The next San Diego Genealogical Society meeting will be Saturday, 13 September from 12 noon until 2:30 p.m. The meeting will be at St. Andrews Lutheran Church, 8350 Lake Murray Blvd. (at Jackson Drive) in the Lake Murray area of eastern San Diego.
The program speaker will by Paul R. Lipinski on the subject of History and Research in Germany, Poland and Austria. The program description is:
"If you have ancestors born from these regions, you already know the pitfalls that can plague new and inexperienced researchers. Even experienced veterans can get lost in the ever-changing geographic and political climate that has influenced these areas over many years.
"Come and learn the most critical 'how to' tips from an expert and the importance of using time lines in your research. Much of this advice will also apply to research in other areas as well. This meeting is definitely not to be missed."
Paul Lipinski's curriculum vitae includes:
"Mr. Lipinski is past-president of the Polish Genealogical Society of California (his wife Janice is now President), in which he has been active since 1994. He is currently editor and frequent contributor to their quarterly publication. He is also a volunteer and consultant at the Los Angeles Regional Family History Center, where he teaches classes and assists others with their research.
"In addition, he is a member of the Polish Genealogical Society of America, the NGC-SEA Genealogical Society, and the South Bay Genealogical Society. He was recently awarded the 2008 Dziekuje Award by the Polish Genealogical Society of Michigan. With 35 years genealogical experience, he is a frequent speaker at various genealogical events."
I look forward to hearing this presentation, because I have not done any research in these localities, even though I do have a significant German ancestry. I need to, and perhaps this talk will give me some leads to work on.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Got my Family Tree Maker 2009 Invitation
I received the email from Ancestry telling me that
Family Tree Maker® 2009 is all yours.
We’re pleased to provide you with a FREE upgrade to the newest version of Family Tree Maker. Thank you for your patience, helpful comments and suggestions. We've come a long way over the last year, and we want you to enjoy all the latest additions and improvements at no cost.
The email provided my 8-digit unique coupon code needed during checkout to obtain the software for free. It is valid until 9 October 2008.
New features in Family Tree Maker 2009 include:
New Reports
* Genealogy reports (Register and Ahnentafel, both full and simplified)
* Data errors report
* Enhancements to many reports
New Charts
* Hourglass
* Vertical pedigree chart
* Horizontal hourglass chart
* Bow tie chart
* 180–degree fan chart
* Family tree chart
New Functionality within Publishing
* Book layouts for main charts
* Saved settings in charts/reports
* Saved templates in charts
* Ability to show siblings within charts
* Single page PDF export from charts
* Enhancements to the RTF export
* Ability to add boxes in charts to “Marked Box” category and modify box settings
* Preparer information in chart footers
Improved Data–Manipulation Tools
* Change place name tool
* Find–and–replace dialog
* Edit person dialog, streamlining data entry from any workspace
* Spouse order setting in the person menu
* Ability to set the media order on a person
* Find Individual Dialog
* Find Duplicate Person Dialog
* Fact Data Options Dialog that allows for:
** Ability to change fact types
** Ability to move description to place or place to description
** Ability to make information private
* Symbols in text fields
Improvements within Research tools
* Ability to ignore hints
* Option to delete existing facts in individual and web merge
* Inclusion of married name, AKA and titles in index
* Automatic simple backup at shutdown
Import Improvements
* OLE objects (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, RTF) from previous FTM versions
* Improved name parsing
* Import previously ignored hints lists
Place Improvements
* Place map toolbar that allows free text place searches
* Pinpoint places such as libraries, churches and courthouses
* Track — and print — your ancestors’ migration paths on interactive maps with the new Places timeline
Source Improvements
* Ability to copy and paste source–citations
And there are even more great features in the works.
You’ll get the following updates and more automatically as they become available:
* Book building
* Better Ancestry.com member tree integration
* Improved relationship calculator
* Source templates based on Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills
* And many others
Now I'm wondering if I can use the same code twice - once for my desktop computer and once for my laptop computer. I'm also wondering if I can keep my current FTM 2008 version on my computer and have a separate FTM 2009 program so that I can do some comparisons between the two programs.
The free upgrade to from FTM 2008 to FTM 2009, and the free upgrades to FTM 2009 over time, are a really smart marketing move by TGN, IMHO. There's bound to be a run on discounted versions of FTM 2008 at www.NothingButSoftware.com and www.Amazon.com, among other sites. The marketing maxim of "offer something in the future for free and they will buy now" seems to apply here, doesn't it?
Family Tree Maker® 2009 is all yours.
We’re pleased to provide you with a FREE upgrade to the newest version of Family Tree Maker. Thank you for your patience, helpful comments and suggestions. We've come a long way over the last year, and we want you to enjoy all the latest additions and improvements at no cost.
The email provided my 8-digit unique coupon code needed during checkout to obtain the software for free. It is valid until 9 October 2008.
