Eight 'Gotta Haves' for a Desktop Genealogist

1. A COMPUTER Well, Duh. No, I'm not trying to insult anyone's intelligence, but sooner or later whatever computer you are now using to surf the Web, there will come a day when it needs replaced. Now is the time to start thinking about the features you want the next time you purchase. 

2. GENEALOGY SOFTWARE All that great information you're finding needs to be recorded somewhere! If you are thinking about purchasing new genealogy software, TopTenReviews (http://genealogy-software-review.toptenreviews.com/) has done a side-by-side comparison for 2007 versions of the most well known genealogy programs. Family Tree Maker has just come out with their 2008 model. You can read about it at Family Tree Maker 2008 at http://www.familytreemaker.com/. The Hayes Presidential Center recommends and sells Roots Magic for $29.95 at its gift store, http://www.rbhayes.org/hayes/store/details.asp?did=889.

3. DIGITAL CAMERA This has been on my Christmas wish list for the last two years, but something else always beckons. I have an old Sony that is HUGE by today's digital standards and takes a floppy disk — yeah it's that old. But it's great for doing fieldwork at cemeteries. (And our three-year-old grandson likes looking through the viewer, taking out of focus pictures of grandma's left sleeve, and then admiring his clever handy work. But ssshhh, don't tell papa Al - he wouldn't approve.)

4. SCANNER My husband purchased a scanner for me a few years back when I needed it for a Christmas project. I can scan, copy, or e-mail with a couple of computer clicks. A real plus to having a scanner has been scanning copies of obituaries, probate records etc. into my computer. The benefit is two-fold. I can easily share the info with other researchers and just as important, I can blow up the image so that I can make out words or phrases that are difficult to read in the actual copy.

5. HIGH SPEED CONNECTION Whether it's DSL or cable, a high-speed connection makes looking at online documents much less frustrating. I remember with dial up trying to download a census image — I could make a cup of tea, put in a load of wash and still be drumming my fingers waiting for the image to appear when I returned to my computer.

6. SUBSCRIPTION TO ANCESTRY.COM To be sure, there are other subscription services worthy of consideration, but for my money, Ancestry tops the list. That is not to say I don't have “ISSUES” with the big mac daddy of genealogy database services. But for all that, I have just two things to say — EVERY NAME INDEXED ONLINE CENSUS and WORLD WAR I DRAFT REGISTRATIONS.

If, like me, the $299.40 annual price tag is too high for your pocket book (it's ONLY $155.40 for the US deluxe version), the Hayes Presidential Center (http://www.rbhayes.org/hayes/) subscribes to Ancestry's Library Edition. HPC has a DSL connection and in addition to Ancestry, they also have Heritage Quest and Newspaper Archive subscriptions. Seven computer stations make access easy. Computer generated print outs cost $.25 a piece and for $.50 you can purchase a floppy disk to save a census page or any other digital image to take home.

7. SOME TYPE OF ORGANIZING SYSTEM This is one I haven't figured out yet! (Stop laughing Al — I know what the verb “to organize” means!) Here are ideas others have proposed: http://www.genealogy.com/27_smith.html http://www.ancestrylessons.com/beyond-the-veil/rookie/organiz2.htm 

Well, there you have it. My top seven things I want for my dream genealogy office. Oh yeah, I said eight. 

No. 8 IS EASY — as a woman of a certain age, a magnifying glass comes in mighty handy. As my sister recently said to her optometrist, “I've noticed they are making the print a lot smaller now.” 

Until next time — Happy Ancestral Digging! Note this post first published online, September 18, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

©18 Sept 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

For Your Viewing Pleasure — Family and Local Histories

One hundred thousand digitized family and local histories will be coming soon to a computer near you. On August 15 FamilySearch, the nonprofit service sponsored by the Church of the Latter Day Saints announced a joint project by The Allen County Public Library of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library and FamilySearch's Family History Library in Salt Lake City. To read more about this ongoing project go to: http://www.familysearch.org/eng/home/News/frameset_news.asp?PAGE=Press/2007-8-15_Local_Histories_Online.asp 

Currently, over 5,000 histories are already online. You may search by Surname, Author, Title or do a keyword search of the full text. In this small sample, I was able to find a biographical sketch of my great-great-grandmother's brother, George Washington Armstrong, in the digitized copy of The Biographical Record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois. I also found a brief reference to my great-great-great-great-grandparents William and Susannah Good in Eastwood/Pote Lineage, Vol. 2. 

 The records are stored as PDF files so you will need an Adobe Reader to view them. The reader can be downloaded from the Web site, and access to these first 5,000 plus records is free and will continue to be free, according to the press release of August 15. You can search the collection at http://www.lib.byu.edu/fhc/. 

