront With NGS blog.  What a great graphic, and thel inks are helpful too.

*  Five Golden Rules for Growing "Healthy" Family Trees by Kimberly Powell on the About genealogy blog.  Kimberly has a great list here.

*  Not Everything Burned - Partitions and Mortgages in Licking County, Ohio by Harold Henderson on the Midwestern Microhistory blog.  Harold explains why you should visit your ancestral counties - sometimes you find great stuff.

*  What's so Private About Genealogy? by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog.  Do living people have a right to privacy?  do dead people?

*  Blogging + Cousin Bait = Mystery Picture Success by Cheri Hudson Passey on the Carolina Girl Genealogy blog.  Yes, geneablogging works!  Good job connecting, Cheri.

*  A Second Cousin Adds to My Chromosome Map and Answers a Nagging Genealogical Question by CeCe Moore on the Your Genetic Genealogist blog.  CeCe shows some of her autosomal DNA matches, and demonstrates how testing close cousins can contribute to her own chromosome map.

*  Genealogy World -- Real Life -- Can We all Just Play "Nicer" in this Sandbox We Share? by Diane L. Richard on the Upfront With NGS blog.  Diane comments on the Cyndi Howells vs. Barry Ewell lawsuit, and to the Ancestry Old Search controversy.  Excellent advice...

*  A Preponderance of Information, A Plethora of Evidence by Bart Brenner on the Brenner Genealogy blog.  Bart continues his journey with the GPS and Evidentia, and the lights are coming on.

*  Is There Such a Thing As Ethical Plagiarism? by Pat Richley-Erickson on DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog.  I think I know the answer to this...

These genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts and news summary posts this week:

*  Follow Friday - Favorites for July 5, 2013 by Heather Kuhn Roelker on the Leaves For Trees blog.

*  Friday Finds - 08/05/13 by Julie Cahill Tarr on the GenBlog blog.

*  Saturday Serendipity (July 6, 2013) by John D. Tew on the Filiopietism Prism blog.

Readers are encouraged 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 1350 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

The URL for this post is:   http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/07/best-of-genea-blogs-30-june-to-6-july.html

Copyright(c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your "Genealogy Pie"

Hey genea-folks, 

it's Saturday Night again, 

 time for more Genealogy Fun!

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

1)  Please read Tessa Keough's YouTube video on "Your Genealogy Pie" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkfzu8YaV9M).  I found it fascinating, and wanted to share it with my readers.

2)  Your mission is to create your own "Genealogy Pie" - make a pie chart (if you can), or another kind of chart, or just a data table, of how you spend your genealogy time over a significant period of time (a week, a month, a year).  You can use some or all of Tessa's categories, or add your own categories.

3)  Tell us how you created the chart - which program or service, the data you used, how you estimated the time spent, etc.  What did you learn from this accounting and chart-making exercise?

4)  Share your creation with the genea-sphere in your own blog post, on Facebook or on Google.  Be sure to drop a link in a comment to this post.  

Thank you, Tessa, for the great example!

Here's mine:

I watched the video several times - it's very well done!

I created a Pie Chart with this process:

1)  I calculated the time I spent on these categories as:

*  Education (reading email, social media and blogs, watching Webinars and Hangouts, attending conferences, seminars and society programs).
*  Research (going to repositories, searching online, transcribing or abstracting documents, writing reports and notes, etc.)
*  Data Entry (adding content to my software programs or to online family trees, including media, sources, notes, etc.)
*  Sharing (writing blog posts, answering email, teaching, helping others, creating and making presentations)
*  Volunteering (local genealogy society work, including meetings, writing articles, editing newsletters, etc.)
*  Organization (sorting and filing papers, sorting and filing digital files, maintaining to-do lists and research logs, etc.)

2)  I write an almost daily genealogy journal at The Geneaholic, so I I have some record of the tasks I perform each day and the total time I spend each day on genealogy.  I used the period of 22 June to 5 July 2013 as my survey period (two weeks; the week before 22 June I was at my daughter's house in Santa Cruz, and a week before that I was at Jamboree.  June was not a typical genealogy month for me!).   I estimated the time I spent on each category each day , and added them up over the 14 days, and divided by the total hours spent (122) to get percentages.

My data percentages came out as:

*  Education:  17.6%
*  Research:  15.6%
*  Data Entry: 16.8%
*  Sharing:  41.4%
*  Volunteering:  6.1%
*  Organizing:  2.5%

3)  I created my pie chart in OpenOffice 3.3 (which is similar to Microsoft Excel).  I had to learn how to add a chart (used the Chart icon), then selected the Chart Type (under Format > Chart Type > Pie), and add data to the table (under View > Chart Data Table).  Then I entered the data labels in the "Categories" column, and my data percentages in the Y-Values column.  I had to add two more Rows (using the "Insert Row" icon).  I also created a Title (using Insert > Titles).

4)  Here is My Genealogy Pie Chart:

What did I learn?