New features in Family Tree Maker 2009 include:
New Reports
* Genealogy reports (Register and Ahnentafel, both full and simplified)
* Data errors report
* Enhancements to many reports
New Charts
* Hourglass
* Vertical pedigree chart
* Horizontal hourglass chart
* Bow tie chart
* 180–degree fan chart
* Family tree chart
New Functionality within Publishing
* Book layouts for main charts
* Saved settings in charts/reports
* Saved templates in charts
* Ability to show siblings within charts
* Single page PDF export from charts
* Enhancements to the RTF export
* Ability to add boxes in charts to “Marked Box” category and modify box settings
* Preparer information in chart footers
Improved Data–Manipulation Tools
* Change place name tool
* Find–and–replace dialog
* Edit person dialog, streamlining data entry from any workspace
* Spouse order setting in the person menu
* Ability to set the media order on a person
* Find Individual Dialog
* Find Duplicate Person Dialog
* Fact Data Options Dialog that allows for:
** Ability to change fact types
** Ability to move description to place or place to description
** Ability to make information private
* Symbols in text fields
Improvements within Research tools
* Ability to ignore hints
* Option to delete existing facts in individual and web merge
* Inclusion of married name, AKA and titles in index
* Automatic simple backup at shutdown
Import Improvements
* OLE objects (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, RTF) from previous FTM versions
* Improved name parsing
* Import previously ignored hints lists
Place Improvements
* Place map toolbar that allows free text place searches
* Pinpoint places such as libraries, churches and courthouses
* Track — and print — your ancestors’ migration paths on interactive maps with the new Places timeline
Source Improvements
* Ability to copy and paste source–citations
And there are even more great features in the works.
You’ll get the following updates and more automatically as they become available:
* Book building
* Better Ancestry.com member tree integration
* Improved relationship calculator
* Source templates based on Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills
* And many others
Now I'm wondering if I can use the same code twice - once for my desktop computer and once for my laptop computer. I'm also wondering if I can keep my current FTM 2008 version on my computer and have a separate FTM 2009 program so that I can do some comparisons between the two programs.
The free upgrade to from FTM 2008 to FTM 2009, and the free upgrades to FTM 2009 over time, are a really smart marketing move by TGN, IMHO. There's bound to be a run on discounted versions of FTM 2008 at www.NothingButSoftware.com and www.Amazon.com, among other sites. The marketing maxim of "offer something in the future for free and they will buy now" seems to apply here, doesn't it?
Getting Images from Google News
I posted last night about my "breakthrough" finding an obituary on Google News Search Archive.
However, trying to get a print of it posed a challenge. I could "Print Screen" using File>Print. I got a half-page print of only what was showing on the screen. If I wanted the whole article on my screen, I had to Zoom down until it fit, which resulted in really small print. I didn't see any other way to Print the article, or save the entire news page, on the Google News web page.
So I went to full-screen (using F11), then hit my "Print Screen" button. Then I opened my Image processing program (I chose Microsoft Digital Image program) and opened a New file, and Pasted the screen image into the program, then did a File>Save and saved it as a JPG. The result is shown below (for another search done today):
The heading of the article in the St. Petersburg Times is shown, and the "blue mask" is the part of the page shown over in the right-hand pane that shows where you are on the full page. The names I was searching for are highlighted in yellow on that full-page thumbnail - I really like that feature! I wish Ancestry.com would do that!
In my "breakthrough" last night, I was lucky that the obituary was not on a subscription site - it was free to access, probably because the specific newspaper archive is free to access (just as the St. Petersburg Times page above is free to access).
If the article you find is on a subscription or pay-per-view site, or the free New York Times site, then you can use the Print options for the specific web site rather than have to print the screen in the Google News window.
However, trying to get a print of it posed a challenge. I could "Print Screen" using File>Print. I got a half-page print of only what was showing on the screen. If I wanted the whole article on my screen, I had to Zoom down until it fit, which resulted in really small print. I didn't see any other way to Print the article, or save the entire news page, on the Google News web page.
So I went to full-screen (using F11), then hit my "Print Screen" button. Then I opened my Image processing program (I chose Microsoft Digital Image program) and opened a New file, and Pasted the screen image into the program, then did a File>Save and saved it as a JPG. The result is shown below (for another search done today):
The heading of the article in the St. Petersburg Times is shown, and the "blue mask" is the part of the page shown over in the right-hand pane that shows where you are on the full page. The names I was searching for are highlighted in yellow on that full-page thumbnail - I really like that feature! I wish Ancestry.com would do that!
In my "breakthrough" last night, I was lucky that the obituary was not on a subscription site - it was free to access, probably because the specific newspaper archive is free to access (just as the St. Petersburg Times page above is free to access).
If the article you find is on a subscription or pay-per-view site, or the free New York Times site, then you can use the Print options for the specific web site rather than have to print the screen in the Google News window.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Google News Archive Search pays off
I'm starting to really like the Google News Archive Search web site. I used it last night, and I used it again tonight.
