Transferring Media Files Between Software Programs - Post 3: RootsMagic GEDCOM Imported to Legacy Family Tree 7.5

I am posting a series on transferring Media Files between genealogy software programs and an Ancestry Member Tree using a GEDCOM export.  Here are the posts to date:

* Transferring Media Files Between Software Programs - Post 1: Project Defined and RootsMagic GEDCOM Created

*  Transferring Media Files Between Software Programs - Post 2: RootsMagic GEDCOM Imported to Family Tree Maker 2014

In this post, I'm going to import the GEDCOM file created using RootsMagic 6 into Legacy Family Tree 7.5 and see if all of the Media Files transfer during this process. 

1)  The GEDCOM import into Legacy Family Tree 7.5 was done in the File menu item, selecting "Import From," and then "GEDCOM File" from the list.  I then browsed for my file and selected the Test 1 GEDCOM File that I created with RootsMagic.  When the import finished, I saw the small message box on the screen:

The message box said there were:

*  50 Individuals

*  27 Families

*  68 Sources.

There was no count for Media items or for Media inks.  

The RootsMagic file had:   50 people, 27 Families, 370 Events, 63 Places, 68 Sources, 327 Citations, 100 Multimedia Items and 320 Multimedia links in the file.  

2)  Let's see how many media items that my three selected persons have.  In the "Family View," here is the screen for my father, Frederick Walton Seaver, Jr. (1911-1983):

I noted that the thumbnail pictures are shown on the screen above.

I double-clicked on my father's name, and saw the "Individual's Information" screen for him:

I can see the "Media Gallery" for the person by clicking on the Media icon (the small portrait with two persons (to the right of the Surname field on the screen above):

There were 9 media items in the "Media Gallery" for my father.  The thumbnail picture was there twice, exactly like it was in FTM 2014.  My RootsMagic file had 17 media items in the "Media" for my father, and many were also attached to Facts.

I clicked on each one of the Event/Facts on the "Individual Summary" window, and in the "Edit" button for each Event/Fact, and then the Media icon again, I was able to see the media item attached to each Event/Fact.

All 16 of the Media items attached to Event/Facts are present, but only 9 are attached to the Person.  I think that may be user error on my part, which was discussed in Post 2.

3)  My second selected person was my grandfather, Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942).  Here is his "Media Gallery:"

Their were 16 Media items attached to the person, but two were duplicates.  In all, there were 18 different media items attached to either the person or to a source or a fact.  In the RootsMagic file, there were 18 media items attached to the person. 

4)  My third selected person is my great-grandmother, Julia (White) Richmond (1848-1913), with the "Media Gallery" selected:

There were 10 Media items attached to the person in FTM, and none were duplicates.  In all, there were 10 different media items attached to either the person, a source or a fact.  In the RootsMagic file, there were 10 media items attached to the person.

5)  A user can see where each media item has been used.  I clicked on Tools on the top menu, then "Picture Center" and that window opened.  There is a list of persons with attached media on the left, a "Picture List" in the center, and the "Attached Pictures" in the lower center column.  In the right-hand column is the image selected from "Attached Pictures," and I could edit or add a caption, a date, a description, etc.  I could make the photo the "Preferred" image.  On the lower left-hand area, the file folder and file name location of the media item is shown:

6)  It appears that Legacy Family Tree 7.5 has imported the GEDCOM file and put the Media items where they belong - the thumbnail profile picture was attached to the correct area, those attached to a Person are shown in the Media icon on the "Individual Summary," and media attached to a Fact/Event are shown when that Fact/Event is selected.  

More and more, I'm thinking that my problems with some media items not being attached to a Person are the result of my failed attempts to do that in RootsMagic 6 and are not the fault of either Family Tree Maker 2014 or Legacy Family Tree 7.5.

In the next post, I will do essentially the same task by importing the same GEDCOM into a new Ancestry Member Tree.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/11/transferring-media-files-between_20.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Mocavo Has Been Working on Handwriting Text Recognition

Cliff Shaw of Mocavo posted A Little Something We've Been Working On ... on the Mocavo Genealogy Blog this morning. He started his post with:

"A little over a year ago, Mocavo acquired ReadyMicro and the incredible mind known as Matt Garner. One of Matt’s lifelong passions and curiosities is to enable computers to read historical handwritten documents to bring genealogy search to the next level. It’s well known in the genealogy industry that historical handwriting recognition is the Holy Grail – the single largest technological advancement that would enable more content to become accessible online (except for maybe the invention of the Web). For the past year, we’ve joined with Matt to tackle this very hard problem, and have finally made enough progress that we can begin to report on it."

Please read the entire blog post and look carefully at the document images presented, and how Mocavo is attacking the handwriting recognition problem.  It also discusses the complexities of cursive handwriting and the progress they've made in transcribing it.  

James Tanner discussed this today in Is Handwriting Recognition the Holy Grail of Genealogy? on the Genealogy's Star blog.

Ah, the "Holy Grail of Genealogy" - is it really being able to transcribe historical handwritten text so that it can be indexed and/or published?  I think that is certainly one of the Holy Grails in genealogy - others might be digitizing and indexing all historical documents, having a Mother of All Genealogy Databases (MOAGD - an interconnected, source-centric, image and story heavy, family tree), etc.  

What does it mean for genealogy and family history researchers?  I think that - if they can make this work even at 90% on handwritten text - it has a chance of being a breakthrough technology.  

What are the current genealogy record sets that are not digitized or indexed at this time?  For me, they are probate records, land records, town, county and state records, court records, military pension records, manuscript collections, personal paper collections, etc.  They all reside in an archive of some sort - national, state, county, town, historical society, desk drawers, attics, etc.  Few of those archives have the fiscal, time or technology capability to digitize or index their holdings.  They would like to, but they have limited capabilities to do it.  There are exceptions, like the Family History Library, Ancestry.com, the National Archives, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, etc.  However, they are nowhere near a complete digitization of their holdings, and probably never will be with current technology and funding levels.  

If this historical handwriting text recognition and transcription can be made to work by Mocavo (or other entities), then at least the indexes of volumes of probate, land, court, vital, etc. records could be quickly digitized and indexed, and would therefore be searchable.  Having every name in a document digitized would be fantastic.  If records are searchable, at least by name, then they are findable.

As an example, I give you the will of Philip Jacob King (1764-1829), which I transcribed recently in Amanuensis Monday - Post 194: Will of Philip Jacob King (1764-1829) of York, Pennsylvania.  Here is one of the three images of this document found in the Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1683-1994 collection on FamilySearch.org:

This six-page document names all of the heirs of Philip Jacob King, including his daughter Elizabeth Spangler, the wife of Daniel Spangler. my third great-grandparents.  I had to plow line by line through this beautifully handwritten document in order to find the evidence that Elizabeth (King) Spangler was the daughter of Philip Jacob King.  

There are over 3.2 million images in the Pennsylvania Probate Records collection on FamilySearch - already image digitized and cataloged by County, Volume and Page, just waiting to be indexed and transcribed by a handwriting recognition and transcription process.  There are hundreds of millions more probate records like this on FamilySearch microfilm, some are already image digitized.  Then there are hundreds of millions of land records, court records, state, county and town records, etc.  It's a big job, and only technology is going to provide these records in an online environment.

I've always thought that once records like those are image digitized, organized, indexed and made searchable will resolve many of the "brick wall" research problems that we all have in our genealogy research.  We all have Elizabeths and don't know their parents or siblings.  With the digitizing, text recognition, name indexing, and search technology, there is hope that the parents of many of our Elizabeths will be found in records.  

There will be many problems with the handwriting text recognition and transcription portion of this technology - handwriting styles have changed over the past 500 years, many countries and groups have a different character set, and those present challenges.  But, over time, it can probably be made to work.

Maybe even in my lifetime!

I'm glad that Mocavo is working on this technology and applying it to genealogy and family history records.  Other genealogy companies have OCR technology, and are using it routinely for typeset documents like newspapers, books and periodicals.  I wonder if any others are attempting handwriting recognition and transcription?

If Mocavo is first to the genealogy market with this text recognition technology, will there be a market to license the technology for use by other entities?  Or some sort of agreement to share the technology in return for record access?

These are great times we genealogists live in!

The URL for the post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/11/mocavo-has-been-working-on-handwriting.html

copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 283: Visiting the Liland Farm in Voss, Norway

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

Here is a photograph taken on our 1999 vacation/genealogy trip to Scandinavia (three weeks in Sweden, Finland and Norway):

This photograph was taken at Liland Farm in Voss parish in Norway.  The people in the photograph are (from left):

*  Randy Seaver 
*  Inge Liland (matriarch of the Liland farm, age 90 at the time)
*  Linda (Leland) Seaver
*  Guri Liland (daughter of Inge)

Our guide, Bjorg Liland, took this picture with my camera.  The Liland farm is in the background.  It was a cool and overcast day in August 1999 when we visited Liland farm.  Bjorg translated for all of us, and we had a wonderful time visiting her distant Norwegian cousins.  Inge and Guri served snacks and drinks and we had a genealogy conversation.

As you might know, my wife Linda's maiden name was Leland.  The name came from Liland farm in Voss, Norway.  I brought my genealogy research on paper and Inge had the Voss bygdebok with information about Liland farm.  We determined that Linda is related to Inge and Guri, but not through an ancestor who resided on Liland farm before 1855.  We found a common ancestor on another line whose descendant married into Linda's line and had a sibling who married into Inge's line.  

Fortunately, I wrote up a narrative about our Scandinavia trip so that I can connect pictures with names and places.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/11/not-so-wordless-wednesday-post-283.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Transferring Media Files Between Software Programs - Post 2: RootsMagic GEDCOM Imported to Family Tree Maker 2014

I am posting a series on Transferring Media Files between genealogy software programs and an Ancestry Member Tree using a GEDCOM export.  Here are the posts to date:

* Transferring Media Files Between Software Programs - Post 1: Project Defined and RootsMagic GEDCOM Created

In this post, I'm going to import the GEDCOM file created using RootsMagic 6 into Family Tree Maker 2014 and see if all of the Media Files transfer during this process.

1)  The GEDCOM import into Family Tree Maker 2014 was done in the Plan Workspace, on the "New Tree" tab, and selecting the "Import an Existing Tree" in the "Getting Stated" list.  I then browsed my file and selected the Test 1 GEDCOM File that I created with RootsMagic.  When the import finished, I clicked on the "More" button to see the "File Statistics:"

The statistics for the FTM 2014 file were:

*  Individuals:  50
*  Families: 27
*  Sources: 68
*  Citations: 195
*  Places:  63
*  Media: 304
*  Records:  681

The RootsMagic file had:   50 people, 27 Families, 370 Events, 63 Places, 68 Sources, 327 Citations, 100 Multimedia Items and 320 Multimedia links in the file.  

There is a difference in the number of citations, and the number of media items (or links?) for some reason.  

2)  Let's see how many media items that my three selected persons have.  In the "People Workspace," here is the "Tree" view for my father, Frederick Walton Seaver, Jr. (1911-1983):

With my father highlighted, I clicked on the "Person" tab, and selected the "Media" tab below the Fact list.  I also selected his Preferred Name on the Fact list, and the "Media" tab in the right-hand panel to show the 7 media items for the selected Fact:

The "Media" tab below the Fact list shows only 9 media items, including two items for a thumbnail photograph.  The "Media" tab for the selected Fact showed 7 media items for the preferred name.  However, 4 are of the same image, and 3 are of a second image.  Both of the images on the Fact Media list are in the "Media" list on the area below the Fact list.

For comparison purposes, the RootsMagic file had 17 media items attached to this person.  Some Media items were also tagged to Facts.

I compared the Media items found by clicking on each of the Facts on the list above, and found 16. The 9 shown on the "Media" tab below the Facts above are all "Linked via person."  When I click on each Fact item on the list and look at the Media items shown in the right-hand panel, there are Media that are "Linked by source citation," "Linked by person individual fact" and "Linked by shared fact."

There were 16 different media items attached to either the person, the source or the fact in Family Tree Maker 2014.  Family Tree Maker did not "Link via person" 9 of the media items that were attached to the person in RootsMagic (but one item was for his parents, not for the person).

3)  My second selected person was my grandfather, Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942).  Here is his "Person" view with a Fact selected and the "Media" tabs selected:

Their were 16 Media items attached to the person, but two were duplicates.  In all, there were 18 different media items attached to either the person or to a source or a fact.  In the RootsMagic file, there were 18 media items attached to the person.  As before, the thumbprint photo was not attached to the Profile picture at the top right of the screen.

4)  My third selected person is my great-grandmother, Julia (White) Richmond (1848-1913), with the "Media" tabs selected:

There were 10 Media items attached to the person in FTM, and none were duplicates.  In all, there were 10 different media items attached to either the person, a source or a fact.  In the RootsMagic file, there were 10 media items attached to the person.  As before, the thumbprint photo was not attached to the Profile picture at the top right of the screen.

5)  It is apparent that the Thumbnail photograph was transferred by the GEDCOM file and attached to the person, but was not made the Profile picture in Family Tree Maker 2014.

Here is the process to add the Profile photo to the top right-hand panel of the "Person" view.  If you click inside the profile photo at the top right of the screen, a dropdown box lets you choose between "Add New Picture" and "Link to existing picture."  I chose the latter:

Clicking on "Link to Existing Picture" opens the list of ALL media items and I scrolled down to select the right one:

I clicked "OK" and the selected photograph appeared in the Profile photo area below the person's name at the top right of the screen:

A user can see where each media item has been used.  I clicked on Julia's picture and the "Media Detail" window opened, and I could edit or add a caption, a date, categories, description, etc.  I could make the media item private.  On the lower right-hand area, the file name and the file folder location of the media item is listed:

A click on the "Usage" button (lower left-hand corner) opens a window that shows the person link and fact that it is used.  I can also "Print" the media item.  There is a "Help" button on the bottom right of the window above.

6)  Because I imported the GEDCOM file that had media item links provided, the media items were not put in a separate file folder on my computer.  When Family Tree Maker 2014 created this database from the GEDCOM file, it put the database file in the Family Tree Maker file folder.  It also created a file folder with the database file name and the word "Media" at the end in the Family Tree Maker file folder.

7)  I don't know what to make of the differences that I found above.  There are three possible (and perhaps more) reasons:

*  The database creator (that would be the user, me) may have messed up the tagging of the Facts and/or Sources in RootsMagic 6.  I've done this task over the span of about five years and don't recall everything that I did.

*  RootsMagic 6 may have added media items to the GEDCOM file for each Person, Fact and Source with a media item, creating duplicates.

*  Family Tree Maker 2014 may have created additional media items for multiple use of media items when it imported the GEDCOM file.

I think that the 304 "Media" items in the FTM 2014 statistics reflect 304 different Media items, and not 304 multimedia links.  Here is the "Media Workspace" view which clearly shows multiple copies of many images (probably because multiple facts or sources were attached to an image).

In my opinion, Family Tree Maker is doing what it has to do when it adds a separate media item for each link transmitted in the GEDCOM file.  My guess is that the other programs will do the same thing.

*  I don't know why all of the media attached to a person in RootsMagic are not attached to the person in Family Tree Maker 2014.  It may be how the user (me) tagged the media in RootsMagic.
*  The person Profile picture transferred via GEDCOM must be attached manually to the person Profile in in Family Tree Maker 2014.

*  For the three persons I checked carefully, all of the media items for a person in RootsMagic were included in the Family Tree Maker database, but not all of the media items were in the Person "Media" tab.  It didn't lose them or not find them, it put them in different places.

In the next post, I will do essentially the same task by importing the same GEDCOM into Legacy Family Tree 7.5 (unless LFT Version 8.0 is released in the next 24 hours).

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/11/transferring-media-files-between_19.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Ancestry.com Adds The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1633 and Great Migration, 1634-1635 Books

Ancestry.com continues to add very useful databases and reference books to their online historical records collection.

Today, they added the New England, The Great Migration and the Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635 collection.  This collection includes:

*  Robert Charles Anderson (editor), The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Volumes 1-3 (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1995)

*  Robert Charles Anderson (editor), The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volumes 1-6 (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1999-2011).

The database description on Ancestry says:

"Robert Charles Anderson’s The Great Migration Begins includes more than 1,100 sketches of immigrants or immigrant families that arrived in New England between 1620 and 1633. Each sketch contains information on the immigrant's migration dates and patterns, various biographical matters (such as occupation, church membership, education, offices, and land holdings), and genealogical details (birth, death, marriages, children, and other associations by blood or marriage), along with detailed comments, discussion, and bibliographic information on the family.

"The Great Migration Begins is the first phase of the Great Migration Study Project, which aims to investigate all immigrants to New England from 1620 through 1640. The project’s goal is to summarize all available research and provide a solid platform that will allow future researchers to assess the status of research on a given family without having to repeat work already done or waste large amounts of time searching the genealogical literature. To this end, sketches in the Great Migration first review the existing secondary literature, looking especially for conflicting or missing data. Then the primary sources are examined to confirm what has already been written about the family, fill in gaps, or resolve conflicting interpretations and correct errors. In many instances, of course, gaps and discrepancies will remain, and the sketch will then describe the problem and perhaps suggest a future course of research. In the end, the Great Migration sketches should permit future researchers to use their time more efficiently and serve as a springboard for new discoveries.

"The text of the sketches provides abbreviated citations to the primary and secondary sources used to create the sketches. Images through volume 6 are available on the site, but only volumes 1-5 are indexed at this time. An index for volume 6 is forthcoming."

Unfortunately, the collection does NOT include Volume 7 of the second set, the one with surnames T-Y.  And Volume 6 is not indexed yet.  

I searched the available index for the surname Seaver and received results:

I clicked on the first match for Robert Seaver and was taken to the record summary page:

After clicking on the "View original image" link or the thumbnail image, I was taken to page 1644 (which is in Volume 3 of The Great Migration Begins series):

From there I can click on the "next page" arrow at the bottom of the screen and see all of the other pages for the sketch of Robert Seaver (1608-1683).

Each sketch contains sections for (unless there is no information for that section):

*  Origin
*  Migration
*  First Residence
*  Removes
*  Return Trips

*  Occupation
*  Church Membership
*  Freeman
*  Education
*  Offices
*  Estate

*  Birth
*  Death
*  Marriage
*  Children
*  Associations

*  Comments
*  Bibliographic Notes

Each of those sections have shorthand references to sources with extracted or abstracted information and evidence to support the assertion made in the section.  In many cases, they are original sources with primary information and direct evidence (e.g., RChR refers to Roxbury Church Records, MBCR refers to Massachusetts Bay Court Records, SPR refers to Suffolk Probate Records,etc.).  In other cases, they are derivative sources or authored works, such as periodical articles, published books, etc.

The sketches are only for the immigrant ancestor of the family, and the sketches do not carry family lines past the children of the immigrant, with their spouses named.

For New England researchers like myself, these volumes are a gold mine of information, especially the original handwritten town and colony records (or their later transcription or extraction) which can then be consulted for a complete reading and evaluation of the record.  Having a sketch like this really helps researchers find records for their early New England ancestors.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/11/ancestrycom-adds-great-migration-begins.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Tombstone Tuesday - Samuel Whitney (1746-1812) in Westminster, Massachusetts

I stumbled across a picture of the gravestone of Samuel Whitney (1746-1812) yesterday...it was hiding in my Cemeteries file folder in My Pictures. Then I checked the death date on the gravestone and saw that he died in 1812, and realized that it was not for my 5th great-grandfather Samuel Whitney (1719-1782), but it was for his son, Samuel.

The gravestone is in Woodside Cemetery in Westminster, Worcester County, Massachusetts.  The Find A Grave memorial for this Samuel Whitney is here, and has a photo included.  The inscription on the stone says:

Erected in memory of

Mr. Samuel Whitney,

who died

June 7, 1812;

Æt. 66.

Here learn the end of earthly hopes and fears,

The hasty flight of numerous days and years.

Reader prepare to rest beneath the ground,

Till the archangels awful trump shall sound.

I took the picture above on 17 July 2004 while visiting Woodside Cemetery in Westminster after the memorial service for my aunt and uncle, Edward Richmond and Janet (Roukes) Seaver in Leominster.  

At the time, I thought that this was my 5th great-grandfather's stone because I didn't have a list of ancestors and their death dates with me.  Now I do on my iPhone with the Ancestry.com mobile app and the RootsMagic mobile app.  

Samuel Whitney (1719-1782), and his wife Abigail (Fletcher) Whitney (1720-1783), have memorials on Find A Grave, saying they are buried in Woodside Cemetery, but there are no pictures of their gravestones.  Perhaps they are in the cemetery records, or the town records, and the stones have been removed or were never erected.   I see that there is an open Photo request for Samuel Whitney (1719-1782) - I hope someone is able to do this!

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/11/tombstone-tuesday-samuel-whitney-1746.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Transferring Media Files Between Software Programs - Post 1: Project Defined and RootsMagic GEDCOM Created

An SDGS friend and colleague asked me last week:  "Are there any problems sharing Media files between genealogy software programs using a GEDCOM Export/Import process?"

I didn't know the answer, offhand.  I think my first response was "No, they only share media links to file folders from one to the other in a GEDCOM file."

But the more I thought about it, I wondered if the Media attached to a person, a Source or an Event in one program will transfer cleanly to another software program, or an online family tree, without being corrupted.

So I set up a little test, and this blog post will start a series highlighting what I find.  I'm going to use RootsMagic 6, Legacy Family Tree 7.5 and family Tree Maker 2014 as the software programs.  I will also use an Ancestry.com Member Tree to check out an online family tree.

A)  My process is going to be:

1)  Create a three-generation GEDCOM file starting with my father in RootsMagic 6.  Note the attachments of  media items to persons, sources and events for three persons in that tree for reference purposes.

2)  Import the GEDCOM file generated by RootsMagic into the other two software programs and a new Ancestry Member Tree.  Evaluate each program and online tree system to determine if all media items transferred correctly.

3)  Do the same process for Legacy Family Tree 7.5.  Start with a tree created initially in LFT.

4)  Do the same process for Family Tree Maker 2014.  Start with a tree created initially in FTM 2014.

5)  do the same process for an Ancestry Member Tree.  Start with a tree created initially in FTM 2014 and synced to FTM 2014.

