Genealogy.com
As announced in the "special edition" of this newsletter earlier this week, Mattel Inc., seeking to capitalize on its beleaguered acquisition of The Learning Company, is spinning off a majority stake in one of The Learning Company's successful ventures, a genealogy Web site.
Genealogy.com has been spun off as a separate company while Mattel and its partners are injecting $37.5 million in initial funding into the venture. The partners include Hearst Corp., A&E Television Networks, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Weston Presidio Capital. Mattel will keep a minority stake in the freestanding business but isn't saying how big that stake will be.
The new company, based in Fremont, Calif., will include the existing genealogy Web site as well as The Learning Company's Family Tree Maker software, which includes both Family Archive CDs and FamilyTreeMaker. The announcement did not mention The Learning Company’s other genealogy software products: Ultimate Family Tree and Family Origins.
Analysts said the formation of the new company could be a lucrative move for Mattel as long as it maintains a significant stake in the venture and if current Internet valuations remain high. But some analysts questioned Mattel's wisdom in giving up the long-term value of The Learning Company's assets for a short-term gain. Just last month, Mattel announced that The Learning Company, which it acquired for $3.5 billion earlier this year, would have an unexpected loss of $105 million in the third quarter, due in part to its inability to book $60 million in revenue from a licensing agreement that failed to materialize. Mattel’s stock also has been falling. . It was at $40.50 a share about a year ago but has slid steadily since then, closing this week at $13.37.
The Learning Company's Broderbund unit set up the Genealogy.com site last year. The Web site had 905,000 visitors in September, topping the 887,000 visits to nearest rival Ancestry.com, according to Media Metrix. "The Web site receives about 10% of its revenue from an annual subscription fee for users," said Rob Armstrong, chief executive of the new company. He added, "Most of its other revenue comes from sales of its software and CD-ROM products with a small amount from advertising."
Mr. Armstrong, who was previously general manager of the genealogy unit at The Learning Co., said the new funding will help users' ability to share information and research with one another, expand the site's e-commerce capabilities, and develop more content. The company also plans to transfer more information from its 200 CD-ROM products onto the Web site.
Update on iUniverse.com
Speaking of new business partnerships, three weeks ago I wrote about a new online service called iUniverse. This company specializes in "on-demand printing." The publisher does not print hundreds or thousands of books in advance (for which the author must also pay in advance). Instead, they print books one-at-a time, as orders are received.
Less than three weeks after iUniverse’ Web site went live, Barnes & Noble purchased a 49 percent stake in the company. The two companies said that iUniverse titles will now be promoted through barnesandnoble.com. Barnes & Noble will also set up in-store displays in its 500 stores. "This investment is about giving authors with small voices the loudspeakers they need to get their works published and distributed throughout the world," Barnes & Noble vice chairman Steve Riggio said in a release. "We're providing iUniverse with the marketing power to become one of the largest publishers in the world overnight."
Financial terms of the deal were not released.
Family Tree Magazine
As predicted in the August 30 edition of this newsletter, a new printed genealogy magazine is being launched. F&W Publications just opened their new Web site at http://www.Familytreemagazine.com to promote the new publication. The site announces, "Family Tree Magazine is now available on newsstands nationwide. You can find it at a bookstore or newsstand near you or order online through our secure server."
Stories in the premiere issue include:
How to Start Unpuzzling Your Past - The author of the best-selling "Unpuzzling Your Past" takes you step by step through the first steps of finding your roots.
Writing Your Life Story - Writing the story of your life—or your parents' or grandparents'—doesn't have to be a chore. Here's how to get started turning your memories into memoirs, autobiography and journals.
50 Family Tree Maker Secrets - Unlock the hidden resources of the best-selling genealogy software program with an expert's guide to Family Tree Maker.
Branching Out - What's new in discovering, preserving and celebrating your past, including an interview with the author of Confederates in the Attic.
The Toolkit - Round-ups and reviews of the latest resources of interest to family-history fans, including: our First Look at the FamilySearch Web site, super scrapbooking sites, family-tree software worth seeking out and 10 top genealogy books.
Preserving Memories - Tips, tricks and new products—from scrapbook secrets to lettering know-how—to help make your memories last—creatively.
Time Capsule - Angela's Ashes author Frank McCourt traces his long journey from the slums to the bestseller lists.
Family Tree Magazine will be published bi-monthly. The cover price is $3.99.
GENTECH 2000
The year 2000 sounds like a long ways away. I find it difficult to believe that it begins less than two months from now. And in two and a half months many of us will be in San Diego at GENTECH 2000. If you would like to attend the premier "technology in genealogy" event, the time to make plans is right now.
The GENTECH 2000 National Computer Conference will be held in the San Diego Concourse Convention Center on January 28 and 29, 2000. The San Diego Genealogical Society is the local host society, along with eighteen other participating societies. This year’s theme is "Bridging the Centuries: Bringing Genealogy and Technology Together." The program includes 50 presentations and seminars, featuring most of today’s leading experts in genealogy-related technology topics. Last year’s GENTECH in Salt Lake City was the biggest and most successful GENTECH conference to date, but the San Diego affair looks like it will even beat last year’s records.
The conference hotel is the Westgate Hotel. For reservations, call 1-800-221-3802 and mention the GENTECH conference for the special room rates. The conference travel agent is Conventions in America. They are available at: 1-800-929-4242. To obtain the airfare discount for GENTECH attendees, mention Group #679.
I am especially looking forward to this year’s conference. The locals tell me that San Diego has very pleasant weather in January. There are many attractions in the area as well, including Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, Disneyland, Tijuana Mexico, and many others. I am hoping to spend a few extra days in the area; you may want to do the same.
All the conference details, including the complete conference brochure, are available.
California Land Patent Information Is Now Online
The following is an announcement from the Bureau of Land Management:
Historic California Land Patent Information has been published on the Internet by the Bureau of Land Management. This information is a valuable resource to the genealogist, historian or as a starting point for land title searches. The web site lists over 260,000 individual land patent recipients in the state of California.
The data is organized geographically by county. Using Adobe’s Acrobat plug-in with your browser, you can search county .pdf files to find individuals, and determine date, location, and under which law the land was obtained from the government. Also, compressed spreadsheets can be downloaded and manipulated using Microsoft Excel.
The data are not "Official Government Records" but are a useful research tool. Instructions for obtaining Official Records from the Bureau of Land Management and the National Archives are provided.
Besides the value to the genealogist, when combined with Master Title Plats available from BLM, information can be extracted to make maps showing periods of settlement, location of railroad grants, homesteads, mineral lands, and Mexican Land Grants, to name just a few possibilities. A page using Bakersfield, California as a case study, provides some examples of additional uses of this data.
This site contains high quality primary records that are valuable to genealogists. The site includes a name index for every patentee in the State of California. Once you find the individual, you note the county where the land is located and then select the link to that county. All of the county information is in Adobe Acrobat format.
This website is available at: http://www.ca.blm.gov/landpatents/
Genealogy on CD-ROM
This week I had a chance to read a new book: "Genealogy on CD-ROM" by Marthe Arends. Most of us know of the explosion in available CD-ROM disks in the past few years. Ms. Arends’s new book lists hundreds CD-ROM disks that contain information of interest to genealogists and gives a brief description of each one. The list includes the publisher and the retail price of each disk.
I know that there are hundreds of genealogy CD-ROM disks available now. In fact, I have written about quite a few. I was still surprised at the number of listings in this book. Marthe Arends has found many, many CD-ROM disks that I had not heard of previously. The listings and descriptions fill the 266-page book. In fact, the index alone fills eight pages.
"Genealogy on CD-ROM" is intended to show the researcher what is available on CD-ROM for biographies; genealogical references; historical references and dictionaries; journals, newspapers, and dictionaries; geographical finding aids; immigration and naturalization records; military records; African American and Native American records; U.S. resources; international resources; compiled family histories and genealogies; indexes; and Bible records. The book also contains quite a few screen shots to illustrate typical views from the various CD-ROM disks. Each CD-ROM disk listing includes the title, publisher, price, system requirements (operating system, RAM, hard drive, monitor), and a description of the contents.
"Genealogy on CD-ROM" is a useful reference. It should be especially nice to have on the shelf of your local genealogy society. Genealogical Publishing Company publishes the book, which sells for $29.95 U.S. funds plus shipping. It can be ordered directly from the publisher or at most any bookstore.
For more information, look at: http://www.genealogybookshop.com/
Online Obituaries From Allentown, PA
Candy Jens sent an e-mail this week asking me to write about one of her favorite online sites. When I read her message, I realized that she had just described it better than I ever could. With Candy’s permission, here is her e-mail:
Dear Mr. Eastman:
I'd like to give some favorable publicity to The Morning Call, the newspaper covering Allentown, PA and surrounding counties. Their obituaries are a genealogist's dream, and they are available on-line (mcall.com) from 1987 on. Not every obit has all the info below, but most do.
They list a name, nickname, age, date of death, and place of death. The spouse(s) names are given, with the maiden name in parentheses, and if living or "late." Often the marriage date is approximated by "They were married 46 years in July," for example. Occupation(s), military record, and organization and church memberships are given.
The decedent's place of birth and parents' names (with mother's maiden name) are listed. Brothers' and sons' names and locations are given; for sisters and daughters, their spouse's name is also included.
Since many families emigrated en masse from small towns in Austria-Hungary and settled in the area rather than dispersing, many generations of the same family are easy to trace - with the help of the most complete obits I've seen!
Candy Jens
Tamaqua, PA
candyj@ptdprolog.net
The Morning Call is available at: http://www.mcall.com
Searching and Grouping in Ultimate Family Tree
The Roots Users Group of Arlington, Virginia has produced a new CD-ROM disk called "Searching and Grouping in Ultimate Family Tree." I had a chance to use the CD-ROM this week and was impressed with it for several reasons.
The Roots Users Group of Arlington, VA is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, fraternal, mutual self-help group of amateur genealogists who use the Ultimate Family Tree software produced by the Banner Blue division of The Learning Company. This organization has produced very helpful newsletters and booklets for years, explaining many of the intricacies of Ultimate Family Tree. The new CD-ROM is the latest product of the Roots Users Group.
Ultimate Family Tree is a very powerful and full-featured genealogy program. It has numerous features that are not easily understood by the casual user. One such powerful feature is called "Searching and Grouping." This allows for all sorts of analysis and searching of the program’s database. The "Searching and Grouping in Ultimate Family Tree" CD-ROM is an on-disk slide show that serves as a tutorial on how this powerful feature works. The disk shows by examples how to use Searching and Grouping on your own database.
To be sure, this is not the first such effort by the Roots Users Group. In 1996 they produced a videotape on the same subject. I wrote about that in the December 2, 1996 edition of this newsletter. The new CD-ROM is loosely similar but with obviously updated materials. Also, the cost of producing and shipping CD-ROM disks must be much lower than the cost of videotapes.
This CD-ROM plays a slide show on your PC screen with audio explanation of each slide. It leads the user through a logical series of steps. Sprinkled with screen shots, the slide show starts with fundamentals and gradually builds more and more advanced examples of the Searching and Grouping feature. Dick Cleaveland’s voice patiently explains the information shown on each screen, an approach I rather liked; I seem to learn more from a voice than I do from reading words. The use of a slide show with voice and screen shots seems to produce a much better training package than any printed booklet.
This is an excellent tutorial. If you use the Ultimate Family Tree, you will want this CD-ROM!
The philosophy of CD-ROM training tools could be expanded into other fields as well. Obviously it could be applied to other software packages. But how about using CD-ROM training for non-software topics? How about a CD-ROM training tool for searching census records? Or could your local genealogy society produce a CD-ROM-based tutorial on where to find records in your county? Or where to find obituaries? Obviously there are many such opportunities.
The Roots Users Group of Arlington, Virginia, has produced an excellent training tool. To be sure, it is not a slick production. It has a "homemade" look and obviously did not cost thousands of dollars to produce. However, the information contained on the disk is all high quality. The Roots Users Group is to be congratulated on producing one of the first such tutorials on CD-ROM.
Members of the Roots Users Group of Arlington may obtain this CD-ROM disk by mail by sending $3 to the Disk Librarian, Margaret Keys, 7726 Carrleigh Pkwy, Springfield, VA 22152. Non-members will have to join the RUG to obtain the CD-ROM. Dues are $15 for one year, which includes the monthly newsletter, of course.
Alex Haley To Be Memorialized
American genealogists owe a debt of gratitude to Alex Haley, author of "Roots." Because of his popular book and television series, millions of Americans have become interested in tracing their ancestry. This resulted in more records becoming available for all of us. Now Alex Haley will be memorialized in bronze.
230 years after Haley’s ancestor, Kunta Kinte, landed at the Annapolis, Maryland, City Dock from Africa, local officials have announced plans for a statue of his famed descendant to be located nearby. The memorial—expected to cost $1.05 million—will feature a life-size bronze rendering of the "Roots" author sitting and reading to three children of different ethnicities. County and city officials have contributed $150,000 to the project, and the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation, which is planning the memorial at the city dock, plans to fund the rest through contributions from the state and private donors.
My thanks to Judith Reesor Hutchinson for letting me know about this project.
Update: 1901 U.K. Census Project
In the March 13, 1999 edition of this newsletter, I wrote about the proposed 1901 Census Digitisation Project. This project is no longer proposed; it is under way. The Public Record Office reports that negotiations are continuing on the various aspects of the digitisation work and the service elements.
The latest status is available.
Schindler Papers To Be Microfilmed
"The Week in Germany" reports that a suitcase full of papers is shedding new light on the life of industrialist Oscar Schindler. Among the items contained in the suitcase is a version of "Schindler's list," the document Schindler presented to Nazi authorities in 1944 and 1945 that helped more than 1,000 Jewish slave laborers escape death. Also included are personal papers from Schindler's less publicized later life, during which he struggled in vain to regain his footing in business and at times subsisted on the generosity of those whose lives he had saved. The suitcase and its contents were discovered by a Stuttgart couple two years ago and eventually turned over to the Stuttgarter Zeitung, which published a ten-day series of reports on the find.
Over the next few weeks, the Koblenz archive plans to copy the entire contents of the suitcase—more than 5,000 pages—onto microfilm so it can make the material accessible to historians and others interested in conducting research on Schindler. The archive will also prepare the originals for shipment to Jerusalem, where, at their owners' request, they are to be donated to the Holocaust research center, Yad Vashem.
My thanks to Richard Alan Nelson for providing this information.
Almost Half Of All Adults Interested In Genealogy?
The online news services this week were full of articles about the new genealogy.com spin-off from Mattel. One comment that caught my eye was in the story carried on the COMTEX Newswire: A recent study by Maritz Marketing found that 45 percent of adults have an interest in genealogy.
From the Mailbox
Last week I wrote about the problem of "spam mail," those unwanted e-mails containing advertising for all sorts of merchandise and services. Several people wrote to suggest that one more tool to use against spam is SpamCop. This Web site is a "reporting service" that will send email on your behalf to the appropriate network administrator. I don’t see how this helps with forged e-mail addresses, since many "spam mails" do not show the correct originating network. However, several readers reported good results. You can see for yourself at: http://spamcop.net
Brave New World
"Predictions" is a new book that pulls together the predictions of 30 great minds, from economist J.K. Galbraith to writer Umberto Eco and feminist Andrea Dworkin. I haven’t been able to find a copy of this work yet, but the announcements this week sound fascinating. "These are the ideas of some of the world's most distinguished academics at the close of the millennium," said Sian Griffiths, editor of "Predictions."
Here are some of the predictions about the next century:
The human attention span will cease to exist
Two intelligent species will roam the earth.
Sex will be just for lust—babies will come from reproductive bank accounts.
Contraception will become superfluous
Phones and faxes will be dumped in favor of direct mind-to-mind communication.
Come 2010, according to the often-prescient Arthur C Clarke, Prince Harry will become the first member of Britain's royal family to fly in space.
Lights will be turned on at the flick of a thought—switches will be consigned to history.
I am not sure I am ready for some of those predictions!
Upcoming Events
The Upcoming Events section of the newsletter is published once per month. Each event will be listed very briefly: title, date(s), location, and sponsoring organization, all followed by either an e-mail address or a Web page that you can use to find more information. Since detailed information is available via e-mail or the Web, I will not list the details in this newsletter. If you do contact any of these organizations, please tell them where you heard about the event.
Here are the listings, arranged by date. An asterisk indicates a new listing that has been added since the last time this list was published:
The Ingham County (Michigan) Genealogical Society presents "A Genealogical Seminar" on Saturday, November 13, 1999. Speakers will be Shirley J. Hodges and Jana Sloan Broglin. For more information.
The Yuma Family History Center annual seminar will be held on Nov. 13. Information is available.
*The New Brunswick Genealogical Society, Southeastern Branch, will hold a daylong celebration of its 20th anniversary on November 20, 1999 in Moncton, New Brunswick. For details, send an e-mail to: jbsteeve@nbnet.nb.ca
The Arizona Genealogy Computer Interest Group (AGCIG) will hold a meeting on "New Software". For information, contact jcrogers@home.com
The New England Historic Genealogical Society is offering its annual "Research Program to Salt Lake City" from November 14-21, 1999. This program brings the experience and knowledge of the society’s research staff to The Family History Library in Salt Lake City, which houses the world's largest collection of genealogical data. Details are available.
The Arizona Genealogy Computer Interest Group (AGCIG) meeting on "Web Publishing" will be held on January 8, 2000. For information, contact jcrogers@home.com
The West Valley Genealogical Society of Arizona (formerly the Sun Cities Genealogical Society) is sponsoring their annual seminar on January 14 through 16. Topics will be British Isles and Colonial U.S. Research. Linda Jonas, President of the British Isles Family History Society – USA will be the main speaker. For further information, contact pruemeader@aol.com
The Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy 2000 will be held 17-21 January 2000 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Eight courses will be held this year. A unique feature of the Institute is its close proximity to the Family History Library. More information and a registration form are available.
GENTECH, a non-profit volunteer organization, and the San Diego Genealogical Society will host GENTECH2000 "Bridging the Centuries: Bringing Genealogy and Technology Together" in San Diego, California on 28-29 January 2000. A large program is planned.
The Genealogical Society of Yuma, Arizona annual seminar will be held January 29, 2000. Featured speaker will be Jean White of Phoenix. For further information, visit http://www.gsya.org
*The Pinellas Genealogy Society (of Largo, Florida) holds its Annual Education Seminar on January 29, 2000. Guest Speaker, Dr. George K. Schweitzer, will present 3 informative lectures at this all-day event. For more details visit: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/8283
The McAllen Genealogical Society will hold its annual all-day seminar Saturday, February 5, 2000 in McAllen, Texas. Henry Z (Hank) Jones, the featured speaker, will present four informative and fun lectures. For details, contact: ecmacey@ibm.net
The Arizona Genealogical Computer Interest Group is sponsoring Cyndi Howells (of Cyndi’s List fame) for a return visit and full day seminar on Feb. 12, 2000. For further information, contact jcrogers@home.com
The Lake Havasu (Arizona) Genealogical Society will be holding its 7th Annual Seminar on Feb 26, 2000. Guest speaker will be Bill Doty from the NARA discussing Military Sources.
Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois, will be offering a series of one-day computer workshops on the following genealogical topics during the month of March 2000: PAF 4.0, Windows for Genealogists, From Document to Computer, Using Online Library Catalogs, Sharing/Exchanging Information Online, Family Tree Maker, Genealogy on the Internet. The presenter will be Michael John Neill. More information is available at: http://www.rootdig.com/sandburg.html
The Slippery Rock (Pennsylvania) Heritage Association will present an all day workshop on April 1, 2000. The speaker will be Ernest Thode, speaking on various German topics. For more information, contact: hmssagt@aol.com
ROOTS XVI, the 16th annual all-day seminar sponsored by The Genealogy Workshop of the Huntington Historical Society, Huntington, New York, will be held April 29, 2000. For information, send an e-mail to: wchamber@suffolk.lib.ny.us
The Ontario Genealogical Society will hold Seminar 2000 at the Ottawa Congress Centre in Ottawa on May 12-14, 2000. Details are available at: http://www.cyberus.ca/~ogsottawa/sem2000.htm
*The CASSELMAN Ancestral Society will be holding an international family reunion July 7-8-9 2000 in Morrisburg, Ontario, Canada, open to all members and friends of the Casselman/Castleman (and other spellings) family. For info, look at: http://www.glen-net.ca/casselman
The Germans From Russia Heritage Society (GRHS) will celebrate its 30th anniversary at its year 2000 convention in Bismarck, North Dakota, July 13-16, 2000. Additional details are available at: http://www.grhs.com.
The Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies will host its Annual Rocky Mountain Regional Conference, 22-23 September 2000, Lakewood CO. Featured speakers will be Cyndi Howells, Henry "Hank" Jones, and Christina Schaefer. For details, contact: pakemper@aol.com.
*A reunion for anyone who has an interest in, or ancestors from, the Dutch island of Goeree-Overflakkee in the province of Zuid, Holland, will be held in September 2001. This reunion will take place in or near the village of Ouddorp, which has been inhabited since before 300 BC. Participants will not only visit the Genealogical Center in Middelharnis, but also the annual genealogical day, organized by the Zeeland chapter of the NGV, (Dutch Genealogical Society). Details are available at: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lake/1588/
If you would like to see your event listed, send an e-mail to: meetings@rootscomputing.com. You must include either a Web page that gives details or an e-mail address for the organization or for someone within the organization who is willing to supply the meeting details upon request. Please limit your listings to events where you expect 100 or more people to attend.
Home Pages Highlighted
The following is a list of some of the genealogy-related World Wide Web home pages that have been listed recently:
The history and genealogy of the Teaford family in Augusta county Virginia: http://homestead.juno.com/susanprice1/Teaford.html
Barbee's Crossroads covers the major Barbee lines in the U.S. from the 1600s. There are many links to other Barbee web pages and resources for Barbee's: http://members.aol.com/BarbeeJK/Crossroads.html
McKenzie/Mueller Family Tree, Our Roots" -
http://home.t-online.de/home/mckenzie/roots.htm
Jacquet ancestors, who came to Louisville, Ohio from Les Houches in the French Alps in 1847: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pond/7087/family/
The Hubbell Family Historical Society for the descendants of Richard Hubbell of Rock, Worcestershire, England who came to the New Haven Colony in the mid 1640s. Descendants' names include Hubbell, Hubble, Hubel, Huble, and Hubbel: http://www.hubbell.org
Houghton Family Project: a Houghton surname website for descendants of John and Ralph Houghton of Lancaster, MA and all other Houghton surname descendants: http://sites.netscape.net/cjvella
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.
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: The contents of this newsletter are copyright by Richard W. Eastman. You are hereby granted rights, unless otherwise specified, to re-distribute articles from this newsletter to other parties provided you do so strictly for non-commercial purposes. Please limit your re-distribution to one or two articles per newsletter; do not re-distribute the newsletter in its entirety. Also, please include the following words with any articles you re-distribute:
The following article is from Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 2000 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Dick Eastman Online
