Tag Archives: family history

Technology and the Ever Changing World of Genealogical Research Tools

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It is easily said that I can sometimes be too quick while other times be very slow to adapt to new technologies, hardware, software, peripherals or other genealogical research tools. Tonight, of course, the old workhorse software program that I’ve “grown up with” is going away. Family Tree Maker®  is currently in its last iteration and support will only be available until 1 January 2017.

OK, that gives me plenty of time to to do one of three things:

Since I’ve already been unsuccessful trying to accustom myself to RootsMagic or Legacy…mostly due to a lack of perseverance…my choices are substantially limited. But, I’ve been here before.

Right now, I’m leaning toward abandoning all PC based software in favor of Ancestry. I’ve used Ancestry and FTM since the late 90’s and have become very comfortable of the simplicity of syncing one with the other. So I’m sorry to see that aspect go away.  The downside is reports, tables, pedigree charts and all the various data organizing products that are currently available in FTM.

Other than reports, using Ancestry.com exclusively isn’t such a bad thing. But then there’s the issue of worrying about Ancestry itself folding. This approach puts all the data I collect automatically “in the cloud.” After all, what is the cloud other than a remote server (not in the clouds!) that is a repository of data, all stored in 0’s and 1’s.

Pedigree Chart of Erskin Coleman Robison (1878-1942)

Speaking of reports, I’m not aware of any means to create any type of reports strictly out of Ancestry.com family trees. If I’m wrong, I’d happily be willing to find a way to produce the same type of reports that are currently available in FTM under “Publishing.” So that brings me back to Legacy or RootsMagic.

 

 

Now I, along with thousands of others, have some decisions to make. But as of yet, I don’t think we have enough data to even begin the process.

UPDATE: After posting this blog, I checked my email and found this link to RootsMagic. They certainly didn’t waste any time and I suspect they may have had this “in the wings” and ready to post at the appropriate time.

 

Find-A-Grave Project – BIG Project

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At the November meeting of the Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society (WMGS), we listened to a presentation titled, “CSI Gravestones: Causes of Death.” Although that may sound a bit on the morbid side, one of the details that most genealogists look for is the cause of death. The intriguing nature of this presentation was the highlighting of the propensities of our ancestors to “broadcast” those causes through the epitaphs carved in stone on grave markers all over New England. It’s not seen very much these days, if at all.

Mr. Nathaniel Parks Elmwood Cemetery Holyoke, Massachusetts

Mr. Nathaniel Parks
Elmwood Cemetery
Holyoke, Massachusetts

The most interesting, or rather, the most tragic gravestone I’ve ever photographed is the memorial to Mr. Nathaniel Parks who was 19 years old on the 19th of March 1794 when he was shot to death by Mr. Luther Frink. Considering the length of time between the shooting and the burial, it’s safe to assume that Mr. Frink admitted the cause of young Nathaniel’s demise. See his memorial at Find-A-Grave here.

What’s the BIG project I was talking about? Let’s get back to the WMGS meeting. Al and Betsy McKee of Longmeadow, Massachusetts have been photographing gravestones for over 20 years. They’ve traveled up and down the Connecticut River Valley from northern Massachusetts down into southern Connecticut. They have a little over 20,000 images in their  collection. They sorted out about 50 or so for us that showed causes of death: fevers, war, old age among many other causes including illnesses that we are no longer confronted with.

Since I’ve been involved with Find-A-Grave for over 15 years, it occurred to me that the McKee’s had probably uploaded many of their images to that site. At the conclusion of the presentation, I asked them about that. Well, they just never got involved with uploading to Find-A-Grave. So I proposed a collaborative project between them and WMGS.  And they’re all for it. My idea was to open an account so that the memorials that get posted would give credit to them for the photographs.

Find-A-Grave is one of the websites that researchers use on a fairly regular basis. Creating an

William Bassett Passenger on the Fortune that arrived at Plymouth in 1621

William Bassett
Passenger on the Fortune that arrived at Plymouth in 1621

account is totally free and anyone can upload any memorial as long as the memorial has not already been posted. Incredibly, there are over 140 million memorials for “regular people” all the way up to presidents and movie stars. It’s a good research tool in that using the site to search for an ancestor can turn up some surprising results. That’s the upside. The downside is that realistically, anyone can upload anything. So you may find someone who is a target of your research, but the data gleaned from such a memorial must be verified before we take it as fact. Either way, it’s just another breadcrumb in the relentless search for our ancestors.

Why put up memorials? There are many reasons. First, it is a memorial and it does just that, memorialize a family member, friend or anyone who you are familiar with who you feel deserves to be remembered in such a manner. Many of us simply like to provide the information to researchers from around the country and actually from around the world. The photo isn’t necessary, it’s more of a bonus. I’ve had email over the years from people who appreciate the fact that they can “visit” friends and family when there is no opportunity to visit the actual cemetery. One elderly woman saw her sister in one of the local cemeteries and, according to her daughter, teared up.  The cemetery is here in Massachusetts and she currently lives with her daughter and son-in-law in California with no hope of making a trip back here.

So here’s the point of this post. If you’re familiar with Find-A-Grave or even if you’re new to it and would like to take part in this project, just get in touch with me at dave@oldbones.info. As we put together the details, I’m sure we can easily find a way to allow anyone from anywhere to pitch in.

Chicopee Library Named LDS Family History Center

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Chicopee Public Library

Chicopee Public Library

The Chicopee Public Library at 449 Front Street in Chicopee, Massachusetts has been designated a Family History Center by the

Family History Center, Salt Lake City, Utah

Family History Center,         Salt Lake City, Utah

Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS). These are the folks who bring us billions of genealogical records to research at their website Family Search and they do it for free!

On Thursday, 19 November 2015, representatives from LDS will be presenting the library with a very generous check to support the genealogical activities there. For example, along with 5 or 6 other genealogists, I’ve been volunteering to assist library patrons with their own family research. In addition, the library sponsors a variety of genealogy research classes, lectures and presentations. I’ve been invited to participate in the presentation ceremony. 

Keep an eye on my schedule of activities at Old Bones Genealogy of New England and click the “Workshops/Classes” tab. You might also take a look at “Useful Documents” where I post dozens and dozens of genealogy documents, charts, spreadsheets, lists of genealogically oriented Facebook pages and a list of good websites to take a look at.

I hope to get a few pictures to post!

 

More “exciting” news from Ancestry.com

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Here’s a quick post regarding Loretta Gillespie’s blog, this time about Ancestry.com.

Are you a subscriber? I have been a “faithful” customer for over 10 years. Lately, they’re a little more difficult to keep track of. For example, their newest membership packages are a little confusing. We discussed it today on a Google Hangout (which all of you can participate in) called “Mondays with Myrt.” Click this link to Loretta Gillespie’s blog, “Barking Up the Wrong Tree.” It’s worth a look.

This was a large part of the discussion today on Monday’s with Myrt.  If you’re interested, it’s a great place to listen to all things genealogical.  Check out http://bit.ly/MyrtsNext. That link will take you to DearMYRT’s Google Community. All are invited to join the Hangout every Monday at noon eastern, 11 AM Central and 10 AM Mountain time. I’m on the “panel” nearly every week, but an unlimited number of people can watch through her Community page.

Old Bones Genealogy of New England

Old Bones Genealogy of New England

 

Sure, Ancestry.com wants to share my health report with everyone! Well, no thanks!

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Ancestry Health? Yes, Ancestry Health

This is a little bit disturbing in my opinion.  Maybe even creepy.  But Ancestry.com is diving into the health data field which, on the surface, sounds a bit like what the FDA prevented 23andMe from doing, at least in its original form.  But that’s another story!I refer everyone to the most excellent DNA blog by scientist and genealogist, Roberta Estes.  If you have any interest in DNA whatsoever, her blog provides an excellent resource.  She speaks “English” in her blog rather than “Scientist.”  Well, she does for the most part!  Some of the entries get a little long and have a tendency to cause my eyes to glaze over, but I’m always able to get the gist of her knowledge and manage to read most of the information.  Then there’s the comments…hundreds of comments from researchers everywhere.

But I digress!  Here’s the link where she explains with reasonable clarity the ins and outs of the beta program: DNA-Explained which should be a heads-up for anyone who may be tempted to jump right into the Ancestry Health pool.

She also references Judy G Russell, a very accomplished genealogist who happens to be a lawyer, a former prosecutor in fact.  That’s another blog I would strongly recommend.  You can read and subscribe to her clever, informative, sometimes personal and often humorous words published daily at The Legal Genealogist.

Needless to say, I subscribe to both.  Some posts I have no interest in reading but most of the others and their comments are an education in and unto themselves.

Happy researching!

In closing, I had to share this Father’s Day “card” from my kids.  Matthew, Mark and Kimi collaboratively colored this cartoon for a long ago Father’s Day sometime around 1995.  They’re a prescient group as I recently discovered through 23andMe that I am, in fact, 3% Neanderthal!

neanderthal-dadThanks kids!

Heritage Quest – The New Version

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English: Seal of the United States Census Bure...

English: Seal of the United States Census Bureau. The blazon is defined here as: On a shield an open book beneath which is a lamp of knowledge emitting rays above in base two crossed quills. Around the whole a wreath of single leaves, surrounded by an outer band bearing between two stars the words “U.S. Department of Commerce” in the upper portion and “Bureau of the Census” in the lower portion, the lettering concentric with an inner beaded rim and an outer dentilated rim. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ll readily admit that I have not been a regular user of Heritage Quest.  As a matter of fact, I would avoid it.  Probably because I didn’t know how best to take advantage of it.  When I did go there, it was usually at the library where I volunteer and occasionally teach or lecture on genealogy research principles.Today, however, I watched a video that introduced me to the new version that has just been released.  I think they hit a home run with this one.  Maybe a grand slam!

The style echos what will be the newest version of Ancestry.com once they release the beta version which some of us have been able to “get friendly with” and provide feedback to Ancestry.  More on that in another post another day.  For now, I just want to encourage everyone to take a look at Heritage Quest and see all the new features.

First, it’s a little more pleasant of an atmosphere.  Maybe, for me, it’s just that it’s a refreshed website.  But the real meat of the upgrade is the collections that you will find there.

Brief rundown: The original 6 data sets are still available but PERSI and the US Serial Set will, for now, redirect you back to the original site.  Census records are now available to 1940 given the collaboration with Ancestry.com.  The census records and other sets will now display images in 256 grey scale or color rather than “bi-tonal” making them easier to read.  You will also be able to save them, download them or e-mail them in a image format.

In addition to US Census Population Schedules, images for US Territories, Military and Naval Forces records, US Indian Census Rolls 1885-1940, Mortality Schedules from 1850 to 1880, the 1880 schedules of Dependent, Delinquent and Defective classes and select Non-Population schedules from 1850 to 1880.

English: A collage of American Revolutionary W...

English: A collage of American Revolutionary War public domain images. Clockwise from top left: Battle of Bunker Hill, Death of Montgomery at Quebec, Battle of Cowpens, “Moonlight Battle”. Interlingua: Un collage de imagines in dominio public super le Guerra de Independentia del Statos Unite. Ab sinistra superior in senso horologic: Battalia de Bunker Hill, morte de Montgomery a Quebec, Battalia de Cowpens, Battalia de Capo St. Vincente. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The complete NARA M804 Revolutionary War pension and bounty land applications with “every name index” of pension apps and applicants. All NARA pension apps are included regardless of page count or genealogical value.

The image viewer appears in either basic of advanced view without the need for any special plug-ins.  Boolean operators are not allowed (AND, OR, AND NOT, etc.) but truncation and wildcards are (Eli?abeth or Sam*).  An exact match option appears when typing begins. You are also allowed to add life events or other family members to refine your search and use double quotation marks for specific phrases (“first edition”),

All documents are downloadable in PDF format.  The site includes several pages of tips and tricks for researchers.

Map of campaigns in the Revolutionary War

Map of campaigns in the Revolutionary War (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Map Guide to the US Census” has been moved to the new interactive MAPS

English: Map of US Census Bureau's geographica...

English: Map of US Census Bureau’s geographical regions Category:Census Bureau images (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

section.  The maps have their own tabs, can be saved, printed or e-mailed using a right click for the option menu.

“The Census Book” by William Dollarhide is included in the MAPS section and includes blank census forms. You may be interested in other William Dollarhide books which include “American Migration Routes 1735-1815,” “New  York State Census & Substitutes,” or “Managing a Genealogical Project” among others.  They’re all available at Amazon.com.

 

I’m not familiar enough just yet to expound on the new features or any of the improvements to what has been available for a while.  But it’s certainly worth a look!

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Kunkle Koincidence

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English: Photo of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

English: Photo of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Genealogy Road Show has a lot going for it.  They are able to cover many more family stories in a single episode than WDYTYA (either US or UK) and Finding Your Roots with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.  Not that the others aren’t worth watching.  Quite the contrary.  I enjoy the stories and I enjoy hearing how the deep family stories are uncovered.

Tonight, I wanted to mention an odd “koincidence” that I noticed in last night’s show.

Dream a Little Dream (Cass Elliot album)

Dream a Little Dream (Cass Elliot album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

First I should mention that although the surname “Kunkle” isn’t on any list of the most popular. It’s far down the list after all the “Smith” and “Jones” families.  But “Kunkle” jumps out at me simply because I know of an individual named Kunkle who lives and works here in Massachusetts.  This particular Kunkle is also related to a very famous personality from the 60’s, Mama Cass Elliot! As most of us from that generation already know, Mama Cass was a spectacular talent (IMHO) who died tragically over 40 years ago.  I can still hear her singing “Dream a Little Dream of Me.”

OK, back to genealogy.  Last night’s show featured an elderly woman, Emma Musgrove Dasenbrock, who was accompanied by her son, Timothy.  She knew literally nothing about her mother’s side of her family as her mother had died about a year after Emma’s birth. Mary Tedesco did a marvelous job with Mrs. Dasenbrock making her and her son feel quite comfortable as she rolled out the unknown family mysteries.  As it turns out, her mother was a descendant of the immigrant Phillip Kunkle who arrived around 1840.  Phillip and his wife Margaret had a son named Edward who married Anna.  Their daughter and Emma’s mother was Barbara Kunkle.  Kunkle…an seemingly rare if not odd name.  But a Kunkle nonetheless.

Now here’s the part I believe most people missed.  Later in the show,  as Josh Taylor was working with Julie Bryar, he displayed a 1933 Canadian Immigration document which, on line 5, showed Julie’s great grandfather, Julius Marsalko.  Who noticed the name on line 4?  It just happens to be “James KUNKLE”!!

It’s a small world after all!

FYI Both Julius Marsalko and James Kunkle were stamped “REJECTED” for admission!!

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Judy G Russell, JD, CG, CGL “Visits” Western Mass Genealogical Society

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If I’ve ever prepared for a monthly meeting of WMGS, it’s this month’s meeting. It will be our 4th virtual meeting, each with an increasing level of technology and the resultant learning curve.

English: British genealogist and heraldist Sir...

English: British genealogist and heraldist Sir Arthur Vicars (1862–1921), Ulster King of Arms and Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We’ve had some high profile guests in virtual environments over the past year interspersed with local genealogists.  For example, Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, was our guest late in our 2013-2014 season.  Big success!  Great program!  We’d love to have her again!

A few months later, our next virtual guest was Dick Eastman, genealogist and publisher of the monthly Eastman’s Online Genealogical Newsletter. You can subscribe to the basic account at no charge with a small fee for the “Plus Edition.” He spent the evening helping our members understand how far MyHeritage has grown and the ins and outs of using it as a research resource.  Very informative and helpful. And he’s right…MyHeritage has grown by leaps and bounds and through that growth is challenges the “big guns” such as Ancestry.com.

Last November, we were challenged to organize our research in 12 months with one project per month by “DearMYRTLE, your friend in genealogy.”  She had 12 challenges with 3 bonus challenges that were handed out at random to 15 WMGS members.  They each took the “hot seat” to be personally challenged by DearMYRTLE to tackle the project they had been handed when they walked in the door.  in addition to her genealogical community, you can visit her public Facebook page.

Keep in mind that these guest presenters were nowhere near our meetings which take place at the Agawam Senior Center in Agawam Massachusetts.  They were each sitting comfy at home while they talked to us in real time and we were able to interact with them.  What a world!

This Wednesday, 4 February 2015, our guest will be Judy G Russell, the Legal Genealogist. I’ve

Judy G Russell, JD, CG, CGL

Judy G Russell, JD, CG, CGL

heard Judy speak many times and I’m always impressed.  She’s a trained attorney and a highly respected genealogist.  You can tell from her post-nominals: JD, CG and CGL.  JD is her law degree, “Doctor of Jurisprudence“.  CG is her designation as a Certified Genealogist, not a small feat!  CGL refers to Certified Genealogical Lecturer, another professional milestone.  I always have told my genealogy research classes that the easiest ancestor to research is a criminal.  Judy is here to prove that concept with “Rogues, Rascals and Rapscallions: The Family Black Sheep.”  Can’t wait for this one!

She’ll be visiting with us via Google+ Hangouts on Air.  Our membership is certainly invited to come to the meeting in person, of course.  But if anyone cannot make it for any reason whatsoever, they can sit at home and actually participate live!  Most of our members belong to our “WMGS Google+ Community” as well as having paid memberships in the Society.  Only paid members will have access to the program after it is archived at YouTube.

