YOU'RE FIRED

Several Twin Cities libraries are trying out libraries without Librarians. In an article by Erin Alder in the Twin Cities newspaper, the Star Tribune, the open libraries model was explained.

"Several Twin Cities library systems are considering an “open libraries” model that would give patrons access to books, computers and other resources by themselves at times when the library isn’t open and staffed. Two west metro libraries already use the idea on a small scale.

The setup relies on technology — via a central management system — to let people enter the library, check out items and log onto computers — all while video monitors record their actions. There’s a phone connected to a central library or an on-call librarian so patrons can ask questions. Automated systems announce when the library is closing, flick the lights off and on and can even operate amenities like a gas fireplace on a schedule.

“It’s a reasonable solution, I think, to a very long-standing library problem, which is … we’re rarely able to be open when everyone wants us to be open,” said Jake Grussing, library director in Scott County, which is studying the concept. “I feel confident that this is a good direction for us to move in.”"

https://tinyurl.com/y69ay2ol

ITS A BOY NAMED SUE

Genealogy Tip of the Day posted a great tip about reusing children's names. This explains why you might find two or more children in a family with the same name.

Genealogy Tip of the Day

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Reusing Names Posted: 09 Jun 2019 05:34 AM PDT In some ethnic groups, during some time periods, it was common to use the names of deceased children for children born after the child had died. A couple could easily have had four children with the same name as one of my ancestral couples did. The last child fortunately survived, but the first three did not, dying shortly after birth. Genealogical software programs typically flag these types of children–thinking you have simply entered in the same child multiple times with different vital event dates. While today this practice is not usually done, there was a time when it was commonplace and don’t immediately assume that a researcher has made a mistake when they indicate a couple had repeated children with the same first name. Like always–do a little bit of research first.

WHAT DID YOU SAY?

Tip of the Day posted a good tip about spelling and word sounds.

Genealogy Tip of the Day

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Spelling Doesn’t Count…Not Quite Posted: 08 Jun 2019 11:59 AM PDT I read a headline on a genealogy search site that read “spelling doesn’t count.” While it’s true that your ancestor’s names may have not have been spelled precisely the “correct” way and the same way every time, spelling does count–to a point. It’s not the precision of the exact letter match that is important, it’s the sounds suggested by these letters that matters, at least partially. Trautvetter, Troutfetter, and Trautbetter are not spelled exactly the same but the sounds represented by the different letters are similar enough that the spellings likely refer to the same “name.” There are other factors at play as well. Handwriting issues, Trautveller for Trautvetter, vowels misread as consonants, Trantfetter for Trautfetter, and similar challenges are also concerns. And there’s always Wharton being rendered as Horton. Sounds are important. It’s probably a safer bet to say that spellings don’t have to match exactly.

FINDING SIMILAR PEOPLE

If you have been the TOOLS section on the right side of any 'person' page, you'll see there is something new. It's "Find Similar people". 

FamilySearch Tips and Tricks — Robert Givens

June 2, 2019 at 10:50 AM

NEW FEATURE: FamilySearch has quietly added to the person page in Tree a link "Find Similar People" between the links "Possible Duplicates" and "Merge by ID,"

This is an answer to our prayers to provide a more expanded set of results when looking for duplicates in Tree. Just remember that many of these results are less likely to truly be duplicates. We should be cautious in merging these people with the primary person but you may find more duplicates this way.

UPDATE - STANDARDIZING DATES AND PLACES

The FamilySearch blog posted this update about standardized dates and places. James Tanner also added a few comments in his blog "Rejoice and be exceeding glad"

The following is an interesting development from FamilySearch. They are going to automatically standardize 25 million of the 172 million dates and places missing a standard on the FamilySearch Family Tree. Here is the official announcement from the FamilySearch blog article, "FamilySearch Updates Enhance your Experience."

A system-wide update will standardize many dates and locations in the FamilySearch Family Tree. In the View Details section, these changes will appear with the contributor listed as “FamilySearch” and the date change starting on May 30, 2019. This will occur for vital and couple relationship conclusions only and will not trigger users’ Watch Ancestor notifications. 

This update will help users by removing the data problem “Missing Standardized Date,” and “Missing Standardized Location”, saving the user time. It will also assist the site in providing more accurate record hints and creating more reliable data. Standardized dates will help you find ancestors more easily when you search the entire site. 

This update will be applied to 15 percent of the dates and locations that are currently missing a standardized value. We will make the update only in cases where the standardized value very closely matches the value being replaced.

New post on FamilySearch Blog

FamilySearch Updates Enhance your Experience by Laurie Bradshaw FamilySearch is proud to have the world’s largest online family tree and thrilled to provide free family history experiences to millions. In order to give users the best experience possible, we are constantly working on updates and improvements to our online experience. To keep you up to date on the latest FamilySearch experience changes, we will be listing them here chronologically. Check back often to see how your FamilySearch experience has improved! Update: May 30, 2019—Standardized Dates and Places A system-wide update will standardize many dates and locations in the FamilySearch Family Tree. In the View Details section, these changes will appear with the contributor listed as “FamilySearch” and the date changed to May 30, 2019. This will occur for vital and couple relationship conclusions only and will not trigger users’ Watch Ancestor notifications. This update will help users by removing the data problem “Missing Standardized Date,” and "Missing Standardized Location", saving the user time. It will also assist the site in providing more accurate record hints and creating more reliable data. Standardized dates will help you find ancestors more easily when you search the entire site. Approximately 25 million of the 172 million dates and places missing a standard on the FamilySearch Family Tree will be affected.

THE CENSUS - THEY'RE UNRELIABLE, BUT

Genealogy Tip of the Day

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This is a good tip from "Tip of the Day". Sometimes the census, although it may be unreliable, is a great resource. But Those Records are Unreliable! Posted: 31 May 2019 06:18 AM PDT Years ago after a presentation, a gentleman came up and told me that I should not suggest people rely on census records or other “secondary records” for information. While census records can be incorrect and information that’s secondary can be suspect, sometimes it is all that we have. My ancestor, Ellen Butler was born in Missouri in the 1850s. Her family moved frequently, did not attend any church that kept records, there is no family bible that I can find, and she died before there was vital registration of deaths as well. While I keep looking for a “better source” of information, there’s probably never going to be anything other than a few of census enumerations to estimate her year of birth. Of course, census records can be off and parental information listed in death certificates can be suspect. But when it’s all there is, it’s all there is and we cite everything we’ve located and seen what conclusions can be reached. It doesn’t mean we quit looking or quit learning about new sources. But not every time place and the locations are the same. What is available depends greatly upon the time period, the location, and the family. Documenting someone in Illinois in 1930 is different from Missouri in 1850 is different from Virginia in 1750 and different from Massachusetts in 1700. And…as astute readers will know information is primary or secondary and sources are original or derivative.

THE RULES OF GENEALOGY

HERE ARE THE RULES OF GENEALOGY. James Tanner published these in his blog Rejoice, and be exceeding glad. Some have a bit of humor others just straight talk.


I frequently see genealogically oriented blog posts and advertisements that refer to "your family tree." and as I thought about this use of an ownership term, I decided that it was time to add a twelfth rule to the Basic Rules of Genealogy. If you are not familiar with the Basic Rules of Genealogy, I suggest you review the following blog posts:

I published the first six Rules of Genealogy back on July 1, 2014. See "Six of the Basic Rules of Genealogy." This short list included the most famous and basic rule of genealogy: "When the baby was born, the mother was there." I added four rules in a post back on August 11, 2017, entitled, "New Rules Added to the old: The Rules of Genealogy Revisited." Summer must be my time for thinking of new rules. You can go back to these two original posts to read about the details of each rule.

Then I added one more rule back on August 2, 2018, in this blog post, "A New Rule Added: The Rules of Genealogy Revisited Again." Now it is time to add yet another rule. Here is the list for reference:

Here is a list of those original six rules from 2014:

• Rule One: When the baby was born, the mother was there.
• Rule Two: Absence of an obituary or death record does not mean the person is still alive.
• Rule Three: Every person who ever lived has a unique birth order and a unique set of biological parents.
• Rule Four: There are always more records.
• Rule Five: You cannot get blood out of a turnip. 
• Rule Six: Records move. 

In 2017, I added these four rules:

• Rule Seven: Water and genealogical information flow downhill
• Rule Eight: Everything in Genealogy is connected (butterfly)
• Rule Nine: There are patterns everywhere
• Rule Ten: Read the fine print

Well, we now have another rule.

• Rule Eleven: Even a perfect fit can be wrong

The new rule is easy to remember:

Rule Twelve: You do not own your ancestors

Unless you come from a long line of parents who were both only children and who were all descended from only children, you have a lot of relatives. You may not know who all these people are but you do have a lot of them. In fact, your relatives likely number into the billions. For example, on one of my online family tree programs on MyHeritage.com, I have more than a 100,000 Smart Matches™that indicate I have about that many relatives who share the information I have on that particular family tree. If you are one of these people who believe you have traced your ancestry back to Adam or whatever, you automatically can claim billions of relatives. So which one of those relatives owns all that potential genealogical information? This "my" and "your" possessive language is not just misleading, it is pernicious and false. I guess you could accurately talk about "my family tree on MyHeritage.com or Ancestry.com if you are referring to the file itself, but the contents of "your" family tree don't belong to you or anyone else.

Here in the United States, we have a very pervasive "ownership" point of view. We add the idea of "my" to almost everything when we will all die and then who owns all those "my" things? Genealogy gives us an open field of things that we cannot even conceptually "own" beginning with our ancestors. We all share our ancestors with all of their descendants. We do not and cannot conceivably "own" anything about our ancestors.

Our legal system in the United States can give us an illusion of ownership, but ultimately, everything we have here on this earth is shared with everyone else who is living and has ever lived, including, but not limited to the air we breathe. Hence, Rule Twelve.

GREAT CANADIAN "LINKS"

The Riverton Family History Library posted this Tip of the week. It has some great links and research suggestions.


Tip of the Week

Canadian Immigration
Between 1600 and 1920, more than 36 million immigrants from all over Europe and
Russia immigrated to the United States. A February Tip of the Week listed some of the
different ports of arrival in North America. Some of your ancestors may have arrived in
North America via a port in Canada. To help in your detective work as you research
your family, you may find the website “Library and Archives Canada” helpful. To view
the site, click the following link:
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/search/Pages/ancestors-search.aspx
“Immigration and Citizenship” found near the middle of the “Ancestor Search” page lists
links to help you locate your immigrating ancestors.
If you have Canadian ancestors, you will be pleased to see the other categories listed:
 Births, marriages and deaths,
 Census and enumerations,
 Land,
 Military,
 People; and,
 Other databases.
You may also want to check out another helpful page:
 Click the second tab “Online research” at the top of the page and click the
“Genealogy and Family History” link.
 This page will provide you with information on how to begin using:
♦ Databases, sources for genealogy research by topic or place.
♦ Other research tools.
♦ How to access their records.
♦ Links and related research pages.
♦ How to ask a question.
♦ Information about their library.

A family tree can wither if nobody tends its roots!

EARN $2,240

Village offers reward to anyone who can decipher 'mystery' rock inscription

The reward is $2,240. Check out the CNN article below.

(CNN) — A village in France is offering a reward to anyone who can decipher a mysterious inscription on a local rock.

Experts in Plougastel-Daoulas, a village in Brittany, northwest France, have been unable to decrypt the inscription on a rock outside the village, estimated to be centuries old, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency reports.

And so the authorities are turning the mystery over to the public, appealing to historians, academics, linguists, students and hobbyists to crack the code in exchange for a €2,000 ($2,240) reward.

There are letters, symbols and dates etched into the rock.

FRED TANNEAU/AFP/Getty Images

The inscription comprises letters and symbols, one depicting a sailing boat. The language has not been identified: Dominique Cap, mayor of Plougastel-Daoulas, told AFP: "There are people who tell us that it's Basque and others who say it's Old Breton."

According to AFP, the as-yet impenetrable inscription reads in parts: "ROC AR B... DRE AR GRIO SE EVELOH AR VIRIONES BAOAVEL... R I OBBIIE: BRISBVILAR... FROIK...AL."

Local academics have pored over the rock since its rediscovery three or four years ago. "But we still have not managed to decipher the text," Cap said.

Michel Paugam, a municipal councilor who oversees local heritage, told AFP: "There are a lot of words, they're letters from our alphabet, but we can't read them, we can't make them out."

Local councilor Michel Paugam told AFP that local authorities can't make sense of the inscription.

FRED TANNEAU/AFP/Getty Images

Two dates are also etched into the rock: 1786 and 1787. Véronique Martin, a local official who is leading the appeal, told AFP that the dates "correspond more or less" to the construction of forts and artillery batteries, including the adjacent Corbeau fort, built to protect the nearby harbor city of Brest.

After the public submit their suggestions, a jury will decide on the most likely interpretation of the inscription and award the €2,000 prize. "This inscription is a mystery and it is for this that we are launching the appeal," Martin said.

CNN has contacted the mayor's office for comment

DNA HAS A HISTORY TOO!

"The History of the Development of Genealogical DNA: What do You Need to Know?" is a series of posts in the blog "Genealogy's Star" by James Tanner. You will find it posted on the Tips & Tricks" bulletin board in the Zoner office.

GOOGLE REVEALED

Check the Tips & Tricks bulletin board in the Zone office. James Tanner in his blog Genealogy's Star digs up some golden information on the ins and outs of Google. It's titled "Getting the Rest of the Gold out of the Google Goldmine for Genealogists".

A RESEARCH TO DO LIST

How many times have we thought we checked everything then somebody points out something we forgot. The Genealogy Tip of the Day provided us with a pretty good checklist of all the things we should've done.

The reality is that there is no trick or instant solution to genealogical research problems. However, generally speaking, the following approaches are helpful:

• citing your sources;
• learning as much as you can about all the records in the area;
• learning the history of the area;
• having contemporary maps;
• obtaining as many records as possible;
• using compiled sources (published genealogy books, online trees, etc. ) as stepping stones to original records;
• realizing assumptions may not be true;
• continuing to learn about genealogical research in general;
• proofing and double checking your work.

Not one trick and not a guarantee, but these general suggestions will go a long way.

WHAT IS A NATURAL CHILD?

Be careful to read that old will carefully. Keep an eye out for the term "natural children".

The term "natural children" used in the 1700s in Virginia meant the parents were not married when the children were born. It also meant that the children would not inherit with father unless they were acknowledged as his children.

WHO OWNS THE PROPERTY IN A TAX SALE?

WHO OWNS THE PROPERTY IN A TAX SALE?

If you don't pay your property taxes, you're likely to make the acquaintance of the County Sheriff. The sheriff sues you and takes ownership of the property.

When this happens, it's bad news for genealogists. The original property owners name will no longer appear as the seller when the property sold by the sheriff. In other words, the grantor becomes the sheriff. The grantee will be some unknown person while the property.

So where do you look to find out what happened? The local courts. The person you're looking for will show up as a defendant in a lawsuit for nonpayment of taxes. You may also find information about the court case in a legal notice published in a local newspaper.

By the way, if there was a new road or other public project going on, there may be a court action to acquire the property necessary for the project. It's called eminent domain. That's how towns counties and states obtain the land necessary to build all those superhighways of the public projects.

GENEALOGY TIP OF THE DAY

Genealogy Tip of the day.

Could a child choose their guardian?

Maybe yes! In some jurisdictions, when a child reaches 14, if their parent was deceased, they can choose their own guardian. Relationships may be stated-- or not.

Cluster Research

Tip of the Week

We would like to thank Anne Gillespie for her talk at roots Tech 2019. This topic was included in her notes.

Cluster Research

At RootsTech 2019, Anne Gillespie Mitchell talked about Cluster Research. In her handout, she explained:

Everyone has brick walls in their genealogy research:

• People who appear to have been dropped out of the sky.

• Women whose maiden names seem to be unknowable.

• Cluster Research will give you new avenues to break down those brick walls by researching family members, their neighbors, and; anyone and everyone with whom they were associated.

• Cluster Research explores methodologies that will help you uncover new information about your family.

We build trees that go back in time in straight lines:

• Everyone has two parents.

• Clues to finding the previous generation is not always found in the documents of the person you are researching.

• Your ancestor’s brothers and sisters may hold the key.

• Cousins, aunts, uncles; or, maybe the next-door neighbor.

• Even if you map the next generation, you may be missing part of the story.

Cluster research goes beyond researching one person and all of their ancestors. It branches out (pardon the pun) to everyone around them.