Genea-Musings

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Who Do You Think You Are? Season Starts Sunday, April 3

I received this information from Ancestry.com today:

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TLC ANNOUNCES CELEBRITY CONTRIBUTORS FOR SPRING SEASON OF

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

New season premieres Sunday, April 3 at 9/8c

The two-time Emmy nominated series WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? returns this spring to follow more of today’s most beloved and iconic celebrities as they embark on personal journeys of self-discovery to trace their family trees. The series continues to deliver unbelievable stories from crucial moments in history, including a number of firsts for the series, such as a male witch hunt, and traveling to Portugal, Sweden and Ellis Island. Produced by Lisa Kudrow and Dan Bucatinsky, the new season premieres Sunday, April 3 at 9/8c.

The contributors featured in the upcoming season include:

Scott Foley finds a relative who risked his life for one of America’s founding fathers, and an ancestor who suffered unspeakably during one of this nation’s darkest times.
Lea Michele nails down where her mysterious paternal ancestors came from, and learns of the dire economic circumstances they endured while trying to emigrate to the U.S.
Chris Noth learns his ancestors suffered during one of the greatest catastrophes in American history, and a relative who fought in one of the bloodiest battles of all time.
Molly Ringwald explores family lore of Swedish royalty which uncovers her ancestors’ harrowing lives and a brave woman who forever changed her family’s fate.
Katey Sagal is shocked to learn of her family’s Amish roots, and digs deeper as she realizes the level of dedication to their faith.
Aisha Tyler tracks down her 2x great-grandfather, whose story had been lost over generations, and uncovers an astonishing tale of a prominent ancestor whose struggle to keep his illegitimate son a secret made headlines.

Ancestry, the leading family history company, is teaming up again with TLC as a sponsor of the upcoming season. As part of the show sponsorship, Ancestry provides exhaustive family history research on each of the featured celebrities to help make discoveries possible and build out the story of each episode.

The series is produced for TLC by Shed Media and Is or Isn’t Entertainment, and is based on an original format created by Wall to Wall Media and Alex Graham. More information can be found at TLC.com/WDYTYA. ‘Like’ Who Do You Think You Are? on Facebook.com/WDYTYA and follow @WDYTYA on Twitter.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/who-do-you-think-you-are-season-starts.html

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Adding a Life Sketch to the FamilySearch Family Tree

I updated my family tree information for Moses Smith (1732-1806) of Walpole, Massachusetts last week in RootsMagic when I wrote 52 Ancestors - Week 113: #136 Moses Smith (1732-1806) (posted 26 February 2016).

I also worked in RootsMagic to add events, standardize dates and places, and match parents, spouses and children in the FamilySearch Family Tree entry for Moses Smith (K2QK-D51). Then there are Sources and Notes.

One item on the FamilySearch Family Tree profile that I cannot add or edit from RootsMagic is the Life Sketch. I have to do that from within the FamilySearch Family Tree. I think that the Life Sketch is one way to add significant content to the Family Tree that might be found and read by other descendants or researchers for Moses Smith (and other of my ancestors).

To do this, I had a choice to use the Person Note in my RootsMagic program or to use the Notes in my blogp osts. If I do the latter, I need to add the Sources also in the Life Sketch. I chose using the RootsMagic Person notes. Here is the RootsMagic General Note for Moses Smith screen:

I highlighted and copied the text of the Note above.

I opened the FamilySearch Family Tree, and went to the Moses Smith profile:

The "Life Sketch" right at the top of the profile in the left-hand column. To Add or Edit information, I need to click on the right-arrow to the left of the words "Life Sketch."

I did this and clicked on "Add" and a window opened into which I could paste the copied text:

I checked the spelling items noted, and then clicked on the blue "Save" button on the screen above.

The resulting Life Sketch area on the Moses Smith profile looks like this:

One problem with doing this is that some Life Sketches may contain more than 10,000 characters. Moses Smith's Life Sketch had 2,888 characters, so there were 7,112 characters available. There are some profiles where I have exceeded the 10,000 characters!

