Archive for September, 2011

News from around the web.
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• JSTOR, a service providing digitized academic journals through libraries, is making
  articles published prior to 1923 in the United States and 1870 elsewhere free to anyone.
  This includes nearly 500,000 articles from more than 200 journals, about 6 percent
  of JSTOR’s total content. This
  web page has more information. You
  can start searching here. To just see the free stuff, make sure the “Include only
  content I can access” box is checked.

My search on Civil War and Missouri, for example, resulted in matches including “Reminiscences
of the Civil War” by Richard Taylor in the University of Iowa’s Jan./Feb. 1878 North
American Review. (Thanks to Sharon DeBartolo Carmack for the heads-up about this
service.)

• The National Archives will break ground for its
  new Denver-area facility on Tuesday, Sept. 27. The new facility will house the archives’
  Denver-area research services, including a Federal Records Center, research rooms
  and event space. Read
  more about the groundbreaking and the facility on NARA’s website. 

• New records on FamilySearch.org this week come from US states including California,
  Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New York, Oregon and Vermont, as well as Mexico, Canada,
  the Czech Republic and elsewhere. See
  the full list of additions and link to the collections here. Remember that not
  all of these collections are indexed, so you may need to browse. 

• The New England Historic Genealogical Society is
  releasing the seventh and final volume of Robert Charles Anderson’s Great Migration
  Series: Immigrants to New England 1634—1635. (This latest volume includes all
  immigrants whose surnames start with T through Y.) It’s available now at GreatMigration.org.
  The Great Migration series includes a total of 10 volumes; three for the years 1620
  to 1633, and seven volumes for 1634 to 1635. You also can subscribe
  to the GreatMigration.org website to get online or quarterly newsletters.

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It’s high time I did another installment in our series that looks back at what was
happening Civil War-wise exactly 150 years ago.

Sept. 22, 1861, President Lincoln wrote
a letter to Illinois Sen. Orville Hickman Browning defending his response to an
order of John C. Fremont, commander of the Army’s Department of the West.

Fremont had declared
martial law on Aug. 30 and freed slaves in Missouri. Lincoln wanted him to rescind
that order because it didn’t comply with the Confiscation Act Congress passed on Aug.
6. The Confiscation Act allowed the federal government to confiscate property used
to aid the Confederate cause, including slaves. The act didn’t go so far as to free
slaves, though; rather, it merely removed their owners’ claim to them.

Sept. 11, Lincoln
modified Fremont’s order to conform to the Confiscation Act.

He wrote to Browning that “Fremont’s proclamation, as to confiscation of property,
and the liberation of slaves, is purely political, and not within the range
of military law, or necessity.”  

Civil War resources from ShopFamilyTree.com:

• Life
  in Civil War America by Michael O. Varhola 

• Civil
  War Research: Find Your Ancestors in the War Between the States Family Tree University
  course with Diana Crisman Smith 

• Warman’s
  Civil War Collectibles Identification and Price Guide by Russell E. Lewis 

• Top
  10 websites for researching Civil War ancestors download 

• Finding
  the Civil War in Your Family Album by Maureen A. Taylor 

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Here’s some reading material for your coffee break: A post today on the Scientific
American blog called I’m
a Johnson from Wisconsin, and It is Pretty Cool. 

Neuroscientist-turned-journalist and genealogy buff Madeleine Johnson wrote about
how she used a circular family tree chart of her own creation as a starting point
to her roots research, and is searching for the story of a great-grandmother who died
in an institution.

“Genealogy, distant and recent, gives meaning to personal and shared historical experience,”
she writes.

Also check out another post and article she mentions: Going
Dutch: I’m one of the Van Dusens of New Amsterdam. So what? in which Matthew Van
Dusen says his illustrious ancestry—described in a New
York Times article about New Amsterdam’s early settlers—doesn’t increase his
own personal importance.

I have to agree with him there, but I do think it’s neat to be related to someone
you might read about in a history book (I’m not, that I know of). Of course, it’s
also gratifying to discover and honor the stories of “ordinary” folks in your tree.
What do you think?

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Family network website MyHeritage.com has acquired BackupMyTree,
the free backup service for family tree data that launched a year ago.

BackUpMyTree automatically finds family tree files on your computer and creates a
remote backup. It’s compatible with major genealogy applications such as Family
Tree Maker, Legacy Family Tree, Personal
Ancestral File and RootsMagic.

So far, BackUpMyTree is storing more than 9 terabytes of genealogists’ data. MyHeritage.com
will continue to support the backup service and keep it free. This marks the growing
site’s sixth acquisition to date.

BackUpMyTree creator Cliff Shaw (who also created the GenCircles website and the Family
Tree Legacies program and records database, which
MyHeritage purchased a few years back) will focus on another venture, genealogy
search engine Mocavo.com. 

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One thing I learned as we launched the 1930 Mexico Census online is that Mexico is much more of a melting pot than I realized.

Mexico’s 1930 national census (“El Quinto Censo General de Población y Vivienda 1930, México”) is called the Fifth General Census of Housing and Population based on the first formally recognized federal or national census being taken in 1895. Thereafter, starting in 1900, censuses were taken every 10 years. The fifth census was taken on 15 May 1930 and is considered one of the best Mexican censuses conducted in the 20^th century.

Of course, it’s a huge boon to researchers with Mexican ancestry. The census is a great resource for identifying family groups and locations and can be a starting point to finding church and other records—or a substitute if those records happen to be missing. And, with almost 13 million names, national scope, and 30+  columns for information, it’s simply a massive collection of useful data.

For example, say you hoped to establish your family’s connection to Maria Felix, the queen of Mexican actresses known as La Doña.

We see that in 1930 Maria is living in Guadalajara with her mother, Josepha, who has been widowed, and seven possible brothers and sisters, ranging in age from 28 to 8 years old, all born in Alamos.

Or you might be looking for your Chinese ancestor. You’ll find thousands of Chinese names in the census. Many had come to help build railroads and farm in the north of the country in the early 20^th century. Some, like Jesus Tam, raised families:

Pedro F. Bawatsky was among the Menonite immigrants who came from Canada to establish colonies in Mexico.

And, of course, current GOP candidate Mitt Romney’s relatives:

For those of you on Facebook or Twitter, be sure to check out the “Journey to Your Roots Sweepstakes” for an opportunity to research your own Mexican ancestry “on site” by winning a trip for two to visit your ancestral birthplace in Mexico. If your lineage doesn’t pass through Mexico, don’t worry, we’ll be giving away several World Explorer Memberships so you can explore the thousands of other collections on Ancestry.com to help you discover more about your past.

And whether you’re a Hernandez, a Hu, or a Hegel, if you have Mexican ancestry, you’ll want to see what doors the 1930 Mexico Census might open for you.

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Have you accidentally spelled an ancestor’s name incorrectly throughout your tree? Or discovered that a cemetery name you’ve recorded is actually the wrong cemetery? If you’re like me and make these types of mistakes regularly, you’re in luck. Family Tree Maker has a Find and Replace tool that lets you search for specific terms and names in facts, person notes, media captions and descriptions, to-do tasks, and sources–and replace the incorrect terms when needed.

For example, in my tree I have a tendency to transpose the I and E in my great-grandfather’s name, making him Neils instead of Niels. Instead of sifting through every fact, source, and media item for the incorrect spelling, I use the Find and Replace tool to search for the mistake and correct it.

Before you use the Find and Replace tool, you’ll want to make a backup of your tree since these types of changes can’t be undone.

1.  To open the tool, choose Edit>Find and Replace.
2.  Enter the term(s) you want to search for in the Find field. You can choose how exact you want the search to be and which parts of your tree to search. In this situation I want to search all available options because I am looking for a misspelled name. If you know the term you’re looking for is in a source or a note, you can select only that option.

If your search term includes a date, keep in mind that text in Date fields cannot be searched. A date shows up in search results only if it appears in the Description field or in a note, source, or media item.

3.  Click the Find button. The window expands to show the first item that matches your search.
4.  If you want to open the record or workspace where the search term is used, click the Go To button. If you want to replace the term, enter a new term in the “Replace with” field and click the Replace button. To find the next matching term, click Find Next. Continue searching and replacing terms, as necessary.

Although you can replace all matching text by clicking the Replace All button, I recommend viewing each search result individually. For example, if I had chosen “Replace All” when replacing my great-grandfather’s name, it would have changed a record transcription in a source citation. This is an instance in which I wanted to keep the name as I found it in the record.

Also, don’t feel like you have to use the Find and Replace tool just for correcting mistakes. It can be useful if you simply want to locate specific information. Perhaps you’ve entered important facts in a person note but you can’t remember which individual it’s linked to. Search all notes for the text you remember and then click the Go To button to open the individual and the note.

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• FamilySearch released more searchable records this week, including  more
  than 6 million Hungarian Catholic Church records, 4 million Mexican civil registrations,
  1 million new Chinese genealogies (1500 to 1900), and Quebec notarial records (1800
  to 1900). US additions come from California, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota,
  Montana, New York, Washington and the Virgin Islands, plus 1942 WWII draft registrations. See
  the full list and link to each database here.

• Family tree site Geni introduced its $4.95-per-month Geni Plus service as a
  level between the free Basic and $12.95 Pro memberships. Genealogists’
  frustrated feedback after changes to those memberships led to Geni Plus, intended
  for social genealogists who want to collaborate with other researchers. It’s “designed
  to give these members more power to build their personal family trees while discovering
  some of the benefits of working with others on their family history,” says CEO Noah
  Tutak. Features include unlimited relatives in your tree and GEDCOM exports for any
  profile you can view on Geni (up to 100,000 records). See
  Geni’s blog for more details. 

• Subscription British records site Findmypast.co.uk added a million 20th
  century merchant navy seamen records—the first time they’re accessible online.
  They list crew members of UK merchant ships from 1918 to 1941 and include photos.
  

• This from the New York
  History blog: If you’re planning to visit Ellis Island and see where many
  immigrants first entered America, you can download a $1.99 cell phone tour taking
  you through the immigrant experience. Read
  more here.
  

News from around the web.
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Subscription site Ancestry.com has added
the 1930 Mexico National Census (El Quinto Censo General de Población y Vivienda
1930, México) and made the records free to search in celebration of Mexican Independence
Day Sept. 16.

With nearly 13 million records, this census counted an estimated 90 percent of the
population. Note that citizens from the Federal District, which includes Mexico City,
aren’t named.

In its announcement, Ancestry.com calls this the most comprehensive historical Mexican
census available online. (FamilySearch.org, the source of Ancestry.com’s index and
images, also
has the 1930 Mexico census records available in its free historical records search.)

Nearly 30 million Americans—about 10 percent of the US population—can trace their
families to Mexico. Other Ancestry.com collections they can use to research their
roots are border crossings from Mexico to the United States (1895-1957) and parish
records. The records are gathered in a Mexico
collection landing page. (The 1930 Mexican census is free to search, but not all
the other records in the collection are free.)

If you’re researching ancestors in Mexico, check out these resources from Family
Tree Magazine:

• Spanish Genealogy
  Glossary (free article)

• Hispanic
  genealogy organizations (free article)

• Mexican
  Heritage Research Guide digital download from ShopFamilyTree.com 

• Finding
  Your Mexican Ancestors: A Beginners Guide book by George R. Ryskamp and Peggy
  Hill Ryskamp, also available in ShopFamilyTree.com 

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Wondering what hot topics your grandparents discussed with the neighbors, or what
tunes your mom whistled as a teen? Want to flesh out your family’s story with facts
about everyday life? Enjoy reminiscing about days gone by?

Our book Remember
That? A Year-by-Year Chronicle of Fun Facts, Headlines and Your Memories,
by Allison Dolan and the editors of Family Tree Magazine, is an accounting
of the whos, whats, whens and wheres of the 20th century:

• In 1930, the average annual income was $1,612, milk cost 65 cents a gallon and a home
  cost $7,146.
  
• In 1938, a devastating hurricane hit the Northeast coast.
  
• Sales of women’s trousers skyrocketed in 1942.
  
• Perry Como crooned “Some Enchanted Evening” in 1949.
  
• Special K cereal and Crest toothpaste hit shelves in 1955.
  
• The FCC chairman called TV a “vast wasteland” in 1961. 

The facts keep coming for each year from 1930 all the way through 2010, categorized
into top headlines, prices, government affairs, new products, pop culture phenomena,
hit music, popular TV shows and more. It also has pages where you can record your
own family milestones and favorites.

You also can download our free
“My Life In …” form from our website that lets you describe your own favorites—clothes,
hair, music and more—from three big years in your life (you’ll need to enter your
name and e-mail address to access the form). 

Click here to learn more about the book Remember
That?.

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Looking into lasting ways to share your family’s story? How about a book?

You could win a family history publishing package in a contest from Family
Tree Magazine and custom publisher Abbott
Press (our fellow member of the F+W Media family). 

To enter, just e-mail
us your name, phone number, and 500 words or less about why your family history
should be chosen as the contest winner.

Did your ancestors embody the American dream? Were they important in shaping historic
events? Is your family tree full of colorful characters? You tell us what sets your
family apart.

Use the e-mail subject line “Family Tree-Abbott Press Publishing Contest” and send
your entry by Sept. 30, 2011.

We’ll pick one winner from the first 200 submissions. The grand-prize winner will
receive a complete Premium publishing package from Abbott Press.

The first runner-up will win the Family Tree University independent study course Writing
Your Family Memoir (on CD). A second runner-up with get a copy of My
Life & Times: A Guided Journal for Collecting Your Stories by Sunny Jane
Morton.

All entrants will receive a 25 percent discount off any Abbott Press publishing
package.

Check
out all the contest rules here.