Genealogy Freelancers Welcomes ExpertConnect Providers

I received this press release from Deborah Irwin at GenealogyFreelancers today.

In response to the recent announcement that Ancestry.com would be ending their Expert Connect service, Genealogy Freelancers has been welcoming many of those providers affected by the move to transition into their existing similar service.

Grand Rapids, MI (PRWEB) February 3, 2011

In response to the recent announcement that Ancestry.com would be ending their Expert Connect service, Genealogy Freelancers has been welcoming many of those providers affected by the move to transition into their existing similar service.

Genealogy Freelancers has been established since 2008 and, because of their comparable platform of projects for bid, the shift has proved an easy one for the transitioning providers from Expert Connect as they are accustomed to the premise and workings of this type of system.

The founders of Genealogy Freelancers who all have a background in the genealogy profession, maintain that their reasons for starting their service was to provide an easy and friendly method for the client and provider of genealogy services to connect to one another. When asked how the recent influx of EC providers would affect business operations Elaine Bostwick, Chief of Operations had this to say: “It’s been an unexpected week for everyone, but this is a service that we’ve been involved in for three years now and although the week has been a little unusual our site has always been geared for this service and no matter what takes place around us, our core goal of being able to help both sides will remain the same”. In response to the question of challenges for the providers making the change to GF, Ms. Bostwick says “There are some differences to our system, but on the whole the basic premise is one that the transitioning providers and the clients can recognize and use quickly. There will also be some changes as suggestions come in since it’s been our experience that the users know best what works for them and we take those suggestions seriously.”

Genealogy Freelancers has a large pool of international genealogy Specialists who are able to provide their services from a simple lookup to a full, custom research project. In addition to these services there are those providers who specialize in document translations, village and/or cemetery photography, publishing and related categories. These providers live throughout the world and are able to perform their specialties within the countries necessary to complete the posted project. Profiles of genealogy researchers and other family history experts showcase an array of expertise through education and/or verified memberships to genealogical related international associations, societies and organizations. This feature was created in order to assist the client with the Specialist selection process.

The system is a three-step process that starts when the client posts their project. Once this step has taken place, the Specialists that are a match to the specific categories and locations necessary for service are notified. If the project is one that is of interest then the Specialist will make an appropriate offer. The final step is the selection of the Specialist that is the best fit to the particular case. At that point, the client, along with their genealogy professional embark on a journey to uncover the past and build a family tree or simply add a few new branches.

Irbo Inc., owners of Genealogy Freelancers, continues to provide a welcoming platform that benefits those in search of their personal family history as well as for quality experts who are capable of providing assistance. For more information, visit the website at http://www.genealogyfreelancers.com.

Disclosure:  I am not a customer or provider of Genealogy Freelancers and have received no remuneration for posting this press release.  I do think that they can provide a valuable service for customers and an opportunity for genealogy providers.

New or Updated FamilySearch Historical Data Collections

I last listed the new or updated collections on the FamilySearch website on 7 January, when there were 519 collections on the list.  Since then, these Historical Record Collections have been added or updated to make a total of 541 collections:

England, Bristol Parish Registers, 1538-1900 (last updated 3 Feb 2011, 581,648 records, index only)

United States, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 (last updated 3 Feb 2011, 2,821,572 record images and index)

Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915 (last updated 2 Feb 2011, 3,818,515 recod images and index)

Texas, Comanche County Records, 1858-1955 (last updated 31 Jan 2011, browse images only)

Virginia, Freedmen's Bureau Letters, 1865-1872  (last updated 31 Jan 2011, 834,423 record images and index)

England and Wales Census, 1881  (last updated 28 Jan 2011, 10,711,675 records, index only)

England, Warwickshire Parish Registers, 1538-1900  (last updated 28 Jan 2011, 658,553 records, index only)

Italy, Civil Registration, 1806-1940  (last updated 28 Jan 2011, browse images only)

Ontario Deaths,1869-1937 and Overseas Deaths, 1939-1947  (last updated 28 Jan 2011, 2,050,112 records, index only)

