My Experience with MyCanvas

Back in November, I wrote that I had discovered MyCanvas through Ancestry and was very excited about making family calendars for Christmas presents with this creative application. I thought I would share my experience as a customer and also the responses of family members who were recipients of these gifts.

First of all, I ended up making five different calendars with two themes. The first theme was called "Postcards from the Past" and featured some postcards from the collection of my husband's paternal great-grandparents, George Rice WESTABY, III and Rena (LERFALD) WESTABY. You can see images from this calendar from an earlier post I wrote here. I made three sets from this calendar by simply copying my original, which had the birthdays and anniversaries of all of George and Rena's living descendants printed on their respective calendar days. From this original, I tweaked one calendar by removing some of the birthdays and anniversaries to show only the information of my parents-in-law and their descendants. My husband's parents, siblings, his dad's siblings, and some of his adult nieces and a nephew received these calendars. I also made one for my household, but then added birthdays and anniversaries of my family members.

Click to enlarge

For my own extended family, I made a seasonal theme calendar (the default theme that comes with MyCanvas calendars). I called this one "A Celebration of Memories" and it featured modern photographs of family members' birthdays, anniversaries, and reunions, along with quotes about family. This calendar also had two sets: one for my parents, which had birthdays and anniversaries of both my parents' extended family members; and one for the rest of the family that focused on the special days of my parents and their descendants.

One of the best features of this application which I really appreciated was the ability to duplicate the calendar theme with all the backgrounds, embellishments, and uploaded photographs and images--like the postcards--yet have the calendar information be unique to each household or a group of households, if desired.

Using MyCanvas is free, and you don't have to have a subscription to Ancestry to use it. Simply visit http://www.ancestry.com and chose Print & Share, or go directly to http://mycanvas.ancestry.com. You can decide to use your own printer for your projects, but I figured the paper quality would be better through MyCanvas' printing process, and the cost of ink for my printer would be phenomenal; so I willingly paid the order price for printing. Normally $19.95 per calendar, I was able to use an online coupon that was visibly advertised on the site at the time to receive a 20% discount. Since I finished my projects so close to Christmas, the reduced price helped offset the extra money I spent in expedited shipping. I shipped two calendars to my parents-in-law; one for them and one for my sister-in-law's family. The rest I had shipped to my home to either give in person or to ship with other gifts I was sending to family members located across the country.

All the gifts arrived on time at their original destinations, which is saying a lot, considering the record amount of snowfall we received in Washington State and in Spokane in particular the week the gifts arrived. I believe MyCanvas' use of UPS as the shipping agent was key, as other items I had ordered through other companies which were shipped via FedEx arrived much too late to be given on time for Christmas. Remember, weather played a huge factor in shipping to this area.

Responses
The responses I received from family members were everything I hoped for, and more! From my husband's family, we heard many thanks and exclamations at how beautiful the calendars were. They loved the idea of seeing their family history displayed in an attractive and useful way; after all, everyone needs a calendar, and this was a way to ensure that a little bit of Westaby and Lerfald history was noticed each month. My own family members enjoyed the modern photo calendar as well, and I've already planned to do a historical one for them next year.

Problems
There were only two issues I had with the calendars. One was that one of the calendars made for my extended family had a slight torn corner on the cover of about 1 centimeter wide. This was not shipping damage; the torn corner appeared under the shrink-wrap, and I imagine that the damage was done during the shrink-wrapping process.

The other issue was that one notification e-mail was not sent to me. MyCanvas was very good about sending e-mails both when an order was completed and when the order was shipped. They arrived in several shipments of one to six calendars each, depending upon the number in each set I had created. The calendar I had created especially for my household did not arrive with any of the others, and I did not receive an e-mail regarding its shipping (I double-checked my Spam and Trash folders of my e-mail account, just to be sure) . Since it was not a Christmas gift for other family members, I was not overly anxious, but I did call Customer Service to see if they could track it for me. They did, apologized for the lack of e-mail, and assured me it was on its way. UPS delivered it on Christmas Eve. The Customer Service personnel I talked with were warm, eager to please, and efficient.

What I'd Like to See
I so enjoyed my experience with MyCanvas and am anxious to use them again, not just for calendars, but for photo, recipe, and family history books. Some suggestions I have for the company is that they increase the number and variety of embellishments to include more military, immigration, vintage, seasonal, year-round holiday and seasonal items. I'd also like to see them expand to print stationery items, such as notecards, envelopes and bookmarks. While I can use other online printing companies to create a set of matching notecards and envelopes with my ancestors' photos or documents, I'd like to be able to keep all my creativity in one place, and use embellishments and backgrounds to enhance them.

Grade
My experience with MyCanvas was deserving of an A- grade. The slightly torn corner was my only real issue, but I as I've reiterated before, I will use MyCanvas again (and again!) to continue to create gifts and preserve our family's heritage in a meaningful, aesthetic way.

If you'd like to know more about using MyCanvas, you can read selected posts at the Ancestry.com blog here. Also, this coming Wednesday, January 21st, at 8:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, Ancestry will host a live free webinar (online seminar) on "Using MyCanvas to Print and Share Your Family Stories." You can register for it here. If you're unable to attend the webinar live, you should be able to access it in the archived webinars at a later date; however, you will not have the advantage of live assistance and immediate responses to your questions. You do not need to have a subscription to Ancestry to either particpate in live webinars or access their archived ones.

Friday Findings: WILLIS and a Polar Bear Film

I really didn't have any time to do research this week, as it was my first full week of work (last week, there were three snow days, so I only worked Tuesday and Friday). Not only did I not have a lot of time to research, but I was often pretty tired when I returned home each afternoon. Additionally, I started teaching my latest Beginning Online Genealogy class on Thursday, a four-week class, for the Spokane County Library District.

While I didn't even get to some of the e-mails to which I intended to respond, I did hear from a newer genea-blogger, Andrea Christman. It seems we may be connected through the WILLIS line. If this pans out, Andrea will be the fourth genea-blogging cousin I've discovered since I started this blog nearly three years ago (Randy, T.K. and Bill are the others)!

I'm very excited to hear from Dale Nielsen that a film which will eventually be aired on PBS is in the works about the Polar Bear Division which fought in North Russia at the end of WWI (my great-grandfather served in that division)! Dale and I have also been corresponding about a Civil War photo he donated to the Archives of Michigan, which I believe features the two DICKINSON brothers of my 3rd-great-grandmother.

The 9th Edition of the "I Smile for the Camera" Carnival is Posted

Strangers in the Box

Come, look with me inside this drawer,
In this box I've often seen,
At the pictures, black and white,
Faces proud, still, serene.

I wish I knew the people,
These strangers in the box,
Their names and all their memories
Are lost among my socks.

I wonder what their lives were like,
How did they spend their days?
What about their special times?
I'll never know their ways.

If only someone had taken time
To tell who, what, where, or when,
These faces of my heritage
Would come to life again.

Could this become the fate
Of the pictures we take today?
The faces and the memories
Someday to be passed away?

Make time to save your stories,
Seize the opportunity when it knocks,
Or someday you and yours could be
The strangers in the box.

Pam Harazim

footnoteMaven has just published the 9th Edition of the "I Smile for the Camera" Carnival - "Who Are You" over at her Shades of the Departed digital publication. Forty-seven bloggers posted their "strangers in a box," hoping to find some answers to their mysteries. Maven, I think you may have to publish an encore edition, as I'm sure these photographic puzzles shared are only the tip of the iceberg of some very deep boxes!

The word prompt for the 10th Edition of Smile For The Camera is Costume? No, not as in Halloween. Costume as in dress in general; especially the distinctive style of dress of a people, class, or period. Show us that picture that you found with your family collection or purchased that shows the costumes of the rich to the not so rich, from the civil war to the psychedelic sixties. I know you have them, so share. Admission is free with every photograph!

Your submission may include as many or as few words as you feel are necessary to describe your treasured photograph. Those words may be in the form of an expressive comment, a quote, a journal entry, a poem (your own or a favorite), a scrapbook page, or a heartfelt article. The choice is yours!

Deadline for submission is midnight (PT) 10 February 2009. Posted - 15 February 2009.

Poem
Harazim, Pam. "Strangers in the Box." Date unknown. Viewed 16 January 2009 at http://www.scrapbook.com/poems/doc/8365/112.html.

Winter Photo Essay: Marie LEWIS

I've got lots of modern winter photos, but I went through my collection of scanned vintage ones, and figured out that these two were the oldest winter ones I have. The top one is of my paternal great-grandmother, Marie LEWIS, taken during the Winter of 1916 - 1917, when she was 14 years old. I believe she is in the backyard of her parents' home at 1132 Hoyt Street in Muskegon Heights, Muskegon Co., Michigan.

That appears to be the same setting for the next photo, which features Marie, her husband William Bryan ROBBINS, Sr., and her two sons William Bryan ROBBINS, Jr. and Robert Lewis ROBBINS (holding the cat). Bob was my grandfather. It's also possible that it was next door at 1140 Hoyt Street, since Marie and Bryan were living next door to her parents at that time (Winter 1924 - 1925). I especially love the beautiful coats everyone is wearing in this photo. With her cloche hat and fur-trimmed coat, Marie is certainly showing the flashy side of the Roaring Twenties!

Written for the 64th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.

Photographs

1. Lewis, Marie. Winter 1916-17. Scan of original held privately by Joyce Robbins Sanders, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Tulsa, Oklahoma, 2009.

2. The Robbins Family. Winter 1924-25. Scan of original held privately by Jeanne Holst Robbins, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, 2009.

Wordless Wednesday: Nellie May (CONCIDINE) HOLST (1883 - 1953)

Holst, Nellie May (Concidine). Photographed and hand-colored c. 1905 by unknown photographer, Western Michigan. Privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. 2009.

Tuesday's Tip: Getting More Traffic to Your Blog, Part Two

When I planned this series of tips several weeks ago and prewrote them, I had no idea that another blogger would have the same topic posted this week (Amy, get out of my head!). Actually, it confirms the theory that great minds think alike!

Participate

The next step towards getting more traffic to your genealogy blog is to participate in carnivals, memes, and challenges.

Carnival: "A Blog Carnival is like a magazine. It has a title, a topic, editors, contributors, and an audience. Editions of the carnival typically come out on a regular basis (e.g. every Monday, or on the first of the month). Each edition is a special blog article that consists of links to all the contributions that have been submitted, often with the editors opinions or remarks." (from the Blog Carnival FAQs page)

Meme: Like a giant game of blog tag, a meme is usually a writing prompt on a concise topic. Bloggers answer the questions provided or write a mini-essay on the topic, then choose a certain number of other bloggers to do the same thing. Oftentimes they are simply silly, fun games similar to social icebreakers. They're a great way to get to know the personal sides of other genealogy bloggers and for them to learn about you. One recent meme has been 99+ Genealogy Things.

Challenges: These are similar to carnivals in that they are written on a (usually) serious topic that may require a bit of research and time to write a factual or focused post; thus the word "challenge." Like a carnival, there is usually a host that puts out the challenge and may even have a wrap-up post with links to all the bloggers who participated, although this is not always the case. Whereas the carnivals, like magazines, have multiple editions and continue to digitally publish each issue on a regular basis, a challenge tends to be a one-time or perhaps an annual occurrence. A recent challenge, although it was not labeled such, was Denise Olsen's Christmas Tour of Blogs.

Why they work:
Readers and other bloggers are attracted to carnivals and challenges because they showcase concentrated research, excellent writing, and heartfelt stories. Many of the carnivals are widely read, even by those who may not be that interested in genealogy. If you have a program that tracks your site statistics, watch your readership numbers climb when a carnival you've participated in gets posted! Memes, too, are a great way to get your as-yet-unnoticed blog some attention, just like jumping into a game of tag on the playground of your childhood years was likely to bring you new friends!

Where to find them:
On the first day of every month, I publish the Calendar of Events with deadlines for all the known carnivals and challeges. If you are a member of the Genea-Bloggers Group on Facebook (more on that in a later post), Thomas lists the events in the right-hand column of the group page. Click on any one for more details on that event: deadlines, hosts, topics. He also has the events in a handy Google Calendar which you can merge with your own Google Calendar; there's even a tutorial provided to show you how to do this!

Carnivals generally have a digital form at the Blog Carnival site to submit posts. I wrote "How to Submit a Post to a Carnival" to help with that process. Challenges will usually have participation directions listed in the challenge post of the host blogger. To find memes, keep an eye on your favorite genea-bloggers as most will participate in current memes. If you don't get tagged to participate, start your own!

Don't be afraid that your writing or research skills may not be "good enough" for a carnival or challenge. Stick with the topic and do your best; writing, like any skill, improves over time, and we genea-bloggers are a welcoming and accepting group, learning from each other. Down the road you may be confident enough to guest host a carnival, and that, too, will bring much traffic to your site. I hope to "see" lots of new faces at the next carnival, challenge, and meme!

Other posts in this series:
Part One: Get Listed
Part Three: Comment and Allow Comments
Part Four: Create a Profile
Part Five: Join Social Networking Sites
Part Six: The Redux
Part Seven: Check It
Part Eight: Learn
Part Nine: Bookmarks, Feeds, and Subscriptions

My New Year's Memories

Over at AnceStories2: Stories of Me for My Descendants, I wrote some writing prompts about New Year's Eve and Day memories. Here are mine.

*Do you remember the first time you were allowed to stay up and see in the New Year? How old were you?

The first time I actually remember staying up to see in the New Year must have been New Year's Eve 1978, which was spent in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Our family had flown from our home in Southeast Alaska to Western Michigan to spend a month with extended family members during the holidays. We were at my mother's parents, Grandpa and Grandma DeVries. We probably watched the festivities in Times Square on television, and then as the New Year was rung in, we spent some time in prayer for our nation and the world, and then wished each other a Happy New Year before going off to bed. I'm sure my little brother, who was 4 years old, was asleep, and probably my 2-month-old sister. I was 11 1/2.

*How did you and your typically spend New Year's Eve during your youth? Did you go to a Watch Night Service and participate in communion and prayer? Did you watch the ball drop in Times Square on television? Did your community have a fireworks show?

From earlier times in my childhood, I remember going to church on New Year's Eve, but not as late as midnight, of course. It was an evening service and usually there was prayer and communion. We didn't watch television, because we didn't have television service on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska. There weren't any fireworks, either!

*Did you have first-footers, mummers, or bang pots and pans on your front porch? Did you wear party hats and use noisemakers?

I don't ever remember any special celebrations at home when I was girl, probably because I was too young to stay up so late. We lived in an isolated area, also.

*If New Year's Eve involved feasting of some kind, what were the usual fare and beverages?

Because there weren't any kind of celebrations, that kind of nixed feasting, too.

*How do all of the above compare to the way you celebrate New Year's Eve now?

Since our kids have been old enough to stay up and see in the New Year, we usually have snacks and sodas (and rum and cokes for the adults). We'll often rent a favorite movie, then check in with the replay of Times Square shortly before midnight. We have party hats, rattles, and party horns that we take with us out on the front porch and wish the world a "Happy New Year!" Most of the neighbors do the same thing: a quiet party at home with noisy celebration in the front yards at midnight. From our front porch, we can see the fireworks downtown two miles away. I do like to invite our across-the-street neighbor (a friend we've had for over 20 years who we encouraged to move into our neighborhood about 10 years ago) to cross our threshold soon after midnight. He's a dark-haired Scot, and that's supposed to be a symbol of good luck!

*What about New Year's Resolutions? Did you make any when you were younger? Do you make them now? How well do you keep them? Was there any year when you really did a fabulous job at keeping them? What were your goals and how did you keep them?

I've always been a resolution-maker, I suppose. I probably started when I was a teenager. One year (1981?), I kept a diary pretty faithfully, filling in the days I'd miss within two or three days. I wish I still had it; regretfully, I tossed several of my teen diaries and journals when I was an adult because I was embarrassed about my writing. Who knew that 20 years later, I'd be writing my thoughts for the whole world to read! :-)

*How did you typically spend New Year's Day in your childhood and youth? Did you visit family and friends? Did your family host an Open House? Did you watch the Tournament of Roses Parade and Rose Bowl game or another favorite sport? Or did you go to your favorite ski resort?

I don't remember any particular New Year's Day before 1979, when I watched the Tournament of Roses parade for the first time at my Grandparent DeVries' home. I never would have suspected that eight years later, I would march in that parade myself!

My badge from marching with The Salvation Army band in the 1987 Tournament of Roses Parade

When I was in college, I spent several New Year's Days skiing at 49* North. Gosh, just thinking of it makes me realize how much I miss skiing! My daughter went snowboarding a week or so ago for the first time, and she she told me about wearing a helmet. I kind of chuckled when she told me because in my day, we never wore helmets (it's much safer now, I'm sure).

*How does it compare to the way you spend New Year's Day now?

Now, I'm more likely to be taking down the Christmas tree and packing things up. When the kids were younger (and being homeschooled), we used to get together with some family friends that had children close to our own children's age. The kids would go sledding at a nearby park with the dads and we moms would sit and visit while watching the littlest ones.

*Are there any special customs from your heritage that are integrated into your New Year's celebrations?

The closest thing would be having a First-footer: a dark-haired Scot being the first to cross your threshold in the New Year bringing good luck.

*If you celebrate Christmas or another seasonal holiday before the New Year, when do you take down the decorations and put them away?

Depending upon whether we have plans for New Year's Day, I try to get the decorations down on the 1st or 2nd of the month. This year, it took me much longer, simply because doing everything takes a little longer with my healing shoulder. I was encouraged, however, noting the difference between how immobile my shoulder and arm had been when putting up the decorations five weeks earlier compared with how much improved it had become.

Who Are You? A CROTHERS Family Member?

(click on any image for an enlarged view)

When I began researching my paternal grandmother's biological family, one of the first cousins I "met" online was Sharon. She had done quite a bit of research on our CROTHERS line (my paternal grandmother's birth surname was YORK, and her great-grandmother York's maiden name was Anna CROTHERS). Sharon and I exchanged quite a bit of information (she's related two, possibly three, ways!), and then she generously loaned me some negatives of photographs her daughter-in-law had taken of some CROTHERS family members' antique photographs held by a mutual cousin. This was in the days when most people didn't have scanners, as they were fairly expensive, and sending scanned photographs via e-mail wasn't convenient since dial-up Internet service was the norm. I had prints made from all the negatives and returned them to Sharon. She had been able to identify all the individuals in the photographs, probably because they were labeled, with the exception of the one above.

Ever since I laid eyes on this photograph, I've wondered, "Who are you?" For many years, I thought this woman could be my 3rd-great-grandmother, Anna (CROTHERS) YORK or even, perhaps, her mother, Mary "Polly" (WYCKOFF) CROTHERS CHAPPEL, who made the cross-stitch sampler I so serendipitously inherited. Using Uncovering Your Ancestry through Family Photographs by Maureen Taylor and Dating Old Photographs: 1840 - 1929 and More Dating Old Photographs: 1840 - 1929 by Moorshead Magazines, I was able to determine that this woman could not be either of my ancestors; she was much too young.

Now, it's too bad that I cannot see the mounting or frame of this photograph to tell whether it was on a cabinet card or framed and hanging on a wall somewhere. The mounting or back of the photo might have given me a clue as to the name and location of the photographer. I can't even tell what type of photography process was used, of course. But by examining the clothing and hairstyle, I was able to narrow down the time frame. I'm certainly no Photo Detective, but thanks to her writings and by comparing the styles in the Dating books, I am hopefully improving my deduction skills!

First of all, this woman's dress fabric has a shiny element to it. I'm hopelessly ignorant of fabrics, but what comes to mind is a dark-colored silk or satin. It has an elaborately made bodice, with lots of shirring, both vertical and horizontal. The opening appears to be fastened (probably by tiny thread loops) with miniature buttons set in threes. Additionally, there are larger, apparently cloth-covered buttons set at a diagonal at each side of the bodice, from the shoulder towards the center. The sleeves have some fullness in the upper part, but are not noticeably huge. The collar is stand-up with lace trim, with what appears to be a lace ribbon around the collar's circumference. Both laces are white or light-colored. Either the collar is very tight or the woman has a full neck. It is difficult to tell whether the bodice is tight-fitting or loose, but I venture to guess the latter. I first started estimating the dress in the 1885 - 1895 era, but the more I compared it with other photographs, the later I dated it, until I feel it compares well with those of the 1905 - 1910 era.

The woman's hairstyle was the clincher for me in dating the photo. Most women's hairstyles in the 1885 - 1895 era consisted of hair parted in the middle with a tight bun at the back of the head and frizzled bangs, even on mature women. In the 1905 - 1910 era, the bangs disappear, and we see loose buns at the top of the head like this. She wears no visible accessories, save for the pince-nez eyepiece with a hard bridge, popular from the 1890s on.

As to the woman herself, she is mature but not elderly; serious, but not stern. Her earlobes are unattached, her nose is medium-sized (as are many of her features), her light-to-medium-colored eyes are somewhat hooded, and her mouth is slightly turned down. Her skin is smooth and unwrinkled, except for some crow's feet. No dimples or cleft appear. Her dark hair shows no significant gray or white. I would wager that she is perhaps in her late forties or early fifties, placing her birth date in the 1855 - 1870 range. What was the occasion for this photograph? A milestone birthday or wedding anniversary, with a photograph of her husband missing from this collection?

The more I observe this photograph and compare it with others in the CROTHERS collection, the more I wonder if it is Nellie Etta (PHELPS) DRAKE (1865 - 1950). She was the daughter of Nancy Amanda (CROTHERS) PHELPS, who was sister to my ancestor, Anna (CROTHERS) YORK. Nancy was also Sharon's great-grandmother, and Nellie would have been her great-grandaunt. Here is a photograph of Nancy and her husband, John S. PHELPS, taken c. 1887:

I see similarities between our mystery woman's features, John's eyes and mouth, and Nancy's ears and nose. Both John and Nancy have very light-colored eyes. Below is a photograph of Nellie's children, Vernon, Ruth and Lawrence DRAKE:

Last is a photograph of Vernon as an adult with his wife and infant. This particular shot of "Vernie" bears a striking resemblance to our mystery woman, which is what has prompted my latest theory that she is Nellie (PHELPS) DRAKE, Vernon's mother.

The fact that both the mystery woman and Vernie wear glasses not only causes them to look similar, it makes me wonder about the genetic disposition towards vision problems.

Many of the photographs in this collection are of individuals in Nancy's branch of the CROTHERS tree, which certainly adds credence to my theory. The mystery is still unsolved, but we are a bit closer to its conclusion. I'd especially like to thank the footnoteMaven for giving us a chance to highlight our mystery photos and spend some time playing sleuth!

Written for the 9th Edition of the "I Smile for the Camera" Carnival: Who Are You? I'd Really Like to Know!

SOURCES AND CREDITS

Photographs:
Unidentified Woman. Second-copy print of original photographed c. 1996 by unnamed daughter-in-law of Sharon Crothers Flood, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Bay City, Michigan. Second-copy print held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. 2009.

Phelps, John S. and wife Nancy Amanda (Crothers). C. 1887. Second-copy print of original photographed c. 1996 by unnamed daughter-in-law of Sharon Crothers Flood, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Bay City, Michigan. Second-copy print held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. 2009.

Drake, Vernon P., Lawrence, and Ruth May. C. 1910. Second-copy print of original photographed c. 1996 by unnamed daughter-in-law of Sharon Crothers Flood, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Bay City, Michigan. Second-copy print held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. 2009.

Drake, Vernon and family. C. 1920. Second-copy print of original photographed c. 1996 by unnamed daughter-in-law of Sharon Crothers Flood, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Bay City, Michigan. Second-copy print held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. 2009.

Digital Scrapbooking Kits:
Butterfly Art Studio. "Aunt Jeannine's Attic Mini Kit." Embellishments. Viewed 3 November 2008 at http://www.myscrapshop.com/gallery/displayimage-20-27.html.

Frye, Trish. "A Moment in Time." Papers, frame, and embellishments. Viewed 13 November 2008 at http://www.myscrapshop.com/gallery/displayimage-20-32.html.

Books:
Moorshead, Halvor, editor. Dating Old Photographs: 1840 -1929. Toronto, Ontario: Moorshead Magazines, Ltd. 2004.

Ibid. More Dating Old Photographs: 1840 -1929. Toronto, Ontario: Moorshead Magazines, Ltd. 2006.

Taylor, Maureen. Uncovering Your Ancestry through Family Photographs. Second edition. Cincinnati, Ohio: Family Tree Books, 2005.

Websites:
Wikipedia, Pince-nez, viewed 10 January 2009 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pince-nez.

Friday Findings: LEWIS, TUINSTRA, Lookups and (Maybe) a Bigamist

I had hoped to post this last night, but was too exhausted after a long day to finish up the details. This has been a completely weird week, so I don't feel like I got much accomplished. Things happened in fits and starts, so to speak. School was supposed to start on Monday, a return from Winter Break, but we had a snow day and started on Tuesday, instead. It was odd coming back to work after seven weeks, but good to see everyone again. Then school was closed Wednesday and Thursday because rain and warm temperatures had our 76 inches of snow melting all over the place and causing flooding. There was no place for students to walk to school, as sidewalks were still covered with mounds of frozen, melting snow and the streets were filled with slush and standing water. Friday morning we all returned yet again!

I started adding information from the LEWIS e-mails and MyHeritage family site that were shared with me from my newly-found cousin. It's taking a while, since I'm being very careful to cite my sources correctly. My Great-grandmother Robbins, Marie LEWIS, was one of 13 children, and although only ten made it to adulthood, marriage, and parenthood, when you start adding their descendants to a family tree, it grows quite quickly!

I also heard from a TUINSTRA cousin this week, with whom I've been in contact previously, but haven't had time to look closely at her e-mail other than to note that she has some documents she'd like to share with me.

There were three lookup requests this week; two for records from Muskegon County, Michigan and one for Newaygo County. I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to get to the Family History Center, because although the roads are clearing up, I'm starting my next Beginning Online Genealogy Class Thursday night, the day I normally set aside for research at the FHC. I also had a request for lookups in the record books for Park Hill Cemetery in Vancouver, Washington. These records are now available online, but many people don't realize it. I choose to keep my lookup service for Park Hill available so that I can direct requesters to the website when they contact me.

My husband has a third cousin--Holly--who is attempting to find out about the ancestry of her paternal grandmother, Fidelia (ORTIZ) MIDKIFF. This woman was married to Holly's grandfather, William Mason MIDKIFF. They had four children. When Willie became blind in one eye due to violent headaches, Fidelia left, taking the youngest child, Sam. Attempts to determine what became of her or their son has been futile. Willie died when the remaining children were teenagers and they were placed in foster care.

I knew from some research another distant cousin had done that Willie and Fidelia had been married in Trinidad, Las Animas Co., Colorado in 1937. Our records indicated that Fidelia had also been born in Trinidad. I started with the 1930 Federal Census and believe that I found her living with her parents and siblings. They were all born in New Mexico, not Colorado. By the ages of her parents and the information given on how old they were at their first marriage, it was easy to determine that this was not a first marriage for this Fidelia's father. Tracing back into 1920 and 1910, I also determined that the age given for this Fidelia on the 1930 census were incorrect, and that this Fidelia would have been 10 or nearly 11, not 12 as stated. I also made an interesting find: it appears that this Fidelia's father may have been a bigamist. Without going into tons of details too long for this post, anyone curious enough with access to the Federal Census collection at Ancestry can trace this Fidelia's father, Francisco ORTIZ and her mother Telesfora [--?--] ORTIZ, along with Fidelia's older half-sister's mother, Venerada [--?--] ORTIZ to possibly come up with the same conclusions.

I wrote Holly and said that the only way we could know with certainty that the Fidelia ORTIZ I found in the 1930 census was her grandmother was to order a copy of her grandparents' marriage record, a tricky task, since Colorado has such stringent privacy laws. Holly would have to prove she is descended from Fidelia and Willie, but since Holly's father died young and her step-father adopted her, she does not have access to her birth certificate with her MIDKIFF surname. She does have an aunt, the one known surviving child of Willie and Fidelia, so perhaps the aunt can fill out the application and provide the evidence needed to obtain the marriage record. From that record, we could hopefully ascertain that this is indeed Holly's grandmother Fidelia in 1930. From there, perhaps we can obtain a birth record from New Mexico and then see if the birth date matches any women with the same name in the Social Security Death Index to discover what happened to her. It's all very "iffy," of course, but it is fascinating and I hope that I'll be able to help Holly, and in turn her siblings and cousins. (Holly was amused by the bigamist possibility.)

This week I renewed my subscription to Footnote for the year and actually got 15 months out of the deal, instead of only 12. I also started another trial subscription to GenealogyBank when I saw on their blog that they have recently added the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Press, 1901 - 1922. I have found some little treasures that I will probably post later. I do know from using the obituary database at the Western Michigan Genealogical Society's website that my ancestors preferred placing notices in the Grand Rapids Herald while it was still in publication. However, GenealogyBank only has three years of the Herald available at this time.

I also found a blog template that I really liked, but wasn't having success downloading it. I finally used Internet Explorer instead of Firefox and was able to download it just fine. I also uploaded it to a private sample blog, but there are some backgrounds I want to change and I'll have to save and tweak all my widgets. It will take some uninterrupted time (!) to accomplish, but at least I'm headed in the right direction in my New Year's resolution to redesign my blog and make it look less cluttered.

Wordless Wednesday: Midkiff Road (Thanks, Julie!)

Source: Midkiff Road Sign, Interstate 20, Midland, Texas. Photographed by Julie Cahill Tarr. Digital copy privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. 2009.

Tuesday's Tip: Getting More Traffic to Your Blog, Part One

I'm going to deviate from tips about doing genealogical research or organizing genealogical files and address a topic that I think will be of use especially to new genea-bloggers. There are many new bloggers out there who've decided to start blogging, perhaps as a New Year's resolution or after family gatherings during the holidays have prompted them to take genealogy to a new level. The focus of these tips could also be directed at those who have been blogging awhile, but for one reason or another are in the background, not getting much reader traffic to their site. And I know there are always "oldies" who may have not considered some of the following points.

Wouldn't you like to see more people visit your blog? Wouldn't you like to have a distant cousin find your blog and leave a comment so that you can share research or break down a brick wall? Wouldn't you like to have someone more knowledgeable about genealogical resources in your ancestral locations tell you about a wonderful repository (online or off) that could end up being a mother lode of family history treasure? Of course you would! But first you must get readers to your blog!

I would like to preface my tips with a little walk back in time. Several years ago, I decided that I wanted to blog about genealogy. I had a genealogy website, but it took up quite a bit of time to update information and create pages for the different ancestors that I wanted to highlight. Bravejournal was my blogging platform choice at first, but it was unwieldy and almost as "clunky" to use as creating web pages. However, I did my best and started looking around for other genealogy blogs. There weren't any listed on Cyndi's List at that time. The only ones I could find were Dick Eastman, Randy Seaver, Craig Manson, and Chris Dunham, and while their posts were interesting to read, I didn't have a personal connection with any of them at that point. I kept blogging rather inconsistently until I discovered the Carnival of Genealogy. Here's where my blogging and readership took off, assisted by a switch to the Blogger platform. After blogging now for nearly three years, I've seen my readership slowly but steadily increase. I've had distant cousins contact me and been given assistance by fellow researchers. I've connected with my readers and other bloggers and my life has been enriched by our interaction.

So here is my first tip for getting the word out about your genealogy blog:

Get Listed

Go to Chris Dunham's Blogfinder and suggest that your blog be added to the list. The Blogfinder is the go-to place to get your blog listed, as it is where most readers visit to find new and pertinent genealogy blogs to read. Leave a concise but comprehensive description of your blog and list it under a couple of categories to which it pertains.

Next, go to Cyndi's List and add your blog by clicking on "Submit a New Link" in the left-hand column. Cyndi's List is like a card catalog of nearly all the genealogy websites on the Internet. Be sure to mention in the description field that this is a blog, so that Cyndi will categorize it with the other genealogy blogs listed on her site. If your blog is also locality-specific (writing about research on all the pioneering families in a specific township, for instance), your blog will also be listed on her site's page for resources for that locality. It does take quite a while for your blog to be listed (months, sometimes), although it will be in the What's New section of her site.

Speaking of locality-specific blogs, if you post a lot of genealogical information about an American location, you'll want to list with Linkpendium. Started by the same folks who created RootsWeb, Linkpendium is like a scaled-down version of Cyndi's List, with links to genealogical resources for American locations. They also have links for surname resources for global locations, so this is a great way to highlight the surnames about which you're researching and blogging. On every page, in green font, you'll see a link which says "Add your favorite Websites to this page!"

A few other ideas to get your blog featured in the genealogy corner of the Internet is to list it with USGenWeb, USGenNet and WorldGenWeb sites, as well as on pertinent message boards and mailing lists, such as those you find on Ancestry and RootsWeb. Cyndi's List also has great links to message boards and mailing lists. You'll need to know how to use these before leaving messages about your blog on them. I do have a syllabus on message boards that I can send you if you email me, and will be creating one on mailing lists for a presentation next month.

Now you have a week to get yourself listed all over the Internet! ;-)

Other posts in this series:
Part Two: Participate
Part Three: Comment and Allow Comments
Part Four: Create a Profile
Part Five: Join Social Networking Sites
Part Six: The Redux
Part Seven: Check It
Part Eight: Learn
Part Nine: Bookmarks, Feeds, and Subscriptions

FamilySearch Indexing Update: New International and State Census Projects

New International Projects/Two New Languages
Several new international projects were added to the list of active FamilySearch indexing projects (see chart below).There is now a need for volunteers with an interest in or knowledge of the new Norwegian and Russian records—Norway 1875 Census and Ukraine Kyiv 1840–1842.
The indexing program’s interfaces have not been translated into Norwegian and Russian yet; however, the instructions for the Ukrainian project are available in Russian and English.

State Censuses
New state census projects were added for Florida (1885 and 1935) and Massachusetts (1855 and 1865). Additional online volunteers are always needed. Patrons or indexers are encouraged to forward these updates to anyone they feel will be interested in helping to index the current projects. New volunteers can register quickly online at www.familysearchindexing.org.

Current Projects, Record Language, and Percent Completion Status
Argentina Censo 1869 - Buenos Aires 2
Spanish
42%

Argentina Censo 1869 - Cordoba y San Luis
Spanish
30%

Arkansas Marriages [Part 1]
English
74%

Arkansas Marriages – Part 3
English
8%

Arkansas Marriages IV
English
12%

Belgique – Registres Des Décès (Français)
French
14%

België - Overlijdens Registers - In het Nederlands
Dutch, Flemish
11%

Belgium - Antwerp Foreigners Index
English
12% (New)

Brandenburg Kirchenbücher
German
32%*

Bremer Schifflisten
German
11%

España Lugo Registros Parroquiales [Part 1]
Spanish
12%

Flanders Death Registration
French, Dutch, Flemish
34%

Florida 1885 Census
English
6% (New)

Florida 1935 Census
English
19% (New)

France, Coutances, Paroisses de la Manche
French
8%

Guerrero - Censo de Mexico de 1930
Spanish
68%

Illinois - 1920 US Federal Census
English
62%

Indiana Marriages, 1790 – Apr 1905
English
99%

Massachusetts - 1855 State Census
English
4% (New)

Massachusetts - 1865 State Census
English
1% (New)

Indiana Marriages, Apr 1905 – Dec 1957
English
98.9%

Massachusetts - 1920 US Federal Census
English
79%

Massachusetts Marriage Records 1906-1915
English
23%

New Hampshire - Early to 1900 Deaths
English
24%

Nicaragua, Managua Civil Records
Spanish
8%

Norway 1875 Census part 1
Norwegian
1% (New)

Nova Scotia Antigonish Church Records
English
48%

Ohio Tax Records – 2 of 4
English
63%

Queretaro - Censo de Mexico de 1930
Spanish
39%

St Petersburg Kirchenbuchduplikat 1833-1885
German
(New)

Tlaxcala - Censo de Mexico de 1930
Spanish
4%

UK - Cheshire - Church Records
English
35%

UK - Cheshire - Land Tax
English
5%

Ukraine Kyiv 1840-1842
Russian
(New)

Venezuela Mérida Registros Parroquiales
Spanish
1%

(*This percentage refers to a specific portion of a larger project.)

Who Are Our Brickwall Ancestors, and Why Aren't We Blogging About Them Regularly?

Tombstone Tuesday. Wordless Wednesday. The carnivals. Memes and challenges. As a group, we Genea-Bloggers are pretty good about posting our ancestral stories and photographs on a regular basis. BUT...why aren't we blogging on a regular basis about our brickwall ancestors?

Oh, I realize that many of us have mentioned them in passing. We'll write about someone and say "He/she is my brickwall ancestor," but we won't give very many details.

What if we were to blog about them on a regular basis? Maybe not every week, like Tombstone Tuesday or Wordless Wednesday, but once or twice a month. Not in carnival style, because that would mean a lot of work for one person to put it all together. We wouldn't have to designate a certain day of the week or date of the month. It would just be nice if we could all commit to writing a detailed post once or twice a month about a brick wall ancestor, and include the following:

1. A title of "My Brickwall Ancestor: [Name], [dates, if known]"

2. List what we want to know: "I want to discover solid evidence of who Levi E. McCLELLAN's parents and siblings were, and when and where he died and was buried."

3. A chronological list (timeline) of known information. For instance:

1850 Federal Census - living in China Twp., St. Clair Co., Michigan as the head of the household. Levi "McCLENAN," age 27, laborer, born in New York.

The following were also living with him:

Probable wife Clary McCLENAN [Clarissa Mary CLEVELAND], age 18, born New York

Unknown household member Elizabeth FISH, age 14, born Canada

Probable mother Rachel McCLENAN, age 53, widow, born Ohio

Probable niece Emy McCLENAN, age 5, born Ohio, attended school within the year

Probable brother Rubin [sic - Reuben] McCLENAN age 28, laborer, born Ohio

I could then go on to list other census information (1860, 1870, 1880 Federal Census; he's deceased in 1890 Union Veterans Census) or documents (1862 Enlistment in Co. C, 27th Michigan Infantry; 1866 Civil War Veteran's Pension Index Card; 1880 Detroit City Directory) in which I've found Levi, in chronological order and with details.

4. List positive and negative searches in detail. Obviously, any information in the timeline would be from a positive search. But we could list where we've searched and found no information, or our attempts to trace collateral lines. In this example, I would say the following:

I've attempted to obtain Levi's death record (I know he was deceased by the time the 1890 Union Veteran's Census was taken) in the following places, with no results:

Michigan State Death Records 1867 - 1897 on FamilySearch's Record Search, using Levi as a first name and McClellan, McLellan, McCollum, McClenan, McLennan as surnames. I've also used the "Exact & close match" and "Exact, close & partial" filters. I've searched for deaths for all Levis in Michigan between 1880, when he was last known to be alive, and 1890, as well as all those with the initial L.

I would then go on to tell how I've searched online obituary and cemetery transcriptions for the area.

5. List any possible resources you can think of that you haven't checked. In the above example, I've ordered Levi's Civil War Pension Record, which I hope will provide me with more information. You can also list your suspicions. In the same Army company in which Levi served during the Civil War, there was a man named William J. McCLELLAN. I would then describe my attempts to find out more about this individual, whom I suspect is a brother or cousin to Levi.

As a Genea-Blogging community, we would agree to post helpful comments to each other's Brickwall Ancestor columns, but refrain from vague recommendations. In other words, the following would not be helpful: "Miriam, have you checked [name of resource, database or website]?" Obviously, my post will list what I have or have not checked! I would hope that you would instead say, "Miriam, I know about this [name of resource, database or website], and I've checked [this information] for you. Here are the results."

Yes, this is a lot of work. It means we need to be organized! But think about this: How many times have you told yourself that you'd give anything to break down a particular brickwall? Anything? Invest time organizing, analyzing, checking our sources, and writing about our challenging ancestors? Hunt down every detail to death until we know we've come to the very end of what we know to do? And (yikes!) keep track of our searches? But isn't this what doing quality research is all about?

Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak brought genealogy synergy to a whole new level with her Unclaimed Persons project. Why aren't we tapping into it? It occurred to me--after consulting with Henk van Kampen about Dutch resources, Anna-Karin about my Swedish line, and Janet Iles about resources for Markham Twp, York Co., Ontario, plus having Colleen McHugh find and send me the above-mentioned 1850 census record for Levi--that we have some fabulous research skills and knowledge to learn from and share with each other! We need to be utilizing these! Wouldn't it just be fabulous if we could knock down a bunch of brickwalls in 2009? I hope you'll join me.

FamilySearch Record Search Update: Four Million New Records Added

FamilySearch added about 4 million new records to its Record Search pilot over the holidays. Patrons will find records from Brazil, Hungary, Czech Republic, Southern Bohemia, Třeboň, West Virginia, and the much anticipated Indian Territory records from the 1900 U.S. Census. See the chart below for more details. The new records can be searched for free at FamilySearch.org (Click Search Records, then Record Search pilot).

Collection Name: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro Civil Registration
Indexed Records: ---
Digital Images: 1,291,670
Comments: Updated – New localities added to browse

Collection Name: Hungary Funeral Notices
Indexed Records: ---
Digital Images: 539,096
Comments: New

Collection Name: Czech Republic, Southern Bohemia, Třeboň Archive Church Books
Indexed Records: ---
Digital Images: 24,835
Comments: New

Collection Name: Arizona Death Certificates
Indexed Records: 265,726
Digital Images: 264,534
Comments: New

Collection Name: West Virginia Births
Indexed Records: 242,781
Digital Images: ---
Comments: Ten new counties added

Collection Name: West Virginia Deaths
Indexed Records: 402,154
Digital Images: ---
Comments: Ten new counties added

Collection Name: West Virginia Marriages
Indexed Records: 393,867
Digital Images: ---
Comments: Ten new counties added

Collection Name: 1900 United States Census
Indexed Records: 826,030
Digital Images: ---
Comments: Added Indian Territory

The 63rd Carnival of Genealogy is Posted

New Year's Resolutions, the theme of the 63rd Carnival of Genealogy is now available to be read at Creative Gene. Forty submissions were entered, and mine, Resolutions, can be read here.

The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is: A Winter Photo Essay. Show us those wintertime photo(s) of your ancestors or family members and tell us the story that goes along with them. Winter is here! Let's record it and celebrate it! The deadline for submissions is January 15th.

You can submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blogcarnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Thank you!

Press Release from MyHeritage

MYHERITAGE MAKES FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH EASIER WITH LAUNCH OF FAMILY TREE BUILDER 3

New software makes it easier to automatically find long lost relatives, publish content to MyHeritage.com, and print your family tree on one page

Tel Aviv, Israel – January 2, 2009 – MyHeritage, one of the world’s most popular family Web sites, today announced the launch of Family Tree Builder 3, a powerful software program that MyHeritage members can download and use to build family trees, research family history and add content like photos and videos.

Family Tree Builder 3 includes new functionality to make it an even more powerful tool for researching family history:

* Smart Match Merge: MyHeritage’s Smart Matching™ technology constantly compares new family trees to the database of more than 300 million profiles on MyHeritage.com, to find matches and discover long lost family connections. Now, members can work together to easily merge the information in their overlapping trees
* Smart Research: Automatically plugs the names from any member’s family tree into MyHeritage’s powerful search engine, researches these names in more than 100 of the most important databases on the Internet and provides results, saving months of manual research
* All-in-One Chart: With intelligent organization, members can quickly and easily print family trees on one easy-to-read page or poster – even huge trees with many branches and people
* Online Publishing: Members can publish their family tree plus any related media – photos, videos, audio files and documents from Family Tree Builder to the MyHeritage.com family Web site, for sharing with family members.

“Since its introduction in 2005, Family Tree Builder has become one of the most successful family history tools in the world. More than one million people are now using it in 34 languages to build their family trees and share the experience with their family members all over the world. The launch of Family Tree Builder 3 puts even more powerful technology into the hands of our users, while keeping it simple and fun to use,” said Gilad Japhet, founder and CEO of MyHeritage. “Family Tree Builder 3 also makes it possible to upload videos and documents to family websites on MyHeritage.com, giving people new ways to preserve their heritage and stay connected with relatives worldwide.”

Using the MyHeritage Family Tree Builder will continue to be free and members can add an unlimited amount of profiles to family trees using the software. For access to the new functionality and to publish content on MyHeritage.com, the following price plans apply:

Plan: Basic
Price: FREE
Online trees: Up to 500 people
Online storage: Up to 100 MB
Additional features:


Plan: Premium
Price: Holiday offer available until 15 January, 2009: $1.95/month (€1.70, £1.50)
Normal price: $3.95/month (€3.45, £2.95)
Online trees: Up to 2500 people
Online storage: Up to 500 MB
Additional features:
* Smart Match Merge
* Smart Research
* All in One Chart
* Publishing Videos and Documents
* Priority support


Plan: PremiumPlus
Price: $9.95/month (€8.95, £7.95)
Online trees: Unlimited
Online storage: Unlimited
Additional features:
* Smart Match Merge
* Smart Research
* All in One Chart
* Publishing Videos and Documents
* Priority support

MyHeritage.com is a leading online destination for families. On the site, people can find relatives, research family history, and stay connected to family members across the globe. In addition, MyHeritage offers automatic photo tagging technology that makes it easier to label, organize and search for digital photos, giving families another fun way to stay in touch.

About MyHeritage
MyHeritage was founded by a team of people who combine a passion for family history with the development of innovative technology. It is now one of the world’s leading online networks for families, and the second largest family history website. MyHeritage is available in 34 languages and home to more than 28 million family members and 300 million profiles. The company recently acquired Kindo, a family social network, and is based in Bnei Atarot, near Tel Aviv, Israel. For more information, visit www.myheritage.com.

Friday Findings: McCLELLAN Pension Record, E-mails, Atlas Project, BORCHERS

I ordered the Civil War Pension Record for my 4th-great-grandfather, Levi E. McCLELLAN (McLELLAN, McLALLIN, etc.). That along with subscriptions for Internet Genealogy (renewal) and Discovering Family History (new) were some of my Christmas gifts this year.

On Saturday, I e-mailed the VALK and LEWIS cousins that had left comments in my website's guestbook a couple of weeks ago. I also went through my Juno email inbox (nearly 900 messages), deleted all the junk and forwarded the good e-mails to my Gmail inbox. I used to use Juno for many years, and keep this freebie account open for those times when a distant relative or other researcher comes across a query I left on a message board with the old address. One of the messages was the following:

I have been searching for over 5 yrs. for a missing link, my Gr. Grandfather Lewis Harding. I knew his name, his wife’s name, when he was born, where he is buried and I knew that he came to Michigan when he was 2 yrs. old. I spent some time on looking at the Atlas Project, did a search and found him in the biography of George M. Campbell. Thank you so much for your Atlas Project. I not only found Lewis Harding’s parents, but also his sisters and brother. I have an old album that belonged to my grandparents, M.C. and Matilda Harding that has pictures of several of the people named in the Atlas Project. I knew they were relatives, but I didn’t know their connection and thanks to you now I do. I am thrilled to get this information that I have been seeking for so long.

Thank you again.

As you can imagine, this made my day! I haven't worked on the Atlas Project in a couple of years so it's nice to know that the information I put on it has helped someone. Here's another person I need to contact to see if she would be willing to add her photographs to the website for the benefit of others.

I heard back from my LEWIS cousin we are collaborating. I have the information she needs on the earlier, older generations and she has information I've been wanting on the more recent ones--info I couldn't access because of restrictions to current vital records. I also sent her quite a few ancestral and gravestone photos. I'm very excited to find how easy it is to find things and send them to others using my new filing system for documents, photos, and research notes.

Speaking of which, I spent a lot of time this week organizing digital files, answering a backlog of emails, and even got some scanning done. My dad loaned me the funeral book of my paternal grandmother's adoptive father, Alfred Henry HOLST. There are lots of gems inside: obituaries, signatures of nearly everyone in town (including other relatives), and pages where relatives are specifically listed. One of the list of relatives had some unfamiliar names on it. I remembered that I had discovered that Alfred's father, John, had a sister that had also immigrated from Germany; this was from John's FBI Case File, which I found at Footnote. His sister was listed as Mrs. Anna M. BORCHERS, so using Ancestry and FamilySearch Record Search, I was able to piece together her family and identify the individuals by the same surname listed in the funeral book: Anna's sons and Alfred's cousins. Doing research on this family uncovered that Anna and her husband Claus immigrated from Germany in 1874, so when John and his wife and infant son Alfred immigrated in 1882, it was obvious that they were joining his sister and brother-in-law. I love how putting pieces of the puzzle (facts) together gives a larger, deeper look into the family history!

Lastly, I happened to go to the Zeeland (Netherlands) Provincial Archives website and saw that they had added birth records, which they were lacking before. I've been able to add quite a few details and family members to my TON and VanKLINKEN lines.

Resolutions

res o lu tion (noun)
A resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.
The act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.
The mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose.
A solution, accommodation, or settling of a problem, controversy, etc. [1]

On my computer desk is a small slip of paper with the following words:

record
cite
archive and preserve
organize
blog and write

These were my resolutions for 2008. How did I do?

Record: Getting my information into my database has always been a challenge, not because it's difficult to do (RootsMagic makes it easy), but because this is where I tend to be most lazy. Same story with recording when and where I've researched, on- or offline. I've found Google Notebook to be a great place to record my online researches; better for me, even, than using my Online Research Log. I did do better on in this area than I have in any previous years. My grade: C

Cite: I did better in this area, too, with my Evidence Explained and RootsMagic Source Wizard. Still room for improvement, though. My grade: C+

Archive and Preserve: We rented a safe deposit box at our financial institution and we signed up for Carbonite. I also found a photographer's supply store that sells cotton gloves here in town, and I purchased a couple of pairs to use for handling photos and antique items. There's still many documents and items I need to dig up around the house and put in the safe deposit box. My grade: A-

Organize: I started out the year trying to use the binder system, which was too slow and expensive to do it the way I felt it should be done. Then I sought to improve my file folder system. I am now convinced paperless is the way to go and found a great system by Barbara Nuehring that will work well for me. Despite my late start, I've made headway. Grade: B

Blog and Write: I certainly blogged a lot last year, and one of my posts made it into print. However, I had hoped to submit some articles to genealogy magazines and I didn't even get them written. I also didn't work on my website or do much on my other blogs. I should have been more specific in my goals. Grade: B-

My 2009 Resolutions

I have some specific goals for the coming year:

1. I have two specific tasks in mind that I would like to launch from this blog. One is a new column that I would like to see all genea-bloggers participate in, similar to Tombstone Tuesday or Wordless Wednesday. Another is a Challenge I came up with during the last couple of weeks which I came very close to launching today, but reconsidered when I figured that as I return to work next week after my surgery recovery, I may find I don't have the energy or time to devote to it. I will look at the spring or summer for the right opportunity to share it with you. It's on a large scale along the lines of the Genea-Blogger Games, but is not at all similar in topic. I will share both of these specific tasks in the future (stay tuned!).

2. I plan to write posts featuring the postcards of my children's father's great-grandmother, similar to what Pam Warren is doing with Belle's Box. I also want to get my mother's letters written from Alaska to her parents in Michigan from 1966 - 1978 scanned, transcribed and posted to a private blog.

3. Speaking of this blog, I am looking to improve the visual look of it. It's much too cluttered for my minimalist taste. The problem has come when I've looked at other designs and realized that I will lose coding for a lot of my widgets if I change over. I just need some time to work on this.

4. Another blogging goal is to phase out AnceStories2 and add posts more frequently to my Atlas Project, personal, and Graveyard Rabbit blogs, while continuing to contribute to the EWGS and Bootcamp for Facebook blogs.

5. I need to update all the pages on my AnceStories website, especially adding links to this blog.

6. I plan to hire two professional genealogists; one to hopefully knock down our MIDKIFF brick wall and another to look up my Great-grandfather YORK's military records.

7. I want to work on three brick walls this year: Berber (DeJONG) VALK (find birth information and parents' names); Jeremiah F. YORK (use land records to get evidence that he is the son of Stephen YORK and Amy FRANKLIN); and Levi McCLELLAN and wife Clarissa CLEVELAND (I'd like to determine their parents' names). I also want to see if I can find more vintage photographs from my mother-in-law's lines.

8. I'd like to get all the items my uncle sent me from my maternal grandparents' estate scanned.

There are certainly a lot of details here, and I don't expect to get A's in every area. In addition, it promises to be a busy year: my daughter graduates high school in June; and our local society is gearing up to host the Washington State Genealogical Society's State Conference in Spokane in September, with Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak as our featured speaker. But again, I will print these resolutions out and hang them near my computer to remind me of them.

Source: 1. resolution. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/resolution (accessed: January 01, 2009).

January 2009 Calendar of Events

January brings the snow,
Makes our feet and fingers glow.

--from "The Garden Year" by Sara Coleridge

Holidays, History, and Heritage

January is National Photo Preservation Month.

January 1: New Year's Day (global)
146th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation (United States)

January 6: Epiphany (Christianity)

January 11: Coming-of-age Day (Japan)

January 15: Festival of Harvest (India)

January 18: World Religion Day (global)

January 19: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (United States)

January 20: Inauguration Day (United States)

January 25: Burns Night (Scotland)

January 26: Australia Day (Australia)
Republic Day (India)

January 29: Auckland Anniversary Day (New Zealand)

Do any of the above events feature in or affect your heritage, culture, or family history?

Deadlines for Carnivals and Other Events:

Need help? Read my post, "How to Submit a Post to a Carnival", here.

Posted January 3 - the 63rd Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy - New Year's Resolutions

Posted January 16 - the 9th Edition of the "I Smile for the Camera" Carnival - Who Are You? I Really Want to Know!

Posted January 17 - the 64th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy - A Winter Photo Essay

Posted January 19th - the 13th Edition of the Cabinet of Curiosities

Posted January 20 - the 11th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture - My Key to Ireland

Posted January 26 - the 15th Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy - History Books

Heads Up! The submissions for the 3rd Edition of the Canadian Genealogy Carnival ("Around the Kitchen Table") are due February 8th.

January 1 - Data Backup Day

Read "Today is Backup Day!" by Thomas MacEntee of Destination: Austin Family.

Scanfest: Sunday, January 25th, 11 AM - 2 PM, Pacific Standard Time

Scan your photos as part of National Photo Preservation Month!

Go here to learn how to join Scanfest and our group of chatting, scanning family archivists, historians, and bloggers!

Go here to add the above deadlines and dates to your Google Calendar,
courtesy of Thomas MacEntee of Destination: Austin Family.


The days are short, The sun a spark
Hung thin between the dark and dark.
Fat snowy footsteps track the floor.
Milk bottles burst outside the door.
The river is a frozen place
Held still beneath the trees of lace.
The sky is low, the wind is gray.
The radiator purrs all day.

--"January," by John Updike