What Happens to Your Data After You're Dead?

I have touched on this subject before ("Where There's a Will" 15 Jan 2015) and you may remember that the bottom line was that there just wasn't a lot of information out there about how all that on-line research you have done is dealt with in the event of your death.

There was a recent post on the Geneanet blog which addresses this issue as it relates to folks using Geneanet for their research.  I find it very interesting that they offer an opportunity in their "Personal Options" section to establish what happens to your account after you die.

I went to my Ancestry.com account and found no such option under personal settings.  Ditto for FamilySearch.org.  In addition, I searched their "help" forums for "what happens to my account/data after I die" and found nothing.

If you get a chance, read the Geneanet post http://www.geneanet.org/genealogyblog/index.php/post/2015/01/What-Happens-To-Your-Data-After-You-re-Dead.html.  It might be time to start thinking about this question and prodding our online research sites to address this issue.  In the absence of options from sites such as Ancestry, Family Search, MyHeritage, etc., you can always talk to your Trusts and Estates legal adviser and make your own arrangements.  My attorney uses a very catchy phrase when talking about estate planning.  She says, "It addresses two of the most important things in our lives: Everyone we love and everything we have."  I think our family history research can be included as well.


-- submitted by Denise Doyon

The "French Toast" Alert System

As I write this, a HUGE blizzard is attacking the North East. If you have friends or family in its path, I am sure you have been following the weather reports. Recently, Mocavo posted an interesting little story by Michael J. LeClerc (27 January 2015) about how we prepare for storms. It's about the huge nor-easter that hit New England in 1978. It's also about how, as a culture, we learn to survive. Hope you will take a few minutes to read Epigenetics at Work: the Blizzard of '78 and the French Toast Alert System.

-- submitted by Denise Doyon

Newest Genealogy Records

I recently stumbled upon GenealogyInTime Magazine's list of newest genealogy records.  This is a very comprehensive summary of all of the latest resources made available to family history researchers.  Take a look at the list - you may just find a new place to dig!

-- submitted by Denise Doyon

Who Do You Think You Are?

The 2015 Season of Who Do You Think You Are? Starts on Sunday, March 8th on the TLC Network at 10 p.m. ET.

You can watch a short video about the show http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/who-do-you-think-you-are/first-look/.

There are 8 episodes this season about celerities:

• March 8 - Julie Chen
• March 15 - Josh Groan
• March 22 - Angie Harmon
• March 29 - Sean Hayes
• April 5 - Tony Goldwyn
• April 13 - America Ferrera
• April 19 - Bill Paxton
• April 26 - Melissa Etheridge

In addition to being entertained, you never know what you will learn! 

-- submitted by Denise Doyon

Understanding Dates

Laurence Harris, Head of GenealogyUK at MyHeritage, has written a very informative piece entitled, "Understanding Dates: Five Common Mistakes to Avoid".  You can read his entire article at http://blog.myheritage.com/2015/01/understanding-dates-five-common-mistakes-to-avoid/.

In summary, the five most common mistakes Mr. Harris points out are:

1. Mixing up American and English date formats;
2. Failure to recognize and convert Julian dates to Gregorian dates;
3. Misunderstanding dates from other special/religious calendars;
4. Confusing an event's date and the date it was registered or recorded; and
5. Assuming that the dates in an article were recorded accurately.

Although Mr. Harris is writing for a UK audience, I think that many of the points he makes can apply to anyone, anywhere, doing family history research. Numbers 4 and 5 in the list are especially relevant to all of us. Many birth dates are arrived at using baptismal records from churches - and although the date of baptism might be close to the date of birth, the record usually doesn't indicate the actual birth date. The same can be said of dates of death. A death was often recorded because a record of the interment was noted by a church. Again, people were often buried very soon after their demise, but the interment and death dates are not necessarily the same. And let's not even get into the accuracy of a recorded date! I can't begin to count the number of times I have discovered this type of mistake!  

If you are exploring records from other countries, there was not a lot of consistency even between countries that bordered one another. The bottom line - it is important to understand what it is you are reading, who wrote it, and why and where it was recorded.  

Hope you will read Laurence Harris's post on MyHeritage. 

--  submitted by Denise Doyon

Family Search Record Collections

I am getting information all the time from bloggers and websites about the huge surge in the number of digital records available on various sites.  Family search has been expanding at the rate of 15 to 18 new databases per week.  If you are not using FamilySearch.org - which is totally free of charge - you should check out their collection list at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list.  It is quite impressive.  

The Geneapalooza Blog

If you haven't had the chance to read the Geneapalooza Blog, I highly recommend it.  The header on the blog says:

"Exposing the world of genealogy, every Monday/Wednesday/Friday, one panel at a time."

Here are screenshots of two, recent offerings:

The main characters are a relatively young couple, and the young lady decides to do genealogy research. In the process, the strip hits most of the high and low points about the genealogy community.  The main character meets many "interesting" people while pursuing her own research.

As far as I know, it's really the only pure "genealogy humor" published on a regular basis in blog format.

The strip is published three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  You can go back and read the entire archive for 2014 and 2015 at http://geneapalooza.blogspot.com/p/strip-archive.html in publication order (oldest post first).  

I promise it will make you laugh!

-- submitted by Denise Doyon