This week's Tuesday's Tip is to find newspaper articles about your ancestors in online record collections.
1) Miriam Robbins Midkiff has an Online Historical Newspapers Website in progress at http://sites.google.com/site/onlinenewspapersite/. Online newspapers are listed by country, then state, then county. Free and subscription websites are listed and linked to. Currently, there are listings for many US states, some Canadian provinces and some Australian states. However, the listings do not include items on NewspaperARCHIVE and several other subscription sites.
2) Joe Beine's Research Guides website has a page for Historical Newspapers and Indexes on the Internet for the USA at http://www.researchguides.net/newspapers.htm
3) The University of Pennsylvania Library website has a listing of free online historical newspapers at http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/guides/hist/onlinenewspapers.html.
What other online historical newspaper index sites are there?
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
My Christmas Present Came Today - Oh Boy!
My last Christmas present - the one from me to myself and I - came today in the mail in a nice little package from the National Archives. I wrote about this in All I Want for Christmas is... Isaac's Civil War Pension File! back on 15 December.
In the package was a CD with a 10 megabyte PDF file with 81 pages from the Pension File of my second great-grandfather, Isaac Seaver (1813-1901), my only known Civil War soldier. I ordered online, coughed up $75 on my credit card, and it took all of 19 days! Pretty quick...and efficient! It's nice to see government bureaucrats providing excellent service!
Since I also have the "selected papers" version on paper, I'll be interested to compare the two sets.
I briefly scanned the contents and saw many more affidavits than I previously had, and there are several medical history reports about Isaac that I didn't have before. Unfortunately, there were no affidavits from relatives, friends or service comrades attesting to his life situation and service.
I will probably transcribe some of these records for Amanuensis Monday or Treasure Chest Thursday posts in the coming months, and i'll definitely show them off at the CVGS Research Group meeting next month.
My biggest problem is how to obtain images from the PDF file so I can post them - I guess I can print them and scan them, which seems a waste of valuable time. Oh well!
In the package was a CD with a 10 megabyte PDF file with 81 pages from the Pension File of my second great-grandfather, Isaac Seaver (1813-1901), my only known Civil War soldier. I ordered online, coughed up $75 on my credit card, and it took all of 19 days! Pretty quick...and efficient! It's nice to see government bureaucrats providing excellent service!
Since I also have the "selected papers" version on paper, I'll be interested to compare the two sets.
I briefly scanned the contents and saw many more affidavits than I previously had, and there are several medical history reports about Isaac that I didn't have before. Unfortunately, there were no affidavits from relatives, friends or service comrades attesting to his life situation and service.
I will probably transcribe some of these records for Amanuensis Monday or Treasure Chest Thursday posts in the coming months, and i'll definitely show them off at the CVGS Research Group meeting next month.
My biggest problem is how to obtain images from the PDF file so I can post them - I guess I can print them and scan them, which seems a waste of valuable time. Oh well!
1 January 2011 Benchmark Numbers
I'm still a "numbers guy" and like to try to keep track of various numbers in the genealogy world. So this is a list of genealogy numbers as of 1 January 2011:
1) http://www.ancestry.com/
* 30,006 Databases in the Card Catalog
* 1,263,587,509 persons in Public Member Trees
* 308,674,051 persons in Private Member Trees
2) www.Familysearch.org
* 519 Historical Record Collections online
* 46,002 Research Wiki articles
* 109 Research Courses
* 64 Community Trees
3) http://www.footnote.com/
* 509 sets of original documents (counted)
* 71,731,610 images online
4) www.WorldVitalRecords.com
* 3.6 million records
* 1 billion newspaper articles
5) http://www.archives.com/
* 140 databases
* 1,158,738,805 records
6) www.GenealogyBank.com
* over 4,600 newspapers
* over 700 million records
7) www.Rootsweb.Ancestry.com
* 630,984,813 persons in WorldConnect family trees
* 430,030 WorldConnect databases
* 195,536,463 records in FreeBMD database
8) http://www.americanancestors.org/
* almost 3,000 databases
9) www.MyHeritage.com
* 16,306,687 Family Trees
* 645,780,280 individuals in family trees
10) www.GeneaNet.org
* 404,837,225 individuals in family trees
* over 200 million records
11) www.Geni.com
* over 90 million profiles in family trees
* over 50 million profiles in Big World Tree
12) www.WeRelate.org wiki
* 1,960,000 persons in family tree
13) www.GenesReunited.com
* 11 million family trees
* 752 million names in family trees
14) http://www.origins.net/
* 54 databases listed
* over 70 million names in family trees
15) www.FindMyPast.co.uk
* over 650 million family history records
16) www.OneGreatFamily.com
* over 180 million names
17) www.Cyndi'sList.com
* 291,330 genealogy links
18) www.Linkpendium.com
* 9,239,987 genealogy links
I obtained those numbers from publicly available information on the websites.
What other websites and what other numbers should I be benchmarking? Are some of the numbers wrong? Please tell me in Comments and I will edit the list above!
