How Do I Plan to Save My Genealogical Research for Posterity?

On the 22 September Hangout On Air of Mondays With Myrt, Cary Bright asked a question that didn't get answered during the session.  I think it's a great question, and I want to share my opinions about it.  The question was:

"/// [what] are the methods most likely to have longevity in my absence. My family will not continue my Ancestry subscription, my computer will probably be given away along with my notebooks... so I have started uploading for public access to FamilySearch.org for tree info/documents/photos. Those that need it will have access and hopefully the next family generation that HAS a family researcher can have access. It is sad, but true reality."

The key question here is longevity - what will probably be around long after I'm gone.  Like Cary, my family doesn't seem interested in my research.  

What I am doing is this:

1)  Like Cary, I am adding or editing persons in my ancestral families to the FamilySearch Family Tree, including source citations, person notes and event notes, and some photos and stories.  This works well until I get back to where the persons are Individuals of Unusual Size (IOUS) that cannot be merged or edited.

2)  I upload a new Ancestry Member Tree every year or so with all of my RootsMagic database information, including attached media and person Notes.  Unfortunately, the Notes are not observable by anyone but the owner or the editor. 

3)  I have created PDF documents of a lot of my genealogical research, using the report features of RootsMagic and Legacy Family Tree.  I have put these on the free site, www.Scribd.com.  The reports include my research with sources, but not with Notes.  My reports are at  http://www.scribd.com/randy_seaver.  The purpose here is to provide a website that can be searched using search engines that contains my research information.  I need to update the reports on an annual basis.

4)  Some people write "genealogical wills" in hopes that their heirs and descendants will carry out their wishes.  I will leave a  "When I Pass Away" document on my computer (and probably send to them via email before I pass away) that, hopefully, my daughters will read and carry out.  This will include my usernames and passwords for Ancestry and other websites, my Scribd website, my blog archives, etc.  I also want them to print off a copy of my Scribd reports and send them to a number of repositories (e.g., the Family History Library, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Allen County Public Library, Library of Congress, San Diego Central Library, etc.) so that the research content will be on a bookshelf somewhere.

5)  My genealogy blogs should survive for awhile since they are on Google.  If Google decides to sunset unused blogs at some point in time, then this archive of my genealogical research may go away.  I may use the blog archives to create family story books for some of my ancestors for whom I have photos and stories.  I may also create MyCanvas type of coffee table books and pass them to my daughters and brothers, but I haven't done it yet.

6)  I plan to create beautiful wall charts for my ancestors that show my daughters and grandchildren and their Seaver-Leland ancestors.  A chart with 6 to 8 generations of ancestors (with photos) should be sufficiently large to dominate a wall.  I haven't done this yet.  In the worst case, my daughters can probably create them from my computer file and work with the chart maker to customize them.

None of that is 100% sure of being carried out, especially if there is a significant catastrophe that wipes out the Internet, or civilization, as we know it. 

What other measures do my readers suggest?  Please share them in comments to this post, or in your own blog posts, and I will collect them so everyone can benefit from them.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/how-do-i-plan-to-save-my-genealogical.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Robert Charles Anderson's "Elements of Genealogical Analysis" Book Now Available at NEHGS

I received this announcement from NEHGS today in email:

========================================

NEHGS announces the publication of Robert Charles Anderson’s Exclusive, Must Have Genealogical Guide, 

 Elements of Genealogical Analysis

How to Maximize Your Research Using the Great Migration Study Project Method

September, 23, 2014 – Boston, Massachusetts – New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) announces the publication of the latest work by renowned author Robert Charles Anderson, FASG. Detailing the author’s process, the work consists of 124 pages of genealogical expertise and principles used throughout his illustrious career.

In his new book, Robert Charles Anderson presents his step-by-step process for solving genealogical problems—a methodology thirty years in the making. Developed by Anderson and perfected through his work as director of the Great Migration Study Project at NEHGS, this systematic approach considers each source, each record, and each possible linkage before making a genealogical conclusion. Clearly defined tools, checklists, and logically ordered steps throughout the book help make this method both accessible and effective. Examples of actual research problems and continuing case studies, accompanied by easy-to-follow diagrams, walk you through steps of effective genealogical analysis.

In the preface, Anderson notes: “I have had this little book in mind for more than thirty years, and would like to record at this point my state of mind in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when it was first conceived. I was at that time quite new to genealogy, and had in the prior decade or so tried my hand at two other ‘careers,’ military intelligence and molecular biology. These two pursuits, seemingly quite distant from genealogy, provided both the basis for my genealogical skills and the impetus for the writing of a book on methodology.”

Robert Charles Anderson is the director of the Great Migration Study Project. He was educated as a biochemist and served in the United States Army in electronics intelligence. In 1972 he discovered his early New England ancestry and there­after devoted his time and energies to genealogical research. In 1983 he received a master's degree in colonial American history from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and he was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists in 1978. Anderson was coeditor of The American Genealogist from 1993 to 2012, and he has been an editorial consultant to The New England Historical and Genealogical Register since 1989.

To order Elements of Genealogical Analysis, call NEHGS’s Sales Department at 617-888-296-3447, or visit the Society’s bookstore website, http://www.americanancestors.org/store/.

================================

I look forward to obtaining and reading this book.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/robert-charles-andersons-elements-of.html

Sonny, Gerry and Randy in 2002 -- Post 326 for (Not So) Wordless Wednesday

I am posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they aren't "Wordless" - I am incapable of having a wordless post!

Here is a photograph from the Seaver/Carringer family photograph collection from my 40 years of photo albums, boxes and piles of family photographs:

The persons in this photograph are (from the left):

*  Walter "Sonny" Hazelhurst Wood, Jr.(1936-2010)  - a son of Walter Hazelhurst Wood (1893-1966) and Evelyn Seaver (1903-1978), and my first cousin.
*  Geraldine (Seaver) Remley (1917-2007), my father's youngest sister.
*  Randall J. Seaver - moi!

This picture was taken in 2002 in central Florida by my wife.  We were visiting my Aunt Geraldine (Seaver) Remley in Altamonte Springs, and traveled to the home of Sonny and his wife to the southwest of Orlando.

"Everyone" said that Sonny looked very much like my father, Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983).  I saw the resemblance also, and I think that Sonny and I also bear a resemblance, even in the photograph above.

I only  met Sonny twice - the first time in 1990 at the 50th wedding anniversary party for Ed and Janet Seaver in Leominster, Massachusetts, and on this occasion in 2002.  He had three children and I met only one of them in 1990, and I am not in contact with any of them, unfortunately.  

Aunt Gerry stayed in touch with all of her Seaver siblings, nieces and nephews, and enjoyed being the fount of all Seaver wisdom.  When Gerry and Jim Remley lived in Florida (from about 1980 to about 2004), she saw Sonny and his family occasionally.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/sonny-gerry-and-randy-in-2002-post-326.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Obtaining a U.S. Social Security Application Record

One of my society colleagues recently asked me "How can I obtain a Social Security application for my great-grandfather?"  

I knew that the rules had changed, and some of the methods to obtain the application had changed.  Here's what I found today while trying to find online information and forms.

FamilySearch has a Wiki page describing Social Security applications and the genealogical information that might be obtained from them. See U.S. Social Security Records for Genealogists.  The page says:

"You can ... obtain copies of your ancestor's SS-5 application by:

• Online Request for Deceased Individual's Social Security Record, payable by credit card.  Fees are the same as a mail request.
• Print Form SSA-711 “Request for Deceased Individual’s Social Security Record.” found at Social Security.
• Call your local Social Security office and request a copy of Form SSA-711.

"The current fee is USD $27 per record when the Social Security Number is known, and USD $29 when the number is unknown or incorrect. You are charged the fee even if the SSA is unable to locate any information on the person. It may take up to six months to receive a report, so please be patient.""

The "Online Request for Deceased Individual's Social Security Record" looks like this (two screens):

This is probably the easiest way to obtain the application, but it requires a credit card number.

The mail-in form can be downloaded at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/forms/ssa-711.pdf.  You then write a check or obtain a money order and send it in to the mailing address.

If the researcher is looking for all of the information on the application, they need to order the photocopy of the original Application for Social Security Card, and not the computer abstract of information.  Knowing the Social Security number of the deceased saves the requester $2.

The information that might be found on a Social Security application, at the time of the application, includes:

• Applicant's full name
• Age at last birthday
• Date and place of birth
• Father's and mother's full name (including the mother's maiden name)
• Gender and Color
• Employer's name and address, and date of first employment
• Residence 
• Date signed and applicant's signature

Some data may be restricted.  The website says:

"We use the '120 year rule' when disclosing information from our records for extremely aged persons when no date of death exists. We normally do not assume that an individual is deceased without proof of death (e.g., death certificate, obituary, newspaper article, or police report). 

"Also, under our current policy, we do not release the parents' names unless they are proven deceased, have a birth date more than 120 years ago, or the number holder on the SS-5 is at least 100 years of age."

Rootsweb used to provide a Freedom of Information Access letter for you, but since they took the Social Security Death Index down several years ago, that letter format is no longer available.  I thought that Ancestry.com had a similar letter, but when I searched, the link for "Request copy of original application" goes to a FAQ page on the Social Security Administration site that doesn't find a match for "obtain social security application."  A search for "ss-5 application" turned up a FAQ for "Can you provide a copy of a deceased person’s Social Security number application for genealogical research?"  That leads you to the forms above.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/obtaining-social-security-application.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Updated 24 September to add what might be found ion an SS-5 application.

Season 2 of Finding Your Roots Series Starts Tonight

Season two of the Finding Your Roots series starts tonight on PBS stations - at 8 p.m. EDT/MDT/PDT, and 7 p.m. CDT.

There are three stories tonight, all on the theme of "In Search of My Father" featuring Steven King, Courtney Vance and Gloria Reuben.  King's father left his family when King was 2; Vance's father never knew his birth parents; and Reuben's father died when she was young. You can watch a short trailer on the web page.

There are ten episodes in this season, ending 25 November 2014.

It looks like the full episodes will be available for viewing the day after each episode broadcasts.  You can find them, and Season 1 episodes, on http://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots/episodes/.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/season-2-of-finding-your-roots-series.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Technology Tuesday - MyHeritage Mobile App - Family Tree

MyHeritage recently updated its mobile app for the iOS devices - see the MyHeritage Blog post at  http://blog.myheritage.com/2014/07/major-update-of-the-myheritage-mobile-app/.  There are frequently asked questions about the mobile app at  http://www.myheritage.com/help/topics/myheritage-mobile-app/.

The mobile app is FREE from the App Store on the iOS products, and from Google Play for Android products.  A user must have a MyHeritage account and a family tree on MyHeritage in order to use the mobile app to its fullest potential.  

1)  The opening screen of the MyHeritage mobile app  on my iPhone looks like this:

There are three major sections for this app - Family Tree, Research, and Family Photos.  I will look at all three in this series.

2)  For this blog post, I'm going to review the "Family Tree" section of the MyHeritage mobile app.

When I tap on the right arrow on the screen above for "Family Tree," the screen shows the persons in my MyHeritage family tree:

The screen above shows an extensive family view - I'm in the middle with my descendants below, and my ancestors above.  If I want to see the family of, say, my wife, I can tap on the small blue and pink bubbles above her name and the tree will adjust to show her ancestors and descendants.  If I want to add a family member, I can tap on the plus (+) sign below the person's blue or pink icon to add another family member.

