SALT LAKE CITY—Recipients of the 2010 FamilySearch Software Awards were announced at the FamilySearch Developers Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. The 14 recipients were recognized for their outstanding and innovative work in advancing products and technologies that integrate with FamilySearch’s emerging suite of products and services.
The annual FamilySearch Software Awards has been established to encourage and recognize software development that benefits the growing demands and needs of family history consumers. “The awards formally recognize the software achievements of those developers and companies that are making important contributions to the family history and genealogy industry,” said Gordon Clarke, FamilySearch developer services product manager.
The Best New Product awards were given to applicants in different platform categories. Products with specific features deemed important to the growth of the industry received the Best New Feature award. Community Player awards recognized individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the software developer community.
The following recipients were announced and awards presented at the FamilySearch Developers Conference:
Best New Product Awards:
· The MagiKey for the “Best New Windows” product
· Arcalife for the “Best New Web site”
· MobileTree for “Best New Mobile” product
· FamilyInsight for “Best New Macintosh” product
Best New Feature Awards:
· OurFamilogy for “Best Research” feature
· SharingTime for “Best Collaboration” feature
· Genetree for “Best DNA” feature
· Ancestral Hunt for the “Best Geo-Mapping” feature
· FamilyPursuit for the “Best Groups” feature
· Photoloom for the “Best Media” feature
· FamilyChArtist for the “Best Print” feature
· AppleTree for the “Best Celebrity Tree” feature
Community Player Awards:
· Gaylon Finlay, Incline Software, “Bug Hunter” award
· Michael Booth and Bruce Buzbee, Roots Magic, “Trailblazer” award
FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patrons can access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Showing posts with label Software. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Software. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Ancestry.com Previews Mac Version of Family Tree Maker Software
No. 1 Selling Family Tree Software Planned for Mac Users By The End of the Year
PROVO, Utah, April 28, 2010 – Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family resource, today revealed a Mac® version of Family Tree Maker® at the 2010 National Genealogical Society Family History Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. The new version of the world’s No. 1 selling family history software is planned for release later this year.
“Every innovation or update we make is driven by what customers tell us they need to further their family history research,” said Eric Shoup, Senior Vice President of Product. “The Mac version of Family Tree Maker was the obvious next step forward to add to our family of Ancestry.com products and is a much anticipated product for our Mac-based customers.”
Family Tree Maker has helped users organize their family history research for more than 20 years. The software provides users the tools they need to build a family tree, record memories and organize photos, stories, videos and audio clips in a way that will help easily capture and share the story of their ancestors.
Family Tree Maker accesses the robust collection of family history records and powerful search features from Ancestry.com - without leaving the software. When connected to the Internet, Family Tree Maker automatically searches Ancestry.com for historical documents about the individuals in the user's family tree. Ancestry.com subscribers can easily view and import these historical records into their family tree with just a few mouse clicks.
Family Tree Maker 2010 is the current PC version of the software. The Mac version of Family Tree Maker will be built on the functionality of Family Tree Maker 2010 and constructed from the bottom up to take full advantage of the Mac platform in terms of technology and user experience.
Early this year, Ancestry.com expanded to another Apple® platform: the iPhone®. With the launch of its Tree To Go iPhone application in January 2010, Ancestry.com now gives users access to generations of family history at every turn. From their iPhone, users can easily upload photos, update sources and edit trees. The Tree To Go iPhone application is available for iPhone and iPod touch® for free through the iPhone App Store or iTunes®.
Ancestry.com also announced today the launch of its new Ancestry.com Wiki. This wiki will feature a living version of the company’s two largest reference books, The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy and Red Book: American State, County and Town Sources. These books, which are exhaustive guides to American genealogy, will now be made available for the family history community to update, expand on and even add to, making it a go-to resource for guidance and information. The beta version of the Ancestry.com Wiki is available to the public for free at www.ancestry.com/wiki.
About Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOM) is the world's largest online family history resource, with more than one million paying subscribers. The company has digitized and put online more than 4 billion records over the past 13 years. Ancestry users have created over 14 million family trees containing nearly 1.5 billion profiles. Ancestry.com has local Web sites directed at nine countries, including its flagship Web site at www.ancestry.com.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Frugal Genealogy: Software
Last week, we addressed how you can check out genealogy subscription websites for free. Similarly, you can also check out quality genealogy software! Besides the typical database software in which you enter your family tree, there are other types of software that can be helpful in your research. Here are some of the major brands who offer limited trial or freebie versions, listed in alphabetical order. All products are for PCs, unless noted.
Clooz (genealogy file organizing software) - limited 30-day or 15-tries trial
Family Reunion Organizer (planning software) - limited trial
Family Tree Builder (database software - free)
Family Tree Maker (database software) - Starter Edition (free)
GenBox (database software) - limited 30-day trial
GenSmarts (analyzes your database software and gives research recommendations) - limited trial
Legacy Family Tree (database software) - Standard Edition (free)
Master Genealogist (database software) - limited trial
Personal Historian (personal and family history writing software) - limited trial
Reunion for Macintosh (database software) - limited 30-day trial
RootsMagic (database software) - RootsMagic Essentials (free)
This post is part of a ten-part series on Frugal Genealogy, based on my most-requested presentation, "Frugal Genealogy, or How Not to Spend a Fortune on Your Family Tree." Each post in this series will focus on one of ten topics I discuss in my presentation, and I freely share one tip from each topic. If you would like me to speak to your group anywhere in the Pacific Northwest on this or any other subject, please contact me.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
RootsMagic Releases Free Genealogy and Family Tree Software
As a enthusiastic RootsMagic user, I was excited to receive this press release!
SPRINGVILLE, Utah. — November 18, 2009 — RootsMagic, Inc. announced the immediate availability of RootsMagic Essentials, free desktop genealogy software based on their award-winning RootsMagic 4 system. RootsMagic Essentials contains many core features found in its namesake that allow the public to easily start tracing their family trees.
Essential Features for Everyone
“Many of our users have told us that they have friends and family members who are interested in getting started in family history but aren’t ready to invest in a more comprehensive package like RootsMagic,” said Bruce Buzbee, president. “RootsMagic Essentials gives them the features they need to start researching and recording their family tree at a price that can’t be beat—free!”
RootsMagic Essentials shares many of the same features with the full RootsMagic software including clean and friendly screens, the ability to add an unlimited number of people and events, pictures and media management, the SourceWizard to write your source citations for you, powerful merging and clean-up tools, dozens of reports and charts, support for international character sets, FamilySearch integration, and the ability to share data with other people and software programs. The full version of RootsMagic is available for purchase and includes features not available in RootsMagic Essentials.
Free and Available Now
RootsMagic Essentials is available now for free at http://www.rootsmagic.com. Users of other genealogy software products will find it easy to experiment with RootsMagic Essentials using their own data. RootsMagic Essentials can directly import data from PAF, Family Tree Maker (through 2006), Family Origins, and Legacy Family Tree. It can also read and write data using the popular GEDCOM format.
"We're excited to make RootsMagic Essentials available to the community," said Michael Booth, vice-president. "Our mission is to provide 'software to unite families' and our hope is that RootsMagic Essentials will encourage more people to record their family trees and connect with their family histories".
About RootsMagic, Inc.
For over 20 years, RootsMagic, Inc. has been creating computer software with a special purpose—to unite families. One of our earliest products- the popular "Family Origins" software, introduced thousands of people to the joy and excitement of family history.
That tradition continues today with "RootsMagic", our award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history fun and easy. "Personal Historian" will help you easily write and preserve your life stories. "Family Reunion Organizer" takes the headaches out of planning those important get-togethers. And "Family Atlas" creates beautiful and educational geographic maps of your family history.
For more information, visit http://www.rootsmagic.com.
Source: RootsMagic, Inc.
"RootsMagic Essentials" Brings Free Tools for Family History
SPRINGVILLE, Utah. — November 18, 2009 — RootsMagic, Inc. announced the immediate availability of RootsMagic Essentials, free desktop genealogy software based on their award-winning RootsMagic 4 system. RootsMagic Essentials contains many core features found in its namesake that allow the public to easily start tracing their family trees.
Essential Features for Everyone
“Many of our users have told us that they have friends and family members who are interested in getting started in family history but aren’t ready to invest in a more comprehensive package like RootsMagic,” said Bruce Buzbee, president. “RootsMagic Essentials gives them the features they need to start researching and recording their family tree at a price that can’t be beat—free!”
RootsMagic Essentials shares many of the same features with the full RootsMagic software including clean and friendly screens, the ability to add an unlimited number of people and events, pictures and media management, the SourceWizard to write your source citations for you, powerful merging and clean-up tools, dozens of reports and charts, support for international character sets, FamilySearch integration, and the ability to share data with other people and software programs. The full version of RootsMagic is available for purchase and includes features not available in RootsMagic Essentials.
Free and Available Now
RootsMagic Essentials is available now for free at http://www.rootsmagic.com. Users of other genealogy software products will find it easy to experiment with RootsMagic Essentials using their own data. RootsMagic Essentials can directly import data from PAF, Family Tree Maker (through 2006), Family Origins, and Legacy Family Tree. It can also read and write data using the popular GEDCOM format.
"We're excited to make RootsMagic Essentials available to the community," said Michael Booth, vice-president. "Our mission is to provide 'software to unite families' and our hope is that RootsMagic Essentials will encourage more people to record their family trees and connect with their family histories".
About RootsMagic, Inc.
For over 20 years, RootsMagic, Inc. has been creating computer software with a special purpose—to unite families. One of our earliest products- the popular "Family Origins" software, introduced thousands of people to the joy and excitement of family history.
That tradition continues today with "RootsMagic", our award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history fun and easy. "Personal Historian" will help you easily write and preserve your life stories. "Family Reunion Organizer" takes the headaches out of planning those important get-togethers. And "Family Atlas" creates beautiful and educational geographic maps of your family history.
For more information, visit http://www.rootsmagic.com.
Source: RootsMagic, Inc.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
New Ancestry.com Family Tree Maker 2010 Software Adds New Storytelling and Organizational Tools
No. 1 Selling Family Tree Software Continues To Offer Users Online Integration with Ancestry.com and Other Web Resources Including Microsoft® Bing™ Maps
PROVO, Utah, August 19, 2009 -- Ancestry.com, the world's largest online resource for family history, today announced the release of Ancestry.com Family Tree Maker 2010, a new and improved version of the world's No. 1 selling family history software.
Family Tree Maker 2010 provides users the tools they need to build their family tree, record their memories and organize their family photos, stories, videos and audio clips in a way that will help them easily capture and share the story of their ancestors.
Additionally, this new software provides unique ways to view your family history. Users can now track the migration paths of a person and their family through time, by mapping event locations with Microsoft® Bing™ Maps. They can also view relationships between any two people in their family tree by using the improved relationship calculator and create family books made from information and photos from their tree.
Users can also utilize the robust collection of family history records on Ancestry.com and powerful search features - without leaving Family Tree Maker. When connected to the Internet, Family Tree Maker 2010 automatically searches Ancestry.com for historical documents about the individuals in the user's family tree. With a few mouse clicks, users with an Ancestry.com subscription can view and import these historical records into their family tree.
“In the last 20 years, Family Tree Maker has always made it easy to discover your story, preserve your legacy and share your unique heritage as you explore your family tree on your personal computer,” said Andrew Wait, Senior Vice President and General Manager, U.S., Ancestry.com. “Now Family Tree Maker 2010 introduces even richer storytelling and organizational tools that can add new life to your family history.”
What’s New in Ancestry.com Family Tree Maker 2010?
The following new and improved features expand Family Tree Maker's capabilities:
· Improved integration with Ancestry.com – Easily download your Ancestry.com family tree, including photos and stories, directly into Family Tree Maker 2010.
· New and improved charts and reports – Tell a richer family story with numerous improvements to charts and reports including a new timeline report, improved family group sheet and genealogy reports.
· Better ways to organize photos and other media – Easier and faster ways to add, link and categorize photos and files in bulk.
· Photo Slideshows – Create and share slideshows based on images included within your family tree. Slideshows can also be exported to share with others.
· Family books made from your tree – Create a book about your family history to share with friends and family.
· Standard source templates – Cite the right information in your records with access to powerful sourcing tools that let you document and rate each citation.
· Robust relationship calculator – Quickly calculate the relationships between any two people in your tree.
· Scanner support – Add photos to your tree directly from your scanner and organize them into categories at the same time.
· Extended family birthday calendars – Easily create and share calendars that show family birthdays and anniversaries.
· Extensive geographical migrations – View a person or family timeline with event locations, like births, marriages, residences and death, mapped geographically to show migration paths you can follow through time.
· Improved performance – faster load times and quicker performance across the application.
We have built Family Tree Maker 2010 with our broad range of users in mind. The software spans the range of user ability with an easy-to-use interface that also offers advanced, robust features for even the most experienced genealogist.
“It seems that Family Tree Maker 2010 is much more intuitive and user-friendly,” said Robert Tenuta, Family Tree Maker user in Orland Park, IL. “The enhancements and updates are outstanding and up-to-date. The expansion of the charts and reports are great, too.”
Family Tree Maker 2010 is now available to purchase online at http://www.familytreemaker.com starting at $39.95. The program is also set to be released in select retail stores.
* Internet access required for Microsoft Bing Maps and other Web integration.
About Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com is the world's largest online resource for family history and has digitized and put online over 4 billion records over the past twelve years. Ancestry users have created over ten million family trees containing over one billion profiles. Ancestry.com has local Web sites directed at nine countries, and more than 8 million unique visitors spent more than 5 million hours on an Ancestry Web site in May 2009 (comScore Media Metrix, Worldwide). For more information on Ancestry.com and its other family history resources, visit http://corporate.ancestry.com.
Web sites: http://www.ancestry.com/
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
RootsMagic 4 Family Tree Software Officially Released
Latest Version of Leading Genealogy Software Now Available to the Public
SPRINGVILLE, Utah. - March 25, 2009 - RootsMagic, Inc. today announced the official release of RootsMagic 4, the latest version of the award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history easy and enjoyable. With the release comes a free trial version of the software as well as a discount offer for owners of other software products.
Impressive New Features
"RootsMagic 4 is the biggest release in our 20-year history of making genealogy software," said Bruce Buzbee, president. "We've updated RootsMagic to work with the latest genealogical technologies available today, while staying true to our mission to make family history easy, accessible, and fun."
RootsMagic 4 boasts an impressive list of new features including integrated web search, improved SourceWizard for citing sources, sharing events among multiple persons, creating pre-defined groups of persons, person and place mapping, recording DNA tests, and improved navigation and data entry. RootsMagic 4 is also one of the only desktop genealogy programs certified to work with New FamilySearch.
Freeing Your Data
"A common request that we hear from people is that they don't want their data to be trapped in their computer," said Michael Booth, vice-president of development. "One of the most popular features in RootsMagic 3 is our Shareable CD which puts your data and pictures onto a CD or DVD along with a special copy of RootsMagic. You can then give the discs to family and friends and they don't have to buy or install anything. It's all there on the disc."
"We've taken that a step further in RootsMagic 4," explains Booth. "One unique and exciting new feature is RootsMagic To-Go. It allows you to install RootsMagic onto a USB drive and transfer data between it and your computer. This gives you the freedom to take RootsMagic and your data wherever you go--to work, on vacation, to the library--anywhere."
Free Trial
A free trial version of RootsMagic 4 is available at http://www.rootsmagic.com. The trial version allows a person to import their data, add information, and play with RootsMagic's major features without any time limitation. "We're so excited about this new release, we wanted to give everyone a risk-free option to try it for themselves," said Buzbee.
Users of other genealogy software products will find it easy to experiment with RootsMagic 4 using their own data. RootsMagic can directly import data from PAF, Family Tree Maker (through 2006), Family Origins, and Legacy Family Tree. It can also read data using the popular GEDCOM format.
Pricing
RootsMagic 4 is available for only $29.95. Existing RootsMagic and Family Origins users may upgrade for only $19.95.
Discount Offer
For the first time in company history, users of other genealogy software programs can receive a competitive upgrade discount. Through May 31, 2009, users of Personal Ancestral File (PAF), Family Tree Maker, Legacy Family Tree, or The Master Genealogist may purchase RootsMagic 4 for only $19.95, saving $10 off of the regular price.
More information about the competitive upgrade can be found at http://www.rootsmagic.com/upgrade.
About RootsMagic, Inc.
For over 20 years, RootsMagic, Inc. has been creating computer software with a special purpose--to unite families. One of our earliest products--the popular Family Origins software--introduced thousands of people to the joy and excitement of family history.
That tradition continues today with RootsMagic, our award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history fun and easy. Personal Historian will help you easily write and preserve your life stories. Family Reunion Organizer takes the headaches out of planning those important get-togethers. And Family Atlas creates beautiful and educational geographic maps of your family history.
For more information, http://www.rootsmagic.com.
Source: RootsMagic, Inc.
SPRINGVILLE, Utah. - March 25, 2009 - RootsMagic, Inc. today announced the official release of RootsMagic 4, the latest version of the award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history easy and enjoyable. With the release comes a free trial version of the software as well as a discount offer for owners of other software products.
Impressive New Features
"RootsMagic 4 is the biggest release in our 20-year history of making genealogy software," said Bruce Buzbee, president. "We've updated RootsMagic to work with the latest genealogical technologies available today, while staying true to our mission to make family history easy, accessible, and fun."
RootsMagic 4 boasts an impressive list of new features including integrated web search, improved SourceWizard for citing sources, sharing events among multiple persons, creating pre-defined groups of persons, person and place mapping, recording DNA tests, and improved navigation and data entry. RootsMagic 4 is also one of the only desktop genealogy programs certified to work with New FamilySearch.
Freeing Your Data
"A common request that we hear from people is that they don't want their data to be trapped in their computer," said Michael Booth, vice-president of development. "One of the most popular features in RootsMagic 3 is our Shareable CD which puts your data and pictures onto a CD or DVD along with a special copy of RootsMagic. You can then give the discs to family and friends and they don't have to buy or install anything. It's all there on the disc."
"We've taken that a step further in RootsMagic 4," explains Booth. "One unique and exciting new feature is RootsMagic To-Go. It allows you to install RootsMagic onto a USB drive and transfer data between it and your computer. This gives you the freedom to take RootsMagic and your data wherever you go--to work, on vacation, to the library--anywhere."
Free Trial
A free trial version of RootsMagic 4 is available at http://www.rootsmagic.com. The trial version allows a person to import their data, add information, and play with RootsMagic's major features without any time limitation. "We're so excited about this new release, we wanted to give everyone a risk-free option to try it for themselves," said Buzbee.
Users of other genealogy software products will find it easy to experiment with RootsMagic 4 using their own data. RootsMagic can directly import data from PAF, Family Tree Maker (through 2006), Family Origins, and Legacy Family Tree. It can also read data using the popular GEDCOM format.
Pricing
RootsMagic 4 is available for only $29.95. Existing RootsMagic and Family Origins users may upgrade for only $19.95.
Discount Offer
For the first time in company history, users of other genealogy software programs can receive a competitive upgrade discount. Through May 31, 2009, users of Personal Ancestral File (PAF), Family Tree Maker, Legacy Family Tree, or The Master Genealogist may purchase RootsMagic 4 for only $19.95, saving $10 off of the regular price.
More information about the competitive upgrade can be found at http://www.rootsmagic.com/upgrade.
About RootsMagic, Inc.
For over 20 years, RootsMagic, Inc. has been creating computer software with a special purpose--to unite families. One of our earliest products--the popular Family Origins software--introduced thousands of people to the joy and excitement of family history.
That tradition continues today with RootsMagic, our award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history fun and easy. Personal Historian will help you easily write and preserve your life stories. Family Reunion Organizer takes the headaches out of planning those important get-togethers. And Family Atlas creates beautiful and educational geographic maps of your family history.
For more information, http://www.rootsmagic.com.
Source: RootsMagic, Inc.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
RootsMagic Invites Public to Preview Family Tree Software
Free Preview of Leading Genealogy Software Now Available to the Public
SPRINGVILLE, Utah. — March 4, 2009 — RootsMagic, Inc. today announced RootsMagic 4 public beta, the latest version of the award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history easy and enjoyable. During the public beta period, all are invited to download and experience the software, free of charge.
Impressive New Features
“RootsMagic 4 is the biggest release in our 20-year history of making genealogy software,” said Bruce Buzbee, president. “We’ve updated RootsMagic to work with the latest genealogical technologies available today, while staying true to our mission to make family history easy, accessible, and fun.”
RootsMagic 4 boasts an impressive list of new features including integrated web search, improved SourceWizard for citing sources, sharing events among multiple persons, creating pre-defined groups of persons, person and place mapping, recording DNA tests, and improved navigation and data entry. RootsMagic 4 is also one of the only desktop genealogy programs certified to work with “New FamilySearch”.
Freeing Your Data
“A common request that we hear from people is that they don’t want their data to be trapped in their computer,” said Michael Booth, vice-president of development. “One of the most popular features in RootsMagic 3 is our ‘Shareable CD’ which puts your data and pictures onto a CD or DVD along with a special copy of RootsMagic. You can then give the discs to family and friends and they don’t have to buy or install anything. It’s all there on the disc.”
“We’ve taken that a step further in RootsMagic 4,” explains Booth. “One unique and exciting new feature is ‘RootsMagic To-Go’. It allows you to install RootsMagic onto a USB drive and transfer data between it and your computer. This gives you the freedom to take RootsMagic and your data wherever you go- to work, on vacation, to the library- anywhere.”
Free and Available Now
RootsMagic 4 beta is available now for free at http://www.rootsmagic.com/preview. “We’re so excited about this new release, we wanted to give everyone a risk-free option to try it for themselves,” said Buzbee. Each person who wishes to participate will be given a registration key which will allow them to download and experience the software for the duration of the public beta period.
Users of other genealogy software products will find it easy to experiment with RootsMagic 4 using their own data. RootsMagic can directly import data from PAF, Family Tree Maker (through 2006), Family Origins, and Legacy Family Tree. It can also read and write data using the popular GEDCOM format.
The public beta also gives users the chance to give feedback and suggestions to improve the software. “Customer feedback is essential to us. All of the changes and improvements in RootsMagic 4 are in direct response to needs and desires expressed by our users,” said Booth. Buzbee added, “We’ve already received invaluable comments and suggestions from the early testers and we’re looking forward to hearing from the general public.”
About RootsMagic, Inc.
For over 20 years, RootsMagic, Inc. has been creating computer software with a special purpose- to unite families. One of our earliest products- the popular “Family Origins” software, introduced thousands of people to the joy and excitement of family history.
That tradition continues today with “RootsMagic”, our award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history fun and easy. “Personal Historian” will help you easily write and preserve your life stories. “Family Reunion Organizer” takes the headaches out of planning those important get-togethers. And “Family Atlas” creates beautiful and educational geographic maps of your family history.
For more information, visit www.rootsmagic.com.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
A Chance to Preview RootsMagic 4
From the latest RootsMagic Newsletter:
Do You Want to Play with a Preview Copy of RootsMagic 4?
Are you one of those users who wants to play with RootsMagic 4 before we actually release it? Well, now is your chance.
In mid-December we will begin a "community preview" of RootsMagic 4. This preview will be open to those current RootsMagic users who wish to try out a pre-release copy of RootsMagic. Keep in mind that the preview version could (I mean "will") still have bugs in it, and shouldn't be used for your real data.
But if you want a chance to play around with version 4, sign up for the preview at:
http://www.rootsmagic.com/preview
Fill out the information so we can verify that you are a current RootsMagic user and you will be notified when the community preview becomes available.
Do You Want to Play with a Preview Copy of RootsMagic 4?
Are you one of those users who wants to play with RootsMagic 4 before we actually release it? Well, now is your chance.
In mid-December we will begin a "community preview" of RootsMagic 4. This preview will be open to those current RootsMagic users who wish to try out a pre-release copy of RootsMagic. Keep in mind that the preview version could (I mean "will") still have bugs in it, and shouldn't be used for your real data.
But if you want a chance to play around with version 4, sign up for the preview at:
http://www.rootsmagic.com/
Fill out the information so we can verify that you are a current RootsMagic user and you will be notified when the community preview becomes available.
Holiday Deal: RootsMagic's Biggest Holiday Offer Ever
With the holidays coming up, we often get requests from our users about buying copies of RootsMagic to give as gifts to their family or friends. And this year the requests have really come in asking whether the new version 4 will be ready in time for Christmas. Well, there's bad news and there's good news.
Despite working 16 hour days trying to get RM4 out in time for Christmas, it looks like it probably won't be ready in time.
BUT... here is this year's 5th Annual Holiday Offer (with a special twist).
In what has become something of a tradition, RootsMagic owners can buy gift copies of RootsMagic, Personal Historian, or Family Atlas at our $19.95 upgrade price. There is no limit on the number of discounted copies you can buy during this limited time offer which will expire December 19, 2008. You will receive the full program as well as a registration card for each copy
you order.
And here is the special twist... every gift copy of RootsMagic 3 that you buy through this special offer will come with a free download upgrade to version 4 when it is released. So you will be giving version 3 now, with a free download of version 4 as soon as it is released.
PLUS! We are adding an offer we have never made before. In addition to the $19.95 special price, you can also order our RootsMagic Family History Suite (which includes RootsMagic, Personal Historian, and Family Atlas) for just $49.95 (that's $90 worth of software).
To take advantage of this offer, just visit:
http://www.rootsmagic.com/holidayoffer
or order by phone at 1-800-ROOTSMAGIC (1-800-766-8762).
Despite working 16 hour days trying to get RM4 out in time for Christmas, it looks like it probably won't be ready in time.
BUT... here is this year's 5th Annual Holiday Offer (with a special twist).
In what has become something of a tradition, RootsMagic owners can buy gift copies of RootsMagic, Personal Historian, or Family Atlas at our $19.95 upgrade price. There is no limit on the number of discounted copies you can buy during this limited time offer which will expire December 19, 2008. You will receive the full program as well as a registration card for each copy
you order.
And here is the special twist... every gift copy of RootsMagic 3 that you buy through this special offer will come with a free download upgrade to version 4 when it is released. So you will be giving version 3 now, with a free download of version 4 as soon as it is released.
PLUS! We are adding an offer we have never made before. In addition to the $19.95 special price, you can also order our RootsMagic Family History Suite (which includes RootsMagic, Personal Historian, and Family Atlas) for just $49.95 (that's $90 worth of software).
To take advantage of this offer, just visit:
http://www.rootsmagic.com/
or order by phone at 1-800-ROOTSMAGIC (1-800-766-8762).
Monday, October 27, 2008
itsourtree.com Releases Free Family Tree Software
Hamburg, October 27, 2008 – Users have to pay up to 84 USD for family tree software at Amazon.com. However, today the family social network itsourtree.com has released its desktop software called “Home Edition.” The software to build a family tree can be downloaded for free at www.itsourtree.com/home-edition.
The software enables users to edit and create a family tree on their own PC. If desired, they can then upload it to itsourtree.com and share it with relatives and friends. The Home Edition offers state-of-the-art usability and technology at no cost. Besides operating in the standard GEDCOM format the software also allows the printing of various familial lists in an appropriate genealogical standard.
Itsourtree.com co-founder Sven Schmidt states: “Like Google’s strategy of turning the expensive Keyhole software into the free Google Earth, we decided to offer a software that is usually pricy for free.” Co-founder Daniel Groezinger adds: “This is a ‘thank you’ for all the support we have got from our users. This also extends our internet strategy of offering top quality at no cost.”
Itsourtree.com, the fastest-growing family network worldwide, is a strong complementary to other genealogical resources. So far, more than 5 million families use the platform to combine genealogy with the fun of family communications.
About itsourtree.com
Apart from the English site, the services are available in Germany (www.verwandt.de), in Poland (www.moikrewni.pl), Spain and South America (www.miparentela.com), Portugal (www.meusparentes.com.pt), Brazil (www.meusparentes.com.br), the Netherlands (www.verwant.nl), Italy (www.parentistretti.it) and France (www.familleunie.fr). The platform will continue expanding to other European countries as well as worldwide. Itsourtree.com is supported by leading Business Angels, Hasso Plattner Ventures and Neuhaus Partners, a well-known venture capitalist.
The software enables users to edit and create a family tree on their own PC. If desired, they can then upload it to itsourtree.com and share it with relatives and friends. The Home Edition offers state-of-the-art usability and technology at no cost. Besides operating in the standard GEDCOM format the software also allows the printing of various familial lists in an appropriate genealogical standard.
Itsourtree.com co-founder Sven Schmidt states: “Like Google’s strategy of turning the expensive Keyhole software into the free Google Earth, we decided to offer a software that is usually pricy for free.” Co-founder Daniel Groezinger adds: “This is a ‘thank you’ for all the support we have got from our users. This also extends our internet strategy of offering top quality at no cost.”
Itsourtree.com, the fastest-growing family network worldwide, is a strong complementary to other genealogical resources. So far, more than 5 million families use the platform to combine genealogy with the fun of family communications.
About itsourtree.com
Apart from the English site, the services are available in Germany (www.verwandt.de), in Poland (www.moikrewni.pl), Spain and South America (www.miparentela.com), Portugal (www.meusparentes.com.pt), Brazil (www.meusparentes.com.br), the Netherlands (www.verwant.nl), Italy (www.parentistretti.it) and France (www.familleunie.fr). The platform will continue expanding to other European countries as well as worldwide. Itsourtree.com is supported by leading Business Angels, Hasso Plattner Ventures and Neuhaus Partners, a well-known venture capitalist.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
RootsMagic Has a Blog
If you're a fan of RootsMagic software (as I am), you'll be pleased to know that president Bruce Buzbee has begun the RootsMagic blog. Regular readers of genealogy blogs will understand the significance of Bruce's first post, "The RootsMagic 'Insider'," as a play on words regarding a certain genealogy subscription website's blog. In this post, Bruce announces that RootsMagic 4 is "rumored" to be released soon. I'm very excited to hear confirmation of this rumor (I've been hearing about it for a while), and can't wait to purchase the latest version.
I've blogged before about how I used FamilyOrigins for years (my dad found me a copy somewhere), and refused to switch to any other software even after the company went out of business, feeling it was superior to everything else that was being offered. One software company tried to advertise that their software was the "upgrade" from FamilyOrigins simply because they had bought out FamilyOrigins. I wasn't fooled. When RootsMagic started up and took the original FamilyOrigins program and worked to improve and upgrade it, I was sold. They kept all that was good about FamilyOrigins and endeavored to make it the best and easiest-to-use family tree software available on the market, for a reasonable price. Unlike another genealogy software company that shall remain nameless, they don't pump out a new version every one to two years "just because."
Throughout the last couple of years on my blog, I've mentioned how much I love RootsMagic and how wonderful the source wizard is at creating quality citations. It's software I recommend each and every time to all my Online Genealogy students or whenever I'm asked when I'm speaking at a genealogical society. I've seen a number of genealogy bloggers become sold on this software, too, Ruth of Bluebonnet Country Genealogy being the latest.
Even if you're not a RootsMagic user, I hope you'll become a reader of the RootsMagic blog. You'll be sure to learn a lot about the way this software works, as well as upcoming features in the new version, during the next few posts.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Minor Update Available for RootsMagic Software
As a RootsMagic family tree software user, I received an e-mail today with a notification about a minor update:
I absolutely love RootsMagic, and always recommend it to others looking for quality genealogy software, whether in my genealogy society or the classes I teach! You can download a free trial version in which you can input up to 50 names here. To find other posts in which I mention how I use RootsMagic in my research, click on the category "software" in the right-hand sidebar.
A free minor RootsMagic update has been posted for download. The 3.2.5 update provides an updated help file for the charting part of RootsMagic which works under Vista. We have also added World Vital Records to the internet search feature of RootsMagic (Search > Internet Search). We will be talking more about World Vital Records in upcoming newsletters.
You can download the latest update at:
http://www.rootsmagic.com/updates/
I absolutely love RootsMagic, and always recommend it to others looking for quality genealogy software, whether in my genealogy society or the classes I teach! You can download a free trial version in which you can input up to 50 names here. To find other posts in which I mention how I use RootsMagic in my research, click on the category "software" in the right-hand sidebar.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Filling in the Holes in My Robbins Family Tree
I mentioned in my last two blogs that I took my laptop with me on my camping trip, and used some of my downtime to input information from my hard files into my database, citing my sources along the way. It was good use of my time, because I didn't have Internet access to distract me from jumping back and forth between inputting data and looking up more records online (I tend to multitask all too often and am quickly distracted). Instead, I added many items to my To-do Lists, which are easily created for each individual in my RootsMagic software. Many of these were reminders to check online vital records indexes, especially for the states of Texas and Florida. A little lightbulb went off in my head when I realized that I had been mistakenly thinking of my Robbins family as Michiganders, instead of as Texans and Floridians. Yes, many of them were born and raised in Michigan, but my paternal grandfather's sisters and one of his brothers moved to Texas as adults, and his other brother moved to Florida. Also, my uncle's (dad's brother) first wife and their children moved to Florida after their divorce. So I had many names of aunts, uncles, and cousins to look up in databases at Ancestry.com.
Last night and today I have been visiting these databases, aided by Joe Beine's excellent Death Indexes Online and Online Genealogy Records and Resources for quick entrance to the desired online indexes. I'm also using Ancestry's US Public Records Index and US Phone and Address Directories, 1993 - 2002 to find recent addresses for my relatives. I've added quite a bit to my Robbins family tree using the above resources (citing them as I go!), along with photo captions and obituaries found in the scanned pages of my Grandaunt Joyce's scrapbook, which I recently received, and which has been the fount of recent posts on my Great-grandfather Robbins' service in the American North Russian Expeditionary Forces.
I used to be frustrated because I have been brickwalled on my Robbins ancestry at my 4th-great-grandfather, Joseph Josiah Robbins (1820 - 1905), while on many of my other lines, I've been able to zip right back into colonial America or cross the pond to Northern Europe. It has seemed strange that my maiden surname's line suddenly deadends after just a few generations back. But I realized that I really do have a wealth of information on my Robbins family, and in order to break down my brick wall, I need to invest in the time it will take to print up, download, scan, input and cite all the many documents and resources I do have. I've been fairly neglectful in attending to the details of this family, either assuming that I already know everything there is to discover, or being frustrated at the dearth of accessible records for those things I lack information on. Two of the strategies that professional researchers insist work well for breaking down our brick walls include going over and analyzing all the information one already has to discover new clues and determine what information is missing; and researching the collateral lines thoroughly. I'm hoping that my methodical steps will unearth some leads to tearing down my brick wall.
Last night and today I have been visiting these databases, aided by Joe Beine's excellent Death Indexes Online and Online Genealogy Records and Resources for quick entrance to the desired online indexes. I'm also using Ancestry's US Public Records Index and US Phone and Address Directories, 1993 - 2002 to find recent addresses for my relatives. I've added quite a bit to my Robbins family tree using the above resources (citing them as I go!), along with photo captions and obituaries found in the scanned pages of my Grandaunt Joyce's scrapbook, which I recently received, and which has been the fount of recent posts on my Great-grandfather Robbins' service in the American North Russian Expeditionary Forces.
I used to be frustrated because I have been brickwalled on my Robbins ancestry at my 4th-great-grandfather, Joseph Josiah Robbins (1820 - 1905), while on many of my other lines, I've been able to zip right back into colonial America or cross the pond to Northern Europe. It has seemed strange that my maiden surname's line suddenly deadends after just a few generations back. But I realized that I really do have a wealth of information on my Robbins family, and in order to break down my brick wall, I need to invest in the time it will take to print up, download, scan, input and cite all the many documents and resources I do have. I've been fairly neglectful in attending to the details of this family, either assuming that I already know everything there is to discover, or being frustrated at the dearth of accessible records for those things I lack information on. Two of the strategies that professional researchers insist work well for breaking down our brick walls include going over and analyzing all the information one already has to discover new clues and determine what information is missing; and researching the collateral lines thoroughly. I'm hoping that my methodical steps will unearth some leads to tearing down my brick wall.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
More Genealogy on Spokane's South Hill
The route across town, down the North Hill, across the Spokane River, then up the steep South Hill and onto the edges of the Palouse (puh-LOOSE) Prairie, is becoming more and more familiar to me--all six miles of stop-and-go 20- and 30-mph traffic--as I take my son to meet his online math course teacher several times a week. Neither of us are morning people, so we chug down our caffeinated cold drinks to prepare our brains for work. My work is likely much more fun than his, given that he's doing school work during summer vacation, and I am indulging myself in my passion of genealogy.
Two-and-a-half weeks ago, I stopped by the Southside Family History Center to check out their facility and see what kinds of materials they have on permanent loan from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. I reported at the end of that week that I hadn't seen a microfilm printer/scanner hooked up to a computer station; when I showed up the next Tuesday, I realized that in my busyness to look through the materials and chat with the volunteers I somehow had missed the equipment set up off in a corner of the room! Going through my list of interesting possibilities in microfilmed Ontario records where my ancestors had once lived, I decided to check out "Index to Whitchurch Township residents as shown in directories and census, 1837-1891" from York County, where my WILKINSON family appears in the 1871 and 1881 Canadian Censuses. The microfiche contained a combination of extracted township directories and census indexes. I kept an eye out for any references to the LAMOREAUX and TERRY families, looking for a possible connection to Mary (LAMOREAUX or TERRY) WILKINSON, my 4th-great-grandmother, as well as for collateral lines marrying into this family.
None of my WILKINSONs showed up in Whitchurch Township until 1871; my Richard (4th-great-grandfather), married to Mary above, appears in both the 1871 and 1881 census indexes (not new information for me). However, Moses TERRY showed up in the 1837 and 1846-7 directories, Jacob and the Widow TERRY showed up in the 1850-1 directory, and various other TERRYs appeared in the 1861, 1871, and 1891 censuses. No LAMOREAUXs appeared at all. The collateral line searches didn't turn up much of anything, except for information of which I was already aware. I scanned and saved the pertinent images to my flash drive, and vowed to return the next day to look at more Ontario records.
My research attempts on Wednesday were dampened by the fact that the printer/scanner was down. It was just as well, because my search in early Ontario birth records ("Births, stillbirths, and delayed registrations with indexes 1869 - 1910") yielded nothing new. Using my RootsMagic program on my laptop, I did a Find search looking for births for each year for each Ontario county. Most of the names that turned up in my database search were very distant relatives to my ancestors, and none were found in the records I looked viewed.
The following week, I again brought my laptop with me and instead of visiting the Family History Center, stayed in the classroom with my son and spent three hours citing sources in my RootsMagic program of recent records I found; specifically, city/county directory listings for my various Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan families, and military records for my paternal grandfather, Robert Lewis ROBBINS. This takes such an incredible amount of time to do correctly, even with RootsMagic's Source Wizard! The benefits, besides knowing I'm doing the right thing by correctly citing my sources, are that it does slow me down and I automatically start analyzing and synthesizing my data. I notice gaps in my information, or start wondering about certain things and come up with lists of records I could next research to find more resources. Say, this isn't so bad after all!
Two-and-a-half weeks ago, I stopped by the Southside Family History Center to check out their facility and see what kinds of materials they have on permanent loan from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. I reported at the end of that week that I hadn't seen a microfilm printer/scanner hooked up to a computer station; when I showed up the next Tuesday, I realized that in my busyness to look through the materials and chat with the volunteers I somehow had missed the equipment set up off in a corner of the room! Going through my list of interesting possibilities in microfilmed Ontario records where my ancestors had once lived, I decided to check out "Index to Whitchurch Township residents as shown in directories and census, 1837-1891" from York County, where my WILKINSON family appears in the 1871 and 1881 Canadian Censuses. The microfiche contained a combination of extracted township directories and census indexes. I kept an eye out for any references to the LAMOREAUX and TERRY families, looking for a possible connection to Mary (LAMOREAUX or TERRY) WILKINSON, my 4th-great-grandmother, as well as for collateral lines marrying into this family.
None of my WILKINSONs showed up in Whitchurch Township until 1871; my Richard (4th-great-grandfather), married to Mary above, appears in both the 1871 and 1881 census indexes (not new information for me). However, Moses TERRY showed up in the 1837 and 1846-7 directories, Jacob and the Widow TERRY showed up in the 1850-1 directory, and various other TERRYs appeared in the 1861, 1871, and 1891 censuses. No LAMOREAUXs appeared at all. The collateral line searches didn't turn up much of anything, except for information of which I was already aware. I scanned and saved the pertinent images to my flash drive, and vowed to return the next day to look at more Ontario records.
My research attempts on Wednesday were dampened by the fact that the printer/scanner was down. It was just as well, because my search in early Ontario birth records ("Births, stillbirths, and delayed registrations with indexes 1869 - 1910") yielded nothing new. Using my RootsMagic program on my laptop, I did a Find search looking for births for each year for each Ontario county. Most of the names that turned up in my database search were very distant relatives to my ancestors, and none were found in the records I looked viewed.
The following week, I again brought my laptop with me and instead of visiting the Family History Center, stayed in the classroom with my son and spent three hours citing sources in my RootsMagic program of recent records I found; specifically, city/county directory listings for my various Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan families, and military records for my paternal grandfather, Robert Lewis ROBBINS. This takes such an incredible amount of time to do correctly, even with RootsMagic's Source Wizard! The benefits, besides knowing I'm doing the right thing by correctly citing my sources, are that it does slow me down and I automatically start analyzing and synthesizing my data. I notice gaps in my information, or start wondering about certain things and come up with lists of records I could next research to find more resources. Say, this isn't so bad after all!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
GeneaSofts Website Launched
Jean-Ives Baxter, creator of the French GeneaSofts website, sent me the following announcement:
The English version of GeneaSofts is launched!
I first created the French version of the GeneaSofts website in September 2005 and it immediately became very popular.
About GeneaSofts
GeneaSofts is the only one website on the net that gives daily news on genealogy softwares, web-based user interfaces and other genealogy tech news!
I have developed my own tools and alerts to trace all software releases and new softwares, from the unknown to the best seller.
An update of the site has been done -- for the last four months -- to let you see how interesting, useful and efficient GeneaSofts is.
About me
Genealogist and software developer.
Regular author for La Revue Française de Généalogie, the #1 genealogy magazine in France.
Web developer and in charge of the Anglo-Saxon partnerships for GeneaNet, free collaborative database since 1996.
About GeneaNet
Features :(GeneaNet was Google-translated and I correct it as fast as I can ;-)
- Upload GEDCOM files
- Dynamic online family trees
- Web user interface
- Search tools
- "Cross-Database Search" : automatically compares your file against the complete database
- Upload pictures and records, and link them to any individual of your online family tree, etc.
Hope that you will enjoy GeneaSofts!
Best regards,
Jean-Yves BAXTER
3 rue de la fontaine
26100 ROMANS SUR ISERE
FRANCE
GeneaSofts
GeneaSofts (French)
GeneaNet
GeneaWiki
La Revue Française de Généalogie
Saturday, July 21, 2007
EWGS Internet Education Class: "Finding Volunteer (and Low-Cost) Researchers Online"
Every third Saturday of the month, with the exception of December, Eastern Washington Genealogical Society members can attend members-only computer classes held in the Gates Computer Lab of the Downtown Branch of the Spokane Public Library. Various members take turns presenting the information in three hour-long class times which can accommodate 15 people each.
Today's presentation was supposed to be on Animap, but the instructor fell ill. Playing a bit of musical chairs with the schedule, I volunteered to present my topic, "Finding Volunteer (and Low-Cost) Researchers Online," which I had already had practice presenting at the March LDS Genealogy Conference.
In my class, I will carefully explain that there is definitely a time and place for hiring the expertise of a certified, professional genealogist, and that this information is not to be used in place of such services. But sometimes we simply need an extra hand or one or two records looked up. In these cases, finding a quality volunteer or low-cost lookup researcher can be indispensable! Genealogy is one of those areas where volunteerism works at its best!
If you would like a copy of my syllabus, please contact me. My e-mail is available by clicking on the "About Me" section (see right-hand menu).
Today's presentation was supposed to be on Animap, but the instructor fell ill. Playing a bit of musical chairs with the schedule, I volunteered to present my topic, "Finding Volunteer (and Low-Cost) Researchers Online," which I had already had practice presenting at the March LDS Genealogy Conference.
In my class, I will carefully explain that there is definitely a time and place for hiring the expertise of a certified, professional genealogist, and that this information is not to be used in place of such services. But sometimes we simply need an extra hand or one or two records looked up. In these cases, finding a quality volunteer or low-cost lookup researcher can be indispensable! Genealogy is one of those areas where volunteerism works at its best!
If you would like a copy of my syllabus, please contact me. My e-mail is available by clicking on the "About Me" section (see right-hand menu).
Friday, June 29, 2007
Finding Out More on My ROBBINS Family - Part I
As a family historian, you get so that you think you know a lot about your family. I have the disadvantage of having always lived far away from my extended family, and so sometimes there are gaps in my knowledge that don't get noticed until I start really analyzing my records. And then there are just the serendipitous surprises that make genealogy oh-so-fun!
It started off yesterday afternoon while examining the information I have on my paternal grandfather, Robert Lewis ROBBINS. I'm re-organizing and cleaning up my file folders, making sure I have copies of all the records I need, especially printouts of things I've found on the Internet. I've got my U.S. Research Checklist I created to help me remember to find certain "must have" records for each of my direct ancestors. There were some documents I figured I'd better scan and keep both on my hard drive and in my Picasa Web Albums. Copies of the documents are going into the file folders, while originals and photographs, as well as expensive copies I've paid for, are being placed in acid-free sleeves, ready to go later into a newly-rented safety-deposit box at my financial institution. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time to keep these heirlooms safe. And then there's the (dreaded) source citations I need to do properly in my RootsMagic software!
Besides my grandfather's birth and death certificates that I need to order, I realized I didn't have any land records for him. I knew he bought land in Coopersville, Ottawa County, Michigan at 185 River Road, on which he built his house and business--this was after he had served in World War II. I also knew he purchased property on Crockery Lake in the northern part of the county sometime after 1953, and there built a cement-brick cottage on the foundation of an old barn for family summer vacations. And I knew he bought a house in Coopersville sometime around 1972 at 131 Madison Street for his widowed mother to live in and for Grandma and him to stay at when they weren't snow birding in Texas. I thought he might also have owned land in several Texas counties, although it was more likely he rented lots for the various RVs and mobile homes he and Grandma had in their retirement.
The only evidence I had of his property records were oral history from my dad and one of my aunts, and a copy of the advertisement flyer the real estate auctioneers printed shortly before Grandma sold the house on Madison Street in 2005. I did a Google search on Crockery Lake to see if I could stumble upon some land records or assessment records though the county clerk's office. What I found instead was more than I could have imagined! The Chester Township History & Genealogy website has a wealth of information about its communities, including old photographs, biographies, history, and maps (including some of Crockery Lake). What surprised me was that on its Genealogies page the surnames Robbins and Lewis were listed. There isn't a search engine on the site, so I did my little trick of using Google to search a website: search term, followed by a space, then the word site followed immediately by a colon and the URL (no spaces between site and the end of the URL).
(Notice that I didn't include the index.html from the URL, because I wanted Google to search the entire site, not just the index--or home--page).
Wow! Was I ever in for a treat! The first link I clicked went to the page about the American Legion Auxiliary founded in 1946 in Conklin. As I scrolled down the page, I noticed that Marie Robbins, Josephine Robbins, and Joyce Robbins were charter members of the Reinhart W. Roman Post 537. Why, those were the names of my great-grandmother, my granduncle's wife, and my grandaunt! Could it be...? A little further down the page, it said that Marie Robbins was the first President of the Auxiliary. Really? And yet, I wasn't done! Just a little further, and I found Great-grandma's smiling face staring back at me from the Internet. Holy cow! Gosh, I knew Great-grandma had been in the Auxiliary, because her grave had an Auxiliary marker at it. But I had never before heard she had been the movement behind getting an Auxiliary started in her community! And isn't that grand: a photo of her I didn't have before!
Well, then I went to the American Legion page, and there was information that my great-grandfather, William Bryan Robbins, Sr., and his son--my granduncle, Bill Jr.--were charter members of the Legion post. Very cool! Again, new information!
But, wait! There's more! In 1948, the Conklin school district published its one yearbook ever in its short-lived history. I browsed through the photos and text, not finding anything on my family, but being interested in the small-town history and nostalgic drawings. A quick check with my RootsMagic program confirmed that all my relatives were either too old, too young, or living in another community at that time to have attended school there that year. As I neared the end of the yearbook (third-to-last page), I noticed in the advertisement section there was a notice of compliments to the graduating class from Marie's Gift Shop...yes, that Marie! I had already written about Great-grandma's little shop in her AnceStory on my website, but it had always been a kind of vague story from the past. It suddenly became very real to me. This wasn't easy to find, either. I had to go to the Schools page, then click on the Conklin district page, and finally the yearbook page. It would have been easily overlooked, but somehow, I found it.
My Robbins family were latecomers to this area. They had arrived from McKean County, Pennsylvania at Hesperia, Michigan on the Newaygo-Oceana County border in the late 1860s, migrated south to Muskegon County in the 1910s, and settled in Conklin sometime in the 1930s. Yet, it is evident they were heavily involved in their community. Great-grandpa died in 1972 and Great-grandma moved to my grandparents' home in Coopersville. I do have some very faint memories of visiting my great-grandparents in Conklin in 1970, when I was three! I distinctly remember the inside of the little white house and eating a meal there. I also remember going to see Great-grandma there two years later when Great-grandpa died. She was sitting out in the yard with the grandaunts and uncles, and I ran to give her a big hug (prompted by my grandfather).
The Chester Township History website won the State History Award in 2005 from the Historical Society of Michigan for an outstanding website design, and it's easy to see why! The design has a standard I'd love to meet with my Atlas Project. Needless to say, my printer was very busy last night! I wrote the webmaster, asking for any more information she might have on the Robbins and Lewis families. I also fired off several e-mails to extended family members, excited to share my find with them.
What exciting, new discoveries about your family are awaiting you on the Internet or at your favorite archives?
(Coming up next: More finds on the Robbins family in online property records!)
It started off yesterday afternoon while examining the information I have on my paternal grandfather, Robert Lewis ROBBINS. I'm re-organizing and cleaning up my file folders, making sure I have copies of all the records I need, especially printouts of things I've found on the Internet. I've got my U.S. Research Checklist I created to help me remember to find certain "must have" records for each of my direct ancestors. There were some documents I figured I'd better scan and keep both on my hard drive and in my Picasa Web Albums. Copies of the documents are going into the file folders, while originals and photographs, as well as expensive copies I've paid for, are being placed in acid-free sleeves, ready to go later into a newly-rented safety-deposit box at my financial institution. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time to keep these heirlooms safe. And then there's the (dreaded) source citations I need to do properly in my RootsMagic software!
Besides my grandfather's birth and death certificates that I need to order, I realized I didn't have any land records for him. I knew he bought land in Coopersville, Ottawa County, Michigan at 185 River Road, on which he built his house and business--this was after he had served in World War II. I also knew he purchased property on Crockery Lake in the northern part of the county sometime after 1953, and there built a cement-brick cottage on the foundation of an old barn for family summer vacations. And I knew he bought a house in Coopersville sometime around 1972 at 131 Madison Street for his widowed mother to live in and for Grandma and him to stay at when they weren't snow birding in Texas. I thought he might also have owned land in several Texas counties, although it was more likely he rented lots for the various RVs and mobile homes he and Grandma had in their retirement.
The only evidence I had of his property records were oral history from my dad and one of my aunts, and a copy of the advertisement flyer the real estate auctioneers printed shortly before Grandma sold the house on Madison Street in 2005. I did a Google search on Crockery Lake to see if I could stumble upon some land records or assessment records though the county clerk's office. What I found instead was more than I could have imagined! The Chester Township History & Genealogy website has a wealth of information about its communities, including old photographs, biographies, history, and maps (including some of Crockery Lake). What surprised me was that on its Genealogies page the surnames Robbins and Lewis were listed. There isn't a search engine on the site, so I did my little trick of using Google to search a website: search term, followed by a space, then the word site followed immediately by a colon and the URL (no spaces between site and the end of the URL).
robbins site:http://mysite.verizon.net/res6xy3i/
(Notice that I didn't include the index.html from the URL, because I wanted Google to search the entire site, not just the index--or home--page).
Wow! Was I ever in for a treat! The first link I clicked went to the page about the American Legion Auxiliary founded in 1946 in Conklin. As I scrolled down the page, I noticed that Marie Robbins, Josephine Robbins, and Joyce Robbins were charter members of the Reinhart W. Roman Post 537. Why, those were the names of my great-grandmother, my granduncle's wife, and my grandaunt! Could it be...? A little further down the page, it said that Marie Robbins was the first President of the Auxiliary. Really? And yet, I wasn't done! Just a little further, and I found Great-grandma's smiling face staring back at me from the Internet. Holy cow! Gosh, I knew Great-grandma had been in the Auxiliary, because her grave had an Auxiliary marker at it. But I had never before heard she had been the movement behind getting an Auxiliary started in her community! And isn't that grand: a photo of her I didn't have before!
Well, then I went to the American Legion page, and there was information that my great-grandfather, William Bryan Robbins, Sr., and his son--my granduncle, Bill Jr.--were charter members of the Legion post. Very cool! Again, new information!
But, wait! There's more! In 1948, the Conklin school district published its one yearbook ever in its short-lived history. I browsed through the photos and text, not finding anything on my family, but being interested in the small-town history and nostalgic drawings. A quick check with my RootsMagic program confirmed that all my relatives were either too old, too young, or living in another community at that time to have attended school there that year. As I neared the end of the yearbook (third-to-last page), I noticed in the advertisement section there was a notice of compliments to the graduating class from Marie's Gift Shop...yes, that Marie! I had already written about Great-grandma's little shop in her AnceStory on my website, but it had always been a kind of vague story from the past. It suddenly became very real to me. This wasn't easy to find, either. I had to go to the Schools page, then click on the Conklin district page, and finally the yearbook page. It would have been easily overlooked, but somehow, I found it.
My Robbins family were latecomers to this area. They had arrived from McKean County, Pennsylvania at Hesperia, Michigan on the Newaygo-Oceana County border in the late 1860s, migrated south to Muskegon County in the 1910s, and settled in Conklin sometime in the 1930s. Yet, it is evident they were heavily involved in their community. Great-grandpa died in 1972 and Great-grandma moved to my grandparents' home in Coopersville. I do have some very faint memories of visiting my great-grandparents in Conklin in 1970, when I was three! I distinctly remember the inside of the little white house and eating a meal there. I also remember going to see Great-grandma there two years later when Great-grandpa died. She was sitting out in the yard with the grandaunts and uncles, and I ran to give her a big hug (prompted by my grandfather).
The Chester Township History website won the State History Award in 2005 from the Historical Society of Michigan for an outstanding website design, and it's easy to see why! The design has a standard I'd love to meet with my Atlas Project. Needless to say, my printer was very busy last night! I wrote the webmaster, asking for any more information she might have on the Robbins and Lewis families. I also fired off several e-mails to extended family members, excited to share my find with them.
What exciting, new discoveries about your family are awaiting you on the Internet or at your favorite archives?
(Coming up next: More finds on the Robbins family in online property records!)
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Report on May Scanfest
On Sunday, several of us gathered to scan and chat via the Gizmo Project and also Windows Live Messenger for our monthly Scanfest. Susan Kitchen of Family Oral History Project and 2020 Hindsight was our gracious and enthusiastic host from Southern California. We were joined by Amy Crooks of Untangled Family Roots in Northern Idaho, and also Donna Wendt of Hawaii who told us about an interactive genealogy educational website called FamilyHistoryLiveOnline.com. I haven't had time to fully investigate the site...maybe Tim will review it for us!
I must say that actually being able to hear the voice of another genea-blogger adds a whole new dimension to chatting. Regular chatting, despite its name, uses only text messages from one user to another, while programs like the Gizmo Project allow chatters to do exactly just that: chat! The software was easy to download, easy to use, and the reception was clear (great for someone who is hard-of-hearing, like myself!). I called into the conference by phone using my 10-10 long-distance code for a cheap rate because my desktop doesn't have a microphone, and it was too much hassle to hook my laptop (with a microphone) to the scanner; besides, I didn't have a headset, which is recommended. I wouldn't mind purchasing a headseat and the software needed for my desktop to be able to use this technology in the future.
While experimenting with the new technology and listening and participating in the conversations, I was able to nearly finish my scanning project of photos and documents from my step-grandfather's estate. Most of the documents and photos are available on my Picasa Web Albums.
I hope you'll join us for the next Scanfest, which is scheduled for Sunday, June 24, 2007 from 11 AM - 2 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.
I must say that actually being able to hear the voice of another genea-blogger adds a whole new dimension to chatting. Regular chatting, despite its name, uses only text messages from one user to another, while programs like the Gizmo Project allow chatters to do exactly just that: chat! The software was easy to download, easy to use, and the reception was clear (great for someone who is hard-of-hearing, like myself!). I called into the conference by phone using my 10-10 long-distance code for a cheap rate because my desktop doesn't have a microphone, and it was too much hassle to hook my laptop (with a microphone) to the scanner; besides, I didn't have a headset, which is recommended. I wouldn't mind purchasing a headseat and the software needed for my desktop to be able to use this technology in the future.
While experimenting with the new technology and listening and participating in the conversations, I was able to nearly finish my scanning project of photos and documents from my step-grandfather's estate. Most of the documents and photos are available on my Picasa Web Albums.
I hope you'll join us for the next Scanfest, which is scheduled for Sunday, June 24, 2007 from 11 AM - 2 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Analysis of an Obituary
I spent over an hour yesterday analyzing and entering data into my computer which I found in the obituary of my grandaunt, Bertha Wilma (VALK) MEYERING KRAMER. I read every single fact, finding much new (to me) information, which rather surprised me, as I thought I had quite a bit of information on her already. One of the things I love about the family tree software that I have--RootsMagic--is that is has something called a SourceWizard. After I've added or edited a fact, I can then click on the SourceWizard button, and a window pops up in which I can choose one of 34 different types of sources, ranging from electronic resources such as FamilySearch.org's Ancestral File to "typical" genealogical sources like a will. Choosing a source then generates a form specific to that source. For instance, when I chose "obituary" as a source, a form opened up with the following fields: Name of the deceased person, Title of the newspaper (i.e. Los Angeles Times), Publish date of the newspaper, and Page and column number of obit (example: page 7, column 1). Because the obituary I used came from the Internet, I could also have chosen "website" as my source, but "obituary" served my purposes better, and I used the URL where I found the obituary in place of the page and column number.
The great thing about the SourceWizard is it creates three types of citations: the regular (long), the short, and the bibliography version. You then can choose to edit the citation by listing the quality of the source (primary, secondary, questionable or unreliable), as well as type either the corresponding text from the source and/or your comments on the source itself.
You can also choose to enter information manually (without using the SourceWizard) for those times when your source doesn't seem to fit any of the 34 options. It's then that I pull out my copy of Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family History by Elizabeth Shown Mills as my guide.
While analyzing and entering data (32 new or edited facts!) I realized something: Bertha's surviving brother's wife, Gladys, was not mentioned in the obituary, although her widowed sisters-in-law were. I took a gander over to RootsWeb's Social Security Death Index and discovered that this sister-in-law had passed away in 2001, something I had not noticed when I analyzed the last obituary of this family (Granduncle Bob VALK, 2003).
After entering all of Aunt Bertha's information (which included data on her first and second husbands, as well as her children, step-children, siblings and sisters-in-law), I entered all the information found on Aunt Gladys' SSDI listing. If Gladys had been a direct ancestor, or someone whose personal information might lead to the tearing down of a brick wall, I would have ordered a copy of her Form SS-5, the form she filled out when applying for her Social Security number. This would give me her birth date and place and parents' names, among other things. However, as she is a spouse of a step-relative, I did not want to pay $27 for information I can probably obtain through family sources. I left a Post-em (an electronic "sticky note" with a message and my contact information) in case another distant family member goes searching for her name in the SSDI, and then went over to Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness to request a copy of her obituary.
While there, I requested copies of obituaries of Aunt Bertha's first husband, Elmer MEYERING, and her mother, Ida Eva (LAMBRECHT) SCHADLER VALK. The last two are indexed in the obituary database of the Western Michigan Genealogical Society, although it took me months of searching for Ida's obit, since she's mistakenly listed as Ida "Vale" instead of "Valk."
After an hour of work, I had to move on to "real life" chores, but my to-do list includes adding Aunt Bertha's obituary to my website, editing her siblings' obituaries to include her name (I edit living person's information on my website, for privacy's sake), and creating a new GEDCOM and uploading it with all its new data to my online database at RootsWeb's WorldConnect. Not all the new data I entered will be visible to others; all information on living persons is filtered out, again for privacy reasons. I also need to contact Bertha's children for missing data, such as the specific locations where she and her first husband died (all I know is "Michigan"), their marriage location, the date and place of her second marriage, and birth information of her second husband. I will also invite them to submit family group sheets of their own families and, of course, share with them our VALK family history, as well as what I've found on the LAMBRECHT family (my step-great-grandmother).
This exercise was both revealing and frustrating: revealing because, as I've always discovered in analyzing my information, I came across so much more than what first meets the eye; but frustrating as I realized how much time went into citing things properly. As I've mentioned in the past, my older brand of family tree software did not have very user-friendly format for entering sources, so I chose to use the Note feature to record my sources. This was before I knew about proper citation format. I tried to always include the who, what, where, when, and sometimes why of each source, but nevertheless, I have a lot of cleanup to do to make my research meet proper genealogical standards. Even using the SourceWizard (which will cut time considerably), I have thousands of hours of work ahead of me! Well, as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither, I suppose is a family tree!
The great thing about the SourceWizard is it creates three types of citations: the regular (long), the short, and the bibliography version. You then can choose to edit the citation by listing the quality of the source (primary, secondary, questionable or unreliable), as well as type either the corresponding text from the source and/or your comments on the source itself.
You can also choose to enter information manually (without using the SourceWizard) for those times when your source doesn't seem to fit any of the 34 options. It's then that I pull out my copy of Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family History by Elizabeth Shown Mills as my guide.
While analyzing and entering data (32 new or edited facts!) I realized something: Bertha's surviving brother's wife, Gladys, was not mentioned in the obituary, although her widowed sisters-in-law were. I took a gander over to RootsWeb's Social Security Death Index and discovered that this sister-in-law had passed away in 2001, something I had not noticed when I analyzed the last obituary of this family (Granduncle Bob VALK, 2003).
After entering all of Aunt Bertha's information (which included data on her first and second husbands, as well as her children, step-children, siblings and sisters-in-law), I entered all the information found on Aunt Gladys' SSDI listing. If Gladys had been a direct ancestor, or someone whose personal information might lead to the tearing down of a brick wall, I would have ordered a copy of her Form SS-5, the form she filled out when applying for her Social Security number. This would give me her birth date and place and parents' names, among other things. However, as she is a spouse of a step-relative, I did not want to pay $27 for information I can probably obtain through family sources. I left a Post-em (an electronic "sticky note" with a message and my contact information) in case another distant family member goes searching for her name in the SSDI, and then went over to Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness to request a copy of her obituary.
While there, I requested copies of obituaries of Aunt Bertha's first husband, Elmer MEYERING, and her mother, Ida Eva (LAMBRECHT) SCHADLER VALK. The last two are indexed in the obituary database of the Western Michigan Genealogical Society, although it took me months of searching for Ida's obit, since she's mistakenly listed as Ida "Vale" instead of "Valk."
After an hour of work, I had to move on to "real life" chores, but my to-do list includes adding Aunt Bertha's obituary to my website, editing her siblings' obituaries to include her name (I edit living person's information on my website, for privacy's sake), and creating a new GEDCOM and uploading it with all its new data to my online database at RootsWeb's WorldConnect. Not all the new data I entered will be visible to others; all information on living persons is filtered out, again for privacy reasons. I also need to contact Bertha's children for missing data, such as the specific locations where she and her first husband died (all I know is "Michigan"), their marriage location, the date and place of her second marriage, and birth information of her second husband. I will also invite them to submit family group sheets of their own families and, of course, share with them our VALK family history, as well as what I've found on the LAMBRECHT family (my step-great-grandmother).
This exercise was both revealing and frustrating: revealing because, as I've always discovered in analyzing my information, I came across so much more than what first meets the eye; but frustrating as I realized how much time went into citing things properly. As I've mentioned in the past, my older brand of family tree software did not have very user-friendly format for entering sources, so I chose to use the Note feature to record my sources. This was before I knew about proper citation format. I tried to always include the who, what, where, when, and sometimes why of each source, but nevertheless, I have a lot of cleanup to do to make my research meet proper genealogical standards. Even using the SourceWizard (which will cut time considerably), I have thousands of hours of work ahead of me! Well, as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither, I suppose is a family tree!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Research Log - HOEKSTRA & De HAAN research
Home again for the second day due to laryngitis, I spent time at the Tresoar website trying to scare up some leads on my earliest known HOEKSTRA and De HAAN ancestors. Tresoar is the Frisian History and Literacy Center (Province of Friesland, the Netherlands) , and is a wonderful resource of a variety of abstracted Frisian civil and church records. I found 4th-great-grandmother Fokeltje Jans De HAAN's death record abstract of 22 Jun 1847 in the municipality of Kollumerland, stating she was 70 years old and a widow. No luck on a baptismal record for her or a definitive death record for husband Marten Lieuwes HOEKSTRA. I also looked in surname registration records of 1811 to attempt to find Marten, Fokeltje, or their parents listed. Either there weren't exact matches or there were too many possible matches, and with not enough identifying information, there was no way to be sure. Most Dutch people did not have surnames prior to the Napoleonic government ordering them to register one in 1811. They used patronyms, and unless they had a unique name, it's difficult to differentiate between the many men named Marten Lieuwes at that time...especially when none lived in the Holwerd area of the Westdongeradeel municipality, which is the town in which Marten and Fokeltje married.
I made sure to print out the abstractions of Fokeltje's death record and Marten's and her marriage record for my HOEKSTRA binder I'm putting together. I also spent some time adding the data and properly citing my sources (!) in my RootsMagic genealogy program.
I made sure to print out the abstractions of Fokeltje's death record and Marten's and her marriage record for my HOEKSTRA binder I'm putting together. I also spent some time adding the data and properly citing my sources (!) in my RootsMagic genealogy program.
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