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Genealogy Research & Resources Stockton FHC Newsletters |
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Stockton CA FHC Newsletter for November 2001 by Vern Taylor email: stocktonfhc@yahoo.com Contents: ! Hours *** special holiday closings *** STOCKTON HOURS: Our hours are: 10 am to 9 PM Tues, Wed, Thurs. Staff meetings are on the first Thursday of the month and we close at 5:00 pm. That's only on the first Thursday! **CLOSING: OCT 31st at 5:00 p.m. CLOSED NOV 20, 21, 22 for Thanksgiving.** MANTECA HOURS: Open Mon 10am-4pm; Tues & Wed 10am-4, 6-9pm; Thurs 6-9pm; LDS use Sun 6-9pm. CLASS SCHEDULES: LODI: Call 209-369-4148 for listing & to reserve space. STOCKTON: 10:00a.m.-12:00p.m. Call 951-7060 to sign up: Sat Nov 3, "Family Search" How to use programs such as Ancestral File, and Temple Ready, etc found on Family Search menu by Andy Muir. Knowledge can be applied to same programs found on the Internet. Sat Nov 3, "Beginning Genealogy" by Alexia Muir. A great way to learn how to get started and do your research. She teaches a similar class for credit at Delta College. (same day as Andy's class) Sat Nov 10, "Beginning Keyboarding and Computer Use" by Linda Russell. A great way to ease your fear of computers. The very basics taught. Sat Nov 17 Putting Pictures and Gedcom into PAF by Vern Taylor. Class can be adjusted to help you with your problems. Bring a picture. Dear genealogists and researchers, In Remembrance of Hopes and Dreams
One way I have used to honor my ancestors is a fireside or lecture I created called "The Folk Art and Songs of Genealogy". I display and talk about the collectibles, artwork, photos, certificates and other family treasures that make great folk artwork. Interspursed throughout, I sing songs about genealogy. This was started one day at our local Family History Center (FHC) when I read "The Elusive Ancestor"(1). As this went through my mind I had such a distinct melody associated with it, that I went home and composed the music for it. Also remembering "I Am My Own Grandpa" which was sung in a movie(2), I learned to play that on guitar also. During my lecture, I get to explain just how I could be my own grandpa, which is best demonstrated in a drawing. I then collected other genealogy related poems and wrote tunes to them also. Most of these poems have since been collected on the Internet and my web site shows some of the best(3). These include: "A Cry From the Past", "The Census Taker", "Genealogy", "Grandma Climbed the Family Tree", and "Hands Within A Frame". Many of these I performed at our FHC staff meetings. And then, I realized that even though I was doing a great job of composing, I had neglected to write my own genealogy poem. Writing my own poem I found tougher than writing the tunes. I called this one "What Did You Say?". It's about my reflections on the lives of my ancestors and asks "Why didn't you tell me about yourself?" And I also ask the associated question, "What are we/I saying to our descendants? Will they know what our hopes and dreams were if we don't write a diary or journal?" What Did You Say?