Flicking the screen expands the view (makes the icons larger) or pinching the screen makes the icons smaller.

3)  To see information about a person, I can tap on their icon (the blue or pink box, with the photo, name, lifespan years).  I chose to see the information about my paternal grandmother, Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962):

There are four buttons at the bottom of the screen - for Information, Events, Family, and Photographs.

4)  A user can Edit the information about the person by tapping the "Edit" button on the screen above.  That opens the "Edit Info" screen and the user can edit or add information about the person by picking one of the items with a right arrow:

note that an edit or addition made on the mobile app will be reflected in the user's family tree on the MyHeritage website.  And vice versa - a change to information on the website will be reflected on the mobile app.

To get back to the "Info" screen, the user needs to tap the "Done" button.

5)  I tapped on the "Events" icon (on the bottom of the screen), and the list of Events in the life of the person appeared (two screens shown below):

In addition to the life events for my grandmother, the significant events (birth, marriage and death of spouses and children) in her lifetime are listed.

A user can add or edit Event items by tapping on the "Edit" button at the top of the screen.

6)  The "Family" button on the bottom of the screen provides a list of parents, siblings, spouses and children of the person:

The user can navigate to any of these persons by tapping the name of the family member.  A family member can be added by tapping the "Edit" button.

7)  Tapping the "Photo" button (on the bottom of the screen) shows all of the photographs and attached record images for the person:

I have attached only one photograph for my grandmother.  If I tap the photo, then I can see it full screen.

Tapping on the three dots at the bottom of the screen above permits me to "Save to library" or "Remove current photo."

8)  The MyHeritage mobile app for iOS is very useful - it's my family tree in my pocket.  I can refer to it for information about the person in my family tree.  

I didn't see any way to see person notes, or source citations, using this mobile app.  I could see, or add, Event notes if I edited the Event.

I will review the "Research" feature in the MyHeritage mobile app in the next Technology Tuesday post.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/technology-tuesday-myheritage-mobile.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

Crafting a Source Citation for a Digital Book in Family Tree Maker 2014

After I wrote Crafting a Source Citation for a Published Book and a Google Book Version of the Book, which used RootsMagic 6, I received a comment in email to the effect of "Can you show me how to do this in Family Tree Maker 2014?"

Of course I can - but the process is different, and the resulting source citation is somewhat different using source templates in Family Tree Maker 2014.  Here's the process:

1)  In the "People" workspace, and a Person profile, I highlighted the Birth Fact:

On the screen above, with the "Sources" tab selected in the right-hand column, I clicked on the "New" button and selected "Add New Source Citation."

2)  The "Add Source Citation for Birth of ..." screen opened.  I did not have this digital book already in my list of sources, so I clicked on the "New" button:

That opened the "Add Source" screen above, and I selected the "New" button on that screen to open the "Select Source Template" screen as shown above.

I selected a Source group of "Publications -- Books, CDs, DVDs, Maps, Leaflets, and Videos," then selected a Category of "Image Copies" from the dropdown menu and "Online Publication (by Author" on the Template dropdown menu.

3)  Clicking "OK" opened the "Edit source" screen and I entered the source information into the different fields:

The fields are:

*  Author surname:  Cutter
*  Author forename(s):  William R.
*  Author credentials: [blank]
*  Other authors:  et al (editors)
*  Title:  Genealogies and Family History of the State of Connecticut: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation, Volume IV
*  Original publication year:  New York, N.Y. : Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911
*  New format:  Digital image
*  Website title:  Google
*  URL:  http://books.google.com
*  Year:  [blank]
*  Comments:  [blank]

4)  After clicking the "OK" button, the "Add Source citation for Birth of ..." screen opened, and on the "source" tab I entered the "Citation detail" information:

I added:

*  Citation detail:  in "Wade" sketch, page 2125, Miranda Wade birth
*  Citation text:  "(VI) Simon (3), son of Simon (2) Wade, was born November 22, 1767. He married, before 1790, Phebe Horton, born May 7, 1772, and lived at Foster.  Children:  James, born December 10, 1791; Catharine October 12, 1793: Sarah, October 23, 1798; Arnold, June 26, 1800; Olive, September 23, 1802; Miranda, June 25, 1804; Fenner, March 30, 1807; Lawton, mentioned below."
*  I unchecked the boxes to include the Citation text and the Web address.

5)  When I was finished, I clicked on the "Reference Note" tab to see the source citation created by this process:

The resulting source citation looks like this:

William R. Cutter, et al (editors), Genealogies and Family History of the State of Connecticut: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation, Volume IV (New York, N.Y. : Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911), in "Wade" sketch, page 2125, Miranda Wade birth; digital image, Google (http://books.google.com).

6)  As you can see, this has all of the elements of the source citation that was created using RootsMagic 6, but there are some differences.  Here is the source citation crafted by RootsMagic 6:

William R. Cutter et al, editors, Genealogies and Family History of the State of Connecticut: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation, Volume IV (New York, N.Y.: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911), in "Wade" sketch, page 2125, Miranda Wade birth; digital image, Google, Google Books  (http://books.google.com : accessed 19 September 2014).

7)  The differences appear to be:

*  Family Tree Maker 2014 doesn't use italics for book titles or website names
*  Family Tree Maker does not add an access date field.
*  FTM asked only for the Website title, not the Website company name.  I could have used "Google Books" instead of "Google."
*  I put all of the standard publication information in the field for "Digital Publication Year" because I thought it was necessary.  

Those are fairly minor differences, and a reader could easily find the book page in question with the information provided.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/crafting-source-citation-for-digital.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

CVGS Program on 9/24 is Ceasar Castro on Mexican-American War

WEDNESDAY, September 24th PROGRAM MEETING

from 12 noon to 2 p.m.

At Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library Auditorium

Ceasar Castro – “California and the Mexican-American War

from a Genealogical Point of View– Part 2”

Ceasar Castro is a local boy. He graduated from Hilltop High School and San Diego State with a degree in Electrical Engineering.  He worked at the Navy R&D Laboratory on Point Loma for 36 years before retiring.

Ceasar started working on his genealogy in 2008 when his sister, who had started earlier, asked him for help. However, slowly he took over the research. He joined the San Diego Genealogy Society and the Chula Vista Genealogy Society to learn more about genealogy. All of his ancestors come from Baja California. In researching his Castro ancestors, he discovered that two of his great-grandaunts married Irishmen in Baja. This puzzled him - how did the Irishmen end up in Baja around 1850? This started him delving into the history of Baja and resulted in his research on the Mexican-American War.

When historians write about history, they are interested in who made decisions and the result of those decisions. If an army is involved, they may give the names of some of the officers but not of the common soldiers. They usually only give the number of soldiers. But we are  genealogists; we seek the names of all the soldiers. That is because we are usually looking for a particular person(s). This presentation on the Mexican-American War is from that perspective; what were the names of all the people involved in the Mexican-American War in California.

This presentation is a continuation from the February 2014 presentation, and will concentrate on activities in San Diego County.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/cvgs-program-on-924-is-ceasar-castro-on.html

Geni.com Now Supports Multi-Lingual Profiles

I just received this via email from Amanda at Geni.com:

==================================

We're excited to let you know that Geni.com now supports multilingual profiles. This means you can enter names and biographies in multiple languages, and Geni will store them separately, and display them in your preferred language. The World Family Tree is a global initiative by Geni.com that shows how everyone in the world is related. As the leading global family tree, Geni's World Family Tree is now nearly 80 million profiles strong. One of the greatest challenges of building the definitive family tree of the world is accommodating the multitude of languages spoken by our international community. With branches extending all around the globe, Geni profiles are now multilingual and users can enter profile names and biographies separately in any of the 75 languages that are actively used on Geni. 

Now everyone can enjoy this rich content in their native language, without having to scroll through the similar information in foreign languages or see a messy mix of names in various languages on their relatives' profiles. Names can be entered in any language on any profile, and through a clever system of fallbacks, only the best information available will be displayed. We've updated all of Geni's functionality to take advantage of this new feature, including searching, tree matching, family charts, data exports and more.

Please read the announcement on our blog for further details: http://www.geni.com/blog/new-on-geni-multilingual-profiles-386125.html

================================

The blog post has a number of excellent examples.  Here is the Geni.com profile for Charlemagne in English:

I tried to figure out how to see this profile in German, but I couldn't figure out how to do it, except to change the language in my settings, which didn't change it to look like what I saw in the blog post.   Perhaps I'm just dense - I figured that if I chose German from the dropdown list that it would translate the profiles into German.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/genicom-now-supports-multi-lingual.html

Amanuensis Monday - Post 236: 1869 Deed of Land in Taylor County, Iowa from Esther and John Craven to Ranslow Smith

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started a Monday blog theme years ago called "Amanuensis Monday."  John offers this definition for "amanuensis:" 

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

The subject today is an 1869 deed in the Taylor County, Iowa deed books for Esther and John Craven selling land to Ranslow Smith:

The transcription of this deed is (handwritten text in italics, form fields underlined):

01 Esther & John Craven to Ranslow Smith

2h Claim [in margin]

02 Know all men by these presents. That we Esther M. Cravens

03 & John Cravens of the County of Taylor and State

04 of Iowa for the Consideration of Five Hundred Dollars

05 in hand paid do hereby Quit Claim unto Ranslow

06 Smith of Taylor County State of Iowa all right title

07 and interest in and to the following described Real Estate

08 Viz.  The West half 1/2 of the North East quarter 1//4 of Section

09 Seventeen (17) Tp Sixty nine (69) North of Range 34 West.

10   And the Said John Craven Releases his right of dower

11 in and to the above described premises.

12   Witness our hands this the 15" day of Sept. A.D. 1869.

13                                 {  50             50  }   Esther M. Craven

14                                 {  Rev Stamp      }   John S. Craven

15 State of Iowa   }

16 Taylor County } SS

17                                On this 15" day of Sept. A.D. 1869, before

18  Me the undersigned a Notary Public in and for said

19 County appeared the above named Esther M. Craven & John

20 Craven personally Known to me to be the identical persons

21 whose names are affixed to the foregoing instrument as grantors

22 and acknowledged the same to be their voluntary act and deed

23 for the purposes therein expressed.

24                           In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand

25 {  Notarial }                                         L. J. McCoun

26 {     Seal    }                                            Notary Public

27 I certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the Original

28 Deed as filed for Record Sept 23^d 1869

29                                           James P. Flick

30                                                     Recorder

The source citation for this Deed is:

Taylor County, Iowa, "Taylor County, Iowa, deed records, 1855-1953; index, 1855-1902", "Deed Records (Land) v. J (cont.) 1867-1869 v. K-L 1867-1870," Volume L, page 212 (stamped), Deed of Esther and John Craven to Ranslow Smith, 1869; accessed 4 February 2014 on FHL US/CAN microfilm 1,535,633.

This is the second parcel of land that John and Esther Craven sold to Ranslow Smith on 15 September 1869.  I thought it was interesting that John Craven released his dower right to this land parcel.  I think that means that this land came to Esther Craven, perhaps by deed or inheritance.

Ranslow Smith (1805-1873) is the adoptive father of my second great-grandfather, Devier J. Lamphier Smith (1839-1894).  He married Julia (Middleton) Johnston, as his second wife, on 8 March 1868 in Taylor County, Iowa.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/09/amanuensis-monday-post-236-1869-deed-of.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver