Backup and Security Plan for Genealogy Research

Back Up Your Data!

Protecting genealogy research that has taken years to gather is a must because, sadly, computers are vulnerable to hard drive crashes, viruses, theft and natural disasters. It's possible to lose all your files in an instant. Scary thought. We all need to have both a comprehensive backup plan for our digital research files and a security plan for our hard copies and photos.

Here is my Comprehensive Backup Plan.

First - An ounce of prevention. I want to do all that is possible so that I don't have a need to use backup. To protect my computers from virus attacks, I use e-trust Internet Security by Computer Associates. And since I live in the lighting capital of the world, I also have a surge protector to keep the insides of my computer from being melted if lightning strikes.

Backing up My Digital Genealogy Files

Hard Drive Backup

• Every night, I automatically back up my genealogy data files and scanned images on the Iomega External Hard Drive I recently purchased. It has 500 GB and can be set to automatically back up on a regular schedule. It's easy to do and doesn't take any extra thought on my part. I set it to back up daily at 2 A.M.
  
  I didn't want to do a backup every night without knowing that the backups would restore correctly if and when I ever need them. I wanted to know for sure that the Restore feature works, so after my first backup after installation, I restored a file to make sure all worked as I expected. It did.
  
  
• Because external hard drives can also fail (as I found out the hard way recently), once a month I verify the unit is still backing up and capable of restoring. I do this on the first day of the month as an easy memory aid, but I also have added this to my calendar as a to-do task

• My laptop and desktop computer are networked together, so each time I save my genealogy program file to my laptop, I take an extra minute and save the same file to my desktop. Not only does it keep my data files in sync on both computers, it gives an extra layer of backup. This is something I have to remember to do, but after a few times of doing it, it became automatic.

Online Backup

Because computers and external hard drives can both fail, and would probably be destroyed together in a natural disaster, I want an online backup to my backup. Sound like overkill? Not if you have ever lost irreplaceable files. I live in hurricane susceptible area, so having an off site backup makes plenty of sense to me.

• I have started backing up my genealogy files to Mozy, a secure online backup system that is inexpensive and easy to use. It gives 2GB of storage for free, so you can try it first to see if you like it.

• I have begun to upload my photos to Google Picasa Web Albums as a backup. Easy to load and organize, the photos can be mapped and viewed by family.

CD Backup

• Once a month, I burn my genealogy files to a CD. I alternate where the monthly copy goes. The first copy I keep in my bank safe deposit box, but after seeing hurricanes and subsequent flooding of bank vaults on TV, I realized this isn't as safe as I originally thought it was. Keeping a backup CD in a safe deposit box is no longer a full proof plan. So, on alternate months, I send CDs to other family members. This has the added benefit of keeping family members current on genealogy.

I have three layers of backup - an external hard drive, online backup and CD backup. Each one covers me in a different type of disaster. Now that I feel comfortable with my backup plan for my genealogy computer files, it is time to think about the paper records and photos.

Security plan for hard copies and photo.

Paper and photos are the real irreplaceables. If these are destroyed in a natural disaster, it would be heartbreaking. I feel, as the family historian, that it is my responsibility to do all I can to keep them safe. Since I know that safe deposit boxes are not flood-proof (and not fire-proof either), I believe that having these papers protected in my own house would be safer option for me.

• Put all my photos in small acid-free boxes which I then line up inside large waterproof containers with a tight fighting lid. I don't think that there is such thing as a hurricane proof lid capable of withstanding 120 mile hour winds, but a tight waterproof fit is a good start. And the acid-free box will protect the papers from deterioration.

• Keep all containers stored together, so that if a disaster requires evacuation, we can easily grab these irreplaceable photos and papers. I also plan to grab the laptop and external hard drive on the way out the door.

• Scan the documents and photos as a backup so all is not lost should the paper be destroyed.

I've got the plan. Now I will start the implementation.

Family Tree Maker 2009 Free to Those Who Registered FTM 2008

If you have a copy of FTM 2008 and have not yet registered, now is the time to do so by going to Help>Register FTM inside the program. All those who registered their copy of FTM 2008 will receive FTM 2009 for free. Here are the new features of FTM 2009. Here is the notice I just received from the FTM team:

We’ll soon be releasing Family Tree Maker® 2009. When we do, we’ll send you an email that will tell you how to get this latest version for FREE.

We want you to have a wonderful experience with Family Tree Maker. Because you registered Family Tree Maker® 2008, we’re giving you this new version at no cost so you can enjoy all the latest additions and improvements...

Purchase Family Tree Maker 2009

For those who would like to purchase FTM 2009, it will be released on August 26, 2008 and is available for pre-order now:

• Family Tree Maker 2009 Essentials
  
• Family Tree Maker 2009 Platinum
  
• Family Tree Maker 2009 Deluxe

and the Official Guide is also available for pre-order:
The Official Guide to Family Tree Maker 2009



Added 8/29/09: FTM 2009 is now available at the Ancestry store




If you have not been able to register FTM 2008, then phone Ancestry.com at 1-800-ancestry for help. Help is also available at the FTM 2008 Knowledge Base. There are two articles on registration and solving registration problems on the FTM 2008 KB at http://ftm.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ftm.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_sid=HDkJsgKi
Type in "registration" in the Keyword search box or the numbers of the articles, 3072 and 3050. Note that the letter I received did not specify the registration date cutoff to receive the free copy of FTM 2009.


If you do not live in the USA, a similar message about a free copy will be sent out within the next two weeks or so.

The Genea-Bloggers Games

I think the Genea-bloggers Games are exactly what I need. A fun reminder to do some genealogy that I always seem to put off until tomorrow - with tomorrow never arriving, of course.

Each Games participant was asked to create a flag for the Opening Ceremonies using the tool on http://www.wearemulticolored.com/ . The tool allows a combination of 3 country flags, so I chose the United States, France and Romania. France and Romania are where my grandmothers were born so my flag is in honor of them. I choose to mesh the elements of each flag to represent how the these different cultures have come together in my family.

There are five different events to compete in, but I'll pick just the ones where I think I have the best chance to be successful.

Here are the events and my choices:

1) Go Back and Cite Your Sources! Ack! no. Alas, this is something I wish I had done a better of job of when starting my family tree, but repairing this oversight in 2 weeks doesn't seem possible.

2) Back Up Your Data! Yes, with hurricane season here, this is where I can best use my time.

3) Organize Your Research! Someday, but not this week.

4) Write! Write! Write! Someday, but not this week.

5) Reach Out and Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness -Yes, another good place for me to compete.

Thanks to Miriam Midkiff, footnoteMaven and Thomas MacEntee for taking the time to put this together. It sounds like fun.

Searching Google's One Trillion URLs

Google recently posted in its blog:

Recently, even our search engineers stopped in awe about just how big the web is these days -- when our systems that process links on the web to find new content hit a milestone: 1 trillion (as in 1,000,000,000,000) unique URLs on the web at once!

The first Google index in 1998 had 26 million pages (not websites), and by 2000 the Google index reached one billion. Now it has 1 trillion pages - 1000 billion pages. Wow. Google hasn't indexed all 1 trillion pages; for example, they don't index duplicate content. But that is still a whole lotta URLs for Google to search through to find results for your query. Are you using the best keywords for your query so Google can find the page you want out of 1 trillion pages? As the web keeps growing, it seems more important than ever.

What are the last 5 things you searched Google for? Were you able to find what you were looking for?

Hint: If you don't remember your last 5 genealogy searches, go to http://google.com/ and click on "My Account" . Scroll down to "Web History". This will show all the web pages you have visited and all the Google searches you have performed. Look for the last 5 "Searched For" to find the last 5 Google Searches you did.

How did you do? Were you pleased with your results? If not, you can get some ideas for better Google searching at Surname Searching and More Google Search Tips.

