Yoo-hoo, Ancestry — I'm back!

Well, I did it. After almost a full year of withdrawal from my Ancestry addiction, I am now plugged back into the mega giant of subscription services — just the US deluxe version. No, I didn't pony up the 155.40 that a yearly subscription runs. I did it with a free trial subscription that came with the FTM version 16 collector's edition. 

This is an old version of FTM. As I understand it, the newer 2008 version has scrapped the old features for new improved ones — although if the complaints I'm reading are any indication, improved may not be the correct word. 

I first heard about the free trial subscription from a genealogy blog I read. At the time, there was a link to this version of FTM for only $15.95. Being a suspicious soul, I put it at the back of my mind. For one thing, I purchased The Master Genealogist a year ago because my old Family Tree Maker program was, well old. I needed 16 floppy disks to back it up, and there was no CD back up option offered. Unfortunately, though The Master Genealogist offers the bells and whistles that I thought I wanted, I just didn't have the large chunks of time that I needed to master the program. 

Then two posters on the forum that is affiliated with this blog both mentioned the same deal. (Thanks Dawn and Cassandra11!) Reading what they had to say, I sat up and took notice. I did some research and found another blogger who had taken advantage of the free trial offer and gave it a thumbs up. After much thought and consideration, I am, after all, a planner by nature, I decided that I would go ahead and purchase the version 16 collector's edition which was the one offering a free year's subscription. 

I went back to the company that was offering the $15.95 deal and found that the price had jumped and they were now selling the same product for $59.95.! Ouch! If you considered the fact that you were getting Ancestry thrown in, it was still a good deal. But what if I got the product and they had rescinded the offer? Did I really want a second FTM program, one that was more than two years old for that price? The answer was no. (Did I mention I am not only a planner, but I am also a CAUTIOUS planner?) So, I gave it some more thought, and I decided what I would be willing to pay for FTM, and I kept checking to see if I could find it for that price or less.

I finally found someone selling the version I wanted for a price I was willing to pay, and I went ahead and ordered it. Of course, a week later I found it for five bucks cheaper — that will teach me to keep checking prices after I have bought an item! 

So say hallelujah, I am now linked to the one subscription service that I love to hate and I hate to love. Yes, they sometimes try my patience, and yes, I have yet to get one reminder e-mail from them telling me that my subscription time is up and they are going to be charging me X amount of dollars for another year's subscription, but oh the wonderful abundance of records, the constant addition of new content, and the power of indexing is just too much for me to wave them a permanent good-bye. What can I say? I'm weak

Right now, I am too busy to sit down and spend much time with Ancestry, but in the short bursts of time I have been online, I have found four new things that will take my research in new directions, and I did it from the comfort of my own home. Does it get any better? 

Until Next time — Happy Ancestral Digging! 

Note this post first published online, December 12, 2007 at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 12 December 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Genealogy Quick Notes — Family History 101 Web site

My real name is Teresa and my parents nicknamed me Terry, which is the name I usually use. If I had been living during the 19th century, my nickname more than likely would have been Tess, this according to the list of names and nicknames used during the 18th and 19th centuries here in the US.

While Alex is still considered a nickname for Alexander, another nickname used during that period was Zander. I found this and other interesting tidbits of information on the Family History 101 Web site. Here are a few more examples of nicknames that might not leap to your mind when you see them: 

Con for Cornelius 

Dob or Dobbin for Robert

Fanny for Nathaniel . 

Si could be used for Cyrus or Josiah

Fate for Lafayette 

Hitty for Mehetable

Crecy for Lucretia

Briney for Sybrina 

Biddie for Bridget

Nettie for Antoinette or Henrietta 

You can find more examples on the Web site at the following link: https://ctstatelibrary.org/access-services/nicknames/. 

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging!

Note this post first published online, December 11, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 11 December 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

More genealogist wish lists

Last month, I posted my own dear Santa letter. Are you curious like I am to see what other genealogists want from old Saint Nick? Well the 37th Carnival of Genealogy has been posted to Jasia's Creative Gene Web site. The topic this edition? Wish lists. Each is introduced by Jasia, herself, and linked to the appropriate blog. I don't want to spoil it for anyone but some involve time travel. Wow! And I thought my wanting a camera was a big deal!

Take a break from your holiday preparations, and think about what you'd wish for from Santa. Maybe you should sit down and write him your letter. 

The link for 37th Carnival of Genealogy is http://creativegene.blogspot.com/2007/12/carnival-of-genealogy-37th-edition.html. 

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging!

