This Disk's for You! Or Is It? Some Thoughts on Assessing the Research Value of CDs
– Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot)
Names, how many names? Just about every genealogical CD for sale wants to impress the potential buyer with vast numbers, in the millions sometimes, but certainly in the tens of thousands. Is this a valid way to judge the usefulness of a disk full of data? Not by itself. Numbers of names, in my opinion, only impress when accompanied by some information on their context; that is, the when and where associated with all the data. This article examines two CDs from this perspective.
The 1848 Petitions: The William Smith O'Brien Petition Elsewhere on the Ancestry Web site you can read reviews of this CD. These are by (Elizabeth Kelly Kerstens) and (Dick Eastman) and both appeared in May of this year. One gives a little more historical background, the other places emphasis on working with disk. They refer to the importance of the names in the list because of the time period and the shortage of records; they discuss the number of names that come from Ireland and England. Both reviewers recommend the resource. If all you know is that an ancestor came from Ireland about the time of the famine, without any idea of place of origin, then a CD such as this is worth consulting. However, it should not be done 'blind.' When you search the disk how do you know what has been covered, a broad area across the country, a limited area, or something in between? Without the context, the search lacks meaning.
If, on the other hand, if you know exactly where the ancestor came from and are consulting the CD because basic records are missing or you want additional information, then it is important to know whether the database contains entries from the area of interest.
How does The 1848 Petitions stack up? On the cover it states that there are eighty thousand names - seventy thousand from Ireland and ten thousand from England. There is no clue on the outside as to how these names are spread about the country. Load the CD, and the opening view offers several choices, including 'About this Publication,' 'Getting Started,' and 'Technical Support.' If you select 'About this Publication' there are five choices, one of which is 'Introduction by Ruth Lawler.' This is all about O'Brien, and why so many Irish people were signing petitions on his behalf; but, hidden about one third of the way down, is a section, 'Number of Signatures per County.' For all thirty-two counties of Ireland, and for eight areas in England you see the number who signed and what percent this is of the total number, i.e., of the eighty thousand. It could be very important that you know there are forty two thousand, five hundred and sixty signatories from Dublin (52.6 percent of the names on the CD), or none from Offaly (formerly King's County). There are more than four thousand each from Clare, Tipperary, and Liverpool in England. Six counties in Ireland and two areas in England have from one to one hundred entries, or roughly one tenth of one percent. Anyone using this CD should go into the Introduction and refer to this table. It would be a great help if the information about the high Dublin numbers, and the names of counties with more than a thousand names could be printed on the packaging.
A little more than what is on the outside of the disk case can be found by visiting the publisher's Web site at www.eneclann.ie Select 'publications' and then 'take a closer look' at the 1848 Petitions. This does say that Offaly is missing, and that Dublin makes up half the entries. In addition, there were 166 petitions, the majority of signatories were farmers, and less than 10 percent were women.
The matter of 'when' does not, on first consideration, seem an issue here - the petitions were all signed at roughly the same time in 1848/9. It may matter, however, because this is described as a useful resource at a time when records are scarce, and when genealogists rely heavily on Griffith's Primary Valuation. What many fail to consider is that this Valuation was prepared over many years.
Check the year of valuation in a county of interest. Was it 1848, or later? How might this information affect your assessment of the value of The 1848 Petitions? Griffith's Primary Valuation was started in 1848 and completed in 1864; so, for some places, the petition is signed close to the same time and in others as much as sixteen years before. The introduction comments on the value of relating petition information to the Valuation. I would like to see a third column in the 'Number of Signatures per County' table giving the date of Griffith's Primary Valuation.
Am I at odds with my fellow reviewers? Not at all. This is a valuable resource and I find the search options on the CD straightforward to use. On the other hand, I would not give a blanket recommendation that everyone interested in nineteenth century Irish genealogy purchase it. Each genealogist should make the effort to evaluate the relevance of the data to their personal research needs.
National Burial Index This is an ongoing project of the Federation of Family History Societies, and the initial CD was issued earlier this year. Countless volunteers, coordinated through local family history societies, input the information. There are about five million names from 1538 to 2000, and coming from most of England and somewhat less than half of Wales.
This CD case provides some vital information for judging the relevance of the data to personal research. There is a list of every county represented along with the number of records rounded to the nearest thousand; and, where the number is under one thousand, that is indicated.
Those who designed the features of this index deserve high praise. Information about geographical and date distribution is accessible and clear. Open the case and, on a county basis, a color-coded map distinguishes between no entries and three levels of coverage. On the screen, the menu bar offers the selection 'Reference' for accessing coverage by place or coverage by date.
Selecting place produces a small map, a list of place names and two tabs, place/parish or county details. There are four thousand four hundred and forty parish/place names and when one is selected a red dot appears on the map to show where it is. Opt to look at details and up pops a box indicating the name of the parish, dedication of the church, dates indexed, number of burials indexed. Under the county tab is the distribution map found in the case. It is possible to request a printout of county information, i.e., a comprehensive report for the places indexed in that county.
The date information is also informative. This is a bar graph showing roughly how many entries for every year from 1538 to 2000. The best represented years fall between 1813 and 1837 (the year civil registration began). Through the 1500s and 1600s coverage is not extensive; consistent levels of ten thousand index entries per year begin in the 1750s. In modern times, the number of entries falls below ten thousand per year about 1900 and gets progressively lower as the years increase.
On the cover, from the distribution map inside, or through coverage information incorporated into the program, sense of context is there. Also, geographic setting is incorporated into individual searches. Once a list of entries is displayed, double-click on any one and a box appears with all the details of the entry and a small map on which a red dot marks the location. It is possible to move up or down the list while maintaining this detailed view.
Several counties are not here; there are no entries for Cornwall, Cumberland, Devon, the Isle of Wight, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, and Sussex. In Wales, there are none from Anglesey, Brecknock, Caernarvon, Carmarthen, Denbigh, Flint, Merioneth, and Pembroke. Also, note that the index uses the ancient county boundaries and new style dates (e.g. 10 February, 1744/45 is 1745). To find out more about the project and see a list of numbers of records per ancient county (rounded to the nearest thousand) visit the Web site of the Federation of Family History Societies at: www.ffhs.org.uk
Conclusion When considering CD purchase ask a few questions. What record(s) is it derived from? Where? When? These examples illustrate two ways context has been addressed. I hope the reviews help you assess your CD purchases in future, and encourage those who package CDs to tell us more.
Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) has been researching her British ancestry for thirty years. She founded Interlink Bookshop and Genealogical Services (www.interlinkbookshop.com) in 1988; she currently lectures in Canada and the United States and is vice president of the Association of Professional Genealogists. You can e-mail Sherry with suggestions for future British genealogy articles at sherryirvine55@myfamily.com. She will not be able to send personal replies, but will feature some questions in upcoming issues of the Ancestry Daily News. Sherry also regrets that she is unable to assist with personal research. Sherry is also the author of:
Your Scottish Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans
(Copyright © 1998-2001, MyFamily.com Inc. and its subsidiaries.), "Ancestry Daily News" (http://www.ancestry.com/dailynews)
Sharing Genealogy Information
At some point during your research you may want to exchange files of information on your computer with fellow genealogy researchers. In order to exchange information effectively you need to be competent in sending email attachments.
GEDCOM
What is GEDCOM and why do I need it?
GEDCOM is an acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunication. It is a method of formating your family tree data into a text file which can be easily read and converted by all geneology software programs.
GEDCOM was developed in 1985 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
For example, let's say I want to share information from my Family Tree Maker file with a researcher I meet through a surname specific newsgroup. The only problem is that this researcher uses a different genealogy software than mine.
I need to send the information in GEDCOM format since I know his/her genealogy software will accept a GEDCOM file.
In order to generate a GEDCOM file, I open the file in Family Tree Maker I want to share and use the SAVE AS command to tell Family Tree Maker to encode the data in GEDCOM format.
Once the GEDCOM file is created, the information can be given to the researcher either as an email attachment or on a disk.
Once the intended person has received the GEDCOM file, it can be imported into the geneology software being used and incorporated into their family tree.
What does a GEDCOM file look like?
A GEDCOM file is made up of six sections.
1.Header
2.Submitter
3.Individuals
4.Families
5.Sources
6.Trailer
Each section of a GEDCOM file is made up of one or more lines of information. Every line contains three elements:
1. Level (each level 1 line refers to the previous level 0 line. Level 2 lines refer to the previous Level 1 lines and so on).
2. Tag - FAM for family, DATE for date and BIRT for birth etc.
3. Value - the actual date, i.e. birth date.
For specific instructions on how to create and export a GEDCOM file using your genealogy software use the following online instructions:
Genserv - how to make a good GEDCOM file
Converting files to GEDCOM, by Ancestry.com
You can share your GEDCOM file with the worldwide genealogical community by uploading it to websites such as Ancestry.com, FamilyTreeMaker.com and World Connect . Vice-Versely you can also download the GEDCOM files of other's from these same sites.
Key Points to Remember
If they are using the same or a later version of the same software, then send it in exactly the same format as you have saved it on your computer.
If the intended recipient is using an earlier version, check your manual as you may be able to send your file in an earlier format.
Remember that newer versions may have extra information fields which are not present in earlier versions, thus saving in an older format may mean losing some information.
If the recipient is using a completely different brand of software it is best to create a GEDCOM file and send that.
For further information and resources see the following sites: