Merry Christmas & a Peaceful New Year
to all visitors to Madaboutgenealogy
I’ll start posting again on 29 December, but if you need a family history fix before then there is always the archived postings 
Archive for the ‘Miscellaneous’ Category
Happy Christmas
December 22nd, 2011 
Linda Elliott Family Tree Maker 2012
November 18th, 2011 Linda Elliott ![clip_image002[4]](http://www.madaboutgenealogy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/clip_image00242.jpg "clip_image002[4]")
I’ve been sent the new Family Tree Maker 2012 by Ancestry to review – lucky me 
. I’ve been using FTM for quite some years now so am familiar with the look and feel of the programme, I find it intuitive and I have been happy to recommend it to friends and my genealogy students.
So what does the 2012 edition have that is different, what do I like, is there anything I don’t like? Here goes ….
Installation was easy, no hitches, just put the CD into your computer and follow instructions. Then you open up your FTM file which is easy enough as long as you have stored it where you know where it is ! Luckily I did, I have helped a friend recently who has his genealogy files hidden away here and there on his hard drive– NOT a good idea! A warning comes up saying that your data file will be adapted so that you can run it on FTM 2012 and recommends you do a back up first. You can opt to not do a back-up, but believe me if they suggest it do it!
Once you are up and running the first page you get to see and this page will come up every time until you do it, is one that asks if you want to link your Family Tree Maker tree with one on Ancestry. I haven’t done that yet as I have my tree split up into 5 trees on Ancestry – one for each grandparent and one for a one name project. It seemed a good idea at the time to do this, but now that FTM has the ability to update the online tree I wish I had put them all in together as one. Hey ho, hindsight is a wonderful thing!!
Once you have got past this page the look is identical to the previous editions except this time I have tones of green not blue. It really doesn’t matter to me what the colour is so I haven’t investigated if I can change the colour tone.
Everything seemed about the same until I discovered Smart Story. You get to this via the Person Pane and click on Media then New, then Smart Story from the drop down box. You can opt for a blank page or decide that FTM can work something out for you which you can then edit. I did this and got a page similar to one that the programme generates when you do a FTM book. The great feature with Smart Story is that you can generate one of these pages and it is attached to the individual and also that it automatically updates when you add something to the individuals file. Great for printing out and sending to someone who wants particulars of that person. Mind you if the tree is on Ancestry then you could just direct them to the tree.
So far these are the only two new features that I have come across, if I find more and I suspect there is a lot, lot more I’ll report on them.
Bottom line is would I still recommend Family Tree Maker 2012 to everyone? = definitely. Do I think it is good value for money? = yes I do. I think the feature of being able to sync your Family Tree Maker with your online tree on Ancestry is great and this alone would make the purchase or upgrade to FTM 2012 worth it.
Keeping Your Resaerch Safe !!
November 15th, 2011 Linda Elliott 
I am sure we have all had that heart stopping moment when we realise that our computer isn’t working properly and we might never see the contents of the hard drive ever again. Or perhaps the hard drive has become victim to a virus. All those hours of research, all those ancestors just disappeared !
For the last few months I have been using a service called Dropbox which allows you to store data online. I also have an external hard drive which performs a back up every day, but if I ever got burgled the thieves would probably take the external hard drive as well as the computer!
So I now keep my genealogy completely on my Ancestry Tree and my additional research & other precious info on Dropbox. Both are free (Dropbox gives you 2GB free, but you can buy more space) and gives you peace of mind and keep the ancestors safe!!
Posted in Computer & other technology, General, Miscellaneous 
Tags: Dropbox, Family History, Genealogy 
No Comments »The Tale of Two Marriages
April 6th, 2011 Linda Elliott 
Today I have been helping a friend to climb over the brick wall he had hit a while back regarding his Irish ancestors. There is so much more on the internet now that he, his wife & I thought we would see if we could extend his family tree back another generation or two.
To cut a long story short, this ancestor had been in the British Army Pay Corp for 21 years, he enlisted in 1896 in co. Cork. We found his army pension record on Ancestry and he states that he married in Kingston upon Thames in 1902 and had 4 children born from 1905 onwards. “That’s not right” said my friend Wendy I’ve got a marriage certificate for that couple, they married in 1900 in Woolwich and they had a daughter in 1901.
We checked FreeBMD website and yes the couple married twice!!! Why goodness knows, but all we could think was that the first time had been without Army permission and to get his wife onto the army marriage list and therefore being paid a married man’s rate he had to produce a marriage certificate. The one for 1900 wouldn’t do as it would have him up on a charge with his senior officer for marrying without permission. So the only thing to do was get married again!!!
Anyone else come across this situation?
Technorati Tags: Genealogy,Family History
Anthony Adolph & Kate Middleton
March 17th, 2011 Linda Elliott 
Seems that the well known researcher Anthony Adolph is related to Kate Middleton, you can read all about it on his website http://www.anthonyadolph.co.uk/KATE%20MIDDLETON.htm
Having had a very quick look at the research done for the Middleton genealogy I see that Edward III features there which means that I am related to both Kate & Anthony via Edward III who is my 18th great grandfather. My connection is via a birth on the wrong side of the blanket as they say so I suspect I won’t be getting an invite to The Wedding 
!!!
Posted in General, Miscellaneous Tags: Anthony Adolph, Family History, Genealogy, Kate Middleton, Prince William No Comments »Apps for Family Historians
March 16th, 2011 Linda Elliott 
Genealogists have taken to computer and other technology like ducks to water! I am sure that the inventors and designers of computers, ipads, notebooks etc. did not envisage their target market as being people who spend their spare time head down in dusty archives!
Now however the spending power of the family historian is being wooed by the major brands of tech products. In the March issue of Your Family History magazine there is a good article on Apps for family historians, it reviews a range of products with price from “free” to £8.99. If you are the proud owner of an iPhone, iPod Touch or an iPad then get your hands on a copy of this magazine and see if something featured takes your fancy.
Irishness Certificates
February 17th, 2011 Linda Elliott
Not sure I would spend my hard earned cash on an Irishness Certificate, but it seems that the government of Ireland is hoping that plenty of others will.
If this appeals then read more about it in the Irish Times – click on the link below
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0621/1224272953828.html
Amazing what Genealogy turns up!
November 9th, 2010 Linda Elliott 
A genealogist is burying one of her ancestors after discovering that his bones were held by Bristol Royal Infirmary. The hospital had been storing the skeleton in a box under stairs, but Mary Halliwell is arranging for a burial ….. 180 years after the death occurred.
Who says genealogy is boring!!!
Extreme Genealogy
July 13th, 2010 Linda Elliott
I get so many people telling me how hard they find it to “just concentrate” on their direct family lines back that it has set me thinking. In the “old days” when letters had to be written and weeks would go by before you got a reply, genealogy was taken at a leisurely pace. You really had enough difficulty finding your direct line of ancestors without worrying too much about those aunts, uncles and cousins who left the parish to find their fortune elsewhere.
Now of course with the advent of the computer and the internet (and didn’t genealogists take to that technology – like ducks to water!) we have the GRO indexes, census, military records and increasingly parish registers all at our fingertips and more often than not they are indexed. Finding your 3 cousin 7 times removed is as easy as typing in his name. It is no wonder that we gather in all those people who have blood ties how ever distant, it is all so easy.
So does it matter if you get side-tracked, are you less of a genealogist if you go sideways as well as up your family tree? Of course not. I have so often found cousins staying with cousins, aunts bringing up orphaned nieces and nephews, in-laws staying with in-laws all of whom give vital clues to help progress the pedigree backwards.
During a conversation the other day about this sideways research I decided that a name needed to be given to this new phenomena. Extreme Genealogy. You get extreme sports so why not extreme genealogy? I practise this type of research, I don’t necessarily go looking for all the cousins etc, but if I come across them then I record them. If they look as if they led interesting lives then I look a little deeper. I can get quite fond of some of my distant cousins and they can lead me into some interesting reading. Henry Pottinger who became the first Governor of Hong Kong and was central to the negotiations to end the 1st Opium War with China is my 8th cousin and is about to become my next focus of attention. He may only be a very distant cousin, but he sounds to be a very interesting chap!
Become a practitioner of Extreme Genealogy if you like, don’t feel guilty about it, you will be surprised where those distant cousins take you!
Yorkshire Family History Fair
June 22nd, 2010 Linda Elliott
If you are anywhere near York on 26th June then pop along to the Yorkshire Family History Fair. It sounds as if it will be a great place to catch up with all the latest in genealogy. The fair is at York Racecourse, Knavesmire Stand, admission is only £4 and there are cafeteria facilities onsite.
http://www.yorkshirefamilyhistoryfair.com/