*  I spend over 40% of my genealogy time writing, helping, and speaking (or making presentations).  I had no speaking engagements in this time, but I did create a new presentation and updated five others.  Blogging usually takes up 2-3 hours of my day now.

*  I spend about 35% of my time doing Research, Data Entry and Organizing.  I was surprised that it was this high.  I do try to spend at least two to three hours a day online finding records or entering content to my genealogy software.  I don't spend nearly enough time organizing my paper collection, and have much digital filing to do also.

*  I volunteer for SDGS, CGSSD and CVGS, but CGSSD and SDGS did not have meetings in the time period.  CVGS had a Picnic and a Board Meeting, and I edited the newsletter, during the time period.

*  Education is important to me, and I try to watch one Webinar a week, watch at least one Hangout, and at least one YouTube video a week, plus attend local society meetings and events, and the occasional conference.   

My ideal Genealogy Time breakdown might be:

*  Education 20%
*  Research: 20%
*  Data Entry: 10%
*  Sharing:  30%
*  Volunteering:  10%
*  Organizing:  10%

I'm really not that far off from my ideal - a review over a month or a quarter might be interesting!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/07/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-your.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Surname Saturday - COLLINS (England to Colonial Massachusetts)

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

I am in the 7th great-grandmothers, I'm up to Ancestor #629, who is Sarah COLLINS (1678-1757) [Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 7th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through three American generations of this COLLINS family line is:

1.  Randall J. Seaver (1943-living)

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

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

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

18.  Edward Hildreth (1831-1899)
19.  Sophia Newton (1834-1923)

38.  Thomas J. Newton (ca 1800 - ????)
39.  Sophia Buck (1797-1882)

78.  Isaac Buck (1757-1847)
79.  Martha Phillips (1757-????)

156.  Isaac Buck (1732-????)
157.  Mary Richards (1733-????)

314:  Joseph Richards (1703-1748)
315.  Mary Bowden (1705-????)

628.  Crispus Richards, born 20 October 1681 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States; died 17 May 1763 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States.  He was the son of 1256. John Richards and 1247. Mary Brewer.  He married 21 December 1702 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States.
629.  Sarah Collins, born 10 August 1678 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States; died Bef. 23 June 1757 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States.  

Children of Crispus Richards and Sarah Collins are:
*  Joseph Richards (1703-1748), married 1726 Mary Bowden (1705-????)
*  Esther Richards (1705-????0, married 1723 Aaron Estes.
*  John Richards (1707-1758), married (1) 1733 Lydia Phillips (1714-17534), and (2) 1756 Katherine Burchstead (1732-????).
*  Sarah Richards (1709-????), married 1734 Henry Ingalls .
*  Hannah Richards (1711-1740), married 1738 John Sticker.
*  Mary Richards (1713-1758)
*  Deborah Richards (1715-????).

1258.  Joseph Collins, born about 1643 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States; died Bef. 02 November 1724 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States.   He married in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States.
1259.  Sarah Silsbee, born About 1646 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States; died 25 February 1681/82 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States.  She was the daughter of 2518. Henry Silsbee and 2519. Dorothy.

Children of Joseph Collins and Sarah Silsbee are:
*  Sara Collins (1669-1669)
*  Joseph Collins (1671-1695)
*  Henry Collins (1673-1721)
*  Ann Collins (1675-1754, married 1691 Nathaniel Ingalls (1660-1737)
*  Dorothy Collins (1676-1730), married 1700 Robert Gray (????-1731)
*  Sarah Collins (1678-1757), married 1702 Crispus Richards (1681-1763)
*  Ester Collins (1680-????)

2516.  Henry Collins, born 1606 in Stepney, Middlesex, England; died 20 February 1686/87 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States.  He married before 1629 in probably Stepney, Middlesex, England.
2517.  Ann, born 1605 in probably Stepney, Middlesex, England; died 29 September 1691 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States.

Children of Henry Collins and Ann are:
*  Henry Collins (1629-1722); married Mary Tolman (1632-1723)
*  John Collins (1632-1679); married Abigail Johnson (1644-1680)
*  Margery Collins (1633-1702); married 1656 Isaac Williams.
*  Hannah Collins (16356-????); married Nathaniel Ingersoll (1632-1718)
*  Mary Collins (1641-1682); married 1664 Samuel Johnson (1640-1723)
*  Joseph Collins (1643-1724); married (1) 1667 Sarah Silsbee (1646-1682); (2) 1684 Mariah Smith (1664-1724).
*  Riall Collins (1645-1681).
*  Elizabeth Collins (1647-1690); married 1666 John Tolman (1635-1725)
*  Benjamin Collins (1648-1711); married (1) 1673 Priscilla Kirtland (1648-1676); (2) 1677 Elizabeth Leach 

Astute readers will notice that the COLLINS surname was also last week's post - that's because 1258. Joseph Collins (1643-1724) married twice - first to Sarah Silsbee, and second to Mariah smith, and I have ancestry through both wives.

