New Year, New Developments
Genealogy’s two biggest businesses have made major changes:
- MyFamily.com has switched its name to The Generations Network, a moniker that better reflects its mission to “connect
families across distance and time,” says company president Tim Sullivan.
Last year saw some user-friendly changes at the company: For example, it gave members the ability to store genealogy records online and grant relatives free
access to them, and made its immigration records collection—now including all available US passenger lists—free for two months.
"Our company was founded over two decades ago as a publisher of genealogy products. Today,
we are a multibrand company focused on providing families with unique, interactive online experiences,” Sullivan says.
The corporate Web site, now at http://www.thegenerationsnetwork.com, has
a shiny new look and a nifty logo with a leaf as the tail of a g. A site overhaul is planned for early this year. The company's genealogy database sites Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com)
and Genealogy.com (http://www.genealogy.com), are unchanged so far.
- ProQuest, creator of the HeritageQuest
Online genealogy databases (available to users through subscribing libraries), has sold that service along with the rest of its ProQuest Information and Learning division. Bethesda, Md.-based Cambridge Information Group is the buyer.
ProQuest
endured a bumpy ride last year: In February, it announced accounting irregularities had caused an earnings overstatement of $80 million in less than five years. Then it faced backlash after discontinuing remote access to HeritageQuest Online through genealogical
society Web sites. ProQuest sold its Business Solutions division in October.
We'll help you sort out the interrelated genealogy industry in the February 2007 Family Tree Magazine,
now on sale at newsstands and FamilyTreeMagazine.com.
Another Apple on the Tree
Mac users, your genealogy software options have grown by one. iFamily for Tiger (Tiger, aka Mac OSX 10.4, is the most-current Mac operating system, though Leopard
is on its way) might be the answer if your family has lots of nontraditional relationships: It's designed to focus on individuals rather than family units. That means, for example, you can quickly see whether an individual has more than two parents or was
married multiple times, and it's easy to designate step, adopted or foster parent-child relationships.
True to Mac style, another notable iFamily feature is image handling: The program has its own cropping/editing function, and an image transcription
tool helps you record information from pictures of documents and tombstones. iFamily also gives you a search field in the toolbar to look for ancestors based on Name, Birth Date or Place, Cause of Death and other information.
iFamily for Tiger,
a $29.95 download, won’t run on pre-Tiger systems. Get a free trial at http://ifamilyfortiger.com.
The Winners Are ...
Congratulations to these quick-thinking readers, who were first to submit correct answers for our December 2006 Family
Tree Magazine issue quiz: Kathy Meyer of Orem, Utah; Marilyn Keim of Davenport, Neb. and Becky Odell of Copper Center, Alaska. As you imagine a drum roll, read the correct answers:
1. How can you tell whether
an interfacing is the right kind for a gravestone rubbing? Rub it firmly between your fingers. If it pills or tears, it won't last through a gravestone rubbing.
2. Name three sources you can consult for an ancestor's birth information
if an official birth certificate is unavailable. You could've said birth indexes, the Social Security Death Index, family Bibles, baptism records and newspaper birth announcements.
3. Which two German-speaking empresses were largely responsible
for the spread of German enclaves in Eastern Europe during the 1700s? Maria Teresa of Austria and Catherine the Great of Russia.
4. What's the difference between the christening and baptism fields in your genealogy software?
A
christening happened soon after birth (some software will substitute this information in reports for a missing birth date); baptism could happen months or years later.
5. What are two ways to tell female from male children in old family photos?
A boy’s hair was parted on the side and a girl’s hair in the center. Stereotypically male toys (trucks, wagons) as props indicate a boy; a girl might hold a doll.
Join the discussion in FamilyTreeMagazine.com's online community!
Want to know more about topics in the February 2007 Family Tree Magazine? Check out these articles available only on FamilyTreeMagazine.com:
Following Pioneers
Q. My great-grandparents Thomas and Elizabeth Teter came west on a wagon
train after 1892. They lived in Memphis, Scotland County, Mo. Is there any
way to verify their names on a roster or find out which wagon train
they were on?A. To learn the answer, see http://www.familytreemagazine.com/nowwhatonline/current.html.
Read more Q&A with the experts at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/nowwhatonline/previous.html.
Build a Family Photo Archive
I’m not a New Year’s resolution type of person, but this Jan. 1, I decided to change all that. It’s been a long 12 months of family events, some happy, some not. So instead of trying to add another
generation
to my pedigree chart, I’m going to focus on finding pictures of all my relatives. You can do the same thing.
Find out how by clicking http://www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/current.htm.
Maureen A. Taylor, a photo historian and author of Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs, 2nd edition (Family Tree Books, $24.99), helps readers analyze old family
pictures in this Web-exclusive column.
If you have a family photo mystery for Taylor to solve, check out our Submission Guidelines at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/photohelp.htm.
New!
FamilyTreeMagazine.com Events Calendar
Visit our online calendar to find (and post) genealogy and living history seminars and workshops.
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/forum/calendar/calendar-list.asp
GENEALOGY DVDs & VIDEOS
Send for list of genealogy how-to DVDs & Videos. Lots of topics covered. S Conte, Box 962, West Caldwell, NJ 07007 or gentelc@aol.com
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