Becky Wiseman has a "Genealogist in the Library" report on the re-opening of the Allen County Public Library today - her report is at http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2007/01/allen-county-public-library-grand.html.
Read it, enjoy the pictures, and read the rest of Becky's great genealogy blog.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Scotland's one-stop online data repository
I read the news item in Dick Eastman's blog and also in Leland Meitzler's blog, -- the web site http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ for Scottish ancestral data sounded wonderful. While both blog posts indicated that the data was, for the most part, on a fee basis, they didn't say what the fees were.
I signed up (for free) easily - you fill in the form, including a username, and they send you an email with a password. You can then login, and change the password if you wish - it took about 2 minutes to do it all. Registering allowed me to check out the data offered, see sample images, and read the help pages. What does Scotland's People offer?
1) Old Parish Registers, 1553 to 1854 (depends on the parish of course) - Births and Baptisms, Marriages and Banns. These are the church records before Statutory Registration started. The images for these records were recently added, and this resulted in the Eastman and Meitzler blog posts.
2) Statutory Registers - Births (1855-1906), Marriages (1855-1931) and Deaths (1855-1956). These are the government registration efforts which started in 1855.
3) Census Records - 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901. These are the same years as the rest of the UK.
4) Wills and Testaments (1513-1901). The search of the index is FREE at this time. The actual documents are fee-based - they cost 25 credits (5 GBP, about US $10), page count doesn't matter.
The fee structure for 1), 2) and 3) is complex: each credit costs 20 pence (about USD $0.40).
* To view an index of your search is 1 credit per page (there are about 25 items per page).
* To view an image from the index costs 5 credits (1 GBP, about US $2). The exception is an 1881 census transcription, which is only 1 credit.
If you have Scottish ancestry, this is obviously the easiest, and probably the cheapest, way to search for your people in the records. Having this site, and being so user-friendly and easy-to-use, will likely put all of the genealogists who used to do lookups by mail out of business.
There is really nothing like "being there" at least once to trod the green hills, see the blue lakes and walk the graveyards. We visited Edinburgh and St. Andrews in 1993, but I didn't have Scottish ancestry, or a known friend with it, at the time. I do now - my cousins in Salem NH have Scottish ancestry on their grandfather's side - Wood is the surname, and there are lots of them in the Indexes! Now I can tell them that they can do the research from home in their pajamas...maybe they'll ask me to do it for them. I love a challenge.
I signed up (for free) easily - you fill in the form, including a username, and they send you an email with a password. You can then login, and change the password if you wish - it took about 2 minutes to do it all. Registering allowed me to check out the data offered, see sample images, and read the help pages. What does Scotland's People offer?
The specific databases include:The surname search on the Homepage is free and covers all records, allowing you to check how many records of a particular surname appear in the various datasets, before you commit to payment.
Access to the index of wills and testaments is free of charge. Viewing full-colour, actual size digital images of an original will, testament or inventory costs 5GBP per document, regardless of length.
Access to statutory, OPR and census indexes costs 6GBP. For this fee, you will receive 30 "page credits" which are valid for 90 consecutive days. Viewing a page of index results costs 1 credit and each page will contain up to 25 search results. Viewing an image costs 5 credits (equivalent to 1GBP).
Your session begins when payment has been authorised and additional credits may be purchased in 6GBP increments. The session will restart with each new credit purchase.
1) Old Parish Registers, 1553 to 1854 (depends on the parish of course) - Births and Baptisms, Marriages and Banns. These are the church records before Statutory Registration started. The images for these records were recently added, and this resulted in the Eastman and Meitzler blog posts.
2) Statutory Registers - Births (1855-1906), Marriages (1855-1931) and Deaths (1855-1956). These are the government registration efforts which started in 1855.
3) Census Records - 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901. These are the same years as the rest of the UK.
4) Wills and Testaments (1513-1901). The search of the index is FREE at this time. The actual documents are fee-based - they cost 25 credits (5 GBP, about US $10), page count doesn't matter.
The fee structure for 1), 2) and 3) is complex: each credit costs 20 pence (about USD $0.40).
