1940 Census -- Quick Fact

This may very well be my shortest blog, but I wanted to post this while I was thinking about it.  Wouldn't it be great to know who the enumerators interviewed in a census record?  The 1940 census will tell you.  Just to the right of the person's name you'll see an X in a circle.  Bingo!  There's your answer!

Gravestone Girls Tonight!

As a last minute reminder to anyone who lives anywhere near Chicopee, Massachusetts, if you're a family researcher amateur or professional and your interests lie in the burial of our ancestors, this might be for you!

The Gravestone Girls are presenting a virtual tour of the cemeteries in Chicopee which will include some surprisingly

[caption id="attachment_3493" align="alignleft" width="86"] John Chapin, a descendant of the prominent Chapin family of Springfield, Mass, died in Pennsylvania as indicated on the stone.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="75"] English: MacArthur's Ball, Monument to Lt Gen Arthur MacArthur in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

interesting famous personalities who were born here or lived here and certainly who died here. Well, mostly who died here.  For example, John Chapin was 44 years old when he died in 1749.  His grave stone indicates that he died in Pennsylvania.  So the question may be whether he was buried in Chicopee or was this simply a "cenotaph" honoring his memory as he was buried in Pennsylvania.  A cenotaph is exactly that; a memorial marker with names, dates and often other information of an individual who died and was buried far from their home.

All in all feel a little bit a part of this one.  I toured all the Chicopee cemeteries with one of the Gravestone Girls, Brenda a/k/a Sophronia  while giving her a thumbnail sketch of the history of Chicopee including some of the "rich and famous" from Chicopee's past.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="350"] English: Image of Chicopee Public Library (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

The event, which is supported by a grant from the Chicopee Cultural Club, a local agency, which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, takes place at the Chicopee Public Library, 459 Front Street, Chicopee, Massachusetts from 6:30 to 8:00 PM.

See you there!

 

 

 

 

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OneGreatFamily.com

A few minutes ago, I got off the phone with a customer service agent at One Great Family.  I've pretty much ignored that site for quite a long time.  In the past several weeks, they've been advising me that my "...family tree is growing!"  Well, aside from a new grandbaby born a week ago, I'm not too confident that there are many (or any) ancestors that I could be made aware of.  Perhaps there are collateral relatives, but not anything that I'd get particularly excited about.

Today, I decided to take a new, fresh look at One Great Family.  It took a while to figure out my username and password eventually figuring out the right combination.  I originally signed on with them in 2002!  There's no telling when I started to "ignore" them.  Certainly it was quite a while ago!

So I had questions, and I hoped they had answers.  I'm no big fan of FAQ's so I found a phone number and left a message.  They got back to me within a few hours...not bad!  So after a brief overview of my not so close relationship, I asked how much a membership would cost.  Ready for this?  Only $14.95 per month OR $79.95 per year.  "Wait a minute," I asked, "$14.95 per month is $179.40 per year!"  She assured me that the annual subscription represented a really great deal.  I guess so!  "Can you or someone else tell me why I would need a subscription?"  She explained that users upload family data and One Great Family matches up your upload with what others have uploaded.  It was clear to me that this is not the best way to gather genealogical information. To make sure i had that right, I asked if their site was full of user data, unsourced user data?  That's correct, she advised.

Well, I told her that unsourced data would be useless to me and probably to any serious family researcher, professional or otherwise.  I really believe that One Great Family is doing more to harm good, solid research than it's doing to promote it.  so i simply thanked her for the information, removed myself from their mailing lists and removed the "Affiliate" link at my website www.oldbones.info.

 

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350"] English: The Yuan Dynasty family tree. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

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Genealogy Hangouts On Air..from Australia!

Well....it's done.  For what it's worth, I had a good time.  But that's only because I had a chance to talk uninterrupted as long as I wanted.  Sort of!  So I'm blogging this tonight to give all my faithful followers a link to the Google Hangout we recorded with Fiona Tellesson.  She has been conducting these "Hangouts" for a little over 2 years.  She asked me last week if I'd like to "appear" and I said I be happy to.  And I'm putting out there because although I speak to local groups from small to relatively large, this is the first time I've had the floor with what turns out to be an international audience.

It's just less than an hour, but they told me that it turned out to be very interesting. So if you watch it for 5 minutes or 55 minutes, I'd appreciate it!

Once again, click here to go to the YouTube presentation.

Thanks!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Detail of the House of Stuart Genealogy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

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Lessons in Marketing a Genealogist's Website

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="75"] Aerial view of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

Today was a very productive day!  I had to drive about 200 miles round trip to Boston, but it was worth it and I'd do it again.  I belong to the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists.  We call it  simply NEAPG.  That's a lot easier to get off your tongue!  As a matter of fact, I happen to be this year's vice president.  It seems to be just like Joe Biden, who doesn't seem to have a lot of "real" responsibilities, he just has to try to stay out of trouble!

The big focus for me today was a presentation by fellow genealogist, Marian Pierre-Louis. She's well suited to today's subject matter which had to do with marketing your website:  Getting focused, making a business plan, using the internet to your advantage and, my biggest mystery, social media.

Last week, the membership was asked to volunteer their websites for Marian's critique at today's meeting.  Since I just rehashed my own, I wanted to get someone who knows a whole lot more than I do about such mysteries to help me get it polished up.  I had no idea how many offered their sites or if she'd pick mine.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="75"] website ideas (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)[/caption]

Well, she picked 3 sites, largely because I think that only 3 people offered to participate. Luckily, my site was one of the 3.  Well, I learned a great deal about structuring my web site.  Truth be known, I had already done a lot of things right!  But she had some very helpful insights to tweak it up.  For example, she thought I had too many pages, visitors would have to click too many times to get to what I wanted them to see. So, tonight, and it's well after midnight, I just finished restructuring the largest part of what she suggested I do.  I've got a few more issues to remedy.

But I was particularly glad that she covered blogs, Facebook, Twitter and a couple of other social media issues.  I'm not ready to talk much about it tonight.  But I plan on re-reading my notes, tweaking all the sites where I want a presence and watching to see if it impacts the results. Then I can talk about what she suggested, what I did and how well it worked.

I will say that after the first week or so of working this new site, I contracted with a new client out of California.  I asked the client, for the sake of knowing which marketing was working for me, how did they find me.  They said they simply searched Google for a professional genealogist in this area and my site popped up first!! Not bad for an amateur webmaster!

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Websites - Blogs - Facebook Pages for Genealogy Research

Over the past several months, I've collected a list of helpful websites.  It began as a single page list that I used as a handout in my "Genealogy and Family Research" classes.  As time went by, of course, more and more sites interested me and I began to add them to the list.  Lately, a few Facebook pages have crept onto the list.  They're under "Polish Research".  The latest addition is Russ Worthington's blog for Family Tree Maker users.

Image via CrunchBase

So I put the list into Dropbox and you're welcome to click this Handouts link and download the list for your own use.

I could also use your help.  If there is a site that you have found to be particularly helpful in your own research, let me know!  I'll be happy to add it and upload the edited list to Dropbox for everyone to share.

I've been using Family Tree Maker for several years.  As a matter of fact, I bought my first edition at Circuit City and they've been gone for quite awhile!  I think I started using it around 1998 and I've bought every update since.  Recently, I've been reading Russ Worthington's blog titled Family Tree Maker User.  There is an amazing amount of information, instruction, tips and other useful information about getting the most out of FTM and with it, many research tips as well.  Click the link or put ftmuser.blogspot.com into your browser!

If you've stumbled across this blog while searching the net, please click the "Follow" button or add your e-mail address in the box just below.  Thanks!

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How Strong is YOUR Password?

I just picked up my new laptop today...computers never crash at a convenient time and I beat this one by about a week or two at best.  At least I won this time!  Nonetheless, I spent money I should have spent on Christmas, but the work must go on!  At any rate, the reason I'm talking about passwords is that I spent about 3 hours with the techs that set up this machine.  They told me about a site that can calculate how secure your password is and how long it would take a cyber thief to get into your files, your private data, your bank accounts!!

Click on How Secure is My Password? enter your password or passwords and find out!

The password I use most frequently has symbols, upper and lower case letters and numbers.  It's 16 characters long.  How Secure is My Password? tells me that it would take today's technology with automated password calculators a ridiculous number of years to get it right!!

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240"] Password 'fido' ...item 3b.. Five Characters in Search of an Exit -- The Twilight Zone (December 22, 1961) ... (Photo credit: marsmet549)[/caption]

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List of Abbreviations

I'm passing this along for those who may find it helpful. Genealogy In Time Magazine publishes helpful articles.  First, click "Continue reading" to make the links work.  Then click the link for the "List of Abbreviations". You may consider getting on their mailing list!

First Cousins? Second Cousins? Once Removed? Always Removed!!

In my class on genealogy research, I try to spend some time on relationships.  Truthfully, I have family tree software that calculates how I'm related to the 39,700 people in my data base.  Really?  39,700???  Yes, really.  Many of my maternal lines go as far as Plymouth Colony (Yes, there's a Mayflower or two in the mix) And you know those folks from way back before TV and the internet....they had kids, lots of kids!  So those fecund families spread their names far and wide across this country.  That also holds true for my paternal lines.  My direct great grandfathers were mostly in Alabama and Tennessee but their progenitor, I believe, was an early 1700's Scotch-Irish immigrant who may have settled first in New England and then gradually migrated south.  (Oh...."fecund"...it's not a bad word but I challenge you to look it up...I just never get a chance to use it!!)

But I digress.  Archives.com has published an excellent article that describes in simple terms what those simple terms mean: First cousin, once removed, third cousin 4 times removed and so forth.  I won't get into "Mother-In-Law of the 7th cousin twice removed of the grandson of the 3rd cousin three times removed" but they're out there.

Anyway, click the "Archives" link above and see if that's a  description you can live with.   I also have a chart  by Alice J Ramsey that you might like to look at.  I can e-mail that to you by you requesting it at dave@oldbones.info.

Have fun!

Massachusetts Lawmakers Weighing Public Records Bill

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240"] Massachusetts Statehouse (Photo credit: Amir Nejad)[/caption]

In an age where some states are considering privatizing even more public records and genealogists are working to keep those traditional public records available, what appears to be good news might be happening in Massachusetts.  The article at this link from Channel 22 in Springfield, Mass isn't very descriptive.  But when they're discussing "public records" I have to believe that the reference includes vital records as well.

Imagine how easy it could be to access those types of records on line without having to visit a town or city clerk's office.  I'm sure there would be a fee involved, but that certainly beats driving from one end of the state to another.  (Keep in mind that the Mass Turnpike tolls have been restored for the western end of the state for the first time since 1996.)

 

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Hezekiah Robertson? Robinson? Robison? Robrson? Chapter One

There's a lot to this story and I'm trying to get this up on the blog quickly...I should never rush a post...but I've got some family members I've met only of Facebook who would like to see some of the data I've compiled on the past 15 years or so.

I'll begin this post with a quick story on my 4th great grandfather.  Hezekiah was born, probably in Virginia.  Exactly where is a mystery but it might even be that part of Virginia that is now West Virginia.  His year of birth was sometime between 1777 and 1784, the discrepancy due to what he reported on various records and what is inscribed on his gravestone.  His gravestone....more on that later!

Hezekiah joined Andrew Jackson's East Tennessee Volunteers and served in the War of 1812.  He left his you wife at home with their 2 sons.   Anne Grantham took sick and died shortly after Hezekiah returned home.  He then soon married his sister-in-law, Tabitha.  This was a common practice which was clearly beneficial to the children and also freed Hezekiah to farm what became about 660 acres of land just over the Tennessee line from Giles County to Limestone County, Alabama.

The area is known as Robinson Hollow, where Robinson Road runs right through it.   It's also where you can find Hezekiah's resting place in the Robinson Cemetery.   According to the gravestone, he died in 1852 at age 75 and here's where the odd spelling "ROBRSON" comes from: That's what's inscribed on the stone in the Robinson Cemetery!

The vagaries of how to spell "ROBINSON" continued for generations.   When the widow Tabitha applied for her War of 1812 Widow's pension, she was denied many times.  The correspondence clearly shows that even Hezekiah wasn't consistent.  Various records use at least three spellings of the name: "Robinson", "Robertson" and "Robison".  And of course, there's the gravestone! Tabitha's efforts to collect her pension as a widow of a veteran of the War of 1812 was thwarted for a number of years.  I have copies of the correspondence form the National Archives showing how many times her claim was rejected. She outlived the denials and managed to collect for a couple of years before she died in 1884 on their farm in Robinson Hollow, Limestone County, Alabama.

[caption id="attachment_1296" align="aligncenter" width="300"] ...or is it Robertson. Or maybe Robison?

English: The signature of Andrew Jackson. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

When all else fails, hire a professional genealogist

Great advice...Interesting interview!  Hire a local, New England oriented professional genealogist, Old Bones!  Visit my site at Old Bones Genealogy or contact me directly at dave@oldbones.info!

National Archives Tutorials On-Line!

I subscribed to a series of webcasts given by NARA on many subjects.  It was a "Virtual Genealogy Fair" about a month ago.  I can't remember the exact subjects presented but they are all interesting to anyone conducting genealogical research who can make use of the amazing amount of data available.

I watched the first but didn't have time to sit for the rest.  So I subscribed to UStreamTV which has archived many  or possibly all of the programs from the National Archives.  So far, I've received 12 e-mails with links to various shows.  That's fine with me. It makes it convenient for me to grab one when I can devote an hour or to watching it from start to finish.

I could copy the links (which have about 200 characters each!!), convert or shorten them in TinyURL and post them here.  Or, if you'd like me to forward one or two or all of these e-mails so that you can watch these broadcasts, send a note privately to me at dave@oldbones.info.

I'm going to attempt to attach a "Contact Form" to the bottom of this post which may make it easier for you to contact me.  I tried it once before but I'm not sure if it worked!  Supposedly, all I have to do is click the "Add Contact Form" button....  Sure, I can do that!!

[contact-form][contact-field label='Name' type='name' required='1'/][contact-field label='Email' type='email' required='1'/][contact-field label='Website' type='url'/][contact-field label='Comment' type='textarea' required='1'/][/contact-form]

Old Bones on TV??? Old Bones on TV!!!

For the fourth time, I was asked to be interviewed for the Ludlow (Mass) Community TV program. Lillian Genthner is the host. Her husband had been a Shriners clown for many years performing under the name "Buttercup". So Lillian adopted the name "Mrs. Buttercup." Initially, her programs were mostly arts and crafts or story telling. But in the past year or so, she's been "branching out"!

Since she's been researching her own family for several years, she became very interested in the "Introduction to Genealogy and Family Research" that I conducted at the First Church in Ludlow where she is a member. She attended my first series there. After the last session, she asked if I'd like to be interviewed for local TV. I was very interested and so far we've had 4 sessions. I could go on and on about what we've talked about. But it's probably easier for me to just offer you the link to the last program. All the others are archived at this site, so you can certainly go back and watch the others.

Here's the link to the latest interview of Old Bones Genealogy at Ludlow Community TV.

I'd love to hear your comments (be nice!) or feel free to contact me directly about this or any other post!

Thanks!

[contact-form][contact-field label='Name' type='name' required='1'/][contact-field label='Email' type='email' required='1'/][contact-field label='Website' type='url'/][contact-field label='Comment' type='textarea' required='1'/][/contact-form]

Eight Siblings -- Children of Erskin Coleman and Linnie Otto (Peace) Robison

So I asked my sister to critique the "new look." I can always count on her for her honesty and opinions. She said what a few others have said; that this is far superior to the old, drab, hard to read, non-capitalized style. But she also was disappointed that she couldn't see everyone in the picture. She has a copy of it, but I see her point. I know the names of everyone in the picture, but several of my relatives who may have been able to tell me with any certainty aren't sure who is who! Except for the man standing in the back row on the right. That's Erskin and Linnie's first born, Cecil Lee Robison, my grandfather. I never met him or even spoke to him for that matter. He died in 1964. Although I was around in '64 (about age 12) and my father called him (grudgingly) every Christmas, I know I never spoke with him or have a memory of such a conversation. Same for Diane, I think. Maybe she'll post a comment about that. Why there was so little contact is another story for another day. It had nothing to do with our family living in Massachusetts and all of my father's family living in Alabama...even in "those days" we had phones AND long-distance calling!

At any rate, the purpose of this post is to satisfy my sister and anyone else who is curious to see the other folks in the background picture, here it is!

[caption id="attachment_1207" align="aligncenter" width="300"] This photo was taken in 1942 just prior to the death of their father, Erskin. It was the first time they had all been together in many years. Another photo of the same people in the same poses was taken 20 years later at a family picnic.[/caption]

Here is the shot of them 20 years later at a family picnic---Same people, same poses, same town---Evergreen, Alabama!

AncestryDNA Rolls Out "Update"

Here's a link to one of my favorite blogger, lecturer, genealogist, lawyer and general expert in a lot of the things that also interest me! There's a great deal of information here and in every blog she posts... Although not always about DNA:

The Legal Genealogist

Especially interesting is the last paragraph where she quotes Dr. Ken Chahine of AncestryDNA.