Information on these Collins families was obtained from:

1)  Caroline Martino and Marcia Lindberg, "Henry Collins of Lynn and his Descendants",The Essex Genealogist, starting Vol. 10, #3-4 (1990), Vol 11, #1-3 (1991), Vol 12 #4 (1992), 53 pages.

2)  A sketch for Henry Collins was published in the book by Robert Charles Anderson,The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, Volume II, C-F (Boston: NEHGS, 2001), pages 164-169; it contains original source references.

The URL for this post is:  

copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Comparing "Old Search" and "New Search" Results on Ancestry.com - Exact Matches

In comments on Comparing "Old Search" and "New Search" Results on Ancestry.com (posted 28 June 2013), a reader said the "Old Search" was better than "New Search" because "...the list is much more compact, much easier to navigate and I find what I am looking for much faster."  In a later comment, she noted that: "Checking what seems to be the equivalent of 'exact matches' on New Search gives results that have the same appearance.  My issue is the extreme amount of empty space presented on New Search, requiring much scrolling to read them all. Therefore it takes longer to scan through and find possible real matches." 

I've also had some comments in email and in conversations with society colleagues that there are differences between "Old Search" and "New Search" results, even with "Exact Matches" checked.  

so, I decided to see if there are any differences between them for an Exact Match search for my great-grandfather, Charles Auble (1849-1916).  I'm going to assume that I know his correct name and his birthdate and birthplace (like a beginning researcher might know from family papers, or a death certificate).

1)  Here is the "Old Search" Advanced Search form I used for Charles Auble, born 1849 in New Jersey:

I put a birth year range of plus/minus 5 years on the birth year.

2)  Here are the results in "Old Search:"

There are 18 matches for:

*  1 1850 U.S. Federal Census record - good match
*  1 1870 U.S. Federal Census record - good match
*  1 1880 U.S. Federal census record - good match

*  10 Private Member Photos - all good matches
*  4 Public Member Photos & Scanned Documents - all good matches

*  1 Public Member Stories - good match

3)  I clicked on the 1880 U.S. Federal Census item, and saw the Record Summary:

The list of "Suggested Records" shows a 1900 U.S. Census record (for "Chas Auble") and a 1910 U.S. Census record (for "Charles Aubbe").  The "Old Search" missed those two items because someone has not added an "Alternate Name" that could be added to the index.

4)  The same search terms were entered into the "New Search" Advanced Search form:

5)  The Search results, on the "Records" Tab in "New Search," is:

The 18 "Search" results include:

*  A "Matching Person" - a good match
*  1 1880 U.S. Federal Census - good match
*  1 1870 U.S. Federal Census - good match
*  1 1850 U.s. Federal census - good match
*  4 Public Member Photos & Scanned documents - good matches
*  10 Private Member Photos - good matches
*  1 Public Member Stories - good match.

These are the same 18 matches as found in the "Old Search" search.  However, it appears that the "Matching Person" match found in "New Search" was not listed in the "Old Search" search.

6)  The "Categories" Tab in the "New Search" results showed 28 matches:

The 18 items shown in  5) above are listed, but 10 Family Trees are also listed - 8 public, and 2 private).  

7)  The Conclusions I draw from this study of one person are:

*  "Old Search" doesn't provide "Family Tree" results, even though all of the "Categories" on the Advanced Search for are checked.  

*  The "New Search" results are exactly the same as found on "Old Search" - plus it lists the "Family Trees" matches.  

Some people might say "well, we all know that those Family Trees on Ancestry are not sourced, and have wrong data."  On "Old Search," they don't even give the user the chance to see if information in the trees is available.  If I search the "Family Trees," I will find that at least two of the trees provide quality sources, scanned documents, and photos more than just the three census records found by the searches.

*  Both searches missed the two census records with different spellings of the name, but the "Suggested Records" for both searches found them.

8)  I think that the reason the "Family Trees" didn't show in the "Old Search" results was because the search was conducted only in "Historical Records."  The "Basic Form" results looks like this:

When I had clicked the "Family Trees" tab on the "Basic Form," there were 7 "Family Trees" found - 6 public, and 1 private.  

The same thing happened when I left the name but eliminated the birth information, and clicked on the "Stories and Publications" tab in "Old Search."  The search found 76 matches in "Stories and Publications."  In "New Search," it found those same matches in both the "Records" and "Categories" Views.  

So, we see that "New Search" finds ALL of the potential records (that match the search criteria) in an "Exact Search" but that "Old Search" doesn't.

However, it did not find ALL of the records for this person.  There are some Ancestry databases that don't index a birth year or age, and therefore are missed in an "Exact Match" search.  some examples are City directories, Voter Registers, Public Records, Newspapers, etc.  A researcher needs to do multiple levels of searches.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/07/comparing-old-search-and-new-search.html

copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver