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The Genealogy Guys Podcast - 4 September 2006 (tRSSNews): George and Drew return from Boston with a report of highlights from the 2006 Federation of Genealogical Societies conference. George also talks about the urgent petition regarding a proposed reduction in NARA research hours (www.petitiononline.com/FGS2006/petition.html) which must be submitted no later than September 8; the brochure for the Genealogy Guys' 2007 Research Tour to London
Created on Feb 07, 2012
Day at the Museum (tRSSNews): Last year, I blogged about my family’s prehistoric experience at Dinosaur Valley State Park, near Glen Rose. Laurie Jasinski’s coverage of the 100th anniversary of the tracks’ discovery in June Speaking of Texas inspired our most recent dino fix—a trip to the Texas Natural Science Center , in the Texas Memorial Museum on the UT-Austin campus. Outside the museum,
Created on Feb 07, 2012
WeRelate: An Introduction to Page Editing (tRSSNews): Although WeRelate uses the MediaWiki software as a basis of its platform, incorporating an online family tree system with the wiki has created a remarkable system combining the best of both worlds. As a result, it will take a bit more effort to get comfortable with the system and its editing process. As you will see, it’s well worth the effort. This edition of the WeRelate series is an introduction to page editing. We will begin by editing one of the simplest pages - a place page. Chances are there will already be a place page for most of the locations involved in your research. Even if you only add links to the local historical and genealogy societies to the places you’re researching, you are adding value that will benefit the entire community - and quite possibly make connections with others who can help you in your research efforts. Let’s Get Started Start with a quick search for a place name related to you or your research. Choose Search > WeRelate from the blue menu bar. In the example above, I’m searching for Moultrie, Florida and I only want results from the Place namespace. My search returned one result - Place:Moultrie, St. Johns, Florida, United States. I can click on that title to be taken to the actual place page. When the place page appears, you will notice three distinct areas: 1) the place data in the sidebar, 2) the page narrative and 3) the page menu. The place data was probably imported from the Getty Thesaurus (see source note at the top of the narrative), but it can be edited. Someone has already added some basic information to the narrative. Now’s time for us to add some more. To begin editing the page, click on the Edit item in the page menu at the top of the page. At the top of the editor page is the page data form for this page. Each type of page (place, person, family, source, etc.) will have a different form. The place page has one of the simpler forms - which is why we’re starting with it. From this form, we can add any alternate names for this place, change the latitude and longitude (especially useful when creating place pages for cemeteries), update it’s county history information and include other related locations. Notice that the format for entering the information is included in the entry title with data separated by a vertical bar ( | ) character. If I wanted to enter an alternate name, it would look something like this: Bella Vista | Lt. Gov. John Moultrie’s plantation in the 1770s St. Johns County is one of two original counties in the state of Florida, but if I was editing a county that had been created from St. Johns, I could enter that information here: St. Johns | 1821 | 1866 New County | 1866 | present Locations may have had more than one name [Jacksonville, Florida, was originally called Cow Ford]. There may be place names for both locations so a "See also" link could be quite helpful. Scroll down below the data form to find the narrative area. Here’s where you can add any information you want. This is what the narrative text displayed earlier looks like in the editor. At the top of the editor is a simple toolbar with only 9 items. Most formatting is done using simple characters to identify the formatting "code" and as you get familiar with those codes, you’ll find it much easier to type the codes than to stop, reach for your mouse and click on an icon. Below the editing area is a copyright notice and the buttons for saving, previewing or viewing changes to the page. More on that later. Taking a closer look at just the editing area, we can see several formatting commands in action: 1) a call to a template - some pre-designed text that is frequently repeated 2) bold text 3) a reference 4) an external link - this one is inside a reference 5) a subtitle 6) location for the references set up within the narrative. Take a look at the displayed narrative to see how this appears to the reader. Notice that the references are entered immediately after their associated named item so you won’t see them (or the link associated with item 4) until the bottom of this particular page. Now for Some Updates At the top of the page, I am adding the "Area History" subtitle and moving the reference to the Getty Thesaurus down to the bottom. "References" now becomes a sub-subtitle (notice 3 equal signs surrounding the text instead of 2). Now I’m going to create a section for "Research Resources" at the bottom of the page. "Research Resources" becomes a subtitle (2 equal signs) and "Local Societies and Associations" becomes a sub-subtitle (3 equal signs). Any guess what a sub-sub-subtitle code would look like? Both St. Augustine Historical Society and St. Augustine Genealogical Society are set in bold text (3 apostrophes surrounding the text). External links are easy to create [http://www.siteaddress.com Display Text]. To link to another WeRelate page, just type