Our Voices Unite

According to a recent article on CemetarySpot, a case of identity theft was brought to court and the source of the alleged criminal’s information was the social security death index public records files on rootsweb.  Apparently this person gathered social security numbers of recently deceased and using that and other vital info, was able to convince several credit card companies to issue credit in the name of the deceased and in some cases to add the person on as an authorized user.

While I personally don’t think it is right to use the SSDI to canvas for  family members of those recently past for the purpose of selling space online for memorial pages or other services, this is also a trend that has been emerging lately.

Having recently lost my mother, I find this appalling and as a genealogist, I fear that we will soon be prevented from doing legitimate research using the SSDI.  If you  discover such abuses the only thing you can do for now is to post a comment on your blog, or if you don’t have a blog, I will invite you to share what you discover as a comment to this posting.

We need to preserve the technological databases that have been so vital to our genealogy research in recent years and we should also advocate the free access to public records through the web without fear of a loved one’s information being stolen and used for illicit purposes.

“Now you can trace your heritage using newly acquired books and online genealogy databases at Nova Southeastern University.

The electronic databases are free to the public in Broward County via computers at the Alvin Sherman Library, Research and Information Technology Center. The library also features a new collection of 4,000 books, manuscripts and other material on ancestry from the Genealogical Society of Broward County.” (2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.)

According to this article which you can read at TMCnet.com, Broward County residents will be able to type in ancestor names and search through databases that draw from U.S. Census information dating to 1790, manifests of ships from the 19th and 20th centuries, and draft lists going back to the Civil War. Also available are marriage, birth and death certificates from the 1600s.

If you live in Broward county, or have relations there, it would be worthwhile to visit the Alvin Sherman Library and see what a search can turn up.  I wonder if you can access the databases from outside the library.  That would be great for those of us who aren’t close to this location.  I think I will look into this and if I find a way to access the database from a local library or other means, I will post the information here.

My grandfather, Wayne Miller (1896-1946) was a prolific writer and among his papers we have discovered many stories, and poems.  This is one of the poems he wrote to his wife, my grandmother, Irene Rogers Miller. You will quickly realize the change in the use of the verb “ejaculations” that has become less acceptable in daily language today. Most people today would not associate the use of this word with this poem.  (Ok, I should not have to spell this out for you - you get my drift, I’m sure).

Here is the short poem:

 Ye Gods;

Behold the array -

Generals , Colonels , Captains , non-coms and privates -

The hosts of vanity in parade formation.

 Or , perhaps , only a bit of landscape gardening on the dresser top.

(Methinks she admires the outfit as much as she uses it!)

The tall bottles and vials are noble trees -

Those squatty , fat jars are clumps of shrub.

Colors , too , in pleasing variety.

She was ever color-hungry.

 But no - she does use them!

Some are half - empty!

 Ah, well -

Time was when her beauty was freshly born with each new dawn.

No dependence then upon concoctions and astringents.

Even yet she uses these condiments with indifferent zeal!

Next year - and the next - will she rely more and more upon them!

And why ! Why all the struggle for beauty?

But should I decry it?

Beauty is the one essential to love.

If natural charm will not tarry beyond forty

By all means let it come from bottles,

Flasks , jars, masks, boxes, curlers, patches,

Whatnot.

Beauty there must be!

 Could I, I wonder , use such arts

To keep warm her love for me?

What information is hiding in those old letters your grandmother saved?

Does that box of unlabeled photos haunt you? Most genealogists learn very quickly to label their photos with names, dates and places, but what about your parents, or grandparents photos? Often, old letters and circulating family stories may help you to identify old photos from the descriptions they contain. Of course, there is nothing that can beat the memories of older relatives. If possible, make a little trip to grandma and take those photos with you. Remember, storage in acid free media (pages or boxes) and labeling with acid free ink will help preserve those priceless images. You may also want to scan your photos and save a couple of copies on disks. Here is a portion of a letter My grandmother (Irene Rogers 1900 - 1978)wrote to my father (Franklin Miller 1929 - 1973)when he began asking about her relations many years ago. as noted by Mabel Irene Rogers Benjamine Rogers was born in Caernarvonshire, North Wales and married Marguerite Jones also of Caenarvonshire. They appear to have migrated to Prince Edward Island Canada and settled on :Lot 16″, county unknown. The Rogers men were described as: Huge with big, red or black curly beards and brillint blue eyes. They looked like Pirates. All were musical and sword melodiously in rumbly bass voices–Irene Rogers Miller Benjamine Rogers had black hair and beard, son Joseph had red, and son Thomas had blond (light) hair and beard. I have hundreds of others with tidbits that keep adding to the overall tree of my family. Old family letters can be one of your best resources, and they will also allow you to ‘get to know’ those long gone relations.

Do you have a bunch of old (35mm) photo negatives that you have discovered in the course of your research? The cost to have those old negatives printed can mount up very quickly, as I’m sure anyone who has begun to have some printed, will attest. So, what is the alternative?

I discovered that with a relatively inexpensive scanner and photo editing program, you can make digital “prints” that you can save and share. While these are not of the quality of a professionally produced print, they allow you to decide which negatives are viable or desirable for reproduction.

Here is the process:
1.Place the negative on the scanner bed and cover with a clean sheet of white paper. I like to use a glossy cardstock as it seems to give a better ‘read’ of the images on the film.
2.Scan the film to your computer and open in your photo editor. A really good one for under $100 is Paint Shop Pro. It is easy to use and has all the features of most of the more expensive software.
3. Now you have the image you want to do a reverse. Basically you do a negative image of the negative, which gives you a dark positive. (This process depends on your software but is usually a one or two click operation)
You should save the negative before commiting the changes, just in case.
4. Lighten the photo by adjusting contrast and brightness until you have an image that you can easily recognize. Save it as a copy of the original file. I use a -b appended to the original filename.You can now print or post the image.

This process, while not a replacement for standard print, allows you to send a copy to others for identification, or share copies for fun and info. My aunt was thrilled to get some copies of her family that she had thought wer long lost, and offered to have real prints made, in addition to offering invaluable identificaiton of people in the photo.

I hope this gives some of you a chance to “see what you’ve got” without the added expense. After all, these days it is imperative that we put our money to our research, especially when on tight budgets.

As many of you may have heard I am working on sie updates from now through the summer.  The new domain is barbaracagle.org.

Point your browser to http://barbaracagle.org  to see what’s new.  I hope the new interface and organazitional structure will help everyone find what they are looking for.

I appreciate your support and encouragement.

Barbara