1) http://www.ancestry.com/
* 30,006 Databases in the Card Catalog
* 1,263,587,509 persons in Public Member Trees
* 308,674,051 persons in Private Member Trees
2) www.Familysearch.org
* 519 Historical Record Collections online
* 46,002 Research Wiki articles
* 109 Research Courses
* 64 Community Trees
3) http://www.footnote.com/
* 509 sets of original documents (counted)
* 71,731,610 images online
4) www.WorldVitalRecords.com
* 3.6 million records
* 1 billion newspaper articles
5) http://www.archives.com/
* 140 databases
* 1,158,738,805 records
6) www.GenealogyBank.com
* over 4,600 newspapers
* over 700 million records
7) www.Rootsweb.Ancestry.com
* 630,984,813 persons in WorldConnect family trees
* 430,030 WorldConnect databases
* 195,536,463 records in FreeBMD database
8) http://www.americanancestors.org/
* almost 3,000 databases
9) www.MyHeritage.com
* 16,306,687 Family Trees
* 645,780,280 individuals in family trees
10) www.GeneaNet.org
* 404,837,225 individuals in family trees
* over 200 million records
11) www.Geni.com
* over 90 million profiles in family trees
* over 50 million profiles in Big World Tree
12) www.WeRelate.org wiki
* 1,960,000 persons in family tree
13) www.GenesReunited.com
* 11 million family trees
* 752 million names in family trees
14) http://www.origins.net/
* 54 databases listed
* over 70 million names in family trees
15) www.FindMyPast.co.uk
* over 650 million family history records
16) www.OneGreatFamily.com
* over 180 million names
17) www.Cyndi'sList.com
* 291,330 genealogy links
18) www.Linkpendium.com
* 9,239,987 genealogy links
I obtained those numbers from publicly available information on the websites.
What other websites and what other numbers should I be benchmarking? Are some of the numbers wrong? Please tell me in Comments and I will edit the list above!
Amanuensis Monday - Probate Records of Samuel Bigelow (1653-1732) of Waltham, Massachusetts
Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started his own Monday blog theme many months ago called Amanuensis Monday. What does "amanuensis" mean? John offers this definition:
"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."
The subject today is the probate file of Samuel Bigelow (1653-1732) of Waltham, Massachusetts. He married Mary Flagg (1658-1720), in 1674 in Watertown, Massachusetts, and they had ten children: John Bigelow (1675-1769); Mary Bigelow (1677-1708); Samuel bigelow (1679-1734); Sarah Bigelow (1681-1713); Thomas Bigelow (1683-1756_; Mercy Bigelow (1686-1745); Abigail Bigelow (1687-????); Hannah Bigelow (1689-1717); Isaac Bigelow (1691-1751); Deliverance Bigelow (1695-1762).
Samuel Bigelow died testate, leaving a will written on 30 September 1720 and proved 21 February 1731/2. His probate papers are in Middlesex County [Massachusetts] Probate Records, Probate Packet #1,728 (accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,386,028). The will reads (paragraphs separated for readability):
"In the Name of God Amen ---
"I Samuel Biglo of Watertown in the County of Mid'x in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England Yeoman being sick & weak of Body but of Sound & Disposing Memory prais be given to God for the same Do Make & Ordain this my last Will & Testament in Manner & Forme following.
"That is to say first & Principaly I Resign my Soul into the Mercyfull Hands of Almighty God my Creator Assuredly hoping through the meritts of my Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ to Obtain the Remission of all my Sins. And my Body I Comitt to ye Earth to be Decently Buried by the Discretion of my Executor Herein after Named & as for the worldly Goods & Estate ye Lord Hath Lent me I Dispose thereof as followeth.
"Imps: First my Will is that all my Debts & Funeral Expenses be well & truly paid out of my Estate as Soon as May be After my Decease & before any Legacies be paid.
"Item: I give & bequeath Unto my two sons John Biglo & Sam'll Biglo ye sum of five Shillings Each Over & above yt Portions Which I have alredy Given them to be paid within Twelve Moneths After my Deceas by my Executor Herein after named.
"Item: I give & bequeath Unto my son Thomas Biglo Whom I do Herby Nominate & Appoint & Ordain Sole Executor of this my last will & Testament ye sum of five pounds in Silver mony Over & Above What I have Heretofore Given Him.
"Item: I give & bequeath unto my son Isaac Biglo besides wt I have formerly Given him ye sum of thirty pounds to be paid within one year After my Deceas.
"Item: I give & bequeath Unto my three Daughters Mercy Garfield, Abigail Cutler & Deliverance Stearns ye sum of Seventeen pounds each to be paid within one year after my Deceas.
"Item: I give & bequeath Unto my three sons-in-law Tho Read, Josiah How & Dan'll Warrin besides what they have formrly five shillings each.
"Item: I Give & bequeath Unto my Grandson David Bruce a Certain piece of land in Marlborough in ye County of Middsx which I bought of my son Sam'll Biglo Jnr containing six acres, three quarters & fifteen rods, bounded northerly by a Road Leading to Framingham Westerly by land of Moses Newton Easterly by land of David Bruce & Southerly by Comon Land; also all yt parcell of land of Twenty acres in Marlborough wch John Sherman Had Granted him by ye Proprietors of sd Marlborough When I Impowered him to sue for a certain piece of Land given by Tho Bruce to his Grandson David Bruce. To have & to hold to Him of sd David Bruce & to ye Heires of his body Lawfully begotten, but in failior of such ... Land to Release to ye Biglos again, I also give to ye said David Bruce one pair of Steers Coming four years old.
"Item: I give & bequeath Unto my three Grandchildren Nath- Read, Isaac Read & Thomas Read Twenty shillings Each When they Arive to ye age of One & twenty years.
"Item: I give & bequeath unto my Grandaughter Cathron Read ye sum of seventeen pounds in or of money to be paid Her when she marries or Comes of Age besides all those things Which wear her Mothers ... Now in my Keeping for Her.
"Item: I give & bequeath Unto my Grandchildren Phinehas & Abraham How five pounds each & to my Grandaughter Rachol How four pounds to be payed when they comto ye age of twenty one years.
"Item: I give & bequeath Unto my Grandchildren Sam'll & Dan'll Warrin five pounds Each & to my Grandaughter Hannah Warrin Ten pounds to be paid all When twenty one years of age.
