More Deaths and Burials

One of my observant offspring noticed that, on my family site, I still have marked as "Living" some people who are actually "Deceased". Mea Culpa.

What excited me was that one of my offspring was actually looking at my website!

I explained that, while I note recent deaths in the main tree in Family Historian on my laptop, I only upload a gedcom file to the website every so often. I was horrified to find that my last upload/update to my TNG site was nearly a year ago. 

In addition to recent deaths I have been working through my database to identify people born before the 1930s for whom I don't have death records.  Using  a variety of tools I have been able to update many  records. I have also been able to find and add birth registration details for people born prior to 1924. 

Today, instead of searching for more records, I created new gedcom and uploaded it to my site. I hope my descendant will be proud of me!

Following are some statistics captured from my website, www.geniaus.net, after the upload

Description	Quantity
Total Individuals	11,884
Total Males	6,255 (52.63%)
Total Females	5,575 (46.91%)
Total Unknown Gender	54 (0.45%)
Total Living	6,302
Total Families	3,945
Total Unique Surnames	2,471
Total Photos	76
Total Documents	3
Total Headstones	0
Total Histories	0
Total Recordings	0
Total Videos	0
Total Sources	472
Average Lifespan1	61 years, 183 days
Earliest Birth (John Chatfyld)	Abt 1530

Longest Lived1	Age
Rita Mary Cecilia Nott	104 years
Lilian May Nelson	104 years
Kathleen Mary Large	101 years
Jean Mary Gowans	101 years
Josephine Emily Lynam	101 years
Margaretha Johanna Haver	100 years 318 days
Annie Joan Hogan	100 years 219 days
Irwin Morris Godden	100 years 78 days
Isabella Catherine Gowans	100 years 23 days
Martha Ann Auty	100 years

600 Burials

I have been very quiet on the geneablogging scene lately as I have been concentrating on my personal research. 

Since I started researching 35 years ago many things have changed and many new indexes and resources have become available on the internet. My recent efforts have been directed towards killing off and burying the relatives in our family tree, I am slowly looking at those born prior to 1930 and seeking out their Birth, Death, Marriage and burial records.

I use the spreadsheet type view in Family Historian software that allows me to choose which fields I want to display and then sort them by name, date or other element. Viewing this shows me the gaps I need to fill

An excerpt from my database sorted by a surname (hidden) then a death date which shows the gaps 

To support this work I have many popular site tabs open on my menu bar. One of these is FindaGrave where I may have two or more tabs open.

In conjunction with this research I have been creating a Virtual Cemetery of our children's descendants on FindaGrave. When searching this site add extra details to family profiles and I try to link up family members. While on the site I add our biological relations to my cemetery. 

So why am I blogging about this today?

I have reached a milestone as I just managed to inter the 600th biological relation into my Virtual Cemetery. (I had intended celebrating at 500 but forgot.)

My Virtual Cemetery

I hope that some time in the future family members may find this useful. 

Strengthening the Tree

Lately I have moved my focus from attending genealogy events to working on my tree. While I love learning from and connecting with fellow genies I realise that my research has suffered. I want to leave behind a full and well-sourced tree for future generations so I am concentrating on my research.

 
Since the advent of DNA I have recognised the value of building trees that not only go back in time but trees that go sideways and down to current generations. To assist in identifying matches one needs a robust DNA friendly tree. My hope is that I will eventually be able to solve many mysteries from my treeless DNA matches.

While I had a lot of distant cousins in my tree I had little information apart from their names. Recently I've been killing off and burying relatives and concentrating on finding sources for these events. In the past week I have found death and burial details from a range of sources for over 300 relatives. Of course there are some pesky people that just don't want to die. If I can't kill them off I make notes on their profiles indicating where I have searched. 

My main database is housed on an instance of Family Historian software on my laptop. From time to time, but not as often as I should, I export a gedcom to my website that uses TNG software and is hosted by Simply Hosting . I was shocked to find this evening that it is a year since I uploaded an update potentially missing out on being found by distant cousins.

Earlier today I tried to do the update and found that I was unable to log in to my web host. In a very short time Simply Hosting came to my rescue and I now my website is up to date. 

I realise that it needs a design overhaul but, as it is a workhorse not a show pony, I would rather concentrate on content. 

