Category Archives: Ancestry.com

I Can’t Find My Family in the 1950 US Census – Now What?

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In my line of work, I hear complaints/issues/calls for help whenever a genealogy website is updated or altered in any respect. That goes for all the sites, especially “big” sites such as Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org. There are also issues that pop up when certain collections are released. What is it, how do I search it, can I download it, etc…

The latest series of issues I’ve dealt with has to do with the 1950 US Population Schedule. In this blog, I’d like to discuss one solution to the “missing person” issue.



After one of the recent classes I held, a gentleman raised a problem during the Q&A session. He was about 9 years old in 1950 and was eager to see his own name as well as his parents and siblings’ names. They were nowhere to be found. His entire family was missing. Try as he might, he received no results when using his name or any of the names of those in his family. And it was in a small town in central Massachusetts. There were others in his family, aunts, uncles, and cousins who were easily found. But his entire family had vanished.

First, he assumed that they were never enumerated. Then he thought that they might have lived elsewhere during that point in time. Unlikely in either case, but he had no other theory as to where they were.

I didn’t have too much time to dedicate to him as there were many other questions from the class. I gave it my best shot by changing the search parameters to “Exact and Similar” for the names and “+/- 5 years” for the dates. I tried each name of those who should have been in the family at that time. No luck. And a “failure” in front of the entire class!

Many other hands were raised so I told him that I would use a few more strategies when I got home. Whatever the results, I told him, I’d get in touch as soon as possible.

After dinner that night, I went to the 1940 census, hoping to find someone who lived on the same street or at least close to it. I picked up a few other families who may have been neighbors and hoped they were still around in 1950.

Back to the 1950 census, I searched for his potential neighbors and got an immediate hit. It didn’t take much time at all to locate a neighbor who lived next door to the 1950 family we were trying to locate. The problem? Not only was the handwriting of the enumerator difficult to read, the family name I was looking for was not much more than dark, heavy lines of squiggle on the census record. As you can imagine, the indexer had to take their best shot at what was written in 1950.

When I found the family, their name was indexed with no vowels and what looked like letters weren’t even close to the name. But there they were! Father, mother and three kids including my diligent student, now 81 years old and very happy!

Just a quick afterthought: If this didn’t work, I would’ve gone to page 71….

RootsTech 2021 – Here I Come!

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Considering that RootsTec 2020 was so phenomenally successful (and no surprise), I’ve already decided that RootsTech 2021 is where I need to be next February 3-6 in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is a genealogist’s Nirvana! The largest, most well attended convention of family history researchers, vendors of genealogical products and software and a place where long distance friends can sit down for a chat. Name any facet of genealogy or family research and it’s covered here: presentations from noted experts, workshops, vendors or everything from A to Z including DNA. The Vendor Hall below on its own was chock full of new technology and much to learn about with the “latest” in just about everything genealogical!

One of the interesting aspects for me is the opportunity to meet, face-to-face, the many colleagues with whom I communicate via webinars, Facebook and other social media. Consider running into someone in the hallway or a lecture hall who looks familiar but until you strike up a conversation, it’s hard to really know who’s in front of you! For example, I participate in a weekly webinar called “Mondays With Myrt,” which is an hour and a half each Monday where upwards of 10 genealogy professionals gather to form the panel. Any number of folks both beginners and professionals can log in and listen, ask questions, answer questions, offer advice or share experiences. You can find nearly 1,000 archived programs from Dear Myrtle at YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mondays+with+myrt. If you’d like to participate or just log in a watch live, click http://blog.geneawebinars.com/p/calendar.html to view the upcoming schedule. The programs begin at noon Eastern but the calendar will post the schedule as 10am Mountain time.

These conferences are certainly the most famous, well-attended genealogy conferences in the world. This year’s conference was the 10th in an increasingly successful event. The 2020 conference brought 30,000 genealogists of all stripes. There were beginners, professionals and world renown experts to where every subject under the sun was on display. Workshops on research techniques, lectures on some very specific topics such as Irish or Greek research, how to use the proliferating research websites, DNA and other topics. What are the tips and tricks to using www.familysearch.org, for instance, or how to use FamilyTree software. Bargains that you won’t find anywhere at any other time on dozens of worthwhile products.

And the featured guest speakers? Over the years, we’ve listened to Laura Bush, Scott Hamilton, Donnie Osmond, LeVar Burton, to name a few. This year’s speaker was three time Super Bowl Champion, Emmett Smith. And there have been others who have come to speak in front of audiences that would number in the thousands. Below is an image of the theater as the crowds file in. I have no idea what the ccapacity is, but it’s huge!

In addition to being able to attend several interesting presentations, I spent some time with a genealogy group called “Trace” in their Coaches’ Corner. A very successful program, the premise was for a number of professional genealogists to sit with other researchers for 25 minute sessions. These researchers ranged from folks who have just begun their journey to veterans who were simply lookinig for tips and tricks to recharge their own research. I have to say that I found the sessions I worked were very rewarding personally. When you tell someone something they either didn’t know or haven’t thought about for many years, their eyes light up! Each of the visitors was offered the opportunity to contract with Trace for deeper research with any of the affiliated professionals.

Of course, one of the greates benefits of being in Salt Lake City is the opportunity to do some very deep research at the Family History Library. Books, and books, and books in addition to a collection of micromedia that is second to none. Staffed with knowledgeable people who are always ready to help, I was able to locate some records that will complete at least 2 applications I’ve been working on for membership in the Sons of the American Revolution. It’s all good!

In closing, I’ll just say, “See you at RootsTech 2021!”

Happy Ending or Happy Beginning – A DNA Success Story

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Standard DNA test kit from 23andME. Also available is the basic test plus health for additional cost.http://www.23andme.com

Debra knew from a very early age that she was adopted. Her mother and father provided an incredibly  loving environment where she could grow and thrive. And that’s exactly what she did! While it may sound unusual, when she was 3 years old her Mom sat her down and gently explained that some mothers were not able to provide for their children and for many reasons, those children were adopted by families who had the means and the love to help those children grow up. For this reason and as young as she was, she grasped the concept and simply went on with her life. 

Debra’s birth was a bit premature. As a result, she was kept at the hospital for several days to ensure that she was healthy enough to go home. But where was home? Her birth mother was either not allowed or was incapable of caring for her. That’s the short story of how Debra came about being adopted by parents who were very much in a position to raise a child in a healthy, happy home. 

Even with the knowledge that she had been adopted, she was loved by her Mom and Dad, she was healthy, happy and she had dreams for her future. 

My Heritage test kit http://www.myheritage.com

About ten years after her adoption, Debra’s parents decided to adopt another child. This time the circumstances couldn’t be any different. When they brought the new sister home, it was a tragic reality that Lisa had been the victim of a hostile environment. Lisa was covered with bruises, stitches and scars. Her “new” parents were very successful in again providing the same loving care they had been providing for Debra. After a brief period of adjustment, Debra became very close with her new sister, Lisa Marie.

Debra’s life was as ideal as she could have hoped for. Soon, she fell in love, married and had her own house full of children. She never dwelled on her own adoption issue. She was loved, secure, and looking forward to raising her family in an environment such as the one in which she grew up. As her children got older, she was able to discuss her history. With the knowledge that their Mom had been adopted, their curiosity got the best of them. The older kids insisted on knowing more… And more… And they wanted to know soon! 

The largest data base and reference population can be found at http://www.ancestry.com

Although I had known Debra and her family for many years, I was unaware of the fact that she was adopted. It was never an issue for her to discuss it with anyone other than her family and even at that, there wasn’t much discussion until the older kids began to get her to wonder about her birth parents. She will readily tell you that the search for her birth story would never distract her from the parents who raised her. But the curiosity began to creep in. As a result, she learned about a class I was conducting at a local library that was designed to teach the basics of DNA, the various tests available, how each of those tests can be used and the companies who administer them. As an enticement, I offered to “raffle off” a DNA test to one of the participants after the session. 

A graphic of the DNA double helix.

Frankly, I was surprised but pleased at the same time to see Debra walk through the door! We went through the presentation in a little over an hour. The attendees asked many great questions and I believe we all learned a lot. After the Q&A session, it was time for the raffle. I’ll give you a couple of seconds to guess who won! Debra took the test home, submitted her sample and as everyone who has tested can tell you, waited the 5 or 6 weeks it took for processing. Results in hand, the hunt began!

The good news is that she was uncommonly successful. Her first “hit” led her to a biological uncle who is a brother to her biological father. Uncle Jack was more than just pleased to hear from her. I suspect that Jack was aware that he had a niece out there somewhere and that niece turned out to be Debra. He was more than happy to help. He led her to her full biological brother named Brian who lived just a few towns away, close enough to possibly visit from time to time.

It’s worth noting that adopted children who choose to seek out their biological families can run into a myriad of problems. The parents they are looking for may have split up long ago and gone their separate ways or possibly even died; the siblings, if there are any, may live too far away to be able to develop any meaningful relationship or they simply are untraceable; contacting anyone may be a negative experience for the individuals being contacted; and, in many cases, you simply can’t find anyone in the bio family and frustration ensues.

Fast forward to Brian. He was thrilled to finally hear from the woman who turns out to be his full biological sister who he never had the opportunity to meet much less have any type of relationship with. The good news, no…the great news, is that Debra and Brian have not only met, but have formed a meaningful bond with one another. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that they are not only somewhat similar in appearance but share many common interests. The outdoor life appeals to both: fishing, hiking, spending a great deal of time outdoors. Since they live fairly close to one another, they meet often and spend a great deal of time together. 

