Chickens Come Home To Roost.

Let's be brutally honest.  I suspect I am not the only one with at least some disordered documents - loosely sorted stacks (paper) and/or roughly labeled files (electronic). I also suspect that I am also not the only one using the time without FHL and Archives (and research trips!!) to explore all the nooks and crannies of house and computer, in the hope of exhuming semi-lost items and mostly forgotten wonderfuls.  

A part of me is thinking of Carter peering into Tut's tomb.. "I see wonders." 

Some time ago, I saw the touring exhibit on the most recent finds at Pompei.  Among the artifacts was a delicate gold necklace with shaped dangles, continuous and graduated.  Behind me I heard the murmur, how did they do that?  

It just takes time.  

My computer includes county histories, hundreds of newspaper clips, documents and snips about every aspect of life.   Now has come the reckoning.  Now is the time to order and arrange.

Can do. 

It just takes time. 
        

The goal is to make things findable, so I tweek the alphabet.  When I label a file or a document and use the family name in the titling, I double the first initial, ala RROSS or DDASING.  While it is unlikely that DASING would come up in a search as part of a word, ROSS gets many hits as partial words.  

I label by the BIG branch - so RROSS also includes the women/men who marry into that line, the names Wilkey, Shirley, Barbee, Compton.  CCOMPTON will probably graduate into its own line when I open up that line sideways. Rebecca was born in Virginia, married in Tennessee, and died in Illinois. She promises a great story; her family line ties into a land grant from Lord Fairfax.  How cool is that!!

Back to the piles  -- afterall, lockdown will be over in only 5 months. 

TA... 

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on other shores: Earlier this month, I submitted my paperwork for DAR membership.  My grandmother was a member; she joined during the 1920's.   Paperwork for her does not cover current requirements; lucky that I'm a genealogist and can find the missing information.  I am kept in the loop on local chapter doings, and have joined in writing cards for overseas soldiers, and sponsoring cemetery wreaths for vets.

Also, am now officially an elected member of the Illinois State Genealogical Society board, and a member of the education committee.  Laura, past president and current chair of this committee has a large vision for activities for this committee.  It promises to be an exciting time.  Stay tuned for news. If you are in Illinois and not a member, consider joining.  In fact, if you are not in Illinois, follow and consider joining - with everything via zoom during Covid, you can live virtually anywhere.  What a bonus.

and finally-- and a Happy to you, wherever and whatever you celebrate --  

Dead People Have No Rights -- (though they may well have copyrights!)

Reviewing the underpinnings, with some comments.

Dates:   DAY(1,2,3 etc.)  MONTH (Jan., Feb., Mar. etc.) YEAR (4, repeat 4 digits) 

            Why?  My cousin got a birthday card from a friend in Belgium on June 6. My cousin's birthday is June 1.  That's why.  6/10 is ambiguous. 10 May points to one specific day in the year.  Why 4 digits for the year?  When research stretches into 3 centuries, though you know you will remember that a certain snip is from 1820 and not 1920, I guarantee you won't. 

                Also interesting, and good to know, between 1582 & 1752 both Julian and Gregorian calendar were in use, depending on where. Genealogists get to juggle double dates, which is particularly interesting when calculating ages. More info here. [1]  

Names: Record as you would introduce - Maggie Thompson, Roger Anderson,  Douglas Scott.  Why?  With this convention, one does not wonder whether Douglas Scott is Mr. Scott or Mr. Douglas.  

Places: Small to large or large to small.  Ancestry offers small to large in their drop-downs; Family Search prefers Large to small when you fill in the catalog box.  For your own work, choose one (either) and stay there.  (Please include the county, sometimes it makes a difference when trying to work out a puzzle.)   Why?  Lots of cities share names with counties, and counties with states, and lots of city names are in more than one state.  Hence, Hartford, Washington Co., New York.

      

Living People & Privacy: Genealogical databases blank out vital statistics on living people.  This action, unfortunately, hardly needs a why.  Stolen identities and hacked everything require diligence, for ourselves, our families and those whose information we tend, both online and on paper.  

Dead People Have No Rights:  Unfortunately true.  Small rant here.  My mother died in April.  I have a tree on Ancestry, but the youngest person included, and long dead, is my grandmother.  Three days after my mother died, Ancestry planted a snapshot of her on my home page.  I do not know where the person ID'd as the contributor got this snapshot and he has not replied to any post through Ancestry.  Annoyed hardly starts to cover it. 

            However, dead people do continue to hold copyright. Current copyright law gives ownership of writings (and other creations) made on or after January 1, 1978 to the creator for their life plus 70 years. Interestingly enough, a letter's content still belongs to the writer, while the physical item belongs to the recepient, who may give away, sell or display the letter, but not publish. [2]

            Who would have thunk that?

TA... 

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1. An interesting article is posted on the Connecticut Library Site. Google: Connecticut State 

    Library >  History & Genealogy > Colonial Records & Topics > 1752 Calendar Change. 

2. Roam around Copyright Alliance:  https://copyrightalliance.org/about/

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since last posting: the tree is up and the larder is being stocked with celebratory food for Christmas and NY eve -- smoked salmon, herring in wine, "smelly" cheese.  You'd think we were Scandanavian (not!).  Education continues. With more than 3/4 of my lines leaping to Germany and the encouragement of a colleague, I have started DuoLingo.German, learning what I could have absorbed as a youngster. My grandmother spoke German but wouldn't speak it/teach it to her daughter (my mother).  Grandma often said, "We are in America. We are Americans. We speak English."  So I know the sounds, from songs and food names, but the language is being found again.   

Pencil, Paper, Films & Books

Back in the day, the first activity of a newbie genealogist was writing the details of their nuclear family into a lineage chart and a family group sheet.  Then the lineage chart parents sprouted branches for the grandparents, and two more family group sheets appeared. By this time the newbie had met the US census, and grabbed info from films, which taught geography and which also required learning how to use indexes, and probably soundex.  

Next steps included getting paper (official documents) to certify the information from family birthday books and "Aunt Sally" rememberings.  Birth & death certificates, marriage licenses, and pictures of gravestones joined the growing paper collection.  If lucky, many family documents were in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet in the back bedroom.  If not, getting these documents meant travel to the issuing county or letters with checks. Luck in genealogy friends and casual mentors encouraged full and careful readings of these documents, and embedded hints directed future explorations. To this mix, the newbie would add in a local genealogy group, a few lectures, a weekend conference or two, reading and time.  In a bit, training wheels were left off. 

The amazing thing, however, is that "back in the day" is not 1860 or even 1950.  Back in the day was 30 years ago.  My first steps in genealogy were as written above.  I wrote letters.  I traveled to courthouses. I spent hours with the entire US census on microfilm at the Great Lakes NARA (73rd & Pulaski, Chicago).   I copied census pages longhand, (xeroxed census pages were rarely legible) and xeroxed book pages when in libraries (or more often wrote transcriptions).   Gathered information was studied closely at home, and notes kept track of future searchings. 

 

Today... "way different" is putting it mildly.  Open up a program, enter your parent's and grandparent's names and out pops a family tree of multiple generations.  When you claim them and title this assemblage with your name, the computer program starts sending hints, and an invitation is extended to add these new names to your tree. AI and other people supply you with ancestors; it's like pushing the STAPLES easy button. Do I use these big data bases, absolutely, with many thanks for all the records gathered, and never more than during this strange year.  I use these data bases to supply some of the documents that "in the before" were available only at the ancestor's hometown courthouse, or transcribed or abstracted in reference books available only in large collections.  

Anyway, back to the way back machine. Technology may move into computers that take dictation, rather than fingers on keys, but reasoning still directs what is recorded. The human brain still offers the best network for doing solid genealogy, and reviewing the underpinnings from time to time reminds.

General comments about research:

• Move from the known to the unknown
• Test every hypothesis
• Look carefully at all information available
• The further back, the fewer records
• Decide early (like today) how you are going to keep your information
• Full recording of where you got the info ("citing your sources") is VERY VERY VERY important

 

General comments about forms for the info:

• Record dates – 5 Sept 1897
• Record names – Margaret Simpson 
• Record places – Chicago, Cook, Illinois
• Living people have the right to their privacy – name/dates/locations
• Dead people have no rights 

 

Stay tuned for continuing coverage on these guidelines.  No specific order or schedule. 

