A complicated family history places black Md. woman in DAR’s ranks - The Washington Post

A complicated family history places black Md. woman in DAR’s ranks - The Washington Post:

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Sunday, 30 June 2013

Okey Family of Monroe County, Ohio

Today I added a set of eleven links to Okey family information on the Collateral Families page of the HenthornFamily Wiki. This will make it easier for anyone interested in the Okey family to find the information I shared.

Dick Henthorn
28 June 2013

It's A Mess

It's A Mess

When computers fail, when you use more than one genealogy program, or you change from one genealogy program to another, It's A Mess.  I'm going to write at least two posts of my observations concerning some of the issues and problems I must deal with if I'm going to continue to record new genealogy information and if I want to be able to take advantage of the latest technology for sharing on the Internet.

My Genealogy Programs

I have two working computers, an old desktop with some issues and a relatively new Toshiba laptop. 

On the desktop computer I have three genealogy programs installed: 

1. Personal Ancestral File (PAF) version 2.31 a DOS genealogy program which I run in a Window
2. RootsMagic version 3 which I used to convert some of my files to the RootsMagic format and to create some new files
3. Personal Ancestral File (PAF) for Windows (version 5.2 I think) which I used for experimentation.

On the new laptop I have RootsMagic version 5 installed. I'm using this program to learn about the features of this version and to experiment with moving my files from the desktop to the laptop computer. I was never proficient with version 3. I'm aware that I continue to fall further behind and that the latest version of RootsMagic is version 6.

I own a copy of the book Getting The Most Out of RootsMagic version 4 even though I've never owned that version of the program. I've found the book to be quite helpful.

The LDS church has announced that as of July 15, 2013 they will discontinue support and downloads of Personal Ancestral File. Something tells me it might be useful to download and install their program one last time before the program is no longer available.

Dick Henthorn

27 June 2013

The Amos Tree - Revisited - 2nd Installment

More comments about the document, History and Descendants of Amos and Elizabeth (Sharp) Henthorn - 1816-1959 sometimes called The Amos Tree, by Roy Lee and Norma (Latham) Henthorn.

I think the quality of the 44-page document, The Amos Tree was quite good considering that it was created before the advent of personal computers and genealogy programs. I particularly like the four-page name index and all of the textual information. 

That said, there are some issues with readability. This is because the numbering system used is difficult to follow. Arabic numbers are used to designate more than one generation and the oldest person in a line doesn't have a number. 

For example:

THIS IS THE FIRST MEMBER IN A FAMILY
     1. THIS IS HIS SON (or daughter)
         1. THIS IS HIS GRANDSON  (or grand daughter) (sometimes this level doesn't use a number)
             1. THIS IS HIS GREAT GRANDSON (or daughter) (sometimes this level doesn't use a number)
           
This isn't too hard to follow on a single page but gets quite confusing when the family is large enough to cover several pages.  

Entering the information from an older genealogy report into a computer genealogy program improves clarity of the prior researcher's work and makes it much easier for readers to follow the family structure. The challenge, for the person doing the data entry, is to "get it right."  Success in the task depends on the ability of the person doing the data entry to read and interpret the numbering system used in the source document.

Years ago I entered the information from The Amos Tree into my DOS Personal Ancestral File (PAF version 2.31). In June 2013, as part of a project to learn how to use version 5 of RootsMagic, I keyed the data a second time.  I also extracted additional information from my own file and added it to my new file. 

I produced a 46-page PDF report with RootsMagic version five which is now available from the "Henthorn" page on the HenthornFamily Wiki. This four-generation report is for Robert and Mary (Nicholson) Henthorn, the parents of Amos Henthorn. It includes an every name index and a place name index. The report was limited to four generations. A report including additional generations is available, on request, to researchers who are known to me and who are willing to share their own research information.

Robert and Mary (Nicholson) Henthorn

Dick Henthorn
25 June 2013

The Amos Tree - Revisited - (1st Installment)

The Amos Tree - Revisited - (1st Installment)

In 1959, Roy Lee and Norma (Latham) Henthorn of Bethany, Oklahoma published, - History and Descendants of Amos and Elizabeth (Sharp) Henthorn - 1816-1959 sometimes called The Amos Tree.

In March 2013 Mrs. Lola May (Ivy) Senatro sent me some sheets of genealogy information prepared by her deceased sister, Margaret Grace (Ivy) Barnes.  

I needed a project to help me learn more about using version 5 of RootsMagic which is the genealogy program I have installed on my laptop computer. I decided to create a new file for the information of Mrs. Barnes. As I became familiar with the data shared by the Ivy family I realized that Mrs. Barnes and Mrs. Henthorn had shared information. I located my three-ring notebook with a paper copy of The Amos Tree. My review reminded me that although I'd keyed the information from The Amos Tree into a Personal Ancestral File (PAF) years ago I hadn't included all of the textual data. This realization inspired me to enlarge my RootsMagic project to include keying the data from The Amos Tree.

I'm planning to post several messages about my experiences with The Amos Tree project and the project to learn more about how to use RootsMagic version 5.

Dick Henthorn

24 June 2013

Updates to HenthornFamily Wiki

Numbering Systems

I added two links to the Numbering Systems section on the first page of the HenthornFamily Wiki. One link points to the genealogy numbering systems page on Wikipedia and the other points to the Ahnentafel page on the Wiki itself.

Story by Mary Josephine (Henthorn) Bolerjack

On the Stories page of the HenthornFamily Wiki I added a link to a 48-page PDF file written by Mrs. Mary Josephine (Henthorn) Bolerjack in October 2005, titled, The Irish & The Dutch.

During one of my many computer disasters this file was misplaced. Yesterday I found it on a thumb drive that I paid a computer shop to load with data from one of my failing laptops. I converted the file to PDF yesterday to get it ready for uploading today.

Have you considered writing stories or recollections about your family? I urge you to undertake the project. If you don't do it, who will?  If you are willing to share your stories on the Internet I will include a link on the HenthornFamily Wiki.

24 June 2013

Personal Ancestral File (PAF) — FamilySearch.org

The end of downloads and support for Personal Ancestral File (PAF) on 15 Jul 2013 is announced.

What will you do about it?  I'm still trying to convert my PAF 2.31 files (before Windows version) to RootsMagic 3 and RootsMagic 5.  It's a data processing nightmare and I may never finish the projects.

Personal Ancestral File (PAF) — FamilySearch.org:

Here's some help from RootsMagic

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RootsMagic Blog » Goodbye, new.FamilySearch.org. Hello, FamilySearch Family Tree!

RootsMagic Blog » Goodbye, new.FamilySearch.org. Hello, FamilySearch Family Tree!:

This change will be taking place at the end of June 2013.  I can't comment on the impact because this is an option I have never investigated.

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