As I complete my 52 Ancestors biographies, I try to update the profiles for my ancestors in the FamilySearch Family Tree.

Readers may note that I have some "Data Problems" in the right-hand column - I need to fix those by editing the Vital Information and selecting standard dates and places.

Are you working in the FamilySearch Family Tree on a regular basis? I have matched almost all of my ancestors and their families back about ten generations. The challenge is to select the best FSFT person when there are duplicates. And to try to merge the duplicates.

My biggest challenge is when there are children in the FSFT family that are incorrect. I just disconnected a second Aaron Smith (1765-1841) who was included in the Moses Smith family. The wrong Aaron Smith was born in Alabama and died in Arkansas with a different wife and daughter. I managed to Remove him from the family of Moses and Patience (Hamant) Smith using the online screens on the FamilySearch Family Tree.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/adding-life-sketch-to-familysearch.html

Treasure Chest Thursday #303: 1735 Birth Record of Patience Hamant in Medfield, Mass.

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

The treasure today is the 1735 birth record of Patience Hamant in the vital record book of Medfield, Massachusetts:

The snippet of the birth record:

The transcription of this birth record is:

"[HAMANT] Patience, d. Timothy and Mehipsabath, Apr. 6, 1735."

The source citation for this record is:

Vital Records of Medfield, Massachusetts to the Year 1850 (Boston, Mass. : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1903), Births, page 56, Patience Hamant entry.

Patience was the daughter, and the 5th of 9 children, of Timothy Hamant and Hepzibah Clark, who married in 1727 in Boston. The spelling of Hepzibah's name is quite variable. In the birth record for Patience, she is called "Mehipsabath." I can imagine her being called "Heppy."

Patience Hamant (1735-1780) married Moses Smith (1732-1806) in 1762. They are my 5th great-grandparents through their son, Aaron Smith (1765-1841).

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/treasure-chest-thursday-303-1735-birth.html

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Family Tree Maker is Updated and Shipping Now

The Ancestry.com Blog posted Family Tree Maker Is Updated and Shipping Now today, with a link to the Family Tree Maker page at the Software MacKiev website (http://www.mackiev.com/ftm/).

1) Tamura Jones wrote a blog post about Software MacKiev Family Tree Maker 2014 on 1 March 2016. He, apparently, was part of a short beta evaluation team. He also has information about the free updates to the current versions.

2) On the site, there is a link to a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Family Tree Maker.

  The questions and answers include:

Q: When will Family Tree Maker start shipping again?

A: Both Mac and Windows editions are already available for download through our Online Store. Click here to get them now!

Q: I already own FTM 2014or FTM Mac 3. Will I have to purchase this new version?

A: No. There will be a free update available soon. Please sign up for our mailing list to be notified when its available at www.mackiev.com/ftm.

Q: I own an older version of Family Tree Maker. Can I get a discount on an upgrade?

A: Yes! If you already have FTM 2012 or Mac 2 or earlier, you can get an upgrade to the new versions for just $29.95 (vs. regular price $69.95). To receive our upgrade offer, make sure you have signed up for our mailing list at www.mackiev.com/ftm. We will be sending out the upgrade offer on March 4th to everyone who has signed up by then.

Q: Will we need to transfer our trees in some way to use the new versions?

A: No. We are not starting over but rather building from FTM 2014 and FTM Mac 3 editions, so you will not need to move your trees – as you would if you were moving to some other family tree software than Family Tree Maker.

Q: Are your new versions of Family Tree Maker upgrades?

A: The Windows version is a somewhat updated version of FTM 2014, with as many bug fixes we could fit in. We've had more time to work on the Mac version and we have an update just about ready that will have some new features and some new background art added.

Q: What will the cost be for users new to Family Tree Maker?

A: Full new copies of Family Tree Maker will still be $69.95, but we will have an introductory offer for $49.95 when the product ships, so  to get notified if you'd like to take advantage of that. We will be sending out the upgrade offer on March 4th to everyone who has signed up by then.

Q: I have a copy of Family Tree Maker already for one computer. Do I have to buy additional copies at full price?