If all this is thoroughly known and you feel you could write the next blogs, you still might want to check in every so often.  Other topics will enter the stream.  

(Similar comments were written in 2019, and found last week while "wandering about" my computer looking for documents saved a bit too hastily. (see above about deciding how to keep information.)  Not surprising if you have heard some version of this before, and you may hear some version of this in the future from another, but sometimes a reminder and a fresh voice is a good thing.) 

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since last posting. I am writing for my portfolio, yet, still, continuing, (choose your own word).  Yes, I have taken extensions.  Currently filling in the squares on the KDP lineage/generations.  This is a family I have been living with and collecting tidbits about for almost 30 years, so ... many choices about what to include and what to save for the book.  Continuing my education with conferences, webinars and various discussion groups, enjoying and learning from all. Honing my craft & working --- speaking to local gen groups, and writing.  

TA... 

I Love Learning.

 As said before, I love learning -- always have. 

 

And... while I'm growing a bit weary of my small physical universe, my home is comfortable, and I am grateful for heat and light and no earthquakes or hurricanes.

 

I am also very grateful for the internet, which connects me to FamilySearch, Ancestry, and other databases -- and allows my continuing curiosity walking room.  I go down rabbit holes, and explore for friends, but also have used this time to get much more schooling. 

 

Currently I am enrolled in Pro-Gen, an esteemed on-line genealogy course, which seeks to teach the many aspects of a working genealogist's life, both the business side and the "book-learning" research side.  Every month includes projects, and last month’s project was a research report.  

 

A genealogical research report concerns itself with determining relationships, as in "Who is the father of 'x'", "Is 'x' the brother of 'y'? or separating people who share the same name, as in "was Isaac Jacobs, merchant, b. 1847 or Isaac Jacobs, carpenter, b. 1850, the husband of Polly Thomas, b. 1853?

 

But… since the assignment was “a research report” there was a bit of latitude in choosing the subject.  I used the opportunity to spend time on a question that has been sitting (literally) on my shelf for at least 15 years.  My report investigated a set of documents found decades ago by my mother, who lived in Virginia.  She was an avid estate and garage sale attendee, had a 10 year old’s curiosity with the cash to satisfy, and much followed her home. During one visit, she showed me a bag of "stuff," and asked if I would like it.  I would.  

 

The bag was full of wonders – a book covered in green velvet, a small leather covered "pocketbook," 2 postcards, etchings, a folded speech, and a single chapbook journal with notes from a whaling voyage.  Researching for the report linked all but the journal with Leroy MiltonYale.  He was a physician, the son of a physician, and noted as a pediatrician. He was also a proficient amateur etcher, who started the New-York Etching Club and was its first President 1877-1879. 

            As said, research was able to attach all but the journal into the timeline of Yale’s life, and all the pieces fit without pushing. The journal did not fit. There is no account of adventurous travel in Yale’s life, but against that, the 2-3 year period during which this voyage took place (1886-1888/89) is only lightly sketched in the public accounts of Yale’s life.

           

            Another tidbit.  His mother’s brother was Richard Luce, a mariner (read whaler), who lived in Leroy’s household when Leroy was young.  However, the journal carries comments that the author was a greenhorn, which could hardly have been whaler Richard Luce, and the journal includes drawings, which could tie the journal to Leroy.  And if not Leroy, what prompted the attachment to Leroy artifacts for over 150 years?

 

Am I curious? Absolutely!  

            Plan to look into NUCMC, the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and ?  Any and all suggestions gratefully received and will be acknowledged should this make the public stage. Email is RossGen360@outlook.com. 

 

Do return. Updates about this... and writing about much else.  As said by another, "Genealogy is fun." 

 

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on other shores: Neither 2019 or 2020 had many posts; I was doing a lot of family tending.  My mother started declining Sept 2018, moved close to us in December 2018, and died in April 2020. We are near the end of tending the paperwork of her estate, but there is much to do before settling the paperwork of her family history legacy, 100’s of pictures, some labeled, some not – and notes from her research trips and letters with Ross genealogists across the country.  For those of you on or anticipating this journey, peace and light.   As estate paperwork eases, my posts will be more regular. 

fun now - for september party !! GENEAQUEST !!! (oops... long over!!)

SO.... this post got lost in the trenches.... and today is 8 October.

Geneaquest 2020 was a great conference -- I really enjoyed doing the GeneaBars - Civil War Pensions, Dealing with Brick Walls, Lineage Societies.  And enjoyed being on the other side of the footlights on Saturday listening to the lectures.  Keep your ears perked for Geneaquest 2022.

Recent doings:     Upgraded my gear.  Audio: From laptop built-ins to wired boom mike headset. Added the "apple" wired ears, and just recently, wireless earpods (GREAT, and really appreciate the stretch factor when going to a day of lectures.)

    My computer 'grew'; I've added 5" to the depth of my desk, and sat a large monitor on it, and, after what seemed like a lifetime of waiting, have a separate camera sitting on the big screen.  Now I'm getting the office version of two-foot-itis, (own a 20' boat, want a 22'), and thinking about a second big screen. 

    Why the catalog of recent spending?  A reminder to myself (and maybe an encouragement/reminder to you?) that these tools are how I stay working and learning, and connect, and even more so now.  For the next 'x' months, nearly all my interaction with ... everything, anything... will be virtual.  There is enough angst in research & speaking/writing well, and choosing precise words for the thought/concept.  Good tools don't change the work, but good tools can decrease the drag coefficient. Nuff.

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GENEAQUEST 2020

Geneaquest is a conference that CAGGNI (Computer Assisted Genealogy Group of Northern Illinois) (say that 5 times fast) puts together every two years.  Last time, in 2018, I gave my lecture on finding women. This time, not surprisingly, I am in the planning up to my eyeballs.

As you can see, registration is now open.  Do come.  It's VIRTUAL (of course!!). and 2... count it 2 days rather than one.  Is this an ad.... yes, but an ad in a good cause.  Hit their site, and you can get all the details, I'll continue to talk about behind the scenes, and the why.

You should come because:  (and bring at least one friend... )

• Probably not much planned yet for September
• Price point is better than a lot of stuff hitting the screen -- $40 members/$45 non-members 
• Add on DNA primer for +$15 Friday afternoon (yes, add-on to Sat only)
• GeneaUS Bar - Friday morning.  Bonus for early registrants. (I'm doing three sessions if you want to come see)
• Virtual Lunch tables with your buds or a speaker - again - first come.
• Give-aways.  Door-prizes. 

Why would you want to be anywhere else?  

the world of genealogy .... BASICS

The world of genealogy –

Every “doing” has its own world – activities & vocabulary.  For most Americans, sports is an obvious one.  For most men, cars, and for most women, cooking &/or fashion.

Genealogy is a world that few learn from their parents.  Possibly good, in that all the forms and procedures are a learned language, and so all more easily done with the same ‘accent’.  Possibly bad, in that it is something slightly scary, and one more time grab for busy schedules.

Anyway, back to basic forms and procedures.  I have been lecturing on various topics for over 10 years, (researching over 30) and include some form of the following in every lecture. 

General comments about research:

• Move from the known to the unknown
• Test every hypothesis
• Look at all information available
• The further back, the fewer records
• Decide early (like today) (or better yet, yesterday) how you are going to keep your information
• Citing your sources is VERY VERY VERY important

General comments about the info:

• Record dates – 5 Sept 1897
• Record names – Margaret SIMPSON
• Record places – Chicago, Cook, Illinois
• Living people have the right to their privacy – name/dates/locations

Through the next months of blogs, each comment gets its own attention!  Stay tuned.

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ps. Jill Morelli ends each of her blogs with a list of what she has done since the last blog.  I like that idea so much (personal tally list, "it's not all bon-bons") it's going to appear on at the end of my blogs.  Thank you Jill. 

COVID TIMES & GENEALOGY --

I like learning.  Always have. 

