UpFront with NGS

16 October 2015

Before you donate your genealogy research -- Important things to do!

Entry in Oldham Database for the Genealogy Research Volume I donated in 2001

We are not all in the fortunate position to have others in the family that shares our passion for genealogy and so will become the next archive for the family research already done. When in that situation, it’s important to consider giving your genealogy research to a library or archive.

And, you don’t have to wait to handle such in a will or similar instrument. When I completed the first round of research on my mother’s family (in 2001), I donated a copy to the local history library for the area which was the focus of the research. You can still find that item in its catalog. I also shared copies with family members. This way, no matter what happens to me or my research, at least a summary version of it is in the care of what I hope to be an in perpetuity facility. Unfortunately, I have produced two addenda to the original volume in the interim and I probably should also send a copy of those to join that initial volume.

I have created similar volumes for other branches of my family – They all Met in Salem Mass, They All Met in Chicago and They Married in Wilmington Delaware. I know what my New Year resolution will be come January 2016! Though, in a bit of a defense, I have posted most of this material online on my website and I have done so for years. And, donating volumes, like donating a book, is not quite the same as donating your collected research. Let’s delve into that now.

So, now that you’ve decided to donate your collection somewhere for safe keeping, how should you proceed? First, I suggest you read 4 Things To Do Before You Donate Your Genealogy (Amy Johnson Crow, via Ancestry.com blog) and do skim over the comments. There are some additional helpful ideas and thoughts to be found in the comments posted.

The Society of American Archivists also has some suggestions on Donating Your Personal or Family Records to a Repository.

Earlier this year, Dick Eastman (Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter) answered a query with a post titled Where to Donate Records to Make Them Available to Everyone. As always, do glance at the comments provided – they will tell you what the person who posted the original query did and provide many other relevant suggestions.

I am sometimes asked this question about family bibles and other one-of-a-kind documents (versus whole collections) with a North Carolina connection – my suggestions in this case are one or more of the following depending on the specific circumstances (you want to donate copies of pages, the original bible, etc) – NGS Bible Records collection (a member benefit), State Archives of North Carolina (digitized bible collection (currently over 2000) & brochure on how to donate to), UNC (e.g. Southern Historical Collection), local archive/library, etc. My suggestion is to first aim for the largest (and most likely to endure) repository and then if that isn’t feasible focus on repositories for which your bible or other material would be an asset such as several generations of a family who lived in a county or particular town.

What advice would you give someone who wants/needs to donate their genealogical research materials or bible or other one-of-a-kind original documents?

Editor’s Note: Post on a related topic "No longer saved for generations, family heirlooms are being shed"

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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15 October 2015

I'd like to see a show (or shows) about Hunting for Heirs -- What do you think?

Many of my professional colleagues are individuals who could be considered “Heir Hunters.” Essentially they are searching for the heirs for an estate in probate where there was no will.

The BBC in the UK has a long-running show called, appropriately enough, Heir Hunters. Unfortunately, those living outside the UK can only access clips and they do at least give you a sense of some of the research they’ve performed.

I so want to see this show!

The premise of looking for heirs at law for an estate can be quite similar to what we seek when trying to identify distant living cousins whether to compare notes with, query about DNA testing, etc. I suspect we could learn quite a bit from such a tv show.

Wouldn’t this be a neat premise for a US show? I am not aware of a show similar to Heir Hunters (BBC) ... are you? Are there other shows with the same premise produced elsewhere?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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14 October 2015

Even Ancestry.com Can't Keep Everything in Perpetuity and That's Not a Bad Thing!

Retention schedules provide guidance on what records an archive/repository needs to keep and for how long as part of its records management responsibilities.

By nature and necessity, not ALL records are retained in perpetuity. Some records have content duplicated elsewhere, some records only have relevance for a short period of time, etc.

In a way, the same can hold true for the genealogy databases that we love to access. Sometimes a “newer” database comes along that encompasses the content of an older database – for example, a database with a full index and digital originals supersedes what used to be a partial index with no images. We like that. An index + images can be a superior experience for researchers.

Sometimes, material becomes available in other easily accessible places (Internet Archive, HathiTrust, Google Books, etc) and so a decision is made to remove that material from a database where it might have previously been included to make room for other newer “stuff.”

The nature of any archive or database is that they are not infinite. They cannot keep everything. Decisions have to be made about what to keep and what to retire.

We are reminded of this via a couple of posts by Randy Seaver, “Where Did 567 Databases on Ancestry.com Go?” and his follow up, “Where Did 567 Databases on Ancestry.com Go? An Answer. UPDATED!” and another by The Ancestry Insider, Ancestry Deletes Hundreds of Databases that discuss some recently deleted Ancestry.com databases and some of the motivation for the culling. From the latter post ...

While I’m not willing to spend enough time to look for all five hundred deleted data bases, it certainly looks like many are Mormon-related, and many are old, tiny, text-only, poorly formatted, and pretty-much invisible databases.

So, it is helpful to read these posts for some perspective on the nature of the resources we use and how they are ever evolving and that doesn’t refer to just “adding” new material; sometimes it does mean the removing of content.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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13 October 2015

Archives Month -- I hope you've been celebrating!

For me, Archives Month is something I actually celebrate every day I visit an archive. They are the most wonderful places as repositories of our heritage.

It is a month when archives across the US celebrate their existence, their mission, and their collections. Also, the most wonderful posters get created.

Here is my annual sampling of the posters for 2015! Check them out and be sure to see “how” your archive is celebrating.

P.S. Just checking out all the posters is a lot of fun. A reminder of how each archive is unique and share a common mission.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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09 October 2015

Visualizing cities as they looked in the 1800s

Click on link below to access depicted video -- this is an image of the discussed web site

As a very visual person, I love maps.

As someone who loves maps, I really love projects where someone recreates a visualizing of what they think a particular place looked like at a certain point in time.

I am currently aware of these projects ...

+ Visualizing 1850s Richmond (VA) -- quite neat! (Upfront with NGS 2014)

+ Visualizing Early Washington D.C. circa 1814 (2012 though I just learned about!)

The above projects focused on recreating the topography of these cities. Though the Ghosts of DC project (where the second link takes you) also has a lot of images and maps for DC and area.

In searching for more projects like the above, I actually came across something called Visualizing 19^th-Century New York (catch the video at the bottom for a quick context) which isn’t quite the same since it focuses more on a visual perspective of life in a particular area of NYC.

These visualization projects make me feel like I am walking the streets of these cities and add insight into what they were like to live in at the depicted time. Yes, maps, especially Panoramic maps (see Panoramic Maps collection, Library of Congress) do help us visualize to an extant, when combined with photographic images of a street and the whole 3D (e.g. kind of like street views on Google) just takes it to a whole other level.

Do you know of other projects where one can see a visualizing of a particular place at a particular time?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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08 October 2015

Have Scottish Ancestors? Free access to Index for Valuation Rolls 1855 (through 13 October 2015)

I have one “known” Scottish branch in my family tree. Unfortunately, with the common surname of Nelson/Neilson and the common forename of John – it is a branch that has challenged me. The husband/father was never with the family on census night. I guess when you are a journeyman lace maker it’s not unsurprising and definitely darn inconvenient!

Being busy with client research, speaking engagements, this blog, editing a journal, and my living family, it’s rare that I ever get a chance to research my own family.

Well, when I learned that the 1855 Valuation Rolls for Scotland are now available and can be searched for FREE, I figured this was a chance to revisit my John Neilson and see if I could “finally” find this guy in some record. You can access the records by going to ScotlandsPeople. I believe that you will need to register (for FREE) to be able to search (if you find differently, please let me know). In the left hand navigation panel you will see Valuation Rolls and under that 1855. Click and you are ready to get started.

You can learn about the rolls via the National Records of Scotland page. You can access the press release about their availability here.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Though you can access the index for FREE, there is a charge to access any found records.

From my research I knew that his wife Mary and several children were living in Gorbals and then Newton-Stewart, Penninghame Parish (Wigtown County) in 1851 and in 1861. So, with fingers crossed I looked for a John Nelson/Neilson living in that community in 1855.

You will see in the image above that entry #14 is for a John Neilson, Owner/Occupier, House in Newton Stewart, Pennighame (parish), Wigtown (county) which seemed like a good fit. Unfortunately, I’ve been down this path before and given he is one of my longest standing brick walls, spending 2 credits to access this record was definitely a worthwhile investment.

When you purchase an item, it is then downloaded to your computer so that you may save and view.

As my lack of luck would have it, the entry literally said nothing more than what the index had (as you can see)

Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained!

That said, I know that Mary was still alive until 1870. So, I decided to take a look at the 1865 (and yes, spend 1 credit to look at the index entries since only 1855 is part of the FREE access). Well, no John Nelson nor Neilson in Penninghame was listed. Yet, Mary died in 1870 in Newton Stewart (Parish of Penningham) as reported by her son George?!?! So, I spent 1 more credit to look at a list for Neilson in all of Wigtown county in case she moved between the census years and there is just no entry that seems to work.

Oh well, I should have known that “my” John would not reveal himself. After all he’s done a good job of playing hide and seek in the records so far!

Maybe you will have more success with your ancestors!

Editor’s Note: Related posts ...

+ Scottish Genealogy Research Resources (2012)

+ The Scottish Council on Archives invites your feedback (2011)

Editor’s Note: A couple of links to research done by the author on the Nelson/Neilson family ...

+ Nelson

+ Scottish Case Study: The Nelson Family

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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07 October 2015

Records Access Victory!

A few weeks ago we reported on a Petition Filed at the Supreme Court of the State of New York for Vital Records Access.

A newsletter received last week is titled “Our first newsletter – and our first win!”

Welcome to the inaugural newsletter from Reclaim The Records. We're a not-for-profit group of genealogists, historians, researchers, and open government advocates who are filing state Freedom of Information law requests to get public data released back into the public domain. We're so glad you signed up to follow all the latest news about our wacky little quest.

And we're going to start off this first newsletter with some exciting news: Reclaim The Records has won its first legal case, winning access to over 600,000 never-before-public genealogical records!

We can now announce that our petition against the New York City Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS), parent organization of the New York City Municipal Archives, has been settled in our favor. We had originally filed a New York State Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with the Archives back in January, seeking copies of an important historical record set that was only available onsite in lower Manhattan. The Archives had at first accepted, then suddenly rejected our FOIL request, and then denied our appeal. Our last remaining option was to take them to court — and we did! To read more background on this case, and the importance of these records, check out this article from Avotaynu Online.

DORIS was due to respond to our case in court in Manhattan on Friday, September 25th, but they cried uncle and went to our attorneys to settle on Monday, September 21st. We don't have an exact date yet when our hard-won 48 microfilm copies will arrive in California, but it should be relatively soon. Scanning the films and uploading the digital images for free public access will happen shortly thereafter...

And, The Legal Genealogist (Judy G Russell) did a post about this particular effort while also reporting about our reduced access to the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) and to Kansas marriage records, We don’t always lose.

Records access is so important to our community. Fingers crossed in anticipation of more victories in the future.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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06 October 2015

NARA’s Digitization Priorities Announced

A couple of months ago NARA sought input into what it should prioritize going forward in terms of digitization, Do You Have Suggestions for NARA’s Digitization Priorities?

The results of that query have now been published, Announcing NARA’s Digitization Priorities.

Our genealogical community was definitely heard from ... “Overwhelmingly, people asked us to digitize records of genealogical interest, including immigration and ethnic heritage records; military and veterans records, especially those from World War I and II; and, of course, records that had preservation concerns.”

Do check out the full list as published and note that “The following represents our top priorities – it is by no means the entire list of what we would like to digitize over time; however, these projects will be our primary focus over the next 18-24 months. Please note, list order does not reflect order in which projects will be undertaken.”

Which of the listed records are you most anticipating access to?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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