B)  Here is the process I used to create my RootsMagic 6 GEDCOM file:

While on my parents Family View screen, I clicked on File, and selected Export from the dropdown menu:

That opened the GEDCOM Export dialog window in RootsMagic, and I want to select 3 generations of persons from my family tree database.  In the "People to export" field, I select "Select from list:"

Clicking on the "Select from list" link opens the "Select People" dialog window, and I type my father's name (the person I want to start with) and then click on the "Mark group" button (upper left-hand corner).  That opens a dropdown menu and I picked "Ancestors of my highlighted person:"

The "Ancestors options" dialog window opened and I selected 3 generations of ancestors and the "Ancestors and descendants of ancestors" radio button, and 1 generation of descendants:

RootsMagic selected those persons and put a check mark next to their names:

I clicked on "OK" and the "GEDCOM Export" dialog box opened and I checked only the Notes, sources and Multimedia tasks items from this list:

I clicked "OK" and selected a name for this small GEDCOM file:

The GEDCOM file was created and stored in my Software>RootsMagic 6>GEDCOM file folder.

C)  If I import the GEDCOM file into RootsMagic 6 and look at the File>Properties window, I see:

There are 50 people, 27 Families, 370 Events, 63 Places, 68 Sources, 327 Citations, 100 Multimedia Items and 320 Multimedia links in this database.

D)  I want to look at Media items for three persons:

1)  My father, Frederick W. Seaver (1911-1983) has 17 Media items:

The head shot, in the first position above, is listed as the "Primary Photo" and is attached to the person's name in his Media collection.

The Media in this file are located in different file folders on my computer.  They are not stored in one specific file folder.  That may become a problem if I wanted to share the actual Media items with a family member - I would have to copy them all in one file folder and then re-link them in the database in order to transmit the whole package to someone.

2)  My Grandfather, Frederick W. Seaver (1876-1942) has 18 Media items, including a head shot identified as the "Primary Photo" that is attached to the person's name.

3)  My Great-Grandmother, Julia E. (White) Richmond has 10 Media items, including a head shot identified as "Primary Photo" that is attached to the person's name.

E)  Now I'm ready to import this GEDCOM file into the other two software programs and upload it to a new Ancestry Member Tree.  

In the next posts in the series, we'll see how this works out.  Will all of the Media be imported into the programs, and will the links to the persons, sources and events be maintained?  Will the Media file images be kept in the same file folders?  I'll start using just the RootsMagic GEDCOM file imported into the three other programs.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/11/transferring-media-files-between.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

"Kicking Up the Past" Kickstarter Project - Deadline is 24 November

Geneablogger Ken J. Marks, writer of The Ancestor Hunt, sent this press notice of the "Kicking Up The Past" (KUTP) crowdfunding project.  It sounds interesting...please support it if it interests you.

-----------------------------------------
Last Week to Pledge Support for Kicking Up the Past Television Genealogy Documentary

Ambitious Kickstarter.com project must return pledges if funding goal is not met.

Speaking Saturday before a well-attended meeting of CAGGNI (Computer Assisted Genealogy Group of Northern Illinois), Kicking Up the Past project producer Ken J. Marks said, “this is the only documentary you will find on television that portrays the hard-work, art and science of researching your family tree... no celebrities... no button-pushing short cuts”.

Just 7 days remain to the novel project conceived by Chicago-area teacher & genealogist, Madonna Davis to utilize crowd funding to fund a television documentary project called Kicking Up the Past. The effort relies strictly on the strength of the public to make pledges to support the expense of producing a made-for-television documentary preserving family histories. Co-producer Madonna notes, “If just one half of 1% of everyone who pursues genealogy in the U.S. pledges just a few dollars, it would fund a full season of great television that the whole genealogy community could fully endorse.”

The deadline for pledging is this Sunday, November 24th. Simply go to www.kickstarter.com and type “genealogy” in the search bar to find the Kicking Up the Past project.The project rewards may also be viewed at http://goo.gl/n8f2f5.  

Kickstarter is a funding home for everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is full of projects, big and small, that are brought to life through the direct support of the public. Since its launch in 2009, 5 million people have pledged $822 million, funding 49,000 creative projects. 

For additional information go to www.kickingupthepast.com or contact: Ken J. Marks 312 505-6193 EM: marks.kj@gmail.com.

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The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/11/kicking-up-past-kickstarter-project.html

I Had Genealogy Fun at the WAGS Meeting on Saturday, 16 November 2013

I mentioned last week, in  Randy's Saturday Roadtrip - Whittier Area Genealogical Society, that I was making my "Discovering Jane's Roots in California, Australia and England" at the Whittier Area Genealogical Society (WAGS) meeting on Saturday.

This was a new venue and group of genealogists for me, and, as usual, they were friendly, welcoming and wonderful people to meet with and eat a meal with.

We left Chula Vista at 9:15 a.m. and I dropped Linda in Huntington Beach (about 105 miles) at my daughter's house at 11:15 a.m., and continued on to Whittier (up the I-405 to I-605, and off at Whittier Blvd. - about 35 miles).  They meet at the Masonic Lodge at 7604 Greenleaf Avenue in Whittier.  I got there at 11:55 a.m. and found the open door off the parking lot.

I signed in, was greeted by the Program chairperson, Greta Gutierrez, and escorted to her table.  The group was just finishing up their education hour learning about the FamilySearch website, presented by the WAGS President, Rick Frohling.  

Lunch was a relatively small sandwich (ham, turkey or roast beef, I think) with cheese and  condiments, with a bag of chips, and your choice of potato salad, macaroni salad or cole slaw, all for $5.  I ate lunch with Greta, Roger and Debbie at our table, and we discussed our local societies.

After lunch, I worked with the equipment person to get my laptop set up so that I would be ready to roll when my time in the schedule came.  Barto was very efficient and expert for the task.  

At 1 p.m., the President moderated a short society business meeting featuring society programs for the coming month and for the 22 February 2014 seminar with Laura Prescott as the honored speaker.  

Here is a photo I took of President Rick and the front of the room:

Here's a photo I took of the audience of over 50 WAGS members and guests before I started my presentation (a bit fuzzy, oh well):

At 1:20 p.m., I was introduced and plugged all of my electronics in and showed my introductory screen.  I asked how many attendees read genealogy blogs, and only about 10 % of the attendees raised their hands.  Those few read Dick Eastman's blog, and several do read mine.  I had a question about what a blog was, and how to read it.  I've found that this is a pretty typical reaction - very few attendees at "traditional" society programs are using social media for education or genealogy industry information.  It's frustrating, but that's how it is even in 2013.

The talk went well - they followed my case study, asked some questions, made a few recommendations for further research, and laughed at my jokes.  I hope that they were impressed by the records I showed, mostly captured from online resources, to illustrate my case study about finding the ancestors of Jane (Whittle) McKnew.  I ran over my time slot a bit, ending at 2:30 p.m. but the group didn't seem to mind.  

I said my goodbyes, they gave me an extra sandwich for the road (I brought it home and had it on Sunday), and Greta guided me back to the freeway onramp and I headed south at 3 p.m.

I arrived at my daughter's house, talked and played with my granddaughters for awhile, and we all went out to dinner at Duke's on the ocean pier in Huntington Beach.  We went back to my daughter's home, and talked some more, then packed up the two guinea piggies (Sparkles and Gritsy) to piggie-sit for the next two weeks while they go off on vacation.  It was fun playing with, talking with and eating with the grandgirls - they are so smart, funny, polite, and loving!  The giunea pigs?  Not so much, at least not yet.  

We left Huntington Beach at about 7:45 p.m. and were home by 9:25 p.m. and I got to watch the second half of my alma mater's football game versus Hawaii, which San Diego State won in overtime, 28-21.  

It was a full day, with only the WAGS adventure dealing with genealogy, but I made some more family history.  I try to never let a good road trip go to waste - there is always some family history to make!  

My thanks to Greta, Rick, Roger and the entire WAGS board and members for hosting me for lunch and the presentation - I hope that I inspired the audience to try some new resources that I listed on my handout.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/11/i-had-genealogy-fun-at-wags-meeting-on.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Amanuensis Monday - Post 195: Deed by John Phillips to Daniel Bixby in 1758 for Land in Shrewsbury, Mass.

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started his own Monday blog theme many months ago called Amanuensis Monday. What does "amanuensis" mean? John offers this definition:

"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

The subject today is a land deed in Worcester County, Massachusetts dated 20 December 1758, recorded on 23 March 1762, transferring one tract of land in Shrewsbury, Worcester County from John Phillips to Daniel Bixby for 3 pounds, 6 shillings and 8 pence (left-hand page on the image below):

A transcription of the deed recorded in the Worcester County Deed Books by the Deed Registrar is (handwritten portions in italics, transcribed line by line):

1 Phillips to Bixby

2 To all People to whom these presents shall come, Greeting,

3 Know Ye, That I, John Phillip of Shrewsbury in the County of

4 orcester and Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New En-

5 gland Yeoman

6 For and in Consideration of the Sum of three pound Six shillings & Eight pence

7 to me in Hand before the Ensealing hereof, well and truly paid by, Daniell bixby of said

8 Shrewsbury in the County of Worcester & province afores^d Yeoman

9 the Receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge, and my self, therewith fully satisfied

10 and contented; and thereof, and of every Part and Parcel thereof, do exonerate, acquit and discharge

11 him the said Daniell Garfield his

12 Heirs, Executors and Administrators, forever by these Presents: HAVE given, granted, bargained, sold,

13 aliened, conveyed and confirmed; and by these Presents, Do freely, fully and absolutely give, grant,

