Findmypast’s Catholic Heritage Archive Continues to Grow

I received this information today from Findmypast:

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Findmypast’s Catholic Heritage Archive Continues to Grow

·         Findmypast adds over 1.2 million Scottish records to their exclusive Catholic Heritage Archive
·         Millions of Scottish Sacramental Registers added just two months after Archive's launch
·         New records date back to 1730, span 300 years of Scottish history and cover 27 Scottish counties

Birmingham, 7th April 2017
Leading family history website, Findmypast, has today announced the online publication of over 1.2 million Scottish sacramental registers and congregational records. The release is the first of many updates to the exclusive Roman Catholic Heritage Archive, a ground breaking initiative that aims to digitise the historic records of the Catholic Church in the United States, Britain and Ireland for the very first time.

Findmypast is today releasing baptism, marriage, burial and congregational records from all eight of Scotland's Roman Catholic Dioceses; St Andrews & Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Argyll & the Isles, Dunkeld, Galloway, Glasgow, Motherwell and Paisley. The records date back to 1730, span 300 years of Scottish history and cover over 115 parishes across the country.

The Catholic Church holds some of the oldest and best preserved genealogical records in existence. However, as many of these documents memorialise important religious sacraments, their privacy has long been protected and access to original copies has, until now, been hard to come by.

In collaboration with various Archdioceses, Findmypast is helping to digitise these records and make them widely accessible for the first time in one unified online collection. Images of original documents will be free to view in many cases. Fully searchable transcripts will also be included, providing family historians from the around the world with easy access to these once closely guarded records.

Today's release marks the first phase of Findmypast's Scottish Catholic collection. Further Scottish records and additional updates from variety of British, Irish, US and Canadian Dioceses will be added to the Roman Catholic Heritage Archive throughout 2017.

Brian Donovan, Licensing Manager at Findmypast said; “These records offer a wonderful insight into the Catholic communities all over Scotland, as well as the large migration of Irish Catholics in the nineteenth century”.

Visit www.findmypast.com/catholicrecords  to keep up to date with the latest developments.

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Disclosure:  I have a complimentary Findmypast subscription, which does not affect my objectivity in reporting on family history issues.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/04/findmypasts-catholic-heritage-archive_74.html

Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

52 Ancestors - Week 170: #485 Maritjen (Keller) Dafoe (1729-1789) of New York, Vermont and Ontario

Here is my 52 Ancestors biography for week #170:

Maritjen Keller (1732-1789)  is #485 on my Ahnentafel List, my 5th great-grandmother, who married #484 Johann Ernst "John" Dafoe (1726-1784)  in 1749, in Germantown, New York.

I am descended through:

*  their son, #242 Abraham Dafoe (1755-1815), who married #243 Katreen --?-- (1755-1792) in about 1775.
*  their daughter, #121 Mary Dafoe (1776-1832), who married #120 John Kemp (1768-1861)in 1795.

*  their son, #60 Abraham Kemp (1795-1881), who married #61 Sarah Sephrona Fletcher (1802-1861) in 1822.

*  their son, #30 James Abraham Kemp (1831-1902), who married #31 Mary Jane sovereen (1840-1874)  in 1861.

*  their daughter #15 Georgianna Kemp (1858-1952) who married #14 Charles Auble (1849-1916),  in 1898.

*  their daughter #7 Emily Kemp Auble (1899-1977) who married #6 Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976) in 1918.

* their daughter #3 Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002), who married #2 Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983), in 1942.

*  their son #1 Randall J. Seaver (1943-....)