the complete page name within double square braces - like [[Place:St. Johns, Florida, United States]] or [[Family:John Barker and Linnie Blake (1)]]. The asterisks ( * ) you see in the text about the St. Augustine Historical Society represent the code for bulleted text. You can also use the hash mark ( # ) to create a numbered list. If you need to nest bulleted text, it can be done by typing multiple asterisks like this example: * Item one ** Item one a ** Item one b * Item two You can preview your work at any time by clicking the Show preview button. To go back to editing, just scroll down the page to the editing area to continue making changes. Clicking the Cancel link will remove any edits you’ve made since the last save. For help, just click on the Editing help link. The Summary field is used to leave a short note describing what kind of edit you performed. If all you did was fix a typo or formatting error, just check the This is a minor edit box before you click the Save page button. To be notified whenever this page is edited, check the Watch this page box before saving. When you add a page to a tree, that page will appear whenever you view that tree. Viewing a tree is a pre-formatted search that pulls together every page - family, person, source, place, etc. - associated with that tree. So, if this place is important in your research, check the appropriate tree so it will be available with all your research on that family. The Results Notice that every subtitle included in the narrative (regardless of its level) generates a section that can be edited separately. When you click on an [edit section] link, it only opens that portion of the page in the editor. In this example, if you clicked on the [edit section] link to the right of Local Societies and Associations, the editor would only display the text from that subtitle to the next subtitle - or in this case the bottom of the page. Note that you will only see the page’s data form when you edit the entire page. Revision History Every page maintains an automatically generated history page. You can view the history of any WeRelate page by clicking the History item in the page menu. In this example, you can see that I made the last changes to this page on the morning of March 9th. The information I entered into the Summary field before saving this page appears in parentheses at the end of this line so you can see what edits I made. You can use the history page to connect with others researching the same people and places you are. Just take a look at who’s made changes to a page related to your research. Clicking on the editor’s username will take you to that user’s WeRelate profile page (now you see why you should update your user page). You can also click on the contribs link to display a list of pages that user has edited. If you are both researching the same families, this could lead you to some fabulous finds. Last - and possibly best - is the Talk page. Every page in WeRelate has its own Talk page. Basically, this is a message board for each page. The Talk link shown in the history list will take you to that user’s talk page. Here’s a look at my user talk page. Notice the table of contents at the top of the page. Whenever you have four or more subtitles (any level) included on a page, WeRelate will automatically generate a table of contents for you. Each item serves as a link to quickly get you to that point in the page. To leave a message, click on the Add Topic item in the page menu. This will display a form where you can enter a new topic and the comments related to it. This will automatically appear as a new section on the page. Editing a talk page is just the same as any other WeRelate page with a couple of exceptions. Because talk pages can become lengthy, it’s highly recommended that you use the Add Topic item to define topics within the page. You can always use the Edit command or [edit section] links to add to existing topics/sections within the page. It’s a good idea to leave a "signature" with your message. This can easily be done by typing one of the following codes: –~~~~ will display as –Moultriecreek 12:34, 9 March 2009 (EST) with my username linking to my user page. ~~~ will just display my username as a link to my user page. One of the biggest assets within WeRelate is the ability to connect and collaborate. The Talk pages may well be your new best friend. Make sure you’re watching your own user page so you’ll be notified whenever someone leaves you a message. As you add and edit pages within WeRelate, your Contributions page becomes an index to your collection. If someone stumbles onto your username through a search or from one of the pages you’ve edited, they will be able to quickly scan the people and places you’re researching. Conversely, if you stumble on a page that looks helpful to your research, follow the contributors back to their user pages and see who and what they’re researching. The Watchlist To help keep all your connections and watched pages under control, choose MyRelate > Watchlist from the WeRelate (blue) menu bar to view your watchlist. It may not be as fancy as Facebook but it’s a great
Created on Feb 07, 2012
T. Rex For Sale At Vegas Auction (tRSSNews): Museums and high-rolling natural history buffs will get a crack at buying a fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex next month at a Las Vegas Strip auction.
Created on Feb 07, 2012
FHL Desktop – a Goldmine (tRSSNews): This article is one in a series of session reports from the recent BYU Conference on Family History and Genealogy. I tweeted the session live, but I hate to send you to Twitter to read them because they appear there in reverse chronological order. I’ve straightened them out for you here. Additions are shown in italics. Wednesday, 29 July 2009 (Screen shots as of 9 August 2009.
Created on Feb 07, 2012
Writer’s Tools: Reference Library (tRSSNews): A good writer knows the importance of having a standard collection of reference material – dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, quotations, etc. – nearby at all times. Fortunately for all of us, these tools are just one click away. If you aren’t familiar with your electronic reference library, now’s the time for an introduction. Mac users have the delightful
Created on Feb 07, 2012
A Brief History Of Trousers In 40 Different Words (tRSSNews): When did a lavatory become a loo? And why were Victorian trousers "unmentionables"? The world's first historical thesaurus, which is to be published after more than 40 years of research, claims to have the answers. Loved by writers, not to mention crossword cheats, Roget's Thesaurus has never been out of print since it was published in 1852 to "assist in literary composition".
Created on Feb 07, 2012
CISD offers seminar on classroom technology (tRSSNews): Comal Independent School District is hosting a Parent Community Summit from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Saurday.
Created on Feb 07, 2012
New Genealogy Blogs September 5, 2009 (tRSSNews): New Genealogy Blogs September 5, 2009 [Note: this is a regular feature of GeneaBloggers which highlights new genealogy and family history-related blogs as well as those recently discovered by members of GeneaBloggers. Use the Suggest A Geneablog! link in the menu bar to pass along information on new blogs.] This week we offer 16 new genealogy and family-history related blogs and
Created on Feb 07, 2012
Texarkana Rex (tRSSNews): Lots of history, but it’s certainly no dinosaur. Texarkana remains a fun, famous gateway to Texas, and a twin cities that are fit for a king—and you, too. Plenty to go, see, and do. Just spent several entertaining days there researching a future feature for the magazine. Stay tuned. Thoroughly enjoyed my stay at the Mansion on Main, an historic B&B. Discovered several
Created on Feb 07, 2012
Ancestry.com Posts FamilySearch Microfilm (tRSSNews): I continue to see evidence of improved relations between Ancestry.com and FamilySearch. Last week, an intriguing title caught my eye in the list of new Ancestry.com databases: Thesaurus antiquitatum et historiarum Italiae, Vols. 1-4 (in Italian) Curious as to what an antique thesaurus of historic Italy might be, I clicked on the link and began to leaf through the pages. I was
Created on Feb 07, 2012
T. Rex Still Looking For Home After Vegas Auction (tRSSNews): A fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex is still looking for a home after bidders failed to meet the minimum price Saturday at a Las Vegas auction.
Created on Feb 07, 2012
GENP 3.0 (tRSSNews): Full Featured - Windows - Purchase GENP 3.0 has been released. New: • Support for Vista: Major changes have been made to the operation of the program so that it runs on Windows XP and Vista. • Portable drive operation: The program can now be installed on a memory stick or USB drive. This means you can run the program at a library or relatives house. There
Created on Feb 07, 2012
GENP version 3 for Windows is now Available (tRSSNews): The following announcement was written by the producer of the GENP genealogy software: Melbourne, Australia We are pleased to announce that GENP version 3 has been released. GENP is a consumer orientated product which will also appeal to the serious genealogist. Existing abilities are - multi media, multiple databases, multiple users, grouping of databases, multi lingual. Link
Created on Feb 07, 2012
Writing Lesson from Michelangelo (tRSSNews): When asked how he went about carving such magnificent statues, Michelangelo is said to have explained that he simply looked at the block of marble, saw the statue within, and chipped away everything that wasn't part of it. That parable has a lesson for life writers. Most of us have been accustomed to thinking of the task of writing a story as one of creating something from nothing,
Created on Feb 07, 2012
Raptor-Like Dino Discovered In Eastern Utah (tRSSNews): A small, feathered raptor-like dinosaur thought to be 125 million years old has been discovered in eastern Utah, scientists announced Thursday.
Created on Feb 07, 2012
Newspaper Death Notices May Be a Dying Business (tRSSNews): Newspaper publishing is a difficult, possibly dying, business. The newspapers are trying to produce revenue wherever they can, sometimes in ways that don't make sense. Many newspapers are price gouging bereaved families with exorbitantly priced death notices in an inept way to try to make ends meet. The result will probably be the opposite of what the newspapers want: death notices
Created on Feb 07, 2012
Lilly Mae (Word) Saur (tRSSNews): Lilly Mae (Word) Saur was born on January 28, 1949 in Beeville, Texas, and passed away on April 13, 2010 at the age of 61 years.
Created on Feb 07, 2012
Lilly Mae (Word) Saur (tRSSNews): Lilly Mae (Word) Saur was born on Jan. 28, 1949 in Beeville, Texas, and passed away on April 13, 2010 at the age of 61 years.
Created on Feb 07, 2012
Lilly Mae Saur (tRSSNews): Lilly Mae Saur passed away on Tuesday at the Gulf States LTAC at the age of 61 years.
Created on Feb 07, 2012