Making a Choice - Go for the Challenge or the Easier Research

It's almost time for me to leave for Salt Lake City and RootsTech! I'm flying in a few days ahead of the conference which is Feb. 10-12. That will give me time to rest up from my long journey and to visit the Family History Library to do my own personal genealogy research.

I'm pretty excited. I've been to SLC before but not for about 5 years. Since it's almost impossible for me to obtain FHL microfilm where I live, I look forward to these trips to do the research I can't do here.

This trip I'm having trouble deciding on a research plan! I know from experience that I must have a plan, and lists of films and books I want to consult or my limited time in the Library is wasted.

I'm torn between researching my mother's English ancestry (SLC being the only place I can consult the records I need) or some of my more challenging Ontario Canada lines. I *want* to research my Canadian brick walls but I know that it is more efficient for me to do that English research. But it's more fun for me and much more of a challenge, to do the Ontario stuff.

I can get most of the Ontario records with a trip to the Archives of Ontario and a few other repositories so even though such a trip is not easy for me, the fact that it's "do-able" is weighing heavily in my decision.

So -- do I take the challenge where I have to really think and work to find any tidbit OR go the easier route where it is mostly robotic, not much thinking required....

I've given myself til the end of the day to decide. Tomorrow I have to hop to it and get the list of films that I need and figure out my plan of attack.

I may be kind of quiet over the next few days, but once RootsTech starts you'll be able to read my daily blog posts, follow my tweets on Twitter at @LorineMS and watch here for any videos I manage to create.

Ada Harland's Diary England Feb 5, 1914

Feb. 5, 1914

Thursday.

(went to) Thornton Dale after school. Tea at the Vicarage. Very kind people. (Jack) met me (at?) Miss Roberts. He brought me home

Episode 1 of Who Do You Think You Are: A Review

Ancestry.com partnered with NBC in Season 2 of Who Do You Think You Are?

Episode 1 aired tonight.

Viewers followed Vanessa Williams on her journey to find her father's ancestors. She learned that on both sides her ancestors included men who blazed trails and opened doors. I drooled when photographs of two of her ancestors were shown to her. One was a black ancestor who fought in the Civil War and had sent a tintype of himself in his uniform when he applied for a pension. It was wonderful to see Ms. Williams' reaction to each new bit of information.

Best of all, the constant rehashing after every commercial, as we endured during Season 1, was absent! It was a very welcome change - to jump right back into the story after a commercial instead of repeating what we'd seen before.

It was also encouraging to see Ms. Williams taking notes and to see the research steps taken and suggestions for further research she would have to conduct.

All in all I thought it was the best episode shown to date. I'm excited to see next Friday's episode!

Ada Harland's Diary England: Feb. 4, 1914

Feb. 4, 1914. Wednesday

Evening. Sch. of Art. J. waiting outside. Jim met Win. I came home with Jack

Featured Database: Trove

What can I say? It's a Treasure Trove (pun intended) of goodies. Trove is one of my favourite sites for information on my Australian and English ancestors and branches.

I was pleasantly surprised to find mention of my Great Grandfather's death (he died in Ramsgate England) in a Sydney newspaper! I found quite a bit on my Stead and Simpson relatives and have only just begun searching. The onsite newspapers start in 1803 and go to 1954.

You can correct the text versions if you find an article about an ancestor, and of course, you can view the image of the actual article. Trove has many other genealogy and history items - maps, diaries, books...

So if you have English or Australian ancestors or connections, give Trove a try!

Ada Harland's Diary England: Feb 3, 1914

Feb. 3, 1914. Tuesday

Evening. Club. (Dance after school) Club slow. Very. Letter from B [could this be the first mention of Bertie in Ada's Diary?] Harder luck

Publishing a Photo Book on Lulu

Recently I decided to take the plunge and create a book on Lulu.com

My son created a nice little book which he gave me for Christmas, and seeing how good it looked, I decided to give it a try.

There are many many choices on Lulu.com, from Photo books to Text. There are also many choices as to size of book, and binding and paper. It's all very nicely laid out and not hard to follow.

You can have printed copies sent to you directly or you can publish your completed books on Lulu where they will sell them on your behalf, or you can have them available on Amazon.com - it depends what your end goal is for your books.

For my first attempt I decided a photo book would be the easiest. I wanted to create a book with all my old family photos from my maternal grandfather's family. I could then give copies to my family and that would preserve the old photos as well as share them with others who have never seen them.

The Photo Book on Lulu has templated pages which have the "slots" for photos already laid out. You can also substitute one style page with another. The basic photo book has 20 pages so I chose that in 8 1/2x 11 size, something I am familiar with.

The text books have a template you can download which has pre-set margins for working in WORD. But I decided I didn't want to spend the time right now to figure all of that out.


I'm glad I chose the photo book template. It was easy to work with - just upload your photos and they appear in a side "tray" where you can easily move them to the page and the photo slot you want.

Not happy with your first placement? It's easy to remove a photo from a slot, put it back in the tray and then think about where it might be better placed.

I did end up changing page templates several times. It was easy to play around with and try various placements. The only drawback is that you cannot add a brief text caption to your photos. I consider this a major flaw, but there are a couple of template pages that have a large text area at the bottom of the page. So you could enter text describing each of the photos on that page. I did that for a few pages but I didn't want every single page in my photo book to have the same layout.

As I chose my photos and placed them in my book, I kept getting warning messages. These messages informed me that my photo might not display very well and I might want to resize it or choose another one. But I opted to leave the photos as they were (a bit worried but reminding myself that I was using photos from the early 1900s and late 1800s and they weren't all clear and sharp to begin with!)

Finally I had my cover designed (I chose a ready-made template) and the title entered and all my photos arranged. This is actually where the most challenging part of using Lulu.com happened!

I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to publish my book. I downloaded the proof copy as they suggested. But when I went to publish 6 hard copies to be delivered to me, I started to flounder. Information about my earlier choices (type of paper, colour versus black and white, size, binding) were displayed. But nothing looked familiar! I had chosen 8 1/2 x 11 paper but the size shown me was in cm not inches.

Perhaps it is just me and how my brain works (or doesn't work!) but I did find it challenging to actually order my printed books. However the good news is that I ordered them, they arrived within three days (amazing speed from USA to Canada), and they are gorgeous.

The photos that had warnings are perfect. The quality of the cover and pages is excellent. The book looks very professional and I can hardly wait to give copies to family!

My next book is one I am creating on Lulu with a downloaded template for WORD. It's another photo book but this time I'm adding text and stories as well as photos. So far, so good! I'll talk about that once I have the final products.

Ada Harland's Diary England: Feb. 2, 1914

Feb. 2, 1914. Monday

Evening Sch. of Art. J. waiting outside. Brought me home. Insp. at School

Press Release: Ancestry, a New Genealogy App for the iPad

This Press Release arrived from Ancestry.com. Co-incidentally I had just downloaded the App in question from the App Store. I've only looked at it once but I liked it. It looked easy to use (a big plus for me!) and your list of Family Trees is displayed in an easy-to-spot format

However for me personally I can't see any use. I don't use Ancestry Family Trees except for compiling genealogy data that I want to publish using MyCanvas. So I don't think I would ever need to use my iPad for this purpose. However if you are a big user of Ancestry Family Trees, I'd say go for it! 

Ancestry.com's New iPad App Lets Consumers Update and Share Family Trees, Old Photos and Records in Stunning Detail

Ancestry.com App Exploits iPad Form Factor and Features to Create a Deeper, Brighter, Smarter User Experience 

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ancestry.com, the world's largest online family history resource, today announced the availability of its new iPad app called Ancestry. 

Built specifically to deliver a compelling tablet experience, the new Ancestry app brings to life on iPad's large screen multi-generational family trees complete with images of original family records and photos, making iPad a powerful tool for users to display and share their trees with family and friends in an interactive, highly visual way.
A dynamic, intuitive user interface and integration with Ancestry.com makes it simple for users to record memories, edit vital information, document life events and organize photos, and also for use in conducting field research, collection, and documentation.  

Introducing Ancestry.com onto this compelling platform takes the website one step closer to its mission of helping everyone discover, preserve and share their family history.

"Since I already use my iPhone to document my life, it's natural to use it to document my family tree," said Ancestry.com user Aaron Vaughn of San Francisco. "Being able to research and upload photos and information on-the-fly makes updating my Ancestry.com account a seamless part of my life.  Now, with the new iPad app, I've got all the added benefits the larger format affords." 

Eric Shoup, Senior Vice President of Product for Ancestry.com, comments: "The new Ancestry iPad app makes it fun and easy to explore and share your family history research by allowing you and your family to tap and swipe your way through your family tree, old photos and records.  

"Ancestry.com is committed to leveraging the latest technology to make what we offer on our website easily accessible, simple and enjoyable to use for family history novices and experts alike, at their desks or in the field."

The Ancestry.com app for iPad is now available for free at the iTunes App Store. A new version of the popular Ancestry.com iPhone app, which includes more features for navigating a family tree and viewing records already attached to a tree, is also available for free in the App Store. 

To get started, just download the apps to your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch(i), log in to your Ancestry.com account and choose a family tree.

Ada Harland's Diary England : Feb 1, 1914

Feb. 1, 1914. Sunday

Church with Pa. Aft. & Even. stayed in

How to Transfer FTM files from a Windows PC to a Mac

Recently I upgraded from FTM2005 to FTM2011. Yes - it was a huge jump and a steep learning curve. In fact I’m still learning the ins and outs of 2011.

To add to my challenge, I also purchased a MacBookAir. I’ve never used a Mac, being a Windows PC user for many years. I do have an iPad and iPhone so am familiar with Apple products but a MacBook is quite different.

I found myself struggling with the new Mac operating system but needed to get my programs installed and files moved before my upcoming trip to Salt Lake City Utah. 

My next move was to install FTM for Mac on my new MacBookAir. That was easy. But how to move my Windows files for FTM over to my Mac? Could it be done? I needed to be able to work in identical programs on two vastly different machines - my main Windows computer and my MacBookAir.

Thanks to FTM’s File Migration Utility Guide (a one page how-to) it was super easy!

My first step was to put my FTM for Mac CD into my PC CD-ROM drive. There is a folder called FTM FILE MIGRATION UTILITY and there I found and clicked on FTMFileMigrationSetup.exe  This automatically installed the File Migration Utility for Windows on my PC.

Next I made sure my machines were connected via my network. I could have used a flash drive, DVD or even an FTP program to transfer files but I wanted to try it via the network connection.

I created my GEDCOM in 2005 and then exported it to 2011. Done.

Next step was to open FTM on my Mac and choose IMPORT, then my shared network (which is my main computer), select the FTM2011 file I had just created from the FTM2005 GEDCOM and import it.

Bingo! Done. My FTM files from my Windows PC were safely installed on my new MacBookAir and accessible in my FTM for Mac. Now to learn how to use FTM2011!

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan. 31

Saturday January 31, 1914

In town. Aft. Meeting at Central Sch. J. brought me home

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan. 30

Friday January 30, 1914:

Evening Dance. 18 C--- first, medium and last with Jack. Had a good time. Miss T------Christy[?] Jack brought me home

Finding an Ancestor in Belgium (Part 5): The Latin Records

In Part 1 of my series on Belgium Research I talked about the challenge of finding an ancestor in Belgium Records. In this last post on the series, I will show you the next hurdle we faced - records written in Latin.

A search of the Roman Catholic Church Records of Kuurne in 1749 was successful and we found the marriage of Archie De Meuleunaere's 3rd great grandfather Joannes Franciscus Vereoestraete and Maria Catharina Callewier. But to our surprise the records were in Latin.



Marriage Record 1749
in Kerkelijke registers 1694-1813

 We had gone to attempting to read Flemish to French to Latin in the space of a half-day. But we were  in luck. I took Latin for five years (don't ask why, it's a long story) and even though that was more years ago than I care to say, I remembered a few words. It was enough to spot some words. I'm quite sure that even if a person knew no Latin they could still recognize the words for Marriage, Birth or Death.

And of course most of us will recognize the words "filia" (daughter of) and "filius" (son of) In this record I spotted the name Maria Catharina Callalwiere "filia Petrus Callewiere et Margaritae de groot" (4th line above the signature) So now we knew Maria Catharina's parents' names.

Johannes Franciscus Veroughstraete's parents' names were recorded as Joannes [Veroughstraete] and Anne van Brabant. Johannes Fanciscus was said to be from Pitthem which was another very nice clue.

By taking our time and going very slowly, we were able to find and understand many of the records we needed to find Archie's ancestry in Belgium back several generations. The records are wonderful - very complete and we could have gone further back but I developed a severe headache after a day of struggling to find, read and translate three different languages.

There is much I  could not understand even with the help of a French-English dictionary and a Dutch-English one. But I understood enough to allow us to find names; birth, death and marriage dates and birth, death and marriage locations. We will continue to add details to what we found, and one day we'll continue tracing the Belgium roots even further back in time.

So don't be dismayed by  the challenges. It can be done with perseverance and determination (and some dictionaries!)

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan. 29

Thursday January 29, 1914

Left school 8:45. Train to Thornton Dale. Tea at Miss Priestman's. Had a fine time. A good class. Dance "Rufty Tufty"

Note: In the back of this tiny diary, Ada has various dances listed, also dance movements and other assorted notes. On Jan. 29, 1914 she notes that the fare she paid to take the train to Thornton Dale that day was "2-5" I assume this is 2 shillings, 5 pence but am not sure

Getting Ready for RootsTech (A Video Story)

RootsTech is coming up soon! Don't miss this Technology-Genealogy Conference from Feb. 10-12 in Salt Lake City, Utah. It's not too late to register.

Since I'm an Official Blogger for RootsTech I'm busy making my preparations for the Conference. So, at hubby's urging, I made a short video which you can see below. My one condition was "No closeups!" This is my (our) first time making something like this, and I'm sure we'll get better as we make more!

I can't believe how awkward and stiff I appear! I'll never make it as a movie star. I'm too self-conscious in front of the camera! Next time I want a stylist and make-up artist...

We will be making more Videos when I'm at the Conference and these will be uploaded to Olive Tree Genealogy YouTube Channel If you want to be notified of new videos, just click the SUBSCRIBE button on my YouTube page. Videos will also be embedded here in the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog.

So have a look, and I hope you enjoy my little dog Webley and I talking about RootsTech.

Shoemaker's Ledger, Lunenburg Nova Scotia

Entries Jan. 23-31, 1897-1919


Several years ago I purchased an account book kept by a local shoemaker living in or near the communities of CrossCreek and Ritsey's Cove, Lunenburg Nova Scotia. There are no identifying notations to tell me who the shoemaker was, so I researched the names of his customers found in the book. I found them all living in CrossCreek and Ritsey's Cove so I assume the shoemaker lived nearby.

The entries I read date from 1897 to 1919. There may be some earlier or later - they are not in date order. Whoever kept the account book decided to keep track of money owed and paid by family. Each family has its own page (or pages) and shoe repairs and purchases are noted throughout the years the family used the service.
The shoemaker's ledger book is 17x7 inches and there are 212 pages covering 22 years. Continuing on with Jan. 23-31 entries, all years:

Jan-26 1897 John Risser Pair boots - Morris $2.25


Jan-26 1897 Nathan Hirtle pair boots - John $2.00

Jan-27 1897 David Conrad Pair boots soled, healed - Thom 15 c

Jan-27 1897 David Conrad Pair boots patched - Eldrage 20 c

Jan-28 1898 Henry Knock pair boots repaired 45 c

Jan-28 1898 Zenas Conrad pair boots $5.25

Jan-27 1899 Chemanna Winter's pair boots repaired - Morris 20 c

Jan-30 1900 Henry Garredt pair boots boy $4.00

Jan-25 1900 Daniel Zink of Lewis 1 shoe patched - Mrs. 10 c

Jan-25 1900 Nattie Knock pair shoes soled healed - Bell 55c

Jan-25 1900 Nattie Knock pair shoes repaired - Bell 25c

Jan-27 1900 Freeman Zink pair boots repaired 50c cash. $1.25

Jan-27 1900 Henry Garredt pair boots Willas $5.25

Jan-27 1900 Nattie Knock pair boots $5.25

Jan-29 1900 Eldredge Conrad pair boots soled healed 75c

Jan-29 1900 John Knock Pair shoes repaired - girl 60c

Jan-31 1901 Obadiah Zink pair boots soled 35c

Jan-23 1901 Nathan Hirtle pair shoes - Mrs. $1.75

Jan-25 1901 James Risser pair boots patched - Alton 25c

Jan-29 1901 David Conrad pair shoes - Mrs. $2.50

Jan-29 1901 Thomas Conrad pair shoes soled healed 70c

Jan-29 1901 Uriah Mosman pair boots - Simon $5.50

Jan-26 1909 Solomon Creeser pair shoes patched - Mrs. 15c

Jan-24 1910 Albert Wentzel pair shoes soled healed - Mrs. 45c

Jan-24 1910 Benjam Ritcey 1 boot patched - Leota 15c

Jan-24 1910 Stephen Ritcey Pair shoes repaired 10c

Jan-26 1910 Freeman Himmelman pair shoes soled healed - Perl 40c

Jan-26 1910 Melburn Lohnes pair shoes soled healed 75c

Jan-26 1910 Samuel Ritcey pair shoes repaired - Russel 10c

Jan-27 1910 Aseph Conrad pair shoes soled healed patched - Freddie 65c

Jan-28 1910 Freeman Himmelman pair shoes soled healed - Perl 40c

Jan-31 1911 Edward Creaser Est. pair of shoes repaired for Bertie $.25

Jan-31 1911 Harry Godley pair shoes repaired - Kenneth 25c

Jan-23 1911 Harry Godley pair shoes soled healed repaired 45c

Jan-24 1911 Archibald Conrad 1 shoe repaired - girl 15c

Jan-24 1911 Aseph Conrad pair shoes soled healed - Freddie 65c

Jan-24 1911 Thomas Ritcey pair shoes healed 25c

Jan-26 1911 Aseph Conrad 1 shoe repaired - Mrs. 10c

Jan-27 1911 Daniel Lohnes pair shoes healed - Mina 15c

Jan-28 1911 Josiah Wentzel one piece of leather $.25

Jan-28 1911 Solomon Creeser pair shoes repaired 40c

Jan-24 1912 Freeman Creeser pair shoes patched - May 10c

Jan-25 1912 Milton Ritcey pair overboots soled heeled 85c

Jan-27 1912 Samuel Ritcey harness job 10c

Jan-30 1913 Ritchard S. Lohnes pair shoes repaired - Libbie 15x

Jan-24 1913 Naman Wentzel pair shoes repaired - Mother 20c

Jan-25 1913 Benjiman Wentzel pair shoes repared - Eley 15c

Jan-29 1913 Ellen Conrad pair shoes healed 15c

Jan-29 1913 Samuel Ritcey pair shoes soled healed - Freda 40c

Jan-29 1913 Thomas Ritcey pair shoes soled healed - Dora 40c

Jan-30 1914 Daniel Lohnes 1 rubber repaired - Dora 10c

Jan-31 1914 Alven Creaser pair Caregon bottomed $1.50

Jan-31 1914 Samuel Ritcey a boot patched 10c

Jan-23 1914 Aseph Conrad pair boots soled heeled 90c

Jan-29 1914 Ritchard S. Lohnes pair shoes soled - Seasel [sic - should be Cecil?] 65c

Jan-30 1915 Daniel Ritcey pair shoes soled healed - Boy 80c

Jan-30 1915 William Woolf pair shoes soled heeled sewed - Merlean 80c

Jan-23 1915 Enas Smith pair shoes repaired Emly 25c

Jan-28 1915 Edward Creaser Est 1 shoe repaired - Ethel 15c

Jan-28 1915 Willet Creaser pair of boots soled and heeled one dollar

Jan-29 1915 Henry Creeser, carpenter pair boots soled 65c

Jan-29 1915 Solomon Creaser pair shoes shheeled - Clara 15c

Jan-31 1916 Charles Ritcey 1 shoe repaired - Mrs 15c

Jan-24 1916 Ritchard Lohnes Capt 1 shoe patched - Ronald 10c

Jan-28 1916 Alvin Creaser pair shoes soled heeled - Donald 45c

Jan-29 1916 Ritchard Lohnes Capt 1 shoe patched - Ronald 10c

Jan-24 1917 Solomon Creaser pair shoes repaired - Mrs. 25c

Jan-25 1917 Ritchard S. Lochnes putting on skates 10c

Jan-23 1918 Ritchard Lohnes Capt pair shoes soled heeled - Rhonald $1.00

Jan-25 1918 Harry Godley one shoe repaired - boy 15c

Jan-29 1918 Reuben Ritcey pair shoes soled heeled - Wallas $1.40

Jan-30 1919 Archibald Conrad one shoe soled - boy 25c

Jan-24 1919 Charles Ritcey pair boots patched - Harry 45c

Jan-24 1919 Gabriel Himmelman hair cut - Paul 25c

Win a $20,000 Journey to Your Homeland!

Enter for a chance to win a $20,000 journey to your family's homeland from Ancestry.com.

I hope you've marked your calendars for Feb. 4, 2011! Season 2 of Who Do You Think You Are is about to start. You could win an amazing journey of your own by entering the $20,000 journey on Ancestry.com.

One week from today you can watch Episode 1: Vanessa Williams learns about the extraordinary lives of her trailblazing ancestors. February 4th, 8/7c

Episode 2: Tim McGraw discovers his family's surprising role in settling
the early American frontier. February 11th, 8/7c

Tune in throughout the rest of the season to watch Kim Cattrall, Rosie O'Donnell, Lionel Richie, Steve Buscemi, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd reveal their family stories.

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan. 28

Wednesday January 28, 1914

Evening J. took me too Spa Concert. Charles Tree & Frederic Dawson. A fine time. Reserved seats & [?] [?]

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan. 27

Tuesday January 27, 1914

Sch. Evening Club. Jimmie met Win afterwards. They are making it up