Saturday, January 31, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/31/09

This has been one of the busiest and most productive genealogy months in a long time. The highlight was my five day trip to Salt Lake City to visit the TGN offices and staff, meet many notable genealogists, and research for two days at the Family History Library.

I was up real early today because we had to leave before 7 a.m. for the swim club breakfast. This is Linda's swim club, not mine - she swims in water, I swim in ancestry! We took Lolo with us and she ate like a champ - but then felt sick from three pancakes with butter, whipped cream and syrup, with some bacon thrown in. We were home by 8:45, and I packed up for the CVGS Research Trip to the San Diego FHC. I left at 9:15 and 10 of us left the CV parking garage at 9:40 to car pool to the FHC.

We got there just after 10 a.m., and the staff was delighted that a large group showed up, but were a little concerned that they would need lots of hand-holding. That was my job, of course. I gave a 20 minute briefing on the FHC holdings, with emphasis on the free subscription databases on the computer system. Almost everyone spent the four hours on the computer. I will probably post about this on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog on Sunday. We left at 2:15 and I was home by 3 p.m.

I had an hour on the computer while the girls were sleeping, and posted Are There Genealogy Research Aids in Spanish? and checked in on Facebook. and then the kids woke up, Tami packed up, and their friends came over, and they left for dinner and then home. We enjoyed this visit, and Tami was able to get quite a bit done on her dissertation. I took a short nap in my chair, and then Linda and I went out to dinner to Cafe Lamaze in National City. We were home by 7 p.m. I worked awhile on Linda's church lists, then posted Saturday Night Fun, and worked on a FamilySearch traffic post for Sunday morning. Then I wrote this post and I'm done for the night.

Genealogy today was 7.5 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 1.5 hours writing blog posts, 0.5 hour on Facebook, and 4.5 hours at the FHC on the Research trip.

Sunday is the Super Bowl. The game intrigues me because Arizona has a good offense and Pittsburgh a great defense. I think it will be Steelers 30, Arizona 24.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Family History Journal - 01/30/09

This was not a genealogy day - it was a family history day with Tami, Lolo and Audrey here for the weekend. We took the girls to the San Diego Zoo this morning so that Tami could work on her dissertation at the library. We had a good time taking the skyride, watching the orangs climb and wrestle, and the elephants eat hay. Lolo had several snacks plus lunch - the girl can put it away! They fell asleep on the way home and took decent naps when we got home. Audrey is so expressive at 9 months - she waves every time she sees me, and we have a mutual admiration society going.

I did check email, blogs and Facebook several times during the day, and the TGN/Ancestry traffic statistics - Post 1, which I wrote last night, was posted this morning. After we got home from the Zoo, I wrote Post 2 before Lolo got up from her nap. When Audrey got up from her nap at 3:30, I dozed with her on my lap for awhile while watching kids TV.

At 5 p.m., we headed off to Panera for dinner. Tami took the girls shopping at the mall while Linda and I went to a visitation for a friend who died this week. We all got home at about 7:30, and I got the girls through the bath and Lolo to bed. I spent some time online getting more stats and writing a post for Saturday morning about FamilyLink.com statistics. I sure hope folks appreciate these traffic stats.

Genealogy today was only 3.0 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 0.5 hour on Facebook, and 1.5 hours researching and writing blog posts.

Tomorrow, I am leading the CVGS research trip to the San Diego FHC so I won't be able to post anything new until late afternoon.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/29/09

The month is almost over, and I'm still not done with my sources corrections or my data input from the FHL material.

After email and blogs and Facebook, I read Russ W's suggestions about my FTM 2009 charting problem. I rebooted, and it worked, at least for awhile (it crashes FTM2009 now after several successes). I posted Getting Help on Family Tree Maker Issues to highlight the Knowledge Base and Genforum message board for other FTM users. I tried to make We're Related work again, and failed, so I posted I Tried We're Related GEDCOM Upload Again- Fail! to complain about the sad state of FamilyLink's social networks for genealogists. It was lunch time, so I ate at home and came back to the computer determined to do something useful.

Instead, I posted Is US Content Being Held Hostage by Ancestry.com? to be an equal opportunity ranter. I transcribed the rest of the Ranslow Smith probate records and the two Samuel Vaux deeds (I needed to do this for next week's ProGen homework!). For good measure, I added sources for all of the English parish data in the Samuel Vaux ancestry. Another small part of my ancestral database fixed! I played on Twitter and Facebook occasionally, sent an email off to my CVGS colleagues about the research trip on Saturday and providing links about my SLC trip, and then I went in to read the paper, watch TV and have dinner.

I ended up fixing dinner because Linda was tired (I did the wash hangups too) - we heated the leftover macaroni and cheese and boiled cauliflower, finished off with See's honeycomb chips for dessert. I was back on the computer by 7 p.m., and posted my transcriptions of the two deeds in Andrew County, Missouri Deeds - Samuel Vaux Family. Then I worked on a TGN traffic post for tomorrow morning since I anticipate not being able to blog much on Friday.

Tami and the girls came at 8:30 p.m., so I helped with the babies and came back to do some more research on TGN and FL traffic. Then I wrote this post and will go in to watch ER.

Genealogy today was 9.0 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 1.0 hour on Twitter/Facebook, 3.0 hours researching and writing blog posts, 0.5 hour on FTM 2009 problems, 1.0 hour researching traffic, 3.0 hours putting Smith and Vaux data into the database, and 0.5 hour reading Internet Genealogy.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/28/09

My genealogy football is still on the 27 yard line. I did not advance it at all today, which was devoted to blogging, eating and CVGS activities. With a little twittering and Facebooking thrown in.

