Apr 26, 2012

April 26, 2012

NEWS:

The big news is Ancestry.com’s acquisition of Archives.com

Read all about it at the Genealogy Gems News Blog

My Classes at the Genealogy Jamboree Conference:

TH-001 - Conversation with the Author: Steve Luxenberg and Annie's Ghosts
TH-013 - Common Surname Google Search Strategies
SA-020 - Sharing The Joy: Projects That Will Captivate The Non-Genealogists In Your Life
SA-034 - The Google Earth Scavenger Hunt – Fascinating Family History Fun!
SA-040 - 10 Ways to Add Volume to Your Family History with Video 

MAILBOX:

Ashley discovers the important of citing her genealogy sources:

I wanted to drop you a note to express my deepest thanks for all of the work that you put into the podcast.  I'm just shy of 30 years old and I've been working on my family tree since I was about 15, but even after all of that work, I'm still learning something new every day!

…I wanted to share with you is that I just finished listening to episode 20 of the FH:GME podcast (all about the GPS and the importance of sourcing) and my own sad tale with sources:  Like I said, I started family tree research when I was about 15.  I stumbled on a four page report that my grandmother had ordered through a professional genealogist in the 1970s and was immediately hooked.  Unfortunately, NOTHING is sourced in that report.  I asked my Gramma about it and she told me that even she had found some errors (for example: she had four older half-siblings that were stillborn or died shortly after birth.  The report said that they were all born and died in February, which my Grandmother adamantly claims isn't true.)

But I based almost my entire tree on that report.  Then I made things worse by accepting any family trees on Ancestry.com as fact, adding names, dates and information willy nilly from people who may or may not have been related to me.  It wasn't until I realized that one branch of my tree had "traced" itself back to Julius Caesar (who was his own grandfather, according to the tree) that I went, "... wait a minute."

I'm starting the process of creating a new, sourced, accurate tree.  It’s probably going to take me just as long to fill out the branches, but it will be worth it in the end.  And I have you, and the fantastic resources you bring to the podcast, to thank!  

Thank you so very, very much.  Your podcasts are such an invaluable tool and listening to them make me so excited to try a new method in my own research.

Jack in Newport News, Va wants to know what do to with the folks who may or may not be ancestors:

“We all are searching for the "right" people but sometimes we find, or seemingly find, the "wrong" people. With the massive number of records on-line these days, it seems quite easy to find someone with the right name and age-range and, often even close to the right area. Sometimes I can eliminate a find based on some fact, but often there’s less certainty. What is the suggested best practice for handing a wrong, or possibly wrong, person/fact?”

Lisa’s Answer:
This is a good question and one we all face at some point.

In the end I think it comes down to two things:

1.      What works best for you

2.      And however you decide to handle it, do it consistently!

My personal preference is to make notes in the correct person. If there is no "correct" person in my database, then I will create an "unknown" person in that spot and start adding my finds to that profile, even if it's just in the notes section, so that it's all in one place. It's critical to cite your sources on ALL data along the way so that you know where it came from and you can find it again.

Challe needs help saving old books:

“What does one do to get the information out to the next generation that might not have access to these books?  How do you continue the work without reinventing the wheel of all the research that they did?  How do you make corrections if needed? I am concerned that the information will be lost and I am unsure as to what to do about it.”

Lisa’s Answer:

I turned to my friend and book publisher Leland Meitzler owner of Family Roots Publishing at www.familyrootspublishing.com, for an answer to your question and here’s what he said:

“This is an ongoing conundrum, and a question that's not easily answered. The bottom line is that the person should contact the next of kin, and attempt to buy the copyright, or at least the publication rights - just as a publisher would do. And it needs to be in writing.

Failing that, use the "data" within a succeeding publication, being very careful to obtain, and cite the original sources, and if those are not available, cite the book and author without copying word for word what they published. Honestly, it's tricky, and not something I'd want to attempt.

If the book was published prior to 1923, all this is not an issue. The item is in the public domain. If published after that date, but before 1978, there's still a good chance that the book may be out of copyright, if the author didn't renew. After January 1, 1978, the copyright is good for the authors lifetime, plus 70 years. Actually, it's even more complicated than that, but that's the basics.”

Leland recommends: Carmack's Guide to Copyright & Contracts 

GEM: The Defective, Dependent and Delinquint Special Census of 1880 with Jana Broglin, CG, OGSF

The DDD: Supplemental Schedules 1 through 7

Download Jana's pdf "Using the 1880 DDD Census".  A special thank you to Jana for making this available! 

U.S. Federal Census – 1880 Schedules of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes at Ancestry

Visit Jana’s Website: http://www.janabroglin.com