The new Platinum version includes exclusive features for researching genealogy in Latin America and the United Kingdom as well as the capability to print requests for foreign records in 13 different languages from 37 foreign countries. Ultimate Family Tree Platinum is available nationwide for the estimated street price of $69.99.
Ultimate Family Tree Platinum also includes the Master Index from Palladium's newly released Ultimate Family Data Library(tm) Series. Genealogy enthusiasts can use the Master Index to search for ancestral data found in wills, land deeds and church records.
"Ultimate Family Tree Platinum represents our long-standing commitment to provide the most up-to-date tools to research family histories," said Jill Braff, Palladium's vice president of marketing. "With the addition of the United Kingdom tutorials, Latin American Records Requester and the Master Index from our Ultimate Family Data Library series, Ultimate Family Tree Platinum offers the most comprehensive approach to genealogy available."
The United Kingdom Tutorial gives those individuals with English or Welsh lineage valuable information on Civil Registration, Marriage and Divorce Records, Census Records, Parish Registries, Property Records and more.
The Multi-language Records Requester will automatically print and translate a request for vital information with address and fee information for 37 different countries including Latin America and most of Western Europe.
The Master Index included in Ultimate Family Tree Platinum houses over 650,000 names found on wills, church registries and land deeds from select counties in Virginia and Pennsylvania -- two states in which at least 90 percent of all Americans can trace at least one ancestor.
The Master Index allows genealogy enthusiasts to search through this vital information in a variety of ways including SOUNDEX -- a method for comparing similar sounding names. Copies of these original records can be purchased directly on the website (www.familyinfo.com).
Ultimate Family Tree Platinum also offers a free genealogy search from a database totaling over 1 billion names. This service is provided to Ultimate Family Tree users through Palladium's ongoing partnership with Lineages(tm), one of the world's foremost genealogical research firms.
Additionally, the new Platinum version contains the new citation models found in Evidence, an exclusive book authored by world-renowned genealogist, Elizabeth Shown Mills. These citation models demonstrate the correct way to document evidence uncovered during one's ancestral search.
The Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society Quarterly, volumes 1-24 And Other Select Publications for Macintosh And Windows
The Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society and GenQuest, Inc. of Pittsburgh, PA are excited to announce the availability of volumes 1-24 of the society’s publication. Also included are all 7 volumes of Allegheny county naturalizations, 1798-1906 and 3 volumes of Lists and Indexes to the Legal, Court and Municipal Records of Allegheny County. As members we now have the opportunity to be able to search all these volumes quicker and more comprehensively than ever before. Especially, the quarterlies for which there is no comprehensive index.
CONTENTS
The Quarterly
Issues of the quarterlies contain marriage records, family histories, church membership rolls, church histories, marriage and death notices from area newspapers, family Bible records, land records, tax lists, cemetery transcriptions, articles pertaining to Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War combatants and PA regiments, etc. from the various counties comprising Western Pennsylvania: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Greene, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mckean, Mercer, Somerset, Venango, Warren and Westmoreland.
The Naturalizations
These volumes contain the names of the 60,960 emigrants, the date filed in the Prothonotary’s office of Allegheny county, the country or kingdom of birth, date of declaration of Intent and Petition, the date of final papers and the sponsor. In some cases the residence at the time of final naturalization is given along with the port and date of entry and the age of the emigrant.
Legal, Court and Municipal Records
These volumes contain abstractions or lists compiled from many different record groups, which though obscure are important. One of the best examples are the naturalizations from the mayors court in volume two, which supplement county’s early records. Examples of other records in these publications are Allegheny City Arrest records, 1891-1896, Births and Deaths in Allegheny County Home, 1885-1904, Births and Deaths in the Allegheny City Home, 1871-1904, etc.
What can you do with this database?
You can use it on a Windows or Macintosh computer. You can fully search all text for names, places or any word. View a graphic of the original page. Print pages with full citations. Highlight text and bookmark spots for future use. Make notes in the margins and save them for future use.
System Requirements
The software is designed to run on a Macintosh or Power Macintosh (System 7 or higher) or an IBM compatible running Windows 3.1, Windows 95 or Windows 98. GenQuest recommends 16 MB of RAM for either system and at least a 4X CD-ROM drive.
The CD-ROM price is $85.00 for orders received before October 15, 1998. After that date the price will be $99.95. I noticed that the company’s website says the discount expired on July 31, 1998, but in an e-mail to me this week the company owner listed the date as October 15, 1998. Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society members can obtain an additional discount. For more information, look at: http://www.genquest.com/catalog.html.
- How To Store This Newsletter
I must admit that I never thought about how to keep information from this newsletter that is of interest to you. I keep a copy of the entire newsletter archived on my hard disk. Obviously, not many people have a need to do that. Tony Burroughs told me this week how he keeps items of interest, and I thought I would pass along his comments. This is an excerpt from his e-mail message:
As I see things of particular interest, I cut and paste them to my word processor, like many other people. To track the source of the information, and to use for a source citation if necessary, I also cut and paste your name from the "Subject" box in my Eudora Light e-mail program. …your subject line does give the volume and date. I have to return and search for it at the top of the page.
I'm not sure if this has affected other readers, but particularly those who cut and paste without getting the volume and date, it would be very useful, and important. Just a suggestion you might be able to easily modify (maybe not?). In any case, keep up the good work. I look forward to reading your column with coffee in the morning.
I hope this helps others. Thanks Tony.
- GenIndex
Staub & Associates has released GenIndex. They refer to the program as the "Everyname Indexer for Windows". The program produces an "everyname" or "back-of-the-book" index to assist in genealogical research. A trial version is available, so I took a look at the program this week.
GenIndex is a simple but useful program that maintains indexes. It doesn’t do anything that you couldn’t do manually; the program simply makes the task somewhat less tedious. If you have to index hundreds or even thousands of names, you probably will appreciate this program.
Once installed, you create a new title for an index, which is normally the same as the title of the book involved. Next, you enter the first surname. After that, a new window appears for entry of first and middle names, prefix, suffix and the page numbers where that name appears. You enter the information as appropriate. As the building of the index progresses, you can add additional surnames as well.
Once the data entry is completed, you can create indexes in several formats. Of course, the primary purpose is to create a printed back-of-book index, and the program will print on most any standard Windows printer. It will also create disk files in a number of formats, including: Crystal Reports, Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, Quatro Pro, ASCII text, Rich Text Format (RTF), comma separated values (CSV), character separated values, data Interchange format (DIF) and tab-separated formats. Many of these file formats can then be imported into other programs, such as spreadsheet, database or word processing formats.
If you are facing a major indexing task, GenIndex may help. GenIndex requires Windows 3.1, 95, 98 or NT and a video resolution of 800-by-600 pixels or greater. Its disk and memory requirements are modest, so it should run on any Windows system other than basic systems that only support 640-by-480 pixels of video.
GenIndex sells for $19.95 U.S. funds if you download it from the company’s website. Add another $10.00 if you want a copy on CD-ROM or floppy disks. A free 15 day trial version can be downloaded online. I obtained my copy from CompuServe’s Genealogy Techniques Forum (GO ROOTS), but it is also available on the Web at http://www.staubassociates.com/genindex/genindex.htm.
- A Child With Two Mothers?
Reuters News Service carried an article this week that describes a potential challenge to genealogists. How would you document this in your database?
Reuters’ Health and Science Correspondent, Maggie Fox, wrote, "A fertility expert has surprised colleagues by announcing he has tried out a controversial procedure which involves mixing parts of the eggs of two women together to help them have babies. The procedure, aimed at helping older women have babies, uses cloning technology although it is not actual cloning."
The article then goes on at length describing the work of Dr. Jamie Grifo, director of the division of reproductive endocrinology at New York University. Dr. Grifo says he has already tried out the procedure in two women.
