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Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
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A Word About Genealogy Software |
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| February 23, 1999 |
- A Word About Genealogy Software I had an interesting experience last week. At least it was interesting to me. A company that I will not name has produced a new Windows genealogy program. They contacted me and asked if I would like to write a review about it. Of course I am always interested in seeing new genealogy programs, so I immediately said, "Yes". The program arrived a few days later. I opened the very nice-looking, shrink-wrapped package, removed the CD-ROM, inserted it into my computer, installed the software and then started putting the program through its paces. The program had a very user-friendly interface, multimedia capabilities, excellent printed reports, and even the capability to produce HTML files to load onto a personal website. In short, the program appeared to be a good one at first. It didn’t take long, however, to discover that the underlying database was very weak. It could only accept one date for each major life event such as birth, marriage or death. Most genealogists find that unacceptable. For instance, in the case of my great-great-grandfather, I have found records indicate two different dates of birth and three different locations. After many years of searching records, I still do not know which one is correct. This particular program would force me to guess at the correct date and location and then totally ignore the others. Even worse, the program had no data field in which I could enter the sources where I found any of the information. Obviously I could enter the other dates and all the sources as text notes, but that is a rather lame solution. Most serious genealogy programs today can do a better job of recording significant information. As I continued to move around this new program, I found many other deficiencies. All names of people and places were limited to 16 characters each. The program also cannot handle any of the special characters used in European alphabets, such as umlauts or diacritics. There is no capability to enter important life events, such as dates of military service or dates that the person appeared in the census records. None of the database fields could be customized in any manner. I could go on for a bit more to describe the other deficiencies of the program, but I think you get the idea by now. In short, this program was typical of genealogy software produced 10 years ago. Even though it had a very modern user-friendly Windows interface and even produced reports for use on the World Wide Web, the underlying database structure was still very old-fashioned. This particular program sells for $29.95, which is typical of many of the simpler genealogy programs available today. Yet there are a number of competitive products in the same price range that do allow for multiple dates, documentation of sources, European characters, and longer names. Even Personal Ancestral File version 3.0 can do all that. Sure, it is an MS-DOS program, but it only costs $15.00. At $30 you can find three or four Windows programs that have most of the features that genealogists expect. If you move up in price to $50 or so, almost all programs offer these features. And the "Cadillac programs" with all the features are only $100. I would strongly advise you to closely examine any genealogy program that you are thinking about buying. You should first read reviews of the program in my newsletter or in other genealogy publications. Ask questions online to learn the experiences of others. However, when other people do respond to you, always ask what other programs they have used. The person who has only used one or two genealogy programs probably is not a reliable source as to which program is the best one for you. Make sure that the program you purchase has the capability to handle conflicting dates and locations as well as alternate spellings of names and locations. Make sure that it will record all the necessary information about sources and repositories in its database, not as simple text notes. If you want to go back at some future date and double-check a particular document, will you be able to determine which document is in question? Or where it is located? A good genealogy program will give you that information easily. If your ancestors came from non-English speaking countries, make sure that the program you select can handle the necessary alphabets. Also make sure that it will record census entries, dates of military service and other facts that you may wish to record in the future. Finally, make sure the program you buy has a money back guarantee. You probably will sit at your computer’s keyboard for many hours using a genealogy program. I suspect that you want software that meets your needs. There are a number of excellent genealogy programs available today at reasonable prices. Why use one that is second-rate? Finally, I will say that not every program that I write about qualifies as my "personal favorite." There are many genealogy programs available today, and personal preferences are important when selecting an appropriate program. I may write about programs that I love or about programs that I consider merely "acceptable." But you will never read any reviews in this newsletter about programs that I consider completely unacceptable. - Klondike Gold Rush Ancestors Online In 1898 and the following years more than 100,000 individuals from all over the world dropped what they were doing and "stampeded" toward Canada's mysterious Yukon. The Klondike Gold Rush attracted people from all walks of life. Many Europeans booked passage to Canada or the United States. Upon arrival, they headed straight for the Yukon. Records of these people have always been sporadic as many of them wandered from location to location. "Ghosts of the Klondike Gold Rush" is an online database with information on a few thousand of these adventurers. Admittedly, that’s a small percentage of all the people who "went north," but your relative might be among those listed. In addition, the "Ghosts of the Klondike Gold Rush" site has a fascinating collection of history, trivia and personal stories. Even if your ancestors never went near the Yukon, you probably will find this to be an interesting website. I doubt if any of my relatives were in the Klondike Gold Rush. However, I entered my surname into the site’s search mechanism and was surprised to see many matches returned. I will list a few of them here so that you can see the kind of information to be found in this online database: Result for query "Eastman" Clary Craig, post office worker list of people dying or leaving Klondike Placermining Applications Vol 1 Placermining Applications Vol 3 NWMP records at Chilkoot: checkpoints listing people who entered the Yukon NWMP records at Chilkoot: checkpoints listing people who entered the Yukon NWMP records at Lake Bennett: people who entered the Yukon via boats The actual list was longer than the above; I deleted a number of entries for the sake of brevity. This material comes from the Pan for Gold database, which was assembled from many sources by the Dawson City Museum. The numeric codes attached to some names indicate file sources, microfilm numbers, mining claims, and some census information including ethnicity, occupation, social status and religion. Information on where to get further search results is available. To look at the "Ghosts of the Klondike Gold Rush" database, go to: http://www.gold-rush.org - Presidents of the United States Online There must be at least one hundred websites that are dedicated to providing information about the Presidents of the United States. This week I found one that I hadn’t seen before and it impressed me. The Internet Public Library has a section called "POTUS," Presidents of the United States. The site provides background information, election results, cabinet members, notable events, and some points of interest on each of the presidents. Links to biographies, historical documents, audio and video files, and other presidential sites are also included. I learned a few new things. One was that George Washington never wore wooden teeth. However, at various times he did wear teeth made of human (some his own), cow, or hippopotamus teeth, ivory or lead. Another myth shattered. One has to wonder if lead teeth caused lead poisoning. The Presidents of the United States can be found at: - Olympic Official Received Gift Of Genealogy Records From The LDS Church The Salt Lake Olympic scandals produced an interesting story this week with a genealogical twist. The February 18, 1999 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune contained an article written by Mike Gorrell. The article described a gift given to Richard Pound, lead IOC investigator of the Salt Lake-based Olympic bribery scandal. Mr. Pound reportedly received a family history from the LDS Church during a 1997 visit. Gorrell wrote that "There may be nothing improper with the gift, considering that it was researched during 1996 and early 1997 and presented to Pound two years after the IOC awarded Salt Lake City the rights to stage the 2002 Winter Games. But the genealogical record of undetermined value stands out, given Pound's high-profile position investigating improprieties involved in the Salt Lake bid committee's dispensation of cash, lavish gifts and travel allowances, free medical care and ‘scholarships’ to IOC members and their relatives before the 1995 vote." Mike Otterson, a spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said the genealogical record was researched by the church's family-history department and presented to Pound as a "goodwill" gesture. "Goodwill presentations of personal family histories to prominent international and national community leaders have been made by the church for many years, often when such leaders pay courtesy visits to church headquarters," Otterson said. LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley gave President Clinton a four-volume history of his family in November 1995. Otterson said that Pound is, to his knowledge, the only IOC member to be given a family history. "Mr. Pound's prior interest in family history was well known," the church spokesman said. The newspaper article went on at some length trying to determine the cash value of this gift. The numbers mentioned seemed a bit high. Most genealogy reports can be obtained for much less money than what Mr. Gorrell claimed in his article. However, if a professional was hired to do the entire report, the claimed value of $40,000 might be theoretically possible. I doubt if the cost to the LDS church was anywhere near that figure. Rodney Stucker of the church's family-history department seems to agree. The newspaper article says that Stucker pointed out one cost-saving advantage of the church's family-history department: "They can do it for free because they already have the records. They just put reference people on it. The church donates employees' time." The full article is available at: http://www.sltrib.com/1999/feb/02181999/nation%5fw/83995.htm - Convicts’ Descendants Are Invited Back The British sent many convicts to the colonies in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as "undesirables." Now Britain is courting the descendants of Australia’s convicts to boost its tourism coffers. The British Tourist Authority has launched a drive to encourage foreigners of British ancestry to "come home for the millennium" and trace their roots. Its offices in Australia will next week launch a promotion suggesting the year 2000 as an appropriate time for people of all forms of British heritage - criminal and free - to take stock in their ancestral homeland. Similar drives will take place in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. The BTA expects the drive to play a large role in drawing an estimated 27,000 extra Australians next year, worth around 21 million pounds in revenue. In 1997, the most recent year for which accurate figures are available, Britain recorded 697,000 Australian visitors, who brought in 534 million pounds. Supporting the BTA's belief in its retracing roots campaign, "visiting friends and relatives" was given as the second most popular reason for Australian tourists to visit Britain at around 32 per cent, behind "holidays" at 39 per cent. "We've had a lot of interest in visits to Britain for the millennium already, and we think the new campaign will be a success," said BTA spokeswoman Rebecca Milton. "Our Internet website on millennium visits has received a good response, and we're getting a lot of drop-in visits to our offices with millennium-related inquiries." Britain is planning major millennium-related celebrations centering on the new Millennium Dome in the London suburb of Greenwich, home of the world standard Greenwich Mean Time. The British Tourist Authority’s website can be found at: http://www.bta.org.uk/ - Reed Farmstead Archaeological Excavations in West Virginia Do you have William and Hannah Reed of what is now West Virginia in your family tree? If so, you will be interested to know that the West Virginia Department of Transportation is now performing an archaeological "dig" on their homesite. Michael Baker Jr., Inc., a contractor to the West Virginia Department of Transportation, Division of Highways, is performing archaeological data recovery excavations at the Reed Farmstead site in Hardy County. The site is being excavated and recorded prior to construction of the proposed Appalachian Corridor Highway. Discovered in 1996, the Reed Farmstead site (circa 1805-1850s) has been found to contain the remains of several buildings and many historic artifacts. It is providing archaeologists with insights into the lifestyle of rural farmers in the pre-Civil War era. As a result of its isolated location, the site has encountered little disturbance since it was abandoned in the 1850s, allowing it to maintain a high degree of archaeological integrity. In addition to the data recovery excavations, Baker's team is performing extensive historic research, working to unearth detailed information on the William and Hannah Reed family. Coupled with the archaeology, this research will provide a context for interpreting the lifeways of the Reed family. Task Manager Stephen Hinks notes, "The Reed Farmstead excavations are among the most extensive ever conducted at an antebellum farmstead in West Virginia. This work is providing important information about how our ancestors carved out a living on the rugged Appalachian frontier, and how they adapted to their environment. The artifacts also help us better understand consumer behavior and choices among farm families in this fairly isolated region." As part of the Reed Farmstead Site investigation, Baker has developed a project website that provides site history, current excavation information, and recent field discoveries. This website, as well as planned visits to the site by local school groups, are some of the ways Baker and the WVDOH are sharing West Virginia's rich archaeological heritage with the public. Anyone with information regarding the William and Hannah Reed family of Hardy County are encouraged to contact the archaeologists either through the Reed Farmstead website or by calling Denise Grantz or Stephen Hinks at 1-800-553-1153. The website is located at: http://www.reedfarmstead.com Last week I wrote about a nifty new website called GENfair. Director Mike Spathaky kindly pointed out one inaccuracy in my article: the Essex Society for Family History has for sale not six sets of microfiches but six whole web pages of microfiches, comprising sixty-one sets. While most "sets" are a single fiche, some are more, such as the 1862 Kelly's Essex Directory, which consists of four fiches for GBP 4.00. Thanks for the correction, Mike. Looking for a blank pedigree chart or family group sheet? You can now log on and get one online. These forms are useful for your own record keeping. They also can be very useful when asking for information from relatives. You can send blank forms or partially filled out forms to others and ask them to fill in the blanks and then return the forms to you. Ancestry.com recently made several genealogy charts and forms available. Ancestry.com’s announcement says, "You can download the forms you need and print out as many copies as you wish. You are licensed to download and print these forms for unlimited personal, noncommercial use. Ancestry.com recommends that you print these forms on acid-free paper in order to slow physical deterioration." Forms available include: Ancestral Chart You can obtain these forms at: - Ancestry.com and MyFamily.com at Intel's Pentium III Processor Preview Day Speaking of Ancestry.com, the following is a press release from the company: SAN JOSE, Feb. 17 -- Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), one of the Internet's leading commercial services for genealogy research, and MyFamily.com (http://www.myfamily.com), a premier provider of free, secure family websites, are being showcased today at Intel's Pentium(R) III Processor Preview Day at the San Jose Convention Center. Both Ancestry.com and MyFamily.com will demonstrate how the processor serial number feature of the Pentium III processors enhances website functionality. Enhancements shown will include ease of use, security option support and managed access to sensitive and private family information. "Ancestry.com and MyFamily.com leverage the power of the Internet to bring families together," said Curt Allen, CEO of Ancestry.com, Inc. "The Pentium III processor serial number feature takes these websites to new levels of performance and computing capabilities." Ancestry.com Using the processor serial number feature, Ancestry.com will now be able to offer commercial subscription licenses for use in libraries, public kiosks and other locations with unconditional and unlimited access to its portfolio of resources -- by simply authenticating the PC as the subscribing entity. In locations where IP addresses are blocked by firewalls and licenses are specified by PC, the processor serial number feature will prevent compromising the integrity of the site's subscription business model. "By a currently available means of facilitating the login process, libraries that provide access to Ancestry.com can now save their patrons precious computer time better spent on actual research," said Edward Holden, professional genealogist, author and lecturer. MyFamily.com Newly-launched MyFamily.com will use the processor serial number function as an additional mechanism by which administrative control or access is granted. In addition to authenticating user name and password, MyFamily.com will also offer its users the option of utilizing the processor serial number feature to facilitate additional security for accessing the site for all members of the family. "Using the processor serial number feature, members of MyFamily.com will find it easier to access their personal accounts and private family information," said Allen. "Intel is pleased to see both MyFamily.com and Ancestry.com take advantage of the performance of the Pentium III processor platform to deliver a seamless, fluid experience for families on the Web," said Albert Teng, Director of New Technologies/Businesses at Intel. About Ancestry.com Tens of thousands of people visit http://www.ancestry.com each day to search for information about their ancestors or to discover where and how to look for members of their respective family trees. The subscription-based Web service offers more than 800 fully searchable databases containing information on over 200 million individuals, with new databases, historic maps and helpful articles added daily. About MyFamily.com Launched December 26, 1998, MyFamily.com (http://www.myfamily.com) is a premier Web service specifically targeting families. Each free, secure family website on MyFamily.com includes such services as e-mail, calendaring, photo storage, gift registration, event reminder service, instant messaging, threaded message boards and online content from family-friendly publishers. The latest trend from Internet service providers is to give free computers to customers who sign up for service. A number of companies have announced similar promotional plans. For instance, Empire.net of Nashua, New Hampshire has already delivered more than 1,000 free PCs to customers in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, according to company Vice President Thomas Johnson. Johnson said that limited initial publicity resulted in many more orders than the company had anticipated. "The publicity pre-empted our careful, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other plan," Johnson said. "We were shocked at the response when this hit the Net. We said ‘Go’ and hit the switch, and the e-mail just started to flood in." Johnson said the excitement was such that he received requests from Tokyo, Japan and from Frankfurt, Germany, even though Empire.net only offers service in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Under Empire.net’s plan, customers sign up for three years of Internet service, 300 hours per month, for $29.95 with $55.00 due up front. They get a 300-megahertz computer with 32 megabytes of RAM memory, a 14-inch monitor and a 56K V.90 modem. The size of the hard drive was not mentioned in the company’s announcement. A number of other companies around the country have announced similar offers, but Empire.net apparently is the first company to actually have provided computers to people. A new California firm called Free-PC.com said it wanted to give away one million computers in return for providing other companies with detailed marketing information about its customers. The proposal drew international publicity, and some 500,000 people called to inquire in the first week. Free-PC reportedly has not yet delivered any computers. Another New Hampshire company, also called PC Free, has announced a similar offer but also has not yet actually delivered any computers to customers. Details about Empire.net’s free PC plan are available at: http://www.empire.net/promo.htm The following is a list of some of the genealogy-related World Wide Web home pages that have been listed recently on http://www.rootscomputing.com. Some of these sites may charge a fee for their services: Founding Families of Groton, Massachusetts and surrounding areas: The Downton Story - The story of an 1836 parish sponsored emigration of paupers from Downton, Wiltshire England to Upper Canada: English versions of foreign given first names - Czech., German, Hungarian, Polish and Slovakian: The Kiser Family Page for the descendants of Charles "Karl" Keyser: Carmack Family Genealogy Research: Riegel/Riggle Freundschaft Association and newsletter: To submit your home page 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.
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