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1)  PERSON (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

*  Name:                     Marytjen "Maria" Keller[1–2]   

*  Alternate Name:    Maria Keller[3]    

*  Alternate Name:     Mary Dafoe[4]  

*  Alternate Name:     Maritjen Keller[5]

*  Sex:                         Female   

*  Father:                    Conrad Keller (1695-1742)   

*  Mother:                  Maria Barbara Proper (1700-1742)   

  

2)  INDIVIDUAL EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

  

*  Birth:                     27 March 1729, Livingston, Columbia, New York, United States[1]   

*  Baptism:                after 27 March 1729 (after age 0), Loonenburg, Greene, New York, United States[1,3]   

*  Death:                   before 12 August 1789 (before age 60), Fredericksburgh, Lennox and Addington, Ontario, Canada[4]   

*  Burial:                  12 August 1789 (age 60), Fredericksburgh, Lennox and Addington, Ontario, Canada[4]    

  

3)  SHARED EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

  

*  Spouse 1:               Johann Ernst Dafoe (1726-1784)   

*  Marriage 1:            1 February 1749 (age 19), Germantown, Columbia, New York, United States[1-2,5]   

*  Child 1:                  George Dafoe (1749-1777)   

*  Child 2:                  Conradt Dafoe (1753-1853)   

*  Child 3:                  Abraham Dafoe (1755-1815)   

*  Child 4:                  John Dafoe (1758-1835)   

*  Child 5:                  Jacob Dafoe (1761-1784)   

*  Child 6:                  Maria Dafoe (1763-1834)   

*  Child 7:                  Michael Dafoe (1766-1859)   

*  Child 8:                  Daniel Dafoe (1769-1844)   

  

4)  BOTES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):   

The family of Conrad and Maria Barbara (Proper) Keller were well documented in the book by Lewis G. Proper, Proper Family History, Including Prooper, Propert, Propfer, Propper and Proppert (Rochester, N.Y. : the author, 1996)[1].

Marytjen Keller was the 4th child and second daughter of Conrad and Maria Barbara (Proper) Keller.  She was born 27 March 1729 in Livingston, Columbia County, New York, and was baptized in the Loonenburg Church in Greene County, New York[1,3].

Marytjen married Johan Ernst Dafoe on 1 February 1749 in Germantown, Dutchess County, New York[1-2,5].  They settled first near Petersburg, New York, part of the Patent of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck, where John became a millwright and built both a house and grist mill on Dayfoot Creek in about 1753. The house still stands on the original foundation and one can see the mill site, part of the mill dam and mill pond outline on Dayfoot Creek[2]. 

Between 1749 and 1769, Johan and Maritjen had eight children born in Germantown, Albany and Hoosick[1,2].  

When illness broke out in the community, John, on a snowy winter night in 1767, moved his wife and family away, to Pownal, New York, now in Vermont. There he built another house and another gristmill on Washtub Creek, known now as Tub Creek, but this land was in the disputed New Hampshire Grants and John, supporting the right of the New York Rensselaerwyck land grant, was a British supporter[2]. 

He spoke out against revolution and was jailed in Connecticut along with Governor William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin. John and William escaped in 1777. John joined General John Burgoyne's army and fought as a Private in the Battle of Bennington, on 16 and 17 August 1777. Tragedy struck the Defoe family when John's eldest son, George, was wounded and died the day after the battle.  John, with sons Abraham and John Jr., were captured and imprisoned. John again escaped, this time going to Quebec where he joined Roger's Rangers[2]. 

John's wife, Mary Keller Defoe was at that time still in her home near Pownal. She continued to aid Loyalist recruiters and spies with a "safe house" where they could rest, receive information and food. She was evicted by the Rebels and arrived in Quebec under a flag of truce in 1781 along with her younger children, her sister-in-law, Eva Defoe Katzebach, and assorted relatives including two small granddaughters, the children of her dead son, George[2].

In 1784, John fell ill and died in St. John's, Quebec, and was buried there. He died before he could receive a land grant. His wife, Mary, with her adult sons -  Abraham, John, Jacob, Michael and Daniel, her married daughter, Mary Dafoe Rikely, and several grandchildren - came up the St. Lawrence River to Cataraqui Township #3, (Fredericksburg Township) where they all received land grants and settled. Another son, Conrad, settled with his regiment in Osnabruck Township[2]. 

Marytjen died in Fredericksburgh in Upper Canada, and was buried there on 12 August 1789[2,4].

5)  SOURCES

 

1. Lewis G. Proper, Proper Family History, Including Prooper, Propert, Propfer, Propper and Proppert (Rochester, N.Y. : the author, 1996), page 2, Marytjen  Keller birth and marriage information.