Our ancestors helped to pave the way For our success here and now today They are the ones who sailed the seas Climbed the mountains, tamed the country. They gave us courage to carry on To plow the fields and tend the farm Most of them loved us and helped create A new generation that did not relate. So in this life were you real funny? (chorus 1) Or in this life were you so kind? In this life did you do some good? Or did you just waste your time? They may have left us a photograph A faded reminder from the past At their wedding they were so beautiful With hope their kids would be wonderful. So in this life did you make a record? (chorus 2) Or in this life did you hide away? Or did you write, film, or video tape, Just what it was you had to say? They may have left us a diary or a letter You'd think that we, could do better? To let them know a hundred years from now What our hopes and dreams were like somehow.(4) repeat chorus 1 and chorus 2. Lately, I've coined a slogan "To honor your country, Honor your ancestors. You can't have the one without the other." By this I'm saying that without the hard work of all of our ancestors, we wouldn't have the country we have today. It's not enough to just gather the dates and places where our ancestors have been. We need to find their letters, hear their stories. We need to know how they lived and why. And if they don't have a book of remembrance written about them, then it's time we did our best to create their history. So it is by doing that, some of their descendants will remember and honor their lives. Truly, we are the recorders of lives, and sometimes we also gain some insight into our forebears hopes and dreams. May they long be remembered. NOTES: (1) Elusive Ancestor by Merrell Kenworthy, previously published by Family Backtracking, Puget Sound Genealogical Society, Vol. XX, No. 3, Sept 1995 (2) As sung in the movie "The Stupids" by Tom Arnold. Written by Dwight B. Latham and Moe Jaffe. It was also presented in the 1950's on television. John Lupton, folk music DJ, says: "It was written ca. 1947 or so by Moe Jaffe and Dwight Latham, a pair of Tin Pan Alley tunesmiths. The earliest recording of it I know of was by Lonzo & Oscar, but Homer & Jethro probably had the most widely known version. Ray Stevens has done it, I think Dave Grisman has as well. The all-female bluegrass band Sidesaddle turned it into "I'm My Own Grandma" on their album 'Girl From The Red Rose Saloon'." (3) <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~fhcr/poetry.htm> (4) I submitted the first part of this article to the "Honoring Your Ancestors" book. I saved a copy to disk and later deleted my email copy when I needed more space. When I couldn't find my backup copy, I asked for help and a special thankyou goes to Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gromley for locating my submission and returning a copy to me. END OF ARTICLE ************************************ You might want to take a minute to reflect on the passing of a genealogist at the WTC. "A Nation Challenged. Portraits of Grief: Cindy Deuel: Tracing the Line, New York Times, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2001, pp. B12" <http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/met_MISSING_1014_deuel.html> ************************************ Files & Folders: Keeping your data by Vern Taylor As I teach in my beginning Files and Folders class, my defination of a computer is an electronic file box. I also use the more familiar 4 drawer filing cabinet as an example of how to view the files and folders located on hard drives in your PC. Just as a filing cabinet is subject to theft, fire, and flood damage, your PC is also vulnerable to damage by electronic theft, virus, and hard disk crashes. Because PC systems are sold for their ease of use and low cost, your PC doesn't have all the files and utilities needed to protect itself. As genealogists, the data we've fought and slaved to find is sometimes as valuable as our lives. So at some point, usually when we've just lost our last 10 years of work, we realize that it's just as important to keep our data as well as find it. Just because computers have become easier to use hasn't made them any less complicated. The short list of essential utilities you need for your PC reads like a two week shopping list for the grocery store. Protection: Firewall + Antivirus + Internet filtering Maintenance: Diagnostics + File management + Backup + Upgrades File Utilities: Zip + Audio + Video + Photo In order of importance, protecting your computer and it's files is number one. Most people understand a little about how a virus can mess up your files, because it has become quite common. Most fail to investigate the input capabilities of their computer and fail to protect their computer from uninvited Internet access. Wouldn't you press the lock button on your file cabinet to keep children with sugar coated hands and others from casually looking through your valuable files? In the same manner a PC connected to the Internet is like a post office with 64,000 mail slots without any locks. A firewall will lock up all your PC's mail slots or ports, as they are called. One of the best firewalls available also has a free version just by downloading at: <http://www.zonelabs.com/zap26_za_grid.html>. ZoneAlarm Pro can also be purchased. LINKS: World photo from the new space station
FreeBMD (Births, Marriage, Deaths). The FreeBMD Project's objective is to provide free Internet access to the Civil Registration index information for England and Wales. The Civil Registration system for recording births, marriages, and deaths in England and Wales has been in place since 1837. As of the 9 October 2001 update, the FreeBMD database contains 19,120,363 total (17,608,797 unique) records. or via the new Ancestry.com offering at http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/vital/freebmd/main.htm JEWISH GENEALOGY DATABASES (general, Eastern Europe, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Israel, South Africa, North and South America) http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/ NEW AT THE STOCKTON FHC If you are looking for family in Scandinavia your search may have just gotten easier! We now have at the FHC the Vital Records Index on CD-rom for Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Come down to the FHC and we will help you use all of our resources on computer and CD-rom. NEW AT THE FHL The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has announced the release of two new research products that will help family history enthusiasts succeed in ther quest to learn more about their ancestors. A new introductory workbook "How Do I Start My Family History?" and a new line of research guides, "Finding Records of Your Ancestors" features easy to follow, step by step instructions, colorful graphics, and tear-out worksheets. Both publications are available at the Church distribution centers worldwide and can be ordered by calling 1-800-537-5971 or on the Internet at <www.familysearch.org>. 1-2. NEWS AND NOTES FROM ROOTSWEB -------------------------------- 1a. SSDI UPDATE WITH NEW "MIDDLE NAME/INITIAL" DATA. The new SSDI update, current to September 2001, contains roughly 500,000 more entries than the version it replaces, bringing the grand total close to 66.7 million names. The new database is also notable in that it contains new fields: middle names and name suffixes. In fact, the new file contains middle name information on some 21 million people, almost one-third of the entire index. The vast majority of these entries are middle initials only. The benefit to genealogists is to see extra information about an ancestor that allows one to discriminate between two potential records. The updated data also contains name suffixes such as "JR" and "SR," which can be valuable in determining the identity of fathers or sons. Search the latest SSDI at: <SSDI> 1b. WILDCARD SEARCHING NOW AVAILABLE. After a successful test on the popular message boards, the company has expanded wildcard searching to all text on the site, in both free and subscription databases. Wildcards are special symbols, such as the asterisk (*) and the question mark (?), which are used in searching to represent some number of unknown letters in a word. Wildcards can be effective query tools if you're searching for words or names with alternate spellings, but don't wish to view all the extra hits that SOUNDEX searching creates. You can use wildcards to view all words that begin with the same stem. For example, a search for fran* will return hits on words like Fran, Franny, Frank, Frannie, and Frankie. Other helpful wildcard searching examples: --If you want to search for names that differ only by one letter, use the question mark wildcard. A search for "Johns?n" will return both Johnsen and Johnson. --You can search alternate spellings with the asterisk symbol, which represents 0 to 5 unknown characters. The query "Johann*" will search for Johann and Johannes. A query for "Smel*er" will search for Smeltzer and Smelzer, among others. Due to the nature and size of the data being searched and the need to deliver speedy search results, the use of wildcards is restricted to keywords and names that have at least the first three letters specified. 2. NEWS AND NOTES FROM ROOTSWEB -------------------------------- LARGEST FAMILY TREES DATABASE NOW ONLINE. Ancestry.com and RootsWeb have combined their public family tree databases to create the largest family-tree offering available online. All of the family trees currently available in WorldConnect and in the Ancestry World Tree are now available from both sites. The combined database will include more than 170 million names once the integration is complete. The combination of these databases makes WorldConnect the largest database of free family trees available online. Although the value of this database will continue to grow as more trees are added, Ancestry.com and RootsWeb are still committed to provide free access to this valuable collection. Additionally, the data submitted to WorldConnect will never be sold on CD-ROM. The new database includes all active files in the Ancestry World Tree and WorldConnect. The Ancestry World Tree has been available on Ancestry.com since 1997. WorldConnect was launched on rootsWeb in October 1999. genealogies can be accessed at WorldConnect: <http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/> ************************ GENEALOGY TOP TEN: You might be a genealogist if: <http://wolfdreamer4.tripod.com/hearthandhome/id19.html> 10. You talk about towns no one has ever heard of. 9. You take a trip to Salt Lake City in winter and don't ski. 8. You read EVERY Roots-L Posting. 7. You never leave home without $4 in quarters. 6. You call ATM's "stamp machines". 5. You've memorized the counties, their seats, and their addresses for three states. 4. You KNOW that people who have been dead for 200 years are laughing at you. 3. You visit cemeteries carrying food and cosmetics. 2. You check out office supply stores "just looking". 1. You've changed computer programs three times this year. ************************ Free newsletter subscription: Send "subscribe" and your name and email address in subject line to stocktonfhc@yahoo.com .email: Stocktonfhc@yahoo.com Same to "unsubscribe". Your comments also welcome. PERMISSION TO REPRINT articles from StocktonFHC Newsletter is granted unless specifically stated otherwise, PROVIDED: (1) the reprint is used for non-commercial, educational purposes; and (2) the following notice appears at the end of the article: Written by [author's name, e-mail address, and URL, if given]. Previously published by StocktonFHC 1101, (c) 2001. BACK ISSUES of the newsletter are currently being stored at the following link, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~fhcr/fhnl1101.htm |