You can visit my website here: https://www.geniaus.net/

G is for...Getting the Most from Family Historian 6

 I've been researching my family history for over thirty years. Along this genealogy journey I have been supported by hundreds of books, many of which I have listed on my Librarything page. 

During the 2021 #AtoZChallenge I will be writing about two of my passions, books and family history. I'll be taking a trip down memory lane and revisiting some of those books that have enriched my genealogy experience.

When I am learning a new software application I usually jump in feet first and and take a trial and error approach to learning. Using this method may lead to mistakes and could even reinforce poor practice but it's the way I like to work, I tend to use help menus when I really get stuck. I like to learn by doing.

I tend to avoid reading help manuals from cover to cover but I will turn to a manual when I can't work something out for myself. In some situations I find it helpful to have a book that contains clear instructions beside me so that I can follow step by step instructions to master a skill or task. I find it easier to follow printed instructions that are beside then following instructions in a help menu on a screen.

One such book that has helped me enormously is Getting the Most from Family Historian 6 by the program's developer Simon Orde. Although a new version of Family Historian, version 7, has recently been released most of the content in Simon's book is relevant to version 7 users. 

No matter what desktop software you use a well-written and organised guide with a detailed index written for your software will be a valuable addition to your library.

Getting the Most from Family Historian 6 is available from The Family Historian Store. 

Too much learning

 There is a big online genealogy conference happening in Australia this week and I am not in attendance.

Over the past months I've had many opportunities to participate in online educational activities via Zoom and other mediums, I am still wading through the sessions from the recent RootstechConnect. That's a lot of learning! Another issue is that I am missing my genimates and hanging out for a face to face event so I have applied my geneafunds to attend History in Paradise, a face to face event on Norfolk Island in August.

My main problem is that I need time to apply some of the learning I have done during Covid times so, while many of my genimates are learning new tricks, I have been been playing catchup.

Recently my desktop genealogy software, Family Historian, had an update so I after downloading the update I have been working on my database while evaluating and updating some of my records. A catalyst for this was the presentation I gave at the SAG last weekend extolling the virtues of  the program. 

Several genimates, including Nicole Dyer at RootstechConnect, have been speaking in glowing terms about Airtable so I decided to investigate that tool. I spent considerable time creating quite a large base (database) with Airtable and was quite pleased with the result. When I returned to the program the next day I had a warning that my base was too big and that I would need to upgrade to a paid account.   

The problem was that I had too many records in my base. One is allowed to have many bases but each base is limited in the number of records it can hold. I removed some eggs from my basket and created an extra couple of bases to hold the sheets I had removed from the initial base so today I am within the limits for a free membership.

I want to play around a bit more before I decide to embrace this program. I like having the ability to link records in different sheets but as my bases grow (the first one is still close to the limit) I will need a paid account which will allow 5,000 records in each base. Another issue I am mulling over is that Airtable bases cannot be accessed offline. While I am usually online on both my phone and laptop will there be times like when on a longhaul flight, that I will want access. 

Next on my homework list is investigating the stories on The Colonial Frontier Massacres, Australia Map and Database.

298 Pages

Each year I pay my Ancestry subscription so that I have the resources available at my fingertips whenever I have a question to answer.

I have been researching my tree for 30 years now and some of my research is very old and needs to be revisited. Whenever I see the shaky green leaves on Ancestry I tend to ignore them.  I have finally decided that I need to check out the hints that Ancestry keeps sending me - there are 298 pages of them!

298 Pages

I have decided to concentrate on the 228 pages containing 4546 Record Hints in the set because many of the hints from Member Trees are riddled with errors and may mislead me. If I ever manage to get through this lot I will take a look at the Member Trees. The Record Hints should be more reliable!

Only 228 Pages of Record Hints

One of the reasons for this new found zeal is that I want to identify my many DNA matches and  having details of  BDMs for collateral relatives will help in this regard. Previously I have concentrated on my direct line.

So what is my process?  I am a bit hit and miss in the way I access the hints but have decided that I will use the Sort by Last Name, I realise that I may never get to the end of the alphabet!

I have a copy of my tree on my Family Historian database open as I look at the hints. I look at each hint and find the individual in Family Historian, I will add the fact and source there if it is a new one to me plus download any related image to the individual in question's folder on my hard drive. I then add the source to my Private Tree on Ancestry. If I already have the source on Family Historian I omit that step and just add it to the Private Ancestry tree. My Ancestry tree may not exactly mirror my Family Historian tree but I can live with that. My Family Historian tree is my Master Tree.  I am selecting Ignore for those records that are obviously incorrect but am finding that sometimes Ancestry doesn't take any notice of my Ignores and subsequently reoffers the incorrect records, Grrr.

This is slow going but already in two evenings I have found several Baptism records that give me dates of birth for various ancestors, I have found a death for Mr GeniAus' Great-Grandmother (need to order certificate to make sure it is right), buried a few folk and have married off several distant cousins. These last ones are useful for my DNA matching.

It will be a long haul but at least I have started the journey and am getting more value from my Ancestry sub.

A New Convert

Just a couple of years ago an old friend, let's call her Margaret, whom I had known for 60+ years said "I'm adopted you know". When I replied that I had known for years she asked why hadn't mentioned it to her. I hadn't said anything as I didn't know if she knew (and when my mother told me she made me promise not to tell).

At that time her elderly father was still alive and well and Margaret said that she didn't want to know about her biological family.

Schooldays for Margaret and Jill

Margaret, an only child, cared for her father who lived to a very ripe old age. I caught up with Margaret last year, two years after her father died and she informed me that she was going to delve into her biological family's history. She has recently procured a copy of her original birth certificate from which she learnt that she was born in Sydney and that her biological mother was from a country town. As often happened on the 40s and 50s single girls who found themselves in the family way moved to the city for a while.

When we met up last week Margaret said she had done a bit of research on Trove and asked for my help as she wondered if she had identified the right maternal family in the country town. We had a long chat and I think I convinced Margaret to take an Ancestry DNA test to see if she could discover something of her paternal ancestry. We discussed all the issues and Margaret realises that what she might find out may be confronting.

I jumped at the opportunity to help Margaret with her maternal line but didn't want to push her too far as it has taken her a long time to become curious about her biological family. I emailed her offering a few options: "Do you want me to send you a list of the ancestors, just the names of her parents or nothing at all? I don't want to spoil your fun but with a few clues you may be able to find some more stories on Trove."

Her response came quickly."Please if it's not too much trouble anything to sate my curiosity would be great." I have had an issue with bursitis that has prevented me from doing a lot of keyboarding but I have become adept at left handed mousing and that's all I need to hunt down people.  I was off and running.

It's the first time in years that I have started building a person's tree from scratch and it was so much easier than when I started out 30 years ago. That Margaret's maternal ancestors had been in the one country town for around 150 years made my hunt a little easier.

To keep track of things I started a new project in my Family Historian software (again so much easier to manage than when I started out using old library catalogue cards and paper charts to record info) and recorded facts as I found them. I was lucky to find Margaret's ancestors in some Ancestry trees, these hints sent me searching for sources to confirm them. I tried to work back one generation at a time. Every so often I created a fan chart to check my progress and make sure I wasn't neglecting any branches.

Last night I produced a Ancestors' report and a fan chart for Margaret from Family Historian. I emailed these together with a couple of documents I found online including a copy of the naturalisation document for her German ancestor (I had never seen one of these before). I found ancestors back to the mid 18th century from England, Germany and Ireland. I hope Margaret takes a DNA test so we can see what other genes she may have.

"I've just looked and find it all soo amazing that you could find so much info - you really are "Sherlock!" was the response I received by email this morning. This was followed a couple of hours later, after Margaret had digested the report I had sent her, by a phone call thanking me profusely for what I had done and exclaiming that I was a magician to have created the fan chart. I did fess up and say that my software Family Historian created that. Margaret also learnt that she had been researching the wrong family line on Trove but I reminded her that, as the name is not a common one, the families may indeed be related some generations back and on coming to Australia have chosen to settle in the same district. This was the case with my Irish ancestors.

Margaret is an intelligent and curious woman who will have so much fun researching her biological mother's family on Trove. I have had a peek and there is lots there to find. I know she will go beyond Trove and check out the online sources I have outlined in her Ancestors' report. I'll be on hand to answer any questions she may have a long the way.

I am confident that we have a New Convert to Family History in Margaret.

440 New or Updated Entries

Sometimes I despair that I don't have enough time to devote to my own family's research.

After uploading the latest version of my database (which I store in Family Historian on my laptop) to my family site www.geniaus.net I did a quick calculation on the number of records I have updated since my last upload and it appears that 440 records have been updated. Some of these are completely new records while some existing records had dates and sources added and in a few cases some inaccuracies were corrected. I didn't realise that the half an hour here and there I devote to my database could realise such a good result.

My Family Site

I am keen on adding as many distant cousins as I can to my database as I find having this information available helps me when I am trying to work out where my new DNA matches fit into my tree. So often these matches will know the names of their grandparents or great-grandparents but haven't a clue about earlier generations. 

I find that if I can put forward names of some potential ancestors in my communications with DNA matches I am more likely to get a response like "XX is my Mother" or "XX and XX were my parents. Good Luck." or "XX is my Father. XX was my Grandmother".  For this to happen I need lots of names in my database.

Once I get these responses I can write back and give the new DNA Cousins information on the earlier generations of their family and the ancestors we share thus adding to their family stories. These connections are usually over the moon when they receive this help.

Now that I have penned this post my despair has disappeared.

Which software to use?

Whenever I am asked a question about which software to use I refer my genimates to Louis Kessler's website GenSoftReviews. Following is his annual report on top rated genealogy software for 2017. I'm pleased to see that the packages I use, Family Historian and TNG (The next generation) are in the top 25 list.

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GenSoftReviews.com is where users go to rate and review their genealogy software. The site lists almost 1,000 programs, and users have contributed over 4,800 program reviews and ratings since the site opened in 2008.

,

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 1, 2018

The 9th annual Users Choice Awards have been tabulated and awarded at the GenSoftReviews website.

During 2017, 82 of the nearly 1,000 programs listed received 535 reviews. Along with the review, users rated the programs from 1 to 5 star, with 5 being best.  Programs that received at least one review in 2017 with 10 or more all-time reviews that achieved a user rating of at least 4.00 out of 5 receive a GenSoftReviews User Choice Award for 2017. The award reflects that the program is well-liked by its users.

The 25 programs awarded a GenSoftReview Users Choice Award as a Top Rated Genealogy Software for 2017 are:

• 13 Windows programs: Family Historian, Ahnenblatt, Personal Ancestral File, Family Book Creator, Ancestral Quest, Generations, Brother’s Keeper, RootsMagic, The Master Genealogist, Relatively Yours, Family Tree Builder, Family Tree Maker (up to Version 16), and Ages!  
• 3 Mac programs: iFamily for Mac, Heredis for Mac, and Reunion
• 4 programs built for Windows, Mac and Unix:  Evidentia, Ancestris, Familienbande, and GenealogyJ
• 5 Online programs: Famberry, The Next Generation, Genealogie Online, webtrees, and MyHeritage
• 0 Handheld programs.

The top program for 2017 was Evidentia, a program that helps you analyze evidence. Evidentia had an almost perfect user rating of 4.98 out of 5 based on 14 reviews. iFamily for Mac, a full-featured genealogy program for the Mac, was second at 4.95 out of 5 also on 14 ratings. And the online program Famberry was third with 4.94 out of 5 from 61 ratings.

New to the list of winners for 2017 was Ancestris, a free full-featured program from France. Ancestris received 8 reviews in 2017 bringing it to 12 reviews in total and making it eligible for the first time. Ancestris placed fourth overall with a 4.92 out of 5 rating.

Heredis for Mac rejoined the winners in 2017 after previously having won from 2012 to 2015. It dropped off the list in 2016 because it did not have any reviews in that year.

Winners in 2016 that dropped off the list this year include GenSmarts and Aldfaer which did not have any reviews in 2017, as well as Clooz and Heredis for PC whose overall rating dropped below 4.00 in 2017.

Several unsupported programs are still thought of highly enough by their users that they won an award in 2017. These include: Personal Ancestral File, Generations, The Master Genealogist, Relatively Yours, and Family Tree Maker up to Version 16.

Six programs have been GenSoftReviews User Choice Award winners every year since the awards began in 2009. They are: Personal Ancestral File, The Next Generation, Brother’s Keeper, RootsMagic, Family Tree Builder and Reunion.

GenSoftReviews uses a time-weighted average score. The weight of every user rating is reduced 50% every year, so newer opinions will be better reflected in the overall average score.

GenSoftReviews was created to be a site, somewhat like TripAdvisor for travelers, where genealogists can go to express their feelings about the genealogy software that they’ve used and tried. The reviews and ratings will likely help other genealogists who are looking for new software. It is hoped the developers of the programs also will see and use the reviews at GenSoftReviews to improve their programs.

For more information and a complete listing of current and past winners, see the Users Choice Award Winners page at GenSoftReviews.

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About Louis Kessler

Louis Kessler has been a genealogist, lecturer and programmer for over 40 years. He developed and runs the GenSoftReviews site. He is also the author of the genealogy programs Behold and GEDCOM File Finder available at www.beholdgenealogy.com, as well as the DNA analysis program Double Match Triangulator available at www.doublematchtriangulator.com

101 Reasons to attend #Congress_2018 - Find fellow users

There are many genealogy software packages out on the market most of which have their champions. Some of the more commercial packages have user group meetings in larger centres where fellow users can help and suppport each others' use of the program. I have noticed in a few family history groups that one software disciple will convince others to use the program he/she uses because he can help them with their questions.

As I don't know many people who use my program of choice, Family Historian, I rely on printed manuals and online groups to give me guidance when I get stuck. I happen to know that a few Congressites also use this program so I am hoping to snatch a few minutes to discuss my use  and get some tips from them in March.

You too can find fellow users and organise a get together during downtime (is there such a thing?) at Congress. Feel free to set up an event on our Facebook group for users of your fave package.

Back on Board

Those of you who are my Facebook friends will know that I was back on board a cruise ship for a few weeks this month and so my geneablogging suffered.

Mr GeniAus enjoyed our sojourn at sea where we journeyed from Auckland up to Singapore with about a dozen stops along the way, some old, some new. As lifelong learners we appreciate the opportunities cruising gives us to visit new lands and learn about people and places via the Smithsonian lecture program provided on board.

Our dear little ship, Seven Seas Navigator, in Akaroa, New Zealand

I got back into the swing of genealogy yesterday when I presented my Geneagoogling: effective Google searching talk at The Society of Australian Genealogists to a lively and responsive group. There were some familiar faces in the audience as well as folk who were new to me. It was pleasing to meet a couple of young genies at the session.

One of these genies, Nyree, mentioned that she has a blog. Of course I took a look at it on the way home and was impressed by its professional appearance. Do take a look at One Girl's Family History : an outlet for an obsession and leave a comment for Nyree. We need to encourage new, young geneabloggers.

I was chuffed when one familiar face chatted with me. It was Susan whom I had met through Wyong Family History Group. Susan is also a user of my favourite program Family Historian but it was something that Susan said that made me go all coy.

As a sometime genealogy presenter I often wonder if I have had any effect on the people who are in my audiences. Do they come along, listen, think that was interesting but then go about their business without taking on board any of things I have mentioned. Susan indicated that I had inspired her to put her information on the internet and that she had crested three websites following a workshop day I had presented at Wyong a couple of years ago.

Susan has used Weebly to post her family history data and stories on the internet. Take a look at her three sites:  Crust Family from Queensland, Glennan Family from Cooma and Andrews and Jones Families. I was absolutely chuffed to discover that someone had heeded my advice and created this wonderful trio of resources. I was even more thrilled when I read this in the about me page of one of Susan's sites " After attending a workshop on "Family History in the Modern Era", and being inspired by the presenter, Jill Ball, I decided to put my research on the internet. . It's a great way to share my family history research with family members and hopefully, the many photographs I've collected over the past 40 years will not be lost."

While I was at sea I received an invitation to present a program to the Forster Family History Advisory Group at The Great Lakes Library. I look forward to meeting the genies up on the north coast in November.

First on Librarything

I had been dragging the chain with my purchase of  Getting the Most from Family Historian 6 by Simon Orde but I finally succumbed and ordered it from Gould Genealogy 11 days ago. For the past week I have been watching out for the Australia Post man who finally delivered the book half an hour ago.

I love Family Historian and for the most part find it intuitive but sometimes I need help. Although Family has excellent online support I sometimes like to follow instructions from a book (call me old-fashioned). I'll read this book over the next few days and let you know what I think of it.

I was surprised, when I entered the details into my Librarything account, to find that I was the first person to add the book to that database.

Family Historian Data Matching

One of the first messages I read on Facebook this morning was from my genimate Shelley who was excited about the latest upgrade, 6.2,  to our favourite genealogy software package, Family Historian. Shelley's glee was soon matched by Colin Spencer who also shared the news.

Not to be outdone, when I had finished my morning chores I set about downloading the Family Historian upgrade and it took ages, I usually don't download upgrades so promptly so I was keen to get this upgrade as were probably many other FH users.

The FH site told me "Users of version 6 can now download a free upgrade to Family Historian 6.2 (the full 3-digit version number is 6.2.0). The new version adds automatic record matching and ‘hints’ for Findmypast databases. To learn more, see Automatic Internet Data Matching".

Well I have a sub to Findmypast that I don't use a lot so I thought I'd give this a try. Family Historian already had data matching with MyHeritage but, as I only recently won a sub to that site at Rootstech, I hadn't set up this facility.

After taking ages to download I installed the upgrade in a minute or two and following the instructions from Family Historian I set up data matching. It took me a while to get the hang of using the tool and I had to read the instructions (something I don't often do) but now I have it down pat. 

One must use the Focus Window view in Family Historian to see the matches. A little green icon in the bottom right hand corner of a person's name indicates there are matches available.

Family Historian - Focus Window View

When one hovers over the green icon a little box appears indicating how many matches have been found in each database. Selecting one of the databases opens a web search window within Family Historian where one can view and accept or reject the suggestions. One can use an external browser which is the way I started but I found the inbuilt browser easier for me.

Although one can't directly import into Family Historian I am not perturbed, it makes me stop and think before hastily adding something. One does not have to type data into FH (which is a boon for this hunter and pecker) one can use copy and paste or drag and drop to move data from the Web Browser into Family Historian. I have added quite a few records to my CurryAus study database via this method today. Of course I am concentrating on indexes at My Heritage and giving the user submitted trees a wide berth!

Am I happy - You bet your life I am. I am sure that after some more tweaking by the developers this feature will become even easier to use. 

My genealogy software package has become even more useful and I am about to get more value from two of the databases to which I have access.

Who wouldn't be smiling?

Family Historian Upgrade

No more forward slashes

The thought of upgrading software fills me with fear and trepidation but I am pleased to report that the free upgrade to Family Historian version 6.1 that I applied last week went off without a hitch.

I haven't noticed much difference in the program except with the entering of surnames which used to be enclosed within forward slashes . The need to use these forward slashes has disappeared so that's good.

There is a full list of the tweaks and new features that have been applied on the Family Historian website.

I must thank Simon Orde and his team for pushing out this free upgrade which takes on board many suggestions made by former users of The Master Genealogist and Family Tree Maker who have migrated to Family Historian.

More Records to Milk

Yesterday, as part of my GeniAus database cleanup campaign, I extracted many of the original BDM certificate copies I have purchased over the years from their unhealthy plastic sleeves in ordinary old plastic binders.

A cow in Solovski Russia is like my certificates - Ready to be milked dry

I scanned them (from A-G surnames - plenty more to do) and looked over them with fresh eyes. I milked many more facts from them than I had when I initially procured them. While I had them in my hands I added to my database informants and witnesses of various BDM events and the names of priests and ministers who had performed the ceremonies. It was amazing how many witness names I now recognised that I hadn't when I first looked at these documents. There were lots of in-laws, cousins, aunts and uncles at the events. Thankfully Family Historian software allows one to add witnesses to events (a feature missing in many genealogy software packages).

In some cases I hadn't even noted in my database that I had a copy of these documents in my possession (ie sources were missing), I put that right too. My next task is to rename and file those digital images into their folders on my external hard drive (then back them up to a second) and then purchase some archival quality sleeves and folders in which the keep my original hard copies. As Qantas will let me bring lots of luggage home from Rootstech in February I'll put these on my shopping list for when I am in Salt Lake City.

Last week I blogged about the prize of 5 Birth, Death or Marriage Images from The Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages I won in the National Family History Month draw. Today four of the five I requested arrived by email with an apology that my fifth request was not available as an image but I can choose another. How efficient is all that?

I chose death certificates as I thought they would give me information on three generations and perhaps lead me to some living cousins .... and from a quick scan at the info contained in them I think my chances are pretty high. Our Australian certificates allow for the recording of lots of information and my four new ones have lots to tell me.

I'm off now - to do some more milking.

Plugging Away

I have previously blogged about I am decrapifying my life, this also applies to my family history files and tree.

In a recent GeniAus Hangout on Air someone suggested writing down the steps one is taking while Revisiting Recording and Revising one's research.

I have previously mentioned that I think this is an ongoing evaluative process that never stops but I realise that, although I am continually  Revisiting Recording and Revising some of the people in my database may have been missed.

These are the actions I am taking to ensure that I eventually cover all people in my database, it may take some time!

Common errors I have found so far are many hundreds of instances of sources recorded as notes, many unsourced assertions, some wrong genders or no gender and quite a few typos. There are a few duplicate people but not as many as I thought I might have. Until the new version 6 I could not add witnesses to events into Family Historian so Witness Recording is an important part of the Revision.

I am forcing myself to be consistent, I am recording the same type of information for the indivisuals in my database in the same format  in the same fields. Over the years I have used several genealogy databases and just transferred my gedcoms from one to another. Inconsistency has been a result of both this and my past practices.

The Jobs

* Revisit and Revise my Place List in FH that was a bit of a mess. I feel pleased that I sorted this before attacking the people in my database.

* Revisit all of our direct ancestors in my FH database and revise their entries.

* Sort the entries in my FH database by "Last Updated" and revisit and review these systematically (in Alphabetical order) . The earliest are 14/8/2010. Once I revisit and review these I will then work through other dates systematically. I will examine each of these entries putting more effort into those who are direct ancestors of Mr GeniAus and I. Once I catch up with the backlog I can continue this process.

* Go through all of my physical family history folders and extract the BDM certificate copies and transcriptions I hold. After going through these with a fine tooth comb (reviewing) and extracting and recording as much information as I can into my FH database I will scan them then file them all by individual's Surname/Given Names in archival quality sleeves in an archival quality binder.

* Examine all of the papers in my physical family history folders, scan them and file into my digital folders, extract and record as much information as I can into my FH database.

* Periodically update my website to reflect the changes I have made in Family Historian. (There have been at least half a dozen updates so far this month.)

Currys Downunder

My maiden name is Curry, I am descended from an Irish convict,  Patrick Curry, who was transported to the colony of New South Wales in 1825. In addition to collecting information on Paddy's descendants downunder I have gathered quite a few references to unrelated Currys.

Some Australian Currys 1970

Since joining The Surname Society recently I have registered a surname study for the Curry Surname in Australia. As I have never seriously undertaken a surname study before I am on my L plates, I have taken on board advice that has been shared in the Society's forums and information on the Guild of One-Name Studies site (I'm a member there too).

How will I go about this?

• I have opened a new project in my Family Historian software into which I have imported my Australian Currys. Several Society members already use  Family Historian for their Surname studies so there is much help available.
• I will add any new Curry references I fins to this project.
• I have set up a Wordpress blog through which I will share Curry stories, trivia and news as wll as reports on my research. This blog which is currently private will be launched early in 2015.
• I already have 8,000+ Curry references in an Excel spreadsheet. I am currently massaging this data so that I can use Colin's free XL to Ged utility to convert the data in the spreadsheet to a gedcom file that I can import into my Family Historian project.
• I will set up a few Google alerts that will hopefully retrieve some Curry news from the web. I will have to put some thoughts into crafting these so that I don't get lots of news about Indian cuisine.
• I will search the various databases at my disposal to find Currys.
• I will see what Mr Google can find for me on the web.
• I will promote my study on social media so that others will be aware of  the study. The hashtag will be #CurryAus and the URL of my blog will contain CurryAus.
• I will use Evernote as a tool to keep track of the blog and its posts.
• Apart from that I will just learn as I go.

If you have any Australian Currys in your tree or among your friends and neighbours I'd love to hear about them. 

Beaut software is even better

It's hard for me to contain my excitement when I find something fantastic but I have exercised considerable restraint while Beta testing Version 6 of Family Historian software. As a Beta tester I committed to keeping mum about the new version and its features but now that the developer Calico Pie has announced the product's imminent release and discussed some of its new features I feel I can open my mouth. Here is a snip from the company's recent newsletter:

Family Historian 6 is due for release on December 9th. It will be a big and exciting release, packed with enhancements and great new features. There are far too many features to cover in a single bulletin (and in any case, we want to keep some surprises for the day), but just to whet your appetites, we are including a sneak preview of a just a couple of new features below – Map Windows and Witnesses.

As a tester I can confirm that it is big and exciting. When  I moved over from The Master Genealogist to Family Historian a couple of years ago I was delighted with FH except on a couple of  counts. The major one being that I lost all the witnesses to events that I had created. There was a work around in version 5 of FH but I couldn't be bothered with it. 

I was delighted when I found that a witness function had been added to Version 6. During the testing I put this through its paces on a copy of my database and it worked a treat. Now I will be able to reinstate all the ministers/priests who BMDed family members, all the guests at various family events, godparents, bridesmaids and so on. Calico Pie suggest:"For example, you could use it to record the fact that a group of people all lived together, if you wanted to. The practical effect is to provide richer and more fleshed-out reports, and a richer experience when browsing, because witness details can be accessed when viewing an event from the point-of-view of any of the participants."

Jane Taubman teaching FH 2014

If you are into maps then the new mapping facility is fantastic. There aare some other new features that really struck a chord with me but I must keep them under wraps for the moment.

Santa Jill will be delivering my update by download as soon as the package is released on December 9. I just need to find out how to place an advance order!

You may know that I recently undertook two days of Family Historian training with Family Historian guru, Jane Taubman. Jane and I are intending to show off FH version 6 in a Google Hangout in early January. I will share details when I have a time and date.

BTW. The only perk I receive from Calico Pie is the opportunity to test and comment on the beta version of their new release. I just happen to lke their product.

Beaut day on Wednesday

I travelled to Baulkham Hills Branch Library last Wednesday to present a talk on online resources for family history. I was rather nervous about doing this talk as a friend of fifty years standing announced a couple of days prior announced that she was coming along to hear me. Now talking to a room of strangers is daunting enough but speaking in front of someone who is close to me always sets the nerves going.But it was okay, my friend reckons that I didn't show any signs of nervousness. 

It was a small but enthusiastic audience who came along, all were eager to learn and most contributed during the lively session. Antonella, the librarian who looked after me was a great ambassador for hr library and I thank her for organising the event and for the morning tea provided. That was a nice surprise.

My aims for this event was to make attendees aware of the value of online resources for research and to share some resources they may not have used. I was so pleased , when I returned home to receive the following email:

"Just a brief note to say thanks for your talk at Baulkham Hills Library yesterday. It was superb. 
As a definite amateur , your talk filled in a lot of gaps for me. Some sites were old favourites but many were new ....and interesting! I love the stories that I find. The names and dates are good but it is the stories, choices and gossip that fascinate me. 
 
Warm regards"

It is pleasing to know I hit the mark with at least one attendee.

After the talk my schoolfriend and I adjourned to a local coffee shop for a bit of one on one tuition. She has been gatheirng family history dates and documents for many years and, now she is retired, has decided that it is time to get organised. On my suggestion she had downloaded Family Historian software and has been inputting data but she needed help with a couple of functions. I really enjoyed showing her how to import multimedia items into her database, how to add fields to and sort the columns in the record screen and how to set up named list. It was so much fun to sit and teach such an enthusiastic and smart learner.

Signed up for Two Courses

I moved my family tree data over to Family Historian nearly two years ago now but I still class myself as a beginner with this versatile software package.

I learnt a lot from Family Historian expert, Jane Taubman, on the Unlock the Past Genealogy cruise in February when she presented a series of lectures on the package. Jane indicated that several times a year she conducted full day courses for Family Historian users at Dillington House in Ilminster, Somerset in the UK. When I expressed an interest in these courses Jane asked when I would be in the UK and said she would try to schedule some courses when I would be there. She was as good as her word.

Tonight I have signed up for two full day courses in November. Hopefully by the time I return to Australia I will be an intermediate user of the Family Historian software.

These are the courses I will be taking

You can read all about the courses here: http://courses.rjt.org.uk/wp/category/family-historian-courses/.