Future of Family History Center Microfilm

FamilySearch Family History Center staff are increasingly having hard times keeping their microfilm readers operational. Parts are becoming hard to obtain. On a Yahoo discussion group, one staff member reported using O rings from a local machine shop to replace belts. Another staffer reported being quite concerned last October when FamilySearch support indicated that “Film ordering will be going away eventually and now is a great time to start removing unneeded readers.” This startled her because she understood it would be decades before all the microfilms that could be digitized would be posted on FamilySearch. Another staffer reported hearing at RootsTech that only 7% of the records had been digitized. Another reported that some microfilm would never be digitized because of “copyright.” (It’s actually not a copyright issue, but other legal impediments.)

Steve Fox, manager of cataloging and metadata services at FamilySearch International, stepped in to clarify the situation. Steve said the 7% number is incorrect. You’ll recall my report from RootsTech that FamilySearch executives said 50% of the vault has been scanned.

Steve said, “The more critical issue is that raw microfilm used for making copies for distribution is no longer available at an affordable cost. In fact, it will soon be unavailable at any cost.” He said, “I can’t give an exact time frame, but microfilm circulation will go away in the near future, regardless.”

He acknowledged the “copyright” issues and said, “Creative solutions to these issues are in review.”

Steve went on to disclose that some films have been digitized that are not available in historical record collections. These contain 100s of millions of images and are accessible only through the FamilySearch catalog. Including the images available through historical record collections, there are nearly 2 billion images accessible through the catalog. To access images through the catalog, look up a film as you usually would. Then look for a camera icon in the column to the right of the film number. Click the camera icon to access the images. “Images viewed this way are not structured like the browse collections, but mimic the microfilm roll experience,” Steve said. “If something is on Item 3, you need to scroll down through the thumbnails looking for Item 3, like cranking through a roll of film.”

Images accessed through the catalog are subject to the same conditions as those in historical record collections. Some require that you login. Some will require that you be at a FamilySearch family history center, or even the Salt Lake library.

New Season of Relative Race Starts Tomorrow (#RelativeRace)

The new season of Relative Race starts tomorrow night, Sunday, 5 March 2017. I think it is a compelling television show. For more information, see “BYUtv’s Relative Race Returns March 5” on the FamilySearch blog.

Ancestry UK Collection Free Through Monday, 20 February 2017

To celebrate Presidents Day in the United States, Ancestry has opened up more than one billion records from its United Kingdom collection for free access. I jest a bit. Presidents Day and free UK access may just be a coincidence. (But it does makes me think of the meme that goes around on the 4th of July: “Happy Treason Day, Ungrateful colonials.”) To quote Ancestry:

Ancestry is opening up their site for you to explore more than 1 billion UK records—so you can find out if you're one of the 60 million plus Americans with British ancestry. It's for three days only, so now's the time to find those crown jewels hidden in your family tree.

To search the collection, click here. To see a list of the databases, click here.

Access to the records in the featured collections will be free from February 17, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. ET to February 20, 2017 at 11:59 p.m. ET. After the free access period ends, you will only be able to view the records in the featured collections using an Ancestry World Explorer or All Access paid membership.

Black History Month

February is Black History Month in the United States. Ancestry’s Fold3 and FamilySearch’s #RootsTech are but two of the genealogical vendors celebrating it.

To remember the struggles, sacrifice, and service African Americans have made in the development and history of this country, Fold3 is giving free access to their Black History Collection during the month of February. The collection contains more than a million rare documents and photos. It is divided into several time periods: Slavery, The Civil War, Reconstruction and Jim Crow Laws, World Wars, and the Civil Rights Movement. To search the collection, visit https://go.fold3.com/blackhistory/?xid=2089.

RootsTech 2017 is celebrating Black History Month with African Heritage Day on Friday, 10 February 2017.

Headlining the keynote session of African Heritage Day will be LeVar Burton. He’ll be sharing some of his own journey of family, storytelling, and the influence of African culture on his American experience.

In addition to Burton, accomplished African American genealogists, speakers, and authors Kenyatta Berry, Sherri Camp, and Melvin Collier will speak about their connection to their African roots and experiences that have kept them close to their ancestors.

The Cultural Celebration that evening from 5:30pm – 7:30pm in the Expo Hall will include the Jambo Africa, Heartbeat Burundi Drummers, an all male drumline cultural group. The group’s goal is to spread awareness of peace from traditional African drum music. For more information about attending RootsTech, visit Rootstech.org/rootstech-2017.

Image credit: Adam Jones.

Want to Be on Relative Race?

A producer for Relative Race has contacted me asking for help in finding four couples to star in season 3. Relative Race is the show where the couples race around America (it’s no longer across America) for ten days, completing challenges, and navigating to homes of undiscovered relatives. I watched season 1 and it’s quite compelling. Season 2 debuts 5 March 2017 on BYUtv. And you can be on season 3 and win $50,000! But there may be an even better reward.

They would particularly love to be able to reunite someone with a lost parent or sibling, or to fill in a gap in a family tree. That would be compelling television. Knock on a door. It opens and…

Another change from season 1 is that the two people in a couple can be spouses, siblings, or parent and child. You must be between the ages of 21 and 55. You must be willing to submit a DNA sample and a family tree. You must be available for filming for two weeks in August or September.

The deadline for applications is 28 February 2017. To apply, go to TRRcasting.com.

FamilySearch Owner and Ancestry CEO Respond to Refugee Situation

My policy is to not write about non-genealogical politics. However, it is unprecedented that both FamilySearch’s owner and Ancestry.com’s CEO would both issue statements in response to a presidential action. These are the statements:

FamilySearch’s owner, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued the following statement Saturday:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is concerned about the temporal and spiritual welfare of all of God's children across the earth, with special concern for those who are fleeing physical violence, war and religious persecution. The Church urges all people and governments to cooperate fully in seeking the best solutions to meet human needs and relieve suffering. (http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/the-church-expresses-concern-for-those-fleeing-violence-war-and-religious-persecution)

Ancestry’s CEO, Tim Sullivan, sent an email to the entire company last evening. I repeat it here with permission:

The last 48 hours in the U.S. have been both heart-breaking and outrageous.  Of immediate importance is the status of our Ancestry employees and/or their families.  We do not believe that any of our employees are currently affected, but if we are wrong, please let us know immediately, and we will do everything we can to help.

Our company values decency, works hard to embrace diversity, and is very familiar with the difficulties that families all over the world have endured for centuries in their attempts to stay together and to improve the lives of the next generation.  We are a company that lives history, so we’re familiar with the ugliness that we’re witnessing right now.  We’ve seen how families were impacted by the quotas on Chinese immigration less than a hundred years ago, by the refusal to accept Jewish refugees fleeing the horror of Nazi Germany, and by the absurd detainment of Japanese Americans during that war.  Today, it is broadly understood that these policies each left a black mark on our history and ran counter to the fundamental values of openness and inclusion that are our country's strength.

Ancestry is stronger due to the diversity of our employee’s personal and professional experience, so we have a clear business interest in not seeing America’s doors slammed shut to those that desire to come here and to contribute to our national strength, regardless of religion, race, or national origin.  Ancestry is also a company whose values are on display every day, and I’m proud to be part of a company that strives to have a positive impact on people’s lives, respects every person’s story, and celebrates the diversity of everyone’s ancestry.  So I want to clearly affirm that the content and intent of President Trump’s executive order on Friday, as well as the disturbing actions that were unleashed by this order, represent the total antithesis to the values of our company.

No one can ignore the stories of people stranded or detained and refused re-entry into a country they considered home and not feel real empathy.  Because I am also writing to you not just as CEO, but as a person, I will be honest and say that I am personally horrified and angered by the ignorance, hate, and xenophobia that have precipitated this shocking weekend, and that I think this is something that we all are going to have to confront and denounce.

Again, please let us know if you know of any employees that are personally impacted by the current situation.

Thanks,
Tim

Fee Increase for Immigration Records

On 25 December 2016 I received an email from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services warning of an upcoming fee increase, to be effective 23 December 2016. Yup. Two days before they sent the email. That’s your government at work. The new fee schedule webpage states:

This chart lists USCIS' fees effective December 23, 2016. Applications and petitions postmarked or filed on or after December 23, 2016, must include these new fees or USCIS will reject your submission.   

Filing fees increased for most forms, and we published updated versions of the forms at uscis.gov/forms. We strongly encourage customers to download and submit these new versions, which are updated with the new fees and have an edition date of 12/23/16. We will accept prior versions of forms, with the exception of Form N-400, until February 21, 2017. However, all filings postmarked December 23, 2016, or later must include the new fees or we will reject them.

Immigration Benefit Request	New Fee ($)	Old Fee ($)
G–1041 Genealogy Index Search Request	65	20
G–1041A Genealogy Records Request (Copy from Microfilm)	65	20
G–1041A Genealogy Records Request (Copy from Textual Record)	65	35

That’s a pretty substantial increase. I’m glad they gave genealogists advance warning.

The email explained that:

Our agency is funded almost entirely by fees. By law, we conduct a fee review every two years to ensure that we recover the full cost of processing immigration benefits. The Genealogy program has not increased its fees since the program was created in 2008.

If you have any questions, please write to Genealogy.USCIS@uscis.dhs.gov.

Monday Mailbox: Film at 11:00

My comments about the Layton FamilySearch Center and microfilm elicited some good feedback.

Dear Ancestry Insider,

I work at the Ogden FamilySearch Center and we have some books and readers and film and fiche. Come on up!

Janice Nusbaum

Dear Janice,

That is good news. There is so much that is only available on film. I’m glad to hear it.

Signed,
---The Ancestry Insider

Dear Ancestry Insider,

I am a FHC Director and was told not too long ago that there will be no film use within 3 or 4 years. I was told this because I was inquiring about returning films that were viewable online.

Signed,
Unknown

Dear Ancestry Insider,

They've (FamilySearch?) said they will never put all the films online?? Is that because of contract restrictions or some other reason?

Signed,
Marilyn Cranford

Dear Marilyn,

There are several reasons why some images will never be available online: contracts, laws, relationships, and strategies.

In the distant past many companies did business over a handshake. If FamilySearch/GSU operated that way, it is conceivable they have films for which they have no written contract. In the past when written contracts became the norm, companies didn’t foresee technology growth; FamilySearch has said publicly that most of its contracts did not foresee distribution via any medium besides microfilm. If FamilySearch wishes to publish these films, they will have to negotiate contracts with many record custodians and many of them won’t do so.

Laws increasingly limit what can be published. Open publication (which the Internet does) is a very different animal than closed distribution (which is what you do when you order a film to view at a FamilySearch family history center). So while some films can remain in limited distribution, they can’t be published publicly on the Internet. This trend is likely to get worse.

An article in the FamilySearch Wiki documents another scenario. FamilySearch had published some images of vital records. The contract with the record custodian was revised such that FamilySearch depublished the images in exchange for rights to obtain and publish additional indexes. Apparently, FamilySearch is willing to forego publishing microfilm that it has rights to publish if doing so can buy a continued working relationship with a record custodian.

Strategy comes into play. Some films are duplicates. Some films were not filmed by FamilySearch/Genealogical Society of Utah. I predict that FamilySearch will not digitize some films because decision makers will decide they would rather spend the money elsewhere. For example, how valuable are Soundex census indexes? Are the costs justified for the few discoveries that will result? Or would you rather have high-value vital records from your ancestral country? How valuable are the road commissioners’ ledger books? They’ll never be digitally indexed by humans. Looking at the public numbers, FamilySearch has slowed publication of unindexed images. Does that mean that low-value, hard to index films might never be published? 

Signed,
---The Ancestry Insider

Dear Ancestry Insider,

Would you be willing to give our Family History Center a plug? We have a VERY LARGE collection of microfilms for the Chicago and Cook County Vital Records.  Instead of writing to Cook County, spending $15, and waiting 6 weeks, or not getting what you want at all for your $15, you can spend 5 minutes and get that birth, marriage, or death certificate for FREE.

Signed,
Donna Roginski

Wilmette Family History Center   
2727 Lake Ave., Wilmette, Illinois
www.wilmettefhc.org

Scheduling Notice. The Center will be closed November 22 through November 26 for Thanksgiving. We wish you a happy Thanksgiving, and resume normal operation on the 29th.

Dear Donna,

This is a timely reminder of why getting rid of microfilm will be a painful process. Consider yourself plugged.

Signed,
---The Ancestry Insider

RootsWeb Update as of 6 August 2016

Ancestry.com let me know that they are in the middle of fixing RootsWeb.com. They thought they would be done last week and were supposed to get me an update. They’re not and they didn’t. By the time you read this, the situation may have changed. If so, I invite Ancestry to post a comment to this article.

Here are the most recent reports I’ve received of continued outages. Dave Woody said on Saturday morning:

FreePages FTP Server is still down. CS will not say if this problem will ever be corrected. As a subscriber to Ancestry.com World Service, Fold3, Newspapers.com and as a purchaser to 6 Ancestry DNA tests, I am deeply disappointed in this situation.

On 31 July 2016 Robert E. Sweeney, DA, MS said:

I plan to give them a few more days, then I will ask my contact at RW again when the file manager [freepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/­fileman/file_manager.cgi] will be available.

On 30 July 2016 the RootsWeb product manager told me:

We are finishing up sometime next week.

On 27 July 2016 Bobango2 said:

I just heard back, finally, from RW Help Desk: "We are currently anticipating the work to be finished by the end of this week. We apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused you and appreciate your continued patience as these issues are resolved."

On 22 July 2016 Martin Beavis said:

Do you know what Ancestry is doing with the RootsWeb mailing lists which are currently inaccessible?  For example, http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index?list=devon

fails to  connect, giving an Internal Server Error message, whereas http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ does connect. But enter Devon in the search field or click on Devon in the D-list and you get the same error message.  And it’s not just the Devon list that I cannot access. Strangely, some old URLs from the archive do still display when entered.

The Devon list admin have been told these issues arise from an ongoing RootsWeb upgrade but do not know if that means hardware or software or both, nor how long that might take.  So could you perhaps ask questions with a view to reporting in your Ancestry Insider blog?

Are there any other outages that anyone knows about?

DNA Versus Extremism

I hear all the time about people testing ethnicity from different companies and getting different results. I’ve heard from a person or two with well documented trees that see some pretty obvious problems in DNA ethnicity results. The fact is, finding “pure” reference individuals upon which to base ethnicity calculations is a challenge. Consequently, ethnicity results are somewhat questionable.

Despite that, I recommend you watch a tear jerking video from Momondo’s latest marketing campaign. In light of recent world events, I found it particularly powerful.

“There would be no such thing as extremism if people knew their heritage.”

To view the video, click here: https://www.momondo.com/letsopenourworld/dna

(If the video won’t play, try this link.)

News Ketchup for 26 May 2016

Behind again. Time to catch up.

Drew Smith, the most recent recipient of the National Genealogical Society’s Filby Award, recently shared a fun genealogy version of Jeopardy. See https://jeopardylabs.com/play/genealogical-librarian. Challenge a genealogy friend to a match! I think you’ll like it.

The Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy has announced several scholarships to attend their annual institute. “SLIG will be held at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center hotel, January 22-27, 2017. Fourteen courses of in-depth study on a wide array of genealogical topics are being offered to help students ‘elevate [their] genealogical education to new heights.’” For more information about the scholarships, see http://ugagenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/05/slig-scholarship-opportunities.html.

Ancestry.com has purchased Adpay, Inc., owners of Memoriams.com, an obituary submission website. Memoriams.com is a website that allows funeral directors to place obituaries in local newspaper and out-of-area publications in a single order. It supports 3,000 newspapers in the U.S. The website is designed for funeral homes and newspapers, so don’t look to use it personally. I don’t know if Ancestry will leverage the website to acquire obituaries for Ancestry.com, but I’m hoping it does. See the full announcement at http://corporate.ancestry.com/press/press-releases/2016/05/ancestry-acquires-adpay-inc/.

Earlier this month Ancestry enhanced their DNA analysis software. The enhancement increases the precision of DNA matching while changing recall of correct matches. You’ll recall Ancestry vice president Kendall Hulet defined the two terms in his RootsTech 2016 luncheon. “Precision is finding the right stuff,” he said. In other words, some percentage of DNA matches are wrong and this enhancement decreases that percentage. Matching algorithms not only return a few bad results, they also miss a few good ones. The ability to match all the good results is called recall. The new enhancement changes the recall. A few good results that were previously returned now are not. If you starred or made notes about a match that no longer appears, Ancestry is allowing you to download them for a limited time. Click here for step-by-step instructions.

The enhancement is free for all customers and has already been applied to your results. For more information, see “AncestryDNA’s Cutting-Edge Science Gets Even Sharper” on the Ancestry blog. For a high level overview of the advances in the science, see “The Science Behind a More Precise DNA Matching Algorithm” on the Ancestry technology blog. For a deep dive into the science, see “AncestryDNA Matching White Paper,” a 46 page PDF file.

Speaking of AncestryDNA, Facebook reader Frank Guzzo has alerted me to a preliminary ruling in the trademark infringement case involving AncestryDNA and AncestrybyDNA. The court has denied Ancestry’s request for a preliminary injunction. Ancestry had asked that the judge make DNA Diagnostic Center (DDC) stop using the trademark AncestrybyDNA immediately. The judge ruled that DDC can continue using their trademark AncestrybyDNA while the case is litigated.

Ancestry registered the trademark ANCESTRYDNA on 22 January 2013. The ANCESTRYBYDNA trademark was placed on the Principal Register on 25 March 2008. However, Ancestry has asked that the DDC trademark be cancelled due to alleged fraud.

For more information about the case, see “Ancestry.com Files a Trademark Case Against DNA Diagnostics Center” on CeCe Moore’s blog, Your Genetic Genealogist. To read the judge’s order, see “Ancestry.com Operations Inc. et al v. DNA Diagnostic Center, Inc., Filing 60” on the Justia website. (Thank you, Frank.)

Ancestry spent $77.1 million in measured media advertising in 2015, up from $63 in 2015. During the first quarter, Ancestry.com had 8.3 million unique visitors. This is up from 7.4 million unique visitors for all of 2015 and 8.2 for 2014. For more information, see “Omnicom Adds Ancestry.com to Continue Winning Streak” at Adweek.

Ach! I didn’t even have time to catch up!

Ancestry ProGenealogists Expands to Larger Facility

Ancestry.com recently expanded the Salt Lake City facilities of their professional research subsidiary, ProGenealogists. They held a ribbon cutting ceremony at the now 22,000 square foot facility on 12 May 2016. (See a short video clip of the ribbon clipping.) Ancestry ProGenealogists employs 90 people worldwide, including San Francisco, Dublin, and London. They plan on hiring another ten this year.

Ancestry bought ProGenealogists in 2010. (See “Ancestry.com Acquires Genealogy Research Firm.”) Ancestry had been spending so much engaging them for researching the Who Do You Think You Are television series, it made sense to acquire the company outright. Under Ancestry’s ownership business has grown tremendously.

For more information, see “AncestryProGenealogists Office and Staff Expand” on the Ancestry blog.

Inside the ProGenealogists new offices

Legit or Phishing Scheme?

Several readers have alerted me to a possible phishing scheme masquerading as an email from Ancestry.com. Reader “T” reported that he received the following message:

Hi Removed,

Ancestry has moved to a brand new support platform. By doing so we have created a more powerful set of tools as well as added some key features to aid you with any of your future support needs. To take part in this new experience; you will need to reset your password by clicking on the following link: https://support.ancestry.com/login? [he removed the rest of the link].

Your Username is: Removed

Thanks,
Ancestry Support

I assume he substituted the word “Removed” for his username, but for illustration, let’s assume it actually said “Removed.” Darlene in Lakeview reported that her email really did contain an incorrect username.

Sandra Gwilliam reported that the email came from “ancestrysupport@ancestry.com via nt6vbkyd21ca.15-eq03eag.na22.bnc.salesforce.com.”

There are a number of red flags that rightly trigger suspicion about an email. (This example contains several.)

• Purports to be from one address when it comes from a different one. (In this example, the email claimed to be from ancestry.com but was actually from salesforce.com. That’s suspicious.)
• Does not state your username. That’s a big, big red flag. Genuine phishing emails generally don’t know your username. Purporting to know your username, but stating it incorrectly should throw perhaps an even bigger red flag.
• The email seeks confidential information, such as username, password, birthdate, address, social security number, or other financial information. Be careful. I investigated one phishing website that sent off your information as you typed it. It didn’t wait for you to submit the information. The first question was pretty safe: email address. The second seemed so as well: First and Last name. Next, address. Somewhere down the page it asked for credit card. Finally, it asked for the number at the bottom of your checks. By the time you became suspicious, they had already stolen valuable information about you. You didn’t have to click Submit or Send or anything. (This example seeks your password, making it suspicious. No one told me what happened when they clicked the link.)
• The email is unexpected, or isn’t logical. In this example, you might have tested the situation by typing www.ancestry.com into your browser and try logging in. If you are not prompted to change your password, then the email doesn’t make sense.
• Your email program indicates that the link goes to someplace different than what is shown. This is another big, big red flag. Never click a link in an unexpected email without comparing the two addresses. More on that in a minute. (I don’t know if that was the case in this example.)

Let me teach you how to do the last one. You should have received an article on Sunday titled “Suspicious Links.” It contains one suspicious link and three non-suspicious links. I sent it separately because some of you may have email systems that blocked the email. (Kudos to those email systems.)

Hover over each link and look for a little help box that shows where the link will actually go. (See the screen image, below, from Gmail.) If what is displayed in the email and what is displayed in the little help box are different, that is a big red flag. Don’t click the link. The link is not what it claims to be. The email sender may be trying to deceive you. The link may show the address of your bank but send you to a malicious imposter site that tricks you into giving up your username and password. Go ahead and click “www.familyesarch.org.” Did you end up on FamilySearch.org? 

Some programs popup the actual link somewhere other than the lower corner. Current versions of Microsoft mail programs place it near the link itself:

Be careful. The two addresses may look very similar. Take for example, these addresses:

5. http://www.familysearch.org
6. http://d.ru/www.familysearch.org

Links 5 and 6 are not the same. Don’t trust the link.

If you are confused, stop here. If not, let me get into additional details. The absence of http:// is not a concern. And http:// versus https:// is not a problem. Some addresses work equally well with or without them. Links 7-9 are all equivalent.

7. www.familysearch.org
8. http://familysearch.org
9. https://www.familysearch.org

No Address Displayed

Sometimes an email may not display an address at all. It may say “Click here to change your password.” How do you evaluate the safety of the link? Hover over the link and look at the address. If the domain shown by the email popup ends with a website you trust, then you can trust the link.

Recognizing the domain can be tricky. The domain is the part between the double slash and the next slash. The domain of link 3 is ancestryinsider.blogspot.com. The domain of link 5 is www.familysearch.org. The domain of link 6 is d.ru.

Assuming the only websites you trust are FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com, if you found the following URLs in an email, which can you assume to be safe?

       10. http://www.ancestry.org/ancestors-and-collateral-relatives/ – No. The domain ends with .org, not .com.
       11. http://www.ancestrydna.com – No. Doesn’t end with ancestry.com. (Yes, in real life we may know this domain forwards to Ancestry.com, but some people may not know that before clicking. For purposes of this exercise, we are only clicking domains ending in Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org.)
       12. https://support.ancestry.com/s/question/0D51500001jKXlXCAW – Yes. Domain ends in ancestry.com.
       13. http://ancestry.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ancestry.cfg/php/enduser/sab_main.php?offerid=0:679:0&p_sid=_JT1V*Vj – No. BTW, this is the old Ancestry Help system.
       14. http://ancstry.me/1rpVcWU?ancestry.com – No. The domain is ancstry.me
       15. https://www.smartrecruiters.com/ancestry/89511329 – No.
       16. http://interactive.ancestry.com/7667/4297342_00050/34779150?backurl=http://ancestryinsider.org – Yes, according to the rules we’ve defined here. Actually, this URL is bad because it exploits an Ancestry security hole. But I won’t get into that.
       17. https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE95837&from=fhd – No. This is a FamilySearch book, but it is hosted on a website outside our trust list (for this exercise).
       18. https://getsatisfaction.com/familysearch? – No.
       19. https://familysearch.org/ask/salesforce/viewArticle?urlname=Add-Photos-Documents-or-Stories-of-a-living-person-to-Family-Tree&lang=en – Yes.
       20. http://v.ht/familysearch_org – No. Domain is v.ht.

Legit or Phishing Scheme?

While you were right to be suspicious of these emails, actually, they are legit. Ancestry is switching to a new help system that doesn’t integrate with your Ancestry username and password. You have to create a new password on the new system. Link 12 leads to this help message:

Hello Thomas,

Just to clarify, this is not a phising attack or scam. We have sent out emails to notify our members of the new Ancestry Support page as it requires our members to reset their password. Let us know if you have any further questions, and we hope you enjoy!

Thanks,
Karlie B.
Ancestry Community Moderator

I tried out the new system and it was a hunk of junk. I registered and it sent me a verification email—the one you all have been getting—that sent me to a webpage that sent me a verification email that sent me to a webpage that sent me a verification email… There was no link to get help. “Contact your administrator.” Fail.

---

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Suspicious Links

Links 1 and 2 both go to Ancestry.com. Links 3 and 4 both go to AncestryInsider.org. See Tuesday’s article (once Tuesday comes) for an explanation and lessons to learn.

1. www.familysearch.org
2. www.ancestry.com
3. http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com
4. http://ancestryinsider.org

Mocavo’s Free Forever Promise No Longer

On 10 October 2013 Mocavo founder Cliff Shaw announced that his website would remain free forever.

When Mocavo brings content online, it becomes free forever. Let me be clear – I didn’t just say free for now, I said free forever. …

How can I trust that content on Mocavo will be free forever?

We are committed to free genealogy unlike any other company – it’s part of our history. When I founded GenForum in 1997, I said the site would be free forever. To this day, it’s still free. Everything else I’ve done in the industry is now free (GenCircles, Family Tree Legends, BackupMyTree).¹

Less than a year later, Cliff announced the Findmypast acquisition of Mocavo, reiterating the “free forever” promise:

Today is an exciting day for genealogists everywhere as we’re announcing that Mocavo has been acquired by Findmypast/DC Thomson Family History. This is a groundbreaking development for the industry and a major turning point in Mocavo’s quest to bring all the world’s historical information online for free. The wonderful folks at DC Thomson Family History share our vision of the future of family history, and we couldn’t be more excited to join them. …

In October of last year, we decided to do something audacious and bold – something never before tried in the industry. We launched our Free Forever revolution and this became the day when Mocavo’s soul was born. Everything turned around once we put a stake in the ground and stood for free genealogy (and now Mocavo is growing rapidly, putting more than 1,000 free databases online every single day and more users discovering us than ever). We have our loyal and supportive users to thank more than anyone!

One of the immediate benefits of the acquisition is that we’re putting the complete US Census index online for free (forever!), making us the first commercial provider in history to ever do this. Search the United States Federal Census Now.

The next few months are going to be incredibly exciting as we bring together two companies with enormous resources, content, and technology to bring you more of what you love. Nothing on either site will be going away – just getting better (and quickly!).²

He also wrote,

[Findmypast and Mocavo] both remain committed to delivering on Mocavo’s promise to provide free access to family history records on an individual database level forever. Toward that commitment, Findmypast is announcing today that the full indexes to the US Census from 1790 to 1940 are available for free at Mocavo.com.³

For some time the two websites continued to operate separately and Mocavo continued to be free. Earlier this year the Mocavo blog announced,

We wanted you to be the first to know that in the coming months Mocavo will be coming together with its sister site, Findmypast. This will create a single experience for our US customers in a move that aims to deliver a more focused, efficient and comprehensive service to US family historians.…We are now in the process of moving all Mocavo site content to Findmypast so you’ll soon be able to enjoy everything currently available on Mocavo and more. As part of our ‘Free Forever’ promise, Mocavo subscribers will continue to enjoy free access to all of the same records that were previously published for free on Mocavo.⁴

It appeared the forever-free promise would apply just to those who had subscribed.

On 29 March 2016 Mocavo sent me an email announcing that the move had taken place. Visitors to the Mocavo.com website are now automatically forwarded to http://www.findmypast.com/mocavo-info. I tried to see if the US census is available there for free for everyone, as it was on Mocavo. I was not able to tell for certain one way or the other, but it appears it is no longer available for free to just anyone. I’ve asked Findmypast for clarification. Unfortunately, the business hours of the Ancestry Insider run from 7:00am to 4:00pm on Saturday. So even though you will be reading this on Wednesday, I don’t expect to receive a reply until it’s too late. Next week I’ll let you know what I learn.

I share this article as a reminder to everyone. Whether free or not, always store a local copy of any online source you cite. You never know when your access to that source will go away. And never consider a naked URL to be a citation. In fact, a citation to an online source is never complete until you include enough information to find the source of the source.

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SOURCES

     1. Cliff Shaw, “Mocavo Introduces Free Forever – Join us in the revolution!” Mocavo Genealogy Blog (http://blog.mocavo.com/2013/10/mocavo-introduces-free-forever-join-us-revolution : 10 October 2013); archived at WayBack Machine (http://archive.org/web : accessed 2 April 2016). Emphasis in the original.
     2. Cliff Shaw, “A New Chapter for Mocavo,” Mocavo Genealogy Blog (http://blog.mocavo.com/2014/06/new-chapter : 23 June 2014); archived at WayBack Machine (http://archive.org/web : accessed 2 April 2016).
     3. Cliff Shaw, “Mocavo Acquired By Findmypast: A New Chapter Begins,” Mocavo Genealogy Blog (http://team.mocavo.com/2014/06/mocavo-acquired-by-findmypast-a-new-chapter-begins : 23 June 2014); archived at WayBack Machine (http://archive.org/web : accessed 2 April 2016).
     4. “Mocavo and Findmypast are coming together,” Mocavo Genealogy Blog (http://blog.mocavo.com/2016/01/mocavo-and-findmypast-are-coming-together : 18 Jan 2016); archived at WayBack Machine (http://archive.org/web : accessed 2 April 2016).

More Accusations of Plagiarism Leveled at Barry Ewell

Accusations of plagiarism have once again been made against author, speaker, and website publisher, Barry Ewell.

On 11 March 2016, Thomas MacEntee presented evidence of alleged plagiarism by Barry Ewell of information written by Kimberly Powell. See “Review: Google Guide for Genealogy: 1001 Ways to Search the Internet Like a Genealogist,” GeneaBloggers (http://www.geneabloggers.com). Thomas purchased a copy of Barry’s book, Google Guide for Genealogy: 1001 Ways to Search the Internet Like a Genealogist. In reviewing the content he found “much of the information can easily be located on the Internet, including entire articles by other authors.” As an example, Thomas presented a side-by-side comparison of about 20 paragraphs from a Kimberly Powell article, copied without attribution. Thomas verified with Kimberly that she had not given permission to Barry to copy her work. Here are a few of the paragraphs Thomas presented:

Kimberly Powell	Barry Ewell Alleged Plagiarism
Step One: Search for the Source	Step One: Search for the Source
Whether its a personal Web page or a subscription genealogy database, all online data should include a list of sources. The key word here is should. You will find many resources that don’t. Once you find a record of your great, great grandfather online, however, the first step is to try and locate the source of that information.	Whether it’s a personal web page or a subscription genealogy database, all online data should include a list of sources. The key word here is should. You will find many resources that don’t. Once you find a record of your great, great grandfather online, however, the first step is to try and locate the source of that information.
Look for source citations and references – often noted as footnotes at the bottom of the page, or at the end (last page) of the publication	1. Look for source citations and references – often noted as footnotes at the bottom of the page, or at the end (last page) of the publication.
Check for notes or comments	2. Check for notes or comments.

This is not the first time Barry has published a book containing information copied from the web without attribution. In 2012 Barry Ewell published a book that copies from the website of the 1997 KBYU Ancestors series.

KBYU Ancestors Series Website	Barry Ewell Book
The content varies somewhat by religion with Scandinavian Lutheran, for instance, generally providing more details.	Information will vary somewhat by religion, with Scandinavian and Lutheran, for instance, generally providing more details.
Minutes or communicant lists can also be helpful in reconstructing family history. The sudden disappearance of a couple from the list may signify their departure from the community. The disappearance of one but not the other may indicate death, an important clue if the death records no longer exist. They may also contain information as to where some moved… They also help you to learn more about what your ancestors were like and how they worshiped.	Minutes or Communicant Lists. These records can be helpful in reconstructing family history. The disappearance of a couple from the list may signify their departure from the community. The disappearance of one but not the other may indicate death, an important clue if the death records no longer exist. These lists may also provide insight as to where persons have moved. These records also help to build a picture of what your ancestors were like and how they worshipped.
Source: “Other Church Records,” Ancestors (http://www.byub.org/ancestors/records/religious/intro4.html).	Source: Barry J. Ewell, Family Treasures: 15 Lessons, Tips, and Tricks for Discovering Your Family History (Cedar Fort, Utah: Plain Cite Publishing, 2012), 326; digital images, Google Books (https://books.google.com/books?id=mjkJ0TmDOu4C).

Other parts are obvious copies as well. The list of denominational archives on pp. 81-2 of Barry’s book is such an exact copy of the list at http://www.byub.org/ancestors/records/religious/extra.html, he even copied the alphabetization problems of the BYU website.

Barry Ewell has also copied information from the web for newspaper articles. On 27 April 2013, the Salt Lake City Deseret News published a story written by Barry Ewell titled “Genealogy: Use and Record What You Learn.” The editor has appended this notice:

Editor's note: The original version of this story posted on April 27, 2013, failed to properly attribute all source materials, which violates our editorial policies. The story was revised on March 19, 2014, and attribution to original sources were added. A version of this column also appeared in the print edition of the Deseret News on August 8, 2013. The Deseret News demands accuracy in attribution and sourcing and considers any lapses to be a serious breach of ethics. The Deseret News is no longer publishing Barry J. Ewell's writings. (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865579049)

That story presently attributes information to a FamilySearch wiki article, “A Guide to Research.” (https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/A_Guide_to_Research)

The Deseret News published another Barry Ewell article on 6 July 2013 (“Genealogy: Five steps to finding ancestors”) which now bears the same notice (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865582698). That story presently attributes information to the same FamilySearch Wiki article.

The Deseret News published another Barry Ewell article on 7 September 2013 (“Use Your Camera to Document Family History Research”) which now bears the same notice (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865585957). That story presently attributes information to a Dennis Ridenour article published in the 1 February 2003 issue of UpFront with NGS newsletter (http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/NGS/2003-02/1044160664) and a Maureen Taylor article, “Tips for Photographing Gravestones: Documenting Without Damage” (http://www.genealogy.com/articles/research/64_gravestones.html).

Sound like a broken record?

The Deseret News published another Barry Ewell article on 14 September 2013 (“Share Oral History Between Generations”) which now bears the same notice (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865586360). That story presently contains one unattributed quote and attributes a FamilySearch wiki article, “Involve Children and Youth in Family History” (https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Involve_Children_and_Youth_in_Family_History). Ironically, an Iranian website plagiarized Barry’s original article, should you wish to read it. (Google search for “ever be grateful that I was able to visit my relatives in Iceland.”)

The Deseret News published another Barry Ewell article on 30 November 2013 (“Sharing family history: Write and share your story”) which now bears the same notice (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865591494). That story presently attributes information to FamilySearch, Kimberly Powell, Laura Weldon, Lorelle VanFossen, and a Ginger Hamer.

Barry Ewell has also copied information from the web for his videos, according to Thomas MacEntee in a 10 March 2014 article titled “Plagiarism: A Venereal Disease in the Genealogy Community” (http://www.geneabloggers.com/genealogy-plagiarism-venereal-disease/).

One trick that Ewell uses is to embed content in videos – content which is not easy to compare with an original source since much of it is in the form of audio or images: Listen to the audio at http://genealogybybarry.com/7-slideshow-series/arician-american-research/ and then read http://www.prattlibrary.org/locations/afam/index.aspx?id=3000#Why.

On 6 July 2013, DearMYRTLE published an example alleging Barry Ewell had plagiarized Cyndi Howells’ interview on the Ancestors television show. (See “Is There Such a Thing as Ethical Plagiarism?” on DearMyrtle: Your Friend in Genealogy Since 1995.)

Cyndi Howell	Barry Ewell Alleged Plagiarism
It is important to know that vital records searches are most useful for finding relatively recent information. With some exceptions, most U.S. states did not assume legal responsibility for vital records until around the turn of the last century. The first to start keeping vital records was Massachusetts in 1841 and the last was New Mexico in 1920.	It is important to know that vital record searches are most useful for finding relatively recent information. Most US states did not assume legal responsibility for vital records until around 1900. The first state to start keeping vital records was Massachusetts in 1841, and the last was New Mexico in 1920.

Barry also copies other people’s information for his blog. Consider a single article, “Sharing Family History: Write and Share Your Story” (http://genealogybybarry.com/sharing-family-history-3-write-share-story/ : 21 November 2015). As of the date of this writing, none have attribution even though Barry copied the entire article almost word-for-word.

Originals	Barry Ewell Blog
Create a Family Newsletter Consider creating a family newsletter. Get others involved. Be creative. A well-written newsletter is a wonderful way of keeping families together. Newsletters can include stories about an ancestor or share research successes and assignments. You might have an entire issue dedicated to family history or a regular feature on family history… Create a Family Web site A family Web site is a wonderful way of involving family members who have computer skills. Let them design, create, and maintain the Web site, while you and others contribute the information. The Web site … encourage extended family members to take an interest in the family’s history. … Write a Family History Book A family history book is a major undertaking, but it might provide a wonderful opportunity to involve extended family members. You might ask them to contribute information on their own family or research information on a specific ancestral family. Source: “Involve Your Extended Family in Family History,” FamilySearch [Wiki] (https://familysearch.org/wiki : rev 14:33, 30 May 2012).	Create a family newsletter Consider creating a family newsletter. Get others involved. Be creative. A well-written newsletter is a great way of keeping families together. Newsletters can include stories about an ancestor or share research successes and assignments. You might have an entire issue dedicated to family history or a regular feature on family history… Create a family web site A family Web site is a great way of involving family members who have computer skills. Let them design, create, and maintain the Web site, while you and others contribute the information.  The website … encourage extended family members to take an interest in the family’s history. Write a family history book A family history book is a major undertaking, but it might provide a wonderful opportunity to involve extended family members. You might ask them to contribute information on their own family or research information on a specific ancestral family.
Scrapbook Your Family Heritage The perfect place to showcase and protect your precious family photos, heirlooms, and memories, a heritage scrapbook album… Source: Kimberly Powell, “10 Ways to Celebrate Family History Month,” About Parenting http://genealogy.about.com/od/holidays/tp/family-history-month.htm : rev. 29 October 2014), no. 6.	Scrapbook your family heritage Showcase and protect your precious family photos, heirlooms, and memories in a heritage scrapbook album.
Develop a book of family lore. Compile family recipes and any anecdotes that go with these foods. Add family sayings, funny stories, traditions, timelines, anything you’d like to record for coming generations. Source: “26 Ways to Make History Relevant,” Laura Grace Weldon (http://lauragraceweldon.com/2011/08/10/making-history-relevant/ : 10 August 2011).	Develop a book of family lore Compile family recipes and any anecdotes that go with these foods. Add family sayings, funny stories, traditions, timelines, anything you’d like to record for coming generations.
A family history blog is a chronological posting of articles, stories, news, tips, and information on the family’s history. The website is dynamic, with the front page changing with the addition of new material. It is also interactive, as comments are allowed, giving people an opportunity to comment and give feedback on the information you have to offer. A family history blog can be maintained by one person or dozens. Source: Lorelle VanFossen, “What Do You Put Into Your Family History Blog?” Family History (http://family.cameraontheroad.com : 30 January 2007).	Write a family history blog A family history blog is a chronological posting of articles, stories, news, tips, and information on the family’s history. The website is dynamic, with the front page changing with the addition of new material. It is also interactive, as comments are allowed; giving people an opportunity to comment and give feedback on the information you have to offer. A family history blog can be maintained by one person or dozens.
Sundays are a good time for making weekly entries. Remember to make it a family rule that each person’s journal is private and must not be read without the owner’s permission. If your children are too young to keep journals themselves, you can start a notebook for them. Use plastic protector sheets to preserve birth certificates, blessing and baptism certificates, and other important papers. Ask your young child to tell about an event in his own words and write it down for him. Each year on the child’s birthday write a short history of the preceding year, recalling the child’s growth and recording amusing anecdotes so quickly forgotten otherwise. Source: Ginger Hamer, “Family Fun with Genealogy,” Ensign, online edition (https://www.lds.org/ensign/1984/09/family-fun-with-genealogy : September 1984).	Encourage family members to keep journals Sundays are a good time for making weekly entries. Remember to make it a family rule that each person’s journal is private and must not be read without the owner’s permission. If your children are too young to keep journals themselves, you can start a notebook for them. * Use plastic protector sheets to preserve birth certificates, blessing and baptism certificates, and other important papers. * Ask your young child to tell about an event in his own words and write it down for him. * Each year on the child’s birthday write a short history of the preceding year, recalling the child’s growth and recording amusing anecdotes so quickly forgotten otherwise.

These examples have been easy to find, but I’ve run out of time. I will leave you with one final example.

Michael Hait reported on 7 July 2013 that some of his work had been plagiarized by Barry Ewell. (See “Copyright, Plagiarism, and Citing Your Sources” on Planting the Seeds: Genealogy as Profession.) In the slides attached to the blog post, he presented side by side comparisons to illustrate the plagiarism. For example, one set of slides shows this:

Michael Hait	Barry Ewell Alleged Plagiarism
GET LOCAL	Get local
Know the geography of the area in which your ancestors lived, not just physical terrain but also political jurisdictions.	Know the geography of the area in which your ancestors lived, not just physical terrain but also political jurisdictions.
Know the laws that governed your ancestors’ time. Know the local history – the local leaders, the local churches, the common occupations of the area at that time.	Know the laws that governed your ancestors’ time. Know the local history – the local leaders, the local churches, the common occupations of the area at that time
All of these help to recreate the world in which your ancestors lived, and all of your “evidence” was created.	All of these help to recreate the world in which your ancestors lived, and all of your “evidence” that was created

After 26 slides of comparisons, Michael asks, “Plagiarism? You Be the Judge.”

 

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Note: Sources are either cited inline or, in the cases of examples from other websites, cited in those respective articles. All websites were accessed the weekend of 27 March 2016. The illustration comes from Merlin2525, “Do Not Copy Business Stamp 2,” Openclipart (https://openclipart.org/detail/172061).

Beware the Ides of March 2016 News Ketchup

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.”

Ancestry.com forecasted that RootsWeb would be back online about 15 March 2106 (today). I prognosticated it would take longer. Looks like I was mostly wrong as most of RootsWeb is back online. Since I write these articles on the weekend, I can’t give you the current status, but here’s what it was last Saturday:

• http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ – Home page is up, including the message about the hardware failure.
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ – World Connect is up.
• http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/FAQ/wcindex.html – Helpdesk pages are up.
• http://searches.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ – Most searches are up.
• http://bigfile.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/search – Search thingy is down.
• http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ – Mailing list website is down.
• Mailing list emails are ?? Anybody subscribed to a RootsWeb email list?
• http://boards.rootsweb.com/ – Message boards are up, but I don't think they use the RootsWeb servers so they probably never went down.
• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ – Freepages hosted websites are down. It has been long enough that Google has flushed these pages from its cache. You cannot use Google to find the URL of your websites in order to download them off the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. However, Bing.com and Yahoo.com had not yet flushed their caches (as of Saturday). As a contingency plan in case Ancestry is not able to resurrect them, if you have a Freepages website and don’t already have a backup, I encourage you to use Bing or Yahoo quickly to get the URL for your website. You can then access it via the Internet Archives.
• http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~websites/ – Home pages hosted websites are up.

Since Ancestry isn’t using the established RootsWeb status page (mirrored here), to check availability you must select each URL individually.

Ancestry DNA is on sale for $89 (a 10% savings), plus shipping and tax. The sale lasts through 17 March 2016. Visit http://dna.ancestry.com for more information.

According to the US National Archives and Records Administration: “OUR COLLEAGUES AT FAMILYSEARCH.ORG HAVE RECENTLY FINISHED DIGITIZING AND putting online a new original series that will be of interest to genealogists and historians alike—the Massachusetts, Salem, and Beverly Crew Lists and Shipping Articles. This is the first time these records have been captured on microfilm or digitally. The series consists of three original collections from the National Archives at Boston:

• Crew lists and returns of seamen for the Port of Salem and Beverly, compiled 1797–1818. National Archives Identifier 1600758
• Shipping articles for the Port of Salem and Beverly, 1810–1899. National Archives Identifier 1600870
• Crew lists for the Port of Salem and Beverly, 1787–1934. National Archives Identifier 1600759”

FamilySearch combined these three collections as “Massachusetts, Salem and Beverly Crew Lists and Shipping Articles, 1797-1934.” Salem and Beverly were a large port in the early history of the country, so if you have New England roots, you might have relatives in the collection.

FamilySearch is updating the FamilySearch Research Wiki this week. To avoid losing any contribution made during the update, editing is not this week. If you wish to contribute to the wiki—which I hope you do regularly—please come back after 9:00am, 21 March 2016. Concerning the update, FamilySearch has said:

• “All information will be kept and put in the new upgraded version of the wiki.
• Navigation will change from the right side of the screen to the left.
• Country and State pages will be redesigned for better use.  This redesign will occur as close to the time of the new release as possible, but may not be completed when the upgrade takes place.
• The URL for the Wiki on the FamilySearch.org website will be changed for better usability
• The Rich Text editor will be replaced with Visual Editor.
• The upgraded version of the Wiki will be editable in all browsers including Chrome.”

FamilySearch is hoping to add a feature to Family Tree called Family Projects that will allow users to share living persons in the tree. This allows sharing of documents, pictures, and stories and makes it so families don’t have to reenter each other into Family Tree over and over. Currently, living persons are not shared as is most of the tree. Ron Tanner explains it in a short blurb (1:32) on YouTube.

The National Genealogical Society has announced that it will live stream ten lectures from its 2016 Family History Conference, which will be held 4-7 May 2016, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “Details of the live streaming program can be found on the NGS Conference website. NGS members and others across the United States and overseas, who are unable to attend the conference in person, are invited to sign up for these live streaming broadcasts.”

People can sign up for either or both of two tracks of five lectures. Lectures can be viewed for three months after the conference. I know some attendees at last year’s conference bought the streaming lectures for viewing after the conference. The broadcasted lecturers are among the best, so their classes fill quickly onsite. If you can view them after the conference, that frees you up to attend other conference sessions.

One other thing: Remember that the conference discounted Early Bird registration will close on 31 March 2016.

As Kendall Hulet indicated at RootsTech that it was coming, Ancestry has released a feature allowing users to choose a color scheme other than the much maligned funeral colors first released with New Ancestry. For more information, see “Ancestry Product Update: Tree Color Preferences” on the Ancestry Blog.

Ancestry recently posted their monthly “What’s New at Ancestry” video, March 2016 edition, on YouTube. Crista Cowan talks about conferences Ancestry will be attending this spring and summer, new site changes, product announcements, and new record collections released last month (28 million records). New product features include Continue Searching and LifeStory and Facts View tutorials. New product announcement concerns the availability of Ancestry DNA in 29 additional countries, new course offerings in Ancestry Academy. and desktop support for Family Tree Maker and RootsMagic. Some of the new collections mentioned are

• “U.S., Definitive List of Slaves and Property, 1827-1828”
• “Alberta, Canada Homestead Records, 1870-1930”
• “California, Mortuary Records of Chinese Decedents”
• “Sydney, Australia Cemetery Headstones, 1867-2002”
• Two United Methodist Church collections
• Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915”
• “U.S., Selected States Dutch Reformed Church Membership Records, 1701-1995”

That clears out much of my inbox. I hope it made sense, because “it was Greek to me.”