ImBatch - My New Bestest Friend

I just want to start out by saying that this is not an advertisement and I am in no way affiliated with this product.  I have been looking for a better way to manage all my genealogy photos and documents for a while now and I finally found a good solution so I wanted to share.

I've been trying to setup some process flows for myself and my genealogy work - an attempt to create good research habits.  But, I struggled with photos.  I have photos on my phone, on websites like Facebook and Shutterfly, in Evernote, on my pc.  Ugggggg - it's a disorganized mess.  And don't get me started on file naming.  I started out with a naming convention but what about group shots and groups shots with different families/surnames.  Was I supposed to make duplicates and file them in each respective family folder?  It was just a nightmare.

I kept hearing people online throw around the term 'metadata', but I didn't really know what that was or how to get it attached to my photos.  So, I did some research and found that you could add a lot of information to your photos in Windows Explorer on your computer.  Awesome!  Now I can tag each image with names, places, document types and dates.  I don't need to worry about the file name, because I can filter on any of those items.  I can even copy and paste a source citation for the photo or document into the comments field.  Problem solved, right?  Wrong!

What I found out is that after you go through all the hard work of entering that metadata, the minute you copy the file to a different location, the metadata gets left behind.  Poof!  It's-a-gone.

Enter ImBatch.  This application allows you to setup a task to copy files to a folder of your choice along with the metadata (specifically the XML data that you've entered in Windows Explorer).  And, you can copy files in batches, so if you want to share a series of photos with a cousin, you can select them and then use a task to copy/paste them all to say a Dropbox folder and those files in the Dropbox folder still have all your metadata.  Finally, problem solved.

So back to my process flow in case you were wondering.  I now scan my photos in .tif format to get the best quality.  I save them all in one folder named Family Tree Photos - TIF.  These are my master files.  I add all the metadata I want to them.  Then, I use ImBatch to copy everything in that folder, make it .jpg format and save it to my Family Tree Photos - JPG.  Now I have a version with metadata that I can use for sharing, adding to websites, etc.

ImBatch is free for non-commercial use, so check it out and let me know what you think.

Family Find: Naturalization Records

For most of us here in the United States, our ancestors immigrated to this country. But how did they become a citizen and what kind of paper trail is available to us as researchers? 

As part of my continuing education, I'm listening to DearMyrtle's Tracing Immigrant Origins Hangouts on Air. This week's assignment: Post a blog or create a Google Doc with an immigration or naturalization paper that mentions your ancestor. In my previous family find post, I wrote about my grandmother's journey to the United States and the information found on her ship's passenger list. So I now know exactly when she arrived in the United States. But, when did she become a citizen?

Although the passenger list stated she was heading for Chicago, I know through other research (census records and city directories that she eventually settled in Oswego, New York. Since that is much closer to my home, I started there. The Oswego County Records Center website lists their holdings and they include: "Naturalization Records - Available beginning in 1829. Records from 1829 - 1906 contain only minimal information. After 1906, the complete naturalization records are available up to 1957." Since my grandmother arrived in 1913, there was a good chance I might find her complete naturalization packet so I made the trip.

Within the Records Center, there was a medium sized filebox that contained index cards by last name so I could quickly flip through to see if my grandmother had records here. I found her card and presented it to the archivist on duty. She then pulled the information from another room, made a photocopy and presented me with the following record which I will forever cherish:

Oswego, New York, Naturalization Records, 1829-1957; Certificate of Naturalization, Martha Gambino, 20 August 1943; Oswego County Records Center, Oswego.

They did not have her entire naturalization packet which would have included her declaration of intent, but I'm grateful they had this certificate, especially with the priceless photo and signature.

What I learned from this document was that even though my grandmother arrived in this country at age 5, she did not become a citizen until age 34. She changed her first name to Martha which is a more Americanized version of Mattia. They provided a lot of descriptive information including eye, and hair color, height and weight, marital status and nationality.  And, as one of my cousins pointed out when I shared this on Facebook, they listed her complexion as DARK even though her skin was porcelain white. Whether this was a clerical error or whether all Italians were listed as dark skinned is indeterminate.

There is one thing on the document which perplexes me so I will have to do a little more digging. In the bottom right corner the word "SPECIAL" is typed. I don't know whether that refers to the status of the Deputy Clerk or if this pertains to the document in whole. As per usual, finding answers always leads to more questions.

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If you would like to share your own family find, please email us at:  contactus@newbiegenealogist.com with a brief description of what you would like to post.  Sharing our stories and records is the best way for us all to learn from each other.  Whether you are an experienced researcher or just starting out, we all have knowledge from which others could benefit so don't be shy.

Digging for Duplicates

So you've spent hours researching and you finally find the record you are looking for.  Yippy!  WooHoo!  You start doing a little happy dance all alone in your office.  What - that's just me.

You finally settle back down in your chair and click the wonderful "View Image" button and this is what you see:

New York State Archives Version

Source Citation:  New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1915; Election District: 01; Assembly District: 01; City: Oswego Ward 02; County: Oswego; Page: 02 (as found on Ancestry.com. New York, State Census, 1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012). 

Oh no, it's faded and hard to read in spots.  You can't make out all the details and those could be very important.  Well, I guess that's that, right?

Not quite.  After spending a little time learning more about census records, I learned that typically census records were copied and in this case for a State census, a copy would be sent to the State government and the original would be kept at the county level.  For Federal censuses, three copies were often made, one for the State, one for the Federal and the original remained locally.

So, there was potentially another copy of this census floating around.  Great!  After some more digging online I discovered there was an Oswego County Records Center with copies of the 1915 state census.  So, off I went to see if their version was any better and luckily this is what they had:

Oswego County Records Center Version

Source Citation:  Oswego County Records Center; Oswego, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1915; Election District: 01; Assembly District: 01; City: Oswego Ward 02; County: Oswego; Page: 94.

Much better.  Although the writing can be difficult to read in either case, at least the writing is dark enough to be seen here.  You can actually tell that this is a different handwritten copy based on the alignment of several items in the last column but the information is the same - just a little more legible in most cases.

So, I guess there are a couple of morals to this story - 1)  Don't do your happy dance too soon and 2) If the record you find is not readable for some reason - don't be afraid to dig for duplicates.  There may be one out there just waiting to be found and it may be in a local archive or records center like this one was for me.

Good luck and happy digging.

Family Find: Much More Than a Passenger List

When we hear the words "passenger list," what comes to mind is a piece of paper with just a long list of names.  But, passenger lists are so much more.  They can be a great way to discover how our ancestors came to this country and from which country they emigrated, but there can also be a vast amount of other information provided.  While it's great to find names and dates, it's the weaving together of all the facts that recreate our ancestors' stories.

To continue my genealogy education, I've been listening to the Tracing Immigrant Origins Study Group videos in DearMyrtle's Genealogy Community (note:  these videos are archived so you can still view them).  In the first session, a general overview was provided and an introduction to Passenger Lists was discussed.  For the second session, passenger lists will be discussed in more detail so our homework in preparation for that discussion was to locate a passenger list for one of our ancestors and do a blog post about our findings.  DearMyrtle does a great job of bringing everyone into the discussion so we can all learn from each other.

So, without further delay, here is the passenger list for my grandmother, Mattia Lentine:

Source:  "New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 22 Oct 2015), passenger list, S.S. Calabria,  Arrival Date: 3 Nov 1913; Arrival: New York, New York, ancestry filmstrip page 452; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 2214; Line: 25; Page Number: 32, Mattia Lentine, age 4 (provided in association with National Archives and Records Administration(NARA)).

At the age of 4 years old, Mattia left her home in Marsala, Trapani, Sicily, Italy with her mother Rosalie LoGrasso - a 28 year old housewife who could neither read nor write - and traveled 55 miles to Palermo.  The nearest relative remaining in Sicily was Rosalie's father, Antonino LoGrasso.  On 17 October 1913, they boarded the S.S. Calabria in Palermo and began their long trek to the United States...17 days at sea in total.   Three days into their trip, Mattia turned 5 years old and I wonder how they would have celebrated her birthday on the ship.

But then, as I reviewed this document more closely, I noticed a stamp next to my great-grandmother's name and I got chills.  She had been hospitalized during the voyage.  My heart sank as I thought about what this might have been like.  It would have been terrifying for both of them.  I don't know if they would have been separated or who would have taken care of Mattia while her mother was ill.  Thankfully, Rosalie was discharged and they both arrived safely in the U.S.

Trying to move on to happier thoughts, I turned to page 2 to see more about their arrival.  On 3 November 1913, they arrived into the Port of New York in good health and stepped foot on U.S. soil for the first time.  The relative they would join here was Mattia's father, Pietro Lentine at 1520 Low (likely Lowe) Ave. in Chicago Heights, Illinois.  They already had self-paid tickets to Chicago and $25 cash.  The immigration officer listed Rosalie as being 5' 4" tall with fair complexion and brown eyes and hair.  Mattia's height was not listed, but she also was listed with fair skin and brown eyes and hair.