As a kid, a lot of learning came through books.  I was the kid who begged parents to leave the hall light on and my door open, not because of any fear of the dark, but because I couldn't get my hands on a flashlight, and I wanted to keep reading. "my best friend is the person who owns a book I haven't read"  me & Abe Lincoln...

If you're here, you know me from genealogy, but I did exist and do interesting in the before.  I was a musician... So how did I end up as a musician?  Because I could read, and read way above my grade level.  It was determined that I could miss "reading" one time a week to take a music lesson in 4th grade. So I did - again, learning.  And that field expanded and stuck through university and 2 master's degrees.

To finish the rundown on my mostly music ...  I ran /directed a concert series (8 years), wrote grant applications that got grants, won by audition tenured cello positions in three regional professional orchestras, played festivals, gigged much, taught private studio and university, composed, arranged.  I was guest artist for recitals & concertos.  During grad school I engaged an accountant to present “How to keep books as an independent contractor,” for performance majors.  I also caused a minor furor with a recital encore of “The Swan” when I invited volunteer ‘swans’ clothed in short white cassocks to dance free form during the piece.  Sadly, no video exists. Recitals were only taped, and camera phones didn’t exist.

               An unexpected injury in 2017 ended professional level playing; I moved quickly into professional genealogy full time.  No TV soaps for me.  Genealogy was already in play, I was doing a monthly workshop at my library, and I found a new rhythm.  I was lucky that so many skills transferred. From my father I had learned to analyze, think, & write. He also encouraged mental flexibility.  From my mother I learned to explore and welcome the new.  From music I brought self-motivation, the chops to read old handwriting, the ability to apply theory to real-life (and vice versa), organizational skills, research skills, and the mental focus to work long, hard and accurately.

So... now the world is in a new age... hibernating & virtual.  This may be a permanent change, or for awhile.  Either way, in my world, TV soaps are still not included.  The genealogy world was a bit resistant to adopt virtual processes that were already standard, if not common, in business, but it was time to latch onto the technology or return to doing NOTHING for the duration.  

You see Facebook and your gen societies, and what the national conferences have done, and will be doing the rest of 2020 - and into 2021 - and ?  And the upshot is that the things that were virtual (pro-gen, Legacy Family lectures) just keep on doing, the national conferences (NGS & FGS) are going virtual, institutes are going virtual (GRIP, SLIG), and individual ventures (CDG, etc.)

So... now, from the comfort of your own home (as the phrase goes), one can travel the country, or the world, learning, seeing, and growing as a genealogist. 

so far since March 2020 I have attended.. and all virtual .... 

Conferences: St. Louis, NGS, FGS (maybe/it's sept) 

Institutes: GRIP, 2 weeks

Courses: Pro-Gen, starting in June for 14 months

Discussion: NSGQ Discussion, 1xmonth during 2020, CDG Alumni, 1xweek; knitting/books, 2x/month; 

and I am involved with the Sept 2020 staging of a virtual (first time out virtual) conference - GeneaQuest - product of CAGGNI (chg suburb group).  I am on the planning committee, and wrangling the vendors, and will be a member of the GeneUS Bar during the conference.  (?check us out on facebook?  ??come??!!).  Learning curve is steep and exciting - and we are doing it. 

And I am also venturing out a bit on my own.  From 2014 to 2018, the local library sponsored me for "2nd Saturday Genealogy."  This included a teaching a topic with handouts, fielding questions that walked in the door, and learning from each other.  I loved doing this, and have missed it, and in the years, people moved, so they couldn't come... so, with virtual the new flavor on the block, I thought of seeing how this could work.  Plan is to do the 3rd Friday of every month at 2 pm.  I've written the people I've touched through 2nd Sat or lecturing, and will venture forth in 3 days - this Friday.  If you contacted me w/ your email, you will get an invite to the zoom meeting.  

If you haven't gotten the "are you interested" letter from me, leave a note for me here; I think it's possible.  

hows my crystal ball? 

I see the future of genealogy having to keep the virtual aspect of society meetings -- 

I see the future of conferences incorporating some virtual aspects - 

I see genealogists getting easy with Zoom - both attending and leading.  

we all remember, "to infinity, and beyond!"