Archive for July, 2011

News from around the web.
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July 14, 1861, the U.S.S. Daylight under Commander Samuel Lockwood, initiated
the Federal blockade of Wilmington, NC. It was the last major port to be blockaded
in the strategy to close Confederate ports.

The South used small, fast ships to try to slip past the Union Navy, and over the
course of the war, five out of six blockade runners were successful in evading the
blockade. But because of the runners’ small size, drastically less cargo got into
and out of the South.

The whole country experienced food shortages, but the blockade made things more severe
in the South. Prices soared and people got creative about stretching foodstuffs. According
to Life
in Civil War America, some butchers even sold dressed rats. But in case you’re
eating this over lunch, these examples from the book of making do are easier to digest:

When salt was unavailable to use as a seasoning, things with a salty flavor could
be used, such as a pinch of wood ashes or a wild plant called coltsfoot, and soldiers
sometimes used a dash of gunpowder.

And …

Chicory, acorns, beans, beets, bran, corn, cornmeal, cotton seeds, dandelion
root, okra seeds, peanuts, peas, sugarcane seeds and wheat berries were variously
parched, dried, browned or roasted and used to make ersatz coffee. Other versions
used tubers like carrots or yams, which were cut into small pieces, dried, toasted
ad then ground up.

News from around the web.
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As an addendum to our
earlier blog post on resources to help you cite your genealogy sources, I wanted
to link to some other posts on the topic from genealogy bloggers.

Most researchers agree it’s important to cite sources, but the hows, whens and wheres
have caused a bit of a stir. Genealogy blog readers may notice what my mom and dad
used to call a “discussion” over the importance of adhering to the finer points of
source citation style (which might be intimidating to newbie or casual researchers)
versus just getting the source information down.

Another component to the issue (and something else that can make source citation look
complicated) is evaluating a source’s reliability:

Is the information likely to be correct because the source—say, a birth certificate—was
created when the birth, marriage or other event happened? Or is the source less reliable
because it’s a transcription of a digitized book written years later by someone who
read a newspaper article about the grandson of the person whose neighbor was actually
there? Do several less-reliable sources that provide consistent information equal
a reliable source? Can you ever really prove when certain events happened in your
ancestor’s life? What does it all mean??

These folks weigh in with their opinions and encouragement:

• In his Citation
  blog category, the Ancestry Insider writes in depth about source citation principles
  and the quality of source information given on genealogy records sites such as Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.

• Source
  Citations in Genealogy: Church or Cult on the Clue Wagon blog encapsulates the
  above-mentioned discussion. The comments here include 10 commandments of source citation
  from Evidence Explained author Elizabeth Shown Mills.

• The Genea-Musings
  Source Citation posts describe sourcing in genealogy software and online family
  trees, review presentations on citing sources, link to others’ posts on the topic
  and more.

• On
  his Planting the Seeds blog, Michael Hait explains why the way you format source
  citations is important. 

• James
  Tanner on Genealogy’s Star writes here about genealogical evidence as opposed
  to proof. Dear
  Myrtle links to several of his related posts here. 

• On
  Luxegen Genealogy and Family History, Joan Miller writes about how to educate
  new researchers regarding citations, and her Good/Better/Best citation philosophy.
  

• Posts in the GeneaBloggers
  Source Citation category link to the site’s quick reference citation guide and
  a discussion of blogs’ reliability as sources. 

Source citation doesn’t have to be scary. The key is to note every bit of information
available about the record, website, book, newspaper, person or other source you used,
and make sure it doesn’t get separated from the information the source provided. Whenever
possible, get the original record rather than stopping when you find an index or a
transcription.

Use your knowledge as a researcher to decide whether the information in the source
makes sense, and how far you can trust that source. If you have any doubts, don’t
add the information to your tree, but use it to form a hypothesis you can keep researching.  

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Related resources:

• Family
  Tree Magazine free, downloadable Source Citation Cheat Sheet

• Source
  Documentation 101: How to Cite Genealogy Sources Accurately and Effectively Family
  Tree University course

• Evidence
  Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace by Elizabeth Shown
  Mills, available in ShopFamilyTree.com 

News from around the web.
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While working on an article on ethnic heritage and genealogical societies (look for
it in the forthcoming November 2011 Family Tree Magazine) I was inspired to
figure out what, exactly, Leo is, heritage-wise.

And by “exactly,” I mean “theoretically,” because:

• you never know what proportion of genes you ended up with from each ancestor after
  the DNA-combining process

• geopolitical developments and population shifts can mean ancestors’ ethnicity is different
  from the country whence they came (Your ancestor from Russia would actually be German,
  for example, if he was one of the many “Volga
  Germans” who settled in Russia’s Volga River valley.)

• nonpaternity events, such as adoption and children fathered—unbeknownst to you—by
  someone other than the person named in records

• a lack of documentation or incorrect documentation about an ancestor’s origins

• all those ancestors yet to be discovered (unless you’ve found ‘em all)

With that caveat, figuring out Leo’s theoretical heritage combo involves first determining
Mom’s and Dad’s percentages. Three of my husband’s grandparents came from Germany
and one from Hungary, so we’ll estimate him at 75 percent German and 25 percent Hungarian.
I’ll go back to my great-grandparents’ origins: I’m half German, a quarter Lebanese
(the source for my last name), and one-eighth each English and Irish. 

I just divided each of our percentages, added up the common German heritage, and came
up with these numbers for Leo (I generated the pie chart online using
Kids Zone): 

He’s pretty typical as far as American ancestry: In the 2000 census, German was the heritage
most often claimed by Americans and by his fellow Cincinnatians. He also shares
in the second- and fourth-most-commonly reported ancestries: Irish and English, respectively.

Download the Census Bureau’s
Ancestry: 2000 report as a PDF here.

What’s your theoretical heritage combo? 

Update: Apparently you can order a t-shirt boasting your ancestry pie chart
from MeonaTee.com. Great idea! (Thanks
to Megan Smolenyak for mentioning.)

News from around the web.
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Get an intensive dose of genealogy education (without having to pack up and hit the
road) at Family
Tree University’s Summer 2011 Virtual Conference. At this online weekend
workshop, you’ll learn strategies and resources to boost your research.

From 9 a.m. Friday, Aug. 19, to 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 21, you get a three-day
all-access pass to watch 15 pre-recorded video classes and participate in live chats.
We’ll also have a digital swag bag, ongoing message board discussions, an exhibit
hall and opportunities for attendees to win prizes.

Because the conference is web-based, you can participate from anywhere there’s a computer
with internet access. Join in every day or anytime during the weekend as your schedule
allows.

Here’s a sampling of the video sessions:

• Google Surname Search Secrets with Genealogy
  Gems founder Lisa Louise Cooke 

• Build Your Research Toolbox with GeneaBloggers and High-Definition
  Genealogy founder Thomas MacEntee  
  

• City Directories: Key to Your Family’s Past with genealogist Maureen A. Taylor
  (aka the Photo Detective)
  

• Finding Your East European Ancestors’ Village with genealogist Lisa
  A. Alzo
  

View
the conference program on FamilyTreeUniversity.com.

MacEntee and FTU instructor Nancy Hendrickson will be conference supermoderators,
joining in on message board discussions and live chats all weekend.

Tuition for the Virtual Conference is $199, but you can use promotion code VCS11 to
get the early bird rate of $149 through this Friday, July 15.

News from around the web.
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The CIA has recently declassified WWI-era documents bearing formulas for invisible
ink, instructions for exposing concealed writing in German correspondence, and ways
to open sealed envelopes undetected.

The typed memos were believed to be the country’s oldest still-classified documents.
You can see them on display this month at the National
Archives in Washington, DC and on the CIA’s
website (scroll down a little).

Read
more about the documents in this CNN article.

Surname Forum Activity
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I recently found a will by William Heath in 1774 – Bedford Co VA naming Elizabeth Manly as a daughter. I have a 3rd g grandfather who died in Laurens Co SC 1799 w/wife Elizabeth (no last name) I am trying to find something in Bedford that would tell me if this Elizabeth is my 3rd g grandmother. Anyone searching Heath or Manly? Thanks.
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Surname Forum Activity
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When I saw that entry it seemed it might be on microfilm.
At the Library of Virginia web site there is a contact a
research assistant or ask a question, cannot remember
exactly which, ask them if it is on microfilm. They have
always answered my questions fairly quickly.
I have lost track of Deveraus Jarrett Manley, who were his
parents?
Go to Source

Surname Forum Activity
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Thanks for this information. I was not aware of this online catalogue. Do you know if I go to that library will I be able to see that resource? Seems like it may be on microfilm.
Go to Source

Surname Forum Activity
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I found this while searching the Library of Virginia online
catalogue.
Manley, Devarauz Jarrat
Index to Petersburg Wills and Administrations (1784-1800)
p.253. Will pro. 3 Apr 1797
p. 266-267. Inv. & Appr. rec. 4 Sept. 1798
Hustings Court Will Bood 1, 1784-1805 (Reel 18)
Petersburg, VA, Wills
Added Title: Virginia wills & administrations
I did not looK further into this file, hope that it is
helpful to you.
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News from around the web.
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I’ll be honest, when I was first asked to edit the Ancestry.com monthly newsletter, I wasn’t quite sure what to think. It’s a fantastic means of communicating new content, enhancements and tools with you. But it’s an email, where everything should be quick and bite-sized. And family history, with detailed stories and individualized, custom research plans with instructions to match, simply isn’t. Plus, if you really want to have fun, you need to dive in deep and get to know your family and their past.

How could we convey all of this in a single, short email? By creating an all-new Ancestry.com monthly newsletter. And starting with this July 2011 issue, that’s exactly what we’ve done. It’s our first step in creating a newsletter that’s focused on the way YOU use Ancestry.com. Look in future months for even more news and content features that pertain directly to your family history, as well as detailed advice, quick links to past newsletter issues and a greater emphasis on how you approach research.

When you receive your new Ancestry.com newsletter, the first thing you’ll notice is that it’s a lot shorter. That’s our nod to its format – email. But don’t let that brevity trick you – we’ve designed it this way so you can quickly find what you’re looking for and click on a link to get details fast. The newsletter itself, however, is more packed than ever.

We’ve branded the feature article our Inside Scoop. This is where you’ll find the stories behind the records – everything from what we found in a collection to how the collection came to be, and then some. Because for years, all of us at Ancestry.com have known that getting a peek at a new record collection is like opening a big, cool present – and now we want to share with you the fun of whatever we discover inside.

But you don’t come to Ancestry.com just for the stories, which is why you’ll now find our highlighted new record collections featured front and center and with a quick link that will take you directly to an all-inclusive list of everything else that’s new on Ancestry.com.

Click on any featured content to immediately start searching that collection, or stick with your regular search routine, if you have one (I admit, I don’t – I search more on whims). Remember, even if you don’t search our new collections directly, a search of all of Ancestry.com always includes our newest records, too.

Because it never hurts to brush up on technique and be the first to know when there’s a new tool or trick that can help you, we’re dedicating an entire section of our newsletter to education – Tips & Tools.

It’s here that we’ll show you our latest site enhancements and give you a refresher course in family history how-to, too.

Plus, Ancestry Anne still loves to answer your questions. Her advice, insider search tips and answers are right where you’ve been finding them for the past year. By the way, she loves mail – reach her with your questions and comments (go ahead, send her the toughest ones) directly at ask@ancestry.com.

And we want to know what you think. Look for the Your Turn section for a link to take a short survey or even vote on something in each issue.

This month, we’re hoping you can help us name this brand new newsletter. Click on the Your Turn link in the bottom right corner of the email to help us decide what that name should be.

And, remember, this is YOUR newsletter. If you ever have any questions, comments, concerns or ideas about what you’d like to see in it, I’d love to know. You can contact me directly at jeanie@ancestry.com.