Tonight, I plugged in the name of my Project M client's father as ["gxxxxxn * mxxxxxk"] - note that "x" is a letter (I'm trying to keep my research confidential, but had to brag about this) - and hit Search. I got 21 matches, and one of them was an obituary for my client's step-sister from 1997 in the town where my client grew up. The obituary listed the names of her two sisters and one brother, her two daughters and one son, and her husband. Now I have something concrete to go on. Some names to go search for addresses and telephone numbers.
I'm not sure that my client is up to contacting them, healthwise, but it is a great opportunity for him to learn more about his father, whom he last saw in 1943 and he has wondered all his life what happened to him.
Isn't it great when another great research tool comes along? The same search in the basic Google search turned up 302 matches, none of them this one obituary. In Google News Search, there were no matches. It was the News Archive Search of the newspaper files that resulted in the match.
Tonight, I plugged in the name of my Project M client's father as ["gxxxxxn * mxxxxxk"] - note that "x" is a letter (I'm trying to keep my research confidential, but had to brag about this) - and hit Search. I got 21 matches, and one of them was an obituary for my client's step-sister from 1997 in the town where my client grew up. The obituary listed the names of her two sisters and one brother, her two daughters and one son, and her husband. Now I have something concrete to go on. Some names to go search for addresses and telephone numbers.
I'm not sure that my client is up to contacting them, healthwise, but it is a great opportunity for him to learn more about his father, whom he last saw in 1943 and he has wondered all his life what happened to him.
Isn't it great when another great research tool comes along? The same search in the basic Google search turned up 302 matches, none of them this one obituary. In Google News Search, there were no matches. It was the News Archive Search of the newspaper files that resulted in the match.
FamilyTreeMaker deals at NothingButSoftware
I check the www.NothingButsoftware.com web site occasionally for good deals on genealogy software (and other genres too). As of today, here are the deals available (perhaps for a limited time or until supplies last) for FamilyTreeMaker software:
* FamilyTreeMaker 2008 Platinum - $79.95 - includes a 6-month US Deluxe subscription to Ancestry.com (Subscription term begins upon installation of your Family Tree Maker software).
* FamilyTreeMaker 2008 Deluxe - $34.95 - includes a 3-month US Deluxe subscription to Ancestry.com (Subscription term begins upon installation of your Family Tree Maker software).
* FamilyTreeMaker 2008 Essentials - $19.95 - includes a 1-month US Deluxe subscription to Ancestry.com (Subscription term begins upon installation of your Family Tree Maker software).
* FamilyTreeMaker Version 16 Essentials - $19.95 - includes a 3-month US Deluxe subscription to Ancestry.com (Subscription term begins upon installation of your Family Tree Maker software).
* FamilyTreeMaker Version 16 Standard - $27.95 - includes a 6-month US Deluxe subscription to Ancestry.com (Subscription term begins upon installation of your Family Tree Maker software).
As you can see, there are some excellent deals here if you are interested in an Ancestry.com US Deluxe subscription (which retails at $155.40 per year).
I used this site for my current 12-month Ancestry.com subscription - I paid $19.95 for FTM 16 plus the one-year US Deluxe subscription last October.
It appears that, at least for the FTM 2008 deals, your subscription starts when you install and/or register your software. A current subscriber could buy one of these packages, wait until their subscription runs out, and on the next day install and register the software and start their new Ancestry subscription.
I wonder why the web site thinks that FTM 16 is produced by Encore software and FTM 2008 is produced by Broderbund Software?
* FamilyTreeMaker 2008 Platinum - $79.95 - includes a 6-month US Deluxe subscription to Ancestry.com (Subscription term begins upon installation of your Family Tree Maker software).
* FamilyTreeMaker 2008 Deluxe - $34.95 - includes a 3-month US Deluxe subscription to Ancestry.com (Subscription term begins upon installation of your Family Tree Maker software).
* FamilyTreeMaker 2008 Essentials - $19.95 - includes a 1-month US Deluxe subscription to Ancestry.com (Subscription term begins upon installation of your Family Tree Maker software).
* FamilyTreeMaker Version 16 Essentials - $19.95 - includes a 3-month US Deluxe subscription to Ancestry.com (Subscription term begins upon installation of your Family Tree Maker software).
* FamilyTreeMaker Version 16 Standard - $27.95 - includes a 6-month US Deluxe subscription to Ancestry.com (Subscription term begins upon installation of your Family Tree Maker software).
As you can see, there are some excellent deals here if you are interested in an Ancestry.com US Deluxe subscription (which retails at $155.40 per year).
I used this site for my current 12-month Ancestry.com subscription - I paid $19.95 for FTM 16 plus the one-year US Deluxe subscription last October.
It appears that, at least for the FTM 2008 deals, your subscription starts when you install and/or register your software. A current subscriber could buy one of these packages, wait until their subscription runs out, and on the next day install and register the software and start their new Ancestry subscription.