Source:  "New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 22 Oct 2015), passenger list, S.S. Calabria,  Arrival Date: 3 Nov 1913; Arrival: New York, New York, ancestry filmstrip page 453; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 2214; Line: 25; Page Number: 32, Mattia Lentine, age 4 (provided in association with National Archives and Records Administration(NARA)).

Now, moving forward I must search for records in Chicago as I haven't yet found any there.  And, I can try to trace back in Sicily to get back to prior generations.  Although page one of the passenger list did not note the full address for Mattia's grandfather, I may have some other potential clues in this record.  I can see that several people on this voyage were from the same town, Marsala.  Looking at the arrival information on the second page, I see quite a few that were also destined for Chicago.  Using the FAN club (or, Friends, Associates and Neighbors), I may be able to find a connection between some of these people and my family and if so, that may help me find more information in Sicily.

So, I've got a lot more work to do, but it's great to have this passenger list to help tell the story of my grandmother and great-grandmother's journey to the United States. It is so much more than just a list of names.  I hope you find this post interesting, but also I hope it helps you to remember to absorb all of the information in these documents.  It is so easy to search and grab the names and dates that we need for our database and forget about the rest, but within those tidbits of information is where the richness of the story resides.

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If you would like to share your own family find, please email us at:  contactus@newbiegenealogist.com with a brief description of what you would like to post.  Sharing our stories and records is the best way for us all to learn from each other.  Whether you are an experienced researcher or just starting out, we all have knowledge from which others could benefit so don't be shy.

To Be or Not To Be - Was That My Question?

How many times have you sat down to do research and stared at the screen unsure of where to start?  How many times have you ended your research session in a totally different place than where you started?  Or, ended up finding information for an ancestor you weren't researching because you got off track?  These are all common issues that genealogists face every time they do research.  So, how can we stay on track?

Create a Plan

As someone new to genealogy, you may periodically find yourself spending hours jumping from website to website trying to find information about your ancestor.  We sometimes call this "falling down the rabbit hole".  While it's terrific to have so many record collections at our fingertips these days, it can also sometimes be a curse.  It's incredibly easy to get distracted by new interests or clues.  Before we even know we're doing it, we can switch gears and end up researching a totally different person or topic.  But, it order to make the best use of our research time, we should really stay focused on one person or topic.  At the same time, we don't want to lose track of those items that catch our attention during our research session even if they are not pertinent to our current subject of research.  After all, those clues could lead us to another piece of valuable information for our family tree.  So, just like for any other goal you want to achieve in life, the best way to achieve your genealogy goals is to create a plan.  Spending the time up front to plan out what you want to research will save you a ton of time when you actually sit down to do that research.  And, the first thing you'll need to do for your plan is define what you are trying to find.

What's Your Question?

While defining a research question sounds easy, you want to make sure your question is well thought out.  Imagine you are providing this question to someone who does not know you or your family at all.  Would they understand your question?  Would they have enough information in the question to be able to do the necessary research?  Is the question narrow enough so they don't waste time searching in the wrong places?

For example, I may start out with a question like "What was the date of my great-grandmother, Georgianna Raymond's, marriage?"  This may seem like a perfectly logical question, but if we needed to use only this question to begin our research, wouldn't we be missing some other useful information?  First of all, this question makes the assumption that Georgianna did in fact get married.  Secondly, I should consider adding any other information I know about Georgianna to make sure I'm researching the correct person in the correct location.  

So, maybe I could change my question to the following:  "If marriage occurred, when and where did Georgianna Raymond, who was born about Oct 1869 in Canada and died on 25 Nov 1942 in Baldwinsville, Onondaga County, New York, USA, marry George A Terrian, who was born about Jan 1862 in Canada and died on 8 Apr 1907 in Oswego, Oswego County, New York, USA?  George and Georgianna had their first son George J Terrian about Jan 1888."

I removed the fact that these are my great-grandparents as that information will not be relevant to a search for their marriage date.  I added both of their birth and death dates (or approximate dates) and locations to narrow the scope of my search.  I will likely want to search records in those two locations first and then if nothing is found, take a look at where they might have traveled in between.  I also added a sentence regarding when their first child was born as this also narrows the time frame during which I will search.  Given Georgianna's birth date, we can reasonably estimate that her marriage occurred sometime between 1884-1888 if they followed normal marriage conventions at the time.  This may not always be the case, so if records aren't found during this time frame I would expand the search parameters.

Following Through

Now that you have your research question, you can proceed with creating a plan of attack.  List out all the places where you might find information regarding this marriage.  I like to use a worksheet to create the list and add the URL links if it's a website I want to search.  In this particular case, I might even create a list for each location since record collections could be vastly different for US records vs. Canadian records.

Once you have a thorough listing of places you want to check, dive in, but check off each item on your list once you've searched it so you don't accidentally repeat the same search.  If you think of other sites or archives to search, just add them to the bottom of your list.  But, what about when you come across something interesting but unrelated, you ask?  For example, maybe I'm in a Canadian records collection that includes birth records as well as marriage and death records and I don't have a birth certificate or register for George Terrian yet.  I might be very tempted to search for that while I'm in this database, but it is not relevant to my current question.  In this case, I would create a separate worksheet of 'Interesting Items That I Want to Come Back To' and add some basic information about what I am interested in and why and I would add a link to the collection.  

The next thing is critical.  Once you record the information on your worksheet, go back to your original research question and re-read it.  It will help you stay on track and retain your focus.  Dive back into your research on that question and continue on until you find your answer.

More Questions Than Answers

You may be asking if you should only work on one question at a time.  That is a matter of preference, but personally, I would say yes and no.  For a single research session, I would recommend focusing on just one question so you don't end up bouncing around and losing a lot of time.  But, I also understand how frustrating it can be when you search and search and search and are not finding the information you want.  Sometimes, switching gears to another person or topic can be refreshing, so overall I think it's okay to have a few open questions available.  I try to keep between 3-5 open questions for research at any given time.  I don't recommend having more than that or it can get confusing and it becomes more difficult to decide which one to work on.

While this is my way of trying to stay focused, this may not be what works for you.  If you have another method, please feel free to share in the comments below.  We are all here to learn from each other so please join in the conversation.  Happy Researching!

October is Family History Month

Did you hear about this yet?  October is Family History Month.  As a newbie like myself, you may be wondering what you can do for Family History Month.  I did some digging to find out what other people are doing to celebrate this month.  You may want to try some of these ideas out for yourself.  I know I will be.

• Pick one ancestor from your tree and share an interesting story about him/her on your favorite social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
• Have old VHS or 8MM videos hanging around - why not have them converted into digital files and upload them to YouTube or another video sharing site.  (Note:  You can restrict viewing access to just the people you choose - check the video site's settings before posting)
• Have an old family cookbook or recipe box - try making one of those recipes with your kids or grand kids while discussing your memories of the ancestor whose recipe you are using
• Sit down with the family and just flip through some old photo albums explaining who the various people are and how they are related
• Start a new memory.  Do something special with your own family and take pictures, document your experience and save it in a scrapbook, photo album or one or more of your social media accounts
• Give back to your community by helping someone else find their family.  Participate in an indexing project or volunteer for a cemetery project like Find A Grave's Community Day on October 17th

Make October an extraordinary time for your entire family - past and present.

Should Newbies Attend Conferences?

If you're new to genealogy, you may think that genealogy conferences are for people who have been working on their family trees for a while.  Or, you may think they are for professional genealogists or academic types.  Or, maybe they just seem overwhelming.  Or, maybe you just think you'll stand out like a sore thumb (or a green one like our picture here).

Having attended my very first genealogy conference last weekend, I can tell you without hesitation that all of the above are true.  But, genealogy conferences are for newbies too and standing out in the crowd isn't necessarily the worst thing ever.  Good conferences find a way to include people of all skill levels, backgrounds and interests.

The greatest thing about conferences is that there are multiple sessions going on at the same time and each of these is geared toward a different audience.  You'll find a multitude of topics being discussed and you'll have the opportunity to choose which sessions you attend and which ones you don't.  There are bound to be a few geared toward beginners.  And even some of the more intermediate topics may be extremely helpful to you.  For example, I attended a session on finding Irish townlands.  Before I went to this session, I didn't even know what a townland was, but I learned all about them in this one hour and picked up some great tips and tricks for tracking down my ancestors from Ireland.  So, even though I haven't started researching my ancestors in Ireland yet, I took plenty of notes so when I do, I'll be able to put all those tips to great use.

The second best thing about conferences is the people.  You will meet a ton of other people who are just as passionate about genealogy as you are.  You'll meet everyone from professional genealogists to people who just dabble in it to other newbies like yourself.  I talked with a lot of different people and each one had a slightly different approach to their family history research.  It was fascinating to hear what things other people were working on and where they were stuck.

So, don't worry about being a newbie.  At any level, we are all genealogists.  Do a search to see if there is a conference near you and attend one if at all possible.  You'll learn so much and I know you will have a great time.  If you have any specific questions about conferences, feel free to post them in the comments below.