* To view an index of your search is 1 credit per page (there are about 25 items per page).
* To view an image from the index costs 5 credits (1 GBP, about US $2). The exception is an 1881 census transcription, which is only 1 credit.
If you have Scottish ancestry, this is obviously the easiest, and probably the cheapest, way to search for your people in the records. Having this site, and being so user-friendly and easy-to-use, will likely put all of the genealogists who used to do lookups by mail out of business.
There is really nothing like "being there" at least once to trod the green hills, see the blue lakes and walk the graveyards. We visited Edinburgh and St. Andrews in 1993, but I didn't have Scottish ancestry, or a known friend with it, at the time. I do now - my cousins in Salem NH have Scottish ancestry on their grandfather's side - Wood is the surname, and there are lots of them in the Indexes! Now I can tell them that they can do the research from home in their pajamas...maybe they'll ask me to do it for them. I love a challenge.
CVGS Program on Monday
Calling all San Diego area genealogy buffs - are you coming to the Chula Vista Genealogical Society (CVGS) meeting on Monday, 29 January at 10 AM in the Chula Vista Civic Center Library (365 F Street, Chula Vista) Auditorium? We hope to see you there. Guests and visitors are welcome.
Our speaker will be Gena Philibert Ortega on "Cemeteries and Their Secrets." Gena's presentation will provide an overview of American cemetery history, how and where to find cemetery records and tombstone symbolism. Her web site is at http://www.yourfamilyhistoryresearch.com/.
I will post a report on the meeting and the presentation on Monday evening.
The CVGS web page at http://www.rootsweb.com/~cacvgs2/ has more information about the society activities. We are a small society of about 80 members, but we routinely have 40% to 50% of our members at our monthly meetings.
Our speaker will be Gena Philibert Ortega on "Cemeteries and Their Secrets." Gena's presentation will provide an overview of American cemetery history, how and where to find cemetery records and tombstone symbolism. Her web site is at http://www.yourfamilyhistoryresearch.com/.
I will post a report on the meeting and the presentation on Monday evening.
The CVGS web page at http://www.rootsweb.com/~cacvgs2/ has more information about the society activities. We are a small society of about 80 members, but we routinely have 40% to 50% of our members at our monthly meetings.
Friday, January 26, 2007
How in the world did this happen to me?
I've given a lot of thought to the people who have helped me get to where I am in my genealogy research and the genealogy community. I finally realized it was many people, and that without each contribution I wouldn't know as much as I do, or even be doing the research today. The ones that stand out (in no particular order):
1) My uncle Edward R. Seaver (my father's only brother) took the time to sit with me for two hours on a rainy day in Leominster, Mass. in July 1982 and patiently answer my questions about the family, including his childhood and life story. Who, what, when, where. We went through the photo albums and family papers that he had. I was smart enough to make a cassette tape of the conversation! Over the next few years, he encouraged me to look deeper into the family history, and occasionally sent "goodies" to me - the prize being the Civil War pension file of my great-great-grandfather, Isaac Seaver (my only Civil War soldier).
2) My aunt Marion (Seaver) (Braithwaite) Hemphill (the oldest of my father's siblings) put together a Seaver genealogy when she was a schoolteacher in the 1950's, using published sources and her own family knowledge. I made several tapes with her over the years. She loved reading my yearly family newsletters and gave me some unique family pictures.
3) My aunt Geraldine (Seaver) Remley (the youngest of my father's siblings) has been a fount of knowledge about the family. She made three hour-long tapes in 1990 telling everything she knew about the extended family and her own life. She lived with her mother until she died, and knew all the family secrets. I still visit Aunt Gerry (she lives in Maine) and we talk about the family, look at pictures, and share great memories.
4) My mother, Betty (Carringer) Seaver, saved all of the "treasures" handed down from her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, including pictures, family papers, family Bibles. She was an only child of only children, and the stuff just accumulated (thank goodness!). In the years before she died, we would sit and go over a handful of photos trying to identify people and times, or just talk about the kind of people her parents and grandparents were. I found things in the closets when we sold the house that are priceless - the account books, the land deeds, the wills and other papers.
