The Genealogy Pages - Public and Personal

This is the head page of the Genealogy Section of my web site. I have two major subsections. The Public pages, just below, are for anyone interested in genealogy. They are aimed at beginners. The Personal pages are about my ancestors. The personal section has links to my data on RWWC, an explanation of my conventions and my limits. You are welcome to look at the personal pages if you aren't related to me, but they will be dull. There is a navigation bar to the rest of the site at the bottom of the page.

Public Pages

• How to Start
• Links to the biggest free genealogy data bases
• Posting a Good Query
• Your Grandfather fought in WHAT war?
  (Why you should put dates in your queries)
• Obituaries and Etiquette
• Geezer Computer Skills
  (Some tricks for older computer users)
• Beginning Internet Use
• Genealogy resources off the web
• Finding people born after 1900
• Standards
We should all have them
• Mailing Lists What they are and why you should join some
• What the Mormons don't tell you;
  Search strategies for the LDS 1880 census transcription
• Googling your Ancestors
  A couple of tricks for search engines

• Who do I include?
  
• Scams and Tricks
• GEDCOM Files
  What is a GEDCOM? How do I read a GEDCOM? How do I convert a text file to a GEDCOM?
• Systematic Research
  I use a spreadsheet to do some basic checking on new additions. This method may work for you, too.
• Publishing your data
  Once you have a couple of hundred individuals, one of the fastest ways to make connections is to publish your data on the web.

• Recording Adoptions: How do you draw adopted children in a family tree? (2011)
• Those Elusive Edes: A detailed description of my search for some people named Ede, with nine lessons learned about finding people on the census. (2009)
• The Joys of Inveterate Button Pushing: Exploring the features of your genealogy program and new features in web sites. (2004)
• Who's Your Daddy? The debate between genealogy versus family history. (2004)
• Suspicion Meters: Your genealogy program doesn't have one, but you do. (2004)
• Estimating Dates: with a range and a note. (2002)
• Shortcuts, about speed and accuracy. (2002)
• Count Your Blessings: On-line genealogy in 1988 and now. (2002)
• The Grand Chase: how my individuals are connected. (2002)
• Family: What makes up a family, in genealogy and in real life? (2001)
• Hardboiled, a parody. (2000)
• Eben J. Cady, who died at Fredricksburg. Musings on a tombstone. (2000)

The rest of these didn't fall into any section easily.

Biography Outline
How many times have you found an ancestor and wondered what they were like; what made them laugh, what made them cry, what made them give up the farm in Vermont and move to Kansas? It is too late to ask most of them. You can ask your living relatives, and you can write an autobiography. With luck it will get passed down, and your great-grandchildren will have an idea of what you (or your parents, or your grandparents) were like. This page is a series of general questions. If you answer all of them in complete sentences - or better yet, a couple of paragraphs - you'll have a start on an autobiography. Some people have a hard time thinking of anything to write, and some of us ramble along for hours at the slightest provocation. The outline is for the first kind of people.

Cousins
What's the difference between a first cousin twice removed and a second cousin once removed? This page shows you, with a tree chart and explanations. There is a page about cousins dating, too.

Why do it at all?
Some paragraphs about what genealogy means to me.