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Computer Ramblin's by Case Zwart

TOPICS:   Publishing my genealogy   CDs donated   Genealogy Web sites                Cemetery research   Potpourri   GenView and GEDCOMs


Publishing my genealogy (June 2002)

Decisions, Decisions! Really this wasn't a hard one to make because economics dictated the answer.

Here's the story: Over the next 3 years, I plan to publish four books covering the genealogy of my maternal and paternal lineages as well as those of my wife, Helen. To date, I've done my side because it was the shortest and easiest. The results encompass 450 pages; 60 pages contain color graphics, and 122 pages contain black-and-white graphics. The graphics include photographs, news articles, deeds, birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, and other vital records.

Given the volume of material to publish, I decided to look into two possible methods of publishing: through an outside printer or doing it myself electronically at home using CDs. Estimates by local printers for 30 books rapidly approached the $5,000 mark, the major cost being in the set-up charges for the graphics. In contrast, the CD method entailed using all the capability of my personal computer, plus $25 for discs and a trial period of learning how best to do the task ahead. Besides costs, another major consideration was the question of how I could update the information, making changes and additions as the years go by. Here, the CD method won hands down.

The decision was thus an easy one—to publish it myself electronically and name each the first edition. This was accomplished and released on my own lineage in April 2002. The remaining editions will be at least four times the size (possibly 1,800 pages) and will hopefully be completed by 2003 or 2004.

To accomplish my task, I used Legacy and PAF genealogy programs, Word 2000, Acrobat 5.0 reader and Acrobat Writer, and Adobe Photo Deluxe, working on my Dell computer and an HP scanner and software. I chose to use Acrobat because the end product would read like a book similar to what major companies use on books filled with graphics and text. Using Word alone would have caused delays, as the graphics must load individually for each page. Acrobat 5.0 is a free program, as are PAF and the basic Legacy program. A word processor comes as software with each computer. Three years ago, I bought an HP 5100C scanner, which has done my job well. Thanks to a column by genealogy writer Dick Eastman, I found a free source for the Acrobat Reader and Editor that was capable of doing my task. The full-blown version is around $400.

I started my task by pulling the genealogy data from Legacy into a Word document, which can easily be accomplished in most genealogy programs; then, utilizing edit and mostly the "right click, copy and paste" process, I brought into Word all my graphics via the scanner, discs, Photo Shop, and so on, arranged, captioned, and edited again and again. This also resulted in the archiving of all my individual graphics on a separate high-density disc and CD, which can be considered a plus. I then used my Acrobat writer and converted the entire Word document into an Acrobat .pdf file.

I then transferred this into my CD-ROM writer and, as they say, "burned a disc," initially a master Read/Write CD, from which I made numerous copies for distribution. Accompanying the CD is a written description of how to access and read the books and a solicitation of comments, upgrades and corrections that can be made in the second edition.

In all it was a rewarding task and, with the knowledge I've gained, the future editions should contain further refinements. This effort, plus the receipt of an E-mail from the Mormon Genealogy Archive in Cheyenne acknowledging the acceptance of my database for perpetual storage, has provided a fine finish—for the time being—to my personal genealogy endeavor. Now, on to my wife's lineage.

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OYRGS donates 1880 U.S. Census and New England           CD-ROMs to the Abington Library (December 2001)

This article will deal primarily with "The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1847-1994" on CD-ROM. The 1880 Census database is well known and includes the head of household and all members living in that household and also permits the search of neighbors. There is an explanation at the beginning of the book containing the CD-ROMs that's worth reading prior to use. Remember there is always a "Help" section that you can click on for reference.

The NEHGR Register covers primarily the residents of New England during the 1600 to 1850 time period; although there are some references to NY, NJ, PA. and VA residents. There are in-depth historical and genealogical articles, along with cemetery, church, bible, and vital records, along with diary transcriptions, biographies and memoirs. Authors whose works have appeared in the Register include such eminent genealogists as Bartlett, Coddington, Davis, Holman, Jacobus, Moriarity and Torrey, as well as innumerable lesser known authorities on individual families or places. This remarkable, and expensive CD-ROM set, includes all 56,000 pages of the Register, volumes 1 through 148, as well as an index of names and software that will let you search the index or print pages of the text. A terrific research tool! There is a detailed instruction pamphlet in the front of the folder containing the nine CD-ROMs, and I strongly suggest you review the instructions first.

Since I always seem to have a problem reading some of my handwriting, I generally use the following procedure in my researches on CDs and on the Web for recording the information I want to keep. I use multi-tasking, which all of you can probably do on your computer. I open a blank page on my word processor, then open the CD-ROM I am researching. I highlight the data I want to keep; right click (several times if necessary) and a dialogue box showing "copy" appears; put the cursor in the highlighted section and left click on "copy"; then go to the menu bar at the bottom of the page and click on the word processor icon; a blank page appears. You can place my cursor or start symbol where you want to insert the transcription, then right click (several times if necessary) until a dialogue box appears with "paste" on it. Next, right click on paste; the highlighted section will appear in the Word document. Finally, go back to the menu bar at the bottom of the page and click on the CD-ROM icon to return to a research mode. You also can use your keyboard keys to accomplish this if you are familiar with their use. The same method can be used when researching on the Web, although then you probably can more conveniently open the Word processor after you get on the Web. Despite the many mini-steps involved, following them really is quite simple. It can be useful in many instances and is probably the easiest of the several methods that exist to use.

I also wish to remind you all that many of the club members have numerous CD-ROMs of vital statistics and have offered to do look-ups for members upon request. I have issued an updated list of them via E-mail and will bring some extra copies to the meeting for non-computer users.

In conclusion, I should mention that in the future the club may be donating other reference CD-ROMs to the library. If you have any suggestions about ones we could purchase and donate, let Ken Hayes or myself know. Happy Hunting!

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Genealogy Web Sites (September 2001)

Cemetery research (June 2001)

Today, thanks to the Internet, the possibility of locating family burial sites without leaving home is excellent. You can now search the Web for cemetery transcriptions, headstones records and even photographs. The sites briefly described below can help you locate your ancestors' burial sites:

Cemetery records on-line

Locating an old cemetery


FuneralCENTRAL is a Web site designed to provide free information about every funeral every day in the United States and Canada. Within a period of time, it will expand globally. It's a partnership with the Federation of Genealogical Societies and funeralCentral. The organizers of funeralCENTRAL have formed a successful partnership with the funeral industry and family historians to satisfy the needs of both organizations and provide a new service to the public. FuneralCENTRAL will publish the information provided on a daily basis by funeral homes throughout North America. The public will be able to access any funeral information that may be of particular interest to them. In addition, there are several offers available to permit researchers to place data on this Web site. FuneralCENTRAL's objective in these offers is to:

  1. Populate the new Web site with meaningful data, including photographs, so that it can launch with the largest inventory of information on ancestors.
  2. Demonstrate the demand to memorialize ancestors and celebrate family history.
  3. Offer a free source of data where the public can search for their roots.
  4. Demonstrate the broad public interest in family history information.

Check the Web site for more details and to see if it will support your research in the future.

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Potpourri (March 2001)

"POTPOURRI" yes, this article will be a catch-all or a bunch of miscellaneous and hopefully useful thoughts. As I sit here at my computer, the morning after our January meeting, looking at the expanse of snow outside the window and watching more starting to fall, my thoughts switch to perhaps Helen and I should start our annual trip to Florida a month sooner. Well, get with it Case, an article is due for the OYRGS Newsletter a month earlier. The meeting last night was great, the response by the group to the showing of their artifacts was most enlightening and interesting. I also made a statement at the meeting that about 75% of our members are now on the Internet-and this prompted me to write this article on random thoughts relative to your use of the computer for genealogy.