2. A Joan Lucas, "Captain John Ernst Dafoe UE,." 2015 United Empire Loyalists' Association, The Free Library (https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Captain+John+Ernst+Dafoe+UE.-a0416716781 : accessed 30 Mar. 2017).

3. "U.S. Dutch Reformed Church Records from Selected States, 1639-1989," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), New York > New York City > New York City Lutheran, Vol. I, Book 85, page 191, Maria Keller baptism.

4. William Briggs, Ontario Historical Society Papers and Records (Toronto, Canada : Ontario Historical Society, 1899), page 60, Mary Dafoe burial entry.

5. "U.S. Dutch Reformed Church Records from Selected States, 1639-1989," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com),  New York > Germantown > Germantown N.Y., Book 81, page 483, Johan Ernst Defuh and Maritgen Keller entry.

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NOTE:  Amy Johnson Crow suggested a weekly blog theme of "52 Ancestors" in her blog post Challenge:  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks on the No Story Too Small blog.  I have extended this theme in 2017 to 208 Ancestors in 208 Weeks.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/04/52-ancestors-week-170-243-maritjen.html

Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Searching Wiltshire Parish Registers on Findmypast

Findmypast announced today that they have added parish register records for Wiltshire in England - see Findmypast Launches Six Counties In Six Months - Wiltshire This Month!

I have exactly 12.5% of my ancestry in Wiltshire before 1855 or so, and this addition to the collection makes me happy.

I went exploring today.  After logging in, here is the main Findmypast page:

I could have put my ancestral names in the search box, but I didn't.  I want to investigate only Wiltshire records, so I clicked on the "Search" button on the menu at the top of the page, and clicked on the "Birth, marriage and death" item on the dropdown menu:
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I entered my 2nd-great-grandfather's name ("james" and "richman") in the search fields, checked the "Name variants" boxes, and selected "United Kingdom" from the "WHERE" field dropdown menu, and added "Wiltshire" to the field to the right of the "WHERE" field.  I added a birth date of 1821 and kept the range "+/- 2 yrs."

I clicked the blue "Search Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers)" button on the screen above and received 15 matches:

The first item on the Results list was for an 1821 entry for James Richman in the "Wiltshire Baptisms, 1530-1886" database on Findmypast.  That's probably my guy!

On the right of the screen above there are icons for record transcriptions (a paper sheet icon) and for record images (a camera icon).  There is only a transcription for this record.  Here it is:

This information was transcribed by the Wiltshire Family History Society.  Thank you, Moonrakers!

 I see that the baptism date was 6 May 1821 in Hilperton, with parents John (a Weaver and Lab[ourer]) and Ann.

Unfortunately, this database does not provide a source citation for the specific record.  The search results do not specify the parish name which would be useful, especially for common names.

A little further down the page is an explanation of Wiltshire Baptisms, and also a list of all of the parishes included in this database.

The list indicates that there are records for Hilperton between 1622 and 1837, and that there are 3,075 baptism entries.  Most of the records end in 1837, when Civil Registration started.  However, some of the Pariah Register records continue on.  Unfortunately, Hilperton stopped at 1837 in this database, even though I've seen parish records on microfilm up into the 1880s and perhaps later.

I modified my search, selected only "Births and Baptisms" from the list on the left, took out the first name and the birth year, and replaced "Wiltshire" with "Hilperton" and received 397 results for just the surname "Richman" in Hilperton:

Note that the list above is for all "Births and Baptisms" entries, not just the "Wiltshire Baptisms, 1530-1886" database, in alphabetically order (by first name and last name).

At this time, I only see Baptisms from Parish Records, and not Marriages or Burials from the Wiltshire Parish Registers.  Maybe I'm wrong?

This still works for me.  I wish there were record images available, but they aren't yet.  I have accessed the images on Family History Library microfilm, and have collected records for my Richman, Marshman, Warren, Rich, Hill and other surnames in Hilperton and surrounding parishes.  Now I need to compare what I have with this database on Findmypast.