After email, reading blogs and checking Facebook, I posted Family Photographs - Post 40: Lyle's Album. I went in and got cleaned up, and came back to post "Who Do You Think You Are?" is coming - are we ready for it? I read more stuff, tried to make FTM 2009 create a descendants chart again, and it bombed, so I wrote a note on the Using FTM Genforum message board asking for guidance. Russ W responded throughout the day. Linda came home, so we went to Subway for lunch and then to the CVGS meeting at noon in the Library.

We were home from the meeting at about 2:30 p.m. I read everything, then wrote "Ancestry.com Improves Locality Search" before going in to watch the news at 5 p.m. At 5:30, we left for dinner with our neighbors, Kurt and Ruth, who cannot drive right now due to frailty. We were home by 7:30, but I didn't get on the computer until after 8. I edited several blog posts, commented on several others, read and commented on Facebook notes, then posted Ken Kramer's "About San Diego" Program on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog. That's it for tonight!

Genealogy today was 8.0 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 0.5 hour on Twitter/Facebook, 2.5 hours writing blog posts, 2.5 hours on CVGS activities, and 1.5 hour working with FTM2009.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/27/09

I didn't do much except blog, make FTM2009 charts and work on sources today. At least I did something useful!

After email, blog-reading, and Facebook checking, I posted Tombstone Tuesday - Jonathan and Amy (Champlin) Oatley (using my newly scanned photographs!). I got cleaned up, then watched the Paul Allen videos for awhile, and worked on More Family.com News. I made some pedigree charts in FTM 2009 and saved them, but when I tried to save a Descendants Chart the program crashed. WUWT? After lunch, I hunkered down to work on sources in my Master database and spent a good two hours using my system of finding (VR) in the text of a report, and then adding the sources for those families. I'm back into the 1600's now, so I'm starting to get some English parish registers as sources. I will have to go back later and add all of the correct source citation data - right now I'm just using a shorthand citation. I read the new Internet Genealogy magazine, checked Ancestry.com for new databases, and also Footnote. At 5 p.m., I went in for TV, newspaper and dinner.

After dinner, I created a short list of things to test in my search engine tests. I tried them out on Footnote, they'll probably work OK. I posted Pedigree Charts Using FTM2009 and then read Twitter and Facebook for awhile (timewaster?). Finally, I wrote about the Genealogy Happy Dance and/or Genea-gasms! for the next Carnival of Genealogy. Then this post, and now I remember that I want to write a post for the SSDCGYR blog... did Bennington Monument at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

6 blog posts, about 300 sources added, genealogy life is good!

Genealogy today was 9.0 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 1.0 hour on T/FB, 3.0 hours writing blog posts, 2.0 hours doing sources in my database, 1.0 hour doing FTM 2009 charts, 0.5 hour watching Paul Allen, and 0.5 hour in magazines.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/26/09

I actually did something useful genealogy-wise today, besides blogging, of course.

After email, blog-reading and Facebook, I posted A Tale of Two Genealogy Companies thanks to Tamura's find. Then I wrote A Legacy Charting success to be posted later in the day, and played with Legacy Charting for awhile longer - made a 6-generation chart that was too big to save as a JPG, and therefore wasted the time doing it.

I got cleaned up, had lunch, and went off to the library with the laptop for the CVGS Table Talk. The doors opened at 12, and I shared with John and Dearl for awhile, and then a young lady came asking for help. She didn't speak much English, and couldn't read English well, so we tried to help her with the basics of genealogy research. I checked the library catalog and we have no genealogy books in Spanish to help her with her research. Amazing! I headed home and arrived around 2 pm.

After checking email, blogs and Facebook, I looked for genealogy web sites and articles in Spanish and found very few. I sent emails to two researchers that help Hispanic people with their research in Mexico asking for advice. For the next three hours, I saved the scanned TIFF files as JPGs, rotated and cropped them as required, renamed them to something meaningful, and saved them. About 90 photos in all. After 5 p.m., Linda said it was dinner time, so we ate and I set her up for her BlogTalkRadio program and chat with her friend's son. I read the paper and watched TV for an hour.

When I got on the computer at 7, I wrote the CVGS Program announcement of Ken Kramer on About San Diego and the South Bay and posted it on both Gene-Musings and the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe. I read several Facebook pages and downloaded the latest Internet Genealogy magazine to read later, then posted the Photo from the TGN Visit sent by the Ancestry Insider, before going in to watch 24. At 10, I came in to write this post and finish up for the night.

Genealogy today was 8.5 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hours reading blogs, 2.0 hours writing blog posts, 3.0 hours working on photos, 2.0 hours on CVGS things, and 0.5 hour on Twitter/Facebook.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/25/09

This Sunday at the Genea-Cave was fairly active, but then there was no football!

I read my email and blogs before church, and set off the two posts I wrote last night - Escondido exploits - Genealogy is really fun and Best of the Genea-Blogs - January 18-24, 2009. We left for church at 9:15, and got home after the annual meeting at 12:30.

I immediately jumped into the Scanfest chat session, got my envelope of cemetery pictures and my grandfather's photo album, and chatted and scanned for the next 90 minutes. I finished up the album after the chat. I must have done something boring for the next hour, because all I remember is going in to take a nap at 3:15, and waking at 4 p.m. ready to do nothing else. I messed around on Facebook and Twitter, and read email and blogs, installed Woopra for some reason, changed the colors on Genea-Musings, and edited the 2008 CVGS annual report. We had dinner and watched TV until 7:30.

When I came back, I looked at the traffic reports for several web sites and captured graphs for a blog post. When Desperate Housewives wasn't on, I came back at 9 and did the 25 Things About Me on Facebook, looked through several photo albums on my bookshelf, scanned some photos of my folks found in an album, and read some news sites.

