Ancestry Member Trees, Family Tree Maker 2012, and the iPhone Ancestry App - Post 2

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Yesterday I posted Ancestry Member Trees, Family Tree Maker 2012, and the iPhone Ancestry App and noted that the Media items that I had attached to my Ancestry Member Tree using my iPhone had not been added to the Family Tree Maker 2012 tree that I had synchronized to the ancestry Member Tree. 

I had several comments to the blog post, and in email.  Russ Worthington and Dave Lynch suggested using Ctrl-F5 to add missing citation media.  I did that last night (several times), and some of the Citation media went into the Media file on FTM 2012 and the Media icon showed up on the Person pages.  I had not known about the Ctrl-F5 maneuver before. 

Duff Wilson (an FTM 2012 developer) and Russ Worthington noted that the Media had worked for them using an iPhone and an iPad.  Russ demonstrated it in his Ancestry Member Trees, Family Tree Maker 2012, and the iPad Ancestry App post today. 

Updated:  Russ asked me to attach some Media using my iPhone in the shared tree that we have, so I did.  He reported on the results in FTM2012 - Practical AP and FTM2012 TreeSync™ test.  It worked fine.

I appreciate all of the help!

Last night, the Plan workspace for my Seaver-Leland Family database in FTM 2012 indicated that my tree was not in Sync with the Ancestry Member Tree.  I tried to Sync it several times, and always got the message "The Last sync failed.  An Error occurred while "Analyzing online changes."  Please try again later."  I waited until this morning, and Russ in email suggested that I compact my file, try the Ctrl-F5 again, and then try the Sync again.  I did all of that, and the Sync still did not work.

At this point, I decided that I had a mess on my hands.  Since all of the recent additions to the file were in the Ancestry Member Tree, I went into Ancestry and deleted the link to the FTM 2012 tree. 

I then used Family Tree Maker 2012 to Sync with the Ancestry Member Tree, and named the FTM 2012 tree the "Seaver-Leland Family Tree."  The Plan workspace for this new tree looks like this:

I went to David Auble's Person page, and saw the Media icons on four of the six Birth Facts, and the Media that I had added, using the iPhone, had been added to Residence Facts also:

I checked some of the other persons in the database, and it looked like all of the Media items added by iPhone were added to Facts and are attached to Source citations in the database.

The Media workspace shows 69 Media items, including 27 items added to the database using the iPhone:

The 69 Media items are also in the My Documents/Family Tree Maker/Seaver-Leland Family Tree file folder on my computer:

My conclusion here is that the Facts and Media items created in an Ancestry Member Tree using my iPhone downloads into a NEW Family Tree Maker 2012 database.

The next step is to add more Facts and Media items to the Ancestry Member Tree with my iPhone to see if it will Sync to the existing Family Tree Maker 2012 database. 

This is important to me because if my children, siblings and cousins add content to the shared Ancestry Member Tree, I would like to be able to capture the information they add without entering their data again.  An FTM 2012 tree that won't capture all of the attached Media, or an FTM 2012 tree that won't sync with a changed Ancestry Member Tree, is not an attractive proposition, for whatever reason.  The Sync needs to work every time so that I and others can add content to the online tree, and I can add content from within FTM 2012.

Tombstone Tuesday - William and Sarah (Cutter) Knapp in Newton, New Jersey

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Russ Worthington has posted photographs of the gravestones of two of my ancestors - William Knapp (1775-1856) and Sarah (Cutter) Knapp (1785-1878) in the Old Newton Burial Ground in Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey.

Russ's posts on his My Tombstone Collection blog are at:

*  Tombstone Tuesday - Knapp, William

The inscription is:

William Knapp
Died Jun 16 1856
in the 80th Year

*  Tombstone Tuesday - Knapp, Sarah Cutter

The inscription is:

Sarah Cutter
wife of
William Knapp
Born Nov 6 1787
Died Mar 6 1878

Thank you to Russ for taking the time to visit this locked burial ground and send me the pictures.  Russ added the photographs to the Find-A-Grave memorials for William Knapp and Sarah (Cutter) Knapp. 

Advent Calendar - December 20: Religious Services

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This is the 20th of 24 posts for the 2011 Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, a Geneablogger tradition.

On the 5th Day before Christmas,
my true love reminded me
Of the reason for the season.

1) Did your family attend religious services together during the Christmas season?

As a child, my family did not attend any religious services. Neither of my parents had a religious tradition, although we boys were baptized. My brother Stan and I attended the Presbyterian church two blocks down 30th Street when we were young teens, but I don't recall Christmas traditions.

Linda and I married in and joined the Chula Vista Presbyterian Church in 1970, and have been members, and have served as elder and deacon, ever since. We have always attended religious services at Christmas, and participated in them as I noted in the Arts post.

When the girls were young, we would usually attend the Family Christmas Eve service (usually at 6 or 7 PM) with the Christmas Story and Christmas carols (and sometimes I was a wise man in a tableau). After the girls left home, we usually attended either the family service or the late evening communion service which was more solemn.

Now that our girls have families, we are not always at home - usually we are at one of their homes to celebrate Christmas.

2) What were the customs and traditions involved?

The really outstanding (literally, as you'll understand!) tradition, in my mind, is the parade of parishioners with lighted candles proceeding, after the service, from the sanctuary outside to gather around the cross, and singing Silent Night until everyone has gathered around the cross. Initially, the cross was in the patio next to the sanctuary, but now it's down in the parking lot in the center of a traffic circle. It is usually cold (for Chula Vista, that means the 40s or 50s) on Christmas Eve, but rarely wet, so everybody is in their Christmas finery and coats. After the song ends, the pastor gives a benediction, and everybody hugs and wishes "Merry Christmas" to their friends and colleagues. It is a solemn, mystical and inspirational end to the evening. It was usually the highlight to my Christmas season... well, except for the excitement of Christmas Day watching the little ones discover gifts and trying them out.

Ancestry Member Trees, Family Tree Maker 2012, and the iPhone Ancestry App

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I shared last week that I received my early Christmas present - an iPhone 4.  I synced a 7,000 person database from Family Tree Maker 2012 to a new Ancestry Member Tree.  Then I accessed that Ancestry Member Tree with the Ancestry App on my iPhone.  That worked fine.

I wanted to add the images of the historical records to the Ancestry Member Tree, and then be able to download them to my FTM 2012 database.  Using the iPhone, I went methodically through most of the hints for many of my recent ancestral families, and attached the records to the persons.  The historical record images opened on the iPhone after I had attached them. 

Note that other Ancestry Member Trees are not included in the Hints that show up on the iPhone Ancestry App.

Then I thought - "well, since I added the historical record links to my Ancestry Member Tree, I should be able to sync the modified AMT to FTM 2012 and the historical record images sgould be in the FTM 2012 database." 

Not exactly.

Here's the Ancestry Member Tree overview for David Auble:

The iPhone work added the 1850 U.S. Census record to a Residence Fact, and if I click on the Fact I can get to the historical record summary:

Above the record summary, the system told me that "You have attached this record to ... David Auble in your tree Seaver-Leland Family."  So far so good.

Then I synced my FTM 2012 database with the modified Ancestry Member Tree, and opened FTM 2012 to see if the historical record image is present.  Here is the David Auble Person page which shows the Residence Fact for the 1850 U.S. Census:

There is no Media icon on the Fact list, and there is no Media item in the Media tab for the Fact.

The Source tab on the "Edit source ..." screen for the 1850 Residence Fact shows this:

The Reference note for this source is:

Ancestry.com, 1850 United States Federal Census (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data - Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the), iPhone Tree, http://www.iPhone Tree, 1850 United States Federal Census. residence date: 1850
residence place: Newark West Ward, Essex, New Jersey
birth date: 1817
birth place: Stillwater, Sussex, New Jersey, United States.

While I'm not doing this post to examine the source citation, I can't resist critiquing it:

*  The first parenthesis does not have a closing parenthesis (it should be after "2009" I think). 
*  A space is needed between "FamilySearch." and "Original"
*  The source citation does not include the census place, the page number or the NARA microfilm Roll number for the specific record.
*  The phrase "Records of the Bureau of the" needs closure - perhaps the word "Census?"
*  The URL given for the iPhone repository is http://www.iPhone without any file type.  Is www.iPhone.com a website?  Nope.  Nor is www.iPhoneTree.com or something similar. 
*  Three different Facts are provided by this historical record - the Residence, the Birth Date and the Birth Place.  The birth date on the census record summary is "about 1818," the Fact says "1817." While the birthplace on the census record image and record summary is "New Jersey" the birth place in the record above is "Stillwater, Sussex, New Jersey, United States."  Apparently, the Birth Date and Birth Place for this source citation pick up the Birth Fact data and not the data on the historical record summary.

Back to the Family Tree Maker 2012 database...  A click on the "Media" tab on the source citation does not show the historical record image attached to this Residence Fact. 

I'm really confused by all of this.  I thought that if a historical record was attached to a Fact on an Ancestry Member Tree that it would download the Fact, the Source and the Media item to a Family Tree Maker 2012 database through the synchronization feature.  It doesn't seem to do that.  The Fact is there, the Source is there, but the Media is not there.  I had really hoped that I'd be able to do it all in the iPhone Ancestry App but apparently I cannot. 

So what I'm going to do now is attach the 1850 U.S. Census record image to the Residence Fact in the Ancestry Member Tree and see if that synchronizes with FTM 2012 and shows up in the iPhone Ancestry App.  I'll report on that effort next time.

I am disappointed that the Source citations don't reflect the information on the historical record, and that there are text and punctuation errors for the iPhone generated Facts.

Does anyone have any experience using the iPhone Ancestry App and having the record image synced to their Family Tree Maker 2012 tree?  If so, please let me know how you did it!  I have lots more to do. 

Possible Knapp Families in Dutchess County - Post 3: Given Names of the Children

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I noted several suggestions in Follow-Up Friday - The William Knapp Search to list the children of William and Sarah (Cutter) Knapp, and to try to correlate them with the siblings of William and Sarah in an effort to identify the names of the parents of William Knapp.

Here is the list of the known children of William and Sarah (Cutter) Knapp with approximate birth and death dates:

*  Joseph C. Knapp (about 1805 to ????)
*  Samuel C. Knapp (about 1806 to 1852)
*  Cyrus C. Knapp (1809 to 1872)
*  Catharine Knapp (about 1810 to ????)
*  Benjamin Knapp (about 1811 to before 1857)
*  Charles C. Knapp (about 1813 to ????)
*  Hannah Maria Knapp (1816 to 1903)
*  Sarah G. Knapp (1818 to -after 1900)
*  William Knapp (1823 to 1860)
*  Manning M. Knapp (1825 to 1892)
*  Elsie M. Knapp (1831-1903)

Unfortunately, I don't know the names of any of William Knapp's siblings.

Sarah (Cutter) Knapp's parents were Stephen Cutter (1745-1823) and Tabitha Randolph (1752-1841) and they resided in Woodbridge, New Jersey.  Their children were:

*  Phebe Cutter (about 1769 to 1839), married before 1798 to James Harriott (1766-1848)
*  Nancy Cutter (about 1771 to ????), married before 1797 to John Mattison
*  Stephen Cutter (about 1773 to ????)
*  Mary Cutter (about 1775 to ????)
*  Thomas Cutter (about 1777 to ????)
*  Richard Cutter (1779 to 1820), married 1799 to Mary Martin (???? to 1859)
*  William Whitmore Cutter (1781-1862), married 1803 to Ursula Harriott (1779-1861)
*  Hannah Cutter (1784 to ????), married Samuel Harriott
*  Sarah Cutter (1785 to 1878), married about 1804 William Knapp (1775-1856)
*  Samuel Cutter (1787 to ????), married about 1823 to Nancy Inslee (1799 to ????)
*  Mary Cutter (1790 to ????), married 1813 to Charles Cutter (1787 to 1822)

Sarah (Cutter) Knapp's grandparents were:

*  William Cutter (1722 to 1780)
*  Mary Kent (about 1726 to ????)
*  Their children were Stephen, Richard, Sarah, Mary, Hannah, Kelsey, Samuel, and Keturah.

*  Samuel Fitz Randolph (1730 to ????)
*  Martha Gach (1729 to ????)
*  Their children were Tabitha and Mary and perhaps others.

If William and (Sarah) Cutter Knapp used family names for the names of their children, then the names from Sarah Cutter's family are:  William, Hannah, Sarah and Samuel.  However, they did not name a child after Sarah's parents (Stephen and Tabitha).

If William and Sarah (Cutter) Knapp used family names from William's family, then the names of William's parents, grandparents and siblings might be:  Joseph, Cyrus, Catharine, Benjamin, Charles, Manning and Elsie.

The one obvious child that was probably named after a family member is Manning Knapp.  There are only two entries in the Rootsweb WorldConnect database before 1860 that has a Manning marrying a Knapp:

*  Jacob Manning and Hannah Knapp who married in 1750 in England.  
*  Julia Manning married Daniel Knapp in 1805, probably in Massachusetts.

These two couples are also mentioned in Ancestry Member Trees, but there are no others before 1838.

What about Manning and Cutter or even Fitz Randolph?

*  There was a Manning family in the Woodbridge and Piscataway area of New Jersey, and a search on Rootsweb WorldConnect revealed some connections to the Fitz Randolph family
*  A similar search on Rootsweb WorldConnect found no marriages to a Cutter spouse. 
*  An Ancestry Member Trees search revealed no trees with a Manning marrying a Cutter.

What about the given name of Cyrus?  A search on Rootsweb WorldConnect revealed no Cyrus Knapps born in New York or New Jersey before 1830.  Of course, Cyrus might be the name of William Knapps' maternal grandfather or uncle.  Or not.

The other given names are fairly common names that might be possible names for William's parents. 

My conclusion is that this is probably a futile effort to find William's parents by checking the names of his children.  Other records, not yet found, may provide better clues or evidence.

"The Future of Genealogy" Video

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I had genealogy fun this morning watching Dick Eastman's presentation at the Middlesex Chapter of the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists on 10 December.  Dick's blog post about it is Video: Dick Eastman Presentation on the Family History World in 10 Years Time.

He links to the video at http://www.massog.org/middlesex.html and provides the Vimeo video on his website.  For a larger screen, see http://vimeo.com/33730552 and use the password MSOG if necessary.  The video will be available until 16 January 2011.

I hope that Dick will share some of his conclusions about genealogy in ten years in an article at some time - it would be great for genealogical societies to share with their members. 

Amanuensis Monday - the Will of Henry Farwell (1605-1670) of Chelmsford, Mass.

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Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started a 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 will of Henry Farwell (1605-1670) of Chelmsford, Massachusetts. He was married to Olive Welby (1604-1692).  They had children Elizabeth Farwell (1630-1670); Samuel Farwell (1633-1634); John Farwell (1635-1686_; Joseph Farwell (1641-1722); Mary Farwell (1642-1714); Olive Farwell (1645-????).

Henry Farwell died testate, having made a will on 12 July 1670, 20 days before his death.  The will reads (Middlesex County [Mass.] Probate Records, Packet #7,348, accessed on FHL Microfilm 0,397,054, transcribed by Randy Seaver; also transcribed in Robert H. Rodgers, Middlesex County in the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, Records of Probate and Administration, March 1660/61 - December 1670, published by The New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 2001):

"In the Name of God Aman,

"I Henary Farwall of Chelmsford in the County of Midellsex Tayler of Chelmsford being of perfect & sound memory I prais my God,  I make this my Last will and Testamt in manner and forme as followeth:

"First I will and ernestly desire that all my Debtes bee payd and sattisfied as shall appeare legally or Reasinably to be due, upon or by bond Bill or booke or otherwise howsoever out of my estate, with what Convenient speed the same can be raised payd and sattisfied:

"2endly it is my Will and I doe give and Bequeath unto Ollife Farwell my beloved wife, my houseing with the upland about it which I have now in posechtion, with Convenient medow to keepe fowre Couse during the time of her naturall life:

"3ly I give & bequeath unto Ollife my wife all my mouvabels to be at her Desspouse:

"4ly I bequeath unto Ollife my now wife thre couse and my mare for her owne propper use:

"5ly I bequeath unto Ollife my wife all my swine for her owne propper use:

"3ly I Give & Bequeath unto my sonne John Farwell all my Accomadations at Concord which hee hath in presant posechtion to him and his heires for ever of his owne boddye lawfully begotton: al wise provided and my will is that my sonne John Farwell shall paye forty shillings a yeare unto Ollife Farwell my now wife During the time of her naturall Life.

"2ly I bequeath unto my son John Farwell one yeare old heifer & my Coalt.

"4ly I give & bequeath  unto my sonne Joseph  Farwell all the land that hee hath in present posechtion wth 20 Ackers of upland lying at lettell tadmuck with six Accers of upland lying in the new field:
5ly my will is that Joseph Farwell my sonne shall have the remainder of my acomadations in Chelmsford after my wifes desease, only two small parsells of meadow namely one accor lying in the River maddow Joyning to the maddow of William Fletcher:  I give & Bequeath to (Olife Spalding my Dauter - words crossed out) Marie Battes my Dauter one accore & halfe of maddow lying at Lettel Tadmock joyneing to the maddow of James Holdrike:  to Ollife Spaulding my Dauter my will is incase Joseph my son dies before Ollife his mother then the Lands att his mothers Desease I give to the heires of Joseph my sonne - I give & bequeath unto Joseph my son the Remainder of my waring Apparill:  my will is that Joseph my son shall pay ten Shilings a year to Ollife his mother during the time of her naturall life:  further my will is that Joseph my son shall paye thirty pounds to his three sisters -  namely ten pounds within halfe A yeare after my desease, namly three pounds six shilings & eight pense to Elisabeth Willbor & 3 pounds six shillings eight pense to Mary Bates & thre pounds six shiling eight pense to Ollife Spalding my Daughters:  my will is that Joseph my son shall pay six pound & a marke to Elisabeth Wilbor within on yeare after the desease of Ollife my wife & six pounds & a mark to Mary Bates within too years after my wifes desease & six pounds & a marke to Ollife Spalding within three years after my wifes desease:  I give & bequeath unto Ollife my wife A third part of the fruites of my orchard during the time of her naturall life, & A third part of the fruites to Joseph my sonne & a third part of the fruite to Mary Bates and Ollife Spalding my Dauters, for five yers to be equally Devided & when the five yeares are expired my will is that part shall returne to Joseph Farwell my sonne:

"6ly my will is that Ollife Farwall my now beloved wife & Joseph Farwill my sonneExecutares to the payment of my Due Debtes & the payment of the first part of the lagisies, all these Legases my will is should be paid at the now Dwelling house of my son Joseph in Chelmsford at prise Courant in Corne or Cattell:  Lastly my will is that Hannah Farwell my Dauter my sonne Josephs wife shall have the third part of the land after her husbands desease:  This I doe Declare to be my last will & Testament, revoking & disclaiming all other whatsoefar: by these presents in testimony whereof, I the said Hennary Farwell have hereunto set my hand & seale ye 12th Day of July in the yeare of our Lord God According to the computation of New England One Thousant Six hundared & Seventy.
....................................................................... Hennry Farwell a seal
Samuell Foster senier
John Fiske juner"

The will was proved in October 1670, with Samuel Foster senior and John Fiske junior appearing before the court at Cambridge.

An inventory of the personal and real property of Henry Farwell was taken on 5 August 1670 by Thomas Hinchman and John Fiske junior of Chelmsford.   The housing and accommodations in the hands of the widow and her son Joseph Farwell was apprised at 122 pounds, while the land in Concord in the possession of John Farwell was apprised at 134 pounds.  The personal property totalled 87 pounds and 11 shillings. Debts due to the estate totalled 4 pounds.  The inventory was presented to the Court on 4 October 1670 by Joseph Farwell.

Advent Calendar - December 19: Christmas Shopping

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This is the 19th of 24 posts for the 2011 Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, a Geneablogger tradition.

On the 6th Day of Christmas,
My true love "ordered" me
To go out and buy some jewelry.

1) How did your family handle Christmas shopping?

When I was growing up, I think my mother did all of the Christmas shopping for all of her boys (three sons and a hubby). I hope (but I don't know!) that my father shopped for my mother - I really don't have a memory of gifts that she received. We usually had gifts made at school for mom and dad.

When I became a teenager, I went shopping with my mother to get gifts for my brothers and my father. I also shopped for my mother - but I don't remember any gifts I bought. I do remember one year, when I was probably in college, that I bought a new mailbox for mom and dad - I was so proud of this practical gift. I got some strange looks that year.

Linda now does most of the Christmas shopping for family and friends, including our daughters, their hubbies and kids. I tag along sometimes for consultation.
She spoils me with gifts - always including chocolate (for my semi-yearglass figure - fully expanded, needing suspenders, yea verily, the sands of time have not been kind), white socks, printer ink cartridges, computer things (I usually pick it out) and some clothes - necessities.  This year, I've already received an iPhone!

My only real shopping task is to shop for my Angel Linda. It's a big job, but someone has to do it.

I got her a spa subscription last year (she loved it!), a digital camera last year (she uses it occasionally, but pictures are usually fuzzy), and a laptop computer six years ago (I got it early and use it - she doesn't like it).  This year, she's getting a Samsung Galaxy Tablet computer (she already has it...).  I try to buy nice clothes for her - essentially blouses, sweaters, pants. Her favorite colors are aqua, green, blue, purple, and red. She likes fancy things, but not items that have to be dry-cleaned. She sometimes buys things for herself and hands them to me to wrap for her. Jewelry is a must each year - and sometimes she tells me what she would like - gold earrings, bracelets, necklaces (but most are not long enough or are too fragile) with angel charms or figurines are prized. It is a challenge each year to find something new and different.
2) Did anyone finish early or did anyone start on Christmas Eve?

I always finish early - at least before Christmas Day. Linda usually starts before Thanksgiving, and usually has things well in hand by a week before Christmas. I'm still shopping this year...

Linda's brother is famous for waiting until Christmas Eve to shop. There were years that he and I would go out shopping on the 24th to find gifts for his sister, his dad, his girlfriend, etc.
3) What are the highlights of shopping for you (an added question)?

The first highlight is finding a real special gift for Linda that will make her face light up and earn me a big hug and kiss, even a leer. The second highlight is watching the little kids sitting on Santa's lap in the little house on the mall walk. I stopped the other day and watched for about ten minutes while four kids talked to Santa. One cried the whole time, one was scared to death and wanted to get away, but two sat there and talked to him and hugged him at the end. Most of the kids are dressed up, and so are the moms accompanying them. I like watching the Santa helpers too...

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 11 to 17 December 2011

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Hundreds of genealogy and family history bloggers write thousands of posts every week about their research, their families, and their interests. I appreciate each one of them and their efforts.

My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for the genealogy carnivals, or other meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.

Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week:

*  Unlock the Past's 2nd genealogy cruise - review by Chris Paton on the British GENES (Genealogy News and Events) blog.  Chris summarizes this South Pacific cruise - one of the great features was genealogy talks in the ports that the ship visited to "feed" the local genealogy societies.

*  Unveiling of Dr. Walter J. Porter Portrait-Part#1 and Unveiling of Dr. Walter J. Porter Portrait-Part#2 by Yvette Porter-Moore on the Digging Roots: My Family History blog.  Yvette shares her father's portrait and the honor of having two schools named after him.

*  Five Things I Learned On My Last Research Trip by Travis LeMaster on the TJLGenes: Preserving Our Family History blog.  Travis took some mental health days and had genealogical success.

*  Open Thread Thursday: Do We Eat Our Own In The Genealogy Industry? by Thomas MacEntee on the Geneabloggers blog.  Thomas muses about the current travails in the online genealogy community.

*  Well Said Tom, Here's My Response by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog.  James offers his reasoned analysis of Thomas' question...and shares a Dylan song.

*  Out on a bad date by Louis Kessler on Louis Kessler's Behold Blog.  Louis found that many genealogy management programs accept bad dates (like "43 Freb") and transfer them via GEDCOM. 

*  A quick gift for mom … by Diane Beumenot on the One Rhode Island Family blog.  Diane made a family history book using FTM 2012 and Lulu publishing and describes her process.

*  My story – from the Wild West to starting an online business by guest blogger Bryher Scudamore on the Ancestry.co.uk Blog.  The highlight here isn't Bryher's business venture (although it sounds intriguing) - it's the snippets of her great-grandfather's letters of working in America in the 19th century.  Fascinating!

*  You're Researching but Are You Reading?  by Marian Pierre-Louis on the Marian's Roots and Rambles blog.  Wise advice from Marian here - which demonstrates that print books are not dead!

*  Genealogy Site Rankings by John D. Reid on the Anglo-Celtic Connections blog.  John provides the most recent listings of genealogy website rankings.  Genea-Musings is not listed...but should be!

*  Who Were the Huguenots? by Carolyn J. Barkley on the GenealogyAndFamilyHistory.com blog.  Carolyn provides an excellent summary about this group.

*  The Genealogy Paradigm Shift: Are bloggers the new “experts”? by Michael Hait on the Planting the Seeds blog.  Michael discusses the role of geneabloggers in the overall world of genealogy.

*  Noodling on Google by Susan Clark on the Nolichucky Roots blog.  Susan shares her Google problems and describes how she fixed it. 

Several genea-bloggers wrote weekly pick posts and news summary posts this week, including:

*  Monday Morning Mentions by Lynn Palermo on The Armchair Genealogist blog.

*  Monday Recap December 12, 2011 by Amanda on the Geni Blog.

*  Ruth's Recommendations by Ruth Blair on The Passionate Genealogist blog.

* Genealogy Round Up, December 15 by Megan Smolenyak on Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak's Roots World blog.

*  Genealogy News Corral, Dec. 12-16 by Diane Haddad on the Genealogy Insider blog.

I encourage readers to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blogs to your Favorites, Google Reader, RSS feed or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - all bloggers appreciate feedback on what they write.

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me! I am currently reading posts from over 1110 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here

Advent Calendar - December 18: Christmas Stockings

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This is the 18th of 24 posts for the 2011 Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, a Geneablogger tradition.

On the 7th Day before Christmas,
my true love said to me
"You'd better fill that up, honey!"

1) Did you have a stocking?

Every year ... from childhood to now. Not the same one, of course.
2) Where did you hang it?

When I was a kid, my parents hung it by my grandparents chimney - probably on the firescreen.

Since we've had our own home, the stocking is hung from a nail in the beam over the fireplace.
3) What did you get in it?

When I was a kid, I received little toys, fruit, gum, candy, etc.

As a married adult, the stocking has candy (lots of candy!), socks, small gifts, and sometimes a charcoal briquette (the proverbial lump of coal in San Diego). My favorite candies are See's Peppermints, orange slices, Hershey kisses, gum drops, M&Ms, etc. All of this makes me a really "sweet-lovin'" guy. And adds several pounds each year, but hey, I'm in shape (pear is a shape, right?).

Linda sometimes gets jewelry, lipstick, nail clippers, and candy in her stocking. She used to get panty-hose (hey, a stocking in a stocking, right?) and sexy panties, but she won't let me shop for those any more.