Answer to Quiz 6/25/10

Here is the answer to the quiz posted on 6/25/10. Go back and check the question first to get the most out of this exercise.

It was the ill-fated 1890 census. That census was lost for the most part during a fire in 1921 in the basement of the Commerce Building in Washington D.C. About 25% was destroyed outright, and about 50% damaged by smoke and water. Not all of it was lost forever, however. Over the years apparently some fragments of that census have been found. These include pieces from Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and the District of Columbia. About 6000 names are included.

It is tragic for us to not have access to that census data, and doubly tragic given it’s unique approach to data recording. Rather than simply a recording of people who are residents of dwelling after dwelling included in one big list, this census devoted at least 1 separate page to each individual dwelling. Each page in turn had enough columns to record information on five residents of the dwelling. More pages were devoted to the dwelling if there were more than five people living there.

Stretch Your Mind (6/25/10)

Here is another quiz question for you. The answer will be posted on 6/28/10.

What census actually devoted an individual page to each dwelling visited, wherein the data for each person was recorded in an individual column for that person?

Podcast on Backups

Bill Puller does a podcast dealing the genealogy technology. His offering on 21 May 2010 deals with one of our favorite subject: backups of our digital genealogy data.

You can find Bill's podcast at http://gentechpodcast.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=341830#. Be sure your speakers are turned on, then just click on the small button the says "pod" located just to the left of the title for the episode. Don't be impatient...give it time to load before it starts.

Answer to Quiz on 6/18/10

Here are the answers to the questions posed on the 6/18/10 Blog entry. Go back and check the questions before you read the answers...or do you normally read the last chapter in a book first?

I was researching the 1900 US Federal Census.

The notation “Box” means that my ancestor was a veteran of the Boxer Rebellion.

There are a couple of reasons why being a veteran of that expedition is special. First, there were not many Americans who participated in that action…just about 3400. The next special thing is that while a service member could claim to be a veteran for any service anywhere during a war (such as the Spanish American War or World War (I)), he could only claim veteran status for participating in an expedition (Boxer Rebellion, Mexican Expedition, Philippine Insurrection) if he actually served in the area of operations.

PGS Members -- Footnote.com discount ends 30 June 2010

About ten days ago I authored a post similar to this one. I want to do it one more time to be sure that we did not overlook anyone who wants to take advantage of this subscription discount.

Some time ago we brokered an opportunity with the folks at Footnote.com: members of PGS could get an annual subscription to the site for only $39.95 rather than the usual price of $79.95. Now that's a great deal for this unique site!

That's the good news. The bad news is that the deal expires on 30 June 2010. I mention all of this in case you were considering taking advantage and forgot to, or you missed every advertisement we published about this event and are hearing it for the very first time.

In either event, to take advantage of the 50% price reduction email Bob Bryan (BBryan84@tampabay.rr.com), introduce yourself as a PGS member, and explain that you need the information for the Footnote discount. Bob will confirm your membership status and then send you a web address to use. Simply go to that page and follow the instructions and you've got it.

If you are already a Footnote.com subscriber and wish to extend your subscription for another year, follow the same procedure.

Once again, this opportunity disappears on 30 June, so act now if you want to sign up.

Using Music in a Unique Way

This comes from Genealogy Tip of the Day, published on 8 March 2010 at http://genealogytipoftheday.blogspot.com/ by Michael John Neill.

"If great-aunt Myrtle is having difficulty remembering things from her past, consider downloading or getting copies of music that was popular during the time period you are trying to get her to remember. Music may be the impetus to get her memories flowing."

Stretch Your Mind (6/18/10)

Here is another quiz question for you to consider (the answer will be posted on 6/22/10):

In doing some research in the US Census last week, I noted that one of my ancestors reported himself as a veteran and the word “Box” was in the space to indicate the war or expedition he served in.

Questions: What census was I researching? What does the notation “Box” mean? Why was his being a veteran so special in this case?

Genealogy Tip Reminds Us of "Browsing the Stacks" at Cyndislist

This from Genealogy Tip of the Day on 16 March 2010 at http://genealogytipoftheday.blogspot.com/ by Michael John Neill.

"Google searches are great, but sometimes it is nice to browse the virtual stacks.Cyndi at Cyndislist.com has been linking and categorizing websites for a decade. If you're stuck, needing a break, or needing to jumpstart your research, take a look at the links she has for your state or country of interest.There is certain to be something on Cyndislist you haven't seen before. It is just about like browsing the library stacks and making random finds."

Writer's Workshop Meets 22 June

The next meeting of the Family History Writer's Workshop is on Tuesday, 22 June at 6 pm at the Largo Public Library).

Any of you who have thought about formalizing your thoughts, memories, and research findings into a memoir, journal, book, or just the back of an envelope should consider attending this event. The workshop gives you a supportive environment in which to nurture your writing.

There is no attempt to make anyone a professional writer. This is simply a group of people with the common objective of wanting to capture parts of their family history in writing. Whether you are writing for publication, your family, or just yourself, participating will be of benefit.

The session is, as the name states, a WORKSHOP. That means that everyone participates, and actual writing is done during the event. It is not a passive class where you sit and listen to someone talk about writing...you actually do some writing...you learn by doing. Don't let this scare you off, however. The workshop is fun and the people are supportive, and you leave with a product that can contribute to your family history.

The Masonic Temple: A New Resource?

The Desert New recently published an article by Sharon Haddock about genealogy research she carried out in a Masonic Temple. You don't hear too much about that as a research destination, but after reading the article, you may consider it.

You can find Sharon's article at http://tinyurl.com/23b7j7n

PGS Members -- Act Now for Footnote.com Discount

Some time ago we brokered an opportunity with the folks at Footnote.com: members of PGS could get an annual subscription to the site for only $39.95 rather than the usual price of $79.95. Now that's a great deal for this unique site!

That's the good news. The bad news is that the deal expires on 30 June 2010. I mention all of this in case you were considering taking advantage and forgot to, or you missed every advertisement we published about this event and are hearing it for the very first time.

In either event, to take advantage of the 50% price reduction email Bob Bryan (BBryan84@tampabay.rr.com), introduce yourself as a PGS member, and explain that you need the information for the Footnote discount. Bob will confirm your membership status and then send you a web address to use. Simply go to that page and follow the instructions and you've got it.

If you are already a Footnote.com subscriber and wish to extend your subscription for another year, follow the same procedure.

Once again, this opportunity disappears on 30 June, so act now if you want to sign up.

PGS on Display

PGS was represented at two venues this past Tuesday, 8 May 2010. Lois Barros met some inquiring minds and told them about PGS activities at the Largo Library during the morning. In the afternoon, the display was moved to the grand opening of the Center for Aging at the Long Center at 1501 Belcher Rd, Clearwater. This was a standing-room-only event with over 300 people attending. There was a lot of interest expressed in genealogy and a lot of our literature was distributed. PGS will begin presenting some classes there in July and we expect this will be a very beneficial relationship for all concerned.

Library and Archives Canada Adds to Online Images

The Library and Archives Canada website recently digitized and made available on its website the 1919-1924 ocean arrivals documents.

The database is a bit difficult to use, but the resource is valuable regardless. There is some introductory material about how to use the database that you should read before you start to browse.

You can find the website at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-908.004-e.html

And you can read Dick Eastman's newsletter article about it at http://tinyurl.com/2fdn7wc

Answer to Quiz on 6/5/10

If you want to see the question for this answer, go back to the post on 6/5/10. (Of course, you could treat it like "Jeopardy" and come up with our own question that fits this answer.

I was using the 1900 US Federal Census. The reason I could get that specific about my ancestor’s birth date is that during that census, the month and year of birth was asked for each person recorded on the census. This was the only census year that age can be determined with that preciseness...at least for adults. Children born within a year of the effective date of the census have their ages typically reported in twelfths. That, of course, gives us their year and month of birth also.

Stretch Your Mind (6/5/10)

I thought it would be fun to sprinkle some quizzes for you to consider in this Blog. The process I’ll use is to ask the question in one post, and then in a later post, give the answer. The answer may be posted the next day, or it may be a bit later. I’m not going to do this all of the time, but every once in a while it may be fun, not to mention educational, to figure out the answers.

Here is the first question for you to consider. It’s an easy one to get warmed up.

We all know that we should take ages reported on the census with a healthy degree of skepticism. After all, age did not have the same importance to our ancestors as it has to us (to drive, to drink, to claim social security, etc), and so reporting it precisely may not have been given all that much thought. And of course once you have the age you have to do the math to figure out the birth year. However, one day while doing some census research I found an adult American ancestor whose birth year I had previously calculated variously as 1890, 1891, and 1892. But this time I arrived at the conclusion that his birth date was indeed 1890, and not only that, but it was in the month of February!

The question is: what census was I researching to get that information, and why was I able to get that specific?

Genealogy--per "The Onion"

Ready for a humorous look at genealogy? The Onion, an iconoclastic publication of monumental proportion gives us a couple things to chuckle about when it comes to our favorite obsession.

The disturbing part of the article is how close to truth some of the statements come.

Check it out at: http://www.theonion.com/articles/tracing-your-genealogy,8046/

Do You Like to Play With New Software

If you like to play around with new software, you might give Branches a try. It is a new genealogy software program, and Dick Eastman gave it a good review in his online newsletter (http://tinyurl.com/29u7fwh).

It costs money, of course, but you can download a trial version for 30 days, and the website has a video you can watch. The video is a short one and it doesn't give you much of an insight as to how the software works, but it does tantalize you with its user interface. It is that slick interface that Dick Eastman was most intrigued with. On the home page there are some buttons you can click on to see various screen shots...that will give you a better idea of how the program works.

Check it out at: http://www.branchesgenealogy.com/