Publishing a Family Tree Online

A few weeks ago we discussed the genealogy research goal of preserving your genealogy research for posterity. Apart from writing a book and donating a copy to a local library, posting your family history online is probably the best way to ensure that all your hard work can be enjoyed by relatives and used by other researchers. You have a few options with web publishing:

(1) Use Family Tree Web Sites
You may want to contribute your genealogy data to a site that specializes in collecting trees and making them searchable. It really is the easiest way to publish your family history on the Web. To begin, you'll have to register to post. Each site has varying degrees of protection for your data and may also limit the amount of information that you can post about your family (i.e., you may not be able to add anecdotes and photos). Still, the vital information (births, marriages, deaths) you've collected will appear on the Internet for others to find. Examples of web pages that you can use include:

Ancestry.com
Archives.com
Geni.com
Rootsweb.com

The sites allow you to decide which names or other information appear on your tree. Be cautious of publishing information about living individuals (remember our discussion about Internet Privacy) - the word "Living" is better than the actual name of a person. It might even be better to completely omit some individuals - be careful in this area so you don't anger your relatives. After you've added names and other identifying information to your tree, you'll want to add your source information (if possible). This is a great thing to do, since it shows you have seriously examined the details of your family history and found documentation to support your findings. If you have doubts about something, make sure you add a note about them so other people won't just assume uncertain data are facts. With most sites, you can continue to update the information. The end result of all this effort is that these types of online family trees can be searched by other people. This means (hopefully) that you may one day be contacted by another genealogy researcher!

(2) Create your own Site
If you have a lot of information to post beyond simply names and birth, death and marriage dates, you may want to create your own web site. You don't have to be a geek to do this! Almost all commercially available family tree software has the capability to create the web page - including all art work, photo formatting and text organization. As someone who creates web pages for fun and had to learn several different computer languages, I highly recommend that you go this route. Examples of software programs to use include:

Brother's Keeper
Family Tree Maker
Legacy
Lineage

After you've bought the software, you'll need to follow the directions to create a web site. Some of the programs come with free web space (often for a limited time) and you just need to upload your pages to the server. In other cases, however, you will need to buy a domain name and utilize a web-hosting service. I've been using Blue Host since 2005 and I like their product. The best thing about having your own pages is that you can control every bit of the formatting. It really provides the most freedom you could ever have to create a lasting monument to your family - even more than a book, which may require several editions to "get it right."


Always remember what we talked about when you share data on the web: once it is out of your hands, you can't control where it goes. If you can live with the knowledge that some website in Kazakhstan has hijacked your data and posted it somewhere else on the web, you'll be in business. Happy hunting!

DNA Testing

The cutting edge of genealogy research in the Twenty-First Century is definitely the DNA test. We're not talking just about simple paternity test, either! You have the option of testing (1) the Y-chromosome (Y-DNA, used to compare males with their ancestors) or (2) mitochondrial (mtDNA, used to compare the children of a certain female). There are also (more comprehensive) tests that can help to create a family framework for people in a given group (you've heard of King Tut, right?). The best thing about DNA testing is that it can be used to show the ethnic background of a person - especially useful if you have NO idea where your family originated. If you decide to do a test, you can choose from several companies - we've listed a few below:

Ancestry.com
Family Tree DNA
Genographic Project
Sorenson Foundation

Results from any of these companies should be comparable (although it make take some effort) because the same markers are usually tested. The process is simple:

(1) Request kit (online)
(2) Collect sample (swab inside of mouth)
(3) Return sample (packaging provided)
(4) Be patient! (testing takes > month)
(5) Access results (online)

If you have results from two different people, you can compare the values of each marker (your specific number is called an allele) to see whether many match. Remember: the more markers you test, the more reliable the results. I've used this great site to compare results with other people - it should help you determine whether you are related. Happy hunting!

We've Posted Links from Six Continents!

We reached a major milestone today: there are now links to online digital genealogy records from six continents located at our site, Virtual Genealogy! A majority of the links are from North America, Europe and Australia - but we're working hard to locate more from other parts of the world. Check back often!

Genealogy Research Goals

One of the greatest things about genealogy as a hobby is that you can easily keep busy for years trying to refine and extend your family history. But to prevent your hair from turning prematurely gray, you will probably want to have a few goals when you start:

(1) Temporal Terminus
With the first goal, you need to be able to know when to stop looking (really!). Sometimes, the records will solve that dilemna for you (many countries didn't keep comprehensive registers, others were destroyed during centuries of warfare). But are you trying to identify every ancestor? I recommend you seriously consider narrowing the search to one surname or "side of the family." You can always come back to a different search later.

(2) Standard of "Proof"
I could write about this goal for hours - and it would bore you. It may sound crass, but short of digging up an ancestor (and getting an autopsy), you can never be absolutely sure of anything. Information that is available (on the Internet, especially, but also in church records and state archives) is only as good as the honesty or memory of the person who reported it to the authorities. On top of that, the spelling skill of the person who recorded it, the quality of the surviving record (and integrity of the information if it was copied or transcribed from handwriting to typewriting) and the reliability of your own eyesight or note-taking ability can factor in level of certainty. So, you may never be able to "prove" anything at all. But you can probably trust evidence-supported assumptions and make educated guesses.

(3) Experience your Roots
If you are lucky enough to have an ancestor who knew the exact origins of the family, that may provide you an opportunity to (at least) find the ethnic and cultural source of your roots. I've been able to visit a few places where my family used to live (so far: an old farm town in Nebraska and ancestral locations in Canada and Italy). These trips were very meaningful - more than any piece of information I ever found in a library. My wife and I (and even my kids) ate the food, spoke with the people, wandered the streets and even attended the awe-inspiring churches of my ancestors. All of this was possible because my grandmother and my aunts and uncles remembered family addresses. But I've also got a few dead-ends (one is the elusive location of my great-great-grandfather's birthplace in Sweden). Cryptic details (e.g., "they lived somewhere in Germany", "he came over on the Mayflower", "we're related to royalty") can be frustrating - but getting to the bottom of those stories can lead you to very rewarding tales of your own.

(4) Preservation and Production
Keep records of every contradictory date, conflicting storyline and memory fragment. Someday, you may be the only one who ever heard any of the information. One thing you should definitely consider - making your research work available to others in the family. You can create an online family tree or use family tree software to generate web pages that you can post on your own server. Better yet, you could even prepare a written document (e.g., book). With the prevalence of copy services today, you don't even have to spend a lot to preserve your findings for posterity. If you take the extra step of donating your work to an educational institution or library, future researchers can enjoy the benefits of your product for many years to come.

Remember, all research (both online and offline) should be an adventure! "Brick walls" are only reminders of the adage "if genealogy was an easy hobby, it wouldn't be fun." Happy hunting!

Virtual Genealogy Hits 500 Links!

There are now over 500 web-links to digital birth, marriage, death, census and city directory records at Virtual Genealogy! The 500th link was a URL consolidation project by Online Historical Directories: Providence City Directories (1824-1921). Check out our web site and share new online resources in the reader comments!

First New Zealand Links Posted

Genealogy links from New Zealand have been added to our database at Virtual Genealogy. More great genealogy links from around the world are added every day - we hope you'll visit the site to see them!

First Ireland Links Posted

The first genealogy links from Ireland have been added to our database at Virtual Genealogy. We'll soon add more online links from the "Emerald Isle" - and from other regions. Check back often!

First United Kingdom Links Posted

We have posted the first genealogy links from the United Kingdom at Virtual Genealogy. New links from around the world are being added every day - keep checking for updates!

Internet Privacy

Watch out! There are a lot of people snooping around on the Internet, trying to locate individuals - and not all of them have the best of intentions. This is important to remember when you begin sharing genealogy data with email (an example from the earliest days of the Web is forwarding a GEDCOM file), social media (e.g., Facebook) or with a Family Tree website. Despite your best intentions, you can inadvertantly be drawn into a situation where you aid identity thieves or simply pass information that was never meant for public consumption. You should ask yourself a few questions before you get too far into the world of virtual genealogy. Do you really want to deal with these privacy issues? Do you have a personal criteria that will assist you in knowing what to share and what not to share? Did you actually get permission from everyone in the family before you posted the family tree on the internet? If the answer to those questions is "Yes", you're way ahead of most folks who are conducting their research on the web. Just remember, you can only control some of what is going on - once you send or post it, it is free to spawn across cyberspace. I'm sure you know what I mean (you do "Google" yourself periodically, right?). Here are a couple of sites to review for more information:

Ancestorhunt.com
Clarence Coogan Web Page
Genealogy.com
National Genealogy Society
Rootsweb

Remember, you just have to be mindful of the risks involved - maybe not to you, but to other relatives (close or distant). Eventually, you will be contacted by someone who wants all traces of their existence purged from your records on the Web. Don't take it personally, they may just not want everyone in the world to know when their birthday is... I recommend you keep the information in files at your house and move on to the next discovery. As a hobby, genealogy has some great rewards - just make sure no one has to pay for them with loss of their privacy. Happy hunting!

First Australia Links Posted

We've now added links for online digital records from Australia at Virtual Genealogy! More links for the land Down Under will follow very soon - keep checking for updates.

Using Message Boards

They've been around a long time - probably as long as the Internet itself - but do you use message boards in your online genealogy search? They might seem passe, but they do have information you may want to review before giving up at a "brick wall" (or, at least, before purchasing genealogy services). Wading through the messages can be daunting, especially with some websites archiving their traffic since the late 1990s. But there is valuable data on those boards (surname discussions, family reunion information, transcribed text from original sources, etc.). Best of all, you may even find other people who are researching the same lines that you are. Here is a short list of some of the major boards still in use:

Ancestry
Genforum
Rootsweb

Remember, a lot of folks have changed their email addresses over the years. You may find a great piece of information someone put on the board in 1998 - but you probably won't be able to discuss it with the poster. Don't be discouraged: at least you found something new! Besides, there is a chance that the person could still be posting on the board with a different login or email. Browse around a bit to see if their name appears somewhere else in the site. If you are good with Google, you can even use it to narrow results: when you search, add the text "site:______" next to the keyword (e.g., site:boards.rootsweb.com). This should identify specific messages and keep you from having to browse the entire message board site. If you want to know when the boards are updated, you can sometimes join a mailing list. That provides you with new information and will only be sent to you and other people with current/viable email addresses. To locate Rootsweb's lists, visit Find a List Search. Happy Hunting!