Saturday, October 15, 2011

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - The Ancestors GeneaMeme

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Hello, genea-world!  It's Saturday Night (in the USA!) -- time for some worldwide Genealogy Fun!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it is to:

1)  Participate in the Ancestors GeneaMeme created by Jill Ball on the Geniaus blog.

2)  Write your own blog post, or add your response as a comment to this blog post, in a Facebook Status post or note, or in a Google+ Stream item.

Thank you to Jill for the SNGF idea!  Jill is collecting Ancestors MeGeneaMeme entries too.

The rules, and the Meme list, is given below in my response.

Here's mine:

The Rules:

The list should be annotated in the following manner:

Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type

You are encouraged to add extra comments in brackets after each item


The Meme:
 
 
Which of these apply to you?

1.  Can name my 16 great-great-grandparents (from memory...)
2.  Can name over 50 direct ancestors (from memory, easier on paper...)
3.  Have photographs or portraits of my 8 great-grandparents
4.  Have an ancestor who was married more than three times (Rev. Stephen Bachiler is one...)
5.  Have an ancestor who was a bigamist (not found one yet)

6.  Met all four of my grandparents (did not meet my paternal grandfather, Frederick W. Seaver, who died in 1942)
7.  Met one or more of my great-grandparents (only Gerogia Kemp Auble, who died when I was 9)
8.  Named a child after an ancestor (gave first daughter middle name of "Lee" after her grandfather - not my ancestor)
9.  Bear an ancestor's given name/s (actually, I have a Randall Grosvenor in the 15th century - does that count?)
10.  Have an ancestor from Great Britain or Ireland (probably 90% of my ancestral lines go back to the British Isles)

11.  Have an ancestor from Asia (perhaps Genghis Khan, but I have no known link)
12.  Have an ancestor from Continental Europe
13.  Have an ancestor from Africa (well, not in the last 100 generations or so...)
14.  Have an ancestor who was an agricultural labourer (in the US and UK)
15.  Have an ancestor who had large land holdings (what's large?  Larger than 40 acres?  Yep.  Larger than 640 acres?  Probably.)

16.  Have an ancestor who was a holy man - minister, priest, rabbi (Jonathan Oatley in Killingly CT in 19th century, several more in 17th century)
17.  Have an ancestor who was a midwife (unsure)
18.  Have an ancestor who was an author (unsure)
19.  Have an ancestor with the surname Smith, Murphy or Jones (many Smiths, no Murphys, only one Jones line)
20.  Have an ancestor with the surname Wong, Kim, Suzuki or Ng (defintrely not!)

21.  Have an ancestor with a surname beginning with X
22.  Have an ancestor with a forename beginnining with Z (three generations of Zachariah Hildreths, and a Zechariah Barber)
23.  Have an ancestor born on 25th December
24.  Have an ancestor born on New Year's Day
25.  Have blue blood in your family lines (supposedly if Royal Descendants book is right)

26.  Have a parent who was born in a country different from my country of birth
27.  Have a grandparent who was born in a country different from my country of birth (nope, one great-grandparent born in Canada is the last one born in another country)
28.  Can trace a direct family line back to the eighteenth century (all but 3 or 4 of my 32 3rd great-grandparents
29.  Can trace a direct family line back to the seventeenth century or earlier (quite a few)
30.  Have seen copies of the signatures of some of my great-grandparents (Austin Carringer, Della smith, Georgia Kemp, Frank Seaver, Thomas Richmond)

31.  Have ancestors who signed their marriage certificate with an X (probably, but not that I know of)
32.  Have a grandparent or earlier ancestor who went to university (back in the 17th century??)
33. Have an ancestor who was convicted of a criminal offence (several are in Sex in Middlesex book)
34.  Have an ancestor who was a victim of crime (logic says someone in 12 generations must have been, not sure about this one)
35.  Have shared an ancestor's story online or in a magazine (probably in Genea-Musings...)

36.  Have published a family history online or in print (two books self=published and shared with faily)
37.  Have visited an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries (several in New England, and the Ranslow Smith Inn in Wisconsin)
38.  Still have an ancestor's home from the 19th or earlier centuries in the family (not in the family...the Ranslow Smith Inn in Wisconsin would qualify if I'd bought it)
39.  Have a family bible from the 19th Century (have Bible pages for births, marriages, deaths, but not the Bible)
40.  Have a pre-19th century family bible

Surname Saturday - YOUNG (England > Plymouth Colony)

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It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week. I am up to number 283, who is Ruth YOUNG (1688-????), one of my 6th-great-grandparents. [Note: The 6th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts]

My ancestral line back through three generations of YOUNG  families is:

1. Randall J. Seaver

2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)

4. Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942)
5. Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962)

8. Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922)
9. Hattie Louise Hildreth (1857-1920)

16. Isaac Seaver (1823-1901)
17. Lucretia Townsend Smith (1827-1884)

34. Alpheus B. Smith (1802-1840)
35. Elizabeth Horton Dill (1791-1869)

70. Thomas Dill (1755-after 1830)
71. Hannah Horton (1761-1797)

140. Thomas Dill (1708-1761)
141. Mehitable Brown (1714-1758)

282.  Samuel Brown was born about 1686 in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. He died on 3 May 1739 at the age of 53 in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. Samuel Brown were married on 21 October 1708 in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States.
283.  Ruth Young was born in 1688 in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. She died on 28 September 1768 at the age of 80 in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States.

Samuel Brown and Ruth Young had the following children:  Abigail Brown (1709-????); Samuel Brown (1711-1713); Samuel Brown (1713-1738); Mehitable Brown (1714-1758); Ruth Brown (1716-1794);

576.  John Young was born on 16 November 1649 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. He died 7 April 1692 in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. John Young married 16 November 1669 in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States:

577.  Ruth Cole was born on 15 April 1651 in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. She died after 20 November 1735 at the age of 84 in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States.

John Young and Ruth Cole had the following children: Mercy Young (1671-1753); Benjamin Young (1673-1734); Jonathan Young (1675-1755); Israel Young (1683-????); Ruth Young (1688-????); Barnabas Young (1690-1772); Jane Young (1691-????); Abigail Young (1694-1781).

1152.  John Young was born about 1624 in England. He died on 28 January 1690/1 at the age of 67 in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. John Young married 13 December 1648 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States.
1153.  Abigail Howland was born about 1629 in probably Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. She died on 7 April 1692 at the age of 63 in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States.

John Young and Abigail Howland had the following children:  John Young (1649-1692); Joseph Young (1651-1651); Joseph Young (1654-1722); Nathaniel Young (1656-1706); Mary Young (1658-????); Abigail Young (1660-1715); David Young (1662-1745); Lydia Young (1664-????); Robert Young (1667-1742); Henry Young (1669-1670); Henry Young (1672-1706).

I know that there is a series of articles in the Mayflower Descendant, Volume 54 and following, but I have not yet captured those documents, or the documents they cite, yet.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Follow-Up Friday - Is there a limit on Media files in Family Tree Maker?

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Judy commented in my post Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 4: Census Source Citation Comparison:

"Like you, I download the census (or other documents) files and attach them to a person. I currently use FTM 2011 but may upgrade to 2012. Can you comment on the “bogging down” of the program that attaching a lot of files causes. Is there any limit to the amount of media you can import? How does RootsMagic 4 compare to FTM in this regard? "

I don't think that there's any limit to the number of media items you can import - other than your computer hard drive capacity.  Since FTM 2011 and other modern programs only create a text link to your document files (on your computer), there is not a problem with file size caused by media items.  That wasn't the case with FTM 16 and earlier - the media items were included in the database file itself, which bloated the file size and slowed down loading the database. 

FTM 2011 and 2012 are slow at start up for me, and during program operation - I think it's because of the number of persons, notes, sources, etc. that are in the database.  I wait more than 30 seconds now for FTM 2012 to start up because I have over 40,000 persons in my database, and have only a few media items. 

RootsMagic 4 opens quickly (with the same number of persons, notes, sources, etc. in the database) - within five seconds. 

Follow Friday - Weekend Genealogy Fun

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Here are my recommendations for some Genealogy Fun this weekend:

1) Listen to Geneabloggers Radio tonight (Friday night, 10 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. CT, 8 p.m. MT and 7 p.m. PT) hosted by Thomas MacEntee. This week's topic is "Bring Out Your Dead! Cemeteries and Genealogy."The special guests include:

Brett Atlas and Scott Kroeger, founders of RestingSpot.com, a unique combination of mobile and web technologies you can use to preserve the legacy of loved ones for generations to come;
Lisa Swanson Ellam of The Faces of My Family blog, who is trained in the art of cemetery preservation and tombstone restoration. Wait until you hear Lisa’s recent story about a restoration project – talk about genealogical serendipity!

2) Listen to the FGS Radio - My Society show on Saturday (2 p.m. ET, 1 p.m. CT, 12 noon MT, 11 a.m. PT) hosted by Thomas MacEntee this week. The topic is  "Flip-Pal™ Mobile Scanner and Your Genealogy Society." The special guest is:

*   Walt Grady of Couragent, Inc., the innovative maker of the Flip-Pal™ Mobile Scanner. We’ll discuss how the Flip-Pal scanner can be used to not only help digitize your society’s holding but also to increase your society’s membership or bring in additional income.

In addition, we’ll be highlighting FGS member society, German Genealogy Group in our weekly Society Spotlight feature.
3) Check out the recent Webinars on:

*   Exploring FamilyLink.com and WorldVitalRecords.com by their founder, Paul Allen. (Legacy Family Tree)
* "Newspapers for Genealogists: Using GenealogyBank.com to document every day of your ancestors' lives" with Tom Kemp. (Legacy Family Tree)
* "Organizng for Success" with Karen Clifford (Legacy Family Tree)
* "The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships," with Ugo Perugo (Legacy Family Tree)
* "Leveraging the Power of "We": a Watershed Event in Discovering Where to Find Your Ancestors (Research Wiki, Research Courses, and FamilySearch Forums)," with Michael Ritchey (Legacy Family Tree).

* RootsMagic Webinars (all free) available at http://www.rootsmagic.com/Webinars/

* National Genealogical Society (NGS) Videos (some are free to view) at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/videos_online

* Thomas MacEntee's Explorinar on Easy Website Creation (free to view).
* Thomas MacEntee's Explorinar on Evernote - Easy Note Taking UPDATED (free to view)

4) Respond to my Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge, posted on www.geneamusings.com soon after 12 noon Pacific time (that's 1900 GMT for those who understand time zones).

5) Go to a local genealogical society program. I'm not going to the CGSSD meeting on Saturday because I will be out of town.

6) Go to a local or close repository with genealogy and family history material. Do some research in traditional resources or order FamilySearch microfilms online with original source records.

7) do some online research in the latest record collections at FamilySearch (free, https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/list), Ancestry ($$, http://www.ancestry.com/cs/reccol/default), Fold3 ($$, www.fold3.com), WorldVitalRecords ($$, www.WorldVitalRecords.com), American Ancestors ($$, www.AmericanAncestors.org), GenealogyBank ($$, www.GenealogyBank.com), etc.

8) Add material (names, dates, places, notes, images, sources, etc.) to your genealogy software program. I still have three inches of paper collected from my vacation, and will try to enter some of it into my database this weekend.

9) Spend time with your family doing fun things.  I'm off to Santa Cruz on Thursday to spend the weekend with my daughter and two grandsons.  I'll try really hard to make some good family history!

10) Go to a local cemetery and clean stones, take gravestone pictures, or transcribe epitaphs for your local society, for Find-a-Grave, or a similar online service.

Whatever you decide, please tell us about your genealogy endeavors on a social network or in a blog post. You never know when your experiences may stimulate or encourage others to do useful genealogy work.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 Compendium

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This post is my list of the posts written in the Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 series, including several posts leading up to the series:

Family Tree Maker 2012 TreeSync - Differences Between Online and Desktop Trees (26 September 2011)

Family Tree Maker 2012 TreeSync - Questions Answered (27 September 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 1: Loading and Syncing (5 October 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 2: Syncing Both Ways (6 October 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 3: Syncing an Existing Ancestry Member Tree (10 October 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 4: Census Source Citation Comparison (11 October 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 5: Importing and Exporting Media Files with GEDCOM (12 October 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 6: Understanding Media Items (13 October 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 7: More GEDCOM Trials (17 October 2011)

Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 8: Receiving and Installing a GEDCOM File (18 October 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 9: The "Ahnentafel Report" (24 October 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 10: Making an Ancestral Family Book - Part 1 (25 October 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 11: Making an Ancestral Family Book - Part 2 (26 October 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 12: How Big a Book Can It Make? (27 October 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 13: Making a Direct-Line Descendants Chart (28 October 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 14: Making Descendant Charts (31 October 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 15: Creating an Ancestor Name List Report (1 November 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 16: Creating a Timeline Report (2 November 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 17: Creating a Vital Record Certificate Source Citation (3 November 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 18: Creating a Vital Record Register Source Citation (4 November 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 19: Creating U.S. Census Source Citations (7 November 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 20: Using a Generic Source Citation Template (8 November 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 21: Creating a Cemetery Grave Marker Source (9 November 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 22: Creating a Civil War Pension File Source (10 November 2011)

Follow-Up Friday - Responses to Family Tree Maker 2012 Series Comments (11 November 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 23: Using an Existing Source Title (14 November 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 24: Adding a Media Item (15 November 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 25: Doing a Web Search -Case 1 (17 November 2011)

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 26: Doing a Web Search - Case 1 - Attaching an Image (18 November 2011)

There are many threads on the Family Tree Maker Software Message Board about Family Tree Maker 2012 features and problems - see http://boards.rootsweb.com/topics.software.famtreemaker/mb.ashx?dc=50.

Russ Worthington on his FTM User blog has written many blog posts about Family tree Maker 2012, including some of the above topics.

I will try to keep this list updated.

Last update: 18 November 2011

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 6: Understanding Media Items

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In comments on Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 5: Importing and Exporting Media Files with GEDCOM, genea-bloggers Russ Worthington (Family Tree Maker User) and Caroline Gurney (Caro's Family Chronicles), have been trying to educate me on Media items and how they work with FTM 2012. 

Caroline noted:

"Randy, A GEDCOM file only includes the file pathways for the media, not the media themselves. In your first example, the GEDCOM contained the filepaths for the two media, which were presumably somewhere on your computer. So when you opened the GEDCOM in FTM 2012, the program was able to find the media from the filepaths..."

Yes, for the first example in my post (call it "Scenario 1" - read a GEDCOM into FTM 2012), the Media items were in my computer file folders.  They were also in my computer file folders for the second example (call it "Scenario 2" - sync an existing AMT into FTM 2012).  But when I created a GEDCOM file in FTM 2012 from the "Scenario 2" database, and tried to include the Media item links, the Media item links that should have been there were not included when I imported that GEDCOM into FTM 2012 - and not in the Media workspace or the /Family Tree Maker/"New Database 2"/Media computer file.

Russ noted:

"Since you can open any GEDCOM file in a word processing program or another genealogy program, there will be NO media files in that GEDCOM file.  This just gets the DATA from one place to another. The GEDCOM 5.5.1 and FTM2012's version of a GEDCOM only adds LINKS to the images that are in FTM2012.  Oh, this is the same from any other of the Genealogy Programs that I have tested in this specific area. GEDCOM = NO Media / Image files.

"What has to happen if you want Images in that "new" created from a GEDCOM is to get the Media files from one place to another or one program to another.  FTM2012 has the Find Missing Media option, and / or the CTRL+F5 option, but IF those media files are NOT on the SAME computer, the CTRL+F2 won't find the media files.

So, and maybe this is the mis-understanding here, and I'll blog about it shortly, is to package up those Media Files and transport them to the other PC, other user. Bundle that Media Folder into a ZIP file might work. But those media files must be sent to the other PC, or other User.  Just watch the Upload or Download to Ancestry.com. With FTM2011, we could download the Family Tree Maker "friendly" files from that AMT. That is a two step process. Data then Media. That happens now in FTM2012, Data then Media.  Getting the Media to another PC, another Program has to follow the same process.

"I think you will find that Roots Magic does the same thing. Create a GEDCOM from RM4, and look at the GEDCOM file. Are there any IMAGES in that GEDCOM? Don't think so. But, you WILL find, if my memory serves me correct, Links to those images, just like FTM2012."


Russ is right here - there are only links to Media items in files on my computer in a GEDCOM file, not the Media items themselves.  A user will have to transfer the Media files to any other computer or another user in order to share them.

From the above conversation (which I greatly appreciate), my conclusions are:

* Scenario 1: When a GEDCOM file, created by another program or online database, is imported into FTM 2012, then the images of the Media are included in the FTM 2012 Media workspace, are put into the /Family Tree Maker/"Scenario 1"/Media file folder on my computer, and links to those Media files are included for the Person(s) and Facts involved in the FTM database. If this FTM 2012 file is exported to a NEW Ancestry Member Tree, the Media images are included in the Ancestry Member Tree.

*  Scenario 2:  When an existing Ancestry Member Tree is synced to FTM 2012, the images of the attached Media in the AMT are included in the FTM 2012 Media workspace, are put into the /Family Tree Maker/"Scenario 2"/Media file folder on my computer, and links to those Media files are included for the Person(s) and Facts involved in the FTM database.  The source citations created by Ancestry.com for their historical records are also synced with FTM 2012.

* When I create a GEDCOM file in FTM 2012, my assumption is that any Media links associated with selected Persons and Facts included in the FTM 2012 database should be included in the GEDCOM file. 

*  When I created a GEDCOM file in FTM 2012 from the Scenario 1 database, and then imported that GEDCOM file back into FTM 2012 (I could have used another program), the links to the Media items were included  the Scenario 1 database and are in the /Family Tree Maker/"Scenario 1"/Media file folder on my computer. 

*  However, when I created a GEDCOM file in FTM 2012 from the Scenario 2 database, and then imported that GEDCOM file back into FTM 2012 (I could have used another program), there were no links to the Media items in the Scenario 2 database and no Media files in the /Family Tree Maker/"Scenario 2"/Media file folder.

*  If a user creates a GEDCOM file using FTM 2012 (or any other program) that includes Media file links to files on the user's computer, and then transmits that GEDCOM file to another computer (his own or someone else's), the user will have to send the Media file folder contents to that other computer.  If the link text to the Media files do not reflect the file folder names on the receiving computer, then the links will have to be changed, or the Media will have to be properly linked to the Persons or Facts.

It's clear as mud, eh?  I know that this is complicated and sort of "Inside Family Tree Maker" stuff, but it's imperative that all of us understand what is happening.  I've published material about this that may be erroneous and I want to get it right.  I hope that others will try this test and tell us about their results.  Please comment here.

Treasure Chest Thursday - the 1876 Leland/Natvig Marriage Record

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It's Treasure Chest Thursday, time to display another treasure from my digital files of ancestral families.

This week, it is a page from (copied at the Norwegian-American Genealogical Center and Naeseth Library in Madison, Wisconsin):

Vesterheim Genealogical Center, Koshkonong Church Records, East West & Liberty Churches, Marriage and Deaths Records, 1844-1987 (Madison, Wis.). Notebook at Norwegian-American Genealogical Center & Naeseth Library , page 1186.


The first record on the page is this marriage:

"May 30, 1876
Torger Sjursen Leland; 26; Koshkonong; Sjur T. Leland & Britha Olsdatter
Anna Ellingsdatter; 23; ......; Elling Erikson & Anna Ellingsdtr
Liberty; Sjur T. Leland & Elling Eriksen"

The format here is:

First line:  Date
Second line:  Husband's name, age, place, parent's names
Third line: Wife's name, age, no place, parent's names
Fourth line: Church name, witnesses.

The records in this book were transcribed and printed from the original church records in Norwegian. 

I think it's interesting that Torger and his father were using the Leland name in 1876, but Britha still used her patronymic, and Anna and her parents used their patronymic, but by the 1880 census, they were using Natvig as a surname.

The two fathers were the witnesses to this marriage at the Liberty Lutheran Church in the town of Deerfield in Dane County, Wisconsin.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

CGSSD Mini-Fair on Saturday, 15 October 2011

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The next meeting of the Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego will be held on 15 Oct 2011 from 9:00 am to noon. Here are the details:

MINI-FAIR
Two sessions and two topics per session
No user groups or SIGS this month.

9:00 - SESSION 1:
A. "Using Google Earth to Map Your Ancestor's Home." Part one of a two-part workshop conducted by Anne Miller and David Armstrong. Participants are required to bring a laptop computer and to download Google Earth  prior to the workshop (free at http://earth.google.com). You are also encouraged to practice the navigation tools prior to the sessions. Fee (covers Sessions 1A and 2A): $10; $15 at the door. This workshop is limited to 30 people. Only 7 slots remain. The registration form can be downloaded at http://www.cgssd.org/Google_Earth_Registration.docx.
David J. Armstrong is a professional genealogist specializing in combining historical records with technology in order to enhance our understanding of ancestors' lives. David’s background as a leader in math and computer education has served him well in his genealogical endeavors. He is a member of NGS, APG, and numerous regional and local genealogical societies. Anne J. Miller, Ph.D. is a professional genealogist, an historian, and a psychologist specializing in combining genealogical and historical resources to provide a better understanding of people. Anne does genealogical and historical research for others and gives presentations. She has published in both genealogical and historical journals.

B. "Tips on Great Family History Gifts for Special Occasions." Del Ritchhart has been giving framed family trees, photo books, family history books and other items for several years to his children and grandchildren for special events in their lives. Del is the immediate past President of CGSSD and has spoken to our group previously on other topics. He will demonstrate and talk about these various gifts that he has created using on-line Shutterfly, Kodak, COSTCO, and Ancestry programs. With Christmas only a few months away you might get some excellent ideas for family gifts.

10:00 - Break, refreshments.
10:20 - SESSION 2:
A. "Using Google Earth to Map Your Ancestor's Home." Part two of the two-part workshop conducted by Anne Miller and David Armstrong.

B. "Family Finder DNA Testing." Corlee Morris will discuss a genetic genealogy product offered since early 2010 by Family Tree DNA, called “Family Finder.” It is one of only a very few autosomal genetic genealogy tests available to consumers. This test detects any linked blocks of DNA that indicate a common ancestor with other testers. The number and size of these linked blocks is used to determine how recently or closely two people are related. If you are related within five generations (3rd or more recent cousins) then Family Finder is almost sure to detect your relationship. How this test differs from the normal Y-Chromosome or Mitochondrial tests that we are more familiar with will be covered. Attendees who have taken the test and received results are encouraged to share their experience. Corlee is a past president of CGSSD and has been leading our DNA Special Interest Group discussions for the past three years.

We meet at the Robinson Auditorium complex on the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) campus in La Jolla. From North Torrey Pines Road, turn at Pangea Drive into UCSD. Free parking is available in the parking garage on the left; use any space other than those specifically reserved for UCSD vehicles. Signs will mark directions to our meeting room. Please refer to our website www.cgssd.org; or the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies website http://irps.ucsd.edu/about/how-to-find-us.htm for driving directions and a map.

Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 5: Importing and Exporting Media Files with GEDCOM

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When I uploaded my RootsMagic 4 database, using GEDCOM, to Family Tree Maker 2012, I was happy to note that the Media that I had attached to several persons (mainly head shots, but also several records) were imported into Family Tree Maker 2012. 

1)  Here's the proof (I could show you the GEDCOM file, but this is more visual):

Here is the Media workspace in FTM 2012 for this database:


I chose Torger Sjursen Leland in the index, and saw his Person page:


There are two Media items attached to two Facts. 

I created a GEDCOM file for two generations of this family (just to make it easier and faster to work with), including Torger Leland, and made sure I had the two Media boxes checked):


The resulting GEDCOM file, when opened in FTM 2012, includes the two Media items, as shown below:


I thought to myself, "Self, that's wonderful, FTM 2012 also transfers Media files using GEDCOM."

2)  But wait!  What about Media downloaded from an Ancestry Member Tree?

I decided to do the same exercise using the database downloaded from Ancestry.com, which had 37 Media items (all attached items or uploaded from my computer files in the Ancestry Member Tree before syncing it with FTM 2012). 

The Media workspace for this database looks like:


The Person page for Frank Walton Seaver is shown below, and it has several Media items included:


I created a GEDCOM file for two generations that included Frank Seaver, checked the two boxes about Media items:


However, when I opened this GEDCOM file in FTM 2012, it includes no media items:



Not even the pictures I had uploaded to Ancestry.com from my computer files are included in the FTM 2012 file created by the GEDCOM process. 

I thought that I had made a mistake, so I did a similar sequence two more times just to make sure that the above happens.  Every time! 

 That made me say to myself:  "Whoa!  What happened here?  Is this Ancestry protecting any image downloaded from Ancestry Member Trees?"

That's the logical conclusion, isn't it?  Perhaps a Family Tree Maker developer wants to comment or explain why Media items are not transmitted in a GEDCOM file created by FTM 2012.

Update 4:30 p.m.":  Caroline Gurney, in Comments, noted:

"Randy, A GEDCOM file only includes the file pathways for the media, not the media themselves. In your first example, the GEDCOM contained the filepaths for the two media, which were presumably somewhere on your computer. So when you opened the GEDCOM in FTM 2012, the program was able to find the media from the filepaths. In your second example, the media files were presumably on the Ancestry server and so could not be found on your computer. That is why you need to use the built in Sync process in FTM 2012 to sync your data between your Ancestry tree and FTM 2012 on your desktop. Don't use GEDCOM. "

Thank you, Caroline, for this - it helps to understand what's happening.  However, the media files from the Ancestry historical records are included in the Media file folder on my computer and could be linked, but FTM 2012 does not link them for some reason in a GEDCOM file.  Here is the Media file for the starting database:


tHere are 37 images in this file residing on my computer.  I don't understand why they are not included in the GEDCOM file, unless they were purposefully or erroneously excluded by the creators of FTM 2012.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 174: The Four-Mile House in 1930

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I've been posting old family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but now I want to post some current photographs. This is not a wordless posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.

On Day 10 of the Seaver Family History Mystery Tour four weeks ago, I just barely made it to the Dodge County (Wisconsin) Historical Society in Beaver Dam before it closed.  The visit was recommended by Anita, the librarian at Beaver Dam Community Library, and it yielded one of the "prizes" of the trip:


This print from the original in the historical society archives is of the Four-Mile Inn as it stood in Rolling Prairie in 1930.  The typed caption below the picture says:

"Four-Mile House, Built in 1853 by Raslow Smith, Rolling Prairie,
and operated as a "Stage Coach Tavern" for service between Water-
town & Fox Lake before the R.R. came through.  S.W. corner Water-
town Plank Road (now County I) and Town Line Road just north of
now Rolling Prairie.
Stage changed horses here and for a time stopped for Noon Meal.
[rest cut off]"

This was a three story building with a basement.  The curator at Old World Wisconsin told me that the public rooms were on the first floor, the bedrooms were on the second floor, and the third floor was used as a dance hall in later years.