But wait, there’s more. Her bio father left New England for the west coast. To date, Debra has been able to locate 4 half-siblings. One of them, Charles, has been very open to establishing some type of relationship in spite of the fact that he lives out west. Fortunately for Debra, she has been able to travel out there and meet him and talk about their individual experiences. Two of three other half-sisters, however, were less than enthusiastic about staying in touch with her. Regardless, Debra was very excited to make the progress she had made to put together the pieces of a life she never knew. 

Nuclear DNA known as autosomal DNA or atDNA. The 23rd chromosome is the sex chromosome. It can be XX (female) or XY (male). Moms always contribute an “X” while Dads can contirbute either an “X” or a “Y”.

Keep in mind that adoption notwithstanding, nothing diminishes in any way the relationship she has enjoyed her entire life with her parents who did the right thing in so many ways. And Lisa, the sister who Debra grew up with, has been a source of support in Debra’s efforts to discover her “other life” but has so far not expressed any interest in following the same path Debra has followed.

One final chapter to this story. Debra’s biological father has a sister who lives nearby. She is Debra’s aunt. The aunt has a daughter, a full first cousin of hers who also lives nearby. Debra’s daughter recently moved in to a new house. Debra’s cousin is her daughter’s new next door neighbor! They have all had the chance to meet and spend time together. 

The conclusion is a simple one: When and only when you’re ready to go out to make these discoveries, it’s well worth the journey in most cases. No one could be happier than Debra! And I am proud to say that I was a part of this great story.

Dave Robison

All the names in this blog have been changed to insure privacy.

Copyright © Dave Robison Old Bones Genealogy of New England

The URL for this blog is https://oldbonessearch.com/?p=4984

A Powerful Challenge for Adoptees to Overcome

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Recently, I’ve been involved with a few clients who are themselves adopted or have a family member in their recent past who had been adopted. Thus, I feel compelled to bring a few interesting facts to everyone’s attention.

Once again I’ll be discussing a particular use of the results of DNA testing. The focus, though, is on the subject of adoption. As we all know, there are multiple reasons for children to be adopted and there’s no purpose served in enumerating them here. DNA testing has been and will continue to be a cause for joy and misery depending on the circumstances. Discovering an unknown parent or sibling can be a mixed blessing. If you are aware that you were adopted, the right test can answer questions that may have been lingering for decades. On the other end of the spectrum, discovering that you, a close family member or one of your direct ancestors could be a complete, unsettling surprise.

My intent is to point out a monstrous situation that took place in the early 20th century which may give some a clue as to the adoption brick wall they might be facing. I present this here to point out how nefarious adoption activities can be, and this example is perhaps the most nefarious of all. The circumstances of what took place and the repercussions ripple through the decades and may very well be impacting someone you know.

In the early 20th century, a woman named Georgia Tann went to work for the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in Memphis, Tennessee. Miss Tann eventually became the director and had developed an extraordinarily cruel process to obtain babies and young children to sell to parents who were seeking to adopt. In Tennessee at the time, the process to legitimately adopt a baby cost $7.00. But by going all across the country, she could charge $5,000 and up for her special services. Most of Tann’s “customers” were wealthy families including famous Hollywood stars. The most attractive children were offered to Joan Crawford, Dick Powell and his wife June Allyson, Lana Turner and others.

She was able to get away with this activity due to her relationships with powerful people in and around Memphis. Judges, political “bosses,” anyone willing to look the other way…and share in her fees.  She was not beneath paying unscrupulous hospital workers to assist her efforts.  It is estimated that as many as 5,000 children were ripped away from their parents in one way or another. Mother’s were told that their newborns had died; families were accused of being unfit to be parents and thus the children were taken away.

Many of the children were housed at the Home Society’s offices. It is said that as many as 500 may have died there due to neglect, abuse, or lack of medical care between 1924 when she b

egan her “services” and 1950, the year she died.

Georgia Tann of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society

Georgia Tann (left) was also responsible for the first legislation regarding sealing adoption records. The concept spread across the country and today, 32 states still have these laws on the books.

This story is not well known in spite of being well documented. I have read bits of the events here and there but recently picked up “The Baby Thief” by Barbara Bisantz Raymond. It is available at Amazon.com in a variety of formats, eBook, hardcover or paperback.  See the link below. Or you might want to see the movie “Stolen Babies” starring Mary Tyler Moore as Georgia Tann, Lea Thompson, Kathleen Quinlan and many others.

A social worker by the name of Anne Beals was responsible for bringing down Tann’s empire. She noticed that the infant mortality record was astronomically high in Memphis and Shelby County Tennessee. This led to an investigation that didn’t catch up to Tann. She died of cancer before any charges could be brought.

For some, this and other similar schemes would have a significant impact on DNA results. The babies stolen by Georgia Tann where born between 1924 and 1950, not that long ago. These children were not necessarily placed in Tennessee but across the country from New England to Calif

ornia. Knowing that these adoptions really happened could help shed some light on a variety of brick wall issues for family researchers.

