Time to Settle Up
Heads up if you've purchased an annual subscription payable in monthly installments through Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com): The proposed settlement for a pending class action lawsuit would require the site's
parent company, MyFamily.com, to compensate customers for what some call unfair business practices—but MyFamily.com wouldn't have to admit any wrongdoing.
In July 2004, Cynthia Ramer and Ricci Neer filed Ramer v. MyFamily.com, Inc. in a Utah court, charging MyFamily.com violated the Truth in Lending Act when it sold annual subscriptions billed in monthly installments. The plaintiffs say Ancestry.com
failed to disclose the full subscription prices—which, including finance charges, could total up to twice as much as the same subscription paid for in one fell swoop. Some subscribers claimed Ancestry.com's confusing purchase terms didn't even state
that certain "monthly" subscriptions actually represented binding yearlong commitments. (See consumer advocate Ed Foster's report on his GripeLog Web site at http://www.gripe2ed.com/pipermail/edfoster/2004-June/000055.html.)
MyFamily.com denies the allegations, but wants to avoid an expensive and publicity-generating trial. The proposed settlement, worth an estimated $3 million, would award plaintiffs a free, unlimited 31-day Ancestry.com subscription. (Current subscribers
would get a free one-month extension.) Plaintiffs also can cancel their current annual subscriptions as if the subscriptions were truly monthly.
You're automatically a plaintiff if you've agreed to purchase an annual Ancestry.com subscription payable in monthly installments before Nov. 3, 2006. To expedite an award, confirm your email address with MyFamily.com by calling toll-free (877) 283-9504—refer
to the Truth in Lending settlement.
Class action plaintiffs must abide by any judgment and give up the right to bring an individual suit. You can opt out by filing a Request for Exclusion before Jan. 24, 2006, or you can stay part of the class but protest the settlement terms by filing an
Objection before that date.
For more information, see the Notice of Class Action at http://www.ancestry.com/legal/class.aspx?o_iid=21156&o_lid=21156&o_it=20875.
FGS Early Bird Benefits
Sign up by Dec. 31 for the Federation of Genealogical Societies 2006 conference, set for Aug. 30-Sept. 2 in Boston, and you'll save $50 off the $185 registration fee. The conference program, still under development, will include lectures on New England
ancestors, ethnic research, online genealogy, various records groups and more, plus special events, field trips and an exhibit hall. Keep up with the schedule at http://www.fgsconference.blogspot.com.
To
sign up online, go to http://www.fgs.org/2006conf/FGS-2006.htm and click Registration.
Santa Babies
Think Santa Claus is just for kids? That hasn't stopped grown-up geneticists in England from looking for Father Christmas. Not Kris Kringle, mind you, but an ancestor to the approximately 1,000 English people bearing the surname Christmas.
Genetic genealogy company Oxford Ancestors (http://www.oxfordancestors.com) is seeking volunteers for a Y-DNA study that'll determine whether men from different Christmas clans have a common genetic heritage.
(Sorry, ladies: Since men pass Y-DNA to their sons, women's genetic profiles wouldn't help in this study.) Henry Christmas, a genealogist who's found more than 9,000 occurrences of his surname from the late 1500s to today, is helping with the study.
Oxford Ancestors founder Bryan Sykes, who wrote about his research in The Seven Daughters of Eve ($15.95, W.W. Norton & Co.), says rare names are more likely than common monikers to have a single originator. Since many surnames in England tend to
be concentrated around their point of origin, studying them can reveal population movement and genetic mixing.
The Christmas name, for example, has clusters in Essex and Sussex (where it's often spelled Chrismas). If you're a man with the last name Christmas, you have Christmas ancestors from East Anglia or Sussex, and you wouldn't mind giving up a few cells
with a painless cheek swab, e-mail enquiries@oxfordancestors.com. No word on whether the Oxford Ancestors folks will deliver gift lists once they find Santa.
Using the Internet to Find a Cemetery
On my next trip to Missouri, I want to hunt up the Shore family cemetery—burial place of my Moravian Shore (Schor) family who emigrated from Switzerland to America in 1750. Although I know the cemetery exists (I've found reference to it in a
Shore genealogy book), I wasn't sure of the exact location. The Internet to the rescue!
Continue reading at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/ancestornews/current.html.
AncestorNews columnist Nancy Hendrickson is the author of Finding Your Roots Online, on sale now at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/store/display.asp?id=70583.
Browse
past AncestorNews columns at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/ancestornews/previous.html.
State of the Census
This week's tip comes from Family History 101: A Beginner's Guide to Finding Your Ancestors by Marcia Yannizze Melnyk:
Censuses the state government took are useful for tracing your family between federal census years or when federal census records are missing. New York, for example, conducted enumerations in 1790, every 10 years from 1825 to 1875, 1892, 1905,
1915 and 1925. Some offer more detailed information than in US censuses, such as the birth county. Check with your ancestral state archives or library for state census schedules.
Do you have a great idea for discovering, preserving or
celebrating family history? E-mail us your tip at
ftmnews-editor@fwpubs.com with "TIP OF THE WEEK"
in the subject line. If we publish it, you'll win a free
copy of Family History 101: A Beginner's Guide to Finding Your Ancestors by Marcia Yannizze Melnyk, available from your favorite bookstore or http://www.familytreemagazine.com/store/display.asp?id=70658.
Overwhelmed by the number of family history-related Web sites popping up? FamilyTreeMagazine.com sorts through them all—whew!—to bring you only the very best. We recently recommended the following as Sites of the Week:
• Winona Newspaper Project
http://www.winona.edu/library/databases/winonanewspaperproject.htm
Search this database of old Winona, Minn. newspapers from 1860 to 1925. The results give you the newspaper title, date and word length, plus an image of the content.
• Portuguese Genealogy
http://www.geocities.com/fcandido2001/portgen/portuguesegen.html
Discover your Portuguese roots on Fernando Candido's links-loaded site.
• Nevada, Mo., Probates Online
http://www.bushwhacker.org
Search 19th- and 20th-century Nevada, Mo., probates to find death dates and information on heirs.
• Glossary of Last Name Meanings & Origins
http://genealogy.about.com/library/surnames/bl_meaning.htm
Find meanings, origins and related genealogy resources for hundreds of surnames from around the world.
Gifts for Photo Fanatics
Show this list to the gift-givers in your family— or indulge yourself. You'll also find some suggestions for fabulous photo freebies.
In this Web-exclusive column, expert photo historian Maureen A. Taylor helps readers analyze old family pictures. If you have a family photo mystery for Taylor to solve, check out our submission guidelines at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/photohelp.htm.
SugarLand, Texas
Emily Anne Croom
Jan 14, 2006
Fort Bend Genealogical Society Workshop
- Topic: It's Not a Brick Wall Until...
For more information, contact Frances Sisemore at (281) 762-8029.
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GenMerge, the Genealogy Merge Utility, is the best merge tool
available to clean your family data and merge duplicates. Now shipping
version 2.0 with a new, improved user interface. Buy your copy on-line
at www.genmerge.com
RootsMagic Genealogy Software - "An excellent choice for any genealogist" says Family Tree Magazine. Get a free trial copy at http://www.RootsMagic.com
PUBLISH YOUR FAMILY HISTORY. Preserve and share your precious family research. Personal coaching. Many options. www.GatewayPress.com
UNIQUE SCANDINAVIAN HERITAGE TOURS
Visit ancestral villages, parish churches, archives, connect with
family. Fluent guides and genealogy experts included. www.scandgen.com
Did your paper trail end? Are you up against a brick wall? Let
genetic genealogy help you. Family Tree DNA can help you find out if
you are related to another family with the same or a different
surname. http://www.familytreedna.com
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