"Item: my Will is if there be any Silver Money or Other mony left after my Debts & Thomas his five pounds it Shall be Divided into Eight Equal parts Seven of which parts shall go to my four sons & three daughters, ye other Eighth part to my two grandchildren David Bruce & Catheron Read Equaly between them.
"Item: My will is that all my moveables Without Doors left at my Decease Shall be Equaly Divided amongst my Own four sons & that all my moveables within Doors Shall be Equaly divided into four parts to my own three Daughters & to my Grandaughter Catheron Read.
"And I do Hereby Disanul Revoke & Make Voyd all Other Wills by me Heretofore Made Declaring this & No Other to be my last will & Testament. In Witness Whereof I have Hereunto Sett my Hand & Seal this thirtieth Day of Sept in ye 7th year of His Majesties Reign Anno Domini 1720."
"Signed Sealed Published & Declared
by ye sd Sam'll Biglo as his
Last Will & Testament
.................................................................................... his
In Presents of Sam'll B Biglo
................................................................................... mark
John Cutting
Thomas Harrington
John Ball
... Fullam"
The probate court accepted the will on 7 February 1731 and proved it on 21 February 1731. The executor, Thomas Biglo, was ordered to exhibit an inventory. On 7 February 1731, he was ordered to serve the citation on the heirs to appear before the court on 21 February 1731. He returned on 17 February 1731/2 that he had written to John Biglo, Josiah How and Rachel How of Marlborough, Deliverance Stearns of Worcester, Catherine Read of Westborough, David Bruce of Southborough, Tho Read and Isaac Reed of Sudbury and Mercy Garfield of Weston, and to the other heirs that lived at a great distance.
No inventory is included in the probate packet. Receipts were received from Hannah Warrin and Samuel Warrin in 1733/1734 stating they had received their legacies from their grandfather's estate.
Interestingly, Samuel Bigelow wrote his will less than one month after his wife's death on 7 September 1720.
The will is really helpful to genealogists - it identifies the seven living children and the three living sons-in-law (their wives are deceased daughters) of Samuel Bigelow. He left legacies for the grandchildren by those three deceased daughters. The one that is not obvious is David Bruce, who was the son of David and Mary (Bigelow) Bruce; The elder David Bruce died in 1701, and Mary (Bigelow) Bruce married Thomas Read in 1702 and had children Nathaniel, Isaac and Katherine Read. Mary (Bigelow) (Bruce) Read died in 1708. My ancestry is through their son, Isaac Read (1704-1780).
One mystery for me is the naming of grandson Thomas Read; I don't have a son Thomas Read born to Mary (Bigelow) (Bruce) Read in my database, and no record of either of the other two deceased daughters having a child by a male Read.
"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."
The subject today is the probate file of Samuel Bigelow (1653-1732) of Waltham, Massachusetts. He married Mary Flagg (1658-1720), in 1674 in Watertown, Massachusetts, and they had ten children: John Bigelow (1675-1769); Mary Bigelow (1677-1708); Samuel bigelow (1679-1734); Sarah Bigelow (1681-1713); Thomas Bigelow (1683-1756_; Mercy Bigelow (1686-1745); Abigail Bigelow (1687-????); Hannah Bigelow (1689-1717); Isaac Bigelow (1691-1751); Deliverance Bigelow (1695-1762).
Samuel Bigelow died testate, leaving a will written on 30 September 1720 and proved 21 February 1731/2. His probate papers are in Middlesex County [Massachusetts] Probate Records, Probate Packet #1,728 (accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,386,028). The will reads (paragraphs separated for readability):
"In the Name of God Amen ---
"I Samuel Biglo of Watertown in the County of Mid'x in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England Yeoman being sick & weak of Body but of Sound & Disposing Memory prais be given to God for the same Do Make & Ordain this my last Will & Testament in Manner & Forme following.
"That is to say first & Principaly I Resign my Soul into the Mercyfull Hands of Almighty God my Creator Assuredly hoping through the meritts of my Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ to Obtain the Remission of all my Sins. And my Body I Comitt to ye Earth to be Decently Buried by the Discretion of my Executor Herein after Named & as for the worldly Goods & Estate ye Lord Hath Lent me I Dispose thereof as followeth.
"Imps: First my Will is that all my Debts & Funeral Expenses be well & truly paid out of my Estate as Soon as May be After my Decease & before any Legacies be paid.
"Item: I give & bequeath Unto my two sons John Biglo & Sam'll Biglo ye sum of five Shillings Each Over & above yt Portions Which I have alredy Given them to be paid within Twelve Moneths After my Deceas by my Executor Herein after named.
"Item: I give & bequeath Unto my son Thomas Biglo Whom I do Herby Nominate & Appoint & Ordain Sole Executor of this my last will & Testament ye sum of five pounds in Silver mony Over & Above What I have Heretofore Given Him.
"Item: I give & bequeath unto my son Isaac Biglo besides wt I have formerly Given him ye sum of thirty pounds to be paid within one year After my Deceas.
"Item: I give & bequeath Unto my three Daughters Mercy Garfield, Abigail Cutler & Deliverance Stearns ye sum of Seventeen pounds each to be paid within one year after my Deceas.
"Item: I give & bequeath Unto my three sons-in-law Tho Read, Josiah How & Dan'll Warrin besides what they have formrly five shillings each.
"Item: I Give & bequeath Unto my Grandson David Bruce a Certain piece of land in Marlborough in ye County of Middsx which I bought of my son Sam'll Biglo Jnr containing six acres, three quarters & fifteen rods, bounded northerly by a Road Leading to Framingham Westerly by land of Moses Newton Easterly by land of David Bruce & Southerly by Comon Land; also all yt parcell of land of Twenty acres in Marlborough wch John Sherman Had Granted him by ye Proprietors of sd Marlborough When I Impowered him to sue for a certain piece of Land given by Tho Bruce to his Grandson David Bruce. To have & to hold to Him of sd David Bruce & to ye Heires of his body Lawfully begotten, but in failior of such ... Land to Release to ye Biglos again, I also give to ye said David Bruce one pair of Steers Coming four years old.
"Item: I give & bequeath Unto my three Grandchildren Nath- Read, Isaac Read & Thomas Read Twenty shillings Each When they Arive to ye age of One & twenty years.
"Item: I give & bequeath unto my Grandaughter Cathron Read ye sum of seventeen pounds in or of money to be paid Her when she marries or Comes of Age besides all those things Which wear her Mothers ... Now in my Keeping for Her.
"Item: I give & bequeath Unto my Grandchildren Phinehas & Abraham How five pounds each & to my Grandaughter Rachol How four pounds to be payed when they comto ye age of twenty one years.
"Item: I give & bequeath Unto my Grandchildren Sam'll & Dan'll Warrin five pounds Each & to my Grandaughter Hannah Warrin Ten pounds to be paid all When twenty one years of age.
"Item: my Will is if there be any Silver Money or Other mony left after my Debts & Thomas his five pounds it Shall be Divided into Eight Equal parts Seven of which parts shall go to my four sons & three daughters, ye other Eighth part to my two grandchildren David Bruce & Catheron Read Equaly between them.
"Item: My will is that all my moveables Without Doors left at my Decease Shall be Equaly Divided amongst my Own four sons & that all my moveables within Doors Shall be Equaly divided into four parts to my own three Daughters & to my Grandaughter Catheron Read.
"And I do Hereby Disanul Revoke & Make Voyd all Other Wills by me Heretofore Made Declaring this & No Other to be my last will & Testament. In Witness Whereof I have Hereunto Sett my Hand & Seal this thirtieth Day of Sept in ye 7th year of His Majesties Reign Anno Domini 1720."
"Signed Sealed Published & Declared
by ye sd Sam'll Biglo as his
Last Will & Testament
.................................................................................... his
In Presents of Sam'll B Biglo
................................................................................... mark
John Cutting
Thomas Harrington
John Ball
... Fullam"
The probate court accepted the will on 7 February 1731 and proved it on 21 February 1731. The executor, Thomas Biglo, was ordered to exhibit an inventory. On 7 February 1731, he was ordered to serve the citation on the heirs to appear before the court on 21 February 1731. He returned on 17 February 1731/2 that he had written to John Biglo, Josiah How and Rachel How of Marlborough, Deliverance Stearns of Worcester, Catherine Read of Westborough, David Bruce of Southborough, Tho Read and Isaac Reed of Sudbury and Mercy Garfield of Weston, and to the other heirs that lived at a great distance.
No inventory is included in the probate packet. Receipts were received from Hannah Warrin and Samuel Warrin in 1733/1734 stating they had received their legacies from their grandfather's estate.
Interestingly, Samuel Bigelow wrote his will less than one month after his wife's death on 7 September 1720.
The will is really helpful to genealogists - it identifies the seven living children and the three living sons-in-law (their wives are deceased daughters) of Samuel Bigelow. He left legacies for the grandchildren by those three deceased daughters. The one that is not obvious is David Bruce, who was the son of David and Mary (Bigelow) Bruce; The elder David Bruce died in 1701, and Mary (Bigelow) Bruce married Thomas Read in 1702 and had children Nathaniel, Isaac and Katherine Read. Mary (Bigelow) (Bruce) Read died in 1708. My ancestry is through their son, Isaac Read (1704-1780).
One mystery for me is the naming of grandson Thomas Read; I don't have a son Thomas Read born to Mary (Bigelow) (Bruce) Read in my database, and no record of either of the other two deceased daughters having a child by a male Read.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
The Best of Genea-Musings in 2010 (My Choices)
I counted up the number of blog postings on Genea-Musings for 2010 -- 939! 2.57 posts a day, almost all of them original content (i.e., not press releases). Of course, that includes almost weekly postings on Amanuensis Monday, Tombstone Tuesday/Tuesday's Tips, Not So Wordless Wednesday, Treasure Chest Thursday, Surname Saturday, Saturday Night Genealogy Fun and Best of the Genea-Blogs.
So what were the best of the ramblings of this geneaholic blogger? Here are my choices, by broad category:
1) PERSONAL RESEARCH
* Who is Mr. Seaver - Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 (January 2010)
* Chronicling Rosalie and Jeremiah - Part 1, Part 2 (January 2010)
* Who Were the Parents of Susannah Page (ca1611-1693)? (April 2010)
* Finding Nathaniel Wade's Wife's Name Online - Post 1, Post 2, Post 3 (June 2010)
* Hiram Abiathur Knapp (1841-1927) (13 August 2010)
* Was Charlotte on the Orphan Train? (1 September 2010)
* The Whittle Research Compendium (23 posts) (September-November 2010)
* Full Day Research at the FHL (22 October 2010)
* Using the FAN Club Principle - Thomas J. Newton, Father of Sophia Newton (1834-1923) - Post 1; Post 2: Which Repositories? (November 2010)
* Were the Morgan Girls Related to Lyle Carringer? (December 2010)
2) BOOK REVIEWS
* Who Do You Think You Are? by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak (4 March 2010)
* Wanted! U.S. Criminal Records by Ron Arons (8 June 2010)
* The Journey Takers by Leslie Albrecht Huber (29 June 2010)
* Shaking the Family Tree by Buzzy Jackson (7 September 2010)
* Review: Quicksheet. Genealogical Problem Analysis: A Strategic Plan (20 October 2010)
* If This Land Could Talk by Judy R. Cook (16 November 2010)
* Atlas of East and Coastal Georgia Watercourses and Military Districts by Paul Graham (6 December 2010)
3) COMMENTARY
* Teachable Moments in "Doing a Reasonably Exhaustive Search" (4 January 2010)
* A Conversation with David E. Rencher - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 (April 2010)
* The Future of Genealogy Collaboration? (30 April 2010)
* Finding Ancestry.com Databases Without Name Indexes (7 May 2010)
* The Online Family Tree Conundrum (10 May 2010)
* \Ancestry.com Source citations leave a lot to be desired (14 May 2010)
* Dear Randy: Where do I find "the good stuff?" (28 May 2010)
* Is Robert Pattinson a Cousin to Vlad III Dracula? (24 June 2010)
* The Ancestral Golden Arches of Genealogy? (30 July 2010)
* Ancestry.com Acquisition of iArchives (including Footnote.com) (23 September 2010)
* Intentional Acts of Genealogical Terrorism (8 October 2010)
* FamilySearch Blogger Day - FamilySearch Family Tree; Upcoming Collections; The Current and Next FamilySearch Site; FamilySearch Indexing; Software Community (October 2010)
That's enough - more than ten...
Do my readers have any suggestions for my "Best of Genea-Musings" list? Which posts helped you solve a research problem or perform better research, or taught a needed lesson?
So what were the best of the ramblings of this geneaholic blogger? Here are my choices, by broad category:
1) PERSONAL RESEARCH
* Who is Mr. Seaver - Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 (January 2010)
* Chronicling Rosalie and Jeremiah - Part 1, Part 2 (January 2010)
* Who Were the Parents of Susannah Page (ca1611-1693)? (April 2010)
* Finding Nathaniel Wade's Wife's Name Online - Post 1, Post 2, Post 3 (June 2010)
* Hiram Abiathur Knapp (1841-1927) (13 August 2010)
* Was Charlotte on the Orphan Train? (1 September 2010)
* The Whittle Research Compendium (23 posts) (September-November 2010)
* Full Day Research at the FHL (22 October 2010)
* Using the FAN Club Principle - Thomas J. Newton, Father of Sophia Newton (1834-1923) - Post 1; Post 2: Which Repositories? (November 2010)
* Were the Morgan Girls Related to Lyle Carringer? (December 2010)
2) BOOK REVIEWS
* Who Do You Think You Are? by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak (4 March 2010)
* Wanted! U.S. Criminal Records by Ron Arons (8 June 2010)
* The Journey Takers by Leslie Albrecht Huber (29 June 2010)
* Shaking the Family Tree by Buzzy Jackson (7 September 2010)
* Review: Quicksheet. Genealogical Problem Analysis: A Strategic Plan (20 October 2010)
* If This Land Could Talk by Judy R. Cook (16 November 2010)
* Atlas of East and Coastal Georgia Watercourses and Military Districts by Paul Graham (6 December 2010)
3) COMMENTARY
* Teachable Moments in "Doing a Reasonably Exhaustive Search" (4 January 2010)
* A Conversation with David E. Rencher - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 (April 2010)
* The Future of Genealogy Collaboration? (30 April 2010)
* Finding Ancestry.com Databases Without Name Indexes (7 May 2010)
* The Online Family Tree Conundrum (10 May 2010)
* \Ancestry.com Source citations leave a lot to be desired (14 May 2010)
* Dear Randy: Where do I find "the good stuff?" (28 May 2010)
* Is Robert Pattinson a Cousin to Vlad III Dracula? (24 June 2010)
* The Ancestral Golden Arches of Genealogy? (30 July 2010)
* Ancestry.com Acquisition of iArchives (including Footnote.com) (23 September 2010)
* Intentional Acts of Genealogical Terrorism (8 October 2010)
* FamilySearch Blogger Day - FamilySearch Family Tree; Upcoming Collections; The Current and Next FamilySearch Site; FamilySearch Indexing; Software Community (October 2010)
That's enough - more than ten...
Do my readers have any suggestions for my "Best of Genea-Musings" list? Which posts helped you solve a research problem or perform better research, or taught a needed lesson?
The Genealogy Crystal Ball for 2011
It's time to put on the genea-seer hat, light up the crystal ball, and make some fearless predictions for 2011 in Genealogy-land.
Here are some predictions for what I think, and in some cases, hope, or fear, will happen in the genealogy world in 2011:
1) FamilySearch.org will open their new Family Tree application to non-LDS church members with an announcement at RootsTech 2011 in February 2011. The site will be immediately overloaded.
2) Ancestry.com will discontinue their "Old Search" function and will add more capabilities ("bells and whistles") to the existing "New Search" function.
3) Footnote.com will slowly add more databases and images, and will stay a separate entity.
4) Family Tree Maker will come out with version 2012 in August 2011. It still won't synchronize with Ancestry.com Member Trees, and won't be able to make a simple Ancestor Name List like all other genealogy programs.
5) FamilySearch.org indexers will add 250 million records and FamilySearch.org will release over new 1,000 historical collections into the website - many of them unindexed.
6) RootsMagic and Legacy Family Tree will continue to gain market share at Family Tree Maker's expense.
7) The 2011 Southern California Genealogical Society Genealogy Jamboree in Burbank will have the highest attendance of any USA genealogy conference.
8) Randy Seaver's blog(s) will not make the Family Tree Magazine Top 40 list (nor will DearMYRTLE's, Thomas MacEntee's or Lisa Louise Cooke's).
9) One of FamilySearch.org's certified affiliates will capture the largest share of the Discussion and Person Pages features.
10) Ancestry.com will capitalize on Footnote.com's Footnote Pages feature to enable Member Tree owners to create Person Pages.
11) More genealogical speakers will utilize Internet technology to deliver presentations from home to remote audiences.
