Memorial Discount on my Casefile Clues Newsletter

Every week Casefile Clues brings you analysis, sources, and methodology. It is one of the best genealogical bargains around and our goal is to get you thinking about your own research and give you ideas to get you re-charged and on your way. We are offering a Memorial Day Special on Casefile Clues.

Get a year of Casefile Clues with our Memorial Day Discount offer of $15 for an annual subscription of 52 issues.

Genealogy Lecture at Knox College

I will be giving a lecture "Where We Are Planted:A Lecture on Genealogy" sponsored by the Association for Black Culture Centers at Knox College(Galesburg, Illinois) tomorrow. http://www.knox.edu/calendar/?E19383

All are invited.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

4:00 p.m.

Ferris Lounge, Seymour Union

Free and Open to the Public

Everyone is welcome

What is this last name supposed to be?

I'm working on this family for issue 42 of Casefile Clues.

To see a larger image click on the image that appears with this blog post.

What does that last name look like to you? I'll post what it is "supposed" to be in a few days. And based upon the actual name, this variant isn't all that far off, but it's the only time I've seen it.

Plaza Still Has Rooms for our 2010 Family History Library Trip

The Salt Lake Plaza still has rooms for our 2010 trip, although our block has "expired." If there are any researchers who would like to be a "late" add, just email me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com.

Information on the trip is at http://www.rootdig.com/slctrip.html

Bureau County, Princeton, Illinois 26 August

I will be making the evening presentation at the monthly meeting of the Bureau County (Illinois) Genealogical Society in Princeton, Illinois, on 26 August.

Details will be posted here:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilbcgs/meetings.htm

I always enjoy my trips to Princeton. Bureau County has a very active group.

Searching by townships in New Search of 1880 Census

Am I missing something?

I am trying to search the 1880 census for entries in Prairie Township, Hancock County, Illinois, using the new search.

I can't seem to narrow my search down to just that township in the new search. Am I missing something?

I can use the old search to do a search based upon township, which I really like and which in many cases is necessary.

Just not convinced the place name "thing" they are using is all that it is cracked up to be although the "search adjacent counties" I like.

Found the ad running on the Ancestry.com site to be particularly ironic.

This is a followup to my original post about the timelines on the Family Trees at Ancestry.com.

The "ages" as shown in the timeline are not pulled from the census, but rather are pulled from the year of birth listed in the timeline. I concluded, incorrectly, that since the year of birth was approximate that ages shown in the timeline would also be shown as approximate.
The image here with the birth empty does not have any ages shown, which seems to indicate the age is pulled from the birth.

The second image with the year of birth, listed as approximate, shows ages.

When I create timelines based on approximate years of birth, I include "about" in front of every age because the ages at specific points in time are not based upon a precise date of birth.

If there was one improvement I could suggest, it would be to include "about" before ages that are calculated from an approximate year of birth.

That said, Ancestry.com is not drawing the ages from the census enumeration. It was incorrect when I indicated they were. The problem is that nowhere on the screen does it indicate from where the ages were inferred. Had I had other records for Abraham, the ages would have been shown for every event.

All of which points to the importance of citation. I'm not certain Ancestry.com really has room to cite sources in these timelines and I'm not certain people really want that. But I bet it wouldn't be too hard to insert an asterisk after the age indicating it was inferred from the year of birth. And that might even encourage more genealogists to be concerned about citation and that wouldn't be a bad thing.

Casefile Clues on Olive Tree Genealogy

Lorine at Olive Tree Genealogy interviewed me about Casefile Clues. The article can be read here.

DearMYRTLE's commentary on World Vital Records

DearMYRTLE had an interesting commentary on World Vital Records use of email addresses from Genealogywise.com users.

I received the same email DearMyrtle referred to. Take a look at more detail on her site. I won't repeat it here.

Seems to me that Genealogywise needs to be careful in using the email of members.

Default Search Settings on Ancestry.com for NY Federal Non-Population Censuses

I am confused.

I searched for the last name of Drolet in the non-population 1850-1880 census schedules at Ancestry.com. The help box tells me that "default" name settings will get exactly what I typed, Soundex matches, or "similar meaning or spelling to the one you typed."

There were no matches as can be seen in the bottom screen.

Yet when I change the search options on the last name to "restrict to exact--soundex" I get matches with the spelling of the last name as Draulette. Draulette is the soundex equivalent of Drolet (what I typed in) and it should meet the definition of "similar meaning or spelling to the one you typed."

Am I not understanding the default settings?

I do NOT like the default setting of "similar meaning of spelling to the one you typed." That doesn't really mean much to me and with that I don't know how to tweak my search.

Ancestry.com says Bernard Goldenstein is related to President Tyler's Wife

I was doing a few quick lookups on Bernard Goldenstein for an upcoming Casefile Clues article at Ancestry.com and decided to try the "famous relative" link that came up.

Imagine my surprise when it actually pulled up someone--president Tyler's third wife.

A quick look at her ancestry did not indicate where the connection was made and the link to show relationship was not working.

Mrs. Tyler had an ancestor born in the Netherlands which is close to Ostfriesland where Goldenstein's ancestry originated. However looking at her available pedigree chart did not reveal any connection.

Being 5th cousins 5 times removed to Mrs. Tyler means that Ben Goldenstein's 3rd great-grandfather/mother was a fifth cousin to Mrs. Tyler. My guess is that the program is "grabbing" one of Mrs. Tyler's Dutch ancestors and assuming it is the same person as one of Goldenstein's Ostfriesen ancestors.

Without seeing the way Ancestry.com is connecting them, it is difficult to tell. I'm pretty skeptical that there is any relationship.

When it indicated a relationship between Goldenstein and a famous person, a more realistic possibility (and I said POSSIBILITY) is the late Senator Everett Dirksen. He was from Illinois (where Goldenstein's family actually settled) and was also of Ostfriesen extraction. Perhaps senators don't qualify as "famous."

I'll update on this if the "connection" ever shows at Ancestry. I got error messages when I tried it again just now.

1870 Agricultural Census Column Headings

Those who need a list of the 1870 agricultural census enumeration headings can find a set here:

http://files.usgwarchives.org/nc/mitchell/census/1870agri.txt

Dicsount offer on my weekly how-to Casefile Clues

In honor of my missing NGS in Salt Lake City this week, I'm offering a special on a set of back issues of Casefile Clues (currently at 40 issues!) and a year long subscription for $30.

This is a $6 off offer and will end Saturday of this week (today is Wednesday)--same time the NGS conference is over. I'd say supplies are limited, but they aren't because I don't print anything and many of my readers don't either.

Here's a link to past topics.

We'd love to have you join the Casefile Clues family.

1870 Non-population Schedules at Ancestry.com

Ancestry added several non-population census schedules recently. This is nice. The problem is that the microfilm on some of these years was a little difficult to read so the column headings are really hard to determine. It would have been nice if in the documentation they had listed the column headings. If it was there, I did not see it.

Magnification did not help. A link to a page with the headings would be helpful. If a Google search turns them up, I'll post a link here.

NGS in Salt Lake--It's ok if you can't go

Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to attend the NGS conference in Salt Lake this week. And you know what, it's ok if you are at home. While there is no doubt that conferences can be fun to attend, your research will not suffer because you are home. It is important to remember that much genealogy learning can take place in your own home or local records repositories. There will be a lot of online news about the conference and that's great, but after Saturday, the hubbub will die down and everything will return to normal.

Don't forget there are books, websites, newsletters (Casefile Clues!) and blogs that you can use to assist you in your genealogical education. There are online classes, including those sponsored by the National Genealogical Society. There are a great many serious, dedicated and respected genealogists who are not in Salt Lake this week. This is not meant to say that you shouldn't try to attend a national conference, but all of us are simply not in a position to go and it's not the end of the world.

Personally if I could go to a three-day conference or have three days of uninterrupted research at a state archives or national archives, I think I know where I would be.

So what can you do this week if you can't attend NGS? Read a journal article (your local library may subscribe to scholarly genealogical publications), read a research outline from the Family History Library (http://www.familysearch.org), or re-analyze some of your own research (and write it up!). Post a query to a message board, or work on a family you've put off for some time. Work on learning how to create citations or reading those records in a foreign language.

In other words, create your own personal learning experience.

Of course, you can also subscribe to Casefile Clues, my weekly how-to newsletter. This week we are offering all the back issues 1-39 and an annual subscription at a discounted rate--the "Michael's NOT at NGS Discount."

Topics in issues 1-39 can be viewed here..click "Back" to return to this post.

Links FromTopeka

Here are the links from the Topeka workshop that weren't in the handout or were things I mentioned "off the cuff." I enjoyed my time in Topeka and hope attendees at the workshop did as well.

World Connect
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com

Blog Post on how to search Pension Payment Cards on Archive.org
http://rootdig.blogspot.com/2010/03/pension-payment-cards-on-archiveorg.html

Finding Civil War Pensions
http://www.rootdig.com/pensions/

If anyone wanted the discount rate on the newsletter for Topeka seminar attendees and didn't get to see me, send me an email at mjnrootdig@gmail.com

Google Before You Blog

The question is the occupation of two daughters of Christian Troutfetter in the 1880 census for Alexandria, Clark County, Missouri. I knew it wasn't a matchmaker and had a long blog post written up about what it was. Then I decided to just google what it looked like--"mantuamaker." Sure enough it found it and now it looks like I actually have the occupation for these two daughters. Basically they were dressmakers. Readers who want to learn more can perform their own google search.

Subscribers to Ancestry.com can view the entire census image here.

The two daughters with these occupations were 23 and 21 years old.

Learn something new every day.
And of course, I was not even interested in the occupations when I found this reference. I was working on the brother of these mantuamakers for an upcoming column of Casefile Clues.

Tired of the Way they Digitize Newspapers?

Is your online database provider of digital images of newspapers putting them online in a really hit and miss matter? A few days for this month, a few days for that month, spreading them out in an apparently random fashion.

I think it is time we told the database providers that there is NO good reason for this approach to digitization.

Contact your database provider today and let them know you aren't happy with it.

Burbank, CA for the Genealogy Jamboree

I will be presenting at the Southern California Family History Jamboree, 11-13 June 2010

Topics are:

Restacking the Blocks: Organizing Your Information
From New Jersey to Ohio: Establishing an Early Nineteenth Century Migration Trail
Pig Blood in the Snow: Court Records Can Solve Problems

Email me with questions at mjnrootdig@gmail.com or to have me present to your group.

Loveland, Colorado 25 and 26 July 2010

I will be presenting at the Family History Expos-Loveland, Colorado 25 & 26 June 2010

Searching Tips and Tricks
Where Did the Farm Go
Where Do I Go From Here?
Restacking the Blocks: Organizing Your Information

Email me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com for information or to have me present at your seminar or workshop.

Cleveland County, Oklahoma Seminar 24 July 2010

Cleveland County, Oklahoma Summer Seminar, 24 July 2010--to be held in Norman, OK

Topics:

• Using Probate Manuals and State Statute
• Barbara, Nancy and Antje-Three Midwestern Women and Their Records
• Pig Blood in the Snow-Court Records Can Solve Problems
• Organizing Your Information

Email me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com for more information or to have me speak to your group!

San Mateo County Genealogical Society 6 November 2010

It's official when they start putting things in their newsletter.

I'm looking forward to my first trip to the San Francisco area when I present the Fall 2010 Seminar for the San Mateo Genealogical Society in Redwood City, CA on 6 November 2010.

Society members will receive updated information in their newsletters. Those within driving distance can get updated information on the society's website http://www.smcgs.org/ and my website here. Topics are on our agenda and will be announced as they have been picked.

Mark your calendars and stay tuned.

Stay tuned!

Email me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com to have me present at your seminar or workshop.

Casefile Clues Discount TODAY

Get issues 1-38 of Casefile Clues and a year of upcoming issues for only $29! (That's a $6 savings)

Click here to process payment.

Offer good on 18-19 April 2010 only.

Back Issues Topics of Casefile Clues

Readers may know that I write a weekly how to genealogy newsletter, Casefile Clues. One of the neat things about the newsletter is that it's very affordable ($17 for a year of weekly issues) and covers a wide variety of topics.

