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Notes from the January 13, 2000 meeting of the Rochester Genealogical Society Computer Interest Group.
Larry Blackman reported that Gil Smith would be giving the workshop on the Allen County Library, and Bob O'Donnell of Geneseo State would be speaking on genetics and genealogy, on January 20, 2000. He also noted that Hank Jones would be the featured speaker at the March 16, 2000 combined Rochester Genealogical Society and Kodak Genealogy Society meeting. He will also speak on Saturday, March 18, 2000 on Palatine Genealogy, with $10 donation required. He will also be selling his books.
Jim Hall noted that the meeting announcements now go to only paid-up members, so no sales pitch was needed.
He also reported that the Rochester Computer Society meeting on digital cameras was changed when the presenter was unable to attend.
Next meeting program was noted by Paul as a description of the operation of the most popular genealogical programs. Jim Hall (and the audience) will lead this presentation.
Y2K - one attendee received a message from Microsoft with the year given as 100! Apparently the glitch was CompuServe related, and a patch was available to download.
Jim Hall noted that since he uses Win95, he had to download the Microworx Y2K fix files: they worked fine. A 486 in use by some grandchildren did give the 1Jan1980 date, and the Win31 fix file worked fine also.
A question on handling footnotes/sources in Family Tree Maker was discussed. It was suggested that CTRL-S would bring you to the Source listing, allowing duplication or modification as needed.
A question on selecting/merging data from a GEDCOM file was responded that it is fairly simple to import the GEDCOM, then Match/Merge the data as wanted.
Another query on finding the ìCî (hard) drive led to the suggestion to go to the C MOS set-up. There should be options to auto detect the hard drive. If it is not detected, you may have lost the hard drive. The member took the unit to Computer Renaissance and the technician got it going again, for one week. There was a suggestion to check the C MOS battery, and take it back to the technician for further diagnosis and repair.
A comment last month on DIAL PAD.COM, for free long distance telephone calls, was clarified as noting that both units need a microphone plugged into a soundcard to operate. These work in a chat room such as AOL. John Fitton noted that use of 4 wires vs. 2 wires for phones will sometimes give an echo.
Jim Hall asked about how many attendees were aware of and used the Rochester Genealogical Society CD-ROM's at the Westfall Road Family History Center. There were only a few responding positively. Many were not aware of their presence.
A correction on the Germans to America comment from the December meeting was made by Larry Naukam. The remaining books in the series are being ordered, but there are 2 CD's on order now which cover the time period 1850-1874, Vol. 1-31 on one CD, and German Genealogy Research Guide on the other.
A question about leaving the computer system on at all times was responded that the experts (Nick F., etc.) usually turn off the monitor only, unless an electric storm is coming, when the unit is unplugged. Win98 backs up the registry for the previous 5 sessions upon start-up. Each time a program is turned off, there is residual memory used, called memory leak, until the unit is turned off. The loss of RAM during operations can slow the processing down if there is not a reboot. John Fitton gave a good description of the Registry and why shutdown cleans up Registry. The Registry can also be backed up under Registry Checker in System Tools.
A comment on .TMP files noted that they are not stored in the TEMP directory. They can be found on the Find Area at the Start-up Menu, and should be removed often as they are useless after the day of operation that they are formed.
The planned program was on types of CD-ROMs available to use with genealogy. Fortunately, Family Tree Maker sells videotape on how to use their Family Archive CDÃs in genealogy research. The type is a 21-minute presentation. The advantage of the CDs for home uses were listed as convenience/viewing at home; they are considered a reference/source. The narrator listed the type of CDs available, about 30 different topics, as shown in the Family Tree Maker Homepage, Family Archives CDs.
There are 4 types of CDs presented:
World Family Tree CDs which contain actual family trees that were contributed by Family Tree Maker customers and others; living persons are supposed to be hidden. Each CD is indexed for individuals and can be addressed to select the available information. All functions of Family Tree Maker can be run on the CD file selected, i.e. making trees, reports, etc. If the data is usable, it can be merged with your base file, or make a copy to the hard drive for future viewing/merging. Files submitted to the World Family Tree Project are processed to remove data on living person, except name, gender and family links, excluding profanity and illogical dates (death, marriage before birth). If a person of interest is found, there is a service to get the name and address of the contributor. (Sounds like the Rochester Genealogical Society Surname List.) The Internet icon at the top of the screen is selected and the contact to the World Family Tree Project. This allows discussion with the contributor.
Image CDs contain scanned images of books or microfilm rolls, each image contains 1 page. The icon on the top row can take the user from the World Family Tree page to the CD requested. The CD has an index in Census. CDs that can be selected to view the census page in question. Some pages have been electronically enhanced to improve readability. Zooming in can enlarge the image; to examine handwriting or item details, the image can be printed for insertion in a book or file.
Fielded CDs
Books prepared by the Genealogical Publishing Co. include immigrant lists. The detailed
information on an individual includes the source, Dept. of State, transcripts from National
Archives records.
Free text CDs and the full text images are from over 200 genealogy books, biographies, and local histories. Searches may be performed on names. The text has been retyped from the original.
How to select the right CD:
With over 200 CD-ROMs containing over 220 million names, there are multiple search techniques:
A Family index - included with every copy of Family Tree Maker, now 3 CDs, includes all the
names that appear on all the Family Archive Tree Collection
Using the Family Findex, you can type in any name, and the Index will move to that name. A better way is to use the Search Expert button to search for someone from either or not from your Family Search File. Selecting a name, the narrator searched for the name, using maiden and married names for females.
The selected list highlights the most likely matches. Looking at the First Match, an even selection related to the married name is highlighted. The viewers select the most likely candidates and proceeds to confirm the CD to be searched.
To search for someone not in your file, you use both a given and surname, separated by a comma and space. Multiple fields can be used; birth, death, Social Security, etc. The family Finder Index is searched and weights the validity of the selection vs. your Family File.
To search on the Internet, the Family Finder Center (looks like a puzzle) contains reports that are collected for presentation to the memes, again for selection of likely persons. Different categories of probability are presented, from 5-Star, the highest (95%) ranking. This concentrates the search. Belora the 5-Star are the World Family Tree Matches and then other Family Archive Matches. There are hundreds of possible matches, but only the top 10 are presented.
Beneath the CDs are other Internet Matches, specifically looking at genealogy web sites. Again the top 10 are given, and there are 1300 additional matches!
The Family Finder Report was explained further selecting Family Tree number. Comparison is made to the researchers Family Tree file and the World Family Tree Matches (source file). Searches can be made using full name, nicknames or even just an initial. Certain matches, like from the Internet, can be removed to narrow the future searches. Other CDs can be selected to further narrow the search.
The descendents of a specific individual can be selected from the total list to prepare a report for the search for the smaller number of persons.
Paul noted that the image quality of projections from a VCR to a video projector could result in unreadable images, even with superior equipment. Fortunately, the narrator read the parts that he wanted to emphasize. The video is available for ìrentî through the AudioTape Librarian Rochester Genealogical Society CD-ROMs: A group of twelve CDs were purchased in 1994-95 for use at the Westfall Road Family History Center.
Several of the CDs have a copy of the viewer prepared by the GRS Corp. Paul presented a list of the CDs that are now available in our CD-Library. An Index CD was selected and a name was searched, successfully. Some other names were selected and several direct hits were found. It was pointed out that the new Family Tree Maker 7.0 Index is on 3 CDs. These CDs are better indicators of what to buy than what information.
Paul continued, and selecting a Tree Number, brought up a large amount of information on the person being sought. Leads can be developed through the Internet connection as shown in the videotape.
It was suggested that an index of the available CDs be provided to members of the CIG - a librarian is needed. Larry Naukan noted that it is important to read the copyright restrictions on lending CDs as an organization.
Jim loaded a Rochester Genealogical Society CD-ROM, the 1860 Census, and Paul began searching. These are extractions from the census, using the function keys required. One search was fruitless, but another was successful. These CD-ROMs are also available in hard copy for the New York State 1860 Census.
It was noted that the CD-ROMs at Westfall Road Family History Center must be used in the Center, not taken out.
Paul also displayed some of the Bureau of Land Management CDs for land grant states. The location, record number and name are needed to order the original land grant record.
End of Meeting.
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