Repository in Review- Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com is one of my favorite sites. I often compare the quality of another site against it..... so why wasn't it the first "Repository in Review"? Quite simply, I talk about it so much I didn't want to bore you with it. On the other hand, I do use it daily and you may not be familiar with it, so it is unfair to never review the resource. Besides, even if you use it, you may not know all that is available to you. So for the third installment of my ongoing review series, we're going to get the low-down on Ancestry.com.

The Features and Benefits

Ancestry.com is the largest online family history resource. Starting as a publishing company in 1983, they began to digitise records for online use in 1996. The Card Catalog lists 30, 994 collections that cover 10 billion records. While most are English or German language documents, there are also French, Italian, Swedish and Spanish documents. The U.S. and Europe are the most represented areas, but there are records available for Asia, South America, Mexico, Australia, Canada and Africa. In their Card Catalog you will now find web links to other genealogy sites. Ancestry may own Fold3.com, but it is a separate website with a separate database collection and membership fees. They will also link you to websites they do not own (and may have made an index without specifically partnering with that website). Why are they linking you to other websites? Because no one site has everything, not even Ancestry. I have seen a great number of people complain about this link to other websites. They don't want to use those other websites. If you don't, just ignore those hints. Go ahead and cripple your research right off the bat. Or you can be honest with yourself and admit you'll need more than one repository for your research.

On top of records, they have their Learning Center that includes a Wiki, forums where researchers inquire and connect with each other, Facebook page for updates and socialisation, and YouTube channel full of specific lesson plans and recordings of their interactive Q&A sessions. All of this is provided for free to any registered member. Regardless of whether you pay or not, you can build a tree of your own and upload any photos or information in your possession. If you pay for a while but let your membership lapse, your tree is still available. I often have to let my membership slide for a while and use that off time to add information I've gathered from relatives, other websites, and offline sources.

Some points out of the Terms and Conditions (red indicates direct quote from the T&C):

• You may access the Website, use the graphics, information, data, editorial and other Content only for personal or professional family history research, and download Content only as search results relevant to that research. The Content may be downloaded onto mobile devices or desktop through the use of authorized Ancestry software. When downloaded, the Content remains subject to the limited use license contained in this Agreement. When I reviewed NewspaperArchive, I pointed out that professional use wasn't allowed. In this paragraph, Ancestry is giving you permission to use the site for professional purposes, as long as you continue to follow the guidelines of the site. That means you still have to follow copyright rules, so no publishing photos to a site or book (or final report to a client) without obtaining license to do so.
• Except for Web Records, which are governed by the third parties that host the records, all Content is owned, licensed to and/or copyrighted by Ancestry and may be used only in accordance with this limited use license. The Website is protected by copyright as a collective work and/or compilation, pursuant to U.S. copyright laws, international conventions, and other copyright laws. What this means is that the links to other websites (i.e. Find a Grave) are subject to the terms of use and copyrights of their original website. (You can't copy photos from Find a Grave and distribute them on Ancestry.com without permission of and credit to the photographer- hence Ancestry providing a weblink instead of a photo or image of the website itself). Whatever items you upload that you own (a photo of the family you yourself took, an oral history you record in the story section, etc.) are licensed to Ancestry.com without changing ownership or copyright transference.
• According to the Rules of Conduct, you cannot Reproduce, copy or sell any portion of Ancestry or Ancestry database contents, or systematically download contents and data of the Ancestry database to make or populate another database or for any other purpose. This kind of put me in the mind of a discussion I had with someone recently that had started a family website and wanted to take the images from Ancestry.com's databases and upload them to the new website. Nope, can't do it. You can link to the record. You can cite them as a source. You can download a copy to hold in your computer. But you can't copy a database in whole or in part for the purposes of distributing with other people.
• For User Provided Content, Ancestry is merely hosting and providing access. We cannot accept any liability with regard to such material (including with respect to its accuracy). In other words, family member trees aren't gospel and shouldn't be used as facts. Ancestry.com doesn't police those trees and won't change anything found there no matter how much you know it's wrong. The only time they get involved is when someone makes an obscene tree or something to intentionally malign a person.
• The decision to upload information to the Website is your responsibility and you should only submit content that belongs to you or that will not violate the rights of others. Be aware that content belongs to the creator of that content and you should not reproduce or submit anything without permission of the owner. This one trips a lot of people up. A picture of your great grandmother taken by a photographer is owned by the photographer or the studio that employed him, not you. Even if there are 100 copies in 100 people's hands, the photographer owns the copyright on each and every photo. By submitting User Provided Content to Ancestry, you grant Ancestry, its parent company and all of its affiliates, a transferable license to use, host, sublicense and distribute your submission to the extent and in the form or context we deem appropriate on or through any media or medium and with any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed or discovered. This basically just covers Ancestry's tail and says they have the right to have your photos and stories on a public tree in their search feature and on their servers. It doesn't mean Ancestry owns your items, but it does mean that their sister sites like Rootsweb and Mundia can also distribute your information without paying you to do so. It also covers technology changes (if the next big invention is a straight to brain interface, they don't have to ask for your permission for your items to go from the public website to the public brain wave). With that all said, if you own a copyright on something and someone obtains a copy of it without your permission, you can contact Ancestry's copyright department and they'll have it removed. You have to prove you own the rights to the work (and again, pictures of your grandmother as a baby aren't owned by you in any way).
• All subscriptions are automatically renewing with the exception of gift subscriptions and pay-per view. This means that once you become a subscribing member, your subscription will be automatically renewed and your billing choice will be charged based on the subscription program (semiannually, quarterly, monthly, etc.) you have chosen unless you opt out or cancel by following the instructions in this Agreement. Except in the case of monthly subscriptions, you will be notified via e-mail before your subscription ends and asked to correct any information which has changed and whether you wish to "opt out" of your renewal. The renewal of the subscription takes place subject to the terms in force on the date of renewal. That's right, another automatic renewal site. And they send you a reminder email for all but the monthly subscriptions (which should renew at the same time every month so I can see why they don't remind you).

Dollars and Sense

There are two levels available: U.S. and World. Now, this is coming at it from the U.S. (which I am) and admittedly if you live in another country it'll be your area and World, so probably the better way to say it would be Local and World....... either way, I'm dealing with it as a U.S. subscriber, and as I'm about to talk price, will just clarify that this is the subs available for U.S. residents. There are three price options to each level: monthly, 6 month and yearly. For the U.S. records only, it's $22.95 per month, $77 for the 6 month option, $155 for the yearly. (The 6 month and yearly make it about $12.95 per month, but are billed all at once, so be ready for that!). The all-access World subscription is $34.95 per month, $149 for 6 months, and $299 for a year. (The 6 month and yearly work out to $24.95 per month, again billed at the total price at one time).

From the T&C: Opting Out of Renewal. You may opt out of renewing your subscription by calling Ancestry at 1-800-262-3787 or by logging into your My Account page on the Website at least two days before the renewal date. If you do not let us know that you want to terminate your subscription at least two days prior to the end of the current subscription period the payment for the renewal period of the subscription will be made. So you have 2 days before your renewal date to cancel your subscription (AND you must cancel before 5p.m. Mountain Time!). That means that if my subscription ends on the 19th, I have until 5 p.m. Mountain Time on the 17th to cancel my subscription. Again, they give an online option, but just call them as it goes easier when you have a real person (and then someone to blame if they mess up your cancellation). Also of note: if you have a subscription longer than the monthly sub, you can get a refund as long as you cancel within the first 30 days. Renewals must be cancelled within 7 days. Month subscriptions receive no refund, but you have access to the website until your month expires. In fact, any subscription that they are unable to refund continues to allow access until the subscription runs out, so don't wait until the last minute to cancel your subscription. Take care of it early enough to ensure it's done and then use it up.

When searching the Card Catalog, you can narrow the field to free databases by searching for the keyword "free". When I searched free, I got a list of 728 free databases that can be searched by anyone at anytime. You will still need to make a user name and password, but you don't need to log a credit card or participate in the 14-day trial to get these records. Now, that includes 2 family tree databases that are about as useful as warm dog turds most of the time, so really you're at about 726 databases. Still an impressive number. Also keep these databases in mind when comparing with other sites. These are usually publicly available databases that no one is (or should) charge for. Others are part of Ancestry's World Archives Project and have been made available by Ancestry using volunteer transcriptionists. Also note that these are usually only an index and that to see other data on the record you usually need to pay for a copy or the more detailed database.

My Two Cents

You can't ignore the numbers:

• 2 million paying subscribers- 2 million people are so happy with the service that they choose to hand over their hard-earned money to Ancestry. Since that only counts the paying members, imagine how many more are using just the free side of the service. That speaks volumes (at least to me) about the quality and quantity of what's to be found on this site. Others may say it's because they have a near monopoly, but I can't help but think of FamilySearch and their impressive collection both on and offline (which I'll cover soon in another review).
• 10 billion records and counting- this is where that near monopoly thing comes into play. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing for the community as a whole, but for me I count it as a good thing. One place to start, compile and keep my research? Yes, please. With it being centralised for U.S. and Europe ancestry, however, there are glaring holes to be sure. On the other hand, what they don't have is usually not online or held by websites specific to a database, so it's certainly a place to start for just about everyone.
• 82¢ a day- Full site access is less than $1 a day for a full year. Heck, even if you do a month subscription for February (the shortest month), it's $1.25 a day for full access. You may not need full access. Maybe a simple U.S. (or local) subscription will do for a while. For what's available vs price to view, this is a rather cheap subscription. (Here's another way to look at it, how many records per dollar of a year's subscription: NewspaperArchives has 1,666,667 records per dollar, Fold3 has 1,175,735, and Ancestry has 33,444,816. While you will never need all of them, that's a hell of a lot of potential or "bang for your buck").

There is a 14 day trial. Use it. Even if you find the records useless, the ability to build an online tree and use their free databases and forums make up for that lack. There is a great potential for connecting to relatives who are also researching your lines. Of course, the records are the meat and potatoes of the site and most people will never get their fill. Don't go happily clicking away on all the hints that pop up though. They are just hints and you need to find out if they are facts. That requires critical thought and time. If you look at the family trees, consider any tree without records as suspect and only add what you already know to be true. If there are sources, review them to ensure the member hasn't made a mistake and led you down the garden path. If you have a recent immigrant or know quite a bit about your ancestors on this side of the ocean, go ahead and pay for full World access. If you are just starting out, don't bother with World, just get U.S. (or local) for the time being.

And remember, it's only one tool in your toolkit. You can let your membership lapse and still have access to your tree. I have a specific budget for websites. If I need a different site and I'm tired of Ancestry (I can't really say done, I'm never done), then I'll switch off one and pick up the other. I cite the other websites on my tree on Ancestry to keep my research together as well as to give hints of other work available for people who are connected to my tree. I'm proud to say that every member in my tree has at least one documented source proving they exist. It bothers me when a tree has 300,000 people and no sources. I wonder how they know they aren't wrong or duplicated. And to be honest, it's usually both. One last note on member trees: I've covered private vs public trees before. What I want you to take away today is that how and why other people research is their own business. If you wish to share your information, do so. If your information is taken by someone with a private tree, message them to welcome them to your family. If they respond kindly, you have a new friend. If they respond rudely or not at all, what have you really lost? Let them be and focus on your own work.

See you next week,
-Ana

The 1940 Census Is Here!..... Uh, Now What?

On Monday, April 2, the U.S. 1940 census was released to the public amid much anticipation. Old researchers and new hobbyists clamored for the records; some with immediate success, some not so much. Ancestry has announced that today by 2 p.m. Eastern Time, they expect to have every image of the 1940 census up and viewable. An amazing achievement that they should be lauded for accomplishing so quickly.

Now I'm going to be quite honest. I wasn't planning on blogging about the census. I figured there were so many sources, blogs, videos, chats, twitter feeds and Facebook pages, that I wouldn't be needed on the scene. I thought that I had only the information everyone else had and you didn't need a repeat at the end of the week. I was wrong. I didn't take into account the people whose foray into the genealogy field would start with this census. I didn't think that people researching a new database wouldn't know where to find information prior to it's release and couldn't make themselves prepared for its arrival. Volunteering my advice on Ancestry's Facebook page has allowed me to see my error. So many questions that many of us "Aces" had thought answered thoroughly beforehand are asked frequently. And the expectations of some have been dashed when they found that a simple search of a name wasn't going to bring them their answer. Again, those who had been feverishly pouring over blogs and videos (as well as remembering the release of previous censuses) were well aware that an index wouldn't be immediately available. Even today I see people ask why a search isn't giving a 1940 census hit at all........ and the question will be repeated for months to come I'm sure. So my intent today is not to reiterate everything to be found, but to link you to the place to find it. I'll also point out some broad strokes that will hopefully answer a few of the more frequently asked questions I've seen.

In the beginning.....
Officially, NARA is the holder of the census. If you don't know, NARA stands for National Archives and Records Administration. The nation's records of legal or historical importance are preserved by NARA. They have local offices in many areas for researchers, but they also have online options. Many of their records are also provided or indexed by genealogy sites like Ancestry.

What I learned:

• The 72 year wait is a mandatory law enacted by Congress to protect the privacy of the citizens. Which is actually quite lucky considering that many states and countries require 100 years to pass before a record can be released.
• Certain questions were asked to gauge internal migration and usefulness of public programs after the Depression. These questions can also help a researcher that has lost track of the family sometime around 1930-1935.
• What all the questions asked and codes used mean. What do the numbers in the education column mean? What is the CCC and WPA? Find out in the FAQ on NARA's site.
• This census was done door to door. If the enumerator missed someone on a street the first time, they listed the people they caught up with on the final pages of the district (so relatives houses not listed in order may be in the back). Also, people living in a hotel or trailer park were enumerated separately, which is helpful if your family member was in a moment of transition in 1940.
• Two lines per page were chosen for extra questions that may lead to information for a lucky percentage of researchers. Why only two? Well, that way it was a random sampling of about 5% of the nation. A snapshot of the larger picture, if you will. I only hope to find a family member on one of those lines!

I learn by watching
Ancestry has always had a YouTube channel for it's instructional videos, and I've suggested them before. Now, with so much newness in the 1940 census, they've got a whole new batch of videos to explain the process in which the census will be indexed and how you can use it prior to the index being completed.

What I learned:

• How to use the new viewer on Ancestry.
• How to navigate a search without an index.

A quick read can help
Ancestry also has a Sticky Notes blog that has always been helpful, even more now that the census is available. Juliana has been giving her own personal testimony on census searching as well as a few hints even I didn't consider.

What I learned:

• print out or screen capture the map and make it a diagram to more clearly delineate the ED I'm looking in and easily determine if a street was skipped.
• Inverse the colors on the census so that the writing is white (and possibly more legible)

As I said earlier, there are hundreds of blogs to peruse. Some of my favorites are Olive Tree Genealogy, Genea-Musings, Archives.com, and FamilySearch. This is just a handful of the ones I keep a serious eye on for this particular topic. There are literally thousands of blogs, so finding information is not as hard as sifting through it.

And I've said it before, but I feel the need to say it again: You may need some knowledge of world, or at least local, history. If you love family history, but abhor the dry world history that your family lived and died creating, then you will stunt the growth of your own research before you even start. And if you have no intent to familiarise yourself with even a brief historical sketch of the time you are researching, then you have picked the wrong "hobby", my love, and should choose something else to spend your time on. It may sound harsh, but it is true. Without knowing where the world has been, you won't know where your family is going.

"I'd rather wait for a search by name feature, tyvm!"
To be honest, I think that's a nonsense idea. If you don't know exactly where your family was from, it is difficult. I have searched at least five enumeration districts so far for my paternal grandmother and still no luck. On the other hand, I expanded my search for my grandfather to include a little town I had a faint remembrance of hearing in passing with family. And there he was on page 14 out of 20. While that's the only direct link find, I was able to locate several cousins and soon-to-be kin in the towns and counties in which the family seemed to flourish. It could take months for an index to be complete, so small searches of page by page in between your regular research is something that could help break a few barriers in the meantime; even if they aren't exactly the line you wanted. Use city directories and other records from prior to the 1940's to narrow your research. It can be daunting, but its immeasurably easier for this census than any other. And for those of you who have never ventured outside of the Internet and your own home for research, take this as a bit of practice for that first time you will have to search a physical index in some corner of an archive. And no matter how much is found online, my dearest Reader, you will eventually have to journey to a far flung library and talk to a blue-haired lady who will be very shocked you've gotten this far without knowing how to use a projector (or why they get so upset when you mention how much easier your Internet searches have been in comparison). Not everything we want will pop up in a search bar for us, even though sites like My Heritage, Ancestry and FamilySearch are trying to make it so.

As of 8 p.m. last night, when I finished up this post, Ancestry had announced two states were ready for name searches: Nevada and Delaware. A great start, but remember, it'll take some time for all of them to go up and hints to start attaching. I'll add updates as I see them.

BTW...
Want to help create the searchable index? Several societies, companies and sites are indexing and looking for volunteers. Your society members can become volunteers and key a few pages for the community. You never know, you might see a relative on your journey! I've volunteered some of my scant free time to index with  FamilySearch.org. Ancestry isn't using volunteers, but an actual company to make their index. However, their World Archives Project is available for other projects (which are important to our communal history as well). So don't just stop with the 1940 census! Improve your genealogical karma and become a volunteer keyer today; every record is precious.

-And with that, back to the salt mines

Ana

How to Break Down, Scale, and Work Around Your Brick Wall

We all come to a point where we feel we have reached the end of our research on a branch of our tree. Plugging along, we happily add new members (always with documentation, right?) and keep going back, back, back..........BAM! Brick wall. An almost insurmountable conundrum. It's like the relative in question dropped out of the sky. Confused and hurt, we decide there's no getting around it.......... until there is.

If you've never watched "True Blood", there's a great quote in the first season that I keep in mind whenever doing a search. One character named Terry is talking about setting up a party like a debutant coming out and another character says he didn't realise Terry came from an "old family". Terry's response? "Everyone comes from an old family. Some just kept better records." And ain't that the truth? Even if you are one of the lucky few that find an unbroken documented line back to a verifiable family from antiquity, you will eventually reach a stopping point. For most of us plebeians, that's in the 1800's. Millions have come and gone without doing anything of historical importance, so there are more unknown than known relatives. There have been wars and natural disasters that have destroyed documentation, leaving us with a hole that only a leap of faith can bridge. Ancestors were human too, and as humans they made mistakes, told lies and stretched the truth....... a few fudged facts, and there's a line erased. How do we know we've truly reached the end and won't get around it? What can we do to break through this wall? In the word's of the great Taoist, Winnie the Pooh: "Before beginning a Hunt, it is wise to ask someone what you are looking for before you begin looking for it".

My Brick Wall
When I started my family tree, I had one branch I was already resigned to never knowing. My great grandmother Brown was from Scotland. There was a story in the family that she was actually Jewish and from Germany or Poland or "something". She insisted she was Scottish and that was that. For about ten years, I lost track of my mother's side of the family. When I was able to reconnect, my great grandmother was gone and so was possibly the best link to the truth. I asked my mother, who insisted we were Jewish. She thought we were from Czechoslovakia and said her grandfather had changed his name, so it wasn't whatever it was before. My grandmother told me that her mother's maiden name had been Brown in Scotland, so I was essentially looking for a marriage contract between a Charles Brown and a Margaret Brown..... great. And if great great grandpa was going under an assumed name, how was I supposed to find the real name???? Occasionally, a relative would give me a new bit of information that I'd happily plug into my tree and search with no positive results. So I did like many a newbie, and I saw this as a wall far and wide that I'd never climb and forgot about it for the most part. Until a friend, Loretta, posted her Friday tip on her blog and a perfect stranger on Ancestry's Facebook page asked a question about one of Crista Cowan's tips for "researching like a pro". I resolved once again to chip away at the brick wall.

Back to the Family
A year ago, my aunt was in contact with a cousin in Scotland. The relative knew of a brother named Joseph, one Frank and a sister Mary. Mary died in Scotland at the age of 33, though birth and death dates weren't known. She was also able to get great grandma's original maiden name of Levingskas. It seems that the name change that great grandpa did was to change Levingskas to Lavinski..... really? That was it? That was the big name change that was going to stop me dead in my tracks? Actually, for a while it did, as I still couldn't find anything on a Margaret Lavinski. Then another aunt who had been doing some research in the family told me Margaret came to the states in 1927 or so.... back to the searches. No immigration records for Margaret Lavinski (she marries great grandpa Brown in the 1930's). The Scottish cousin also mentioned that some of the later family changed the name to Livingstone. That lead to bupkis. A few months ago, I finally get my grandmother to give me some pictures. In one is great grandma at 16 with the name Margaret Brown. Dang, back to that again. So when did great grandpa and family go by Brown? According to grandma "as soon as they moved to Scotland". According to my research "who the hell knows?"

Johnny, Margaret, Frank

There were a few rays of sunshine in our conversation, however. The picture of great grandma was with her friend and she had written on the back their names and her age with the date. She was 16 in 1929, living in Scotland. So she was born about 1907. Besides the picture of great grandma "Brown" and her friend, I was also given a photo of great grandma and two of her siblings with their names and ages on the back. That's right, now I had "This is me, Gramma Brown with my brothers taken in Scotland. Johnny aged 13, me 11, Frank 9." So Johnny was born in 1905, Frank 1909. New information, new relatives! Did they come to the States too? Grandma thought yes. I did a few searches and found some possible records that I saved to my shoebox (an excellent feature if used correctly), but without more information, I couldn't be sure these were my relatives. Once again, I was stuck.

Working Around the Wall with Siblings

Now, after reading Loretta's blog, I decided to put Margaret aside and find out about her brothers. Using Crista's advice, I wanted to find out if and when they came to the states. Off to Ancestry I went, searching out Frank or John(ny) Levingskas/ Lavinski. What I found was a naturalisation index for a Frank Joseph Lavinski. He had a birth date of August 22, 1908. He was born in Scotland. He lived in Chicago. Hmmm, grandma was born in Chicago. This might be a match, so it's off to find more proof!

But what is the next step? Well, stick with Frank and try to find a passenger list or census, right? I want to know when this Frank came to America. About five hints down is a Frank Lavinski in a 1930 census living as a boarder in Chicago..... could it be? According to his naturalisation, Frank didn't change his name to Lavin until 1937, so we have a possibility.

1930 U.S. Census

So now, Frank (age 21) is living as a boarder to a Walter Mitkus who is a widower with two children Martha (age 16) and Francis (age 14). Walter's sister-in-law Margaret Plunkus (age 23) and his niece Margaret Jr. (age 1 1/2) are also living with him. Walter is from Lithuania. Margaret and Frank are from Scotland. Could this be my great grandma with her brother and brother-in-law? If so, why is Frank a "boarder"? And why is she named Plunkus? Maybe I have it wrong. So I once again start a search for Frank, this time looking for a passenger list. I find a Frank Lavinski on a New York arrival log. And now I'm going to give you an invaluable piece of advice that was passed down to me from another researcher on Ancestry: CHECK THE PAGE BEFORE AND AFTER YOUR RECORD. On the first page, I found his name and birth year, port of departure and nationality. He was a Lithuanian who sailed from England. I checked the pages before and after and found a second page listing contact information. His contact for his departure was his father John Lavinski living in Mossend, Scotland. He was going to visit his brother-in-law WALTER MITKUS of Chicago!  I now felt I was on the right family..... maybe. It could still be a whole different group of Lavinskis. My aunt said great great grandpa was Jonas Levingskas/Lavinski, so could he have changed his first name to John?.... I wonder what happened to Walter's wife. Off to find Walter in the 1920 Census!

Scaling the Wall with Corroborating Documents

Report of death of a U.S. citizen abroad

I find Walter in 1920, Chicago with his children Martha (6) and Francis (4). I also see a wife Mary (23). Mary is was born in Lithuania. Well, the family could have moved after her birth. So how did Mary get from Lithuania to the States and then die in Scotland? After a search of Mary Mitkus in Scotland, I found this record for a death of a United States citizen abroad.

Seems Mary Mitkus died in 1929, so she'd have been 33. That seemed to fit with what my aunt had told me. The form states that her effects were in the hands of her father John Levinskas of Mossend, Scotland. At the same address as the contact for Frank's passenger list. Her daughters Martha and Francis were temporarily with their grandfather at Mossend. Her husband, Walter Mitkus was in Chicago with her sister Margaret PRUNKES. So the name on the 1930 census may be wrong (or this one is), but everything was starting to line up that I had the right documents about these people. But what about this Plunkus/Prunkes surname?

As it turns out, my great grandmother was married before she met my great grandfather. Grandma didn't know the name of her husband, but now I did. I confirmed with grandma that her oldest sister was in fact from this first marriage. Now to refine my search for a Margaret Prunkes/Plunkus. The 1930 census shows that Margaret Jr. was born in Illinois and her father was from New York. A search of Ancestry and Family Search don't come up with anything quick. I try a few spelling changes, try to search the husband's surname in New York only. I try to find a birth notice for Margaret Jr. in Chicago. Nothing is really fitting together. This may take a little time, but I've made more headway in a week than I have in a year.

Off to Break My Wall, BRB
I'm not giving up. I've got new avenues to explore and it could all be at my fingertips with a few website searches. Or I could have to get in touch with local parishes and authorities in Scotland to find out more about the Levingskas' immigration to Scotland from Lithuania. Knowing Mary was born in Lithuania and Margaret Scotland narrows down the travel time. I still have to find something about Johnny too. And there was a brother that stayed behind in Scotland named Joseph; but then again Frank's middle name is Joseph (of course, it's not uncommon for a family to reuse a name even in the same generation). I did a search for their father John/Jonas Levingskas/Lavinski (narrowed the search to just Scottish records) and found a WWI British Army Medals Index for Joseph Levingskas. I clicked on the photo and got:



Dear Researcher, F You. Love, Britain

  As disheartening as the lack of information first seemed, there was hope. I checked Ancestry's description of the index, which lead to a Google search for the Medal Rolls, which lead me to the National Archives. It's £2 to get a copy of the record (about $3.17), but it is available. I'm not sure I want it just now as I don't have proof that this is my relation (and sadly, I don't have a budget for records this month). So I also did the free surname research on Scotland's People just to see if there were records for Levingskas. Turns out, quite a few. I can't view them without paying (per view), so this will also be on the back burner until the budget allows. But can you feel how close we are? I am going to continue other avenues including hitting the message boards and other websites, but I'm also going to set aside some money to get at these records. I'm no longer blocked. I have many avenues to investigate. New names and dates to track down. New questions that could lead right back to the beginning of my search. Like, who was Margaret's first husband? What happened to Walter and his daughters? Where's Frank after 1930? (one more name waiting for the 1940 census!) Did John/Jonas ever come to the States? Mary has an immigration of 1909 according to the 1920 census; that's pretty young. What happened there, and who did she come with, if anyone?

One thing to remember: Having more questions than answers doesn't mean you have a brick wall. It may mean you have to dig deeper. Or check the branches to better get at the root. Or ask the right questions. You may have to put it to the side until you can view it with fresh eyes. You may have to ask someone else to look at it to see if they ask questions you haven't thought about yet. Unless there's a document that says "fell from the Heavens", you may be just around the corner from your breakthrough. Keep an open mind and save records that are possible until they are impossible. The more collateral proof you have, the better your chance of finding the real facts.

Ponder, Ponder, Ponder
-Ana

Does the Mona Lisa Smile?

There has been a great deal of research done on the dwindling ability of our young to understand facial expressions. When you play with an infant, they become more engaged and animated the more your face alters its expression. They learn how to tell if you are happy or sad or angry because you make those faces. The problem is, with our ever growing computer culture, we are getting less expressive. As a consequence, we are also losing our ability to differentiate the expressions we do receive. The less we interact face to face, the less we understand the myriad of clues our face provides. I'm sure you've had a conversation with a younger person and found them unable to understand your emotional state (either accusing you of yelling when you aren't or not understanding how upset you really are) or found a blank face staring at you insisting that they are devastated. Maybe you are like me and wonder why movies today are full of emotionless mannequins with no ability to emote what their lines seem to be suggesting.

Now why in the world is this relevant to your genealogical research? Well, have you ever run across an unanswerable question only because you cannot justify a relative's actions? You find a relative in an orphanage despite his father living in the same town. Someone in your family owned, sold, or was a slave. They seemed to pick up stakes and move for no reason beyond it was a Tuesday. Sometimes, you know why they did what they did; or at least you think you do. What you are really wondering about is how it must've felt. You are looking for an emotional "why". The problem is, you are looking at a 19th century life with 21st century eyes. You are the stone faced teen unable to read what's clearly written on your ancestor's countenance.

So you end up with a brick wall. Not so much out of lack of information, but a lack of understanding. You stare blankly at a document telling you where your ancestor lived, died or worked and it makes no sense. What do you do? Well, don't take this the wrong way, but you READ. This can be as simple as looking on Wikipedia for a historical sketch of the time and/or place your ancestor lived in. It can be an in depth look at the history of the founding of a town or mass exodus of a people. Or it can be my favorite kind of reading: classic works of fiction for fun. If you truly want to know how your family felt and thought, pick up an author from their time and country and read. Historical works are fine and good, but are often written in hindsight and always from the winning side; so keep that in mind. And a fictional story from a contemporary writer is usually the easiest way to tap into the communal attitudes of the time. One of my favorite authors, Dickens, has a myriad of fictional works that can put the reader smack dab into the middle of English life in the 19th century. Bringing to light the foul treatment of children and poor families, his works tug at our hearts and open a window into the world in which he (and many ancestors) lived. To read Dickens is to understand the social order and philosophy of his world. Want to know how it felt to be a slave? Read the accounts of freed slaves like Frederick Douglass. What was the attitude of whites during slavery? Read a white author born and raised in the time of slavery, especially if they have black characters in their narratives (ever read Crusoe?). Curious as to the treatment of women? There are several women authors throughout history who delve into issues important to them in both fiction and nonfiction. It doesn't take much perusal of Jane Austin to know how bored she must've been with her life. Suffragette pamphlets, while biased, can make for a fun read and really enlighten you to the discord felt by women (especially after WWI when many had tasted work outside of the home for the first time). Read a medical journal on women's health and find yourself shocked (and a little amused) at what the "leading minds" thought caused women to be sick (hint: it was usually because of a faulty uterus). Moreover, fostering a love of literature will enrich your life and provide you with a broader cultural awareness. And who doesn't want that?

In the research on facial recognition, scientists found that the more expressions a person was exposed to, the better their ability to differentiate them. The same can be said for a well-read person. The more time periods you choose to read from/about, the more you choose differing ideals and philosophies, the greater your chance on picking up the subtle clues in your family's past. By exercising your literacy, you also exercise your cognitive abilities. Exposure to a vast array of ideas only helps you to hone your own reasoning skills to a finer edge. Everyone should read more books!

Now, I have no problem helping people with their brick walls or understanding their ancestors. "Ask and you shall receive" has always been a mantra of mine. But I think people have forgotten, or never knew, how to research. I have gone to actual courthouses and societies to do research, but 90% of what I do to help others is online. When I am asked a question on Ancestry's Facebook page, I'm going to Google anything I don't readily know. Most of the questions I answer for others are things they could find within 20 minutes of a simple Internet search. Sometimes it takes a special knowledge of the time or place in question, but not always. When you run into a question, your first stop should be a Google search. The answer may be readily available to you with nothing but a few keystrokes. Can't find it or still confused? Now ask for help. But ask correctly. When you ask another to help in your research, tell them what you know right now (names, dates, locations), where you've already looked and what specifically you want to know. I can't give that bit of advice enough. Asking a generally vague question will get back vague answers if any answer at all. And always remember that how we feel about a situation isn't how our ancestors felt. They may have been good people in a bad situation.... but they could've also been bad people making their own situation worse.

Ours is not to judge, but to learn.

-Ana

Genealogy, TV, and You

First, let me say that I hate reality television for the most part. I really could care less what drama is going on in the lives of a celebrity or someone looking for love by whoring it up with a large pool of potential mates that they never get to know. I don't have the patience for game shows that are so contrived that half the program is the "suspense" of waiting for the host to tell the contestant whether or not they answered a simple question correctly. There are two exceptions however. One is the "Amazing Race", which I love because I'd love to travel and they go to interesting places and learn fun new things. The other is "Who Do You Think You Are", where they take celebrities and follow their roots to find something that they didn't know about their family. It's genealogical crack. And it's on Prime Time! I have watched it and learned quite a bit. Sometimes how they get through to a new relative helps me get past my own brick wall. While on Ancestry's Facebook page, someone mentioned that there was a similar show on BYUTV for regular folk and that PBS also had a show coming out. I found myself wondering what other programs about genealogy were available. Turns out quite a few. Here are some that I found, what they're about and where you can buy/watch them.

Celebrity Themed
"Who Do You Think You Are?"- There is an American and British version of this show. This is actually a British import, having already eight seasons. The American version is currently airing their third on NBC, Fridays. The concept is simple: take a celebrity, research their history. The shows both have good tips and links on their websites and I recommend watching both if you can. Currently the American version has their first season for sale; the British has their seven completed seasons out. I was able to find both on Amazon, but they were also available on the respective websites of each version as well. They also sell companion books that go into more detail for each season. I haven't looked into those, but some people on Ancestry's facebook page have said it's well worth a look.

"Finding Your Roots" is a new one coming out middle of March 2012 on PBS. On this show, two celebrities from seemingly disparate backgrounds are connected together through their family histories. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the producer, writer and presenter and this is just his latest genealogy show. "African American Lives" and "African American Lives 2" were his first forays into televised genealogy with notable African Americans as the guests. Dealing with the specific trials of tracing African American heritage, it is a compelling story at times. The best part is the many resources linked on the respective websites. That alone is well worth the look. "Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates Jr." was his series in 2010 for PBS. It also showed celebrities like the Who Do You Think You Are concept taking 12 celebrities on the journey in four episodes. These are already on DVD and you can find them in the PBS shop. There are also companion books for these programs.

"Family Historian" is a long running New York genealogical program that gave many tips on searching out family history. This website has the episodes for sale, but be warned, both the show and the website are decidedly low production. (There is music playing on the website that will drive you batty- mute your speakers)

"Where are shows about non-celebrities like me????"
Not a day goes by that someone isn't on a forum asking why celebrities get to have their genealogy researched for them while ordinary people have to work hard and do it themselves. Well, fear not! You too can find help while getting your 15 minutes of televised fame! "Generations Project on BYUTV" is one that deals with "everyday" people. BYUTV is a cable channel provided by Brigham Young University and their sponsor the LDS Church. There are currently 36 episodes on their website for viewing. Want to be on tv? Then this is your option! If you live in the United States or Canada, you can tell them your story and may be chosen to be on their program.

"Ancestors In the Attic" is a Canadian series in it's fourth season. This program also deals with "ordinary" folk. They take Canadians and travel through Canada and the world to solve their familial mysteries. I've not found a place to purchase the series, but they are viewable on their website. One other is "Genealogy Roadshow", which is an Irish program in the vein of Antiques Roadshow. They take ordinary people with rumors and stories and try to find the truth behind them. Actually very interesting.

Other viewing options
These don't deal with a specific history as much as give you ideas where/how to search. "Genealogy Quest Series" by the Larimer County Genealogical Society (Colorado) is an interesting series using experts to give tips and tricks on how to research. "Ancestors" by KBYU has two seasons (1997 & 2000) available for purchase. This one has a website full of links and tips, so even if you don't purchase the DVDs, you should check it out. "Genealogy Gems TV" has a website, a facebook page, iTunes podcast and a Youtube channel all dedicated to teaching you new things about genealogy. I like this one because it's very active and truly helpful. Ancestry also has it's own Youtube channel for short presentations from their resident genealogy experts on how to use the site as well as get around brick walls. In fact, there are quite a few channels and individual episodes available on Youtube if you just search "genealogy".

Many of the programs' sites have online viewing options. Remember, however, that international copyright laws may prohibit your country from viewing them online. Some I could even find a link to buy the DVD collection. I looked at Hulu.com by simply searching "genealogy" and came up with many clips and episodes from several different shows including History Detectives and Who Do You Think You Are. So if you have the will, you can find some interesting programs that may give you a new avenue for your own search.

And if you simply must watch Reality TV, isn't it better to have an option that is fun and informative?
-Ana

"I'm Related to Constantine!" and Other Things Not to Be Said Lightly

I doubt there is a human alive who does not have a deep-seated need to feel important. If we cannot do something special in our own life, we like to think that someone in our line has been of value to the world. While many of us rejoice in knowing any and all of our family history, to some others, their history will never be complete without a connection or two of a royal, native, or celebrity to illuminate their branches. They will accept half-truths and ignore contradictions to get it, too. And while you may legitimately have a claim, there are certain things that should never be said. Or at least have personal research and documentation in hand to back it up!

Coats of Arms
 "Here's my family Coat of Arms." "My surname is directly descended from _ and it means _"

Thanks to this website, I made my own coat of arms, motto and all!



Interestingly, this seemingly harmless error is also a very prolific one. If you are displaying a coat of arms for your surname, I have bad news for you. Traditionally in the U.K., Ireland and most of western Europe, the coat of arms is only to be passed on to direct-line male descendants of the original person to whom they were presented. They are not, I repeat not, simply attached to anyone with that surname. France and Germany have different rules. In the case of France, since becoming a republic, they don't bother with coats of arms. Germany used to give them away or have them bought. Many coats of arms are for cities and provinces, not families. Just because you have the surname that is attached to a coat of arms, doesn't mean you have the right to display it. If you believe you have the right to these arms, you should investigate the male line as far back as you can and contact the heraldic authority of the issuing country to confirm.

Surname histories and certificates fall into this same trap. These usually include a coat of arms in them, which should be a tip-off of their disingenuousness. The problem with surname histories lays primarily in the fact that surnames are inconsistent in morphology and origin. Since so many languages have similar bases (romance languages like Spanish, Italian, French and Romanian being formed from Latin for example), a name may be hard to pin down to one locality or meaning. There are hundreds of books and sites dedicated to telling you about your surname's illustrious history, however. So I decided to take my surnames and check them out. I used a few surname sources I found by Googling "surname history". Here's the list and what they told me about each of my surnames I tried. I used Gibson (which I presumed English), Householder (known German), Kemper (known German), Berrio (presumed Italian based on originator of the surname in our family), and Lavinsky which was the Americanised version our original surame Levingskas (known Lithuanian).

• Ancestry.com- Gibson- Scottish/English- Son of Gibb; Householder- Americanised Haushalter- Steward of an Estate; Kemper- German, peasant farmer; Berrio- Basque- new or variant of Barrios- Spanish/Arabic- slum; Lavinski had no meaning, but did show me a breakdown of census information of people with the surname (no Levingskas found)
• Ancestor Search- Gibson- Scottish- Son of Gilbert or Gib; Householder and Haushalter- not found; Kemper- not found; Berrio- not found; Lavinski/Levingskas- not found
• Behind the Name- Gibson- Scottish/English- Son of Gib; Householder and Haushalter- not found; Kemper- not found; Berrio- not found; Lavinski/Levingskas- not found
• Surname Database- Gibson- Scottish/English- Son of Gilbert (noted the Germanic origins of Gilbert just to confuse me I think); Householder and Haushalter- not found; Kemper- not found; Berrio- not found; Lavinski/Levingskas- not found
• House of Names- Gibson- German/Scottish- Son of Gibb (and then goes to tell me how I can pay for a slew of information including famous Gibsons who ironically are on both the German and Scottish surname report); Householder- English, Haushalter- not found; Kemper- Dutch/English- comber of wool or flax; Berrio- Spanish- a barrier/gate/or fence; Lavinski- Polish- Lion (no Levingskas found)

Two interesting points. First, according to the Genealogy of the Kemper Family book by Willis Miller Kemper and Harry Linn Wright, Kemper is supposed to be German for warrior. Second, even though Ancestry didn't have a lot of information on each surname, they did show a breakdown of census information like what countries the surname immigrated from, what occupations they held in the states and average lifespan based on death records. So while I wouldn't take it's origin information as gospel (or even assume that all people with that surname are related), the demographic information was kind of neat.

Royalty

"I've traced my family back to 1066 A.D. and William the Conqueror" "I'm directly descended from Constantine!" "I'm 9th cousins 4x's removed from Kate Middleton, OMG"

What exactly is the probability that the average American is related to royalty? Well, the fact is the odds of a royal connection becomes higher the farther back the connection. It also doesn't hurt if your family has been or is wealthy. I tried to find a reliable source on the probability and what research has been done, but what I mainly found was sites advertising books telling me that a lot of Americans are descended from royalty. I found claims for up to 15 million people being related to Kate and William and at least half of America is supposed to be related to Edward III or Charlemagne. What I found odd, was that many seemed to use Burke's Peerage as a source! Despite the fact that you can still find Burke's around online, the name has been sold from it's original owner who was infamous for fraudulent lineages, liquidated and sold off. Why anyone would trust them is beyond me.

There are ways to prove a royal connection, though. DNA is the most reliable, in as much as even if you were related to an illegitimate child, it'll come up in the markers. However, they aren't taking DNA from the dead royals to make the list, but living, provable descendants. As always, there's still a lot of guess work in this method. To be sure, the more people use this option, the better the database becomes. I am interested in the possibilities of DNA testing for genealogical research, but I've not yet taken a test. I've been told I should since the autosomal tests can break down ethnicity. Mitochondrial and Y chromosome tests are more reliable since those markers don't mutate as often, but only trace the mother to daughter, father to son connection. I have heard that every living person has a common ancestor of some 5,000 years ago; so in reality, we're all related and in that way, we are all related to royalty. So finding out you are related to Genghis Khan suddenly doesn't look so special, does it? And of course, there is always the pitfall of finding out you aren't who you think you are. I doubt any family is 100% sure of paternity from start to finish.

The common way to trace royalty is to find corroborating documents. The thing is, because of wars and natural disasters destroying documents, most people will only be able to trace their lineage to the 1800's. Even if you are lucky to go farther back due to the fact of an influential family line, you may only get to about the 1600's. It's so remote a possibility of going any farther back that most researchers will consider it impossible. So even if you are related to Charlemagne (742-814 A.D.), you may never find the documents to prove it. And don't take other people's word for it! Their research can be riddled with the erroneous data from vanity genealogies. Take their data and track down their sources, but never just accept it.

And saying you're a X cousin X times removed from a royal will mean almost nothing to many people. The average person won't understand what you mean and even more won't care. So you're the 10th cousin 5 times removed of some Nordic princess, how diluted is that bloodline? Does she even count as family then??? Will your family care or have a glazed look as they murmur, "oh cool."? Sadly, even after all that I've said, I know that many people will run out just to find that royal connection and prattle it back at anyone willing (or forced) to listen. Why are we so in love with royalty?

I blame Disney.

The "Lost" Indian Connection
First, let's start out with a phrase you should never use: "My grandmother was a Cherokee princess." Even if you have Native ancestors, this phrase will be dismissed out of hand by any serious researcher as misinformed and unsourced! The truth is there is no such thing as an Indian princess. It's a misnomer and the reasons why it came into use are vast. They also don't matter. Just don't say it.

I once wondered why it was always a Cherokee connection. Truth is, the Cherokee were once one of the most prolific tribes out there. The possibility for intermarriage was high, so if you do have a Native ancestor, the likelihood of it being a Cherokee is high. On the other hand, there were many tribes, so if you don't know for sure, it's best to keep your mouth shut until you do. There are specific hurdles to finding a Native link, and for a while it was in vogue to say you were somehow related to an Indian even if untrue; and just like royalty, you need to do your research. If you can't find the link, it may still be true, but you want to preface yourself with "the family rumor is that grandma was an Indian."

Lastly,
The Internet Genealogists for Quality have a list of quality guidelines that should be read and espoused by every researcher from day one of their journey. I recommend you view the link and take a moment to contemplate the quality of your own research.

And when you do go out in the world and tell people about your fantastic finds, be prepared for the skeptics. The false genealogies are so prolific, it is easier (and advised) to ignore any researcher who claims a distant link to a famous person or line. Too many times, a new researcher will see someone else's tree and find that connection and accept it without question. Always question. Even if it's your grandfather and he's been doing this for 30 years. He may have bought a surname book and based half his work on it. Or he may have made leaps of faith in his research, ignoring contradictions and omissions of facts. If you do want to share your success, the best way to do it is to have your facts right in the statement, "Thanks to a letter from the Duke of Windsor dated 1920, to his cousin, my grandmother, I was able to finally make that royal connection!" goes over a lot better than "My 50th grandfather was (insert famous name here)!"

As always, good luck and have fun!
-Ana

Time Is Short

Crystal Hood-Pawlak 5/25/80-2/6/12

On Monday, February 6, 2012, my cousin Crystal passed away. At a mere 32 years of age, with a loving husband and five beautiful children, she was taken from this world by a heart attack. She was planning a renewal of her vows. Had even picked out a wedding dress. The last Facebook post I saw from her was Saturday. She was excited about possibly getting her federal tax return and finally purchasing a house after many setbacks. We laid her to rest today. Gathering as a family, some of us not seeing each other except for funerals and weddings, put us all in the mood to remember the fragile threads that hold us to this life. I had talked with Crystal about sitting down to get her story for my family tree, but we hadn't picked a time. It seemed that this week was too busy and next week was always just around the corner. There are things she'll never share with any of us, and the loss is profound.


If you have been doing any sort of genealogy for more than a year, you should have a great number of photos and stories from your relatives. Your tree may have some dead ends, but mostly it flourishes and grows almost every day. And yet, how much information about yourself have you documented? Do you have a journal? Do you keep records of your moves, your jobs, your interests? Even if it's not online in your tree, do you have birthdays and anniversaries for yourself and immediate family written somewhere? And what of your extensive research into your family's past? Can someone pick up right where you left off when you shuffle loose the mortal coil? Or will all you've done be lost and forgotten?

In order to protect our privacy, U.S. Census records aren't published until 72 years have passed. Now, you may think, "I'll be in my 70's or 80's, but still around. How cool!" But in reality, you may not be. How not cool. Other records in different states and countries around the world are kept private for 100 years (sometimes more) to protect the living. How long will your grandchildren have to wait for the answers you are able to supply right here and now? If you could talk to your ancestors, what questions would you wish you could get answered? Answer them now for the next generation.

Ancestry provides blank templates for censuses up to 1940. The U.S. Census Bureau has a great read called Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses From 1790 to 2000. This can provide you with information of every census and what was asked. Take the time to make a "report" of your life for these censuses so that your family won't have to wait 72 years to know who you were! And go beyond a census, write a journal if you can. Use a digital recorder or camera to record yourself and your life. Tell your story to people not yet here. Let them see and hear and feel who you are. I have always said that the only way to live a life without regret is to never let a secret lie buried, a hurt unhealed, or a thought unsaid. Even if you can't let those who know you now know something about you, it could be the answer your great great grandchildren will need.

My grandfather Gibson kept a daily record of most of his adult life. He could tell you how much he paid for anything to the penny. He wrote about birthdays, anniversaries, funerals, weddings..... heck, he wrote about how many tulips were planted in my grandmother's garden! These were little, inconsequential things. And they were priceless. I can hear his voice when I read his words. And while my children will never meet him, never hear him, they will know him. The essence of his life is in those books. My father has recently started writing things down. In my opinion, he edits too much. It's not because he's worried what people will think when he's gone (he'll tell you to your face what he doesn't like about you), he just doesn't think it's at all important. It's hard to get him to understand, it is very important. I gave him a voice recorder so he could tell his stories in a free flowing way. That way he doesn't have to think, just talk. And those stories can be saved and played back after he is gone. No one tells his story like he does, and it'd be great to keep that alive. Whether he's using it or not, I have no idea. I don't pester him. It has to be something he wants to do.

The records of our life go beyond us, of course. You've been researching your family and there is a lot of detail that may be lost if it's not organised properly. How is your organisation? Do you have your photos labelled with who is in them and when they were taken? Are your sources documented so people know what you have found and where you have looked? If you handed over everything you have today to someone else, can they follow your lead? Do you have your passwords for your membership sites listed so they can access your information when you are gone? If you can't answer these questions with a sense of security that your passing will not mean a loss of all that you've spent your time on, then you need to get cracking! Don't expect to live, or be able to research, forever. Eventually you will have to pass the torch on to someone else. And don't hoard what you find. Share it with anyone in your family that's interested. Start grooming your "successor" while you're still around to insure they'll not screw up all your hard work.

I know one day, Crystal's youngest son may ask questions about a mother he barely had time to know. I deeply regret that I know he won't get those answers from me. I mourn the fact that some answers will never be given, as no one alive knows them. It's hard to believe that we would have to be diligent about documenting the life of such a young woman. I honestly thought that I could always catch up with her later, even if that was decades from now. That chance will never come for me. Don't let that chance pass your family by.

-Ana

Foraging in Forums

I love Ancestry's Facebook page. I'm on there a lot answering and asking questions, checking news and connecting with people. What surprises me is how many people post queries like "anyone researching Jones family?". It's not a bad idea to ask, mind. It's just that Facebook's a stream of consciousness and that post will be invisible in a day. I've even seen people ask if the Facebook page is searchable so they can find information and queries that have long past. It's not, but there's hope! In most sites, you'll find a plethora of information not found readily anywhere on the web. This magical forest has it's own hazards of dead-ends and misinformation, but to a wary traveller, it can bring about the most fascinating finds! What is this wonderland of genealogical beauty? A forum!

Forums or Message Boards are places where people put up a message hoping that a living breathing person like themselves will happen past it and they can connect and share information. When used properly, you can find new relatives, new sources of information and help on some of your thorniest issues. When mishandled, you can find yourself lost in a maze of nonsensical postings, forever hiding the gems to be found. However, you should devote some time each month in searching forums, as a breakthrough can pop up at anytime from anyone.

How to use what's there

My two favorite and regularly checked forums are on Ancestry.com and Genforum. Different sites and societies will have their own for the special topics they cover, but I find these two to be well used, maintained and covering the most topics. Both have a surname, regional, and general discussions section. Ancestry adds things peculiar to it's site like announcements, information on their record collections, ethnicities and royal lineages. The message boards on Ancestry are also found on their affiliate site rootsweb.com.

There are two ways to use the forums. The way most people do, and the way a serious hard-core gotta find it researcher would. Most people will read a few of the topic sentences hoping to see a name they recognise, or they'll type a name into the search bar at top and hope to find something of use. These people usually get bored one or two pages into a forum. This isn't a good idea. First, titles can sometimes have no information ("OMG help pleasssseeee!!!!!!"). Second, most recent activity is at the top, so something from a seasoned relative may be farther back. Third, it's kind of a hunt and peck method that leaves most people believing the forums have nothing for them and they give up.

Now let me ask you something: When you know your relative was living in Oklahoma during the 1920 census, but you can't find them in a regular search, do you give up? If you do, you are a "most people" researcher and you need to stop that right now! If you don't, then what's your next step? Why, you try to narrow it down as best you can to the right district, but if you have to you will go page by page in the entire state's census just to find that relative! And that's what you may have to do on a message board. Not to say that a hunt and peck can't find you what you are looking for, but it has to be a pretty big needle (or a pretty small haystack) to immediately yield results. PLUS, searching more thoroughly than for just what you are looking for right now can bring you new avenues to explore!

Kemper Surname Message Board on Genforum.com

The first time you enter a message board, this process will take longer. Once you've caught up with it, however, you only need to periodically check on it (or set it so you get an alert when new messages are entered). I love surname message boards. It's where most people will begin. You'll of course want to search the way you know it is spelled and then any other close spellings to see if there is a separate board. I also check locality message boards if a family founded or was centralised for a long time in one spot (or if I need to know more about an area, culture or time period to help me break out of a research rut).


What I always start with is the earliest messages, which means I hope the board has a quick button (like Genforum) for having listing all messages or going to the earliest. Ancestry doesn't, so if there's 3000 messages, I have to page through them 50 at a time. That's a pain, but I tend to scan the titles to see what catches my eye. Either way, I want to start at the back and move forward so I don't miss anything. When I went to the Kemper forum (pictured above), I found more information in the older posts than I did the new. I also was able to find a few cousins via their old posts. Never worry about the date on the message. You may not get a response if you reply to something over a decade old (maybe they don't have that email anymore), but when you do it's so much fun! I found one cousin that had posted back in '98. I thought for sure I'd never hear from her. Much to my surprise, she did message me back and we shared what we knew and have kept in touch since.

I try to keep myself organised with forums like I would any research. I have a great old program from FranklinCovey that is like a dayplanner on your computer. It's pretty outdated for most stuff (it doesn't sync with smartphones), but you can print to the notes section and it comes off just like it would if you used paper. It also has pen functions, so I can just mark out the messages I've used up and make notes right on the "page" for follow up. I also separate into folders marked "round 1", "round 2", etc. so that I can search first for names I know, and then go back again for less obvious links. You can organise your notes with notepad or word or whatever, but I always try to keep a copy of the message titles so I know what I've searched and what I could look at again. Even if a message means nothing to me the first time through, I might find something that needs a second look later! For example, a woman was asking about a relative and I didn't recognise the name. Months later, I found a census that listed him as son to a person that was in my tree. I was then able to contact her and add what she knew to that information and share what I had for the line as well! By keeping track of all the messages and periodically checking over them, I find I can answer more questions without having to clog the board with a new query on an old topic!

Adding to What's There

  It is very important that your question gets answered. So how do you go about making sure people see it? Well, first, PLEASE check to see if it's been asked before! I've seen way too many repeated posts from different people and I just wonder if they ever get to one another. If there are tens of thousands of posts, no one will read all of them and yours could be the one that is ignored. After checking to make sure the question hasn't been answered yet, make sure you're message will get a response!

Obey these simple rules:

1. Make your title count! In the below example, the first title is so vague most people won't even bother to read it unless really curious. Try using a name, location, date, anything specific to your query, but keep it brief.
2. Post in the right forum. Make sure your post is topical. If you are searching for Smiths, naturally you'd want to put that in the Smith surname board. But if you're looking for Corporal Smith of the Union army, posting it in a war or military board may yield more results from someone familiar with battles that person was in.
3. Give what you know to get what you need. In your message provide all you know. "Looking for Genevieve Bootyshaker" doesn't get you what something like this will: "Genevieve Bootyshaker married to Tom Bootyshaker. Born October 1818, died May 1876 in Oklahoma. She had three children Archie, Ned, and Jules. Need to know her maiden name, parents, birthplace and if she had siblings." Don't make people ask you for what you know (or assume you know nothing) leading them to be less than helpful or ignore you completely.



Ancestry.com message board for Indiana Cemeteries



In Conclusion

If used properly, forums can be another tool in your toolkit. You can post to a forum and know that if you don't receive an answer right now, one may come down the pipeline at anytime. Searching message boards can lead you to new information, new relatives, new experiences. If you add them to your regular record searches and facebook connections, you will greatly increase your chances of finding what you need. It takes time to go through, and you can narrow it down with search features. But taking the time to comb through a board can lead to some great finds. Happy hunting!

-Ana





Share and Share Alike

I can tell you I troll a few Facebook communities and genealogy forums and I watch what people are saying. One thing that has come up quite often on Ancestry's Facebook page is whether or not to make a tree "public" or "private". And since I was trapped this weekend at a relative's house looking through all her old photos, and the repercussions that followed, I got to thinking.

First, the weekend's conversation (in short form):

Me: Aunty, I've been looking for birth records on Great Uncle RumRunner and I can't seem to find them. Do you have a copy or know more about him?

Aunt Kooky: Well he was adopted. But that still means he's family.

Me: Of course he is. Did he know he was adopted? Do we know his birth relatives? Just for history's sake, really. It's not about him not being family, but maybe his kids will one day want to know about it and adoptions are hard to trace.

Aunt Kooky: Oh, well, yes he knew. Uncle RumRunner was the son of Great Grandma's first marriage. Grandpa adopted him when he was three. But you can't put that on your tree. I know you have a public tree on Ancestry and he might see it and feel like he's singled out.

Me: Uh, okay. Well it's not exactly how the tree works. *Explains how I can set Great Grandpa as "preferred" parent and being a public tree just means that if his "real" father had more kids, we may connect with some half-siblings and cousins, "and isn't that exciting?"*

Aunt Kooky: Oh well that makes sense. Here's photos of his real father and Great Grandmother. You can share those on your tree now that I am understanding it a bit more.

----

Me: Oh make me copies of these family reunion photos please!!!!

Cousin Helpful: No problem, I have a scanner and I'll make you a file to take to your computer. Let's spend the next several hours noting who is in each and every shot.

Me: Well if we're on the computer, let's add them to my facebook for the family!

Cousin: Splendid idea!!!!

----

*Phone rings early next morning*

Aunt Overreactive: HOW DARE YOU PUT PHOTOS OF ME ON THE INTERNET! I DON'T WANT ANY PICTURES OF ME ANYWHERE AND YOU WILL TAKE THEM DOWN RIGHT NOW!

Me: *half joking* Who is this?

Aunt Overreactive: I don't like my information just floating in the ether of the internet! I know your Facebook is friends only, but once something is on the internet, it never comes off. Dateline told me so! Now get up and get rid of those pictures before they're cached or something! And say hi to your dad when you see him Sunday.

*Not wanting to get into the "If you're worried about privacy, why do you have a Facebook account, I go to the computer to comply with her request*

Me: Well, golly, did every one of her kids have to email me about removing their mother from my pictures???? And there's an email from Cousin Somewhat Related saying some of the older photos are copies he gave to my cousin and didn't want them shared online........crap on a cracker.

Now, this is very truncated from the whole three days I spent with family trying to whittle information and photos out of them, but it seemed to really bring home some points people were making on the forums. Once something is on the internet or in someone else's hands, how much control do you have over anything? I've seen many complaints by people who's information and photos have been attached erroneously to someone not even related to them in another tree. They bemoan the heartache of their family member being used so unjustly. Their request to have the error fixed goes unanswered. There are those who have private trees specifically to protect the privacy of their relatives and they share only upon request. And what happens? Much to their horror, someone adds their private information on a public tree!!!! "I asked them not to share it and they did anyway!" Again, their request to rectify the mistakes goes unheeded. The weird one is the people with public trees that want to make it so private trees can't save their information. Why? "Because if they aren't sharing, I don't want to share with them." Really?

A note on the types of trees:

When you use Ancestry.com as a place for your tree online, you have three options:

1. The public tree. All that you add will be searchable. People, stories, photos, news articles.... all of it is available and anyone can find it and attach it to their tree. I use public trees. I want to help others by making the information easier to find and hopefully connect with another relation that may have different pieces of our collective puzzle.

2. Private, searchable tree. This means that when someone searches for information about their relative, they'll see a connection to your tree, photos or stories, but won't see the actual information. They'll need to contact you to get it. This is for those people who for whatever reason don't want the stuff just floating around, but feel they should be willing to share with a legitimate relative.

3. Private, unsearchable. This means that it won't show up in searches and no one knows it's there unless you tell them it is. This is a good option for those worried about privacy or if they know their information may be filled with errors and they want to correct them before compounding the problem by sharing the information.

There are many reasons why someone would want to privatise their information. A belief in personal privacy is the biggest. Wanting to share information with legitimate family or serious researchers is another big one. People who have just started (or have little information to share) may not want a public tree until they've gotten used to the system. They don't want to add to the myriad of already incorrect trees. On the other hand, sometimes a well-seasoned researcher can make someone feel awfully low for being wrong. Newbies are sensitive, sometimes overly so, and they take it as a personal attack when someone else is trying to be helpful by reminding them to check their work. So they hide until they have the confidence to jump into "the big leagues". These are just a few of the more often cited reasons I've seen, there are more I'm sure. And not everyone who makes a private tree is unwilling to share..... they just want to be asked first.

When it comes to what you pick for yourself, it's just preference. Now, I'm going to say this and take it how you like, but- no matter how "private" you make your information, it is on the internet and stored in someone else's server. If you truly do not want something to get out of your control, DON'T PUT IT ON THE INTERNET. While Ancestry and many sites like it are very secure, you are accepting a level of risk by putting it out of your hands and into the web. I don't put anything out that I don't mind people finding and as such, I have had only one private tree. When I got a GEDCOM from an Uncle, I privatised it simply because I didn't know what he had. What he had was a load of errors. I've since added much of that tree to my public ones and I am slowly pulling it apart one person at a time. I have connected with a few private tree members and follow their wishes to keep their information off my tree. That stuff is saved on my computer or printed out. It makes my organisation a bit harder, but that's the agreement. More often than not, however, the private tree member has no problem with me adding it to my public tree if I cite where I got the record properly.

Now, when it comes to what other's choose to do with their tree, and this is important.....You have zero control.  I've found that most public member trees are ran by those with an altruistic approach to genealogy. They figure why make someone hunt it down if they've already done the legwork and can help. That's awful nice of them, and they usually understand that that means it'll not always be reciprocated. They may connect to someone who has less than they do, or is unwilling to share what they have. People may abuse their generosity and connect it to the wrong people on accident or purpose. Sometimes they express frustration, like private tree owners, that they message a member and get no response (or a rude one). But what can you do? Maybe the other person is no longer using Ancestry. The information doesn't get deleted, so it's out there forever. Maybe they don't want to connect to other people. Or maybe they aren't actively checking that branch or person and are engrossed in fact-finding elsewhere on their tree. It's on their "things to do", but just not "to do right now". Or maybe they are really that silly and believe that they have all the proof they need to make their case that their tree is right and your's is wrong. (Isn't everyone able to find their royal connections within the free 14 day trial?)

Whatever the case, trying to change them is like trying to scream at the wind. It'll do what it's going to do and all you get is high blood pressure and a sore throat. With that, I conclude by asking that you always try to see the other side's view and collaborate rather than contaminate. We are all at different levels of expertise and everyone needs a helping hand. Respect the wishes of your contributors and family on private matters, but also remember that privacy means different things to different people. I've learned my lesson on this one. I've asked permission from my relatives to make the information I'm given public. We also have an understanding that anything that should be kept "private" will be, as long as they tell me. I've taken the time this last weekend to explain to those concerned just what I am putting up there. I even invited a few of them to the tree and helped them set up their account to view it. And Cousin Somewhat Related gave me a happy email on Sunday with all the permissions I needed to have his photos.....for which I traded several family recipes and the promise to visit him soon.

-Ana