EOGN: Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

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

Vol. 6 No. 17 – April 23, 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:

- George Chabot, R.I.P.
- 22 Million Ellis Island Immigrants Now Online
- Ancestry.com Celebrates Inauguration of Ellis Island Database
- Clarification of the Use of GEDCOM/XML
- Your Family Name in 1870 America CD-ROM
- 1959
- Home Pages Highlighted

- George Chabot, R.I.P.

This week’s newsletter is dedicated to the memory of my brother-in-law, George Chabot. George lost his long battle with cancer this week.

A kind and gentle man, George Chabot was an avid outdoorsman and enjoyed sailing, hunting and fly-fishing. He left behind a wonderful legacy: a wife of 42 years, three children, a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law and five grandchildren.

- 22 Million Ellis Island Immigrants Now Online

As predicted in last week’s newsletter, the Ellis Island immigration records are now available online. The site went live last week and immediately became a hit. Such a hit, in fact, that I had a hard time accessing the online database. In the first couple of days, I would receive the following error when trying to go to the Web site:

HTTP Error 403

403.9 Access Forbidden: Too many users are connected

This error can be caused if the Web server is busy and cannot process your request due to heavy traffic. Please try to connect again later.

One report said that the Web site received 8 million visitors in one 8-hour period. I suspect there were many more than that trying to access the site. However, a few days later everything calmed down, and I was able to access the site without any difficulties. However, after completing a search, I would attempt to start a new search and would be greeted with the following:

Thank you for your interest in the American Family Immigration History Center at ellisislandrecords.org. Due to an extraordinary number of visitors, we must limit access to the site. Please keep trying, or check back later.

Such error messages are common on very popular, new sites that are overwhelmed with users. These error messages will probably disappear as the initial flood of users subsides a bit.

The new searchable database contains the records of 22 million immigrants to America who came through Ellis Island. The records cover the years 1892, when Ellis Island first opened, to 1924. Those are the peak years of Ellis Island’s operations. It is estimated that forty percent of the population of this country can trace their roots through Ellis Island, so this new online database is valuable to Americans who wish to trace their family trees.

Some areas of the Ellis Island Records Website are free, others require registration, and still more require membership in The Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation. You may perform searches for names without registering. The database will return the name, most recent residence, year of arrival, and age at time of arrival. However, access to more detailed information requires a free registration. The free registration gives you read-only access to all the records in the database.

An optional membership is available for $45.00. Once that fee is paid, you become a Sustaining Member of The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation. Sustaining members can:

• Annotate passenger records in the Ellis Island Archives. That is, you can add your comments to an individual’s record. Your comments will then be visible to all people who later display that individual’s record. This would be an excellent method of finding long-lost cousins who are also descendants of that person.
• Create and maintain your Family History Scrapbook. The Family History Scrapbooks are not yet available but should go online soon.
• Order one free copy of your initial Scrapbook (print or CD-ROM)
• Receive a 10% discount at the online Gift Shop or at the Center

The membership fees are used to support the ongoing work of the Foundation at Ellis Island.

The Ellis Island records database is very easy to use. You simply type in a person’s last name. The last name is required, while the first name is optional. The database then returns a list of all the names that match your request.

After displaying a list of names, you may narrow your search by specifying gender, year of arrival, ethnicity, age on arrival, port of departure, or the name of the ship. This can be a great aid in finding extended families who traveled together: first find one particular individual, then specify a search for everyone of that surname arriving on the same day.

While this online database is described as a "list of immigrants," it actually is more than that. The database usually lists all arrivals, not just new immigrants. American citizens who traveled abroad and then returned are usually listed in this same database. When searching for my own surname, I found a number of entries for George Eastman of Rochester, New York. This well-known inventor and industrialist founded the Eastman Kodak Company. He apparently crossed the Atlantic numerous times, either on business or for pleasure. I found many entries for him.

Jim Boulden had a similar experience that he described in an e-mail this week:

I have been looking forward to the Ellis Island database for years. It took five minutes to find my great-grandmother on my father's side when she moved from England. A major victory.

But you can imagine how stunned I was to find dozens of my relatives. It never occurred to me that people went through Ellis Island who weren't emigrants. 65 members of my mother's clan are listed coming back from holidays between 1892 and 1923. I never knew my great-aunt went to Puerto Rico when she was 31.

I wonder how many people out there realize their family may very well be listed in this new database, when they weren't 'coming to America.' Spread the word!

Jim Boulden

Visitors to the Statue of Liberty will also be able to access the database at the site of the landmark by stopping in at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. This museum was created by a seven-year partnership between the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation, the National Park Service, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The database is a result of a huge volunteer effort. Some 12,000 volunteers from the Church spent several years electronically transcribing data from ships’ manifests on passengers and crew members who entered the Port of New York from 1892 to 1924, the peak years of Ellis Island’s processing. Volunteers donated over five million hours during this labor-intensive project.

Steve Briganti, President of the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation said, "The partnership of three very separate groups with very special and specific interests have come together to provide something that is valuable for so many millions of people who want to know about their heritage."

This week’s inauguration of the Ellis Island Records 0nline database marks a major milestone for genealogists. A major source of important records is now available 24 hours a day. You may easily access these records without leaving the comfort of your own home.

- Ancestry.com Celebrates Inauguration of Ellis Island Database

In celebration of the Ellis Island database described in the previous article, the following press release is from Ancestry.com:

- Clarification of the Use of GEDCOM/XML

This week, Lyle Hereth, Manager of Information Technology at the Family & Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, sent a document that sheds more light on this topic. This week’s document is in response to my article and to Bob Velke’s article and provides the church’s views on several items. It also adds more details about the church’s plans. The following is published here with the permission of Mr. Hereth:

- Your Family Name in 1870 America CD-ROM

Heritage Quest has a nifty new product: a CD-ROM disk containing all the entries for any one surname found in the 1870 U.S. Census. These CD-ROM disks are custom made upon receipt of your order. You specify the surname, and then Heritage Quest creates a CD-ROM that lists every 1870 head-of-household bearing that surname, plus all Soundex variations.

I obtained a disk for all the EASTMAN entries in the 1870 census and found it very easy to use. The search engine appears to be the same as that used on Heritage Quest’s other products. It is logical and very user-friendly. I found that I could search by any combination of given name, age, sex, race, birth place, state, county, locale, microfilm series or microfilm roll. You can also specify searches restricted to the following kinds of information:

• Exact Match - used when you want to search a specific spelling for a name.
• Contains - used when you are unsure of the exact spelling of a name. Contains permits you to specify a wildcard search. A wildcard search is a text string with asterisks or question marks used in place of letters. An asterisk can represent one or more letters; a question mark is used in place of a single letter. For example, you are looking for someone named Anderson, but you are aware that there could be several spellings of this name, such as Andersen, Anderssen, or Andersson. To do a search that would find these other spellings, you could use a search string like: And*s?n
• Exclude - used when you want to omit certain search criteria. Sometimes a search will find so many records that you may wish to narrow it down a bit. For example, you are looking for someone named Smith, which is a common name. However, the Smith you are looking for was thought to have been living in one of several possible locations. Using the Exclude option, you can specify the localities you want the program to ignore in its search.

I quickly located my great-great-grandfather by specifying his first and last names. Luckily, he had an unusual first name, so finding him was easy. Next, I decided to do a more complex search. In this case, I decided to do an analysis of migration patterns to see those who moved from Maine to other parts of the country. I specified a search for place of birth in Maine and for state of residence to exclude Maine. In other words, display all the records for individuals of that name who were born in Maine but now live in other states. The results were interesting; I found a large number of those families residing in Michigan and in Minnesota in 1870. Even if my ancestor was not listed, I would still have an idea of where records might be located.

So why would anyone buy a CD-ROM disk containing just the records for one surname? After all, you can obtain the same information and a lot more if you purchase the entire 1870 census records on CD-ROM. The answer to the question is two-fold: price and convenience. The single-surname 1870 U.S. Census CD-ROM disks cost $19.95. (Members of Heritage Quest’s membership programs receive a $5.00 discount off that price.) The 1870 U.S. Census disks containing all entries usually are sold with one or two states on a single CD disk. The entire collection would fill many CD-ROM disks at $14.95 each ($9.95 each for members).

If you are researching only one or two family names, especially families that were spread out over a number of states, the custom-made surname CD-ROM disk will be more cost-effective. Also, a family society will want to purchase a single, inexpensive disk containing only their family’s records instead of the more expensive set of all records.

- 1959

Here are a few things that Americans were saying in 1959:

I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it is going to be impossible to buy a week’s groceries for $20.

Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long when $5000 will only buy a used one.

If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous.

Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?

If they raise the minimum wage to $1, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.

When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 30 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage.

Kids today are impossible. Those duck tail hair cuts make it impossible to stay groomed. Next thing you know, boys will be wearing their hair as long as the girls.

Also, their music drives me wild. This 'Rock Around The Clock' thing is nothing but racket.

Pretty soon you won't be able to buy a good 10-cent cigar.

I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they called astronauts preparing for it down in Texas.

Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the President.

Do you suppose television will ever reach our part of the country?

I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now.

It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women have to work to make ends meet.

It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.

I'm just afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.

Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to congress.

The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.

There is no sense going to Lincoln or Omaha anymore for a weekend. It costs nearly $15 a night to stay in a hotel.

No one can afford to be sick any more, $35 a day in the hospital is too rich for my blood.

If a few idiots want to risk their necks flying across the country that's fine, but nothing will ever replace trains.

I don't know about you but if they raise the price of coffee to 15 cents, I'll just have to drink mine at home.

If they think I'll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it. I'll have my wife learn to cut hair.

We won't be going out much any more. Our baby sitter informed us she wants 50 cents an hour. Kids think money grows on trees.

- 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.

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