A: No, we will have a Family Pack Upgrade that will upgrade your license from one copy to three for just $20, and those three copies may be a mix of Mac and Windows editions.

Q: I'm a Family Tree Maker user. Do I have to buy new versions of Family Tree Maker from software MacKiev in order for my Family Tree Maker to work with my subscription to Ancestry.com?

A: No, you don't need to purchase anything and your Ancestry.com subscription will continue to work with Family Tree Maker.

Q: Where will Family Tree Maker be sold?

A: Currently we plan to sell new FTM Mac and Windows editions through our online store (both downloads and physical discs will be available) and through other online resellers such as Amazon.com, and the Mac App Store.

Q: Will Software MacKiev be supporting FamilySearch?

A: Yes. We’ll be implementing Family Search in future versions of Family Tree Maker. Ancestry had actually started implementing Family Search some time ago in both Mac and Windows versions. The folks at Family Search have already reached out to us and we hope to have Family Search in FTM versions by the end of 2016.

Q: What about TreeSync? Will we still be able to keep our trees in synch with the tree we have on Ancestry.com?

A: As Ancestry has announced, you will continue to be able to access your data through TreeSync through December 31, 2016 using current versions of Family Tree Maker. After January 1, 2017, while TreeSync will not be supported by Ancestry for the version you have now, you will still be able to access your trees on Ancestry.com and keep your online tree consistent with the one on FTM through new technologies being developed together by Software MacKiev and Ancestry.

Q: Do I need to re-register with Software MacKiev?

A: No, you do not need to re-register with Software MacKiev for your software to continue working. You might want to sign up for our mailing list though to find out about new product introductions and upgrades. Click  to sign up.

Q: What about the Family Book Creator plugin by Stefan Harms? Is it compatible with the new versions?

A: Yes! Stefan Harms already has developed a free update for his Family Book Creator (FBC) for FTM 2014.1. A download link will be sent to registered FBC Newsletter subscribers and can be found inside your FBC licensing information as well. More details can be found here.

3) There are several interesting answers on this list:

* The free update to the current program versions is not yet available - you need to signup for the free newsletter at  www.mackiev.com/ftm. I did. I also checked the "Help > Check for Update" menu item in Family Tree Maker 2014 and there is not one available now.

* The Software MacKiev versions will be able to interact with FamilySearch by the end of 2016. The interaction process is not defined - it may be like the process that LDS members can use now to interact between Ancestry and FamilySearch. Or not.

* The TreeSync issue is important, and they say "After January 1, 2017, while TreeSync will not be supported by Ancestry for the version you have now, you will still be able to access your trees on Ancestry.com and keep your online tree consistent with the one on FTM through new technologies being developed together by Software MacKiev and Ancestry."

To me, that says the interaction will be different from Treesync. Ancestry.com said at RootsTech that they have not started working on the API required to make this happen.

4) Software MacKiev promised to have their new version of Family Tree Maker available by 1 March 2016, and they essentially met that commitment. I look forward to receiving the free update to my present version of FTM 2014 soon. Will it be on 4 March?

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/family-tree-maker-is-updated-and.html

Ancestry.com Adds 10 Million Ireland Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915

The Ancestry.com Blog has two articles about the addition of the Ireland Catholic Church Parish Registers to their collections - see Largest Collection of Irish Catholic Parish Records Launched Online and Introducing the Irish Catholic Parish Registers collection.

The description of this collection is:

"Indexed from digital images created by the National Library of Ireland (NLI), the Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers 1655-1915 collection includes baptism, marriage, burial and confirmation records from more than 1,000 parishes, and over 3,500 registers, in Ireland. This is the first time that the collection has been indexed with the original images linked online."

I decided to look for a famous Irish person - Annie Moore. Here is the search screen:

There are two matches for my search:

I think the first match on my list is the 1892 immigrant to New York. However, I cannot see the record image because I don't have a World subscription at Ancestry.

I was impressed by the comment of Mike Mulligan in one of the Ancestry blog posts:

"...As you can see this one record provides evidence for many aspects of my great great grandparent’s lives; their names, my great great grandmother’s maiden name and also evidence of my great great grandparents’ move to Dublin. And that is just one record. All eight of my great grandparents are in this collection along with their siblings. All sixteen of my great great grandparents are in there. Whole generations of my family history are contained in this collection. When I was younger to find these records I spent days hunched over a microfilm reader, or ringing up parish priests and asking if I could search through their local registers. Now all that information is indexed and available at my fingertips. And with a click I can save it all to my tree. Yes this is a very exciting collection."

I hope that my genea-mates with Irish ancestry are able to find their ancestral families in these records.

While I don't have ANY known Irish ancestors in this time period, I recall that my wife has several. If I find them, I will blog about them.

Note also that Findmypast has the same indexed collection, which will always be free (they said) and that most of these records with original images can be found at http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/visiting-aussie-cattle-station-post-402.html

Visiting an Aussie Cattle Station -- Post 402 of (Not So) Wordless Wednesday

I'm posting old (and sometimes new) family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they won't be wordless posts like others do - I am incapable of having a wordless post.

Here are some of the most precious (to me) images from my Seaver/Leland photograph collection:

In March 2010, we visited Australia, New Zealand and Fiji on a three week Grand Circle Travel Tour to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary, and I took some photographs with my trusty digital camera.

1) While we were in Cairns, we traveled one day to a cattle ranch west of Cairns called Wetherby's. On the way, we stopped for refreshments at this pub where our tour guide Lynda (not my Linda) "shouted" everyone a drink:

2) After the bar, we made it to Wetherby Cattle Station, where the cowboy Pete gave us a fascinating lecture about being a cowboy in Australia. I didn't get the horse's name:

3) Pete talked about working with the cattle too:

4) After the lecture, it was a little rough walking for Linda, so she came into the dining hall on the arm of Pete:

5) We had drinks and a steak dinner at Wetherby's - Pete sang American and Australian cowboy songs during and after:

Unfortunately, I've lost the memories of all the details of this vacation. Fortunately, I found my Facebook photo albums from 2010 with pictures and some captions so all is not lost. I found that I posted very few photos from this vacation on Genea-Musings.

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The URL for this post is:

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

They Listened ... Ancestry Offers Different Colors for Ancestry Member Trees

Will wonders never cease? Ancestry.com heard the complaints about the boring white on gray backgrounds from thousands of Ancestry subscribers and ... is offering four different backgrounds. See the Ancestry.com Blog post about it at Ancestry Product Update: Tree Color Preferences.

I immediately changed my colors in the Ancestry Member Trees. Here is my Pedigree view:

My Family view:

The Person Profile:

That is so much better, in my humble opinion! You can change the colors in the Site Preferences, and they will apply to all of your trees.

I picked the Jade greenish color. Others are Pebble (the grayish), Wave (bluish), Plum (purplish) or Sand (whitish).

Which color scheme did you pick?

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/they-listened-ancestry-offers-different.html

Bright Shiny Object Search Report - My Grandmother's Flower Arrangements

I spent an enjoyable hour today searching for information about my family members in the MyHeritage collection of "Compilation of Published Sources," using the Record Matches to guide me to them.

I quickly found four articles that mention my grandmother, Emily (Auble) Carringer, noting her flower arrangement awards during the 1960s here in San Diego.

The most interesting one is from the California Garden, San Diego Floral Association, Vol. 55, No.6, (December-January 1964-1965), page 16 of 32. The article is titled "The Saga of a Traveling Agave."

Here is the MyHeritage search result (two images):

I right-clicked the page image and saved it to my file folder for my grandmother. Here is the image of the work:

The arrangement of this work is described as:

"The warm brown and gold seed pods of the Century plant seem a fitting companion for a century old

French brazier of inlaid wood, lined with brass. Gold balls dot the pods and wired gold leaves add a

note of holiday elegance to the warm wood tones and fine craftsmanship of a past era. Arranged

against a turquoise background in a contemporary home, with open beams and wood paneling, this

modern counterpart of the traditional fir is aesthetically satisfying."

My grandmother took up flower and tree arranging in the 1950s and 1960s, and won several awards

at flower shows, the County Fair, and other events. She was widely recognized in the San Diego

garden community for her work. I know that she was quietly very proud of her creative works. Her

home in Point Loma was beautifully decorated, especially with Oriental pieces. I wish that I had

been smart enough to take photographs of the home in the 1970 time frame.

I never imagined that I would find these articles online in a genealogical search! Thank you,

MyHeritage for the find. A Google check for my grandmother and her agave arrangement indicated

that there are two articles found for this magazine on the Internet Archive.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/bright-shiny-object-search-report-my.html

"1000 Years of European History" Maps on Facebook

This really cool video of "1000 Years of European History" boundaries is on Facebook on The Daily Page at https://www.facebook.com/451165558387640/videos/523797737791088/?fref=nf.

The map starts in about 1100 and goes to 2012. There is no link to the video, only to the Facebook page.

a) Year 1150:

2) Year 1355:

3) Year 1587:

4) Year 1778:

Watch it in full screen if you can, because the country labels become read readable.

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/1000-years-of-european-history-maps-on.html

Tuesday's Tip: Watch Long Lost Family on TLC Starting 6 March 2016

This week's Tuesday's Tip is: Watch the new 8-episode television show, Long Lost Family, on TLC starting Sunday, 6 March (10 p.m. EDT,MDT,PDT, 9 p.m. CDT).

I received this press release back in early February while at RootsTech and neglected to post it.

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REGRET, LOSS AND REDEMPTION ON TLC’S DOCU-SERIES LONG LOST FAMILY

The eight-episode docuseries premieres Sunday, March 6, 2016

Los Angeles, CA - LONG LOST FAMILY features the highly emotional and touching stories of people who have suffered a lifetime of separation and are yearning to be reunited with their birthparents and biological families or find children they had to place for adoption long ago. Either because of circumstance or fate, they’ve barely – if ever – met. The TLC series premieresSunday, March 6 at 10/9c.

Hosts and well-known television personalities Chris Jacobs and Lisa Joyner are both adoptees who have embarked on their own journeys to discover their biological families. Each episode follows the hosts as they investigate the stories of two individuals or families who have longed to resolve their lifelong searches. The stakes are incredibly high: a successful investigation offers the promise of not just a heartwarming reunion, but also a chance of redemption for people who have wrestled with emotional agony for years.

There is no simple path to find the missing loved ones. With tightly held family secrets in their way, the odds are stacked against them. Lisa and Chris conduct painstaking searches through public records, and utilize the latest DNA technology in their search for answers. But what they discover, and who they find, is anything but expected.

Some incredible stories include:

Rita

A mother who was forced to place her baby boy for adoption 31 years ago. Rita’s boyfriend dumped her when she told him she was pregnant and her mother sent her to a home for pregnant young women for fear of a scandal. Still holding on to his baby blanket from the hospital, she longs to meet her son again and keep the promise she made to find him.

Jenny

Her birth mother was the daughter of a minister who was deeply embarrassed by a pregnancy out of wedlock. Because of the lack of support offered, she ended up placing Jenny with social services. The search for Jenny’s birth mother takes a dramatic turn, when photo evidence suggests they may have been unknowingly connected for years.

Diana and Jeannette

Two women in search for the father who suddenly vanished from their lives when they were just 4 and 5 years old. With no memories of their separation from him, the women have grown up haunted by his sudden disappearance. They hope he can be found so they can see him once again to find out the truth and ask him what happened.

Ancestry, the largest provider of family history and personal DNA testing, is teaming up with TLC as a sponsor of the upcoming season. As part of the show sponsorship, Ancestry provides family history research on each of the featured individuals to help make discoveries possible.

Long Lost Family is produced by Shed Media for TLC.

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You can watch several minute long trailers at http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/long-lost-family/.

The web site may have videos of the shows after they are broadcast.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/03/tuesdays-tip-watch-long-lost-family-on.html

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Thursday, March 3, 2016

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Tuesday, March 1, 2016