TransylvanianDutch

FamilySearch modified their website design on Tuesday (see FamilySearch Unveils Their New Website Design), and in the process confused many genealogical researchers by changing the navigation to certain pages on the site.

Serious genealogical researchers and geneabloggers have lamented the difficulty in accessing the Research Wiki, the Record Collections page, the Research Courses, and more.  Not only is the navigation to these pages different, they now require more mouse clicks.  For instance:

*  James Tanner says " ...  if you look at the FamilySearch.org startup page for a while, you will see that there are almost no links to any of the research resources of the website at all except user submitted areas such as photos, family tree and indexing. There are two links to the search screen for Historical Record Collections and other resources, but nothing to tell you what or how to search."

*  Lee Drew says:  "The little touted but widely acclaimed Research Wiki was hard to find on the old site design but the new design has pushed it farther into the background.  In fact, it has been pushed so far out of the stream of relevance that few site visitors will find it.  Links to the wiki have gone from two clicks to four."

*  DearMYRTLE says:  "In this day and age, bookmarks on a specific computer should not be the mainstay for Internet researchers. 

"I've heard FS engineers say there is only a small segment of potential users who are serious researchers and that the thrust now is to reach those who have photos and stories."

The new FamilySearch home page requires one mouse click to go to "Family Trees," "Photos" and "Search" (the links on the line with the logo).  A click to pick the large image frame and then another click can take the user to their "Fan Chart," "Photos," "Family Tree," "Family Records," "Indexing" or "Live Help."  



 If a user goes to "Search" or "Family Records," they have to scroll down to the Collections list in order to click on the "Browse All Published Collections" or a locality to get to the Historical Record Collections.  Three clicks - it should be ONE!  That's two more clicks than before.  

Why is that important?  Because only some of the historical record collections are searchable from the Search page.  I usually start at the Historical Record Collections page rather than the Home page.  

To get to the Research Courses (which I do almost every day), I have to click on the "Live Help" button on the Home page, then the "Get Help" button in the image, and then on the "Learning Center" "Take a Course" link.  Three clicks - it should be ONE!  It used to be two clicks.

To get to the Research Wiki (which I do almost every day), I have to click on the "Live Help" button on the Home page, then  the "Get Help" button in the image, then the "Research Assistance" and then the "Visit the Research Wiki" link.  Four clicks - it should be ONE!  It used to be two clicks.  

You get the idea, I hope.  My genealogy work life does not need extra clicks (carpal tunnel, anyone?) or time wasted waiting for three or four web pages to load.  My work-around is to put all of the important links (to me) in my Bookmarks and go directly to the pages, bypassing the FamilySearch Home page.

What about beginners new to the FamilySearch website?  They may be attracted to the beautiful web pages, but what should they do once they get there?  Are they expected to thrash around and finally figure out that they should call the 1-866 number at FamilySearch for basic help?  Maybe 20% of the beginners will do that, and the other 80% will just think "I don't have time for this."

I work with beginning and experienced researchers in my local society, and most of them will be confused by the burial of really useful links deep in the FamilySearch website.  After three years of trying to lead them to the great FamilySearch record collections, Wiki, Courses, Catalog, etc. (and it's not been easy), I'll have to start over. [Aside:  I need to totally revamp my "FamilySearch: The Very Best FREE Genealogy Website" presentation now...]

What should be done?  I suggested on Google+ yesterday that:

"A simple listing of the major pages on the home page, near the top, would be really useful.  Even a two-tier link set where Family Tree, Photos and Search are now located.  I want to be able to go to the home page and click once and be in the Family Tree, the Record Search, the Collection page, the Research Wiki, the Research Courses, Getting Started, the Catalog, Indexing, the Blog, etc"

So how hard would it be to satisfy the serious genealogical researchers AND the beginners wanting to add photos and stories to the Family Tree and the FamilySearch web page designers?  Would this be feasible:



Yes, just add a ribbon of Links to the FamilySearch pages that are really important to genealogical researchers. Even two lines to add more links.  That would make me ecstatic.  Oh, I'd like that link ribbon on the major genealogical pages also so that I can go, with one click, to the Library Catalog, or to the Research Wiki, etc.  

To answer my rhetorical question:  No, I don't think that FamilySearch is de-emphasizing genealogical research.  I do think that they've identified Photos and Stories as a way to bring new generations of people interested in their family history, perhaps not genealogists, to FamilySearch and the Family Tree.  In that regard, their no different from Ancestry, MyHeritage, Geni, and a number of other online family tree websites that encourage their users to add names, dates, places, stories, photos, etc. to their trees.

Of course, we all hope that those new generations become intrigued by what they find, educate themselves online or in local genealogical societies, and become genealogists.  In order for that to happen, there needs to be education on the FamilySearch sites, and that goal should make the Beginners information, the Research Wiki and the Research Courses critical to achieving their goal.  

Please, FamilySearch, don't hide your shining lights under a blanket of  web page clicks - it's self-defeating.  

DearMYRTLE, Russ Worthington, Laurie Haldeman-Lambe and I discussed this yesterday in a Google+ Hangout "Exploring the FamilySearch Redesign" - you can watch it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-rZ_6avvxk&feature=plcp


The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/04/is-familysearch-de-emphasizing.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

During the past few months, I have been making some very public statements about MyHeritage.  Subsequent to my presentations at the St. George Family History Expo and most recently as a keynote speaker at RootsTech 2013, watch the keynote here, fast forward to minute 31:28 in the video.  I had several questions and comments from attendees. In addition, I was invited by MyHeritage to team up with them in making a special offer to my blog readers.

Because of this, I felt it necessary to clearly state my experience with MyHeritage. There are several reasons why I have decided that they deserve a much higher profile than they have in the past. This blog post is intended to explain my personal opinions regarding the programs.

I have been using MyHeritage for the past three or four years. During the past two years, MyHeritage has dramatically increased both its online family trees and has acquired a large amount of genealogical source content through the purchase of WorldVitalRecords.com. Since that acquisition, MyHeritage has also introduced its Record Match capability. This allows those who upload their family tree to MyHeritage.com to have automatic searches made of the records, also available as a MyHeritage Data plan, and other sources associated with MyHeritage. At the same time, MyHeritage has significantly increased the record content and improved the search capabilities.

Although this type of service has previously been available from Ancestry.com, MyHeritage takes automatic record searching to an entirely new level. For example, I have my family tree on Ancestry.com and presently I have 742 “green leaves” waiting for me to process. My experience is that a significant number of these source suggestions from Ancestry.com are “false positives,” that is, they are for people to whom I am not related: my guess is more than half. On the other hand, I also have my family tree on MyHeritage.com and with the Record Match capability; I presently have 2,400 Record Matches waiting for me to process on MyHeritage. Significantly, nearly all, probably more than 95% of these are actually people in my family tree. I have found these records to be extremely valuable.  For example, MyHeritage’s Record Match has found over 400 matches to FindAGrave.com to people in my family tree. To me, this alone is worth the cost of a subscription.

I am not trying to discourage anyone from using or subscribing to Ancestry.com. I am merely pointing out that there is now a viable and useful alternative. With its constant addition of new records MyHeritage.com will only get more and more useful as time goes on. At Rootstech we learned that the entire US Census Collection will be available through MyHeritage in the coming weeks!  I am very excited to see the record matches in my tree come to life with this new important update.

One of the major factors in my positive experiences with MyHeritage is the responsiveness of the owners and staff. Any questions I have had concerning either program has been promptly and courteously answered and this was the case even before my blog became popular. Because of my comments and suggestions about both programs, which I had been using on my personal computer and through the free access to WorldVitalRecords.com at the Mesa FamilySearch Library, MyHeritage recently offered me complimentary access to both programs. I should also mention that for over a year, I also had complimentary access to Ancestry.com.

MyHeritage is not a replacement for, but a supplement to a subscription to Ancestry.com. They have different records and both are extremely valuable. But because of the high visibility of Ancestry.com and the lower visibility of MyHeritage, I have felt it is important to educate those who read my blog and attend my classes as to the relative merits of the two companies’ programs and the huge strides MyHeritage has made recently.

Since MyHeritage.com started in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, it has a huge user base in those countries compared to other online family tree programs.  It has since spread around the world, not just in English speaking countries. If you look at their map of the MyHeritage users, you will see how valuable this service can be if any of your ancestors came from countries other than those where English is predominant. MyHeritage matches people in your family tree with those in the entire database and suggests relevant records. Expanding this capability to the countries where your ancestors originated is a valuable asset.

In addition, MyHeritage has a free genealogical database program for your personal computer called Family Tree Builder available for Windows operating system, which allows you to create a family tree and optionally upload your information to your online family tree. Ancestry.com also has its own programs for your personal use for both the Apple and Windows operating systems called Family Tree Maker. However, the Ancestry.com programs are not free.

For these reasons, I have strongly encouraged my readers and the attendees at my presentations to consider MyHeritage.com as well as Ancestry.com.

If you have any questions about my relationship with any entities mentioned in this blog, please see my Disclosures and Disclaimers page linked in the heading. 

Following are some posts from genealogy blogs and newspapers that I want to share with you. I hope you find them interesting and informative.

Judy Russell announced on Monday a major breakthrough for genealogists. While the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has done some great things for us as individuals, it has made life as genealogists much more difficult with new restrictions on record access. The Department of Health and Human Services has finally agreed to new terms regarding public access to death records. Read the full story in Breakthrough for Medical Genealogists.

Audrey Collins of The National Archives (UK) contributed an interesting piece to the TNA blog this week. She compared American census records with UK census records. She has several keen observations, including “. . . since many Americans have British or Irish roots, and when I am answering their research enquiries on British records it helps to know a little about the kind of records they are used to.” This is a valuable lesson for librarians and professional genealogists of all kinds. Her keenest observation about the two censuses, however, is “. . . perhaps the greatest difference is one which is not immediately apparent: the way that the census was taken in the first place.” The post is available on the TNA blog.

Thomas MacEntee is a very popular genealogy blogger. Among his many activities is running the Destination: Austin Family blog. This week he had a very interesting post about twenty-first century genealogists. Each of his points was very valid, and interesting, but it was his summary that I found most interesting: “As many of us use different tech tools in searching our ancestors and we work to share them with others in the genealogy community, perhaps we need to avoid terms and labels that can be divisive such as ‘21^st Century Genealogist.’ ” Read the full post at Reasons to Stop Saying “21^st Century Genealogist.”

 

 

Interesting news came from New Brunswick, Canada, this week. An anthropology professor has teamed up with provincial archaeologists for a special project. Using 3d software, they examined and photographed eighteenth-century gravestones at Fort Gaspareaux National Historical Site. The new technology allowed them to recreated the eroded carving on some of the stones to reveal names and other information that are now all but illegible to the naked eye. Find more of the story at 18^th Century Tombstones Deciphered with New 3D Technology.

Wendy L. Callahan writes the New England Genealogy blog. She describes herself as “an urban and steampunk fantasy author, Pagan writer, homeschooler, and genealogist from Massachusetts, currently living in England with my husband, son and daughter, black-headed caique, and three cats. . .” She recently posted Climbing My Family Tree in which she describes her three-prong approach to genealogical research: Tackling the Brick Wall, One Branch at a Time, and Tying Up Loose Ends.

Weekly column sharing genealogy-related things I’ve found.

New-to-Me Blogs

• Collecting Leaves Genealogy, Stephanie
• Italian Genealogy ~ Researching Italian Ancestry, Julie Goucher
• Sifting Through the Past, Natalie Parker

Online Articles

• Feds Want Document Back, Illinois Times
• Are You Passionate About Researching Your Ancestors or Are You Just Faking It?, The Ancestor Hunt
• Become an FGS 2013 Ambassador, FGS Conference News Blog
• DNA Monday: Where Are the Cousins?, Nuts From the Family Tree
• Tuesday’s Tip: Why Learn About Your Family History?, Pages from the Ancestry Binders
• Google Plus 101 for Creative People, Lateral Action [this post really applies to anyone wanting to learn a little more about using Google Plus, even if just for personal use]
• Google: Tell Us What to Do With Your Account After You Die, Mashable

Websites & Resources

• Congregational Library – "Formed in 1853 with the gift of 56 books from its owners' personal collections, the Congregational Library now holds 225,000 items documenting the history of one of the nation's oldest and most influential religious traditions."

Upcoming FREE Webinars

Date / Time	Webinar / Presenter / Host
4/15 7 PM Central	Digital Cemeteries and Mobile Apps Geoff Rasmussen Georgia Genealogical Society
4/16 7 PM Central	Wooden Shoe Genealogy: Methods for Tracing North American Immigrant Families Back to The Netherlands J. H. Fonkert Wisconsin State Genealogical Society
4/17 1 PM Central	A Treasure Trove of Irish Websites Judith Eccles Wight Legacy Family Tree
4/17 8 PM Central	Trip the Tree: Intriguing Family History Trips for the Whole Family Janet Hvorka Southern California Genealogical Society
4/18 8 PM Central	Hot Off the Press! Virginia Ackerman Utah Genealogical Association
4/24 1 PM Central	What’s New at FamilySearch Devin Ashby Legacy Family Tree
4/30 9 PM Central	An Autosomal DNA Primer: Sex Doesn’t Matter Any More Judy G. Russell Association of Professional Genealogists

Hundreds of genealogy and family history bloggers write thousands of posts every week about their research, their families, and their interests. I appreciate each one of them and their efforts.

My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for the genealogy carnivals, or other meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.

Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week:

*  Follow-Up: Use of Wild Cards in Online Sources by Bob Vornlocker on Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter blog.  Bob has an interesting search string called "regular expressions" which he would like to see used in genealogy search engines.

*  Using Your Local FamilySearch Center by Diane Boumenot on the One Rhode Island Family blog.  Diane describes the entire process in one post - great job!

*  Motivation Monday - You Mean My Family History Isn't Done? by Devon Lee on A Patient Genealogist blog.  Devon hears this from some people, and has suggestions for further work, since it is never done.

*  Censuses Compared by Audrey Collins on The National Archives Blog.  Audrey discusses English and US Census records, including her own experiences.

*  Looking for Thankful Tefft -- Part One, Part Two by James Tanner on the Genealogy's Star blog.  James is at the Family History Library working on his Rhode Island lines.  Watch his progress.

*  Uploading DNA to FTDNA from 23andMe by Dave Lynch on the 200 Years in Paradise blog.  Dave shows the steps to perform this task...and then you wait awhile.

*  The Surrogate by Judy G. Russell on The Legal Genealogist blog.  Judy defines how this person got the title and how they act, in the legal sense of course.

*  That Feeling... by Donya Williams on The Yeldell Family (Through My Eyes) blog.  Donya felt something when she walked into her ancestral church building.  Have you ever had that goosebumpy experience?

*  New Hampshire Pronunciation by Heather Rojo on the Nutfield Genealogy blog.  Now I know why I got funny looks in Chess-shire and Con-cord...thanks, Heather.

*  Video Storytelling - A Dream Come True for Online Pajamaealogists by Joan Shurtliff on the Record Click blog.  Joan reviews some genea-tech highlights, and explains how video storytelling might be the next great thing for family historians.

*  On Rounds With a Census Taker: 1910 by Sonja Hunter on the Bushwhacking Genealogy: Kalamazoo and Beyond blog.  Sonja found some 1910 newspaper articles about the census taking in 1910.  Interesting!

Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week:

*  Monday Recap for April 8, 2013 by Amanda on The Geni Blog.

*  Ruth's Recommendations by Ruth Blair on The Passionate Genealogist blog.

*  Follow Friday - Favorites for April 12, 2013 by Heather Roelker on the Leaves For Trees blog.

*  Follow Friday - Fab Finds for April 12, 2013 by Jana Last on Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog.

*  Blog Posts for Genealogists, April 12, 2013 by Michael Leclerc on the Mocavo Genealogy Blog.

*  Friday Finds - 04/12/13 by Julie Tarr on the GenBlog blog.

*  Saturday Serendipity - April 13, 2013 by John Tew on the Filiopietism Prism blog.

Readers are encouraged to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blogs to your Favorites, Google Reader, RSS feed or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - all bloggers appreciate feedback on what they write.

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me! I am currently reading posts from over 1350 genealogy bloggers using Google Reader, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/04/best-of-genea-blogs-7-to-13-april-2013.html

Copyright(c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver 

I asked my blogger friends on Facebook and Google+ to let me know about a favorite post from their own blogs that might interest my readers.  These are the posts, and I really enjoyed checking them out; I hope you do too.

• Bill West made a fortunate find of his gg-grandfather’s reminiscences in Jonathan West of Upton, Maine, from his blog West in New England.
• Bernice Bennett sent a post from her fairly new blog, “He Woke Me Up This Morning”.  I LOVE a post that tells a whole story, which is what you’ll find in What’s In A Name in which she reveals the process of taking a parent’s remark and turning it into a thorough genealogical search.
• John Tew of Filiopietism Prism has chosen a Rhode Island-based set of posts concerning the 1840′s voting rights controversy in Rhode Island known as the Dorr War.  Echoes from the Dorr Rebellion: The 1842 Aplin/Carpenter Correspondence (featuring his article in the NEHGS publication American Ancestors) and What Is A Dorrite? The 1842 Aplin/Carpenter Correspondence chronicle his ancestor’s experience as a “Dorrite.”

• Constantly Surprising Me, From California to Massachusetts is Barbara Poole’s contribution from her blog Life from the Roots. Digging deeper for the real story can yield amazing results.

• A bittersweet moment is captured in September 23, 1942 – Red letter day (Roscoe) in the WW2 letter blog by Deborah Sweeney, Genealogy Lady.

• Blogger Carol A. Bowen Stevens Found Those Hiding Turners, Yes, I Did, FINALLY! and reported on what she found on her blog Reflections from the Fence.
• Debi Levy Austen gives us a countdown of her Top 10 Genealogical Finds of 2012 on her blog Who Knew?  What a great idea, and a very entertaining read.

• Randy Seaver (who just celebrated the 7th birthday of his blog) answered a reader’s question in a recent post Dear Randy – Why Does LDS Church Exert So Much Control over Genealogy?  Randy offered an informed, intelligent evaluation of the state of things, and there was some additional discussion in the comments. His blog is Genea-Musings.
• A couple of recent posts were submitted by Magda N. from GenealogyWorks.  I liked her take on Zen & the Art of Genealogical Maintenance and her spirit of gratitude in Do you know what your ancestral home looks like?
• Pam Seavey Schaffner offers an interesting tribute to an aunt she is too young to remember in Fearless Females Blog Post: March 1 ~ Favorite Female Ancestor.  Her blog is Digging Down East.  

• Midge Frazel has updated her blog post on the cemetery kit; I have gotten some very valuable ideas from this post on her blog Granite in My Blood: 2013 Cemetery Kit.  
• Andrea Kelleher has a story about one of those surprising connections we sometimes find, in her posts about Dave Sampson a True Riverdale Character – Part One and Part Two.  Her blog is How Did I Get Here, My Amazing Genealogy Journey.
• I always love how Linda McCauley tells you the whole research story on her blog Documenting the Details.  This time it’s Uncle Elvie’s Story Part One and Part Two.
• Thanks to Lynn Palermo of The Armchair Genealogist for her story telling insights and advice in Turn Family Lines into Story Lines.
• You may find an ancestor in Heather Wilkinson Rojo‘s story of the Free Soil Rally, Boston, held in 1850. Heather did!  The list and story are in her post Free Soilers in Boston on Nutfield Genealogy.

In closing I would like to make a recommendation of my own; that you enjoy “History Radio Live Every Thursday at 1:00 EST”, on Marion Pierre Louis‘ radio show, Fieldstone Common.  The shows are also recorded for listening any time, and you currently have 30 or 40 to choose from.  Nothing improves your research more than understanding the times, places, and situations in which your ancestors lived.

I have learned some things from perusing these posts, and I hope you do too.  To contribute your own blog post to the next edition set for fall 2013, write to me at the email address in the side column giving your name, the title of your blog, and a link to the post.  thanks!

The post you are reading is located at: http://http://onerhodeislandfamily.com/2013/04/17/the-bloggers-best-spring-2013/

From sadness to happiness and wedding rings.

While my last article looked at changes from the surname Traurig to Trauring which were mistakes, this article looks at changes in the name Traurig that actually did happen – leading to Trauring, Vesely,  Smutny, and Al Yagon.

This article is a fairly long look at how names, or more specifically one name, changed over the past two centuries, using a number of sources including JRI-Poland (covers Poland), Genteam.at (Austria), Yad Vashem (Israel), Historical Jewish Press, FHL Microfilms, old-fashioned gumshoeing, and a bit of luck. While not so many people reading this article may be interested in what accounts to a one-name study of sorts, I think the research methods and family situations discussed would be useful for anyone trying to track down members of their family whose surnames in past centuries might have changed.

Historical Job Names in Newspapers: Old Careers & Occupations (Part II) was originally published at - GenealogyBank Genealogy Blog.

Introduction: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary provides another fun quiz to test your knowledge of terms used in old newspapers to describe our ancestors’ occupations—and then provides illustrated definitions of those terms.

An earlier blog article of mine entitled “Job Names in Historical Newspapers: Researching Old Occupations” illustrated the origins and meanings of old occupational terms found in historical newspapers. Since then, I’ve found more of these historical job terms that you may stumble across in your family history research. Many of these old career terms are confusing, such as curriers—a term we might mistake for messengers, but actually meant one who cured hides.

Note that some of these old occupation terms are common last names, such as Smith or Wright. This can be a valuable clue to ancestral research. As populations grew, it became necessary to require surnames to distinguish residents for tax and other purposes, so many adopted their hometown or occupation as their surnames.

Test your knowledge with this handy “Early Genealogical Occupations” quiz by matching the occupational terms in the first column with the definitions in the second. If you missed any of the old job definitions, read on to see their definitions illustrated with historical newspaper articles.

Collier: Derived from the Middle English word “col” meaning coal, a collier was a quarry worker, coal miner, or a crewman on a ship that transported coal. In this 1770 newspaper article, John Bishop—who ran away from his bail—is described as a collier by trade.

Maryland Gazette (Annapolis, Maryland), 4 January 1770, page 3

Currier: Today we think of curriers as messengers or deliverymen, but originally the term designated a skill in hide curing. Curriers were often tanners (hide tanners) as well, as seen in this 1849 obituary for James Fleming who “was a tanner and currier by trade.”

Trenton State Gazette (Trenton, New Jersey), 7 March 1849, page 3

Farrier: A farrier was a craftsman or metal worker, who often fitted and trimmed horseshoes. The term is still common today, and was derived from the French word “ferrier,” indicating a blacksmith. (See the definition of Smith below.) In this 1729 notice, the deceased Adam Tuck was a farrier “late of Boston.”

Boston Gazette (Boston, Massachusetts), 8 December 1729, page 2

Furrier: A furrier was someone who prepared or traded furs, also known as a skinner. In this 1773 newspaper ad, John Siemon, a furrier, advertised his wares—including muffs and tippets, gloves, and robes and riding dresses trimmed in fur.

New-York Journal (New York, New York), 9 December 1773, page supplement 1

Indentured Servant: Indentured servants were obliged by work contracts to repay their debt (typically for travel costs) over a number of years. Most did not receive wages, but learned a skill and were provided room, board, clothing and other basic needs. Many families signed agreements with ship captains, who—upon arrival in America—sold the indentures to persons looking for workers. This 1716 advertisement reports that Capt. Nicholas Oursell had transported a variety of persons of varying occupations, such as coopers (barrel makers), joiners, smiths and washer women.

Boston News-Letter (Boston, Massachusetts), 18-25 June 1716, page 2

The life of an indentured servant was not easy and advertisements looking for run-aways were common, such as this 1776 reward offer for run-away Richard Trusted, who had learned the trade of gun-stocker (a weapon maker).

Pennsylvania Ledger (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 9 March 1776, page 4

Joiner or Joyner: A joiner worked in construction, particularly attaching wooden components to buildings such as doors, window frames and staircases. In this 1770 run-away notice, apprentice David Cox ran away from his employer. The old newspaper notice warns that Cox worked as a carpenter and joiner, but was likely to pass himself off as a mill-wright—one who built or maintained machinery at a mill.

New-York Gazette, or Weekly Post-Boy (New York, New York), 29 January 1770, page 4

Marquis or Margrave: Based upon the term “mark,” which designated a British county or earldom, a marquis (or count of the mark or mark-count) was more of a title than an occupation, although they typically oversaw workers of lower rank. The term was later shortened to marquis, and came to indicate a nobleman with a rank above a duke. The German equivalent was “margrave” or “margravine” (male and female equivalents). This 1772 death notice was printed for Margrave Augustus George of Baden-Baden.

Pennsylvania Chronicle (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 3-10 February 1772, page 12

Sawyer: A sawyer earned his living by cutting (sawing) timber, as seen in this 1770 notice about John Wilmington, a sawyer by trade, running away from bail.

New-York Gazette, and Weekly Mercury (New York, New York), 8 January 1770, page 4

Selectman: Chosen by townsmen, a selectman (similar to an alderman) was a member of a three- or five-member governing board of a New England town. In this 1810 news article about a ballot challenge, Nathan Prentiss of Petersham was accused of casting two votes for his choice of selectman.

Berkshire Reporter (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), 9 May 1810, page 3

Smith: A smith was a metal forger or iron worker. One of the more common smith occupations is a blacksmith, who created and fit horseshoes. Some synonyms for smith are farrier, hammersmith and smithy. This 1786 obituary mentions that James Hays, by trade a cooper (barrel or cask maker/repairer) was the son of Thomas Hays, by trade a smith.

Norwich Packet (Norwich, Connecticut), 13 July 1786, page 3

Tanner: A tanner tanned or processed animal hides, and is similar to a currier or one who cured hides. The following anecdote occurred in 1826, when James Brown, a tanner by trade, disappeared and was assumed to be drowned. He turned out to be a prankster wishing to gain publicity.

National Advocate (New York, New York), 28 February 1826, page 2

Wright: A wright was a skilled worker, and a repairer or manufacturer of wooden objects. (See also Joiner.) This 1872 obituary reports that Mr. Frederick Friend learned the trade of wheelwright beginning at the age of twelve.

New York Herald (New York, New York), 31 January 1872, page 5

Yeoman (yeman, yoman, yoeman, yonge man or young man): Over time, the title yeoman had varying connotations, from a non-commissioned military officer or soldier who rendered specific duties to the crown, to a freeman who owned his own farm, or one who farmed but also provided military protection. As an adjective, it indicates a duty requiring great effort, as in this 1915 news photo of firemen rendering “yeoman service.”

Boston Journal (Boston, Massachusetts), 23 September 1915, page 6

Get more great genealogy tips and tools at - GenealogyBank Genealogy Blog and be sure to visit Genealogy Bank to start researching your ancestry online.

Today the Supreme Court will hear Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, a case about a South Carolina Indian girl who the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that the child must be returned to her Indian father. The child's mother ignored the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978, a federal law designed to protect Indian families from "abusive child welfare practices that resulted in the separation of large numbers of Indian children from their families and tribes through adoption or foster case placement" and, as a result, both the tribe and the father were denied their rights under ICWA.

As the Supreme Court hears this case, the coverage has been largely one-sided. I thought it was important for people to hear my story, and how being separated from my family and tribe has affected me.

My name is Jacqueline Davis. I am one of six siblings affected by a decision made by the state of South Carolina. I am a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota and my grandfather is Chief Dave Bald Eagle. My father, who is African-American, met my mom and married her while he was stationed in the Air Force. They eventually moved off the reservation to South Carolina. Their lives changed one day when my mother applied for WIC and the nurse realized that she spanked her children as a form of discipline. Their children were taken and placed in foster care. We were split in pairs. The charges were piled on, and our parents lost custody. The Bald Eagle family offered to take us on the reservation and for reasons I still don't know they were told our case had nothing to do with ICWA. I can remember my parents coming to visit us for years.

My mother would show us beadwork, and bring us hairpieces and other handmade gifts from our reservation. She would tell us what each color meant in the beadwork she had made. Then we would go back to our foster home, where we were being abused emotionally and physically. I was a teen when DSS cut off visitation. I can remember trying to make myself look more "black" because I felt like it something wrong with being Native American. I would cut my hair, put product in it to make it look coarse and threw away my hairpieces. I would just try anything to make myself fit because as I child I didn't understand what was so wrong with me. Our family was completely torn apart because no one would swallow their pride and admit they had made a mistake. As adults, the six of us have a void in our lives that no one can go back and fill. We have reconnected with each since 1999 and we still do not have answers as to why this happened to our family.

We are still grasping everything we can learn about our Sioux culture by beginning to take yearly trips to South Dakota. Our grandpa, Chief Bald Eagle, is 93 years old. We are to finally go back this year to complete our naming ceremonies which were never completed as children. My grandfather gave me the Lakota name Ho Waste Win which means "good voice woman." By finally reconnecting with my Native family, I can say my life has turned around for the better. These days we take pride in who we are and continue to learn our native traditions, cultures, and beliefs. I used to be very introverted and even a little antisocial but now I feel like I have reason to speak, fight, and help others that may need to be spoken for. One day I hope to get some form of justice for my parents, even if it is as little as a public apology. I will continue to speak of our story because our testimony may help the next social worker, lawyer, or judge to just simply do the right thing.

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This week's Tuesday's Tip is:  Use Ancestry.com to find international marriage records for FREE from April 16th to April 21st.


The URL for the free access is http://www.ancestry.com/cs/us/family-marriages and the searcher needs to be a registered user (but not a subscriber) to Ancestry.com.

I wondered just what was included, so I entered just the surname Richman into the Last Name field, and added "Wiltshire, England" to the Event location field.  The results:


The search found 16,521 matches in hundreds of databases - not just databases for England.  There are matches for historical newspapers, Pennsylvania Town and Church Records, Nevada marriages, and many more.  There are some databases with matches that are specifically for England, including the "Wiltshire, England, Marriages, 15378-1837" database - that was the one I really wanted:


There are 354 matches in the Wiltshire database, but as you can see, only the matched name is shown on the list - the date, location and spouse's name are not shown.  I found that was the case on all of the English databases I checked (I have only a US subscription, not a world subscription).

I clicked on one of the matches, and was taken to the subscription offer page.


Hopefully, this is just a mistake made by the programmers who didn't include the Wiltshire, England, Marriages database in the FREE International marriage collection.  What are the odds that I would pick - first link I clicked - one database that was not included?

I did check several other English marriage databases on the list and was able to see the record summary page, and the actual record image when available, on those other databases.

It is apparent to me that putting a location in the search fields on the special Marriages page (first screen image above) does not limit the matches to that location.  If I edit the search from the Search matches screen (second screen image above), the Location filter does work well.

Lastly, I noticed that there is a special price for the World Explorer Membership on the screen above - $16.95 for an annual subscription - that's $203.40, which is a significant reduction from the standard $299.40.  When I clicked through to the subscription payment page, the price was $199.

This free International Marriage Records deal would be great for U.S. researchers with significant European ancestry who have not started researching in, or have not captured record images from, the European country databases.  Go for it!

I'm going to use it for Canadian marriage records for my Seaver, Kemp, Sovereen, Hutchinson and other Loyalist family surnames.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/04/tuesdays-tip-ancestry-international.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Seeking genealogy news, help understanding your family tree software, essential research advice, or simply the feeling that someone shares the family history journey you've embarked on?



All these and more are available from the bloggers on the 2013 list of the Family Tree 40 top genealogy blogs. Congratulations to these dedicated researchers and writers!

To quote Family Tree Magazine's contributing editor David A. Fryxell, who wrote about the Family Tree 40 in our May/June 2013 issue (on newsstands and at ShopFamilyTree.com April 30), "Let’s tip our collective hats to those bloggers who stick with it and keep sharing their wit, wisdom and family history finds with us ... In making this year’s selections, we paid particular attention to that stick-to-itiveness standard." And "We love blogs packed with information, but we also adore those brimming with the blogger’s personality."

You can read about the Family Tree 40 and click through to each blog from FamilyTreeMagazine.com. They're arranged into these categories:

• Good advice (genealogy tips and how-tos)
• Tech support (reviews and instructions for genealogy technology)
• Gravestone matters (tombstone photos, cemetery research tips)
• Heritage help (researching ancestors of specific ethnicities and national backgrounds)
• Shop talk (genealogy news and new products)
• Story time (the bloggers' personal research and family history)

We also encourage genealogists to look beyond our list to find genealogy blogs that might help answer their research questions, illuminate an ancestral hometown, or bring entertainment to a ho-hum day. The combo of research needs and blog-reading preferences is different for every genealogist, and we all can be thankful that topics and writing styles in the genealogy blogging community are just as varied.

Here are a few ways to find genealogy blogs you'll love:

• Browse the blog directory at Geneabloggers.
• Run a Google Blog Search on topics of interest to you.
• Check the blogrolls of blogs you already read.
• Ask your genealogy buddies about their favorite blogs.

As the main blogger here at the Genealogy Insider blog, I know how hard it can be to find the inspiration—and the time—to put up a post every day or several times a week. I give personal props to the Family Tree 40 and all the genealogy bloggers out there. Thanks for the work you do!

FamilySearch unveiled their revamped website design today - here is the screen at https://www.familysearch.org:


There are six screens that rotate on the site - for Fan Chart (above), Photos (below), Family Tree, Family Records, Indexing and Live Help.  Each has a link in the image to perform the desired action.

There are only three links to other pages above the image - for "Family Trees," "Photos" and "Search."
Here is the Photos screen:


I clicked on the "Family Tree" link and the new design for the FamilySearch Family Tree

This is the "Pedigree Chart" view - there is a button in the upper left corner for the "Fan Chart" view:


A user can click on a person on the Fan Chart above and the chart will be created for that person.  Here is the chart for Isaac Seaver:


I clicked on the "Search" link at the top of the screen, and the modified screen for the search field appeared:


Scrolling down the screen above, I clicked on the "Browse all Published Collections" link and saw the modified screen for searching all of the record collections available on FamilySearch:


It doesn't appear that the Search page form or the list of record collections have changed much.  The record collection page still lists the collections from 1 to 1,522 (today) with the option to see the "Last Updated" list.

There are buttons at the top of the Record Collection list that leads to "Genealogies," Catalog" and "Books".

So what happened to the Learning Center with the Research Wiki and the Research video courses?  I found them in the "Live Help" screen on the main FamilySearch page:


There are four areas on the "Live Help" screen - "Product Support" (help, FAQs, etc.), "Research Assistance" (by volunteers and experts), "Getting Started" (Beginners articles and videos), and "Learning Center" (research course videos).

Where is the Research Wiki?  I finally found it hiding in the "Research Assistance" area:


I think that the Research Wiki is one of the most important and useful areas of the FamilySearch website.  I bookmarked the Research Wiki page - https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Main_Page.

I believe that new users, and many experienced users, will be really confused by this redesign, but will adapt eventually.

Frankly, a list of all of the main FamilySearch links should appear on every page in a sidebar or link farm - I would put links for Home Page, Record Search, Record Collections, Library Catalog, FamilySearch Centers, Research Wiki, Research Courses, Getting Started, Research Assistance, Genealogies, Family Tree, Volunteers, Blog, etc. in a list so that navigation to each one of those pages can be made easily.  At least put them on the Home Page so that a user can navigate back to the Home Page quickly (by clicking on the FamilySearch logo) and then navigate to where they want to go next.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/04/familysearch-unveils-their-new-website.html

copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

#Protip: If you work in a city office, for someone who is running an election campaign, do not set up a Twitter account under a mock-ethnic name and use it to send racist and sexist tweets. Today’s object lesson comes courtesy of Anthony Baker, a young volunteer-turned-staffer in the office of New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio who resigned after being outed for tweeting as “Hyman Doodlesack.” The account has been deleted, but the New York Post reports that Baker tweeted things like “AIPAC makes me want to be a Nazi” and “I need the best goddamn-Jew-lawyer money can buy.”

De Blasio is currently running second in polls for the city’s mayoral primaries behind City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, about whom Baker wrote “No one wants to touché your vagina, Speaker” last year after Quinn gave a press conference in favor of a bill expanding abortion rights in New York. “Nothing can excuse anti-Semitic remarks and vulgar insults about women,” de Blasio told the Post.

Continue reading "NYC Staffer Tweeted as 'Hyman Doodlesack'" at...

To read more Tablet in Warsaw coverage, click here.

Between 2008 and 2012, photographer Łukasz Baksik—itinerant documentarian and questing typologist—traversed his native Poland, painstakingly documenting the ways in which Jewish gravestones, or matzevot, had been looted and appropriated, both in rural villages and cities, since the 1940s. “Quarried” from cemeteries during World War II (by the Nazis), the decades that followed (by Poles), and even up until the present day, matzevot had been and continue to be used in any instance in which ordinary stone might normally, mundanely, and practically suffice.

Continue reading "A Polish Photographer's Haunting Study of Quarried Jewish Gravestones" at...