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Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
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British Isles Vital Records Index on CD-ROM |
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| November 16, 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- British Isles Vital Records Index on CD-ROM The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly referred to as "the Mormons", has released still another major set of genealogy CD-ROM discs. The British Isles Vital Records Index was released a few weeks ago and has generated a lot of interest. This week I had a chance to use the 6-disc set. Actually, it is 5 data CD-ROM discs plus one more disc for the software. The description of the discs, as listed in the original press release, states:
Skipping over a few paragraphs of background information, the press release continues:
This set of CD-ROM discs lives up to the above description. The British Isles set of discs uses the same software as the North American Vital Records Index discs that I described at some length two weeks ago and wrote a bit more on last week. The software used is for Windows 95 only. It will not operate on Windows 3.1 or on a Macintosh. If you would like to read about the software used, look at those two newsletters at http://www.ancestry.com/columns/eastman/eastOct31-98.htm and at http://www.ancestry.com/columns/eastman/eastNov9-98.htm. For the remainder of this article, I will focus only on the data contained on the British Isles discs. I was going to write a description of the data contained on this set of CD-ROM discs, but then I found the following information in a Windows Write file on the discs:
As I usually do, I first did a search for my own surname. I started in the marriage records, asking for all records where either the bride or the groom was named Eastman. Within a few seconds I was told there were 251 such records and was asked if I wanted to modify the search. As 251 records were a bit overwhelming, I decided to look only at the records from Wiltshire. That returned 56 records, which was a bit more manageable. I could have searched by year (plus or minus up to 5 years), by first name, or by the name of any relative mentioned in the original record. Here is an example of one of the records found:
The words "FHL Number 1279310" refer to the microfilm copy of original records that was the source of this database entry. I spent some time searching birth and christening records. The results were similar. Here is one that is of interest to me:
Again, the source notation of "FHL Number 1279375" refers to the microfilm that contains an image of the original record. The help file on the CD-ROM disc says:
In short, these CD-ROM discs are exactly what the name claims: an index. Like an index in the back of a book, it allows you to locate information quickly and easily. However, also like the book, you will always want to turn to the information cited in order to read all the details and to insure that this is really the information that you want. The British Isles Vital Records Index itself is not the source of the information and should not be listed as a source. Instead, it is a pointer to the true source as recorded on microfilm. Now for the price: the British Isles Vital Records Index on CD-ROM costs exactly $15.00 U.S. funds. That’s right, only $3.00 per data disc, and that is ignoring the one disc with the software. This CD-ROM set should be on the Christmas "wish list" of every genealogist with ancestors from the British isles. The British Isles Vital Records Index on CD-ROM is available from: Church Distribution Center Make sure that you specify: British Vital Records Index (1538-1888), (Item #50028) I suspect that the LDS Distribution Centre in the UK also has these discs although I cannot say for sure. You can contact them at: LDS Distribution Centre
- Future LDS Genealogy CD-ROM Products The press release for the British Vital Records Index also had another announcement of interest:
Stay tuned!
- Online Register of British and Commonwealth War Dead The (British) Commonwealth War Graves Commission has a new online database listing the burial places of British and Commonwealth dead of the First and Second World Wars. The register provides personal and service details and places of commemoration for 1.7 million members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two World Wars. The same database also contains details of 60,000 civilian casualties of World War Two. The database contains information obtained from cemeteries and memorials in 150 countries. Each entry gives the exact location, by cemetery plot or memorial panel, where the individual is buried or commemorated. I attempted to use the database this week but was greeted with a message that said:
Obviously that is frustrating, but I am not too surprised. A brand new service that is in popular demand can easily be swamped. If you would like to use the database, I suggest you wait until November 17 or a bit later and then look at: http://www.cwgc.org My thanks to Vern Oxley for letting me know about the new website.
I wrote about GenBrowser in the November 18, 1996, edition of this newsletter. This week I decided to go back and look at the latest version as I expect that the author has made improvements in the past two years. GenBrowser is a Windows 95 program that searches specific sites on the World Wide Web looking for genealogy information. It will look inside GEDCOM files and text files looking for specific names. The program searches Altavista, Ancestry's World Tree, Ancestry's Social Security Death Index, GENDEX, Search Root surname list, Family Tree Maker's user homepages, Family Tree Maker's Family Finder Index and Family Tree Maker's Internet Family Finder. The program stores the results on your in HTML format. You can then click on the stored "hot links" quickly and easily view the data stored on your hard drive. The program also keeps track of searches already done so that in the future it does not repeat itself. Instead, it will only look for new data added since the last search. I downloaded GenBrowser from the online site and then installed it in the same manner as most Windows programs. I was up and running within a few minutes after downloading. However, I did find that I needed to read the online documentation a bit before starting a search. GenBrowser is a 32-bit program; the documentation says that it requires Windows 95. I suspect it works on Windows 98 although I did not test that. I ran it on Windows NT version 4.0 and had no difficulty. However, there is no Windows 3.1 or Macintosh version of the program. GenBrowser should work on any standard Internet Service Provider’s network. I used it on CompuServe’s network without any difficulties. GenBrowser takes a list of names from a text file or from a GEDCOM file and then searches each index or search engine, one name at a time. GenBrowser also stores the web addresses and results. In the future, you can display only new results. I decided to do a search for a number of my ancestors. GenBrowser will allow you to enter the names manually, one at a time. It also will read a GEDCOM file or a text file containing names and will search for every name in the file. For my first test I manually entered a half-dozen names and then specified a Web search. GenBrowser went out and searched major genealogy-related indexes, looking for each of the names. It only searches one major index at a time; you have to conduct a separate search for each index. To search five different genealogy indexes, you have to conduct five separate searches. Most of the searches required only a minute or two. Each of the "hits" seemed to be accurate: every person identified did have the same name as one in my list. Obviously, they were not all my ancestors; lots of people may have the same name. Next I specified a Web Engine Search for the same names. GenBrowser then searched one search engine looking for the names I had entered. GenBrowser automatically goes to each of the pages found by the search engine and checks whether that page is a good match for that person. If a match is found, it writes the results to a file on the hard drive. I conducted several searches, one on each of the search engines available in GenBrowser’s menus. The Web Engine Search took longer and also seemed to be less accurate. It often listed Web pages where both the first name and last name could be found although not always next to other. A search for John Smith might turn up a page where someone named John appeared early on the page and someone else named Smith appeared a bit later. These "false hits" were small in number, so it didn’t take long to check and discard them. I also attempted a search of all the individuals listed in a GEDCOM file of about 3,000 individuals. However, the unregistered version of GenBrowser will accept only twenty people. After registration, that restriction is removed. The registered version of GenBrowser will search for thousands of individuals. The search for 20 individuals only required a couple of minutes. Of course, searching for 3,000 people will require several hours of online time since GenBrowser searches for them one at a time. All in all, I found GenBrowser to be a useful program although it is bit awkward to use. If you are willing to experiment a bit and spend some time reading the instructions, this program may uncover information you have not found previously. No guarantees, of course! GenBrowser is called a shareware program although it doesn’t completely conform to the standards of the Association of Shareware Professionals: most notably, the "restriction" of only searching for twenty individuals at a time. Even so, that’s a minor point to quibble about. Once registered, the program has full capabilities. You can download GenBrowser and try the program for 2 weeks to make sure it does what you want before purchasing it. Registration costs $20.00 U.S. funds and can be paid by check, money order or online on CompuServe’s Shareware Registration service. CompuServe members can register at any time by selecting GO SWREG. For more information and to download the evaluation copy of GenBrowser, look at: http://mail.pratt.lib.md.us/~bharding/rippleeffect/
Howard Fink, Tarnow Shtetl Coordinator, made the following announcement this week:
For more information, visit the JewishGen website at: http://www.jewishgen.org
- Broderbund’s "Internet FamilyFinder" Replaces "FamilyFinder Index" Broderbund released a very short announcement this week about additional genealogy information on their website:
The Internet FamilyFinder is available at: http://www.familytreemaker.com/ifftop.html
- Prince Charles Launches His Own Website Britain's Prince Charles launched his own Internet website this week and has invited users to send him messages and comments about the site. I took a quick look at the site and was a bit overwhelmed with the details there. The new website shows the life and work of the heir to the throne as described in over 354 Web pages with 250 pictures. His major speeches dating back to 1968 are also reproduced in full. Yet his late wife Princess Diana rates only one footnote on the website. Prince Charles’ close acquaintance of more than 25 years, Camilla Parker Bowles, also gets a single mention. Charles and Diana's marriage and divorce is mentioned only once, and then in a few brief sentences. "He is not really into publishing anything about his private life. It is a factual website and it is not there for tittle-tattle," said one of the prince's aides. Reportedly Prince Charles will read at least some of the comments that visitors leave on the Online Forum page. He may possibly reply to a few comments although that is not promised. Charles's website is also linked to the official Buckingham Palace website, which has had more than 100 million hits in its first year of operation. Prince Charles turns 50 this week. Perhaps you can leave him a birthday wish at: http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk
- Who Is the "Best of the Web?" Follow-up Last week I wrote about the readers’ poll to determine which site is the "best genealogy site on the Web." You can submit a vote before November 24 for your favorite site. All you need to do is send an e-mail to a particular address. However, the e-mail must be written in a manner that a computer can understand. The method of counting votes is computerized; a piece of software looks at the URL addresses as listed in the e-mail message subject area and then counts each one. If you do not give a correct and complete URL address in the message title, the e-mail is bounced back to you as an error. Remember that a "complete URL address" always starts with the letters "http://" (although there will not be any quotes used in your e-mail subject). I have looked at a sample of the e-mails received and found that a few people are not using the correct message subjects. A message title of "My favorite site" or "Best site" or even "www.ancestry.com" will not work. The message title must start with "http://" for the software to be able to read the vote. You still have time to cast your vote for the "best genealogy site on the Web." Send the vote to bestsite@rootscomputing.com, and make sure you use a message subject (title) as described above. Full instructions are available in last week’s newsletter at: http://www.ancestry.com/columns/eastman/eastNov9-98.htm
Historians have always recorded the fact that George Washington had no children. In fact, a reference to Washington’s descendants has always been a bit of a joke in genealogy circles; describing someone as a descendant of George Washington is a derisive remark questioning the quality of that person’s genealogy research. Now a woman in Illinois is trying to rewrite history. She believes that scientific proof can be found to verify her claim of descent from the first President of the United States. Last week I wrote about DNA tests that apparently prove that at least one of Sally Hemings’ children was fathered by either Thomas Jefferson or by a close relative of his. You can read that article at: http://www.ancestry.com/columns/eastman/eastNov9-98.htm. Janet Allen is now asking for a similar effort to prove a family legend claiming that one of her ancestors was the unacknowledged son of President George Washington. She claims that she is descended from George Washington and a plantation slave named Venus. Allen and her family went public with the claim two years ago. At that time they had no hope of proving the connection by scientific tests. The recent news about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings now gives the family hope that they, too, can use DNA evidence. Researchers for Washington's estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia, have found evidence confirming that Allen's slave ancestors played an important role in Washington's family. But the estate maintains that Washington never fathered children and criticizes Allen's paternity claim. The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, which manages Washington's estate, has denied Allen access to hair samples that purportedly belonged to Washington and might help solve the puzzle through DNA tests. The method used in the Jefferson study used DNA of surviving family members, comparing the Y chromosome, which passes mostly unchanged from father to son. This has prompted Allen and her relatives to try to locate males descended from one of Washington's three brothers or his three uncles. The Allen family's theory involves an alleged liaison between Washington and Venus that would have begun in 1784. That year, Washington's youngest nephew on his brother's side died at the plantation where Venus lived. The Allen family says that Washington would have met Venus when he went to comfort the family of his brother, John Augustine Washington. Washington's brother wrote at the time asking George to visit, but no other record of the trip exists. Sometime in the next two years, Venus gave birth to a mulatto son named West Ford, Janet Allen’s great-great-great-grandfather. Ford moved to Mount Vernon when Washington's wife, Martha, died in 1802. Washington died in 1799. The estate said that Ford had privileges that were denied slaves around him: He was taught to read, received a primitive vaccination for smallpox, and was eventually freed and given land. Such "evidence" is questionable at best. Some researchers for the estate say that Washington was too busy at Mount Vernon after an eight-year absence during the Revolutionary War. They point out that there is no record of a visit to his brother's plantation at the time when Ford would have been conceived. Some scholars also believe the first president was sterile and therefore incapable of fathering Ford. West Ford was the mulatto son of a black woman. Many historians believe that either John Augustine Washington or his son Bushrod is the most likely candidate to have been West Ford's father. I am no expert, but as I understand the DNA tests conducted on Jefferson’s descendants, such a test can only identify the Y-chromosomes as being from a close male descendant of a person. They cannot positively identify which person. Such a test could not differentiate between George Washington, John Augustine Washington and Bushrod Washington. All three would have essentially the same Y-chromosomes, wouldn’t they? I do not see how such a test would verify the claim. Maybe someone else sees something that I don’t. For further details, look at: http://cnn.com/US/9811/10/PM-Washington-Slave.ap/index.html
The following is a list of some of the genealogy-related World Wide Web homepages that have been listed recently on http://www.rootscomputing.com. Some of these sites may charge a fee for their services:
If you would like to submit news, information or press releases for possible inclusion in future newsletters, send them to roots@compuserve.com. The author does reserve the right to accept or reject any articles submitted.
DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is being written and sent via e-mail at no charge. I expect to write one new issue on a more or less weekly basis. However, life sometimes interferes, and the need to earn a living may create an occasional delay.
COPYRIGHTS: While the contents of this newsletter are copyright by Richard W. Eastman and by Ancestry Publishing and by others so designated, you are hereby granted rights, unless otherwise specified, to redistribute articles from this news letter to other parties provided you do so strictly for noncommercial purposes. Please limit your redistribution to one or two articles per newsletter; do not redistribute the news letter in its entirety. Also, please include the following words with any articles you redistribute:
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