I generally do not write about books or CD-ROM disks of specific
families. I prefer to write about items that are of interest to lots of people
rather than those items for only one family. However, this week I explored an
outstanding family CD-ROM disk and decided to write about it. "The Chadbourne
Family in America: A Genealogy" is an excellent example of a computerized
genealogy on CD-ROM that many other family organizations might like to emulate.
This CD-ROM contains every word from the 1994 book entitled,
Descendants of William Chadbourne of Tamworth, England and in 1634 Kittery/Berwick,
Maine including all known males for fifteen generations and female descendants'
families for the first five generations, together with an appendix of unlinked
Chadbournes" as compiled by Elaine Chadbourne Bacon for The Chadbourne
Family Association. This was a monumental book that is certain to be the standard
reference for Chadbourne research for the next several decades.
The CD-ROM version includes every word from the original book
plus many additions and a few corrections. Unlike many other CD-ROM disks I
have reviewed, this one is text-based. You see words, not images of the original
book. Best of all, you can copy-and-paste paragraphs or even pages of information
directly into your word processor or favorite genealogy program. For instance,
here is one such "copy-and-paste" that illustrates the kind of information
you may find on this CD-ROM disk:
CAPT JOSEPH HALEY (Hollis VR) of Phillipsburg or Little Falls,
b York 1772, d 11 Jan 1809; m2 (int) 16 Mar 1811 (NEHGR 9:253, she of Phillipsburg)
DANIEL SEDGLEY, d 1 Apr 1815; m3 Waterborough 1 June 1820 (NEHGR 91:15)
DARLING HUNTRESS JR, b 9 Mar 1756, d Shapleigh ME 26 May 1839, son of Darling
(32.ii.2) and Love (Hearl) Huntress of Newington NH; no children. Darling
Huntress had married twice before: Mary Warren and Dorothy Hubbard, d 1800
and 1818 ("Nathan Goodwin's Book of Remarks" MHS). Phebe was buried
in a small family cem in N Waterborough with her Hill nephews & nieces.
118 vi. JOHN, b Coxhall 17 Apr 1780.
119 vii. JEREMIAH, b Coxhall 22 June 1782.
- JOANNA, b Coxhall 20 Apr 1784; bpt 23 July 1790; d Waterborough
22 June 1875; m 2 July 1805 by Rev Edmund Eastman (NEHGR 90:229)
(NOTE: Depending upon which e-mail program you use to read this
newsletter and whether it uses proportional or non-proportional fonts, the alignment
of the above text may look "funny." However, it looks great in the
word processor I used to prepare this newsletter. It will look equally good
in your word processor if you copy-and-paste directly from the CD-ROM.)
The format is typical of Register format: brief, but with all
the required information and references included. In this case, you can see
that the sources of this information include the New England Historic Genealogical
Register Volume 9, page 253 (NEHGR 9:253), "Nathan Goodwin's Book of Remarks"
as found at the Maine Historical Society and the New England Historic Genealogical
Register Volume 90, page 229 (NEHGR 90:229).
The information is stored in a database format, not as images.
The result is that printing works well; you can print one record at a time,
that is, all the information about one person. The resultant printout looks
as if it was created by one of the modern genealogy programs. These printouts
are nicely formatted.
The same CD-ROM disk also contains a copy of every edition of
the Pied Cow Newsletter, as published by the same family association. You can
search for articles in the full file of thirty-one issues dating from 1984 to
2000. You can view the newsletters on-screen or print them on your local printer.
The Chadbourne Family in America CD-ROM was created with Folio
Views software. All the required software is included for the 32-bit Windows
systems, including Windows 95, 98, NT and 2000. It probably works on Windows
ME also, but I did not test that. Macintosh users will be delighted to find
that this CD-ROM also includes software for use on Macintosh with operating
systems through version 9.X.
The Chadbourne Family Association created this CD-ROM disk in
association with Search & Research Publishing Corporation. It sells for
$35 (U.S. funds). However, if you join the Chadbourne Family Association
for $10, the price of the CD-ROM drops to $25. As that still is a total of only
$35, you probably will want to join the Association.
For more information about this CD-ROM disk, or about the Chadbourne
Family Association, look at: www.chadbourne.org.
Dick Eastman Online