If you haven’t experienced a Google+ Hangout or joined a Google+ Community, it’s worth

thetime…there are thousands that cater to nearly every interest.  You should take a look at the technology and the different types of Hangouts: private, one-on-one hangouts, business meetings, applicant interviews, educational broadcasts…all with FREE technology!

If you can be with us Wednesday night, great!  We’d love to have you.

One more thought:  If your in or near New England, please consider attending the New England Regional Genealogical Conference, April 15 – 18 in Providence, Rhode Island.  Get the details here: NERGC.

 

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Where’d They Go???

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This is getting a little frustrating!  I’ve put up…or tried to put up…a few new posts.  Then POOF!

English: American genealogist Joseph Lemuel Ch...

English: American genealogist Joseph Lemuel Chester (a.k.a. Julian Cramer, 1821–1882). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

They’re gone and I can’t find them.  And WordPress can’t find them!

But, I’m going to just soldier on and hope for the best.  Lots of interesting things are going on. That was the inspiration to post “Busy Year.”  But I have no idea if it’s out there somewhere.  So here goes.

First, I was nominated for and elected to be the president of NEAPG, the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists.  High regional profile and I’m getting to know some of the best known and most talented genealogists throughout New England.

But I also want to tell you this little story. In early January, I was invited to join a private Google+ Community, “NEAPG Lunch with Dave.”  It came from a highly credentialed and well known genealogist, Barbara Mathews.  Barbara is a Certified Genealogist, author of several genealogical books and articles,  and was recently named Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists. I’ve known Barbara for about 2 years mostly through NEAPG.  I also participate in her NGSQ study group once a month.  So, in order to maintain good relationships, I accepted the invitation naively unaware of which “Dave” she was referencing.  I had to wait to see who else was invited.  Turns out, 3 other well respected and highly accomplished genealogists were also invited. I mean, to be invited to meet with this group was flattering to say the least.  As it turns out, the purpose of the lunch was to provide me with some background and working knowledge of the status of NEAPG and offer me their assistance in my new role.  I was not a complete stranger to NEAPG.  I had been a member for a little over a year before taking the Vice President’s role.  But the “top spot” carried with it quite a bit more in the way of responsibilities.

So on a Friday a couple of weeks ago, I met with Barbara, Kate Lowrie, Tim Firkowski and Polly FitzGerald Kimmitt, all past board members of NEAPG and equally accomplished professional genealogists in their own right.  Lunch, or more accurately, school was at Amici Trattoria in Shrewsbury, Mass.  I admitted to them that my visceral reaction to the invitation for “Lunch with Dave” left me wondering “Who’s Dave” but I was quick to figure that out!

The lunch was great and the help they collectively provided was priceless. Polly invited us all back to her house for some socializing so the day turned out to be quite an “event,” at least from my perspective!

Now all the pieces are coming together nicely.  I’m accompanied in this adventure by Michelle Fontaine our new Treasurer, Jennifer Shoer as Secretary and Brent Chadwick, Vice President.  We’ve already begun a good stream of communication, held a few “virtual” board meetings and our new Program Committee co-chaired by Polly and Cathi Wiest Desmarais has the year pretty much mapped out!  I’m determined that as a group, we’re going to put together an interesting, educational and mutually helpful year for all the membership!

More later, especially if I’ve fixed the phantom blog-post problem!!

One more comment: Go PATRIOTS!!

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“If It’s Online…It’s True” — Abraham Lincoln

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The whimsical quote above is something I found somewhere…probably online… and I thought I’d share it with you. I was hoping it would be a humourous segue into this subject.

It occurred to me as I was watching WDYTYA, that if anyone took a tally of what was discovered on line, specifically by the show’s sponsor, Ancestry.com , and what needed to be researched in libraries, archives, repositories, church records, town halls, private collections, et al, that it would clearly demonstrated that no, as a matter of fact, it’s NOT all online!

The amount of data that can be discovered at home by logging in to a variety of websites both free and subscription is quite definitely increasing, seemingly by leaps and bounds. We see numbers such as so-and-so “…has added 3,500,00 records…” with some more and some less. Without knowing how many more records there are to index and post, it almost seems as though we’re nearly done so who needs the libraries, archives, repositories, church records, town halls, private collections, et al?

I’ve seen estimates that the internet contains 5% or less of the available data. Others estimate upwards of 15%. But the fact remains that even the sponsor of a very popular program dealing with genealogical research which is itself an internet based research resource still employs dozens of professionals to get the job done. If Ancestry.com needs professionals to put their program together, how can any hobbyists or private family researcher or professional genealogist hope to do better?

I’m just sayin’!

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