EOGN: Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

A Weekly Summary of Events and
Topics of Interest to Online Genealogists

Vol. 6 No. 7– February 12, 2001

This newsletter was sponsored by Ancestry.com,
a leader in providing print and electronic
research information to genealogists.

To learn about Ancestry.com’s
state-of-the-art online genealogy databases
and other fine products,
visit the company’s three Internet properties,
MyFamily.com, Ancestry.com, and FamilyHistory.com

Copyright© 2001 by Richard W. Eastman. All rights reserved.

If you do contact any of the companies or societies mentioned in this newsletter, please tell them that you read about their services in this newsletter.

IN THIS ISSUE:

- LDS Family History Department Adopts XML Standard
- International Genealogical Index Expanded
- Black Roots: A Beginner’s Guide
- Slave Narratives Database Available Free During February
- Expansion of "Family History Made Easy: Step by Step"
- American Battle Monuments Commission Online Database
- UK National Burial Index on CD-ROM
- Hungarotips
- OneGreatFamily.com Announces a Strategic Relationship with Microsoft
- GENTECH2001 Audio Tapes
- Genealogy Database Helps Identify Prostate Cancer Gene
- The Prince is Back
- History of Valentine’s Day
- Home Pages Highlighted

- LDS Family History Department Adopts XML Standard

At a technical session of the GENTECH2001 conference last week, Randy Bryson of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) announced that the Church is now standardizing on the XML programming language for all future software products. This announcement will have an immediate impact on producers of genealogy software and eventually will benefit all genealogists.

Mr. Bryson is the Director of the FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service for the LDS Family History Department and also is the Information Technology Manager over the Ancestral File, Resource Files, Research Guidance and Extraction applications. As such, he is responsible for compatibility among these products. The de facto data exchange standard for many years has been GEDCOM, a file format that is well-known for its imperfections. GEDCOM, an abbreviation for Genealogy Data COMmunications, was created by the LDS Church in the mid-1980s as a method of exchanging genealogy data between different programs. The specifications for GEDCCOM file format have been updated a few times since then, and GEDCOM files have become the most common method of exchanging data between distant relatives. GEDCOM files also are used to contribute an individual’s data to the large, centralized databases of the LDS Church and other organizations.

In its first iteration, GEDCOM files consisted of ASCII text. Unlike binary files used by most other programs, you can open a GEDCOM file with a simple text editor and read the data contained therein. Later versions of GEDCOM were expanded to include ANSEL and Unicode, in addition to ASCII. Because of these updates, GEDCOM files can now handle umlauts and accents and other marks common in European alphabets. However, you can still read this data with a text editor, such as Windows Notepad.

GEDCOM has always suffered from numerous shortcomings, one limitation being the use of text. Other limitations have included difficulties with handling non-European names, handling imprecise data, and also the method of handling contradictory data such as we all find in genealogy research.

In the 1990s, two separate and exhaustive studies of exchanging data between genealogy programs were made. The two were conducted more or less simultaneously:

The two studies were different in scope and purpose. The conclusions and recommendations of the two were also somewhat different although similar in some ways. It is interesting to note that the XML standard was mostly unknown at the time these studies began but came into prominence before the conclusion of these studies. While XML was not cited as a specific recommendation in either study, I have since heard the authors of both studies make reference to XML as a possible solution to some of the shortcomings of today’s methodologies.

I also should mention another alternative to GEDCOM’s shortcomings: Wholly Genes Software created GenBridge, a different method of directly transferring data between different databases that does not use GEDCOM at all. While Wholly Genes has had great success with GenBridge, other software producers have not yet adopted it.

Randy Bryson’s announcement of the adoption of XML illustrates the LDS Church’s concerns and plans. Obviously, the programmers at the Family History Department have read these two studies and are proceeding with some of the recommendations. The introduction of XML will increase accuracy as well as allow for the use of non-European characters. A future release of the GEDCOM standard will be XML-based. The LDS databases will also accept XML data, databases such as the Ancestral File, Pedigree Resource File, International Genealogical Index and others.

My guess is that the commercial Internet genealogy databases (Ancestry.com, genealogy.com, OneGreatFamily.com, etc.) will also convert to XML input, perhaps even before the LDS Church completes their conversion. Obviously, all the genealogy programs used by individuals will also need to produce XML-formatted GEDCOM files in compliance with the new specification. I am sure we will see future versions of The Master Genealogist, Personal Ancestral File, Family Tree Maker, Family Origins, Legacy and other genealogy programs that will produce XML files, once the new GEDCOM replacement format has been defined.

None of this exists today. Randy Bryson’s announcement simply indicates a future course. I suspect it will be two years or even longer before the new XML format is in place and in use. However, the benefits will justify the wait.

- International Genealogical Index Expanded

The new names will also be available soon on the CD-ROM version of the International Genealogical Index although an expected ship date has not yet been announced.

- Black Roots: A Beginner’s Guide

In last week’s newsletter I described Tony Burroughs’ new book, called "Black Roots: A Beginners Guide to Tracing the African American Family Tree." In that article, I wrote, "I haven’t seen this new book yet, but…". I then went on to quote a description written by the publishers.

A few hours after I sent out the newsletter with the words quoted above, the mailman delivered a copy to my door. I can now report that this book does indeed live up to the publisher’s description.

First of all, I can testify that Tony Burroughs is highly qualified to write this volume. He is an internationally-known genealogist and frequent author. He teaches genealogy at Chicago State University. He also lectures throughout the United States and Canada on all aspects of genealogy. I have had the pleasure of meeting Tony a number of times, dined with him occasionally, and sat through a half-dozen or so of his lectures. I already knew that he is a great speaker, but I never read any of his written words until this week.

When looking at the Table of Contents, Black Roots appears to be similar to other genealogy "how to" books. There are chapters on What is Genealogy, Family Group Sheets, Pedigree Charts, Census Records, and most all the other topics that genealogists deal with. However, as you begin to read the text, it becomes apparent that Tony describes these topics from the Black American’s viewpoint. For instance, when describing cemetery records, he points out that the published records of Certified Genealogist Paul E. Sluby contains information about African American cemeteries in the Washington, D.C. area, information that often is missing in other published records. He also writes about how past segregation and racism affected record keeping. Again and again, Burroughs describes the items that all genealogists need to know, but describes them from the viewpoint of someone researching Black ancestry. Some things are the same, but wherever the Black experience brings a unique perspective, Tony presents that point of view and prescribes an approach to researching these aspects.

As Burroughs writes early in this book, "Many genealogists state that Black genealogy is the same as traditional genealogy until you get back to slavery, prior to 1865. I cringe every time I hear those words. This statement is only partially true." He then goes on to fill the rest of the book with explanations of the differences and suggestions on how to proceed.

Burroughs’ writing style is light and easy to read. He not only writes about the "how to do research" topics, but he also offers suggestions of "what you might want to think about." He writes about giving our children a heritage and fostering pride and self-esteem.

Black Roots is full of examples, case histories that illustrate real-world challenges. It has many illustrations and photographs of records similar to the ones you will need to look at. It also has samples of worksheets and various forms that you will find useful.

This book is a good read, and I highly recommend it to anyone researching Black ancestry. At only $16.00, this book is cost effective. While other genealogy books also are useful for the Black genealogist, Black Roots can save you a lot of wasted time and frustration.

Black Roots is published by the Fireside Division of Simon & Schuster and should be available soon at most major bookstores and online booksellers. It is brand new, so they may not yet have it in inventory. However, you should be able to order it at any bookstore by specifying ISBN 0-684-84704-3.

- Slave Narratives Database Available Free During February

Ancestry.com is helping celebrate Black History Month by making its premium Slave Narratives available at no charge during Black History Month. Here is the announcement:

- Expansion of "Family History Made Easy: Step by Step"

The "Family History Made Easy: Step by Step" series has now been expanded to include even more content. It now has three more articles, for a total of 12:

Step 1: Getting Started
Step 2: Treasures in the Attic
Step 3: Living Sources
Step 4: Beginning Your Library Research
Step 5: At the Library
Step 6: Secondary Source Research
Step 7: Primary Sources and Vital Records
Step 8: Census Records
Step 9: Immigration Records
Step 10: Naturalization Records
Step 11: Military Records
Step 12: Land Records

Three more articles are to be added in a few more months.

- American Battle Monuments Commission Online Database

The American Battle Monuments Commission maintains a listing of those interred at the American military cemeteries overseas and those Missing in Action from World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The World War II and Korean War databases have been available for some time but the World War I database is a recent addition. These databases can be valuable when searching for information about ancestors or other family members. Quoting from the Commission’s web site:

My thanks to Gene Vogt for letting me know about the new addition.

- UK National Burial Index on CD-ROM

TWR Computing has announced the imminent release of the National Burial Index. Quoting from the announcement:

This very important data, never published before, indexes more than 5.3 million burials in England and Wales from 1538 onwards. It is not a complete index to all burials, but represents an enormous effort by Family History Societies and Groups to make available a large amount of information easily searchable in your own home. The National Burial Index, known as the NBI, is quality British data at an affordable price.

The information provided in the National Burial Index, taken from parish, non-conformist, Roman Catholic and cemetery registers, includes where available

County of burial
Parish or cemetery where the event of burial was recorded
Date of burial
Forename(s) of the deceased
Surname of the deceased
Age
The society or group that transcribed the record

This information is displayed in a table, which may be sorted on any column. Records may be tagged and exported to other applications. The NBI does not contain full transcriptions of the burial records - it is simply an abbreviated finding-aid based on records that were sometimes difficult to read. As with the IGI, searchers are therefore discouraged from accepting the details of an entry at face value and should check the original source record.

Also included is mapping software that interacts with the data.

A bar graph is provided showing the count of people included in the Index for each year from 1538 to 2000. The programmer of the NBI is Stephen Archer, so a very high standard of product is assured.

Using the program supplied on the CDROM, the searcher can interrogate the database by a number of methods: a standard surname and forename synonym dictionary, a list of uniquely-occurring surname spelling variants, or by using wildcards. The search can be refined by specifying date ranges or locations.

To date, over 50 Family History Societies or Groups are involved with the project. Each appoints a coordinator who recruits inputters, checkers and correctors. Wherever possible, transcriptions are made from original source records but where this is not feasible other sources, such as microfiche transcriptions or printed registers, are used.

The number of burial entries included in the NBI per county, rounded to the nearest 1000, are:

Bedfordshire 52000
Berkshire 51000
Buckinghamshire 81000
Cambridgeshire 97000
Cardiganshire 6000
Cheshire 25000
Derbyshire 29000
Dorset 1000
Durham 170000
Essex 22000
Glamorganshire 249000
Gloucestershire 151000
Herefordshire 42000
Hertfordshire 79000
Huntingdonshire 58000
Kent 16000
Lancashire 29000
Leicestershire <1000
Lincolnshire 609000
Middlesex 11000
Monmouthshire <1000
Norfolk 73000
Northamptonshire 79000
Northumberland 106000
Oxfordshire 256000
Radnorshire 4000
Shropshire 85000
Staffordshire 14000
Suffolk 436000
Surrey 120000
Warwickshire 470000
Wiltshire 146000
Worcestershire 490000
Yorkshire 19000
Yorkshire East Riding 29000
Yorkshire North Riding 308000
Yorkshire West Riding 674000

TOTAL over 5.3 million entries

The minimum requirements are a PC with Pentium processor or higher, running Windows 95/98/NT/2000 or ME with suggested minimum of 8Mb RAM. For screen resolution VGA (640 x 480) should work but SVGA (800 x 600) and above is recommended.

The National Burial Index is 30.00 pounds inclusive. For countries outside the EU the price is also £30 including airmail delivery (the extra amount for airmail and the amount deducted for VAT cancel themselves out)

£30 is roughly the equivalent of $50 in U.S. funds.

Note that the TWR Computing Web site does not have a secure server for placing orders online. It is possible to order the CD-ROM disks by e-mail although most online security experts will advise you to not send credit card data in unsecured e-mail messages. Luckily, the same Web site does list a telephone number, a FAX number and a "snail mail" address, all of which are suitable for credit card orders.

- Hungarotips

Lilla Hudoba is a native of Hungary who moved to the United States four years ago. She has an interest in genealogy and has now created a Web page and a mailing list that should be helpful to anyone researching Hungarian genealogy.

Hungarotips is devoted more than just genealogy; it gives lots of information about the country and about Hungarian culture. There are more than a 100 pictures online along with travel guide. There is a "Learn Hungarian" section, featuring Magyar lessons with sound files, quizzes, and self-tests. You can even sign up for the daily grammar newsletter. Check out the English-to-Hungarian translator as well. While a bit limited, it is an excellent method of learning a few phrases.

Hungarotips also lists days, holidays, folk traditions, Hungarian customs, on-line quizzes and even a jigsaw puzzle. You can also check the current weather in Budapest.

Are you looking for Hungarian friends or relatives? You can submit your genealogy research and surnames to the Hungarotips Genealogy List.

- OneGreatFamily.com Announces a Strategic Relationship with Microsoft

The following is an excerpt from OneGreatFamily.com’s recent announcement:

OneGreatFamily.com, the worlds most advanced genealogy service for sharing, storing and exploring genealogy on the Internet, today announced a strategic relationship with Microsoft Encarta. Encarta.com, the Interactive Learning Channel of MSN, offers quick access to high quality and interactive learning resources to users of all ages and learning pursuits. Under the agreement, Encarta.com will now offer extensive genealogical services and OneGreatFamily will benefit from the strength of Microsoft’s vast reach to over 155 million unique visitors per month worldwide.

Through this cooperation, learners on Encarta.com will gain access to a shared, worldwide genealogical database and online software that provides tools to explore family history at any level of previous experience. Users will access the co-branded service through links on Encarta.com’s homepage. The integration including genealogies of individuals throughout the online encyclopedia will be made available in the near future. For example, when searching Abraham Lincoln on Encarta.com, users will have an option to "click here to see Abraham Lincoln’s genealogy." OneGreatFamily is eliminating the barriers for people to begin to participate and succeed in genealogy," said Alan Eaton, Founder and CEO of OneGreatFamily. "In the past, people haven’t known where to go, how to start, or what has already been done by others. Through our relationship with Encarta, genealogy will be expanded to include the millions of people who have always wanted to enjoy family history but didn’t know where to begin. With Encarta’s wealth of historical resources, we can also begin to put the names and faces of each of our ancestors into context in history."

"Encarta is committed to delivering trusted and relevant information for learners of all ages. We are excited to be able to offer to our Encarta.com customers a powerful way to research genealogy through our agreement with OneGreatFamily," said Jeff Smith, Marketing Manager for Encarta, of Microsoft Corp. "The search capabilities are very advanced and guide the customer effortlessly through the process of finding one’s past generations. Now, customers searching their genealogy will be able to reference the time period, the geography and perhaps even a distant relative with Encarta.com resources."

Being an avid genealogist is not a requirement to enjoy OneGreatFamily with Encarta.com. New users begin by starting with themselves and then enter as many generations as they can. New names are being submitted to OneGreatFamily’s database all of the time from thousands of people from over 40 countries. Each time new information is added, it is processed through the database to see if it links to any other data already in the system. For example, one user recently entered four generations and received an additional seventy generations when his data linked with genealogy that was previously submitted by other users.

- GENTECH2001 Audio Tapes

Last week I wrote about the successful GENTECH2001 conference held in Mesquite, Texas. Several people sent e-mails asking if audiotapes of the presentations would be available. The answer is "Yes, but apparently not yet."

- Genealogy Database Helps Identify Prostate Cancer Gene

The Daily Utah Chronicle, an independent newspaper at the University of Utah, carried an interesting article on January 31 that described the recent identification of a gene now proven to contribute to prostate cancer. The article caught my eye because it describes the use of a large genealogy database used in this research.

HPC2, standing for hereditary prostate cancer, was identified in a collaborative effort between researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine and Myriad Genetics Inc. in Research Park. The American Cancer Society predicts that 198,100 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 31,500 will die from it this year. More than 70 percent of prostate-cancer diagnoses are in men 65 or older.

"[HPC2] is the first of many genes, all of which will probably contribute to a small portion of prostate cancer," said Lisa Cannon-Albright, a genetic epidemiologist. The researchers predict that knowledge of this gene will lead to the discovery of subsequent cancer-causing gene mutations. The researchers estimate HPC2 is responsible for 2 to 10 percent of all prostate cancer cases.

Albright said Utah provides unique opportunities for doing genetic research. "Utah has a very unique resource ... the Utah Population Database at the medical school; it combines computerized genealogy with tumor registry," Albright said. The database features family pedigrees and state cancer data. "It lets us identify the high-risk families."

- The Prince is Back

Intrigued by an unusual article in a Russian newspaper about a prince and his efforts to restore his ruined castle, University of California Los Angeles Film and Television Professor Marina Goldovskaya traveled to Russia over spring break in 1999 to investigate the story further. When speaking about the newspaper article, she said, "It was very strange. It was called 'The Prince is Back,' and there was a photo of this 47-year-old man with the ruins of the castle in the background. I recognized the castle because I passed by when I was a child, with my mother."

During the summer of 1999 she flew again to Russia, her country of origin. When she returned to the United States a few months later, she brought with her footage that would soon become the award-winning documentary, "The Prince is Back." The documentary depicts Prince Eugene Meshersky and his family’s struggle to rebuild their ancestors' castle. According to Goldovskaya, the story acts as a metaphor for Russians trying to rebuild their country after years of political upheaval.

- History of Valentine’s Day

All lovers know the significance of February 14, but how did this tradition get started? Did our ancestors celebrate this day as well? Perhaps great-great-grandfather met great-great-grandmother at a Valentine’s Day festivity, with one of the results being me. Perhaps you and I owe our very existence to this tradition!

The history of Valentine's Day and its patron saint remains a mystery. I always heard that it was named after Saint Valentine, a Catholic priest in third century Rome.

Historians believe that Valentine's Day originated from an ancient Roman feast called Lupercalia. The Romans worshipped a god called Lupercus, a protective deity who kept wild wolves from overrunning the city. The festival to honor Lupercus was held on February 15 and was celebrated as a spring festival. Keep in mind that the Romans did not use the Gregorian calendar that we use today. In the Julian calendar of Rome, February 15 was springtime.

One of the customs associated with Lupercalia was the practice of name-drawing. On Lupercalia Eve (February 14) the names of young girls were written down on pieces of paper and put in jars, from which each young man would draw. The particular girl each young man drew would be his "girlfriend" for the year.

When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young, single men, his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that Valentine be put to death.

A different version of the story claims that Valentine actually sent the first "valentine greeting" himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl who visited him during his confinement. Some versions say that she was the jailer’s daughter. Before his death, it is alleged that Valentine wrote her a letter, which he signed (in Latin) "From your Valentine," an expression that is still in use today.

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons where they were often beaten and tortured.

The Lupercalia celebration went on as before for many years following the death of Valentine. As time passed, Christianity became more and more firmly established, and at some point the Romans renamed the pagan feast of Lupercalia for Valentine, who by that point had been canonized to become St. Valentine.

These are nice stories, but keep in mind that the Catholic Church has three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. No one can be sure if the story revolves around the Roman priest who lived under the reign of Emperor Claudius II or one of the other two.

Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is unknown, all the stories describe Valentine’s appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and romantic figure.

- Home Pages Highlighted

DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is being written and sent via e-mail at no charge. I expect to write one new issue on a more or less weekly basis. However, life sometimes interferes, and the need to earn a living may create an occasional delay.

COPYRIGHTS: The contents of this newsletter are copyright by Richard W. Eastman with the following exception:

Many of the articles published in these newsletters contain quotes or references from others, especially from other Web sites, software users manuals, press releases and other public announcements. Any words in this newsletter attributed to another person or organization remain the copyrighted materials of the original author(s).

You are hereby granted rights, unless otherwise specified, to re-distribute articles from this newsletter to other parties provided:

1. You do so strictly for non-commercial purposes
2. Your re-distribution is limited to one or two articles per newsletter; do not re-distribute the newsletter in its entirety
3. You may not republish any articles containing words attributed to another person or organization until you obtain permission from that person or organization. While you do have permission to republish words written by Richard W. Eastman, you do not have automatic authority to republish words written by others, even if their words appear in this newsletter.

Also, please include the following statement with any articles you re-distribute:

The following article is from Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 2001 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Subscription information: There are two different methods to subscribe to this free newsletter:

Please feel free to copy this subscription information and pass it on to anyone else who you think might be interested in obtaining a free subscription.