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Disclosure:  I have a complimentary Findmypast subscription, which does not affect my objectivity in reporting on family history issues.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/04/searching-wilshire-parish-registers-on.html

Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Findmypast Launches Six Counties In Six Months - Wiltshire This Month!

I received this information from Findmypast today:

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FINDYMPAST LAUNCHES SIX COUNTIES IN SIX MONTHS

Project to publish parish records from six counties in next six months

Wiltshire first county available online from April 6, 2017, includes records of the first woman 

mauled by a tiger in England and the celebrated architect Sir Christopher Wren

Birmingham, April 6, 2017:  Leading family history website, Findmypast, announced today the launch of their Six Counties in Six Months project which will see the online publication of vital parish records from six counties across England over the next six months. These records expand further Findmypast’s unrivalled collection of English and Welsh parish records – the largest collection available online.

First up is Wiltshire, published today to mark the opening of Who Do You Think You Are Live! 2017. The Wiltshire parish records will be followed by Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Nottinghamshire, Somerset and Warwickshire. 

The Wiltshire collection comprises transcriptions of nearly 5 million parish records of baptisms, banns, marriages and burials dating back to 1538. They form the largest online collection of Wiltshire records and are available only at Findmypast. 

They are full of fascinating details of life through the ages and will provide researchers from all over the world with the opportunity to uncover the stories of the inhabitants for the very first time. Anyone can go online and search for their Wiltshire ancestors by name, location and date.

Paul Nixon, Head of UK licensing at Findmypast, said: “What a terrific way to launch our six-in-six campaign with the announcement of close to 5 million parish records from Wiltshire. There has never been a better time to be a family historian and Findmypast continues to lead the way in releasing exciting new collections which help people connect with their ancestors.”

Famous names in the records

Hannah Twynney was the first person in England ever to be mauled by a tiger. Hannah worked as a barmaid at the local White Lion Inn.  At the time of her death, there was an exhibition of wild animals in Malmesbury and she made a habit of teasing the tigers.  One unfortunate day, while Hannah was enjoying herself, a tiger escaped from the cage and mauled the young woman.  Our records show that she was buried at St Peter & St Paul in Malmesbury on 24 October 1703.  Her gravestone in Malmesbury remembers the awful story with a poem: ‘In bloom of life, she’s snatched from hence, she had no room, to make defence, for tiger fierce, took life away, and he she lies, in a bed of clay’. 

Christopher Wren, the acclaimed architect, was born in East Knoyle, Wiltshire.  Across London, Wren designed more than 50 churches, including the incredible St Paul’s Cathedral, after the Great Fire of London.  Although, the first two designs he submitted to Parliament for the Cathedral were turned down.  He is also known for designing the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford, Trinity College Library at Cambridge, and the monument to the Great Fire of London.  

 Thynne (Thynn) family – numerous members of the Thynne family of Longleat, the Marquesses of Bath, are found in the burial records.  They include the record for John Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath buried at Longbridge Deverill on 29 April 1896, the great-great-grandfather of the current, colourful Lord Bath of Longleat.

William Henry Fox Talbot, the celebrated pioneer of photography who, through the use of chemicals, improved the processes of developing, fixing, and printing.  The records show that he was buried at Lacock Abbey on 21 September 1877.  Today, Lacock Abbey is the location of the National Trust’s Fox Talbot Museum and Village.

Benjamin Pitman famous for introducing the eponymous Pitman shorthand in the United States. He was baptised in Trowbridge, Wiltshire on 8 September 1822.  Pitman immigrated to the United States in 1853 to instruct Americans to use the shorthand system developed by him and his brother Isaac.  Pitman toured America and lectured on the use of the Pitman system.  Later he became an official stenographer and attended the trial of the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.

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Disclosure:  I have a complimentary Findmypast subscription, which does not affect my objectivity in reporting on family history issues.

The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/04/findmypast-launches-six-counties-in-six.html

Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

1772 Birth Record of Mercy Plimpton (1772-1850) of Medfield, Mass. - Post #359 of Treasure Chest Thursday

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

The treasure today is the  1772 birth record of Mercy Plimpton, daughter of Amos Plimpton and Mary Guild in the vital record book of Medfield, Norfolk County, Massachusetts.