I wonder why the web site thinks that FTM 16 is produced by Encore software and FTM 2008 is produced by Broderbund Software?
Family Photographs - Post 22: The Boys
I'm posting old family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they won't be wordless posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.
Here is one of the most precious (to me) images from my Seaver family collection:
Here is one of the most precious (to me) images from my Seaver family collection:
Isn't this a great picture? This is a picture of my brothers (Stan on the left, and Scott in the middle) and I (on the right) in about 1958 (dated by Scott's apparent age, he was probably 2 or 3 in this picture, and standing on the couch wile Stan and I were sitting). I think it was taken by my mother at the Lyle and Emily (Auble) Carringer house on Point Loma in San Diego, based on the wall decoration in back of the couch.
Don't you love the hair? Stan had brown curly coarse hair, and was able to make a ducktail in front and back easily, although he only brought the hair in front down over his forehead in an "elephant's trunk" away from home. Scott had straight "sandy" thin hair, and had just had a haircut, I think. I still had straight light brown ("sandy") thin hair in a flat-top style at this time, and I used Butch Wax to hold the hair straight up on top of my head. We all had short hair on the sides in this picture.
Look at the Smiles - Stan and I had probably been told to smile and look at the camera and we were good boys (hmmm, at least at Gram's house), and Scott was looking at somebody else (my father?) doing something goofy to make him laugh.
This photograph was handed down from Betty Virginia (Carringer) Seaver (who married Fred Seaver) to me, their son. My brothers also have copies, and Stan gave Scott and I a framed 8 x 10 of it several years ago for Christmas.
I know that this isn't Wordless Wednesday, but I wanted this to be a candidate for the Smile for the Camera carnival, although I probably have a better candidate for Crowning Glory.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Google News Archive Search information
Google and ProQuest had a press release today about the Google News Archive Search. You can read the full press release here on Dick Eastman's blog. The main benefit to genealogy researchers is that
"ProQuest has formed a partnership with Google that has the potential to bring millions of pages of newspaper content to the open web. The program allows web access to archives of both large and small newspapers. Without this initiative, these newspapers might never be digitized."
and later...
"ProQuest will contribute content to the partnership, and will introduce newspaper publishers nationwide to the program. ProQuest will also supply from its microfilm vault newspaper content that can be delivered effectively in the less formal framework of the open web. The company currently holds more than 10,000 newspaper titles, most of which are pristine master film copies. This high level of microfilm quality allows for the creation of better scanned images, which will ultimately deliver more accurate OCR results for users. "
Please read the whole press release.
The Google News Archive Search is available at http://news.google.com/archivesearch.
Naturally, I had to check it out. I input "frederick * seaver" into the Search box (with quotes around the name) and received 34 matches, all from newspapers and other new outlets. The outlets included (dates are for articles noted):
* New York Times (1875-1911) - 4 items, free
* New York Times (1891) - one item (subscription to NewspaperARCHIVE required)
* New York Miscellaneous Reports (1929) - 2 items (pay-per-view at Loislaw required)
* World War I draft registration cards - 2 items (subscription to Ancestry.com required)
* Christian Science Monitor (1911) - 1 item (subscription to ProQuest Archiver required)
* List of persons whose names have been changed (1893)- 1 item (requires an Ancestry.com subscription)
* The North country (1932) - 2 items (requires an Ancestry.com subscription)
* Historical sketches of Franklin county NY (1918) - 2 items (requires an Ancestry subscription)
* Fitchburg (MA) Sentinel (1931-1962) - 9 items (subscription required for NewspaperARCHIVE)
* Lowell (MA) Sun (1940) - 3 items (subscription required for NewspaperARCHIVE)
* Sesquicentennial of Malone, 1802-1952 - 1 item (subscription required for Ancestry.com)
* Malone (NY) Press-Republican (2002-2005) - 5 items (subscription required at Newsbank)
You get the idea - the Google News Archive Search collects information from some of the free and subscription newspaper and genealogy web sites and lists them all in one place.
The questions are, of course:
1) Does Google search in the complete newspaper collection on these sites?
2) What resources does Google News Archive Search use? We see the free New York Times archive, subscription sites NewspaperARCHIVE and Newsbank and pay-per-view sites ProQuest Archiver and Loislaw, and the subscription Ancestry.com site.
I did a check for "William * Seaver" and had over 300 matches, which revealed these other archival web sites: Google News Archive (free), Access-My-Library (free with registration), Cornell University (free?), and I'm sure there are others.
It's interesting to note that some newspapers and records were listed from Ancestry.com, but not census, vital or other records. Somehow, they cherry-picked the databases to search and list.
My first opinion is that the Google News Archive Search will be very useful as a "finding aid," at a minimum. It will point to news articles in freely accessed newspapers (e.g., the historical New York Times) and to articles on subscription or pay-per-view web sites. If the researcher doesn't have a subscription, s/he could access a free library site with the subscription, go into a library or FHC if necessary to view it for free, or pay the nominal cost for the article. For instance, NewspaperARCHIVE is available to me with a local library card.
