New Family Tree

I've finally gotten a family tree back online! This time it's located on my own genealogy web site at https://cushings.com/roots/public_tng/ .  (Also in the list of links to the right.) A few things are different. I've used a php package called The Next Generation (TNG). It took a few days to get it installed, and another few days to test it's features, privacy, security, and whatnot to make sure it met my needs. The advantages over my previous Rootsweb installation are that it is online (Rootsweb trees went offline for about a year), it allows researchers to contact me (the new Rootsweb had no attribution or contact for the tree owners), and the search and display and look and feel of the web site is so much better than what Rootsweb offers (or at least what it was offering when I finally removed my tree about a year ago). The advantage over an Ancestry tree is that I can make this available to the public. (You have to be an Ancestry subscriber to see Ancestry trees.) Other services offer tree space, but with a tree as large as mine I either needed to pay for space or allow others to collaborate on my tree, or other features that I don't need. I've also changed what information I'm making available. I'm just including a skeleton tree of direct line ancestors to help me better focus on extending my own tree. By including just direct ancestors, I'm hoping to connect with people whose own trees meet mine at its oldest branches. At least that's the hope. We'll see.

If you search my tree and you don't see a family you're looking for, but you know I'm related because I've mentioned someone in a blog post, or on my genealogy web site, please contact me. I'm happy to look for and share more information.

Rootsweb's New World Connect

After more than twenty years of maintaining my family tree at Rootsweb, I asked today that it be removed. Rootsweb has always been, in my genealogy life, a free web site that facilitated collaboration in researching our family histories. They hosted message boards dedicated to any name or locale or genealogy subject you could request, they hosted e-mailing lists dedicated to these subjects (at some point these were tied together), they provided free web space to individuals and groups, and they allowed users to post their GEDCOM family trees so they could be searched and viewed by other genealogists. It grew rapidly and overwhelmed the volunteers who created the site, so it was turned over to Ancestry.com, a fairly new company that sold access to databases of genealogy records, and was starting to create Rootsweb like features to enhance their service, under the agreement that it would always remain free. I used to use Rootsweb all the time.

So it was a little sad to have my tree removed. For about two years Ancestry has been updating WorldConnect, nominally to make an old site secure in today's internet environment. But I just got a look at the new WorldConnect. It was very hard for me to find my own tree. The search function doesn't find people in my tree, or finds so many people in so many trees, apparently ignoring middle names and birth dates and places etc, that I don't find it useful. And once I did find my tree, there is no mention of me (who collected this data over the past 25 years), nor any way for people to contact me. On the plus side for some, I guess, it does suggest records that might help that are available with a subscription to Ancestry ?

I will probably try to upload a new GEDCOM there to see if it will allow people to contact me, etc. It could be that they just loaded all the old GEDCOM files and the researcher contact information is not part of those files, so is not available. I'll also keep looking for an alternative. I'd rather it be free. It must be findable to the whole genealogy community, not just paid subscribers of a particular service. It must have protections against wholesale downloading of information. And protections against other people just adding things on to my tree. (Many people have a lower standard on what constitutes proof of relationship and I've seen lots of people added on to my family that I know to be false. So I suppose I'm protecting my "brand"; if it's in my tree, you know I can explain why, and the why is pretty solid.) It must allow attribution and contact information. I would prefer to be part of a greater community that will attract researchers who might then find a connection to our tree. (But I may also just host a tree on my own web site and rely on Google to lead genealogists to me.)

Rules of Thumb for my Family Tree

FWIW: Here are some of the rules I follow when deciding whether or not to include someone in my family tree. This is just off the top of my head.  If I've missed someone or inadvertently implied that I don't consider someone family, please let me know so I can fix it.

1) Publicly post only deceased relatives.
2) When sharing with others, share deceased and any living up to first cousins.
3) Include biological, adopted, foster, etc. relatives and their immediate in-laws: parents, siblings, siblings' spouses. Some exceptions when assisting close cousins with their genealogy. Including generations of relatives for every in-law is just too many people to keep track of. [If I were requested to add a family tree, I probably would because I love my in-laws! 8-) ]

For recently deceased:
[
4) Don't include all marriages.  Include those that yielded children, the last marriage, marriages mentioned in important sources, like obituaries, etc. This is not hard set.  I tend to ignore it more with ancient relatives, but with relatives recently deceased, I'd rather not advertise someone's difficulty staying married by listing seven spouses.
5) Don't publicly post information concerning mental health, including death by suicide.
]

6) Where many variations in spelling exist for old families (prior to about 1900?), adopt an American spelling and an immigrant spelling.  For instance Cussen (native Irish ancestors) and Cushing (descendants in the US), or Donley (native Irish ancestors) and Donnelly (descendants in the US).
7) Record a source for all information.
8) Publicly, post only basic information: birth, marriage, death. This is to encourage serious genealogists to contact me for additional information (sources, burial, places of residence, etc.) which I am happy to share (within privacy constraints) and to share information that they may have about the family in question that I do not have.
9) Include individuals ...
Tier 1: for whom primary sources exist (birth, marriage, death certificates, land records, wills, ...)

Tier 2: from living family members closely enough related to know from personal knowledge and family interviews; corroboration with primary sources preferred
Tier 3: some secondary sources, such as census records, obituaries, grave markers, biographies, town histories, etc.
Tier 4: Published, well-researched, well-scrutinized genealogies (such as Douglas, Pierce, Matthew Cushing, ), corroboration with primary sources preferred
Tier 5: Posted genealogies which cite any of the above sources

Don't include:
Posted genealogies/trees with no source citations, or that cite only other posted genealogies, including LDS IGI and AF information, Ancestry.com and Rootsweb and other like sites

But ...
Unsourced information can be used to start research that, once substantiated, can be added to my tree. Authors of posted information can be contacted for leads or sources that might lead to substantiated information added to the tree.

10) Respect living family wishes regarding public information, such as fathers of children born outside of a marriage, etc.
11) Don't stir up old family feuds!

Outdated: Can't Follow the Names in my Posts?

Most of you are probably lost when I start mentioning names, like Patrick Donley.  To see how someone fits into your tree, use the Rootsweb family tree in the list of links on the right of this blog page.  One way to see how someone is related to you (if they are) is to go to the family tree and find your nearest deceased relative.  (For privacy reasons, no living persons are included in the family tree that I've publicly posted at Rootsweb.)  This could be a parent or a grandparent.  Then at the top of that person's page (but below the banner ad), click on "pedigree".  You should see Patrick Donley in the last column.  To see his family, or his descendants, click on his name.  If you have trouble, leave me a comment and I'll try to help.