Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

[leswp1]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

Ellis Island has the manifests. To view the log, either make the trip to NJ or pay for the manifest online.

Ancestry has a library edition that allows you to look at a lot of stuff. You have to go to the library to use it but it is free if your library has it.

I suspended my Ancestry account for a few months, will probably get back to it over the winter.

Right now I'm at a complete dead end in most of my "lines". I have all of Swedish ancestry traced back several generations into Sweden (Sweden has awesome records), into the 1700's. But the Norwegian side of the tree is a massive cluster****. I can trace them back to their first US census, and anything in Norway is a lost cause. If anyone has insights into Norwegian records, it would be helpful, I wasn't able to find any kind of foothold in Norway, not even enough to know what questions to ask in the Ancestry forums.

Just post the name and a basic question of the relative that is the oldest. I ended up finding my cousin of some sort removed, or rather found someone else who was found by the cousin and connected us. Just found some cousins in Saskatchewan who are only 2nd cousins.

I am 50% Scot (mum's parents came on the boat), 25% Swede (GM parents were on the boat) and 25% loyalist English that moved to PEI/colonists from England somewhere. The Scottish side is the easiest. They all were in the same place for hundreds of yrs and everyone in Scotland is related to each other somehow. One branch had been on the land from the late 1400s (so they say). Swedes- GGF came here changed his surname when he got here then changed his first name as the years progressed. Moved himself to FLA where the records stiiiiiink in the early 1900s. The Swedish cousin has a bunch of stuff about the family but not much about the GGF. The English mutts make me crazy. I have a bunch of roadblocks.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

you didn't hit a point where all the records were in Swedish? that's when I gave up.

I did. But I learned the important words in Swedish so I could keep going. Fodde, Dod, Vigsel, Husforhor, etc.

 

[burd]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

I did. But I learned the important words in Swedish so I could keep going. Fodde, Dod, Vigsel, Husforhor, etc.

Farm animal

 

[leswp1]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

FYI- Ancestry.com is pulling the chute on Family Tree Maker. >3K of comments since the email was sent this evening. Close to 500 since I commented <1h ago. Not one happy person, most saying they are not going to renew membership.

"Ancestry is proud to have made a significant investment this year to bring valuable new content and records to the Ancestry site. In 2015, we’ve made 220 million searchable historical records from Mexico available, more than 170 million pages from the largest collection of U.S. will and probate records, among others. We’ve also introduced new features such as Ancestry Academy, and major advancements for AncestryDNA.

As we strive to provide our customers with the best experience possible, we are constantly evaluating our services and product offerings. True to this focus, we’ve taken a hard look at the declining desktop software market and the impact this has on being able to continue to provide new content, product enhancements and support that our users need. With that, we’ve made the tough decision to stop selling Family Tree Maker as of December 31, 2015.

We will continue to support existing Family Tree Maker owners at least through January 1, 2017. During this time, all features of the software, including TreeSync™ will continue to work. Our Member Services team will also remain available to assist with questions or issues you may have.

These changes are never easy. But by focusing our efforts, we can concentrate on continuing to build great products for our loyal Ancestry community.

You can find additional details about the retirement of Family Tree Maker on our blog... http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2015/12/08/ancestry-to-retire-family-tree-maker-software/

Anyone know of a program that syncs with FTM. Not putting my tree online. Too much private info and the new site is awful.

 

[bostonewe]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

So I thought one had to consent to be on Ancestry.com? I googled my Grandmother for directions to her gravesite for a visit and found family history stuff online including SSN linked through Ancestry.com of family members dating back to the early 1900s and other information on relatives dating back to the 1800s. It's a cool find, but I am a little uncomfortable that the information is just out there. Likely some of the stuff was put online by my estranged aunt (it says it was uploaded by Reunion for Mac, so I can only assume it was she). Very odd.

 

[leswp1]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

So I thought one had to consent to be on Ancestry.com? I googled my Grandmother for directions to her gravesite for a visit and found family history stuff online including SSN linked through Ancestry.com of family members dating back to the early 1900s and other information on relatives dating back to the 1800s. It's a cool find, but I am a little uncomfortable that the information is just out there. Likely some of the stuff was put online by my estranged aunt (it says it was uploaded by Reunion for Mac, so I can only assume it was she). Very odd.

Some of that info is available after someone dies. Stuff that is public record is available If someone posts a tree with personal info of someone else I don't know what happens.

 

[Dutchman]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

These changes are never easy. But by focusing our efforts, we can concentrate on continuing to build great products for our loyal Ancestry community. The money is on-line so this is a way to force you on-line
You can find additional details about the retirement of Family Tree Maker on our blog... http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2015/12/08/ancestry-to-retire-family-tree-maker-software/
Anyone know of a program that syncs with FTM. Not putting my tree online. Too much private info and the new site is awful.

The problem is that a lot of what is on Ancestry online is wrong. Person A copies heritage from Person B's erronious unreferenced sources and it gets passed on and passed on. What do people think of Legacy?

 

[leswp1]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

The problem is that a lot of what is on Ancestry online is wrong. Person A copies heritage from Person B's erronious unreferenced sources and it gets passed on and passed on. What do people think of Legacy?

I never sync anyone's tree from there. Only first degree info- documents, pictures of graves that sort of thing. I have the WOrld edition as I have long since exhausted anything I can get here. My Scottish relatives scattered like seeds in the wind. As more than a few people pointed out the difficulty comes from having everything saved via link (I think a lot of that stuff was saved via link in one version) and what happens when the OS changes?

Both Legacy and Rootsmagic (sp) have offers up on their pages now. Considering one of those- any thoughts? Great timing. Good Christmas present.

 

[JF_Gophers]

If you don't use the sync feature and you are just using FTM to store info this change probably won't affect you much.

So I thought one had to consent to be on Ancestry.com? I googled my Grandmother for directions to her gravesite for a visit and found family history stuff online including SSN linked through Ancestry.com of family members dating back to the early 1900s and other information on relatives dating back to the 1800s. It's a cool find, but I am a little uncomfortable that the information is just out there. Likely some of the stuff was put online by my estranged aunt (it says it was uploaded by Reunion for Mac, so I can only assume it was she). Very odd.

There are limits to what you can find based on the age of the person and information. You won't find kids out there via search.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

The problem is that a lot of what is on Ancestry online is wrong. Person A copies heritage from Person B's erronious unreferenced sources and it gets passed on and passed on. What do people think of Legacy?

Anyone that uses other trees on ancestry as canon is asking for trouble. I use it for hints on where to start, but mostly they're wrong. I have found new ancestors this way though.

Everything is accurate on there save for transcription errors.

 

[leswp1]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

If you don't use the sync feature and you are just using FTM to store info this change probably won't affect you much.

There are limits to what you can find based on the age of the person and information. You won't find kids out there via search.

What happens when windows updates and isn't compatible? I had an old program yrs ago that I lost everything on because the computer I had crashed and the new OS wouldn't open the old program.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

FYI- Ancestry.com is pulling the chute on Family Tree Maker. >3K of comments since the email was sent this evening. Close to 500 since I commented <1h ago. Not one happy person, most saying they are not going to renew membership.

"Ancestry is proud to have made a significant investment this year to bring valuable new content and records to the Ancestry site. In 2015, we’ve made 220 million searchable historical records from Mexico available, more than 170 million pages from the largest collection of U.S. will and probate records, among others. We’ve also introduced new features such as Ancestry Academy, and major advancements for AncestryDNA.

As we strive to provide our customers with the best experience possible, we are constantly evaluating our services and product offerings. True to this focus, we’ve taken a hard look at the declining desktop software market and the impact this has on being able to continue to provide new content, product enhancements and support that our users need. With that, we’ve made the tough decision to stop selling Family Tree Maker as of December 31, 2015.

We will continue to support existing Family Tree Maker owners at least through January 1, 2017. During this time, all features of the software, including TreeSync™ will continue to work. Our Member Services team will also remain available to assist with questions or issues you may have.

These changes are never easy. But by focusing our efforts, we can concentrate on continuing to build great products for our loyal Ancestry community.

You can find additional details about the retirement of Family Tree Maker on our blog... http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2015/12/08/ancestry-to-retire-family-tree-maker-software/

Anyone know of a program that syncs with FTM. Not putting my tree online. Too much private info and the new site is awful.

What that is really all about is that desktop-based software is dead outside of Office and some graphics-intensive stuff. It's clunky, requires larger releases and a bigger dev team, and doesn't integrate well with the other stuff they want to sell you that is already "on the cloud".

I'm actually pretty shocked they were still supporting a desktop-based model like that in 2015.

 

[leswp1]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

Their site is way more cumbersome than the software as the thousands of comments in response have noted. The cloud doesn't do half what the software does. If you figure for every 1 comment there are at least a few more people who won't post but are not happy and I think they are in trouble. The reason I used the website was the interface. There are plenty of other places to access things for free. I expect within a very short period of time (a few yrs at the most) they will be defunct. There are a number of cheaper sites with the same info. I was paying for the convenience of being able to push things from the site to my tree. I doubt I will ever do this web based so I need to find a program that works the way I want.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

Their site is way more cumbersome than the software as the thousands of comments in response have noted. The cloud doesn't do half what the software does. If you figure for every 1 comment there are at least a few more people who won't post but are not happy and I think they are in trouble. The reason I used the website was the interface. There are plenty of other places to access things for free. I expect within a very short period of time (a few yrs at the most) they will be defunct. There are a number of cheaper sites with the same info. I was paying for the convenience of being able to push things from the site to my tree. I doubt I will ever do this web based so I need to find a program that works the way I want.

Can you explain this a bit more? I've been doing research almost exclusively on Ancestry and not using any software like FTM.

What does FTM (or other suites) do that Ancestry can't? I'm genuinely interested.

 

[leswp1]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

FTM is a comprehensive way to work on a tree. It gives the ability to store info and notes privately. It also allows you to merge info from documents, populating the fields. It gives the added advantage of adding info that is not included in what it automatically populates, the ability to cite sources, even those who are private.

Navigation is immensely smoother on the desktop. When researching you can get to target people much easier
-the index of all your people is on left side bar
- all pertinent info/sources is on right sidebar. THis info you can edit on the fly without having to go into another field.
- there are tabs that allow you to toggle between the tree and the target person's detailed info. You can also toggle between those choices, websearch, 'publishing'
- allows you to look at all the facts at once, click on them for information without leaving the main list
- in websearch has the basic tree on the top bar which allows you to look at siblings, other family (hover over them and you can get info without moving off the page) , parents, dif marriages without leaving the main screen/person you are dealing with
-allows to web search and then merge info to tree
-lets you print reports and trees. When you print out reports or trees you can chose what info to include or exclude, make trees in various formats that are customizable, that can be edited and saveable
- and and and.

The website is a CF. You need to click thru fields, can't get all the info in one screen, doesn't allow filtering etc. Privatizing usually ends at 80 yrs. I have a bunch of living 80 yr olds who would kill me if they found I put anything about them online. Convoluted, sometimes hangs when I am trying to look at things, can't look at a bunch of info at once without multiple tabs and doesn't have a way to print out stuff (not that I have ever tried but tons of people are complaining about that online.) Once you use the software you don't waste your time messing thru all the crap online. I do all my stuff in the program except if I want to open 2 or more search windows. It can't do that.

Those are just a few of the things I find convenient.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

The printing of different filtered trees would be nice. I'm planning on actually taking my "office" at home and turning it into a real home office. One of the things I want is a genealogy wall. I am going to be doing maps with push pins to really show the journey. I've seen the FTM maps and other digital maps, but there's something more satisfying and interesting with maps.

Plus you can get free maps from most states! And my family really hasn't ventured that far in the 140-150 years we've been here.

 

[leswp1]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

I have had family (distant to be sure) on every Continent except Antarctica. When they say that Scotland experienced a brain drain they weren't kidding!

 

[leswp1]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

The printing of different filtered trees would be nice. I'm planning on actually taking my "office" at home and turning it into a real home office. One of the things I want is a genealogy wall. I am going to be doing maps with push pins to really show the journey. I've seen the FTM maps and other digital maps, but there's something more satisfying and interesting with maps.

Plus you can get free maps from most states! And my family really hasn't ventured that far in the 140-150 years we've been here.

this sounds very cool

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

I have had family (distant to be sure) on every Continent except Antarctica. When they say that Scotland experienced a brain drain they weren't kidding!

Jeebus. That's pretty cool. As far as I can tell, and the record get really sketchy or are completely non-existent in the case of one of my mom's grandparents (they came out of the region that is the Czech Republic today and the last name was a phonetic representation of their real name )

I think the German and Norwegian lines will probably be easier to find but I'm going to need to have someone translate and I'm not sure the records have been digitized yet. Very small town when you go up my paternal side. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Więcbork

Used to be called Vandsburg.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: Geneology Thread: Where did we come from?

The website is a CF. You need to click thru fields, can't get all the info in one screen, doesn't allow filtering etc. Privatizing usually ends at 80 yrs. I have a bunch of living 80 yr olds who would kill me if they found I put anything about them online. Convoluted, sometimes hangs when I am trying to look at things, can't look at a bunch of info at once without multiple tabs and doesn't have a way to print out stuff (not that I have ever tried but tons of people are complaining about that online.) Once you use the software you don't waste your time messing thru all the crap online. I do all my stuff in the program except if I want to open 2 or more search windows. It can't do that.

So the website is like your EMR system?