First, your computer deserves some "TLC." Do you perform, weekly or bimonthly, the maintenance tasks? If not go to your start button, scroll to accessories, click on system tools and go first to disk clean-up and click, following instructions in the dialogue box; then go to disk defragmenter and do the same. The latter may take an hour or more, so do it at a convenient time; you can do some other chores in the meantime since it will end on its own. Be sure your anti-virus program is updated every other week by getting your free updates from Norton or McAfee. Become familiar with all the program and security up-dates that are free on the Microsoft home page. Access its Help and Knowledge Base files to help correct some of the problems you may have. Download the latest versions of Explorer. Read John Fried's weekly columns (Thursday and Sunday) in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Now to genealogy:

  • Subscribe to Ancestry.com's Daily or Weekly News—see Ancestry.com "Free Newsletters" under "Get Help with Your Research."
  • Subscribe to the Rootsweb Weekly Review—go to http://www.rootsweb.com and scroll down to subscribe.
  • Go to RootsWeb.com: Mailing Lists and consider joining one of their many mailing lists.
  • Go to Cyndi's List and subscribe to her daily listing or review her listings weekly.
  • Log on to the following key websites frequently for research. Remember, they're dynamic sites and are upgraded daily:
  • Consider volunteering to help create new databases for all to see on the Internet. See the Rootsweb and USGenweb web pages; specifically on the latter, check the various county pages for suggestions.

Use the resources available from your club. We have experts in many areas of research. I have also issued a CD-ROM listings by members that you can request from them for look-ups. In addition I am the holder of the complete set of 20 disks on Pedigree Resource from the Mormon Church, the Family Catalog, 1881 British Census and many others.

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Using GENView on GEDCOM Files (December 2000)

I recently read in a Dick Eastman on-line newsletter (Vol. 5, No. 44, Oct. 28, 2000) about a new, free program called GENViewer that intrigued me, and I thought that perhaps it may have the same effect on you. Before I get into the details, let me just state that I downloaded the program from a Web page, it was free, and it worked as described.

Many Web pages are now offering free downloads of genealogy databases in the GEDCOM format—Ancestry.com, Rootsweb, etc. You could load these GEDCOM files into your main genealogy program, but if you hesitate doing this for fear of corrupting your main database, GENView is the answer for you.

Let's say that you're trying to fill several gaps in your main database. You get on the Internet and download three or four GEDCOM files that contain some of the names you're looking for. There could be thousands of names in these GEDCOM files but you're probably interested in only a few. GENView will rapidly help you to identify these few so you can see if they indeed have data that you'd want to transfer to your main database. GENView gives an almost instant list of individuals contained within a GEDCOM file. You can quickly see "who's here." Features are as follows:

  • Works with any genealogy application that can report to the GEDCOM format. This is an "Add-on" utility and doesn't replace your current genealogy application.
  • Reads GEDCOM version 5.5.
  • Offers fast imports! You can view your information in seconds.
  • Lets you view and analyze your data without creating separate databases.
  • Runs on Windows 95/98/NT/2000/Me.
  • Highlights individuals.
  • Displays information in different formats—individual, family group, pedigree, descendants tree, list format.
  • Lets you detect and analyze islands (or trees) of individuals. (An island is a group of individuals and families that are related to each other-genetically or by marriage.)

The program is user friendly. For more information, go to http://www.mudcreek.ca.

A second item of interest is that OYRGS has purchased a copy of the video called "Using Ancestry.com" for use on a loan basis by OYRGS members. Contact the writer for a loan. Dick Eastman in the column mentioned above devotes over two pages to this item, which I'll summarize.

In this video, you learn basic navigation of the Ancestry.com site, including:

  • How to quickly search for ancestors directly from the main page, including searching by name and (optionally) by location.
  • New databases that are added daily. These new additions are listed on the main page and usually are free for everyone's use for 10 days.
  • Articles from their print magazines, Ancestry and Genealogy Computing.
  • The Ancestry.com on-line store.

In the video, the author focuses on searching the 2,500 on-line databases by using examples. He also covers the up-and-coming databases on the census from 1790 to 1920.

If you're thinking of becoming a member of Ancestry or desire to upgrade your membership, viewing this video will demonstrate the sort of information available at their site.

Contact Case via e-mail or phone: 215.591.9959

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Content posted June 2005
URL: http://www.oyrgs.org
© 2003 Old York Road Genealogical Society
Mailing address: c/o Abington Free Library, 1030 Old York Road, Abington, PA 19001
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