Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.
I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them. If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post in the comments.
This week I continue transcribing an interview of my paternal grandfather, Melvin Lester Newmark, conducted in 1987. He is discussing his high school years.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Weekly Genealogy Picks
Weekly Genealogy Picks --June 20 to June 27
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
Lynn Palermo at The Armchair Genealogist discusses the leap between Family Historian and Family Writer.
Cyndi Howells of Cyndi's List explains how she saved thousands of broken links on her website through using the Wayback Archive.
Jen Holik-Urban at Family History Research Tips discusses Women and the Naturalization Process.
DearMyrtle discusses US Civil War pension files
Edith Shain, believed to be the nurse kissing the Navy sailor in the famous WWII photograph passed away this week.
The MyHeritage blog discusses recent studies linking personality traits with date of birth.
The Ancestry blog has an entry on their County Land Ownership Atlases
The Facebook blog has an entry on families using Facebook for reunion planning
The WolframAlpha blog has an entry on how to use their website to compute relationships. (WolframAlpha may have been handy for some reporters this week...see below.)
There were two hot stories this week around the Geneablogger Water Cooler.
1) Is Robert Pattinson (star of the Twilight movies) related to Vlad the Impaler?
* The blog at Ancestry.co.uk makes the claim.
* Randy Seaver at Genea-musings questions the evidence,
* As does Tamura Jones at Modern Software Experience.
* In two posts, Nick Gombash addresses the connection between the Royal family and Vlad.
* The blogger at One Minion's Opinion points out that a similar quote is reported to have been said by both Anastasia Tyler, "a genealogist at Ancestry", and Dan Jones, "International Content Director."
It appears Ancestry is making the claim that a cousin of a cousin is somehow a relative of some sort. One cringes when newspapers and magazines make a blunder like this. But Ancestry's so-called experts? Of course, magazines such as People will still take the story further down the road of cluelessness, and they refer to Vlad as Pattinson's ancestor. (Repeat after me: A cousin is not an ancestor...unless incest has been involved.)
2) The other issue is on Rootsfeed and splogging, which I commented upon earlier this week.
Other commentary on the issue:
* GeneaBloggers initial post, and their update
* DearMyrtle
* EOGN
* FootnoteMaven
* Genealogy's Star
In Technology This Week
Blogger has released some "Share Buttons," which you now see at the end of my posts.
Google Voice has been opened up to anyone. You can get one telephone number that rings all your phones at once (home, cell, work...wherever you may be.) And if you are unreachable, the recorded message is sent to you by email.
Apple has released their iPhone 4...but left handed people might have some difficulties with calls being dropped.
Other Weekly Lists
[Amanuensis Monday is a weekly blogging theme I began in February of 2009, where participants transcribe letters, audio, and other documents.]
Leah at The Internet Genealogist
Lisa Wallen Logsdon at Old Stones Undeciphered
J.M. at Tracing My Roots
John Newmark at TransylvanianDutch
"anonymous" at Nolichucky Roots
Heather Wilkinson Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy
Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings
Judy Shubert at Genealogy Traces
If you participated, but don't appear on this list, please, let me know.
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
Lynn Palermo at The Armchair Genealogist discusses the leap between Family Historian and Family Writer.
Cyndi Howells of Cyndi's List explains how she saved thousands of broken links on her website through using the Wayback Archive.
Jen Holik-Urban at Family History Research Tips discusses Women and the Naturalization Process.
DearMyrtle discusses US Civil War pension files
Edith Shain, believed to be the nurse kissing the Navy sailor in the famous WWII photograph passed away this week.
The MyHeritage blog discusses recent studies linking personality traits with date of birth.
The Ancestry blog has an entry on their County Land Ownership Atlases
The Facebook blog has an entry on families using Facebook for reunion planning
The WolframAlpha blog has an entry on how to use their website to compute relationships. (WolframAlpha may have been handy for some reporters this week...see below.)
There were two hot stories this week around the Geneablogger Water Cooler.
1) Is Robert Pattinson (star of the Twilight movies) related to Vlad the Impaler?
* The blog at Ancestry.co.uk makes the claim.
* Randy Seaver at Genea-musings questions the evidence,
* As does Tamura Jones at Modern Software Experience.
* In two posts, Nick Gombash addresses the connection between the Royal family and Vlad.
* The blogger at One Minion's Opinion points out that a similar quote is reported to have been said by both Anastasia Tyler, "a genealogist at Ancestry", and Dan Jones, "International Content Director."
It appears Ancestry is making the claim that a cousin of a cousin is somehow a relative of some sort. One cringes when newspapers and magazines make a blunder like this. But Ancestry's so-called experts? Of course, magazines such as People will still take the story further down the road of cluelessness, and they refer to Vlad as Pattinson's ancestor. (Repeat after me: A cousin is not an ancestor...unless incest has been involved.)
2) The other issue is on Rootsfeed and splogging, which I commented upon earlier this week.
Other commentary on the issue:
* GeneaBloggers initial post, and their update
* DearMyrtle
* EOGN
* FootnoteMaven
* Genealogy's Star
In Technology This Week
Blogger has released some "Share Buttons," which you now see at the end of my posts.
Google Voice has been opened up to anyone. You can get one telephone number that rings all your phones at once (home, cell, work...wherever you may be.) And if you are unreachable, the recorded message is sent to you by email.
Apple has released their iPhone 4...but left handed people might have some difficulties with calls being dropped.
Other Weekly Lists
- Best of the Genea-Blogs - from Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings
- Follow Friday - from Greta Koehl at Greta's Genealogy Bog
- Links - from Liz Haigney Lynch at The Ancestral Archaeologist
- Genealogy Round-up - from Megan Smolenyak2 at Megan's Roots World
- New Genealogy Blogs and Upcoming Genealogy Blogging Events - from Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers
[Amanuensis Monday is a weekly blogging theme I began in February of 2009, where participants transcribe letters, audio, and other documents.]
Leah at The Internet Genealogist
Lisa Wallen Logsdon at Old Stones Undeciphered
J.M. at Tracing My Roots
John Newmark at TransylvanianDutch
"anonymous" at Nolichucky Roots
Heather Wilkinson Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy
Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings
Judy Shubert at Genealogy Traces
If you participated, but don't appear on this list, please, let me know.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Follow Friday: Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records
This week, for Follow Friday, I'd like to recommend another indexing project similar to the two I mentioned last week, though this one was started in 2003.
Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records
Webmaster, Joe Beine, has catalogued online resources for death certificates, registers, funeral notices, obituaries, probate indexes, and burial records. The website is limited to the United States, but there are listings for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. He has also created separate pages for seven cities (Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, and St. Louis.)
You can follow when the site is updated by subscribing to the RSS feeds at Joe Beine's Genealogy Roots Blog, or his Twitter account.
Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records
Webmaster, Joe Beine, has catalogued online resources for death certificates, registers, funeral notices, obituaries, probate indexes, and burial records. The website is limited to the United States, but there are listings for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. He has also created separate pages for seven cities (Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, and St. Louis.)
You can follow when the site is updated by subscribing to the RSS feeds at Joe Beine's Genealogy Roots Blog, or his Twitter account.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Really Simple Syndication? - or Stealing?
A Contrary View
Note: I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV.
RSS - it stands for Really Simple Syndication. It's how bloggers 'syndicate' their blogs. What does this mean?
It means that the full text of our blog posts are there to be picked up by any "feed reader," unless we change the settings of our blog to only provide an excerpt, or no feed at all. This is generally considered a good thing, because many people read so many blogs, they don't have time to visit each one directly. They 'read the feeds' in a feed reader such as
and others. Google, Bloglines, Newsgator, and the others don't have to contact every blogger and ask them if its OK if they deliver the full text of their blog posts to any reader who subscribes through their service. By providing an RSS feed we are granting permission ahead of time.
And while bloggers might be tempted to only feed an 'excerpt', forcing the reader to visit their blog to read the whole post, many if not most readers will refuse to do so, and just won't subscribe to blogs that only provide an excerpt. And those blogs will get read by less people.
There are some websites that aggregate feeds by topic. For example, AllTop has a Genealogy page.. They created this page back in 2008. My blog is on it, as are the blogs of many of the top geneabloggers. All of them know they are there, because AllTop informed them that they were. (At least, they informed me. So I assume they informed everyone else.) The only real service AllTop provides in my mind is excerpts of blog posts, and links to the original. (They do provide listings of the 'most popular' blog posts too.) They put up ads on their pages. They have no original content. Their purpose is obvious - make money from the ads. AllTop doesn't specialize in genealogy -- they have these theme pages for almost every conceivable theme. At least, any theme they can come up with to generate money for themselves. (This is how I view their business model.) I know I didn't have a problem with it when AllTop informed me of it. I figured they might direct more people to my site. If not, they are only publishing excerpts. It's fair use. My feed is out there.
A recent addition to the Web is RootsFeed. They do specialize in Genealogy. There is no information on the website about who is behind it, but it's certainly possible they are more knowledgeable about the genealogy blogging community than AllTop is. Several genealogy bloggers, some of whom have feeds which appear on AllTop, have become riled up by having their feeds appear on RootsFeed.
Some of the commentary: DearMyrtle, EOGN, FootnoteMaven, GeneaBloggers
The reasons usually given
1) They provide no original content
2) Excerpts from our blog posts are next to their ads, generating money for them
3) They imply through the use of the word 'contributors' that we are active participants.
The first two apply to AllTop as well. Arguably, the third complaint has been partially addressed by RootsFeed by removing the word 'contributor' and with a new footer on blog excerpts
"This is a syndicated post written by AUTHOR from BLOGNAME"- with the BlogName linked directly to the blog.Some bloggers might still object, arguing 'syndicated post' implies an active contributor. But it doesn't. I suspect legally, if you have an RSS feed, your blog is syndicated to any and all feedreaders. It doesn't matter where that feedreader is, and what it is being used for. Do some of the major feedreaders put up ads next to the feeds? I suspect it's possible. I know Google Reader and Bloglines don't, but that doesn't mean others don't. There's no way to keep track of all the feedreading software out there.
I also know that the only differences I see between AllTop and Rootsfeed right now, are
1) Rootsfeed specializes in genealogy information. That, arguably, is a plus.
2) Rootsfeed does require you to click twice to get to the full blog post on the original site. They provide a short excerpt (headline and the first sentence or so) with a link to a longer excerpt, and then a link to the original site. They're obviously looking to double their ad revenue.
3) AllTop did go to the trouble to contact the bloggers and inform them their posts were being used. After the fact, and not beforehand, but still, a sign of greater professionalism. Though I'm not sure greater legality. The contact emails weren't beforehand asking for permission. They, like Rootsfeed, assumed they didn't need permission. And I suspect they're right. We grant that permission through having an RSS feed. Otherwise, Google, Bloglines, and Newsgator would have to contact us as well. And I know they haven't contacted me.
[We don't grant permission to excerpt without attribution. That's no longer syndication, but plagiarism. Taking credit for the work of others. Neither AllTop nor RootsFeed does this.]
Note: I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV
Here's an article - 4 years old - that does quote some lawyers.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Amanuensis Monday: Interview with Melvin Lester Newmark - Part 5
Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.
I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them. If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post in the comments.
This week I continue transcribing an interview of my paternal grandfather, Melvin Lester Newmark, conducted in 1987. He is discussing the elementary schools he attended.
I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them. If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post in the comments.
This week I continue transcribing an interview of my paternal grandfather, Melvin Lester Newmark, conducted in 1987. He is discussing the elementary schools he attended.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Weekly Genealogy Picks
Weekly Genealogy Picks --June 13 to June 19
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
James Tanner, lawyer and genealogist of Genealogy's Star, continues with more articles on copyright, with Does Arizona Own the Past?, and Can I Claim a Copyright on a Digital Copy?
Leah at the Internet Genealogist, discusses the genealogy sub-categories at Archive.org
Steven Lasky at the Museum of Family History discusses an untapped genealogical resource: Pre-War Gravestone Photos from Europe.
Liz Haigney Lynch at The Ancestral Archaeologist discovers that entering the same name in the Surname box on an Ancestry search has different results from when she enters it under Keyword.
John Gasson at The Wandering Genealogist writes about DeceasedOnline, which is a growing repository of UK burial and cremation records.
Brett Payne at The Photo Sleuth details the process he uses in scanning photographs from a photo album.
The Ancestry Insider has an article on Missing Documents at Ancestry.com focusing on the documents Ancestry received from NARA. The Insider also has NARA's response.
Martin Hollick at The Slovak Yankee discusses Genealogical Conferences and why he doesn't go.
Daniel Hubbard at Personal Past Meditations discusses his recent discoveries using Sanborn maps.
The Grosvenor Room (the blog of the Erie/Buffalo Public Library Special Collections) lists a few places you might go to find your ancestors, other than using City Directories.
The fourth edition of the Carnival of African American Genealogy has been released; the theme this issue was What Freedom Means, in honor of Juneteenth.
On Technology and Social Networking
Dick Eastman at Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter provides a list of available genealogy software for Windows.
Levi Sumagaysay at Good Morning Silicon Valley addresses the theory that twitter and texting will replace email.
Locally-related
And while often not directly related to genealogy, I usually enjoy the local photos posted at Rome of the West: St. Louis Area Genealogy and History Sources. Recently, he shared some photos from the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
Other Weekly Lists
[Amanuensis Monday is a weekly blogging theme I began in February of 2009, where participants transcribe letters, audio, and other documents.]
Terri Buster at Southwest Arkie
Martin Hollick at The Slovak Yankee
Lisa Wallen Logsdon at Old Stones Undeciphered
John Newmark at TransylvanianDutch
"anonymous" at Nolichucky Roots
Heather Wilkinson Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy
Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings
Kevin Walker at Who We Were, Are & Will Be Our Family
If you participated, but don't appear on this list, please, let me know.
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
James Tanner, lawyer and genealogist of Genealogy's Star, continues with more articles on copyright, with Does Arizona Own the Past?, and Can I Claim a Copyright on a Digital Copy?
Leah at the Internet Genealogist, discusses the genealogy sub-categories at Archive.org
Steven Lasky at the Museum of Family History discusses an untapped genealogical resource: Pre-War Gravestone Photos from Europe.
Liz Haigney Lynch at The Ancestral Archaeologist discovers that entering the same name in the Surname box on an Ancestry search has different results from when she enters it under Keyword.
John Gasson at The Wandering Genealogist writes about DeceasedOnline, which is a growing repository of UK burial and cremation records.
Brett Payne at The Photo Sleuth details the process he uses in scanning photographs from a photo album.
The Ancestry Insider has an article on Missing Documents at Ancestry.com focusing on the documents Ancestry received from NARA. The Insider also has NARA's response.
Martin Hollick at The Slovak Yankee discusses Genealogical Conferences and why he doesn't go.
Daniel Hubbard at Personal Past Meditations discusses his recent discoveries using Sanborn maps.
The Grosvenor Room (the blog of the Erie/Buffalo Public Library Special Collections) lists a few places you might go to find your ancestors, other than using City Directories.
The fourth edition of the Carnival of African American Genealogy has been released; the theme this issue was What Freedom Means, in honor of Juneteenth.
On Technology and Social Networking
Dick Eastman at Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter provides a list of available genealogy software for Windows.
Levi Sumagaysay at Good Morning Silicon Valley addresses the theory that twitter and texting will replace email.
Locally-related
And while often not directly related to genealogy, I usually enjoy the local photos posted at Rome of the West: St. Louis Area Genealogy and History Sources. Recently, he shared some photos from the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
Other Weekly Lists
- Best of the Genea-Blogs - from Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings
- Follow Friday - from Greta Koehl at Greta's Genealogy Bog
- Links - from Liz Haigney Lynch at The Ancestral Archaeologist
- New Genealogy Blogs and Upcoming Genealogy Blogging Events - from Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers
[Amanuensis Monday is a weekly blogging theme I began in February of 2009, where participants transcribe letters, audio, and other documents.]
Terri Buster at Southwest Arkie
Martin Hollick at The Slovak Yankee
Lisa Wallen Logsdon at Old Stones Undeciphered
John Newmark at TransylvanianDutch
"anonymous" at Nolichucky Roots
Heather Wilkinson Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy
Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings
Kevin Walker at Who We Were, Are & Will Be Our Family
If you participated, but don't appear on this list, please, let me know.
Happy Father's Day
Happy Father's Day to my father, grandfathers, great grandfathers, great great grandfathers, etc
LtoR: Melvin L. Newmark, Barney Newmark, Herman M. Feinstein, Samuel J. Newmark, Moshe Leyb Cruvant, Morris Blatt, Martin Deutsch, Melvin E. Van Every, Samuel Deutsch, Samuel Van Every.
Unpictured: my father, Selig Feinstein, Abraham Deutsch, Israel Lichtman, Ebenezer Denyer, etc.
Unpictured: my father, Selig Feinstein, Abraham Deutsch, Israel Lichtman, Ebenezer Denyer, etc.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
SNGF: Most Prolific Father
In honor of Father's Day, the Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge at Genea-Musings is:
1) Determine who is one of the most prolific fathers in your genealogy database or in your ancestry. By prolific, I mean the one who fathered the most children.I've looked at this question before. Back in November of 2007 I declared my most prolific ancestor to be my second great grandfather, Samuel Van Every, with 22 children. It's still Samuel, but he now has 24 children. (only 14 or 15 made it out of childhood.) It is now believed there were two Willies and two Wilaminas, with the sons dying in infancy, and the daughters each making it only to age five - all four possibly named after Samuel's younger brother, William. I also now have the vital statistics for a lot more of the children than I did two and a half years ago.
2) Tell us about him in your own blog post, in comments to this blog post, or in comments on Facebook.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Follow Friday: Online Historical Directories and Newspapers
Last Friday I was unable to post a Follow Friday, so I thought I would suggest two sites today. Both sites are maintained by the same person, and have similar missions, so it seems appropriate to mention them together.
For obvious reasons, Newspapers and City Directories are two extremely useful resources for genealogists. Many are being digitized and put online, but if the researcher doesn't know they're there, they may spend the time to research them manually via microfilm, if the microfilm is available nearby, or not utilize the resource at all.
Miriam Robbins Midkiff of Ancestories decided there needed to be an online index for both resources, and has taken it upon herself to create them. Online Historical Directories and Online Historical Newspapers. They are both, by their vary nature, a work-in-progress. Alone, either one of these would be worthy of commendation.
Currently, the Online Historical Directories index has listings in the US for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as listings for Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, and Thailand.
Online Historical Newspapers, which is a newer project, has listings in the US for 20 states and the District of Columbia.
Both sites have blogs which can be followed for updates on new additions: Online Historical Newspapers and Online Historical Directories.
***
The work done on these two sites impresses me, as I am familiar with the work a project of this nature involves. Back in 2000, I decided to create Victor Hugo Central - an index of online translations of material written by and about the French author (along with some public domain translations I've hand-entered.) It became a time consuming project - one I enjoyed. Then three years ago my time started being consumed by genealogy, which I also enjoy, but updates have dropped significantly. Unfortunately, unlike my computer, it seems I have difficulty opening more than one Obsession Window at a time.
For obvious reasons, Newspapers and City Directories are two extremely useful resources for genealogists. Many are being digitized and put online, but if the researcher doesn't know they're there, they may spend the time to research them manually via microfilm, if the microfilm is available nearby, or not utilize the resource at all.
Miriam Robbins Midkiff of Ancestories decided there needed to be an online index for both resources, and has taken it upon herself to create them. Online Historical Directories and Online Historical Newspapers. They are both, by their vary nature, a work-in-progress. Alone, either one of these would be worthy of commendation.
Currently, the Online Historical Directories index has listings in the US for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as listings for Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, and Thailand.
Online Historical Newspapers, which is a newer project, has listings in the US for 20 states and the District of Columbia.
Both sites have blogs which can be followed for updates on new additions: Online Historical Newspapers and Online Historical Directories.
***
The work done on these two sites impresses me, as I am familiar with the work a project of this nature involves. Back in 2000, I decided to create Victor Hugo Central - an index of online translations of material written by and about the French author (along with some public domain translations I've hand-entered.) It became a time consuming project - one I enjoyed. Then three years ago my time started being consumed by genealogy, which I also enjoy, but updates have dropped significantly. Unfortunately, unlike my computer, it seems I have difficulty opening more than one Obsession Window at a time.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
The information on a death certificate
Below is the death certificate of my second great grandfather, Moshe Leyb (aka Morris Louis) Cruvant. I referred to it in the notes of my Monday Amanuensis transcription. It's an excellent example of all the information one can find on a death certificate. As long as one realizes that the informant may have had some of the information incorrect.
First, there is the obvious date and time of death, which here is September 26, 1911 at 11:25 pm. The time of day is important in the Jewish religion, since if you convert the Gregorian date to the Hebrew calendar you have to remember that the next day starts at sunset.
However, the physician also notes when he first 'attended' the deceased. In this case it was August 20, 1911. As was mentioned in Monday's transcription, Moshe Leyb's daughter, Bertha, was married on August 27th. Due to her father's illness, the wedding was small, and not as joyous as it would otherwise have been.
Moshe Leyb's place of death is the same as the address of the informant, Dave Cruvant. Dave was Moshe Leyb's second eldest son. There weren't many treatments for cancer in 1911, and Moshe Leyb may have been confined to his son's home instead of a hospital.
The death certificate confirms a lot of information I know from City Directories. (Actually, the city directories confirm the information on the death certificate. I would generally rank the directories as more reliable in this regard.) Moshe Leyb had been in the State of Illinois since 1900, when he changed careers from Tailor to Shoe Merchant, and moved from St. Louis, MO to East St. Louis, IL.
The death certificate says he was in the US for 35 years. This would mean an immigration year of 1876. It's actually believed that the Cruvants immigrated closer to 1886, though the exact date hasn't been nailed down. It's possible 25 years was written down wrong.
It appears David Cruvant didn't know the name of his paternal grandmother, though he did know his grandfather's name was Aron.
Finally, there is the name of the cemetery in which Moshe Leyb was buried. Hashaschelemus. No such cemetery exists. This is what happens when whoever is transcribing the information doesn't speak the language the words come from. The name of the cemetery is Chesed Shel Emeth. (English spelling may vary slightly, though it will always be three words.)
If one wasn't familiar with Hebrew, or the local Jewish cemeteries, one might have difficulty deciphering the name. (Note: The Hebrew word 'אמת' is usually transliterated as 'Emet' or 'Emeth', however the European, or Ashkenazi Jewish community often pronounce the final consonant as an 's.' )
However, the physician also notes when he first 'attended' the deceased. In this case it was August 20, 1911. As was mentioned in Monday's transcription, Moshe Leyb's daughter, Bertha, was married on August 27th. Due to her father's illness, the wedding was small, and not as joyous as it would otherwise have been.
Moshe Leyb's place of death is the same as the address of the informant, Dave Cruvant. Dave was Moshe Leyb's second eldest son. There weren't many treatments for cancer in 1911, and Moshe Leyb may have been confined to his son's home instead of a hospital.
The death certificate confirms a lot of information I know from City Directories. (Actually, the city directories confirm the information on the death certificate. I would generally rank the directories as more reliable in this regard.) Moshe Leyb had been in the State of Illinois since 1900, when he changed careers from Tailor to Shoe Merchant, and moved from St. Louis, MO to East St. Louis, IL.
The death certificate says he was in the US for 35 years. This would mean an immigration year of 1876. It's actually believed that the Cruvants immigrated closer to 1886, though the exact date hasn't been nailed down. It's possible 25 years was written down wrong.
It appears David Cruvant didn't know the name of his paternal grandmother, though he did know his grandfather's name was Aron.
Finally, there is the name of the cemetery in which Moshe Leyb was buried. Hashaschelemus. No such cemetery exists. This is what happens when whoever is transcribing the information doesn't speak the language the words come from. The name of the cemetery is Chesed Shel Emeth. (English spelling may vary slightly, though it will always be three words.)
If one wasn't familiar with Hebrew, or the local Jewish cemeteries, one might have difficulty deciphering the name. (Note: The Hebrew word 'אמת' is usually transliterated as 'Emet' or 'Emeth', however the European, or Ashkenazi Jewish community often pronounce the final consonant as an 's.' )
Monday, June 14, 2010
Amanuensis Monday: Interview with Melvin Lester Newmark - Part 4
Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.
I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them. If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post in the comments.
This week I continue the transcription of an interview conducted with my grandfather, Melvin Newmark, in December of 1987. He has been discussing his first cousins, and how all the families were close.
I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them. If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post in the comments.
This week I continue the transcription of an interview conducted with my grandfather, Melvin Newmark, in December of 1987. He has been discussing his first cousins, and how all the families were close.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Weekly Genealogy Picks
Weekly Genealogy Picks --June 6 to June 12
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
Missy Corley at BaysideBlog illustrates how she found someone in the 1870 census by first looking for a neighbor from the 1880 census. A clever way around the sloppy handwriting of some census takers.
Taneya Koonce at Taneya's Genealogy blog reports that the National Digital Newspaper Program has received grant money to expand its collection, and Tennessee newspapers are among those being added to the Chronicling America site.
James Tanner at Genealogy's Star has three posts this week on what part of our genealogy research we own. Who owns the genealogy? ; Who owns the genealogy, and why? ; What do I own of my genealogy, if anything?
Dan Vorhaus at Genomics Law Report argues why the accidental sample swap at 23andMe is an argument in favor of DTC testing.
Martin Hollick at The Slovak Yankee reminds us there is a hidden web. Search engines such as Google will not find data hidden in databases. You need to know where to look to find this.
Schelly Talalay Dardashti at Tracing the Tribe reports that the Chicago Tribune is digitally archiving an extensive 130-year photo-library.
Emily Singer at Technology Review discusses a recent study that shows genetic testing can change behavior.
In Peabody, MA, a document from 1792 was found in an unlikely location.
A fun news story about how a couple found out a week before they married, that they both appeared in a photograph taken 20 years before, long before they met.
Other Weekly Lists
Terri Buster at Southwest Arkie
Valerie C. at Begin with Craft
"anonymous" at filioagnostic
Martin Hollick at The Slovak Yankee
Lisa Wallen Logsdon at Old Stones Undeciphered
John Newmark at TransylvanianDutch
"anonymous" at Nolichucky Roots
Heather Wilkinson Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy
Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings
Judith Richards Shubert at Genealogy Traces
Ruth Stephens at Bluebonnet Country Genealogy
Kevin Walker at Who We Were, Are & Will Be Our Family
If you participated, but don't appear on this list, please, let me know.
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
Missy Corley at BaysideBlog illustrates how she found someone in the 1870 census by first looking for a neighbor from the 1880 census. A clever way around the sloppy handwriting of some census takers.
Taneya Koonce at Taneya's Genealogy blog reports that the National Digital Newspaper Program has received grant money to expand its collection, and Tennessee newspapers are among those being added to the Chronicling America site.
James Tanner at Genealogy's Star has three posts this week on what part of our genealogy research we own. Who owns the genealogy? ; Who owns the genealogy, and why? ; What do I own of my genealogy, if anything?
Dan Vorhaus at Genomics Law Report argues why the accidental sample swap at 23andMe is an argument in favor of DTC testing.
Martin Hollick at The Slovak Yankee reminds us there is a hidden web. Search engines such as Google will not find data hidden in databases. You need to know where to look to find this.
Schelly Talalay Dardashti at Tracing the Tribe reports that the Chicago Tribune is digitally archiving an extensive 130-year photo-library.
Emily Singer at Technology Review discusses a recent study that shows genetic testing can change behavior.
In Peabody, MA, a document from 1792 was found in an unlikely location.
A fun news story about how a couple found out a week before they married, that they both appeared in a photograph taken 20 years before, long before they met.
Other Weekly Lists
- Follow Friday - from Greta Koehl at Greta's Genealogy Bog
- Genealogical Round Up - from Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak at Megan's Roots World
- New Genealogy Blogs and Upcoming Genealogy Blogging Events - from Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers
Terri Buster at Southwest Arkie
Valerie C. at Begin with Craft
"anonymous" at filioagnostic
Martin Hollick at The Slovak Yankee
Lisa Wallen Logsdon at Old Stones Undeciphered
John Newmark at TransylvanianDutch
"anonymous" at Nolichucky Roots
Heather Wilkinson Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy
Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings
Judith Richards Shubert at Genealogy Traces
Ruth Stephens at Bluebonnet Country Genealogy
Kevin Walker at Who We Were, Are & Will Be Our Family
If you participated, but don't appear on this list, please, let me know.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Civil War Content Free at Footnote.com for the Month of June
I received the below press release in my email:
June 10, 2010 – Lindon, UT – Today Footnote.com announced that its U.S. Civil War Collection will be made free to the public through the month of June. Footnote.com has worked with the U.S. National Archives over the past three years to create the largest repository of Civil War documents on the web featuring over 30 million documents, photos and maps.
“Our strong partnership with the National Archives has allowed us to build an extremely valuable resource for researchers, historians and genealogists,” explains Russell Wilding, CEO of Footnote.com. “Now more people than ever have access to records relating to one of the most prolific events in our history.”
The original documents found in this collection provide a different perspective on the “war between the states.” Major events as well as accounts from individuals are brought to life on Footnote.com. Visitors to Footnote.com will find:
On Footnote.com members can also create their own pages to highlight their discoveries and research. Members have created Footnote Pages relating to the U.S. Civil War that cover topics such as:
Additional Resources
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/footnote
Join us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/
About Footnote, Inc.
Footnote.com is a subscription website that features original historical documents, providing visitors with an unaltered view of the events, places and people that shaped the American nation and the world. At Footnote.com, all are invited to come share, discuss, and collaborate on their discoveries with friends, family, and colleagues. For more information, visit http://www.footnote.com.
The documents on my second great grandfather, Ebenezer Denyer's service during the Civil War are the first thing I found on Footnote back in 2008 when I initially explored the site.
The Civil War collection has grown since then, and it's definitely worth your time to take a look at it while it's free.
June 10, 2010 – Lindon, UT – Today Footnote.com announced that its U.S. Civil War Collection will be made free to the public through the month of June. Footnote.com has worked with the U.S. National Archives over the past three years to create the largest repository of Civil War documents on the web featuring over 30 million documents, photos and maps.
“Our strong partnership with the National Archives has allowed us to build an extremely valuable resource for researchers, historians and genealogists,” explains Russell Wilding, CEO of Footnote.com. “Now more people than ever have access to records relating to one of the most prolific events in our history.”
The original documents found in this collection provide a different perspective on the “war between the states.” Major events as well as accounts from individuals are brought to life on Footnote.com. Visitors to Footnote.com will find:
- Union and Confederate Soldier Service Records
- Widow’s Pension Files
- Emancipation Documents and Slave Records
- Confederate Amnesty Papers and Citizens Files
- Lincoln Assassination Investigation and Trial Papers
- U.S. Civil War Photos and Maps
On Footnote.com members can also create their own pages to highlight their discoveries and research. Members have created Footnote Pages relating to the U.S. Civil War that cover topics such as:
- Female Civil War Soldiers & Spies
- Papers of Robert E. Lee
- Union African Americans in the U.S. Civil War
- Confederate Soldiers Graves
Additional Resources
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/footnote
Join us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/
About Footnote, Inc.
Footnote.com is a subscription website that features original historical documents, providing visitors with an unaltered view of the events, places and people that shaped the American nation and the world. At Footnote.com, all are invited to come share, discuss, and collaborate on their discoveries with friends, family, and colleagues. For more information, visit http://www.footnote.com.
The documents on my second great grandfather, Ebenezer Denyer's service during the Civil War are the first thing I found on Footnote back in 2008 when I initially explored the site.
The Civil War collection has grown since then, and it's definitely worth your time to take a look at it while it's free.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Regarding the Blogger Outage
Judging from comments in the Blogger Discussion Forum, from Sunday at about 8pm to Monday at about 3pm (Central Time Zone) – Blogger was completely inaccessible by many users – mostly in the Central Time Zone in the US and Canada. That’s nineteen hours.
As one of those impacted by this outage, there are a few observations I’d like to point out. [Despite the date-stamp I used, my Amanuensis Monday post this week was delayed until Tuesday morning.]
First – It’s frustrating that there was no mention of this outage in any online newspapers or major tech newsblogs I could find. Think about this. A major blogging platform. For 19 hours many users couldn’t access it. I can’t help but think if it was the East coast or West coast users that were impacted, at least the tech blogs would have mentioned it. But since the impacted users were all in ‘flyover country’ the story was ignored. At least, that is how it looks to me.
Second – whenever something like this happens, users question whether to stay or go elsewhere. There were comments in the discussion forum from users who were saying they were finally going to take their blogs to their own domain because of this.
My reaction, however, was exactly the opposite. I’ve been there. I have a handful of personal domains. All of which have been down at some point or another. And I had to deal personally with the support staff each time. Often they are friendly, sure. They may even be friendlier than the Google Support Staff. But are they likely to get the site fixed more quickly? No. And I often have to be more hands-on with the tech support issues. I don’t really have the time for that.
Once I knew the Google team was working on the issue, I could focus on other tasks. It was frustrating it took that long, but I have no reason to believe they were dallying.
There are other blogging platforms such as Typepad, Wordpress, Posterous, and Vox. I'd probably switch to using one of those if I ever felt Google's Blogger was becoming too unreliable for me. But one major outage in the past three years is not going to convince me to jump ship.
As one of those impacted by this outage, there are a few observations I’d like to point out. [Despite the date-stamp I used, my Amanuensis Monday post this week was delayed until Tuesday morning.]
First – It’s frustrating that there was no mention of this outage in any online newspapers or major tech newsblogs I could find. Think about this. A major blogging platform. For 19 hours many users couldn’t access it. I can’t help but think if it was the East coast or West coast users that were impacted, at least the tech blogs would have mentioned it. But since the impacted users were all in ‘flyover country’ the story was ignored. At least, that is how it looks to me.
Second – whenever something like this happens, users question whether to stay or go elsewhere. There were comments in the discussion forum from users who were saying they were finally going to take their blogs to their own domain because of this.
My reaction, however, was exactly the opposite. I’ve been there. I have a handful of personal domains. All of which have been down at some point or another. And I had to deal personally with the support staff each time. Often they are friendly, sure. They may even be friendlier than the Google Support Staff. But are they likely to get the site fixed more quickly? No. And I often have to be more hands-on with the tech support issues. I don’t really have the time for that.
Once I knew the Google team was working on the issue, I could focus on other tasks. It was frustrating it took that long, but I have no reason to believe they were dallying.
There are other blogging platforms such as Typepad, Wordpress, Posterous, and Vox. I'd probably switch to using one of those if I ever felt Google's Blogger was becoming too unreliable for me. But one major outage in the past three years is not going to convince me to jump ship.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Amanuensis Monday: Interview with Melvin Lester Newmark - Part 3
Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.
I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them. If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post in the comments.
This week I continue the transcription of an interview conducted with my grandfather, Melvin Newmark, in December of 1987. My grandfather has begun talking about his mother, Bertha (Cruvant) Newmark.
I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them. If you choose to join me in Amanuensis Monday and post your transcriptions, feel free to add a link to your post in the comments.
This week I continue the transcription of an interview conducted with my grandfather, Melvin Newmark, in December of 1987. My grandfather has begun talking about his mother, Bertha (Cruvant) Newmark.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Weekly Genealogy Picks
Weekly Genealogy Picks --May 30 to June 5
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
Dear Myrtle reminds us that borders change, so we need to be careful in determining where our ancestors lived.
FamilySearch indexing projects continue to grow. You can read their latest press release at several blogs, including AnceStories, Renee's Genealogy Blog, and EOGN. I'm not sure why the press release isn't at their own site's "Press Room," though.
Randy at Genea-Musings has been doing a series of posts on how to use the Branches genealogy software. Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4.
Gena Philibert Ortega at Gena's Genealogy discusses Privacy Rights and Family History. (She also recommends reading an op-ed piece by Steve Luxenberg, author of Annie's Ghosts, on which I concur.)
Brett Payne at Photo-Sleuth illustrates how he narrowed down the dates of several photographs significantly with the help of some city directories.
Elyse Doerflinger at Elyse's Genealogy Blog encourages us to efficiently use even short periods of time, and provides a list of six genealogy tasks that can be completed in under 30 minutes.
The May issue of Shades of the Departed has also been released. I enjoyed the article by Denise Barrett Olson on preserving important emails as our ancestors did with their letters.
Email is a popular topic this week. Lorine McGinnis Schulze at Olive Tree Genealogy writes of a difficult task facing her: identifying the source of photos she collected from family members, when the emails that had this information have been lost. Jasia at CreativeGene follows up with her own email issues.
Dan Curtis shares some advice on writing your ancestor's biography.
The National Archive's "National Declassification Center" starts a blog. "Releasing All We Can, Protecting What We Must. The National Declassification Center (NDC) mission is to align people, processes, and technologies to advance the declassification and public release of historically valuable permanent records while maintaining national security."
The 94th Carnival of Genealogy was released, with the focus on the changing roles of women. The 95th Carnival will be the annual "Swimsuit Edition," with a deadline of July 1st. More info here.
In the news: A canine DNA-kit for identifying what breeds exactly are represented in your favorite mutt.
Other Weekly Lists
We probably had a lighter participation this week due to the Memorial Day holiday.
* Sherry Stocking Kline at FamilyTreeWriter
* Lisa Wallen Logsdon at Old Stones Undeciphered
* John Newmark at TransylvanianDutch
* "anonymous" at Nolichucky Roots
* Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings
If you participated, but don't appear on this list, please, let me know.
from genealogy blogs, newspaper articles and elsewhere
Dear Myrtle reminds us that borders change, so we need to be careful in determining where our ancestors lived.
FamilySearch indexing projects continue to grow. You can read their latest press release at several blogs, including AnceStories, Renee's Genealogy Blog, and EOGN. I'm not sure why the press release isn't at their own site's "Press Room," though.
Randy at Genea-Musings has been doing a series of posts on how to use the Branches genealogy software. Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4.
Gena Philibert Ortega at Gena's Genealogy discusses Privacy Rights and Family History. (She also recommends reading an op-ed piece by Steve Luxenberg, author of Annie's Ghosts, on which I concur.)
Brett Payne at Photo-Sleuth illustrates how he narrowed down the dates of several photographs significantly with the help of some city directories.
Elyse Doerflinger at Elyse's Genealogy Blog encourages us to efficiently use even short periods of time, and provides a list of six genealogy tasks that can be completed in under 30 minutes.
The May issue of Shades of the Departed has also been released. I enjoyed the article by Denise Barrett Olson on preserving important emails as our ancestors did with their letters.
Email is a popular topic this week. Lorine McGinnis Schulze at Olive Tree Genealogy writes of a difficult task facing her: identifying the source of photos she collected from family members, when the emails that had this information have been lost. Jasia at CreativeGene follows up with her own email issues.
Dan Curtis shares some advice on writing your ancestor's biography.
The National Archive's "National Declassification Center" starts a blog. "Releasing All We Can, Protecting What We Must. The National Declassification Center (NDC) mission is to align people, processes, and technologies to advance the declassification and public release of historically valuable permanent records while maintaining national security."
The 94th Carnival of Genealogy was released, with the focus on the changing roles of women. The 95th Carnival will be the annual "Swimsuit Edition," with a deadline of July 1st. More info here.
In the news: A canine DNA-kit for identifying what breeds exactly are represented in your favorite mutt.
Other Weekly Lists
- Best of the Genea-Blogs - from Randy Seaver at Genea-musings
- Follow Friday - from Greta Koehl at Greta's Genealogy Bog
- Monday's Link Roundup - from Dan Curtis
- New Genealogy Blogs and Upcoming Genealogy Blogging Events - from Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers
- June 2010 Calendar of Events - from Miriam at AnceStories
We probably had a lighter participation this week due to the Memorial Day holiday.
* Sherry Stocking Kline at FamilyTreeWriter
* Lisa Wallen Logsdon at Old Stones Undeciphered
* John Newmark at TransylvanianDutch
* "anonymous" at Nolichucky Roots
* Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings
If you participated, but don't appear on this list, please, let me know.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Follow Friday: Sanborn Maps
The Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Company, established in 1867, compiled and published maps of U.S. cities and towns for the fire insurance industry to assess the risk of insuring a particular property. The maps are large scale plans of a city or town drawn at a scale of 50 feet to an inch, offering detailed information on the use made of commercial and industrial buildings, their size, shape and construction material. Some residential areas are also mapped. The maps show location of water mains, fire alarms and fire hydrants. They are color-coded to identify the structure (adobe, frame, brick, stone, iron) of each building. [source]Being able to look at the buildings and area that surrounded an ancestor's homes can be very helpful. Below is an image from a St. Louis City 1909 Sanborn map showing the 1100 block of North 8th Street. My great grandfather, Herman Feinstein, was a teenager at 1122 N. 8th from 1896-1906. The 1909 map places a "Jewish School" immediately behind that address. I hypothesized that he may have gone to school there.
Where can you find Sanborn Maps? The Library of Congress has uploaded some of them [for AK, AL, AZ, DC, GA, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, NC, NE, NV, PA, TX, VA, and Mexico (Coahuila)]. And they have an index by state, county and year for their holdings in their Geography and Map Room, and they offer duplication services.
You may be able to access some through your local library. Proquest has over 600,000 of the maps, covering 1867-1970, and makes them available to libraries. (The St. Louis County Library, for example, has purchased access to the Missouri and Illinois maps, and any resident with a library card can access them from home.)
Wikipedia has a list of online archives.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Themeless Thursday: Random Jots
1) Analytics
Here's a graphic illustrating the number of visits this blog has received from July of 2009 through May of 2010. Sure, I could have waited a month to do this. But I also knew my mind was going to be elsewhere in a month. I started using Google Analytics 11 months ago. I like the information it provides me. Some of you may notice I cut off the Y-axis. Without the Y-axis I realize no one else will be able to compare their number of visits to mine. But I do find my temporary increase in visitors during the month of October 2009, as well as a more lasting increase after January 1 and April 1 of 2010 to be interesting, at least to me.
The top five most popular pages in the past 11 months (except for the main page):
1) Poetry: Lost Generation by Jonathan Reed
2) St. Louis Snow Event of 1982
3) Poetry: Copy-Change - Where I'm From - George Ella Lyon
4) St. Louis Post Dispatch Obituaries
5) St. Louis Post Dispatch Obituaries - and other area newspapers
The popularity of those two poems I posted in August and September of 2009 is what drove the increase in visits in October 2009. They were part of a "Poetry Friday" series I stopped in November. I'm glad the other three pages are historical/genealogical in nature.
I highly recommend Google Analytics for anyone interested in tracking how many people are visiting their blog/website, and why.
2) The TITLE attribute
Moultrie Creek Gazette has an HTML-centric post on how to use the TITLE attribute with the ACRONYM and ABBR tags. Some bloggers and website designers may be interested. I don't use the ACRONYM and ABBR tags much myself, as I like to define meanings parenthetically (like this). However, I use the TITLE attribute a lot. With the IMG tag.
In this code
<img src="filename.jpg" title="Mouseover text">
The TITLE attribute provides the text that appears when you move your mouse to bring the 'cursor' arrow over an image. Move the mouse over any image in this post to see what it looks like.
It's good to use the TITLE tag with images, as many screenreaders used by the blind will read the text, so the blind user will at least know what appears in the image.
UPDATE: I received an email from someone having difficulty with this, and I realized that Blogger (and likely other software,too) creates some code for images that might look more confusing than the code I put above. Here is the code for the photo below:
<img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiaTQaIvDA56lOO16B4cF3dZJCpcq_4XZx1ACS99BpFaWb1kphaNkj2JjTn8hj05C9PrqwqNjPmGAqL7visgy54X7VsQWJULnO3MUNqhD0iT2mvJbNUGFguF0h36PS3Bs6OhqGPrRV/s400/TurdaCanyon.jpg" title="A breathtaking image of Turda Canyon nearby Turda, Romania." width="300" />
The most important thing to remember is not to add any brackets, as I don't believe the order of the attributes matter. As long as each attribute follows the AttributeName="AttibuteValue" format. I tend to put the Title Attribute at or near the end of the list.
3) Another photo of Turda
Turda, Hungary (now Romania) is where my great great grandfather, Abraham Deutsch, lived. (I posted another photo I found of the area yesterday)
Turda Canyon (Photograph by CameliaTWU)
The idea for the title of this post came from GMSV (Good Morning Silicon Valley)
Here's a graphic illustrating the number of visits this blog has received from July of 2009 through May of 2010. Sure, I could have waited a month to do this. But I also knew my mind was going to be elsewhere in a month. I started using Google Analytics 11 months ago. I like the information it provides me. Some of you may notice I cut off the Y-axis. Without the Y-axis I realize no one else will be able to compare their number of visits to mine. But I do find my temporary increase in visitors during the month of October 2009, as well as a more lasting increase after January 1 and April 1 of 2010 to be interesting, at least to me.
The top five most popular pages in the past 11 months (except for the main page):
1) Poetry: Lost Generation by Jonathan Reed
2) St. Louis Snow Event of 1982
3) Poetry: Copy-Change - Where I'm From - George Ella Lyon
4) St. Louis Post Dispatch Obituaries
5) St. Louis Post Dispatch Obituaries - and other area newspapers
The popularity of those two poems I posted in August and September of 2009 is what drove the increase in visits in October 2009. They were part of a "Poetry Friday" series I stopped in November. I'm glad the other three pages are historical/genealogical in nature.
I highly recommend Google Analytics for anyone interested in tracking how many people are visiting their blog/website, and why.
2) The TITLE attribute
Moultrie Creek Gazette has an HTML-centric post on how to use the TITLE attribute with the ACRONYM and ABBR tags. Some bloggers and website designers may be interested. I don't use the ACRONYM and ABBR tags much myself, as I like to define meanings parenthetically (like this). However, I use the TITLE attribute a lot. With the IMG tag.
In this code
<img src="filename.jpg" title="Mouseover text">
The TITLE attribute provides the text that appears when you move your mouse to bring the 'cursor' arrow over an image. Move the mouse over any image in this post to see what it looks like.
It's good to use the TITLE tag with images, as many screenreaders used by the blind will read the text, so the blind user will at least know what appears in the image.
UPDATE: I received an email from someone having difficulty with this, and I realized that Blogger (and likely other software,too) creates some code for images that might look more confusing than the code I put above. Here is the code for the photo below:
<img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiaTQaIvDA56lOO16B4cF3dZJCpcq_4XZx1ACS99BpFaWb1kphaNkj2JjTn8hj05C9PrqwqNjPmGAqL7visgy54X7VsQWJULnO3MUNqhD0iT2mvJbNUGFguF0h36PS3Bs6OhqGPrRV/s400/TurdaCanyon.jpg" title="A breathtaking image of Turda Canyon nearby Turda, Romania." width="300" />
The most important thing to remember is not to add any brackets, as I don't believe the order of the attributes matter. As long as each attribute follows the AttributeName="AttibuteValue" format. I tend to put the Title Attribute at or near the end of the list.
3) Another photo of Turda
Turda, Hungary (now Romania) is where my great great grandfather, Abraham Deutsch, lived. (I posted another photo I found of the area yesterday)
Turda Canyon (Photograph by CameliaTWU)
The idea for the title of this post came from GMSV (Good Morning Silicon Valley)
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
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