GenealogyAtHeart's Top 10 Posts of 2021

Looked at the calendar this morning and realized this will be my last Genealogy At Heart post for 2021! I will be taking a hiatus due to the holidays for the next 2 weeks. Hoping you have a delightful time - enjoy, reminisce, and stay safe. #10 Fantastic Photos! MyHeritage Does it Again! #9 Resolving Genealogy Tech Issues #8 A Unique Genealogical Find Christmas Night #7 Your Town’s History – A Treasure Hunt #6 Lessons Learned From Exhaustive Research #5 Reconnecting with Taboo Family #4 Remembering the Forgotten Ones – A New Project #3 Extra Special MyHeritage.com Announcement #2 Genealogy Acts of Kindness or Scam? #1 An Unusual Source to Find a Deed

Genealogy Old-timer

Photo courtesy of wallpaperflair.com

It's Official - I have been named an "Oldtimer." I knew this would happen someday but I never expected I would get the title twice in 24 hours! The first award was made by young visitors from Tallahassee who asked me how long I lived in my area. I had switched shifts with another volunteer at the historical society because it was her birthday (Happy Birthday, Barbara!). When I replied nearly 50 years though I spent my early years in the midwest the man replied, "You're an old-time Floridian." I guess I am though I don't feel old at all!

Early the next morning I decided to go on a cemetery hunt which was just awesome since I haven't done that since the pandemic began. Hubby and I visited an unincorporated area of the county where we once resided. We decided to stop at the local historical society first to see if anyone could direct me to living descendants of the Garrison family as I am writing a journal article on a tragedy the family endured. My kids used to volunteer at this historical society when they were in middle and high school and I haven't stopped by in many years. My oh my has it changed! I was remarking how impressed I was with the refurbished pine floors, window shades featuring historical photos, and new exhibits when a docent said, "These are the original floors." "Yes," I replied, "but when the building was restored over 25 years ago they left the floors with all the stain buildup and I see they've been stripped; they look amazing." "You sure are an old-timer," she said, "I don't think you need me to give you a tour."

I certainly wanted a tour and kept my mouth shut, as much as possible, as she took us room to room. I didn't correct her when she said the kitchen was original - nope, I clearly recall the roof leak about 1997, and the then director was frustrated that the roofing company had provided no warranty and the County Commissioners refused to give any more funds. That's about when the idea to have a Tea Party to raise money began. I still have the hat I created for my daughter to wear as a server. I guess it's about time we donated it to the museum! I have photos, of course, to show it being worn in the building. Except, they probably wouldn't take it.

I had promised the original director that I would, upon my death, donate our family's sheet music collection as she wanted the museum to be known for its musical history as it had the original piano and violin from the family who had built the house. My youngest used a computer to archive the holdings in the late 1990s. Now, I'm told, they have moved to a more minimalist approach so there is no library for researchers to use. I couldn't get confirmation of what happened to the books, photos, and sheet music they once had.

Or what happened to all the furniture. It once had been set up like a house, though most of the pieces were not original to the location. Each room now houses only 1 piece of furniture - the boy's room has a carved dresser, the living room has the family's piano, etc. It's an interesting way to display the items and allows the visitor to set up the rest of the furniture as they can only imagine.

I'm all for change but I'm also for preserving the past. I love the new look but I sure wish that some of the old items could have been preserved somehow. Somewhere is a happy medium I hope archives and museums can achieve. If you are planning to donate your family items, make sure you have an understanding with the organization of what they'll do with your items if they change their focus!

After the visit, these two Old-Timers high-tailed it over to a pioneer cemetery and found the graves we sought in about 10 minutes. Trying to clean up the stone for a pic set off a fire ant colony. No bites, thankfully! I clearly had forgotten the perils of cemetery visits.

Now that I'm a reigning old-timer I've decided I'm going to blog more about my memories of living in Pinellas County, Florida. The area has changed so dramatically since I was a high school teen I couldn't have imagined then what it has become. Strangely, it doesn't even seem like so many years have passed. Recollections - here I come!

The Surreal in Genealogy

Photo Courtesy of Amazon Prime Yes, this is the season to be jolly and I am reading a fascinating book that's anything but jolly this week that I got for free on Amazon Prime. Each month I get a free Kindle book of the month and I selected Murder at Teal's Pond by David Bushman and Mark T. Givens for my December freebie. I made my selection because I was a Twin Peaks fan of the original series though I didn't like how creepy it got in the 2000's so I didn't finish watching the series. That reason alone wasn't why I chose this book to read. I was shocked to learn that the show was based off a real life event that just happened to have occurred in upstate New York where my husband's paternal family once resided. Wow! Who knew?! And I've even done boots on the ground research in that location! Even if you weren't a Twin Peaks Fan or had kin in the Troy, New York region I recommend this book for the research methods that was employed in an attempt to solve the 113+ murder of Hazel Drew who looked remarkably like Laura Palmer. Talk about typecasting! The authors use many of the strategies that we genealogists do - searching old newspapers, investigating the FAN Club and interviewing the living who might have had knowledge of the event past down to them. Like Mark Frost who was a co-creator of Twin Peaks, he first learned about the murder from his grandmother who was retelling a different story that had happened at Teal's Pond. When he questioned her about the details she told him about the murder but didn't provide much background. As an adult, he decided to dig deeper and that's how Twin Peaks was brought to life. There's a message in here - with the holiday's approaching you may be interacting with family that you weren't able to see last year. Make sure you are recording their stories. Who knows, you may end up with a hit TV series because of your efforts.

DNA Holiday Sales

Photo courtesy of Petmd.com It's the most wonderful time of the year if you're searching for DNA sales. Limited time offers are listed here: Ancestry has a Black Friday sale that ends 11/28; a Cyber Sale for $49.00 that ends on 11/30 and a $100 off All Acess 6 month Membership which was advertised during the Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving. Those deals are all through Groupon so click here to access. At the Ancestry site, they are still offering Free 14 day trials and 30% off World Explorer or All Access membership for AARP members - but you can only use those once! The specials are valid through 11/20/2021. Ancestry DNA kits are $49.00 (was $99.00) through midnight on 11/29. MyHeritage also has specials through Groupon - up to 50% off DNA, free trials for 2 weeks and a free trial with no promo code - click here. Through the MyHeritage site, they are offering DNA testing for $39.00 (was $79.00) with free shipping on 2 or more kits on Cyber Monday. Click here to take advantage of the offer. Family Tree DNA has the following offers: Family Finder + myDNA Wellness for $59.00, Family Finder $39.00 and discounts on Y-DNA and mtDNA through 11/30. Here's the link. 23andMe is offering 50% off on one Health and Ancestry Kit and 60% off when you buy two kits. Offer ends 11/29. Another option for mtDNA or Y-DNA is LivingDNA - a small but growing company that is offering kits for $59.00. Great Britain results are their largest reference samples. They also have Wellbeing Kits at $69.00 and Wellbeing/Ancestry Kits for $89.00. Not sure which to select? I've tested mtDNA and autosomal through Ancestry. They have the largest samples but don't support the mtDNA testing I first did. I've also tested with 23andMe because I wanted to know my percentage of Neandertal. If you have cave people jokes in your family that might be the option for you. I also tested with National Geographic but they are no longer doing DNA tests. I have purchased a MyHeritage test because they have a higher sample percentage of my particular eastern European ancestry. Next year I may test with FamilyTree DNA. FamilyTree DNA and MyHeritage do allow you to upload your results from 23andMe and Ancestry so you can further connect with people who may have tested on other sites. Ancestry and 23andMe DO NOT allow uploads. If your family member is worried about privacy, their results do not have to be shared. If you are interested in connecting family, then it's advisable you will want to also add information for a rudimentary family tree on the site but that's not necessary if you are only interested in determining ethnicity. Keep in mind, though, that the ethnicity estimates are only as strong as the sample that has tested so your results will change over time. I have been Jewish and then it was gone. I have been German and then it was gone. Now it's French. I have been Irish but then it was gone and I became Scotts. You will probably discover, like me, you are a Mutt! Mutts are loveable and I'd much prefer there resistant genetic makeup than that of a purebred. Plus it's more fun to research! Happy shopping.

A Crazy Family History Dream

Did you ever have a dream filled with genealogical hints? That happened to me last week. In my dream, an ancestor was speaking to me and told me the significance of a pin that had been passed down in the family. I had first become aware of the item in a mugbook. During the summer of 2020 when I was trying to locate the Bible, another descendant was hard at work trying to find the location of the pin. The mugbook description is above. In the dream, the ancestor who I never saw, told me it was mourning jewelry. The ancestor had brought it with him when he left England in the early 1700’s. We think of mourning jewelry as Victorian but the practice did originate in the 1600’s so the piece very well could have memorialized a death. The dream continued that I was to be on a news show to talk about tracing family. In the green room was my husband, the emcee for the show, and several individuals I didn’t know. When a man with wavy blonde hair, short and stocky walked in, I somehow immediately recognized him as a descendant of the ancestor who had owned the pin. Now that’s totally irrational because there are no pictures or paintings of the ancestor. I introduced myself to the man and he said he didn’t want to talk to me and he didn’t want to be at the studio, he was only doing it for the money as he needed $1200.00. A woman, who said she was his sister, was glad the man had come as he had paid the burial cost for Elaine and Edward. I was confused, who were those people? Evidently, Elaine was the caretaker of the pin but had died tragically, though I didn’t know how or when. Edward took possession of the pin but had recently died when his puppy jumped into a lake and he dove in to save it, both drowned. The blonde man had paid for both burials in a Methodist church. He wouldn’t tell the location. His sister said it was the same place she was living which confused me more, was she sleeping in a cemetery? Turns out she had lost her residence and was temporarily staying at a shelter the church provided. I decided I would write the blonde man a check for half the money he had paid for the burials but I didn’t have my checkbook so I asked him for his address. He refused to give it to me. Then his sister told him it would be wise to do that. The other man in the room, apparently his brother, agreed. I was rummaging around in my purse for a pen and paper but it was time for us to go on-air, which I didn’t want to do. I didn’t want the blonde man to have to share his family tragedy with the world. Turned out the emcee had gotten us all there under false pretenses; he had “expert” witnesses who were going to debate who should be the rightful owner of the pin – me, a descendant of the first wife, or blonde man’s family, descendant of the second wife. I was so miffed at the subterfuge I said you can debate all you want about the legality but that’s not what is important, respecting the family’s decision is. And then I woke up and couldn’t shake the dream. Now I’m not planning on going to the great beyond anytime soon but I am prepared for the big event. My kids know who gets what and they can even have it now if they want. I have no desire to go after family heirlooms that other’s inherited so why would I dream such a strange dream? Halloween’s over and Thanksgiving is almost here! I don’t have any idea but I decided to Google for key details in the dream. The blonde man had told me the first and last names for Elaine and Edward and his sister had told me the name of the church. I am embarrassed to tell you I Googled it. Weirder still, there were two people by that name affiliated with a church named by the sister, but they were husband and wife and not brother and sister, in Tennessee. Gave me the creeps. I told my husband about the dream the next morning and he laughed and told me he and I were on the news. Huh? He had received an email from a neighbor with a link to a local news station that had filmed a marathon city council meeting (it ended after 3:30 AM) a few weeks ago. We had attended the heated meeting for 2 nights. The Tuesday meeting went from 6:30 PM to 12:30 AM, was convened because of a family emergency for one of the council members, reconvened at 6:30 PM on Wednesday and went til about 3:45 AM Thursday morning. We stayed both nights (days?) until the bitter end. Apparently my husband and I had been filmed around 3:00 AM on Thursday morning. Personally, I think I need to take a genealogy break. I plan on focusing on Thanksgiving prep this week and getting ready for the upcoming holiday season. Maybe then I’ll start dreaming of sugar plums dancing in my head! Have an awesome Thanksgiving with your loved ones.

Welcome, Cuz - NPE Results in a Newly Found Relative

This has been an unusual week for me. In August 2017 I emailed someone on Ancestry asking how they were related as the individual had no online tree. I suggested the match was for a particular surname. This week, I got a reply. Yes, it was over 4 years after I sent the initial inquiry. Genealogy is a study in patience! The woman had not gotten an email from Ancestry notifying her that I had messaged her. Recently, her sister had tested and she decided to go back on and see her matches. She had difficult logging on so contacted Ancestry. What a surprise she discovered when she finally saw her matches. She was only 22% related to her sister and 21% percent related to someone she had gone to school with. Then she saw my message and discovered the schoolmate had the same surname I was asking her about. Unfortunately, the schoolmate had died last year so she could not contact him. She found his obituary and discovered he had a brother and the name of his parents. She was shaken to her core, understandably, as who she thought was her father was not biologically hers. She called her sister who responded by laughing. Her sister, only 2 and a half years older than her, had no idea and hadn’t even looked closely at her own Ancestry results. The woman spoke with a counselor who told this was just a mistake. The woman didn’t believe it was. She messaged me and we spoke in detail. I was able to send her some personal photos I had of her grandparents as my grandfather had evidently attended their 50th anniversary party in the 1970’s. She is coping extremely well; it’s difficult discovering a not expected parent when you get your DNA results back. Now that she has some new family,here’s what I suggested she do as she would like to contact them: DO NOT – Facebook Message/call/text or show up unexpectedly at their door DO use either an unemotionally attached middleman or email/mail a letter Here’s a template I recommend for adoptees that can be tailored to work for NEP’s: I am (insert your name) and I understand that this note may come as a surprise to you. I don’t want to upset anyone but I am hoping to learn about my family’s medical history. I was adopted in (insert date). Recently, I had my DNA tested through (insert company). I have just been diagnosed with (insert illness) and I’m hoping to connect with my biological relatives who may help me better understand my genetic background. Please know I do not want to intrude. I am simply wanting knowledge about my family’s health. I can be reached at (insert phone) or at (insert email). Sincerely, I also recommended she read, The Stranger in My Genes by Bill Griffeth. In her case, her mother is deceased so she may not ever discover what really happened. It’s likely the father who raised her had no idea but she did not look like her sibling and there was always a joke in the family that she was the daughter of the milkman. The father who raised her was a milkman. It’s unlikely he would have made that joke if he knew the truth. Like so many others who discover the information, she reported she never felt connected to her family. I do believe we have an unexplainable sense of belongingness to those who share a genetic background with us. Maybe someday how that works will be understandable to us. In the meantime, I say Welcome, cuz, to the family!

Join a Genealogy Interest Group

Nothing like joining an online group of people that share your passion for genealogy! With cold weather ahead, it's a perfect time to put your head together virtually to help solve your brickwall.

Sure, it's easy to do a Facebook search for genealogy groups but to save you time and find alternatives (because I know many of you are separating from Facebook), here's a direct link to FamilySearch.org's Wiki of all of FamilySearch's groups - FamilySearch Genealogy Research Groups

To connect with a group on the FamilySearch.org website you must first log in. If you don't have an account, click the "CREATE ACCOUNT" on the upper right corner of the screen.

A short intro video is supposed to be available but I couldn't get it to come up. As an alternative, in the search box, type "FamilySearch community video" and a variety comes up to view.

Your options with FamilySearch are communities directly linked to FamilySearch, groups on Facebook and other groups that are independent.

I really wish I had known that when I was researching Barbados last summer - 5 different groups are mentioned and I would have loved to contact them with questions I had.

Genealogy At Heart is Reading . . .

Photo courtesy of Fordham Institute Here's what I've been reading this week that I think you may find interesting: When is Day of the Dead? The HIstory Behind Dia de los Muertos by Claudia Preza. Reader's Digest, 19 October 2021. 6 Misconceptions About the Vikings by Jake Rossen, Mental Floss, 20 October 2021. When Truman is Your Grandpa: The Complicated Lives of Presidential Descendants by Roxanne Roberts, Washington Post, 26 October 2021. Archaeologists Unearth 'Once-in-a-lifetime' Discovery of Complete Roman Statues in U.K. by Sammy Westfall, Washington Post, 29 October 2021.

Upcoming Genealogy Changes You Don't Want to Miss

You might not want to miss the following:

Elizabeth Shown Mills lecture on Legacy Family Tree Webinars is offered FREE through October 31st. This is Elizabeth's LAST LECTURE as she is retiring from lecturing. I will greatly miss her.

Special thanks to reader Tess who responded regarding my earlier blog mentioning problems I encountered with RootsMagic 8. She recommended posting on the RM Users Group on FaceBook so I'd like to pass that tip along if you are having difficulties. Before doing that, I viewed the FREE webinars that are available on YouTube and that solved my issue. More will be coming so here's the link to register in advance.

The root of my problem was I was trying to reconnect to Ancestry.com due to a pop up on RootsMagic 8. I did not need to do that as the webinar stated if you were already logged into Ancestry.com on RM 7 you would automatically be connected in RM 8. That would explain why the program froze for me. My tree is very large which doesn't help. I logged out and waited a day. When I logged back in I followed the directions provided on the video and have had no problems since. I absolutely LOVE version 8 - kudos to the RootsMagic staff for their hard work.

If you are doing French research, two changes are in the works. Geneanet.org has been purchased by Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com has acquired 90% of Filae.com. I'm not sure when databases will roll from the old company to the new one or what you do if you were a member of the old company. I recommend contacting the company for details. MyHeritage did blog about the new content so check that out here. I had a free Geneanet membership and never subscribed to Filae.

RootsMagic 8

New Settings for Links on RootsMagic 8Kind of apropos that RootsMagic decided to unveil their new software during the magical month of October. There are a lot of changes and I have only begun to learn the new software. Here's my experiences so far... A week ago Sunday I tried to purchase the new version via a link in an email I received. The link didn't work. Since I've been a long time user of the program and wasn't a new subscriber, I could simply purchase an update instead of the new version's software. The prices change beginning on 10/17 so I wanted to take advantage of the special offer. Since the email link didn't work I Googled for the product. I was entering my info but when I clicked to complete the transaction I got an error message that my card didn't go through. I tried again. It still declined. I then got a bank alert that they had put the card on hold - did I really make that purchase? After informing the bank I had, I thought that the transaction would go through. By the following day it still hadn't; after checking my credit card and seeing that the bank did not process the payment I went back to the site and tried again. Got the same decline message. I pulled out a different card and it went through with no problem as minutes later I had an email with my confirmation of the order and another email with the download instructions. Don't understand why the first card didn't work as I used it before and since with no problem anywhere else. I went back to the site and tried to download. So far - so good! The program looks very different. I thought I would try to link with Ancestry.com and download my Main Tree again as I had with the previous version. I knew I was signed out of my RootsMagic 7 link as I had tried that a week earlier and it would not allow me to sign back into Ancestry. Every time I logged into Ancestry through Version 8 the program would freeze. Sometimes I got a runtime error, sometime I received a message that I was out of space. Other times it just stopped working and I had to shut the program down through Task Manager (control + alt + delete). Unbeknownst to me, Version 8 was moving everything from Version 7. Since my trees have a lot of data and images, this took time. I wish that information had been available because I wasted time over two days to try to get an Ancestry connection. On the third day I discovered, while poking around the new software, that all of my trees from previous RootsMagic versions had been loaded into 8. I clicked on my largest tree to check to make sure everything had moved. It then asked me again if I wanted to link to Ancestry.com which I wanted. I went to bed before the program finished. The next day, the program was again frozen. Yes, the Disney musical Frozen is Magical but what I was experiencing was not! I again closed it out and reopened it. I could see photos, which was a plus. Before I started clicking into individuals to verify that stories and research had also been saved, I received the popup at the top of this blog. So, I followed the instructions above and signed into FamilySearch. I'm not sure how that's going to work because FamilySearch does not allow you to permanently be signed in unless you have a church membership, which I do not. Maybe there has been a deal cut with RootsMagic that I'm not aware of. The Ancestry direction is interesting as I would have had to spend a lot of time looking around the site to discover where the update for that was located. I don't know why it wasn't under Settings where you'd find the other companies. I also don't understand why I have to keep signing into Ancestry. There are several online courses to help users and I intend to view them soon. If you are new to RootsMagic and this is turning you against buying it, that's not my intention. I loved the past software and the tech support in the past. I expect it will continue but this new makeover is quite dramatic. This program does permit you to identify any changes you make to your Ancestry.com tree and add to your RootsMagic tree. It was time consuming if you didn't do it periodically but it was a nice way to save all of your information on your desktop, external hard drive or another cloud in case there is a problem with Ancestry.com For the old time users, I'm sure we'll get the hang of the changes soon; I just wanted to let you know where you used to get linking info is not where it now resides. Patience in genealogy is important and with this change, even more so.

October Weirdness

Hurricane Sam courtesy of thehill.com I had a Freaky Thursday. I volunteer at my local historical society on Thursdays and when it's quiet, I read from their library. I had just discovered a thin paperback, almost of pamphlet size, called The Oldtimers that looked interesting. It was written about 1996 (no publication date) when the group was founded and it contained unsourced responses to the following statement, "You know you're an Oldtimer when you remember..." I had no idea my small city once had an airfield adjacent to what is now a county park. I didn't know about the house of ill repute, either. It was a quick read and before I was finished a guest arrived. He was an elderly gentleman who after I greeted him, thanked me for volunteering (I wear a badge). He asked me what I was reading and when I told him he was startled. Evidently, his father had started the Oldtimer group and he didn't know there had been a book written. He left the area nearly a half century ago and only came back recently to finish the estate of his brother who had recently died. I told him we had a copy in the gift shop but he declined as he was trying to make arrangements to donate and not acquire. If that wasn't odd enough, I finished the book and retrieved another one, Yesteryear I Lived in Paradise. I had seen excerpts from this book in a cookbook I looked at last month that had been written by the granddaughters of the Paradise author. The story takes place on an island in the Gulf of Mexico that is south of where I live. I had wanted to write a journal article about a family tragedy in 1921 that happened during a hurricane and thought I might be able to find some information in the book. The title page wasn't helpful and there was no index (of course). No endnotes. Scanned and found no footnotes. I sighed. I randomly picked a page and Wow - my eyes landed right on the paragraph that named the family I was looking for! I could not believe it. I had to immediately share the news with the museum coordinator. I first heard the story of this family in September 1995. My youngest was selling the typical junk for his school and we were going door-to-door in our neighborhood. It had been a busy hurricane season and although I don't recall which hurricane was out there, I decided we needed to get the sales out of the way quickly just in case. We had moved to our then house in the spring so hadn't yet met all of the neighbors on our street, which was a long winding drive. About 10 homes from our own, we met an elderly woman who asked what school the fund raiser was for. When my child told her, she said, "The school was named for my family." We both thought that was pretty neat and I asked her if she was interested in visiting and maybe speaking to the students about her own education in the area. She smiled but declined. Then she began to tell me of the family tragedy. The story haunted me for years. As with most stories you hear, if you don't hear them or re-read them again the details become fuzzy. I couldn't remember if the family was a Garrison or a Jones. This was on my to-do list since it's the 100th "anniversary" of that great storm but I wasn't scheduled to submit the article until next spring so I hadn't looked into it yet. To find it by chance in this large book was just strange. I also discovered in this brief paragraph why the family was on the island. I'm not disclosing at this time but it was timely to things happening today which gave me even more eebie-jeebies. I am glad I found the information, even if it was rather spooky.

Train Tidbits

Two weeks ago, two visitors from New York visited my local genealogical society museum and asked me questions I couldn't provide answers with certainty. I checked with the Coordinator and she said no one knows. I set out to solve the mysteries. First question was how much was the train fare from New York to Florida? There was a "fast" train that left New York City's Grand Central and arrived in Tarpon Springs, Florida in 36 hours with only one transfer. Sounds like it should be a simple look up but apparently, no information about ticket prices remains. When I couldn't find it online I reached out to a Florida state archivist for help. He directed me to a blog by the New York Public Library. I took their advice and began searching old newspapers. I used the Library of Congress Chronicling America, Ancestry's connection to Newspapers.com, MyHeritage.com and GenealogyBank.com. I found "special" prices, such as a half price for a round trip from Tampa to Jacksonville during winter holidays. Other reduced fares were given for various organizations, such as Boy Scouts going to camp and church groups going to conventions. There was also marketing gimmicks; the Tampa Merchants Association in November 1913 refunded tickets for a minimum of $1.00 per mile up to 20 miles for out of town shoppers from Plant City, Lakeland and Ft. Myers who had spent at least $20.00 shopping in Tampa. The day to day prices were no where to be found, however. Train schedules for North America are posted in paperss but with the announcement at the bottom to contact the local ticket agent for prices. Schedules are also found in online books for several years in the late 1800's through Hathi Trust. Nowhere are the prices listed. I then turned my search around to read newspaper articles about transportation. I discovered in 1902 that the east coast of Florida rate for travel on the [Henry] Plant Lines was 3 cents per mile while the west coast, on the Atlantic Coast Lines, was 4 cents. The editorial department hoped that a reduced fare for the west coast would occur soon. Freight, as in your baggage or as produce being sent north, rose from 30 cents a box in 1889 to 40 cents a box in 1890. The price never dropped but rose consistently over the years. More editorials bemoaned the high prices farmers had to pay and railed (pun intented) against the 33 1/3% cost increase in one season. The cost of fare was so near and dear to the west coast community that in 1907, the St. Petersburg Times newspaper refused to endorse R. Hudson Burr, the Florida Railroad Commissioner for Governor, as he had promised six years earlier to reduce fare prices. That hadn't happened and Burr never won. Back in my youth, Florida had a high and low season for tourists. That meant prices rose during the high season (fall and winter) and dropped in the low season (spring and summer). Think about it, no one in their right mind would visit the high humidity bug infested state during hurricane season. With air conditioning and insect repellent, people now come all year round. I thought maybe the train fares fluctuated with the season. There did seem to be more "excursions" in the summer months, like the $3.50 from Tampa to Jacksonville in June 1903. It's about 199 miles and at 4 cents a mile, that would cost $7.96. But Tampa is on the west coast and Jacksonville on the east. The Plant line did go to Tampa and ended at his famous Plant Hotel, now the University of Tampa. If his fare rate was used the cost would have been $5.97 for the trip. That got me thinking that I needed to check other state fares. The Allentown, Pennsylvania Leader announced the governor had signed a bill for fares of 2 cents per mile in Pennsylvania in April 1907. Fare rates noted in the Buffalo, New York Evening News in 1906 mentioned a bill that reduced rates to 2 cents a mile in the state. I don't know if the fare rates ended at the state border and then the next state's rates applied. This was much more complicated than I had initially thought it would be. It appears that originally the railroad companies set the prices which is logical, as they were trying to recoup their initial investment. It would have taken a lot more work to install lines through swampy Florida than in upstate New York. New York also had alternatives to trains. Their roads were in far better condition than the trails through the west coast of Florida that only could be manuevered by ox cart and when it hadn't rained, which wasn't often. Going upriver from New York City to Albany was also not a long and dangerous trip. The other alternative in Florida was taking a ship from a large port, like Tampa, Key West or New Orleans and trying to reach your destination either by foot or steamboat from there. Eventually, though, the state legislatures set prices. Interestingly, I discovered several newspaper accounts beginning in 1900 that mentioned the special fare offers were "Open to Blacks and Whites." This led to the next question that the visitors from New York asked - Did people of color ride in the back of the train car (ala Rosa Parks) or did they have a separate car (as in Plessy vs. Ferguson). This answer was quickly available thanks to the laws of the state. Chapter 3743 [No. 63] Sections 1-5 of Florida State Statutes 1887 made it clear "That all railroad companies doing business in this State shall sell to all respectable persons of color first-class tickets, on application, at the same rates that white persons are charged; and shall furnish and set apart for the use of persons of color who purchased such first-class tickets a car or cars in each passenger train as may be necessary to convey passengers equally as good, and provided with the same facilities for comfort, as shall or may be provided for white persons using and traveling as passengers on first-class tickets." The law goes on to state the conductor or other train staff make sure to enforce the law and could be liable for a fine of between $25-500.00 for failing to abide by it. The staff was also to prevent whites from insulting or annoying people of color. The only exception was female "colored" nurses being able to sit in the white car if they were caring for a sick person or children. Separate but equal, not! The train station in my town, built in 1907, had a wall that separated whites from everyone else. The white area was larger, had two restrooms, one for each gender, and a larger ticket window. The black section had less space, a smaller ticket window and only one bathroom to be shared. That certainly in not equal, however, the law didn't state the stations had to be equal, just the train car. I was unable to find a picture of a passenger car for Blacks in Florida but a visitor this week said he had seen an actual car in Savannah, Georgia, and the car was not equal. There was little leg room and he equated it to the difference between flying first class vs. economy. I haven't reached out yet to the Georgia State Railroad Museum but plan to. The third question the New York visitors asked was when did the train segregation end? Although the law changed, the practices of seperate but equal did not end immediately. Although my personal experience does not relate to trains, in my youth in the mid-1970's, the St. Petersburg city hall had two separate water fountains labeled Blacks and Whites. You could use either, however, I noticed that older Blacks continued to use the one they always had. Into the mid-1960's there was also a very racist mural on the wall of the building that pictured minstrels. The story of how it was removed is interesting and the whereabouts of the painting remain a mystery. You can read about it here. Analyzing the information discovered does shed light on why fares weren't recorded. Those wealthy enough to afford to travel didn't need to worry about the cost. Those without disposable income had to wait for a bargain or find an alternative way. I can't prove the railroad's lack of price transparency hurt anyone who was not wealthy but who knows for sure that all ticket agents were ethical. I suspect the fares changed if an agent did not deem someone "respectable" as per the law. Check out eBay - tickets from most lines DID NOT have a price. Dear Readers, if you have an old train receipt with a fare listed I'd appreciate you providing me a photo. Send to genealogyatheart@gmail.com. Much Appreciated!

Getting the Most Out of Online Genealogy Classes

Do you have Zoom fatigue? Does the thought of watching one more online class make you want to throw something at your computer screen? If so, this blog is for you! I keep a record of the courses I take on my website for several reasons. As a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, I need to complete 12 hours of professional development yearly to renew. I participate in way over that requirement because I believe in keeping current and strongly support continuing education. Even in the most basic courses, I usually learn at least one new trick or I'm reminded of something I heard before but didn't try myself. By keeping a list of the courses I've viewed, I can avoid re-watching those I've taken. I can look at what I've taken when I am approaching a new work task and refer back to the syllabus of the course that may help me with the task at hand. I can also determine if I'm lacking in an area so I can then actively seek out those areas to beef up on. Personally, I'm loving the Zoom/Go To Meetings/Teams conferences and am actively advocating the organizations to which I belong to continue with at least a hybrid model when the pandemic is over. Don't get me wrong, I love to travel and to meet with other passionate family historians in person. I just don't think that old thinking model is right anymore. Watching from your home is helping the carbon footprint. I'm saving lots of money by not having to pay for the travel expense, hotel accommodations and food. I'm also winning big on saving time by staying home. I can afford to attend more conferences than I would have before covid so I'm definitely ahead there. People from all over the world can attend, although the time differences are problematic and largely unfair to those not living on the eastern US coast. I've recommended that presentation times vary as this is just not fair to everyone. The online format is a win-win for both those who would have had difficulty traveling because of a disability or childcare and for the organization who now has more participants. The voices of those who couldn't attend before can now be heard. For the conferences that offer breakout rooms, I have the extra advantage of still meeting up in a group and discussing the topic that we just viewed. If you are shy, no worries! It's a great place to be a fly on the wall.You can turn your video off and just observe. I will bet there are many mouthy people like me that will be actively engaged and you'll hear discussions and gain new insights by just listening. For the conferences that don't off that feature, I definitely use the chat function. Click to have the chat up and place it off to the side of the screen so you can follow along with the side conversations while the presenter is giving the information. This make me think of another plus for online classes. Remember attending a lecture in the past and the folks behind you that wouldn't stop talking? You'd shift in your seat. Then you'd turn and give them the teacher look. They didn't care and continued. Finally, you asked them nicely to be quiet. "Sorry," they'd say but a few minutes later they were back to their sidebar discussion. None of that any longer! The chat is that conversation and if it distracts you, then just ignore it. At the end of the lecture, before you sign off, you can read it and take note of any web addresses that were posted. You can also copy and paste it. If your Zoom conference doesn't have that option with the click of a button here's another option - just hit the control + C to copy the info and then, in an open Word document, click and paste (control + P). Here's another chat hint - you can message the group or just an individual. A few weekends ago I took a class on the Chicago fire given by the Chicago Genealogical Society. Several of my husband's cousins were in attendance. I sent them private messages in the chat. It was kind of like sitting with friends. If you know another attendee is watching this works well. If you don't know if one of your friends is on, simply click in the chat box from All to Private and you'll see a list of those who are attending. Scroll down the list to identify the folks you know and send them a personal Hello! If there is a syllabus, I keep it electronically in Dropbox under a folder called Syllabuses (duh!). Inside the folder I have more folders for the offering organization, such as APG, NGS, etc. No more wasted paper or killing my printer ink. It's much easier to find what I'm looking for quickly and using the control + F (find) helps me zero in to discover the exact item I'm looking for on the syllabus. That list I keep on my website is a time saver here as if I can't quite remember which organization offered the class, I can look on the website for the topic and then find where I've filed it in the online folder. While I'm watching the lecture on one screen, I have my second computer screen up and waiting to try out what the presenter is talking about. For example, this past week I watched the National Genealogical Society sponsored Ancestry course on the new update to their Freedmen Bureau records. I had Ancestry open on my second screen so as the two presenters were discussing how best to search, I was trying it out myself. I do that because I can still ask the presenters questions, either through the Chat or the Q and A feature before the class ends if I'm having difficulty in following what they suggest. This sure beats trying to check it out on my cell which is what I used to do with on site classes. I'm also getting practice which increases the likelihood that I'll use the tool in the future. Also in Dropbox, I keep an Excel spreadsheet called Help Ideas. It has only 3 columns - Topic, (web) address, comment. When I'm attending a lecture and the presenter recommends a specific website or archive to locate a record, I record the information on my Help Ideas spreadsheet. For topic, I might record "Blog", record the web address and under comment, record the presenter's name and date of the lecture. This has helped me with brick walls as no one can possibly remember everywhere to look. Sure the Familysearch.org Wiki is wonderful but it is not complete. Remember, I'm only recording info that is new to me or that I want to gain more information about later. When I need to research in an area I haven't done in awhile, it's simple to filter for that topic and instantly I have a great list of where I can research. Make sure you keep the list up so you can add to it while you're watching. Last but not least, if you are watching a pre-recorded lecture, definitely use the speed up button if available and if the presenter speaks slowly. This is my magic trick for how I get through so many lectures in a rainy afternoon. Trust me, you get used to the funny sounding speech after only a lecture or two. I always use this for classes that are more than 50 minutes and for those that might be on a topic I have a good knowledge base already. If the presenter does get to a part that is new to me, I can always return the speed to normal to make sure I understand the information. It's simple to back up and listen again if you missed something. Now go pop some popcorn, get in a comfy chair and watch those lectures you have on your to-do list.

Autumn Genealogy Project Idea

This past week, I began to identify all my Gateway Ancestors - those are the folks who were the first to come to the U.S. In some cases, they don't go back very far. For example, my maternal grandmother came with her mother and brother in 1912 to join her husband who had come earlier. Others came in the 1800's, like my Leiningers and Kuhns, or the 1700's, like my Landfairs and Hollingsheads, and some in the 1600's, my Duers. I decided to make a quick write up for each Gateway from their emigration to my parents. I wanted to tackle the Duers first because, well, I'm just enamored with them for one and two, they've been here for a long time so I figure if I start with the longest descents the rest will go quicker. I came up with this idea after watching a National Genealogical Society (NGS) video from the May conference. I always intended to write about these ancestors but perhaps like you, never made the time or the effort to get that project done. I think the way that I'm proceeding makes it easier to get going on it. Here's my plan: 1. Identify who you'd like to write about. In my case, it was my Gateways. 2. Go to wherever you keep your records for that individual and review them. I keep everything in several places - my personal tree on my desktop, on Ancestry.com and at MyHeritage.com. I also backup periodically to Dropbox and an external hard drive. Putting them in several places means I can gain access easily wherever I am, such as my home office, or out and about on my laptop or cell. 3. Open up a Word doc. Give your work a title and add your name as the author. In the footer, add page numbers. I always use "Page 1 of 10" or whatever number where I've ended because families tend to pass around documents and not always copy all of the pages. This way, the receiver will know they obtained the complete work. I also included an asterisk in the title with an explanation in the footer noting the descendancy will be a direct line to my parents. I did this because most of them had large numbers of children and I really want to only focus on my line for this project. That's not to say it isn't important to research the siblings because it definitely is a must do but for this project, not so much. I also include my email address in the footer so people that discover this can contact me. I plan on posting it on my Gateway’s Gallery on Ancestry and under Biography on MyHeritage. I'm doing that so other researchers can find it easily as it will show up in the Search function on both sites. 4. I selected using the NGS Quarterly style to write. I have no intention of ever submitting it to that organization for publication but I chose that style for several reasons. It's formulaic (and boring, yes, but I'm not writing fiction nor am I trying to paint a picture of the ancestor's life). Formulaic is good because it will be redundant writing, a sort of fill-in-the-blanks of the person's life. I want that so I can analyze the information that I have acquired and identify any holes that I might have. I discovered immediately about Thomas that I had a "birth" date of 29 Sep 1663. It wasn't a birthdate; it was the christening date. Does that matter? Yes, because I don't know if he was christened on the day he was born, shortly after or as an adult. Given his death date, I can determine he was christened in his youth but not necessarily on his birthday. I also realized I never looked at his original christening record that is available on FindMyPast.org. Instead, I had relied on Ancestry's Family Data Collection - Births. That's a database of transcriptions first published in 2001. I needed to go back and find the original film to verify the information recorded was correct. It would be lovely to be able to go to Great Britain and view the original document but that's not going to be happening anytime soon so I'll have to do the best I can with the image. Another plus of the Quarterly style is that it will allow me to quickly determine how many people are in the line. With other styles, that information is not readily available. This style also provides more information about all of the couple’s children. 5. I highly recommend using Numbering Your Genealogy by Curran, Crane, and Wray if you'd like to explore more methods. It's available through NGS and can be downloaded or printed so there is no delay in your getting started. 6. Make sure you use the footnote or endnote feature on Word (under References) so you can cite where you got the fact. If you don't have a source for the fact you have, then use the highlight function on Word (Home-Font-the pencil icon with a color under it) to highlight that you must search for the source. I used that feature to remember I must go to FindMyPast.org to find the christening record. Once found, you can go back to the Font-highlight and click "No Color" to get rid of it. This way, you can quickly continue writing and citing for what you have and then research what needs clarification or is missing later. 7. Typically, the original source only is noted and I know I drive my colleagues nuts by listing ALL sources where I found the fact. I do this because I don't know if the original document will be lost. If that occurs, then I've added where I found transcriptions or films of the image, etc., and that I verified the other documents I listed confirmed what the original document recorded. You do whatever the spirit tells you lol! 8. Your writing will not be very long; probably not more than a page or two unless, like my Daniel Hollingshead who loved to flip real estate, you have lots of records. Thomas Duer’s summary would be one page without citations. Remember, you aren't recording a detailed story here, just the facts. If you decide you have the time and want to elaborate, then you have an outline already done to help you on your way. The clip at the top of this blog is for three of the five paragraphs I wrote on Thomas. Of his known children, I placed a + sign before son Thomas, (not shown) as I will be writing about him next. I will not be writing about the couple’s other seven children. 9. You may want to add a timeline to your Word doc. I haven't done that but may if I get to a situation where documents I have acquired are conflicting. The timeline can help sort out if there was a transcription error, a confusion of identity, or some other situation. For example, I discovered last week a conflict regarding a family I was writing about for a journal article. The female gateway came to the U.S. in 1925 but on her naturalization records, she stated she came in 1939. Both are true. She first arrived in 1925, got married, had four children, and then took them back to her native country for a six month visit. When she returned, she used the second coming as her date of arrival. It was the most recent to her naturalization paperwork and the law required that at the time. So, fraud may not be involved in record discrepancies. Instead, she was following the law of the land at that time. A timeline helped me quickly identify the two emigration dates and that I needed to explore further. 10. When you're done writing it’s time to upload and share. You want others to see your work so they can correct or add to your findings. Since it's autumn, now that you accomplished your task, make yourself a nice cup of tea and enjoy. You deserve it!