Quebec Census, 1861  (last updated 28 Jan 2011, 1,094,774 records, index only)

New York, County Marriages, 1908-1935  (last updated 26 Jan 2011, 157,260 record images and index)

Iowa State Census, 1885  (last updated 25 Jan 2011, 503,573 records, index only)

Minnesota State Census, 1905  (last updated 25 Jan 2011, 1,973,884 record images and index)

South Dakota State Census, 1935  (last updated 25 Jan 2011, 673,322 record images and index)

Venezuela, Civil Registration  (last updated 25 Jan 2011, browse images only)

Wisconsin Deaths and Burials, 1835-1968  (last updated 25 Jan 2011, 454,484 records, index only)

Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915  (last updated 24 Jan 2011, 2,744,355 record images and index)

Brazil, Catholic Church Records  (last updated 21 Jan 2011, browse images only)

England, Cheshire, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1606-1900  (last updated 21 Jan 2011, 451,783 records, index only)

North Carolina Deaths, 1906-1930  (last updated 21 Jan 2011, 615,657 record images and index)

Tennessee, Death Records, 1914-1955  (last updated 21 Jan 2011, 1,276,298 record images and index)

Wisconsin State Census, 1885  (last updated 21 Jan 2011, 407,138 records, index only)

Wisconsin State Census, 1895  (last updated 21 Jan 2011, 494,911 records, index only)

Canada Census Mortality Schedules, 1871  (last updated 20 Jan 2011, 45,371 records, index only)

New Jersey State Census, 1885  (last updated 20 Jan 2011, 305,188 records, index only)

Ohio, Cuyahoga County Probate Files, 1813-1900  (last updated 20 Jan 2011, browse images only)

United States Census, 1930  (last updated 20 Jan 2011, 8,521,754 records, index only)

England, Norfolk Bishop's Transcripts, 1685-1941  (last updated 19 Jan 2011, browse images only)

England, Norfolk Poor Law Union Records, 1796-1900  (last updated 19 Jan 2011, browse images only)

England, Norfolk Archdeacon's Transcripts, 1600-1812  (last updated 18 Jan 2011, browse images only)

England, Norfolk Marriage Bonds, 1557-1915  (last updated 18 Jan 2011, browse images only)

England, Norfolk Monumental Inscriptions, 1600-1900's  (last updated 18 Jan 2011, browse images only)

England, Norfolk Non-conformist Records, 1613-1901  (last updated 18 Jan 2011, browse images only)

England, Norfolk Register of Electors, 1844-1952  (last updated 18 Jan 2011, browse images only)

Delaware Death Records, 1855-1955  (last updated 14 Jan 2011, 209,962 record, images and index)

Italy, Napoli Province Municipal Records, 1809-1936  (last updated 14 Jan 2011, 55,136 records, images and index)

Ontario Marriages, 1869-1927  (last updated 14 Jan 2011, 363,464 records, index only)

Quebec Notarial Records, 1800-1900  (last updated 14 Jan 2011, browse images only)

Rhode Island, State Census, 1935   (last updated 14 Jan 2011 693,472 record images and index)

Switzerland, Church Book Extracts, 1550-1875  (last updated 14 Jan 2011, browse images only)

Denmark Burials, 1640-1917  (last updated 10 Jan 2011, 655,703 records, index only)

There are 41 items on the list above, but only 22 were added databases since 7 January.  I still wish that FamilySearch would also indicate which databases are newly "Added" rather than just "Added or Updated" and what the completion percentage is of those that are updated.

All FamilySearch Historical Record Collections can be accessed at https://www.familysearch.org/s/collection/list.  You can see which collections were recently added or updated by clicking on the "Last Updated" link.

Book Review: Online State Resources for Genealogy

Michael Hait, a professional genealogist residing in Delaware, published an eBook in PDF format recently titled Online State Resources for Genealogists, which is available as an online download at his website, Hait Family Research, here.

