1/28/2020 1

Scan either of the above Quick Response (QR) codes with your QR code smartphone reader and you will be taken to the genealogy blog I author for the library titled

“Tony’s Genealogy Blog at the Schaumburg Township District Library”.

HANDOUTS TABLE OF CONTENTS February 11, 2020

Handout Introduction ………………………………………………………………............ Page 2 Schaumburg Township District Library (STDL) Genealogy Blog ………... Page 4 Northwest Suburban Genealogy Society (NWSGS) Program for March 7, 2020 ……………………..………..….…….......…………….…. Page 5 DuPage County Genealogical Society (DCGS) Program for February 19, 2020 ………………..….….………..…..……...…….…… Page 6 Computer Assisted Genealogy Group of Northern Illinois (CAGGNI) Program for February 15, 2020 ……………..…………...……..……….....…….….. Page 7 Schaumburg Township District Library (STDL) March 10, 2020 Genealogy Program ……………….................…..........….. Page 8 Works From 1924 Are Now In The Public Domain ……………………..………… Page 10 What To Expect From FamilySearch In 2020 …………………………………….... Page 12 FamilySearch Releases GEDCOM Version 5.5.1 ……................. .......... Page 16 “Riding Into Town …” ……............................................................…. Page 19 “Leaving Your Genealogical Footprint” …………….……………………………..…... Page 21

1/28/2020 2

February 11, 2020 Schaumburg Township District Library Genealogy Program “Handouts”

Hi Everyone, This document should be considered as the program “handouts” document for our February 11, 2020 Schaumburg Township District Library Genealogy Program. What does this really mean? Prior to this “new” process, our program handouts would actually be paper handouts that were based on me often printing up the first page related to a web site that I wanted to mention. Then on the paper for the web site I would handwrite what things of importance are associated with the web site that the researcher should know. Maybe it was a new web site or maybe an important date related to a significant event or maybe a new database was released. Whatever it was I noted it on the paper of the first page of the web site. The source for the vast majority of what is in the Handouts is the monthly Schaumburg Township District Library Genealogy Newsletter. From within this larger document I extract information on upcoming genealogy programs local to our area, important items from Dick Eastman’s Online Genealogy Blog, as well as I summarize some key periodical articles of interest that I think are important to be aware of. The Handouts simply provide me with the opportunity to focus in on what I consider are important genealogical bits of information important to the researcher as well as to share my own personal thoughts on why it is of note. You will also see a small redesign of the PDF Handout package. You will now see a Table of Contents on Page 1 listing what the following “handouts” are by topic. Within the Table of contents you can quickly access the handouts by using the hyperlinks and bookmarks that will get you quickly to your handout of interest. You will no longer have to scroll through the entire package of handouts to get to the one you want. I also plan on use the “yellow highlight” tool within Word and highlight certain areas of these notes that I think are important to note. The visual highlighting will take your eyes to areas of importance to note. Please let me know if you think this OK or if it may be a distraction? I thought I would give it a try. Going forward I plan on creating this document on a monthly basis that will include my notes regarding a web site of interest and a link to the web site itself. The reader of this “handout” list can themselves then read my overview summary of the site and then link to the site directly themselves to get more details or print out what they want from site. I will clearly identify my own comments when the handout is a combination of material that came from some other source such as Dick Eastman’s blog as well as my own comments. I will indicate my comments in Italics, clearly marked so the reader can distinguish between the original verbiage and my own comments. If a

1/28/2020 3

handout item was completely created by me then you will see that noted at the top. In this case, the entirety of the handout was created by me and will not be shown in Italics. This program “Handout” information will then be uploaded to the Schaumburg Township District Library Genealogy Blog that is titled “Genealogy with Tony”. This blog will be accessible from the library’s main web site page at www.schaumburglibrary.org. Select “Local History and Genealogy” at the top of the page, then look for the icon on the Local History and Genealogy page that says “Tony’s Genealogy Blog”. Open the blog link and then look at the right hand sidebar of the blog and you will see the “Handouts” information. The direct web address for the blog I author is http://genealogywithtony.wordpress.com Here we go with the list of “handouts”! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1/28/2020 4

Handout #1 – VISIT THE SCHAUMBURG TOWNSHIP DISTRICT LIBRARY GENEALOGY BLOG I will continue to remind participants of our library’s genealogy blog. You can access it through our library home page at www.SchaumburgLibrary.org by looking for the tab called “Services”, pull down for “genealogy”. This will take you to my genealogy page at the library. Scroll down a little and look for the bi-colored blue and black box. In the black part of the box is a hot link titled “Tony’s Genealogy Blog”. Click on the link for the blog title and you will get to my blog. While you are in the area of my blog link, check out the box right next to it for a link to the Veterans History Project interviews I have been conducting over the last year. Great stories of service from those who have so honorably served! Here is that link:

https://www.schaumburglibrary.org/veterans-history-project You can also just go directly to the blog at: http://genealogywithtony.wordpress.com You will find postings on upcoming programs, both at our library, and elsewhere in the area. You will also find a myriad of other kinds of postings, especially those that I offer on “Genealogy Tips” to help make your research efforts more productive. You will also find our Schaumburg Township District Library Genealogy Newsletter and our “Program Handouts” at the blog as PDF files for you to view online, or download and save to your own computer for future referral. Please remember that the blog will be the place to retrieve the newsletter and the “handouts”. I do not plan on making paper handouts of these available for distribution at the program or for mailing to individuals. Try to visit the blog frequently to see what is going on. Subscribe to the blog via the icon in the lower right part of your screen that simply states “Follow”. By clicking on the “Follow” link you will subscribe to the blog and will receive follow-up e-mail notices when I publish a new post. Our blog is the way of the future and the future is here now! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1/28/2020 5

Handout #2 – NEXT MEETING OF THE NORTHWEST SUBURBAN GENEALOGY SOCIETY WILL BE ON MARCH 7, 2020 The next meeting of the society will take place on March 7, 2020. The program is titled “Preparing to Write and Publish: Tips and Tricks for the Writer”. The presenter for the program will be Regina Yuill.

This meeting will take place at the Palatine Public Library, 700 N. North Ct., Palatine, IL 60067 at 10:00 AM. There is a round table discussion that takes place at 9:00 AM prior to the main meeting/program that starts at 10:00 AM. Participants are invited to attend this round table and bring their research questions for discussion.

If attending the program, please register yourself with the Palatine Public Library either online via their calendar of events or give them a call at (847) 358-5881. You may visit the society web page at: http://www.nwsgenealogy.org/ Please note that it has happened once in a while that the society may change a program schedule without actively sharing that fact. Checking their web site may also not give you notice of such a change if they do not change the web site. That is still the first place to check. You may also want to contact someone at the society if a phone number is available to verify that a program is still scheduled as they had advertised. That is always not available either. We do our best here to try to be sure that information we convey about programs is accurate. However, sometimes we are unable to convey changes unless we are made aware of those changes. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1/28/2020 6

Handout #3 – DUPAGE COUNTY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY NEXT REGULAR SOCIETY PROGRAM ON FEBRUARY 19, 2020 Please note that meetings that will take place for the society will occur between September 2019 and May 2020. The September 2019 program will occur at the DuPage County Historical Museum located at 102 E. Wesley Street in Wheaton, IL. The October 2019 through May 2020 programs are once again taking place at the Wheaton Public Library in the Lower Level. The address of the library is 225 N. Cross St. in Wheaton, IL. Please note the times for refreshments and the program. Refreshments are offered at 6:30 PM. The meeting will start at 7 PM and last till no longer than 8:45 PM.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the DuPage County Genealogical Society will take place on Wednesday evening, February 19, 2020 between 7:00pm to 8:30pm at the Wheaton Public Library located at 225 N. Cross Street in Wheaton, IL. Refreshments are offered at 6:30pm. The program scheduled for that evening is “Navigating Autosomal DNA Results and Contacting Matches”. The speaker for the program will be Robert Sliwinski.

Autosomal DNA testing such as Family Finder or Relative Finder are THE most available direct to consumer DNA test at affordable prices available from Ancestry DNA, 23 and Me and Family Tree DNA. I call these tests the “cousins test” and provides information about geographic ethnicity and cousin matches. Also covered are ways to navigate match results for each of the three companies and methods to contact matches. You may visit the society's web page at:

www.dcgs.org

The society also has a blog that you can visit to find out about “this and that” related to the society as well as find genealogical tips. You can visit the DuPage County Genealogical Society blog at:

http://dupagecountygenealogicalsociety.wordpress.com/

Please note that it has happened once in a while that the society may change a program schedule without actively sharing that fact. Checking their web site may also not give you notice of such a change if they do not change the web site. That is still the first place to check. You may also want to contact someone at the society if a phone number is available to verify that a program is still scheduled as they had advertised. That is always not available either. We do our best here to try to be sure that information we convey about programs is accurate. However, sometimes we are unable to convey changes unless we are made aware of those changes. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1/28/2020 7

Handout #4 – COMPUTER ASSISTED GENEALOGY GROUP OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS (CAGGNI) NEXT PROGRAM ON FEBRUARY 15, 2020 AT THE SCHAUMBURG TOWNSHIP DISTRICT LIBRARY

The next regular meeting of CAGGNI will take place on Saturday morning, February 15, 2020 at the NIU Conference Center in Hoffman Estates, IL at 10:30 am. The program scheduled for this day is ”A Guide to An Archive Visit”. The speaker will be Laura Cosgrove Lorenzana.

Why visit an Archives? What to know before you go; the 'whys' behind the rules in an Archives; handling the materials available or 'To Glove or Not to Glove.'

Laura Cosgrove Lorenzana is a consulting archivist, professional genealogist and lecturer. She has a BA in art history with a certificate in museum studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is a graduate of the ProGen Study Group 15 and the Forensic Genealogy Institute's Master Practicum.

You may visit the organization web page at:

www.CAGGNI.org

Please note that it has happened once in a while that the society may change a program schedule without actively sharing that fact. Checking their web site may also not give you notice of such a change if they do not change the web site. That is still the first place to check. You may also want to contact someone at the society if a phone number is available to verify that a program is still scheduled as they had advertised. That is always not available either. We do our best here to try to be sure that information we convey about programs is accurate. However, sometimes we are unable to convey changes unless we are made aware of those changes. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1/28/2020 8

Handout #5 – SCHAUMBURG TOWNSHIP DISTRICT LIBRARY NEXT GENEALOGY PROGRAM ON MARCH 10, 2020 Our next genealogy program will take place on Tuesday evening, March 10, 2020. We will have another “break-out” session for our gathering on March 10, 2020. Our previous attempts proved to be quite a good success. I would like us to build on those successes and afford those participants the opportunity to meet with those again or sample other groups. After an initial introduction of new participants at the start of our normally scheduled meeting, we will establish our “breakout” groups at approximately 7:45 PM. We would have these breakout discussions from about 8:00 PM until about 9:30 PM. These groups would consist of about 7 to 8 participants. They would discuss some common topic of genealogy that interests them or from which they could learn even more to assist their research from sharing with others in the group and learning from others within the group. The groups we previously tried seemed to work out quite well. I want to go with those same groups and am open to suggestions to attempt to add others or delete those that may not have a following. I want to reconvene the following groups: Polish Researchers German Researchers Czech Researchers Irish Researchers Italian Researchers British Researchers Scandinavian Researchers Colonial Americans Researchers DNA/Adoption Researchers (NEW as of 12/16!) I also will have a Beginner’s Group that I will lead. We will also have the computer in the room for anyone to access the internet. I would also encourage participants to bring their personal laptop or netbook to these sessions and tap into the internet via our WiFi network. I saw many researchers doing this at our last breakout session and they found it very productive to access internet information while being in one of the groups if they wanted to show something to someone else at the table. Please remember that the group’s composition is based on the numbers that will participate. If only one person is present to participate in the Polish group, then we cannot have a Polish group that evening. I cannot guarantee there will be enough participants to form a group. In that case I would always recommend participating in another ethnic group of interest if that is also in your research interests or join me at the Beginner’s Group.

1/28/2020 9

The key to this effort is to be flexible in selecting a group to work with. I look forward to our next “break-out” session on March 10, 2020. Doors will open at approximately 7 p.m. so you can pick-up handouts, review books and journals, and network with other participants. Tony Kierna will start the program at 7:30 p.m. with introductions of new participants and a brief review of handouts and genealogical matters.

For further information, contact Tony Kierna at 847-923-3390. You may visit the library’s web page at: www.SchaumburgLibrary.org to view a Calendar of Events section of the library web page for this program and for many more non-genealogical programs offered by our library. You can also visit the Genealogy Blog of the library that is authored by Tony Kierna. Visit the blog at http://genealogywithtony.wordpress.com for all things related to genealogy and the genealogy programs at the Schaumburg Township District Library. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1/28/2020 10

Handout #6 – WORKS FROM 1924 ARE NOW IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN The following was found at Dick Eastman’s Blog at www.eogn.com dated January 3, 2020.

Dick Eastman · January 3, 2020 · Legal Affairs · 3 Comments

For years, genealogists learned that anything published prior to 1923 is now considered to be in the public domain. In other words, there are no copyrights on these older works and they may be copied or reproduced freely. However, the date of early copyrights changed last year.

Starting on January 1, 2019, anything published in the United States in 1923 (or anything published prior to 1924) is now considered to be in the public domain. Now the new year has pushed the date out another year.

Starting on January 1, 2020, anything published in 1924 (or anything published prior to 1925) is now considered to be in the public domain.

It’s time to (legally) republish some of those old family history books!

See https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2020/ for further details.

Comments by Tony Kierna Just like with databases that are constantly being updated, keep in mind to also consider looking for new material that matches your research needs from books, movies and music that are constantly being added to the public domain on an annual basis. There is a 75-year window for such works that are still considered in copyright and not available in the public domain. With each passing year, more and more material does go out of copyright. This means it can enter into the public domain. This means also that companies and individuals in our digital age can then access the material, digitize it and then you become the beneficiary of being able to access the material digitally. Certainly, you always had the possibility of being able to retrieve such material in print format from wherever it existed to review and see how it could have helped your research. It is just the magic of digitization and the ability to search the material online that will always make your research efforts that much more meaningful. Not only can you find the material you seek but with it being in the public domain you can now use it and print it out to incorporate into your own

1/28/2020 11

research. ( I would still attribute the material to the original author and even note the material is now available as public domain material.) Check out the link above to get you to a site called “Public Domain Day 2020”. You will find some nice information on what exactly becomes public domain in 2020 among books, movies and music. One of the most important items mentioned within the link above is the following: “HathiTrust (https://www.hathitrust.org/) will make tens of thousands of titles from 1924 available in its digital library. Google Books (https://books.google.com/) will offer the full text of books from that year, instead of showing only snippet views or authorized previews.” These two resources are some of the largest among digitizers of public domain material. Potentially, something of research value to you may appear among the digital material they create of public domain material. Material from 1924 will start appearing over time among these two resources. On a sad note the site above in the article also shares this: “Unfortunately, the fact that works from 1924 are legally available does not mean they are actually available. After 95 years, many of these works are already lost or literally disintegrating (as with old films and recordings), evidence of what long copyright terms do to the conservation of cultural artifacts. In fact, one of the items we feature below, Clark Gable's debut in White Man, apparently no longer exists. For the works that have survived, however, their long-awaited entry into the public domain is still something to celebrate. (Under the 56-year copyright term that existed until 1978, we would really have something to celebrate – works from 1963 would be entering the public domain in 2020!)”. Consider doing new genealogy searches within Hathi Trust and Google Books to see if new material is showing up for 1924. Better yet, if you have never searched Hathi Trust or Google Books for genealogical material that could help your research, take the opportunity now to do so and see what you may discover. Then remember to re-visit the sites each and every year to see what new material now in the public domain can help your research. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1/28/2020 12

Handout #7 – WHAT TO EXPECT FROM FAMILYSEARCH IN 2020 The following was found in Dick Eastman’s Online Blog at www.eogn.com dated January 6, 2020.

Dick Eastman · January 6, 2020 · Online Sites · One Comment

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

Making fun personal and family discoveries at FamilySearch.org will be easier than ever in 2020. FamilySearch.org, the popular, free genealogy website, has announced some of its plans to enhance user experiences in 2020 through select updates and improvements to records and Family Tree search capabilities. As a global leader in free family history discovery experiences, FamilySearch serves more than 13 million users worldwide.

In 2020, FamilySearch will add over 500 million new viewable digital images and searchable records online, ensuring more exciting discovery opportunities. The following list gives an idea of more fun innovation to anticipate.

Sitewide Support for Additional Languages

FamilySearch has a growing international user base and will translate core user experiences into additional languages in 2020.

Family Tree

The FamilySearch Family Tree is the world’s largest shared tree. In 2020, users will enjoy an improved merge experience. They will be able to learn more and more easily collaborate by combining duplicate profiles for common ancestors.

The Latest Changes feature for ancestor profiles (FamilySearch person pages) will be enhanced, allowing users to see more details of all past edits and changes through the family tree view.

The FamilySearch mobile app will release a cool new My Contributions feature available in both iOS and Android formats, with access on the website to follow. My Contributions will help users organize their family history work in three tabs:

Stats. These stats summarize your contributions to the shared Family Tree. They will include sources and memories attached and persons added.

1/28/2020 13

Changes. This item is a list of all your activity in the shared Family Tree. Changes are organized by person, with the most recent on top.

Private Persons. This tab shows you a list of the living and confidential people you have added to the Family Tree, allowing you to better manage them within your private space. Only you are able to see and modify these profiles.

Memories

A simple but powerful update in Memories will allow users to add topic tags to photos and documents uploaded to FamilySearch.org. This change will improve the ability to categorize memories that users add to their ancestors’ profiles and enable them to search for specific memories among those that have been uploaded.

Users will also be able to “like” whole albums in FamilySearch Memories. Currently, they can only “like” individual photos and other memories so they show up in the My Likes section of their Memories gallery.

Social Interactions and Social Media

In 2020, FamilySearch will make updates to help improve social interactions between users on FamilySearch.org. For example, Family Tree users will find it easy to share the profile pages of their ancestors on social media channels.

Searching Records

A new tool, Explore Images, will be available for viewing new record images within days of their being digitized from archives worldwide and published on FamilySearch.org, not to mention the billions of other historical records images FamilySearch already has online. This feature will give users quicker and better access to images that aren’t yet text-searchable.

Indexers will be able to edit dates and places on indexed records. This feature is an expansion of the update from 2019 that allowed users to edit the name field on indexed records.

10th Anniversary of RootsTech

RootsTech, one of the largest genealogy conferences in the world, will once again be held at the historic Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah, on February 26–29, 2020. The theme, “The Story of You,” will celebrate the many contributions that have been made in genealogy research and encourage attendees to reflect on their personal journeys. For seasoned researchers as well as beginners, the 300 breakout sessions, impressive keynote speakers, professional entertainers, and exciting events are sure to have something for everyone.

RELATED

What’s Coming to FamilySearch in 2020

FamilySearch 2019 Highlights

1/28/2020 14

About FamilySearch

FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. It is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. FamilySearch and its predecessors have helped millions of people make fun personal and family discoveries and connections for over 125 years. FamilySearch’s free services and resources can be accessed at FamilySearch.org or through more than 5,000 family history centers in 129 countries, including the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Comments by Tony Kierna Each and every new year also brings the publications from various companies and organizations on what new things users may expect to see in the new year. 2020 is no different. FamilySearch has created a long list of changes that users can expect to see that will be new for 2020. I definitely like to see the following from the above: “In 2020, FamilySearch will add over 500 million new viewable digital images and searchable records online, ensuring more exciting discovery opportunities.” How nice is that? If your family tree is on Family Tree of FamilySearch, it is nice to see that there will be improvements to the merge function. Merging new records onto your existing family has always been one of those nail-biting experiences, whether it is online or on a lineage program residing on your computer. Whatever FamilySearch is doing to improve the merging capability on Family Tree will be a welcome improvement. The new “My Contributions” part of the FamilySearch mobile app also looks good. It will show Stats, Changes and Private Person information on material pertinent to activities you have done on your family tree online at FamilySearch. I also like the following development for 2020: “A new tool, Explore Images, will be available for viewing new record images within days of their being digitized from archives worldwide and published on FamilySearch.org, not to mention the billions of other historical records images FamilySearch already has online. This feature will give users quicker and better access to images that aren’t yet text-searchable.” We all like to be able to search indexes for our ancestors. However, the indexing process can take a long time to complete so we can find them and then also when possible, see the image of the record associated with them. I am a big believer in being able to browse through images in advance of the indexing process if you are in a hurry for your research. FamilySearch does a good job of organizing images to help you get to material of value to you without browsing through each and every image. As an example, Catholic Church records for the Archdiocese of Chicago are organized by church name, kind of record such as baptism, marriage, death, and then by year. If you know of a possible church name and possible year of an event, you can easily look at such images fairly quickly.

1/28/2020 15

Check out all of the proposed new things coming in 2020 from FamilySearch. Some may have more meaning to your own individual research needs than other items. Maybe 2020 will be a wonderful year of discovery and ease of data analysis and creation for your material as part of FamilySearch. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1/28/2020 16

Handout #8 – FAMILYSEARCH RELEASES GEDCOM VERSION 5.5.1 The following was found in Dick Eastman’s Online Blog at www.eogn.com dated December 24, 2019.

Dick Eastman · December 24, 2019 · Genealogy Basics, Software · 15 Comments

GEDCOM is an abbreviation that stands for GEnealogy Data COMmunications. In short, GEDCOM is the language by which different genealogy software programs talk to one another.

GEDCOM was developed by the Family History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints (LDS Church) to provide a flexible, uniform format for exchanging computerized genealogical data.

(See my 2014 article, GEDCOM Explained, at https://blog.eogn.com/2014/05/24/gedcom-explained/ for a more detailed explanation of GEDCOM.)

GEDCOM is not a program. Instead, it is a specification of the method that different genealogy programs should use to exchange data. The purpose is to exchange data between dissimilar programs without having to manually re-enter all the data on a keyboard. A GEDCOM file is a plain text file (usually either UTF-8, ANSEL or ASCII) containing genealogical information about individuals, and meta data linking these records together.

All of today’s more popular genealogy programs will import and export GEDCOM data. However, the GEDCOM standard first adopted in 1985 did not envision today’s environment of multimedia files, such as digital pictures, video, audio, text files using non-English alphabets (Cyrillic, Bulgarian, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, and other languages), links to external data stored in the World Wide Web, and many more commonly-used standards of today.

Over the years, the GEDCOM standard has been updated several times with each update adding new functionality and significantly improving the standard. However, because of the constantly evolving improvements in genealogy programs, data transferred via GEDCOM often has not been perfect. After transferring from one program to another, manual “clean-up” has often been required to fix any data that was not transferred properly.

1/28/2020 17

Now FamilySearch has released a new update: GEDCOM 5.5.1

This is the first update in ten years. The new GEDCOM 5.5.1 standard may be found at: https://edge.fscdn.org/assets/img/documents/ged551-5bac5e57fe88dd37df0e153d9c515335.pdf. The most important part of that document is listed in the section entitled Modifications in Version 5.5.1 that starts on page 6 of that document.

While there are numerous changes and clarifications, perhaps the most interesting items are the new tags added in GEDCOM 5.5.1:

EMAIL electronic mailing address FAX FAX address FACT A fact or characteristic. FONE Phonetic variation of a text. ROMN Romanized variation of a text. WWW Web Home page address. MAP Pertaining to maps. LATI value of a latitudinal coordinate pertaining to the place of an event LONG value of a longitudinal coordinate pertaining to the place of an event.

What will the impact of GEDCOM 5.5.1 mean to non-programmers?

Nothing will change immediately for most users. However, the new update does mean that the programmers who write the many genealogy programs will need to update their products and then release new updates. As these updated products become available, anyone using a newly-updated genealogy product that conforms to GEDCOM 5.5.1 can exchange data with more accuracy with anyone else who is also using a GEDCOM 5.5.1-compatible genealogy program.

Comments by Tony Kierna This is a very important development that will only lead to better information being exchanged between users of different types of genealogy tracking databases such as Family Tree Maker, Legacy Family Tree, Roots Magic, Reunion and many others of lesser note. The following quoted text from above really summarizes well what is happening when data is exchanged: “GEDCOM is not a program. Instead, it is a specification of the method that different genealogy programs should use to exchange data. The purpose is to exchange data between dissimilar programs without having to manually re-enter all the data on a keyboard. A GEDCOM file is a plain text file (usually either UTF-8, ANSEL or ASCII) containing genealogical information about individuals, and meta data linking these records together.” If Person A uses Family Tree Maker (or any other lineage program or online source) they can create a GEDCOM export file of people in their database that can then be imported by Person B who uses Reunion (or any other lineage program or online

1/28/2020 18

source) into their database of people. (I always suggest that whenever you receive a GEDCOM from someone or you download a GEDCOM file from someplace, DO NOT immediately bring it into your family tree. Rather, import it as a new family tree into your software for you to review as a stand-alone file of individuals.) The whole purpose of this GEDCOM process is to minimize and or eliminate you having to create each new person you want to add from someone else manually. Think of all of those fields of information you would be key stroking into your database as a new Person entry. Over many years GEDCOM has become dated. If there are no updated guidelines for new fields of use, each lineage program creator, whether it resides on your desktop or online, can create their own version of how new or different field information is converted to GEDCOM and then shared as an export. Having new updated standards is an exciting development. I am sure that lineage program developers are happy for this development because it takes the guess work out of what they are doing. Standards help a great deal! “However, the GEDCOM standard first adopted in 1985 did not envision today’s environment of multimedia files, such as digital pictures, video, audio, text files using non-English alphabets (Cyrillic, Bulgarian, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, and other languages), links to external data stored in the World Wide Web, and many more commonly-used standards of today.” For you as a user, you will not see any dramatic change overall in the creation or use of data entering into a lineage product database. The new developments fall mainly on programmers and developers of lineage programs to start incorporating into their lineage products. It is nice to know that these developments will allow the incorporation of more and more current fields and media formats to share from within these GEDCOM files. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1/28/2020 19

Handout #9 – “RIDING INTO TOWN … ” The following review and comments were created by me, Tony Kierna, based on my having read an article that was seen in the January/February 2020, Volume 5, Number 6 issue of Your Genealogy Today. ****************************************************************** I thought that a good and timely article is one titled “Riding into town …”. The author of the article is Judy G. Russell who is known as one of the foremost exports in genealogy and the law. Her article sheds light on the significant changes that have taken place over the years on how uploaded DNA genealogical data is currently being used by law enforcement. This is a short one-page article but it is important to be aware of how added protections have come into play for those of us that have submitted genealogical DNA testing, results of which were also added into the secondary GEDmatch DNA database to allow us to see more matches among a larger amount of DNA submitters. Much fear has arisen for those submitting DNA for genealogy purposes that we might be contacted by law enforcement because our DNA results may have a match to what is considered a cold-case investigation in which DNA material was left behind by a criminal and saved by law enforcement for future use. That future use is “now” as law enforcement has submitted that cold-case DNA for testing and then into GEDmatch. Average DNA genealogy submitters have a fear about how law-enforcement could come down on them because they are matched to as yet an unidentified criminal that has a DNA connection to them. In September 2019 new guidelines were announced by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) on how the DNA genealogy matches can be used for further investigation. The new rules went into effect in November 2019. They govern all federal cases and all state and local cases where federal funds are used. Here are the key elements of these new guidelines:

• “No surreptitious use of DNA databases is allowed: no fake names to sneak a crime scene sample into a database. Investigators have to identify themselves as law enforcement to testing companies, and they can only use databases that tell customers it’s being done. That means, today, only Family Tree DNA, and GEDmatch can be used. All other genetic genealogy companies – 23andMe, AncestryDNA, MyHeritage DNA and Living DNA – have policies against law enforcement use of their databases without a court order.”

• “If police want to test somebody who hasn’t already tested, they need informed consent or a search warrant before they run that sample through a genealogy database”.

• “Nobody should be arrested based only on a match in a genealogy database. A separate test matching the suspect’s individual DNA against the crime scene DNA is needed.”

1/28/2020 20

• “If a suspect is arrested, any other testing is to stop and all data about third parties is to be destroyed at some point whether the case is solved or not.”

Those are some strong and powerful guidelines that should give the average genealogy DNA testing submitter some relief.

The author of the article still points out there are some weaknesses with these guidelines such as:

• “ … even though they do say that data collected from the databases is

confidential, they don’t require that the identities of the test-takers whose DNA was used to identify suspects be protected in court filings”.

• “Even street thugs who provide information to the police get tagged as “Confidential Informant 1” in typical cases”.

The author does note that while the guidelines are not perfect, they are a good start to provide added protections to casual genealogy DNA submitters.

This article is worth making a personal copy for yourself, especially if you have submitted your DNA for genealogy purposes and have also uploaded your results to GEDmatch to capture further matches to your own results. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1/28/2020 21

Handout #10 – “LEAVING YOUR GENEALOGICAL FOOTPRINT” The following review and comments were created by me, Tony Kierna, based on my having read an article that was seen in the January/February 2020, Volume 5, Number 6 issue of Your Genealogy Today. ****************************************************************** I thought that another good article in this issue is one titled “Leaving Your Genealogical Footprint”. The author of the article is Robbie Gorr.

The author poses the question that while we may be great researchers for our family history, turning over every data stone that exists to discover and add more, we should be aware of how many “crumbs” we are leaving about ourselves in the data world that exists today for future generations to discover.

The author notes that for himself he is a life-long bachelor, with no surviving siblings or descendants, making it even more important to leave a clear legacy footprint for future generations.

The author suggests the following items to consider to utilize to ensure you leave a good legacy trail:

• Census Records

o If living in the same area for a lengthy period of time and also fulfilling the obligation to respond to the required census request as it occurs can be helpful to leave your legacy trace.

o For those who are frequent movers, especially during a census period, your legacy trail may be a little more unpredictable as future generations need to expand their search for you outside of the normal community where you had normally lived.

• Vital Records and Church Records

o If you have been living in the same area as your parents AND have participated in church/community involvement over the years it is likely your trail of birth, baptism, confirmation, communion, marriage and death records from church and the local municipality has been left.

o The author notes that if you have moved more frequently over the years, your church/municipal record trail may be there but may be more difficult to discover by future generations.

o If you have been a mover over the years and have included international living, municipal/church records may be even more difficult to discover by future generations. Marriage records in particular may be more difficult to discover simply because many weddings are taking place outside the normal community as a gesture of a special occasion. These records for the marriage will be filed in that locality.

1/28/2020 22

o You will probably leave a local municipal legacy record for such things as land records, assessment rolls and property tax records when you are a homeowner.

o Inheritance records will possibly be part of your legacy trail. Wills and probate records are part of this legacy trail.

• Telephone and Community Directories

o If you still have local telephone service, your name may appear in the print directories to be discovered.

o However, if you only have cellular service, that may be another issue because listings of users of cellular service do not exist to be discovered in the future.

• Social Media

o You can leave your trail via social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and the like. Over the years each has expanded its offering so that after your death, your social media presence still exists in a “memorialized” form. But you need to establish your wishes of such a memorial continuance before your death.

• Newspapers

o Has anything been reported on you over the years in local community newspapers e.g. school accomplishments, sports accomplishments, marriage reports, graduation lists, real estate transactions etc.

• Funerary Items

o Have you made pre-paid funeral plans that may have included an obituary as well as your gravestone? It could already have your name and birth year inscribed awaiting the final date when that happens.

• Your Own Genealogical Research Material

o Cardboard boxes, file cabinets of your research. (Better if it is organized in some fashion. Those who “cleanup” your materials after your death are notorious for just throwing out the material, especially if they have no idea what it is or how to go through it.)

o Your computers, external hard drives, flashdrives and electronic devices. (Again, better to have shared with family log-in and password information before your death to allow them to access and possibly use all of your research material and the legacy trail you have left on yourself.)

o Donate your research material to a society, archive, library where it may have a better chance of surviving. Even that is not guaranteed for a lifetime as material is often discarded by such organizations in the future.

Do what you can now within your own research to be sure there is a legacy trail for future discovery on you. Get this all lined up now while you can to be sure your story can be found when you are gone.

1/28/2020 23

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++