Catching up on my blog-reading, I came across Randy Seaver’s post about “cousin bait”.

Here’s his overview…

Greta Koehl used the term “Cousin Bait” last month in her post Online Trees about the purpose of posting online family tree data. At least, that was the first use of the term I’ve seen published – an excellent term! Her point was that putting a family tree online in a database or on a web page may help induce distant cousins, who share your ancestry, into contacting you and perhaps provide more information about the common ancestral families.

While I’ve also never thought of it as “cousin bait”, this is exactly what I had in mind when I created FamilyTreeCircles.com.

I’ve always described the concept as “casting a net” for other family tree researchers to find your posts, and then connect via FamilyTreeCircles.com.

And it’s true that you can set some very effective bait with some simple posts on FamilyTreeCircles.com.

I wish Randy’s example produced a FamilyTreeCircles.com result, but alas. Let’s take a look at some recent posts and how they rank on Google.

Starting with the most recent FamilyTreeCircles.com journal, William SPINLEY + Emily WILHAM – Auckland 1800s, posted about an hour prior to writing this blog post.

A Google search for [William Spinley] produces a number one search result on Google just an hour after it was posted…

Here’s another example of a more popular search result, [white family dna], 17MM results.

The author of this entry about a White family DNA project posted it here on FamilyTreeCircles as well as on Genforum at about the same time.

Her FamilyTreeCircles post is #3 on Google.com. The Genforum post is at #6. While not all posts make it to the first page of Google’s results, both are a very effective way of getting some search engine exposure of your genealogy work.

If you’re not doing so already, you should consider adding FamilyTreeCircles.com to your toolbox for getting your “cousin bait” out there on the search engine result pages.

We’re on a roll on FamilyTreeCircles, adding new features.  We’re really trying to round out the types of information that are available on FTC and I’m happy to say that there are now three types of postings available for everyone from new family researchers to experienced genealogists.

Look on the homepage and you’ll see the following explanation of the options.

The last thing I want to do is introduce any confusion or uncertainty with more options and I’ve tried to make it as simple as possible.  All three types of entries end up in the same places in the list on the homepage and in the active posts page, color coded so you can tell the difference at a glance.

Journals

There is still the same, old, tried and true Journal entries.  Nothing has changed there.  Use a journal entry for posting all your great family research.  As a general rule, anything family or surname related should go in a journal.  For the time being, only journals can be associated specifically with surnames and therefore show up on the surname page for any given surname.

Answers

If you’ve got a question about any genealogy topic, this is the place to ask.  Maybe you’re wondering about what sort of resources are available in Cork County Ireland.  Or maybe you’re stuck with a problem in Personal Ancestral File software.  Ask about any genealogy topic, technique, method, or technology.  Keep an eye on the open questions to see if you can answer a question for someone else.  You can read more about this on our announcement of Answers from a few days ago.

Articles

Everybody is an expert about something.  Maybe your experience has made you an expert on genealogy research in the state of Vermont, or researching slave ancestry in Virginia.  Maybe you’re an expert user of certain software or websites.  Write an article and you’ll not only provide the community with some great information, but you can establish yourself as an expert and direct people to your own blog for more information.

I’ve got some exciting ideas of where the Articles feature can go…more on that soon.

So there you have it.  Something for everyone.  It’ll take some time for people to get used to the new features on FamilyTreeCircles.  If you’re one of our more experienced users, please give them a try and show folks how it’s done!

A few weeks ago, I asked the newsletter readers a simple question in a survey, “If you could ask an expert genealogist one question (even if you are an expert), what would it be?”

I was blown away by the responses, in both quantity and quality.

Then I found myself wishing I could answer all those questions.  But alas, I’m not an expert genealogist.

Though I am an expert web developer, so I did the next best thing.  I built a new tool here on FamilyTreeCircles to help folks get answers to their burning questions.

FamilyTreeCircles has always been a place to post virtually anything in a “journal” entry, including questions and other information.  But I think the way the site is laid out and instructions are worded, people pretty much focus on posting their family and surname information and queries.  That’s fine, of course, and we’ve now got over 20,000 of those types of posts.

I’ve added a new type of entry, in which people can post genealogy questions just like journals.  My hope is that the collective wisdom of the FamilyTreeCircles community will be able to answer just about any question that comes its way!

Introducing FamilyTreeCircles “Answers!”

The quick link to access the new feature is in the top navigation, it’s hard to miss!

Click that and you’ll end up on the simple form to ask your own question.  Enter your own question there (you must be logged in) and your question will go straight to the bottom of the “Answers!” page and the “Active Posts” list.

You’ll also notice a new color coding.  Now that there are two types of posts in the active list (and the homepage), I’ve made questions yellow and journals green.

This also means a number of other small changes, mostly cosmetic and semantic.  The “Active Journals” link in the top navigation is now called, “Active Posts”, etc.

I hope you enjoy the new feature.  I hope that it allows people to get a whole new kind of help here at FamilyTreeCircles.

Now go ask or answer a question and help us get this going!

How many times have you been out visiting family and end up in a discussion about your family tree?  It doesn’t take too many generations back for the details of who’s who to become fuzzy and if you’re like my family, you end up spending more time trying to recreate the tree in your heads than having some more productive discussion around family history.

In any case, I like to have my family research with me wherever I am as I never know when I’ll need it.

iPhone owners have been blessed with a plethora of GEDCOM-viewing apps that have been available for years now.

Though if you’ve got an Android-based smartphone (like the Motorola Droid or the Google Nexus One) and have been feeling left out, there’s now a nifty application available that allows you to store and view one or more GEDCOM files, called Family Bee, available from Beekeeper Labs.

Family Bee is a simple GEDCOM viewer (not editor), which means you can store your GEDCOM file(s) in your Android phone and view any of the people in your tree in many different ways (more on that below). But you cannot edit and make changes. This is fine with me, as I’d prefer to be able to carefully make edits to my family tree information at the comfort of my computer keyboard.

Set up

After purchasing it from the Android Marketplace and installing it, you’re prompted with three ways to import your GEDCOM file:

1. Download directly from the web
2. Email as an attachment
3. Copy from the computer via USB

I chose the third option as it seemed the simplest, and it was. I copied my largest (and most bloated with inaccuracies) GEDCOM file downloaded fresh from Ancestry.com into the /familybee folder on my phone’s SD card.

Once this was done, Family Bee quickly loaded the file and displayed the list of people in my tree.

Using Family Bee

The first thing you see when loading Family Bee is a list of people in the GEDCOM. You can scroll through this list or search. Here I searched for the name SLADE.

Once you choose a person, here Coralinn SLADE, you’re presented with the Family View.

Next you can drill down to the details on a specific person in the Detail View

And finally you can get in to the very specific details on any record such as Residence data, birth, death, etc. Virtually all information included in the GEDCOM source and notes fields are accessible.

And for any person, you can view their list of descendants, here switching to someone way back with a big list, Abigail ADAMS.

Switching to Tree View, you can navigate the entire tree by touching each box. Touching boxes on the right will move the tree to the right. Touching a box on the left will prompt you with a list of children to choose from.

Family Bee should with with any Android phone. I scrolled through the comments in the marketplace and didn’t see any major issues with specific phones. It currently has a 4.5 star rating and virtually nothing but great reviews.

All in all, this is a very function GEDCOM viewer for the Android OS, and well worth the $10 price tag to always have my family tree in my pocket.

Here’s a quick update on some changes I’ve made to Family Tree Circles recently…

1. User Search – I’ve added a user search section to the search results page. So if you’re looking for a user whose username you can’t quite remember, put a partial name in the search box. Like this search for “ally” turns up our favorite FTC editor Allycat, and 74 others.

2. Email Address protection. We can warn and warn and warn, and people still put their email addresses in journals. This is a bad idea in general because spammers scan the web for email addresses to send horrible email to. I’ve coded things up so that if you’re not logged into FTC, you won’t see the email address. Just some indication that there’s an email address there and that you must log in to read it. It is too much trouble for spammers to create an account just to get a few email addresses, so it should be effective.

3. Disappearing Newsletter Signup Box. You’ve probably noticed me experimenting with lots of different newsletter signup form designs in the right margin of the site in the past month. I’ve now set it up so if you have ever subscribed to the newsletter (and even subsequently unsubscribed), the form no longer shows on every page of FamilyTreeCircles (except on the blog).

If you have signed up for the newsletter, thanks! If not, and you’d like to, there’s a signup box right over there to the right. And you won’t have to look at that form any more on FamilyTreeCircles.

On this Mother’s Day I thought it would be fun to post our matrilineal lines, in other words, our lines up through our mothers, and their mothers, and so on.

In the genealogy blogosphere, there’s a meme going on this weekend to post about our maternal line, like Randy Seaver has done here.

This, by the way, is where we get our mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, which is passed in its entirety from a mother to her children. It just so happens that I purchased a DNA test from 23andme.com a few weeks ago when they had their $99 special. Though as I stare at this test kit to spit into, I admit I’m getting cold feet.

Have you had a DNA test of any type for genealogy purposes?

Anyway, here’s my line, that I’ve also posted as a journal here on FamilyTreeCircles.

- Scott JANGRO (that’s me)
- [living] BAKER m. [living] JANGRO
- Dora Helen MCILWRAITH (1915-1982) m. Robert Slade BAKER
- Margaret HOURIHAN (1890-1931) m. Robert MCILWRAITH
- Frances Mary LYNCH (????) m. Thomas HOURIHAN

That’s it! It ends quickly with the jump to Ireland, which is where the line ends. I don’t even have documentation on Frances and Thomas.

This is where I get my Irish and Scottish blood. I wish we had more. Someday I’ll make a trip to Ireland

Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms out there!

If you’d like to post your own matrilineal line as a journal, just start here.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ll be sharing the details of the application process to get my kids into the Massachusetts Mayflower Society. I assume this process is similar for other state Mayflower Societies.

I’ve got one line documented and approved for my membership, through Stephen Hopkins. There’s a person in that line that is a “freebie” to William Brewster, Abigail DOANE. Her father (Israel DOANE) goes to Stephen Hopkins and her mother (Ruth FREEMAN) goes to William Brewster.

Back eight years ago I decided to make the second line to William Brewster official at the same time as getting my daughter Sarah inducted.

When you apply to the Mayflower Society, you’re provided with a worksheet like the ones pictured below with the documentation that they have and the documentation that they are missing (and require).

Here’s first few pages of the application worksheet that was given to me back in 2002. The historian’s note indicated that the Society was now requiring more primary documentation, and she marked each required document with a star.

(later generations omitted to protect the living)

What I thought was going to be merely a formality of updating the latest documents for my daughter turned into having to get death certificates for ancestors back 7 generations well into the 18th century. I also knew from my grandparents research that the town records for Orleans, MA were destroyed in a fire.

My fortitude wasn’t enough to take on a project that seemed like I was set up for failure right from the start and I gave up.

Trying Again

Eight years later, much has changed. Hopefully more records have turned up in the Society’s library, and if not, at least the amount of information available both offline and online has expanded greatly. So I contacted the Mayflower Society again to inquire about requirements for documenting my Mayflower lines.

The current historian explained to me that they acknowledged that it was just unrealistic to get primary documentation all the way back to the Pilgrims. What they “want” for documentation is not the same as what they will “accept”. However, they do require full documentation for the last three generations, including spouses.

He put together a new worksheet for me. Note this one is for Stephen Hopkins and the above one is for William Brewster, but they are the same since generation 7 and 6 respectively.

(later generations omitted to protect the living)

Note that they do now seem to have some additional information for Abigail SNOW, Benoni BAKER, and Vickery BAKER, and he’s not asking for the missing death records for Elnatan SNOW and Phebe SPARROW. (phew!)

The wildcards here will be Priscilla WALKER and Joseph BAKER up in Northfield and Brookfield, Vermont. I don’t have full confidence in the availability of these records, but this certainly feels more doable.

It looks like a roadtrip to Vermont is in my near future. Fortunately, Northfield is only a three hour drive from my home in MA.

About 25 years ago, my grandfather purchased Massachusetts Mayflower Society Life memberships for my mother, my sister and I (having himself been accepted into the Mayflower Society about ten years prior).

If I remember the process correctly, there was little to do for my mother who actually took care of the correspondence. My grandfather was in and all we needed to do was provide some easily accessible birth certificates. It took a bit over a year for the actual approval process (I’m not sure why), but there wasn’t any pushback that I recall. Just a lot of waiting.

Now I’ve got children of my own and I’d like to continue the tradition. About 8 years ago I embarked on the same process, (a) to get my daughter (my only child at the time) inducted, and (b) to document a second lineage to the Mayflower passenger William Brewster.

I provided the appropriate birth certificates and submitted the application with the $100 processing fee.

It was rejected!

It turns out that after 20 years, the Mayflower Society has become much more strict in their documentation requirements. The historian returned my William Brewster lineage papers all marked up with red stars where I was missing information. Further, even with my currently documented line to Stephen Hopkins, they cannot be admitted without further documentation.

They require all Birth, Marriage, Death and Divorce records for each person in the line. A tall order.

This was information not required for my Grandfather to get himself and two subsequent generations in. Now I’ve got three children, and more than ever I want to give them the same gift that my Grandfather gave to us.

It seems that I’ve got some work to do. And I know from personal experience, and listening to stories, that there are some pretty tough cases in the mix here.

Time has passed, and technology has advanced. We’ll see if I can’t get the holes filled. Maybe with a little help from my friends here on FamilyTreeCircles, Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere.

Will you follow along with me on this personal project?

I’ll be documenting in detail what I am going through. Please follow along and see if you can’t help me get through some brick walls as I attempt to complete the documentation of my lines to William Brewster and Stephen Hopkins.

At the very least, wish me luck!

Continue reading about my “Mayflower Project” here:
The Mayflower Society application process…

If you’re in the U.S., did you watch this season’s last episode of “Who Do You Think You Are?” I haven’t watched all the episodes yet, but this one, to me, was the most powerful. I guess that’s why the saved it for last.

Film-maker and outspoken black-rights advocate, Spike Lee went on a journey to Atlanta, Georgia to learn about his slave roots on his mother’s side.

As he uncovered his family history, he was confronted with some very powerful facts and ideas.

His GGrandfather Mars Jackson was a major land-owner after the emancipation, owning over 80 acres. He did not learn of why or how he lost that land.

His GGGrandfather worked in a Cotton Gin that was converted into a pistol factory. He was making pistols that were used against those who were fighting for his freedom.

That same GGGrandfather was taken by none other than General Sherman’s army as they razed that town and pistol factory, and likely never heard from again.

His GGGrandmother was “Mulato” and likely the product of her mother being raped by their slave-owner.

He met his current, likely third cousin (twice removed), in real life and they had an emotional moment together on her sofa where they together faced the truths about the things that their ancestors did and lived through.

Thankfully, as far as I know, all of my ancestors were from New England and fought for the Union. I can only imagine how it must feel for genealogy researchers who have roots in the south to deal with the idea that their ancestors, not very long ago, had slaves and in many cases treated and traded them like objects.

As I watched this episode, I couldn’t help but sing this verse of Ben Folds’ “Rockin’ the Suburbs” in my head.

In a haze these days
I pull up to the stoplight
I can feel that something’s not right
I can feel that someone’s blasting me
With hate and bass
Sending dirty vibes my way
‘Cause my great great great great granddad
Made someone’s great great great great grandaddy slaves
It wasn’t my idea
It wasn’t my idea
It never was my idea
I just drove to the store
For some Preparation H

This episode of “Who Do You Think You Are?” and the others can be seen on nbc.com.

Today, I decided to start fresh with my family tree and create a new one that contains only sourced records. I’ve got a tree that I’ve been building over the past 20 years that has over 1000 people in it. Big deal, because it is filled with the early mistakes that any newbie family tree researcher makes which is to merge trees from other researchers without regard for accuracy.

With that, I’ve created a new tree in my genealogy software and I’ll be adding people slowly and deliberately, citing sources along the way as I pull the information from the old tree.

I’ve also purchased a license of Reunion 9 for the Mac (I’ve switched to a Mac since I’ve been working on my tree in earnest). It figures, because Ancestry.com just announced FTM for the Mac after all these years.

Literally decades have passed without FTM on the Mac. I purchase software and merely hours later, Ancestry makes that announcement. The story of my life.

That’s ok, as a Mac user I’m used to spending lots of money.