Mocavo – A Genealogy Search Engine

One of the problems with using Google/Bing as a genealogical search engine is the broad range of "hits" that may seem overwhelming as you try to narrow your search to something more managable. Mocavo, a relatively new genealogical search engine tries to address this problem. By entering just an ancestor's name in quotes, Mocavo's targeted search can slim your results pages more accurately. Instead of looking at thousands of exact and potential hits, Mocavo reduces "hits" to tens. This allows you to conduct genealogical searchs for ancestors more quickly and efficiently.

One of the bonuses of such ancestral hunting is the ease in which female ancestors are matched with parents and spouses. Such pinpointing makes tracing elusive maternal lines easier. Another area which Mocavo excels is the ability to bring up burial information for families across many different cemeteries. This is a nice way of consolidating a genealogical search for a "family unit," and also help find the next generation of descendants and/or ancestors.

A new feature coming to Mocavo will allow you to upload your family tree. Once completed, your tree will be scanned for results across the web and emailed directly to you. At the same time, your tree remains private unless you choose to publish it. Uploading the tree can be done through Facebook. A link to their Facebook page is provided at the Mocavo web site.

To check out, Mocavo, click here. It's free.

Are You Dead and Don't Know It? - CNN Money Points Out Genealogical Mistakes in Social Security Death Index

CNN Money recently ran an article that should give all genealogists pause. According to the article, the Society Security declares 14,000 people each year wrongfully dead. Imagine the ramifications that such errors can cause for the living who find themselves suddenly dead. Read the full story here.

Besides checking for our ancestors in the SSDI, maybe we should be checking for ourselves as well.

Talk to Your Family Elders Before It's Too Late!

Have you ever wished that you knew more about your grandparents or your great-grandparents? If they are still alive, now is the time to sit down and have a chat. Here's a few quick tips on how to conduct an "elder" interview.

Treat it less like a formal interview and more like a conversation. Elderly parents', grandparents', aunts' and uncles' memories are not as sharp as they used to be in many cases and pushing them to remember heightens their distress. Never say, "remember when ...". If they can't remember, it scares them because they know they should remember and can't. It's better to start with information that's a visual or creates a sense of smell or sound. Start with something you know about connected family like "Aunt Ruby played a mean ragtime piano." And you might get something like, "She gets that from Grandpa Pat. He played in a jazz band down in New Orleans." One memory will trigger another, then another. Before you know it, you'll discover that Grandpa Pat came from County Kerry where he learned to play fiddle from his father Joseph. That might trigger stories about The Great Famine and why Grandpa Pat came to the US.

Have patience. Your elders may ramble a bit before they get to the point. Treasure the process because the journey reveals not only history but character, description, new avenues of ancestral research, and a little bit about the storyteller. You may learn that Great-grandpa David had the clearest, bluest eyes ever or that he fought in The Great War. You may discover that his unit saved another unit, but he was personally mustered out due to wounds received.

Each piece of genealogical information you discover may take a few minutes or a few hours or several interviews but it's always worth the time and effort. Capture it on tape, or better yet, video. Today's video cameras are easy to use; many of them (i.e. Flip cameras) are one-touch. Press a button and it will record from one to two hours. Just set it up on a tripod and let it roll. On playback, you'll discover family history in the making that is both personal and a family heirloom for future generations.

First Look at AmericanAncestors.org

On the 19th of August, the New England Historical and Genealogical Society (NEHGS) announced the launch of its new website, American Ancestors.org to host its ever expanding genealogical library. Visitors to the site can register free, but genealogists and family historians using this site will only have access to nine of the nearly 3000 online databases offered. They are The Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850; Missing Friends: Irish Immigrant Advertisements 1831-1920; Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati; SSDI to Feb. 2010; Index of Revolutionary War Pensioners; Gloucester, MA: Burials; New England Ancestors magazine; New York Wills: 1626-1836; Ware, MA Families. The rest of their databases are only fully accessible by subscription (starting at $75 per year for individuals). A preliminary search can be made for all genealogical databases, but results for non-free databases will ask you to become a member. The membership is worth the price. One look at the database catalog shows the website has a lot to offer in the way of online genealogical data. Here are just a few tantalizing tidbits: The Boston Sea Fencibles' Roll, Boston, MA: Boston Smallpox Innoculation Census of 1824 - Boston W. District, Ward 7; Thomas Lamkin of the Northern Neck of Virginia, Descendants; Nobleboro, ME: Elder Phinehas Pillsbury's Journal. There's plenty to explore besides the usual town vital records, censuses, and court records.

There are some glitches in running searches through the Firefox browser. When trying to browse the collection, sorting by state does not also work. When randomly searching all categories for California data, the results included "Death Notices from the New York Evening Post" among other erroneous hits. Also, if the advanced search results bears more than one page of results, when you try to go to the next page, it sometimes brings you back to the first page results rather than advance to the second page of results.

The web site also offers news features, a calendar of events, "The Daily Genealogist," "The Question of the Day," "The CEO Corner," and an online store featuring books, memberships, and specialty items. AmericanAncestors.org also offers research support in their "Connect" tab which gives you access to communications with the staff and a virtual tour of NEHGS.

At first glance, NEGHS has provided another service that family historians and professionals genealogists will love. Give them a chance to work out the kinks first but definitely put it on your bookmark menu.

New Mac Version of Family Tree Maker By Year's End

When Family Tree Maker first came on the scene to challenge other genealogy software in the late 1990s, it produced a PC and a MAC version. After one update an announcement was made that the MAC version would be discontinued much to the chagrin of MACaphiles who continued to see the genealogy software choices dwindle. Fortunately, this May, at 2010 National Genealogical Family Historical Conference held in Salt Lake City, Ancestry.com announced the revival of Family Tree Maker for MAC which hopefully is still on schedule to be released by the end of this year. A formal release date is yet to be made public. But as the time approaches and MAC addicts patiently wait, it will be a welcome addition to MAC genealogy software.

Genealogy Over the Border

The Library and Archives Canada (Bibliothèque et Archives Canada), a free web site, was formed in 2004 after the passage of the Library and Archives Canada Act "to create a new knowledge institution for Canadians." The organization is actually the merging of the now defunct National Library of Canada and the National Archives of Canada. Fortunately for genealogists their mission includes documenting and preserving Canadian heritage. To this end, the Library and Archives Canada has created a repository which includes include vital records, censuses, immigration and naturalization, military records, land records, and employment. Genealogists who visit the web site have the option of choosing French or English as the language to conduct genealogical searches of their archived materials. The site is easy to use, has a search engine that covers all its genealogical databases, portrait galleries, online exhibitions, extensive offsite genealogical linkage, and an online help section plus a link where you can ask questions.

From the home page, click "Genealogy and Family History," then click "Canadian Genealogy Centre." This page is the heart of their genealogical research pages. To search the site, just enter your ancestor's surname, then first name, then click "go." If no results appear, try just the surname. A list of results will appear and indicate the record available to view. Click on your ancestor's name and the data will appear. Be careful not to overlook the results. Instead of seeing your ancestor's name first, you may see the spouse's name first with your ancestor's name as a notation on the second line. In some case, surnames will be anglicized. For example, Langlois may be listed as Longley. Despite some of the quirkiness, it's packed with information. If the image of the record is available, there is a little page box after the name. When you click your ancestor's name, you have a choice of viewing the document PDF or jpg format from the text page. From the online image, you can save or download the file to your computer's hard drive.

Genealogical Finds at Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

If you have English ancestry, especially if you can trace your ancestors to Dorsetshire, the Online Parish Clerks projects is a must visit. Originally the project began in Cornwall before spreading to Devon, then Dorset. There are now 15 counties included as part of the website. The online parish clerks consist of a group of volunteers who research and transcribe parish records to assist family historians to further their genealogical hunt. These genealogical records include births and baptisms, marriages and marriage intentions, deaths, burials and gravestone transcriptions. Other information you may find, depending on the county or parish are Bishop Transcripts, wills, census records, directories, Rolls of Honour for the war dead, photographs, ordinance map surveys, a brief history of the village/town and militia lists. Additional genealogical data is always being added and users of the site are encouraged to contribute or donate their own genealogical finds. All the records are free to use, but can not be used commercially.

One of the best OPCs is the Dorset OPC and it also serves as the home page for the online project. It boasts a complete list of Dorset parishes. After the parish name, there is a code (example: [P]). The "P" indicates that a online parish clerk is assigned to that parish; if it is grayed out, the post is vacant and users can apply to be the clerk for that particular parish. The code lists over the list of parishes and provides the code's meaning.

Content is spotty for some parishes, but others offer genealogical data as early as the 1500s to the 1700s. A few parishes require you to contact the online parish clerk to perform lookups for you and still others, have barely gotten off the ground requesting that you return to the site at a later date. Some parishes link to external sites where the genealogical data sits offsite.

There is a "search" function which allows a genealogist to search across all Dorset parishes except for external sites. Three separate search portals comprise the expanded search capability and each is clearly marked on which portal you need to use. This is a bit more awkward than the previous search portal, but greatly speeds up the results process. Dorset OPC also offers an updates and contacts page that keeps you updated on new additions to the site and personnel changes in parish clerks. All in all, it's a very useful site and you can't beat the price.