Note this post first published online, December 5, 2007 at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 5 December 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder

T'is the Season to Freak Out

Well, it's December again. And as usual, I am in a tizzy wondering how everything that needs to be done will get done. In the middle of my annual freak out, there stands my husband, cool calm and collected. Assuring me that everything will work out, that the presents will all end up bought and wrapped, the house cleaned, decorated and ready for visitors, the Christmas Eve food decided on, bought and prepared, and that this all will happen without me having a heart attack or ending up in the loony bin.

My husband is such an optimist. He stays stoically calm, if a bit impatient when I reject suggestion after suggestion for a gift for our 8-month-old grandson. I stand in the toy aisle, making him dump every box upside down to see where each toy is made. Made in China they all read.

"Terry,” he says, “they are all made in China. Face it; you are going to have to buy something made in China.” 

“But he's a baby. They put everything into their mouth. I'm not getting a baby anything made in China!”

So on we march, me determined, and Al mentally calculating how many of these shopping trips we will have to make before I succumb to the inevitable. My stubborn refusal is threatening to derail the hardcore shopping that we had intended, needed to get done. My husband, in an effort to derail what I'm sure he sees as an oncoming temper tantrum and to assuage his own growling stomach, suggests we stop shopping and eat. 

The warm lobster bisque, the thirst quenching raspberry lemonade and the quiet talk about anything NOT having to do with Christmas, revive me. I decide when we get home I will shop online for something made in the USA for the youngest member of the family. I call both of my sons, and tell them I am in a store parking lot, ready to do Christmas shopping and that they had better tell me right this minute what to buy. Surprisingly, both sons have suggestions that they give me without too much coaxing, and without one threat of dire consequences passing my lips.

Al and I even come up with a good idea for a gift for my parents, and suddenly all is right with the world. We get some of the needed shopping done, pat ourselves on the back, and I go home, get online and find an actual toy made in the USA, not out of stock, that if I order today will be here 10 days before Christmas. Oh, sweet success! 

Now, if I can just resist the temptation to look on the bottom of the crock-pot I bought for one of the boys to see where it was made, I can count this a perfect shopping day. 

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! 

Note: This post is my way of letting you know that due to my annual freak out, my posts this month will be sporadic. T'is the Season! 

Note this post first published online at Desktop Genealogist Blog, December 3, 2007, at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 3 December 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

What Day of the Week was That?

On a Tuesday, April 25 1904, Emma Gleffe married Leo Schröder in Muttrin, Germany. Almost two years later, my great-grandparents, Emma and Leo, arrived in the Port of New York. Traveling on the SS Amerika, their journey ended on April 1, 1906, which happened to be a Sunday. Have you ever wondered about what day of the week important events in your family tree took place?

Well, wonder no more. Herb Weiner created a Web site that calculates calendars for years past. You can display a specific month of a specific year, or you can display the entire year. The Web site, aptly titled, “Calendar Calculator” even takes into account the year different localities changed from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. (For example, Italy changed to the Gregorian calendar in the year 1582, while the American Colonies and Britain didn't make the change until September 1752.) 

The Web site, http://www.calwiz.com/, at first blush seems a little imposing, but once you read through it, you realize you don't have to use all the options given. If, like me, weird little facts make your world go round, you might also like to check out a companion Web site, Claus Tønderlings, “Frequently Asked Questions about Calendars” at http://www.tondering.dk/claus/calendar.html. Okay, not even I needed to read all 63 pages of his PDF file. (You can also read the information in text or Webpage format), but I did find some interesting little tidbits that made me ponder.

For instance: 

1. If you have ancestors born in Lithuania prior to 1915, chances are good that their dates of birth were calculated by the old Julian calendar because Lithuania didn't make the switch to Gregorian until 1915.

2. The Orthodox Greek Church didn't switch to a Gregorian calendar until 1920 and wanting to improve on the Gregorian calendar, they made a few changes on the way leap years are calculated. In the year 2800, their calendar will not match the rest of the world's calendar. (Goodie, one more crazy thing I can worry about!) 

3. Did you know that the years 1800 and 1900 were NOT leap years? 

4. If you see the date 12/01/07 do you know what date I am referring to? In the United States, we would read this date as December 1, 2007. In most of the rest of the world, it would be read as January 12, 2007. If you were using the International Standard, it would read January 7, 2012 (although ISO standards require the year to be written as four digits). So in ISO standard, today is 2007-11-28. And on that note — Happy Ancestral Digging! 

Note this post first published online, November 28, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 28 November 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Indexing Frustrations

Ever been frustrated on how poor the indexing is when you are doing a search on Ancestry or another database? I admit I have. How could the indexer not have known that the last name was Smathers not Smothers, or that Nancy was actually Mary? Well, I guarantee you, I won't be judging so quickly the next time it happens.

I spent the long holiday weekend doing volunteer indexing for LDS's ongoing indexing project, and I am now properly humbled at the difficulty of the task. Two projects that currently have a high priority are West Virginia Vital Records and the 1871 Canadian Census. I worked on marriage licenses for the West Virginia Vital Records. Transcribing the marriage records wasn't too bad, since some of these were actually typed records — say Hallelujah! 

The Canadian census was a whole other story. The first page I did, the resolution was terrible. Blowing up the page didn't help. Squinting sometimes worked but by the time I got to the end of the 40 or so names, I had a raging headache. I really thought the next time I logged in I would be greeted with a message asking me to PLEASE NEVER WORK ON THIS CENSUS AGAIN. 

Thank goodness, each page is transcribed by three different individuals. At completion, the three transcriptions are compared. An arbitrator makes the final decision over which transcription to use when discrepancies exist. I wish the arbitrator luck when looking over that first page I did. I just hope the other two individuals who worked on the same page knew what they were doing. 

When I saw Quebec on the second page, I knew I was in trouble. No Parlez-vous Francais! Not even a little! Unfortunately, once you download a page it's yours to transcribe — no givebacks. (Actually, I could have let it sit there until December 2, my official deadline for finishing the page. I don't know what happens if you don't finish it. Maybe you are visited by snarling men in black trench coats, who stand over you with a ruler and smack you until you finish — I didn't read the fine print to know for sure.) However, this page was easier to read. Unfortunately, not being familiar with French surnames and given names turned out to be a bit of a handicap, but I think I did a much better job with these 40 names than I did with those on the first page.

If I haven't scared you with my whining and you think you might like to try your hand at indexing, visit http://www.familysearchindexing.org/en/index.jsp to get more information. You will need to install special software, and for that reason, they recommend you have broadband capabilities. Quoting directly from the Web site:“When the information indexed by volunteers is ready for publication, it will be made available FREE OF CHARGE through familysearch.org. Some of these indexes will be posted by our partnering societies.” 

As I mentioned in a previous post, they have completed indexing the Ohio Death Records, and it's my understanding they will be available for viewing sometime after the first of the year.

Until next time — Happy Ancestral Digging! 

Note this post first published online, November 26 , 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 26 November 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

A letter to Santa from the Desktop Genealogist

Dear Santa, 

I know you must be raising your brows a little bit wondering why I would even think about sending you my genealogical wish list for Christmas. I am not exactly the poster child of the good girl. I mean I confess to dragging my long-suffering spouse to cemeteries far and wide — resulting in, on at least one occasion, a shredded tire that had to be replaced — on a holiday weekend no less.

Then there is my editor who probably opens my e-mails like someone suspecting a letter bomb. Does my public admission that I HATE HOLIDAYS automatically put me on your Naughty List? But Santa, honest, I didn't bash you, not once. 

So in the hopes that you are big enough to overlook some of my little flaws, and with the promise of cookies and milk for you should you deliver on any one of these, I am sending you my Wish List for Christmas.

1. A digital camera — Every year this makes the top of my wish list. And every year, something comes up that takes precedence. It's not that I don't like my old Sony, but it's big and clunky, and still takes floppy disks, and it just can't keep up with the quality of newer models. 

2. I'd like to see some definitive proof that my ancestress, Magdalena Good, was indeed the daughter of John Click Jr. I know I have a whole slew of circumstantial evidence, but I still would like something tangible wrapped up in a nice metallic red bow, if you please. 

3. I'd like you to help me sweet talk my beloved spouse into stopping on the way back from the family's big vacation in Tennessee, at the Lexington National Cemetery where my great-great-grandfather, Edward Jacobus is buried. Because his grave marking is wrong, I bet none of his family or descendants have ever visited his grave to pay their respects. I would very much like to rectify this, Santa.

4. While we are on the subject, when my family is planning one of these “several generations” vacations, could you have them decide on a state where ANY of our ancestors have lived? Nobody lived in Tennessee! What's wrong with Oklahoma as a hot spot destination? 

5. Oh, and Santa, if you could see your way clear to helping me find out why my great-great-grandfather, George Cope, changed the spelling of his last name to Ceope after his marriage to his second wife, I would be forever grateful. I bet there's a juicy little tale that needs to see the light of day

6. And finally, Santa, I know this has nothing to do with genealogy and makes me sound like a Miss Universe contestant, but if you could give us a little world peace and a sudden new found ability to live in harmony, that would be terrific. I know this has been on wish lists for generations, but I figured as long as I was asking ...

Sincerely, Terry Snyder, Desktop Genealogist

PS. If the Hayes Presidential Center Library hasn't yet raised the money it needs to purchase the microfilm/carrier and additional connections to enable the Minolta MS6000 to view microfilm yet, could you help out with this wish also, Santa?

Note this post first published online, November 23, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 23 November 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder