OneGreatFamily Newsletter

It's The Best Time Of The Year To Subscribe To OneGreatFamily

heather.matthews — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:30:00 GMT

It's The Best Time Of The Year To Subscribe To OneGreatFamily

Only 3 Days Left To Subscribe For Only $5 A Month

If you have not taken advantage of our Family History Month Promotion we encourage you to do so. The promotion will only be available at OneGreatFamily until October 25th which means you only have 3 days left!!

Act now to experience OneGreatFamily for only $5 a Month!

Consider how much more you get from OneGreatFamily by becoming a subscriber:

View the ancestors who have been added to your family tree because of our unique matching and merging process
See all of your ancestors who are already part of OneGreatFamily
Meet and work with distant family around the world
See how you are related to your famous ancestors
View unlimited generations of your family tree at one time
Make new discoveries over time - new families and information are added daily
Access your Family DashboardT, a whole new way to explore your family tree

So, as a guest, if you have not taken advantage of our Family History Month Special we encourage you to do so. We want to make sure that all our guests get their chance to see how powerful OneGreatFamily will be to their family tree.

Our prices for subscriptions through October 25th are the following:

1 Year (billed annually) ~~$79.95~~ Now only $59.95!
3 Months (billed quarterly) ~~$29.95~~ Now only $19.95!
1 Month (billed monthly) ~~$14.95~~ Now only $9.95!

We encourage you to subscribe to OneGreatFamily to more fully enjoy the benefits of this expanding service. This promotion will end October 25th.

Join OneGreatFamily in celebrating Family History Month by taking advantage of huge savings when you subscribe to this remarkable service.

How Does OneGreatFamily Compare With Other Genealogy Products?

heather.matthews — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:28:00 GMT

OneGreatFamily Tip: How Does OneGreatFamily Compare With Other Genealogy Products?

OneGreatFamily is Four Products in One

People have asked us in the past what makes OneGreatFamily unique. They have also asked us another similar question: How does OneGreatFamily compare against other genealogy products?

OneGreatFamily provides an enormous amount of value because it successfully combines four products into one. OneGreatFamily is an online database of lineage-linked data, a genealogy records management software program, a collaborative environment for sharing and working on family history, and our Family Dashboard allows you to experience a whole new way to explore your family tree.

The following is a list to consider when comparing OneGreatFamily against other genealogy products:

OneGreatFamily is creating a combined database for the human family

There are several benefits of tying family trees together. These benefits include gaining research leads to explore, easily identifying others who are researching your family lines, discovering how you are related to other researchers, tracing collateral family lines, seeing how you are related to famous relatives, and gaining instant access to updates, conflicts and new information on your ancestors.

Other services will search multiple databases for instances of a name, but no other service makes finding information on your ancestors easier by comparing all the family trees at OneGreatFamily.

OneGreatFamily is searching for ALL of your ancestors ALL the time

OneGreatFamily searches for ALL of your ancestors ALL the time. Other programs require you to enter names and dates of specific ancestors or require you to be using their software at the time potential matches are found. OneGreatFamily, on the other hand, is always searching for any possible matches based on the individuals and families in your family tree. OneGreatFamily only notifies you when matches have been found for YOUR ancestors (not just anyone with the same name).

OneGreatFamily does not sell your family tree

OneGreatFamily sells a subscription service to provide users with a system that matches and merges their family trees and provides new opportunities for collaboration. You can search OneGreatFamily and submit your own family tree for free. A subscription is only required to access the features that provide additional value by saving you time and effort in researching your family tree. Free services that provide you with access to millions of names in family trees do little to add value to the data provided. Other services actually charge people to access family trees that have been freely submitted. They charge access fees to search their family tree databases or sell the records on CD-ROMs. Many people who have purchased family trees on CD-ROMs express dismay when they realize they have actually purchased the very same data they submitted!

OneGreatFamily is a living, dynamic family tree that is always growing!

OneGreatFamily is continuously updated by tens of thousands of subscribers. Everyone who uses OneGreatFamily is working on a shared database, but enjoys the benefit of seeing the family tree from his or her own perspective. Any additions or changes in OneGreatFamily can be seen instantaneously by everyone around the world without any waiting or additional processing. While working on your family tree in OneGreatFamily, you may suddenly receive a notification that new ancestors have been added to YOUR family tree.

Family Dashboard, shows you a whole new way to explore your family tree

Family Dashboard allows you to explore and work on your family tree in ways no other program provides. Family Dashboard makes exploring your family tree a lot of fun while aiding your genealogy research. Family Dashboard, which is fully integrated with Genealogy BrowserT, allows you to analyze your family tree from a variety of unique aspects, and then drill directly into a specific ancestor you are working on. Family Dashboard provides drag-and-drop widgets designed to provide interesting information and insights into your family tree. Example widgets include Relationship Calculator, Migration Calculator, Time Capsule, Top 10 Birth and Death Countries, etc.

Important Events on this Date Widget

heather.matthews — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:25:00 GMT

Customer Service Corner: Important Events on this Date Widget

By Jesse Bingham, Customer Service Representative

If you are looking for something to celebrate, look no further than your Family Dashboard page. The "Important Events" widget on your dashboard allows you to view events that have happened in your tree on a specific date.

If you click on the ">>more" link it will bring up a page that will give you a list of all events that happened on that day as well as allow you to change the date:

This page will inform you of births, deaths, marriages, and christenings that happened on that specific date. Change the date shown and you can see what other events appear. You can feel closer to your family and what occurred in their life through this one simple widget.

Click here to view a brief tutorial.

As always, we are happy to help if you have additional questions, so don't hesitate to call 1-877-643-8733 or email if you need assistance.

Salem Witch Ancestors

heather.matthews — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:15:00 GMT

Salem Witch Ancestors

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

Many of us have New England ancestors. And many Americans can trace their ancestry back to Massachusetts to the infamous episode in American history known as the Salem Witch Trials. Cotton Mather, Rebecca Nurse, and Samuel Parris are all names that have been made well-known by the witch trial drama of 1692. Aside from those accused (and many condemned and executed) as witches, there were many others involved: the accusers, the ministers, the bailiffs, the judges, and the witnesses involved in court proceedings. What does it mean to be descended from one of these individuals?

If you are a descendant of one of the accused, you can find a place in the Associated Daughters of Early American Witches, a genealogical society for women descended from anyone who was accused of witchcraft prior to 31 December 1699 in colonial America. The proclaimed mission of the society is to preserve the memory of those accused of witchcraft in New England and to locate all their living female descendants. On their website at www.adeaw.us, you can view a list of approved ancestors, or you can submit your own ancestor for review.

If you are trying to determine whether or not your ancestor was indeed involved in witchcraft trial proceedings, you can conduct your own historical research or you can check the Salem Witches database of Ancestral Findings, at http://www.ancestralfindings.com/freed5141.htm. Its name is somewhat misleading; the database actually contains the names of more than 200 individuals accused of witchcraft in New England between 1647 and 1697, including people from the villages of Andover and Gloucester. The database lists each individual by first and last name, names the town where he or she was accused and tried, and states the outcome (acquittal, execution, etc.).

For a detailed look at the Salem proceedings, one of the prime resources available online is the Salem Witchcraft Papers Project, a historical project whose aim is to compile all documents pertaining to the Salem disaster and make them available for free online. At http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/texts, you can read the complete court documents. You can also view lists of the accusers, defenders, judges, jurors, and ministers involved. Most significantly, there is a list of the "afflicted" girls, along with plat maps showing where they lived in relation to those they were accusing (and the land their families stood to gain by their accusations).

The 1692 Salem witch disaster is one of the most documented events in American history: countless books, articles, and even plays have been written about it. If you have ancestors who were involved in the saga, learning about them will be easy-and fascinating.

Genealogy.About.com

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:40:00 GMT

Genealogy.About.com

About.com and run by genealogy professional Kimberly Powell. Kimberly Powell has built a comprehensive environment around genealogy topics, including the best new content available, relevant genealogy links, How-To's, forums, and answers to just about any question you may have about genealogy. Visit genealogy.about.com today.

�Genealogy.About.com

Honor Your Ancestors During Family History Month

heather.matthews — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:12:00 GMT

Honor Your Ancestors During Family History Month

Celebrate National Family History Month By Working On Your Familiy Tree

October is National Family History Month, a month to celebrate our ancestors and the stories of our families. OneGreatFamily wants to help you make the most of this month. Get started by submitting or creating your family tree on OneGreatFamily.

OneGreatFamily will then compare your ancestors against over 200 million names that have already been submitted to our service. When a match is found, your family tree will be merged with others and become part of the larger OneGreatFamily database.

If you have already submitted your family tree, now is the time to see if your family tree has grown, to verify new information that has been made available through OneGreatFamily, to add more ancestors to your family tree to provide more potential connections for others or to just play around with your family tree in Family Dashboard.

If you haven't had a chance, you may also consider inviting others who are interested in genealogy to become part of your experience at OneGreatFamily. Give them your OneGreatFamily username to enter when they sign up and we will add a free month to your subscription as our way of saying "thanks" for spreading the word about our great service.

We hope you are enjoying OneGreatFamily and that you will want to share your experience with others. Get others involved in their family history to celebrate National Family History Month.

In honor of Family History Month, we're lowering the prices of our subscriptions until October 25th.

Sign-up for an annual membership and get up to 33% OFF the regular price! . . . OR, if you'd rather dip your toe before jumping into a year's membership, you can try the first month for only $9.95! By upgrading to an annual subscription, you will gain ongoing access to OneGreatFamily for only $5 per month (compared to $14.95 per month for our standard monthly subscription plan).

Our prices for subscriptions are the following:

1 Year (billed annually) ~~$79.95~~ Now only $59.95!
3 Months (billed quarterly) ~~$29.95~~ Now only $19.95!
1 Month (billed monthly) ~~$14.95~~ Now only $9.95!

Join OneGreatFamily in celebrating Family History Month by taking advantage of huge savings when you subscribe to this remarkable service.

Are Others Working On your Family Tree Right Now?

heather.matthews — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:09:00 GMT

OneGreatFamily Tip: Are Others Working On your Family Tree Right Now?

Celebrate National Family History Month By Collaborating With Others

You can collaborate with other OneGreatFamily members by following simple steps:

Launch Genealogy Browser

Select an ancestor on whom you would like to collaborate

Click on the ancestor in the Handprint View to see the Individual Details

Click on the "Collaborate" button found in the lower-left corner of the Individual Details box

Click on the "Owners" tab on the "Collaborate with others" window. This window will show your group and any other group that has a family tree with this individual

Expand the groups to see individuals by clicking on the (+) sign to the left of the group name

Click on an individual's username to view the user's name and email address and to send the user a message

If you have an email application, such as Outlook, clicking on the "Send" button will open a new email message to send. If not, you will need to copy the other person's email address and paste it into the "To" field of your email application.

Whether or not you collaborate with others through email, you are still collaborating every time you use OneGreatFamily. You are adding individuals to the world's largest family tree that will someday result in hints, merges, and collaboration for others who are also using OneGreatFamily.

We hope you enjoy collaborating with other genealogists through OneGreatFamily.

How to Change Who Your Family Dashboard Information is About

heather.matthews — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:55:00 GMT

Customer Service Corner: How to Change Who Your Family Dashboard Information is About

By Linda Smith, Customer Service Representative

Have you finished working on one line and would like to focus on another? The "Change who this information is about" link will change the information you see in the Family Dashboard.

When you select "Change who this information is about" a pop up will come up.

You will need to select who you want your new default anchor to be. Select a new default anchor and click ok. The Family Dashboard will refresh to show the new information on the anchor that you selected. (Note: This tool can only be used if you have more than one anchor.)

Anchors are like "favorites" or "bookmarks". Just as a favorite allows you to quickly return to a specific webpage on the Internet, an anchor allows you to jump quickly to a specific person in your family tree.

You can easily add new names to the list of anchors by adding new anchors in Genealogy Browser. Just open Genealogy Browser, make the person you want to be an anchor into the selected individual, and then click on the Anchors menu and pick the Add Individual to Anchors menu choice.

As always, we are happy to help if you have additional questions, so don't hesitate to call 1-877-643-8733 or email if you need assistance.

Know Before You Go

heather.matthews — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:41:00 GMT

Know Before You Go

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

Are you planning a research trip? Are you traveling across the state, across the country, or even across the Atlantic Ocean to conduct genealogical research? If so, you can make the best use of your research time by making a few simple preparations before you go.

There is no reason to spend your precious on-site research time searching records like census records or death certificates that you can access at home. Conduct all that research before you go. If you will be traveling to an archive or library to research, use their online catalog to see exactly what records they have available. You should also verify the addresses and hours of the archive or county courthouse so that you can plan your schedule accordingly. Then make a detailed list of who you are looking for, in what records you will search for them, and what date range you will search. For example, if you know that your great-grandparents married in 1910 in Orange County, Indiana, you may write as your list item: "Search for the birth of great-grandmother Mary Jane Wilson in Orange County birth register from 1880 to 1895.

You should also prepare pedigree charts and family group records before you go. Even if you bring your laptop, you should still print out copies of these documents. That way, if the library or archive doesn't have a place for you to plug in your laptop, you will still have all your charts at a glance. Back up all your data before you go and make a second copy of everything, either on a second flash drive, an external hard drive, or on CD or DVD. That way, if you lose your flash drive or your computer crashes you can still make use of your research time because you'll have your information saved to a second location. Take small bills with you so that you can quickly and easily make photocopies of documents (some archives don't allow you to take digital photographs or scan digital images, so photocopies are your only option).

If you're going to be in the area where your ancestors lived, you don't want to be stuck in the archive the whole time. If possible, go see the house where your ancestors lived or the church they attended; soak in the ambience of the places they frequented. Check plat maps or interview older relatives before you go to find out where, precisely, your ancestors lived. One of my most rewarding genealogical experiences was driving four hours into the middle of the sagebrush desert in Southern Utah to see the homestead where my great-grandfather lived as a boy. On research trips, you should always take a camera with you, as well as extra batteries or your camera charger, so that you can take photos of headstones, houses, or even records. Doing on-site research is a unique and rewarding experience, and you may not return to the location for a long time, if ever. Make the most of it.

FunStuffForGenealogists.com

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:38:00 GMT

FunStuffForGenealogists.com

The holidays are closer than we think. Want a unique gift for a genealogist? Do you want to find crafts, prints, games, stickers, and other genealogically themed products and items? Then surf on over to FunStuffForGenealogists.com. They have TONS of unique genealogy gifts - there is something for everyone!�

Visit: FunStuffForGenealogists.com

Did You Know October Is National Family History Month?

heather.matthews — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:58:13 GMT

United States Officially Recognized October as National Family History Month

Every October we at OneGreatFamily honor National Family History Month. In 2003 the United States Senate officially recognized October as National Family History Month, a time "to encourage family history research, education, and the sharing of knowledge."

President George W. Bush, in signing a Proclamation in support of Family History Month in 2003, said, "Lessons in family lineage are often lessons in courage, endurance, and love. While tracing our roots can be challenging, the rewards can be great - affirming our pride in our history and keeping us mindful of the sacrifices of our forbears."

We at OneGreatFamily also wish to echo those sentiments by encouraging everyone to spend time this month in pursuing the discovery of their personal roots as a gift to future generations.

In honor of Family History Month, we're lowering the prices of our subscriptions until October 11th.

Sign-up for an annual membership and get 33% OFF the regular price! . . . OR, if you'd rather dip your toe before jumping into a year's membership, you can try the first month for only $9.95! By upgrading to an annual subscription, you will gain ongoing access to OneGreatFamily for only $5 per month (compared to $14.95 per month for our standard monthly subscription plan).

Our prices for subscriptions are the following:

1 Year (billed annually) ~~$79.95~~ Now only $59.95!
3 Months (billed quarterly) ~~$29.95~~ Now only $19.95!
1 Month (billed monthly) ~~$14.95~~ Now only $9.95!

Join OneGreatFamily in celebrating Family History Month by taking advantage of huge savings when you subscribe to this remarkable service.

Detail Page on Family Dashboard

heather.matthews — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:30:00 GMT

OneGreatFamily Tip: Detail Page on Family Dashboard

The Detail Page Can Be Very Helpful In Finding Information About Your Ancestors In Your Family Tree

This week we will be discussing the valuable information you can find on the Detail Pages. When you are browsing through Family Dashboard, some widgets will have a link in the bottom right hand corner, often labeled "More", like this:

In other cases, an individual item in a widget may be a link as well. In either case, clicking on the link brings up a page with a lot more detail on it. For example, I clicked on the "Merges performed this week" link in the General Statistics widget on my Family Dashboard and here is the Detail Page that popped up:

In the middle of the Detail page is an area that looks like a list. This area contains all the applicable data, whereas the widget often just contains a few sample items. So, for example, the Sample Surnames only lists three random surnames, whereas the Detail page actually lists every surname in your family tree.

There are several features about the Detail Page that you will find very valuable:

Sort by Column: You can sort your list by any column. In the example in the image above that includes: Surname, First Name, Birth Day, Birth Place, Death Date or Death Place. To sort by a column just click on the column heading. An arrow pointing down means the list is sorting First to Last, whereas an arrow pointing up means the list is sorted last to first. If you want the opposite sort order, just click on the column heading again and it will switch.
In the image below you will see that the list is sorted by Birth Place.

Jump To Link: Because some lists are quite long, there are a couple of aids to help you find a specific ancestor. Notice the list of the alphabet in the header of the list. Click on a letter and you will jump directly to the page in the list where that letter starts. Please note that the letter may start somewhere on the page, not necessarily at the top. So you might have to scroll down the page in order to find the first of that letter, but you are on the correct page.

You can also enter several characters into the "Other" Box to try to more accurately jump to the right page. For example, if there are a lot of Birth Places that start with an S, it might be faster to type "Suf" to get to Suffield.

Finally, note that this Jump To list is created depending on the type of data you are sorting on. For alphabetical data, the alphabet is displayed. For dates, years throughout the range are displayed.

Relationship Calculator, Migration Calculator and Genealogy Browser: Each individual listed has a group of 3 boxes on the far right side:

The Relationship Calculator shows the relationship between this person and the anchor chosen on the Family Dashboard main page. The Migration Calculator will show a map of the migration from the person selected to the anchor chosen. The Genealogy Browser button will show this person in Genealogy Browser.

We encourage you to explore the Detail page and see how easy it is to find interesting information about your ancestors.

How to Update Your Credit Card Information

heather.matthews — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:05:21 GMT

Customer Service Corner: How to Update Your Credit Card Information

By Brenda Eyring, Customer Service Representative

On occasion, customers need to change which credit card number we charge our renewal fees to. To change your card number, please follow these steps.

1. Go to www.onegreatfamily.com.
2. Click on the "Login" link in the top right corner.
3. Enter your username and password.
4. Click on "My Account" on the black bar near the top of your screen.

5. A new window will open up that is divided into 4 sections.

6. Locate the section titled “Credit Card Information” and click on the "Edit" button.
7. Enter the necessary information for your new card number. You will be asked for the name as it appears on the card, the credit card type, the credit card number, and the expiration date.
8. You will be required to enter your password again for security purposes before your account will reflect the new card number.
9. Click on the "Submit" button.
10. Congratulations, you are finished. Your next renewal will be billed to the new card number.

Scotland's Genealogy Blog

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:14:23 GMT

Scotland's Genealogy Blog

'Scotland's Genealogy' is a new blog by Chris Halliday,amateur genealogist and enthusiast of Scotland's history.

This blog is for all of you who have Scottish Ancestry - which I'm sure includes several of you. Learn about clans, handwriting, demographics, etc. Anyone with Scottish Ancestry should add this to their favorites.

Visit Scotlandsgenealogy.blogspot.com

Hispanic Heritage Month

heather.matthews — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:14:00 GMT

Hispanic Heritage Month

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

The month from 15 September to 15 October is Hispanic Heritage Month. The event was originally Hispanic Heritage Week, approved by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968. In 1988 President Ronald Reagan made it a month-long event. 15 September was chosen as the starting point for the celebration because five Latin American countries celebrate it as their day of independence: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua all declared independence on 15 September 1821. In addition, Mexico celebrates its independence day on 16 September, Chile on 18 September, and Belize on 21 September.

Today Hispanic culture in America is thriving. Hispanic Americans are the fastest-growing minority group in the United States, with 46.9 million Hispanic Americans in July of 2008. Hispanics are the largest minority group in America, comprising 15% of the nation's total population, not including Puerto Rico. Only Mexico, with 110 million Hispanics, has a larger Hispanic population than that of the United States. Forty-eight percent of Hispanic Americans live in California or Texas, with 13.5 million in California and 8.9 million in Texas.

One of the best sources for searching your genealogy, if your Hispanic ancestors were from Mexico, is the 1930 Mexican census. This census is available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and its extension offices, Family History Centers. FamilySearch Indexing is currently working on digitizing all these records; they will soon be made available free on pilot.familysearch.org. In addition to the census, the Family History library has microfilmed 99% of Mexican parish records. Parish records are a gold mine for genealogical researchers, since every baptism, marriage, and death was recorded by the parish priest.

If you have early Spanish ancestors in the Americas that you want to learn more about, the Spanish Colonial Research Center is a prime resource. A partnership between the National Park Service and the University of New Mexico, the Research Center has over 85,000 pages of Spanish colonial documents, microfilmed. The Research Center also publishes the Colonial Latin American Historical Review, a quarterly journal.

Together We Have Created The World's Largest Online Family Tree

heather.matthews — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:56:00 GMT

You Have Made OneGreatFamily The Active, Growing, And Dynamic Family Tree It Is Today

OneGreatFamily has become known as a great tool for doing genealogical research. The system works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year to search and then sift your entire family tree against the family trees of all the other OneGreatFamily Members. Our system does this work in order to save you from performing endless searches resulting in thousands of obvious non-matches.

However, all this technology and all our efforts would be of little value without your support and participation. It is the hundreds of thousands of family history enthusiasts contributing their personal research that keeps the OneGreatFamily engine running. Together we have made OneGreatFamily the active, growing, and dynamic service it is today.

The last couple of months the OneGreatFamily Online Family Tree has seen some amazing growth. Our members are really benefiting from all the collaborative activity and using the many resources and tools we offer to expand their family trees. We appreciate all the contributing information that so many of you have shared that has helped others have success in finding their ancestors.

The following are 2 emails we received from OneGreatFamily members expressing their gratitude to OneGreatFamily members:

"...No longer will families remain separated in many error ridden genealogy files that are kept by one family member (like me) on their computer and unavailable from family members. I believe that it is better to give and share with others. Until now I have not had a way to do this...One person can't possibly do all of the work alone; they need help to speed up the work...The only way to do this is with your wonderful service which I believe will in the near future solve all of my problems." ~ Jeff Bagley

"I just want to say how thrilled I have been with my experience at OneGreatFamily. The best thing is that the search program runs continuously and adds data automatically to your tree...my experience has been very positive and I have recommended OneGreatFamily to friends of mine who are also interested in genealogy." ~ Joe Cercy

Unlike other services, EVERYONE benefits from new discoveries or corrections that are made to the world's largest online family tree. We have an active community working on a common global pedigree. New information is available at OneGreatFamily every day to help you in your research. Many users have found that, even with no recent activity, all of a sudden they may benefit from a file just uploaded that day by a new member half way around the world.

Your participation has made OneGreatFamily the best framework for genealogy content. Thank you.

Add More Than Dates And Places To Your OneGreatFamily Tree

heather.matthews — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:55:00 GMT

OneGreatFamily Tip: Add More Than Dates And Places To Your OneGreatFamily Tree

Store Treasures About Your Ancestors Or See What Other Treasures Can Be Found At OneGreatFamily

OneGreatFamily goes beyond names and events to allow members to share treasures like biographies, notes, citations, photos, scanned documents, videos, and more about your ancestors.

Genealogy is more than simply identifying ancestors and their vital information. Genealogy research means learning everything you can about your ancestors. This information can include photos, key documents, written descriptions and biographies. The information can also include significant religious events that go beyond birth and death information.

All of these information and file types are supported and viewable within OneGreatFamily. When using Genealogy Browser, simply double-click on any individual in your Starfield or Handprint view to see what details are available for your ancestors.

Several icons appear on the right side of the "Individual Details" screen that provide access to more information related to that individual. These icons, which appear below the icons for hints and conflicts, include notes, biographies, a research log, citations, and multimedia files.

Clicking on any of these icons will display what others have shared relating to the individual. You can also add your own information after clicking on an icon to make your insights available to others.

If you have selected religious preferences (Catholic, Jewish, LDS or Protestant), you will also see corresponding tabs for the preferences you have selected on the "Individual Details" screen.

Clicking on the "Family Info" box in the handprint view will provide these same options for your selected family. The "Family Details" screen also lets you see available marriage information for the selected family.

OneGreatFamily has been designed for more than simply holding the names of everyone who has ever lived in one family tree. The service is also intended to let people share all of the important information that helps others understand who these ancestors were, how they lived, and what made them unique.

Migration Calculator on Family Dashboard

heather.matthews — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:20:00 GMT

Customer Service Corner: Migration Calculator on Family Dashboard

By Kirsten Klein, Customer Service Representative

One interesting feature available to you on your Family Dashboard is the Migration Calculator. The Migration Calculator creates a Google map with pushpins identifying the birthplaces of the direct line ancestors between any two people in OneGreatFamily.

Just like the relationship calculator you can choose yourself, your immediate family, search OneGreatFamily or your family tree, or browse your family tree to find the names of two people you want to compare.

Once you have decided on two people and you click on the "Show Migration" button you will be taken to a page where you can see the map and the pushpins showing the birthplaces between two people.

See below for an example of what the results page looks like:

We hope you will find OneGreatFamily a useful tool to learn where your ancestors came from.

Pirates

heather.matthews — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:16:00 GMT

Pirates

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

September 19th marked the fifteenth International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Some of these notorious swashbuckling fellows that we regard with grudging admiration can actually claim pirates as their ancestors.

The golden age of "Pirates of the Caribbean" style smuggling was from about 1560 to about 1730. During this time, Spain was amassing a worldwide shipping empire, with Britain as its chief competitor. Both nations were bringing home ships loaded with New World gold and silver across the Atlantic, and they made great targets for pirates who attacked ships, took command, and confiscated the treasure.

Privateers operating during this time were essentially the same as pirates, except that they possessed commissions or letters of marque from their sovereign nations authorizing the capture of merchant ships of enemy nations. (Of course, corruption still abounded, since many privateers held back loot for themselves or pirated ships outside their authorized territory.) One of the most famous privateers of all time was Sir Francis Drake, favorite of Queen Elizabeth and captain of the Golden Hind, who captured dozens of Spanish vessels and was instrumental in Britain's defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.

Privateers played a key role in the American Revolution, since the colonies had no official navy and were up against the British Royal Navy, which was at that time the most powerful in the world. During the Revolution, about 55,000 American sailors served aboard privateer ships, and they successfully captured 2,283 British vessels. Pirates and privateers also helped greatly in the War of 1812. Jean Lafitte, for instance, was a notorious pirate who played a vital role in America's victory in the Battle of New Orleans.

If you happen to be descended from one of these controversial buccaneers, there are genealogical membership societies you can join. Along with descendants of horse thieves, army deserters, and other criminals, pirate descendants are welcome at blacksheepancestors.com. You can also join the Order of Descendants of Pirates and Privateers at piratesprivateers.org. This society is open to descendants of pirate ship officers and crew, American privateer ship officers and crew, and those issuing letters of marque. Avast there, yellow-bellied milksops, get to work and research your pirate ancestors, or by my bones I'll see ye walk the plank!

podcastGenealogy

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:12:00 GMT

podcastGenealogy

This site was created to provide a tool for beginner, intermediate, experienced, and professional genealogists.
The podcasts are hosted by Bob Fornal and Dave Hawk.�

In our podcasts we will be discussing basic topics involved in genealogy research.� We bring a broad range of skills to the table; from extremely experienced to learning how to spell Genealogy correctly. Visit our website and listen and read some of our podcasts to gain very informative information to help you in your genealogy research.

Visit postcastGenealogy.com

How To Date Old Family Photographs

heather.matthews — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:41:00 GMT

How To Date Old Family Photographs: Basic Techniques Of Dating Pictures

Great-Grandma's family collection of antique pictures can be a treasure trove for you, the genealogy researcher, especially if you can establish when an antique picture was taken.
Dating a photograph can help you identify the subject(s) (in early photography the subjects were referred to as sitters) and can provide additional information as you piece together your family tree.

There are some basic techniques to begin the process of dating an antique picture:

What is the print made of? Is the image printed on metal, glass, card stock, or paper? Daguerreotype (early tintypes) and ambrotypes (printed on glass) were often mounted in double wooden frames that opened like a book. These were the most common types of early photographs and date back to around 1839. By 1870, almost all antique pictures were printed on heavy paper or card stock. The heavier stock was much more common in early photographs; by the 1930s even studio portraits were printed on thin paper.

Is the antique picture printed in black and white or color? Some images were being hand-tinted as early as the 1850s. Although color still photography was introduced in 1906, it was an expensive process that only professionals could afford to use. Color antique pictures did not become common for home use until the late 1950's and early 1960's.

How are the people in the photograph posed? Very early antique pictures showed people in rigid poses and usually without smiles, partly because exposure times could be as long as twenty seconds. Many portrait photographers even used braces to help sitters stay in position during the process. Candid pictures and then snapshots became more common in the 1920s.

How are the sitters dressed? The straight tunic dresses and bobbed hair of the 1920's are easy to distinguish from the cinched waists and luxuriant chignons of the late 1890's.

What other objects are visible in the antique picture? A Model T car is absolute proof that the picture was not taken before 1908. Furniture, toys, brands names, logos - all these things can provide clues, and thus, invaluable assistance in identifying previously unidentified photographs.

Additional information on dating family antique pictures is available from this list of links.

Tracing a family resemblance through the generations with antique pictures can give you a warm sense of connection to your family's past.

Store your pictures and other media in OneGreatFamily - it's a safe place to keep your treasures.

What Is A GEDCOM?

heather.matthews — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:39:00 GMT

How To Export And Import A GEDCOM Into OneGreatFamily

GEDCOM is an acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunication. It is a common file format for exchanging data between genealogical record managers such as Family Tree Maker, Personal Ancestral File (PAF), Legacy Family Tree, Family Origins®, and others. If you use one of these (or a similar product), you can create a GEDCOM file containing your information.

A GEDCOM file can be uploaded and the records it contains can be inserted into the OneGreatFamily tree. Visit "How Do I Enter Data" for instructions on how to import GEDCOM into OneGreatFamily. The function of creating the GEDCOM file is usually called “exporting” data. The result of exporting is a file such as “myged.ged”. You can export your information from Genealogy Browser by selecting “Export from Current Individual to GEDCOM file” from the file menu.

You can import a GEDCOM into your group by selecting “Import GEDCOM file to View” on the File Menu or by selecting the third option on the Organize Anchors page (On the Anchors pull-down menu, select “Organize Anchors”). If you upload the same GEDCOM more than once, you may find some hints and conflicts from your own information. This is because some merges did not automatically take place.

You can export data from your group by selecting “Export from Current Individual to GEDCOM file” on the File menu. This will create a GEDCOM file around the record currently in the individual box; therefore, all of the information in your group might not be exported.

How To Change Child/Spouse Order

heather.matthews — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:35:00 GMT

By Jesse Bingham, Customer Service Representative

A common occurrence in genealogy is when your ancestors have multiple spouses and the entries get out of order in Genealogy Browser. To correct the spouse order, you will need to open the details box of the individual whose spouses are in the incorrect order. This is done by right-clicking with your mouse on the individual whose spouse is out of order. From the details box click on the spouse tab. Select the spouse that needs to be moved. A black directional arrow will appear on the right. Hit the arrow the direction it needs to go (up or down) until the spouses are in the correct order. Click on Save so you don't lose the information.

Another common problem is when children are not in the correct order. To switch the child order, you will need to have the parents in the selected individual and spouse boxes. Then, click on the "Family Info" box that appears between the husband and wife. Select the child that needs to be moved. A black directional arrow will appear. Hit the arrow the direction it needs to go (up or down) until they are in the correct order. Click on Save so you don't lose the information.

Here is a link so that you can watch a video on how to perform these actions: http://www.screencast.com/t/fd9pDRIvf8

Family History Publications

heather.matthews — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:34:00 GMT

Family History Publications By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

Have you exhausted all your resources in searching for your genealogy? Are you looking for more research advice? Do you need a monthly (or bimonthly) dose of motivation to remind you to keep working on your family tree? These are all reasons to subscribe to a family history publication.

Whether it’s an e-mail newsletter like this one, or whether it’s a print magazine in your mailbox, publications can help you learn new research techniques, stay abreast of new technologies, and discover new libraries and archives.

There are many different publications to choose from. Family Tree Magazine, the nation’s leading family history magazine, contains primarily how-to articles and basic research advice. It runs at $24 per year, with seven issues per year. Ancestry Magazine is also a how-to magazine, although it also includes a few case studies in every issue. The magazine runs six issues per year for a price of $18. Everton’s Genealogical Helper and Family Chronicle are other well-known family history magazines.

There are also more scholarly journals, geared towards professionals rather than genealogy hobbyists. The National Genealogical Society Quarterly is one of these. As the most prestigious publication in the field of genealogy, it is the journal that all professionals aspire to be published in.

There are also publications that are sent out by archives or libraries themselves. Archive publications often include region-specific research guidance and case studies in which the researcher utilized records in the archive. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register is one such publication. It has been published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society every quarter since 1847!

Some publications are produced by historical or genealogical societies. The well-known quarterly The Hoosier Genealogist, for instance, was published by the Indiana Historical Society. It contained many articles related to Indiana family history.

Aside from magazines, quarterlies, and scholarly journals pertaining to family history, there are podcasts, e-mail newsletters, and blogs you can subscribe to. Find one you like, and don’t give up your family history research.

Nationwide Gravesite Locator

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:28:00 GMT

Nationwide Gravesite Locator

Nationwide Gravesite Locator (Sponsored by the US Department of Veterans Affiars) is a website where you can search for burial locations of veterans and their family members in VA National Cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries, various other military and Department of Interior cemeteries, and for veterans buried in private cemeteries when the grave is marked with a government grave marker.

The Nationwide Gravesite Locator includes burial records from many sources. These sources provide varied data; some searches may contain less information than others. Information on veterans buried in private cemeteries was collected for the purpose of furnishing government grave markers, and we do not have information available for burials prior to 1997

Visit Nationwide Gravesite Locator

Meet Your Distant Cousins at OneGreatFamily

heather.matthews — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:25:00 GMT

Researching Your Ancestors' Siblings May Help Your Family Tree To Grow

A family tree is a pretty basic concept to understand; two ancestors have children, their children have children, and so forth, down to the present day with you and me. Each set of children is what we refer to as a generation. Each generation adds more branches to the tree.

Your direct ancestral line comes through only one of the children of each of your ancestors. Did you ever stop to think about the descendants of the other children? Not only will you find that many other researchers connect to your same ancestors, but you may even connect to the same ancestor more than once. Depending on how many generations back the common ancestor is there may be hundreds or thousands of descendants alive today. One may be your neighbor, your friend, or even your spouse!

Another advantage to researching collateral lines is that it could result in adding more ancestors to your family tree. As you meet and collaborate with your distant cousins they may have information and stories about your ancestors.

When submitting your family tree to OneGreatFamily, make sure you include as many relationships as possible. Sibling relationships are very important to include at OneGreatFamily because relationships are the primary source of information for OneGreatFamily to be able to match your genealogy with those that have been submitted by others. Accurate dates and places for events, while important, are not as valuable as actual family relationships.

How do I reverse engineer my family tree?

Let's start with reverse engineering a smaller family tree to better understand the concept. Suppose your grandparents on your father's side had five children. Being a child to any one of the five children would make you a cousin to the children of any of the other five siblings. The concept of "reverse engineering" your family tree is to look at all of the collateral information that is available in your family tree. Start by tracing your family tree back to a common ancestor (your grandfather in this case). Now, instead of looking at your father and your family, trace the descendancy of one of his siblings.

With OneGreatFamily, you can easily "Reverse Engineer Your Family Tree" and see just who you are related to. Collateral lines often help fill gaps with your own direct ancestral line. See below for instructions on how to View an Ancestor's Descendancy.

What are the benefits of reverse engineering my family tree?

Reverse engineering your family tree allows you to find relatives that you otherwise may not have found. Families tend to migrate together, so finding a brother, sister, or cousin of your ancestor may lead to the discovery of records for YOUR direct line ancestor as well. You can also see if any of your direct line ancestors have any famous descendants by tracing the various lines of descendancy. Some of the most exciting relations that you can find are relatives that are still living today!

With OneGreatFamily, not only can you trace these lines to your distant relatives, but you can also communicate with many of them! When you find a living relative, or any ancestor for that matter, you can use the Collaboration feature to get in touch with the submitter.

For those genealogists who are dedicated to finding their direct ancestors, reverse engineering can also be particularly helpful. When you are stuck on a certain line, having data on the siblings and children of the ancestor you are looking for can aid in finding data for them.

Many people enjoy genealogy because of the stories and information they learn about their ancestors. The reverse engineering technique can increase that learning by making it possible to gain knowledge about your "very-extended" family. By knowing about your ancestor's immediate family, you can learn more about who they were.

How Do I View or Export an Ancestor's Descendancy?

heather.matthews — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:17:00 GMT

How Do I View or Export an Ancestor's Descendancy?

The ability to view the descendants of an ancestor is a powerful and valuable feature of OneGreatFamily. A descendancy view can help researchers identify collateral lines to research or can lead to the discovery of living relatives who have descended from a common ancestor.

Viewing the descendants of any ancestor is easy using Genealogy Browser™:

Launch Genealogy Browser and find the desired ancestor in the pedigree (Starfield View)
Select the desired ancestor within the pedigree (Starfield View) by double clicking on the box with the individual's name to put them into the selected individual box in the handprint view.
Click on the descendancy icon in the toolbar OR select Starfield-Show Descendancy from the View menu within Genealogy Browser (see images below).
The descendants of the selected ancestor will now appear to the left of the pedigree (Starfield View). Navigating and viewing collateral lines in the Starfield View may be slower depending on the number of descendants shown.

When you choose to view the Descendancy of an ancestor, the Starfield view will look like this:

We hope you will find OneGreatFamily a useful tool to trace the descendants of your ancestors.

Customer Service Corner: Sharing Your Family Tree

heather.matthews — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:16:00 GMT

Customer Service Corner: Sharing Your Family Tree

By Jesse Bingham, Customer Service Representative

Sharing your family tree is a fun way to educate and involve your relatives in family history. This can be done in two ways. The first way is to click on the "Email My Family Tree" button. This will bring up a page where you can enter email addresses and a personalized message. The second way is to click on the "Generate a Link to My Family Tree". This will produce some links that you can post in your own webpage that others can click on to view your tree. Sharing your tree will allow others to view your tree but they will not be able to make any changes.

To view a video demonstration, click on this link http://www.screencast.com/t/fSp26nf0

Attending Genealogical Conferences and Events

heather.matthews — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:14:00 GMT

Attending Genealogical Conferences and Events By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

If you've never attended a genealogical conference or event before, it may be because you've been intimidated by the prospect. After all, aren't genealogical conferences for professionals, or people who make genealogy their life's work? Actually, that's not accurate. There are genealogy conferences, expos, retreats, seminars, and workshops for every skill level and every interest level. Whether you're a beginner or an expert (or somewhere in between), you can find an event to suit your needs.

So what can you gain from attending a genealogical event? You can hone your research skills; you can try out new genealogy software programs; you can network with other family historians; you can learn about the latest and greatest innovations in the field of family history. Another bonus of attending conferences and events is that you often get free stuff. Once I got a free copy of Legacy Family Tree by attending the ICAPGen conference. Most events also provide a conference syllabus at no extra charge. These are packed with useful charts, outlines, and articles from the conference speakers. This way, instead of furiously scribbling down notes you can just absorb what the speakers are saying, because the information you need is already in the syllabus.

Many conferences are hosted by genealogical societies; others are hosted by archives or libraries. Some events have become very well-known in the genealogical world, and are attended by hundreds. The Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, held every year in January and sponsored by the Utah Genealogical Association, is one of these. Classes at the week-long institute cover all kinds of topics: source-citation and documentation; organization; American land and court records; U.S. military records; successfully finding immigrant ancestors' origins; illegitimacy in Europe; and Scottish research, just to name a few. The annual conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies is also a prominent genealogical event; it is held in a different American city every fall. The National Genealogical Society Conference, one of the most prestigious because of its backing organization, also moves around every year. NGSC workshops cover everything from Italian ancestry to Scandinavian, and there are also "consult-an-expert" sessions where you can collaborate with others and get research guidance on difficult projects.

If you prefer something more low-key, however, you don't have to travel across the country to attend a high-profile conference. You can learn new things by attending your local genealogical society's conference, or by attending the conference of your nearest genealogical library or archive. Get online and find a genealogical event that will serve you.

GenealogySpot.com

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:07:00 GMT

GenealogySpot.com

GenealogySpot.com is a free resource center that simplifies the search for the best online genealogy resources for beginners and experts alike. Sites featured on GenealogySpot.com are hand-selected by our editorial team for their exceptional quality, content and utility.

You can quickly and easily find the best resources to perform ancestor searches by state, country, ethnicity and religion, browse historical records, access reference tools, locate lost family members, join genealogy communities and much more.

Visit GenealogySpot.com

LiveRoots.com

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:48:00 GMT

Genealogists use Live Roots to find vital records and original publications, share opinions about online repositories and learn more about tools available to simplify their research projects.

The concept behind Live Roots was to build a search experience that bridges the gaps between independent genealogy web sites, large commercial ancestry repositories and many other printed family history materials yet to be digitized and published on the World Wide Web.

Visit LiveRoots.com - and search for your ancestors today!

Helpful Tips On Last Names

heather.matthews — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Learning About Last Names Can Help You Find More Ancestors

Last names are the key to genealogical research. Over time, they can be spelled in different ways, surrendered at marriage, and sometimes changed for other reasons. So if you want to find your family's history, you need to learn to search effectively for your family last names. The first thing to remember is that in times gone by, people worried less about consistent spelling; William Shakespeare, for example, spelled his name half a dozen different ways. So don't be surprised if you discover that a simple name like "Hardy" was spelled "Hardie," "Hardee," "Hardey," and "Haredy" by different relatives, sometimes in the same immediate family.

Names translated from other languages into English can be even more confusing. "Longacre" and "Longenecker" are variant names for the same family.
When researching family names, the best tactic is to look for similar consonants; the vowels often tend to shift and change. That is the principle of the Soundex searching system, which can help you discover ancestors you might otherwise have missed.

One useful strategy is to keep a list of last names you are looking for. You can list whole lines or specific individuals you're searching for. When you're talking with other genealogy researchers, ask them about your family names. Look them up in various indexes to historical documents. When you keep your eyes open for a family last name, you may be surprised at the treasures you find.

You're not alone in searching for your last names. At OneGreatFamily.com, you may find other researchers who have discovered important branches of your family tree. A single new link can help you discover thousands of ancestors and entire new lines.

How To Change Your Email Address And Your Email Preferences

heather.matthews — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:30:00 GMT

By Brenda Eyring, Customer Service Representative

If you would like to change what types of emails you receive from OneGreatFamily, you will need to edit your email preferences. To make those edits, follow these steps.

1. Go to http://www.onegreatfamily.com?PID=10000&CID=102&HID=201
2. Enter your username and password
3. When you have logged in, go to "My Account"

4. A new screen will come up with 4 boxes:

5. The bottom left box is labeled "Email Preferences"
6. In that box is a button that says "Edit"
7. Click on that button
8. You will see:

9. Select the ones you want
10. Unselect the ones you don't want
11. Re-enter your password
12. Hit "Submit"

If you just want to change what address we send our emails to, follow these steps.

1. Go to http://www.onegreatfamily.com?PID=10000&CID=102&HID=221
2. Enter your username and password
3. When you have logged in, go to "My Account"
4. A new screen will come up with 4 boxes
5. Find the box labeled "Account Information"
6. Click on "edit" in that box
7. Type in your new email address
8. Click "submit"

As always, we are happy to help if you have additional questions, so don't hesitate to call 1-877-643-8733 or email if you need assistance.

The History of Labor Day

heather.matthews — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:00:00 GMT

The History of Labor Day

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

Labor Day, always the first Monday in September, can generally be considered the symbolic end of summer. For most Americans, Labor Day Weekend is a time of backyard barbeques, boating outings, or road trips. But how did Labor Day come to be?

Labor Day was instituted as a result of the labor movement and labor unions. The first labor unions were European trade guilds. These set trade standards, promoted quality work, and coordinated apprenticeships for men who wanted to enter the trade. The truly modern labor union, however, was a product of the Industrial Revolution; labor unions were originally formed by factory workers to try to keep employers from giving away jobs to immigrants or convicts.

Later, labor unions became promoters of workers' rights. As a result of industrialization, workers in Britain and America alike worked twelve-hour days and six or seven days per week. Working conditions were often dirty or unsafe, and the labor of children was often exploited. Children's income was necessary for the family economy, and factory owners frequently employed children because they worked for very little pay. Child-labor laws, where they existed, were not strictly enforced.

In this environment, it is not surprising that labor unions began to form. They became responsible for promoting the eight-hour work day and for trying to secure fair pay and safe conditions for workers. These were the goals of the labor movement, but they were not accomplished overnight. The first Labor Day parade was held on 5 September 1882 in New York; it was actually a mass demonstration. Four years later on 4 May 1886, anarchists staged a labor demonstration at Haymarket Square in Chicago. When police came in to break up the demonstration, a bomb was thrown and eleven people were killed, seven of whom were police. This deadly incident became known as the Haymarket Square Riot. Although there was no evidence as to who produced the bomb or who threw it, eight anarchist leaders were tried and convicted. Four were hanged, one committed suicide, and three were released from prison seven years later when they were pardoned by Illinois governor John P. Altgeld.

Strikes, demonstrations, and riots continued; in 1894 in Chicago, the American Railroad Union and other railroad workers protested against wage cuts and layoffs by boycotting Pullman railway cars. All traffic in and out of Chicago came to a standstill. Federal troops were sent in, and this incident finally brought the labor movement to the nation's attention. As a result, Congress made Labor Day an official holiday and gave workers the first Monday in September off. This was mostly an attempt to mollify labor unions and protestors, however; it wasn't until 1938 that Congress actually enacted the Fair Labor Standards Act, setting a minimum wage of 25 cents per hour and a maximum work week of 44 hours. These rules were later changed to the working standards we know today.

OneGreatFamily Is Attending Two Upcoming Genealogy Conferences

heather.matthews — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:57:51 GMT

OneGreatFamily Is Attending Two Upcoming Genealogy Conferences

Come Stop By Our Booth at Family History Expo & FGS

We always enjoy meeting members of OneGreatFamily. We invite you to come stop by our booth in the next couple of weeks if you plan on attending any of these two upcoming genealogy conferences:

August 28th & 29th:

Salt Lake City Family History Expo (We are in booth 307)
South Towne Exposition Center
9575 South State Street
Sandy, Utah 84070
http://www.fhexpos.com/events/upcoming.php?event_id=50

If you haven't registered yet for the Familiy History Expo, there is still time. Door registration begins at 7 a.m. on Friday and 7:30 a.m. on Saturday. For more information about this conference and to see a list of lectures and presentations, check out their website.

September 2nd - 5th:

FGS (Federation of Genealogical Societies) Conference (We are in booth 420)
Little Rock Statehouse Convention Center
Little Rock, Arkansas.
http://www.fgs.org/2009conference/index.php

Look for more information in our next newsletter about a special gift we will be giving our valued customers attending the FGS conference.

We would like you to come visit us and tell us about your experiences using OneGreatFamily —what do you like and what do you find confusing. At our booth we plan on answering questions as well as demonstrating our unique genealogy software. If you have a question or wonder how to do something in OneGreatFamily, Genealogy Browser or our website, please stop by and ask. Or just stop by to say hi! We always enjoy meeting and talking with our members.

Come stop by and see us!

OneGreatFamily Is Hiring Genealogy Writers

heather.matthews — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:56:28 GMT

OneGreatFamily Is Hiring Genealogy Writers

Looking for Passionate Genealogists Who Want to Help Others

OneGreatFamily users and other genealogy enthusiasts are always hungry for information! We are dedicated to providing valuable information, whether it's about our own web site or other resources. As we ramp up our efforts to publish more and better content, we are in need of genealogists who can write articles for us, both for this newsletter as well as for our website.

This position is available at our headquarters in Springville, UT. Here is the job description:

Creative / Marketing Writer:

OneGreatFamily.com is seeking an experienced and creative writer (20-30 hours a week) to join our marketing / corporate communications team and assist in ambitious and exciting internal and external communications initiative that will effectively communicate the company’s services to our clients and website visitors. We seek a strong marketing/promotional writer who can write for a variety of communications vehicles geared towards a savvy and sophisticated audience. Some of the material will include link recruitment articles, newsletters, website content, blogs, etc.

Job Requirements:

• Degree in or working toward a degree in Genealogy, Family History, English, Journalism or comparable focus

• 2 years writing and editing experience ranging from articles, creative writing, print and internet marketing to press releases and more.

• Experience in following projects through to completion and meeting deadlines

• Ability to multi-task, work well independently, under time constraints and to interact with people at all levels of an organization

• Proficient in Microsoft Word; experience with Front Page or Dreamweaver a plus

• Knowledge of HTML a big plus

• Excellent spelling and grammar

• Knowledge of genealogy a plus; written genealogy articles a very big plus

• Energetic, hard working, and flexible

• Friendly and cheerful

We are also looking for writers who can contribute 2-3 articles a week from their home. Qualifications for writer are similar to those listed above, but with more latitude.

To apply, please send your resume plus a sample article to jobapplicants@onegreatfamily.com .

Customer Service Corner: How To Add A Spouse To An Individual

heather.matthews — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:54:24 GMT

Customer Service Corner: How To Add A Spouse To An Individual

By Andie Noe, Customer Service Representative

With plagues, accidents, illness, and other such problems found in every society throughout history, it is no wonder that people either chose or were forced to remarry. Sometimes people remarried after being widowed (especially if they had young children). Other times people married out of shear necessity when the mother or father died, to ensure the care and survival of their family. Regardless of which reason they remarried, it is important to know how to document an additional spouse.

To add an additional spouse in Genealogy Browser, select the individual to whom you want to add the spouse. For example, if George and Leah are married, and Leah dies, then you will want to make sure that George is in the "Selected Individual" box. You will see the first spouse (Leah) in the spouse box. Click the down arrow next to the spouse (Leah) and click on "Select here to add a spouse" You will then be able to add the spouse (Lillie) and the marriage information. When the correct set of parents are in the selected individual and spouse boxes, you may then add their children.

If you would like to contact customer service with questions, click on this link: http://www.onegreatfamily.com/ContactUs/?PID=10000&CID=102&HID=212

El Archivo General de Indias

heather.matthews — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:48:34 GMT

El Archivo General de Indias

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

Do you want to learn more about your early American ancestors? There is much more than just Spanish genealogy to be found in the Archivo General de Indias. Located in Sevilla, Spain, the archive houses all Spain's documents pertaining to New World conquest and colonization, including records of Spain's dealings with other nations. In the archive, you can research everyone from Hernan Cort�s to Aaron Burr to James Wilkinson, governor of the Louisiana territory and a double-agent to the United States and Spain.

The archive's name refers to Christopher Columbus's misguided perception that he had found a new route to India; from that time forward, Spain's New World land holdings became known as the Indies. In Spain's heyday as a global shipping power that dominated the New World, its main port was Sevilla. Treasure-laden ships from the New World came from the Atlantic and sailed up the River Guadalquivir about 80 kilometers to dock at Sevilla. For that reason, it became the ideal place to collect and store all colonization documents in the archive there.

The archive's holdings include some of the most amazing historical documents anywhere, including Columbus's journal and the Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided the Americas between Spain and Portugal approximately on the 42� meridian. You can find records of nearly everything in the archive, from skirmishes with the English in Florida to lost or sunken treasure ships.

The archive, like all major Spanish archives, is included in the PARES network: the Portal de Archivos Espa�oles, which can be found online at pares.mcu.es. Fortunately for researchers, all the millions of documents in the archive are currently in the process of being digitized. Soon they will all be available and searchable online, and many are online already.

FreeGenealogyTools.blogspot.com

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:45:42 GMT

While searching for your family history, you've no doubt already hit the main sites and services online. But there are a ton of free resources that are incredibly valuable and not very well-known. That's what Free Genealogy Tools is all about. Each new post will explore a new site you can use to research your family's origins in great depth. Visit FreeGenealogyTools.blogspot.com

How Can You Be Sure The Information At OneGreatFamily Is Correct?

heather.matthews — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:39:00 GMT

Adding Documentation To OneGreatFamily Is Vital To Your Record Keeping

One of our subscribers recently asked us, “If all of the information on OneGreatFamily.com is submitted by other users, how can I be sure that it is correct?”

As experienced genealogists know, you should never take anyone else’s work as being correct. Instead, you need to verify the information using sound genealogical techniques.

That is why we like to think of OneGreatFamily as a great source for research leads. It is almost always easier to substantiate a lead then it is to discover missing data. OneGreatFamily can be a rich source of research leads based on the submissions of other genealogists.

Perhaps you are at a brick wall on a great-, great-, great-grandfather. In OneGreatFamily a user has entered a name for that ancestor. Fantastic —now you have a lead to substantiate. You can collaborate with that submitter. Or you can go research the provided name.

Many genealogists use OneGreatFamily primarily for the research leads it provides.

Another question we often get is, “How can you be sure your automated match/merge technology won’t mess up my genealogy research?” There are two parts to the answer to that question. First, our automated merging technology never changes your data. Our technology is sophisticated enough to keep everybody’s data unchanged even when we merge ancestors together. We could merge 50 people into one and it wouldn’t change your data.

Second, we have patent-pending software that merges the right ancestors into your family tree. OneGreatFamily's software ensures that only high-quality matches are combined to your family tree. In one test, we pitted OneGreatFamily's merging process against a panel of genealogists. OneGreatFamily was less likely to match people incorrectly than the panel of professional genealogists.

Because we are merging ancestors together, we encourage all of our subscribers to use the citation and collaboration features in Genealogy Browser™.

You can help improve the quality of the database by citing your sources for the data that you submit to OneGreatFamily. When you include citations in your family tree, you improve the credibility of your family history, and you can help others find their genealogy as well. When you take the time to find sources for your genealogy, you are less likely to jump to wrong conclusions. You can ensure that you are passing along accurate information.

Documenting your sources also saves you time because you don’t get lost researching the wrong line, and you don't have to go back again to find things that you have already researched.

In Genealogy Browser, you can include sources and citations for any ancestor or family on your tree. The citations you include with your ancestors’ records become available to others OneGreatFamily subscribers to help with the collaborative effort.

When another user has not included citations with the ancestors that he or she submitted, you can still find out where that user obtained the information by using OneGreatFamily's Collaborate feature. Collaborating with other users allows you to see who else is working on your genealogy. For every family and individual, you can find out who submitted the information and contact that user. Collaboration at OneGreatFamily allows you to contact the individual with the common ancestor and ask where the information came from. With this unique OneGreatFamily feature, you can find sources to support your genealogical data.

Our program's one-of-a-kind merging feature, combined with the power of citation and collaboration, gives you access to easy, fun, and accurate genealogy.

OneGreatFamily Tip: Quick Overview Of Genbulbs or Hints

heather.matthews — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:38:00 GMT

OneGreatFamily's Unique Feature Will Help Uncover Your Ancestors

OneGreatFamily is unique in its goal and method. Our goal is to unite the efforts of all people working on genealogy and to connect the world together as OneGreatFamily. This process begins with you, the user. Once you have entered your data into our system, we search our database for common information. When our system finds matches that are certain, it merges the records together. No information is ever lost when these mergers occur. Instead, each user’s unique view of the data is preserved, even if that differs from other users.

When the system identifies a possible match, we call that a Hint. Hints occur when much of the information about two people is identical, but there are either sufficient differences or a lack of information such that the system cannot be certain of the match. Hints are indicated in Genealogy Browser by the Genbulb icon. Note that you must turn on Genbulbs in the toolbar before they will be shown in the Starfield.

When hints appear, you may view them by clicking on the light bulb icon on the right side of the individual edit box. This will bring up the Hint for that particular individual. You may examine and choose to merge the data, or leave it how it is.

Merging data may bring many generations of previously unknown information into your file. Many users have already experienced great increases in their pedigrees through merging.

The more data that you enter and the further back in ancestry you can get, the better chance you have for receiving Hints. For example, a member entered 2000 names. Because of our database’s automatic search capabilities, his family tree now carries 23,000 names in it. You may also choose to collaborate with the user who submitted that data. That way, you may work out any differences you may have.

If you would like more information on the many other unique features OneGreatFamily has to offer, please let us know

Customer Service Corner: The Relationship Calculator Widget

heather.matthews — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:37:00 GMT

By Kirsten Klein, Customer Service Representative

How exciting would it be to find out if you were related to someone famous like Albert Einstein or Walt Disney? Using the Relationship Calculator widget on the Family Dashboard can help you find out! If you have not customized your dashboard widgets, the Relationship Calculator will be the second box down in the first column, and looks like this:

The top part has your name and the bottom part allows you to scroll through many noteworthy people and find the one you wish to see your relationship to. Once you have found someone you would like to try, simply press the “Show Relationship” button at the bottom of the widget.

Please be patient while the new screen loads, as it can take a few moments before the relationship can be calculated to see if there even is a relationship. Once the relationship shows, you can have fun seeing how closely related you are to a famous person. Be sure to check out other important people on the dashboard as well!

As always, we are happy to help if you have additional questions, so don’t hesitate to call 1-877-643-8733 or email if you need assistance.

Your Family Bible: A Treasure Trove

heather.matthews — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:34:00 GMT

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

Before the times of digitized records, microfilms, and family history programs used to store genealogical data, families recorded their births, marriages, deaths, and baptisms in the family bible. Family bibles are priceless to genealogists because they contain primary source information about family events.

A primary source record was written at the time that an incident occurred, or shortly thereafter, by someone who was involved. Unlike secondary source material, which was recorded at a later time, primary source information is not hearsay. Most of the events you will find recorded in a family bible were written down by the family record-keeper, often the matriarch of the family, shortly after they happened.

Where can you find family bibles? They can be in the possession of antique dealers or collectors, or they can be part of a family bible record collection. Bible record collections aim to transcribe the information in family bibles and make them available to researchers. Some bible collections with online indexes are: The Bible Archives, Bible Records Online, and Family Bible Records.

It is most likely, however, that your family bible is still in your family’s possession. Talk to living relatives like your aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents. Even if they don’t have the bible, they may know the distant cousin who does. Once you track down the current owner of the family bible, you can ask him or her for the genealogical information it contains. He or she probably won’t want to part with the bible to loan it to you, but you can ask for a transcription or a photocopy. Get a photocopy of the pages if you can, because you can learn a lot by evaluating the ink and handwriting.

Family information is usually recorded in the front of the bible, but ask if you can check the other pages as well. Sometimes documents, photos, or other mementos are tucked in between the pages.

Most, but not all, information in a family bible is primary source material. There are a few simple ways to tell if the information in the bible was written down at the time that the events happened. Check the publication date of the bible, advises genealogist George Morgan (Morgan 1998). If the bible was published after the events on the family record page occurred, they were all written down much later, and this information is not primary.

You should also pay attention to variations in ink and handwriting. If the handwriting changes, that means that information was recorded at different times or by different people. If some of the ink looks especially faded, that text was probably written down earlier than the rest. On the other hand, if the ink and handwriting all looks the same, the information must have all been written down at the same time, after the events occurred. This kind of secondary information is not necessarily incorrect, but it needs to be evaluated carefully. It is also important to be aware that family record-keepers may have altered information that they didn’t want future generations to know. A wedding date may have been “fudged” to hide the fact that a child was born less than nine months after marriage, for instance.

As long as you carefully evaluate the information from a family bible, it is one of the greatest genealogical sources you’ll ever encounter. Only in a family bible will you find the births of children who died young, in between censuses, who were not recorded anywhere else. And only in a family bible will you find your family’s genealogical events, recorded in your ancestor’s own hand.

Morgan, George G. 1998. Questioning the Bible.
“Along those Lines…”
www.ancestry.com (accessed August 4, 2007).

GenealogyFinds.com

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:33:00 GMT

GenealogyFinds.com is FREE genealogy database of scanned and transcribed documents containing ancestor's names for your genealogy research. While these are not official genealogical records, or even records that prove relationships, they are documents that provide insight into the everyday lives of your ancestors to enhance your genealogical research. Visit GenealogyFinds.com and find documents about your ancestors.

There's No Other Genealogy Program Like OneGreatFamily

heather.matthews — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:32:00 GMT

How is OneGreatFamily Different From Other Genealogy Websites?

OneGreatFamily is a cooperative effort between you and the rest of the world. It is an online genealogical service which allows everyone to combine their knowledge and data to build one huge, shared database.

OneGreatFamily is more than a simple collection of different family trees. Using breakthrough technology, OneGreatFamily is actually linking all of the family trees together into one great family.

What This Means To You:

With the world working together on one family tree, each individual is able to leverage the effort and research of all OneGreatFamily users rather than wasting time duplicating research that others have already done.

How It Works:

After you enter what you already know about your ancestors, we begin searching for more of your ancestors. Once our search process starts, it never stops.

A genealogist can only search for information about one ancestor at a time. The OneGreatFamily automated search engine continually looks for additional information and relatives for every one of your ancestors at the same time.

As OneGreatFamily members add new individuals, our search process checks to see if any of them are your ancestors. Even if we find some of your ancestors today, we may find more in a week, a month, or a year.

Once we find new information about your ancestors, we notify you by email and when you login to OneGreatFamily. You can see the new information about your ancestors in your family tree.

As we continue to search for your ancestors, you can review the ancestors we added, add new ancestors yourself, and collaborate with others who are looking for your ancestors too. OneGreatFamily offers a unique genealogy experience that will help you enjoy the journey and the results.

You've Submitted Your Family Tree To OneGreatFamily - Now What?

heather.matthews — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:30:00 GMT

Quick Overview Of Genbulbs or Hints

Here is a list of things you can do at OneGreatFamily that will increase your chances of success at OneGreatFamily. We hope that as a subscriber you have come to appreciate the unique service provided by OneGreatFamily.

1. Discover what has been done on your family tree already
The OneGreatFamily Tree is a powerful genealogy database that is shared and built by people like you all over the world. Every single name, date, place, picture, biography and video clip has been submitted by people like you. In fact, the OneGreatFamily Tree started without a single name. Users in over 80 countries have submitted millions of names . . . and we've only just begun! So what does a "shared" worldwide database mean to you? It means someone else may have already entered dozens or even hundreds of your ancestors!

2. Start researching where others left off
Spend some time searching for your ancestors at OneGreatFamily and pay special attention to new information that is added to your family tree over time. This will help you know what research others have already done or are doing on your family tree. You can then spend your time conducting new research or simply verifying information that others have provided.

3. Meet and collaborate with family
OneGreatFamily allows people around the world to work on one common family tree. This means others can be researching and improving information on your ancestors. Wouldn't you like to meet and collaborate with these genealogical cousins? You can! OneGreatFamily provides collaboration features that allow you to work with other researchers and family members.

4. Search millions of names
At OneGreatFamily, you can search millions of names in the OneGreatFamily Tree and in the Social Security Death Index. When you find an individual that you would like to learn more about, simply click on him or her to view detailed information that we store in our databases.

With OneGreatFamily, you have the flexibility to choose when to work on your genealogy and when to focus on other needs in your life, knowing that work on your family tree continues.

5. Visit your Family Dashboard
Your Family Dashboard is the first page you see when you login to OneGreatFamily. This very unqiue page allows you to learn interesting facts about your ancestors and family tree. This is also a great place to get ideas of where you can do addition research.

OneGreatFamily has much to offer that cannot be found on any other genealogy site or within any other genealogy program! If you have other questions or need further assistance, please contact us.

End of Lines Widget

heather.matthews — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:06:00 GMT

By Linda Smith, Customer Service Representative

The End of Lines Widget is a great tool to use if you want to know where the lines in your tree end. This tool will help give you ideas of where you need to do some more research on your family tree.

Let's take a look at each part of the widget:

1. Each name listed is an ancestor at the end of a line. If you would like to see a list of all your End Of Line ancestors, you can click the >> more link at the bottom of the widget.

2. After each name you will see three icons.
3. The first icon allows you to see how this individual is related to any other person in your tree.
4. The second icon shows how your family migrated over time.

5. The third icon shows you this person in the Genealogy Browser

As always, we are happy to help if you have additional questions, so don't hesitate to call 1-877-643-8733 or email if you need assistance.

German Genealogy By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

heather.matthews — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:01:00 GMT

There are more Americans claiming German ancestry than any other ethnic group. More than likely, you have at least one German ancestral line that you'd like to learn more about.

Many German immigrants, upon arrival to the new world, took a new surname: the English equivalent of their German names. For example, Mohler became Miller and Schneider became Taylor. These surnames are relatively easy to identify. Other surnames, however, do not have an equivalent in English. These names are transliterated instead of translated. For example, Kurrer becomes Kerr and Dirsch becomes Dearth. [i] German pronunciation is different from English pronunciation, so that is the reason that surname transliterations may have different spellings than their German equivalents. The letters "DT" make a T-sound, and the vowel combinations "AU" and "EU" as "oi." Keep this in mind as you're moving back through your family tree. If names don't make sense, make sure you're pronouncing them the German way.

Because Germany was unified so recently (in the nineteenth century) this can make locating records difficult because there was no central governing body to require all the people to keep records. The key, however, is to utilize church records.

Catholic church records, as you would guess, are all in Latin. Lutheran records, however, can be found in either Latin or German.

Don't forget to check genealogical societies (or online blogs and message boards) that are devoted to German research. You never know what you may find there!

Some other sites that you may find useful are:

Archives in Germany
http://home.bawue.de/~hanacek/info/earchive.htm

German Emigration and Passenger Lists
http://genealogy.about.com/od/german_emigration/

All the civil records that you find (and, as previously mentioned, some church records) are in German. If you don't speak German, you can still conduct genealogical research if you're armed with a few basic German genealogical words:

Christening.Taufe
Burial.Beerdigun,
Wedding.Hochzeit
Birth.Geburten

When you learn a few German words, and some searching techniques, German genealogy becomes easier than ever.

[i] A Genealogical Handbook of German Research, FamilySearch

Cinnamon Toast Genealogy

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:57:00 GMT

Research your surname or find records by region, record type, or religion at CinnamonToast Genealogy. This site is an excellent resource for genealogy records and information available online.

The site provides visitors with 9921 links to other sites and contains links or information on more than 153,000 surnames.

Take some time to enjoy the site's genealogy explorer search functionality or submit your own genealogy website to its growing index.

Six Different Methods To Finding Your Ancestors

heather.matthews — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:04:00 GMT

We want to share some ideas about where you can find additional information about your family tree to enter into OneGreatFamily. If you’ve entered everything you know but haven’t had any merges, hints, or conflicts, you have two options. You can choose to wait while others do their work and see if they tie into yours or you can take matters into your own hands by doing a little more outside research, entering the information into OneGreatFamily, and seeing if you can tie into someone else’s work.

There are six circles of genealogy information available to you to assist you in finding out more about your family tree.

The Six Circles of Genealogy Information

Notice that the six circles in the diagram only partially overlap. Each will contain information that can be found in other circles, but each often has some information not found in other circles. For this reason, the most complete genealogy reach involves examining all six of the circles.

Notice that three of the six circles are shown in shades of green and three are shown in shades of blue. There are two general categories of people who get involved in researching their genealogy; those who only want to focus on the blue circles (information gatherers) and those who want to explore the information available in all the circles (researchers).

The Information Gatherers like interacting with family members, recalling old family stories, discovering more about their families, and preserving this information for future generations. They enjoy finding out more about their family trees, but aren't interested in searching through microfilm or tens of thousands of computer generated leads to find the information.

The Researchers love the thrill of the hunt. They relish searching for that piece of information about an ancestor and love the thrill that comes with tracking down a lead no one else has been able to find. Researchers enjoy crafting searches and sifting through the results, looking for that long lost ancestor.

The Genealogy Community consists of thousands of people in both groups, and OneGreatFamily is a great tool for all. Information Gatherers record and document valuable information often unavailable elsewhere and make it available to Researchers. Researchers find information not available to Information Gatherers to augment their knowledge. Everyone benefits from OneGreatFamily because everyone works on the same single global human family tree.

Each Circle of Knowledge Is Described Here In More Detail:

1. Your Own Knowledge
People usually know a lot more about their family tree than they realize because they have separate memories of many people. For example, you may have a clear memory of the family members that attended a family function from your youth - a wedding, a confirmation, or a bar mitzvah. You may also remember stories told by your parents or grandparents about their parents, brothers, sisters, and other relatives. All these memories serve to get you started in recording your family tree. You may also want to write them down and preserve them in OneGreatFamily for future generations.

2. Knowledgeable Relatives
Every family seems to have one relative that is really into genealogy. This person might even have hand-written genealogy records. Give that person a phone call. Ask about family stories and the family members who were participants. You'll have an enjoyable conversation and glean a lot of information about your family tree. Next, turn to your oldest living relatives, perhaps a grandparent or a great-uncle. Pick up the phone or hop in the car. Most elderly people enjoy talking about their memories and reliving "the good old days." You might even consider using audio or video tape to record the conversation. What a treasure for future generations!

3. Family Documents
People are often surprised to realize how much information they have around their homes. Books of remembrance, memory boxes, and old trunks are often full of certificates, licenses, newspaper articles, and even simple birthday cards that can shed light on your family tree. Once you find these documents, it's a good idea to consider scanning them electronically. Often these documents are one-of-a-kind, so getting them digitized now may be their last chance at preservation.

Many People Are Happy With Just Doing This Much. They have gathered quite a bit of family information and have recorded it. They don't enjoy the idea of doing research, which inevitably involves hunting down data collections and then sifting through results; however, if those green circles call to you, read on.

4. Free Internet Websites
The Internet is full of web sites offering free genealogy information. Often, this information is made available online by State or local governments, local genealogical or historical societies, or genealogy enthusiasts. Available information can run the gamut; from tombstone transcriptions to indices of marriage records to war casualty lists. Search engines like Google or Yahoo can be effective tools for tracking down information on your family members. Three extremely useful websites are Cyndislist.com, Rootsweb.com, and USGenWeb.com.

5. Paid Internet Websites
Like free Internet websites, these usually offer indices or transcribed records, sometimes even displaying an image of the original record. These are usually run by commercial, for-profit organizations that have paid to have records transcribed. Often, you can search the collection for free, but accessing the actual data will require signing up for a free trial or paying outright for access. Most operate on an annual subscription basis and can run hundreds of dollars.

6. Public Document Repositories
This circle encompasses everything from Courthouses to Libraries to Archives (National and State). A few of these organizations have put some of their material online, but the vast majority of their records are available on either microfilm or paper format. Some accept written, mailed requests for information; others require you to appear in person to research and copy records. Examples include County Courthouses, the Social Security Administration, and the National Archives.

Remember, one of the great strengths of OneGreatFamily is that you always have the choice to wait and see if others tie into your material or to do a little more research, enter any new information into OneGreatFamily, and see if you can tie into someone else’s work.

What Do The Various Buttons On Genealogy Browser Toolbar Do?

heather.matthews — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:03:00 GMT

Genealogy Browser has very unique buttons that we would like to feature.

Common Ancestors -Common Ancestors are indicated by individuals (stars) that are colored blue. Common Ancestors are individuals who show up multiple times in your genealogy because they are connected to you in more than one genealogical line. If you mouse over a Common Ancestor, a line will appear connecting you to the other place in your genealogy where the same person exists. You will also find a button of a blue tilted line in the toolbar of Genealogy Browser™. By clicking on this button, all of the lines between your common ancestors will appear in your StarfieldTM. Here is what a common ancestor will look like:

Hints -OneGreatFamily continually works for you as we try to find possible matches to your genealogy. When new information for your ancestors is found, a Gen-BulbTM icon will appear next the name of the individual in your pedigree. Simply click on the Gen-BulbTM, verify the new information, and your pedigree will automatically be updated.

Conflicts -This feature makes the verification of genealogical information possible by notifying you with the image of a yellow lightning bolt, called a Gen-Bolt when another OneGreatFamily user has conflicting information with your data. You can then collaborate with the source and work out your differences. If, in the end, you can't resolve the conflict, you agree to disagree and each view the data as you believe it to be correct.

Tracer -This feature allows you to see how you are related to anyone in your pedigree. The trace to anchor displays a blue line from you to the ancestor, highlighting each individual in the direct lineage in between.

View Descendants -Allows you to view siblings, spouses, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc., of any individual in your genealogy.

How to Use the Top Birth and Death Countries Widget

heather.matthews — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:58:00 GMT

By Brooke Bradley, Customer Service Representative

The Top Birth and Death Widget located on Family Dashboard will show you the Top 10 countries that have the most births and most deaths in your family tree.

Once you see the widget on your dashboard (as shown on the left) click “View larger map.”

This will bring up a separate window that will have a large map with pink and yellow tags over various countries on the map.

The yellow tags have a picture of a rattle on them and this symbolizes the birth countries. They will have a number 1-10 on them, which indicates where it falls in the Top 10 counties.

The pink tags have a picture of a headstone on them which symbolizes the death countries. Like the birth countries these have numbers that rate them in the Top 10 countries.

The numbers at the bottom of the page correspond with the tags and list the Top 10 birth and death countries for your ancestors.

When you click on the county it will give you a list of all the people that were born/died there, the date, and the exact location.

As always, we are happy to help if you have additional questions, so don’t hesitate to call 1-877-643-8733 or email if you need assistance.

Genetic Genealogy

heather.matthews — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:45:00 GMT

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

As technology and science march forward, they change every aspect of our lives. This includes genealogy. Today more and more people are turning to genetic genealogy technologies to learn more about themselves and their biological heritage.

Some people are interested in genetic genealogy because they want to learn more about themselves and where they inherited certain traits and characteristics. A team of political scientists associated with the University of Nebraska is trying to prove that social attitudes and even tendencies in political opinion are genetically inherited. One of the arguments referenced by these researchers is a study that was done by Lindon Eaves, a Virginia Commonwealth University professor. In his study, more than 5,000 sets of identical and fraternal twins took a poll asking their opinions on political issues such as the death penalty, nuclear power, and school prayer. Identical twins, who share their entire genetic makeup, answered more similarly than fraternal twins. Since all sets of twins, identical and fraternal, had grown up in the same environment and with the same parents, the results can only be accounted for by genetics.

This is only one of the hundreds of issues that can be probed with genetic genealogy. Genetic genealogy technologies commonly use two kinds of markers: Y-DNA, or paternal line DNA, and mtDNA, mitochondrial or maternal line DNA. Both methods compare certain sequences of DNA of individuals to estimate the number of generations separating them from their most recent common ancestor. There are now many different companies that offer DNA testing. Some of these include:

. GeneTree is the commercial arm of Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation and offers mtDNA, Y-DNA and Enhanced Paternal Lineage DNA Test Kits.�It has a database of 6 million people, including access to the records from the SMGF.

. FamilyTreeDNA is a genetic genealogy company based in Houston with a partner laboratory at the University of Arizona. This firm offers YDNA, mtDNA, and autosomal DNA testing, using the cheek swab method. In partnership with the National Geographic Genographic Project, they have tested the DNA of more than 500,000 people.

. Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation has collected more than 90,000 Y-DNA samples, along with four-generation pedigree charts, in more than 100 countries around the world. The Y-DNA sample results are searchable in the Sorenson database.

. The National Geographic Society's Genographic Project samples DNA from indigenous populations around the world in an effort to map historical human migration patterns.

As the cost of DNA testing decreases, the field of genetic genealogy continues to grow rapidly. More and more people are having their DNA tested, meaning that more and more people are likely to find genetic matches in DNA databases.

�

SurnameDB.com

OneGreatFamily.com — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

SurnameDB.Com contains a large FREE to access database (almost 50,000 surnames) on the history and origins of family surnames. Most of the research done on this site came from years of research on the part of the founder of Name Origins Research, Michael Brooks. In October of 2006 they decided to put the information online and have seen huge success in the number of people who have visited their site.

RSS Of OneGreatFamily Newsletters Is Now Available

erick.perez — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:30:22 GMT

Receive OneGreatFamily Newsletters Through RSS Feed

At OneGreatFamily we provide several tools to assist you in your genealogy efforts. In addition to our products like Genealogy Browser™ and Family Dashboard, we also provide useful tips in how to do both on-line and traditional records based genealogy. This comes in two ways. First, we publish this newsletter weekly that includes “how to” articles. For example, you will find below an article on Spanish genealogy research. We also include tips on using our products. The article below on using the Advanced Family Dashboard is an example. Finally, we publish our One Great Genealogy Site Awards. In this program, we scour the internet looking for useful genealogy websites. Blue Monocle Photos is the site we picked this week.

We now have years of newsletters in our archive. In order to help you, our users, we wanted to republish this material. In keeping with the new technologies that are available, we decided to republish these articles in an RSS feed. That way, if you want to see them, simply sign up for the feed. You will get new articles from us every week from the current newsletter as well as some historical articles.

You can now access the OneGreatFamily newsletter through an RSS Feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/ogfnewsletter

Visit this page and sign up to receive the most up to date news about OneGreatFamily as well as all the useful information in our newsletters.

For those of you who are not familiar with RSS Feeds here is a short description:

RSS stands for Rich Site Summary, or for Really Simple Syndication. Both mean the same thing, so don't let it confuse you. An RSS is something a website (or a blog) offers to readers to provide a "news feed" of their information. It's available for everyone to add to their own "news reader" for free and gets displayed on your desktop or in your web browser.

It works almost like a stock ticker, delivering exactly the information that you have anonymously "subscribed" to, eliminating the need to go out and check your favorite outlets for new information, because they're already delivered to your computer. (Information found at: http://ezinearticles.com/?RSS-For-Dummies&id=83300

AccessGenealogy.com

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:47:00 GMT

Provides links to several interesting databases and genealogy utilities, including a beginner's tutorial and a county locator. Some of the databases are Bible Records, Cemetery Records, Census Records, Military Records, Native American Records and More! You can also download Free Genealogy Charts and see genealogy data organized by US State. Visit AccessGenealogy.com to find information to add to your Family Tree.

What Makes OneGreatFamily So Unique?

erick.perez — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:28:00 GMT

3 Concepts That Explain How OneGreatFamily Is Different From Other Genealogy Services

There are some key differences between OneGreatFamily and other genealogy services that you need to understand to take full advantage of what we have to offer. Though OneGreatFamily is not a new service, it is quite revolutionary to the genealogy community. We have come up with 3 main principles that explain what exactly makes us so unique and how our cutting-edge, yet simple, approach to genealogy can greatly help you in building your family tree.

Concept 1 - OneGreatFamily is a Single Family Tree
OneGreatFamily is a single, global family tree which everyone helps to build. It's not just a collection of individual trees that people work on alone. This means that when ANYONE works on OneGreatFamily, they are also working on your tree, and when you work on your tree, you are collaborating with others to explore their family trees.

As OneGreatFamily members add to the global family tree, the system searches to see if any of the names submitted could be your ancestors. Even if we find some of your ancestors today, we may find more in a week, a month, or a year. Just think; while you're concentrating on a maternal line, OneGreatFamily may identify a breakthrough on your paternal side! Your next step forward could come when you are sleeping, making dinner, or enjoying an evening out with friends, all thanks to the efforts of tens of thousands of OneGreatFamily members.

Concept 2 - OneGreatFamily Searches and Sifts For You
OneGreatFamily automatically does all the "search and sift" work for you. Let's face it, most traditional genealogy websites are based on "search and sift", where you initiate a search and then have to start sifting through the tens of thousands of matches you get back. Obviously, most of these possible matches will be wrong and a few may clearly be right. The rest have to be sorted and checked.

OneGreatFamily does all this tedious work for you. We compare all the people you enter against every person entered in the OneGreatFamily database. Then, we sift the results and alert you of possible matches. These are referred to as "Hints". Instead of endlessly sifting through obviously incorrect search results, OneGreatFamily focuses your attention and effort on likely matches.

Concept 3 - OneGreatFamily Handles Different Opinions
OneGreatFamily easily handles differences of opinion. Sometimes genealogists disagree. Perhaps there is documentation supporting multiple dates for the same event or even regarding parentage.

Because of its collaborative foundation, OneGreatFamily is built to handle these situations. These discrepancies are called "conflicts". OneGreatFamily will never force you to accept someone else's information, nor someone else to accept yours.

There are two primary types of conflicts: informational and relational. Informational conflicts occur when a fact is in dispute, perhaps a birth date or a marriage location. Relational conflicts occur when a family relationship is in question. In resolving both types of conflicts, you will be presented with your information and the conflicting information. You will then be given a choice to 1) accept the alternate information presented, 2) clear the conflict, which means you are satisfied with your information and no longer want to consider any alternative information, or 3) cancel for now, which will allow you to postpone making a choice until you can find more information.

Dive into OneGreatFamily and see what we can do for your family tree.

OneGreatFamily Tip: Where Can I Store Multimedia In Genealogy BrowserT?

erick.perez — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:27:00 GMT

Share & Store Photos, Video, And More About Your Ancestors

OneGreatFamily allows you to go beyond just names and events and allows you to share photos, scanned documents, videos, and more. Finding a picture of a distant ancestor can sometimes feel like discovering gold. Pictures, audio clips, and movies make for a very rich family history experience.

Instructions for Uploading Multimedia:

From the Individual Details window, open the Multimedia window by clicking the Multimedia icon (). You will be presented with a list of media (or a blank list if media has not yet been added for this individual). You can upload, view, rename, or remove media associated with individuals.

The buttons in the upper-right corner of the Multimedia window (shown below) allows you to add, display, rename, or remove multimedia files.

Media List
Multimedia files can include pictures, audio, text, and movies in the following formats:

Images: .jpg, .bmp, .tif, .gif
Audio: .mp3, .wav, .au, .rm
Video: .avi, .asf, .mpe, .mpeg
Text: .rtf, .html, .txt

View
View the selected media file in the associated program. This requires that you have software on your computer capable of viewing the file type. Most files can be viewed by software included with your operating system, though you may need to update to the latest version of the software (Windows Media Player, for example), depending on how the media was created by the person uploading the file.

Add Media File
Add a new media file associated with the individual. This option will open a window for finding the file on your computer. Once this file is chosen and uploaded, a copy of the file resides on OneGreatFamily and does not affect the file on your computer.

Rename
Change the title of the selected media file.

Delete
Remove the selected media file from OneGreatFamily. (This will not affect a media file on your own computer.)

We hope you will find OneGreatFamily's Multimedia section to be useful. Sharing photos, documents and scanned videos is one of the best ways to collaborate on OneGreatFamily with Distant Cousins. Upload and share today!

Customer Service Corner: Forgot Your Username or Password?

erick.perez — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:26:00 GMT

How Do I Recover My Login Information?

When you first subscribed or signed up as a guest, it was required that you enter a username and password. Once this was completed, we sent you a welcome email with your registration information, which included your password and username. If you are not a frequent user of OneGreatFamily, it's possible that you have forgotten your username or password.

Check your old email to see if you still have our welcome letter containing your registration information. If not, we can send your username and password to you again. If you have forgotten your username or password, use the Remind Me! feature. All we need is your username or email address. If the information you submit matches the information associated with your OneGreatFamily account, an email will be sent to you with your login information.

If you have changed your email address since you created your OneGreatFamily account or do not receive your login information by email within a few minutes (when using the "Remind Me!" feature above), you may contact OneGreatFamily Customer Service by filling out the Contact Form. OneGreatFamily Customer Support will ask you a few questions to verify you are the owner of the account, and then supply you with your login information.

As always, we are happy to help if you have additional questions, so don’t hesitate to call 1-877-643-8733 or email if you need assistance.

On the Spanish Genealogical Trail: Persistence Pays Off

erick.perez — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:25:00 GMT

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

Having just returned from a genealogy internship in Spain, I’d like to share some of my experiences with you and show you how to do genealogy research in the land of Cervantes and Velazquez.

You’ve probably already realized that persistence really pays off when you’re doing genealogy work. This is especially true in Spain. Archive schedules are, at best, difficult to work around; parish priests are sometimes unwilling to let you access their books; and copies of records are difficult to obtain. But the work can still be successful and rewarding if you have the persistence to see it through.

Like all government offices and agencies in Spain, most archives are only open from 9:00 to 2:00 every day. Some have even shorter hours; some are only open one day a week. For that reason, carefully coordinate your schedule to take advantage of all the time that the archive is open. You can’t afford to waste a single moment of archive time. One archive that I researched in was only open from 9:00 to 12:45 every day, so I made sure that I was at the front door waiting for the archive to open at 8:50 each morning. You should also prepare ahead of time pedigree charts, family group sheets, and lists of who to search for.

Parish records are the backbone of Spanish research. When all the parish books have been centralized in the diocesan archive, accessing them is simple. But often the books are still kept locally at the parish. This means that you have to travel to each small-town parish and then get permission from the parish priest to search the books. In some areas, the diocese is understaffed and one priest services multiple parishes. If that is the case, you’ll have to first track down the parish priest and find out what town he’s in, then talk him into letting you search the parish books.

Some priests are accustomed to genealogy researchers; others are fiercely protective of the parish books and don’t trust visitors to search them. If the priest seems reluctant to let you search the books, try to establish a good relationship with him: offer to make a donation to the church, name-drop any contacts you have in the town, or explain why it is important that you search the books (either to look for your own ancestors, or to help a friend).

You may run into similar problems at the civil register. The personnel may allow you to search only the index, or they may insist upon searching the books for you. When this happens, be patient. When you find the ancestors you’re looking for in the index, show them the entries so that they’ll realize that you know what you’re doing. If they’re searching the records for you, offer to save them time by searching the books yourself. In one registro civil I worked in, the registrar wanted to search for each name for me rather than allow me to use the books. But once she permitted me to search one book, and saw that I was finding names just as quickly as she could, she turned me loose and granted me access to all the books.

Once you find the records you’re searching for, obtaining copies can be tricky. Archive policies are often outdated and don’t allow for digital photography; your cheapest option is usually to order photocopies. Beware, though: just because you order copies doesn’t mean that your order is guaranteed. As one Spanish friend explained to me, “This is Spain. You have to be determinada to get things done.” And she was right. Sometimes a small gift of candies to the archive personnel does the trick; other times, following up your order with a second visit or reminder phone call shows the archivist that you’re serious about your order.

Most Spanish genealogy research is conducted in small towns, and the people are usually helpful and friendly; you just have to be persistent to get what you want. A little determination is all it takes.

One Great Genealogy Site Award

erick.perez — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:23:00 GMT

FamilyHistoryExpos.com

If you are looking for news and genealogy events, visit FamilyHistoryExpos.com. They have a calendar of Family History Expos all around the United Sates as well as a Blog, Podcast and Videos taken at previous FamilyExpos.

The website also has many tools, information and links to help you with your genealogy. The owners of FamilyHistoryExpos.com are dedicated to helping you find your ancestors.

FamilyHistoryExpos.com

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:40:00 GMT

The website also has many tools, information and links to help you with your genealogy. The owners of FamilyHistoryExpos.com are dedicated to helping you find your ancestors.

Blue Monocle Photos

OneGreatFamily.com — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:38:00 GMT

Blue Monocle Photos specializes in producing high-quality modern photographic prints of histrocial photographs of cities, towns, landscapres, and more. Most of our prints mainly come from the period of 1860-1930.

Old photographs are a wonderful window into our history showing those places most important and interesting to us: our towns, our ancestry, and our common heritage. Visit Blue Monocle Photos to see historical photographs of the places where you live and learn about what life was like for your ancestors.

OneGreatFamily Tip: Advance Dashboard Bug Fixed

erick.perez — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:20:00 GMT

Try The "Advanced Dashboard' On Family Dashboard

A couple of months ago we featured information about the Advanced Dashboard section of Family Dashboard. Some of you were experiencing some bugs to this page and we wanted to let all our members know that we have fixed everything and it is now working.

Here is some additional information about the Advanced Dashboard:

This tab allows you to choose the number of columns on your Family Dashboard (from 1-5) and also the columns are of variable size so you can take advantage of your monitor's full resolution. We recommend all our members switching from the "Default Dashboard " to the "Advanced Dashboard " because it provides you more flexibility.

Switching to the "Advanced Dashboard" allows you to see more widgets on your screen and therefore more information about your family tree. Graphics at the top of Family Dashboard have been removed so you can better see the information important to you.

Visit OneGreatFamily today and switch over to "Advanced Dashboard."

Customer Service Corner: The General Statistics Widget

erick.perez — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:19:00 GMT

By Brooke Bradley, Customer Service Representative

On Family Dashboard there is a box that has General Statistics about your family tree at OneGreatFamily. As you enter information about your ancestors and you gain access to information through OneGreatFamily, this box will tell you some very interesting information.

Some of the information it will update you on is: number of generations, total individuals, ancestors that OneGreatFamily has found for you, individuals with no names, merges on your tree, and hints for possible new ancestors found though OneGreatFamily. You can click on each category to get more information and specific names.

As always, we are happy to help if you have additional questions, so don’t hesitate to call 1-877-643-8733 or email if you need assistance.

On the Spanish Genealogical Trail: Understanding Jurisdictions

erick.perez — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:18:00 GMT

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

Having just returned from a genealogy internship in Spain, I’d like to share some of my experiences with you and show you how to do genealogy research in the land of Cervantes and Velazquez.

It doesn’t matter what place or time period you are researching, it’s essential to understand and pay attention to jurisdictional divisions when you’re conducting genealogy research. That way, you’ll know where to find the records you need and how to search them.

Where will you find the records you need? And what jurisdiction do they fall under? That depends upon what entity—church, government, or otherwise—created the records. For Spain, the main jurisdictions or kinds of genealogical records include:

• Parish records. Ever since the Council of Trent in the 1500s required parish priests to record all vital sacraments—baptism, marriage, and last rites—the Catholic Church has been keeping useful genealogical records. There are also confirmation records kept in the parish, or parroquia. All these records can usually be found locally in the parish; to access them, you’ll have to get the permission of the parish priest (although some parish records have been photographed and are available free online at pilot.familysearch.org).

• Diocesan records. In some dioceses, the parish records have been centralized at the diocesan archive, or Archivo Histórico Diocesano. Even if the parish records haven’t been centralized there, you will still find good resources available at the diocesan level. These include marriage dispensations (permissions granted by the bishop allowing a couple to marry) as well as communion lists.

• Civil registration records. Beginning in 1870, civil registers were created in Spain and births, marriages, and deaths were recorded in government records in addition to church books for the first time. These records, among the richest genealogical records in Spain, can be found at the town’s local registro civil or ayuntamiento.

• Provincial records. In the Archivo Histórico Provincial, you can access the Catastro de Ensenada, the valuable 1791 Spanish census. In addition, notarial records are usually kept in the provincial archive. Notarial records are the wills, contracts, sales, death inventories, marriage contracts, and other records used by Spanish genealogy researchers when parish records are unavailable.

• Municipal records. The Archivo Histórico Municipal is where you can find tax lists and modern censuses; in addition, you can sometimes find copies of the Catastro de Ensenada there.

• National records. Military records are consolidated into the Archivo General Militar in Segovia. National government records have been consolidated into the Archivo Histórico Nacional in Madrid or the Archivo General de la Administración in Alcalá de Henares.

The records available are abundant. All you need is a basic knowledge of how the records were created and where they are kept, and you’re on your way to researching your Spanish genealogy.

One Great Genealogy Site Award

erick.perez — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:16:00 GMT

Blue Monocle Photos

Relax This Summer And Let OneGreatFamily Find Your Ancestors

erick.perez — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:13:00 GMT

While You're Relaxing This Summer, OneGreatFamily is Working Hard on Your Family Tree

Many of you are spending your free time this summer relaxing and enjoying the nice weather. As much as you enjoy genealogy, on those beautiful summer days, who wants to be stuck indoors on a computer? OneGreatFamily can help you out! While you are having fun in the sun, OneGreatFamily is comparing your ancestors to all the other names added to OneGreatFamily. It’s like having a personal assistant who does the legwork for you so when you get started you can be super-productive.

We do this in three ways:

1. OneGreatFamily does all the searching for you, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Our search system is constantly comparing your entire family tree against any existing or newly entered data. Think of all the time you save by not having to enter each name of interest into a search engine, then adjusting the search criteria to try to get to a manageable number of results.

2. OneGreatFamily focuses your attention on both obvious and probable matches. Instead of forcing you to wade through mountains of useless records, OneGreatFamily automatically discards the obvious mismatches. Possible matches are identified and highlighted with a "light bulb" icon. The system calls these "hints." You can then go in and waste no time by reviewing these hints, which could lead to finding more ancestors.

3. OneGreatFamily allows you to leverage the efforts of thousands of other genealogy enthusiasts. Many individuals spend needless hours, days, and weeks searching for names that others have already found, documented, and recorded into the OneGreatFamily tree. When you use OneGreatFamily, you will be provided with those names without any work by you! The only step that you need to take is to get started by submitting all the information you already have. Then, check back every once in a while to see what we've found. Many users see their family trees grow faster than they ever expected!

Subscribe to OneGreatFamily, submit your family tree, then sit back and enjoy your summer. Let us do the legwork for you. Then the next time you log in at OneGreatFamily, you will see if there are any hints leading to your ancestors. The power of OneGreatFamily lies in the fact that the OneGreatFamily Tree isn't just another collection of family trees, but instead is a single, unified, global family tree that everyone is working on.

OneGreatFamily Tip: Interested In Testing A New Version Of Genealogy Browser?

erick.perez — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:12:00 GMT

OneGreatFamily is Seeking Genealogy Browser Beta Testers

We have been working for sometime on a significant update to Genealogy Browser. This new version will incorporate many enhancements to the User Interface of Genealogy Browser. Much of the changes came out of the survey we ran earlier this year soliciting your input. Now we are nearing the point of beginning testing on these enhancements.

To read more about being a beta tester, and then complete the application, please visit: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Dy6PY1IpXOUbK_2fAlRLVHCg_3d_3d

Thanks,
The OneGreatFamily Team

Customer Service Corner: The Time Capsule Widget

erick.perez — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:10:00 GMT

By Kirsten Klein, Customer Service Representative

Have you ever wondered what life was like when your ancestor was alive? If so, you can use the Time Capsule widget to find out.

This widget is located on the “Family Dashboard” tab. If you have never used Family Dashboard before, the Time Capsule is the second widget from the top in the middle column. The only field that is required is the date. If you want to be more specific, you can enter in a name and event. For example, you could use your great grandmother’s name and her birth date to find out what life was like when she was born. Some of the facts it will give you are important events, famous people born on that day, the cost of living, best songs, movies, actors, information about the U.S. Presidency, and scientific news.

As always, we are happy to help if you have additional questions, so don’t hesitate to call 1-877-643-8733 or email if you need assistance.

Happy Independence Day from OneGreatFamily!

erick.perez — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:09:00 GMT

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

All of us here at OneGreatFamily hope that all of you that are Americans had a very happy 4th of July holiday. To celebrate, let's talk about some Revolutionary War genealogical records.

At colonialancestors.com, you can view the name of every officer who took the oath of allegiance at Valley Forge in 1778. This useful website also has an entire database of colonial-era ancestors, submitted by visitors to the site. You can search the database by name, birth date, birthplace, spouse, marriage date, and death date. Many of the records there include the e-mail address of the submitter so that you can contact them for more information.

In addition, Colonial Ancestors also has a collection of Revolutionary War records, organized by year. Each collection lists all the engagements and battles fought during that year, along with the brigades that fought. If you know what brigade your veteran ancestor fought in, you can find out exactly what conflicts he was involved in.

If you know you have a revolutionary soldier in your ancestry but you haven’t yet proved it, check to see if your ancestor is already on file with Sons of the American Revolution or Daughters of the American Revolution. Membership in both these societies requires documentation to prove that you actually are a descendant of a revolutionary soldier.

Check their lineage books—it is possible that a distant relative of yours shares your colonial ancestor and has done much of the research and documentation already. If that is the case, all you have to do is go back far enough to tie into their line. For links to this information, as well as other Revolutionary War societies, go to http://www.militaryindexes.com/revolutionarywar/.

Check in county histories, new and old, in the county where your ancestor lived. A town or county was always proud of its soldiers and veterans, so you’ll find their names and sometimes their biographies listed in county histories. County histories can be found at local libraries or at genealogical libraries.

We hope you enjoyed your Independence Day barbeques and fireworks, and good luck finding your colonial ancestors!

One Great Genealogy Site Award

erick.perez — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:08:00 GMT

Chronicling America

Chronicling America is a site that allows you to search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.

Chronicling America provides access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). NDNP, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LC), is a long-term effort to develop an Internet-based, searchable database of U.S. newspapers with descriptive information and select digitization of historic pages. Supported by NEH, this rich digital resource will be developed and permanently maintained at the Library of Congress.

DeadFred.com

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:43:00 GMT

A picture is worth a thousand words. DeadFred.com is a free, searchable database containing over 90,000 Genealogy Photo Records for you to search for FREE. Post your own family photos to share and help solve photo mysteries. DeadFred.com is a web site devoted to helping you visualize your heritage!

Chronicling America

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:36:00 GMT

Chronicling America is a site that allows you to search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.

Is Your OneGreatFamily Tree Growing?

scott.dimmick — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:40:00 GMT

Two Ways To Increase Your Success At OneGreatFamily

OneGreatFamily is a remarkable service that continues to help people identify tens of thousands of previously unknown ancestors each week. Nearly 205,000 individuals in the OneGreatFamily database were merged together within the last week, and nearly 140,000 were identified as potential merges (or hints). What does this mean?

This means OneGreatFamily is growing and the information included at OneGreatFamily is becoming more accurate. This activity also means that people whose genealogies are included as part of OneGreatFamily are seeing their family trees continue to grow.

How can you make sure you are one of the people who benefits from this amazing growth and collaboration? We'd like to suggest two ways:

1. Submit your entire known family tree!

The more information you provide to OneGreatFamily, the greater the chance of tying into other ancestral lines. OneGreatFamily allows people to enter information directly into Genealogy BrowserT, enter information through Family Dashboard, or to submit a GEDCOM file to start or expand their family tree. With each additional generation you enter of your own family tree, you are increasing your ability to know if another member of OneGreatFamily is already working on your family tree. Identifying ONE common ancestor can result in finding a whole new ancestral line.

Many people have been able find new matching data and meet distant relatives after entering only a few generations of their family trees . . . or even just a few ancestors; however, others with "less common" ancestors may need to supply OneGreatFamily with more information to get started. You are guaranteed further success over time as OneGreatFamily continues to enjoy phenomenal growth.

2. See your family tree to the end of each line

Genealogy BrowserT only shows the first seven generations of your family tree as its default setting; however, you may actually have more than seven generations of data available at OneGreatFamily.

You can identify whether or not you are seeing your entire family tree by recognizing "end of line" individuals. An "end of line" individual is someone in the OneGreatFamily family tree with no known ancestors. You can find them quickly because they are in red boxes as shown in the example below.

If you see a line in your family tree that doesn't end with an individual in a red box, you are not seeing your entire family tree. The following instructions will help you change the preference for how many generations can be viewed in Genealogy Browser. You can then expand the Starfield View (pedigree) to see your entire family tree at OneGreatFamily.

Number of Generations Display on the Toolbar

You will notice this drop down menu in the toolbar section at the top of Genealogy Browser. This convenient menu lets you quickly and easily set the number of generations to be displayed in the Starfield area.

Many users have never changed this setting and so have never actually seen their entire family tree on OneGreatFamily. If you have never changed this setting, we strongly encourage you to play around with it. You can select a value off the drop down menu or just enter a value into the box. If you are on a high-speed internet connection, we would suggest you try starting with at least 50 generations. Dial-up users might want to start with 20 generations.

Remember, the higher the number, the longer it may take to load your pedigree. Still, you could be surprised to see how far back your family tree goes, and it will be worth the wait!

Family DashboardT End of Line Widget

Another way to view your "End of Line" ancestors is on Family Dashboard with the "End of Line" widget:

This widget shows you a list of 3 random people from your family tree that have neither parent listed in OneGreatFamily. These people can be excellent choices for focusing further research into your family tree.

If you click on the "more" button on the widget, a window will pop up with the Details Page that lists all ancestors in your family tree that are the end of their line in OneGreatFamily. This Details Page allows you to sort by Surname, First Name, Birth Date, Birth Place, Death Date, or Death Place. You can click a button to view an ancestor in Genealogy Browser, see how they are related to you with use of the relationship calculator, or view the migration calculator.

By looking at your end of line ancestors, you can see where to begin to work on extending the reach of your genealogy.

You can view any and all information you have contributed to OneGreatFamily without subscribing; however, the ability to view details on individuals who have been added to your tree through the OneGreatFamily service is reserved for subscribers only.

OneGreatFamily Tip: Check Out The Video Tutorials On The 'Get Started' Page

scott.dimmick — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:38:00 GMT

Several Videos Are Available To Help You Understand How OneGreatFamily Works

A couple of weeks ago we were featuring the new section 'Get Started' that is very helpful to those who are new to OneGreatFamily or if you want to increase your knowledge of the many unique features of OneGreatFamily and how they can help you.

At the bottom of the page you will see a section with over 30 video tutorials that explain how OneGreatFamily works! Here is a capture of the page and you can see the enormous video section at the bottom of the page:

Some videos explain how OneGreatFamily is unique. Other videos are tutorials that walk you through how to use a feature in your family tree.

OneGreatFamily is a very unique and revolutionary genealogy service. No other website today does for you what OneGreatFamily does. Some members and guests of OneGreatFamily sometimes have a hard time understanding all that OneGreatFamily has to offer. This is the reason why we created a series of videos that quickly highlight and explain how to use OneGreatFamily.

We encourage you to use these videos so you can better understand all that OneGreatFamily has to offer to you.

Famous American Surnames

scott.dimmick — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:36:00 GMT

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

Germany, Ireland and England are the places that most Americans claim as their ancestors' places of origin, so it's not surprising that many famed American surnames are Irish or English in origin.

The Kennedys, of American political fame, are of Irish-Gaelic stock. The name Kennedy is an Anglicization of "O' Cinneidigh." The meaning of Cinnedigh is debated: "head of the clan," "helmet-headed," and "ugly-headed" are all suggested meanings. Before being American political elites, the Kennedys were titled and powerful in Ireland: the famed Kennedy progenitor, Cinnedigh, was a grand-nephew of the King of Thomond, and from the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries, the Kennedy clan were Lords of Ormond. The name O' Cinneidigh evolved to O' Kennedy, and during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, under the English penal code and the oppression of Irish Catholics, the "O" part of the surname was dropped. Kennedy became one of the more common surnames in Ireland, and subsequently an American surname.

Actress Drew Barrymore, her grandfather John Barrymore, and his brother Lionel Barrymore also have Irish-English ancestry. The Barrymores originally came from Barrymore in present-day Lincolnshire, England; they were Anglo-Normans who went to Ireland as part of the Norman invasion of 1172. Many Irish families bearing the name Barrymore came to the United States during the great Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s.

The Bush family's earliest American ancestor was Richard Bush, who came to Bristol, Plymouth Colony, in 1696. Richard Bush was English, and the Bush surname is English in origin. Its meaning-not surprisingly-was someone who lived by a bushy or forested area. Spelling variations of "Bush" include Bushe, Busch, Bysshe, Bish, and Bosch.

Conrad Hilton, founder of the Hilton Hotel Chain, along with his infamous heiress Paris Hilton, also derive their names from English origins. The Hilton name dates back to at least 600 AD. It comes from Old English: "hyll," a hill, and "tun," a settlement.

The surname Winfrey also dates back to at least the seventh century AD. It derives from Old English "Win," joy, and "Fred," peace. The earliest recorded version of the name was Winfrudus of Ethona, recorded in 1190 in England. The name evolved into "Winnifred" and later into various surnames, including Winfrith, Winfrid, Winnefrith, and Winfrey.

GraveMatter.com

OneGreatFamily.com — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:34:00 GMT

The heart of the history of any New England town can be found in its cemeteries. GraveMatter.com is a collection of photographs and historical information of colonial cemeteries and gravestones of New England in southern Maine, southern New Hampshire and northeast Massachusetts.

Save Time And Money With OneGreatFamily

scott.dimmick — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:49:00 GMT

OneGreatFamily Helps Genealogists On A Budget

Most of us today seem to be constantly strapped for time and money. We all know that searching for our ancestors is really important, but the costs and time involved can seem overwhelming. We at OneGreatFamily can help!

OneGreatFamily is a service that can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars with your genealogy - not to mention saving you hours and hours of time as well.

Researching one ancestor alone can take years and cost a lot of money! Now, you can get a start on your genealogy from the comfort of your home. Here are a few costs to consider when researching your family tree:

Family Tree Software
Travel Expenses
Photocopies, Mail, etc.
Professional Assistance
Backup hardware
Data Access on CD-ROM or Online

Right away, OneGreatFamily saves you money on Family Tree Software. The included, downloadable Genealogy BrowserT is a full-fledged family tree software package with several unique features that you cannot find anywhere else. Our Family DashboardT, also free, provides powerful analytics to help you identify research needs quickly

Next, OneGreatFamily saves you money by automatically backing up your family tree to our servers, providing you with the peace of mind that your work is not in jeopardy of being lost from accidents.

Finally, OneGreatFamily can save you hundreds or thousands of dollars in travel, photocopies, professional assistance and data access fees. With most of us watching where our money goes, keep in mind an annual subscription to OneGreatFamily can cost less than one roundtrip drive to a family history library.

Here are more examples of how OneGreatFamily saves you money:

OneGreatFamily.com efficiently eliminates duplicate family trees and relationships by creating ONE FAMILY TREE. Elsewhere, the internet has spawned a data duplication floodgate, which wastes your time as you wade through thousands of duplicate records.

OneGreatFamily.com provides you with access to the largest collective family tree available.

Collaborate with people from all around the world from the comfort of home . . . or wherever you have access to the Internet. Spend some time on OneGreatFamily before you take that trip to your ancestral homeland!

Online collaboration can help you save hundreds of dollars on correspondence, photocopies, and other expenses. Documents, photos, and other information can be stored electronically on OneGreatFamily or sent to distant family members you meet on OneGreatFamily via email.

Gather as much information as possible on OneGreatFamily.com to make sure your money is well spent if you decide to hire a professional researcher for further assistance.

OneGreatFamily includes access to MILLIONS OF NAMES; many with corresponding events, sources, notes, photos, biographies, and other supporting data. More data is being added every day.

Why spend hundreds of hours searching for information that others have already found? Instead of duplicating research that is already done, you can now spend your time conducting new research or simply verifying information others have provided.

OneGreatFamily Tip: Avoiding Online Genealogy Fraud

scott.dimmick — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:48:00 GMT

Protect Yourself From Genealogy Fraud On The Internet

You should be aware of at least two forms of fraud while you research your family tree online. This article will help you avoid falling prey to phony websites and fraudulent genealogical information.

Phony Websites

Greed has motivated some people to "capitalize" on the desire of genealogists who possess the drive and passion to find their ancestors. Genealogy and technology expert Dick Eastman helped expose Elias Abodeely of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as one such scam artist. Through a number of "genealogy websites," most notably GenSeekers, Abodeely allegedly bilked genealogists by getting them to subscribe to a site that simply linked to other websites.

Beware of websites that charge fees to access links or pieces of information that are freely available elsewhere on the Internet. These sites often make people pay twice to access the record they are looking for. A fooled consumer may pay the fraudulent website and then pay separate subscription fees to the legitimate websites that provide the real value.

The best way to avoid such frauds is to make sure you know what you are paying for and can try the website before you are billed for the service. Another way to protect yourself is to ask fellow researchers if they have used the site and what their experience has been. You may also want to look for a means of contacting the site's owner or administrator. Fraudulent websites seldom provide any means of contact.

The rise of fraudulent websites is one reason OneGreatFamily allows new guests to take advantage of a 7-day free trial. Registered guests who have taken time to become familiar with OneGreatFamily understand what they are paying for when they decide to subscribe to the service.

Fraudulent Genealogy Information

The first form of fraud is motivated by greed. The perpetuation of fraudulent genealogy information, on the other hand, is typically more benign. The root of this fraud, however, typically stems from the same greed.

Much of the false genealogical information that has been published is also the result of greed. Several incidents of this sort of fraud have been documented as being done by hired researchers who wanted to embellish the research they were providing. Other false information has been perpetuated by researchers who have tried to "prove" relationships with little supporting evidence. In many cases, when a well-meaning researcher is given a choice between two possible alternatives, the more convenient or glamorous alternative is chosen without first looking for more evidence.

Several of these genealogies were "created" by Gustave Anjou, who repeatedly ensured his clients had genealogies that included several high-profile ancestors.

Unfortunately, much of this "research" has found its way into the databases of sincere researchers who were happy to quickly claim these high-profile (albeit false) ancestors as their own.

This information has also made its way online. In most cases, this information has been shared and promulgated unknowingly. The only way to identify and correct the result of this fraud is by carefully examining and documenting each piece of evidence.

Even in cases where sources are given, you may need to consult with the original source to verify that information is correct.

OneGreatFamily can help. OneGreatFamily lets you see alternatives for information in your family tree and lets you collaborate with people who can help identify false information that may have crept into your tree. You can also share your discoveries and documentation with others to correct false information they may have unwittingly accepted from another source.

Customer Service Corner: Last Name Popularity Widget

scott.dimmick — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:47:00 GMT

By Andie Noe, Customer Service Representative

Ever wonder how popular your last name is? On your OneGreatFamily Dashboard it is easy to find out in a very short amount of time. After you log in to your account, make sure that you are on the 'Family Dashboard' tab. Scroll down the page until you find the widget that says "Last Name Popularity in the U.S." Simply enter your last name in that box and click "Show Popularity". The results will show you how popular your last name was as of the 1990 United States Federal Census, and the ranking within the United States. It will also show the percentage of people in the United States that have the same last name as you.

As always, we are happy to help if you have additional questions, so don't hesitate to call 1-877-643-8733 or email if you need assistance.

Smith, Johnson, and Jones: Researching Very Common Surnames

scott.dimmick — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:46:00 GMT

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

If you have a rare and unusual surname, searching census records, vital records, and online databases is fairly easy. You'll be able to easily trace your family back without having to worry that you've gotten the wrong person with your ancestor's same name.

My last name, however, is Brown. Brown was the fifth most-common American surname in the 1990 federal census. So this article is dedicated to all of you who are in the same boat: those of us with extremely common surnames. How do you search your genealogy and make sure you've got the right family members with a surname like Johnson, Williams, Miller, Davis, or Brown? Here are a few ideas:

. Since you have a common surname, pay special attention to first names. When you're doing census searches, choose the least common first name in the family group and search for that individual. Once you've found him or her, you'll be able to find the rest of the family.

. Location, location, location. Locality is everything when searching for common surnames. There are a lot of Brown families in Indiana, for example. But because I know that my ancestors came from a little town called French Lick in Orange County, Indiana, I've been able to find and identify them even though they have a very common surname. If you don't know what county or town your ancestors came from, interview living relatives to get the most specific information you can.

. If you're searching within a large city, you'll find dozens of families with your same surname. To figure out which Tom Jones is your ancestor, map out each Tom Jones family. Print out a map of the city from GoogleMaps and use the address as given in the census to map each family that could potentially be yours. Then compare addresses listed on other documents-civil registration of births and deaths, military files, etc.-to narrow them down.

. Most importantly, don't jump to any conclusions. Don't assume that just because someone has the same name as your ancestor that they're the same person. With common surnames, be sure to check the names of all the family members to be sure you've got the right family. Check birthdates, too. If you found more than one family that could be yours, don't jump to hasty conclusions. Print out the information for each family, and then narrow it down later when you have more information.

Doing research these kinds of family lines isn't the same as researching uncommon surnames. But by paying careful attention to first names and localities, by mapping out your ancestors' places of residence within large cities, and by double-checking every match, you can successfully find your ancestors-even if they have a surname like Wilson or Jones.

ProGenealogists.com

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:44:00 GMT

A team of professional genealogists with experience, knowledge and access to billions of records is ready to assist you in United States, Canadian and European research! We conduct family history and genealogy research in archives across the world, including the famous Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Our staff of full-time specialists is well-versed in the record collections of archives across the world. We know which records are readily available and which will best meet your research goals.�ProGenealogists specializes in researching and documenting family histories, including: immigration, European origins, Canadian origins, lineage societies, United States colonial research, and Medieval British research. We can also help with detailed and thorough genealogy record searches, too.

Can A DNA Test Help You Find Your Ancestors?

scott.dimmick — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:56:00 GMT

Take A Survey And You Could Win A Free Genealogy DNA Testing Kit

We need your input! In our efforts to improve OneGreatFamily's resources and information for our members, we would appreciate your participation in a survey about DNA testing and genealogy work. Our purpose in putting together this survey is to see if there is any interest in OneGreatFamily providing you with DNA testing resources in the future.

Take the Survey Now!

Once you have completed the survey you will be entered into a drawing to win one of two DNA genealogy kits provided by GeneTree. You will have the choice between two different types of DNA kits (valued at $179 each):

Enhanced Paternal Lineage Test (Y-DNA 46 marker) Find genetic cousins and learn about ancient paternal ancestry. With thirteen more markers than the Y-33 test, you will receive more precise results and match with closer related genetic cousins.

Enhanced Maternal Lineage Test (mtDNA HVR-1,2,3 Test) Discover the early human migrations of your maternal line and connect with those sharing your maternal ancestry.

Don't miss this opportunity to be entered to win a DNA test kit that will enhance your genealogy work!

OneGreatFamily DNA Survey

TV Show Looking For Descendants of Presidents

scott.dimmick — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:55:00 GMT

Are You Related To An American President?

Major cable series is looking for descendants of Presidents to participate in a FUN documentary-style TV show! We'll take you to Washington, DC and you'll ride in an official motorcade! We'll ask the question - "Does Presidential DNA run in the genes" The series aims to educate and discuss history in a fun format.

This series is looking for fun folks who happen to be related to an American President. If this is you, please email us with your contact information, a digital photo of yourself, and tell us who you are related to! We'll email you back with specific instructions on how to apply.

Please email us at: presidentialcasting@onegreatfamily.com

Bizzy Blondes Entertainment www.bizzyblondesentertainment.com

Customer Service Corner: How to Use the Common Ancestor

scott.dimmick — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:55:00 GMT

By Brenda Eyring, Customer Service Representative

The Common Ancestor Feature shows you when one individual appears more than one time in your tree.

The Common Ancestor Feature is simple to use:
1. Locate your toolbar at the top of your screen.
2. Click on the Common Ancestor icon.
3. Look for blue boxes in your StarfieldT. A blue box means that individual appears more than once in your tree.

In the illustration below, Carroll appears twice. The blue box means he appears more than once. The blue line allows you to quickly find Carroll's other location. Carroll is Sanford Carroll's father, and he is Elizabeth Bartlett's grandfather. This means Sanford Carroll and Elizabeth Bartlett were uncle and niece before they were husband and wife.

As always, we are happy to help if you have additional questions, so don't hesitate to call 1-877-643-8733 or email if you need assistance.

How to Do Hawaiian Research

scott.dimmick — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:54:00 GMT

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

One good resource for Hawaiian research is William A. Cole's Cole-Jensen Collection, which contains 51 books of oral genealogy transcripts collected from Hawaii. This collection is available on microfilm from the Family History Library.

Another good resource is Edith Kawelohea McKinzie's Hawaiian Genealogies: Extracted from Hawaiian Language Newspapers.

Very few people living in Hawaii today have only Hawaiian ancestry. Many are descendants of laborers who came to work in the sugar fields of the Hawaiian islands. The largest groups of immigrants to Hawaii came from China (starting in 1852), from Portugal (starting in 1878), from Japan (starting in 1884), from Korea (starting in 1903), and from the Philippines (starting in 1906). Today, those of Japanese descent constitute roughly a third of the population, the largest ethnic group in Hawaii. There was not a significant American population in Hawaii until 1875.

An easy way to track ancestors who migrated to Hawaii is through port records. Since the main Hawaiian port is Honolulu, it is easy to track your immigrant ancestors there. Check Bernice Judd's Voyages to Hawaii Before 1860 and the Hawaii State Archives, which maintain microfilmed port records as well as entry permits and labor permits.

Aside from microfilmed records, there are many government records for Hawaii that have been digitized online. The digitized collections include: Indexes to Marriage Records, 1826-1929; Indexes to Divorce Case Files, 1848-1915; Indexes to Probates, 1847-1917; Indexes to Wills, 1852-1916; Indexes to Citizenship Records and Naturalization, 1844-1894; Indexes to Citizenship Records and Denization,1846-1898; Indexes to Citizenship Records and Passports, 1845-1874. All of these records collections can be found online at http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/cgi-bin/library. You can also view World War I service records there.

Don't overlook the Social Security Death Index as a good source for more recent, twentieth-century family members. You can find Hawaiian relatives in the Social Security Death Index for free on www.familysearch.org. USGenWeb also has a page devoted entirely to Hawaii and full of excellent links and resources. You can find this page at: http://www.higenweb.org/. It contains county histories and databases, immigration and passenger records, and much more. Good luck searching. Pomaika`i!

Family-Reunion.com

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:52:00 GMT

Summer is a perfect time to get together for a fun family reunion. Visit the web's most popular family reunion planning website - Family-Reunion.com. They offer such resources as planning software, a FREE newsletter, links to other reunion sites, and books that offer planning ideas. If you are planning a reunion, you can also announce it in their FREE reunion registry, or you can check to see if your family has already announced a reunion. Family-reunions are a great way to communicate with your family about your genealogy, so start planning your family reunion today with Family-Reunion.com!

Acadian.org

OneGreatFamily.com — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:19:37 GMT

Dedicated to Acadian/Cajun and Acadian/French Canadian genealogy. The site, which is administered by Yvon Cyr, provides valuable resources for Acadian research, including two CD-ROMs containing Acadian data. Acadian.org is an excellent genealogy resource if you have any Acadian roots.

Acadian.org

Customer Service Corner: How to Use the Tracer Feature

scott.dimmick — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:59:00 GMT

By Brenda Eyring, Customer Service Representative

The Tracer lets you see how the anchor individual is related to any ancestor in the StarfieldT.

The Tracer is simple to use:
1. Locate your toolbar at the top of your screen.
2. Click on the Tracer icon.
3. Click on any individual in your StarfieldT.
4. A blue line will appear showing how the anchor is related to the selected ancestor.

In the illustration below, I am the anchor individual. To see how I am related to my ancestor John William Prunty. I turn on the Tracer feature by clicking on the toolbar icon. I then click on John William Prunty in my StarfieldT. The blue line appears showing how I am related to John. He is my mother's, mother's, mother's, father.

As always, we are happy to help if you have additional questions, so don't hesitate to call 1-877-643-8733 or email if you need assistance.

Consanguinity

scott.dimmick — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:58:00 GMT

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

As part of the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century, the Catholic Church established rules that controlled who could marry within the church and who could not. Aside from being members of the Church in good standing, candidates for marriage could not be consanguineous within the fourth degree.

What exactly is consanguinity? If you are consanguineous with someone, you are blood-related. If you share consanguinity with someone in the first degree, you have the same parents-you are siblings. If you share consanguinity with someone in the second degree, you have the same grandparents-you are first cousins. To marry in the Catholic Church, couples could not be consanguineous within the fourth degree: they couldn't share the same great-great-grandparents. In other words, if they were third cousins or shared any closer blood relation than that, they could not marry in the Catholic Church, unless they got a special certificate of permission from the bishop known as a marriage dispensation.

Aside from the rules set forth by the Catholic Church, just how common was cousin marriage in Europe? Well, it depended on where you lived and what your social class was. Upper-class nobility were much more likely than the lower classes to marry their relatives, because they had to marry someone of their same rank and social standing, and sometimes a cousin or second cousin was the only one who fit the description. Those who lived in small isolated communities were more likely to marry relatives as well, simply because there weren't many marriage partners to choose from. In fact, marrying one's cousin because there was no one else of one's same social standing or no one else in one's small town to marry was such a common situation that there was even a special term coined for it in Latin and used in obispal marriage dispensations.

One of the first scientific studies that were done on cousin marriage was conducted by George Darwin, son of Charles Darwin. George Darwin wanted to find out how many marriages of the current population of Britain were first cousin marriages (Charles Darwin himself married his first cousin, Emma Wedgewood). George Darwin's study showed that about 3.5 percent of marriages in Britain were first-cousin marriages. Not surprisingly, he found that there were far more first-cousin marriages among the upper class than the lower class.

Contrary to popular opinion, cousin marriages do not cause genetic defects-unless a series of cousin marriages are perpetuated over many generations. When this occurs, there is not as much genetic diversity in one's gene pool, and so anomalies become more pronounced and undesirable recessive traits can come to the front. One of the most infamous examples of this is the Hapsburg dynasty in Europe. For more than five hundred years, the Hapsburgs were among the most powerful European families, controlling the Holy Roman Empire and, at times, Spain and its New World holdings. To maintain their status among Europe's powerful and elite, the Hapsburgs married other royalty-often their own cousins or distant cousins. As a result of centuries of cousin marriages, they became known for their protruding "Hapsburg jaw" and many were infertile or had children who died very young as a result of genetic disorders. One of the most extreme examples of Hapsburg inbreeding was Prince Carlos of Spain (1545-1568) who had only four great-grandparents instead of the usual eight. Not surprisingly, he was unable to produce an heir to the throne.

If you want to calculate the degree of consanguinity you share with someone, you can use relationship calculators like this one http://www.searchforancestors.com/utility/cousincalculator.html
and this one http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genepool/cousins.htm. Just enter the relationship that both of you share with a common ancestor. For example, if you are the grandchild of an ancestor and your relative is the great-grandchild of that same ancestor, you are first cousins twice removed.

You can also use the OneGreatFamily Relationship Calculator located on your Family Dashboard to see how two individuals in OneGreatFamily are related.

Yesteryear Memories

OneGreatFamily.com — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:57:00 GMT

A photograph captures a special moment in your family history. Don't let it fade away. As experts in our field of digital photo restoration, photo retouching and photo enhancement services our main focus is to ensure that those special memories or moments preserved in time, remain more than just paper and chemicals.

When you place your trust - and your photographs - into our hands, you can rest assured that we will treat your memories with the same care and attention to detail that we would apply to our own. At Yesteryear Memories, our clients benefit from our industry expertise, personalized attention, and the sense of ownership we apply to each enhancement, photo restoration, or digital retouching project. Click here for a free, no-obligation price quote.

Mexican Genealogy

erick.perez — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

Since 1820, Mexico has been the fourth largest source of immigrants to the United States, and the number of Mexican immigrants is only increasing. If you are Mexican-born or have Mexican ancestors, consider yourself lucky. Unique surname traditions and widespread availability of church records make it easy to trace Mexican ancestry.

Understanding how surnames were passed down will help you in your search for ancestors. Traditionally, a child was given her father's surname followed by her mother's. For example, a child named Maria whose father's surname was Garcia and whose mother's surname was Sanchez would be named Maria de Garcia y Sanchez. In more recent times, her name would be listed as Maria Garcia Sanchez or Maria Garcia-Sanchez. Once Maria married, her name would change. If she married a man with the surname Gonzalez, she would become "Maria de Garcia y Sanchez de Gonzalez." This traditional surname inheritance is very helpful for researching your genealogy. If you have Mexican ancestry, you'll never face the common genealogical problem of having the trail going cold because you don't know an ancestor's maiden name. Be aware, however, that in recent years many family members may just to take their father's surname. When you are searching for individuals in the census and other records, search under their mother's surnames, father's surnames, and both surnames put together.

To find records of your Mexican ancestors, start by locating them in census records to find out approximately when they came to the United States. If they immigrated before about 1906, their immigration records can be found in the county where they settled, if the records exist at all. More recent immigrants filed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and you can write to the immigration office to obtain their records.

Vital records are easy to come by in Mexico. Local governments have been keeping these records since about 1857, and Catholic church records have been kept since the Spanish conquest. Catholic church records record christenings, marriages, and burials, and their accuracy and usefulness is unrivaled in the world of genealogy.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to cross the Atlantic and trace your genealogy back to the mother country, knowing the origin of your ancestral surname can help locate your ancestors in Spain. In early times, a Spanish surname was derived from one's father's name by adding "es" or "ez" on the end. For example, if your father's name was Alvaro, your surname would become Alvarez, and Gonzalo would become Gonzalez. Some Spanish surnames came from occupations; for example, "Molina" means miller. Some surnames come from regions in Spain, and these are especially useful in determining where your ancestors came from. The surname "Vasco," for instance, is a sure indication that your ancestors are from the Basque country in northern Spain.

If you know the basics, finding your Mexican ancestry is easy and fun. �Buena suerte!

Login to OneGreatFamily and find success using our unique genealogy service.
Visit the OneGreatFamily Learning Center for more helpful genealogy articles.

OneGreatFamily Tip: 'First Names and Surname' Widget Available On Family Dashboard

erick.perez — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

A Great Place To Start Researching Your Genealogy Is Looking At Your "End Of Line" Ancestors

We hope that you are all enjoying the new Family DashboardT at OneGreatFamily. This week we are featuring two closely related widgets that will give you a whole new perspective on your family tree.

Sample First Names from Your Family Tree: This widget will list 3 random first names from your family tree along with the number of your ancestors with that first name. By clicking on the "More" link you can see a list of all the first names of all your ancestors (see the image below).

The list can be sorted by popularity or alphabetically. By clicking on a specific name you can see all your ancestors that share that name.

Sample Surnames from Your Family Tree: This widget on the Family Dashboard page will list 3 random surnames from your family tree along with the number of your ancestors with that surname. By clicking on the "More" link you can see a list of all the surnames of all your ancestors. (See image below).

The list can be sorted by popularity or alphabetically. By clicking on a specific surname you can see all your ancestors that share that last name.

If you have not yet seen the new Family Dashboard we encourage you to do so by visiting: OneGreatFamily.com.

If you have checked out Family Dashboard, we would love to hear what you think. Please email our marketing department and tell us your thoughts on the new Family Dashboard.

Visit OneGreatFamily and see how many ancestors have been added to your OneGreatFamily tree.

Email OneGreatFamily and let us know about the success you have experienced while using OneGreatFamily

Honor National Family History Month By Work On Your Family Tree!

erick.perez — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Celebration Honoring National Family History Month At OneGreatFamily Continues

OneGreatFamily will then match your ancestors against over 160 million names that have already been submitted to our service. When a match is found, your family tree will be merged with others and become part of the larger OneGreatFamily database.

We hope you are enjoying OneGreatFamily and that you will want to share your experience with others. Get others involved in their family history to celebrate National Family History Month.

In honor of Family History Month, we're lowering the prices of our subscriptions until October 14th.

Sign-up for an annual membership and get 20% OFF the regular price! . . . OR, if you'd rather dip your toe before jumping into a year's membership, you can try the first month for only $9.95! By upgrading to an annual subscription, you will gain ongoing access to OneGreatFamily for only $5 per month (compared to $14.95 per month for our standard monthly subscription plan).

Our prices for subscriptions are the following:

1 Year (billed annually) ~~$74.95~~ Now only $59.95!
3 Months (billed quarterly) ~~$29.95~~ Now only $19.95!
1 Month (billed monthly) ~~$14.95~~ Now only $9.95!

Join OneGreatFamily in celebrating Family History Month by taking advantage of huge savings when you subscribe to this remarkable service.

Visit OneGreatFamily and work on your family tree in honor of National Family History Month
Subscribe to OneGreatFamily and save during our Family History Month Promotion

OneGreatFamily Tip: Can I Trust OneGreatFamily With My Genealogy?

erick.perez — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:46:00 GMT

OneGreatfamily Does Not Sell Your Information

Even with all the benefits an online genealogy service can provide, most researchers are still hesitant to subscribe because it is a decision filled with questions and uncertainty about trust and credibility. OneGreatFamily's business is focused on facilitating genealogy growth and discoveries by providing personalized access to the world's largest human family tree.

Trust is an important concept whenever you provide any information to any commercial entity. Trust is often more difficult to earn for companies that do online business. Some considerations include how your information will be used and the business model of the company receiving your information. At OneGreatFamily, we build a foundation of trust by working and researching together.

OneGreatFamily takes your family tree research seriously. OneGreatFamily always provides you with access to any information you submit to OneGreatFamily, even if you are not currently subscribing to the service.

OneGreatFamily will never sell your information on CD-ROM or prevent you from updating your family tree at your convenience. As explained in previous articles, OneGreatFamily sells access to a Genealogy System rather than selling genealogical data.

At OneGreatFamily we make sure our subscribers and guests are getting what they expect from an online genealogy service. Our online services are easy to use, produce fast results, save you time and money, are convenient, and generate constant growth. We help you to uncover the information you need in the quickest and most economical way. OneGreatFamily is a service that was created to help genealogists get through their "brick walls" and move forward with the help of others from around the world. With OneGreatFamily you are able to see others who are researching your family lines, perform live collaboration with others, match and merge information, and verify and expand your family tree.

OneGreatFamily is one of the few success stories of online subscription services. With a growing subscription base, the company has created a solid foundation on which it will build for years to come. We hope that by using OneGreatFamily you have discovered the real value of genealogy, which is finding out about the people and places which made you who you are!

Visit OneGreatFamily and see how many ancestors have been added to your OneGreatFamily tree.
Email OneGreatFamily and let us know about the success you have experienced while using OneGreatFamily

Etched in Stone: Headstones and Cemetery Records

erick.perez — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:46:00 GMT

By Kimberly Brown, Family Historian

Headstones and grave markers often list much more than just a name, birth date, and death date. Some headstones list the names of family members. Some quote favorite verses of the Bible. Some list the place an ancestor was born or the church she belonged to. Visiting an ancestor's grave is like searching for buried treasure; you never know what new information you'll find listed on a tombstone.

It's not difficult to find out which cemetery someone was buried in. If you know where your ancestor was living near the time of his death, you will most likely find him in that town's cemetery. If your ancestor was not buried in the town that he died in, he was probably moved to be buried near his spouse or another family member who preceded him in death. Many cemeteries have been indexed by volunteers, and the indexes are searchable online on sites like www.usgenweb.org and www.familysearch.org. Every cemetery also keeps sexton's records that list who is buried in a cemetery and where exactly they are buried. These records, along with a map of the cemetery, are available at the cemetery office (if it is a large cemetery) or in the local county office (if it is a small cemetery).

Sexton's records are lists of who is buried where; they are not extractions of everything that is engraved on a tombstone. To read what is written on an ancestors' tombstone, you'll have to go to the actual grave. Just remember that just because a headstone engraving is "written in stone" doesn't mean that it's infallible. Headstones, like any other record, can contain errors, so compare the headstone with the information that you already have and evaluate it carefully.

Pay attention to the graves around your ancestor's, since families were often buried together. You'll find new information about other ancestors, and you may even find new family members that you never knew about. If a child died at a young age at a time when birth records were not made, she may not show up in any records but her tombstone.
When you go to the cemetery, wear clothes that can get dirty so that you can kneel on the ground and get a close look at the tombstones. Sometimes grass grows over flat headstones or headstones that have fallen down, so bring a small trowel to remove the grass and dirt. Bring gloves to wear in case the gravesite is overgrown with weeds.

Always make a record of any headstone that you find so that you'll have it for future reference. The best way to do this is to take a digital photo. Bring a mirror; if the letters don't show up in your photo, you can use the mirror to reflect sunlight onto the stone and to create shadows to make the words more visible. Never use shaving cream or chalk on a tombstone to make the lettering easier to see; this can damage the tombstone. If you choose to make a rubbing, be very careful not to scratch or wear away the stone. Don't take a rubbing of a sandstone monument or a tombstone that looks worn or weathered; it is important to preserve headstones for others who will come to see them in the future. Once you have a photo or a rubbing of a headstone, record the new information that you found, and make copies for interested family members. With any luck, you may get a new companion for your cemetery excursions!

Login to OneGreatFamily and find success using our unique genealogy service.
Visit the OneGreatFamily Learning Center for more helpful genealogy articles.

Uploading Your Gedcom Is Easier Than Ever

aaron.foushee — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 15:52:00 GMT

Upload Your Gedcom Online On Family Dashboard

We at OneGreatFamily are pleased to announce another significant improvement in our service. Many users have provided us feedback that the Gedcom upload process was confusing because once you uploaded your file you had no visibility to its status. Often users would upload the same file multiple times because they weren't sure what was going on with their first upload.

The new Gedcom upload process includes a real time status bar so that you always know the stage your file is currently in. You see, when a file is uploaded to OneGreatFamily it undergoes a tremendous amount of processing before it becomes available in the system. These are the stages it goes through:

Uploading
Importing
Matching
Merging
Dashboard processing

The new process allows you to upload your Gedcom in Genealogy Browser or you can do it online by clicking on the link located in the "Your Family Tree" box located at the top:

Once you click the link in Family Dashboard, the following webpage that allows you to select a file, and then monitor its status:

Click on the "Browse" button to find the location where you have saved the Gedcom on your computer. Once you have found the Gedcom file, click the "Open" button. This will take you back to the main Upload page. Now you can click "Upload" to start the process. While your Gedcom is importing, you will see the following:

Please don't feel like you are stuck on this webpage while your Gedcom is processing. Closing the webpage or navigating to another website will not cancel or slow down your Gedcom processing once the uploading phase is completed. The processing is all done on our computers here in our offices, so you can feel free to go about your business.
If you do go away, when you come back to OneGreatFamily the status bar will be shown on your "My Home" page

Once the system finishes importing your Gedcom, it will be begin "Matching." Matching is the process of seeing if any of the people in your Gedcom are the same as any of the people already in the OneGreatFamily family tree.

When the Matching process has finished, the OneGreatFamily system will begin "Merging." Merging is when OneGreatFamily combines together ancestors identified in the Matching phase, removing any duplication while preserving any differences in information. Merging causes ancestors to be added to your family tree.

When the Merging process has finished, your family tree will be prepared for Family Dashboard. Once this has been completed, you can enjoy your Gedcom on Family Dashboard by clicking on the button on the Upload Complete Page "Make this my new Dashboard Anchor":

Or you can click on the link: "Change who this information is about" on Family Dashboard. Here is where this link is located on Family Dashboard:

Or you can click on the "View Or Edit My Family Tree" button to view your ancestors in Genealogy Browser.

If you have any questions about uploading your Gedcom to OneGreatFamily, please feel free to contact us. If you have a large family tree, please be patient as the process may take some time as we add, match and merge your ancestors.

Visit OneGreatFamily to grow your family tree the OneGreatFamily way.

Family Dashboard: Relationship Calculator and Migration Calculator

aaron.foushee — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 16:02:00 GMT

Featuring Two New Features Of Family Dashboard

If you have not yet seen the new Family DashboardT we encourage you to do so by visiting: OneGreatFamily.com

This week we will be doing an overview of two new features to Family Dashboard; the Relationship Calculator and the Migration Calculator. These features are two of the several widgets new to Family Dashboard.

Both widgets allow you to select two individuals within OneGreatFamily and perform calculations between them. To select a person other than the name displayed, click on the drop down arrow to the right of the name. This will open a menu that gives you five choices. The five choices are as follows:

Current Dashboard Anchor
In the example below, Heather Hansen is the anchor.
Immediate Family
A list of the immediate family members to the anchor is produced and you can choose any name on that list.
Famous People
A list of famous people in OneGreatFamily is produced where you can choose any name from that list.
Search by Name
A window is opened in which you can enter any name to search within OneGreatFamily. Select any name from the search results.
Browse Heather Hansen's Family Tree
A window is opened listing all the names in the anchor's tree. Browse through and pick any name.

Relationship Calculator

The Relationship Calculator allows you to see whether or not a relationship exists between any two people in the OneGreatFamily database and displays a chart showing both people's relationship to their common ancestor.

The widget on the Family Dashboard page allows you to quickly choose individuals in your immediate family, famous people, search for a name in your family tree or OneGreatFamily or you can browse your family tree for names too.

Once you click on the "Show Relationship" button, it will bring you to a page that shows the amount of time OneGreatFamily is taking to find the relationship. If there is no relationship, OneGreatFamily will report to you that we could not find a relationship.

Note: Keep in mind that OneGreatFamily is only using the information from the OneGreatFamily database. If you are sure there is a relationship, it probably means more information needs to be added.

If there is a relationship, the following chart will appear showing you how the two people are related:

Migration Calculator

The Migration Calculator is helpful becuase it will create a Google map with pushpins identifying the birthplaces of the direct line ancestors between any two people in OneGreatFamily.

Once you have decided on two people and you click on the "Show Migration" button you will be taken to a page where you can see the map and the pushpins showing the birthplaces between two people.

See below for an example of what the results page looks like:

Check out the Relationship and Migration Calculators at OneGreatFamily today and see for yourself how useful and entertaining these tools can be.

We would love to hear what you think. Please email our marketing department and tell us your thoughts on the new Family Dashboard.

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OneGreatFamily Tip: Can I Trust OneGreatFamily With My Genealogy?

erick.perez — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The Privacy Of OneGreatFamily Members

Some customers have a hard time understanding what OneGreatFamily is and what is included in a subscription to OneGreatFamily. Some people erroneously believe OneGreatFamily is in the business of selling family tree data.

Some of this confusion is created by competitors that charge fees to access their family tree collections or that sell family tree data that has been freely submitted back to customers on CD-ROMs. OneGreatFamily does not engage in either practice.

Can I Trust OneGreatFamily With My Genealogy?

Even with all the benefits an online genealogy service can provide, most researchers are still hesitant to subscribe because it is a decision filled with questions and uncertainty about trust and credibility. Trust is an important concept whenever you provide any information to any commercial entity.

OneGreatFamily takes your family tree research seriously. OneGreatFamily always provides you with access to any information you submit to OneGreatFamily, even if you are not currently subscribing to the service. So even after you subscription ends, you can still log in with the same user ID and Password. You can still use Genealogy Browser and Family Dashboard. The only restriction at that time is that you can't access other's information. But you retain full control over the data you provided.

OneGreatFamily will never sell your information on CD-ROM or prevent you from updating your family tree at your convenience. As explained in previous articles, OneGreatFamily sells access to a Genealogy System rather than selling genealogical data.

OneGreatFamily continues to make improvements to its online service and to the overall health of the company. OneGreatFamily is one of the few success stories of online subscription services. With a growing subscription base, the company has created a solid foundation on which it will build for years to come.

Visit OneGreatFamily to benefit from this remarkable genealogy service
Subscribe to OneGreatFamily and see how many ancestors will be added to your OneGreatFamily tree.
Email OneGreatFamily and let us know about the success you have experienced while using OneGreatFamily