Here are a few other links that may be of interest:

YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2qhVQR5u08 (length 8:51)

YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaiRYfhvj0k  (60 Minutes segment length 13:51)

YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=392NTjM8IR0 (1-hour 45 min)

Tennessee Department of Children’s Services: https://www.tn.gov/dcs/program-areas/fca/adoption-records/faq.html

All of this is to bring attention to some of the bizarre circumstances that can impede a legitimat

e search for the truth.

My final thought is that if this woman was able to create such a horrible network of actually stealing babies, then how many other people were able to do the same around the country. And not necessarily large networks but even individual circumstances where an adpotion was merely moving a child from one household to another.

My heart goes out to anyone who is affected by these circumstances.

A “Found” Patriot

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Heritage. As a youngster, I always wondered of the heritage that resulted in me.  The culture at home was a simple one when it came down to family stories and history. “What you don’t know won’t hurt you!” Well, I guess I won’t ask THAT question again!

What follows are a few descriptions of discoveries I’ve made since I began my genealogical journey.

My father, Henry Dunn Robison (Find A Grave Memorial# 33567770), went into the Navy exactly 3 weeks after Pearl Harbor at the “insistence” of his maternal grandmother, Gilma Cecilia Robertson Dunn. She went so far as to have his birth record destroyed (there’s no record of his birth to this day!), falsify his age and ship him off at age 15!

My father and the previous 4 generations had lived in Alabama and Tennessee. As I discovered years later, my 4th great grandfather, Hezekiah Robertson/Robinson/Robison/Robrson (Find A Grave Memorial# 7048152), was a veteran or the War of 1812 having served with the East Tennessee Volunteers then settled in Limestone County, Alabama. There were a few Confederate ancestors who served in the “War of Northern  Aggression.” One of my 2nd great grandfathers died at the Rock Island Confederate POW camp in Rock Island, Illinois (Find A Grave Memorial# 5092694). During World War II,  while Henry was in the Caribbean, his mother divorced her husband and moved to Massachusetts.  As far as I can tell, this was the reason they wanted Henry out of the way. The short version here is the “Granny” lived with us in Springfield for a while until she entered a nursing home in the mid-60s where she died in 1970.

I never knew my paternal my grandfather, Cecil Lee Robison (Find A Grave Memorial# 5092687), who remained and remarried in Alabama. I was only marginally aware of the fact that I even had a grandfather.  My father would make a 5- or 10-minute call “down south” around Christmas-time every year. I never saw “Papa Lee” nor did I ever speak with him. He died in 1964.  My first view of him was his obituary on the front page of the Anniston (Alabama) Star. While I shouldn’t have been surprised, he looked exactly like my father and it was a little unsettling.

My maternal grandfather, Clement Alexis Dickson (Find A Grave Memorial# 11132523), died when I was about 3 years old but my maternal grandmother lived until 1962. Of all of my grandparents, she’s the only one with whom I had ever had any semblance of a conversation.

The upshot is that my father didn’t care to talk about his side of the dysfunctional Robison family and my mother thought it best to hold the same line with regard to her side.

Now, enter the genealogist! I wouldn’t say that I was desperately seeking anything necessarily. But the lack of information led me to feel that we were all dropped off on earth by an alien spaceship back in the early 50s! Then, as I began researching for details, I was able to interview some of the prior generations of relatives: 3 aunts, 1 great-grandaunt and a couple of second cousins. If I only knew then what I know now!

In 2001, I got the bug to join a lineage society. If successful, that would “install” a heritage that was there all along but of which I was totally unaware. Maternal family lore stated that we descended from Pilgrims. Okay, but who, what, where, why, and when? There was a box of spoons that were allegedly made from the silver buckles of their shoes. Spoiler: hardly any pilgrims had silver buckles on their shoes! More on that some other time.

Paternal lore stated, well, nothing! But after a comparatively short period of time, I began to suspect that there was some validity to the Pilgrim story, underscore “some.” At the same time, I uncovered real evidence that my paternal lines stretched back to at least the War of 1812, as I mentioned earlier, and possibly the Revolutionary War.

So, here we go! Let’s join the Sons of the American Revolution. I downloaded an application and worked on it sporadically for about 15 years. Yes, not 5 or 10, but for 15 years, the application languished in my desk. In my defense, I was certainly busy with dozens of projects, nearly all of which involved genealogy. Then, in 2016, I was a co-chair for NERGC, a relatively large genealogy conference to be held in Springfield, Massachusetts in the spring of 2017. We normally brought in 2 featured speakers along with several dozen others. It was  my intent to solicit Kenyatta Berry, one of the very personable hosts of the PBS program “Genealogy Road Show.” It was to be filmed in Providence, Rhode Island. So off I went to Providence, Rhode Island. Short version, Kenyatta Berry became the third and very welcomed featured speaker. Score 1 for Dave.