5) The patient staff people at the San Diego Family History Center, especially Ray Dawley. They taught me the ropes for several years, and I was a willing student. I went almost every Saturday from 1988 to 2003 - ordering microfilms, reading and copying records, etc. I think that access to primary information in original records on microfilm (e.g., probate records, land records, town records) has been the most help in my genealogy research in proving relationships.
6) My wife, Angel Linda, who has encouraged and supported me all these years - knowing that this is a wholesome hobby/obsession that will promote family interest and unity. We usually take a genealogy vacation every year and she is really good at finding folks hiding in graveyards, and she loves meeting and talking with cousins and other researchers. She doesn't really like repositories, so she usually goes shopping or sits by a pool and talks to people when I go to a library on our trips.
7) A number of researchers who were on the Prodigy computer service in 1992-1993. The names I recall include Linda Turcotte, Carrie Cote, Dot Griebel, hmmm, a blank mind - I know I've left important people out here, sorry about that. The Massachusetts genealogy board was real active and many in this group lived in Massachusetts and helped many of us find records, took pictures of gravestones, etc. It was a wonderful group of people - when we all left Prodigy, we stayed together via a round-robin package of papers for over two years. Many went on to other computer services. It was great to be in a community of active researchers with similar interests.
8) My colleagues at the Chula Vista Genealogical Society. I started attending meetings in 1993, and have given about 15 presentations to the society since then. We have a wonderful group of people who have become friends and colleagues, and the group is growing. We started a research group in 2003 (my first year on the Board) and that has helped many of our members solve some of their research problems and also become better researchers. Leading the research group led me to hunting for genealogy news, thereby reading blogs, and voila, here I am, with one of my own.
One of my favorite sayings is "There are things that happen in a second that take a lifetime to explain." This certainly applies to family relationships and genealogy research.
How about you? Think about who has really helped you in your genealogy journey, and blog about it. Then submit your post to the Carnival of Genealogy at http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_346.html by January 31.
1) My uncle Edward R. Seaver (my father's only brother) took the time to sit with me for two hours on a rainy day in Leominster, Mass. in July 1982 and patiently answer my questions about the family, including his childhood and life story. Who, what, when, where. We went through the photo albums and family papers that he had. I was smart enough to make a cassette tape of the conversation! Over the next few years, he encouraged me to look deeper into the family history, and occasionally sent "goodies" to me - the prize being the Civil War pension file of my great-great-grandfather, Isaac Seaver (my only Civil War soldier).
2) My aunt Marion (Seaver) (Braithwaite) Hemphill (the oldest of my father's siblings) put together a Seaver genealogy when she was a schoolteacher in the 1950's, using published sources and her own family knowledge. I made several tapes with her over the years. She loved reading my yearly family newsletters and gave me some unique family pictures.
3) My aunt Geraldine (Seaver) Remley (the youngest of my father's siblings) has been a fount of knowledge about the family. She made three hour-long tapes in 1990 telling everything she knew about the extended family and her own life. She lived with her mother until she died, and knew all the family secrets. I still visit Aunt Gerry (she lives in Maine) and we talk about the family, look at pictures, and share great memories.
4) My mother, Betty (Carringer) Seaver, saved all of the "treasures" handed down from her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, including pictures, family papers, family Bibles. She was an only child of only children, and the stuff just accumulated (thank goodness!). In the years before she died, we would sit and go over a handful of photos trying to identify people and times, or just talk about the kind of people her parents and grandparents were. I found things in the closets when we sold the house that are priceless - the account books, the land deeds, the wills and other papers.
5) The patient staff people at the San Diego Family History Center, especially Ray Dawley. They taught me the ropes for several years, and I was a willing student. I went almost every Saturday from 1988 to 2003 - ordering microfilms, reading and copying records, etc. I think that access to primary information in original records on microfilm (e.g., probate records, land records, town records) has been the most help in my genealogy research in proving relationships.
6) My wife, Angel Linda, who has encouraged and supported me all these years - knowing that this is a wholesome hobby/obsession that will promote family interest and unity. We usually take a genealogy vacation every year and she is really good at finding folks hiding in graveyards, and she loves meeting and talking with cousins and other researchers. She doesn't really like repositories, so she usually goes shopping or sits by a pool and talks to people when I go to a library on our trips.
7) A number of researchers who were on the Prodigy computer service in 1992-1993. The names I recall include Linda Turcotte, Carrie Cote, Dot Griebel, hmmm, a blank mind - I know I've left important people out here, sorry about that. The Massachusetts genealogy board was real active and many in this group lived in Massachusetts and helped many of us find records, took pictures of gravestones, etc. It was a wonderful group of people - when we all left Prodigy, we stayed together via a round-robin package of papers for over two years. Many went on to other computer services. It was great to be in a community of active researchers with similar interests.
8) My colleagues at the Chula Vista Genealogical Society. I started attending meetings in 1993, and have given about 15 presentations to the society since then. We have a wonderful group of people who have become friends and colleagues, and the group is growing. We started a research group in 2003 (my first year on the Board) and that has helped many of our members solve some of their research problems and also become better researchers. Leading the research group led me to hunting for genealogy news, thereby reading blogs, and voila, here I am, with one of my own.
One of my favorite sayings is "There are things that happen in a second that take a lifetime to explain." This certainly applies to family relationships and genealogy research.
How about you? Think about who has really helped you in your genealogy journey, and blog about it. Then submit your post to the Carnival of Genealogy at http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_346.html by January 31.
Copyright and Fair Use
A post by "Canterbury5" at http://www.yourbrotherkings.com/?p=176 has summarized the current copyright provisions, and how they've developed, based on the US government information at http://www.whoishostingthis.com/resources/copyright-guide/. It is extremely complicated, and has changed often over the years. I thought I would explain how I'm trying to apply the provisions below.
As long-time readers of this blog know, I occasionally excerpt lines or paragraphs from newspaper articles or web sites. I try to capture the essence of the work, and link to the source. I use my judgment as to how much is "fair use" and have had no complaints yet.
In my own genealogy research, I have transcribed whole pages from pre-1900 published works into my ancestral database notes, and as far as I can tell, I'm allowed to do so. But I've struggled to apply "fair use" to more modern works, especially those multi-ancestor works that address more than one ancestor of mine.
For example, the multi-volume work "The Great Migration Begins," and the subsequent multi-volume work "The Great Migration, 1634-1635," all edited by Robert Charles Anderson and published by NEHGS, have numerous "sketches" of ancestors of mine. Each sketch uses original sources with primary information, some of which are difficult to find. They summarize the English origins, immigration, spouses, children and life events of each person. They are marvelous works. So how do I deal with that?
At present, I try to do the following in my notes:
1) Clearly credit the Anderson books with providing leads to original sources and primary information.
2) Attempt to find the original source material (almost always on microfilm from the FHL) and copy it.
3) Use my own words to summarize the original source material, or quote it directly, and cite the source completely.
I think that this is acceptable, but I haven't tried to explain it before or ask the author or publisher if that would be acceptable. I have not successfully completed my three steps above for many of my own ancestors - the notes in the database parrot Anderson's sketches until I have the chance to find the original source material and modify my notes appropriately.
I have self-published some of my work, and have provided copies of it on paper and CDROM, but only to my family. I hope to finish my work at some time and place books in local and genealogy libraries. At present, my sources are embedded in my database notes rather than in a source citation format, and I'm slowly trying to correct that, but it is difficult with thousands of ancestors in my database (I'm not complaining, of course, that I'm blessed with New England ancestry).
I often think "if only I knew then what I know now" I would have cited sources, found more primary source information, etc. over the first 10 years of my ancestral search and database entry!
What do you think? Are my three steps above satisfactory? How have you addressed this issue?
As long-time readers of this blog know, I occasionally excerpt lines or paragraphs from newspaper articles or web sites. I try to capture the essence of the work, and link to the source. I use my judgment as to how much is "fair use" and have had no complaints yet.
