New Samples of Casefile Clues

We have two NEW free samples of my weekly how-to newsletter, Casefile Clues. To receive the PDF files as an attachment, simply send an email to

casefileclues@gmail.com

to make your request. Your email address will not be shared, given out, etc.

Thanks!

Friend Discount on Casefile Clues

Current subscribers can get a free month when a friend subscribes to Casefile Clues. It's this simple, your friend needs to use this payment link INSTEAD OF the regular one. This link tells me it was a "friend" susbscription, allowing me to track it.

When your friend subscribes, they should put YOUR name and email in the memo box. That's why it is important they use the link in this blog post. Your friend can request sample copies of Casefile Clues at samples@casefileclues.com.

Oh, this offer ends on Friday at noon West Coast Time.

Questions? Email me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com.

William Rampley in 1900 Census in York, Pennsylvania

This is a copy and paste job on part of the 1900 census for W. A. Rampley who appeared in several newspaper entries n the newspaper archive atGenealogyBank.

He apparently is listed as a "Carriage Builder," aged 33 years old and born in Maryland in the 1900 Census at Ancestry.com. Note that his mother is also in the household. Her census entry indicates she is born in Pennsylvania and yet William indicates his mother was born in Maryland. Obviously something is not quite correct with this enumeration. The inconsistency is minor but this should be noted when transcribing the record.

Carriage Shop Burns

Another neat discovery on the newspaper archive atGenealogyBank, again on W. A. Rampley of York, Pennsylvania.

This article from October of 1899 in the Philadelphia Inquirer indicates that Rampley's carriage factory burned on 11 October 1899. Next goal is to try and find him in the 1900 census as hopefully he's still there.

Might work this up for an issue of Casefile Clues, not yet certain.

Help Wanted in 1899

This ad comes from the 6 May 1899 Philadelphia Inquirer, under the "male help wanted" section.

W. A. Rampley is looking for a carriage painter for his shop in York, Pa.

I'm not certain how, but Rampley is likely a relative of some shape or other to my own Rampley family from Harford County, Maryland.

This gem was discovered while looking around on the newspaper archive at GenealogyBank.

62 Issues of Casefile Clues for $16!

It doesn't get any lower than this. Today (through midnight west coast time on Wednesday 10 November), we're selling our first 62 issues for $16! That's over 440 pages of how-to advice, complete with illustrations, explanations, and citations (starting in issue 10). Remember, our focus is on explaining research, not selling advertisements, promoting other products, etc. Casefile Clues has no advertising in the newsletter or on the website.

Orders can be processed securely here with a credit card--a PayPal account is not necessary.

Spread the news! I'm working on obtaining new material for upcoming issues and this is our little "fundraiser" for that effort.

A Distressing Accident

While looking around on the newspaper archive atGenealogyBank, I discovered a reference in the Baltimore Gazette and Daily Advertiser from 18 August 1834. Apparently John A. Rampley, the youngest son of William Rampley, fell off a load of hay into some water where he drowned.

William was a brother to my ancestor, Thomas Rampley.

This newspaper account is the only reference to the son I can find.

As they add more newspapers, perhaps I'll make more discoveries. Based on this, it appears that the son died on 2 August 1834.

Free Registration Drawing for our 2011 Family History Research Trips

Blog readers know that I am leading a research trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake and a research trip to the Allen County Public Library in 2011. Trip dates are these:

• Salt Lake--17-18 May 2011
• Fort Wayne--3-7 August 2011

From now until 30 November, we are holding a drawing for a free registration for each trip(drawing is for registration ONLY--hotel, transportation, expenses are the RESPONSIBILITY of the winner). However a free registration will save on your trip expenses. The links above explain more about each trip.

To enter the drawing for the Salt Lake Trip, send an email to saltlake-drawing@casefileclues.com.

To enter the drawing for the Fort Wayne Trip, send an email to acpl-drawing@casefileclues.com.

Be certain to let your friends know!

Joseph Oades Homesteads in Nebraska.

This is one page from the homestead proof for Joseph H. Oades, one of the husbands of Emma Sargent.

