Getting IN Touch Through Social Networking.

Getting in touch with living relatives isn't always easy. My Riveras' come from Puerto Rico. My Mom use to write to them, and I would pass questions about the family
through her. It was a slow process. Recently, I reluctantly started participating on Facebook at the prodding of my sister.
I decided to Google my cousin, once removed. I had heard she was studying to be A Doctor and thought it would be an easy way to find them. It turned out that she had a page on Facebook. I am now directly in touch with my Cousin, his wife and their kids.
We have shared pictures and family information.
If you haven't tried it yet, I highly recommend social networking. Facebook is probably one of the most famous sites. You can sign up at: http://www.facebook.com

New Site For Helping Trace Slave Roots

When I was a teen, a mini series on television called Roots was being viewed by millions. The show was taken from a book by Alex Haley and traced his family back to Africa. It was said that he spent 10 years tracing his roots, looking up ship records, and going to the village to talk to the villagers about their history.
That show got people thinking about their family roots. That show was in 1977.
Today, millions of ancestors of former slaves will get help in tracing their roots in a new site. Voyages is a new site that offers records on the slave trade and the people that were forced into it. Almost 35000 slaving voyages are in the database.
The database also contains the African names,gender and place of embarkation. You probably still won't get back to your actual roots, unless you have more information,
but it will be a tool to see and map the areas from where your people originated. The site is free to use. It is being sponsored by Emory University,The W.E.B.Dubois institute of Harvard University, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
You can find the site at http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/index.faces

The Best Genealogy Link Site On The Net

The best genealogy link site I ever visited on the net is Cyndi's List. There is so much there that you could probably spend a few days just going through everything. The list is categorized topically, alphabetically, or you can go to the main category index. It is all up to you.
There are more than 247,000 links in over 180 categories. It is truly a genealogist's smorgasbord. Check it out for yourself at: http://www.cyndislist.com/

Getting Local on the Web

One of my favorite sites on the web to look up the family tree is the USGenweb Project. This site allows you to navigate to each state. From the state sites you can go to the county sites. According to the site, they have been around since 1996. I know on the local page I go to, you can submit obituaries, submit look ups, read local history and more! The site is made up of volunteers and is non - commercial. You may even want to volunteer! The address is http://www.usgenweb.org/ .

U.S. Census A Snaphot In Time

Looking up the family tree, I often use the United States Census. The census can tell you many things. You can find family groups, approximate ages, relationship to the head of the household and much more dependin on the year. The following is a list of information on the census starting in 1850.

• 1850 census- houses and families numbered in the order visited, person listed whose usual place of abode as of June 1, 1850 was in this family, age, sex, color, profession, occupation, trade of every male over 15 in the household, value of real estate owned, place of birth naming the state, territory, or country, married within the year, attended school within the year, persons over 20 years of age who cannot read or write, whether deaf, blind, insane,dumb, idiotic, or pauper.
• 1860 census- houses and families numbered in the order visited, person listed whose usual place of abode as of June 1860 was in this family, age, sex, color, profession, occupation, trade, of every male over 15 years in the household, value of real estate, value of personal estate, place of birth, territory, state, or country, married within the year, attended school within the year, persons over 18 years of age who cannot read or write, whether deaf, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper, or convict.
• 1870 census- dwellings and families numbered as visited, persons listed place of abode as of June 1870, age at last birthday if under 1 year month in fractions, sex, color-Chinese and Indian added, proffession, occupation, trade, of each person, male, or female, value of real estate, value of personal estate, place of birth, naming state or territory in the U.S. or the country if foreign born. Parentage, Mother, Father of foreign birth, month of birth in born in the year, month if married within the year, attended school within the year, cannot read, cannot write, whether dumb, deaf, blind, insane, or idiotic,male citizen of the U.S. 21 and up. Male citizen 21 and up whose right to vote is abridged on other grounds other than rebellion or other crime.
• 1880 census- Name of street, house number, dwellings numbered in order visited, families numbered in order visited, Names of persons whose place of abode within family as of June 1, 1880. Personal description; colr same as 1870, sex, age as of June 1 1880; if under 1 year give months as fractions. If born within the census year give month of birth. Relationship to the head of family; wife, son, daughter, servant, boarder, or other. Civil condition; married, widowed, divorced . Married during census year. Profession, trade, occupation of ech person, male or female. Number of months this person has been employed during census year. Health; blind, deaf, dumb, idiotic, insane, maimed, crippled, bedridden, or otherwise disabled. Attended School within the census year. Cannot read.
• 1890 census- mostly destoyed by fire
• 1900 census- Location; street, house number, number of dwellings by order visited, number of families by order visited. Name of every person living in abode as of June 1, 1900 in this family. Surname, given name, middle initial. (every living person as of June 1, 1900, omit children born after June 1, 1900.) Relationship of every person to the head of household. Personal description; Color or race. Sex. Date of Birth- month,year. Age at last birthday, single, married, widowed, or divorced. Number of years married. Mother of how many children. Number of these children living. Nativity; state territory, or countryif born outside the United States. Person, Mother, Father place of birth. Citizenship; year of immigration to U.S., number of years in the U.S., naturlization. Occupation, trade, or profession of every person over 10 years of age, months not employed. Education; attended school in months, read, write, speak english. Ownership of home; owned or rented, owned free of mortgage, farm or house, number of farm schedule.
• 1910 census- Location; Number of dwellings by order visited, number of family in order visited, Name of each person whose place of abode on April 15, 1910, was in this family. Enter surname first, then the given name and middle initial, if any. Include every person living on April 15, 1910. Omit children born since April 15, 1910. Relationship of person to the Head of Household. Personal description; sex, color or race, age at last birthday, single, married, widowed or divorced, number of years in present marriage, mother of how many children. Number of children born, number still living. Nativity; Place of birth of each person and parents of each person enumerated. If born in the United States, give the state or territory. If of foreign birth, give the Country. Place of birth of person, place of birth of Mother, place of birth of Father of this person. Citenzenship; year of immigration, alien or naturalized, whether the person speaks english or name language spoken. Occupation; trade or profession of this person, general nature of industry, business, or particular kind of work, whether employer, employee, working on own account. If employee whether out of work on April 15, 1910, number of weeks out of work in 1909. Education; read, write, attended school any time since Sept.1, 1909. Ownership of home; owned, rented, owned free or mortgaged, farm or house, number of farm schedule. Survivor of the Union or Confederate Army or Navy. Blind (both eyes), deaf and dumb.
• 1920 census- Place of Abode;Street, avenue, road. House number or farm, etc.
  Number of dwelling house in order of visitation.Number of family in order of visitation.
  Name of each person whose place of abode on January 1, 1920, was in this family. Enter surname first, then the given name and middle initial, if any. Include every person living on January 1, 1920. Omit children born since January 1, 1920.Relationship of this person to the head of the family. Tenure; home owned or rented, if owned free, or mortgaged. Personal description; Sex, color or race, age at last birthday, single, married, widowed, divorced. Citizenship; year of immigration, naturalization or alien. If naturalization, year. Education; attended school any time since Sept 1, 1919, read, write. Nativity and Mother tongue; person's place of birth, Mother tongue, Father; place of birth, Mother tongue, Mother; place of birth mother tongue. Whether speaks English. Occupation; Trade, profession, or particular kind of work done. Industry, business, or establishment in which at work. Employer, salary or wage worker, or working on own account. Number of farm schedule.
• 1930 census- Place of Abode; street, avenue, road. House number in cities or towns.
  Number of dwelling house in order of visitation. Number of family in order of visitation.
  Name of each person whose place of abode on April 1, 1930, was in this family. Enter surname first, then the given name and middle initial, if any. Include every person living on April 1, 1930. Omit children born since April 1, 1930. Relationship of this person to the head of the family. Home Data; Home owned or rented. Value of home, if owned, or monthly rental, if rented. Radio set. Does this family live on a farm?
  Personal description; Sex, color or race, age at last birthday, marital condition, age at first marriage. Education; attended school or college any time since September 1, 1929, whether able to read and write. Place of Birth; place of birth of each person enumerated and of his or her parents. If born in the United States, give the State or Territory. If of foreign birth, give country in which birthplace is now situated. Distinguish Canada-French from Canada-English, and Irish Free State from Northern Ireland. Person. Father. Mother. Mother Tongue (or native language) of Foreign Born; Language spoken at home before coming to the United States. Citizenship, etc.; year of immigration to the United States, Naturalization, whether able to speak English.
  Occupation and Industry: Occupation; trade, profession, or particular kind of work. Industry: Industry or business, as cotton mill, dry goods store, shipyard, public school, etc. Class of worker. Employment; whether actually at work yesterday (or the last regular working day): Yes or No. If not, line number of Unemployment Schedule.
  Veterans: Whether a veteran of U.S. military or naval forces; Yes or No. What war or expedition. Number of farm schedule.
  

I have found that not all the information is reliable, and a lot of times the information is as reliable as the person giving it and writing it down. It still is a great tool though. Ancestry. com has most of the United Staes Census on line and you can download them. There is a charge unless they are running a free trial.

Diseases of Yesteryear

Looking at death certificates from the 1800's, I have found some interesting diseases have killed my ancestors . My Uncle died in infancy of the summer complaint. The summer complaint I found out was caused by spoiled milk. The following might help if you come across one of these
diseases looking up your family tree.

Ague - malaria Infantile Paralysis- Polio
Apoplexy - Paralysis caused by stroke Lagrippe- Influenza
Bad Blood - Syphilis Milk Sickness- disease from milk from cow eating poisonous weeds
Brain Fever- Meningitis Mormal- Gangrene
Child Cough- Whooping Cough Stranger's Fever- Yellow fever
Consumption- Tuberculosis Winter Fever- Pneumonia
Dropsy- Edema caused by heart or kidney disease
Falling Sickness- Epilepsy
Jail Fever- Typhus

My Brother's Keeper (Program)

The genealogy progam I have used since I bought my first computer has been Brother's Keeper. This program gets better all the time. I find it simple to use, you can put pictures in it, and you can view or print many different reports using the information you plug into it.
You can also save files in a .ged format to share with other people.
I have a copy on my laptop and my home computer. When I visit a library, all the information I need is at my fingertips. I only update the home computer to keep from making transfer mistakes. I then backup the files on the home computer and transfer to the laptop using my thumb drive.
The best thing about Brother's Keeper, is that you can download and try a copy on your computer for free. Go here http://www.bkwin.net/ . If you decide you like it, you can buy the registered version and get the instruction book. Give it a try, you have nothing to lose.