Genealogy today was only 5.0 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 0.5 hour writing blog posts, 1.0 hour on T/FB, 2.0 hours at Scanfest and scanning photos, 0.5 hour on CVGS things, and that's about it!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/24/09

Today was the Escondido talk day. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. ready to go, but dozed until 6:30 or so. I was tired when I got up. After breakfast, I was on the computer by 7:15, read my email and blogs, checked Facebook, and posted Market Research on Genealogy before going in to clean up and get ready for the trip north. I got everything in the car (laptop, projector, jacket, directions, apple, water) then came back in and gathered up flash drive and pen. I had 10 minutes to kill so I reviewed some of my slides. At 9:10 a.m., I pulled out and drove the 40 miles to Escondido Public Library. I got there 5 minutes before opening, was greeted by Ray, went in at 10, set up and gave the talk. I'll post about it on Sunday. The meeting was over by 11:30, and we went over for a sandwich and chat, then to the Pioneer Room, and I headed home, getting there at 2:15 (feeling very dozey - on autopilot the last 10 miles, I fear).

I checked email and blogs, then went in and took a nap and watched TV. Linda came home at 4, and we talked for awhile. I posted Wholly Genes (Land) Cruise in 2009 - they aren't going to have a cruise, but the conference looks inviting. I checked Facebook, tweeted once or twice, and went in at 5:30 to have dinner (Linda went off to a retirement party with church friends). I was back on the computer by 6:30.

I posted Saturday Night Fun - Tell Me a Genealogy Joke then wrote most of the Best of the Genea-Blogs post tonight because Sunday morning and afternoon will be busy. Then I wrote about my Escondido exploits in a post scheduled for Sunday morning. I spent at least an hour looking for the cemetery photos that I have in hardcopy - finally found them in the bottom of my desk drawer. I still can't find my Rebecca Spangler Carringer photos. I found another Carringer photo album too - I don't recall seeing those pictures. More to scan! Linda came home and I'm pretty much done now after this post.

Genealogy today was 10.5 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 0.5 hour on T/FB, 3.0 hours writing blog posts, and 5.0 hours doing Escondido (including 1.5 hours driving), and 1.0 hour searching for photos.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/23/09

Genealogy progress today == not much! But I had some fun.

I was on the computer by 8 a.m., read my email and blogs, checked Facebook, tweeted once, then found the list of 185 Beatles songs and read/listened for awhile. 10 a.m. - where did the time go. Drat. I posted Recent content at Ancestry.com with the intent of warning readers about incomplete Ancestry databases, but Ancestry changed thier database titles to reflect the incomplete status. Pretty quick... I ate lunch, went off to walk with George at the bay, stopped at the library to work in city directories on a query, and was home by 1:45 p.m.

After checking email, blogs and Facebook, I got the laptop out and loaded Legacy 7 and FTM 2009 onto it - hadn't done it before for some reason. I also loaded the latest presentation stuff onto the laptop, made shortcuts for the presentation files, and updated Windows XP. All the while, I was checking Ancestry to find census records of my query person to find out where they lived in San Diego County. I found them in 1910, 1920 and 1930 - three different places in the county. Now I have to go back and try to find the fmaily in the city directories again. I posted What do you want in a search engine? in hopes that readers would respond with ideas. Several have, which I appreciate. Then I read Geoff's post on Legacy News about putting a photo in the background of a chart, so I made charts for my parents with their pictures as backgrounds. Cool. It was after 5, so we went out to dinner with friends to The Butcher Shop in beautiful downtown Chula Vista.

We were home after 7 p.m., but had dessert, and Linda needed to use the computer, so I set up the laptop and projector and tried out my links - everything worked well. I printed out my jokes, then printed copies of my two-page handout - one side with fun stuff, the other with useful stuff. I'm all set for Saturday in Escondido, I think. I hope they laugh! I checked email, blogs and Facebook, then wrote up Legacy Charts with Picture Backgrounds to show off my pedigree charts. I worked a bit more trying to improve them, but didn't print them out. I'm done with this post!

Genealogy today was 9.0 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 0.5 hour on T/FB, 2.0 hours researching and writing blog posts, 1.5 hours doing the CVGS query, 1.0 hour working on charts, 1.0 hour getting the laptop fixed up, and 2.0 hours on presentations.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/22/09

While I was sleeping, Blogger posted What will GenSeek be? for me - I wrote it last night but wanted folks to read it this morning.

I was on the computer by 8 a.m., read my email and blogs, tweeted once about GenSeek, checked Facebook, read some Ancestry Magazine articles online, and wrote Read about "The Great Nepotism Experiment." I got cleaned up and went off to the San Diego FHC, getting there at about 10:30. At the FHC, I found three probate records for Hawk/Hough persons in volumes 1 and 2 of Westmoreland County PA wills. I copied them to my flash drive, checked the computers out a bit, and was home by 12:30 p.m. I had lunch and then posted "Genealogy is Fun! Seriously!" Program in Escondido on Saturday, 24 January. I tweeted about it, checked Facebook, email and blogs, and went to the NEHGS site, www.newenglandancestors.org and checked out the Connecticut Nutmegger database. I wrote "Connecticut Nutmegger" online at NEHGS Site and worked a bit on other NEHGS databases for awhile. I needed to work on my "Genealogy Is Fun" presentation some more, so I did that until about 4:45 p.m. when I went in to watch TV, read the paper and not take a nap.

A friend came over for dinner, so I wasn't back to the computer until 8 p.m. I read email, blogs and Facebook, answered some emails, worked on the presentation some more, and then wrote CVGS Computer Group on Wednesday 1/21/09 on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog. Then I wrote this post, and will go watch ER at 10.

Genealogy today was 7.5 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 0.5 hour on Twitter/Facebook, 2.0 hours writing blog posts, 1.5 hours at the FHC doing research, 1.0 hour on the NEHGS site doing research, and 1.5 hours working on the presentation.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/21/09

This was a fairly fun genealogy day - lots of variety!

I was on the computer around 8 a.m., read my email and blogs, then posted Family Photographs - Post 39: the Point Loma House. I had to download and install my updated McAfee software this morning - it took awhile. I checked Twitter and Facebook, then worked in Legacy 7 for awhile trying to figure out how to resolve the place name so it shows up right on the map - never could make it work! Frustrated! The Help screen doesn't help much - I need a step-by-step I guess. I worked in FTM2009 looking at how my revised sources came across. FTM2009 is so slow! I posted Free eBook - "How to Use Technology to Strengthen Family Ties" and at 11:15 had lunch, gathered the laptop and flash drive, and went off to the library for the CVGS Computer Group.

The library opened at 12 noon, and there were 8 of us there in the Conference Room (someone else reserved the Computer Lab but they didn't show up - bummer!). I hooked my laptop up to the projector, and Gary and Shirley had theirs running too. At the start, I played the I'm My Own Grandpa video. There was no useful wireless signal so we couldn't go online. There were several Windows questions, which we demonstrated using my laptop and the projector. Then we worked a bit in FTM2008 (I don't have FTM2009 or Legacy 7 on my laptop - I need to do that!), since almost everybody at the meeting had it. Gary hooked the projector to his machine and demonstrated Family Tree Builder 3.0 for everybody - he created several books of his and Wanda's ancestry. I checked at the library to see if they had the San Diego Jewish-Times available - they don't, I'll have to check the San Diego Public Library for an obituary.

I was home about 2:15, and read email, blogs and Facebook, then posted Internet Archive of Books, thanks to Jennifer's tip. I decided I'd better work on my sources some more, so I opened my report on Ancestors of Frank Seaver, searched for "vr" and then added sources for the instances that I found it in my FTM16 database. I'm not done by a long shot! I have several more reports to search and then add the sources to my database in the right places. I stopped at 4:45 because I was dozing off, so I went in to watch the news, read the paper and eat dinner.

After dinner, Linda used the computer for awhile, but I was back on at 7 p.m. and read email, blogs and Facebook, then worked on my Genealogy is Fun! presentation handout. I went looking for humor, video, poetry, prose, gifts, clip art web sites and listed them out to copy and distribute on Saturday. I wrote a post for tomorrow morning, and then this post.

Genealogy today was 10.0 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 2.0 hours writing blog posts, 0.5 hour on Facebook, 2.0 hours on CVGS activities, 1.0 hour in FTM2009 and Legacy 7, 1.5 hour working on database sources, and 2.0 hours working on the presentation handout.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/20/09

It was a big day for the country, but a quiet day for me. I really didn't do much worthwhile to advance the genealogy ball today.

I was on the computer by 7:30, read my email, blogs and Facebook, even tweeted once. I got to thinking about the moment, and posted Is this a day that will live in history? I think it probably will, especially if BHO is successful. At 8:30, I went in to watch the inauguration, and stayed with it until about after 11, when I had lunch at home. I came back to the computer, uploaded my photographs from Saturday, rotated the ones that were portrait, and wrote Tombstone Tuesday - Fred and Betty (Carringer) Seaver. Now I'm fresh out of tombstone pictures of my ancestors - at least in my digital files. I need to find the ones I know I have and scan them during Scanfest on Sunday.

I wrote the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery post on the SSDC Graveyard Rabbit blog. I checked email, blogs and Facebook again, and answered several emails, and posted the NEHGS Press Release - 2008 Databases. At around 3 p.m., I got into my database and made several genealogy reports to use to find the unchanged sources in my database, and also to identify what sources to add to my database. I uploaded some San Diego pictures to Facebook, then worked a little on the Unclaimed Persons case #66 also, and looked for Richard Nixon in the 1930 census on Ancestry without success. I worked on my Genealogy is Fun! presentation for Saturday, and have it pretty much done. I need to work some more on the handout. It was dinner time, so I came back after we ate at 6:30.

One of my correspondents had suggested looking for Ray Thompson instead of Roy/Leroy Thompson, so I worked with that for awhile. I tweeted about my Thompson problem, and right away Christopher on Facebook opened a chat window with me and we discussed the case for at least an hour. Linda needed to use the computer, so I read my book and watched TV, finally coming back at 10:45 to write this post and be done for the night.

Genealogy today was 8.5 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 2.5 hours writing blog posts, 1.5 hour on Facebook, 1.0 hour in my database, 1.5 hours on the presentation, and 1.0 hour working on the Nixon and Thompson cases.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/19/09

This started out to be a really good genealogy day, then life happened. It was great!

I was up early and on the computer by 7:30, reading email, blogs and Facebook. I decided to blog about More on Originals, Images and Indexes with links to some APG list posts. I thought about it all night, actually. I got cleaned up, did a tweet to Facebook, answered some emails, and then dug into transcribing more of the Ranslow Smith probate records. I got the Letters, Bond and Administration done.

I ate lunch, then worked a bit in my database about the Ranslow Smith family - added some sources and information about the two adopted children. Since I was in the database already, I worked for several hours getting sources out of the place names and into the sources. That takes a bit of time for each person - I may have touched 300 people today, some with two or three sources to enter. I made some reports to try to determine what entries I missed and worked through that for awhile. Finally, at 4:00, Linda said she needed to do email so I went in to read the paper, watch the news and take a nap before dinner.

The doorbell rang at 5:15 and it was my old friend, Father Jack, who Linda had invited for dinner without telling me. We had a nice visit, then a great ham dinner, with angel food cake and ice cream and berries at the end, even champagne. Linda found out that she's allergic to champagne, unfortunately, and had to retire. Father Jack left at around 8, and I had an hour to check email, blogs and Facebook and post Blogs are great for venting...by readers. I really do feel sorry for the Ancestry.com bloggers and staff. Then it was time for 24, then the dishes, back for email, blogs and Facebook, this post and I'm done!

Genealogy today was 8.5 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 0.5 hour on Facebook, 2.0 hours writing blog posts, and 5.0 hours in my database.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/18/09

This was a much more typical Sunday than usual - I did very little genealogy work and sort of loafed most of the day.

I watched the news until 8:10 a.m., but couldn't stomach Meet the Press or fox News Sunday, so I read my email and blogs before getting ready for church. We were home by 11:30, and I helped Linda sort out some of her papers. Finally at 12:05, I got to start writing the Best of the Genea-Blogs post for last week (and I just saw that it needs editing!). Then it was off to the recliner for football! I dozed through the 3rd quarter of Arizona-Eagles, but saw the 4th quarter and all of the Steelers-Ravens game. We had dinner watching the game, and I came in to the computer after 7 p.m.

I read email, blogs and Facebook, then posted The Last Will and Testament of Ranslow Smith (1805-1875) from my FHL research, along with some commentary. I was intrigued by Mary Sanborn again, and easily found her and her family in the 1860, 1870, 1880, 1885 Iowa, 1900 and 1910 census records. They were in Howard County, Iowa the whole time and had 11 children. I wonder if anybody is looking for Mary's ancestry? If so, I don't know it, but I know where she was in 1850! Then I went in to watch Desperate Housewives.

Back at 10 p.m., I read email, blogs, Facebook and wrote this post. I'm done!

Genealogy today was 4.5 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 0.5 hour on Facebook, 2.0 hours writing blog posts and 1.0 hour doing online research.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/17/09

This was not the typical Saturday genealogy day for me. I really didn't do much. Or so I thought!

I was up real early - 6 a.m. for some reason, and was on the computer by 6:30. I read email and blogs, then posted Papers, Images, Indexes and Searches (written the night before). After cleaning up, I gathered my laptop and took off for the Men's Bible Study at 8 a.m. in National City and then went to the CGSSD meeting at UCSD in La Jolla, getting there late at 9:15 a.m. That lasted until 12 noon, and I drove through McDonald's for lunch, then up to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery to visit and photograph the graves of my parents, then many other graves there, some San Diego scenes too, then drove back through Point Loma to Shelter Island and Harbor Island for more scenery pictures and was home by 2:15 p.m.

Once home, I read email, blogs and Facebook, then posted CGSSD Meeting Highlights - DNA and DVDs about the CGSSD events. I posted seven jokes from my email to Randy's Busy Life, played with Ancestry searches a bit, then went in to take a nap, read the paper and watch TV. At 6 p.m., we went out to dinner to Daphne's, then to Coldstone for ice cream, and we were home by 7:15 p.m.

I did email, blogs and Facebook, then read some of the Ancestry.com blog comments about searches and indexing. Wow. I posted Saturday Night Fun - When, Where and What is Randy Doing? I figured that I had better do something useful, so I worked on my Project M data - putting it in the database for Ed and his brothers. Then this post and I'm done - I'm sleepy and need my rest before the football games tomorrow.

Genealogy today was 9.5 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 1.0 hours writing blog posts, 0.5 hour on Twitter/Facebook, 3.0 hours at the CGSSD meeting, 1.0 hour at Fort Rosecrans taking pictures, 1.0 hour working on Ancestry searches, and 2.0 hours working on Project M.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/16/09

Another good genealogy day - lots of things to do! I even got some real research and database entry done.

I was on the computer by 8:15 a.m., and read email and blogs, then posted Article Index to "Mayflower Descendant" 1899 to 2008 and Thank you, Dick Eastman! Linda had more papers for me to work on, so I did that for awhile. I got cleaned up and ready to go out, had lunch at home, and went for my walk with George on the bayfront - we go about two miles past several restaurants and playgrounds and marinas - saw a guy in a wet suit swimming today in the marina - it was 76 F outside. I stopped at the bank, and was home by 1 p.m.

I checked email, blogs, Facebook and Twitter, and posted Checking out the Family History Library - Post 2 before starting in on transcribing the Ranslow Smith probate records from Dodge County WI and Andrew County MO. Linda needed more corrections to her papers too. Before I knew it, it was 5 p.m. and time for my nap, read the paper, watch the news and eat dinner. I was back on the computer by 7 p.m.

I decided to try to find Lucius/Louis and Mary Jane Sanford (MJ was born 1838 in NY, daughter of Ranslow Smith, apparently) in the 1860 and 1870 census records, and was completely stymied by (probably) a lack of records. Very frustrating. How does that happen? I thought about it for awhile and wrote a piece that will go up tomorrow morning. I checked everything one more time, then wrote this post.

Genealogy today was 7.5 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 2.0 hours writing blog posts, 0.5 hour on Twitter/Facebook, 2.0 hours on probate records, and 2.0 hours researching in census records.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/15/09

Another genea-blogalicious day...with a TGSG chat thrown in for good luck.

I was on the computer by 8:15 a.m., had my email and blogs read, and Linda needed something typed and sent to the church office in a hurry, so I did that. Finally, I posted Checking out the Family History Library - Post 1 and then remembered that I had a Goodrich retiree lunch to attend at 11 - that ruined the plan to go to Fort Rosecrans for pictures and the FHC for film reading. I went to lunch and was back by 12:45.

After reading blogs and email and Facebook, I posted How will the economy affect genealogy? and then worked for about an hour on my Project M find - a wife's maiden name. I couldn't find her family in the 1900 or 1880 census with any surety. I messed around on Twitter for awhile, then went in and tried to read my TGSG article for tonight, but I dozed off, missed the Bush speech, and when I awoke we had dinner.

I came back to the computer at 6:15, read the article, and we had the chat from 7 to 8:30 p.m. I checked email, blogs and Facebook, then posted my Carnival posting A Winter non-photo essay. Linda needed more typing, so I did that, wrote this post and it's time for the dishes, the news and bed.

Genealogy today was 8.0 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 2.5 hours writing blogs, 0.5 hour on Facebook/Twitter, 2.0 hour on Project M, 2.0 hour on TGSG chat.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/14/09

Ah, back in the genealogy saddle again - blog all day, go to the library, work on a presentation tonight - life is good!

I read my email and blogs soon after 8 a.m. and posted Family Photographs - Post 38: Mom as a Young Lady and FHL Computer Subscription Websites before downloading my pictures and record images from the trip. I labeled the pictures, and put the record images in the right places in my new digital filing system. I printed out some of the images, and printed out my Genea-Musings posts about the trip for the CVGS Research Group meeting. Finally, I posted CGSSD Meeting on Saturday 1/17 - Make a DVD of Your Family History Research.

I left at 11:30 a.m. for the post office and the library. We started the Research Group meeting at 12:10 p.m. with 12 people attending. I took some time to talk about the trip, then we went around the table with our recent activities, problems and show-and-tell things. I was home by 2:30 p.m., and emailed the Genealogy News of the Month to the email list and posted it on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog. I found an I'm My Own Grandpa video already on my computer - I need it for my presentation next week. I registered at Family Pursuit and uploaded a GEDCOM file to see how it works. I checked in on Facebook and Twitter, and went in at 5 p.m. to watch the news, read the paper, take a nap and have dinner.

I was back to the computer at 7 p.m., and printed out the CVGS newsletter and the TGSG article for Thursday's chat. Then I wrote the CVGS Research Group Summary and posted the note CVGS Research Group Summary and Monthly Genealogy News Summary on Genea-Musings in a blatant attempt to get some hits for the Genealogy Cafe blog. I worked on the Genealogy is Fun! presentation for almost two hours, and have it almost done.

Genealogy today was 11.0 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 0.5 hour on Facebook, 2.5 hours writing blog posts, 1.0 hour downloading SLC images and printing things out, 2.5 hours on CVGS activities, 1.0 hour on Family Pursuit, 0.5 hour on TGSG activities, and 2.0 hours on the presentation.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/13/09

I woke up in Salt Lake City at 7:25 a.m. after the best night's sleep in six nights. My cold is finally over, I think. I jumped up, cleaned up, checked my email and blogs in a hurry, went over for breakfast, came back and packed, checked out of the hotel before 9 a.m. and waited 15 minutes for the shuttle to come for me. I was to the airport by 9:30 a.m. or so for an 11:15 flight back to San Diego. I read my Dean Koontz book all the way, and Linda picked me up just after noon.

We went for lunch at In-N-Out, and were home by 1 p.m. I checked my email and blogs, then wrote I didn't do it... Ancestry and Rootsweb are down right now and Leland is keeping score about the TGN visit. Ancestry came back up after 3 p.m., but Rootsweb is still down at 10 p.m. I wrote an email to the CVGS list about the Research Group meeting, and then checked in on Facebook and Twitter, then gave up the keyboard to Linda at 4:30. I went in to watch the news, read the paper and take a nap. We went out to dinner at 5:30 with our elderly neighbors to Panera Bread, and were home by 7:30.

I checked email, blogs, Facebook and then started writing the Genealogy News of the Month for the CVGS Research Group meeting on Wednesday. Then this post and I'm done for the night.

Genealogy today was 6.0 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 1.5 hour writing blogs, 0.5 hour on Facebook, 1.0 hour messing around on Ancestry.com, and 2.0 hours doing the Genealogy News email.

Genealogy Journal - 1/8 to 1/12, 2009

You can follow my exploits in Salt Lake City through links to my Genea-Musings posts:

* Day 1 in Salt Lake City - Thursday in SLC, highlighted by dinner with about 10 genealogists, including bloggers Pat Richley and Dick Eadtman.

* Day 2 in Salt Lake City - A Visit to TGN - Part 1 - first part of Friday at TGN, a general description of the day

* Day 2 in Salt Lake City - A Visit to TGN - Part 2 - second part of Friday at TGN, a general description of Ancestry.com and summaries of some presentations.

* Day 2 in SLC - A Visit to TGN - Part 3 - the third part for Friday at TGN - more summaries of presentations.

* Day 3 in SLC - the TGN Dinner and FTM 2009 - a recap of the Saturday evening dinner hosted by TGN

* Day 3 in SLC - the Family History Library - I spent Saturday at the Family History Library.

* Day 4 in SLC - a day of football, food and good company - I went to brunch on Sunday with the SLIG group, watched the Chargers lose to Pittsburgh, and went out to dinner with SLIG students and TGSG/ProGen study groupies.

* Day 5 in SLC - Back to the FHL, and a treat - I spent Monday at the FHL doing more research, and went out to dinner with Leland Meitzler. We talked...

Genealogy time for these five days in SLC - priceless! The camaraderie, the knowledge exchanged, the friendships made, the FHL research was well worth the trip. The highlight of my genealogy year so far...but there are 11.5 months left for even more fun!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/07/09

I was on the computer by 8:00 a.m., read my email and blogs, checked Facebook, and wrote Family Photographs - Post 37, got cleaned up, then wrote about David Lambert's 'Question of the Day' web page on NEA. I gathered up papers and stuff for the trip on Thursday, had lunch, put the stuff to transfer to CVGS officers in the car, and went off to the library for the CVGS Board meeting, stopping at the post office box.

The meeting lasted until 2 p.m., I transferred the box of books/periodicals and the notebooks I had to the other officers. I went with about 40 pounds, and came home with 2 pounds! I checked email, blogs and Facebook, then got a phone call from a local lady asking for a speaker at her retirement center. I wrote an email to the CVGS board about it. I wrote a post for the South San Diego County Graveyard Rabbit blog. I worked until 5 p.m. but have no clue what else I did...

After dinner, Linda was on the computer until 8 p.m., and then I wrote the 99+ Genealogy Things meme post and a scheduled post for tomorrow, then this post. I packed my suitcase (have to put my genealogy papers in the suitcase, the laptop case is full of stuff!) and the laptop case.

Genealogy today was 8.0 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 0.5 hour on Facebook, 2.5 hours writing blog posts, 3.0 hours on CVGS things, 1.0 hour organizing the papers and electronics, etc.

I probably will not post on this blog until I get back on 1/13 from Salt Lake city. I will try to post daily about my activities in SLC on Genea-Musings.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/06/09

I was on the computer by 9 a.m., read my email and blogs, and posted my Tombstone Tuesday blog - I'm running out of cemetery photographs in digital form - I need to find my file of printed pictures and scan them. I checked in on Facebook and Twitter, and posted the Transitional and Professional Genealogists Study Groups Information about the two groups that I belong to.

I have only two days before I go to SLC, so I went through my piles of papers to find the folders with information on my current research for the Hoax, Knapp, Newton, and several other families, plus my list of Books To Read, my ahnentafel list, and my Surname sources list. Oops, that's about 3 inches of paper - I'll have to put it in the suitcase and not the laptop case! I also updated my last LiveRoots.com post responding to Illya's comment.

After lunch, I worked on some CVGS things, read the last six months of Rootsweb Reviews, then did some more searching for my Project L client, and found useful information on Ancestry and Rootsweb. By the time 5 p.m. rolled around, I was ready to watch TV, read the paper and eat dinner.

I didn't get back to the computer until 7:45 (Linda had lots of church stuff to do - I forget that I could use the laptop...). When I did, I printed off a bunch of FHL Catalog pages for books and films at the FHL that I want to look at. Then I browsed through WorldVitalRecords and Footnote databases to see what has been added recently. I find both of them difficult to use efficiently. Neither WebTree or FamilyHistoryLink work for me now for some reason - time for another rant, I guess. I posted about Catching up with Rootsweb Review before writing this post.

Genealogy today was 9.5 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 1.5 hours writing blog posts, 1.0 hour on CVGS, 1.5 hour on Project L research, 0.5 hour reading Rootsweb Review, 1.0 hour browsing through databases, and 3.0 hours preparing for my FHL visit.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/05/09

This was almost all genealogy all day...I have the sinking feeling that I missed something though.

I was on the computer by 8:30 a.m. reading email and blogs, then posted Are imaging services missing NARA records? I fear that they are, and something should be done about it. I checked in on Facebook, tweeted once, and worked a bit on my Project L client research - I found the right Dix family in Illinois! I posted about Michael John Neill's Find Famous People Contest and spent about 30 minutes looking for the elusive Thomas Alva Edison in the 1870 census, without luck. Then it was lunch time, and I went off to the library for CVGS Table Talk with John and Dearl. I found the Pennsylvania Line book that I mentioned on the cruise posts, and copied some pages from it. I was home by 2:45 after stopping at the store and the gas station.

I worked a bit more on Edison without success, and a bit more on Dix with more success. At 5, I went in to watch TV, read the paper, have dinner and watch football. I took food to our neighbors who are housebound now. I was back on the computer at 6:30, wrote the CVGS monthly activities post, my newsletter articles, and answered four emails - including one to a Sever researcher who might be a Y-DNA match. Or not... we'll see. After writing Preparing to Visit the FHL in SLC post, I wrote this post.

Genealogy today was 10.0 hours - 1.0 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 0.5 hour on Twitter/Facebook, 1.0 hour on the Edison hunt, 1.5 hours on the Project L work, 2.5 hours on CVGS activities, 2.0 hours writing blog posts, and 1.0 hour preparing for the SLC trip.

Ah, I missed the Texas/Ohio State football game. I wonder who won?

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/04/09

If it's Sunday, then there's church, football and genealogy in about that order.

I read my email and blogs before church, and when we got home at 11:45 I watched football and had lunch. I read blogs at 12:45 and wrote the Best of the Genea-Blogs post - it took an hour or so. Then it was back to the tube to watch the second game, read the paper and take a nap. Linda is much worse today with cough and throat, so I went down to the drug store for cough syrup and then to Olive Garden to get food - minestrone soup for her, spaghetti and meatballs for me. I was home by 5:30, we ate, and she pretty much went to bed.

I came into the computer at 6:15 and worked on the LiveRoots.com post. I figure that I need to get some research plans together for SLC next weekend, so I wrote up William Knapp and Thomas J. Newton. Only 4 or 5 more to do! Then I tried to answer some emails - I lost some emails when my computer crashed in early 2007, but I found some of the earlier emails about Peter Sever of Burlington County NJ. Where did the time go?

Genealogy today was 5.0 hours - 0.5 hour on email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 1.5 hours writing blog posts, 1.5 hours doing research plans, and 1.0 hour doing Sever research.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 01/03/09

This was not a major genealogy research day at all - some blogging and that was about it due to Tami's family being here and the Chargers game in the evening.

I was up early, and left at 7:45 for my Men's Bible study breakfast. I was home by 9:30 and played with Audrey for awhile. I read my email and blogs, tweeted once, and wrote SDGS Seminar and Luncheon Features Lloyd Bockstruck. I worked in www.liveroots.com for awhile, played more with Audrey, helped T&J pack, and we went off to lunch at Carl's Jr. - Lolo was there too. They went off towards home and we were back by 12:45 p.m. I posted World War II Heroes Pages on Footnote and then worked on the 99 Things Meme and set it to post later. I wrote my NFL Picks for the wild card games too on Randy's Busy Life. Finally, I set up the Saturday Night Fun - Census Whacking post and set it for even later. There was method to this madness...the Chargers game was on tonight!

At 3, I went in to watch the Atlanta-Arizona game, read the paper, take a nap, and get ready for the Chargers game. It started after 5 and went until almost 9 p.m. - we won 23-17 in overtime versus the Colts. At 9 I came back to the computer, read email and blogs and Facebook friends, tweeted several times, and wrote this post.

Genealogy today was 5.5 hours - 0.5 hour on email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 0.5 hour on Twitter/Facebook, 0.5 hour on LiveRoots.com, 0.5 hour on footnote.com, and 3.0 hours writing blog posts.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 1/2/09

This was pretty much a frustrating genealogy day. I had high hopes, but they were dashed by the Internet gods who decreed that Blogger and Facebook would not work from 12 noon until about 6 p.m.

After email and blog reading, I watched Barbara Renick's Ancestry.com tutorials, and then posted Barbara Renick's Ancestry.com Tutorials - obviously a creative title! I read the MyHeritage PR and went to the site, downloaded FamilyTreeBuilder 3.0, and then wrote MyHeritage goes commercial. Too bad... I tested FTB3.0 some, checked Facebook and Twitter (made it sync with FB) then went out for lunch, to the library and the bank, and was home by 12:30. When I got home, I wanted to update the MyHeritage post and went to the Tamura Jones site and downloaded Firefox, which immediately took over my Internet browsing. Then I found that Blogger went down, and I found that Facebook was down too, at least for me. I Twittered a bit and got some responses about it. Thinking maybe it was my system, I rebooted, then ran McAfee, then made Internet Explorer my browser again, and rebooted again. I took the downtime opportunity to unpack and test my Digital Audio Recorder and do my Y-DNA swab and got it ready to mail. At about 2:30 p.m. I realized that I just had to wait it out.

I spent a while working on my Genealogy is Fun presentation on OpenOffice, modifying the former version and adding more content from the 2005 talk. Tami, James and Audrey came at 4 p.m., so I entertained Audrey. T&J went out for the evening at 5 p.m., we put Audrey down for a nap and had dinner, then played with Audrey when she woke up. When I came back to the computer at 6:30, everything worked fine. I fed Audrey, got her jammies on and she went to bed at 7:30. I posted the update to the MyHeritage post, then wrote 2008 Genea-Musings Review in 12 sentences. I checked on Footnote and downloaded the Thomas Dill RevWar pension file, then checked the 1900 US Census for my Carringer family. I found that the new index has it spelled Caninger, with a correction as Caringer. So much for progress - the FS Indexers got that one wrong - it was right on Ancestry previously!

Genealogy today was 8.5 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 2.0 hours writing blog posts, 0.5 hour Twitting and Facebooking, 0.5 hour testing FTB3.0, 0.5 hour on the DNA test, 1.0 hour on the Digital Audio Recorder, 1.5 hours on the presentation, and 1.5 hours doing research.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Genealogy Journal - 12/31/2008 and 1/1/2009

The New Year's Eve party last night prevented my usual daily post, so I'll try to condense two days in one post.

On Wednesday, I posted Family Photographs, The Proximidade Award, What's Coming Soon at Ancestry.com? , Are Any Other Genea-bloggers Twittering? (yep, they are!) and Best of Genea-Musings for 2008. I also posted three Holiday Luncheon blogs on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe. In addition to blogging, I played a bit with Twitter and Facebook, worked on sources in my Master database, and answered some long-overdue emails (and now have replies from all of them...more emails to send out now). I sent my column off to the editor (we'll see how the editing goes...). We went out to the church Progressive dinner (4 houses in 6 hours) at 6 p.m., home after 12:15 a.m.

Genealogy time for Wednesday was 7.5 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 0.5 hour on Facebook, 1.0 hour on Twitter, 1.0 hour preparing reports for email, 1.0 hour on database sources, and 3.0 hours writing blog posts.

On Thursday, I was up by 8 a.m. and read email and blogs after breakfast. I worked on the Genealogy Goals for 2009 for awhile, then checked Facebook and Twitter (I found many other genea-tweeters!). I decided to go through the collected paper of four years of CVGS stuff - and threw out about 15 inches worth. I organized my notebook, filled it with the useful stuff, and have sorted the other stuff I want to keep in folders. I went in and watched the 2nd quarter of USC-PSU and came back to read genealogy stuff, then did my ProGen reading assignment before dinner. After dinner, I wrote Genea-Musings Traffic for 2008 and then had my ProGen chat. The computer acted funny - couldn't open email or word processor - so I rebooted. Seems OK now. Musta been all that heavy blog traffic links. Read Facebook, Twitter, blogs and email and I'm done!

Genealogy on Thursday was 9.0 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 0.5 hour on Facebook, 0.5 hour on Twitter, 2.0 hours writing blog posts, 3.0 hours on CVGS cleanup, and 2.0 hours on ProGen activities.