Sun goes down on the 2nd day of the 17th Annual Angelina Genealogy Conference
"It Needs to be Written." It's been a long day here in the Piney Woods of Texas at the 17th Annual Genealogy Conference in Lufkin. I lucked out, though, and the presentations and speakers I wanted to see and learn from were both presenting twice each in the same room. With 4 presentations a day, that meant one room for me. {My kind of math.} After scoping out the room I found the best seat {back corner} and planted it for the day. The first speaker was a knowledgeable historian and genealogist Carol Taylor from Greenville, Texas. I love both her presentation style and her knowledge on the Civil War. While I'm a 4th generation Texan, I don't have any Confederates in my direct line -- to the best of my knowledge. However, many of my clients do so whenever I have the chance to understand not only the records available, but search strategies for Confederate research, I try to soak it all in as much as possible. And, boy howdy, did I pick the right person to soak it in from! Ms. Taylor knows her stuff. I took so many notes on research tips on both of her sessions. Her first session covered non-military Civil War era records while her second session covered military Civil War era records. I think one of the best resources she mentioned were the Day Books of the Frontier Defense Forces of Texas. During the Civil War quite a bit of Texas was frontier and after Texas seceded from the Union forces at home were needed to protect the Texas frontier from the Comanches. They also returned both Confederate and Union soldiers who had deserted. {Sounds like a nice job, eh?} The day books of these forces can reveal genealogical information and the records are located at the Texas State Library and Archives in Austin, Texas. More information can be found about the Frontier Defense Forces of Texas on the Texas State Library and Archives website. Another resource Ms. Taylor mentioned which sounded very interesting and was new to me was the Primary Sources under the Resources page on the Texas Civil War Home Front Living History website. I haven't had a chance to have look-see, but I plan to as soon as possible. The second presenter was James Harkins from the Texas General Land Office Archives and Records. And? He was fabulous. I already use the online databases on the Texas GLO site, but I loved finding out all the details of the complete process of a land grant in Texas as well as the anatomy of a Texas land grant file. In his second presentation of the day, he discussed details of German-specific land records at the Texas GLO. Again, he discussed the process that German immigrants went through to purchase land starting before theiy made it to Texas as well as what records can be found at the Texas GLO that pertain to genealogists researching German ancestors who came to Texas before and after Texas became a part of the United States. Mr. Harkins also explained to us how much the Texas GLO is doing to digitize Texas land records. They digitize about 5000 land documents a week. {Dramatic Pause.} That's a lot, folks. So if you've never looked for your ancestors in the online Texas GLO databases, you need to. If you have in the past, you need to look again. A wonderful treat at after dinner was Ms. Taylor's presentations on cemeteries and some beautiful tombstones she has come across in her research across the United States. Today, at one moment in Ms. Taylor's second presentation, she referenced someone about something and that his story was something she was planning to write about. She remarked, "It needs to be written." Truer words have never been spoken. It does need to be written. His. My ancestors'. Your ancestors'. Mine. Yours. What are we waiting for? Let's tell it. ~Caroline
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© Copyright 2013 4YourFamilyStory.com So. Picture yourself this next Saturday morning. It’s early. The Early Bird isn’t even awake to find that worm because even the worm is still tucked in bed. And your home is quiet. It’s a perfect time to get back to doing some genealogy research. And by golly no one’s gonna get in your way researching online this weekend. Well, at least not this morning. You have coffee {or tea in hand} and your feet are ensconced in your favorite pink bunny slippers and you’re not stopping until you have found something about your ancestors. Then you remember you had to put your budget on a diet and had to let your Ancestry.com subscription go. Bummer. What to do? Give up? Lose yourself for a couple of hours playing Candy Crush? Wake up Early Bird and watch it catch that worm? Go back to bed? No. You don’t give up. {Ohmigosh. I can’t believe you were gonna give up that easily. You can’t do that.} Census Records for Free? One of the very first things I do after sketching or perusing a pedigree is delve into census records. Census records give a very nice every-10-year-snapshot of the family. They aren’t always the most accurate for various reasons, but census records are handy dandy to help outline the family and give a researcher some awesome clues to chase down. But that whole had-to-put-the-budget-on-a-diet thing does not mean you can’t view census records online…for free. Nope. It just means you can’t do it as conveniently. {Read: all in one place.} Now, there are several ways you could do this, but this blog post isn’t about all the ways to look at U.S. Census records for free. It’s about how to look at census records in the easiest and most efficient way for free, especially if you’re working on chasing the same family down every 10 years in several censuses. {And, really, I recommend doing that as much as possible. Don’t skip any censuses. It just doesn’t make, um, sense. *cough*} You need an efficient workflow. And that’s what I’ve got for you today. The One-Two Punch Census records are scanned so that they can be viewed online. Then they are usually organized by state and county {and in some places town} and then they are what we call browsable as if you were flipping through them in person. Pretty cool, but not the best way to search them. When they are on a paid site they are usually indexed by names and locations {and other details} so that one can enter a name and a location {and other details} in a search box and {hopefully} find the person or family of interest. But what do you do when your budget has been put on a diet? Luckily, FamilySearch.org has all the U.S. Population Census records indexed. They just don’t have all the images available for viewing for free on their site, but they do have all of them indexed and those indexes can be accessed for free. Now, they do have images for 4 census years so that means when doing census research for free, you don’t have to look anywhere else but on FamilySearch.org for the following years: 1850 1870 1900 1940 However, that’s only going to get you so far in your research work. What if you’re on a roll after 1940 {Ha. A short roll.} and you need to see 1930…for free? Or what if you found your family in the 1870 census and the 1850 census but you need to find them in the 1860 census? No worries. You look them up in the index on FamilySearch.org and then open another tab in your browser and go to Archive.org, the Internet Archive, where all the unindexed census images can be found for 1790-1940. And they’re free to look at. {Ah-ha!} And, there, they are organized by year, state, and county. And you can then pretty quickly digitally flip through the census pages and find your family of interest with the indexed location information you found on FamilySearch.org An Example of the One-Two Punch Shadrach Casteel is a probable very distant cousin of mine. Maybe. Regardless, I like his name and chose to use him in this example. I already knew that this Shadrach was maybe living in Ohio in 1840. Here’s the “One” in the One-Two Punch So I stuck his name in the search boxes on the FamilySearch.org site and placed “Ohio” {without quotes} in the search box for residence. Now, FamilySearch.org can be a little confusing with their Camera Icons. Usually a Camera Icon here {and on a lot of other sites} means there is an image to see on their site. However, here it means they may have it on this site to look at for free, or they may have linked to a partner site that is not free. {Not real handy for looking at home for free in your pink bunny slippers.} Knowing I could see census images of the years 1850, 1870, 1900, and 1940 on FamilySearch.org, I went ahead and had a look-see at the 1850 and 1870 censuses on FamilySearch.org for Slim Shady. {Oops. I mean Shadrach.} But then I wanted to see Shadrach in the 1840 census. {I’m greedy like that. And you should be too.} So, I clicked on the entry for a Shadrick Casteel {pretty sure it's him} for the 1840 census. And got the census location information. {See below.} Note: The township, county, film number, affiliate publication number, and page number are the most important, and in this case that’s: Washington, Coshocton, M704, film no.387, page no.347. And Here is the “Two” in the One-Two Punch I next opened a new Tab in my Chrome browser. And then did the following:
Tip: Don’t forget to transcribe or extract information from both pages. And keep your lines straight. ;) Anywho, when I did all of that, I found Shadrick Casteel’s entry in the middle page {but I’m pretty sure it’s the Shadrach I'm looking for. Perhaps that’s a hint as to how it was pronounced. Or how it was heard by the enumerator. Or perhaps the enumerator wasn’t familiar with the spelling. I dunno.} So. Yes. Being able to sit at home on a very early weekend morning and look at some old census records about your ancestors is handy and convenient. And it doesn’t have to be hampered by that dang budget-on-a-diet either. You can look for your ancestors in census records for free with the One-Two Punch. ~Caroline Note: For later censuses, you'll need to notate the Enumeration District Number and the Sheet Page and Letter on the FamilySearch.org Indexed page. Then, when you go to Archives.org, after you've found the correct census (year and location as illustrated above), you'll need to scroll through to find the correct enumeration district (they are in numerical order). Then scroll through that district and find the correct sheet and letter (they are in numerical/alphabetical order; 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, etc.). The Enumeration District and Sheet Number/Letter are located in the top right hand corner of the census page. (Example: Enumeration District: 45 Sheet 8B.) © Copyright 2013 4YourFamilyStory.com
If you've been researching your ancestors for any length of time online, you'll soon realize how important it is to re-check the databases to see what they have digitized and added to their collections. And if you haven't been researching for long, this is a very helpful online genealogy research tip: Check and re-check the online genealogy databases to see what's been added or updated. Below is a handy dandy listing of what was updated or added to collections on certain online database sites for the past week. Check it and see if you find a location and time period that your ancestors lived in and see if the collection that was added or updated might help you out with your genealogy and family history researching. Updated:
New
New
New {Added 11 Jul 2013} ~Caroline
In our hurry to find the answer to our research questions we, as genealogists and family historians, sometimes forget about history. Which seems kind of funny. But what I mean is that while trying to reconstruct our family's history, we forget that our ancestors were not living in a bubble. Certainly, they were making their own history, but they were a part of a bigger history as well -- in their neighborhoods, in their towns, in their regions, in their countries, and in their world. And genealogists who have been around the block a few times know this. That's why you'll see them consulting things like county histories, social history books, newspapers, and the like to gain more knowledge about the time and place a person lived which invariably leads to more research clues and avenues to investigate. To get you in the groove of thinking about history for genealogy and family history here's a list of 5 posts I've read recently that are history-based. Some are just an image that made me think. Some are outrageous. Some are mildly entertaining. And some horrific. Why not? It's the weekend. Let's mix it up, shall we? And maybe it will inspire you to research or perhaps blog about your ancestors in a different way. Let's put the history back into family history and genealogy. Or maybe you just like history in general. I dunno. But? It's History Saturday for Genealogy. 5 History-Related Posts that Caught My Eye This Week
~Caroline Have you ever made a mistake? Perhaps a typo in something you wrote? Maybe you put the wrong date on something? How about when you transcribe or abstract information from a document while doing genealogy or family history research? Of course you have. Everyone makes mistakes. It's a part of life. It's part of being human. So it stands to reason when you're looking at an index entry for your ancestor online that it just might be wrong. Or maybe when you pull down that book of will abstracts off the library shelf, that it, too, might have some errors. Maybe not all of it, but something in there might be wrong which makes it wrong-ish. Which is why those resources make great clues. And why they also need corroboration with some other clues before you can definitively say a certain statement is true or false. That's right. You're going to have to keep looking for more clues. Finding one clue doesn't mean stop. It means it's time to find more clues. And if you can find them and have access to them this is why looking at the original document {or digital copies of the original document} will be much more helpful to you. Double check that index entry in that online database or from that library book. Was it right? Was it wrong? Wrong-ish? Was there more information that you needed on the original document that was not on the index entry? How will you know for sure someone wasn't being human and made a mistake that profoundly affects the way you think about something and your research if you don't look for yourself? Further, I've found way more information that I needed for research on original documents than in indexes. Sure, I use the indexes to help me in my research. In fact, an index tells me there's an original document somewhere that I need to get my hands on. It's like a big red flag that indicates this came from somewhere else. But then? Make sure that document is correct. The more I research, the more I find original documents have mistakes too. 'Cause, you know, humans create those too. Imperfect humans. In fact, my own birth certificate had a typo in it. Then when I lost it {Yes, I lost it.} and ordered a copy of it, the clerk who typed it out did not make the same typo as the first one had, but made a different one. That's right. My birth certificate is still wrong-ish. {Interestingly, both typos involve my mother's maiden name. Their typing skills need some work. Definitely their editing skills could use some, you know, use.} Likewise, on my 2nd great grandfather's death certificate, his last name is misspelled just a bit, his death date is listed as his birth date, his parent's names are misspelled just a bit, and his parent's places of birth are wrong. So. Good thing I ordered that microfilm roll that contained his baptismal record in it and his mother's death record. {Yeah, that wasn't online.} And good thing I ordered his Civil War pension record. {Nope. Not online either.} And it's also a pretty good thing I found his father's baptismal record. {That was online.} Plus, all those census records I found came in pretty handy for all sorts of corroboration. {All online.} And then finding my 2nd great grandmother's Proof of Heirship public affidavit in land records stating he died on such-n-such date without a will was kinda handy too. {She also listed all their living children -- his heirs -- and their spouses. Digital copies all online and for free.} And then his Knights of Pythias (fraternal order) records {Not online. At all.} were nice too because they corroborated his membership and death date. {By the way, the fraternal order clue came from his death certificate.} And that's how I knew his death certificate, though official and created at the time of his death, was, you know, wrong-ish. Those humans had made mistakes when they filled out his death certificate just like those humans had made mistakes when they filled out my birth certificate -- both times. {Will the 3rd time be a charm? Will they look over their work to see if it's correct? I'll let you know.} But? The 3 things that will profoundly affect your family history research? The 3 things that can break-down that genealogy research brick wall?