In my own genealogy research, I have transcribed whole pages from pre-1900 published works into my ancestral database notes, and as far as I can tell, I'm allowed to do so. But I've struggled to apply "fair use" to more modern works, especially those multi-ancestor works that address more than one ancestor of mine.
For example, the multi-volume work "The Great Migration Begins," and the subsequent multi-volume work "The Great Migration, 1634-1635," all edited by Robert Charles Anderson and published by NEHGS, have numerous "sketches" of ancestors of mine. Each sketch uses original sources with primary information, some of which are difficult to find. They summarize the English origins, immigration, spouses, children and life events of each person. They are marvelous works. So how do I deal with that?
At present, I try to do the following in my notes:
1) Clearly credit the Anderson books with providing leads to original sources and primary information.
2) Attempt to find the original source material (almost always on microfilm from the FHL) and copy it.
3) Use my own words to summarize the original source material, or quote it directly, and cite the source completely.
I think that this is acceptable, but I haven't tried to explain it before or ask the author or publisher if that would be acceptable. I have not successfully completed my three steps above for many of my own ancestors - the notes in the database parrot Anderson's sketches until I have the chance to find the original source material and modify my notes appropriately.
I have self-published some of my work, and have provided copies of it on paper and CDROM, but only to my family. I hope to finish my work at some time and place books in local and genealogy libraries. At present, my sources are embedded in my database notes rather than in a source citation format, and I'm slowly trying to correct that, but it is difficult with thousands of ancestors in my database (I'm not complaining, of course, that I'm blessed with New England ancestry).
I often think "if only I knew then what I know now" I would have cited sources, found more primary source information, etc. over the first 10 years of my ancestral search and database entry!
What do you think? Are my three steps above satisfactory? How have you addressed this issue?
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Free Databases on ancestry.com
What a great idea for a web site! http://www.freeonancestry.com/ lists all of the databases that are FREE on www.Ancestry.com. I assume that they will keep it up-to-date.
Looking through the list, the most notable databases (most with images of the records) are:
1) England, Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man census for 1881 and 1901.
2) England and Wales Civil Registration (Birth, Marriage, Death) indexes, 1837-1983, and 1984 to 2004.
3) 1880 US Federal Census Records
4) World War I Draft Registration Records
There are many more, in categories of US, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Other countries, Surnames, and Research Guides and Tools. Go browse through them all at http://www.freeonancestry.com/.
You might add it to your Favorites or Bookmarks and try to visit every week or so to see what freebies have been added.
Hat tip to Leland Meitzler at www.genealogyblog.com.
Looking through the list, the most notable databases (most with images of the records) are:
1) England, Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man census for 1881 and 1901.
2) England and Wales Civil Registration (Birth, Marriage, Death) indexes, 1837-1983, and 1984 to 2004.
3) 1880 US Federal Census Records
4) World War I Draft Registration Records
There are many more, in categories of US, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Other countries, Surnames, and Research Guides and Tools. Go browse through them all at http://www.freeonancestry.com/.
You might add it to your Favorites or Bookmarks and try to visit every week or so to see what freebies have been added.
Hat tip to Leland Meitzler at www.genealogyblog.com.
Tagging Right Along
As of tonight, we have had 34 genea-bloggers reveal their "5 Things That Nobody Knows About Me" semi-secrets. some have been funny, some serious, some very short and some very long. Many have told stories behind the secrets. A list of links to the genea-blogger secrets is at http://randysmusings.blogspot.com/2007/01/theyve-been-tagged.html.
I imagine we've missed several genea-bloggers with this, and I invite them to post even though they weren't tagged. If you do post your "5 Things," please let me know via comment or email (rjseaver(at)cox.net).
Any candidates for the:
1) Best secret posted?
2) Funniest secret posted?
3) Longest secret posted?
4) Most revealing secret posted?
5) Most intriguing secret posted?
If so, please blog about them, or comment on this post, or send me an email at rjseaver(at)cox.net. If you want to add a category, please do so - hey, we're bloggers and we can do what we want, right? Freedom is wonderful!
I have my own candidates, and I'll share them later in an update.
I imagine we've missed several genea-bloggers with this, and I invite them to post even though they weren't tagged. If you do post your "5 Things," please let me know via comment or email (rjseaver(at)cox.net).
Any candidates for the:
1) Best secret posted?
2) Funniest secret posted?
3) Longest secret posted?
4) Most revealing secret posted?
5) Most intriguing secret posted?
If so, please blog about them, or comment on this post, or send me an email at rjseaver(at)cox.net. If you want to add a category, please do so - hey, we're bloggers and we can do what we want, right? Freedom is wonderful!
I have my own candidates, and I'll share them later in an update.
Check out GenealogyToday databases
There are commercial sites, such as Ancestry.com, which have many of the major databases that can be used to find information about our ancestors. Typically, these sites include census, military, immigration, newspaper, vital and other records.
The web site http://genealogytoday.com/ specializes in some of the more obscure databases - and they may contain the fact that you need to unlock your brick wall problem. A summary of what's available on the site is at http://www.genealogytoday.com/info/site-intro.html.
The main databases include:
* The Family Connection (subscribe to see data)
* Military Roots Project
* Acadian - Cajun Research (subscribe to see data)
* Missing Persons Registry
* First Name Basis
* New England Early Genealogy (subscribe to see data)
* GenWeekly newsletter archive (subscribe to see content)
* several others
The Special Collection databases include:
* Funeral Cards (20,900 names)
* Railroad Employees (subscribe to see data)
* World War 2 Ration Books (2,500 names)
* Criminal Records (subscribe to see data)
* Business Cards (950 names)
You can search the index for all databases for free. However, you must register to see results from the free databases, and subscribe to see the not-free databases. It appears that each subscription database is priced separately.
There is also an Online Guide to Genealogy that contains a wealth of good information in the categories of Getting Started, Family History, Research Tools and Advanced Topics. There are four regular monthly columnists. There are also two genealogy blogs - http://www.genweekly.com/ and http://www.saveourgenealogy.com/.
Illya D'Addezio has built a very nice site with unique resources. I advise that you take a look at it - enter your "problem children" into the search engine and see if it's a site that can help you.
The web site http://genealogytoday.com/ specializes in some of the more obscure databases - and they may contain the fact that you need to unlock your brick wall problem. A summary of what's available on the site is at http://www.genealogytoday.com/info/site-intro.html.
The main databases include:
* The Family Connection (subscribe to see data)
* Military Roots Project
* Acadian - Cajun Research (subscribe to see data)
* Missing Persons Registry
* First Name Basis
* New England Early Genealogy (subscribe to see data)
* GenWeekly newsletter archive (subscribe to see content)
* several others
The Special Collection databases include:
* Funeral Cards (20,900 names)
* Railroad Employees (subscribe to see data)
* World War 2 Ration Books (2,500 names)
* Criminal Records (subscribe to see data)
* Business Cards (950 names)
You can search the index for all databases for free. However, you must register to see results from the free databases, and subscribe to see the not-free databases. It appears that each subscription database is priced separately.
There is also an Online Guide to Genealogy that contains a wealth of good information in the categories of Getting Started, Family History, Research Tools and Advanced Topics. There are four regular monthly columnists. There are also two genealogy blogs - http://www.genweekly.com/ and http://www.saveourgenealogy.com/.
Illya D'Addezio has built a very nice site with unique resources. I advise that you take a look at it - enter your "problem children" into the search engine and see if it's a site that can help you.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Oprah's Roots
I just finished watching the PBS show about Oprah Winfrey's roots. I thought it was exceptionally well done as a story - telling about her life, her parents, and then getting into the real genealogy search for the earlier generations. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. narrated the show and was the teller of "genealogy news" to Oprah.
Her Winfrey line included men who owned land after the Civil War in Mississippi, founded schools for Negroes in the early 1900's, and took part in civil rights activities in the 1960's. Oprah felt a pride in these accomplishments, and rightly so.
Some of the research was done by professional researchers like genealogists Tony Burroughs and Jane Ailes, and historian John Thornton. They showed census records, land mortgages, town records, marriage records and the like to determine relationships. This was the most interesting part of the show for me.
As a genealogist, I wish that they had shown more research than the two family lines back into the 1800's, rather than tell her own life story. The Winfrey line was very well documented and shows what can be done to research back to 1870, and, with some luck, to find a probable slave master in the 1850 and 1860 census. They also found a Lee slave master in the same time period, but they didn't show the details of the ancestry.
The last 15 minutes of the show was about DNA research. They postulated that her matrilineal ancestor came from western Africa (Senegal down to Liberia) or from Angola, based on the known slave trade into South Carolina. Using Oprah's mitochondrial DNA (from the matrilineal line), they found a match with people in Liberia, and Oprah immediately felt a connection to that area.
I'm wondering why they didn't tell us about her father's ancestry. Her father is still alive, and could have provided a DNA sample to allow a similar trace on her patrilineal line. Perhaps there were no close matches, or the matches were inconclusive. Maybe it was simply that they didn't have enough time - one story was told, Oprah is Liberian, that's enough, don't confuse everybody else.
While Oprah thinks that she is Liberian based on the DNA test, the truth is that Liberia represents only one known ancestor out of 64 (6th generation, born perhaps around 1800) or 128 (7th generation, born perhaps around 1770) possible immigrant ancestors (depending on when her slave ancestors came to America). Many more may be Liberian, but some may come from other areas of Africa. Of course, those lines can't be traced unless you can find patrilineal or matrilineal lines through known cousins or other relatives.
Did you see the show? What were your thoughts?
UPDATE: Read Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak's review of the companion book at http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=968#more-968. There are more details in the book, of course. I had not read Megan's review before I watched the show.
Her Winfrey line included men who owned land after the Civil War in Mississippi, founded schools for Negroes in the early 1900's, and took part in civil rights activities in the 1960's. Oprah felt a pride in these accomplishments, and rightly so.
Some of the research was done by professional researchers like genealogists Tony Burroughs and Jane Ailes, and historian John Thornton. They showed census records, land mortgages, town records, marriage records and the like to determine relationships. This was the most interesting part of the show for me.
As a genealogist, I wish that they had shown more research than the two family lines back into the 1800's, rather than tell her own life story. The Winfrey line was very well documented and shows what can be done to research back to 1870, and, with some luck, to find a probable slave master in the 1850 and 1860 census. They also found a Lee slave master in the same time period, but they didn't show the details of the ancestry.
The last 15 minutes of the show was about DNA research. They postulated that her matrilineal ancestor came from western Africa (Senegal down to Liberia) or from Angola, based on the known slave trade into South Carolina. Using Oprah's mitochondrial DNA (from the matrilineal line), they found a match with people in Liberia, and Oprah immediately felt a connection to that area.
I'm wondering why they didn't tell us about her father's ancestry. Her father is still alive, and could have provided a DNA sample to allow a similar trace on her patrilineal line. Perhaps there were no close matches, or the matches were inconclusive. Maybe it was simply that they didn't have enough time - one story was told, Oprah is Liberian, that's enough, don't confuse everybody else.
While Oprah thinks that she is Liberian based on the DNA test, the truth is that Liberia represents only one known ancestor out of 64 (6th generation, born perhaps around 1800) or 128 (7th generation, born perhaps around 1770) possible immigrant ancestors (depending on when her slave ancestors came to America). Many more may be Liberian, but some may come from other areas of Africa. Of course, those lines can't be traced unless you can find patrilineal or matrilineal lines through known cousins or other relatives.
Did you see the show? What were your thoughts?
UPDATE: Read Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak's review of the companion book at http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=968#more-968. There are more details in the book, of course. I had not read Megan's review before I watched the show.
Research Group meeting today
The Chula Vista Genealogical Society has a monthly research group where we discuss genealogy and family history research methods, successes and problems. The usual format is to review genealogy news of the past month, have the attendees describe their research problems or ask questions, then tell success stories and show treasures recently found or obtained.
Today, we changed the format a bit. After the news, we tried to watch one segment from www.RootsTelevision.com on a laptop/projector setup. The system worked well, but the library's wireless signal was weak in the conference room. During the problem discussions, we showed a number of web sites that might help our members find online resources. We will do more of this each month, I think, and hope that the signal problems can be ironed out.
I usually gather the "news" from my own, Eastman's and Meitzler's blogs. I concentrate on new web sites, new databases and library news. I then email it to our members after the meeting so that everyone in the society can benefit from it. One of the web sites was Geni.com, and we found that one of our members had signed up and put his data on the site already.
The problems or questions raised today included:
1) How do I find a family in the 1880 census that is not correctly enumerated or indexed? We discussed using a given name search, with birthplace, birth year, and location (if known), or using wild cards for the given name and surname, on Ancestry.com.
2) What do I do when birth dates in family records conflict with other records? We recommended evaluating all available evidence, and giving more weight to primary information (such as a birth record), or secondary information produced close to the event (such as the first census with the person on it).
3) How do I find Denmark family data and parish records? We suggested visiting Denmark message boards online and checking the LDS FHL Catalog for record availability on microfilm.
4) Where do I look for vital records that are not online? The example was Wisconsin, which has pre-1907 and post-1973 data online, but not 1907 to 1973. We suggested looking at the LDS Research Guide for Wisconsin to determine the availability of records, and visit the Wisconsin USGenWeb page for access information, contact information and cost.
5) How do I find newspaper records in a distant location? We suggested using message boards asking for help, contacting local genealogy societies or libraries, and asking for help at www.raogk.com.
One member shared that my alert in December about Ancestry.com subscriptions at reduced prices led him to subscribe and he found many records as a result.
I shared finding the 1929 daily journal of my great-grandmother, and then I passed it around. One member was born in 1929, and asked what happened on his birthday - not much, they washed! Another member had found a composition book full of family recipes that she passed around.
All in all, it was a good session for our 12 attendees. Using this group, we have increased the research knowledge and critical thinking skills of many of our members.
Does your local society do something like this Research Group? Do you use a wireless hookup to show web sites and databases to help your members solve their problems?
Today, we changed the format a bit. After the news, we tried to watch one segment from www.RootsTelevision.com on a laptop/projector setup. The system worked well, but the library's wireless signal was weak in the conference room. During the problem discussions, we showed a number of web sites that might help our members find online resources. We will do more of this each month, I think, and hope that the signal problems can be ironed out.
I usually gather the "news" from my own, Eastman's and Meitzler's blogs. I concentrate on new web sites, new databases and library news. I then email it to our members after the meeting so that everyone in the society can benefit from it. One of the web sites was Geni.com, and we found that one of our members had signed up and put his data on the site already.
The problems or questions raised today included:
1) How do I find a family in the 1880 census that is not correctly enumerated or indexed? We discussed using a given name search, with birthplace, birth year, and location (if known), or using wild cards for the given name and surname, on Ancestry.com.
2) What do I do when birth dates in family records conflict with other records? We recommended evaluating all available evidence, and giving more weight to primary information (such as a birth record), or secondary information produced close to the event (such as the first census with the person on it).
3) How do I find Denmark family data and parish records? We suggested visiting Denmark message boards online and checking the LDS FHL Catalog for record availability on microfilm.
4) Where do I look for vital records that are not online? The example was Wisconsin, which has pre-1907 and post-1973 data online, but not 1907 to 1973. We suggested looking at the LDS Research Guide for Wisconsin to determine the availability of records, and visit the Wisconsin USGenWeb page for access information, contact information and cost.
5) How do I find newspaper records in a distant location? We suggested using message boards asking for help, contacting local genealogy societies or libraries, and asking for help at www.raogk.com.
One member shared that my alert in December about Ancestry.com subscriptions at reduced prices led him to subscribe and he found many records as a result.
I shared finding the 1929 daily journal of my great-grandmother, and then I passed it around. One member was born in 1929, and asked what happened on his birthday - not much, they washed! Another member had found a composition book full of family recipes that she passed around.
All in all, it was a good session for our 12 attendees. Using this group, we have increased the research knowledge and critical thinking skills of many of our members.
Does your local society do something like this Research Group? Do you use a wireless hookup to show web sites and databases to help your members solve their problems?
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