12) Significant progress will be made on an improved genealogy data transfer standard (to replace GEDCOM) for genealogical software.
13) More genealogy companies will sponsor and broadcast free webinars and bloginars to further genealogy education and their products.
14) Ancestry.com's stock share price will drop by at least 10%. Ancestry.com will not be acquired by Google or any other company.
15) FamilyLink.com will claim to be the #1 genealogy family tree website and will still not permit GEDCOM uploads.
16) Many more genealogical societies will adopt social networking, and have a blog and Facebook presence. A vast majority of society members will have no clue what it is about.
17) FamilySearch.org will permit online ordering of microfilms and microfiches to FamilySearch Centers all over the world.
18) The second season of NBC's Who Do You Think You Are? will be more successful than the first season.
19) Tamura Jones will continue to write insightful and provocative articles about genealogy software and websites on his http://www.tamurajones.net/ site.
20) The number of genealogy blogs on the Geneabloggers list will pass 2,000.
Many of those are fairly predictable - I know that I'm not very visionary... frankly, the crystal ball was pretty murky.
What predictions do you have for 2011 in Genealogy-land? Tell us in comments!!!
UPDATED last on 6 January
Here are some predictions for what I think, and in some cases, hope, or fear, will happen in the genealogy world in 2011:
1) FamilySearch.org will open their new Family Tree application to non-LDS church members with an announcement at RootsTech 2011 in February 2011. The site will be immediately overloaded.
2) Ancestry.com will discontinue their "Old Search" function and will add more capabilities ("bells and whistles") to the existing "New Search" function.
3) Footnote.com will slowly add more databases and images, and will stay a separate entity.
4) Family Tree Maker will come out with version 2012 in August 2011. It still won't synchronize with Ancestry.com Member Trees, and won't be able to make a simple Ancestor Name List like all other genealogy programs.
5) FamilySearch.org indexers will add 250 million records and FamilySearch.org will release over new 1,000 historical collections into the website - many of them unindexed.
6) RootsMagic and Legacy Family Tree will continue to gain market share at Family Tree Maker's expense.
7) The 2011 Southern California Genealogical Society Genealogy Jamboree in Burbank will have the highest attendance of any USA genealogy conference.
8) Randy Seaver's blog(s) will not make the Family Tree Magazine Top 40 list (nor will DearMYRTLE's, Thomas MacEntee's or Lisa Louise Cooke's).
9) One of FamilySearch.org's certified affiliates will capture the largest share of the Discussion and Person Pages features.
10) Ancestry.com will capitalize on Footnote.com's Footnote Pages feature to enable Member Tree owners to create Person Pages.
11) More genealogical speakers will utilize Internet technology to deliver presentations from home to remote audiences.
12) Significant progress will be made on an improved genealogy data transfer standard (to replace GEDCOM) for genealogical software.
13) More genealogy companies will sponsor and broadcast free webinars and bloginars to further genealogy education and their products.
14) Ancestry.com's stock share price will drop by at least 10%. Ancestry.com will not be acquired by Google or any other company.
15) FamilyLink.com will claim to be the #1 genealogy family tree website and will still not permit GEDCOM uploads.
16) Many more genealogical societies will adopt social networking, and have a blog and Facebook presence. A vast majority of society members will have no clue what it is about.
17) FamilySearch.org will permit online ordering of microfilms and microfiches to FamilySearch Centers all over the world.
18) The second season of NBC's Who Do You Think You Are? will be more successful than the first season.
19) Tamura Jones will continue to write insightful and provocative articles about genealogy software and websites on his http://www.tamurajones.net/ site.
20) The number of genealogy blogs on the Geneabloggers list will pass 2,000.
Many of those are fairly predictable - I know that I'm not very visionary... frankly, the crystal ball was pretty murky.
What predictions do you have for 2011 in Genealogy-land? Tell us in comments!!!
UPDATED last on 6 January
Best of the Genea-Blogs - 26 December 2010 to 1 January 2011
As I mentioned last week, we were on the road last week visiting my daughters and grandchildren, and my brother-in-law's family, so I didn't kept track of my own best of the genea-blogs the past two weeks. The "real" Best of the Genea-Blogs will return next week.
Fortunately, Greta and Susan have kept their eyes and minds wide-open and have written their weekly picks in:
1) Friday Newsletter and Follow News: 31 December 2010 by Greta Koehl on Greta's Genealogy Bog.
2) Follow Friday: Around the Blogosphere - December 31 by Susan Petersen on the Long Lost Relatives.net blog.
I did write two Genea-Musings posts last week to capture some of the blog posts I liked:
* Some neat Genea-bloggers posts for today on 29 December
* Back to the Blogging Board... on 30 December.
One more recent post that I want to highlight this week:
* The Incredible Journey :: Favorite Places by Becky Wiseman on the kinexxions blog. This is Becky's summary of her 15-month "vacation" driving almost 60,000 miles around the USA and Canada.
A reader asked me in email why I do this weekly Best of the Genea-Blogs post, since it seems to be a time consuming endeavor. The answer is twofold - first, I try to stay abreast of what's happening in the genea-blogging world, and the posts help me "remember" significant (to me) posts. Second, I think that it is important to recognize the contributions of geneabloggers to the overall genealogy community, and this is one way that can be done.
Updated 5:40 p.m. Becky corrected the mileage number...thanks!
Fortunately, Greta and Susan have kept their eyes and minds wide-open and have written their weekly picks in:
1) Friday Newsletter and Follow News: 31 December 2010 by Greta Koehl on Greta's Genealogy Bog.
2) Follow Friday: Around the Blogosphere - December 31 by Susan Petersen on the Long Lost Relatives.net blog.
I did write two Genea-Musings posts last week to capture some of the blog posts I liked:
* Some neat Genea-bloggers posts for today on 29 December
* Back to the Blogging Board... on 30 December.
One more recent post that I want to highlight this week:
* The Incredible Journey :: Favorite Places by Becky Wiseman on the kinexxions blog. This is Becky's summary of her 15-month "vacation" driving almost 60,000 miles around the USA and Canada.
A reader asked me in email why I do this weekly Best of the Genea-Blogs post, since it seems to be a time consuming endeavor. The answer is twofold - first, I try to stay abreast of what's happening in the genea-blogging world, and the posts help me "remember" significant (to me) posts. Second, I think that it is important to recognize the contributions of geneabloggers to the overall genealogy community, and this is one way that can be done.
Updated 5:40 p.m. Becky corrected the mileage number...thanks!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Very Best 2010 Research
It's Saturday Night again (I know, you just celebrated New Year's Eve - are you home for the night?) -- time for some Genealogy Fun (what else is there?)!!
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) Decide which of your (many?) genealogy research adventures was your "very best" (your definition).
2) Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Status report or comment on Facebook.
Here's mine:
Without a doubt, it was the Jane Whittle Ancestry problem. It is described in a series titled The Whittle Research Compendium.
The catalyst for this research effort was the 1852 California State Census on Ancestry.com. I found Rachel "Wadle" with three children including my wife's great-grandmother, Jane born in 1847 in Australia on the census. From there, several Genea-Musings readers helped me with Australian and English records, and before I knew it I knew the correct names for Jane's parents, their marriage and baptisms, etc. It was an exciting two months of online and repository research for me, and an excellent example of how a genealogy blog can facilitate research.
I enjoyed sharing this adventure with my wife and her brother over the Christmas holidays. To top it off, Linda's brother pulled out some unidentified photographs and portraits, and we figured out that they were Elijah and Jane (Whittle) McKnew!
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) Decide which of your (many?) genealogy research adventures was your "very best" (your definition).
2) Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Status report or comment on Facebook.
Here's mine:
Without a doubt, it was the Jane Whittle Ancestry problem. It is described in a series titled The Whittle Research Compendium.
The catalyst for this research effort was the 1852 California State Census on Ancestry.com. I found Rachel "Wadle" with three children including my wife's great-grandmother, Jane born in 1847 in Australia on the census. From there, several Genea-Musings readers helped me with Australian and English records, and before I knew it I knew the correct names for Jane's parents, their marriage and baptisms, etc. It was an exciting two months of online and repository research for me, and an excellent example of how a genealogy blog can facilitate research.
I enjoyed sharing this adventure with my wife and her brother over the Christmas holidays. To top it off, Linda's brother pulled out some unidentified photographs and portraits, and we figured out that they were Elijah and Jane (Whittle) McKnew!
2011 Genealogy Goals and Objectives
No, silly, I don't have 2,011 specific goals and objectives for the next year...it just seems like I do sometimes.
While I haven't yet tallied up my success at meeting the 2010 set of Goals, I know that I have major FAILs and a few significant successes.
Plunging on, here are the stated goals and objectives for 2011 (which look quite similar to 2010 and 2009):
1) Research
* Go to the local FamilySearch Center and local/regional libraries more often in order to pursue ancestral information.
* Go to at least one major genealogy repository (e.g., FHL, ACPL, NEHGS) and do research over several days.
* Keep up-to-date to-do lists for research challenges and up-to-date research logs for significant research tasks.
* Concentrate on brickwall ancestors, but spend time finding family history information for known ancestors.
* Update the Seaver/Carringer/Vaux family database using recently added/updated data collections on Ancestry, FamilySearch, Footnote, GenealogyBank, etc.
2) Data Organization
* Convert items in computer file folders into couple-based digital file folders, including photographs and documents, using systematic file naming protocols.
* Continue weeding out extraneous paper from bookcase binders, and enter useful sourced data into genealogy database.
* Sort the Carringer/Auble/Smith and Seaver/Richmond paper photograph collections into useful and accessible albums, determine if photos they have been scanned and blogged, and scan the ones that haven't been scanned before or were poorly scanned previously.
3) Genealogy Database
* Continue adding source citations for unsourced information in my database (with author, title, publisher, date, page, comments, etc.).
* Add specific page numbers to existing source citations.
* Critically evaluate genealogy facts for ancestral families relative to authoritative published material.
4) Education
* Attend at least two genealogy conferences (or cruises) in 2011. I'm hoping for SCGS Jamboree in Burbank, California and FGS Conference in Springfield, Illinois.
* Participate in more bloginars and webinars.
* Obtain or borrow genealogy resource and how-to books of interest.
5) Society Activities
* Attend CVGS, CGSSD and SDGS society programs and seminars.
* Lead CVGS research group effectively.
* Be an outstanding editor of monthly Chula Vista Genealogical Society Newsletter.
* Keep the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog full of news and information helpful to CVGS members.
* Contribute articles to SDGS and CGSSD newsletters.
* Respond to research queries received by CVGS and CV library.
* Help society colleagues and friends with their research if requested.
6) Speaking and Teaching
* Speak to at least five different local and regional genealogical societies in 2011
* Teach three adult education "Beginning Computer Genealogy" classes for OASIS (4 sessions each, 8 hours total each class)
* Teach at least one "Genealogy 101" beginners class (4 sessions, 8 hours total) for CVGS
* Speak at local libraries and service groups about genealogy and family history.
7) Writing
* Blog a bit... on Genea-Musings, The Geneaholic, the South San Diego County Graveyard Rabbit, and the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blogs.
* Produce four "Genealogy 2.0" columns for the Federation of Genealogical Societies FORUM magazine.
* Produce four "Digging for Answers" columns for the Online Graveyard Rabbit Journal.
* Publish Volume 24 of the Seaver-Richmond Family Journal (16 pages) in December for the extended family.
8) Real Life
* Take my wife on at least one long vacation trip - perhaps to the Midwest in late summer to attend FGS, and visit Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin family history sites, and hopefully Allen County Public Library.
* Visit our daughters and grandchildren, our brothers and their families, and our cousins and their families, more often in order to make more family history and spread the joy of genealogy research around [yeah, right... they might even read the yearly Family Journal].
* Exercise more! Lose weight! Eat fewer goodies! Dream on...
* Limit genealogy activities to no more than 10 hours a day... [who put that in? Linda, do you know how to edit this? At least it doesn't say 3 hours]
More of the same, eh? It's a full plate. Who knows what life will bring in 2011. Stuff happens. I'll adapt. Or not...
The beauty of goals and objectives is that they can be changed at a moment's notice. I am not chained by these goals - they are only guidelines. You can be sure that if I have a major, unplanned breakthrough through hard work, serendipity or the kindness of others that I'll follow that path.
I look forward to 2011 - to celebrating my fifth year of genea-blogging, to meeting many more Genea-Musing readers and geneablogging colleagues, to talking with representatives of genealogy companies, to sharing my knowledge and expertise with the genealogy community.
While I haven't yet tallied up my success at meeting the 2010 set of Goals, I know that I have major FAILs and a few significant successes.
Plunging on, here are the stated goals and objectives for 2011 (which look quite similar to 2010 and 2009):
1) Research
* Go to the local FamilySearch Center and local/regional libraries more often in order to pursue ancestral information.
* Go to at least one major genealogy repository (e.g., FHL, ACPL, NEHGS) and do research over several days.
* Keep up-to-date to-do lists for research challenges and up-to-date research logs for significant research tasks.
* Concentrate on brickwall ancestors, but spend time finding family history information for known ancestors.
* Update the Seaver/Carringer/Vaux family database using recently added/updated data collections on Ancestry, FamilySearch, Footnote, GenealogyBank, etc.
2) Data Organization
* Convert items in computer file folders into couple-based digital file folders, including photographs and documents, using systematic file naming protocols.
* Continue weeding out extraneous paper from bookcase binders, and enter useful sourced data into genealogy database.
* Sort the Carringer/Auble/Smith and Seaver/Richmond paper photograph collections into useful and accessible albums, determine if photos they have been scanned and blogged, and scan the ones that haven't been scanned before or were poorly scanned previously.
3) Genealogy Database
* Continue adding source citations for unsourced information in my database (with author, title, publisher, date, page, comments, etc.).
* Add specific page numbers to existing source citations.
* Critically evaluate genealogy facts for ancestral families relative to authoritative published material.
4) Education
* Attend at least two genealogy conferences (or cruises) in 2011. I'm hoping for SCGS Jamboree in Burbank, California and FGS Conference in Springfield, Illinois.
* Participate in more bloginars and webinars.
* Obtain or borrow genealogy resource and how-to books of interest.
5) Society Activities
* Attend CVGS, CGSSD and SDGS society programs and seminars.
* Lead CVGS research group effectively.
* Be an outstanding editor of monthly Chula Vista Genealogical Society Newsletter.
* Keep the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog full of news and information helpful to CVGS members.
* Contribute articles to SDGS and CGSSD newsletters.
* Respond to research queries received by CVGS and CV library.
* Help society colleagues and friends with their research if requested.
6) Speaking and Teaching
* Speak to at least five different local and regional genealogical societies in 2011
* Teach three adult education "Beginning Computer Genealogy" classes for OASIS (4 sessions each, 8 hours total each class)
* Teach at least one "Genealogy 101" beginners class (4 sessions, 8 hours total) for CVGS
* Speak at local libraries and service groups about genealogy and family history.
7) Writing
* Blog a bit... on Genea-Musings, The Geneaholic, the South San Diego County Graveyard Rabbit, and the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blogs.
* Produce four "Genealogy 2.0" columns for the Federation of Genealogical Societies FORUM magazine.
* Produce four "Digging for Answers" columns for the Online Graveyard Rabbit Journal.
* Publish Volume 24 of the Seaver-Richmond Family Journal (16 pages) in December for the extended family.
8) Real Life
* Take my wife on at least one long vacation trip - perhaps to the Midwest in late summer to attend FGS, and visit Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin family history sites, and hopefully Allen County Public Library.
* Visit our daughters and grandchildren, our brothers and their families, and our cousins and their families, more often in order to make more family history and spread the joy of genealogy research around [yeah, right... they might even read the yearly Family Journal].
* Exercise more! Lose weight! Eat fewer goodies! Dream on...
* Limit genealogy activities to no more than 10 hours a day... [who put that in? Linda, do you know how to edit this? At least it doesn't say 3 hours]
More of the same, eh? It's a full plate. Who knows what life will bring in 2011. Stuff happens. I'll adapt. Or not...
The beauty of goals and objectives is that they can be changed at a moment's notice. I am not chained by these goals - they are only guidelines. You can be sure that if I have a major, unplanned breakthrough through hard work, serendipity or the kindness of others that I'll follow that path.
I look forward to 2011 - to celebrating my fifth year of genea-blogging, to meeting many more Genea-Musing readers and geneablogging colleagues, to talking with representatives of genealogy companies, to sharing my knowledge and expertise with the genealogy community.
Happy New Year 2011!
I want to wish all of my readers a very Happy New Year in 2011.
May 2011 bring you happiness, good health, many friends, lots of love and more time to pursue your genealogy addic.., er, passion.
May you complete all of your genealogy and family history goals and objectives (you do have them, don't you?) be satisfied and may extra genea-blessings be provided to you! Have fun!!!
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