Bowing Out

http://www.ancestryinsider.org/2017/05/a-fond-farewell.html

Another one of the pillars of the genealogical blogging community is bowing out. The Ancestry Insider, for an unstated reason other than the time commitment involved, is saying goodbye. The Ancestry Insider joins Thomas MacEntee of GeneaBloggers.com in retiring from the online blogging world. See "Major Changes At GeneaBloggers.com." Actually, from my perspective, the field of active bloggers dating back to the time when I started is looking pretty thin. Many of those original bloggers are still officially onboard, but their blogs have not been active for some time.

Back in 1776, Edward Gibbon (b. 1737, d. 1794) published the first volume of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. The last volume in the series was published in 1789. Quoting from the Wikipedia article on the book:

Because of its relative objectivity and heavy use of primary sources, unusual at the time, its methodology became a model for later historians. This led to Gibbon being called the first "modern historian of ancient Rome"

Interestingly, a six-volume set of the hardcover book is for sale from Barnes and Noble for $1,176.88.

I mention this book for several reasons. I am beginning to think that I am chronicling the rise and fall of genealogical blogging. On the other hand, given the number of blog posts I have written (currently 4831), I believe I may have passed The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in the number of words written. By the way, I usually give a citation to the book, but there are well over a thousand different entries for the Gibbon book in WorldCat.org and I don't think I can guess which of the citations is the most common one.

I am still not ready to concede that blogging about genealogy is a dead issue. I am still online in most of the major social networking programs and I am approaching 100 online videos on the BYU Family History Library YouTube Channel. For reasons I have stated previously, I am not about to abandon the blogging venue for Facebook which I still find to be highly annoying at times. Genealogy as a pursuit is going to be around for a long time and probably a lot longer than I will be alive. But as long as I am still able to sit up and take nourishment, I will keep writing.

Bach and Genealogy

Gavotte from the first notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (French suite No.5, G major, BWV 816) Taken from the Bach Gesamtausgabe (BGA), vol. 44 [B.W. XLIV]: "Joh. Seb. Bach's handschrift" (Joh.Seb.Bach's manuscripts), Originally published by the Bach-Gesellschaft in Leipzig, 1895. This image is in the public domain.

While I am writing or doing genealogical research, I like to listen to Bach. I am especially partial to the collection of pieces called the French Suite. When I was young, I was not particularly involved in music. As I grew older, I became more and more involved. At one point, I briefly considered becoming a professional musician and actually got some jobs singing and playing the guitar. I loved rock and roll and then started a lifetime interest in folk music that lingers until today. I have sung both in solo performances and choirs for nearly my entire life.

What does this have to do with genealogy? Well, for me, it turns out that it has quite a bit to do with genealogy. When I was well into my 20s, one afternoon, I was listening to the radio and heard a program of Bach organ music. Up to that point, music had been a "hobby/" I was not particularly involved in the serious technical side of music even though I had learned to play a few instruments and even taken piano, flute, and guitar lessons. The key to becoming more than casually involved was when, as I listened, really listened to the Bach pieces, I realized that I had missed a whole world of music. Music was a very complex and challenging pursuit. The complexity of Bach opened my mind to a whole new world. Here is an example of what I have found.

J.S.Bach - French Suites

Essentially, I had the same experience when I started to become involved in genealogical research. At first, if was more of a hobby than a passion. Over time, I became aware of the complexity of the research process and the challenges. My casual interest evolved into a more intense interest and then a passion. I even considered becoming a "professional" genealogist. But for some of the same reasons I did not pursue a music career, I decided against trying to make genealogy into a business or profession. So now, I listen to Bach while I am writing or doing genealogical research. However, I do find that when I really get involved in my research, I cannot have any distractions, even Bach. 

Unique Genealogical Highlights of the Brigham Young University Family History Library -- Part Two

Large libraries, such as the Harold B. Lee Library (the Lee Library) at the Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, share the same challenges for researchers. The Library's collections are spread over the huge physical area of the Library. The BYU Family History Library is not part of FamilySearch.org, although both organizations are sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although the BYU Family History Library is not an integral part of FamilySearch.org, the two organization cooperate closely. The volunteers who serve the patrons in the BYU Family History Library are Church Service Missionaries for the Church and are designated as Family History Missionaries. There are also a small number of people who are volunteers and are not also missionaries. Because the BYU Family History Library is part of the Harold B. Lee Library, the Director of the BYU Family History Library and the staff are paid employees of the University. The Director is a University Professor.

It is important to understand these relationships when doing research in the Library because of scheduling issues and the type of support available to researchers at any given time. For example, the volunteer missionary support staff serve each week divided into 16 separate, usually, five-hour shifts. While you are doing research in the Library, the support staff will be changing every few hours. In addition, the Lee Library has very extended hours, normally from around 7:00 a.m. until midnight six days a week. The main Lee Library is closed on Sundays but the BYU Family History Library is open on the second and fourth Sundays of each month except for holidays and school schedules. Let's just say that the schedule of the Library is very complicated and even the staff and missionaries can get confused sometimes. For this reason, it is very important to check the Library schedule online before planning a visit. Finding the schedule on the Lee Library's website is usually a challenge. Here is the link and if you are going to the Library, the best way to find the schedule is to do a Google search for it.

https://lib.byu.edu/about/hours/

Here is a sample of a current Library schedule.

You might notice a few anomalies such as the Lee Library opens on Saturdays at 8:00 a.m. rather than 7:00 a.m. The BYU Family History Library is open during the general operating hours of the Lee Library, but the volunteer/missionaries are only there from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Fridays and from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sundays and as I mentioned, the BYU Family History Library is open on the 2nd and 4th Sundays for classes except when it isn't.

REMEMBER: The Library schedule will change for holidays, the school academic calendar and other scheduled activities. For example, during the summer, BYU hosts a number of huge seminar activities such as Education Week and the BYU Conference on Family History and Genealogy. These events and many others may alter the schedule of the Library including the BYU Family History Library.

If you are looking for specific help with your genealogical research, it is also a good idea to contact the BYU Family History Library in advance and see if there is someone who will be available to help with your particular needs. There are a large number of country and area specialists who can help you with your research but because of the schedule of the Library, they may not be on any one particular shift. In some cases, you can make an appointment to meet with a specialist.

By the way, the Library is not at all unique in having such a complex schedule. The Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah also has a complex schedule and expert help also depends on that schedule and the availability of any one individual. In my experience, having worked in and with many libraries, a researcher will face exactly the same issues in every library.

The next challenge for researchers is to determine the availability, content, and location of the Library's collections. The main entry to the collections is the Library Catalog. The Lee Library Catalog is online and contains almost all of the Library's collections and resources. I say "almost all" because, in any library, there are always resources that are not fully cataloged. There is no substitute for "poking around" in the Library's collections and looking for additional resources depending on access and availability. It is also a good idea to ask a lot of questions and find the people who have the experience. In my experience with libraries around the U.S., I have been told that certain items I requested were not in a library only to find out that they actually were there all the time.

Now, because the BYU Family History Libary is part of the larger Lee Library, not all of the family history or genealogy related materials are located in the family history part of the Library. In fact, pertinent research materials are scattered across most the collections of the Library and could be on any floor and in any section of the Library. In essence, when you go to the BYU Family History Library, you are really working with the entire BYU library system. It is also a good idea to realize that the Library is physically really big and has multiple floor levels. You might end up doing a significant amount of walking to find all of the pertinent materials.

Even before you go to any large library, you should become very well acquainted with the library's catalog. Spend some time looking up possible research topics but always keep in mind that there may be more resources in the library than you can easily find in the catalog. If you find one item of interest in the catalog, it is a good idea to search the physical area around where that item is located for additional items. The Lee Library catalog has a feature incorporated in the online catalog that allows the researcher to do a "virtual" search of the shelves around any item found. Here is a screenshot showing the virtual shelf feature. The feature is called "Browse nearby items."

I searched for "Grayson County Texas History" and then clicked on the "Browse nearby items" feature. Here is a screenshot of my initial search with an arrow pointing to the browse link.

The browse feature lets you search up and down to see adjacent items. In this case, I see several other interesting items. When you go to the physical shelves, you can then see the actual items.

In my next installment, I will begin to explore some of the unique genealogical resources found the in the Library.

The previous post in this series.

http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com/2017/05/unique-genealogical-highlights-of.html

Genealogy One Byte at a Time -- Part Four

For some time now, there have been studies correlating a decline in text-editing capabilities with an age-related learning difficulty. Quoting from the following book,

Rogers, Wendy A., Arthur D. Fisk, and Neff Walker. 2014. Aging and Skilled Performance: Advances in Theory and Applications. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1645481.

Egan and Gomez (1985) conducted a series of experiments concerned with identifying and isolating individual differences in learning a text editing task. They found that age was a significant predictor of learning difficulty. Age was related to [the] number of first try errors and execution time per successful text change such that errors and execution time increased with age. The participants in their studies ranged in age from 28 to 62 years. In terms of isolating the components of text editing that accounted for learning difficulty, they found that age was associated with difficulty producing the correct sequence of symbols and patterns to accomplish the desired editing change. This finding supports the conjecture that age-related decrements in memory may contribute to learning difficulties. The text editor was command based and necessitated remembering a command language and producing a complicated command syntax. In fact, they found that when a display editor was used, in which changes were made by positioning the cursor at the location of change and using labeled function keys rather than a command language, the predictive power of age, with respect to the difficulty of learning, was greatly reduced.

Although this particular study dates back to the 1980s, there is a positive correlation between participation in genealogically related activities and the decline in learning difficulty referenced in this study. Not only does genealogical research require a significant amount of what the study calls "text editing" but it also requires advanced motor skills. In this regard, the Sage Journals have produced a review of this book with an extensive list of related references. See Technology and Aging. Nearly all of those publications listed are available on Google Scholar.

One fact that seems to be discounted, however, is that some of these older adults began using computers when they were much younger. In my own case, for example, I began using computers back in the 1970s. As a result, I have over 40 years of computer background. For me and many of my cohorts, using computers is not an issue of acquiring new skills but in maintaining old skills.

If doing genealogical research was merely the equivalent of an online computer game than you would certainly see a dramatic difference between young users and older ones with younger users having the advantage. But as I have pointed out previously, genealogical research involves a broad spectrum of skills and is not particularly dependent on small motor skills such as those that are used in playing online games. In developing genealogically important research skills we are not teaching monkeys to push buttons.

What I have noticed is that the gradually progressive cognitive decline that accompanies dementia-related conditions such as Alzheimer's disease have a negative impact on an individual's ability to operate and conceptualize the visual interface used by computers. My own father died of dementia-related issues. I was able to observe his decline in cognitive function over a ten-year period. For reference, see the following:

Albert, Marilyn S. et al. “The Diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment due to Alzheimer’s Disease: Recommendations from the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer’s Association Workgroups on Diagnostic Guidelines for Alzheimer’s Disease.” Alzheimer’s & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer’s Association 7.3 (2011): 270–279. PMC. Web. 17 May 2017.

In my continued contact with thousands of patrons over the years, my personal observation is that a decline in genealogical research skills may be a valid predictor of the symptomatic predementia phase of Alzheimer's disease. The tragedy here is that a lack of adequate diagnostic tools for identifying early dementia-related illness results in a general impression that all older adults are incapable of adequately functioning in a complex environment such as online research conducted for genealogical purposes. This unwarranted assumption results in a complete lack of interest in developing genealogical software that addresses the needs of older adults.

In addition, it is entirely possible that much of the frustration suffered by some researchers with regard to arbitrary changes to online family trees and other issues may find their origin in cognitive impairment.

As I have repeatedly pointed out, genealogical research is a highly complex skill that requires a number of associated skills. In my own experience, I find that young people seldom have the interest, time, or motivation to acquire these skills. But unfortunately, at the other end of the spectrum, older adults who have the skill set necessary may lose it due to the onset of cognitive difficulties associated with memory related illnesses.

Here are the previous posts in this series

http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com/2017/05/genealogy-one-byte-at-time-part-three.html
http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com/2017/04/genealogy-one-byte-at-time-part-two.html
http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com/2017/04/genealogy-one-byte-at-time-part-one.html

Genealogy is not a competition sport

Several years ago in a previous post, I made the observation that genealogy is not a competition sport. At the time, the comment was made in a discussion about the common question I hear concerning the number of people in my genealogy file. In genealogy, the person with the most names does not win anything. By adding names from other online family trees, I suppose I could amass hundreds of thousands of names. The reality of trying to work with such large numbers is more than overwhelming, it is virtually impossible.

When reporting about genealogical activities, news stories commonly mention the number of people found or the number accumulated. Historically, the number of names indicated the time involved in doing research and was an external indication of effort. In today's electronically based world, the number of names in a particular file is meaningless. For example, I work with the FamilySearch.org Family Tree. How many "names" do I have in my file? 1.2 billion? Well, in reality, yes. I am working with a unified family tree program and I do have about 1.2 billion names to work with. How many of these am I related to? In a real sense, potentially, all of them. So what? The next time someone asks me that question, I now know the answer: 1.2 billion.

In finding one name to add to my family tree, I may expend more effort and be more successful than someone who adds thousands. How do we measure success in genealogy? I suggest that we should be more focused on quality than quantity. I further suggest that we focus on the accuracy of the work rather than the most remote ancestor located. Of course, that reference is to the second most common question that asks how far back I have traced my ancestry. There are still people who are impressed with long lines even when they are pure fantasy.

If there is some human activity, someone will figure out a way to make it into a competitive sport. I used to be very much involved in rock climbing. Now, it is going to be an Olympic sport. I did it for the challenge and the exercise. I would probably have stopped if I had guessed that it would one day be a competitive sport. I would probably stop doing my genealogy also if I really believed that I was involved in some sort of competition. I am attracted to genealogy because it is not a competitive sport.

Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it (including genealogists)

The actual quote, which I have used before in posts, is "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." See George Santayana 16 December 1863 in Madrid, Spain. Here is the entire quote:

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

As usual, this particular topic was suggested by comments and circumstances in course of teaching or helping people with their genealogical research. Old people in the United States may have had one or two classes on history in high school and a smattering of history in grade school. Younger people have been deprived of almost any formal education about history. They now have "social studies" which consists primarily of polemic on social issues such as racial and gender equality. This lack of formal, historical education results in a dismal inability to put genealogical research into context.

One of the many lamentable instances of historical blindness was a pedigree that I reviewed this past week where the people as being born in Austria during the latter part of the 1800s. Lack of historical context is confounded by a lack of geographic awareness. Here is a short explanation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the Wikipedia: Austria-Hungary:

Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire in English-language sources, was a constitutional union of the Austrian Empire (the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council, or Cisleithania) and the Kingdom of Hungary (Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen or Transleithania) that existed from 1867 to 1918, when it collapsed as a result of defeat in World War I. The union was a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and came into existence on 30 March 1867. Austria-Hungary consisted of two monarchies (Austria and Hungary), and one autonomous region: the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown, which negotiated the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement (Nagodba) in 1868. It was ruled by the House of Habsburg, and constituted the last phase in the constitutional evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. Following the 1867 reforms, the Austrian and the Hungarian states were co-equal. Foreign affairs and the military came under joint oversight, but all other governmental faculties were divided between respective states. 

Austria-Hungary was a multinational state and one of the world's great powers at the time. Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire, at 621,538 km2 (239,977 sq mi),[5] and the third-most populous (after Russia and the German Empire). The Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry of the world, after the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom.[6]Austria-Hungary also became the world's third largest manufacturer and exporter of electric home appliances, electric industrial appliances and power generation apparatus for power plants, after the United States and the German Empire.[7][8] 

After 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under Austro-Hungarian military and civilian rule[9] until it was fully annexed in 1908, provoking the Bosnian crisis among the other powers.[10] Sandžak/Raška, de jure northern part of the Ottoman Sanjak of Novi Pazar (in modern-day Montenegro and Serbia), was also under de facto joint occupation during that period but the Austro-Hungarian army withdrew as part of their annexation of Bosnia.[11]The annexation of Bosnia also led to Islam being recognized as an official state religion due to Bosnia's Muslim population.[12] 

Austria-Hungary was one of the Central Powers in World War I. It was already effectively dissolved by the time the military authorities signed the armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918. The Kingdom of Hungary and the First Austrian Republic were treated as its successors de jure, whereas the independence of the West Slavs and South Slavs of the Empire as the First Czechoslovak Republic, the Second Polish Republic and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, respectively, and most of the territorial demands of the Kingdom of Romania were also recognized by the victorious powers in 1920.

I have left in all the links and footnotes on purpose for this example. Where did these people who were listed as being born in Austria really live? That is the first and most difficult challenge faced by a genealogical researcher when faced with an American "interpretation" of European history and politics summarized in a birth or death place.

Can we continue to pretend that genealogical research is somehow exempt from historical constraints?  Breaking out of this fog of ignorance takes a great deal of time and effort. Are we really concerned with discovering our ancestry or creating a simplified fable?

If your ancestry starts in the United States (or any other country), take the time to read a book or two on the history of that country. If you are doing research in a particular state or region, study the boundary changes and other historical issues that influence where and how the records were kept. Genealogy is really a lifetime of learning and study. No one is ever really finished with their ancestral investigations.

1st Annual Conference of the Sons and Daughters of the U.S. Middle Passage

The Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage (SDUSMP) is holding their first annual conference at the Rider University North Hall, 20823 Lawrenceville, Lawrenceville, New Jersey on May 20, 2017. Information about attending the conference can be obtained from their Facebook Page. My daughter Amy Tanner Thiriot is presenting at the conference. This may be her first conference appearance as a presenter. Membership in the society is encouraged for the following:

Any person is eligible for membership in the National Society of the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage (SDUSMP) who is not less than eighteen years of age, and who is directly and lineally descendent from a man or woman who is of African-descent and was forced into slavery in the United States of America, including its colonial days, prior to the end of slavery as marked by the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, effective December 1865.

The mission of the organization is as follows:

Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage (SDUSMP) is a lineage society that is a non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to the memory, education, and historic preservation of the artifacts and landmarks of slavery in the United States and its economic, psychological, and cultural impact on today's society. @SDUSMP

Quoting from their Facebook page:

The objectives of the organization are Historical, Educational, Memorial, and Patriotic:
• To promote the connection of descendants of the Forced American Heroes, the American slaves of African descent, to their ancestors through genealogy research;
• To proclaim, through education, the role played by the Africans forcibly brought to United States in creating our great nation, including their patient endurance of the cruelties of American slavery, their extraordinarily strong will and spirit, and their connections to their descendants who have gone on to make our country even greater. We want to especially commemorate the connections to all black American soldiers;
• To educate the nation and world about the contribution of the descendants of enslaved;
• To cherish and to strengthen the family ties among the members of the SDUSMP; and
• To collect and preserve the materials necessary for a complete history of slavery and to protect, preserve, and mark the places of the sacrifice of these men, women, and children, including historically significant sites such as churches, battle sites, gravesites, plantations, and museums.

 The term "middle passage" refers to the sea journey undertaken by slave ships from West Africa to the West Indies.