Preserving and Procrastination

What happens when a Family History historian hears about a problem with archiving pictures and doesn’t act upon that information until sometime afterwards? 

I know I am talking to the choir, so I will just say one word…disaster.

Recently I have begun working with a long term genealogist and local historian in my community to begin archiving his years of work and accumulation of both pictures and records.  The first thing he brought out to identify, digitalize, and catalog, was his wife’s old pictures that had been carefully put in the old Sticky Album Pages. He knew that the sticky paper could cause problems with the pictures, but had procrastinated removing them to a safer medium.

What we found was the pictures had actually melded with the sticky backing and could not be easily removed without a risk of the picture tearing. The color pictures had faded although the black and white ones were not affected in appearance. Polaroid pictures did not stick. 

The first task was to work on breaking the glue bond. He kept saying I cannot believe the pages have welded together. The work was tedious, to follow the instructions per the recommended video by the Smithsonian Institute for saving your pictures from sticky paper.

We cut the hard board sheets the pictures were glued to and then proceeded to ease the pictures off with a thin blade or floss, which ever was working.

I then scanned the pictures and sorted them according to date, and family. We are now in the process of putting the originals in new acid free albums and storing according to Surname and Place if applicable.

The moral of my short story is don’t put off what you know you NEED to do because in the long run it will cost you more time.

Genie Trips

The Advantages of Visiting

Guild of One Name Studies Conference 2016

I have divide this post into 4 types of trips undertaken by genealogists. There may be some overlap but I will discuss the subtle differences between them.

• Visits to Relatives 

The first rule of genealogy is to talk to the older relatives whilst you can, as they often know things that cannot be found in the official documents.
They also may have photographs that you have never seen or be able to identify people in any photographs you have inherited.
My latest visit uncovered unseen photographs and letters in the collections of an aunt and uncle and discovered by my sister when clearing my parents house. So even when you think you may have exhausted the family collections it pays to revisit.

• Visits to Archives

We will never be short of records in our local archive our main challenge here will be access to them. The popular collections like parish registers are gradually being digitized by the big companies but there are many more records being preserved that may never make it to the internet.

During my latest visit to Hampshire I was fortunate to be able to view some Poor Law records. They did not answer my research question but do contain interesting information.

Catholic records have been difficult to access as, in the main, they have not been deposited with local archives. Find My Past have added some records to their collections but only a limited number. When I perused the shelves in the Hampshire Record Office whilst awaiting some documents I had ordered I came across 3 books of particular interest to me. These books contained transcriptions of Catholic registers for Southampton. These books had only been published in 2015. They have helped me with one of my research conflicts and helped to confirm an uncertain birthplace.

If you can possibly get to the archive, do visit, prepare well before you go, especially if you may not get back for another visit. Consider what to prioritise and make full use of catalogues and the staff knowledge so that you can maximise your research time. Check out what devices they allow for copying records as this can vary.

• Genealogy Conferences

I will clarify what I would class as a conference as I wish to discuss different ways of imparting information.

In the UK we may have a day conference sometimes called a seminar where the participants attend for a single day of classes. The recent Guild of One Name Studies conference I attended was over a weekend starting on the Friday afternoon and finishing late afternoon on the Sunday. At this weekend conference most attendees were staying over although a few were day attendees as they lived nearby. 

Conferences are a way to educate oneself about particular topics which may be of interest but they are also a great way to network with individuals who share your interest. Face to face discussions outside of the formal classes can be as important as the classes themselves.

Tackling a new research challenge can be made easier by discussion with others who may have encountered a similar challenge.

I would say that, personally, I wonder if some of the local family history societies would attract new members, if they could organise an annual conference, for their members, with topics of local and general interest. Those living further afield might be attracted to visit the area for such an event and if interest was poor it could be opened up to the public. 

A cheaper alternative would be a video conference.This was discussed today in this Dear Myrtle Hangout.if you want to see all the comments view it by logging on to this page and go to the Hosting Virtual Meetings tutorials. 

• Genealogy Shows

In the UK Who Do You Think You Are Live is held in April. It is billed as the world’s largest family history show. This show started life as the Society of Genealogists event and was rebranded when the television programme hit our screens. Many long term genealogists will tell you it has changed format over the years. Some of the changes may be due to the venue which moved from London to Birmingham a few years ago. 

However the audience for these events has also changed.  

The main thing to distinguish a show from a conference is that, at least here in the UK, much of the venue is occupied by vendors and genealogy related societies. There is also a section of related stands to assist with understanding records that we use such as military or photo or artefact dating. There also appears to have been a move to include other charities within the hall (some attendees have queried why they are there).

Like the US Rootstech event there are also educational talks on offer both free (usually sponsored) and paid for (mostly in advance). However the events in the US tend to span several days and attendees will stay over the same as conferences in the UK whereas shows attract, in the main, day visitors.

Vendors offers will attract visitors to shows and/or conferences as will educational talks.

However I get the impression that the family history societies are struggling to attract new members and the work that volunteers have put in to creating indexes over the years is now being superseded by the appearance of records in online datasets. Some are updating websites but many do not have the resources or expertise to do this.  

What can our local societies do to continue being relevant to both existing and new members? 

Is attendance at a national event worthwhile?

I enjoy catching up with friends at these events but why do others attend and are the costs involved worth it?

Who Do You Think You Are Live 2917 Celebrity 

Trello - another tool for Genealogy

With a little help from Friends

a great way to collaborate or just get organised

What is Trello ? 

I think the best way to find out is to look at their tour.

DearMYRTLE and Cousin Russ have been using this to help them plan and organise their hangouts for some time now and here is a Mondays with Myrt where they show some of what they do with Trello.

Cousin Russ also recorded a video with genealogy blogger Becky Jamison on 6th May 2016, where they discussed a post she had made on her blog, about how she is using Trello, to help her get things organized. 

She has added some more posts, about using Trello, since recording this, so please take time to look at them all.

I thought that I might be able to make use of this and remembered having a look at Trello in the past. I went to sign up and realised that I had already signed up using my Google account. When I signed in, I found had already set up some boards, so decided it was time I started adding more to them.

Here are 2 short videos I have made explaining how I have set things up and what I am planning to do to make good use of this tool.

If you are not already using Trello and are thinking of trying it out please use this link to join it is FREE.

Conferences and Genealogy Shows What's the Difference?

Photograph from the conference of Guild of One Name Studies held in Birmingham, England 

1st - 3rd April 2016

Conference or Show what do you get for your money?

Are they the same?

Does it depend where in the world you are?

Last year I wrote about going to Rootstech / FGS 2015 in Salt Lake City, my first impressions and compared it with WDYTYA Live which had just moved to Birmingham.

This year I was only able to catch the livestream and videos at Rootstech. However I did attend my first Guild of One Name Studies Conference held the weekend before Who Do You Think You Are Live. Both were in Birmingham the first at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole and the latter at the National Exhibition Centre the same as last year.

I have not attended anything in Australia and I know there are other conferences in the US. Pauleen Cass wrote a post on this blog last April about conferencing and she has quite a few references in this post to help give a more balanced view.

I did enjoy my Guild conference and have every intention of going to next year's conference which is being held on the outskirts my home city of Southampton. I am hoping to make the most of it by incorporating a research trip to the local archives in Southampton and the Hampshire Record Office in Winchester.

I decided to go to Birmingham on the train and managed to get a direct train both ways with a table seat for most of the journey. Both trains were crowded as it was the Easter holidays. Before I arrived at the hotel I could tell we were going to have an interesting and possibly noisy weekend see this tweet from Janet Few.

Chris Braund pointed me in the right direction and after registering, up to my room with the luggage, then back for a much needed drink before the first talk about DNA. 

Our first meal was followed by the quiz which I soon learnt was quite a challenge.

Unlike the likes of Rootstech the conference had 2 full days. The first part of the first morning was the AGM and the business side of things being swiftly dealt with we arrived early for the morning break. 

Next up was an interesting presentation about life on the canals. This guest was surprised when he actually sold out of the books he had brought with him. 

The session after lunch can be a real challenge and there was a lot of information to take on board. If you have anyone who lived and worked in British India the wealth of information available is incredible. Families in British India Society (FIBIS) has a lot on their website. They also had a big presence at WDYTYA Live this year and the celebrity I saw on the Saturday had gone to India to find out more about her family.

Anita Rani talking about her experience on WDYTYA at the Live show on Saturday 9th April 2016

The next speaker was from Twile but I will not expand further here as I plan to do a post on my own blog later this week.

Our final session for the day had to be changed at extremely short notice Paul Howes Chairman of the Guild did an admirable job and we heard some interesting stories from him and several other members.

Unlike Rootstech the Guild has a Reception and Dinner on the Saturday night a chance to chat and get to know other attendees a bit better.

A short church service first thing on Sunday was followed by 2 presentations. The first looked at presentation of your study using that member's own study. The second was looking at key sources outside the UK for finding your surname across the world.

Lots of information here and "food for thought" as to how to get the information and then how to put it into a useful format.

The session after lunch on Sunday was another change looking at how we might find living people. As one namers we often find the best information comes from members of families especially if you need individuals for DNA studies. Finding clues in the records and knowing where to look is crucial. The techniques shown were those I had used in doing my own family research and have reaped dividends in terms of family photographs.

The final session of the conference looked at example sources for emigration and immigration. This rounded off an interesting weekend. 

I had three days before the WDYTYA Live show and I will write about these on my own blog if you are interested.

For the first 2 days of WDYTYA Live I offered to help out on the GUILD stand. Here are some photographs that I took.

This was just across the aisle from the replica Spitfire that was on display at the Forces War Records stand

Ancestry, Family Search, Find My Past, My Heritage and The Genealogist all had their own stands. There were relatively few commercial vendors and several non-genealogical charities had their own stands. Much of the Society of Genealogists area was taken by Family History Societies although many local societies did not attend. A full list of exhibitors can be found here.
There was much more in the way of workshop sessions that could be attended and the interest in, and availability of, DNA testing appears to be growing.
Family Tree DNA sponsored a raft of free lectures in their theatre.

Having everything in one large hall with sections partitioned off for sessions can be a disadvantage but with well set up sound systems and microphones the only problems seem to be when technology failed.

As regards costs the ticket prices for Who Do You Think You Are Live can be found here. The website of The Guild of One Name Studies can be found here if you want to know more about who they are and the benefits of becoming a member. Rootstech has a different pricing structure to WDYTYA Live and details can be found on the FAQ page. Pricing for this year's FGS Conference is not yet online you can find their website here. The FGS Conference has more in common with WDYTYA Live than Rootstech in regards to the topics for the presentations. This is not surprising given that The Society of Genealogists and The Federation of Family History Societies are similar organizations to FGS in the US.

Comparisons between events in different countries are difficult as the audience and how they interact can be affected by the numbers that attend for just a single day. In the US conference attendees are more likely to stay overnight in the area rather than travel on the day. Up until this year I travelled on the day, this was cheaper than finding overnight accomodation, this makes for a long day which means that a single day is all that most would feel up to attending.
Whether more would be willing to stay if evening activities were included it is difficult to know. It can be a problem organising events and then not getting sufficient uptake for them to take place. Having cancelled a day of the WDYTYA Live event in Glasgow the organisers are unlikely to want to take on any additional evening entertainment.

If you have attended other genealogical conferences or shows elsewhere in the world I would be interested in your comments.
If genealogists don't tell the organisers what we like or don't like or how we think they could improve the experience for us then we risk falling attendances. 
Many societies are seeing falling membership numbers. 
What do those researching want from them and what can we as members contribute? 
Why do you belong to a society? 
Have you allowed your membership to lapse? 
If so, why did this happen?

Why are some societies not attending national events?

Does History Matter?

Last year a popular British TV quiz programme revealed that a third of those questioned did not know who was on the British throne in 1859, more worryingly, a similar number couldn’t name the monarch in 1979! Admittedly the question was not straightforwardly phrased but even so…… Does this matter? Well, at the most basic level maybe not but it is symptomatic of our frenetic clawing towards the future and lust for something new, at the expense of our heritage. In England at least, history is continually being squeezed from the school curriculum and what is taught is often disjointed and lacking in context. Yes there really is a whole load of history between the Tudors and the Victorians, of which many school children are blissfully unaware, even supposing they have grasped that the Tudors come first! And yes, history does extend beyond the twentieth century political history, so beloved of the examination syllabus.

At the same time the news featured an eighteen year old American scientist who had discovered a diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer. His mantra was, ‘Science is using your curiosity to change the world.’ Undoubtedly this is true in his case and he deserves every credit. When I explain what I study, I often feel that others think it is self-indulgent and that it does not contribute to the greater good. I am not suggesting history is more important than medical research but I maintain that, in some ways, it is as important. More and more studies are suggesting that an understanding of the past is crucial to our well-being in the present. American research, by Dr Marshall Duke, investigating children’s resiliency and ability to deal with stress, discovered that children who knew more about their families:-

• Tended to do better than other children when they faced challenges.
• Proved to be more resilient and able to moderate the effects of stress.
• Had a stronger sense of control over their lives.
• Had higher self-esteem.
• Believed that their family functioned successfully.
• Felt that they belonged to something larger than themselves.

Studies by The Heritage Lottery Fund found that there are positive benefits to an awareness of heritage that relate to quality of life, community cohesion and creating better places to live. Can historians use their curiosity to change the world? I am an idealist, if we each change our little bit of the world, perhaps they can.

History is about using the past to inform the present and the future. It can hone analytical skills and teach people to question but it can also engender a sense of belonging, to a family or a to community. An awareness of a shared past creates unity in the present. In the dim and distant past (well ten years ago), when I had a history classroom, I had history related quotations depicted in coloured speech bubbles around the wall and these now head and foot pages on my website. Perhaps the most telling of these is George Santayana’s on the home page ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to fullfil it’. Sadly many are not learning from the past and many never will but I for one have the vision to think we could try and encourage people not to repeat so many past mistakes.

So yes, it matters but how do we spread the word? As my passion (far to far gone to call this merely a hobby) and what passes for my job overlap, I either work 150 hours a week, or I do nothing but enjoy myself! We can introduce others to history in a more moderate way. A bit like faith, we can take history out with us and introduce it to those with whom we come into contact. Not, I hasten to add, in a pushy overbearing way (that doesn’t work for religion either!) but gently, without people even realising that what they are doing is engaging in history. I wrote about this for the British Association for Local History’s newsletter. This blog post is already long enough, so I won’t repeat it all here now but there are many inventive ways in which this can be done; if you watch this space I may be inspired to feature some here. I am particularly focussed on engaging young people with history and heritage. Some of my descendants are on their way to visit (excited face) so I have the opportunity to put this into practice. Yes, I am talking about two year olds and yes it is possible. 

I know you will say ‘I don’t have the time’ or ‘My friends and neighbours don’t have the time’. Originally this post was entitled ‘Making Time for History and why this Matters’ but I have spent so long on why it matters that I haven’t made time to address how to make time in our busy lives. Another day, another blog post - I promise.

Janet Few

Family Associations

I am working on a project to identify and add Family Associations on a FamilySearch Wiki page Click here to view.  It would be awesome if it was found and added to by those organizations/associations that would like to find new members.  
The reason for the project is to support and encourage families to continue with their associations and organization.  
I have been saddened to find many associations struggling or not active any longer.  I would have to say though, I have also been a bit surprised that with the resurgence of interest in family history and family trees, that the associations have not been revitalized.  
The existence of family associations serve to bond families and assist, as well as facilitate collaboration of researching surnames. Sometimes a family will drift apart because of family disagreements, sometimes it was distances, and other times it was disinterest in making the effort on the part of one generation. Then a new generation will pop up that begins to wonder about their ancestors and who their family was or if anyone knew stories or had pictures of them.  
I had this experience.  My father's generation seemed to have the attitude, "let the dead bury the dead"... just take care of the living.  That translated into, I don't share stories about my life nor did I know anything about my grandparents, no one talked about them. 
One day, I decided I had enough, I needed to know about the family and better yet if there were any still living I needed to know them.  At the same time a cousin called and said we haven't seen each other in 30 years we need to visit.  Well... that was an invitation I was looking for.  We collaborated on research some, but it was another ten years before we were able to start reaching out to others.  I will say Facebook has been very helpful in the development of a loosely formed family group.  We formed a Family Group labeled the ancestor's name and emphasized we were searching for descendants. While we have not been able to make it to a formal organization yet, we have found and pulled three generations of descendants from all six of the children of my great grandfather and five of the eight children of my grandparents.

Benedict and Sarah Jane Hankins Langley family portrait.

The young adults are hungry for the information, but don't seem to be either willing or comfortable sharing their questions or memories.  They want to sit back and watch, in our case that semi works because the rift in the family left a void, and just developing personal relationships and a sense of family seem to be the order of the day.  My cousin and I are hoping to develop something that will last after we are gone.  Which takes me back to my project...
The early developers of  many Associations had hoped they were building a lasting organization, only to find there weren't any young adults willing to spend the extra time in making the organizations last and the older ones were not able to travel to reunions or meetings to continue to work together.  I know of a few that are struggling to continue but have and air of quiet desperation.
When I come across a healthy Family Association I want to cheer and do a happy dance.  It always feels like the family had over come that pain and challenge of when the pioneers had moved away to come back together, and there is a mother in heaven doing a happy dance.  
I have up to this point worked on mostly United States organizations, but I am now trying to identify international and foreign association / organizations, because the possibilities of families reuniting and learning as well as bonding are great.
If you know of an association and it is not on the pages, it is a wiki, you can add to it.  
'Til next month... Did your family have a reunion,or at least a get together?  Know of any associations... can always use help. 

Indexing a Great "Give Back"

The fun of being a collaborative blogger, is sometimes you overlap with another blogger. DearMyrt shared about the Worldwide Indexing Event That FamilySearch Indexing had from the 7th to the 14th. 

As you know, I love FamilySearch and I serve as a FamilySearch missionary. For me, Indexing is exciting because the end result is the growth of Historical Records which help many around the world. I thought I would remind everyone did Indexing is a continuing project. There are quiet millions of records to be indexed. Here is a sampling of the new World Wide projects thathave been added: 
New Indexing Projects Added
Norge-Tinglysningskort, 1640-1903
Canada, Manitoba Probate Records, 1871-1930
Germany, Baden, Ettenheim Church book duplicates, 1804-1870
Germany, Baden, Gengenbach Church book duplicates, 1804-1870
Nicaragua Registro Civil, Nacimientos, 1879-2012 [Parte A]
This is a list of projects available listed A - Z:   Find a Project
FamilySearch Indexing published the results of the Worldwide Indexing Event: 

PDF Image link

The results were a little short of the goal, but progress was made.  

If you participated, they have a badge to put on your blog... 

or you could print and put in your office.   I got mine.

FamilySearchIndexing on Facebook

Giving Back is a fundamental thing we genealogists like to do. Those in the past helped us so much that it feels good knowing you have helped someone too. As I said,  Indexing is an ongoing project please continue to help if you were part of the #FuelTheFine or join with us if you have not tried. Warning... It is addictive. Here is your starting link. Start Indexing

'Til Next Month... Fran Ellsworth

Write Your Own Stories

I have been pondering how to write this blog post for several weeks. It is with great hope that the spirit of the post will speak to you.
I have blogged in the past about writing our ancestors stories to make them people and not just names. This time I want to focus on writing our personal stories, some think in terms of personal history, or journals.  I am simply going to put it in terms that most of us cringe... write about yourself. You can tell why you did something or why you felt some way better than another will be able to interpret your motives, etc after you are gone.
So, today I am going to write a little about myself and some of the events and people that had a great influence on me; helping to make me who I am.
I had many events in my younger years that, when I reflected as an older person, I can see why I act the way I do.
When I was 3, my father lost his leg above the knee in a logging accident. I won't go into the story, but you can read it here on my blog. His attitude of not giving in to the circumstances and striving to be better, shaped my way of handling crisis situations and challenges in life.

A picture of my mom and dad and I that was used in a State wide promotion of  handicap people overcoming. 

When I reached 5, my mother and dad decided for my mother to go back to college.  She had been waiting tables to assist with the cost of living because my dad was still recovering. She went away for a week at a time, working for an elderly lady to pay for her schooling and to cover her room and board. From this I took away doing what it cost to take care of your family.  This helped me many years later when my husband had to work far from home for an extended length of time.

My father's mother came to live with us off and on while I was growing up.

Lenorah Gildon Langley

Every day she read the bible and devotionals that someone gave her.  She attended church when she could, because my mom was Methodist and she was Church of Christ, so my dad would just lay low for no conflict.  I learned from her the value of having a spiritual side to your life for balance.

My mom's mom did not live with us, but she did visit.  She had had arthritis all her life. She had 13 children, and raised 6 of them and 2 grandchildren alone after her husband died of cancer. She earned a living, sewed, and was a supporter of her church circles.

Matilda Roberts Whitson and Cecil Whitson grandson

 She had a sense of humor too. She became an ideal person to me of how to face life, if you're given lemons.

Both of my grandfathers had died before I was born.  My grandmothers never remarried.  They helped their children when and how they could.  My life has been similar. My husband died at 62.  I am content as a widow, neither of my grandmothers had complained, why should I. My time is spent serving my six children, 25 grandchildren, and the genealogy community at large.

Love of genealogy was not something that came from any influence of my family. However, the desire for stories and encouraging others to grab family stories came from dealing with my dad's family who was closed mouthed, and never spoke of family or their ancestors.
These are examples of  a few of the people and moments that have influenced my life, and now you know more about me probably than my children.

I am writing my stories on FamilySearch Memories. After I am gone, they will be able to see my stories that I have written for them and my grandchildren (on FamilySearch only that attached to the deceased is visible.)

See you next month...