The press release claims that ProQuest and Google will continue to add content. This is a win-win for everybody involved - from the individual researcher (who can find items easier) to the subscription companies (who may make money from subscribers). My guess is that libraries will use this resource extensively.
"ProQuest has formed a partnership with Google that has the potential to bring millions of pages of newspaper content to the open web. The program allows web access to archives of both large and small newspapers. Without this initiative, these newspapers might never be digitized."
and later...
"ProQuest will contribute content to the partnership, and will introduce newspaper publishers nationwide to the program. ProQuest will also supply from its microfilm vault newspaper content that can be delivered effectively in the less formal framework of the open web. The company currently holds more than 10,000 newspaper titles, most of which are pristine master film copies. This high level of microfilm quality allows for the creation of better scanned images, which will ultimately deliver more accurate OCR results for users. "
Please read the whole press release.
The Google News Archive Search is available at http://news.google.com/archivesearch.
Naturally, I had to check it out. I input "frederick * seaver" into the Search box (with quotes around the name) and received 34 matches, all from newspapers and other new outlets. The outlets included (dates are for articles noted):
* New York Times (1875-1911) - 4 items, free
* New York Times (1891) - one item (subscription to NewspaperARCHIVE required)
* New York Miscellaneous Reports (1929) - 2 items (pay-per-view at Loislaw required)
* World War I draft registration cards - 2 items (subscription to Ancestry.com required)
* Christian Science Monitor (1911) - 1 item (subscription to ProQuest Archiver required)
* List of persons whose names have been changed (1893)- 1 item (requires an Ancestry.com subscription)
* The North country (1932) - 2 items (requires an Ancestry.com subscription)
* Historical sketches of Franklin county NY (1918) - 2 items (requires an Ancestry subscription)
* Fitchburg (MA) Sentinel (1931-1962) - 9 items (subscription required for NewspaperARCHIVE)
* Lowell (MA) Sun (1940) - 3 items (subscription required for NewspaperARCHIVE)
* Sesquicentennial of Malone, 1802-1952 - 1 item (subscription required for Ancestry.com)
* Malone (NY) Press-Republican (2002-2005) - 5 items (subscription required at Newsbank)
You get the idea - the Google News Archive Search collects information from some of the free and subscription newspaper and genealogy web sites and lists them all in one place.
The questions are, of course:
1) Does Google search in the complete newspaper collection on these sites?
2) What resources does Google News Archive Search use? We see the free New York Times archive, subscription sites NewspaperARCHIVE and Newsbank and pay-per-view sites ProQuest Archiver and Loislaw, and the subscription Ancestry.com site.
I did a check for "William * Seaver" and had over 300 matches, which revealed these other archival web sites: Google News Archive (free), Access-My-Library (free with registration), Cornell University (free?), and I'm sure there are others.
It's interesting to note that some newspapers and records were listed from Ancestry.com, but not census, vital or other records. Somehow, they cherry-picked the databases to search and list.
My first opinion is that the Google News Archive Search will be very useful as a "finding aid," at a minimum. It will point to news articles in freely accessed newspapers (e.g., the historical New York Times) and to articles on subscription or pay-per-view web sites. If the researcher doesn't have a subscription, s/he could access a free library site with the subscription, go into a library or FHC if necessary to view it for free, or pay the nominal cost for the article. For instance, NewspaperARCHIVE is available to me with a local library card.
The press release claims that ProQuest and Google will continue to add content. This is a win-win for everybody involved - from the individual researcher (who can find items easier) to the subscription companies (who may make money from subscribers). My guess is that libraries will use this resource extensively.
Joining the Geni.com community
I posted about the www.Geni.com presentation (here and here) at the CGSSD meeting in August, so I decided to join up and see what it is all about. From what I've read, it is probably the largest and perhaps the most advanced of the family social network sites.
My main reason for joining www.Geni.com is to provide a family oriented social networking site for my extended family. The hope is that they will also join, will provide family information, and will learn more about their ancestry and extended family relations. I've tried to entice my cousins, brothers and children to read my blog, my genealogy web page, etc., with little interest. They are happy to get email and view my photo albums online, but going to a genealogy page is not their cup of tea. They appreciate that someone is doing their genealogy. We'll see if http://www.geni.com/ will do the trick.
Several weeks ago, I tried to upload my entire GEDCOM (over 20,700 persons) and the Geni.com web site wouldn't accept it - they have a 15,000 person limit.
Today, I made a GEDCOM of about 3,000 persons - essentially the descendants of all of my 4th great-grandparents - from my master database. Then I tried to upload it to www.Geni.com. After 20 minutes, it is still being imported. Hopefully, it will be accepted (if not, I've wasted almost an hour doing this!). In the mean time, I updated my profile on www.Geni.com.
If and when I get the GEDCOM uploaded, I'll take some screen shots to demonstrate moving around inside www.Geni.com, without showing living persons or private information.
UPDATED 10 p.m.: I waited and waited for Geni.com to tell me that the upload was complete, but the web page never did. I received an email message about 5 minutes after I started the upload, saying it was complete.
Because I had already started a tree on Geni.com, I had to provide a different email address in order to upload my GEDCOM. After I did that, I was able to merge my two trees so that I have only one "persona" in Geni.com.
My main reason for joining www.Geni.com is to provide a family oriented social networking site for my extended family. The hope is that they will also join, will provide family information, and will learn more about their ancestry and extended family relations. I've tried to entice my cousins, brothers and children to read my blog, my genealogy web page, etc., with little interest. They are happy to get email and view my photo albums online, but going to a genealogy page is not their cup of tea. They appreciate that someone is doing their genealogy. We'll see if http://www.geni.com/ will do the trick.
Several weeks ago, I tried to upload my entire GEDCOM (over 20,700 persons) and the Geni.com web site wouldn't accept it - they have a 15,000 person limit.
Today, I made a GEDCOM of about 3,000 persons - essentially the descendants of all of my 4th great-grandparents - from my master database. Then I tried to upload it to www.Geni.com. After 20 minutes, it is still being imported. Hopefully, it will be accepted (if not, I've wasted almost an hour doing this!). In the mean time, I updated my profile on www.Geni.com.
If and when I get the GEDCOM uploaded, I'll take some screen shots to demonstrate moving around inside www.Geni.com, without showing living persons or private information.
UPDATED 10 p.m.: I waited and waited for Geni.com to tell me that the upload was complete, but the web page never did. I received an email message about 5 minutes after I started the upload, saying it was complete.
Because I had already started a tree on Geni.com, I had to provide a different email address in order to upload my GEDCOM. After I did that, I was able to merge my two trees so that I have only one "persona" in Geni.com.
Using FamilyTreeMaker 2008 - Post 24: Web Search III
I installed FamilyTreeMaker 2008 in early July and uploaded a large database to see how it worked. I also started a new database to test other program features. Please see the list at Using FamilyTreeMaker 2008 - Summary of Posts for all of the posts in this series.
In the last post, I demonstrated how to merge ancestral information found in www.ancestry.com using Web Search. In this post, I want to show what happens when the user clicks on the Rootsweb.com item on the left hand panel list of web sites accessible using FTM 2008. For this part of the series, I'm using my great-great-grandfather, Isaac Seaver (1823-1901), in my database as a starting point for these posts about Web Search.
In Web Search, I clicked on the Rootsweb.com item in the left-hand panel and the screen below appeared:
The text box says:
Family Tree Maker’s Web Clipping feature helps you quickly gather data and images to merge to your tree.
Facts (select the Facts tab in the lower pane)
1. Highlight the text you want.
2. From the menu that appears, select the fact type, then the data field.
The selected text is copied to the Search result detail pane, ready to merge.
Media (select the Media tab in the lower pane)
1. As you move the mouse pointer over an image on the web page, a frame appears around the image.
2. Click the image.
The image is copied to the Search result detail pane, ready to merge.
Notes (select the Notes tab in the lower pane)
1. Highlight the text you want.
2. From the menu that appears, select Insert Note.
The text is copied to the Search result detail pane, ready to merge as a note.
OK, that's pretty cool - they help you with directions, depending on the Tab (Facts, Media or notes) that is open on the lower panel. I clicked the OK button on the Text Box and a Rootsweb search screen appeared:
So Google found 6 matches using the terms ["isaac seaver"] and ["seaver isaac"]. Unfortunately, only two of them were for my specific Isaac Seaver (1823-1901) - even though the Rootsweb search box clearly specified a birth year and a death year, the search didn't account for it.
The third match on the list is for a SEAVER mailing list on Rootsweb where somebody named Randy Seaver (note the outdated email address) posted his Seaver line in 1999. The top of the mailing list post is shown below:
In the last post, I demonstrated how to merge ancestral information found in www.ancestry.com using Web Search. In this post, I want to show what happens when the user clicks on the Rootsweb.com item on the left hand panel list of web sites accessible using FTM 2008. For this part of the series, I'm using my great-great-grandfather, Isaac Seaver (1823-1901), in my database as a starting point for these posts about Web Search.
In Web Search, I clicked on the Rootsweb.com item in the left-hand panel and the screen below appeared:
The text box says:
Family Tree Maker’s Web Clipping feature helps you quickly gather data and images to merge to your tree.
Facts (select the Facts tab in the lower pane)
1. Highlight the text you want.
2. From the menu that appears, select the fact type, then the data field.
The selected text is copied to the Search result detail pane, ready to merge.
Media (select the Media tab in the lower pane)
1. As you move the mouse pointer over an image on the web page, a frame appears around the image.
2. Click the image.
The image is copied to the Search result detail pane, ready to merge.
Notes (select the Notes tab in the lower pane)
1. Highlight the text you want.
2. From the menu that appears, select Insert Note.
The text is copied to the Search result detail pane, ready to merge as a note.
OK, that's pretty cool - they help you with directions, depending on the Tab (Facts, Media or notes) that is open on the lower panel. I clicked the OK button on the Text Box and a Rootsweb search screen appeared:
I clicked the 'Exact matches only" item since I wanted to find information pertaining only to my specific Isaac Seaver. I clicked the "Search" button on the Rootsweb.com panel and a Google search of Rootsweb.com appeared - the top half is below:
And the bottom half is below:
So Google found 6 matches using the terms ["isaac seaver"] and ["seaver isaac"]. Unfortunately, only two of them were for my specific Isaac Seaver (1823-1901) - even though the Rootsweb search box clearly specified a birth year and a death year, the search didn't account for it.
The third match on the list is for a SEAVER mailing list on Rootsweb where somebody named Randy Seaver (note the outdated email address) posted his Seaver line in 1999. The top of the mailing list post is shown below:
And the bottom of the mailing list post is below:
We've learned several things in this process - that FTM 2008 can obtain web search results from web sites other than Ancestry.com, and that it uses Google to search the www.rootsweb.com site (note that it uses www.rootsweb.com, not www.rootsweb.ancestry.com).
But wait - the user-submitted WorldConnect family tree databases are on www.rootsweb.com - why didn't FTM 2008 find information in that database, which is a major part of Rootsweb, and includes birth and death dates. This is a major flaw in the FTM 2008 search, I think - if you are going to search a web site, you should search all of it, not just the "text part" of it.
Of course, the Rootsweb WorldConnect family trees are also on the Ancestry.com World Family Tree database - which is free for any user on Ancestry. But researchers using FTM 2008 might not even click on the Ancestry.com link if they don't have an Ancestry subscription.
There are other databases available on www.Rootsweb.com - for instance, the California Death Index 1940-1997. I checked the FTM 2008 Rootsweb.com search for my father, Frederick Seaver (1911-1983), who is in the California Death Index, and the FTM 2008 Web Search does not return the match.
There are several matches for Isaac Seaver on the Rootsweb/Ancestry message boards also - and the FTM 2008 Web Search using Rootsweb.com does not find those posts either.
It appears that the only information returned by the FTM 2008 Web Search for Rootsweb.com is the mailing lists. For "truth in advertising," FamilyTreeMaker 2008 should indicate that the Web Search searches only the Mailing List archives.
In the next post, I will demonstrate how to merge results found in www.Rootsweb.com can be merged into the FTM 2008 database.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Best of the Genea-Blogs - 31 August - 6 September 2008
Several hundred 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:
* It's Data Backup Day! by Thomas MacEntee on the Destination: Austin Family blog. Thomas has an excellent article about backing up your computer files, and encourages each of us to do it on the first day of each month. Great advice. I did it!
* Tuesday Tales from the Road - Suffield Connecticut by Mary Mettler, posted by Kathryn M. Doyle on the California Genealogical Society and Library blog. Mary continues her genealogy journey and meets one of her genea-angels, finds a treasure-trove of records, and solves a brick wall problem. We should all be so lucky - or good - on our genealogy trips!
* Genealogical Round Up (2 September), and Genealogical Round Up (4 September) by Megan Smolenyak on her Roots Television, Megan's Roots World blog. Megan has some excellent links for researchers to follow on genealogy-related video and DNA studies.
* Photographing Your Ancestor's Tombstone by Kathy Jones-Kristof on the Genealogy Help and Hints blog. Kathy has great advice for photographing tombstones, and lots more information about tombstones and cemeteries.
* Golden Rule of Genealogy by Shani-Faye on the Ancestrally Challenged blog. Shani-Faye tries to do the right thing by returning a family Bible to its owner and in the process finds out that she has had useful family information all along but didn't know it. A wonderful lesson!
* The Problem with Pauline - Part 7 by Sheri Fenley on The Educated Genealogist blog. Sheri is almost done with her series about Pauline/.Helen - this post covers some of the land records and all of the sources for these posts to date. This is one of the most intriguing Case Studies I've ever seen - Sheri should write it up for a journal.
* Newspaper Indexes - California (Reference Shelf) by Jennifer on the Rainy Day Genealogy Readings blog. Jennifer provides an outstanding list of online indexes to genealogy-related items on California newspaper web sites.
* Interview with Forensic Genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick, PhD (Part 1) and Part 2 by Blaine Bettinger on The Genetic Genealogist blog. Blaine interviews Colleen about her work as a forensic genealogist, and she explains more about her involvement in a number of forensic/genetic research projects.
* One Year and 199 Posts Later by Terry Snyder on The Desktop Genealogist blog. Terry celebrates her first genea-blogiversary with lessons learned about blogging, genealogy and herself. It's a beautiful introspective post. Terry is probably the most prolific genea-blogger in the newspaper world right now, and I enjoy her work immensely.
* Road Trip Pt 4, Road Trip Pt 5 and Road Trip Pt 6 by Bill West on the West in New England blog. Bill finishes his road trip with three excellent stories, and some real good surprises at the end.
* I Met Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross at the FGS Conference, Linda's Friday at FGS, and It's Over, I'm Home. Now to start using techniques I've learned by Linda in Lancaster and loving it, on the From Axer to Ziegler blog. Linda goes to the FGS conference and blogs about it - excellent work with great pictures.
* Friday from the Collectors: The Best of by footnoteMaven on the Shades of the Departed blog. My favorite Maven provides a summary post for the 19 Friday from the Collectors contributors to date. All of those wonderful posts in one place!
* Just 15 minutes by Amy Crooks on the Untangled Family Roots blog. Amy ponders her good fortune of randomly pulling out a file folder. Lots of genealogy research, and more unanswered questions, occurred.
* Genealinspired by Janey Hovorka on The Chart Chick blog. Janet asked for inspirational stories from her readers and colleagues, and has two here that are wonderful. If you have one for Janet, please contact her!
Thank you to all genealogy bloggers for an interesting and informative week. Did you notice some new blogs on this list? I hope so!
I encourage you to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blog to your Favorites, Bloglines, reader, feed or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - we all appreciate feedback on what we write.
Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me!
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:
* It's Data Backup Day! by Thomas MacEntee on the Destination: Austin Family blog. Thomas has an excellent article about backing up your computer files, and encourages each of us to do it on the first day of each month. Great advice. I did it!
* Tuesday Tales from the Road - Suffield Connecticut by Mary Mettler, posted by Kathryn M. Doyle on the California Genealogical Society and Library blog. Mary continues her genealogy journey and meets one of her genea-angels, finds a treasure-trove of records, and solves a brick wall problem. We should all be so lucky - or good - on our genealogy trips!
* Genealogical Round Up (2 September), and Genealogical Round Up (4 September) by Megan Smolenyak on her Roots Television, Megan's Roots World blog. Megan has some excellent links for researchers to follow on genealogy-related video and DNA studies.
* Photographing Your Ancestor's Tombstone by Kathy Jones-Kristof on the Genealogy Help and Hints blog. Kathy has great advice for photographing tombstones, and lots more information about tombstones and cemeteries.
* Golden Rule of Genealogy by Shani-Faye on the Ancestrally Challenged blog. Shani-Faye tries to do the right thing by returning a family Bible to its owner and in the process finds out that she has had useful family information all along but didn't know it. A wonderful lesson!
* The Problem with Pauline - Part 7 by Sheri Fenley on The Educated Genealogist blog. Sheri is almost done with her series about Pauline/.Helen - this post covers some of the land records and all of the sources for these posts to date. This is one of the most intriguing Case Studies I've ever seen - Sheri should write it up for a journal.
* Newspaper Indexes - California (Reference Shelf) by Jennifer on the Rainy Day Genealogy Readings blog. Jennifer provides an outstanding list of online indexes to genealogy-related items on California newspaper web sites.
* Interview with Forensic Genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick, PhD (Part 1) and Part 2 by Blaine Bettinger on The Genetic Genealogist blog. Blaine interviews Colleen about her work as a forensic genealogist, and she explains more about her involvement in a number of forensic/genetic research projects.
* One Year and 199 Posts Later by Terry Snyder on The Desktop Genealogist blog. Terry celebrates her first genea-blogiversary with lessons learned about blogging, genealogy and herself. It's a beautiful introspective post. Terry is probably the most prolific genea-blogger in the newspaper world right now, and I enjoy her work immensely.
* Road Trip Pt 4, Road Trip Pt 5 and Road Trip Pt 6 by Bill West on the West in New England blog. Bill finishes his road trip with three excellent stories, and some real good surprises at the end.
* I Met Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross at the FGS Conference, Linda's Friday at FGS, and It's Over, I'm Home. Now to start using techniques I've learned by Linda in Lancaster and loving it, on the From Axer to Ziegler blog. Linda goes to the FGS conference and blogs about it - excellent work with great pictures.
* Friday from the Collectors: The Best of by footnoteMaven on the Shades of the Departed blog. My favorite Maven provides a summary post for the 19 Friday from the Collectors contributors to date. All of those wonderful posts in one place!
* Just 15 minutes by Amy Crooks on the Untangled Family Roots blog. Amy ponders her good fortune of randomly pulling out a file folder. Lots of genealogy research, and more unanswered questions, occurred.
* Genealinspired by Janey Hovorka on The Chart Chick blog. Janet asked for inspirational stories from her readers and colleagues, and has two here that are wonderful. If you have one for Janet, please contact her!
Thank you to all genealogy bloggers for an interesting and informative week. Did you notice some new blogs on this list? I hope so!
I encourage you to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blog to your Favorites, Bloglines, reader, feed or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - we all appreciate feedback on what we write.
Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me!
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