The idea is to rejuvenate the aging eggs of an older woman using the "shell" of a younger woman's egg. According to Dr. Grifo, a woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have, and as she ages her eggs age, too. Her chances of a successful pregnancy diminish as the eggs deteriorate. The new procedure combines the nucleus of the egg of the older woman, including the genes, which carry the instructions for making a new human, with the cytoplasm of a younger woman. The cytoplasm is the "working machinery" of the egg; its main function is to keep the cells alive and healthy. It also contains the mitochondrial DNA.
Any child born of this technique would have the genes of its mother (the older woman) and father, but the mitochondrial DNA of the younger woman whose egg was donated.
Will future genealogists want to record information on all the individuals involved?
- Homepages Highlighted
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:
Wills family information and links to Jacobite information: http://www.ajwills.demon.co.uk/Home.html
Sykes Mountain Heritage - genealogy of the Sykes families of Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/4133/
17th century Dyer families in New England: Http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/4663/index.html
National Society of the Daughters of the American revolution, Portland (Oregon) Chapter: http://www.pacifier.com/~brillnd/darpdx.
Families in Georgia - Many genealogies, thousands of marriage records of Irwin County, Georgia, and a complete index to a 900 page book that covers families in Georgia: http://www.surfsouth.com/~edormine.
An online listing of the tombstones in the Locust Grove Cemetery; Twinsburg, Summit County, Ohio: http://www.netset.com/~jamills/gen/gen.html.
Dillon family homepage: http://home.att.net/~johndillon.
Index to the George Rogers Clark Papers of "The Illinois Regiment" at the Virginia State Library and Archives: http://www.execpc.com/~sril/clark.
Baker Genealogy - Martin & Hannah Clark Baker of Virginia and Kentucky and their descendants: http://www.wiu.edu/users/mfeak.
GenieSpeak - The Genealogy Speakers Bureau, created to promote and increase contacts between speakers and societies, and to communicate upcoming events: http://www.Geniespeak.com.
Stebbins family genealogy database and information about the various branches of the Stebbins family: http://www.sover.net/~neills/Stebbins.html.
Links for African American Family Historians including general genealogical resources, homepages, historical links and more: http://www.distantcousin.com/Links/Ethnic/African/index.html.
Charles Hendrix homepage with research of the names Hendrix, Kronewitter, Ossiginac and Breithaupt/Brightup: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/7885.
Hamrick and Hambrick descendants: http://homepages/rootsweb.com/~hamrick.
Gorsha family homepage - A gathering place for those with the Slovenian surname Gorše, and its common variants like Gorsha and Gorshe, and all those with an interest in Slovenia, Slovenian history, genealogy and culture. This website includes transcriptions of 1920 Census sheets for Gilbert, Minnesota and articles with ties to Cleveland and Maple Heights, Ohio: http://www.angelfire.com/wa/gorsha.
Descendants of Christopher Graham who came to America in 1723. Great-grandson Robert Graham arrived in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania about 1803: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Woods/5668/.
Genealogy of the Menso family, traced to the 16th century in Holland: http://w1.302.telia.com/~u30202898.
Brownbill Ancestors in England: http://www.cix.co.uk/~tbrownbill/brownbill.html.
Hollyhock Press - Publisher of books about Bath County, Virginia and surrounding areas: http://www.hollyhockpress.com/.
To submit your homepage to this newsletter, enter the necessary information at: http://www.rootscomputing.com/register.htm. Due to the volume of new Web pages submitted, I am not able to list all of them in the newsletter.
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:
The following article is from Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 1997 by Richard W. Eastman and Ancestry, Inc. It is republished here with the permission of the author.
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The following is an extract from Palladium’s press release:
GenQuest, Inc. has announced a new CD-ROM disc for both Windows and Macintosh will soon be available. You can order it now for a discounted "pre-publication offer." Here is the announcement: