I'll second all of this. When I was in high school I was president of my Explorers post and was interviewed by the in-house publication of our sponsoring company. What they printed never came out of my mouth! It was typical PR-style pablum, and when I challenged them they simply stated this was standard practice in the industry. That explanation didn't fly with me then, and it wouldn't now. If you're going to quote, do it accurately! Dave Liesse Skingco Services, LLC On 1/28/2013 15:10, Dee Dee King, Certified Genealogist wrote: > Every now and again something happens, that when you stop being POd, you realize it might be one of those teachable moment things. > > Suggestions for folks doing interviews. Accurately quote your subject. Don't make up a question and "quote" for your subject after they've read and approved the final draft. Don't put words in their mouth. Don't use their quotes in other articles without their permission, especially if that article is promoting your own business. > > If you're writing a promotional piece for your business, don't name drop from among your professional colleagues. Don't name drop organizations to which you don't belong. If you do, make the clear distinction that you're not affiliated but do have a good reason to mention them. These things, at the very least, lead the reader to believe the individual or group was somehow a participant in the development of the article. Or at the worst, that the individual or organization endorses the subject of the article. > > Suggestions for folks getting interviewed. Agree to interview with whatever stipulations you feel best protect YOUR interest. Require the ability to see the final version that will be published. Insist that the content and your quotes are not be used for any other article without your advanced permission. Getting all this in writing, of course. > > All any of us have are our good names in this profession. I, for one, don't enjoy seeing my name show up, without my permission, in promotional pieces for other businesses, events, or organizations. > > best regards, > > Dee >

Every now and again something happens, that when you stop being POd, you realize it might be one of those teachable moment things. Suggestions for folks doing interviews. Accurately quote your subject. Don't make up a question and "quote" for your subject after they've read and approved the final draft. Don't put words in their mouth. Don't use their quotes in other articles without their permission, especially if that article is promoting your own business. If you're writing a promotional piece for your business, don't name drop from among your professional colleagues. Don't name drop organizations to which you don't belong. If you do, make the clear distinction that you're not affiliated but do have a good reason to mention them. These things, at the very least, lead the reader to believe the individual or group was somehow a participant in the development of the article. Or at the worst, that the individual or organization endorses the subject of the article. Suggestions for folks getting interviewed. Agree to interview with whatever stipulations you feel best protect YOUR interest. Require the ability to see the final version that will be published. Insist that the content and your quotes are not be used for any other article without your advanced permission. Getting all this in writing, of course. All any of us have are our good names in this profession. I, for one, don't enjoy seeing my name show up, without my permission, in promotional pieces for other businesses, events, or organizations. best regards, Dee -- Dee Dee King, Certified Genealogist (sm), Certificate 903 Contract Genealogist, US Navy Casualty POW/MIA Branch Co-Director, Forensic Genealogy Institute http://www.forensicgenealogists.com/forensic-genealogy-institute.html Mail address - PO Box 1085, Manvel TX 77578 Telephone/fax 281-595-3090 www.forensicgenealogyservices.com/NavyCasualty.html www.facebook.com/forensicgenealogist Certified Genealogist (CG) is a service mark (sm) of the Board for Certification of Genealogists®, conferred to associates who consistently meet ethical and competency standards in accord with peer-reviewed evaluations every five years, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office.

Connie-- In this case what you want to do is edit your ancestor's relationships with the non-wives. View the profile of your ancestor, scroll down to the box that includes one of his non-wives, click "Edit Couple" in the bottom right corner of that box, and then click "Delete Couple" in the Tools box on the right in the screen that opens next. If there are non-children, too, you will need to edit his relationships with those kids as well. To do that, hover the cursor over the name of one of the non-children and the "Edit Relationship" link will appear.  Kay Rudolph ________________________________ Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 19:24:11 -0800 (PST) From: Connie Sheets <clsheets1@yahoo.com> Subject: [TGF] How to Undo Merges on FamilySearch Family Tree Can someone point me to an easy to understand explanation of what I need to do on FamilySearch FamilyTree to correct situations where several men of the same name have been inappropriately merged into one person? Example:  An ancestor with a common name was married only once.  However, he is showing on FamilyTree with 3 wives.  I have no idea whether the two other wives belong to one man or two, but they certainly don't belong to my ancestor.  I've figured out how to correct names, dates, locations, etc. and unhook my ancestor from the wrong parents, but the multiple wives that don't belong to him have me stumped. I am not willing to change my browser to watch the videos, and cannot find what I'm looking for in the PDF instructions, although I'm tired and may be overlooking the obvious.  The one reference I found, written several months ago, seems to suggest the feature was planned but not yet available. Thanks, Connie Sheets Phoenix ------------------------------

Connie, There is nothing that you can do in FS-Family Tree to reverse wrongly combined individuals if the combination took place in new.FamilySearch (to be distinguished from reversing a 'merge' made in FS-FT). Data from new.FamilySearch has been and is being migrated to FS-FT as changes are made. While the two programs are working with mostly the same database, FS-FT can not read/interpret all of the data that is displayed for those who have access to n.FS, including the "records" (that is, purported individuals) that were combined to produce a purported summary person. The only way to *reverse* bizarrely combined individuals is to contact support, give the PID and as much explanation as you can muster regarding why the combination is incorrect. I have been seeing supposed individuals in FS-FT that are obviously the result of combining several persons by completely different names, with anachronistic wives/parents, children with wrong surnames, etc. It is impossible to discern from the fragmentary "History of Changes" in FS-FT whether the resulting vital dates/places even went with the resulting combination. Official policy at present seems to be that users should just make any needed corrections in FS-FT and forget about what might be lost due to erroneous "combine" operations. But there are other problems with doing this, including -- where do the extraneous spouses and parents belong?? While such changes in n.FS were supposedly blocked to normal users a couple of months ago, combine/uncombine are still taking place through 3rd-party software. Some report that this software is making changes that the users do not themselves initiate. FamilySearch seems unwilling or unable to block this activity. The underlying problem is that there is nothing purpose-built within the FS-FT program to enable reading what happened in a series of combine or separate actions (and the full change history) that took place within new.FamilySearch. Underlying that was that the n.FS program does not allow true merges, just aggregations of data with certain elements more or less designated as preferred, which is what has been migrated to FS-FT. If your actual situation is the result of a true "merge" within FS-FT, there is a way to reverse it. On the person page, click to open Latest Changes in the blue box at right (the link at bottom to 'show all'). When you find a merge entry, click "reference" at right and you should get an undo option. This does not always work first time around. The program can be very unresponsive -- it is not a problem with your computer, cache, cookies, etc. Sometimes you will get a message that the reversal could not be performed, but try it anyway and then go back to the individual's page you were looking at and refresh -- it might have worked. It took me days to fix one of these. If you have other nagging issues with this clumsy program, feel free to contact me for a possible suggestion. I am not an expert but have been fiddling with FS-FT for several months. Best wishes, Judy Connie writes: Can someone point me to an easy to understand explanation of what I need t o do on FamilySearch FamilyTree to correct situations where several men of the same name have been inappropriately merged into one person? Example: An ancestor with a common name was married only once. However, he is showing on FamilyTree with 3 wives. I have no idea whether the two other wives belong to one man or two, but they certainly don't belong to my ancestor.

Can someone point me to an easy to understand explanation of what I need to do on FamilySearch FamilyTree to correct situations where several men of the same name have been inappropriately merged into one person? Example: An ancestor with a common name was married only once. However, he is showing on FamilyTree with 3 wives. I have no idea whether the two other wives belong to one man or two, but they certainly don't belong to my ancestor. I've figured out how to correct names, dates, locations, etc. and unhook my ancestor from the wrong parents, but the multiple wives that don't belong to him have me stumped. I am not willing to change my browser to watch the videos, and cannot find what I'm looking for in the PDF instructions, although I'm tired and may be overlooking the obvious. The one reference I found, written several months ago, seems to suggest the feature was planned but not yet available. Thanks, Connie Sheets Phoenix

I am unsure if everyone is aware that there is a new bill in the US House of Representatives called H.R. 295 which is the Protect and Save Act of 2013. My main concern about the act is section 7 which is titled “restriction on access to the Death Master File.” The file is publically called the SSDI. A link to the act is here -- http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/295 >From just my review, I am just comparing it to previous bills which attempted to restrict the file, there would be about a two year restriction and certification for those who needs access within those two years. It is the Secretary of Commerce who is coming up with the certification and it is only from fraud prevention which may cause problems for genealogists who use the records for legal or forensic clients. I had a feeling everyone needed to know. Yes there is not a bill in the Senate nor a co-sponsor yet but I figured the genealogy community must be aware of the issue. If it was just me than I would not worry about the 2 year restriction for genealogists, but there are a few who need access to all the records. Amy

I was going thru land records for my great grandfather and noticed that he held a bunch of mortgages (1870s, 1880s). For a while he had run the country store in his small town and it looks like he loaned people money who would mortgage their house for the loan. He wasn't a bank, but he did register the mortgages and some he foreclosed on 15 years later. Maybe the person had loans out. I know now if you are an executer or executrix you need to both pay bills and collect debts owed to the deceased -- at least that is what I was expected to do. Erica Voolich On Sat, Jan 26, 2013 at 10:48 PM, Dee Dee King, Certified Genealogist < king@forensicgenealogyservices.com> wrote: > As Craig and Janeth have said, there can be all kinds of reasons for such > debts. I've seen cases where the deceased raised and then sold livestock > on credit, some who bought and resold land at a profit on credit, helped > finance crops on credit, accepted credit in their blacksmith business, and > more. Lots of things were bartered or sold on credit as actual money was > sometimes scarce. The value was still there, just not the coin. Upon the > person's death, the debt became due. > > With a breadth of experience we see that many of these unusual new > findings are not unusual at all. They were just the way of living at the > time. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: mrsmurphy1@aol.com > To: "Michele Lewis" <ancestoring@gmail.com> > Cc: "TGF Mailing List" <transitional-genealogists-forum@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2013 9:12:33 PM > Subject: Re: [TGF] Probate File > > > Craig make an excellent point. I have worked with several probate files > here in North Carolina where individuals with seemingly small amounts of > personal property were owed large sums of money by their friends, neighbors > and acquaintances. Banks weren't on every street corner, and if you were in > a position to make a loan to someone in your community (because your crops > came in or you had the money to spare) you might have been inclined or > motivated to make those loans to people you knew. If you can locate the > notes that may have been recorded in your deeds office (or wherever your > notes would have been recorded in your locality) that relate to your > research subject, you may find that he was making loans collateralized with > property; that makes him a good businessman for the time! > > Janeth L. Murphy > North Carolina > > > > On Jan 26, 2013, at 9:43 PM, "Craig R. Scott, CG" > <crscott@HeritageBooks.com> wrote: > > > Because you loan someone money does not make a you a loan shark. Charging > > high interest, practicing usury, or causing undo pain to those who fail > to > > pay up on time, yes. Just loaning money, no. > > > > I would look into the chancery and see if the wife brought suit against > the > > others for their debts. If not, it would seem that there was agreement on > > the part of the parties as to the amount due and the term of the loans. > > Could have been 12 years, we were not there. > > > > C. > > > > > > On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 5:15 PM, Michele Lewis <ancestoring@gmail.com > >wrote: > > > >> The main reason I went to the Georgia Archives yesterday was to see > Calvin > >> Russell Lewis’ probate file. These records were transferred to the > Georgia > >> Archives from the Columbia County courthouse in the 1980s and they were > >> never microfilmed. I was hoping that Calvin’s alleged father John Lewis > had > >> been made administrator but no such luck. I did find something > >> interesting/puzzling though. > >> > >> Calvin Russell Lewis was born 23 Feb 1824 in North Carolina (Wayne > County, > >> most likely). He died on 26 Jan 1851 in Columbia County, Georgia. He was > >> only 26 when he died so it was no surprise that he died intestate. > Calvin > >> was married and had 2 small children, ages one and two. Calvin did not > own > >> any land and on the 1850 census he was listed as “overseer for Burt” > which > >> would be Moody Burt listed as a planter on the same page. Calvin’s wife > >> Emily (Miles) Lewis was named administrix of the estate. The inventory > of > >> his possessions amounted to $142.87. You would think that this would be > a > >> cut and dried case with a very thin probate packet but that wasn’t the > >> case. His probate drug out for 12 years and I am not sure why. One of > the > >> odd things found was there were several people that paid IN to the > estate. > >> Emily collected over $2300! These people apparently owed Calvin money. > >> After reading the probate file I am beginning to think he was a loan > shark > >> or something. The archivist at the Archives looked over the entire > probate > >> file with me and he couldn’t figure it out either. He is pretty > accepting > >> of the loan shark theory though☺ > >> > >> Michele > >> > >> > >> The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive > >> environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition > to > >> professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this > list. > >> ------------------------------- > >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > >> TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word > >> 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the > message > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Craig R. Scott, CG > > President & CEO > > Heritage Books, Inc. > > 229 Danagher Ct. > > Holly Springs, NC 27540 > > > > 800 876-6103 > > 919 279-3874 > > > > Fax 410 558-6574 > > > > crscott@HeritageBooks.com > > > > Visit www.HeritageBooks.com and HeritageBooks.com on FB > > > > Blogs: As Craig Sees It > > Stump Craig > > > > CG (Certified Genealogist) is a service mark of the Board for > Certification > > of Genealogists, used under license by board certificants after periodic > > evaluation, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark > > Office. > > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive > environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to > professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive > environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to > professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive > environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to > professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- Erica Dakin Voolich •Genealogist, check out my genealogy blogs http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com http://ursulawright.blogspot.com •President The Somerville Mathematics Fund, an Affiliate of Dollars for Scholars Chapter, Winner of the 2011, New England Chapter of the Year Award Chapter, Winner of the 2003-2004 *Golden Tassel* Service Award We celebrate and encourage mathematics achievement in Somerville MA! http://www.somervillemathematicsfund.org Become a fan on our Facebook page: Facebook | Somerville Mathematics Fund Check out my blog: http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/

Nicely put Ida. Also, if a person has no surname - because their culture doesn't have that concept - then many software packages cannot cope adequately. However, support for storing multiple personal names, including dates (if there was a distinct changeover rather than a simple 'aka') and types (e.g. maiden names, pet names, stage names, etc), is mainly a software issue - and one for which new forms of standardization are desperately needed. Representation of those alternatives in written reports and narrative is a separate issue that will always have different preferences. Some will want to carry that baggage along to every reference (e.g. Albin/Alvin Petersson/Williams), some will want only want to do this for maiden names (commonly using parentheses), and some will want to use some canonical or default name and include all the change details in a separate appendix or reference note. Tony Proctor ----- Original Message ----- From: <idamc@seanet.com> To: <transitional-genealogists-forum@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2013 4:08 AM Subject: Re: [TGF] Show Name Change Elizabeth: Many software packages have only one field for the whole name of a person. Nowadays if we're submitting information to genealogical or genetic genealogy databases by GEDCOM, we need to remember that the slash before and after a name tells GEDCOM that it is the surname. We are stuck with this poor GEDCOM design for a while longer. You would do better with something like: Albin Petersson AKA Alvin Williams Albin Petersson also known as Alvin Williams Which of these do you consider his primary name? That is, did he immigrate as a child, a young adult, or an old man? Which name did he use for the majority of his life? I have this situation with my father (2 Norwegian versions of his name plus 2 American versions of his name). However, he spent most of his adult life under the 2nd American version. Thus I make it his primary name. Some software has better capability than others for handling this situation. The Master Genealogist (TMG) permits an unlimited number of AKA names, which is very useful for my grandparents. Each sentence in a narrative in TMG (except the birth sentence) can have a different version of the person's name in it, generated by the software. I have also set up primary names in TMG for the grandparents which are a chronological concatenation of about a dozen different pieces of their names, mostly farm name changes due to moving from farm to farm. In lectures I suggest keeping track of Swedish and other Scandinavian farm names in the Other Name field in TMG, in order to keep straight all the guys named Ole Olsson/Olsen, etc. I have seen this done in printed genealogical writeups from Sweden and Iceland. In order to print the Other Name field in TMG, I have set up an All Fields Print Name Style. TMG allows one to set up custom name styles. For example, a Patronymic Name Style, a Military Name Style, a Clergy Name Style (for clergy who Latinized or Hellenized their names). Did Albin/Alvin have a Swedish military name? Those often became American surnames, but they are well worth keeping track of as an AKA or in the Other Name field in TMG, even if the military name didn't get used in the US. If your genealogical software allows you to edit pedigree charts and family group sheets in word processing after generating them in the genealogical software, you can touch up things that don't look quite right. TMG allows this. It's easy to see how Albin became Alvin (common consonant sound substitution). However, was his father or paternal grandfather an Olsson? Among the Norwegian immigrants William was a common substitution for the given name Ole in the US. Is something similar at work in the case of Olsson -> Williams, which is an English patronymic? Non-English-speaking immigrants often would substitute any vowel sound for another vowel sound or H at the beginning of a name to Americanize it. W is after all a double-U. Hope this helps. --Ida Skarson McCormick, idamc@seanet.com, Seattle

Wondered if anyone can point me to an image of the front page of the *New York Times,* June 3, 1910, showing the arrival of the *D'Italia*? Thanks, Steve Dahlstrom

I just learned today that the current issue of Family Tree Magazine has an article of doing house histories. Chuck Mason -----Original Message----- From: transitional-genealogists-forum-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:transitional-genealogists-forum-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Michele Lewis Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 5:26 PM To: TGF Mailing List Subject: [TGF] The weirdest request ever I was contacted today by a potential client. She wants me to research her house. She and her children (ages 19 and 22) think that there are ghosts in the house. The kids says that they have always heard noises in the house since they were very little and neither one of them will stay in the house alone even though they are now adults. They want to know about the previous owners and if any crimes were committed in the house. Okay, even though this is a bit weird it is timely. I have been wanting to do a little house history genealogy. I have only done the history of one house. We lived in an 1830 house in Maine and I just had to know the history of the house so I researched that one. I have been reading some of Marian Pierre-Louis' stuff as well as the books she recommends. I recently wrote a blog post on this subject and then this client shows up today so I am thinking this is a sign for me to do another house ☺ Maybe the ghosts are reaching out to me ☺ ☺ ☺ Michele The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Elizabeth, it depends on your genealogy software. In Family Tree Maker 2010, in the Personal Information section, there is the option of "Also Known As" for recording alternate names. Bonnie Dunphy Kohler South Florida ----- Original Message ----- From: "Elizabeth Gomoll" <ewgomoll@yahoo.com> To: <TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2013 8:58 PM Subject: [TGF] Show Name Change I'm sure this is a common situation. Is there a best practice method to show a changed name on a family group sheet or pedigree chart? For example, my gr-grandfather was born in Sweden as Albin Petersson. Later in Wisconsin, he legally changed his name to Alvin Williams. How does one best show an Americanized given name? What is the best way to show a changed surname? Is Albin/Alvin Petersson/Williams too awkward?

Craig make an excellent point. I have worked with several probate files here in North Carolina where individuals with seemingly small amounts of personal property were owed large sums of money by their friends, neighbors and acquaintances. Banks weren't on every street corner, and if you were in a position to make a loan to someone in your community (because your crops came in or you had the money to spare) you might have been inclined or motivated to make those loans to people you knew. If you can locate the notes that may have been recorded in your deeds office (or wherever your notes would have been recorded in your locality) that relate to your research subject, you may find that he was making loans collateralized with property; that makes him a good businessman for the time! Janeth L. Murphy North Carolina On Jan 26, 2013, at 9:43 PM, "Craig R. Scott, CG" <crscott@HeritageBooks.com> wrote: > Because you loan someone money does not make a you a loan shark. Charging > high interest, practicing usury, or causing undo pain to those who fail to > pay up on time, yes. Just loaning money, no. > > I would look into the chancery and see if the wife brought suit against the > others for their debts. If not, it would seem that there was agreement on > the part of the parties as to the amount due and the term of the loans. > Could have been 12 years, we were not there. > > C. > > > On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 5:15 PM, Michele Lewis <ancestoring@gmail.com>wrote: > >> The main reason I went to the Georgia Archives yesterday was to see Calvin >> Russell Lewis’ probate file. These records were transferred to the Georgia >> Archives from the Columbia County courthouse in the 1980s and they were >> never microfilmed. I was hoping that Calvin’s alleged father John Lewis had >> been made administrator but no such luck. I did find something >> interesting/puzzling though. >> >> Calvin Russell Lewis was born 23 Feb 1824 in North Carolina (Wayne County, >> most likely). He died on 26 Jan 1851 in Columbia County, Georgia. He was >> only 26 when he died so it was no surprise that he died intestate. Calvin >> was married and had 2 small children, ages one and two. Calvin did not own >> any land and on the 1850 census he was listed as “overseer for Burt” which >> would be Moody Burt listed as a planter on the same page. Calvin’s wife >> Emily (Miles) Lewis was named administrix of the estate. The inventory of >> his possessions amounted to $142.87. You would think that this would be a >> cut and dried case with a very thin probate packet but that wasn’t the >> case. His probate drug out for 12 years and I am not sure why. One of the >> odd things found was there were several people that paid IN to the estate. >> Emily collected over $2300! These people apparently owed Calvin money. >> After reading the probate file I am beginning to think he was a loan shark >> or something. The archivist at the Archives looked over the entire probate >> file with me and he couldn’t figure it out either. He is pretty accepting >> of the loan shark theory though☺ >> >> Michele >> >> >> The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive >> environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to >> professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word >> 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > -- > Craig R. Scott, CG > President & CEO > Heritage Books, Inc. > 229 Danagher Ct. > Holly Springs, NC 27540 > > 800 876-6103 > 919 279-3874 > > Fax 410 558-6574 > > crscott@HeritageBooks.com > > Visit www.HeritageBooks.com and HeritageBooks.com on FB > > Blogs: As Craig Sees It > Stump Craig > > CG (Certified Genealogist) is a service mark of the Board for Certification > of Genealogists, used under license by board certificants after periodic > evaluation, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark > Office. > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Because you loan someone money does not make a you a loan shark. Charging high interest, practicing usury, or causing undo pain to those who fail to pay up on time, yes. Just loaning money, no. I would look into the chancery and see if the wife brought suit against the others for their debts. If not, it would seem that there was agreement on the part of the parties as to the amount due and the term of the loans. Could have been 12 years, we were not there. C. On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 5:15 PM, Michele Lewis <ancestoring@gmail.com>wrote: > The main reason I went to the Georgia Archives yesterday was to see Calvin > Russell Lewis’ probate file. These records were transferred to the Georgia > Archives from the Columbia County courthouse in the 1980s and they were > never microfilmed. I was hoping that Calvin’s alleged father John Lewis had > been made administrator but no such luck. I did find something > interesting/puzzling though. > > Calvin Russell Lewis was born 23 Feb 1824 in North Carolina (Wayne County, > most likely). He died on 26 Jan 1851 in Columbia County, Georgia. He was > only 26 when he died so it was no surprise that he died intestate. Calvin > was married and had 2 small children, ages one and two. Calvin did not own > any land and on the 1850 census he was listed as “overseer for Burt” which > would be Moody Burt listed as a planter on the same page. Calvin’s wife > Emily (Miles) Lewis was named administrix of the estate. The inventory of > his possessions amounted to $142.87. You would think that this would be a > cut and dried case with a very thin probate packet but that wasn’t the > case. His probate drug out for 12 years and I am not sure why. One of the > odd things found was there were several people that paid IN to the estate. > Emily collected over $2300! These people apparently owed Calvin money. > After reading the probate file I am beginning to think he was a loan shark > or something. The archivist at the Archives looked over the entire probate > file with me and he couldn’t figure it out either. He is pretty accepting > of the loan shark theory though☺ > > Michele > > > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive > environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to > professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -- Craig R. Scott, CG President & CEO Heritage Books, Inc. 229 Danagher Ct. Holly Springs, NC 27540 800 876-6103 919 279-3874 Fax 410 558-6574 crscott@HeritageBooks.com Visit www.HeritageBooks.com and HeritageBooks.com on FB Blogs: As Craig Sees It Stump Craig CG (Certified Genealogist) is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by board certificants after periodic evaluation, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office.

Elizabeth: Many software packages have only one field for the whole name of a person. Nowadays if we're submitting information to genealogical or genetic genealogy databases by GEDCOM, we need to remember that the slash before and after a name tells GEDCOM that it is the surname. We are stuck with this poor GEDCOM design for a while longer. You would do better with something like: Albin Petersson AKA Alvin Williams Albin Petersson also known as Alvin Williams Which of these do you consider his primary name? That is, did he immigrate as a child, a young adult, or an old man? Which name did he use for the majority of his life? I have this situation with my father (2 Norwegian versions of his name plus 2 American versions of his name). However, he spent most of his adult life under the 2nd American version. Thus I make it his primary name. Some software has better capability than others for handling this situation. The Master Genealogist (TMG) permits an unlimited number of AKA names, which is very useful for my grandparents. Each sentence in a narrative in TMG (except the birth sentence) can have a different version of the person's name in it, generated by the software. I have also set up primary names in TMG for the grandparents which are a chronological concatenation of about a dozen different pieces of their names, mostly farm name changes due to moving from farm to farm. In lectures I suggest keeping track of Swedish and other Scandinavian farm names in the Other Name field in TMG, in order to keep straight all the guys named Ole Olsson/Olsen, etc. I have seen this done in printed genealogical writeups from Sweden and Iceland. In order to print the Other Name field in TMG, I have set up an All Fields Print Name Style. TMG allows one to set up custom name styles. For example, a Patronymic Name Style, a Military Name Style, a Clergy Name Style (for clergy who Latinized or Hellenized their names). Did Albin/Alvin have a Swedish military name? Those often became American surnames, but they are well worth keeping track of as an AKA or in the Other Name field in TMG, even if the military name didn't get used in the US. If your genealogical software allows you to edit pedigree charts and family group sheets in word processing after generating them in the genealogical software, you can touch up things that don't look quite right. TMG allows this. It's easy to see how Albin became Alvin (common consonant sound substitution). However, was his father or paternal grandfather an Olsson? Among the Norwegian immigrants William was a common substitution for the given name Ole in the US. Is something similar at work in the case of Olsson -> Williams, which is an English patronymic? Non-English-speaking immigrants often would substitute any vowel sound for another vowel sound or H at the beginning of a name to Americanize it. W is after all a double-U. Hope this helps. --Ida Skarson McCormick, idamc@seanet.com, Seattle ----------------------- Elizabeth Gomoll wrote on January 26, 2013: > I'm sure this is a common situation. Is there a best practice method to > show a changed name on a family group sheet or  pedigree chart? For > example, my gr-grandfather was born in Sweden as Albin Petersson. Later in > Wisconsin, he legally changed his name to Alvin Williams. How does one > best show an Americanized given name? What is the best way to show a > changed surname? Is Albin/Alvin Petersson/Williams too awkward? <snip>

As Craig and Janeth have said, there can be all kinds of reasons for such debts. I've seen cases where the deceased raised and then sold livestock on credit, some who bought and resold land at a profit on credit, helped finance crops on credit, accepted credit in their blacksmith business, and more. Lots of things were bartered or sold on credit as actual money was sometimes scarce. The value was still there, just not the coin. Upon the person's death, the debt became due. With a breadth of experience we see that many of these unusual new findings are not unusual at all. They were just the way of living at the time. ----- Original Message ----- From: mrsmurphy1@aol.com To: "Michele Lewis" <ancestoring@gmail.com> Cc: "TGF Mailing List" <transitional-genealogists-forum@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2013 9:12:33 PM Subject: Re: [TGF] Probate File Craig make an excellent point. I have worked with several probate files here in North Carolina where individuals with seemingly small amounts of personal property were owed large sums of money by their friends, neighbors and acquaintances. Banks weren't on every street corner, and if you were in a position to make a loan to someone in your community (because your crops came in or you had the money to spare) you might have been inclined or motivated to make those loans to people you knew. If you can locate the notes that may have been recorded in your deeds office (or wherever your notes would have been recorded in your locality) that relate to your research subject, you may find that he was making loans collateralized with property; that makes him a good businessman for the time! Janeth L. Murphy North Carolina On Jan 26, 2013, at 9:43 PM, "Craig R. Scott, CG" <crscott@HeritageBooks.com> wrote: > Because you loan someone money does not make a you a loan shark. Charging > high interest, practicing usury, or causing undo pain to those who fail to > pay up on time, yes. Just loaning money, no. > > I would look into the chancery and see if the wife brought suit against the > others for their debts. If not, it would seem that there was agreement on > the part of the parties as to the amount due and the term of the loans. > Could have been 12 years, we were not there. > > C. > > > On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 5:15 PM, Michele Lewis <ancestoring@gmail.com>wrote: > >> The main reason I went to the Georgia Archives yesterday was to see Calvin >> Russell Lewis’ probate file. These records were transferred to the Georgia >> Archives from the Columbia County courthouse in the 1980s and they were >> never microfilmed. I was hoping that Calvin’s alleged father John Lewis had >> been made administrator but no such luck. I did find something >> interesting/puzzling though. >> >> Calvin Russell Lewis was born 23 Feb 1824 in North Carolina (Wayne County, >> most likely). He died on 26 Jan 1851 in Columbia County, Georgia. He was >> only 26 when he died so it was no surprise that he died intestate. Calvin >> was married and had 2 small children, ages one and two. Calvin did not own >> any land and on the 1850 census he was listed as “overseer for Burt” which >> would be Moody Burt listed as a planter on the same page. Calvin’s wife >> Emily (Miles) Lewis was named administrix of the estate. The inventory of >> his possessions amounted to $142.87. You would think that this would be a >> cut and dried case with a very thin probate packet but that wasn’t the >> case. His probate drug out for 12 years and I am not sure why. One of the >> odd things found was there were several people that paid IN to the estate. >> Emily collected over $2300! These people apparently owed Calvin money. >> After reading the probate file I am beginning to think he was a loan shark >> or something. The archivist at the Archives looked over the entire probate >> file with me and he couldn’t figure it out either. He is pretty accepting >> of the loan shark theory though☺ >> >> Michele >> >> >> The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive >> environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to >> professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word >> 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > -- > Craig R. Scott, CG > President & CEO > Heritage Books, Inc. > 229 Danagher Ct. > Holly Springs, NC 27540 > > 800 876-6103 > 919 279-3874 > > Fax 410 558-6574 > > crscott@HeritageBooks.com > > Visit www.HeritageBooks.com and HeritageBooks.com on FB > > Blogs: As Craig Sees It > Stump Craig > > CG (Certified Genealogist) is a service mark of the Board for Certification > of Genealogists, used under license by board certificants after periodic > evaluation, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark > Office. > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Elizabeth, I have the same situation with ancestors coming from Sweden and from Germany, whose used different names once here. On my family group sheets, I show their name as shown on baptism or birth records. If the name was changed legally, that would be shown as an "event." The children of said ancestor, if born in the US, would show the new surname. If the name was not changed legally, then I would show the name change in the person's notes. When writing up a narrative about the ancestor's life, I would discuss how the name changed once he was in the U.S. Lisa Gorrell On Sat, Jan 26, 2013 at 5:58 PM, Elizabeth Gomoll <ewgomoll@yahoo.com>wrote: > I'm sure this is a common situation. Is there a best practice method to > show a changed name on a family group sheet or pedigree chart? For > example, my gr-grandfather was born in Sweden as Albin Petersson. Later in > Wisconsin, he legally changed his name to Alvin Williams. How does one best > show an Americanized given name? What is the best way to show a changed > surname? Is Albin/Alvin Petersson/Williams too awkward? > > > Thanks for your help with this! > > Elizabeth Gomoll > St Paul MN > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive > environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to > professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

I'm sure this is a common situation. Is there a best practice method to show a changed name on a family group sheet or  pedigree chart? For example, my gr-grandfather was born in Sweden as Albin Petersson. Later in Wisconsin, he legally changed his name to Alvin Williams. How does one best show an Americanized given name? What is the best way to show a changed surname? Is Albin/Alvin Petersson/Williams too awkward? Thanks for your help with this! Elizabeth Gomoll St Paul MN

Kathryn, I attended one of your lectures, 10 reasons your ancestor was in Canada. I enjoyed it and never would have thought you had all those challenges! Ann Gilchrest In a message dated 26-Jan-13 11:02:56 US Mountain Standard Time, kathryn@looking4ancestors.com writes: Greetings Everyone, Last week I attended a family history event in Arizona as a presenter. I live in Canada. I woke up presentation day with a headache. As I prepared in my hotel room to go through my presentations, I discovered I had forgotten the projector connector cord for my Mac. The cord was still on my desk at home. Slight panic attack. Fortunately, there was a computer place close to hotel that had the cord I needed. Meanwhile, my headache was progressing to the point where the light was starting to hurt my eyes. I returned to the hotel only to realize I had the wrong computer cord. I made a second trip to the computer store with my computer in hand, and purchased the correct connector cord. Whew! By this time, my headache was so bad, I thought I was going to be sick. I stopped at local Walmart to get headache medicine on the way back to the hotel. Back in my hotel room, I took the medicine with the hope that it would work. All I wanted to do was sleep, but there was no time for that. Two hours to go until presentation time. Just as I successfully got the computer and projector set up, the lamp on my projector burned out! At that point, I was starting to think that I wouldn't be presenting at all. Anyway, the conference organizers had extra projectors, and by the time my presentation began, my headache calmed down enough I could present without being nauseous. Even when we think we are prepared, there are times when things like this happen. Kathryn Lake Hogan UE, PLCGS _http://about.me/looking4ancestors_ (http://about.me/looking4ancestors)

On 1/26/2013 12:48 PM, LOOKING4ANCESTORS wrote: > Greetings Everyone, > Last week I attended a family history event in Arizona as a presenter. Oh, dear! And I thought I had had bad times presenting! Glad it worked out! Karen Packard Rhodes currently residing in Pinellas Park, Pinellas County, Florida

That's a lot wrong happening at the same time! I've only had two "problems" of that nature. In the first, I forgot my laptop. Luckily I had saved my presentation onto Dropbox and could use the library's wifi with someone else's computer to run my presentation. The second--far less critical--my electric shaver would not charge. If anyone noticed my 5 o'clock shadow at 9am, they didn't say anything. :) So far--knock on wood--everything else has gone pretty well in my speaking engagements. Michael Hait, CG(sm) michael.hait@hotmail.com http://www.haitfamilyresearch.com "Planting the Seeds" Blog: http://michaelhait.wordpress.com CG and Certified Genealogist are service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by board certificants after periodic competency evaluation, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office. -----Original Message----- From: LOOKING4ANCESTORS Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2013 12:48 PM To: TGF Mailing List Subject: [TGF] Speaker troubles Greetings Everyone, Last week I attended a family history event in Arizona as a presenter. I live in Canada. I woke up presentation day with a headache. As I prepared in my hotel room to go through my presentations, I discovered I had forgotten the projector connector cord for my Mac. The cord was still on my desk at home. Slight panic attack. Fortunately, there was a computer place close to hotel that had the cord I needed. Meanwhile, my headache was progressing to the point where the light was starting to hurt my eyes. I returned to the hotel only to realize I had the wrong computer cord. I made a second trip to the computer store with my computer in hand, and purchased the correct connector cord. Whew! By this time, my headache was so bad, I thought I was going to be sick. I stopped at local Walmart to get headache medicine on the way back to the hotel. Back in my hotel room, I took the medicine with the hope that it would work. All I wanted to do was sleep, but there was no time for that. Two hours to go until presentation time. Just as I successfully got the computer and projector set up, the lamp on my projector burned out! At that point, I was starting to think that I wouldn't be presenting at all. Anyway, the conference organizers had extra projectors, and by the time my presentation began, my headache calmed down enough I could present without being nauseous. Even when we think we are prepared, there are times when things like this happen. Kathryn Lake Hogan UE, PLCGS http://about.me/looking4ancestors The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message