Have You Ever Tried a Genealogy Wiki?

The recent issue of Ancestry magazine has an article about using genealogy wiki's.  A genealogy wiki is a website where the users collaborate on family trees with each person having the ability to add or edit a person in the tree.  The users are notified each time someone has modified or added to the data.

I think this is a great idea so I went to WeRelate to see what it was like.  The address is www.werelate.org. Registering was easy and free.  Once I received the confirmation email, I began to search for names in my database to see if anyone else is researching my family lines.

The website boasts that they have almost two millions names on their site that users have added.  The power of the site comes from users uploading GEDCOMs or individuals for others to find and work on together.  In the few minutes I was able to search, I did not find any exact matches, but there were plenty of possibilities for me to look into.  I hope to upload some of my own ancestors soon in hopes of other researchers out there finding me.

If you belong to WeRelate, I would love to hear from you.  I watched some of the tutorials that are available and I know there are tricks and other features that I haven't used yet.  I find the idea of a wiki to be an interesting and fun way to collaborate on a family research project and will write more later as I continue to explore this new avenue of genealogical research.

Fun Stuff For Genealogists Online Catalog

Are you looking for a gift for a genealogist or maybe one for yourself?  I have found the perfect web site!

Fun Stuff for Genealogists carries a variety of items for the family tree enthusiast.   There are the usual genealogy items that you would normally think of such as maps, pedigree charts, and organizational supplies.  In addition to the necessary in our genealogy world, there are the items that are just plain fun!

The jewelry and clothing selections are excellent ways to show off the passion we have for our hobby.   You have to see the beautiful tree pendants made from Scrabble tiles!  There are several types of shirts with fun sayings on them.  You can even cloth your baby to announce the little one as a "new sprout" on your family tree.

Do you cross stitch?  You will find three pages of patterns to create that perfect pillow, wall art, or banner.  There are patterns for all tastes and skills, from the whimsical to the most elaborate pedigree chart to show off your family relationships.   

If you are a scrapper, you will enjoy browsing through all the papers, punches, stamps, and stickers that will help your heritage scrapbooks become beautiful works of art!  You can also find the tools and supplies you need to be sure the contents of your books are archival for a long life.

I have just mentioned a few of the things that are available on this wonderful online store.  Check it out!  You'll be glad you did!

Using Neighbors in the Census

Have you ever tried to locate someone in a census index only to be left wondering why they seem to have vanished?  Well, I have and it frustrated me to no end because after looking at all my other data and information, it stood to reason that this particular family should not have disappeared from where I had logically thought them to be.

Yes, I know families moved from place to place which could explain the situation, but I just knew that wasn't the case.  I also know from experience that some enumerators were horrible spellers and therefore, names end up being indexed under misspellings that are only found by sheer luck.  As it turned out, after several hours of searching with countless spellings, luck was just not going to be there for me.  I had to have a new plan.

My new plan involved the neighbors.  Not my neighbors, but those of my ancestors.  Looking at the last census year in which my family was found, I wrote down the names and birth years of all the neighbors that would possibly still be living ten years from that census year.  In other words, I did not bother to write the names of those people who were 75 years or older.  I also did not bother to write the names of children who were between ten and twenty years old as they would probably be married and on their own at a different address by the next census year.

With my list of neighbors and their birth years next to my computer, I started searching for them one by one, in the same town and state where they were last found using the search box on Ancestry.com's census records.  When, and if, I located the particular name I scanned the whole page for my family's name, also checking the pages right before and after.  Now, of course, as luck would have it, most of the neighbors had moved during those ten years and I had to search nearly every name on my list before finally locating my family still living next to that one neighbor from ten years before!  It turns out that the enumerator had not only spelled my family's name wrong, but the indexer had transcribed it differently than the wrong spelling that was there on the sheet.  I would probably have never found my family in that year's census had I not used the neighbors to find them.   

I've used this idea for several of my other census brick walls with the same luck.  It sure beats looking at page after page of census records, especially when you are looking at huge wards in big cities!  I hope you can use this idea to locate some of your family that seems to have disappeared from one census to the other.  I'd also like to hear of your ideas to help find those lost people who were counted, but can't be found.  

West Virginia and Virginia Vital Records

If you are hunting ancestors who lived in West Virginia or the portion of Virginia that later became the state of West Virginia, you are in luck!  The West Virginia Division of Culture and History has a web site with much information and actual digitized birth, death, and marriage records.  

When you arrive on the web site, you will see the division's featured item, a link to their store, and, to the right, links to their latest news stories.  At the top of the page, there are links labeled Arts, Historic Preservation, Museums, and Archives and History.  The Archives and History link has become a very favorite of mine as that is where you will find the actual records that we all want and need for our research.  

Once on the Archives and History page, scroll down and click the Birth, Death, and Marriage link.  From there you will be able to choose which vital records to search.  The searches are easy to do although I wish there was the capability to search births and deaths using parent names in addition to a child's or individual's name.  The marriage search allows searches for either the groom or bride's name or both.   For all searches, you can choose a county or allow the search to sweep over all counties.    

I cannot begin to tell you how much information I have found using this web site.  It has allowed me to find  ancestors that I did not know existed, and I have added several new branches to my family tree.  I hope that you will find the same success with your Virginia and West Virginia pursuits!

On PBS - Faces of America With Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

I happened to catch a show on PBS last night that was fabulous!  It's called Faces of America With Henry Louis Gates, Jr.   Dr. Gates takes his viewers on a journey during which he explores the family histories of twelve renowned Americans including Yo-Yo Ma, Dr. Oz, Meryl Streep, Kristi Yamaguchi, and others.  

Last night's episode discussed the use of DNA testing to determine ancestry groups and relationships among these twelve individuals who seemingly had no kinship whatsoever.  You will be surprised to see just who ended up sharing distant ancestors!  The difficulties of African-American genealogy research was also discussed in relation to the genetic testing that can be done.   Professor and poet, Elizabeth Alexander's family history story will blow you away!

This show's impact on race and religious relations cannot be overstated.  To watch Dr. Gates reveal the proof of the sharing of a distant ancestor and DNA between Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Muslim, and the Jewish Mike Nichols was fascinating.   As I watched, I could only think that this program should be required watching for all people on Earth.  Maybe this science could be the answer for the peace and harmony here and abroad we have been forever seeking.

I urge you to look for this series of shows on your local PBS station.  The show premiered earlier this year, but episodes can be watched on the Internet by visiting the Faces of America With Henry Louis Gates website.   As Henry Louis Gates shares with his father, "Know thyself".