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging. Note this post first published online, September 19, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

©17 Sept 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa l. Snyder 

Cracked Up — Footnote to Yesterday's Blog

Crisis! My spouse took an immediate dislike to the title I wanted to use on yesterday's blog, “How an Internet Cousin Shattered a Brick Wall and Made Me Want to Kiss Her.” The original title was “How an Internet Cousin Shattered a Brick Wall and Made Me Want to Kiss Her on the Lips.” 

“You're not going to call it that!” my normally calm, but uber conservative spouse said with an actual look of HORROR on his face. 

“Why not?”

“Can't you just say, “hug” instead?”

“Hug? That's boring. My title makes me laugh!” 

 Masculine Groan.

So we compromised, I lopped off the last three words, and he dropped the hug suggestion. My husband cracks me up. I, apparently, DON'T crack up him. 

Until Next Time — Yadda! Yadda! Yadda! Note this post first published online, September 15, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

©15 Sept 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

How an Internet Cousin Shattered a Brick Wall and Made Me Want to Kiss Her

Dee. What can I tell you about Dee? Dee and I both descend from George Washington Lynch and Catherine Good Lynch. She descends from daughter Laura, and I descend from son John Perry. It was my mom who found Dee, or maybe it was Dee who found mom. Whatever the case, the two connected and collaborated on finding Lynch family information. Dee was responsible for sending us a picture of Catherine, of giving us an insight into George's raucous character, and in general, filling in the blanks.

We in turn contributed information about the Ohio branch of the tree, added parents for Catherine, and helped build a bridge to our mutual Virginia ancestry. All this collaboration and neither side had ever met or spoken a single syllable to the other. Our connection was an Internet driven one, fueled by the magic of e-mail. And oh, what e-mail. 

Dee has what I think might be the Lynch flair for telling a story. And funny! When Dee's on a roll, her e-mail is down right hysterical, her observations filled with dry wit. Though I have many Internet Cousins that I truly like, Dee's unique. Dee is Dee. Dee is also tough.

I have been trying for years to connect George Washington's father, Daniel Lynch, with a William Lynch that lived in Crawford County, Illinois. William's genealogy went back two more generations and if I could connect the two, I would automatically have two more generations in our Lynch line. I had found a ton of circumstantial evidence. Each new piece of information was sent to Dee. Dee's response? That's nice. (Yawn.) Not Proof. Every time. EVERY - SINGLE - MADDENING - TIME! 

I knew in my heart that they were linked, but Dee kept me honest. Dee kept me working. Dee kept me banging my head against a brick wall! And just like that the brick wall was broken, shattered to pieces. And not by any of my endless hours of research. A letter, of all things, shattered the wall; a letter that Dee found among her deceased Aunt's papers. Dated September 3, 1944, the letter was from a Hannah Richardson. Dee, bless her heart, didn't abstract the letter for me. Not Dee, she typed every little word in the letter and e-mailed it to both my mother and me. 

Hannah, as it turns out was William's daughter, and she talked in the letter about Uncle Dan, our Dan! The whole family relationship was laid out in brick-by-brick detail. And just like that, we gained two more generations of Lynch information. 

Ah, Dee, I could just kiss you!

Until next time — Happy Ancestral Digging! Note this post first published online, September 14, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 14 Sept 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

It's An Adventure

This past Labor Day weekend my husband, who should know better, asked me if I wanted to go for a drive. “Yeah!” “Where to?” “Terre Haute Cemetery!” I said without a second’s hesitation. A month earlier, I’d found an online listing for the cemetery. There were old graves I’d been, if you’ll pardon the pun, dying to check out. Too far, gas too expensive, frown frown, yadda yadda. So we took off for a short drive. Somehow, I managed to convince my loving spouse that a trip to “two little cemeteries” would be a great start to our drive. “It will be an adventure!” I told him. I’d use this phrase when Map Quest said to turn right instead of left on a Virginia trip. This put us on a one-lane gravel road that went on forever. It was one of those, if people thought you were trespassing, they could chop you up into little pieces and no one would ever find your body, kind of roads.

“It’s an adventure!” I had said, as the tune “Dueling Banjos” popped into my head. On this day, I used the phrase to spur my husband into climbing over a gatepost, tromp down a gravel lane and plunge into, what turned about to be, a cemetery swarming with dive-bombing bugs. Now I tend to exaggerate, but trust me, swarming is the accurate word. About 60 seconds into this foray, my husband said, “I’ll wait for you there,” pointing to the gravel road. He wisely elected to wait in the car at cemetery number two, which called for another little jaunt. 

As we left the second cemetery and started, what we thought would be a relaxing drive, the tire pressure light began to glow inside our Mercury van. Two hours later, after watching Canadian football in the store’s lobby and becoming the proud owners of a shiny new tire (a shredded tire can’t be patched evidently), our “adventure” was over. Well, not quite. As it turns out, some of those dive-bombing insects were mosquitoes. What they were doing out at high noon, I don’t know. Four days later, we were still scratching. 

I may have to retire my, “It’s an adventure!” Instead, maybe I’ll start using, “At least we’re not being chopped into little pieces and our bodies never found.” Yeah, that works. 

Until next time – Happy Ancestral Digging! Note this post first published online, September 11, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

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

Random Thoughts of a Family Historian

“You not my best fwiend anymore!” That’s what our 3-year-old grandson told his grandpa, as we drove back from what had been, up until then, a successful excursion to the Mad River Railroad Museum in Bellevue.

Papa Al had been doing what grandfathers everywhere are known for doing – teasing grandsons. While I chuckled under my breath in the front seat, Grandpa Al was a bit taken aback by the comment. How devastating to find out you were your little buddy’s best friend, only to have this special designation taken away from you in the very same instant. I’m sure the little guy had overheard the statement from one of his two big sissies, each a sparkling personality in her own right, and each, I am sure, perfectly capable of putting an errant friend in their place. 

The 3-year-old’s comment was one of those delicious moments that are woven into the fabric of family relationships. Too often, these are the kind of moments that are lost forever when we go to our final rest. It’s all very good to find names and dates when we are researching the family tree - these are the skeletons of a person’s identity. But we can never truly understand who the individual was without something more personal in nature. Though locating names and dates are often difficult, locating personal stories are much harder, much rarer. 

So, what should you do about it? Well, resolve right now, today, to interview your parents, an aunt, an uncle, or, if you are lucky enough, a grandparent and write down those family stories. While you are at it, be sure to include those stories that you know about firsthand.

For the baptism of my youngest nephew, I put together a notebook filled with pictures and a few stories about his mommy, his grandma and grandpa, and his great grandparents. I wrote in great detail about the story of a hot summer day when my dad, his grandpa, wearing a snoopy hat and rubber banded pant cuffs played bee killer. 

“Who kissed the mirror,” a longstanding family mystery also found its way into the book. Silly anecdotes, I’ll grant you, but ones that give a flavor and identity to the people involved. (Although, I’m not sure how mom liked being memorialized as navigationally challenged, nor am I sure of my sister’s feelings on including the Bloody Mary/white pants incident – both very good reasons to write your own story!) 

The reality of the human condition is that every person reading this blog will someday pass from this life. We are now living, what will one day be, the genealogical research of another. A hundred years from now, do you want the only things that your descendants know about you to be, your name and date of death?

It’s just a thought. I have to stop now. I must go and console my husband who recently found out he lost his “best fwiend.”

Until next time – Happy Ancestral Digging. Note this post first published online, September 7, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

©7 Sept 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

I SEE DEAD PEOPLE

I SEE DEAD PEOPLE. Okay, you got me – I don’t really see dead people, I just spend a lot of time looking for them. I look on web pages, message boards, in libraries, courthouses, cemeteries – if there’s a chance a dead ancestor might be lurking somewhere, I’ll look.

As a kid, I would hold my breath as our car motored past cemeteries (no breathing in dead spirits for this girl). Now, I look longingly as we go past, wondering if anybody I “know” is resting there. My husband will sometimes catch the look and say with a sigh, “Do you want to stop?” “Oh yes, could we?”

If you’re nodding in agreement, then you know what bug that has infected me – the genealogy bug. I caught a bad case of it seven years ago, when my mother dragged me to the Hayes Presidential Center under the guise of “bonding time.” She was doing research for an Internet Cousin and knew that it was safe taking me anywhere that housed lots and lots of books. One turn of the reel and a peek at names on a census page and I was a goner. My mother is still apologizing. 

The goal of this blog is to focus on the wedding of Internet and genealogy. I know, some of you will be shuddering at using the words Internet and genealogy in the same sentence, but hear me out. Online original records are starting to sprout up here and there on the web. True, most are on subscription-based sites currently, but I think this is just a taste of good things to come. I’m not advocating wholehearted abandonment of genealogical fieldwork, but I am saying that the Internet, when used wisely, can jump-start your family history research. 

So pull up a chair, get that second cup of java, and look in on my blog from time to time. I hope you will share your thoughts, your comments and your stories with me, as I intend to share those same things with you. Until next time, happy ancestral digging. Note this post first published online, September 4, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

©4 Sept 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder