Daniel Kyger and Ann Henthorn Family Group Sheet

Daniel Kyger and Ann Henthorn Family Group Sheet

I've been working on a data recovery project for the family of Daniel Kyger and Ann Henthorn of Danville, Vermilion Co., IL.  A descendant report for this couple with name and place name indexes is 156-pages. 

I also created an updated, 11-page, Family Group Sheet for the couple that I uploaded to my Box account where it can be previewed or downloaded by anyone who has the URL. Family Group Sheets produced by RootsMagic7 include any information I stored in the Note fields plus a Name Index and a Place Index.

Besides linking to the Henthorn family the Kyger family also links to Yoho and Morgan of the Ohio River Valley.

Dick Henthorn

2 July 2020

What Will Become of It?

What Will Become of It?

The other day I was thinking about Wetzel Co., WV because I discovered a Facebook Group for the county that I didn't know about.

I have been working on the genealogy of folks from Wetzel Co., WV for many years. In fact, I used to be in touch with some of the folks from the county genealogy society before they decided to disband. In those days I donated four genealogy documents to the society. I was co-compiler on a couple of them. The society had the documents hard bound and then placed them in the genealogy section of the county library at New Martinsville, WV.

I visited New Martinsville several times and the library once. That was before the donations were placed in the library, so I have never seen the bound volumes.

Yesterday I checked the catalog to refresh my memory about the donations. I searched for "Author, Henthorn, Richard E.."

This activity brought to mind a subject that has been on my mind for months, "What Will Become of It?" I have been working on genealogy projects for over 30 years. There are thousands of pages of information on my computer in the RootsMagic program. Some of the information has been shared with other people in digital formats such as PDFs, some has been shared on Facebook in my private Group and other Groups, some Conger information is hosted by a Conger friend in Iowa, some information is shared in two of my genealogy Google blogs, some is on my Google Site, some is shared on my private Box account, some has been donated,in printed form, to various genealogy libraries around the USA.

I turned 81 year old this month and I have been in poor health for about ten months. It's time to come to grips with the issue of What Will Become of It?

Dick Henthorn

12 May 2020

Genealogy Year-End Backups

Genealogy Year-End Backups

Because I can't remember the things I think I can remember I keep a steno pad notebook for note taking. At the bottom of each page I write a label for the page and the date I used the page.

Today, 7 Jan 2018, I created a page for recording my RootsMagic Backup. My goal was to accomplish year-end (seven days late) backup of my genealogy files.

The RootsMagic program maintains a list of the last ten genealogy files I accessed on my C: hard drive.  A prudent backup strategy demands backing up to media external to the computer itself.

RootsMagic Steps

• I ran the RootsMagic Backup Tools on each of the ten genealogy files to insure file integrity. 

• I backed up each of the ten files to my laptop hard drive to create a backup with today's date.

• I deleted all but the last three backups of each file from the hard drive, to free up hard drive space.

External Backups

• I copied the ten latest backups to my genealogy thumb drive (with the green happy face sticker).

• I copied the ten latest backups to my 30GB Dell external hard drive.

• I uploaded the ten latest backups to my Box account cloud storage. 

Storage Used

I used Properties to check how much available storage remains on the thumb drive, the external drive and the Box account. There was plenty of space left, so I didn't consider deleting old backup files from those three media.

Storage Strategy

The end result of this backup strategy is I have four backups of the ten genealogy files I'm actively accessing, three reside in our house and one is in the cloud.

Dick Henthorn
7 Jan 2018

Walter A. McDowell

Walter A. McDowell

I obtained the obituary of Walter A. McDowell who died on 14 Dec 2017 from a Facebook post. I worked on adding information about members of his family to my pafyoh file for several days.

I created an ancestor report for Walter, starting with a son.  The PDF report, with every name and place name indices, was 60-pages. Surnames include: Cain, Gorby, Johnson, Mason, McDowell, Pyles, Richmond, Ruckman.

From the same project I created a descendant report for the family of Perry Johnson and Elizabeth Long. The PDF report, with every name and place name indices, was 50-pages. Surnames include: Johnson, Lemasters, Mason, McDowell, Pyles, Richmond, Rine.

I uploaded the two reports to a folder on my Box account where access is limited. I am willing to share with others who agree to reciprocate.

Dick Henthorn

17 Dec 2017