Melvin L. Newmark (Aug 27, 1912 - Jan 22, 1992)

Today my paternal grandfather, Melvin L Newmark, would have celebrated his 100th birthday.


1. 1915 - Age 3.
2. 1924 Confirmation Class, B'Nai El Temple, St. Louis. Age 12. First Row, second from right.
3. June 1930 - Age 18 - possibly a job as a valet
4. December 1944 - Age 32 - with his younger brother, Mandell, on the island of Biak, just NW of New Guinea.
5. Possibly 1962, age 50. He served as Municipal Court Judge from 1962-1967.
6. August 1971 - age 59
7. 1975 - age 63 - with his wife,  Sissie.
8. abt 1990 - age 78 - in Palm Springs, California

Amanuensis Monday: Louis C Gober at the Gratiot Street Prison

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, newspaper articles, 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.

I began this project back on February 16, 2009.  Since I began, many others have joined in on the meme. I am thrilled that this meme I started has inspired so many to transcribe their family history documents. Why do we transcribe? I provide my three reasons in the linked post. You may find others.

***
I learned on the Civil War St. Louis site, my wife's 3rd-great grandfather, Louis C. Gober (1830-1876), spent some time in the St. Louis Gratiot Street Prison "by order of the Provost Marshall General." I searched for his records at Fold3. (I have access to Fold3 through my local library card.)

Amanuensis Monday: Sheriff Gober and a Stolen Horse

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, newspaper articles, 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.

I began this project back on February 16, 2009.  Since I began, many others have joined in on the meme. I am thrilled that this meme I started has inspired so many to transcribe their family history documents. Why do we transcribe? I provide my three reasons in the linked post. You may find others.

***
My wife's great grandfather, Louis Pleas Gober (1867-1948), was Sheriff of Scott County, Missouri in the early 1900s. ChroniclingAmerica has archives of several area newspapers from that time, and he appears often. A year ago I shared an article from the St. Louis Post Dispatch concerning a problem he had with some mules. Below is an article from the Jackson Herald -- January 31, 1907, page 1, above the fold.

Amanuensis Monday: Henry Vidaver on Abraham Lincoln

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, newspaper articles, 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.

I began this project back on February 16, 2009.  Since I began, many others have joined in on the meme. I am thrilled that this meme I started has inspired so many to transcribe their family history documents. Why do we transcribe? I provide my three reasons in the linked post. You may find others.

***
In the past I have departed a few times from purely genealogically-related documents, and transcribe something of historical interest which doesn't mention any relatives. This is another such case.

Recently I volunteered to join my congregation's Historical Society, which is researching its history in preparation of our 175th anniversary year. Established in 1837, it is the oldest Jewish congregation West of the Mississippi. (St. Louis happens to be home to many things that are the oldest West of the Mississippi. There might be a geographical/historical reason for this.)

At my first meeting a few weeks ago I learned about an early Rabbi - Dr. Henry Vidaver, who delivered a sermon upon Lincoln's assassination that was widely reprinted.  Sections of the sermon appeared in some recently published histories, but I went in search online for some contemporary accounts, or at least something that was public domain.

I found the below in The Reform Advocate - America's Jewish Journal - Volume 37, Issue 1 - February 20, 1909 - pages 22, 27. (I only transcribe the introduction, and Vidaver's words. Follow the link to read from the sermons of others.)

Ancestry's New DNA test: A Jewish Perspective

This entry is not a religious perspective on the ethics of DNA testing.

This entry is a perspective on Ancestry.com's new DNA test from someone of European Jewish descent. This may apply to similar tests from other companies, but not having taken those tests, I am unable to say.

I believe Jews of mostly European descent will find the test less useful for them than for others. I found the results mostly useful for my 25% non-Jewish ancestry.

This is the test that determines one's DNA ethnicity breakdown. This of course can differ significantly from the breakdown of ethnicity of your ancestors in your genealogy database.  Each child receives 50% of their DNA from each parent, but it's a roll of the dice which 50% is passed on.

Theoretically, someone could have none of the DNA from one of their four grandparents.  For example, the 50% from your father might be just the DNA your paternal grandfather passed to him.This is unlikely, but it is also probably unlikely that one has exactly 25% of their DNA from each of their four grandparents. And it's even more unlikely that one has exactly 12.5% of their DNA from each of their eight great grandparents. As one goes further back on their genealogy chart, it becomes more likely that significant portions of your ancestors aren't represented in your DNA.

With that in mind, here are the results I received after submitting my saliva sample recently

From the perspective of my genealogy database, I am 75% Eastern European Jewish and 25% a mixture of European descent (Mostly British, German, and Dutch) and possibly some Native American.  So learning that my DNA is 70% Eastern European/European Jewish isn't much of a surprise.  However, I wasn't aware that that was all the DNA test was going to reveal about 3/4 of my ancestry. It certainly does reinforce the notion of Judaism as a Tribe, though it appears there is enough genetic variance to distinguish between European and non-Euopean ancestry. Looking at the charts of some other people, it appears those of Middle Eastern (Mizrahi) descent aren't 'religiously' tagged.

There are no Scandinavians in my family tree, but that's probably because I haven't gone back far enough.  My mother's Mitochondrial DNA test categorized my matrilineal line as Clan Ursula - which certainly has Scandinavian roots.

Ancestry does note:

Your genetic ethnicity reveals where your ancestors lived hundreds—perhaps even thousands—of years ago. This may update over time as new genetic signatures are discovered.

and

The rise of the Viking culture spread Scandinavian ancestry far throughout Europe. Their earliest coastal voyages took them to Scotland, northeastern England and established the settlement of Dublin, Ireland. As their power continued to grow, the Vikings spread farther afield, down the Volga River in Russia, to the coast of France and Spain.

So 17% of my DNA comes from some Scandinavian ancestors who migrated to either Britain, the Netherlands, or Germany. The 11% uncertain might contain what little Native American DNA I have, and perhaps some of the Alien DNA some of my friends suspect.

In their FAQ Ancestry explains:

Some people may have a percentage with ‘uncertain’ in their genetic ethnicity results. This means that small traces of a specific genetic population have been found in your DNA, but the probability levels were too low to pinpoint it to a specific ethnicity. This is not uncommon, and as more genetic signatures are discovered with a higher confidence level, we may be able to update this ‘uncertain’ percentage of your ethnicity over time.

This may mean that the 11% is a combination of different ethnicities, none of which are large enough to identify with certainty.

So the breakdown for me wasn't very helpful.  Others have had significantly different results. Judy Russell of The Legal Genealogist was very pleased with the specificity of her results.

Cousin Matches

One of the key selling points of the AncestryDNA test is that they will connect you with others who are potential matches.  And Ancestry provides a LOT of matches for me...

Unfortunately, there is a high number of false positives for those of European Jewish descent.

Despite their encouragement, at least for now, with the number of likely false-positives, it doesn't make much sense to me to contact the dozens of potential cousin matches.  Unless there is a shared surname in their online trees, which so far there hasn't been. (I am contacting the Scandinavian matches. There are less of them.)

I also understand that it may be complicated and science-y (is that a word?) - but I'd like to see the complicated, scientific explanation. It might confuse me, but I consider myself intelligent. I'd like Ancestry to include the scientific explanation on their website.

So...in summary:

• Those of mostly European Jewish descent may not find Ancestry's DNA test very useful due to the over-abundance of false-positive cousin matches, and the lack of specificity in ethnic origins. I am unsure if the results are similar on the tests provided by other companies. 

• I did find my results interesting, and I am in the process of contacting some potential cousins.

Copyright and FindMyPast (and The National Archives)

In the comments to one of my recent posts concerning research at FindMyPast I was notified that, as reported at The Legal Genealogist - FindMyPast had some restrictive language in their Terms Of Use requiring permission to be sought for the usage of any images from the site.

So I emailed the site for permission. This morning - at 5:30 am locally (11:30 in London) They responded positively:

Thank you for your email. 

We are happy for you to use images of search functions/search results and transcriptions providing findmypast.com is acknowledged as the source in each caption. 

[...] 

For images however it is often the case that the owner of copyright/database rights owner is not findmypast.com as most records are provided by external sources. For example the England and Wales census records. The underlying census records are Crown Copyright and so you would need permission from The National Archives to reproduce.

Many US citizens may get used to the tradition that government records are public domain - and not consider that our practices aren't the same in other countries.

So I visited The National Archives and read their Copyright terms

The material featured on this website is subject to Crown copyright protection and licensed for use under the Open Government Licence unless otherwise indicated.

The Open Government Licence is very similar to what Americans have come to expect with government documents.

• worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive licence to:
• copy, publish, distribute and transmit the Information;
• adapt the Information;
• exploit the Information commercially for example, by combining it with other Information, or by including it in your own product or application.

As long as you provide appropriate acknowledgment of the source. The appropriate acknowledgement procedure is rather detailed.

However - the Open Government Licence doesn't apply to the records downloaded from the National Archives site.  They 'indicate otherwise.' [And I suspected this was the same for the records on FindMyPast]

Digital Copies of Documents

The use of copies of records downloaded from our website using DocumentsOnline or Discovery is subject to the following conditions. Digital copies of documents may only be used for:

• private study or research for a non-commercial purpose

• education purposes; in the course of instruction or examination, or in preparation for instruction or examination (by either the giver or receiver of instruction). Copies may be used, and further copies of those copies may be made for this purpose.

Applications for permission for any other use should be addressed to the image library.

I fired off an email to the image library. My three posts this week are definitely at least partially of an educational purpose, but I will admit that isn't the sole purpose of those posts. They are also there to inform relatives of the information I have found. One might say I am educating my relatives, but that might be considered a stretch of that term. I figured I should request permission. I haven't yet heard back.

Time moves quickly on the Internet. At some point after responding to my email, The Legal Genealogist reported that FindMyPast changed their Terms today. Here's how the section on copyright now reads:

A large amount of time, money and effort has been expended to make these records and features available online. Many of these records and features have been obtained from other organizations and people. These people or organizations often own the intellectual property rights in the records (the copyright/database rights owner is displayed on most records) and website features. Accordingly, you may not use the records or features to create your own work (for example a database of records), copy or reproduce the records (either in whole or in part), or make available, share or publish them unless you have our permission (and/or that of the owner of the copyright/database rights in the work) in writing. You may however use screenshots of our website for blog postings, articles and presentations for informational and educational purposes. If you are a professional genealogist (as defined above) you may also use the records or features in preparing unpublished reports for clients. The website and services provided belong to brightsolid, and again, you must not copy or use them without our written permission. Therefore, you only have a limited license to access the website and to use the content for personal or professional family history research (including unpublished reports for clients if you are a professional genealogist).

It now allows the use of screenshots for informational or educational purposes, which would likely cover any of my typical blog posts. Still, I await The National Archives response to my request for permission this morning. Their permission might not be completely necessary anymore, but I will be happy to receive it.

Update


Response from The National Archives:

Thank you for your email. 

Our policy is that the reproduction of direct images of documents from The National Archives on an open non-commercial website in perpetuity costs a one-off fee of £40.00. This fee covers up the use of up to twenty images. The charge reflects the fact that open website use constitutes worldwide publication. 

However, we do appreciate that in some cases, the images are provided simply to facilitate research, as is the case here, and therefore the fee can be waived. The images you have used are small sections only, and do not represent a likely target for commercial exploitation, so I confirm that you have permission to use these images without charge.
These can be credited: 'The National Archives, published by permission'. (But not (c)..., as copyright is waived for publication). 

Should you wish to use full Census pages, the fee will be payable. In all cases we ask that the images are protected from download at high resolution. You can do this by watermarking, or by keeping the resolution to a level whereby the document is legible for information and research, but is not of sufficient quality for commercial publication.

In brief:

If you want to include on your blog sections of records downloaded from FindMyPast that originate from The National Archives, you should clarify with The National Archives that it is a small enough section, but they are likely to waive their fee.

If you want to include entire records, there is a fee, but you can pay a one-time fee, and if you find 20 images first, it's only 2 pounds per.

Finding My Past - Part Three: Hampshire Baptisms

Exploring FindMyPast with my new subscription, I decided to look up some Denyer baptisms. This is another instance where I have already conducted the research, but I wanted to see if FindMyPast had the same information.

Farlington Parish has transcriptions of their Baptism Records from 1654-2005 (with some gaps) online. I had already looked up the records for the eight children of my fourth great grandparents William and Jane (Goldfinch) Denyer.

Source: Farlington Parish Baptismal Records

(the only additional information on the full records are the given names of the parents.)


For the set between 1766 and 1812, Farlington Parish provides the following source information: Reproduced by kind permission of the Portsmouth Record Office. From a transcription of the original Register done by the Rev John Burrough Rector of Farlington Parish, in 1794. [This obviously references the entries from 1766-1794. The website displays a document written by Rev. Burrough and dated 1794 explaining that the original registers had been damaged due to dampness and the transcription was done to prevent loss of the information. The website doesn't indicate from where the information for the records 1794-1812 come, beyond the Portsmouth Record Office.]

At FindMyPast I conducted a search for all Denyers in the United Kingdom with the Optional Keyword 'Farlington' and specifically selected the Hampshire Baptisms record set.  There were only ten results.  The first two below may well be related in some fashion, but I haven't yet figured out how. The following eight match up with those found on Farlington's website.

Source: FindMyPast (used with permission)

At least all of the names, and six of the dates. John Henry was baptized in either 1795 or 1796, according to Farlington Parish or FindMyPast respectively. Charles was baptized in either 1802 or 1801, according to Farlington Parish or FindMyPast respectively.  The months and dates are identically transcribed.

Source: FindMyPast - (used with permission)

FindMyPast doesn't indicate where their transcribed records came from. I suspect if they transcribed from any original records themselves there would be images. Since all FindMyPast has is a transcription, my assumption is that they transcribed from a transcription - possibly the same transcription Farlington Parish transcribed from. But in both cases it's a transcription of a transcription. There is nothing in either to give greater credence.

However - in the case of John Henry - I suspect FindMyPast is more likely correct. It's very unlikely that John Henry was baptized in March of 1795 if my 3rd great grandfather, William, was baptized in July of 1795. (Especially since family records suggest William was born in November of 1794. Waiting several months between birth and baptism was common, but if William and John Henry were twins, they would likely have been baptized together.)

FindMyPast does appear to fall into the same trap that I've noticed elsewhere in referring to baptismal year as birth year in the transcription. They're not the same thing.

Another baptism I searched for is that of my fourth great grandfather, William - the father of the eight children above. Many family trees posted online indicate he was born in 1763, and his father was named Richard.

Source: FindMyPast - (used with permission)

However, the Hampshire Marriage Allegation for William Denyer and Jane Goldfinch asserts they were both 21 in 1791. It is very unlikely in my mind that this William Denyer was my fourth great grandfather.

FindMyPast was able to uncover a much more likelier answer. While some descendants might cringe at part of the transcription, I'm not bothered.

William (Fyfield or Denyer) - baptized in Headley Parish in December of 1771 - the illegitimate son of a William Denyer and Elizabeth Fyfield.

Source: FindMyPast - (used with permission)

All I have to support this theory is a baptismal date that comes within a year after the assumed birth year from the marriage allegation.  There might well be another William Denyer born at the right time whose baptismal record hasn't either survived or for some other reason doesn't appear in these databases. But for now I think these are the most likely candidates for my fifth great grandparents.

Update February 2013 - I have been contacted by one of the joint administrators of the Farlington Parish, and he has clarified that their transcriptions are from the original registers that are kept at the Portsmouth Record Office. He also mentioned that the transcription continues and more records continue to be added.

Finding My Past - Part Two: Census Records

Readers of Part One, where I looked at FindMyPast's marriage records, may have enlarged the image of the search results and noticed the check marks by the two view icons. This indicates that the transcription and the image had already been viewed.  I didn't take screen captures as I was conducting the research, I went back later and repeated my steps.

These check marks are a nice addition, letting the researcher know: You've already been here. 

Source: FindMyPast (used with permission)

Instead of repeating my original research steps exactly, I'm going to go another route to the same records.

First, I am going to click "Search" on the opening screen without entering any data whatsoever:

Source: FindMyPast (used with permission)

This takes me to a screen with 1,232,970,358 results. I guess that's the number of records they currently have. I will then narrow down the results dramatically by entering a last name, specifying the United Kingdom, and using the Optional Keyword "Tailor".  There are 15 results, and I show the first four below.

I'm unsure who Harry Newmark is. There are several Newmark families in England and the US. From discussions on Surname message boards, it seems many of them trace their roots to a similar geographical area. Whether there is a common ancestor might only be determinable through Y-Surname DNA.

Source: FindMyPast (used with permission)

Barnet is my great grandfather, Solomon his brother, and Samuel their father. There is one tailor in their household, however, who appears on the 1901 census, but doesn't appear in these search results. Unless one searches for "Tailor*" or "Tailoress". My great grandfather's sister, Nelly.

Source: FindMyPast (used with permission)

I was actually unaware that Nelly was listed on the census as a Tailoress.  I originally viewed the 1901 English Census back in April of 2007. (I know this because of the date on the image file I downloaded.) This tells me that there is a 99% probability I downloaded it from Ancestry.com. That said, I clearly wasn't looking at documents very carefully back then.

Database Source: The National Archives (published by permission)

Despite the X marks (and I am unsure why they are there) the professions for Solomon, Barnet, and Nelly are quite clear.

This page of census results only lists the children of the household. Obviously, the parents were at the bottom of the preceding page. There seems to be no way to move back or forward a page in the census results.  However, I can return to the transcription.

Source: FindMyPast (used with permission)

And at the top of the "Other Household Members" are the parents, and I can select the view options from there.  (You might notice that on the transcription page, previously viewed transcriptions or images aren't checked off like they are on the search results page.)

I like how FindMyPast appears to transcribe every or almost every possible field on the record. This allows one to search on those fields using the "optional keyword," and helps the novice researcher not overlook some fields on the image.

One might complain that even though one can find other family members on the transcription, not being able to move back and forth on the pages prevents you from looking up neighbors. Not so. The Registration District and Street Name appear in the transcription.

Using the Optional Keywords: Marylebone "Wells Street" - and narrowing the results to the 1901 census, produces 462 results - likely everyone recorded on Wells Street in the 1901 census.

Source: FindMyPast (used with permission)

Another feature I like is their "Research Profile". This can be selected from the home page, or any transcription or image page:

Source: FindMyPast (used with permission)

It provides you a list of every single entry you have looked at, and whether you have viewed the image, transcription, or both. 

Source: FindMyPast (used with permission)

It also provides you with the # of credits it would cost if you were purchasing the documents "As you Go" instead of using a monthly or annual package.  Currently you can buy 100 credits for $13.95, and you have 90 days to spend them.  This will help a lot in a year when I have to decide if I wish to renew, and what package to choose.

So far I have 'spent' 95 credits, and I have focused mostly on my Newmark relatives. I've viewed one Goldfinch record, no Denyers, and none of my wife's British surnames. There's a lot of fun research ahead for me.

Finding My Past - Part One: England and Wales Marriages

FindMyPast - the British genealogy website, is expanding to America.

They currently have a deeply discounted World Subscription rate, and since my Ancestry subscription is US-only, I decided to give it a try. My first search involved the brother of my great grandfather, Sol Newmark. I knew he had gotten married in London.  I actually already have a copy of his marriage certificate, but I was curious what FindMyPast would turn up.

1) On the opening screen I entered his name under Who. I selected 'name variants' for the given name, but not the surname.

Source: FindMyPast (used with permission)

[Note: any image in this entry can be clicked upon to make larger]

2) These were the the first two results:

Source: FindMyPast (used with permission)

The first result was his marriage. And there were two spouses listed - one of them completely unfamiliar to me. My initial assumption was that either

A) Something no one told me about happened
B) What we have here is a page of a document with multiple marriages and the FindMyPast transcribers were unable to differentiate the marriages for some reason, so they include all of the surnames.

So I viewed the transcription (There are two icons in green next to the word "View" - a camera, and a piece of paper. The piece of paper is the transcription.) I also conducted a search on both spouses, and the additional groom who turned up, pretty much confirming hypothesis B. Here are the four transcriptions:

Source: FindMyPast (used with permission)

If you enlarge the images, you will notice that all four indicate a Page # of 110.  They all have the same "Image Quarter" (3). I was unable to fit the entire transcription in the images, but there is also a row that indicates they all have identical Volume #s (1C)  All other rows with data in them are in the images above.


I decided I wanted to view the image of Page 110. So from Solomon's transcription I clicked on the View Image button.

Database Source: The National Archives (published by permission)

Above I show the top of the page, so you can see the header, and the bottom of the page where Solomon's entry was located (in the middle column).  You can see that isn't page 110.  The images for Sarah Nathan, Eva Belosky, and Morris Rudowsky are all on different pages.


It's clear why the transcribers didn't know which spouse was which.  They entered the volume and page number for each person, and then saw who matched up. I believe '3rd Quarter' represents the months of the year - since each year appears to have been divided into 3-month segments. The image doesn't really contain any information that isn't on the transcription.

This is all supposition. I could probably do some research on the England and Wales Marriages (1837-2008) database  - but this information isn't on the FindMyPast website that I could tell. I'd have to find it on a different website with the same database. They also provide no information on how to take this information and order the actual certificate - which would be nice.

As Randy at Genea-Musings noted there isn't enough information for a proper citation. If I don't care about the academic quality of the citation (which in general I don't) I have enough information to suffice for my own needs.


FindMyPast does have an article in their "Learn More" section on the importance of citations.

Source: FindMyPast (used with permission)

In Part Two I will look at the Census results, as well as a couple other FindMyPast features. (Some of which I am quite fond.)

Note: As Randy points out in the comments, FreeBMD does have the information about these records that FindMyPast doesn't.  I'm unsure where I retrieved the Volume and Page # for my great great uncle back in 2007 (no source notes were written down in my database), but wherever it was, they didn't provide me with multiple spouses.  They probably just provided me with the volume and page number for Solomon, which was enough for me to order the certificate from the General Register Office. While the multiple spouses listed might not confuse British researchers, now that they are trying to attract American researchers, it would likely behoove them to provide a little bit of explanation.

Further Note: Here's the Certificate ordering information that FindMyPast provides on their British website.  They haven't yet moved it over to their American site.

Tumbling for Genealogy?

I work in the non-profit industry, and noticed a recent article in the NonProfit Times discussing organizations discovering the social networking site, Tumblr.

[First Book, which provides books for children] has more followers on the microblogging site Tumblr than it has on any other social media outlet.

“Tumblr, to me, is a great platform to reach a new, young audience,” said Rochee Jeffrey, FB’s social media coordinator.

Tumblr is a blogging tool “for the short attention span generation,” said Chris Youngblood, director of strategic partnerships for the Melbourne, Fla.-based To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA). Tumblr blogs are generally multimedia heavy: lots of photos, videos, audio clips and infographics, with short pieces of text. Long-form content need not apply. That’s what you do on a regular blog.

A week ago I created a tumblr blog, posted a vacation image, and told no one. In that week three people have 'reblogged' the image and an additional person has 'liked' it. Somewhat impressive since the only way the image could have been found is through the three 'hashtags' I put on the post.

I'm not completely new to Tumblr. I have another one focused on the author, Victor Hugo. However, I post very infrequently, and have only 3 followers. A vacation image posted there a week ago has now received 12 likes or reblogs. (None of the individuals are among my followers, so they too found the image through the tags. I'm not surprised Napoleon is more popular than a cemetery.)

As on Twitter, what tags one uses will greatly impact how many people see the post.

As the individual in the article above was quoted, Tumblr is for the short attention-spanned. The focus is on images and videos, not words. I like words. So I post more frequently to this blog, or to the social networks where I can be more long-winded.

Those who are using social networking as a promotion tool probably should have a presence on every popular social networking site. You need to be where the potential customer is; you can't force the potential customer to come to you. Tumblr is very popular.

A family historian/geneablogger might find Tumblr useful to share images of tombstones, or family history documents, while providing a link from the entries back to their primary blog where they add more details for those with greater attention spans. Not just for attracting the attention of potential customers if you are a professional genealogist, but also for getting noticed by potential cousins.

Correcting a Serious Mistake

I’ve uploaded parts of my genealogy database to a few different websites. If I am going to make the tree public, I’ve naturally always trimmed it a bit. My standard procedure is to delete every record of a living person. Most of the websites have privacy mechanisms that obscure information for living individuals, but which information they obscure sometimes varies, and technology can always fail. So no information is better, in my opinion, than obscured information. What the software doesn't know, it can't reveal to the world.

But a recent occurrence made me realize this isn’t always enough. A cousin contacted me, (rightfully) upset because some private information appeared on an entry at Wikitree. How did this happen? I had placed information about a living person within the source notes for their ancestor.

I actually do this a lot, but not to the extent in this case. I copy and paste obituary notices all the time for the individuals in my database. And those obituaries usually contain the names of children and grandchildren. However, few would complain about their name appearing in the obituary of their grandparent.

This lapse was a lot more serious. I had copied and pasted an entire email from a cousin, detailing names, and dates of birth, for several generations. I naturally pasted it into the notes for the original ancestor, and entered ‘see notes for X’ in the notes for the later generations. This email was my ‘source’ for much of the information; it made sense for me to copy and paste it into the database. I just forgot I had done this when I uploaded it to WikiTree. To cap it off, the email also contained a couple email addresses, and a postal address. (This contact information has now been deleted from my database. It didn't need to be there as part of the source material.)

At least WikiTree is a Wiki – making quick edits easy. Within minutes of getting the email, I had removed the text of the email from the profile. Of course, as is standard for the Wiki software, the entire text gets moved to “Change History.”

I emailed the WikiTree staff and asked them if they were able to override the settings and delete the Change History. I learned this isn’t possible. The only solution would be to delete the individual’s profile and then recreate it manually. I had no problem with this solution (in my email I had actually told the WikiTree staff that I would do this if they couldn't) but I didn’t want to do it immediately.

Why not? Google had already cached the private information. [I suspect this is how my cousin discovered the private information was there - through a search on their name.] It can take weeks, or months, before Google updates a cache, and it is my understanding that it can take longer if the page no longer exists. WikiTree names pages with the “Surname-XX “format, where XX is a number. I knew deleting and recreating the profile would likely generate a different number, and thus a different page from Google’s perspective.

I didn’t want to wait weeks or months, though, so I conducted a search to see if I could manually speed up Google’s process, and I learned I could.

In order to remove a cached page you need to provide
1) The URL of the page you want removed
2) A word that appears on the cached page that no longer appears there.

This process will not work to update a page where you have only *added* information. It is precisely intended for those times where information is deleted for reasons of privacy or legality. My situation fit perfectly.

I submitted the request in the evening, and by noon the next day the cache was gone.

I then deleted the profile, along with the change history, and recreated the profile manually with only the information I had intended to make public.

My next step was to remove the cache from Bing. They have a similar form to fill out, however, they require the original page to no longer exist before they remove the cache. Which is why I deleted the profile first. They also require the form to be filled out by someone associated with the website, and specifically ask for an email contact, so I sent the information to the WikiTeam, and they submitted it for me.  Three days later, the cache has been removed. (Since Yahoo uses Bing's search engine, this deleted it at Yahoo as well.)

I suspect the information may be cached on some minor search engines, however, a search at DogPile and MetaCrawler (which both search multiple search engines simultaneously) no longer produces a cached result. Any other search engines will update their information in their normal process of events.

I am very thankful to the WikiTree team for the quick assistance they provided me in dealing with this situation.

Transylvania 2012

As our honeymoon continued in Romania, Jenifer and I met up with my parents, siblings, two nephews, a niece, and some cousins. There were 15 of us in total, and using Oradea, Romania as a base, we spent two days touring a section of Transylvania where my Deutsch and Lichtman ancestors lived. When they lived there, it was part of Hungary. Now it is part of Romania.

One day we visited Huedin, Almasu (marked by the A), and Cluj. The other we visited Marghita and Simleu Silvaniei. My maternal grandfather, Martin Deutsch, was born in Almasu. The nearest train station from which the family likely departed in 1913 was in Huedin. My great grandfather's passport was issued in Kolozsvár (Cluj). In 1977 my great-uncle Ted Deutsch was recorded singing a song in part-Hungarian and part-Romanian about Kolozsvár. My great grandmother, Helen Lichtman Deutsch, was born in Marghita. Two nieces of Helen's, who remained in Romania, survived the concentration camps, but returned post-war, and settled in Simleu Silvaniei. They weren't allowed to leave under Communist rule until the 1960s. A daughter of one of the survivors, who grew up in Simleu Silvaniei, now lives near Tel Aviv. She joined us and acted as a tour guide.  

Almasu, Romania (Varalmas, Hungary)



About all we know about the home my grandfather was raised in until age 7 is that it was situated by the river. The Valea Babiu runs through Almasu. My parents took a photograph of a different house when they visited previously back in 2000. Either could be 100 years old; both have clearly seen better days. My great-grandfather was a tenant-farmer, so even if some depository had land records, his name wouldn't likely be on them.

Huedin, Romania (Bánffyhunyad, Hungary)



I like that the train station still has the Hungarian version of the town's name on it in addition to the Romanian. I also took photographs of two old benches that theoretically could have been there in 1913. One of the two benches isn't very useful anymore.  The sign on the red box says, "Pastrati Curatenia," which means, "Keep Clean" in Romanian. (There were newer benches at the train station, in addition to the chairs which can be seen in the first photograph.

Marghita, Romania (Margitta, Hungary)



We know the exact address in Margitta where my great-grandmother, Helen (Lichtman) Deutsch, was raised. However, sometimes streets get renumbered. There's a photograph of the Lichtmann leather shop prior to WW2. Is this the same building? While the front has been remodeled somewhat over the years, I believe it is.  While the building is occupied, we didn't knock on the door.

Update

Here's another archival image of the Lichtmann leather store, obviously taken at a different time than the one above because the sign above the door is different. The similarities between it and the current building are more noticeable.

Cluj, Romania (Kolozsvár, Hungary)

While in Cluj, I took a photograph of a monument. I couldn't read what it said at the base, but I figured I could look it up later.

It is a quote from Ioan Raţiu, one of several Romanians who petitioned Emperor-King Franz Joseph in 1892 for equal rights for Romanians.

Existenţa unui popor nu se discută, se afirmă!

which translates to:

The existence of a people is not for discussion, but rather for affirmation!
Photo Credits: 
John Newmark - June 2012 
Lichtman Leather Shop: Unknown photographer, Unknown date

Honeymoon - Etymology

There are several competing theories concerning the etymology of the word, Honeymoon. One associates it with the drinking of mead for a month.


Source: "A philosophical and statistical history of the inventions and customs of ancient and modern nations in the manufacture and use of inebriating liquors," Samuel Morewood, 1838, p. 466

For some, mead is a drink they last recall hearing about when they read Beowulf in their English Lit class. I've seen mead shelved with beer in some liquor shops, but it is closer to wine, and is often called "honey wine" to avoid confused looks from potential customers. There is definitely a lot of sweet mead, but like wine made from grapes, a dry mead can be produced as well. 

Jenifer and I received a gift of three bottles of mead on our wedding day from some good friends who were aware of this custom. We made those three bottles last for an entire lunar month (28 days), sharing a small amount each evening.  The custom held some extra meaning since both of us have a great grandfather who was a beekeeper.

The OED dates the word, 'honeymoon,' back to the 16th century, simply indicating the period of sweetness which follows marriage, but then wanes.

Sources seem to indicate that the concept of a trip taken after the wedding is relatively modern, dating back to "Bridal Tours" in 19th century Britain where couples (sometimes accompanied by friends or relatives) would visit those who had been unable to attend the wedding.

Photo Credit: Jenifer Newmark - June 2012

We spent three wonderful days and nights together in Prague. (See: Of Prague and Clocks, and Terezin - Not Your Usual Honeymoon Destination). However, our "bridal tour" had just begun.

For the next leg, we flew to Budapest, Hungary - where we met up with several family members. We only spent one night in Budapest before embarking on a Family History tour of Transylvania.  But that's a different post.