GenealogyandFamilyHistory.com

by Joe Garonzik, Marketing Director, Genealogical Publishing Co.

Forgive us for beaming, but 2009 marks the 50th birthday of Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Jules Chodak, the company’s founder, frequented book auctions   and amassed a sizable collection of rare and out-of-print books pertaining to general Americana. He advertised his acquisitions in a series of catalogues and canvassed book dealers hoping to interest them in his hard-to-find titles. Trading as the Southern Book Company, he moved his office and stock out of his home to a location in downtown Baltimore, Maryland.

During the 1950s, Mr. Chodak’s book dealership underwent two important changes. First, he narrowed the range and increased the depth of his interests from general Americana to genealogy, heraldry, and local history. Second, he went into the publishing business to accommodate the demand for out-of-print titles. In 1952, the Southern Book Company published its first book, the reprint edition of William M. Clemens’ Virginia Wills Before 1799. The reprint segment of the business grew, and in 1959 Mr. Chodak changed the company name to the Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc. (GPC). By the time of Mr. Chodak’s death in 1968, publishing revenues were on a par with sales of old books.

Over the next thirty years, GPC completed its metamorphosis to a specialty publisher. It ended its book dealership and liquidated its inventory of old books. Under the direction of Barry Chodak, Jules’s son, and managing editor Michael Tepper, GPC emerged as the leading publisher of genealogical reference books and research manuals. One critical episode in this transformation occurred in 1969, when a local genealogist/attorney delivered the manuscript of a genealogy textbook to the GPC staff at the World Conference on Records in Salt Lake City. Four years later, in 1973, the publication of Val Greenwood’s Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy set the standard for commercial book publishing in genealogy. Revised and updated through three editions, this work continues to be the reference book that U.S. genealogists reach for when they need assistance.

Val Greenwood’s textbook represented the first of over 100 guidebooks or genealogy how-to books from GPC. Additional titles covered numerous facets of American genealogy, such as census research, old handwriting, state-by-state research, ethnic genealogy, new technology, and more. Nor did we limit our attention to the United States. In time, we produced titles devoted to genealogical research in Canada, Italy, Poland, Germany, and the European continent as a whole. Still other books dwelt on Chinese surnames, British and Irish research, and Hispanic America
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Notwithstanding the spate of how-to books, most of our titles are collections of genealogical source records or compiled genealogies. The selection of topics is broad, ranging from the more common marriage records, wills, deeds and land instruments, vital records, pensions, and ships’ passenger records to apprenticeships, adoptions, and age determinations. These compilations include collections of genealogies on a particular theme (Virginia, New England, Revolutionary War veterans, etc.) by a single author, and multi-volume extractions of genealogy articles from leading genealogy journals such as the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, and the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, to name just three. I remember well combing through thousands of back issues of periodicals in search of the appropriate ones to include in what became a large, multi-volume, indexed compendia of previously inaccessible genealogy.

Most, but not quite all, of GPC publications have two things in common: Their coverage is limited to colonies/states east of the Mississippi River, and to the period prior to the American Civil War. In fact, many of our books can assist researchers hoping to extend their genealogies to their ancestral homelands in the 18th, 17th, or 16th century. In a typical year, GPC publishes as many as forty original works in genealogy, written or compiled by experts in the field.

Clearfield Company was established in 1989 to market and distribute GPC’s overruns and remainders. Since the early 1990s it has also published original and out-of-print titles that have a slightly more specialized focus in the fields of genealogy, local history, folklore, and Americana. Clearfield publishes about 150 titles each year, and it has made available hundreds of discount reprints that otherwise would remain out of print. Over the years, GPC and Clearfield have published more than 2,000 books.

Although I have described our evolution from used bookseller, to reprint publisher, to full-fledged reference book publishing house with thousands of books in print under three different imprints: Genealogical Publishing Company, Clearfield Company, and Gateway Press, we continue to change, particularly with the advent of the digital age. Today, about one-third of the titles we publish are also available on CD-ROM.

The process began in the 1990s when GPC collaborated with Banner Blue Software, the company that introduced Family Tree Maker software to the genealogy market. Banner Blue wanted to make genealogy data available to its customers, and we wanted to get as much of our material as possible into an electronic format. As a result of that collaboration, over 800 of our books were imaged, indexed, and made available on CD-ROM at a fraction of the cost of the books themselves. These books are available on approximately 85 Family Archive CDs, which use Family Tree Maker’s patented Archive Viewer. Over the last four or five years, we have produced about a half-dozen newer CDs that work with the Adobe Acrobat Reader software, which, like the Family Archive Viewer, can be downloaded free of charge. Within the next few years, we expect to digitize the remaining books in our collection and make them available either with an online subscription or by downloads.

The inclusive index to the books found on our CD-ROMs yielded an important enhancement to our website genealogical.com: the name search feature. You can now search the names on all those CDs (and the books found thereon), before you decide whether or not to purchase a product. Because the index is not comprehensive to all 2,000 books in our collection, failing to find the name you are looking for in our “name search” should not discourage you from considering books not yet indexed online. We recognize that this arrangement is not perfect, and we are in the process of indexing the remainder of our titles. Meanwhile, the millions of names currently indexed on our site, most of which go back to the colonial period of American history or earlier, are a valuable, free resource for our customers.

As we embark on our next half-century, our website, genealogical.com, promises to be the key mechanism for bringing you the newest and best in genealogical resources. For example, in recent weeks we have launched a new weekly feature on the site called “Today Only.” Modeled after the in-store shopping specials you encounter in your local grocery, Today Only offers deep discounts on popular books/CDs for a 24-hour period, the same kind of deep discounts you have come to expect on slow-selling titles at our “Genealogy Warehouse” bargain basement. Be sure to look for the “Today Only” icon on our home page on a regular basis. Look to “Genealogy Pointers” or our website for announcements of the latest genealogical reference materials, like Drew Smith’s Social Networking for Genealogists, or the new 3rd edition of Elizabeth Petty Bentley’s County Courthouse Book. Finally, as we digitize the remainder of our existing products, you will discover that increasing number of our titles will be in print at all times (thanks to print-on-demand technology), and available in a variety of formats. If you know of an out-of-print book, or would like to propose a new one for us to publish, please send your suggestions to mailto: info@genealogical.com . With your help, we look forward to bringing you the best books and CDs that genealogy can offer in the years to come.

By Carolyn L. Barkley

Family reunions were not events that my immediate family attended when I was growing up. As a child, my mother had attended family reunions for her mother’s family, but as her mother died quite young, those ties slipped away over time. A “reunion” for my family, then, was Christmas dinner with my mother, father, grandfather, a cousin who was a half-generation between my mother and my grandfather, and me.

When I began researching other peoples’ lineages, I occasionally was invited to attend a friend’s family reunion to both share and collect family data. However it was not until the 1990s that, at the invitation of a newly-discovered cousin of my husband’s, we attended a Barkley family reunion in the Elm City, North Carolina, area. It was an opportunity to add to our knowledge of his family and to inquire about family photographs, Bibles, and grave site locations. I can vividly remember going into the community hall while my husband parked the car. I immediately rushed back out, declaring, “There’s a whole group of men here who look just like your father!” I later experienced a similar phenomenon when I attended a long-lost uncle’s 80th birthday party in southwestern New York. Although it was not a reunion per se, I encountered an entire room of people who looked like young pictures of my mother and her mother. The resemblance between a cousin about my son’s age was striking – notwithstanding the 12” height differential. From these several experiences, I came to appreciate what I had been missing.

Many families hold reunions, often annually. Others are planning their first event. The process can seem daunting. Luckily, there are many resources available for planning a successful reunion. Here are a few tips:

1. Read as much as you can about how to plan a successful reunion. If you are not put off by the “Mr. Spiffy’s Reunion Planner” format, family-reunions.com provides step-by-step planning tips for your reunion. You may also want to check FamilyReunion.com, a social networking site for family reunion planners. The site provides “exclusive information, services, products, resources and links all designed to help millions of visitors and members connect with other family members and get the most from their family gathering events.” This site’s basic service is free of charge, with an available upgrade to “premium content” for a monthly fee. If your family is African-American, check out reunion information at afrigeneas.com.
    In addition, you may want to read George G. Morgan’s Your Family Reunion: How to Plan It, Organize It, and Enjoy It (Ancestry, 2001); Cheryl Fall’s Family Reunion Planning Kit for Dummies (For Dummies, 2001); Krystal Williams’ How to Plan Your African-American Family Reunion (Citadel Press, 2000); or Phyllis A. Hackleman’s Reunion Planner (Genealogical Publishing Co., out-of-print but slated to be available this fall). Finally, check your local stores for a copy of Reunions magazine or check it out online at reunionsmag.com.
2.  Decide who will attend the reunion. If you define the scope of your event early, you will be able to make subsequent decisions more easily. Are you planning a reunion for just one family line or multiple lines? Will you invite only direct descendants and their immediate families, or will you include cousins? Begin a preliminary list of individuals who will receive invitations. Ask family members for contact information for each person on the list, as well as for additional names.
3.  Form a reunion committee. Now that you have determined the size of the reunion, check out Better Homes and Gardens online for size-specific planning information. Make sure that responsibility for each aspect of the event gets assigned to someone on the committee. Develop a theme – significant events in the family’s history, share-a-document or photograph, or other such topics will create excitement about the event. Make sure that committee members communicate, communicate, communicate!
4. The reunion committee will want to decide when and where to hold the event. Summer and early fall are popular times as weather and travel pose fewer obstacles. Is there a specific location or historic site that is meaningful to the family? Is there a location that will make it more convenient for the majority of people to attend? Reunions are big business for many cities because they translate into hotel and convention center revenue. Contact the visitors’ bureau or convention center in the locality you are considering to see if they have planning guides, reunion packages, and other services available. You will also want to consider meeting space. Public libraries and community centers often provide meeting rooms either free of charge or at a minimal cost; hotels may provide a free meeting room based on the number of sleeping rooms reserved.
5. The reunion committee will also want to develop a budget for the event. The number of people to be invited, the cost of the room for the event, catering (a good idea if many of those invited do not live locally), postage and printing, favors, decorations, name tags, etc. should all be considered. Consider charging a per-family registration fee to cover expenses.
6. You may also want to advertise your reunion dates. Family Reunion List allows you to list your reunion free of charge. Publications such as New England Ancestors (New England Historic Genealogical Society) includes notices of upcoming reunions, as do sites accessible through Cyndi’s List. By making information about your reunion available, members of your family whom you may have “lost,” can learn of your event and attend.
7. Make everyone welcome as they arrive at the reunion. Have greeters at a registration table to make introductions and provide directions and other information. Provide pre-printed name tags for all attendees. If your event includes individuals from multiple family lines, include the name of the progenitor on each name tag. Make sure to have a large genealogical chart posted on a wall with plenty of pens or pencils available so that information can be added or corrected during the event. If there are members of older generations attending, enlist some of the younger family members to interview them about family stories and events, perhaps videotaping the conversation.
8.  Follow up on the event. Correspond with those who attended to get their feedback and interest in future reunions. Consider creating a wiki or website for the family including the genealogical information, stories and pictures from the reunion, but don’t forget to also provide those memories in a way that older, non-technological generations may also enjoy them.

Family reunions are a wonderful way to connect – and stay connected – with your family. Check to see if there is a reunion scheduled for your family. If not, consider planning one yourself. Everyone will be glad you did.

By Carolyn L. Barkley

Drew Smith’s Social Networking for Genealogists (Genealogical Publishing Co., 2009) defines a wiki as “a website that provides an easy way for multiple individuals to create and edit the pages of the site without having to know any specialized formatting language.” We all may have consulted an entry in Wikipedia, the “free encyclopedia that anyone can edit,” but we may not have thought about how wikis might impact our genealogical research.

Wikis have different formats. The Encyclopedia of Genealogy, a wiki founded by Dick Eastman, provides “a free-content encyclopedia created by its readers, people like you.” As such it is similar to Wikipedia. Need to define “Bright’s disease,” or understand what “chancery” means? Consult eogen.com. If you need a quick definition of a word or phrase and do not have a genealogical or other type of dictionary at hand, this site will be helpful. 

I was, however, more excited by the type of wiki found in sites such as WeRelate.org. If there is one genealogical wiki to explore, WeRelate is it. Proclaiming itself to be the world’s largest genealogy wiki, it is sponsored free of charge by the Foundation for On-Line Genealogy in partnership with the Allen County Public Library and sustained by tax-deductible donations. It provides access to over 2,000,000 person and family pages, and in 2008 Family Tree Magazine included it in its list of 101 best web sites. Be sure to view the “helicopter tour” to gain an overview of the site’s possibilities; additional tutorials cover specific processes used to create and edit wiki content. Registration is free and uncomplicated and is necessary to add or edit content. The strength of this site is the ability to provide the exact same information to any individual interested in a specific person or family. Everyone is, literally, “on the same page.” I found a page for a person in a collateral family in my husband’s Barkley line, and as I have documented information not currently included on the page, I can now add my information. By choosing to become a “watcher” of this page, I will be notified when information is added or edited. Notification is provided within the site so that personal email addresses do not have to be provided or kept up-to-date. This automatic notification eliminates the need for photocopies, mailings, and problems with expired email addresses. Best of all, I don’t need to know any HTML coding. Pages can include photographs; scanned documents; birth, marriage and death information; and stories about individuals, with the opportunity to provide source citations for each. An individual can upload photographs with annotations for known individuals. “Watchers” may be able to provide information on those individuals previously unknown by the individual posting the image. Documents can be annotated to highlight important information. GEDCOM files can be uploaded and a person page automatically formatted within about an hour, or you can complete a blank form individual by individual. Data may be viewed on six-generation pedigree charts, a map of life events, or a timeline. Research guides are available including articles, maps, place pages, an alternate name index, a source index, and a place index to 430,000 inhabited places worldwide. In addition 1.2 million sources may be searched including the Family History Library collection. I did a quick search on Barclays and Barkleys and found several names of interest that I will pursue after I review additional tutorials.

One of the newest wikis is the FamilySearch wiki, a “free online encyclopedia of genealogy information.” As with other wikis, content can be added and edited by registered users. Other content includes “how-to guides, expert tips, archive information, church information, maps, gazetteers, news and events,” as well as “links to helpful databases and websites, and discussion forums.” A summer roll-out of 15,000 pages is planned. In addition, if you have genealogical information for North Carolina, you can participate in a “North Carolina Barn Raising” through the end of June. More information about volunteering for specific projects is available at the Community Portal at wiki.familysearch.org. Be sure to view the video tutorials and demos. Still other wikis have been created by individuals who share information about their specific family or research. Additional wikis may be located through Cyndi’s List.

As I read more about wikis, I see how I might apply this concept to my work as genealogist for Clan Barclay International. The Clan Barclay Genealogical Database is an outgrowth of the Clan Barclay One-Name Study which I began in the mid-1980s. All of the data collected for over 200 Barclay (and variant spellings) families currently resides on my aging laptop in a single Master Genealogist file, coded for specific family lines (and yes, it is backed up!). Anyone wishing to access the information must contact me via email or letter and wait patiently (and sometimes wait and wait and wait) for me to consult the database and reply. If no information is available, a series of emails then ensue in which I urge the individual to send me his or her family information to be entered into the database as a new family line. When matches occur, I contact all interested “correspondents” to the database. The work is time consuming (I won’t mention how far behind I am in answering queries and entering data). I will definitely be spending part of my summer looking at how a wiki such as WeRelate might allow me to provide access to the database more effectively.

Wikis offer a significant opportunity to share our genealogical information with others, while gaining from their knowledge. I recommend beginning with a review of the wiki chapter in Drew Smith’s Social Networking for Genealogists. In addition, you will want to decide if a personal wiki meets your needs, or if participation in a large project such as WeRelate will be more useful. Either way, wikis will play a significant role in our genealogical research.

By Carolyn L. Barkley

Migration trails have not played a significant role in my family research. My mother’s family moved either from the counties of coastal Massachusetts inland to Hampshire and Hampden Counties (and stayed there for generations) or from the New Haven, Connecticut, area to Hampden County, Massachusetts (and stayed there for generations). When I researched a friend’s family, I was intrigued by its migration from Long Island to Vermont; Vermont to upper New York State; New York to Michigan; and eventually to Wyoming. What a different experience!

Migration patterns often help solve genealogical problems. A comprehensive census search is a good way to begin to outline a family’s movements. This strategy, however, can be challenging due to deaths and remarriages, imaginative spellings of surnames, use of initials rather than first names, poor indexing, etc. Some families just seem to disappear! An additional strategy is to read a comprehensive history of the county or town in which you have located your family. Such histories often discuss the geographic origins of the area’s population and indicate to what areas groups may have later moved. Often, however, your migration picture will be incomplete and you will wonder why and how they got from point A to point D. Learning more about migration routes may help you locate your illusive ancestors as they moved.

I’d like to recommend one online and one print source to assist you in learning more about the routes available to our ancestors.

Although Cyndi’s List offers a selection of 188 online sites about migration, I was particularly interested in migrationtrails.com. On the main page, click on the first choice “Migration Trails.” A map of the United States illustrates the route of 144 migration trails. I was interested to note the large number of trails east of the Mississippi in comparison to those in the western states. If you click on one of the numbered routes listed across the top and bottom of the map, you will be taken to a detailed description of that route. For example, the Augusta and Cherokee Trail description includes the approximate time frame that this route was used (1675-1800); what groups traveled the trail (Danish, Dutch, English, French, Irish, Norwegian, Scottish, Swedish, and Welsh), and the counties through which the trail passed. The county information includes the name of the county, the year it was created, and a link to an online site providing information on that county. If you click on the name of the county itself, a census chart appears for its state, listing each county and the availability of a federal census enumeration between 1790 and 1920 for that jurisdiction. If you then click on one of the nationalities listed for the trail, you will be taken to a page discussing migration history for that specific group. The Swedish migration page, for example, provides the dates of immigration (pre-1820 and 1820-1880); favorite port of entry (New York and Quebec); where they settled (Great Lakes states, upper Midwest, Pacific Northwest, New York, Pennsylvania, and Utah); where to look for ancestors (with a link to a Swedish migration trails map); and historical migration facts for Swedes (beginning in 1638 with Fort Christina on the Delaware), as well as the locations Swedish-American concentrations. You can also access the nationality information directly from the home page by clicking on the second choice, “Who Traveled the Trails.” You may then choose from a list of nationalities that includes Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Scotch-Irish, Scottish, Swedish, and Welsh, taking you directly to the migration description page for that nationality. References to related sources are provided throughout this site. You will learn a lot from migrationtrails.com no matter how much or how little you know about the movements of your ancestor.

William Dollarhide’s book, Map Guide to American Migration Routes, 1735-1815 (Precision Indexing, 1997) is also very helpful in understanding the routes taken by our ancestors. While frontiersmen had always traveled where they wished by foot or horse, the migration of entire families with their belongings required a system of roads that could accommodate wagon or stagecoach travel. While they may not have been roads in the modern sense given mud, pot holes, tree stumps, and other impediments to comfortable travel, early roadways allowed for the movement of families, or groups of families, to new locations. The routes included in the Map Guide begin with the King’s Highway (1735) stretching from Boston to Charleston, and conclude with the roads that resulted from the War of 1812. Dollarhide describes routes that were used prior to the industrial revolution when the introduction of steamboats, canal boats, and, by 1830, railroads changed the migration experience. Routes are discussed in chronological order, with corresponding maps as well as comparisons with contemporary, co-terminus interstate, state and national roads.

Migration trail information can be very helpful to you in charting the progress of your family from state to state regardless of how much or how little you may know about their migration. By starting with a family in a particular place, at a particular time, it is well worth your time to learn about the specific migration patterns in and out of that location, as well as the documented routes that passed through the location. These two sources, migrationtrails.com and Dollarhide’s Map Guide to American Migration Routes, are great places to begin.

By: Carolyn L. Barkley

With abject apologies to Sir Walter Scott: “Breathes there the genealogist, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my favorite form!”

Personally, I love to complete forms. Well, having just refinanced our house, perhaps, I should qualify that statement – I love to complete genealogy forms. I’m one of those who always wants to receive the long form for the census. There is something very satisfying about checking off boxes and filling in blanks. As a researcher, forms allow me to translate my often chaotic and occasionally unreadable notes into a concise, clear format that enables me to analyze my findings and plan for future research – and retrieve my previous work efficiently when needed.

Genealogical forms can be found in books such as Emily Anne Croom’s The Unpuzzling Your Past Workbook (Betterway Books, 1996), by searching Cyndi’s List, or by checking individual sites such as familysearch.org. Sometimes, however, I don’t want to go looking for the appropriate form, or I’m at a research institution without access to my home library and files. I would rather have forms easily accessible in one convenient, portable location. Michael Hait’s CD, The Family History Research Toolkit: Forms & Charts for Genealogical Research (Genealogical Publishing Company, 2008), meets my need to have the right form, in the right place, at the right time.

The Family History Research Toolkit provides 22 forms in pdf format (Adobe Acrobat Reader required). What makes these forms truly exciting is that they are not just “print and fill in by hand” pdfs. Instead, they allow you to fill in the form on your computer. How wonderful! This ability to complete forms on your PC or laptop means that you can take organized notes while you research.  In addition, each chart is formatted for source citations according to Elizabeth Shown Mill’s Evidence! You can save the forms to your hard drive and you can print them easily by just clicking on the “Print Form” button located in the upper right hand corner of each form. Careful file name selection will help organize the various forms efficiently.

While some of the forms provided on this CD are among the most commonly used (pedigree chart, family group sheet, research log, and census forms for 1850 through 1930), some are unique to Mr. Hait and meet important research needs. Here are a few examples:

•  Household Tracker – 1790-1840. This form allows you to track a head of household across six census enumerations, noting location, name of head of household, and males and females within specific age categories. The ability to see all of this information on one form permits easier analysis.
•  Household Estimator – 1800-1840. This form allows you to enter the name and known birth date for each individual in the subject household in one column and then to compare that data with the age categories provided in each of the five census years. The comparison of expected age with census age categories fosters more efficient and accurate analysis.
• Land Ownership History – This form allows you to document all grantor and grantee entries for an individual recorded in a specific county and state. Entries include date, name, tract name or description, and book and page citation.
• Metes and Bounds Tract Description – When I am doing in-depth land research in order to solve a research problem, I have developed my own abstract form for ease in describing each land description. My form is less than perfect and this toolkit form provides the best concatenation of elements I have found. An added benefit for Deedmapper users is that all the various calls needed to produce the plat can be clearly documented on this form.
•  Source Notes – Three separate source note forms are available: for a book, for an Internet source, for a microfilm source.

I intend to put several of these forms to immediate use and will thoroughly enjoy being able to engage in one of my favorite pastimes – completing forms – on my laptop as I’m researching. I recommend The Family History Research Toolkit to everyone who wants to organize their research and their research files more effectively.

by Bonnie Lynn Cary

   It was a crisp winter day in 1991 and I was filled with nervous excitement, for this was my very first research trip to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. That day would be the start of an exciting and thrilling “treasure hunt.” On entering the researcher’s entrance on Pennsylvania Avenue, I struck up a conversion with a fellow genealogist.  She casually asked if I had a War of 1812 soldier. I replied, “Yes I do, but I already have his service and pension records. I ordered them by mail from the Archives.” She replied, “Oh, you will want to look at the original record today. I’ll show you how.” At first, I thought to protest, since I already had the records. After all, what did I need to look at them for? Then I decided that this was my first trip and if someone wanted to help show me the ropes, then I needed to be open to the experience. Wow! Am I forever glad that I was! She showed me how to fill out the request for military records and where the drop box was located. A few hours later, she showed me how to get to Room 203, the textual records reading room. Little did I know what a wonderful surprise was awaiting me!

    I went to the counter and requested the 1812 pension record for my great-great grandfather, Samuel Cary of Nottoway County, Virginia, a private in Capt. Charles Betts’ Company. I sat down at the desk, opened the folder and starting turning the pages. Suddenly, I stopped short! I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. I was reading and touching a torn-out page from my ancestor Samuel Cary’s family Bible! To actually hold this fragile document with its edges torn and crumbling and to think that family members before me had done the same produced an overwhelming feeling. It somehow brought my ancestors much closer to me. I had known there was a family Bible page in this pension, since I had received the information by mail, but what was such a surprise was that there was birth and death information written on the backside of the original. I only had a copy of the marriage page! If I had not listened to some very good advice, I would never have known there was additional information on that family Bible page which the staff had omitted when they had made copies for me.

      Needless to say, that experience started my love for research at the National Archives. Yes, the Archives is a large, intimidating place, but it is manageable and the treasures hidden and buried within its walls are well worth the effort to find them. After all, isn’t that what we are: genealogical detectives on a quest to unearth our ancestors and the documents that tell us about them?

     One of the most invaluable tools you can use for the National Archives are the genealogy microfilm catalogs. The cost is $3.50 per catalog, or you can search them at no cost on the NARA web site. Available microfilm catalogs include American Indians, Black Studies, Census 1790-1890, 1900, 1910, 1920, & 1930, Diplomatic Records, Federal Court Records, Genealogical & Biographical Research, Immigrant & Passenger Arrivals, and Military Service Records. All catalogs provide a very good all-around overview of the holdings available along with a brief description of what each record is about. I use them when developing my research log before a trip. That way I have a general idea of what records I would like to locate when I arrive. By browsing through these books at home and reading what the record is about, it helps take my research in directions that I might not normally think about looking. My favorite catalog of all is the Military Service Records catalog. If you only buy one catalog, that is the one I recommend. Not only does it cover all conflicts from the Revolution through World War I, but also other lesser known record collections such as Confederate prisoners of war; Confederate soldiers who died in federal prisons & military hospitals 1861-1865; correspondence relating to Indian affairs; military pensions & fortifications 1791-1797; and U.S. Naval Academy registers of delinquencies 1846-1850 and 1853-1882.

      Other helpful finding aids are the 160 color-coded one-page guides relating to numerous microfilm publications. These include the following topics: African Americans, Asian Americans, Census, Citizenship, Civilian Federal Employees, District of Columbia, Early Congressional Private Claims, Immigration, Lands, Military, Native Americans and the 1885 State & Territorial Censuses. These guides are available free at the National Archives in D.C., or you can access the entire 160-page collection on line at the Mount Vernon Genealogical Society. They are quite helpful in giving a brief overview of the records, as well as in listing some of the individual microfilm publications and a description of each particular film.

     My enthusiasm and love of the National Archives after almost eighteen years of research there has not waned. With each visit, I am filled with the anticipation of the endless possibilities of finding a wonderful “national treasure” associated with my ancestor, be it discovering an additional generation, putting meat on a particular ancestor’s bones, or discovering how he or she fit into the historical context. I’ve had the honor and the privilege to view some of the most touching and wonderful treasures that are housed in the National Archives. For example, newspaper clippings relate the story of a Union soldier, Hiram H. Robinson, a private of Co. H., 57th Pennsylvania Infantry, on night watch in Washington, D.C., the night that President Abraham Lincoln was shot. Pvt. Robinson was selected for the honor guard that accompanied his body back home to Illinois for burial. I’ve also read the original letters of an Andersonville prisoner of war, Samuel A. Lindley, a private of Co. B, 9th Minnesota Infantry, who wrote home to his parents Lewis and Sylvia Lindley before his untimely death in Andersonville. The Cherokee application papers of Rebecca T. Angel, of Ogeechee, Oklahoma Indian Territory, show a four-generation genealogy of her family, while the wonderful passport record for Daniel Ademar Gindrat of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, describe of his birth in Switzerland, his naturalization as a U.S. citizen, and his job at the Waltham Watch Company that required his travel abroad to England, France & Switzerland.

      The National Archives is filled with boundless “national treasures” and they tell our ancestors’ stories. So put on your sleuthing cap, grab your notes and magnifying glass, and go for the “treasure hunt” of your life! You may just strike it rich with your own personal “gem.”

      This year is the 75th anniversary of the opening of the National Archives and it has extended a special invitation to NARA researchers to help with this celebration. You can submit your own story about a favorite document or surprising find, thank a staff member who was especially helpful, or share details of your most exciting discovery.

Bonnie Cary is a professional genealogist, a lecturer on genealogical research in the Tidewater, Virginia area, a member of the National Genealogical Society, Tidewater Genealogical Society, Virginia Beach Genealogical Society and the Tidewater Genealogical Society’s trip coordinator running bus trips to the D.A.R. Library, Library of Congress and National Archives in Washington, D.C.

By: Carolyn L. Barkley

For every genealogist who functions adventurously at technology’s cutting edge or just rides the crest, there are many more who paddle happily in the gently rippling backwaters until the more adventuresome get all the “bugs” worked out. Before I retired, I rode the crest, as librarians continually explore new forms of online communication to improve the provision of information to their customers. Without that impetus, I am far less adventuresome. While I have been reading about social networking opportunities and viewing demonstrations of resources like Second Life, it was only recently that I have finally acquiesced to the requests from a couple of friends and joined Facebook. I immediately realized that while participation is easy and fun, it is incredibly time consuming. In short, it is addictive. One of the best benefits for me is the ability stay in touch with friends that I see only once or twice a year at genealogy conferences, as well as friends from life-before-retirement and family (my son thinks it’s startling to chat online with me late at night). Now I wonder why I didn’t do it earlier!

My Facebook experiences have prompted me to learn more about the world of social networking. I have just finished reading Drew Smith’s Social Networking for Genealogists, new this spring from Genealogical Publishing Company. This book discusses topics such as RSS, message boards and mailing lists, blogs, wikis, podcasts, collaborative editing, virtual worlds, and more. Each section clearly describes its topic in a manner equally useful to those with more online communications experience and the less technologically savvy. Each chapter ends with a summary of steps for getting involved with the specific topic under discussion. After reading for only a few minutes, I began to write notes to myself about new ideas applicable to this blog, others to which I provide content, my Facebook participation, and a newsletter I publish. I came away from the book with a new sense of energy; it is one that I shall certainly return to again and again. I highly recommend Social Networking for Genealogists to individuals for their home collections. Libraries will want to include a copy in the genealogical section, but should also have circulating copies available.

The following interview with Social Networking for Genealogists author Drew Smith is reprinted from the April 21st issue of genealogical.com’s Genealogy Pointers [GP].

GP: What is social networking?
DS:  Social networking is the use of online communication tools to interact with other people about shared interests.

GP: How/why did you become interested in social networking in its various manifestations?
DS: I have always been interested in the use of computers for exchanging information. In the 1980s, I worked for an academic computing department at a university, where I helped several faculty use an online message board system as a way for their students to communicate with each about course-related content. When I became involved in genealogy in the early 1990s, I immediately saw the value of mailing lists and message boards for helping researchers find other researchers who might have the answers to their questions.

GP: Once people get together via social networking, do they try to meet each other in person? In other words, is social networking more intentional and interest-driven, or is it more relational?
DS: A lot depends upon the focus of the social networking. For instance, some social networking is about making new friends who share a common interest and meeting up with them at a music concert or a sporting event. Some social networking is more about professional networking, where people might meet up in person at a professional conference. And with other social networking, it’s enough for people just to have others they can talk to online about their interests.

GP: Have you dabbled in social networking in disciplines other than genealogy?
DS: When I worked for a university computing center, providing support services to students and faculty, I discovered how useful it was for me to keep in touch with people at other universities who had the same job I did. Later, when I became a full-time university instructor, I used forms of social networking to keep communication flowing among my students. As a librarian during the past few years, I’ve quickly come to realize that librarians are in the forefront of many social networking tools, because librarians look for new ways to share information.

GP: What seems to be the biggest payoff for genealogists who network?
DS: Genealogists were among the very first social networkers when they began using mailing lists and message boards. Before then, the only good way to get your research questions out in front of others was to publish them as queries in newsletters and journals. Now, genealogists have an enormous array of social networking tools that get their questions out in front of countless people, and make it so much easier to collaborate on research projects.

GP: Can you give us some examples of the time- or money-savings results you or others have experienced from social networking?
DS: One of the things I have enjoyed most in the past few years is the production of a weekly podcast on the topic of genealogy, “The Genealogy Guys Podcast,” with co-host George G. Morgan. This is another form of social networking, because our listeners are encouraged to e-mail us with their comments and questions, and their e-mail to us often forms the content of later episodes.
     Not surprisingly, I talk about my own family research during the podcast, and in one of those episodes, I discussed the cemetery in which my great-great-grandmother was buried in New Jersey. Soon after, I received e-mails from two different listeners offering to go to the cemetery and take pictures of the gravestones. One of them later did and sent me dozens of digital photos of the primary stone, plus a side of the stone that listed my great-grandparents and my grandfather.
     In another episode, I mentioned a restaurant that my late cousin had invested in, near Sand Diego some years ago, which I had discovered while searching in a database of California alcohol licenses, and I soon received photos of the inside of the restaurant showing where my cousin actually sat!

GP: Why did you decide to write Social Networking for Genealogists?
DS: although many genealogists have become computer-literate in the past decade, I felt that their use of the Internet for genealogical research was primarily limited to exchanging e-mail, searching free and commercial databases, and using Google.  Some had discovered mailing lists and message boards, but I suspected that many were put off by all of the strangely named new tools that had sprung up in the past few years, such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, Flickr, and so forth.
     In my opinion, computer technology comes in waves. First, in the 1980s, genealogists discovered the value in using personal computers.
     Then, in the 1990s, they discovered the value of the online world, with e-mail, Google, databases, and personal websites. Today, the discovery that genealogists should make is that there are a bunch of new tools that make sharing research information easier and more fun.

GP: Are there myths or other mistaken notions that genealogists have about social networking that prevents them from getting involved?
DS: Absolutely! First, there’s the myth that social networking is mostly used only by teenagers and twentysomethings to talk to their friends. Or that blogs are mostly just people ranting about politics and religion. Or that podcasts and video websites are nothing but music and pop culture.
     Second, there’s the myth that when you use a social networking site you have to share a lot of private information. In fact, there’s usually not much more you have to do other than create an account under whatever username you want, with a valid e-mail address that you don’t have to share with others. If you add additional information about yourself, it’s entirely up to you.
     Third, there may be worries that social networking sites come and go and that a lot of time invested in one site might be lost. But many of these sites are owned and operated by some of the biggest names in the online world, such as Google and Yahoo. They aren’t likely to close up shop tomorrow.

GP: If you were to rate social networking as a genealogical methodology, do you see it as more of an add-on, more for fun, or something central to one’s research?
DS: Social networking can be a lot of fun, sharing your successes with other genealogists and making online friends all over the world who are as enthusiastic about doing research as you are. But it’s more than just fun, and more than just an add-on. It’s a modern way to extend your reach as a researcher to the widest possible audience. Efficient, effective researchers always look for ways to discover what other people have already learned, to avoid unnecessary expenditures of time and money. Social networking tools can link researchers to each other in countless ways, whether it’s shared interest in a particular surname, location, ethnic group, or methodology. Social networking tools provide new ways to teach and learn. Today, we find it hard to imagine doing research without e-mail, the Web, and our personal computers. In a few years, we’ll find it hard to imagine doing research without social networking tools.

GP: Why do you believe that social networking is the wave of the future for genealogical research?
DS: We have to remember that genealogical research is just one type of information-seeking behavior, and by seeing the general direction that people are moving in to find the information that they need, we can see the general direction of the future of genealogical research. After all, the general population is moving to more portable computing, from desktop computers to laptops to netbooks and handheld devices. We see people moving from reading printed newspapers to reading news sites online, to reading customized news feeds from many different news sources. And we see people going online to see the opinions and experiences of others before they buy something.
     Social networking builds upon mobile computing, customized information, and collaboration. Genealogists are like everyone else; they want information wherever they happen to be, customized just for them (in their case, information about their own ancestors). And they are dependent upon other researchers and volunteers to help them get it more quickly and more easily.

We apologize for the late posting of this week’s article, but still unexplained glitch prevented its posting until just now.

I attended my first national genealogical conference in 1985, when I traveled to Baltimore for the National Genealogical Society’s Conference in the States. While I had been to local and state genealogical seminars prior to that time, this trip was my first foray into the national genealogical scene. Wow - were my eyes opened - and occasionally drooping in exhaustion! Imagine waking up and finding yourself in the midst of the brightest and best professional genealogists, lecturers and related resources. Welcome to the world of national conferences!

There is no better return for your money than attending either (or both) the National Genealogical Society’s Conference in the States in the spring or the Federation of Genealogical Societies’ annual conference in later summer. These conferences are for everyone, regardless of skill level and experience. Beginners and experienced researchers all benefit from exposure to new methodologies and resources as well as refreshers in a variety of subjects.

Yes, it does cost money to attend, but for the price of your registration, you can select from over 100 lectures. For a little extra money, you can attend luncheons with interesting speakers, take tours of the conference city, research in local institutions and attend the conference banquet. In addition, you conference badge admits you to an expansive exhibition space full of vendors offering the newest books, CDs and software, as well as demonstrations of new products, online resources, used books, and more. For three or four days, you can fill your mind, further your understanding of your research problem, add to your home library, and take home new skills - not to mention a lengthy wish-list for the next holiday gift-giving season. Best of all, it’s fun! 

This year’s NGS Conference in the States is scheduled for May 13-16 at the Raleigh Convention Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. NGS is presenting the conference with its co-sponsor, the North Carolina Genealogical Society. While the conference itself begins on Wednesday, May 13, librarians may want to register (check for last minute availability) for the ProQuest-sponsored librarians’ preconference scheduled for Tuesday, May 12. More information on conference activities can be found on the conference blog.

First-time conference attendees can feel overwhelmed with the offerings and activities. The most important thing is to pace yourself during the conference. I used to go believing that I had to go to a lecture in every time slot. Inevitably I would come to the point when I could not cram one more thought into my head! To prevent that glossy-eyed look and mentally-exhuasted feeling, I recommend reviewing the conference program carefully in advance. Pick those programs that are most essential to either your particular research project or skill improvement needs. The outlines from almost all the session will be included in your syllabus.

Have breakfast. Leave plenty of time in your schedule to visit the vendors. Socialize with other attendees. Have a leisurely dinner in a nice restaurant. See the city. Breathe some non-convention center air and soak up some sunshine. All of these elements combine for good learning, new friendships, and lots of things to carry or ship home.

You’re invited to stop by the Genealogical Publishing Company/Clearfield Bompany booths in the exhibit hall and check out Drew Smith’s new book, Social Networking for Genealogists, as well as a wide range of other titles to assist in your research.

By: Carolyn L. Barkley

On October 30, 2008, I posted an article that summarized findings from a survey sent to Virginia public library acquisitions librarians. The pilot survey inquired about the current state of library acquisitions, specifically the purchase of genealogical materials. The survey’s goals were to gain a clearer understanding of the impact of a difficult economy on library purchasing power and to learn ways in which Genealogical Publishing Company/Clearfield Company could enhance a librarian’s ability to learn about the companies’ products and services.

While the Virginia survey analysis provided helpful information as noted in the October blog article, it remained unclear if Virginia acquisition librarians accurately represented library purchasing experiences elsewhere in the country. In order to gain information from a wider geographic audience and to receive responses from a cross-section of librarians, the pilot survey was revised and reformatted using the services of surveymonkey.com. An account with Survey Monkey offered two significant benefits. First, the site offers access to user-friendly survey development software; and second, the site provides automatic tabulation of responses and an online ability to analyze data. Thanks to Drew Smith, I was able to post a link to the survey on the Librarians Serving Genealogists listserv in January 2009, with a final participation reminder posted in March. Ninety-two responses were received.

Demographics: Anyone subscribing to the listserv was invited to respond to the survey. A geographic cross-section of responses came from Texas, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, New Hampshire, Virginia, Massachusetts, Florida, Alabama, New Jersey, New York, Okalahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Utah and Washington.

The majority of respondents work in public libraries (79.6%). An additional 10.2% work in genealogy/history libraries, 6.1% in special libraries, and 4.1% in academic. 85% of respondents indicated that they are active researchers. In a departure from Virginia responses, this group of librarians regularly attends conferences and is more aware of genealogical blogs and their usefulness.

Library Purchasing Patterns: A clear majority of responding librarians (76.1%) have collection development funds specifically dedicated to the purchase of genealogical materials.

Librarians now buy fewer materials from GPC/Clearfield than they did five years ago by a slim majority (55.2%). However, when asked to indicate the single reason that most impacted this reduction, more than half (58.0%) indicated that they already own the GPC/Clearfield titles needed for the scope of their collection, and an additional 22.0% indicated that they only purchase new editions or newly reprinted items. This fact differentiates the library market from the individual market, as the latter has the potential of continued growth as new researchers are continually introduced to older titles.

If quantity discounts were offered, two-thirds would purchase neither additional titles nor multiple copies. This response implies that libraries generally buy neither multiple copies of genealogical titles for their circulating collections, nor copies for multiple reference locations within their library systems. It may also mean that if an item is essential for a library’s genealogical collection, it will be purchased despite the lack of discount.
Librarians prefer to purchase materials in either hardcover or paper format. Downloadable PDF files ranked third and online subscriptions to full text genealogical e-books ranked fourth.

An overwhelming majority of respondents (84.7%) use publisher direct mailings to identify materials for purchase, although many also use periodical and online advertisements, review sources, and publisher exhibits at conferences. Ordering directly from the publisher is the most frequent method of purchase (94.1%), but purchases are placed on an “as-I-see-it-I-order-it” basis, rather than issuing annual, semi-annual or monthly orders. This fact places significant emphasis on the need for library customers to suggest titles for purchase, and implies that publishers need to provide publication information to librarians on an on-going basis. Librarians responding to the survey ranked direct mailings and catalogs as the top method for receiving information about new titles, editions and reprints. A slim majority (59.3%) expressed interest in receiving product fliers emailed as pdf files. In addition, the survey also provided GPC/Clearfield with a list of specific titles and subjects to be considered for new titles or reprints.

This survey was successful in reaching a wider cross-section of librarians, both in terms of geographic location and job assignment. Two findings for GPC/Clearfield were:

1.  Libraries have funds to spend on genealogical materials. From the anecdotal comments in the survey, it is clear that GPC/Clearfield library customers are loyal and appreciate the quality of the product. They have purchased in the past and will continue to do so as long as new titles and new reprints are published.
2.  Multiple-format marketing efforts continue to be essential. If GPC/Clearfield publishes it, libraries will buy it and library users will use it…but they have to be aware of what is available.

Thank you to all of you who participated in the survey. Your input will continue to be very helpful to GPC/Clearfield as it continues to provide quality genealogical publications to libraries and individuals. If you did not have an opportunity to participate in the survey and would like to add to its results, please share your comments here on the blog.

By: Carolyn L. Barkley

Did you receive a dictionary as a high school graduation gift? Dictionaries remain important resources, not only for students, but also for lifelong learners. Our shared experiences in defining unknown words or concepts are expressed in the pervasive use of idiomatic expressions such as “Look that up in your Funk & Wagnall’s,” or “Google it.” For genealogists, dictionaries are essential as the working vocabulary or lexicon changes we encounter with each time period that we research or with each new subject we undertake. Here is a small selection of dictionaries that can help you in your research.

1.  General definitions: When you read original documents, you always encounter words or phrases whose meanings are unknown. Rather than assume meaning from context, consulting a genealogical dictionary will enable you to interpret and analyze the document accurately. Good sources for your home library include What Did They Mean by That: A Dictionary of Historical & Genealogical Terms Old & New by Paul Drake (Heritage Books, 2000, reprinted 2007), its companion More What Did They Mean by That (Heritage Books, 2006), and Barbara Jean Evans’ The New A to Zax: A Comprehensive Genealogical Dictionary for Genealogists and Historians, 2nd ed. (Evansville Bindery, 2000). These titles offer definitions and derivations for words and phrases both obscure and familiar, encompassing a wide range of topics. Are you wondering what your ancestor was doing when the record states that he was “processioning”?  He really wasn’t addicted to parades, but instead, was “walking the boundaries of private lands within the parish” in order to verify their accuracy and resolve any boundary dispute that might have been brought to the vestry’s attention. Was your ancestor described as a “cordwainer”? (He was a shoe or boot maker.) Wondering what being a “Gold Star Mother” meant? (The individual was a member of a patriotic and service-oriented organization of women whose sons were killed during American wars). General genealogical dictionaries are particularly good if you can purchase only one or two titles for your collection.
2. Medical terminology. Death certificates or diary entries about illnesses can be confusing as the terms for diseases and conditions used in past centuries are often different from those used today. What may look like a reference to a disease may even turn out to be something else entirely. For example, Charlton Rhodes Barkley died as a prisoner of war in General Hospital No. 1 in Frederick, Maryland, just after the battle of South Mountain (September 1862). One of the carded entries in his military record noted that he had died due to “vulnus sclopet.” Despite my three years of high-school Latin, I was unable to determine the meaning of this phrase. While I knew “vulnus” meant wound, what part of the body was a “sclopet”? In the Periodical Source Index (PERSI), I located a list of medical terms used during the Civil War and discovered, much to my chagrin, that “vulnus sclopet” meant nothing more than a generic “gunshot wound.” Closer reading of Charlton’s record later identified the actual cause of death as typhoid (although I’m still looking for a record to describe the site of the gunshot wound).
   One very good web site for this topic is Rudy’s List of Archaic Medical Terms. This site is a “collection of archaic medical terms and their old and modern definitions” whose “primary focus…is to help decipher the Causes of Death found on Mortality Lists, Certificates of Death and Church Death Records from the 19th century and earlier.” You can either search for a specific term, or you can choose from headings in the left hand navigation bar. Initial choices include English, French, German and International. The “English” selection presents an alphabetical list of diseases as well as topical headings for heart and stroke, miner’s diseases, occupational diseases, poisons, and treatments. If you select “International,” you may then choose from a list of twenty languages, including Latin. You will find that “accession” means seizure in Latin as does “anfall” in Swedish; “falecimento” means death in Portuguese; “zpaljenje pluca” means pneumonia in Croat, and the apt “yuck” means scabies in Scottish slang. Look for links to additional information. For example, at the end of the Croatian list of medical terms, there is a link to a separate URL that provides a glossary of medical terms found in Croatian vital records.
3.  Legal terminology. It is important to understand the terms found in legal documents such as wills, estate papers, court suits, etc. Although a modern law dictionary may help, historical terms or nuances may be missing, making it important to locate a law dictionary published as close to the time period of the record as possible. Many academic libraries, as well as large public libraries, own older editions of the standard, Black’s Law Dictionary. The first (1891) and second editions (1910) are also available on a CD from Archive CD Books USA. Your state or local law library may also be able to assist you or you can look up the term in a comprehensive dictionary such as the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), as such references often provide historical definitions.
   If you are translating foreign records, locate a legal dictionary from the appropriate country, preferably an edition contemporary with the document, or an edition including historical definitions. A. G. M. Duncan’s Green’s Glossary of Scottish Legal Terms (3rd ed., 1992) was very helpful in deciphering Scottish inheritance terminology. In addition, books called “formularies” are helpful as they provide the full text of commonly used legal forms beside their full-text translations. Formularies for various countries, including Peter Gouldesbrough’s Formulary of Old Scots Legal Documents, are listed in the Family History Library catalog.
4.  Foreign languages. In addition to foreign language medical terms as discussed above, you may need to understand genealogical terms in a foreign language so that you can accurately identify the important information in an original record. The foreign language word lists available at FamilySearch.org are very helpful. Fifteen guides are available covering Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Latin, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. Some are available to download as PDFs; others can be searched on line by clicking on the name of the guide. The Icelandic guide, for example, provides information about language characteristics, alphabetization and spelling rules; key words in Icelandic, such as the words for parents, marriage, parish, year, etc.; and a general word list that includes Icelandic words for occupations, illnesses, causes of death, days of the week, months of the year, numbers, seasons, and times of day.
   Published dictionaries specific to a foreign language, such as Ernest Thode’s German-English Genealogical Dictionary (Genealogical Publ. Co., 2008), are also available. Intended for use in conjunction with a standard German-English dictionary, Thode’s book includes thousands of words, symbols and abbreviations used in church records, civil registration records, family correspondence, genealogical journals, ships’ passenger lists, and emigration records.

These four categories of dictionaries represent only a small fraction of the wide array of dictionaries that can help you in your genealogical research. Check Cyndi’s List under “dictionaries” for an extensive list of dictionary sites, articles, and mailing lists about dictionaries and their uses in supporting your genealogical research.