Here are recent Casefile Clues article topics (this page will be updated as time allows):

• 37--Pullman Car Company Employment Records. Discusses several employment records from the Pullman Car Company in Chicago. Discusses William Apgar, Thomas Frame, Louis DeMar.
• 36--Where are they in 1840? Analyzes an individual who is "missing" from an 1840 census. Includes a discussion of how he was "found" and how land records actually solved the problem. Discusses Abraham Wickiser.
• 35--A 1910 Birth. Analyzes primary and secondary sources for a date and place of birth in 1910 and how differences might not be all that different. Discusses Ida Trautvetter.
• 34--Ready to Go? Discusses some things to contemplate regarding your genealogy material before you die.
• 33--Where there is a Will there is Confusion. Analyzes an early 19th century will from Maryland and what the different bequests likely mean and what potentially brought them about. Also discusses different ways some things can be interpreted. Discusses John DeMoss.
• 32--When There is No Probate. Some things to think about when there is no probate file.
• 31--Analyzing the Mortgage. Discusses an 1870 era mortgage in Illinois. Discusses John Ufkes and Rolf Habben.
• 30--Behind the Scenes Chaos. Discusses the importance of thinking about what "caused" a record to be recorded.
• 29--Un-American Activity. Discusses an invesigation by the fore-runner of the FBI into a German-American family in World War I. Discusses the Fecht family.
• 28--Do You Ear What I Ear? Discusses things to remember about how things are heard.
• 27--Analyzing Andrew Trask. Discusses work on an Mass. native (born ca. 1814) who lived in St. Louis, southern-Illinois, and western Illinois where he died in the 1880s. Focuses on analyzing and working on later records to discern patterns, etc. Discusses Andrew Trask.
• 26--Using Google Books.
• 25--Finding Valentine. Steps in locating a man whose only real mention is in an 1870 era estate settlement. Discusses how I organized my search for him.
• 24--The Brick Wall is in Your Head. Talks about ways you may have made your own genealogical brick wall.
• 23--You Ask and I Wonder. Things that pop in my head when a person asks a certain genealogical question.
• 22--Crossing the Pond.
• 21--One Clipping Leads to More.
• 20--Organizing 1870 Census Search
• 19--Public Sale
• 18--Analyzing the Biography
• 17--Working with the Professional. Getting started with the professional genealogist who is performing Chicago area work for me.
• 16--A Lot from Barbara's Lot. Clues from a series of records on a small lot in a town in rural Illinois betwen 1856 and 1905.
• 15--Finding Gesche's Girls. Tracking down an "evaporating" German native who "condensed" somewhere in the United States.
• 14--Jumpstarting Your Research. Just some ideas to get you started.
• 13--Brick Walls and the Census Taker
• 12--The Heirs Complete the Homestead
• 11--Is the Wrong Name Correct?
• 10--Connecting the Iras. Working to determine if two men of the same name are the same man.
• 09--Pre-1850 Census Analysis. Analzing pre-1850 census records for a family to determine the household structure. Discusses Thomas and Sarah Sledd.
• 08--Platting Out Thomas Sledd's Heirs. Platting out the estate division of the Thomas Sledd estate in Kentucky in the 1830s. Discusses Thomas Sledd family.
• 07--Looking for Ira's Lucretia. Working on my "brick wall" Ira through his sister Lucretia. mid-to-late nineteenth century work.
• 06--The Civil War Pension file of Riley Rampley. An overview of a Union Civil War pension record.
• 05--Finding a Chicago Christening. How a 1913 era Chicago christening record was found. Discusses Anna Apgar.
• 04--Multiple Parents
• 03--Preemption Claim. The Missouri pre-emption land claim of John Lake. Discusses John Lake.
• 02--Passport Records. Discusses an early twentieth century passport application. Discusses Robert Frame.
• 01--Lessons from an Estate Record. Analyzes an 1870 era Illinois set of estate records.

Want to order back issues? These are the current prices. We will honor any other prices on the site obtained via PayPal links that have not been removed.

• Issues 1-10 for $5.50
• Issues 11-20 for $5.50
• Issues 1-20 for $11.00
• Issues 21-30 for $5.50
• Issues 1-30 for $16.00
• Issues 30-37 for $5.00
• Issues 1-37 for $18.00

Getting Ready for Topeka

I'll be making four presentations for the Topeka, Kansas Genealogical Society's conference this upcoming Saturday, April 24th. The conference will focus on female ancestors, which cover half of the family tree--quite a bit of ground for one day.

The society is still accepting registrations for the conference--email me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com & I can put you in contact with the society representative. We'd love to have you join us.

I'm going to research the family Philip Troutfetter at the Kansas State Historical Library Friday, hoping to find some information for the newsletter.