Review: Legacy QuickGuide on Finding Your Female Ancestors

Legacy Family Tree has commissioned a series of four-page booklets on various aspects of genealogical research.  Each laminated guide contains four pages of valuable information covering a variety of genealogy research topics. Legacy QuickGuides are written by genealogists and family historians who are experts in the subject areas.  These QuickGuides are oriented towards the online researcher - there are several pages of website links on selected subjects for the specific topic covered by the QuickGuide.

You can see the list of available Legacy QuickGuides at          http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=71.  They are available as laminated four-page folders ($7.95 each) or as downloadable PDF files ($2.95 each).

The Legacy QuickGuide for Finding Your Female Ancestors written by Lisa Alzo.

The Introduction to this QuickGuide says:

"Most historical records have been created for and about men, making it more challenging to research and write about female ancestors. The Finding Your Female Ancestors Legacy QuickGuide™ contains useful information including best places to find maiden names, locate women’s history resources, and other key strategies for tracing your maternal lines. This handy 4-sided laminated guide easily slips into a backpack or laptop bag for those genealogy research trips."

The subjects included in the Finding Your Female Ancestors QuickGuide are:

*  Selected Key Dates

*  How to Get Started

*  Strategy

*  Tips and Tricks

*  Best Places to Find Maiden Names

*  Toolkit

*  Archives, Libraries and Repositories

*  Organizations

*  General Research Resources

*  Terminology

*  Further Reading

This QuickGuide has two pages of explanation on what to look for and how to do it, and two pages of website titles with links to the websites.  In some cases, there are shortened URLs for websites with long eddresses.

This Legacy QuickGuide is very useful for beginners and seasoned researchers alike.  The information about places to find maiden names, tips and tricks, terminology, and the toolkit are very helpful, and the links to online resources will be useful.

The laminated version of this QuickGuide is very handy for researchers going to repositories or society meetings - it is light and easy to carry in a briefcase or computer case.  I much prefer the PDF version because I can save it to my computer (and laptop, tablet, and smart phone using Dropbox or another cloud service) and have it available in digital format for instantaneous usage by clicking the links provided rather than typing the links into my web browser.

Order your copy of the  Finding Your Female Ancestors QuickGuide (PDF or printed laminated folder) at the Legacy Family Tree Store.

Disclosure:  I was provided a complimentary copy of the PDF version of this Legacy QuickGuide on the condition that I provide a timely review of each QuickGuide provided.  Look for more in the near future!

The URL for this post is:  

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

RootsTech New Product Alert - Legacy Mobile

I was wandering along the Expo Hall aisle, and stopped at the Billion Graves display, and they had a second mobile App in their display called Legacy Mobile.  I don't have a website to refer you to, or an image to show you right now.  I do have a flier.

Here is part of what the flier says:

"Legacy Mobile is the new App that allows you to take your technology with you wherever you go.  Your family tree just became mobile -- with the Legacy Mobile."

and:

"Lehacy Moble syncs with your family tree data on 'FamilySearch Family Tree' and soon with other providers as well."

and:

"Legacy Mobile allows you to create and/or edit your family tree on your mobile device."

and:

"Legacy Mobile lets you add pictures to your family tree from your mobile device."

The Legacy Mobile app will be available soon for download, with an anticipated release in April 2013.  It is "Tree Access Certified" with FamilySearch.  They told me that the App would be free to download on iOS and Android mobile devices.

My comments:  This will be really big news for those with information on the FamilySearch Family Tree.  Being able to add, edit, delete and merge information on the FSFT will be important.  I immediately asked "will we be able to search FamilySearch record collections from the App and add links and sources to persons in the FamilySearch Family Tree?"  That's the logical "next step" after they get the basic App functioning.  The answer I got was that they would mention it to the developers.

This is another example of a nimble, entrepreneurial company creating something useful to add to FamilySearch's capabilities.  This type of App will fit very well with the FamilySearch emphasis on Photos and Stories to draw young people to genealogy and family history.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/rootstech-new-product-alert-legacy.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

RootsTech - Day 1, Part 1

Thursday morning dawned with snow flurries and a quick walk to the Salt Palace Convention Center (I'm so glad we're in the Radisson, right next door!) for the opening day at RootsTech 2013 Conference.

The morning started with a 7:30 a.m. geneabloggers walk through the empty Expo Hall...and then we joined the other 4,000 people in the Hall 1 where the Keynote would be presented.  I managed to get a third row seat right in front of the stage... here are some shots from this vantage:

Dennis Brimhall's message was about what's coming to FamilySearch - Stories and Photos, in the FamilySearch Family Tree.

