Saturday Night Fun: 11 July 2009

Randy at GeneaMusings devises a Saturday night fun meme in which I rarely participate. However, this week's question interests me, so I decided to participate.

It's Saturday Night, time for some Genealogy Fun after your frustrating week of finding phantom ancestors in online family trees and trying to keep up with everybody on Twitter, Facebook and Genealogy Wise.

Here is your assignment for this Saturday Night (if you decide to accept it, of course - you can't have fun if you don't try):

1) Let's go time travelling: Decide what year and what place you would love to visit as a time traveller. Who would you like to see in their environment? If you could ask them one question, what would it be?

2) Tell us about it. Write a blog post, or make a comment to this post, or on Facebook, or in Genealogy Wise.

Now, let's see . . . the first thing I have to decide is if I'm going to go with the obvious and ask questions of a brick-walled ancestor or if I'm going to interview one of my more illustrious ancestors. I actually think that I'm going to go with someone that I think is a little more interesting and might have answers and a very interesting story about the brick wall on his line since he's not quite so far removed from it. You see, Stephen Taylor told some interesting stories about his life and adventures in The Good Old Times in McLean County, Illinois which is available full-text in Google books. You'll find his account starting on page 839 and running through page 845.

Stephen's father died too early for him to really hear very many stories first-hand, but he lived near relatives and associates who probably told him all about his father, grandfather, and about their journey to what was then Ohio County, Virginia. His mother and father were married in Washington County, Ohio. The family lived in nearby counties. Stephen himself married in Morgan County. My question to Stephen sometime around the year 1840 would simply be a very open-ended question: Tell me about your Taylor family. He was residing in McLean County, Illinois by that time. Now, I'm taking a chance by asking him that because he could go just about any direction he wished, but being the storyteller that he appears to be, I'm sure that I would get some stories that would help me to positively match his father Stephen who was born in 1780 in New York with the correct Isaac Taylor, his grandfather, who was born ca. 1750. I have a sneaky suspicion that Isaac was born in the Berkshires and migrated along with the Rathbones down to Ohio County, Virginia by way of New York. It's really a shame that I've been unable to locate any service records for his father Stephen who supposedly enlisted in the war of 1812 "at the last call for volunteers" and died of disease in Detroit.

Thoughts on Genealogy-Specific Social Networking

This week we heard about a new social network that is specifically designed for those researching family history. The network is called Genealogy Wise or GenealogyWise. (They originally did not have a space, and now they do.) It's really not officially debuting until July 17, but hundreds of folks researching their ancestry have already flocked there.

My initial reaction was, "Why would I want another social network that I would have to visit on a daily basis that limits itself to only one group of my friends?" After signing up for the site out of curiosity, my initial reaction remains unchanged.

I am unimpressed with the "groups" which seem to be nothing other than queries for the most part that are already handled well by genealogy message boards and mailing lists. I have to admit that I started one group just so I could see exactly what administrative options were present. I am absolutely unimpressed with many of the undocumented family group sheet style posts that are being posted to the groups.

I joined one group on the first day. About the second day, there were about 20 people who were members of the group. I decided to glance through the membership and see how many were members of the corresponding state society and of APG. I was the only person signed up for the group who was a member of either. That told me something about this new social networking site because I knew it had been advertised to professional genealogists.

This social network is sponsored by FamilyLink. I've seen it reported on other blogs that they are paying some people to generate content. Unfortunately it is being buried under the deluge of queries being posted.

I really prefer Facebook for social networking because most of my genealogy friends as well as friends from church, high school, college, and other parts of my life are members. If I want to post a query, I'll do it on a message board.

Am I leaving GenealogyWise? Not yet. I'm not saying that I won't in the future. I'm giving it a chance. At the moment, it is not useful for me.

Cataloging Your DVDs Online

I took a couple of hours today to try out two DVD cataloging sites. I used to belong to DVDSpot, but the developers of that site took everything offline in October 2007. I had located a couple of alternatives, but I'd never gotten around to testing them out. I decided to take a box of DVDs and try my hand at cataloging them on the two sites.

The first site I tried was DVD Count. This site's developer had been a DVDSpot user and needed a solution to manage his own DVDs so he developed one. I was hoping for more similarities with DVDSpot, but I found this site a bit clunky to use. I found myself manually having to enter about 10% of the titles in the portion of the box that I added to this site. One of the things that I really disliked about the entry form is that it defaulted to Afghanistan as the country. I accidentally forgot to change one of my manual entries, and there was no way to edit my error. I did like the detail that was included in the entries; however, it was a bit uneven because many of the entries were made by other users who provided varying levels of completeness to the record. I really don't blame them for skipping many of the fields because to a non-techy person, many of them were daunting and probably seemingly irrelevant. There was a place to add a cover image as you added entries.

The second site I tried was DVD Corral. I loved the ease of adding items. Their database seemed much more complete, but I also noted that some titles came up with incorrect titles. For example, Greater Vision Live at First Baptist Atlanta came up as Live at First Atlanta. Greater Vision wasn't even listed as performer and the word "Baptist" was omitted. There was no way to edit this. There was also no way to manually add an entry. You were prompted to send a message to the webmaster about the missing title, but that's kind of frustrating. There needs to be a way to edit an entry, and there needs to be a way to add an entry.

Online DVD cataloging sites are just not as friendly or as social as some of the book cataloging sites like LibraryThing. I think Tim and his crew need to come up with DVDThing! I'm not completely happy with either of the sites I used today.

Amusing Headline of the Day

If it took them two days to figure out that they'd even had a 2.0 earthquake, I hardly think that it ROCKED Loudon County.

ABC Book Meme

For this meme, you list a favorite book that starts with each letter of the alphabet. If you don't have a book for a letter (such as Z or X) than you can substitute a favorite book that simply has that letter in the title (ex. The Lost City of Z or Hot Six by Janet Evanovich). However, you can only do this a maximum of 3 times. (Z, X, and Q. But not Z, X, Q, and V.) Books can be of any genre from fiction to non-fiction to poetry to textbooks. (via Boston Bibliophile)

I decided to try to do mine with all genealogy and history titles. It was actually difficult to try to stop with just one title per letter in many cases! I was glad that I had my books cataloged in LibraryThing where I could sort by title. I only had to take advantage of the substitution rule for the letters X and Z. (I did have a book in my library that began with a Z, but it was a children's book called Zoo Book and did not fit with my genealogy/history theme.)

A: Ancestry’s Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources by Alice Eichholz

B: BCG Genealogical Standards Manual by Board of Certification for Genealogists

C: Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Grants and Patents by Nell Marion Nugent

D: DNA and Genealogy by Colleen Fitzpatrick

E: Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace by Elizabeth Shown Mills

F: First Alabama Cavalry USA: Homage to Patriotism by Glenda McWhirter Todd

G: Genealogical Proof Standard: Building a Solid Case by Christine Rose

H: Handybook for Genealogists by George B. Everton

I: Inheritance in Colonial Virginia by Barbara Vines Little

J: John A. Quitman: Old South Crusader by Robert E. May

K: King Phillip’s War: The History and Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict by Eric B. Schultz

L: Library of Congress: A Guide to Genealogical and Historical Research by James C. Neagles

M: Map Guide to the U. S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920 by William Thorndale and William Dollarhide

N: North Carolina Research: Genealogy and Local History by Helen F. M. Leary

O: Obituaries in American Culture by Janice Hume

P: Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers and Librarians by Elizabeth Shown Mills

Q: Quest for Power: The Lower Houses of Assembly in the Southern Royal Colonies, 1689-1776 by Jack P. Greene

R: Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy by Val D. Greenwood

S: Seeds of Discontent: The Deep Roots of the American Revolution, 1650-1750 by J. Revell Carr

T: They Came in Ships: A Guide to Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor’s Arrival Record by John Philip Colletta

U: Understanding and Using Baptismal Records by John T. Humphrey

V: Vital Records of Hampton, New Hampshire: To the End of the Year 1900 by George Freeman Sanborn

W: War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict by Donald R. Hickey

*X: Essex County Deeds, 1639-1678, Abstracts of Volumes 1-4 by Essex Society of Genealogists

Y: Ye Heart of a Man: The Domestic Life of Men in Colonial New England by Lisa Wilson

*Z: Lantz Family Record: Being a Brief Account of the Lantz Family in the United States of America by Jacob W. Lantz

A Different Point of View

Most of the time when I have read fictional books about the Japanese-American internment experience during World War II, it has been from the point of view of one of those interned. Jamie Ford offers us a different perspective in Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. The hotel is the Panama Hotel in Seattle, Washington where restorers discover belongings left behind by some of the Japanese-Americans who were evacuated. Henry Lee, a Chinese-American, sees someone bringing out a parasol that he is certain belonged to Keiko Okabe, his very special Japanese friend from school. Back in 1942 he and Keiko had been very special friends even though his father, a Chinese businessman, had a very strong dislike for the Japanese. Henry goes into the hotel where he locates, with the help of his son, Keiko's sketchbook and a record that had meant a lot to Keiko and himself. This is Henry and Keiko's story, told from Henry's perspective. It shows the reader that the Japanese were not the only ones affected by this dark chapter in American history. After a stay at a temporary camp, Keiko's family was relocated to Minidoka in Idaho. Although this book was fictitious, the Minidoka War Relocation Center was a real place. The site is now part of the National Park System. Chapter 9 of Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites tells about Minidoka in great detail. Although it is named Minidoka, it was actually nearer Jerome. Friends of Minidoka also has some interesting historical information on this facility. Their further reading page lists several resources that would be useful for persons researching ancestors who were relocated to Minidoka. I located a map on this site of war relocation facilities. I know that I have read books set in Manzanar in California and Topaz in Utah. I think the thing that surprised me most is that two were located in Arkansas. This might be an interesting topic to pursue when I'm in Little Rock for FGS if I have time.

Save Money and Register for FGS Before July 1

It once seemed to be in the distant future. The countdown clock has been ticking. The Federation of Genealogical Societies and Arkansas Genealogical Society Conference "Passages through Time" will be here in just over two months!

July 1st is the very last day to register at a discount for this conference and save big on a full conference registration. It is only $175.00 if you register by then. Divide that amount by four full days of conference activities with all those lectures to choose from and it is a educational bargain. If you register after that date, it will cost $50.00 more.

Go to www.fgsconference.org and register online with the easy to follow directions. If you print the registration form and mail it in, be sure it is postmarked on or before July 1, 2009. If you are registering online you may do that using your Visa, Master Card, or Discover charge card. The system does not accept debit cards.

Of course, registrations will be accepted after July 1 but the discount will be gone. Register now and join other family historians, professional genealogists, librarians, archivists, and writers from Arkansas and states all over the country at this genealogical, educational, and networking bonanza.

For the latest on conference happenings, tourism, transportation, and many other items, visit the Conference News Blog at www.fgsconferenceblog.org.

Enjoyable Music

Most of you know that I have quite eclectic music tastes, but I've really been listening mostly to classical music lately. I was listening to Mississippi Public Radio on my return from the Department of Archives & History in Jackson the other day when I heard Tom Manoff's review of the selections we were about to hear. I enjoy Rachmaninov so I was delighted to learn that the upcoming selections were some of his piano preludes. They were going to be performed by Steven Osborne. They played about half of the 24 Preludes on the CD. I really can't say enough good things about Osborne's performance of these pieces. I must say, however, that I was disappointed earlier today when I went to the iTunes store and did not find this album. Classical music is so hard to find because so few retailers stock it. If iTunes doesn't offer it soon, I'm sure that I'll be ordering the CD from an online source because this is one that I know I will listen to over and over again! I highly recommend Steven Osborne's Rachmaninov: 24 Preludes. (Just in case the FTC is reading this: I have not been compensated by any party for this review. It's just the opinion of one person who heard something and really liked it.)

Remembering Farrah

I've always loved detective shows, and when the first episode of Charlie's Angels aired in 1976, I became an instant fan of the show. There was the mysterious Charlie whose face we never saw, but we all knew that actor John Forsythe provided the voice. I think we all had the intro to the show memorized:

Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to the police academy. And they were each assigned very hazardous duties but I took them all away from all that and now they work for me. My name is Charlie.

One of those three little girls was Jill Monroe, who was portrayed by Farrah Fawcett-Majors, as she was then known. After her break up with the 6 Million Dollar Man (Lee Majors), she dropped the Majors and went by Farrah Fawcett. I honestly don't know which of the three angels I liked best, but I do know that I had my hair "feathered" like Fawcett's at some point. I was very upset by Fawcett's early departure from the show, but I came to like her character's sister Kris Monroe (played by Cheryl Ladd) within a very short time. I enjoyed Fawcett's forced guest appearances the season after she left.

I remember seeing one or two movies with Farrah Fawcett after her departure from Charlie's Angels, but they did not capture me as did her role as a private investigator.

I miss the days of good television, and I'd love to watch a few episodes of the first couple of seasons of Charlie's Angels to watch Jill, Kelly, Sabrina, and Bosley do a little investigating.

Thursday's Picks

Here's a round-up of some finds:

I got a chuckle out of the opening sentences in this article in the News-Observer: Maybe North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue should consider joining South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford in Argentina. Her polling numbers have already headed south.

Duke basketball note: Prayers for the family of Elliot Williams. We hate to see him go.

Book note: Lesa reviewed Driftwood Summer. A bookstore in a 200-year-old cottage. The setting alone has me sold!

Summer reading lists: Rebecca Blood, one of the earliest bloggers and author of The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog, has a round-up of summer reading lists. By the way, I still use some content from this book when teaching about blogs and blogging. See this excerpt on Weblog ethics from her book. Speaking of the reading lists Rebecca highlighted, I found a few interesting books on them. Nancy Pearl's list included Narrow Dog to Indian River which is about a couple of folks who are in the 70s who took a narrowboat down the Intercoastal Waterway. Their adventures sound exciting enough that I might try to get this from a library. Summer House by Nancy Thayer made the list by Buzz Sugar. It sounds like it involves family relationships and involves a house on Nantucket that has been in the family for a long time. I'm not usually a big fan of "chick lit," but the family angle gives this one an appeal.

One more reading list: For those going to FGS/AGS in Little Rock who wish to read some fiction set in Little Rock, the FGS blog has a list. I have a friend who has begun a themed approach to reading. She likes to read books about places she is going to visit during that month or the month before the visit. Some of you may wish to read about Arkansas during August!

As I was driving back from Jackson on Tuesday, I heard a debate over the pronunciation of Cuyahoga River. Some pronounce it with a short o as in the word "hog." Others pronounce it with a long o as in the word "hoagie." I will have to admit that until I heard some of the NPR folks pronouncing it with the short o on Monday afternoon as I was driving from Jackson to Hattiesburg that I'd never heard it pronounced that way. They were commenting on the river fire in 1969. I lived in Cincinnati for a total of 12 years, and I think that all the news folks there pronounced it with a long o. Apparently they did an informal survey, calling several government offices and the libraries and historical societies in the Cleveland area on Tuesday and came up with a fairly even split on the pronunciation. When I saw this post on the pronunciation of Appalachian, I was reminded of the other debate. Needless to say, this post was created in reference to the pronunciation of the trail that the South Carolina governor had led his staffers to believe he was hiking. I have heard it pronounced both ways, but since I live in Appalachia now, most of locals pronounce it with a short a, so I believe that is the correct pronunciation.

Great Appalachian photo: I love this fog picture.

Another book note: I had seen Dr. Kessler's book, The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, among some book notices received at the library. This extended review and summary in the New York Times is interesting.

Ohio Libraries: Amy alerts us to a threat to public library funding in Ohio. As someone who resided in Cincinnati for twelve years, I'm very concerned about this issue. I was a heavy user of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County in those years. I hate to think how their wonderful genealogical collection would be impacted by such a drastic cut in funding. I loved having a great regional branch near my home as well as a couple of other branches where I could pick up fiction to read. Many of the titles were available at only one or two branches in the system, but I could have them delivered to one of the branches nearer my home. One of the things I have missed most about Ohio was the wonderful public library! I remember my first visit to Morristown's public library. It was so woefully inadequate for my tastes in reading. I knew very quickly that I would have to begin purchasing books. In fact, I regret having disposed of many books in my personal fiction collection before moving. The public library in Ohio met all my needs, but I was short-sighted in thinking that Tennessee's public libraries would compare. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that up to half of Cincinnati's branches may close if the governor gets his way. As Amy says, "Save Ohio's public libraries." Lesa also mentions the situation in Ohio. (Actually, Lesa's first post on the subject is here.)

A Taste of Summer: Nicole's strawberry pie is making me hungry!

Bookshelves: I think I'll pass on the upside down approach.

More book notes: Maggie has reviewed The Heretic's Daughter which is on my to-be-read list. Since my 8th great grand-aunt Mary Perkins Bradbury is one of the accused witches, I have read a lot more about this period of history, both fiction and non-fiction. Sage has a post at "Musings" about The Cape Fear by Malcolm Ross. Sounds like an interesting read for those with North Carolina roots. Ann Arbor District Library alerts us to a couple of new books on herb gardening. I no longer live in the Midwest so one would be limited in its usefulness to me, but the other one sounds promising. I usually keep a few herbs growing in a container garden.

Chris alerts us to a free month's trial of Images of America. This is an Alexander Street database based on the popular series of photographic books by Arcadia Publishing. I love this series of books and own several of them!

18th and 19th century gardening: J. L. Bell alerted me to a wonderful blog on 18th and 19th century gardens. Check out the other blogs J. L. mentioned via the link on his name. Several are worth a look!

Louisiana obituaries online: Paula alerts us to the availability of a new database of Louisiana obituaries from New Orleans Public Library.

Historic House workshop in Alabama: Birmingham Public Library and Jefferson County Historical Commission are teaming up to offer a workshop on researching historic dwellings. It will be held July 18, 2009, and it is free. You don't even have to register! If I lived a little closer, I would definitely attend this one!

Furniture: I'm always in need of more bookshelves. Kim found an interesting sofa that appears to be a great way of adding a few extra shelves!

Researching in Jackson

I spent the last couple of days researching at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in Jackson, Mississippi. I had a list of items that I wanted to find, and I made it through that list. My biggest disappointment is that the Mississippi History bookstore in the building was closed this week for inventory. They lost sales, but I saved money because I am sure I would have found some items that I would have purchased. My second greatest disappointment had to do with their microfilm reader/printers. They had none that would scan to a computer so a digital image of the file could be saved in spite of the fact that the archives are in a brand new state of the art building. It makes no sense to me why they are using reader/printers that are about 10-15 years old in a new facility. I enjoyed talking with the volunteer who was staffing the media reading room on Monday. You could tell that she was very enthusiastic about researching her own genealogy. She also told me of the plight of her own genealogical society. Membership is in decline, and it is very difficult to get people to stand for office. I wish that I could count on my fingers the number of times I've heard that same story, but I don't have that many fingers. Societies need to adapt to the twenty-first century. What worked in the 1960s and 1970s doesn't work today to attract new members. I shared with her about the FGS conference in Little Rock in the fall. She said that her society used to be a member of FGS but no longer was. I assured her that one's society didn't have to be an FGS member to attend the conference. I think that society and many others just like it could benefit from some of the workshops aimed at society management. I did have a successful trip. I've been trying to figure out why my mom's great grandmother said that she was married in 1835 on her confederate widow's pension application when the marriage certificate says 1844 and neither she nor her husband were residents of Mississippi in 1835. I found out that Mom's grandfather's brother died a year earlier than his tombstone states. The tombstone says 1941, but the death certificate says 1940. I just happened to run across his death certificate as I was looking for another person. Those were the major discrepancies that were found but easily resolved because one record was created at the time of the event and the other later. There were many other records that I would have liked to browse, but I knew that I had only a limited amount of time. Next time I will be able to tackle a few more things. I'm really surprised that I made it all the way through my list of things I wanted to accomplish on that trip. I usually end up with at least one or two things that have to be saved for the next trip! I ran into a nasty storm on the way back to my parents' house in Amory. It was extremely windy. The severe thunderstorm warning that was issued right after I got through the worst of it indicated that the winds were up to 60 m.p.h. I certainly think some of the gusts could have been in that neighborhood.

Facebook: Some Applications are Seriously Flawed

I've seen a few Facebook applications lately that need new statisticians. There's one application that supposedly answers the question "How common is your birthday?" I've seen answers varying from 1% to 6% for the persons who have taken this quiz. There are 366 possible dates. Only 365 of those occur each year. One of those occurs every 4 years with the exception of certain millennial years. 1/365.25 = approx. .2738%. In other words, I'm skeptical that anyone's birthday is even 1%.

Then there is one that calculates how common one's last name is. When you consider all the surname possibilities in the world and the amount of people, do you really think that something other than a very common surname such as "Smith" would garner more than a 1% share of surnames, yet I saw a fairly uncommon name with 2% just moments ago.

It's obvious that the people who can't spell when they create the online Facebook quizzes are also the ones who are computing the statistics for some of these applications.