In my former career, accuracy was a must. It was so important, not as a life or death situation, but because it impacted the bottomline.....That being MONEY. I can't tell you how often that topic came up. In the world of insurance, numbers, facts, figures, and the bottomline is what it is all about. The numbers, facts, and figures led to logical conclusions and sometimes a final decision.
What I do recall though is the part about decision making with your gut or even with the "heart". Conscience business decisions were made all of the time which may have seemed somewhat contrary to the numbers/facts/figures but still in support of the "bottomline". Those decisions that were seemingly rather contrary were, in fact, judgment calls using that gut feeling or the "the heart". How logical was all of this decision making? Well, there were reasons that justified the means to the end. Then, there is also "jumping out of the box" for some creativity.
The logic part of this world carries over to many other things in life including genealogy. While, I don't have a "bottomline" that is profit driven related to my family tree, I do have people, dates, locations, and other facts associated with the logical side of "treeing", as I call it. My own trees may not be perfect as I progress and learn the process but there is a means to an end. I could certainly go on for days and days fixing minor typos and nuances on my four major tree lines but then how much fun would that be?
Sometimes, I find that genealogy carries me in different directions out of curiosity driven by the elation of discovery. With a network of other researchers out there online, you never know what you might find if you trail off a bit down a family line that may be a little distant in relation. There are communities of people in the past and their stories can live on if they are discovered.
I am interested in the communities of people in locations like the ever so popular Havana, Township of Aurora, Steele County, Minnesota. Popular, you may ask? I am not sure what it is really like there. I would imagine it is cold in the wintertime. What I have found is a bit of a mecca of German immigrants circa late 1800s.
Yet again, I've stumbled upon a few locations where people and communities gathered to build their lives. They were neighbors, friends, and even married each other. From Borchers', Jackel's, Fett's, Wuertz', and a few others, you can find the families "sticking together" to form and continue their commuity, culture, and religion. I love those connections. Figuring them out can be a fun hobby too!
So is my family tree perfect? Not exactly. I do continue to edit, proofread, and clean things up as I find time. It would appear that rather tedious job can be spread out over weeks and months. I do want my final product to be accurate. For now, it is a work in progress. As I've said before about the 34 page document of the Descendants of Thomas McLaughlin, let's not let perfection be the enemy of all that is good in pursuit of excellence.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Borrowing From Trees on Ancestry.com
Beg, borrow, and steal.....Ok, steal is a bit too forward. Beg....I'm not opposed to asking for family tree information from those who have the research done and I know are of my family line. I suppose that it is not really begging as I am more than willing to share in return. As for borrowing from a tree off Ancestry.com, that leaves something to be desired. My uncle warned me just about a year ago...."Buyer Beware!". Not everyone on Ancestry.com checks their facts and sources their tree.
If you post your family tree as a public tree on Ancestry.com, you'd have to expect that eventually someone will try and borrow information from it. How else would a college professor or other relatives have found me (or I found them)? Well, they are the real deal in looking for my specific Flanagan Family line. They do, in fact, "get it" and have the line with the associated history and stories of this family.
I had someone select Michael Flanagan (1839-1904) from my tree as a direct line ancestor for their tree last summer. Given that Michael never married or had children, made it rather impossible for that person to be one of Uncle Mike's great grandchildren. I sent them a quick message to let them know. Once they had linked into Michael, they had "sucked in" all of my information in the past up to my original Patrick Flanagan ancestor. Oops! That's a lot of people to "back off" of one's tree. Mistakes happen but this is why it is so important to check what you've pulled over to your own tree online.
What I noticed the other day, is someone else borrowing from the distant past of my Flanagan Tree. They were borrowing Patrick Flanagan (The Grandfather) and Judith Kirwan along with Richard Flanagan and Alice Bellew. I think that the person found a decent match and picked Patrick and Judith. This person's John Flanagan of Cavan was married to a Barbara Maguire. Apparently, his line continues with an Elizabeth Flanagan. The "John" matches, right? Not really.
Are there other Flanagan's from County Louth, specifically, in the Termonfechin Area? You bet there are a few. I am just not all the familiar with those lines and much of the information does run cold into the more current generations. Going back 300 years, they were probably all related to one another.
So John is a common name. John Flanagan is probably pretty common too. What do you think I did next to my Flanagan comrade? I emailed him, of course. I peeked at his tree and let him know where he got off track. Frankly, I just don't want people thinking that their line is one way when it is not. Let's face it, I like accuracy, insasmuch as that is possible on a family tree.
How sourced is my Flanagan Family Tree on Ancestry.com? Not very. It's hard to attach 240 years of written history to include letters, farm account books, and a PowerPoint Presentation on a DVD. At this point, I have to consider making my Flanagan Family Tree on Ancestry.com a private tree. I am not setting a very good example by not sourcing it online while making it public. As is probably obvious, it will be hard to fix the online tree given the way I maintain the sourcing.
I guess for now, the tree will be private. Those who have been invited to it will still be able to see it via their invited guest status. Everyone else would need to contact me and discuss their connection to this line.
If you post your family tree as a public tree on Ancestry.com, you'd have to expect that eventually someone will try and borrow information from it. How else would a college professor or other relatives have found me (or I found them)? Well, they are the real deal in looking for my specific Flanagan Family line. They do, in fact, "get it" and have the line with the associated history and stories of this family.
I had someone select Michael Flanagan (1839-1904) from my tree as a direct line ancestor for their tree last summer. Given that Michael never married or had children, made it rather impossible for that person to be one of Uncle Mike's great grandchildren. I sent them a quick message to let them know. Once they had linked into Michael, they had "sucked in" all of my information in the past up to my original Patrick Flanagan ancestor. Oops! That's a lot of people to "back off" of one's tree. Mistakes happen but this is why it is so important to check what you've pulled over to your own tree online.
What I noticed the other day, is someone else borrowing from the distant past of my Flanagan Tree. They were borrowing Patrick Flanagan (The Grandfather) and Judith Kirwan along with Richard Flanagan and Alice Bellew. I think that the person found a decent match and picked Patrick and Judith. This person's John Flanagan of Cavan was married to a Barbara Maguire. Apparently, his line continues with an Elizabeth Flanagan. The "John" matches, right? Not really.
Are there other Flanagan's from County Louth, specifically, in the Termonfechin Area? You bet there are a few. I am just not all the familiar with those lines and much of the information does run cold into the more current generations. Going back 300 years, they were probably all related to one another.
So John is a common name. John Flanagan is probably pretty common too. What do you think I did next to my Flanagan comrade? I emailed him, of course. I peeked at his tree and let him know where he got off track. Frankly, I just don't want people thinking that their line is one way when it is not. Let's face it, I like accuracy, insasmuch as that is possible on a family tree.
How sourced is my Flanagan Family Tree on Ancestry.com? Not very. It's hard to attach 240 years of written history to include letters, farm account books, and a PowerPoint Presentation on a DVD. At this point, I have to consider making my Flanagan Family Tree on Ancestry.com a private tree. I am not setting a very good example by not sourcing it online while making it public. As is probably obvious, it will be hard to fix the online tree given the way I maintain the sourcing.
I guess for now, the tree will be private. Those who have been invited to it will still be able to see it via their invited guest status. Everyone else would need to contact me and discuss their connection to this line.
Monday, May 9, 2011
The Duffy House - Napa, CA
It is no secret that the Duffy's house on Big Ranch Road in Napa, CA was restored during a few episodes of "This Old House" in the 1995-1996 Season of the show. What is interesting is that the owner at the time, Dennis Duffy, is now deceased. He passed away in 2007. It makes me wonder who owns the house now.
The Duffy's are cousin's of Jack and Minnie Flanagan's children. My mom said that she went to high school with some Duffy's and Malloy's of whom she was always told she was related. Related we are. Catherine "Katie" Maxwell Duffy and Ellen Maxwell McLaughlin were sisters. So it really is our Maxwell line that connects us as family. Let's not forget that Thomas Michael McLaughlin and Philip Duffy seemed to have known each other from their younger years maybe all the way back to Herkimer County, New York. There must be more Duffy family history there. I wonder who has those details. I have McLaughlin and Maxwell information for sure. Let's not forget the Austin, Nevada area, where they all lived for a while.
Below is the Duffy house. After a stop to taste some vino at Andretti Winery on Big Ranch Road in Napa, California, on a nice Sunday drive in Spring of 2011, we ventured down the road for a quick photo opt of the Duffy home.
The Duffy's are cousin's of Jack and Minnie Flanagan's children. My mom said that she went to high school with some Duffy's and Malloy's of whom she was always told she was related. Related we are. Catherine "Katie" Maxwell Duffy and Ellen Maxwell McLaughlin were sisters. So it really is our Maxwell line that connects us as family. Let's not forget that Thomas Michael McLaughlin and Philip Duffy seemed to have known each other from their younger years maybe all the way back to Herkimer County, New York. There must be more Duffy family history there. I wonder who has those details. I have McLaughlin and Maxwell information for sure. Let's not forget the Austin, Nevada area, where they all lived for a while.
Below is the Duffy house. After a stop to taste some vino at Andretti Winery on Big Ranch Road in Napa, California, on a nice Sunday drive in Spring of 2011, we ventured down the road for a quick photo opt of the Duffy home.