By the way, 1 trillion is a hard number for me to grasp. It puts things a little more in focus when I realize that a trillion seconds = 31,546 years. And yet Google can complete a search in hundredths of a second.

Searching City Directories at Footnote

I was pleased to see that Fold3 (formerly Footnote.com) has begun to add city directories to its collection. If you have ancestors who lived in a city, these directories can be a great genealogy resource since they were published annually.

City Directory Uses
City directories show the husband's name, address, & occupation. If the husband has died, the city directory will show the widow's name and address. It also will generally note her husband's name. How is this useful? If you follow a family in the city directories year by year, you can learn the year of death of the husband by noting the first year that the wife appears as a widow.

City directories can also be used to follow a family's migration and note the year the moved from a city. I've also been able to use city directories to pinpoint the location of a family so that I could find them in census.

Searching Footnote City Directories
When I first started searching the Footnote city directories, I found it a bit confusing. I searched for the surname Mahady, but the search results came up with Maguire. Close, but not the same name. But when I went to the city directory image, it turns out that Maguire was the name listed at the top of the city directory - the first name that showed on the page of names. Like a phone book today, a city directory has beginning names in the top corners for each page, and this is the name that Footnote gave as a result.

Once you get a result at Footnote, zoom in on the page images and pan down to the name you searched for. The Mahady family was on the city directory page that started with Maguire.

You can browse each page to eyeball any possible surname variations, and find a family that an exact name search might have missed.

So far, Footnote has multiple years of these cities:

• Chicago
• Boston
• Philadelphia
• Washington, D.C.

and for many cities in New England states.

Fold3 Free Trial

Using Google to Find Common Surnames in a Genealogy Search

If you are searching for a surname that is also a common word such as Fox, Sales, Day, Park, or Green, you may have found that most of your searches bring up unwanted web pages that have nothing to do with genealogy.

Surnames that also can be first names such as James, Dennis or George have the same challenge.

Here are some tips to help find these difficult-to-find surnames using Google. These ideas work for all surnames, but are especially helpful for common word names:

• Use Google's Personalized Search. As Google learns your preferences, it will know that you are searching for Fox the surname and not fox the animal.
  
• Add ~genealogy to your query. Surprisingly, not every genealogy webpage has the word "genealogy" on the page, but using ~genealogy will find pages that use the words family history, family tree, or ancestry. A search would look like fox ~genealogy
  
• Eliminate false results by telling Google NOT to give results when a particular word appears on a web page. For example, fox -animal will eliminate all web pages on which the word animal appears. You can do more than one subtraction in a search. If you have eliminated all the pages about the animal fox, but find you are now getting search results about Fox News, you can add another subtracter to your query fox -animal -news which will eliminate all web pages on which the word animal and news appear.
  
• Add specifics to your query:
  
• Add first name to query using quotes. Search for "John Fox"
  
• Add a year range (generally birth and date death) to query. Search for "John Fox" 1800..1861
  
• Add location to query. Search for "John Fox" 1800..1861 Connecticut
  
• Add an additional name to query. If John Fox married Mary Wagner, search for "John Fox" "Mary Wagner" 1800..1861 Connecticut



• Add likely keywords that will appear on a genealogy page such as family or born. The keywords family or born are words that will more than likely appear on a genealogy web page and will help limit your search results to genealogy web pages.
  
• Another technique is "allintitle:" operator. This will search for the word in the title of the web page. This may capture some additional genealogy web pages about the surname usually buried deep in the search results. allintitle: fox genealogy
  
• Instead of using the Google search engine, try the Google Directory. Personal Web Pages found in the Google directory come from those submitted to dmoz.org. Although the DMOZ directory is woefully out-of-date and seems to regularly purge worthy websites, you still might find a helpful surname website here.
  
• Sometimes, a surname specific search engine is the only way to get results. Try the
  Surname Finder Search which searches databases by surname only.