Rethinking Your Family Stories

Photo courtesy of Global Citizen Yesterday I attended a lecture about researching in burned county Cook, Illinois. We don't think about Chicago being located in a burned county but of course, like many areas, had a devastating fire that destroyed a large part of the downtown are 150 years ago. Of course, the burned area was where records were kept. The point of the lecture was there are still records left to examine and provided where those sources are now housed. But that wasn't the taken away I got from the session...At the very end, a participant asked if Mrs. O'Leary's cow was the cause of the tragedy. There was an extensive investigation after and both the cow and Mrs. O'Leary were cleared. There had even been a fire the evening before due to the extremely dry conditions. Shoddy building practices and older wooden structures permitted the fire to spread rapidly. A fire department that wasn't well funded made the situation worse. When I was a child I lived in the Chicagoland area. Although I don't recall how I first heard about the fire, I do remember asking my mom about it. She said it was started by Mrs. O'Leary's cow. My mom was not alive when the fire occurred. Neither were my grandparents or my great grandparents who eventually lived for a short time in the city. In hindsight, I suppose my mom heard about the fire over 50 years after it had happened. Whoever told her had some knowledge of the original sources blaming the cow but didn't follow the story long enough to discover what really happened. Often our family stories are like that; passed from one to another over an extended period of time without fully investigating the information that has become a "fact." This week, plan on recalling one of your family stories and do some investigating. Who knows what awesome discovery awaits you! Please share, I'd love to know.

Genealogical Coincidences, Or Not? It's a Small World After All!

I've had a strange week. Last Friday I got approval to write a journal article on a unique family heirloom. I tried to make contact with the family who are the current caretakers of the object but the Facebook message link is broken and they didn't answer their phone. I spent the rest of the day and most of last Saturday researching the heirloom's purported history and how the family acquired the religious object. Mid afternoon my husband asked if I could come outside and see something. My first thought was what broke now. I followed him outside and around the side of our home. Under the bushes was the rock pictured above. "Did you put that there?" he asked. I had no knowledge of it and immediately got goose bumps. I know that people have been placing decorated rocks around neighborhoods and in parks to boost people's spirits during the pandemic but this was just odd. Who placed it there? Why? There was no note or sticker on the bottom. Our adult kids had no idea how it got there, either. I decided to go back to researching. Later in the afternoon, my husband saw our next door neighbor in her front yard. He asked her if she had any idea where the rock came from. "Oh, yes, I was babysitting and thought it would be a good craft project." Umm, sure. My husband explained that we were all confused as to how it came to be placed under the bushes. The neighbor said she was watching two little girls. One made a bumble bee design on a rock and the other, the cross. Our neighbor said, "I don't know why but I thought of your family getting the cross and [another neighbor] getting the bee." The other neighbor is a sweetheart - the most kind person you could ever meet. She really doesn't do gardening. I don't know, the bee better fits my personality lol! I love gardening and I can definitely give out a stinger. So, this was all a coincidence that a religious symbol shows up in my yard within 24 hours of me researching religious symbols until two days later when the following happened... I was volunteering at my local hospital when one of the employees related a story that had occurred the previous evening. In checking a visitor in through the lobby, she had forgotten to return the person's driver's license. A security guard said he would take it to the patient's room where the visitor was headed. She had had a hectic day and a short time later forgot the guard was taking the license. She panicked when she didn't see it on her desk. A student volunteer reminded her that the guard had taken it. She was embarrased by her forgetfullness and still feeling tired, decided she would stand for a bit. Looking over in front of the computer I usually use when I volunteer, she noticed the object shown below:

The employee, not recognizing who it portrays, thought it had something to do with demons. She was partly correct; St. Michael was known for fighting demons. He was also prayed to during the first Black Plague after Pope Gregory the Great had a vision of Michael standing over Hadrian's tomb in Rome slaying evil. When the plague subsided shortly after his experience, Gregory had a shrine built to St. Michael over Hadrian's tomb which is still visitable today. Well, it would be if we didn't have a pandemic and could easily go visit. Just sayin'. Since the heirloom I was investigating for the article just happened to be about St. Michael I was able to tell the employee a little bit about him. Personally, I told her, I don't think it's a bad idea he just "materialized" (her words) in a hospital during a pandemic. If one believes in miracles, that would be a fantastic sign. If one didn't, it was just a coincidence. I suspect that this was part of a key ring and somehow broke off when a visitor searched for their license. Miracle or not, it should go to the lost and found box. I did take a picture for this blog since that was the 2nd weird happening since I began my research. As I continued to research the family I noticed that the gateway ancestor who was responsible for securing the heirloom happened to get his social security card in Indiana. My husband and I are from Indiana so I said to my husband, "Wouldn't it be weird if he happened to have gotten it in Gary?" Neither of us recognized the last name as someone we would have known growing up. As I further researched, I discovered that the man's daughter had lived for a short time in Gary, but it was long after we had left the area. What a coincidence, I thought. I still hadn't heard back from the family and I did have a few questions and needed clarification regarding conflicting info I had found. I mentioned this when I was volunteering at my local historical society and one of the employees told me that a family member was her neighbor. She texted her and asked her to give me a call. A week to the day that I left the voice message she called me and was absolutely delightful. After discussing the project and getting some of the information straightened out I asked her if she knew where her grandfather had gotten his social security card in Indiana. She said she wasn't sure but suspected it was Gary, "...since he and my grandmother spent summers up there." I mentioned that my husband and I grew up there and I spent nearly every Sunday in the summer at the Croatian picnic grounds. The Greek picnic grounds was close, as was the Spanish, Italian and Polish. Beginning in middle school, we would take shortcuts through the woods to visit classmates who were attending their ethnic groups' picnic. I can't tell you how many times I went to the Greek picnic ground but it was often. I will never be able to prove it but I must have been in the same place at the same time as the couple. Another coincidence - 50+ years later I happen to get the idea to write about their family heirloom. Geez, wouldn't it have been wonderful if I knew that then and could have interviewed them before they died. Yesterday I continued to do additional research and discovered another coincidence. Evidently, there is a ritual of praying for 33 consecutive days to St. Michael for the protection of the Church and it's Supreme Pontiff (the Pope). I got approval to write the article and began my research on August 27th. Umm, the time period for the ritual is 27 August through 29 September. For believers, clearly this is another miracle. For the skeptics, I'm just good at identifying coincidences. Miracles or not, you have to admit it's a small world after all.

Genealogy Pronunciation Trick

 

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org

My blog is late today as I had unexpected tech issues, the bane of my existence!  This past week, first my husband and then I, noticed an "enter code" button that appeared on any Microsoft product we were using on our desktops.  It finally dawned on us that the educator license we had with Microsoft was being removed since we both retired from our academic careers this month.  This was a totally unexpected situation as we had paid for a license for our computers that didn't expire.  Microsoft only allows military veterans to continue and not educators.  Who knew?!  Took the time this morning to buy two new licenses - one for my business and the other for home use.  The Microsoft site was not working well and wouldn't allow me to save my domain info so I'm going to have to go back on later.  After the slow download I freaked out when I opened Word and only documents from 2019 showed up.  I was able to open two docs from my desktop I just created in the last two weeks and once they opened, they showed in the list when I reopened Word. I then went to Dropbox and opened a pdf from January and a doc from last August.  Once opened, they show in the Word list.  I don't understand this at all but as long as I can open older documents as I need them, I'm good.  

Here's an update on my Bible blog from last week - got a heartwarming thank you from my distant cousin who will be receiving the Landfair Bible.  I'm so glad it found a good home, away from hurricanes, humidity and mold.  Remember this story this week when you run into a rude person - there are a lot of good people out there, just not everyone!

Now, for today....

I had a wonderful 2 day Professional Management Conference hosted by APG.  It was just awesome reconnecting with other professional genealogists in the break out sessions and the lectures were informative.  I plan to be adding a page to Genealogyatheart.com with my lectures soon.  Unfortunately, the terms of my retirement do not allow me to "teach" in any format for the next 6 months so that's all on hold for awhile.  The conference did nudge me into making proposals to my state genealogy group with ideas for journal articles.  I'll be writing 3 for upcoming issues.  Working on the first, along with the Bible interaction last week, gave me the idea for today's blog.

Let's think of the Louis Armstrong song, You Say Tomato.  Genealogy is fraught with pronunciation problems.  When I spoke to the lady from Ohio about the Bible, I told her I did not live close to either Lima (lee mah) or Celina (Seh lee nah).  She replied she didn't either and then laughed.  In Ohio, those places are known as (lie mah) and (sel lie nah).  

This got me thinking about why it's sometimes so difficult for us to find an ancestors former residence.  We aren't seeing it in print - we're hearing it.  Same issue with census enumerators hearing our ancestors and misunderstanding their English as a second language pronunciation. This week, I've been researching a local family from Greece.  Their name evolved from the original spelling from the first generation to how the name is pronounced in English for the second generation.  Loved the Find-A-Grave note that was added by the memorial creator explaining why the names were different!

To complicate the situation, the same word can be pronounced differently depending on the location.  One of my children spent time in both Grenada's.  That would be Gre nae dah, West Indies and Gre nah dah, Spain.  

Next time you are stuck on a location or surname, try thinking about it in a variety of ways.  Type the word in Google and add "pronunciation."  Try this for "Lima Ohio pronunciation" and Lima Peru pronunciation." Pretty neat trick!

Genealogy Acts of Kindness or Scam?

Yesterday I received an Ancestry.com message from a woman in Ohio who had found a Bible that had a name that appears in my public tree - Landfair.  She said she would mail it to me if I would pick up the cost.  I was warned that the Bible was heavy.

Unfortunately, there are so many scams today how do you know if the offer is legit or not?  She provided a phone number.  I Googled it and it was for Ohio but not for her.  She had provided her first and last name and checking that out, she was a member of a genealogy organization to which I also belong.  She did live in the area where she reportedly found the Bible.

I first messaged her back on Ancestry but after several hours, she hadn't replied.  I decided to give her a call.  

I'm glad I took the risk...she was a sweet woman who said she finally was able to get out and enjoy an interest that she pursued BC (before covid) - reuniting found items to descendants.  She said she found my public tree first because I had the most citations for the family.  She also reached out to a few others who had the name in their tree.  

The oldest documented individual in the Bible was my first cousin three times removed.  I knew of a closer descendant so I texted the kind woman an email address and told her to mention my name. That individual lives close and would save the finder the issue of mailing.  

It was an absolutely important find for that line as there is NO marriage record to be found other than what was recorded in the Bible.  

Kudos to all of you wonderful people who spread genealogy acts of kindness!  

Wills and Probate

Did you know that August is Make-A-Will month?!  I had no idea until I received spam this morning that it was time for me to make a will. I checked it out and sure enough, this is the month to complete this important but disdained task.

Funny how as family historians/genealogists we LOVE wills and probate but personally, not so much.

Earlier this week I was volunteering at my local hospital when I overheard a family discussing a terminal family member.  The individual hadn't yet died but the family members present, 2 grandchildren and 3 siblings of the patient, were in a discussion over who was going to get what after the death.  I tried really hard to ignore the conversation as it was not only none of my business, it was disheartening.  

A grandchild reported that the patient had expressed what items was to go to what individual.  One of the patient's children said, "Fine," but then went on to state they were going over to the patient's home later that day to pick up items believed to be inherited.  The other adult children then decided they were going to go, too.  

I have no ending to the story.  Perhaps the patient recovered, went home and discovered items missing.  Maybe the family members would have returned them before the patient returned home.  More likely, the individual died and family members arriving after the death discovered items they thought belonged to them were gone.  

Personally, hubby and I have experienced family issues after a loved one's death.  It is not pretty and can destroy relationships.  These events happened even though there was a will in most cases.  

Although I still miss my mom who passed in 2001, I was fortunate that she had planned well for her final days.  When she was first diagnosed with Alzheimers, she asked me to attend a meeting she had scheduled regarding disposition of her remains as she wanted to be cremated.  She had previously made a will.  The only problem was she couldn't decide where the cremains would be housed.  I never got an answer so my husband and I decided to inter them in the family plot where she grew up and where her parents and grandparents were buried.

Several years ago, I convinced hubby we needed to make our final arrangements to spare our adult kids the task.  We updated our wills and added a Living Will, Power of Attorney, and Designated Health Care Surrogates.  The kids each received a copy.  We had both children notarize the form regarding our body's donation to science.  We purchased a space in our city cemetery and selected a funeral home that will receive our cremains once medical school students are done with them.  The funeral home has our obits.  We placed our children's names on our property and bank accounts so that they can close out any debts or make needed repairs seamlessly.

To avoid the scenario that I overheard at the hospital, I have placed stickers on the bottom of several items that have been in the family for years and I want passed down to the next generation.  The labels state who was the original owner of the item.  I don't care which of my children get what items and there isn't a lot to fight over.  Unlabeled items they can keep, sell or donate.  

The death of a loved one is never easy.  The lack of a will makes the situation even more difficult. Make time to make your final arrangements soon.  You're not only helping your closest family members, generations to come will discover your will and thank you for that.

IMPORTANT-Ancestry.com Term Changes

Nothing like having a limited time to make an important decision during the Dog Days of Summer.  Thanks a lot, Ancestry.com!

You may or may not have received an email message from Ancestry.com earlier this week noting that they have updated their terms of conditions. You may have noticed the message under the ribbon (shown above) on Ancestry.com this week.  

Interestingly, Ancestry.com never mentioned what the change(s) was/were in the email.  I thought that odd and had decided I would check it out this weekend.  Usually noncommunication is a tipoff that the change is important.  Organizations know that most folks don't take the time to read the fine print so sending an email with limited information makes the change more likely to pass quietly.

Before I had a chance to review the document I began receiving emails from family members that bordered on hysteria about the changes.  

I would not do the situation justice in explaining the term changes so I'm referring you to blog articles found here and here.  It is vital that you read these ASAP as there is only a small window of time for you to make a decision and act.

My decision was to remove all photos/documents I had uploaded to Ancestry.com of LIVING people.  My reason is that, although the photo was given to me by family members, I do not have explicit permission to give Ancestry.com permanent permission to own the picture.  

I am not concerned over photos of the DECEASED as they don't have rights anyway.  I consider them part of history.  I don't like it that Ancestry.com "owns" the photos for perpetuity but I'd rather the photos be available somewhere rather than lost forever.  

Like me, you've probably uploaded photos to Ancestry.com and have had them saved by others without giving you credit.  I can always identify mine as I have a unique way I save them.  Although I would prefer if someone asked permission first, I understand that by my uploading to anywhere on the internet the possibility that someone will use the photo, claim it as their own, etc, exists.  I accepted that risk. The Ancestry.com change will make Ancestry.com the owner forever.  

Forever is a long time!  Does this mean that Ancestry.com may someday take me to court for using a photo I have uploaded, even though I have the original in my possession?  I doubt it.  Personally, I don't even think Ancestry.com will last "forever."  Who knows what the world will look like next year, let alone in 5021.  

The audacity of the term change did make me consider deleting my Ancestry.com tree.  I calmed down and emailed my concerned family members what my decision was regarding photos/documents.  

I thought that would have been the end of it but it turned out it was the tip of the melting iceberg.  I began receiving responses that they wanted various information they had shared with me over the past 20 plus years removed.  I always cite my sources and that was what the bone of contention was.  The requests were for removal of their name/email address.  Since it's typical to cite an email exchange with the sender's name [email address} to receiver's name [email address] this request totally threw me.  I did agree to alter the citation to remove the individual who requested the information be stricken.

I then got a request to remove correspondence from someone who was deceased by a two down the line family member.  The deceased was well aware that I had posted the information as she had requested my help in finding documents.  She once had permission to make changes to my tree.  Her email address is no longer active.  

I could have pointed all this out to the requestor but I decided to just take the high road and remove the information.  

Which gets me back to a blog article I wrote in June about saving your tree.  Here's another reason to keep a tree somewhere completely updated that you and you alone have access.  My article was about synching Ancestry.com to RootsMagic which resided on my computer and is saved in a Cloud as a backup.  I did remove everything from Ancestry.com that was requested of me which took several hours.  I DID NOT remove it from my RootsMagic tree that is still synched with Ancestry.  

If I open RootsMagic and click the Ancestry leaf motif on the ribbon, any changes made on Ancestry.com will appear as an option to update my RootsMagic tree.  I don't want that to change RootsMagic as I want the citations and the pictures of the living all in one place.  

My "Main Tree" on Ancestry.com is no longer that.  I did consider renaming it to Sort Of Main Tree but decided I don't need to waste more time because of Ancestry.com's decision.  

Please take some time to review the blog articles and the new policy.  Consult with your family on the way to go forward.  Do this soon before the policy takes effect.

Emancipation Day

Today is Emancipation Day to commemorate those who were freed from slavery.

Emancipation has another meaning, that of liberation typically from a legal, social or political restriction.  When my husband and I decided to retire as longtime public school employees we hadn't been aware that the day we selected, August 1, 2021, that we termed our "emancipation" day was actually already memorialized as the day to remember those who had been enslaved.  

Reading the news this morning about emancipation made me realize this was an extra special day to celebrate freedom!

For those of you who follow my blog you know my life often has some odd coincidences occur.  Someone told me that happens to me because I tell everyone I know about the weird situations so they just keep coming. I guess the theory is that by talking and writing about them I become a magnet for more. I don't know about that but I do think this is kind of strange... Friday, March 13, 2020 was my last day working onsite at a school.  The following day I was supposed to be volunteering at a library with my local genealogy society to help patrons with their brick walls.  The event was cancelled at the last minute because of covid-19.  Although the monthly meetings and trainings moved to Zoom, the brick wall event was not rescheduled until yesterday.  Friday, July 30 happened to be my last day forever in education and the following day, the brick wall event which was supposed to be back at the library got moved to Zoom because I live in the fasted growing covid area in the country.  

Too bad we couldn't meet in person as it would have been a wonderful bookend of the beginning and termination of the pandemic. 

Although I'm leaving the K-12 education field permanently, I'm definitely not abandoning genealogy.  I'll continue to blog, consult with clients, volunteer at my local historical society and provide research.  Due to my termination contract, I'm unable to "teach" for the next year in any capacity but plan to return to genealogical lectures eventually.  

In addition to spending more time on genealogy, I plan to invest time in my local community.  Due to my previously long commute I was never able to do that.  I plan on volunteering at my local hospital and with other community events. 

Hubby and I are so looking forward to this next chapter in our lives.  It is a privilege having you continue to follow my blog as I head off in a new direction.  Stay tuned for my new adventures!

Recording Memories - Some Ideas

Photo from Shutterstock

The recent pandemic was a wake up call for many parts of our personal lives.  Perhaps you are now a member of your family's "oldest" living generation.  Maybe your grandparents or great grandparents are in failing health and you have questions about their history. Possibly you are reflecting on the events of the past year and a half and want to preserve your experiences for posterity.

This would be a wonderful time to capture the memories!  

In the past week, I've received emails requesting how to info on this topic.  Here goes...

The simplest way is a face to face interview with a loved one.  They know you and you know them - that relationship has already been established and trust is vital when sharing of personal information is about to occur.  

If you have a video recorder and a tripod you are ready to go.  If not, check the capability of your smart phone.  Mine has an awesome camera but a so-so recorder.   There are work arounds in that situation; record with your phone and use a separate recorder for the sound.  It's not a wonderful solution but it's better than not preserving the memory. 

Before you begin, think of who you plan on meeting with.  This isn't about you - it's about them - so make sure you get permission to record the interview.  Keep in mind, like the past year, a person's life is not always rosy.  Some of the memories may be painful.  Some may cause hurt feelings to relatives that are still living.  I'm not saying to avoid touchy situations.  I'm cautioning you to think about what you plan to do with the recorded memory.  Posting it online could be a major privacy problem.  Make sure you inform the interviewee what your intent is with the finished product.  You may want to even get written permission.  As a professional genealogist I would most certainly do that.  If it is between you and a close family member, you may, instead, mention that your interviewee has given consent for the interview and what you plan to do with the recording on the recording itself.  The interviewee can acknowledge the agreement.

Here's how my family handled that situation in the 1980's - When video recorders first came out my husband and I couldn't afford one to film our first born.  As a surprise Christmas present, my in-laws purchased a recorder for us.  They were shipping it to us from the Midwest and my father-in-law wanted to make sure it worked.  He then got a brilliant idea to go around to various relatives in his area and record them so that our child would be able to "meet" the family.  He contacted the family members and arranged for a day/time that was best for them.  Some of the filming was outside their home, others wanted to come to his house.  He started every interview with "This is Dad.  I'm at Uncle Bob's house.  Today is November 16, 1985.  Uncle Bob is your Mom's brother."  Then Uncle Bob is filmed and he says, "Hi." He goes on to tell us about his day - some were planning on going to work, others mentioned that they just got home from church and the church's name is given.  Lots of genealogical breadcrumbs were given for future family historians who might not know this information.

The important piece above is that you record who is interviewing, who is being interviewed, the date and place of the interview and the relationship.  God bless my father-in-law!  He had NO GENEALOGICAL background and he did an awesome job for posterity.

That tape was done on the old clunky large VCR Beta format.  Keep in mind whatever you are using will eventually become old tech.  You will have to keep reformatting it to the latest and greatest in the years to come.  I'd make a few copies.  Give one to the interviewee.  With the interviewee's permission, you can give some to other family members.  Why?  Because bad things happen to good people!  Houses burn down, weather disasters occur, people lose items.  The more copies out there in different parts of the world the greater the likelihood that one will survive.  Think of that old family Bible you are searching for.  If there was more than 1 family Bible recording those birth dates from 1730 you'd be in great shape, wouldn't you?!

Now that you know who you will interview, you have permission and you have arranged a day/time that is best for the interviewee, it's time to think about interview questions.  Below are some ready made questions to choose from:

https://blog.myheritage.com/2017/03/questions-to-ask-your-family/

https://www.familytreemagazine.com/storytelling/interviewing/interview-questions/

https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/20-questions-capture-grandmas-story/

https://www.loc.gov/vets/kit-generalquestions.html

Or you can devise a list of your own questions.  Some folks do better with a prompt instead of a question.  For example, instead of asking "Where did you go to school?"  you may prompt for school information by stating, "It's almost back to school time, I'm interested in learning more about your school experiences."  

Try to avoid asking a lot of closed questions which are questions that have a specific short answer.  Asking for the interviewee's date and place of birth is important.  You would expect a few words to answer that query.  Asking "Do you remember the location of where you first lived as a child?" will give a response of either yes or no.  If the answer is "Yes" then you want the interviewee to elaborate and provide more information. 

Be cognizant of your interviewee - is he/she/they getting tired?  If so, end the interview and arrange to meet again later.  The length of the interview is determined by the interviewee.  The content of the interviewee provided information is determined by the interviewee.  If you ask about a topic that is uncomfortable for the interviewee - let it go. It is true you may never hear the individual tell you that "secret" information you are asking about.  That's hard, I know that from personal experience, but you must respect the interviewee.  If they are not ready to share it you must accept it.

I also recommend that you have tissues and water available.  Your interviewee or you may not need them but it's best to be prepared.

At the conclusion of the interview, end the recording by stating "This is the end of the interview with (insert the name of the individual) on (insert the date) at (insert the place).  If the information gets cut off at the beginning, you've got it at the end.  It also lets listeners know they have the complete interview.  

Sure, all of this sound fairly easy but there may be some kinks in your plans.  If you don't have a recorder or are not able to meet face to face with the interviewee, consider using aps for Zoom, Go To Meeting or Teams.  A video meeting can be scheduled and will record the interview.  That's a nice feature if you have permission to send other family members the recording - you will just need to send them the link of the recorded "meeting."  If you aren't familiar with one of the companies I linked to, you may know of another that hosts meetings.  I've used the three I mentioned and all are simple to use.  Check out their FAQ page to get started.  

If you would like the interview saved with the Library of Congress, another option for recording is using StoryCorps.  I have not personally used that program but think it is an awesome idea.  Recording are limited to 40 minutes. 

Lastly, don't forget you can interview yourself.  Your story is just as important as your family members.  Have I done that?  No, but it is on my to-do list.  Put it on yours, too.