Then Syd Liberman came onstage and told stories for 30 minutes - weaving family with history, and encouraging us to tell our stories to our family and to the world.

D. Joshua Taylor was the third Keynote speaker and he discussed genealogy, technology and young people, noting that it's a connected world and that stories will win them over when documents won't.

I made a run to the Media Hub where all the official geneabloggers hang out and all of the famous people come to be interviewed, on video or audio, by other famous people.  I don't do that.  DearMYRTLE did a short Hangout around the table and then interviewed Dennis Brimhall right at the table.

I wandered around the Expo Hall a bit, meeting people, asking questions and checking out exhibits.  At about 11:15 a.m., I realized that the Future of genealogy panel was in session, so I tuned in on www.rootstech.org and watched it while also reading blogs and filling out my RootsMagic Treasure Hunt card.  Then I beat the crowd to the lunch area.

The Expo Hall is really busy at this conference, even though the hall is 40% larger than last year.  There are quite a few small companies with a Story, Photo and Video theme.

I picked a place in the Media Hub where I could talk to folks across the fence, so to speak.  I'm still amazed by people that stop to say hello that read this blog - I appreciate all of them!  I've also connected with three geneabloggers who I do not have on my Reader, so I've added them.  I'll try to take more pictures of what's happening here, but I struggle to find time to write about everything here.

Other geneabloggers that seem to be able to blog on the run include:

*  James Tanner's Genealogy's Star.

*  Jill Ball's Geniaus blog.

*  Banai Feldstein's Ginger Jewish Genealogist blog.

Treasure Chest Thursday - 1870 U.S. Census Record for Ranslow Smith Family

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the 1870 United States Census record for my Smith 3rd great-grandparents  in Benton township, Taylor County, Iowa:

The Ronslo Smith entry is:

The extracted information for the family, with an enumeration date of 9 August 1870, is:

*  Ronslo Smith - age 65, male, white, a farmer, real estate worth $700, born New York, a male citizen of the U.S. over age 21
*  Julia M. Smith - age 47, female, white, keeping house, real estate worth $3000, born New York
*  Edwin Johnston - age 19, male, white, at home, real estate worth $950, born Pennsylvania, attended school within the last year.

Note that the enumeration for Ronslo Smith's family is three dwellings below the enumeration for his son's family (Devier Smith) in Benton Township.

The source citation for this census record is:

1870 United States Federal Census, Taylor County, Iowa, Population Schedule, Benton township: Page 13, dwelling #210, family #210, Ronslo Smith household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Series M593, Roll 421.

The only obvious error I see in this enumeration is in Ranslow Smith's first name - it is "Ronslo" in this record, and that may be a clue as to how he pronounced the name. 

Ranslow's first wife, Mary (Bell) Smith, died in 1865 in Wisconsin, and it is apparent that he married a second wife, Julia (--?--) Johnston before 1870 (I don't have a source for the marriage in Bedford, Iowa on 8 October 1868).  Julia's son, Edwin, is residing with Julia and her new husband.    Both Julia and Edwin own some real property somewhere, perhaps it is in Taylor County, Iowa.  

I know that Ranslow Smith moved to Andrew County, Missouri before his death in 1875, but I don't know what happened to Julia and Edwin. Ranslow Smith's will, written in 1866 in Wisconsin, does not mention his wife, Julia, and the probate records in Andrew County, Missouri don't mention her either.

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Day 1 in Salt Lake City - At the FHL

You've probably been wondering if I've been kidnapped by rogue geneabloggers, or got locked into the Family History Library overnight, or worse.

Linda and I arrived on Tuesday evening - we flew from San Diego to Las Vegas and then on to Salt Lake City.  We arrived after 6 p.m. and were in the hotel by 7 p.m.  We quickly adjourned to the restaurant, and joined Schelly Dardashti (from New Mexico), and Heather and Vincent Rojo (from New Hampshire) for dinner at the hotel restaurant.  Daniel Horowitz joined us after awhile, and then it was off to the hotel bar where two groups of genies were discussing the events of the day.  I sat with Thomas MacEntee's group - Sheri Fenley, Jane Halderman, Amy Coffin, Kim Cotton, Lisa Alzo, Jill and Robert Ball.  There were lots of good laughs...it's fun being with my geneablogging colleagues.  Here's Sheri and Thomas surprised by the snap:

Today, I made it to the Family History Library with my 60-odd item to-do list.  I think I completed about 10 items...and some of those were failures.  It always takes longer to find the information on a specific film, then go make an image copy of the record on the microfilm reader/computer system than I think it should.  A 15 minute task turns into 30 minutes, I can't find the record I want because I don't know a specific page number (a 20-year old overlook!).  I did manage to get about ten English parish register images for my Richman and Vaux families, which was my primary goal today.  I also was able to find the John Horton book written by Margaret Weiler and copy some pages from the book.  Then I struck out finding a will for David Auble in Vigo County, Indiana...he may have died intestate - that's another microfilm lookup to be made.

I knid of like this photo - the "light at the end of the tunnel" of FHL microfilms is the computer with FamilySearch record collections on it.

The Library was pretty full today because of the RootsTech conferees.  I am always surprised how many people there are on the computer systems, with the free access to many of the world's commercial genealogy databases.

I was able to meet some new people - Kelvin Meyers and Michael Hait for instance, and renew acquaintances with many others at the library.  It was fun to talk to Russ Worthington, Harold Henderson, Jan Davenport, David Lambert...now I can't remember all of them.

Tonight is the Blogger dinner hosted by FamilySearch, so I may or may not have a report for you later tonight.

Tomorrow is the first day of the RootsTech 2013 Conference, and it starts for me at 7:30 a.m. with an exhibit hall tour, followed by the Keynote talks (some of the geneabloggers are in the front row).

The Keynote talks, and a number of other talks, will be livestreamed on the RootsTech website - see www.rootstech.org.  The schedule for Thursday is (times are PDT, add 3 for EST, add 7 for GMT):

7:30 AM	Keynote – Dennis Brimhall, Syd Lieberman, Josh Taylor
10:00 AM	The Future of Genealogy - Thomas MacEntee and panel
12:45 PM	Tell it Again (Story@Home) - Kim Weitkamp
2:00 PM	The Genealogists Gadget Bag - Jill Ball and panel
3:15 PM	Finding the Obscure and Elusive: Geographic Information on the Web - James Tanner

This livestreaming is an excellent way to virtually attend this conference - be sure to tune in and enjoy a day of genealogy education.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/day-1-in-salt-lake-city.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 248: Brothers Ed and Fred in 1981

I'm posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they aren't Wordless Wednesday posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.

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

This is a photograph of one of my best-ever family history memories.  Two brothers - my father, Frederick W. Seaver (1911-1983) and Edward Seaver (1913-2004) - sharing a laugh together at my parents home in about 1981.  

I can't remember and have always wondered what was said by Ed to make my father laugh so hard with his eyes closed!  Perhaps it was about the "golden glow" from their childhood.  I don't think Ed goosed him, but I wouldn't put it past him!

They are in front of the fireplace in the living room of the Carringer/Seaver home at 825 Harbor View Place on Point Loma in San Diego (built by Lyle and Emily Carringer, my grandparents, and then owned by my parents after Lyle and Emily died).  

This was the last time that the brothers got together.  Ed and his wife, Janet, lived in Leominster, Massachusetts at this time, but moved later in the 1980's to Sun Lakes, Arizona.

I can't help thinking that both of these guys were about my present age...

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2013), Randall J. Seaver

We're off to see the Genea-Wizards...at RootsTech 2013!

We have a 1:55 PM flight out of San Diego for Salt Lake City this afternoon, and will be staying at the Radisson Hotel in case anyone cares.  We'll be ready for dinner when we get there, and will probably stay in the hotel for dinner.  I hope to find some genea-peeps in the bar or lounge area after dinner to enjoy their company..

I ran down My RootsTech 2013 Checklist today and finished most of the items, and packed the laptop bag with everything.  I'm taking much less paper this time!

On Wednesday, I'm going to the Family History Library bright and early (well, when they open at 8 a.m.) to do some research.  I have my list of To-Do items to work on.  The priority this year is obtaining images of English parish register records for my Wiltshire (Richman, Rich, Marshman, Hill, Warren, Ring families) and my Somerset (Vaux, Palmer, Laver, Axe families).  I have abstracts from the records, but not images or exact wordings or page numbers in the registers.  Hopefully, that doesn't take the entire day.  I have plenty more records to find on microfilm and even some books and periodicals to find on the shelves.

Thursday is the start of the RootsTech 2013 Conference and I hope to be in the Keynote presentation at 8:30 a.m. MDT.  I hope my CVGS colleagues and my Genea-Musings readers will be tuned in to the livestreaming video at www.rootstech.org all day!  If you're looking for me in the exhibit hall, check the Media Hub where I'll probably hang out on occasion slaving over my laptop.

Blogging may be relatively light this week if I concentrate on attending sessions and wandering the exhibit hall rather than writing blog posts during the day and in the evening after the various festivities.  Then there is the issue of Internet connections at the hotel and in the conference center.  I have the usual theme posts scheduled so Genea-Musings will not be completely dark, but there might not be as much content as usual.

There will likely be NO Best of the Genea-Blogs this week due to lack of time on my part.  Just sayin'.

The URL for this post is:

Copyright (c) 2103, Randall J. Seaver

Record Matching Progress on MyHeritage.com

I wrote fairly extensively last September about the MyHeritage Record Matching feature - see:

*  MyHeritage Releases Record Matching Technology (19 September 2012)

*  First Look at Record Matches on MyHeritage (19 September 2012)

*  Using MyHeritage Record Matches to Find Find-A-Grave Entries (20 September 2012)

*  NewspaperARCHIVES Records in MyHeritage Record Matches (26 September 2012)

*  Finished Using MyHeritage Record Matching for SSDI Matches (20 December 2012)

Since then, I have continued methodically going through the matches found on the MyHeritage search engine, one block at a time for several of the record collections available, and adding content and source citations to my genealogy database in RootsMagic. 

Here is the top of my Record Matches page in MyHeritage showing only the Pending items (I have already confirmed many matches, and rejected some that were not correct) on the "By Collections" tab:

There are 28 collections with 12,057 Pending record matches on the list. The Top 10 collections with Pending matches are:

1.  WikiTree -  10,611 matches - I haven't started these, mainly because they are almost all my own data from the family tree that I uploaded to WikiTree.com some time ago.

2.  Newspaper Archive - I have 584 pending matches to review, and have confirmed 130 matches and rejected 268 matches out of a total of 982.

3.  Find A Grave - I have 264 pending matches to review, and have confirmed 1,062 matches and rejected 19 matches.  This is my primary area of current review and has been since December (I've reviewed 634 matches in four months).

4.  Maximilian Family Tree - 161 pending matches to review.  I haven't looked at this resource to any great extent.

5.  California Deaths, 1940-1997 - I have 101 pending matches to review, have confirmed 137 and rejected 2 matches.  I will finish this collection after I finish with Find A Grave.

6.  1940 United States Census - I have 61 pending matches to review, and haven't started on them yet.

7.  Texas Births, 1926-1995 - I have 56 pending matches to review, and haven't started on them yet.

8.  England & Wales Deaths, GRO Indexes, 1970-2007 - I have 54 pending matches to review, and haven't started on them yet.

9.  Interment.net - I have 52 pending matches, and haven't started on them yet.

10.  Texas Marriages and Divorces - I have 38 pending matches, and haven't started on them yet.

I noticed that MyHeritage has another tab on the Record Matches page, called "By People" - here is the top of this list:

The top person on this list has 101 record matches - almost all of them are in the Newspaper Archive collection.  Herbert Innerasky is in my database (the husband of a distant cousin), and he is in many issues of the Fitchburg (Mass.) Sentinel newspaper.

The second person, Garrett Branisel, is a distant cousin of mine who is featured in many recent editions of the Chicago Herald newspaper.

Further down the list are record matches for many of my ancestors, but more often siblings of my ancestors.

I hope to finish at least the Find A Grave, California Death Index, Interment.net, Texas Deaths, Texas Marriages and the 1940 Census record matches by the end of the summer.

I really like this Record Matching feature on MyHeritage because it helps me FOCUS on one record collection as I add content to my genealogy database.  It has been very helpful to my effort to update my database with additional dates, places and source citations.

The accuracy level in the record databases (like Find A Grave, SSDI, etc.) is very good - better than 98% if the SSDI and Find A Grave are any indication - I'm actually surprised when I find one to be rejected.  The newspaper match record is not so good because there is usually only a name without some other corroborating data like a birth or death date or spouse's name.  I have found many newspaper articles for persons in my database, and have transcribed the information into my person notes in my database.

However, I have three issues:

1)  I don't believe that the Record Matches for the different record collections have been updated since September 2012.  I know that about 6 million entries have been added to Find A Grave since then, and I don't see that the total number of my record matches for Find A Grave has changed.

2)  I need to update my MyHeritage tree so that it can find Record Matches for the 1,600 persons I've added to my genealogy database since I uploaded my tree to MyHeritage in 2011.  Will MyHeritage come up with a synchronization between the Family Tree Builder software, and the MyHeritage online tree?  I would have to merge my bigger tree into the smaller tree and eliminate duplicate persons in Family Tree Builder, I think.  I don't want to upload the new tree and start all over with all of the Record Matches.

3)  Record Matching is only as good as the number of Record Collections available to match tree persons with.  Has MyHeritage/WorldVitalRecords added many new record collections since September 2012?  And what record collections are going to be added in the near future?

I'll speak to the MyHeritage folks at RootsTech 2013 and see what they have to say about these three issues.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/record-matching-progress-on.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

RootsMagic Treasure Hunt Clue #11

RootsMagic is offering a FREE iPad to two winners of their 2013 RootsMagic Treasure Hunt Contest.

The RootsMagic Treasure Hunt starts on Thursday, 21 March.  Here is the RootsMagic press release with directions on how to enter and win:

It's been a tremendous last few months here at RootsMagic. We've been busy with the new releases of RootsMagic 6 and RootsMagic for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. We're also excited to participate in one of the largest genealogy events in North America- RootsTech!


We want to celebrate these momentous events with you, our loyal users! And what better way to celebrate than with a treasure hunt where you could win one of many prizes including an iPad (4th generation)!

Online Treasure Hunt

Once again, we've partnered with 15 of the best and brightest genealogy bloggers who will be reporting at the RootsTech conference. Each blogger will place one of 15 clue words on their website.

From Thursday, March 21 through Wednesday, March 27, 2013, visit http://www.rootsmagic.com/treasure for a complete list of the blogs where the 15 clue words can be found. Visit each blog, collect all 15 clue words, and you could win software, prizes, or an iPad!

Enter at RootsTech or at Home

Once you've collected the clues there are two ways to enter. The first is at the RootsTech conference itself. Pick up an entry card at the RootsMagic booth (#401) in the Exhibit Hall. Write the clue words on the back of the card and return it to the RootsMagic booth in the Exhibit Hall by Saturday, March 23 at 1:20 pm. At that time, we will hold the prize drawings. You must be present to win.

We didn't want those who aren't able to attend RootsTech in person to feel left out so we're holding a second drawing and giving away more prizes including a second iPad. To enter this drawing, visit http://www.rootsmagic.com/treasure anytime between Thursday, March 21 and midnight MST on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. Fill out the online form to be entered into the second drawing. You may enter both drawings but one entry per person, per drawing. Winners will be picked at random and notified via e-mail by Friday, March 29, 2013.

Remember, the treasure hunt doesn't begin until this Thursday. Good luck!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/rootsmagic-treasure-hunt-clue-11.html

Disclosure:  I am an Official Blogger for RootsTech, but I don't have any relationships with RootsMagic, other than being a satisfied user and a recipient of free software twice in the past five years.

My 23andMe DNA Test Results - Post 3: Finding Matches and Seeing Connections

I shared my 23andMe Ancestral Composition results in  My 23andMe DNA Test Results - Post 1 (5 March 2013) and my chromosome details in My 23andMe Test Results - Post 2: Chromosome Views UPDATED! (12 March 2013).

Today, I want to show how 23andMe matches my results to other testers.  

1)  Here is the first page of my DNA Relatives list (Family & Friends > DNA Relatives) showing 25 of my 991 matches (with 5 cm segments or larger) in the List View (the other options are Map view and Surname view in upper right-hand corner):

The default list is sorted by Relationship; other options (dropdown menu is above the names) include percent shared; number of segments; contact status; first name; last name; age; maternal haplogroup; paternal haplogroup; most recent first.

The columns on the screen above are Name, estimated relationship, profile information (regions, names, mtDNA, Y DNA haplogroup), and status relative to yourself.

Some persons permit anyone to view their information (a Public Match), and a few have uploaded a Family Tree, but many have kept their information hidden.  A user can "Send a Message" to those who have a Public Tree and ask if they will share their results with the user.  For the hidden ones, a user can send an Introduction through 23andMe to determine if they want to make contact.

2)  Here is the note sent through 23andMe to one of my matches who has chosen to remain hidden:

3)  The Surname List of matches is shown below (from the DNA Relatives page):

I can click on a surname and see a list of matches that have that surname.

4)  After my autosomal DNA results were received last week, two persons contacted me asking to share my results with them.  I agreed.  They are listed on the Gene Comparison page (Family & Friends > Gene comparison):

5)  That page doesn't tell me a whole lot - I want to see the matches on the chromosomes, so I found the Family Inheritance: Advanced page (My Results > Ancestry Tools > Family Inheritance: Advanced) and added them to the "With" list as shown below:

I clicked on the "Compare" button and the chromosomes with the matches to these two persons were identified:

Obviously, I need to make more connections with persons via the 23andMe message system in order to see chromosome matching with them.

There are a lot more features to explore.  I noticed that geneablogger Diane on Nuts From the Family Tree is doing a similar "show and tell" to my posts.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/03/my-23andme-dna-test-results-post-3.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver