Send Me Everything You've Got!

Lately I've received several of those "send me everything you've got" genealogy requests. The person requesting the information almost never provides enough information to place them in the family tree and they don't offer to exchange information.

I've been working on genealogy for nearly twenty years and my head still just about explodes every time this happens. As this year comes to a close, I'm at the point where I think, for my own sanity, I should just "delete" these requests and go back to whatever it was I was doing.
3 December 2013

Japanese 'Prince' Switched At Birth Was Raised A Pauper : The Two-Way : NPR

Japanese 'Prince' Switched At Birth Was Raised A Pauper : The Two-Way : NPR:

Here's a story that illustrates why genealogy is important.  As is often said, "You can't make this stuff up."

'via Blog this'

Bible Lineages

What do we learn from the lineages of Jewish leaders [as recorded in the Bible].

• They remained connected to their heritage.
• They saw their place in history and gained perspective from it.
• They were able to honor and pay respect to their forefathers.
• They saw their lineage as a family blessing and passed on their blessing.
• They used their heritage to provide a sense of stability for their children.
• They sensed tendencies of ancestral giftedness and calling.
• They could retain their identity even when exiled to a foreign land.

(John C. Maxwell, Leadership, 1 September)
28 November 2013

I'll Be Brief

Using abbreviations in your genealogy file isn't a good idea. There's no guarantee that your readers will be able to understand your abbreviations. I've used the RootsMagic edit option to find and expand some abbreviations in the notes in my own files.

Contrary to what I'm writing, I chose to use the Postal Service two letter state abbreviation in the place names of my own work. I've read that this isn't recommended and sometimes worry about my choice.

Dick Henthorn
1 November 2013

Copyright Notice

I include the following Copyright Notice in the "note" of the patriarchs in my genealogy files.

COPYRIGHT: This report, created from the RootsMagic genealogy file of Richard E. Henthorn, is copyrighted by the compiler.  This means you can't post a PDF report created by Mr. Henthorn on the Internet or sell any reports shared with you without his written permission.  Thank you for your consideration.

This doesn't mean I think I own the information in my genealogy files. Rather, it means that I own the format of the compiled information and wish to control how it is disseminated.

When reading one of my reports you may see more than one Copyright notice in the report. This happens because more than one patriarch is in the genealogy file.  This is particularly true in the case of Ahnentafel reports.

Dick Henthorn
30 October 2013

William Bonar Family of West Virginia

I'm adding information about the William Bonar family of West Virginia to my Yoho, Baker, Rine genealogy file.  The source of the information is a 96-page descendant chart shared by friend and researcher T. Vernon Anderson on the webpages of Linda (Cunningham) Fluharty.

I've discovered that some of the Bonar branches link to the Gorby family.  I've gathered information about this family for many years.  A Gorby register report, with name and place indices, produced by RootsMagic from my genealogy file, is over one thousand pages.

Dick Henthorn
29 October 2013

Richmond Edits

Today I completed the edits to the records of people with the Richmond surname in my Yoho, Baker, Rine file.  There still may be collateral surnames that require editing.  I can prepare an indexed Register Report of just over 500 pages for this West Virginia family.

I found a biographical sketch for William Henry Richmond on the webpages of Linda Fluharty and incorporated the sketch and the information it contains into my file.  Thanks Linda for sharing.

Dick Henthorn
6 October 2013