~Caroline Natural disasters affected our ancestors in so many ways just as they do us in present day. Finding out more about what was going on before, during, and after a natural disaster occurred in the area our ancestor was living at the time of the disaster can add much to our own family story. Listen in as Jeff Satterly and Robert Muhlahauser from HistoricNaturalDisasters.com share with us about James Dahlman and the Omaha Tornado. ~Caroline James Dahlman and the Omaha Tornado By Jeff Satterly and Roberth Muhlhauser On March 23, 1913, the city of Omaha was enjoying a relaxing day of church services and Easter celebrations. The skies slowly grew dark, but the unsuspecting people of Omaha weren’t concerned. It was too early in the year for a tornado. And besides, common knowledge was that Omaha was tornado-proof, since most storms that did form broke apart by the time they reached the bluffs surrounding the city. For this reason, it came as a complete and utter shock when, at 6 o’clock that evening, the earliest twister in national history tore through the city of Omaha. The tornado killed more than 100 people, injured more than 300, razed 2,000 houses and displaced 7,000 people before it passed Omaha. However, the city credited as being the Gateway to the West wasn’t about to give up. Led by Mayor James Dahlman, Omahans forged on the rebuild their beloved city. James Charles Dahlman was born on December 15, 1856 in Yorktown, Texas. He grew up in DeWitt County, Texas where he gained attention as a champion horse rider by the age of 17. In 1878 at the age of 22, Dahlman killed his brother-in-law during a fight, which led to him fleeing the state for Nebraska (the killing was later ruled self-defense). It was in Nebraska where Dahlman’s political career would begin, first as the Sheriff of Dawes County. Following that, in 1885, Dahlman began his first of two terms as the Mayor of Chadron, Nebraska. He followed this with stints as the Chairman of the Nebraska Democratic Party and a run with the Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha. In 1906, Dahlman was elected Mayor of Omaha. He became notorious in Omaha for his flouting of state laws, such as the 1908 law forbidding saloons to remain open after dusk, and his personal dealings with the mob boss Tom Dennison. Dahlman was roundly criticized by his more conservative opponents, whose dissent reached its peak following his poor handling of the Easter Day Tornado of 1913. The tornado ravaged Omaha, killing more than 100 and displacing thousands more. Dahlman quite publicly refused any government aid, his reasoning being that Omaha was self-sufficient. Though eventually requiring and allowing the city to accept aid, Dahlman lost the 1918 Mayoral election as a result. He was elected Mayor once again in 1921, remaining in office until his death. Dahlman passed away on January 21st, 1930, and was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Omaha. After the storm passed through Omaha, the mayhem continued as natural gas leaks and live electrical wires the tornado’s wrath had exposed led to extensive fires that burned down entire blocks. On Decatur and Franklin streets, the line of homes on fire stretched up to length ¾ of a mile.
The storm that spawned the tornado wasn’t done spreading destruction. As the system moved east into Ohio, it contributed to the massive rainfall that would result in the Great Dayton Flood on March 25, 1913. Thanks so much to Caroline Pointer for letting us share a piece of this historical project on 4YourFamilyStory.com. We’re humbled by the interest in this project, and we really hope you enjoyed this snippet of history! We’d also like to thank some of the great archives and archivists who have done so much to work to help preserve the amazing history of the 1913 flood, including the Dayton Metro Library and historian Trudy Bell. The amount of history compiled at these two websites is truly amazing. Lastly, thanks to Jason from InsuranceTown.com, who lent us some of the resources we used to help prepare content for the web and publish our blog, and inspired our Mapping History Contest. Don’t forget to check out HistoricNaturalDisasters.com for more images, and for information on our Mapping History Contest – help us figure out the locations pictured in historic photos from 1913 and you could win $100! Sure, a death certificate find for your ancestor is awesome! But? What if you're looking for more evidence, or what if you're looking for a death that may have occurred before state registration of deaths? Yeah. Then it becomes a little trickier, but not impossible. Below are 3 types of records to look at for evidence of your ancestor's death. And then? In comments add places you've found evidence of your ancestor's death.
Now it's your turn. These are just 3 ideas. There are a ton more. In comments, share different places you have found evidence for an ancestor's death. {Bonus points for unusual!} ~Caroline © Copyright 2013 Caroline M. Pointer
ᄅ Copyright 2013 Caroline M. Pointer
What is a Fraternal Order? As defined by Wikipedia, a fraternal order "...is an organized society of men associated together in an environment of companionship and brotherhood." [1] Some examples of fraternal orders are Masons, Freemasons, Oddfellows, Knights of Pythias, and Knights of Columbus. What Kind of Information You Might Find to Help You With Your Research. Fraternal order membership information or records can provide that one little {or big} clue that you need to further your research. While census records are excellent for showing an every-10-year snapshot of your ancestors, fraternal order records can provide the in-between-census information that is needed to help you tell you ancestor's family story or to further your research. For example, my 2nd great grandfather, Daniel Rook Vaughan, was a member of the Order of the Knights of Pythias, and when I requested his records from them and received them, I was able to further narrow down when he and his family moved from Eagle Pass, Texas, where they are located in the 1900 census [2], to San Antonio, Texas, where Daniel passes away in 1909 [3], because the records from the San Antonio Chapter indicated when he had been accepted into the chapter in 1902. [4] Further, in the copies of the San Antonio Chapter records I received about him, they notated his death date in 1909 [5] lending further evidence of his death. Other information gleaned from them include names of other members [6,7] he may have known at the time as well as the fact that his membership to this particular chapter had been accepted based on a membership card [8]. If true, this could possible mean he had joined previous to 1902 at another chapter...somewhere. How to Find if Your Ancestor Was a Member of a Fraternal Order. These places can be varied and many {or few} depending on how much information you already have and/or know. Here are a few ideas on where to look:
How to Contact Fraternal Orders for Further Information.
Have you had any luck with researching an ancestor's fraternal order membership? Any surprises you learned while doing it -- about researching or your ancestor? How did you find out your ancestor was a member of a fraternal order? Share in comments below. =) ~Caroline © Copyright 2013 Caroline M. Pointer Sources
1. Wikipedia contributors, "List of general fraternities," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_general_fraternities&oldid=549406892 (accessed April 17, 2013). 2. "1900 United States Federal Census," database, Ancestry.com ( http://ancestry.com : accessed 17 Apr 2013), entry for Daniel Vaughan (age 52), p.1B, Eagle Pass, Texas; citing "NA film no.T623." 3. "Texas, Deaths, 1890-1976," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JFZC-ZZ2 : accessed 17 Apr 2013), Daniel R. Vaughn, 26 Dec 1909. 4. "Semi-Annual Report, Unity Lodge No.36, San Antonio, Texas, 30 Jun 1902," Order of the Knights of Pythias, Dallas, Texas. 5. "Semi-Annual Report, Unity Lodge No.36, San Antonio, Texas, 31 Dec 1909," Order of the Knights of Pythias, Dallas, Texas. 6. "Semi-Annual Report, Unity Lodge No.36, San Antonio, Texas, 30 Jun 1902," Order of the Knights of Pythias, Dallas, Texas. 7. "Semi-Annual Report, Unity Lodge No.36, San Antonio, Texas, 31 Dec 1909," Order of the Knights of Pythias, Dallas, Texas. 8. "Semi-Annual Report, Unity Lodge No.36, San Antonio, Texas, 30 Jun 1902," Order of the Knights of Pythias, Dallas, Texas. 9. "Texas, Deaths, 1890-1976," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JFZC-ZZ2 : accessed 17 Apr 2013), Daniel R. Vaughn, 26 Dec 1909. Stumped on your family Tree? It's time to get rid of those stumps in your family tree, and there's no better person to consult for that than D. Joshua Taylor! That's right. Noted genealogy expert D. Joshua Taylor from findmypast.com will be holding a LIVE Twitter question and answer session on April 15, at 1pm EST. Follow along with the #fmpExpert event hashtag & ask a question using @findmypastUS! I'll be there. Will you? ~Caroline {Yeah, I know. Time Zone Math. *shudders* Do what I do. Consult the Time Zone Converter Math/Magic site: http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc } I was in a hurry that morning. And that was my mistake. Google+ had just released their Communities feature the day before, and after sleeping on it, Saturday morning I decided to create 2 communities. Being a big proponent of creating images with my iPhone for my blogs, I, of course, knew that I'd be taking photos with my iPhone to create images that represented my communities. And for the Tech for Genealogy Google+ Community I wanted to convey tech as a tool for doing research. Not as the be-all-end-all thing that will give you your family history, but as a tool that can help you find your family history and share those family stories. One that aids you in your research journey. In my mind's eye, I could see my husband's great grandmother's farm books...especially the older one...opened. I could see some maps that I owned peeking out from underneath Pearl's farm book. I could also see a photo of my Big Paw Paw being in there somewhere as well as Big Paw Paw's parent's marriage certificate. And then, of course, my new iPad needed to be in there as well showing Pearl's pedigree chart with my favorite picture of her. But I had wanted the iPad to be in the background...and kind of fuzzy so that the message was that we use tech as a tool to help us work more efficiently and, at times, faster, when trying to build that bridge between the present and the past. Why? Because I think people sometimes let tech take over to the point that it is not a tool or a means, but the end. And in doing so, people can get the wrong idea, like thinking they can purchase an iPad and an app and Presto! Here's your family history. It doesn't work like that. Ever. At least not yet. {And if we're truly being honest, probably never.} Technology is a tool to help you with your research and it can be a tool to help you share those family histories...those family stories...those secrets...with your loved ones. And that's how and why that photo was painstakingly staged that morning. I was so excited to get it with the right kind of natural light coming in my kitchen window. And I hurriedly took several photos to make sure I got a good one with my iPhone. Then I used an app called Snapseed and a setting on that app called Tilt-Shift in order to make the background with the iPad fuzzy and out of focus forcing Pearl's farm book to be more in focus as that is most important, in my opinion. Those entries of Pearl's are what tell me about life on the Pointer farm in Story County, Iowa from the early 1900's to the mid 1940's. The pedigree chart on my iPad helps me to keep all the family members straight while reading her farm books while her photo on the iPad reminds me of just who made those entries. Then I uploaded it to the Tech for Genealogy Google+ Community as its image straight from my iPhone. Now, on my blog BloggingGenealogy.com, I've suggested before that I upload photos to the internet with the full expectation that they will be taken and used without permission. It is what it is and I don't have time to go find them even though I could very easily do so with Tin Eye Reverse Image Search. And? I usually don't care if someone takes a family history photo off my personal family history blog Family Stories and uses that for their family history research...all without contacting me or using image according to the stated Creative Commons License that is located in my sidebar. I don't know why that doesn't bother me...it just doesn't. My blog is there for collaboration but also? If you don't want to collaborate and just take and you're related to me, then I guess you're pretty darn lucky because I just don't have "My Tree-itis." I just don't. Call it my family history outreach program, if you will. {Stick around because I tend to do a lot of that in a lot of different ways.} However, I realize others are quite protective of their research and stuff for whatever reasons {and I'm not judging...so don't judge me} so I created a blog post on BloggingGenealogy.com that suggested some ideas for image theft prevention, like putting the name of your blog or URL on the image with the Phonto app like I do. If someone, um, borrows it then at least your blog address is right on there for everyone to see. {Of course, these can be stripped off of there by other apps, but most folks in the genealogy world tend to be a bit behind in the tech department so I'm not really worried about that.} And then another good idea is to take a picture with your iPhone of the family photo or collection of photos, make it kind of different with some filters from a photo editing app, slap your blog address on the front and there ya' go. It's a preventive measure at the very least and it is at the very most a Family History Outreach Program that encourages collaboration. And I talk about that in depth in that blog post so definitely go read it ~> Blogging Genealogy: Deter Image Theft with FHOP. However, when creating my Google+ Communities, I wanted to convey that they were not about me or my business, but about the communities and the people that I was hoping would make them up. I wanted the communities to eventually be self-helping. I also imposed a 3-link per day per person limit so that the community didn't become a link dumping spot where no real helpful engagement occurred at all. I mean, to me, an online community is just like an in-person community. For it to really work well and be useful, the community members need to be there in person. You know, communing about technology for genealogy. In my opinion, link-dumping and then running in an online community is the equivalent to someone coming into a community center's meeting room, opening the door while a meeting is taking place, and yelling out, "GO SEE THIS!" and then quickly leaving. It leaves everyone thinking, "Why should I go see that? I don't know him or her. What's in it for me? I'm busy. Would it have hurt tell me more about it?" And so on and so forth. It was highly important to me that those who were deciding to join my communities didn't think these were Caroline's Communities where Caroline posts all her stuff and gives her opinion on everything. I wanted the communities to be helpful and self-sustaining communities that only really needed to be moderated by myself and a few others in order to, well, keep order to and for the community. Therefore, I chose not to use my handy dandy Phonto app to mark the photo with a copyright symbol or my business URL address like I do usually for my Family History Outreach Program, a.k.a., my personal family history blog {or when it's on my business blog I like to think it's a part of my Marketing Campaign. And maybe I've listened to too much Zig Ziglar over the years and maybe that's made me put too much of a creatively positive spin on things. ;) } And because I was in a hurry to get those communities setup that morning, I didn't bother with adding meta data to the images. I just wanted to get going on the communing. And I wanted the communing to be about tech for genealogy and the community and not me. And then the image was taken and used elsewhere. However, I am of the belief that the responsibility lies with the taker or, rather, the one who takes something and uses it, to thoroughly understand that they are taking something that is not theirs and using it without permission. And if the entity that had taken it was a personal family history blogger, especially one who was new, I would have privately contacted them and informed them politely of the rules of copyright. {Actually, I would have just sent them to Judy G. Russell's blog, the LegalGenealogist.com. Why re-invent the wheel? I'm lazy like that. ;) } However, it was a blog from a professional organization within the genealogy community that has taken my photo that I painstakingly created for the Tech for Genealogy Google+ Community. {And by professional, I don't mean that it's only for professionals - however one defines that particular term. I just mean that it is an organization that always presents itself in a professional way.} Now, I used to belong to the National Genealogical Society, but then dropped it for a while then recently joined them again. They have wonderful resources on there. I'm a HUGE fan of their quarterly because I'm a genealogy nerd and they make back issues accessible online to members. {Which I need because I recently joined Sheri Fenley, the blog author of The Educated Genealogist, and her NGSQ Back Issue Discussion Group that meets monthly in a small Google+ Hangout, the kind that's not recorded.} I've been waiting for NGS to update their Home Study Course, and I just found out that they are doing so and putting it in the cloud. {Thanks to Jen, the blog author of the Scrappy Genealogist, for tweeting about that from the APG Professional Management Conference last week because without that tweet I wouldn't have known about it.} I've always wanted to take the course, but I had heard from others that it was woefully behind the times. I'm guessing that they meant technology-wise as it applies to research workflows and not research methodology because that doesn't change much like technology and tools change. I love their online courses that the NGS already provides. In fact, back in 2008 I completed the Introduction to Genealogy course, and then chose to self-educate via books galore instead of ordering the Home Study Course. At the time, this seemed the right choice given the feedback that I had heard about the course and because of family commitments that limited me in going to week-long educational opportunities offered elsewhere in the United States. Therefore, I applaud them for now deciding to offer the updated course online {at some time in the near future, I hope.}. True, they are late in offering it, but I can't think of any other organization in the world of genealogy, online or off, who should be doing it other than the National Genealogical Society. And there are many other features and benefits that it offers its membership, and I highly recommend people visit the NGS website for more information. Additionally, I've always thought the organization could do better with not only some updating, but some better marketing. Therefore, I was excited when they started blogging, which can be an effective social media tool in an organization's Marketing Toolbox. For an organization, in general a blog should do the following:
Currently, in my opinion, I don't think it does any of the above except for adding value to current members. Again, I'm discussing the blog and not the organization itself. Unfortunately, the blog for an organization does and should reflect the organization. In my opinion, the Upfront with NGS Blog is not at the level of any of its other publications. And it certainly does not lead by example when it takes a photo from the internet and uses it without permission on its blog. The source used for it is a URL for the image itself as if it appears from no where when indeed it was probably found via Google Images. How can we, as an online genealogy community, expect the every day genealogy and family history researcher to respect copyright when a professional genealogy organization established in 1903 doesn't respect it? Now, I understand this is probably a volunteer position, and I, being a person who has volunteered many times for different organizations, understand how difficult it is to get that volunteer job done that you're not being paid for, and get it done well. I understand the intricacies of the internet, search engine optimization, social media, and, in particular, blogging are very difficult to understand, much less keep up with. I understand that copyright is difficult to understand. {Again, thank goodness for the LegalGenealogist.com powered by Judy G Russell, CG.} I also understand that the NGS is a community...a community that is made up of individuals who have unique talents. Surely, there is someone there who can apply those talents to the NGS blog to benefit this over-a-century-old organization. And I also understand that when I attend NGS' conference in Vegas in May that I will probably be on the outside looking in, so to speak, because I dared to say anything about this. That's all right. I'm used to that. In fact, I didn't apply to be an Official Blogger for the NGS conference because I didn't think I'd be accepted, but I'll wager that I'll be the loudest NGS Conference social media advocate that you will hear from during that week in Vegas. I'm not just a genealogy blogger, but a genealogist who utilizes social media overall to get my word out, and that tends to mean I don't blog as much as others do which was one of the first questions that was asked on the NGS Conference Official Blogger application. I like meeting people on the platform of their choice. In fact, it's why I advocate that there be Social Media Representatives at conferences and not Official Bloggers. {Vetting them would be nice as well. Otherwise, it doesn't mean anything.} Combining all of my social media platforms, I have well over 7000 in my platform audience that spans many countries and genres. Meaning, I network with folks within as well as outside of the genealogy world. That's a valuable audience to my business as well as organizations I happen to be affiliated with. For my business and brand, the idea of networking outside the online genealogy community is extremely important. My thinking on this has always been that every one has some kind of family and that family has a history. And maybe - just maybe - they hadn't thought about it quite that way. Maybe they hadn't thought about it all, but when I connect with someone online or off through a different interest and when they ask me what I do and when I tell them, well, I can tell they start thinking about it. It's a soft sell. They may never hire me to research for them, to teach them how to research, or to teach them how to use technology, but I know I've got a chance - however small - they'll remember me when the subject comes up again. And maybe they'll spread the word about me. Maybe they'll even start searching themselves. Maybe they'll read my blogs or tips. The fact is my entire social media platform is set up to be a Family History Outreach Program in some form or fashion. I give to the community. And I don't like controversy or conflict. I just don't. It makes me sick to my stomach. However, I think copyright is a very important subject and it should start from the top. And I can't think of a better organization than the National Genealogical Society to lead the way on it. Further, there is no reason why their blog should not be the first one everyone wants to read every single day. It should be that good. And I believe it could be and can be. Whether they are a genealogist or not, blog readers everywhere should wake up every morning, reach for their tablet or smartphone, navigate to the Upfront with NGS Blog and be given the most valuable piece of information that they can take and use in their genealogy and family history research journey, or be given the best inspiration that day to start their family history research journey. Who wouldn't want to join an organization who not only creates a community but gives to its community like that? Now that I am a member again, how can I help the NGS Community? ~Caroline |
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