Of course, all of these suggestions can be mixed and matched. More Google Search Tips

Ancestry Newspaper Collection

Ancestry.com has doubled the size of its Historical Newspaper Collection, adding a billion names and over 20 million images. And they're offering free access until June 19.

Searching the Ancestry Newspaper Collection or any newspaper collection is a little bit different than searching other genealogy databases and here are a few tips for better success:

• If you don't see your hometown newspaper in the list of available newspapers, don't despair. Just like today, articles from one newspaper are reprinted in other newspapers near and far. I found a 100 year old article about a NJ cousin in newspapers as far away as Alaska. If you are not successful in the state where you think the article should be, check other states.

• Sometimes newspapers refer to people by Mr. and Mrs. instead of their first names, and many times refer a woman by her husband's name; i.e. Mrs. John Smith. Try searching by just a surname. And search for a woman by both her name and her husband's name.

• Use quotes whenever possible in the keyword field to minimize false results.

• Try changing criteria if you are unsuccessful in a search. I was searching for articles about a railroad explosion that took place in Locust Gap, PA. When I entered Locust Gap in location field as "exact", it didn't find the article. When I unticked the "exact" field, it found the articles. Go figure.

World Archives Project

Ancestry.com doesn't want the world's stories to disappear so they are creating the World Archives Project to help preserve these records. I signed up to help index at http://landing.ancestry.com/keyingtool/notify.aspx and I received this email this morning:

What’s the World Archives Project? The World Archives Project will allow people all over the world to collaborate to preserve the world’s historical records. It will give genealogists the opportunity to network and share resources, preserve records that might have otherwise been overlooked — and create free indexes for others pursuing family research.

When and how can you get involved?We began alpha testing the World Archives Project in May and we’ve planned beta testing for July. When beta testing begins, you’ll be one of the first people invited to try the new World Archives Project tool. Look out for an email from us in July.

Quite honestly, I was a little leary at first volunteering to give free help to a commercial corporation. Then I read that "That’s why we’re creating the World Archives Project, to let anyone help preserve the contents of these valuable documents in indexes that will remain FREE to the public." Indexes? We'll see how it all shakes out. I really want to help get a much genealogy info online as soon as possible.

Irish Names in the French-Canadian Drouin Collection at Ancestry

The French- Canadian Drouin Collection Also Contains Records of Irish Immigrants

The Ancestry.com Drouin Collection of Quebec records that spans the years 1621 to 1967 - (yes, 346 years of records) - has over 30 million names taken from baptism, marriage and burial records of Quebec, as well as church records from Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and some of the New England states. Those with French-Canadian ancestry should be very excited.

Surprisingly, many people of Irish descent will also find their ancestors' name in these French-Canadian records because many Irish immigrated to and lived in Quebec before coming to the U.S. My own Irish ancestors lived in Montreal in the 1830's before coming to Pennsylvania and I found the birth records of two of their children in the Drouin Collection. If you have Irish ancestors, it might be worth a look to see if your ancestors came to the United States via Quebec. For example, there are over 20,000 search results for the Irish name Murphy, and over 10,000 for the Irish name Sullivan in the Drouin Collection.

Records in the Drouin Collection can be searched in French or English by name, date, place, church or institution, and religion. You will find some of the records of Irish immigrants are recorded in French. You can use this French Genealogy Glossary to help translate.

This collection is only available online through a subscription to Ancestry.com but you can view them via a Free Trial or at your local Family History Center.


Read more about the Drouin Collection

Legacy 7.0 is officially released!

Legacy 7.0 genealogy software is officially released -- check out the web site for the newest version of this great software. There is a tour of the new edition plus a comparison chart to other software programs. You can also download the software from the website - no need to wait for the disk to arrive in the mail.

Legacy Website

Legacy 7 genealogy software comes in two versions.

• Legacy 7.0 Standard edition is free.
• Legacy 7.0 Deluxe has everything that the Standard Edition has and much more.

Both versions can be downloaded directly from the Legacy Website . I've heard reports of slow servers, but it downloaded quickly for me.

Legacy 7.0 Deluxe