The testimony, made out on 6 January 1876 indicates that Oades had a wife and eight children. I'm not certain right now how that fits into what I have on Joseph and Emma--they are living in separate households in the 1875 Nebraska State Census, but this document may still be referring to her as his wife. I'm going to have to sit down and look at the children from the 1875 in both households to see just how reasonable this is. To be really honest, I just searched for Joseph Oades on Footnote.com on a whim to see what results there were.

I also need to obtain divorce records for Joseph and Emma as she married again in Iowa and he lives in Nebraska for some time after this homestead was completed.

This record was scanned and indexed Footnote.com which is where this image was lcoated. Footnote.com is adding the homestead records to their website.

We'll have updates here on the blog and probably a longer article in an upcoming issue of Casefile Clues.

Seminar in Redwood City, CA.

I will be giving 4 lectures this Saturday in Redwood City, CA for the San Mateo Genealogical Society.

There's still room and late registrations are possible.

The flyer is available online at: http://www.smcgs.org/temporary/fall_2010_seminar.pdf

Questions can be emailed to programs@smcgs.org

I'm related to a President's Wife and Why Genealogists Will Have Work For a Long Time

I finally got the "famous relative" section of the trees at Ancestry.com to work. I've posted the image showing the connection of my great-grandmother, Tjode Anna Goldenstein to Cornelia Melyn, the supposed 3rd grandmother of Julia Gardiner, wife of President Tyler.

The lineage of my great-grandmother is correct. The earliest ancestor shown is Ancke Jansen, who died in Ostfriesland, Gemany in 1719. Ancke is the mother of Johann Hinrichs, who died in 1768 (my line) and the mother of Johan De Lange, born in 1728. Ancestry gives this relationship 4 stars (out of 5) for reliability.

There are other interesting things in the lineage on the right, including a person born in 1848 having a child born in 1628. Clicking on the graphic will pull up a larger image.

I love the indexes and other finding aids Ancestry.com has to census and other original records. This stuff is something else.

Holding Court at the Opera House

In reviewing images for the latest issue of Casefile Clues, I noticed something in a 1907 partition suit petition for Hancock County, Illinois. Court was not being held at the courthouse--it was held at the Opera House in Carthage.

I wondered about this, then I remembered that the October 1907 term of court was being held when the current courthouse was being constructed on the site of the old one.

I never thought about where they had court during that time until I ran across this reference. Anne's partition suit was the topic of issue 9 of Casefile Clues.

Casefile Clues Discount for Facebook Fans

Tip of the Day now has 1737 fans on Facebook. To celebrate, fans can subscribe to Casefile Clues, for $17.37, fans can have their new subscription to Casefile Clues start with issue 9 (coming soon) and get issues 1-8 at no charge. Subscriptions can be processed securely here (a PayPal account is not necessary). More about Casefile Clues is on our website.

If you're not a fan of "Genealogy tip of the Day" on Facebook, search for us("genealogy tip of the day") there.

Shooting Nicholas Trautvetter

I ran across this item on been searching for members of the extended Trautvetter clan at GenealogyBank.

I am not certain how Nicholas Trautvetter is related (or even if he is), but this family always causes the best type of newspaper articles to be written.

This one made two points that have nothing at all to do with the Trautvetters.

The first is that searching of sites that use OCR technology requires some thought. This article was located by searching for "Trantvetter" instead of Trautvetter.

This article was also in a St. Louis newspaper, the St. Louis Republic on 3 March 1897. This is quite a distance from where the murder took place.

Watch those spellings and consider the possibility that a newspaper item could appear hundreds of miles from where your ancestor actually lived.

Genealogy Magazines, Newsletters, Speakers, etc.

This is more opinion than usual. And it's not as organized as I usually am, but that's because my thoughts on this subject are somewhat in flux.

Genealogy print magazines continue to "bit the dust." A genealogy magazine in the UK, Practical Family History, will cease publication in the near future. Ancestry magazine recently ceased publication as well and others in recent years have also stopped publication.

Part of this is due to general trends in the publishing industry and part of it is due to the fact that some genealogy how-to magazines are really not responsive to the needs of the genealogy "public" and that editors of some (not all) genealogy magazines are not actually genealogists. Many of the editors got "into" genealogy because they were hired by a company to edit a genealogy periodical. In some cases, that's part of the problem. Some editors understand editing, but they do not understand genealogy and they do not understand what genealogists need and want in a genealogy periodical. And when editors change, the focus of the periodical changes which also can lead to a decline or change in readership. Some former genealogical periodicals really "watered" down their content in an attempt to reach the masses. The problem is that long-term subscribers were put off by the change.

New readers, who liked the "fluff," were not likely to be long term subscribers, at least in my opinion. A few of the beginners got "converted" to long-term genealogy researchers who end up needing more than fluff after a while. A high number of beginners move on to something else besides genealogy for a variety of reasons. Both groups are not going to renew their subscription. When you are reaching out to beginners, and only beginners, you constantly have to reach out and get new subscribers because experienced people don't want beginning articles all the time and those who lose interest do not renew their subscription anyway.

Periodicals that focus on light pieces end up repeating content after a while. And to be frank, after you've run 6 articles about the 1880 census what else is there to say?

Genealogy newsletters and magazines used to be the place to find out about "news." With the internet, that's no longer true.

Some may say that the blogs are the place to learn genealogy "how-to." I'm not certain of that myself. Most blogs are about personal research and (in my opinion) very few really explain the "how" of research. It takes a great deal of time and practice to write how-to material clearly. Some that do, don't really explain the research adequately or the explanations offered indicate the researcher might not have quite as much experience as they think they do. For many blogging is a great way to share research with others and to reach "new" relatives. There are not so many that really offer expertise to the intermediate or advanced researcher. And the people who have that level of experience often do not have time to really write well on their blog for free. Time blogging takes away from other revenue producing activities.

Some magazines tried to be all things to all people. The problem is that it shows. Trying to please everyone means that you actually please very few people. I see genealogy newsletters (both paid and free) that write on topics where it's clear to those with some experience that the writer really does not know their stuff.

The same can be said of some speakers and lecturers. I recently heard a presenter make a presentation about their research in early twentieth century records. Very interesting and, for the most part, well put together. It was a well-done presentation.

As attendees do, a question was asked that had nothing to do about the presentation. It focused on early seventeenth century research in frontier New York. I'm asked questions that have nothing to do with the lecture I gave and about which I am nearly clueless. I usually indicate that, without using the word "clueless" of course, and provide a general reference and indicate the researcher search for case studies on similar people in the same location for approaches if I can't think of any off the top of my head. The speaker gave an answer and several research suggestions, but it was clear that the question was out of her area of expertise because her answer referenced records that were not available during the frontier period and an approach that was more appropriate for an urban ancestor. She wanted the audience to think she had an answer for every question and "knew everything."

I've always been a big fan of admitting when you don't know something.

I have a few more ideas on genealogy publishing, newsletters, etc. but won't share those here because I'm trying to use them to market Casefile Clues. I've always been wary of people who claim to share "everything they know" about a certain industry, marketing method, etc. Usually people who "know everything" know enough not to share it. For the same reason, I don't believe people who claim to give investment advice. If the advice is so great, why aren't you using it youself?

Sharing what you know about genealogy research is a little different--lots of people aren't going to do it anyway as sometimes it's boring and tedious and people tend to avoid things that are boring and tedious.

James Pollard on GenealogyBank

I've been searching for Emma Sargent's five husbands at GenealogyBank. Emma was born in Canada (probably Ontario) about 1840, the daughter of Clark and Mary (Dingman) Sargent. You'd think with that many, there'd be something.

I did run across this little gem, but it really didn't provide any direct clues and I need to confirm there weren't other James Pollards in the immediate area. I know that Emma and her James Pollard were in the same area of Iowa that this clipping mentions.

Hopefully we'll have an update on Emma. I've written about her for Casefile Clues in the past.

GenealogyBank has an interesting collection of older newspapers. Like most commercial newspaper sites, the coverage is hit and miss in some cases.

What Software Do You Use?

I was asked this question at a recent seminar I gave.

The answer I gave was "none."

It was an honest answer. I don't like telling attendees I use something that I don't. I really don't use a genealogy database of my own all that much. There are times when I think I should and I have used one in the past. I know there are several very capable programs out there. Because of how I research and the fact that I am constantly researching something for the newsletter Casefile Clues, I haven't taken the time to perform data entry into an actual genealogy database in several years. However, that doesn't mean that I don't extract data and use a computer to sort and analyze it. I just don't use one of the traditional genealogy databases to do the work.

Why?

I tend to find genealogy databases limiting--at least for how I work. Most of the families I'm working on have numerous conflicting records, missing pieces, inconsistencies, etc. I like to perform analysis and write up as much as possible my thought process as I transcribe. For some, this would seem the ideal reason to use a database. For census records, I have charts I use to extract the data to assist with analysis. I have a variety of charts and tables I use.

Does this occasionally get repetitive? Yes sometimes it does. Could I better manage footnotes and sources? Yes.

But I like the freedom that a word processing document gives me. Would it be helpful to have a software program "generate" the text of a genealogy report from the information already entered in my database? Perhaps. But I'm not writing compiled genealogies of several generations. I don't want to write compiled genealogies. That simply is not my interest. My preference is to write about the analysis of records and what they say and where the research should continue. For me that helps me research and discover more information.

I realize this may sound like heresy, but I don't think it is the end of the world if you don't put all your information in a genealogy database. I've made significant discoveries in the last several months on my great-grandmother's parents who married in Iowa in 1870. They both were part of a migration path that began for both their families in New England in the early 1800s. In the process of that research, I've written up most of what I have found. I've incorporated tables and charts where necessary. I've used maps (both contemporary and modern). I've used record images obtained from a variety of sources. Putting this together in chronologies and writing up my process and reasoning so that it made sense to me (and to others) has been invaluable.

The process of that writing has given me a long list of things to do. That list is in a chart, with goals and priorities attached. I love to use charts and tables for those things (attendees at the recent Tennessee Genealogical Society seminar KNOW that I like tables and charts). I just don't have information put in a "genealogy database" per se. My "to do" list on the family is fairly long as it is and as I discover more and incorporate that into the material I already have, the list gets longer. Are there things I might notice if I used one of the main databases for the information? Perhaps. There might be a time when I start entering the information into a database.

But for now, I'm making enough discoveries and have enough analysis to keep me busy that I don't find the need to stop for data entry. Transcribing, analyzing, and explaining my rationale in my word processing documents on my family keeps me occupied enough.

And that's ok.

Upcoming Speaking Engagements

As a reminder, I'll be speaking at the following venues this fall:

• Germantown, TN--Tennessee Genealogical Society--16 October 2010
• Redwood City, CA---San Mateo Genealogical Society--6 November 2010

Visit the links above for more information or contact me about setting up your own seminar.

Saturday Specials at Casefile Clues

We are offering two specials today on my weekly how-to newsletter, Casefile Clues. More information is located here:

http://blog.casefileclues.com/2010/09/saturday-specials-at-casefile-clues.html

Out on a Limb about Footnote.com and Ancestry.com

There is much lamenting the acquisition of Footnote.com by Ancestry.com.

Is it a monopoly? Let's see--I can obtain genealogical information at a variety of other sources. Much of what Ancestry.com/Footnote.com has is on microfilm from the National Archives. What they are digitizing will also be available on FamilySearch at no charge.

While I greatly enjoy genealogy, it is important to remember that it is a hobby. Ancestry.com is not controlling food, gas, housing, transportation or other prices. On the list of things in the United States that concern me the acquisition of Footnote.com pales in comparison to:

• the state of the American economy
• the access some Americans have to health care
• the security of our borders and our handling of illegal immigrants
  
• occasional safety concerns over our food supply
• general levels of American literacy

I don't have answers to those problems either and won't post any comments one way or the other about them here.

Personally if I'm going to spend any time fighting "injustice," there are greater things to concern myself with.

And for those who've complained about the acquisition, do you know how well your local library is funded and how local records in your own area are being preserved?

James Rampley Finds Horses in 1782

I've been doing some searches on Genealogy Bank today and have made a few new discoveries, one of which is on this page.

James Rampley apparently found some stray horses and advertised them in the 16 July 1782 Maryland Journal. While not a major genealogical revelation, it would confirm that James was living at a certain point in time if that were necessary. It also would make a lovely illustration in a family genealogy. I never thought I'd find my 5th great-grandfather's name in a newspaper.

Hopefully I'll find some things I can use in Casefile Clues. Genealogy Bank has a variety of newspapers on their site, even some older ones like this.

We'll be posting additional items as I find them.

Daily Genealogy Transcriber

I've been having a great deal of fun with the Daily Genealogy Transcriber which is hosted at blogspot at http://genealogytranscriber.blogspot.com. Every day I post a new signature or name from a document and encourage readers and viewers to interpret the name and post suggestions.

Then usually within twenty-four hours or so, I post the answer. Reading the interpretations others have of the names is extremely interesting and provides additional perspective on searching for these names in records.

The Daily Genealogy Transcriber is one of two "daily" sites that I host--the other is "Genealogy Tip of the Day" at http://genealogytipoftheday.blogspot.com. Comments to this site have been disabled because I was getting too much spam. Both sites have fan pages on Facebook where viewers of the site can post comments, etc.

Tips and images for the transcriber site ususally come from things I am working on for Casefile Clues, my weekly subscription based how-to newsletter. The blog for Casefile Clues provides some ideas and suggestions there as well, but really is just the tip of the iceberg compared to what is in the newsletter.

Not everything in genealogyland can be free--we all have bills to pay. One viewer of the "Tip of the Day" site was bothered that the newsletter was occasionally mentioned. She was entitled to her opinion (as was the person who agreed with her), but the fact remains--if you give everything away for free, you're left a little short at the end of the month yourself. And the last time I checked, the plumber or electrician didn't come to my house for free.

I encourage site visitors to use the Tip of the Day site and the Genealogy Transcriber site to help develop their research skills--even if you don't subscribe to the newsletter (you can subscribe to the tips via an RSS feed without any charge). There's even some suggestions on the Casefile Clues blog that are helpful, even if you don't subscribe (we're working on including more Google Maps in our regular posts there).

There are ads on the Tip and Transcriber sites--in reality they don't provide any significant income. And I'm not one to overload sites with ads or spend hours writing posts that will generate high search engine rankings with little actual content. I'd rather the Tip and Transcriber sites help readers--that's the the real goal (and of course generate a subscriber or two to the newsletter).

The Casefile Clues site and blog is completely free of advertisements, affilitate links, etc. The only link to any subscription anything is for the newsletter. That way there is no preceived conflict of any sort. We also keep the price of a subscription to Casefile Clues as low as possible--there aren't other how-to magazines out there at $17 a year! Our overhead is low.

I'll be pretty blunt. I write Casefile Clues for myself with the kind of information and guidance I wish I had when I began my research. It seems like that has gotten a good response from readers and subscribers. I know I can't please everyone all the time--so I'm not trying.

ACPLmicrofilm at Archive.org

The Allen County Public Library continues to add microfilm to the Archive.org site

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=%28contributor%3A%28Allen%20County%20Public%20Library%20Genealogy%20Center%29%20AND%20collection%3Amicrofilm%20AND%20-collection%3A1*_census%29%20AND%20-mediatype%3Acollection&sort=-publicdate

Give it a look!

Family Search Pilot Site Adds a Scattering of Illinois Probate Records

There are a scattering of unindexed Illinois probate records on the Pilot Family Search site. They include materials from the counties of:

• Alexander
• Coles
• Effingham
• Gallatin
• Hamilton
• Hancock
• LaSalle
• Logan
• Madison
• Massac
• Piatt
• Pope
• Rock Island
• Shelby
• White
• Whiteside

Labor Day Sale On Casefile Clues

Through tomorrow, we are running a Labor Day Sale on my newsletter Casefile Clues. A year of issues for $14.50--that's a 15% savings. Check it out at
http://blog.casefileclues.com/2010/09/labor-day-special-on-casefile-clues.html