The Introduction notes:

"Many researchers are unaware of the sheer volume and variety of records that have been brought online, at no cost, by government agencies and others active in individual towns, counties, and states. This book will provide a directory to sites that offer record images and indexes nationwide, including:

*  state archives
*  state libraries
*  state health departments
*  county clerks
*  historical societies
*  genealogical societies
*  university libraries
*  public libraries
*  others"

It also notes that online indexes and databases provided by free (e.g., FamilySearch, Rootsweb) and subscription (e.g., Ancestry, Footnote, GenealogyBank) genealogy websites are not covered by the book.

In the book, each state has a chapter, and within that chapter are links to governmental, institutional,  genealogical and historical society archives and libraries with online indexes and databases.  In many cases, there are links to the different online collections available at the entity.  For each database entry, there is an explanation, usually in the websites own words, about the content of the database.

An example entry from the Illinois section (I picked one that almost every researcher knows about):

"Illinois State Archives (http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/archives.html/"
and down the alphabetical list a bit:

"  Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre–1916 (http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/death.html) : ―The pre–1916 Illinois death index is an ongoing project coordinated by the Illinois State Archives. The sources for this index include original county clerks‘ death records, such as death registers and licenses. For each death, the index includes the name of the decedent, the date of the death, the name of the county where the death occurred, the place of death within the county, when possible; the age and sex of the decedent and a citation to the original record—volume and page number for death registers or certificate number for death certificates."

Some states have extensive listings, and some do not.  For instance, Colorado has one repository listed on three pages, California has four repositories listed on two pages, while Illinois has six repositories listed on eleven pages, and Maryland has nine repositories listed on twenty pages.  This is certainly due to the volume of records freely available in online indexes and document image databases.  A reader can see which states have been proactive and diligent in providing online databases to their citizens and researchers.

The book includes websites that have both freely available databases and members-only access to other record databases, but the book does not include the members-only databases.  An example is the Illinois State Genealogical Society.  However, state and regional level institutions that do not have have any freely available state record indexes and document image databases - the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston comes to mind, are not included in the book. 

The book does not include repositories that have online indexes for catalogs but no actual online data in index or document image form.  For example, the California State Libraries (not listed in the book) at http://www.library.ca.gov/calhist/databases.html, has no actual data (transcriptions or images) at the library website - only a searchable catalog of books on the shelf at the library.  A casual reader might assume that there is no State Library or that it has no web presence at all, when the reality is that there is no actual data available online.

Those are not really "complaints," they are statements of fact about the contents of the book.  The Introduction notes that:

"Only the most useful resources for genealogy research, and contextual historical information, have been included in this guide."

One of the very best features of this book are the active hyperlinks in the text.  The reader can click on the hyperlink, which is often very long, and go directly to the online database of interest.

The book is an excellent compilation of the state resources freely available in online databases with actual data - index information and/or document images.  It will be very valuable to every researcher trying to perform a reasonably exhaustive search for their ancestral families.  I know that I will use the resources in this book in my genealogical research.  It will be a valuable addition to any American researcher's genealogical library.

The cost of this book is $15.00 for a PDF download from Lulu.com (http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/online-state-resources-for-genealogy/14708408 ).  Recognizing that the volume of online state resources  is increasing regularly, the author will provide one complimentary updated revision at a future date (the buyer needs to contact him by email with some information).

Disclosure:  Michael Hait contacted me last weekend asking if I would write a review of his book, and he provided me with a PDF copy of the book.  I try very hard to write objective reviews of books for the benefit of my readers.

Treasure Chest Thursday - Isaac Seaver's Civil War Pension Papers: Deposition (Part 2) of the Widow

It's Treasure Chest Thursday, time to share one of the documents or artifacts in my family history collection.  In previous posts, I have displayed documents from the Civil War Pension File of Isaac Seaver, my second great-grandfather. 

I received the complete Civil War Pension File for Isaac Seaver on 3 January - see my post My Christmas Present Came Today - Oh Boy! - and it has 81 pages in the file.  Some of them have little or no information on them.  I'm going to cherry-pick some pages for this and later Treasure Chest Thursday posts.

The "treasure" this week is the second part of the "Deposition" that supports the application of the widow, Alvina M. (Bradley) (Lewis) Seaver, taken on 23 December 1901 by Frank Shapleigh of the Bureau of Pensions. 

The first part of the deposition was transcribed here.  This second part deposition has three handwritten pages (written by the examiner and signed by the deponent).  It is a continuation of the first deposition - it starts in the middle of a sentence:

The transcription of this second part of the deposition reads (filled in lines underlined, handwritten items italicized, tables spaced by periods):

[First page]

putting $1400 of the $1500
into same and $400
besides, drawn from the
Bank, - making the
place at 66 Mechanic St
stand me $3000 including
my interest willed by
soldier ($1200).

There are three tenements
in this house rented
as follows:
Basement per mo. $12.50
2 Floor [per mo.]... 15.00
3 Floor [per mo.]..  15.00
[Total} .............. $40.00

There is no other
income from this property.

The annual expenditure
are as follows:

[Second page]

Taxes  ................. $69.46
Water Rent ............ 37.00
Insurance ............... 3.00
Repair (estimated) .. 60.00
...........................-----------
[Total] ............... $167.46

Rent per annum ... $486.00
Expenditures ........ 169.40
......................... ---------
Net income ......... $316.54

I do not get my
rent always. I have
lost about $30 since
May 1, 1901, by poor
tenants.
Since May 1, 1901, I
have expended for repairs
about $60 as follows.
Shingling roof and
building back porch ..... $50
Buying screens for
doors and windows ..... $10
(No receipted bills) .... $60
I have put the
place in an agents
hands to be sold as
I am unable to care
for it.
At time of soldier's
death - I had no
real estate except
my home place
at 7 Cedar St
and no interest in
any.

[Third page]

I now have money in
Savings Banks as follows:

Bank .............................Amt.....Rate.....Income
Fitchburg Savs................ $700 ... 5-1/2% .... 24.50
Worcester North.............. 700 ...... 4 ........ 28.00
Clinton Savs.................... 900 ...... 3-1/2 ... 31.50
Worc. Co. Inst. ................ 500 ...... 3-1/2 ... 17.50
Peoples Savs (Worc) ......... 500 ...... 3-1/2 ... 17.50
Worc. Mechanics .............. 500 ...... 4% ....... 20.00
Leominster Savs ...........993.22 ....... 4% ..... 39.72
...............................---------- ............... --------
.............................$ 4793.22 .............  $178.72

My Books except Leominster
Savings Bk (exhibited) are
in Safe Deposit Vaut)
I sold my household
Furniture and put money
in Leominster Bank as
above.
My total net income (yearly)
therefore is as follows:

From 66 Mechanic St. ..... $316.54
 " Savings Bks $4793.22 ..... 178.72
 " $100 Mortgage @ 5%  ...... 50.00
................................ $ 545.26
...............[signed] Alvina M. Seaver

Sworn to and subscribed before me this 23 day of Dec
190 1 and I certify that the contents were fully made known to deponent before signing.

/s/ Frank Shapleigh, Special Examiner

This deposition gives a clear indication of the financial aspects of Alvina's life as a widow, continues the story of how she found income to live on, and a summary of her financial assets at the end of 1901.  I found it fascinating.  Alvina seems very clear-headed and logical in all of her financial transactions.

Genealogist Caroline Rober passed away yesterday

I received this email today from Norma Storrs Keating of CSGA:

Long-time CSGA member Caroline Braxton Rober died last night, 1 Feb 2011, after a 6 month battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease.) She was 58 years old. She leaves a husband, three children and 7 grandchildren. Caroline was a past-president of the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists (SCCAPG.). She received the California State Genealogical Alliance Award of Merit in 2010 for her hours of volunteer work for SCCAPG; for her work as a teacher for the Whittier Area Genealogical Society and the Orange Family History Center; for her many hours of service as the technical director for the Orange Family History Center (a regional Family History Library); and for her uncounted hours serving as the chairman for the genealogy booth at the Orange County Fair (Orange County, California) over a period of 7 years.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

If anyone would like to follow her journey the past few months they can go to her blog at

http://myalsjourney.blogspot.com

This is very sad for me, and for all genealogists and friends that knew Caroline.  I only met her one time, when she presented to the San Diego Genealogical Society last year.  Her illness was not obvious then.

If you knew her, and have memories you want to share with the family, I encourage you to make a comment on her blog that the family is monitoring and adding to.  Read the blog posts that lead up to her passing, and take some time to reflect on the dignity of this woman and this family.

Rest in peace, sweet Caroline.  You are appreciated, and will be missed.

Archives.com Provides Genealogy Industry Metrics

The Archives.com Blog has this interesting article and accompanying graphic in an article at Archives.com Predicts Industry Growth in Family History Trends Report.

The demographics chart is here.  The chart compares monthly visits in December 2010 to Ancestry.com, Archives.com, MyHeritage.com, Genealogy.com, FindAGrave.com, FamilySearch.org and Archives.gov, and compares them to Decmber 2009.

I was surprised by the relatively low visit count to FamilySearch.org.  I anticipate that the count will be much higher in December 2011 as more historical collections come online and the FamilySearch Family Tree becomes available to the public.

There are other graphics for Archives.com members - gender, age, and more.

The title of the article is wrong though - this is a retrospective, not a prediction of genealogy related traffic and trends.

UPDATED 4:30 p.m.  I wrote this post at 10:30 a.m. today, and set it to post at 12 noon while I was away.  It went into the Draft category on blogger for some reason, and I posted it at 4 p.m. instead.  Oh well.

Peeking at RootsMagic 4 Source Citations in a GEDCOM File - Post 1

Following up on my posts Peeking at Family Tree Maker 2011 Source Citations in the GEDCOM File - Post 1 and Peeking at Legacy Family Tree 7.5 Source Citations in the GEDCOM File - Post 1, I wanted to see what they looked like in RootsMagic 4.

I did a similar task today in RootsMagic 4 and exported it in a small GEDCOM file for comparison to the Family Tree Maker 2011 and Legacy Family Tree examples.

For the Isaac Seaver Birth Fact, I used the source data that came across in an earlier GEDCOM file of my entire database, which did not use the RootsMagic 4 Source Templates, but I edited the Free-form Source to Evidence! Explained standards (I hope!).  Here are the Free-form Source citations:

Footnote:
Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Worcester, Mass.: F.P. Rice, 1908), Page 83.
Short Footnote:
Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, Page 83.
Bibliography:
Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. Worcester, Mass.: F.P. Rice, 1908.

Then I created a second source citation using the RootsMagic 4 Template Source feature. Here is the Template Source screen for Isaac Seaver's Birth Fact created by the "Book, Basic format" template:

The Source citations created by this Template source citation is:

Footnote:
Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the end of year 1849 (Worcester, Mass.: F.P. Rice, 1908), Page 83.
Short Footnote:
Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the end of year 1849, Page 83.
Bibliography:
 Fund, Systematic History. Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the end of year 1849. Worcester, Mass.: F.P. Rice, 1908.

GEDCOM creation in RootsMagic 4 is really easy - use File > Export and you see this screen:

The user can choose various options for Data to Export on this screen, including Notes, Sources, Addresses, LDS Information, To-Do tasks, Multimedia Links, Correspondence log, Note formatting (bold, etc.), Extra details (RM4 specific), and Privacy options.  I chose the Note formatting and Extra details.

The user can use the "People to export" link and choose "Everyone" or "Select from list."  I chose just Isaac Seaver in order to make the GEDCOM file manageable.

Here is the GEDCOM file section for Isaac Seaver's name and gender (Note: This is a GEDCOM 5.5.1 file):

0 @I33917@ INDI
1 NAME Isaac /Seaver/
2 GIVN Isaac
2 SURN Seaver
1 SEX M
1 _UID DD9148EBA834448AABF95436C4E1976E2348

That includes Isaac Seaver's Individual Number, full name, given name, surname, sex and a UID number (I'm not sure that this goes with the persona.  The underscore before UID denotes a RootsMagic "Extra detail," I think.

Scrolling down to the BIRTh entry in this GEDCOM file:

1 BIRT
2 DATE 16 OCT 1823
2 PLAC Westminster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
2 SOUR @S428@
3 PAGE Page 83
3 _TMPLT
4 FIELD
5 NAME Page
5 VALUE Page 83
3 QUAY 2
3 _QUAL
4 _SOUR D
4 _INFO S
4 _EVID D
2 SOUR @S671@
3 PAGE Page 83
3 _TMPLT
4 FIELD
5 NAME Page
5 VALUE Page 83

There are two SOURces here - S428 and S671 - because I linked two sources to the BIRTh event.

The PAGE tag text is the "Source Details" for the specific Fact.

There are several tags with underscores above that denote RootsMagic 4 Extra details.  In Source S428 (the Free-form Source) I added to the "Quality" file and that is reflected in the _SOUR D, _INFO S, and _EVID D lines (meaning Derivative SOURce, Secondary INFOrmation, Direct EVIDence).  I forgot to add the Quality information to the Template Source S671; if I had, the _QUAL tags would be similar.

The _TMPLT tag indicates that a template was used for both sources.

The SOURce S428 section looks like this:

0 @S428@ SOUR
1 ABBR Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849
1 TITL Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, t
2 CONC o the End of the Year 1849 (Worcester, Mass.: F.P. Rice, 1908)
1 _SUBQ Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, t
2 CONC o the End of the Year 1849
1 _BIBL Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, t
2 CONC o the End of the Year 1849. Worcester, Mass.: F.P. Rice, 1908
1 _TMPLT
2 TID 0
2 FIELD
3 NAME Footnote
3 VALUE Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Worcester, Mass.: F.P. Rice, 1908)
2 FIELD
3 NAME ShortFootnote
3 VALUE Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849
2 FIELD
3 NAME Bibliography
3 VALUE Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. Worcester, Mass.: F.P. Rice, 1908
1 REPO @R3@

THE ABBReviation tag denotes what the Source was called in the Master Source listing.

The TITLe tag is the title of the source.  The _SUBSequent tag is the Subsequent citation, and the _BIBLliography tag is the Bibliography citation.  all of them are CONCatenated, meaning that the CONC line is a continuation of the previous line.

Starting with the _TMPLT line, the contents of the fields in the Free-form Source template are listed.  The Footnote, Short footnote and bibliography entries are listed (without CONCatenation for some reason).

At the end of this section, the REPOsitory tag is noted as R3.

Now for the Template Source S671, here is the GEDCOM file section:

0 @S671@ SOUR
1 ABBR Westminster VRs
1 TITL Systematic History Fund, <i>Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts
2 CONC , to the end of year 1849</i> (Worcester, Mass.: F.P. Rice, 1908).
1 _SUBQ Fund, <i>Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the end of yea
2 CONC r 1849</i>.
1 _BIBL Fund, Systematic History. <i>Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusett
2 CONC s, to the end of year 1849</i>. Worcester, Mass.: F.P. Rice, 1908.
1 _TMPLT
2 TID 372
2 FIELD
3 NAME Author
3 VALUE Systematic History Fund
2 FIELD
3 NAME Title
3 VALUE Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the end of year 1849
2 FIELD
3 NAME SubTitle
2 FIELD
3 NAME PubPlace
3 VALUE Worcester, Mass.
2 FIELD
3 NAME Publisher
3 VALUE F.P. Rice
2 FIELD
3 NAME PubDate
3 VALUE 1908

The TITLe tag includes the entire Footnote; the _SUBSequent tag includes the Short Footnote; the BIBLiography tag includes the Bibliography.  Note that they assume that the author's last name is "Fund."  This wouldn't be a problem with books with authors that are persons. 

Note the "< i >" in the TITLe, _SUBSequent and _BIBLiography tags - that means "italicize."

The _TMPLT tag starts the Template Source field entries (Extra details in RM4), including TID (Template ID?), NAME (each Template field name), and VALUE (the text in each template field).

Note that I did not assign a REPository to this source so there is no REPOsitory tag.  It should be R3!

The REPOsitory tag R3 section in the GEDCOM file looks like:

0 @R3@ REPO
1 NAME New England Historic Genealogical Society
1 ADDR 99-101 Newbury Street
2 CONT Boston, Mass. 02116
2 CONT USA
2 ADR1 99-101 Newbury Street
2 CITY Boston
2 STAE Mass.
2 POST 02116
2 CTRY USA
1 WWW http://www.americanancestors.org/

I included information in only one ADDRess field in the REPOsitory template, but the fields for CITY, STAtE, CounTRY and WWW (internet address) appear under the ADR1 (alternate address?) tag. 

Now I'm wondering how these source citations will look when I export them back into Legacy Family Tree 7 and Family Tree Maker 2011.  How will they handle the Free-form Source and Template Source citations?

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 138: Betty and her Grandparents

I'm posting 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.

Here is a photograph from the Seaver//Carringer family collection handed down by my mother in the 1988 to 2002 time period:

This photograph from (approximately) early 1920 shows my mother, Betty Virginia Carringer, as a baby with her three living grandparents and only living great-grandparent. 

Pictured, from the left, are:  Georgianna (Kemp) Auble (mother of Emily (Auble) Carringer); Henry Austin Carringer (father of Lyle L. Carringer); Betty, held by Austin; Della (Smith) Carringer (wife of Austin, mother of Lyle), and Abigail (Vaux) Smith, mother of Della. 

It's too bad that Betty's parents, Lyle L. and Emily (Auble) Carringer, are not in the picture also.  My guess is that Lyle was taking the picture.

I'm not sure of the setting of this picture - it may be at the Lyle Carringer home at 2054 Harrison Street in San Diego, or it may be at the Austin Carringer home at 2105 30th Street in San Diego. 

Source Citation Merging in RootsMagic 4 - Uh Oh!

I asked two questions in my post Source Citation Creation in RootsMagic 4 - some examples yesterday:

1)  Does RootsMagic place the information in the Source Template fields into the correct GEDCOM fields?

2)  Can I merge the existing 650 free-form source templates in the database into the RootsMagic EE-style Source Templates?

I worked a bit today trying to answer the second question - and there is a fairly easy way to do it.  Implicit in my question was "without loss of any data."  However, I think that "Bruce, we have a problem." 

Follow along with this process if you can.  If you can't skip to the bottom of the post:

One of the Free-form source citations that was imported in a GEDCOM file was for the 1830 U.S. Census.  Here is the "Free-form source" for Isaac Seaver in the 1830 Census:

Note that the Master Source information includes only the words "1830 U.S. Census, Population Schedule, National Archives Publication M19."  There is also an entry in the "Source Details" field.  In the Free-form citations shown on the right of the screen, the Master Source entry and the Source Detail entry are included.

I want to create a Source Citation using the Source Templates in RootsMagic 4, and then merge the Free-form sources into the Template source citation so that I have to deal only with the 650 Master Sources and not with over 20,000 source citations, many of which include "Source Details."  I don't want to lose any information from my Free-form source citations.

Here is the Source Template filled out for the 1830 U.S. Census using the "Census, U.S. Federal (online images)" template in RootsMagic 4:

I didn't add the "Source Details" (note that the Template source details has more fields than the Free-form Source detail form) because I wanted to make sure that the Source Details on the Free-form appeared in the Source Details fields after I merge the Free-form Source into the Template Source.

Having created the Template Source, now I want to merge the Free-form Source into the Template Source.  From the Lists = Source List menu, the "Master Source List" screen opened:

Note that there are two Master Sources for the 1830 Census - one is the Free-form source and the other is the Template source.  There is a "Merge" button at the far right of the menu line in the "Master Source List" screen.  I clicked on the "Merge" button and saw:

In the screen above, it says to "Select source to merge then click here." I selected the other 1830 US census source, and clicked on the button:

The screen above lists the two sources - one "Primary" and the other "Secondary."  If I wanted the secondary one to be primary, then I can click on the "Swap" button.  I wanted the Template source citation to be the Primary source, and it is in the Primary position in the screen above.

After clicking the "Merge duplicates" button at the bottom right of the screen, there was only one Master Source for the 1830 US Census in the "Master Source List:"

Okay, that worked, and it was pretty easy to do.  Now what do my 1830 U.S. Source citations look like. 

I went to Isaac Seaver's screen, clicked on the 1830 US Census Fact, then the Source Citations (there were two, because I created two - one with Source Details and one without out) and saw:

After merging, the Template Source form came up, but there were no Source Details.  It appears that the "Source Details" are lost when a Free-form Source is merged into a Template Source.  It looks like any information in the Source Text, Source Comments, Detail Text and Detail Comments fields are also lost.  My guess is that anything in the Source Media and Detail Media fields would be lost also.

If that is true, and I tried it on several other source citations (with Source Details that I could easily replace), then my decision is real easy - I'm not going to use the RootsMagic Source Templates because I will lose all of my existing Source Details. 

Drat, and double drat.  What now?  So - "Bruce, do we have a problem?"

Onward to looking at the GEDCOM file for Free-form and Template Sources created by RootsMagic 4 in the next installment of the Seaver Source Citation Saga... it's messy, eh?  I'll have to summarize all of the findings in a summary post at some point in time.

March 2011 Issue of Internet Genealogy Magazine

I received the link to my copy of Internet Genealogy magazine today, and, as usual, it is chock full of interesting articles and useful research tips. 

Here is the Table of Contents:


page 7 -- All Aboard! Top Sites for Railroad Records -  Janice Nickerson goes online in search of the best Internet resources for railroad research
page 13 -- Get Organized with Collectorz.org  - Lynn Cassity looks at a great website for cataloging your resources
page 14 -- Net Notes
page 16 -- Civil War Genealogical Resources, State by State  - David A. Norris takes an in-depth look at what’s available
page 22 - Walking in His Footsteps - Joan O’Neill chronicles her quest to document her immigrant father’s story
page 25 - Websites for Great Lakes Marine Genealogy -  Susanna De Groot, PLCGS, discusses online resources available for great lakes research
page 29 -- The Clans of the Scottish Highlands - Alan Stewart goes online in search of Scottish clan genealogy resources
page 33 -- G'Day Mate! Family History Down Under - Daniel M. Lynch looks at the online resources available for Australian genealogy research
page 37 -- Scanners and Scanning: A Review - Tony Bandy looks at the latest scanners available for the genealogist big and small!
page 42 -- Using Online Library Catalogs - Gena Phillibert Ortega looks at the online evolution of the humble card catalog
page 47 -- iPad and Your Genealogical Research -Tony Bandy looks at using Apple’s latest tech tool for your family history
page 52 -- Genealogical Society Announcements - A collection of upcoming genealogy-related events that may be of interest
page 54 -- Using Google Books - Cindy Thomson takes a quick look at one of Google’s most valuable resources

The most amazing story in this issue is, I think, Dan Lynch's article about Family History Down Under in Australia.  He recounts meeting a distant cousin from one of his ancestral villages in Italy by happenstance after putting an ancestor's surname in his presentation.  Dan also provides links to Australian websites and blogs.

Disclosure:  I am a paid subscriber of Internet Genealogy magazine, and like it.  I have not been remunerated in any way for writing this post.

Updated 12:30:  Edited the errors made by Blogger when it posted.  I can't get rid of some of the formatting that came over from the magazine.  It looked perfect when I posted it!