The birth record for Mercy Plimpton:

The transcription of this record is:

[PLIMPTON] Mercy, d. Amos and Mary, Sept. 9, 1772.

The source citation for this record is:

Vital Records of Medfield, Massachusetts to the Year 1850 (Boston, Mass. : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1903), Births, page 83, Mercy Plimpton birth entry.

Mercy Plimpton was the 5th child and third daughter of Amos and Mary (Guild) Plimpton, who married in Walpole in 1756, but all of the children were born in Medfield.  Three of the children died before Mercy was born - perhaps that is how she received the name from her parents.

Mercy Plimpton (1772-1850) married Aaron Smith (1765-1841) on 6 October 1795 in Medfield, Massachusetts, and they had 8 children between 1795 and 1815, including my ancestor Alpheus B. Smith (1802-1840).  Aaron and Mercy (Plimpton) Smith are my 4th great-grandparents.

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The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/04/1772-birth-record-of-mercy-plimpton.html

Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Which Record Provider Provides the Most Record Hints?

I had a little free time today, and wondered about this, since I have family trees on Ancestry.com, MyHeritage, Findmypast, and FamilySearch.

I picked a random but 19th century ancestor - my second great-grandfather, David Auble (1817-1894).  Each tree has the same basic information in my tree - birth, marriage, death, burial, children, siblings, parents, events, etc).  Here are the Hints for him on each of the four sites:

1)  Ancestry.com (the "Auble Descendants" family tree) - All Hints, including those attached to the profile:

*  Ancestry Member Trees - 12 other trees, two of them mine
*  New Jersey Births and Christenings Index, 1660-1931) - this is for a daughter, with David Auble named as the father.
*  1850 United States Census - David Auble household in Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey
*  1860 United States Census - David Auble household in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey
*  1870 United States Census - Daniel Auble household in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana
*  1880 United States Census - David Auble household in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana
*  Indiana Deaths, 1882-1920 - David Auble death record
*  U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current - David Auble entry
*  U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 - David Auble in 1896 Terre Haute, Indiana City Directory (after he died!)

2)  MyHeritage (the "RandySeaverAncestors - 2011-Master" family tree) - Record Matches and Smart Matches:

*  FamilySearch Family Tree - my data
*  Geni World Tree - my data
*  WikiTree - my data
*  MyHeritage Trees - 4 Smart Matches
*  1850 United States Census - David Auble household in Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey
*  1870 United States Census - Daniel Auble household in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana
*  1880 United States Census - David Auble household in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana

3)  Findmypast (the "RandySeaver Database-Master-2016-05-25" tree) - Record Hints:

*  1850 United States Census - David Auble household in Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey
*  1880 United States Census - David Auble household in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana

4)  FamilySearch (the David Auble profile in the FamilySearch Family Tree) - Record Hints and FamilySearch sources already attached to the profile:

*  New Jersey Births and Christenings Index, 1660-1931 - this is for a daughter, with David Auble named as the father.
*  Wisconsin Marriages, 1836-1930 - this is for a son, with D. Auble named as the father
*  Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007 - marriage entry for daughter, David Auble named as father
*  1850 United States Census - David Auble household in Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey
*  1860 United States Census - David Auble household in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey
*  1870 United States Census - Daniel Auble household in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana
*  1880 United States Census - David Auble household in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana
*  Indiana Death Index, 1882-1920 - David Auble entry
*  Find A Grave Index - David Auble entry

5)  There they are, all of the Record Hints, Matches, etc.

FamilySearch and Ancestry.com did the best.  Some of the Ancestry Hints were obtained from FamilySearch provided databases.  The only unique Ancestry.com database was the U.S. city Directories entry.

MyHeritage did not provide the 1860 U.S. Census, the birth and marriage records of the children, or Find A Grave entry.

Findmypast did not find the 1860 or 1870 U.S. Census records (perhaps because the 1870 was for "Daniel" Auble), or the other records.

Each record provider has their own search engine and search methodology - some of them may be more broad or stringent than others.  A search on the websites using all of the tips and tricks, may result in more records.  This blog post concerned Hints only.

6)  For comparison purposes, here is the list of Events from my RootsMagic "Edit Person" profile for David Auble:

As you can see, Ancestry and FamilySearch provided every record that I have found for David Auble (although I haven't added the City Directory to my Event list).  I have only Indirect Evidence for the birth of David Auble and the marriage of David Auble to Sarah G. Knapp.  I also have an obituary for David Auble obtained from family records.  I also have a deed that no resource has provided as a Hint yet.

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The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/04/which-record-provider-provides-most.html

Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

SDGS Meeting on Saturday, 8 April Features Del Ritchhart on Evernote

The April program meeting of the San Diego Genealogical Society (SDGS) is Saturday, 8 April at 10 a.m. at the St. Andrew's Lutheran Church (8350 Lake Murray Blvd., just south of Jackson Drive) in San Diego.  

The program speaker will be SDGS member Del Ritchhart, who will speak on "Organizing Genealogy Files With Evernote."

Del's biography:

Del graduated from the University of Colorado in 1959 and entered the U.S. Navy.  He retired from the Navy as a Captain in 1984 and entered private industry.  He retired as Vice President Domestic Business Development of Lockheed Martin Corporation in 1999.  Del began researching his family history in 1994.  He is very active in several genealogy societies in the San Diego area, having served as President and Programs Chairman Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego and Program Director of the San Diego Genealogical Society.  Additionally, he is a member of The Southern California Genealogical Society, The San Diego Genealogical Society and is The Genealogist for the San Diego Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution.  Del has given over 100 genealogy presentations to numerous genealogy groups in the Southern California area during the past eight years.  He published “Breathing Life Into My Family Ancestors” in late 2011 and is planning to publish his second book this year.

The 9 a.m. education class will be Peter Steelquist speaking on "Computer Resources for Genealogy."  Seating is limited, so please reserve your spot by emailing sdgsclasses@gmail.com.

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The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/04/sdgs-meeting-on-saturday-8-april.html

Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

2012 Legacy Cruise Photos: Part 2 -- Post 458 of (Not So) Wordless Wednesday

Linda and I enjoyed the Legacy Family Cruise in May 2012 from Oslo to Le Havre to Cherbourg to Dublin to Liverpool to Edinburgh and back to Oslo.  I took some photos with my camera (not cell phone), including these:

1)  The ship docked at Le Havre, France at 9 a.m. on  14 May.  We were up at 7 a.m. to have breakfast and get ready for our day trip on a bus to do some sightseeing in Paris. We went, with our tickets, to the Masquerade Theater at 9 a.m. and gave them to Dave so that he could get all of the Legacy group on one bus. We had 44 of the 53 seats. We were on the bus at about 10 a.m. with tour guide Fredericka and driver Lou. We rode 2.5 hours through the countryside to Paris. We stopped for a restroom break before entering Paris, and I used the ATM to get Euros and we bought drinks for the bus.

As we entered downtown Paris, we came down the Champs Elysee toward the Arc de-Triomphe, looking through the windshield:

2)  all of the shops and buildings to Place Concorde, then off on a street to the Opera House and other sites:

3)  Another monument whose name I've forgotten:

4)  We stopped at a restaurant Chez Jenny (which we dubbed Chez Jenny-ology). We had a lunch of tomatoes and olives, roast duck leg, and cheesecake. Linda had a reaction to something – probably the duck sauce, so she didn’t have much to eat.

More to come about the visit to Paris!

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The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/04/2012-legacy-cruise-photos-part-2-post.html

Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

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Latest Update from Family Tree Maker About FTM 2017

I just saw this on the Family Tree Maker User group page on Facebook from Jack Minsky of Software MacKiev:

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UPDATE - 4:30 PM UTAH TIME - APRIL 4
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ANCESTRY ASKS TO PUT THE COUNTDOWN ON HOLD

Ancestry have provided the results of the stress testing of FTM 2017 with their servers, and they were not what was expected. When simulating scaling to large numbers of users simultaneously syncing their trees, Ancestry saw a degradation in performance that would affect not only the speed of syncing, but the experience for users of Ancestry.com itself and the Ancestry apps.
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ACTION PLAN

Given this, we have agreed a number of steps we will take together:
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• We are preparing for synchronized testing with an expanded group of beta testers who will try syncing all at once during a particular 1-2 hour period to evaluate the impact with real user trees. We are arranging to have all the testers connected by a central SMS messaging system so that we can have them cancel syncing if problems arise.
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• Ancestry will be taking a look at their gateway and other services to see if they can scale up capacity in a few areas to handle greater load. The goal will be to have a greater buffer when, as expected, a large number of FTM users will try out the system all at once.
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• Depending on where we are when ready to launch, we may consider a plan where we do a staggered release to prevent a situation where all users start syncing all at once as they start up FTM 2017 for the first time. We will be reaching out to those getting the new edition to find out who is eager to get started and who'd prefer that others test the system first.
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• Ancestry will continue to keep all connection services other than syncing on until FTM 2017 is released. That means that Ancestry hints, search, merge, maps and the Web dashboard will continue to work as they do now. We hope that this will allow most of you to continue your research while waiting for syncing to resume.
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ABOUT TIMING

We are looking to conduct the synchronized beta testing tomorrow or Thursday. When that’s complete, and Ancestry has finished whatever short-term engineering adjustments are possible, we will have a much better idea of when we’ll be launching. We believe that ranges from this Friday evening at the earliest to the middle of next week. I’m sorry we can’t provide a better forecast than that.
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HOW TO STAY UP TO DATE

I will continue to post regular updates on our testing progress here, along with more details about the new edition. We will be sending an email as described above offering choices for those waiting for their copy. And we will also continue to post the same updates on the Family Tree Maker support site so that you can send it to those who are not on Facebook if you like. You will find it here:

https://support.mackiev.com/498640-RELEASE-OF-FTM-2017
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We are oh so grateful to those of you who are waiting patiently (or impatiently) for this release, and especially to those of you who have been supportive of us taking a cautious approach. While all this hand-wringing may turn out to have been unnecessary, we will long remember the support of this community as we did what we believed to be the right thing.
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Thank you!

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Disclosure:  I have a paid FTM 2014 version of Family Tree Maker, and have ordered FTM 2017.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/04/latest-update-from-family-tree-maker.html

Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Dear Randy: Can I Make a Kinship Report in RootsMagic?

A society colleague asked me how she could make a Kinship Report in RootsMagic recently.  I knew there was a "Kinship Report" but I had never tried to use it.

1)  In RootsMagic, I clicked on the Report menu item and saw the dropdown menu:

2)  I clicked on the "Lists" item and saw the selection:

"Kinship List" is one of the available lists.

3)  I clicked on the "Kinship List" and saw the "Report Settings" screen.  I kept myself as the "Start person:"

There were no other options as far as content.

4)  I clicked on "Generate Report and it took over a minute to provide a list of the 47,000 persons in my RootsMagic database with whom I have a relationship.  Here is the top of the list:

Note: The "Relative" name is not listed because the database persons without a name are listed first in alphabetical order.

The last page - page 809 - is below:

Yep, 809 pages listed alphabetically.  So I have to know who I'm looking for in order to find my relationship to them.  There are easier ways to find that out!

5)  What I would love to see as a "Kinship List" is the ability to pick a relationship and get the list of persons in the database that are exactly that relationship, or closer.  For instance, if I specified a relationship of "fourth cousin" from a dropdown menu, it would show me a list of fourth cousins, third cousins, second cousins, first cousins, with all the removeds in a sorted list.  My preference would be that the list would group all first cousins together, all second cousins together, etc.  That would be a very useful Kinship List, I think.

Such a Kinship List would take some time to create and order the results, but would it be longer than the present time it takes to create my 809 page Kinship List?  It might, and that's OK with me, since I would be getting what I want.

6)  So the answer to my colleague is:  Yes, there is a Kinship List, but it's not easy to use.

7)  Can Legacy Family Tree or Family Tree Maker make a Kinship List they way I want it, as described in 5) above?  If so, please show me how to do it.

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The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2017/04/dear-randy-can-i-make-kinship-report-in.html

Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.