14 bargain, sell, aliene, convey, and confirm, unto the said Daniell Bixby his

15 Heirs and Assigns forever, ta Certain tract

16 or parcell of Land Situate in said Shrewsbury and Containing by Estimation four

17 acres one quarter and Thirteen Rod be the same more or less and is bounded as fol-

18 loweth viz beginning at a heap of Stone on the Northerly Line of s^d Bixby Land

19 Easterly and bounds Southerly on s^d Bixbys Land Untill it comes to the Northwesterly cor-

20 ner of said Bixby's land and thence it Runs N:12 W Twenty one Rods to a heap of

21 Stones on the Southerly Line of Lott N^o. 41 and thence Runs Westerly by said Lott

22 & the Southwesterly Corner of it and thence Westerly Straight to the first mentioned

23 bound.

24 To have and to hold the said granted and bargained Premises, with all the Appur-

25 tenances, Privileges and Commodities to the same belonging, or in any wise appertaining to him

26 the said Daniell Bixby his

27 Heirs and Assigns forever. To him and their only proper Use, Benefit and Behoof forever.

28 And I the said John Phillips

29 for me my Heirs, Executors and Administrators, do covenant, promise and grant to and with

30 him the said Daniel Bixby his

31 Heirs and Assigns, that before the Ensealing hereof, I am the true, sole and lawful Owner of the

32 above bargained Premises, and am lawfully seized and possessed of the same in my own proper

33 Right, as a good, perfect and absolute Estate of Inheritance in Fee Simple : And have in myself

34 good Right, full Power and lawful Authority, to grant, bargain, sell, convey, and confirm said bargained

35 Premises in Manner as aforesaid : And that the said Daniell Bixby his

36 Heirs and Assigns, shall and may from Time to Time, and at all Times

37 forever hereafter, by Force and Virtue of these Presents, lawfully, peaceably and quietly Have, Hold, 38 Use, Occupy, Possess and Enjoy 38 the said demised and bargained Premises, with the Appurtenances, free

39 and clear, and freely and clearly acquitted, exonerated and discharged of, from all and all Manner of 40 former or other Gifts, Grants, Bargains, Sales, Leases, Mortgages, Wills, Entails, Jointures, Dowries,

41 Judgments, Executions, or Incumbrances of what Name or Nature foever, that might in any

42 Measure or Degree obstruct or make Void this present Deed.

43 Furthermore, I the said John Phillips for myself my Heirs,

44 Executors and Administrators, do Covenant and Engage the above-demised Premises to him the said

45 Daniell Bixby his Heirs and Assigns

46 against the lawful Claims or Demands of any Person or Persons whatsoever, forever hereafter to

47 Warrant, Secure and Defend by these Presents. In witness whereof I have hereunto set

48 my hand and seal this 20^th day of December and in the 32^nd year of his Maj^ties

49 Reign anno Dom^i 1758 John Phillips {seal}

50 Signed Sealed and Deliv^d in presence of

51 in presence of } Hannah Phillip wife of the abovesaid John Phillips in testimony of her Re-

52 Nathan Woodburn } linquishing all her Right of dower in the premises above mentioned have also

53 Zach Harvey } hereunto set her hand & seal the day & year above mentioned Hanah x ^her mark Phillips {seal}

54 Worcester SS March ye 6^th 1758 & now the within named John Phillips personally

55 appeared and acknowledged the within written Instrument to be his free act & deed Co-

56 ram Artemas Ward Jus^ce pac^m. Entered from the originall Deed . Cor. March 23

57 1762 and Examined John Chandler Reg^r

The source citation for this deed record is:

"Massachusetts, Land Records, 1620-1986," digital images, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 17 July 2013) , Worcester County, "Deeds 1761-63, Vol. 45-46," image 274 of 612, in Volume 45, Page 500, John Phillips to Daniel Bixby, deed for one tract of land in Shrewsbury, Mass., dated 20 December 1758.

This is a fairly straightforward land transaction between the parties for a small tract of land in Shrewsbury, Worcester County, Massachusetts.  The metes and bounds are generally stones and the property of the grantor Daniel Bixby at the time of the writing.

John Phillips wife at the time, Hannah Phillips [probably the Hannah Brown that he married in 1749 in Southborough], signed the deed with a mark indicating she was relinquishing her dower right to the land.  

Unfortunately, I have not found a deed where John Phillips bought this land.  I think that he bought this land after he sold his land in Southborough in 1752.  John Phillips, or his wife Hannah, may have inherited this piece of land from their parents or a sibling; alternatively, the deed may never have been recorded.  

There is one clue to the location of this land - it was bounded by Lot 41 of the original lots laid out in Shrewsbury.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/11/amanuensis-monday-post-195-deed-by-john.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver