Paula Stuart-Warren sent this along yesterday --
It once seemed to be in the distant future. The countdown clock has been ticking. The Federation of Genealogical Societies and Arkansas Genealogical Society Conference "Passages through Time" will be here in just over two months!
July 1st is the very last day to register at a discount for this conference and save big on a full conference registration. It is only $175.00 if you register by then. Divide that amount by four full days of conference activities with all those lectures to choose from and it is a educational bargain. If you register after that date, it will cost $50.00 more.
Go to http://www.fgsconference.org/ and register online with the easy to follow directions. If you print the registration form and mail it in, be sure it is postmarked on or before July 1, 2009. If you are registering online you may do that using your Visa, Master Card, or Discover charge card. The system does not accept debit cards.
Of course, registrations will be accepted after July 1 but the discount will be gone. Register now and join other family historians, professional genealogists, librarians, archivists, and writers from Arkansas and states all over the country at this genealogical, educational, and networking bonanza.
For the latest on conference happenings, tourism, transportation, and many other items, visit the Conference News Blog at http://www.fgsconferenceblog.org/.
I have registered early and expect to have a wonderful time on my first visit to an FGS Conference and to this part of the country.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Ancestry.com Quirk - 1930 Census Index
One of the most frustrating (for me) Ancestry.com quirks is the indexing in the 1930 U.S. census. Fewer fields were indexed for the 1930 U.S. census than were indexed in the 1920 U.S. census. For example, here is a list of the indexed and searchable fields in the 1920 and 1930 U.S. census records on Ancestry.com (differences in red):
* First Name - indexed in 1920 and 1930
* Last Name - indexed in 1920 and 1930
* Residence - indexed in 1920 and 1930 (state, county, city or town)
* Age - indexed in 1920 and 1930
* Estimated birth year - indexed in 1920 and 1930
* Birthplace - indexed in 1920 and 1930 (but not for minor children in 1930)
* Relation to head-of-house - indexed in 1920 and 1930
* Father's birthplace - indexed in 1920, not in 1930
* Mother's birthplace - indexed in 1920, not in 1930
* Marital status - indexed in 1920, not in 1930
* Race - indexed in 1920 and 1930
* Sex - indexed in 1920, not in 1930
* Year of immigration - indexed in 1920, not in 1930
* Able to read - indexed in 1920, not in 1930
* Able to write - indexed in 1920, not in 1930
There are several other fields in each census that were not indexed, such as occupation, military service, home ownership, etc.
The one that always trip me up is the birthplace for minor children. For example: If I put a last name = "Smith," residence state = "California," birth place of "California" and birth year = "1925 +/- 5 years" in the 1930 census database, I get only 240 matches. The 240 matches are listed as students, boarders, lodgers, inmates, etc. in the relationship column, but there are some entries with son, daughter, grandson, etc. If I take out the birth place - "California," I get 7,619 matches, including the 240 noted above. Granted that not all of the 7,619 were born in California, but it's probable that almost all of them were. Wouldn't it have been an easier indexing job just to put the birth place entry in the index field? What time or money could be saved by omitting the birthplace?
Is the problem that I am spoiled by the indexes for the 1920 and earlier census records? Perhaps, because I do feel spoiled by the Ancestry.com indexes. I think that my expectation for the 1930 census, when it was added to Ancestry.com, was that the indexing would be as comprehensive as the indexing of the 1920 census. Ancestry.com said some time ago that they would spend some funds and time to correct poor indexes - I hope they improve the 1930 U.S. census, if only to add the birthplace for minor children.
What about the 1940 U.S. census to be released in 2012? It's not too early to express the expectation that the indexing for that census will include all of the useful fields, including birthplace, father and mother's birthplace, immigration year, citizenship status, occupation, etc.
* First Name - indexed in 1920 and 1930
* Last Name - indexed in 1920 and 1930
* Residence - indexed in 1920 and 1930 (state, county, city or town)
* Age - indexed in 1920 and 1930
* Estimated birth year - indexed in 1920 and 1930
* Birthplace - indexed in 1920 and 1930 (but not for minor children in 1930)
* Relation to head-of-house - indexed in 1920 and 1930
* Father's birthplace - indexed in 1920, not in 1930
* Mother's birthplace - indexed in 1920, not in 1930
* Marital status - indexed in 1920, not in 1930
* Race - indexed in 1920 and 1930
* Sex - indexed in 1920, not in 1930
* Year of immigration - indexed in 1920, not in 1930
* Able to read - indexed in 1920, not in 1930
* Able to write - indexed in 1920, not in 1930
There are several other fields in each census that were not indexed, such as occupation, military service, home ownership, etc.
The one that always trip me up is the birthplace for minor children. For example: If I put a last name = "Smith," residence state = "California," birth place of "California" and birth year = "1925 +/- 5 years" in the 1930 census database, I get only 240 matches. The 240 matches are listed as students, boarders, lodgers, inmates, etc. in the relationship column, but there are some entries with son, daughter, grandson, etc. If I take out the birth place - "California," I get 7,619 matches, including the 240 noted above. Granted that not all of the 7,619 were born in California, but it's probable that almost all of them were. Wouldn't it have been an easier indexing job just to put the birth place entry in the index field? What time or money could be saved by omitting the birthplace?
Is the problem that I am spoiled by the indexes for the 1920 and earlier census records? Perhaps, because I do feel spoiled by the Ancestry.com indexes. I think that my expectation for the 1930 census, when it was added to Ancestry.com, was that the indexing would be as comprehensive as the indexing of the 1920 census. Ancestry.com said some time ago that they would spend some funds and time to correct poor indexes - I hope they improve the 1930 U.S. census, if only to add the birthplace for minor children.
What about the 1940 U.S. census to be released in 2012? It's not too early to express the expectation that the indexing for that census will include all of the useful fields, including birthplace, father and mother's birthplace, immigration year, citizenship status, occupation, etc.
David Auble (1817-1894) - Gravestone and Obituary
...
David Auble was born in 1817 in Sussex County, New Jersey, the son of Johannes and Anna (Row) Auble. He married Sarah Knapp in Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey. David died 22 March 1894 in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana. His tombstone is in Woodlawn Cemetery in Terre Haute.
The stone says only:
I have not visited Woodlawn Cemetery in Terre Haute. This photograph was taken by Theresa Young Vaughn in 2006 for the http://www.findagrave.com/ project. My deepest thanks to Theresa for this service.
David Auble's obituary appeared in a Terre Haute, Indiana newspaper soon after his death. The copy I have is a clipping saved by the family.
David Auble was born in 1817 in Sussex County, New Jersey, the son of Johannes and Anna (Row) Auble. He married Sarah Knapp in Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey. David died 22 March 1894 in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana. His tombstone is in Woodlawn Cemetery in Terre Haute.
The stone says only:
David Auble
1817 - 1894
1817 - 1894
I have not visited Woodlawn Cemetery in Terre Haute. This photograph was taken by Theresa Young Vaughn in 2006 for the http://www.findagrave.com/ project. My deepest thanks to Theresa for this service.
David Auble's obituary appeared in a Terre Haute, Indiana newspaper soon after his death. The copy I have is a clipping saved by the family.
The obituary reads:
DAVID AUBLE
David Auble, who died Thursday, aged 77 years, will be buried this afternoon from the family residence, 411 Chestnut street. Deceased was well-known and one of Terre Haute's most honored citizens. He has been an invalid for the past two years and was confined to his home for over a year.
He was born at Stillwater, N.J., in 1917 and came to Terre Haute in 1865. For several years he was engaged in the boot and shoe business on Main street, during which time he became widely known for his strict and honest business qualities. He was married in 1844 to Miss Sarah Knapp, of Newton, N.J., who is a sister of C.C. Knapp of this city and also a sister of Judge Manning M. Knapp, at one time an eminent jurist of New Jersey, who held the Supreme bench of that state for seventeen years and died suddenly in the courtroom two years ago.
Mrs. Auble survives her husband with five children, two sons and three daughters; William in Kansas City, Charles in Chicago, one married daughter, Mrs. Harry Huntin of Bushnell, Ill., and Frances and Katherine at home. One sister and two brothers also survive the deceased, Miss Elizabeth Auble of Philadelphia, now 80 years old, and Robert Auble of Blairstown, N.J. and Hampton Auble of Philadelphia.
Deceased was a devout member of the Centenary M.E. Church. He cast his vote for William Henry Harrison, a fact which he often spoke of with pride before his death.
-------------------------
David Auble was one of my second great-grandfathers, the father of Charles Auble (1849-1916) who married Georgianna Kemp (1868-1952) in 1898 and they had my grandmother, Emily Kemp Auble (1899-1977) who married Lyle L. Carringer (1891-1976), the parents of my mother.
Who were Ben Kaber's parents?
I received an email several weeks ago from a man in The Netherlands who has adopted the grave of Ben Kaber, a young American Army soldier who died in Europe on 22 February 1945 during World War II. Here is Ben's gravesite in Henri-Chappelle American Cemetery in Belgium:
My correspondent asked for help in finding out more about Ben's life and family - especially a picture if there is one available.
I've searched some of the "usual" Internet sites and have found only:
* entries in four Ancestry.com databases, in the WW1, WW2 and Korean War Casualty Listings; U.S. rosters of World War II Dead, 1939-1945; World War II and Korean Conflict Veterans Deceased Overseas; and U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1945.
* Ancestry.com has three newspaper articles in 1944 from Greeley, Colorado that show his enlistment.
* I could not find him in the 1930 US census with a family.
* I could not find him in the Ancestry family trees with a family.
From the military records, we can glean that:
* Ben Kaber was born in 1926 in Colorado, probably in Weld County
* He resided in Mahaska, Iowa before enlistment
* He was white, a US citizen, single without dependents, and a Catholic
* He enlisted at Fort Logan, Colorado on 24 April 1944
Does any reader have any suggestions for further research? I wonder if:
* Are there newspaper archives for Weld County, Colorado in 1945?
* Are there newspaper archives for Mahaska County, Iowa in 1945?
* Are there birth certificates available for Weld County, Colorado? It appears that one must be a relative to request one in Colorado.
Any help will be appreciated by myself and my correspondent.
CVGS Program Summary - Joan Lowrey on Passenger Lists
The June program meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society featured Joan Lowrey, who presented "Did They Really Come on That Ship?" Joan's CV was described here.
The presentation covered eight case studies of passenger lists and indexes that demonstrated one or more of the following problems:
* Some entries on passenger lists may be crossed out because the passenger didn't make the boat. However, they may be indexed in passenger list databases.
* Some index entries may provide wrong date of arrival. You can use several resources to try to find the correct date and find the passenger list entry.
* While a ship may have originated in one port, some passengers may have boarded at another port.
* More than one resource should be reviewed to obtain all possible information about names, ages, relationships, birthplace, etc. There may be inconsistencies between different resources because they were compiled by different entities.
* Persons not born in Germany (or earlier German entities) may not be listed in the book Germans to America, even though they boarded the ship in Germany.
* Some online passenger lists may be duplicates of an earlier passenger list of the same ship because of errors by providers, enumerators, or indexers.
* Different passenger list indexes may spell names differently. Search by ship (if known) or first name.
* Persons may have sailed on one ship, then boarded another ship in another port before landing in the USA. The departure list and arrival list may not match.
* The Castle Garden web site has more passenger records than those that arrived at Castle Garden between 1850 and 1890. The records on the website before 1850 and after 1890 may not reflect the actual arrival location.
For her case studies, Joan used the book series of Germans to America, the Ellis Island and Castle Garden websites, the Ancestry.com USA passenger lists collection, the Hamburg departure lists on Ancestry.com, and newspaper articles (especially The New York Times 1851-1980 archive). The San Diego Public Library in downtown San Diego has a complete collection of Germans to America in the Genealogy Room. Unfortunately, the Chula Vista library does not have this resource.
Joan's case studies demonstrated how poorly the handwriting on the lists were, and how poor some of the indexes are. Experienced genealogists know and understand this, and learn how to work with all of the available resources but novice researchers often expect perfect indexes and easily readable lists.
This was a well-done and useful presentation because it showed that the records and indexes are imperfect and that traditional resources can be used effectively with online resources to solve passenger list research problems. This is one of Joan's specialties and her counsel should be heeded!
The presentation covered eight case studies of passenger lists and indexes that demonstrated one or more of the following problems:
* Some entries on passenger lists may be crossed out because the passenger didn't make the boat. However, they may be indexed in passenger list databases.
* Some index entries may provide wrong date of arrival. You can use several resources to try to find the correct date and find the passenger list entry.
* While a ship may have originated in one port, some passengers may have boarded at another port.
* More than one resource should be reviewed to obtain all possible information about names, ages, relationships, birthplace, etc. There may be inconsistencies between different resources because they were compiled by different entities.
* Persons not born in Germany (or earlier German entities) may not be listed in the book Germans to America, even though they boarded the ship in Germany.
* Some online passenger lists may be duplicates of an earlier passenger list of the same ship because of errors by providers, enumerators, or indexers.
* Different passenger list indexes may spell names differently. Search by ship (if known) or first name.
* Persons may have sailed on one ship, then boarded another ship in another port before landing in the USA. The departure list and arrival list may not match.
* The Castle Garden web site has more passenger records than those that arrived at Castle Garden between 1850 and 1890. The records on the website before 1850 and after 1890 may not reflect the actual arrival location.
For her case studies, Joan used the book series of Germans to America, the Ellis Island and Castle Garden websites, the Ancestry.com USA passenger lists collection, the Hamburg departure lists on Ancestry.com, and newspaper articles (especially The New York Times 1851-1980 archive). The San Diego Public Library in downtown San Diego has a complete collection of Germans to America in the Genealogy Room. Unfortunately, the Chula Vista library does not have this resource.
Joan's case studies demonstrated how poorly the handwriting on the lists were, and how poor some of the indexes are. Experienced genealogists know and understand this, and learn how to work with all of the available resources but novice researchers often expect perfect indexes and easily readable lists.
This was a well-done and useful presentation because it showed that the records and indexes are imperfect and that traditional resources can be used effectively with online resources to solve passenger list research problems. This is one of Joan's specialties and her counsel should be heeded!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
My Daily Three - 24 June 2009
I learned quite a bit today - here are three things:
1) The Passenger Lists for the USA are really messed up, according to expert Joan Lowrey. It's hard to find some listings, and impossible to find others due to bad handwriting, bad indexing, poor images, and mistakes by all of them. See CVGS Program - Joan Lowrey on Passenger Lists for details.
2) It's nice to be able to converse and share with my CVGS colleagues at the meetings now that I no longer am President. All I had to do was give a two minute report, take some photos, and take program notes for the blog and newsletter. The society runs well without me! Cool. Took me five months to figure it out.
3) Ancestry's ExpertConnect service is in beta release - there are over 400 "expert" providers signed up, but only 8 for all of California, and 2 for Mexico (both based in Utah), based on Geographical expertise.
That's not all I learned, but it's enough for tonight.
1) The Passenger Lists for the USA are really messed up, according to expert Joan Lowrey. It's hard to find some listings, and impossible to find others due to bad handwriting, bad indexing, poor images, and mistakes by all of them. See CVGS Program - Joan Lowrey on Passenger Lists for details.
2) It's nice to be able to converse and share with my CVGS colleagues at the meetings now that I no longer am President. All I had to do was give a two minute report, take some photos, and take program notes for the blog and newsletter. The society runs well without me! Cool. Took me five months to figure it out.
3) Ancestry's ExpertConnect service is in beta release - there are over 400 "expert" providers signed up, but only 8 for all of California, and 2 for Mexico (both based in Utah), based on Geographical expertise.
That's not all I learned, but it's enough for tonight.
3,000 post milestone at Genea-Musings
I've been so busy that I forgot to note a significant milestone in the life of the Genea-Musings blog. I passed the 3,000 post milestone with What I Want in a Family Tree Program?
Fitting, I think, and totally unplanned. This blog started on 15 April 2006, so there were 3,000 posts in 1,165 days. That's an average of 2.58 posts per day. Not all have been cogent, grammatically perfect, or helpful, but they're all mine!
I hope that you enjoy reading Genea-Musings and continue to do so. Traffic on Genea-Musings has increased significantly over the past year due to posts on Twitter and Facebook and more exposure to the genealogy world. I appreciate your readership and encourage you to keep reading and please do comment on posts if the spirit moves you to do so. For more thoughts of mine about Genea-Musings, please read my post Genea-Musings is a 3-year old today! - some musings from 15 April 2009.
Hey - I'm still having fun reading, writing and analyzing things.
Fitting, I think, and totally unplanned. This blog started on 15 April 2006, so there were 3,000 posts in 1,165 days. That's an average of 2.58 posts per day. Not all have been cogent, grammatically perfect, or helpful, but they're all mine!
I hope that you enjoy reading Genea-Musings and continue to do so. Traffic on Genea-Musings has increased significantly over the past year due to posts on Twitter and Facebook and more exposure to the genealogy world. I appreciate your readership and encourage you to keep reading and please do comment on posts if the spirit moves you to do so. For more thoughts of mine about Genea-Musings, please read my post Genea-Musings is a 3-year old today! - some musings from 15 April 2009.
Hey - I'm still having fun reading, writing and analyzing things.
Want to Start a Genealogy Blog?
If you are thinking about starting a genealogy blog, please check out the post A Genealogy Blog Primer and the A Genealogy Blog Primer Slideshow on the www.Geneabloggers.com website/blog. Thomas MacEntee has done a wonderful job of summarizing everything you need to know about blogs.
You can download A Genealogy Blog Primer in PDF form and as a slide presentation for genealogical societies and other genealogy-related groups.
Thank you, Thomas!!
If you've thought about being a genealogy blogger, please join in the fun!
You can download A Genealogy Blog Primer in PDF form and as a slide presentation for genealogical societies and other genealogy-related groups.
Thank you, Thomas!!
If you've thought about being a genealogy blogger, please join in the fun!
RootsMagic 4 is updated
The RootsMagic blog announced today that RootsMagic has been updated to Version 4.0.3.0 in their post here. The blog says:
"We have just released a new update to RootsMagic 4 (version 4.0.3.0). If you have the RootsMagic News screen come up when you start RootsMagic, it may have already notified you of this update. If not, you can do “Help > Check for Updates” from the RootsMagic menu to download and install this update.
"You can also download the update from http://www.rootsmagic.com/download.
"This is primarily a bug fix update and includes a couple which required some major internal code changes. If you have reported a bug that isn’t addressed by this update, don’t worry… all reported bugs have been logged and are being worked on."
The blog post has the list of fixes.
The download and installation took less than one minute and my database runs well.
"We have just released a new update to RootsMagic 4 (version 4.0.3.0). If you have the RootsMagic News screen come up when you start RootsMagic, it may have already notified you of this update. If not, you can do “Help > Check for Updates” from the RootsMagic menu to download and install this update.
"You can also download the update from http://www.rootsmagic.com/download.
"This is primarily a bug fix update and includes a couple which required some major internal code changes. If you have reported a bug that isn’t addressed by this update, don’t worry… all reported bugs have been logged and are being worked on."
The blog post has the list of fixes.
The download and installation took less than one minute and my database runs well.
Family Photographs - Post 61: Why is Betty crying?
I'm posting old family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they won't be wordless Wednesday posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.
This photograph is from my grandfather's photo album that I scanned during Scanfest in January:
The child is my mother, Betty Virginia Carringer, in the back yard of the Carringer's house at 2054 Harrison Avenue in San Diego. The fenced area is a chicken coop, I believe. This was probably taken in late 1920 or early 1921 when she is over one year old and walking. There are several different photos of her in these clothes with the chicken coop in the picture.
Why is Betty crying? I don't know! Unfortunately, she's not here to tell me. My guess is that something was taken from her and she is reacting to it. It's a great picture, I think, because it shows emotion.
This photograph is from my grandfather's photo album that I scanned during Scanfest in January:
The child is my mother, Betty Virginia Carringer, in the back yard of the Carringer's house at 2054 Harrison Avenue in San Diego. The fenced area is a chicken coop, I believe. This was probably taken in late 1920 or early 1921 when she is over one year old and walking. There are several different photos of her in these clothes with the chicken coop in the picture.
Why is Betty crying? I don't know! Unfortunately, she's not here to tell me. My guess is that something was taken from her and she is reacting to it. It's a great picture, I think, because it shows emotion.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)