History lesson: Don’t try to sell official county records

Paula Stuart-Warren  Archivist, Marriage records  1 Comment

Did Grandpa’s old trunk or Great Uncle Alfred’s house yield some sort of old record book from a county or state government? Maybe you have the volume labeled Marriage Record 5. Perhaps your cousin told that they had the original records of the early tax lists for the county. In many states the law prohibits the selling of such items whether online or at an antique shop. Many dealers know that they should contact the state archives or county officials if they come upon such an item.

An article in the Arkansas Times blog  tells the story of original tax records from Jefferson County, Arkansas that were being offered on Craig’s List for $10,000. Yes, you read that correctly.

Thank goodness someone saw the ad and contacted the proper authorities and the records are being returned to the county.

Read that blog post here.

Some older records that neither the county or state officials deem worth keeping may be ok for you to own. Check with officials. Better safe than sorry or embarrassed. Archivists and others check shops and online auction sites all the time for missing records.

Copyright applies to genealogy, too.

Paula Stuart-Warren  Copyright  1 Comment

Have you read a good book or article lately on the history of a certain locality? Maybe your good friend Annabelle shared several of the recipes she drafted based on her years of cooking things everyone loves to eat. Did you just attend a genealogy seminar or conference and found the handout especially helpful?

So, you want to write an article about the history of that locality and decide that the author already wrote it the way you would want to do it. You just “share” those pages in your genealogical society’s publication and your name is listed as the author of the article because you added a few things. You cook a prize-winning apple pie based on Annabelle’s recipe and share the recipe and receive $500 for “your” recipe. Oops.

Another scenario might be that you heard a speaker and loved their PowerPoint slides and handouts/syllabus material. At the end of the seminar or conference, you decide to use those handouts in the classes you teach because they are better than those you have composed. Maybe you even asked the speaker for permission to use them.

In all these cases, it’s not your material. It’s not your many years of research, time, writing, checking out websites, and the associated expenses. It’s not your trips to archives, courthouses, or the hours upon hours of verifying website links that you verified just two months before when you last gave that lecture. It’s not your testing and retesting of the apple pie recipe that grew into the excellent product.

If you don’t have enough experience or education to compile your own material, article, book, or website, then you probably shouldn’t be doing that writing or teaching. If you don’t know enough about original documents at the courthouse, state or national archives, or how to put that knowledge together, then you need more experience.

I heard a lecture about 25 years ago and was intrigued by the topic. I began to research more about it at my state archives here in Minnesota. I read scholarly articles in historical periodicals. I researched in the applicable record group at the National Archives. At one point I realized I had more info from original material of the time period than that speaker had shared. Of course, it was only one handout and one-hour lecture but I knew that my work had reached depths beyond what this person knew. I had been working in original papers that hadn’t been touched since being archived almost 50 years previously.Then and only then did I craft my lecture and handout which have undergone numerous updates due to continuing research.

If you wish to share something with another genealogist, don’t just “take” what others have compiled. Do your own research. If you think that what that other person compiled is vital to others, don’t just copy. Promote that person’s lecture, book, or article. Have a blog? Quote a couple sentences and then give a live link to the website or place to purchase the item. Don’t pretend these are your thoughts. Give that other person the credit. That wonderful family tree you found online? Ask the author if you may abstract some information and share what you have with that person. Just copying that online or otherwise published tree might cause you problems if that author didn’t do careful research or cite their sources.

Your own creations are yours. The creations of others are theirs. It’s simple. Don’t take things from other folks. Copyright protection is already there once something original is created. Do you want someone coming into your home and taking your wedding or baby album? Do you want someone taking your family tree and posting it as if they had compiled it? Do you want another website sharing what has taken you years to put together? Sharing is great. It’s a part of being a family historian. But it’s still stealing if you take something that isn’t yours. I am grateful to everyone whose work has ended up helping me in my searching. That’s as far as it goes, though. It’s still their work.

This is my last post for 2012. I hope 2013 give me more fodder for positive posts. There is so much good in our field of family history.

Wisconsin pronunciation guide is great for genealogy!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Maps, Wisconsin  Leave a comment

I was at a Christmas party this evening and had a fun time. Then I came back to my apartment and have been having fun on my computer. The Wisconsin State Cartographer’s Office has an online pronunciation guide to places all around the state. Not a written guide, but an audio presentation.

I do stumble over some of the names of Wisconsin places where my ancestors resided.

Pronounce these names and then see if you got them right by clicking here. Click on the arrow on the map and then jump around to see a variety of places. Then use the search box near the upper right corner to do more specific searches.

  • Berlin
  • New Berlin
  • Buena Vista
  • Oconomowoc
  • Peebles
  • Stoughton

I would give you more places to check but I need to go back to my own evening entertainment. Hmmm, how is Hurricane or maybe Louis Corners pronounced?

2020 census electronically? Census bureau modernizing?

Paula Stuart-Warren  census  Leave a comment

Census takes on horseback over fields, avoiding snow or mud, missing people, and possibly asking the wrong person for the information might be changing further for the 2020 U.S. Census.

The [St. Paul] Pioneer Press has this story today:

“WASHINGTON—For the first time, the Census Bureau is giving U.S. households a chance to respond to government surveys over the Internet, part of a bid to save costs and boost sagging response rates in a digital age. The new online option will supplement the traditional census mail-out operation. It is a major shift for the agency, which has relied almost exclusively on paper forms since 1970 but is now moving toward a more Internet-based system after spending a record $13 billion on the 2010 census.”

The article further states “The once-a-decade count has traditionally missed hard-to-count groups such as minorities, the homeless and the poor, who also may be less likely to have access to computers.”

But it doesn’t offer an answer to that. It does include a quote that says it doesn’t mean that it alleviates the cost and work involved to reach those segments of the population.

 Click here to read the full story. 

Give the gift of genealogy education for the holidays!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Christmas, Conferences, Federation of Genealogical Societies  Leave a comment

Did you see the great post about this on the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference News Blog on December 6th. Are relatives asking what you want for Christmas or another day? Do you want to give a special gift to someone else?

A special card has been designed that you can print and add cash, a check, or a promise to for the recipient to use toward the FGS 2013 Conference to be held in Fort Wayne, Indiana August 21-24.

Registration typically opens around February 1st but people have been asking how they can give a conference registration as a gift for one of the holidays in December. This card is the answer!

Read the full details and get the link to the card on the conference blog here.

FamilySearch Adds to Genealogy Community Fundraising Effort

Paula Stuart-Warren  FamilySearch, Federation of Genealogical Societies, War of 1812  Leave a comment

If ever something deserved a WOW and a THANK YOU, this is it! The following is excerpted from a Press Release received today from the Federation of Genealogical Societies:

November 27, 2012 – Austin, TX. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) is pleased to announce that the War of 1812 “Preserve the Pensions” Digitization Fund received a generous donation this week of $250,000 from FamilySearch, a nonprofit organization and world leader in the genealogy community. The donation helps move the Fund closer to its goal of $3.7 million in donations to digitally preserve and index the War of 1812 pension and bounty land records.

The War of 1812, often called the “Second Revolution,” was a pivotal moment in our Nation’s history. Individual states struggled to become one nation after a long-fought Revolution, and the “American Experiment” was still at a precarious stage. The strength and courage of the patriots who fought in the War of 1812 ensured that our American Revolution did not end up as a mere footnote to British history and conquest. Instead, valiant farmers, merchants, seamen, fathers, and sons became soldiers to fight for what they and their fathers had believed in: their American home.

Now, two hundred years later, the War of 1812 “Preserve the Pensions” Digitization Fund celebrates their success, honor, and memories by digitally preserving the veterans’ pension records and making them freely accessible to all online.  The initiative will digitally preserve the 180,000 War of 1812 pension records (7.2 million pages) located at NARA, and create a searchable index online. Currently, NARA receives over 3,000 patron requests per year for copies of soldiers’ files.

“The Federation is extremely grateful to FamilySearch for their generous support of this enormously important endeavor,” said Curt Witcher, vice president of development for FGS. “Linking the genealogical community, marshaling that community’s resources, preserving and making accessible records that document our heritage—all are central to the Federation’s mission. FamilySearch’s very generous pacesetting gift helps ensure that this 21st century preservation and access project is a reality.”

David Rencher, chief genealogy officer for FamilySearch, said, “FamilySearch publishes over 400 million images of historic documents online for free each year, and is honored to support community efforts like the War of 1812 ‘Preserve the Pensions’ Digitization Fund to preserve and make additional high priority historic records more widely available.”

The War of 1812 files are very valuable to family historians and genealogists because they contain rich information such as:

  • Veteran’s name and age
  • Residence
  • Widow’s name and maiden name
  • Service history and dates
  • Military rank and organization
  • If Bounty Land was granted and information on those warrants
  • Marriage information
  • Death dates for soldiers and widows
  • Additional names of neighbors and comrades

Anyone can donate to the project at www.fgs.org/1812. Each pension page costs $0.45 to digitize. Each dollar of contribution digitizes two pages. Every little bit helps. To view the FREE images already online, go to: http://go.fold3.com/1812pensions

Family Search: https://familysearch.org/
Federation of Genealogical Societies: http://www.fgs.org/

Disclosure: I am a member of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Genealogical Societies

Scotland and genealogy tourism: I’ll volunteer

Paula Stuart-Warren  Family, Scotland  Leave a comment

The Scotsman.com from Edinburgh, Scotland carried an article today titled “Scotland Urged to Refocus on Genealogy Tourism.”

“By BRIAN FERGUSON
Published on Sunday 25 November 2012 00:00

WHOEVER they think they are they deserve the red carpet treatment for a new study estimates people searching for their roots will be worth ­­­£2.4 billion to Scotland over the next five years.

The potential of so-called ancestral tourism has been outlined in a report by consultants TNS, which estimates a potential market of 50 million people of Scottish ancestry.

But services need to be improved if Scotland is to cash in, including promoting existing research facilities, specialist tour operators and the creation of budget “genealogy packages”.”

Here’s my offer: I will volunteer to be a test research tourist for this effort. My Stuart, Grant, and Forbes connections are from the area of Strathdon in Aberdeen. Robert and Mary (Grant) Stuart are my great great great grandparents. Their son James born about 1815 in that area and was later a jailer in several places in Angus. He married Helenor Edwards and had children in several places there including Arbroath. The Edwards tie into Allardyce, Leighton, and other families. Then James and Helenor came to Wisconsin with their children and descendants ended up in Minnesota, Illinois, Kansas, California, Colorado, Florida, and other places. I really need to visit both counties in Scotland and the National Archives in Edinburgh.

I need to consult some original records to make up for gaps in microfilmed records, need to visit the old “home towns” and take pictures to share, and figure out where my Stuart ancestors originated. 

Just think of all the publicity I could help them with here in the United States. I could mention my trip everywhere I lecture, in my blog, in articles in genealogy publications, on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter, in the popular press, and to my fellow family historians. I would distribute brochures every place I went. All I would require is the plane and train tickets, hotels, and of course, a guide in all the places. It could be a Christmas present to me. I am sure it will happen. Right?

Now, back to reality.

To read the full article, click here.

Minnesota Genealogy Ambassador Award

Paula Stuart-Warren  Awards, Minnesota, Minnesota Genealogical Society  2 Comments

Earlier this month at the banquet during the Minnesota Genealogical Society’s annual North Star Conference, I was presented with an award. It’s the “Minnesota Genealogy Ambassador Award for representing Minnesota on the national genealogy scene and bringing honor to Minnesota genealogy.”

It was an easy award to win and receive. Easy to win because I love Minnesota and the fantastic resources for family and social history. I love talking about my home state and those resources. I have been a member of the Minnesota Genealogical Society for 30 years (well, I did forget to renew for a time) and was one of the founders of the MGS library. Of course I promote MGS!

There are many other Minnesota residents who are also good ambassadors for the state, for Minnesota history, genealogy, and MGS. I am honored to be chosen.

Fading Military Headstones at Fort Snelling.

Paula Stuart-Warren  Cemeteries  1 Comment

Today’s [Minneapolis] StarTribune carried a sad article about the fading writing on military headstones at Fort Snelling National Cemetery here in Minnesota. It has also affected burials in other cemeteries.

“Gail Nicklason noticed the letters on her mother’s marble headstone were starting to fade. But the black letters on her father’s side of the same stone remained bold and clearly visible, even though he had died the year before his wife. Nicklason noticed the lettering on a number of stones placed in Section 17 after her mother was buried in 2008 were fading, as well.

Turns out that is the plan. Fort Snelling officials say the black lettering, using a special type of water-resistant paint called lithochrome, was never expected to be permanent. As new sections are used throughout the national cemetery system, the new headstones will not have the lithochrome paint on them, part of a national policy established in 2009 to give more uniformity to cemetery sections.”

Gail’s mother was buried in January 2008. My mother was buried at Fort Snelling in January 2008 but in a different section. My father was buried there the next year. I need to visit the cemetery before the snow falls.

“was never expected to be permanent.” Are you kidding me? Sad news. 

You may read the full story by clicking here.

Minnesota Historical Society Hours: changed for the better

Paula Stuart-Warren  Minnesota Historical Society  1 Comment

It’s been really difficult to work at the Minnesota Historical Society in recent years due to the changed hours. There were too many days where the limited hours barely allowed you to get settled in, request a set of records or wait to make copies from microfilm, and boom, it was time to leave.

As of December 1, 2012 the hours will be better for researchers. We now have four almost full days for research plus the one evening that has not changed. I have researched at MHS for 30 years and remember when it was open all day, six days a week. Many researchers have complained and some of us were assured of a change more than a year ago. It has finally happened.

The great catalog, helpful guides, and finding aids may be found at www.mnhs.org

The new hours:

Tuesday: noon to 8pm
Wed. – Sat.: 9am to 4pm
Sunday: Closed
Monday: Closed