Archive for April, 2011

Surname Forum Activity
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Charles J Manley, father of Bertie Manley, was my greatgrandfather, I believe. It appears his father was Charles N Manley and Lucy Hudson.
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Surname Forum Activity
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I just sawe your post. email me at MANL1524@bellsouth.net
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News from around the web.
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DNA Heritage, a popular genetic genealogy company intiated in 2002, has ceased operations (although pending orders will be fulfilled).  The company’s website announced today that it is in the process of transferring their database and domains to Family Tree DNA.

Family Tree DNA, meanwhile, has announced that it records in the DNA Heritage database will only be placed into FTDNA’s database if the owner agrees to opt-in.  FTDNA has a series of FAQs related to the transfer available here.

The full text of the announcement is below:

As of April 19 2011, DNA Heritage has ceased its operations and is in the process of transferring the domains DNAHeritage.com and Ybase.org to Family Tree DNA.

All the tests in progress will be processed by our current lab and the results will be delivered to our customers.

In order to ensure the continuity of the existing surname projects Family Tree DNA will study the best options to integrate our customers’ results into their database. Once Family Tree DNA decides on the option(s), our customers will be given the opportunity to opt-in to their database.

If you have questions about the transition or need to place an order please check: http://www.familytreedna.com/landing/dna-heritage.aspx

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I’m excited to announce that the Ancestry mobile app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod has been downloaded over 1 million times! Many of you are finding the app to be a great way to interact with your family tree on Ancestry.com, share records and photos with others (I’ve personally really enjoyed sitting down with my relatives to look at historical photos together on the iPad), and take your research with you on the go.

Although we’re thrilled to hit the 1-million-download milestone, I think this is really just the beginning for our mobile initiatives.  Not only is there so much more we can do with our existing app for Apple mobile devices, but we also have early plans in place for an Android app coming up on the horizon, as well as ideas around supporting Ancestry.com on other mobile devices.

We’re pleased that our users find such satisfaction in using the Ancestry app to learn more about and share their family history.  I’d love to get more of your feedback on how we can improve the app, so please post comments with your ideas.

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Family Tree Maker message boards are an excellent way to share your success stories, find experts to answer your questions, and exchange tips and tricks with users just like you. If you’ve never visited the message boards, take a few minutes to check them out today; you might be surprised at what you find.

Search the Boards

You can browse the message boards looking for topics you’re interested in or use the search functionality to narrow results to your questions and concerns. The Search box at the top of the board lets you enter keywords and phrases. Make sure you select the “Family Tree Maker software” option so that your search doesn’t include all the message boards on Ancestry.com.

Post Your Own Message

To post a new message, click the “Begin New Thread” link at the top of a message board.

The most important element of your message may be the subject line. The subject line catches people’s attention and determines whether they will read the rest of your message. Make your subject line complete and concise, and avoid using vague terms such as “reports” or “Family Tree Maker.” Try subject lines like “Using reference numbers” or “Changing fonts in reports.”

Respond to Other Messages

If you want to respond to a specific message you find on the message boards, click the “Reply” link located at the bottom of the message.

If you reply to a post, it will be “threaded” with the message to which you are replying. Threading means that responses are grouped with the original message rather than standing alone as an original
post. Posting a response (reply) to an original message also means that if the previous posters in the thread have elected to receive email notification of responses, they will be notified of your new message.

News from around the web.
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• Searching for an ancestor’s marriage in England or Wales from 1837 to 2005? This is
  your week. To mark the occasion of Britain’s royal wedding, Ancestry.co.uk is
  offering free access to its
  English and Welsh marriage indexes through April 30. The records from 1837 through
  1915 already were free, but this is a good chance to search for 20th-century marriages.
  You’ll need to set up a free registration with the site to access search results.

• The Federation of Genealogical Societies is debuting
  an Internet radio show dedicated solely to genealogy societies. It’s called My
  Society, and it’ll air every Saturday from 2-3pm Eastern (1-2pm Central, 12-1pm
  Mountain, 11am-12pm Pacific) starting tomorrow, April 23. To listen, go to www.blogtalkradio.com/MySociety (under
  Upcoming Broadcasts, if you click the blue “more” link, you’ll see a phone number
  you can use to call into the show).

• The Southern California Genealogical Society has created an interactive smart phone
  app for the Genealogy Jamboree conference, taking place June 10-12 in Burbank, Calif.
  The app lets you review lecture sessions and add them to your calendar, search for
  exhibitors on a trade show floor map, get news updates and more. Download
  it using the links provided in the conference blog. 

• Genetic genealogy testing company GeneTree.com has introduced a series of specialty
  DNA tests including Extended Y-Chromosome Haplotype, X-Chromosome, Autosomal STR,
  and Y-Chromosome SNP test for Haplogroup Classification. Click
  here for more information about what each test can do.

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In honor of the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, each week we’re giving
away Family Tree Magazine‘s Life in Civil War America book! Our third winner
is Barb Stevens,m who posted a comment to this blog:

My husband’s ggg grandfather Conrad Tschummi—and his son, same name, served in a CT
unit in the Civil War. The father made it home safely, but his son died of disease.
I did research at our CT State Library and found they had the original handwritten
records of the entire tour of duty listing injuries, deaths, pay, punishments for
not following the rules—I could follow the entire tour by these original records.
They are incredible and a find I never dreamed ever existed.

Due to the fragile condition of the large, rolled sheets of paper and the fact that
they probably won’t be safe to unroll many more times, I paid to have them copied
by the library and now they are safely in a roll in a large mailing tube.

Anyone looking for Civil War documents, ask at the facility if they have any records
kept off site like they do in CT. These were brought to me to read in an enclosed
and guarded area and I actually had tears in my eyes as I read them.

To enter, like Family Tree
Magazine on Facebook and share on our wall a few details about a Civil War
ancestor, or a tidbit from our Life in Civil War America webinar or Life in Civil
War America book. You can also enter by posting a comment on any Genealogy Insider
blog post about Life in Civil War America (like this one).

Each Friday in April, a winner will be chosen from that week’s comments and wall posts.
The winners will each receive a copy of the Life in Civil War America book.

The sweepstakes started April 6, and runs through April 29.

Need more details? Read
the official rules here

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Our ancestors reduced, reused and recycled more than we do. Think of the stereotypical
grandmother who grew up during the Great Depression with the phrase “Use it up, wear
it out, make it do or do without:” She might save slivers of soap, darn socks and
collect rainwater for the garden.

During World War II, our ancestors had to get by on less gasoline, butter, sugar,
meat and other rationed
items. They grew Victory Gardens and saved kitchen scraps, rubber tires and garden
hoses, and aluminum cans to be recycled into bombs and tanks. 

Modern life presents us with different opportunities to be green. Here are a few ways
you can incorporate environmentally friendly measures into your genealogy research:

• Does your Family History Center have a microfilm reader that lets you load record
  images onto portable media? Bring a flash drive or CD when you go to check film, and
  save the paper.

• Avoid printing out e-mails, websites and online newsletters if you can help it. Or
  you can print on both sides of your paper (but check your printer manual first—some
  manufacturers caution against printing on the back of paper that’s already been run
  through the printer).

• Your computer and other electronics that stay plugged in draw energy even when turned
  off. Plug them into a power strip and switch it off when you’re not using the devices.
  (Read
  more about “phantom loads” here.) 

• See if your favorite publications offer digital issues or subscriptions. You can get
  a digital
  subscription to Family Tree Magazine and download digital
  versions of back issues. You also can access content from back issues online with
  a Family
  Tree Plus membership.
  

• Going to a conference? Opt for a syllabus on CD, if available.

• If you use a digital camera, don’t print all your pictures—just the ones you’d like
  to put in an album or display. (Make sure you back up all those digital pictures,
  though.)

• Get together with genealogy pals and carpool to the library, the cemetery and society
  meetings. Make lists of everything you want to get done so you don’t have to take
  another trip.

• Instead of buying bottled water, bring a water bottle on your research trips.

• E-mail your family newsletters and reunion invitations, rather than printing and mailing
  them.

We’d love to hear about the ways you’re making your genealogy research greener. Happy
Earth Day!

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I take reusable shopping bags with me to the grocery store. If I forget them, the
plastic bags live a second life as garbage can liners or doggy pick-up bags.

I try to be Earth-friendly in my own life, so this Earth Day, I was glad when I found
out Family Tree Magazine is helping you do the same by offering digital subscriptions.

We’ll send you an e-mail when each issue is ready, then you can download it to view
as a PDF in Adobe Reader. It works for PC and Mac systems. Added bonus: The e-mail
goes out when we start mailing subscriber print copies, so you’ll be among the first
to see each issue.

Use these links to get started:

• One-year
  Family Tree Magazine digital subscription 
• Two-year
  Family Tree Magazine digital subscription 

You’ll also have the digital subscription option when you renew online.

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Move over, Farmville. A genealogy-themed game is now available for play by the general Facebook population.

Family Village lets you create
a pedigree chart (or input data from the FamilyLink
Facebook app) and “immigrate” ancestors from the chart into your Family Village.
You can outfit them in historical attire, assign them jobs, and build out the village
with houses, landscaping and more (including heritage-related items like international
flags and the Eiffel Tower).

The game also searches several websites for free genealogy records related to the
information in your pedigree chart, and let you import those records into a family
library. You can invite Facebook friends into your village to check out the library.

Partnerships with additional providers of genealogy records and other content are
in the works, says Jeff Wells, CEO of Family Village developer Funium. He cautions,
though, that the game is “not a research tool.”

You can play Family Village for free, with the option to spend actual cash (in the
form of “game dollars”) on some of your ancestors’ purchases. For example, every ancestor
gets a newspaper printed on the day he or she was born. You’ll view the headlines,
and you can buy a copy of the whole thing.

The game adheres to Facebook privacy standards, wells says, with privacy settings
you can adjust.

Wells got the idea for Family Village when his family didn’t share his excitement
over his genealogical finds. “We wanted to do something that would end up being a
segue way for people who don’t have the interest to get involved in family history,”
he says.

According to Wells, 300 million people play social games each month, and 3 to 4 percent
of those players spend money on the games. He’s hoping genealogists’ spouses and teenagers
will get interested in Family Village and learn more about their heritage.

Will you play Family Village? Do you think it’ll appeal to those already into genealogy,
or will other people get hooked on it, too?