In the meantime, many of my fellow genealogists were at the filming representing various clubs and societies in the vendor area of the venue. A friend of mine introduced me to the Registrar for a chapter of the DAR. I told her my story of profound procrastination with my SAR application. She eagerly said, “I can help!” OK, that’s great but I can’t join the DAR, I would qualify! She asked if I had a daughter which I most certainly do. As a result, my daughter is now a member of the Lexington Chapter of the DAR. For my purposes, I merely had to finish my SAR application, exclude my daughter’s generation and I could qualify.

But here, finally, is the most interesting part of the story: I have identified at least 24 ancestors who are age-appropriate to have served in the War, all would have been between their late teens to their early 40s. The specific ancestor we picked was a Patriot who had only most recently been identified as such. Timothy Blodgett’s (Find A Grave Memorial# 74484986) story involves mostly obscurity. He was a family man who, with his wife ran a small farm in Deerfield, Massachusetts while raising a small brood of 14 children. He was born in 1740 in Lexington, Massachusetts and was involved in the first battle of the War. The Lexington engagement occurred on 19 April 1775 then shortly thereafter came the battle at Concord. My ancestor was one of the registered Minute Men under Captain Charles Parker who confronted the British at Lexington, his hometown.

The singular reason that he was finally identified as a Patriot is that he lost his musket during the battle and petitioned for compensation at the Lexington Town Hall the following morning. The record of that petition was only discovered in 2012.

From www.wickedlocal.com:

     “Bill Poole, executive officer with the Minute Men, said he discovered Blodgett when he was researching local militia in the archives of Capt. Parker’s Company in Lexington. Blodgett had  moved to Shutesbury the year after the fateful morning on April 19, 1775 and his name was    never included on the official “muster roll.”

     But Poole said he found several documents confirming Blodgett’s post, noting he even           applied for a reimbursement from then selectmen for a firearm he lost on the Battle Green.     The young militia man lost the musket when he attempted to jump over a fence to while           fleeing from the Regulars, Poole said.”1

Here is the photo from the article clearly showing the addition of Timothy Blodgett’s name to the bottom of the second column:

Timothy Blodgett added to the Memorial at Lexington Green. Photo: http://bit.ly/Blodgett_Lexington

The proof of my ancestor came fairly easy as I already had nearly every document necessary. We used the documentation first for my daughter’s DAR application, then for my own SAR application. Success with both apps!

But wait! There’s more! In early 2016, I was giving a presentation on genealogy to the East Longmeadow (Massachusetts) Historical Society. It was a basic introduction to family research that was scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm. Apparently, the members of the East Longmeadow Historical Society are in the habit of showing up just a little late for their meetings. So at 6:58, I was “concerned” but not showing it. Then in walked our first guest. A delicate woman, a senior citizen, who I greeted with a smile. Her name is Ruth Washburn, my first guest that night. I smiled because I had at least one person for the audience. She said, “I’m so glad I could make it. I usually don’t drive at night.” I offered her a ride home as I was sure there would be someone there she knew but she turned me down, flat! As I walked her to the front of the room, I sat her in a seat that was directly in front of where I would be speaking. When I mentioned the SAR, I also mentioned that my Patriot Ancestor was Timothy Blodgett. At that moment Ruth gasped and covered her mouth. Naturally, I suspected that something was wrong. I stopped and asked if she was OK. With a tear in her eye (really…she teared up!) she said that she, too, was a descendant of Timothy Blodgett.

As it turns out, Ruth Muriel Blodgett Fisher Washburn is a very energetic 91-year-old cousin who, in her own right, is a well-established family historian.  She’s pictured here in front of the window that was in one of her cousin’s family’s home. When her cousin asked if there was anything in the house she would want, she said she’d love to have the window from her bedroom but knew it was impossible. She had spent a great deal of time at this house during the summers of her youth and remembered the happiness that the sunlight brought her when it came streaming through the multicolored window. The window is a real piece of art!

Ruth Muriel Blodgett Fisher Washburn

I’ve spent time with Ruth to hear her stories and learn more about the Blodgett line. She has an extensive database which she has been more than willing to share with me.  But more important to me than a database, she has extensive personal knowledge and a clear, sharp memory.

Now, if I ever have the time, I just might prove more Patriot ancestors from both my maternal and my paternal side.

And one more thing, I’ve found 4 direct Mayflower ancestors. All I need to do is prove those lines and I’ll have a unique way to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the 1620 Mayflower landing in 2020.

  1. “Lexington Minute Men add new name to monument,” website, (http://bit.ly/Blodgett_Lexington : accessed 18 July 2016).

Search to Failure

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Wilbraham Public Library Session III

For the past 10 years or so, I’ve been providing guidance in family research, both on- and off-line. For quite a while, I’ve advocated particular strategies that I find effective. Last night I spontaneously described it as “search to failure.” It just rolled off my tongue. Here’s why I think it’s a good strategy and a good description.

Just a few years ago, most genealogical search engines offered dozens of fields to be filled in so that you could locate the records of your ancestors. Early in my own research, I felt it necessary to offer up as much information as possible. After all, the fields were there waiting to be filled, right? Just like a job application or a mortgage application, the questions were there for a reason. But what I soon learned…or maybe not to soon…was that less is more. And the websites seemed to finally agree with me. Today, you’re offered far fewer fields to fill which, in my opinion, is a good thing.Let me explain the strategy that I teach.

Linnie Otto Peace Robison (1880-1954)

First, Grandma may have said that her grandfather was born on such-and-such a date, always used the name “Thomas” (for example) and he always, as far as Grandma knew lived in a certain town. My response is this: Well, Grandma, we love you but we don’t necessarily believe you! New researchers will go to great lengths to use exactly that information without deviation. Contrary to the “job application” strategy, I demonstrate my “search to failure” strategy using the name “Smith.” That’s it, just “Smith.” And I never ask for an exact spelling. As a matter of fact, in Ancestry.com for example, I ask for “Sounds like,” “Similar,” and “Soundex” in order to get every possible permutation. That’s the only field I fill and I use “Smith” because I already know the dramatic results. Tonight, I got 146,696,564 results. That makes me happy. Why? Because I know I’m on the right track. Be patient, I’ll get the results down to a manageable number and in a very short amount of time.

Now, I’ll ask the audience to give me any first name. It doesn’t matter what they give me, but let’s say someone says “Michael.” My response is “Do you know if it’s really Michael? Or perhaps it’s Mike, or just M or what if Michael was his middle name because he didn’t like his first name. How can we be sure?” The answer, of course, is that we can’t be sure about anything at this stage. But let’s use Michael, making sure we also use “sounds like,” “similar,” and “initials.”

Now we’re down to “only” 4,102,786. That’s significant even at the volume of returns. It’s only about 3% of what our original search brought. I explain here, that “Michael” is a filter and the filter, in this example, worked. Or so we think at least! Now I add another filter and then another. In literally no time, our 146 million number can be reduced to 6 or 8 results. But I want to end up with NO results. “Search to failure.” Why? I want to make sure that I’m using the most efficient filters. That last filter that wiped out all my results is not the end of the search, it’s the first “failure” that will force me to eliminate that filter then go back and refine, refine, refine what I’ve done so far. The point is this: I’m starting out my fishing in a big pond. If my first search includes so many filters that my first at-bat gives me nothing, what have I gained. But if I start out with huge results then whittle them down with one filter at a time until there are no results, I can by-pass Grandma’s data (without telling her, of course!) and hopefully come up with enough results that through principle #1 of the GPS, a thoroughly exhaustive search, I can determine which of the results is the target ancestor.

My point is “search to failure,” then begin to massage the filters in order to “search to success.”

NERGC? What’s a NERGC?

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Using the Tools of Today & Tomorrow to Understand the Past

“Using the Tools of Today & Tomorrow to Understand the Past”

The New England Regional Genealogical Consortium produces a conference every other year. Each NERGC conference is held in a city somewhere in New England. Past conferences have been in Hartford, Connecticut, Manchester, New Hampshire, Providence, Rhode Island, and this year, Springfield, Massachusetts. The event will kick off on 26 April 2017 with a specialty day devoted to Librarians, Professionals, Genealogical Society Management and Technology. During the following three days, you’ll have a chance to hear and learn from 70 genealogists of every level and in every aspect of genealogy and genealogical research. NERGC organizers have devoted quite a bit of time and space to DNA, a “hot topic” in today’s genealogy world.

The MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield is the venue. Hotel accommodations are available within a block. Other than presentations, this year’s conference includes several workshops, banquets and a “private” tour of the archives at the Museum of Springfield History.

Our opening speaker is Mary Tedesco, a co-host of the PBS program, Genealogy Road Show. Speaking several times during the conference are 3 featured speakers, Thomas MacEntee, Warren Bittner and a third, another co-host of Genealogy Road Show, Kenyatta D Berry.

NERGC is supported by 23 genealogical from societies around New England, all of whom will be represented at the event. Volunteers from each will be busy making sure your experience is optimal. Stop and visit each of them in the Exhibit Hall and perhaps you can meet with a society near where you live.

Also in the Exhibit Hall, you’ll see a wide variety of vendors of genealogy products: Books, CD’s, old maps, clothing, and other genealogy-oriented products. Scheduled are genealogy companies such as Ancestry.com, Evidentia Software, FindMyPast and Geni.com to name a few.NERGC is worth a look! If you can’t make Springfield this year, the 2019 conference is scheduled for a return trip to Manchester, New Hampshire.

Family Tree Maker® – Goodbye Ancestry – Hello MacKiev

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In 1998, I was wandering around Circuit City, a company that went out of business maybe 7 years ago or more. I really don’t remember what I was looking for. Stereos, cell phones, DVD’s, whatever. I had recently bought a desktop computer and eventually I walked down the software aisle.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had family history in mind. By “back of my mind” I mean a subconscious, little-explored avocation. It began in 1969 when I received a letter from someone who turned out to be a second cousin.

Now, by way of explanation, my maternal lines extend to the Mayflower and dozens of others who arrived during the Great Migration, settling in Plymouth Colony and, later, Massachusetts Bay Colony and finally, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I’ve since discovered some very surprising ancestors that I’ve written about over the years. It’s from this side, I researched one of my 18 or so Revolutionary War Patriot ancestors and was able to join the Sons of the American Revolution.

My paternal lines, on the other hand, had all settled in the American Southeast: Virginia/West Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. And that’s where the letter came from. The writer had typewritten what I know now is a descendant chart beginning with an ancestor of mine who was born in 1849. I was so impressed with this information that I now knew an ancestor who was born over 120 years before the letter was written. So impressed, that I put away and didn’t open it again until around 1998, a few months before my foray into the software department at Circuit City.

You should know that I was brought up in an environment of “what you don’t know won’t hurt you.” At the time, I wasn’t particularly interested in anything family related. Until the moment the Family Tree Maker practically jumped off the shelf. It was the spark that lit up my desire, or rather my need to find out if “what you don’t know” included family. Who were they? Who am I?  Exactly how did I connect with someone born so long ago in 1849? That was my father’s side. Obviously, there must be a few folks I never knew or heard of on my mother’s side. So, I was off to the races.

In 1998, I began what has become my profession. Speaking, teaching, consulting, family research and literally anything to do with genealogy. And now DNA has entered the equation. With FTM eventually becoming an Ancestry.com property, it became a convenience to me since I was already an Ancestry subscriber.

Having branched out into client work, I usually would use FTM as one of the tools to keep my research in order. And as far as my own family, my continuing genealogical discoveries created a tree that just became increasingly bigger as I continued.

FTM was updated and upgraded over the years. I was always interested in having the “latest” whenever possible. Sometimes I’d jump in as early as possible and other times I’d wait a month or so as I had learned that getting the bugs out was an important part of software development. The integration with Ancestry that allowed full two-way synchronization was an amazing breakthrough for me as I had become accustomed to updated one and then, separately updating the other.  Wow, technology!

When MacKiev got into the picture, I read what some people were posting on Facebook and other social media. Some were in a state of sheer panic while others, like myself, took a wait and see attitude. It always seemed to me that FTM had so many adherents that it was hardly likely that it would just sail off over the horizon never to be seen again. Somebody was bound to take over the reins.

And so it happened. FTM didn’t dissolve at the end of 2016 as some had predicted. As a matter of fact, as 2016 was melting into 2017, rather than the whole thing falling apart, the news simply got better. I was reluctant to try to teach myself the ins and outs of Legacy or RootsMagic or any of the other programs that are on the market. Keeping my focus on FTM was a more acceptable way to go.

Now it gets interesting. When I received the link to the upgrade, I felt I was relatively safe. If a major defugalty came along, there certainly are alternatives. The download and installation processes were a smooth ride which allowed me to focus on some family research. There’s always an ancestor lurking that can be proven and added to the “big” file. That file now has 43,893 individuals and a proportionate amount of media. That’s a lot to lose!

Pedigree Chart of Abigail Chapin Wheelock. Her husband, Paul Wheelock is a half-first cousin of President John Adams. Note the number of individuals: 43,893. Click to enlarge.

In December of 2015, when Ancestry announced that they were going to discontinue FTM altogether, the leading family history software — just bury it in the backyard. Many were panicked. Two months later on February 2nd, Ancestry announced that they’d changed their minds and would instead sell this wonderful old brand to SoftwareMacKiev. And as the developer of the Mac versions of FTM for the six years before that, “MacKiev was absolutely thrilled at the opportunity to take the wheel,” said Jack Minsky, President of Software MacKiev. They stepped forward the very next day. ” Lots of articles were written on alternatives and there was lots of handwringing from FTM faithful on what to do,” said Minsky.

Now during the waning days of December 2016, I began to experience some difficulty booting up the laptop, a relatively new Dell Inspiron running Windows 10 with 1T hybrid hard drive, 8G of ram and no outrageous peripherals. It had always run flawlessly with all the data I have stored which takes up less than half of the capacity. That problem went away until the day after New Years Day. All I could get was the image that displays on startup. Without boring you with all the details of 5 marathon sessions with Premium Support, I can summarize it by simply saying that after a few stop-gap measures, I was forced to undertake a thorough, clean factory re-install. Fortunately, I’ve been running cloud backups for several years. I’ve used Carbonite® and more recently BackBlaze® on all our computers here. I also maintain a redundant backup on an external 1.5T Seagate hard drive. So other than the process of dragging myself through all of this, it should have been a simple although lengthy operation.

The next day, the download was complete, the restore was complete and all that was left was to put everything away where it belonged and reinstall some applications. That part of the process included FTM 2014.1 which had been running flawlessly. In the meantime, I was made aware of an update to the upgrade. Update? OK…I’m in. Before the big meltdown, I had done some work in the “big” file with the upgrade but not with the update. I thought nothing of it. I should mention here that I reinstalled FTM 2014.1 from the thumb drive that I purchased just in case what just happened, happened!

But when I tried to open the “big” file, I got an error message. I tried to open several of the other family trees and they opened with no problem. I communicated with technical support through their chat application and had 2 differing solutions, neither of which worked.  Wallowing in my frustration, I put this project aside and went to read and respond to emails and check for messages on Facebook. Facebook, by the way, with over 10,000 genealogically oriented pages, has become an important part of my on-line research efforts. I noticed that the Family Tree Maker® Users Facebook page had some folks discussing the pros and cons of the upgrade. I’ll admit, I was a bit frustrated as I fired off my problem offering it to anyone who happened to be paying attention to that page.

To my initial surprise, one of the people paying attention was Jack Minsky, the president of Software MacKiev. He took the time to listen to the whole series of events and where I was at that point. Then, in no time, he nailed it! I had upgraded to 2014.1 then installed the update after which I worked on my personal file, the “big” one. Then the crash. Then the restore. Then I began re-installing software. My first re-install was the FTM 2014.1 program from the thumb drive. What could be easier? Then, to test it, I tried to open my own file. Nope! Wasn’t gonna happen. What Jack suspected that I had opened that file with the updated upgrade (does that make sense?) and the thumb drive installed the upgrade but not the update. He knew that the missing update was the problem. He sent me a link for the update as I couldn’t find it in any of the hundreds of emails I had collected by this time. I uninstalled the original thumb drive version (build 497?) then reinstalled it. The last step was to go to the update link (build 501?) and reinstall that.

Lo and behold! I’m very happy to report that everything is running as smooth as glass. I mentioned to Jack a few weeks ago, that someday we should get together in Boston the next time I’m out there or near there. This time I offered to buy the drinks!

Thank you, Jack Minsky! I don’t know when you sleep as I’ve communicated with you at all times of the day and night.  It’s encouraging to see that although we all have to get accustomed to a slightly different way to communicate with support technicians, in the end, it all seems to work out. When does the president of a company get that close to the little people and pitch in to help? Congratulations, Jack Minsky! You did good!  You’ve earned the trust of many in the FTM community with your pro-active approach. Now, what are you going to do for us next?

My message to any FTM user? Try it, you’ll like it!

 

Ancestry Defugalty??

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Defugalty isn’t even a word unless somehow I manage to get it into our 21st-century American lexicon. Merriam-Webster is right here in Springfield, Massachusetts. I could stop in for a visit and offer them first dibs!

Now for the defugalty, maybe a few defugalties.  It’s an interesting interaction I had with the friendly folks at Ancestry.com tech support. I’ve always had good luck with them. They answer within a reasonable amount of time and are consistent with their friendly, knowledgeable assistance. Until yesterday. Don’t get me wrong, they were responsive but I managed to stump them.

It began with my Chapin family project. Someone asked to join my “Descendants of Deacon Samuel Chapin” Facebook page and I always check to make sure they are, in fact, a descendant of the Good Deacon.

chapin-deacon-samuel

Deacon Samuel Chapin (1598-1675) 9th Great Grandfather of Dave Robison

When I tried to double check whether the Deacon was my own 8th or 9th great grandfather, I discovered, much to my surprise, that he was a 6th cousin 4 times removed of the wife of…..and on and on.

Curious to see how that happened literally overnight, I checked my FTM database and there he was correctly indicated as the 9th great grandfather as he should be. What happened between the last sync and the thousands of sync’s I had done in the past.

Ancestry.com, I found out, doesn’t have a category for “divorced” as FTM does. In a tree that I’ve had running for 16 or 17 years, suddenly I could only indicate “other.” Since I’ve been a member since 31 Dec 1899 according to my profile (really…check yours out, too!) I can’t believe that I missed this. So, I changed the status of my first wife from whom I was divorced in the mid-90’s to “Other.” Then the relationships that had been correct for the past 16 or 17 years suddenly fell into place

Two things: 1) Ancestry doesn’t know why the relationships suddenly went berserk and 2) the tech support person who was assisting agreed completely that there should be a “Divorced” option in the relationship drop-down menu. After all, I told her, it’s not a new concept! She said she’d put it into customer feedback/suggestions or something like that… We’ll see what happens. At least I know that I am still the 9th great grandson of Deacon Samuel Chapin (1598-1675) and I can continue to be a member of my own Facebook page!

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.