>> From CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu!CWU.BITNET!SYSDAVES Fri Feb 28 10:01:50 1992 >> David L. Storla E-mail: SYSDAVES@CWU.BITNET [File created 8 December 1989] Computers: Changing the Face of Genealogy By Richard A. Pence (C) COPYRIGHT 1989, Richard A. Pence. All rights reserved. Permission granted for posting on local bulletin boards, provided no charge is made for access. Users may make personal copies. ANY OTHER PUBLICATION OF THIS MATERIAL WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. Much of this material originally appeared in the MONITOR, journal of the Capital PC User Group, Volume 8, No. 11, November, 1989. Since the splash made by Alex Haley's "Roots" a dozen years ago, genealogy - the search for one's ancestors - has been the nation's fastest-growing hobby. If it's not today's most popular, it certainly ranks right up there with the other perennial favorites: collecting stamps or coins - or personal computing. And, for the past several years, the hottest thing in genealogy circles has been the joining of seemingly disparate avocations: genealogy AND personal computers. While a few isolated genealogists began experimenting with using "home" computers to organize their data as soon as these machines came on the market, the lack of good software (and adequate experience) made for rough going. It wasn't until 1981 that "genealogical computing" really got its start. That year saw three significant events: A major article on personal computers in the staid National Genealogical Society Quarterly, the appearance of the first sales booth featuring personal computers and genealogical software at the Society's annual conference, and the launching by Paul Andereck (a former Fairfax resident) of a bimonthly journal called, naturally, "Genealogical Computing." Early the next year, the society authorized the formation of a computer interest group (called NGS/CIG), which launched its own bimonthly newsletter, the DIGEST. Now the "genealogical computing" world is awash with a bewildering myriad of programs, dozens (if not hundreds) of computer interest groups fostered by genealogical societies or genealogy interest groups fostered by computer organizations, and is tied together by more than 200 electronic genealogical bulletin boards. Growing Amid Debate To many, the marriage of computers and genealogy was one made in heaven. The aptitudes of the computer, such as storing and organizing large amounts of data and its willingness to do repetitive tasks such as generating traditional genealogical forms (ancestral charts or "family group sheets") were just the ticket. To others, especially those who have worked long and hard to raise the professionalism and quality of genealogical research far above hearsay and guesswork, it was the devil's own invention. Even today, there is a continuing and sometimes sharp debate between the genealogical "scholars" and genealogical "computerists." The scholars are convinced that the main contribution of computers will be to flood the world with machine-generated pedigrees that are dubiously researched and poorly documented - a mountain of "trash genealogy." The computerists see a wonderful new research and record-keeping tool and plunge head-long into technology, spurred by dreams of on-line access to such staple research sources as U.S. census records or even a gigantic "linked" database of "the family of man." Nevertheless, the impact of computers was unmistakable at this year's NGS conference in St. Paul. A computer learning center played to day-long full houses with hands-on computer trials, training sessions and software and hardware demonstrations. A "serious" genealogist was even spotted at a luncheon sponsored by the NGS/CIG! And, say computer genealogists, the best may yet be coming! A Language of Its Own In these few years computer genealogy has developed to where it even has its own jargon - a language sometimes unintelligible to either genealogists or computerists. Witness this message, recently spotted on a genealogy bulletin board: From: New User To: All Subject: Help A recent message said: > Ok. I got the tafel. You will have to call > ROOTS-BBS direct and request a matching report > yourself through the TMS menus and call back > subsequently to download the report. I am fairly new at genealogy and I have seen some things come up that I don't understand. Could you PLEASE tell me what a tafel is, what ROOTS-BBS is and what TMS means? This jargon, as we shall see, represents an excellent example of how genealogy has been adapted to computers and vice versa. Genealogical Software The world of genealogical database software can generally be described as the "big three" commercial programs, plus a large handful of fine shareware programs (see list at end of article), all of which can make the job of organizing and reproducing genealogical information much easier - but none of which meet every need. Most top-of-the-line products are in the IBM and compatible sphere. That the programs are less than perfect isn't surprising when you consider the complexity of the prospective database. Try to visualize what is needed by considering what the upper parameters of such a database might be: What's the maximum number of marriages an individual can have? How many children are the most you will encounter? How would you handle two or more conflicting dates for a given event? How many given names should be allowed for? What about name changes? Calendar changes? Illegitimacies? Adoptions? Surname spelling variations? How many places of residence should you provide for? How many footnotes should you have for each piece of data? How many biographical details (church preference, military service, occupation, etc.) should be included? Take the following real or imagined person, used by one computer genealogy interest group as part of an adequacy test for genealogical software: This individual was known by a number of names in his life. When he was born in St. Petersbourg, Russia, on Feb. 29, 1900, Julian, he was known to his parents in Hebrew as jhdtm, for which the English equivalent would be Mordachai. At that time, his family had no surname. After the revolution of 1917, the new Russian government gave him a new name, Mikhail Benesovich (by requiring surnames), a new birthdate, March 17, 1900 (by switching to the Gregorian calendar) and a new birthplace, Petrograd (by renaming the place). By the time he came to America via Liverpool and Toronto in 1926, the place had been renamed again, this time to Leningard. In America, he was naturalized in 1935 with the name Marcus A. Bench. The A didn't stand for anything, but he thought it looked good. He was known to family and friends as "Micky." When he died in St. Petersburg, FL, on Feb. 29, 1984, his tombstone carried his name as Mark Bench. That's enough to challenge the most proficient programmer. Given the complexity, the result is nearly always some sort of compromise in program creation and execution, since there's a virtually unending stream of unexpected exceptions. The Mormon Church and Computers The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly called the Mormon or LDS Church) in Salt Lake City has emerged as a leader in the computerization of genealogical records and data. At the risk of over-simplification, a belief among adherents is that ancestors must be identified and baptized into the church and this doctrine has been a driving force in placing the church at the leading edge in using computers in genealogy. It has computerized (on one of the world's largest and fastest mainframes) the International Genealogical Index (IGI), a collection of 121 million event- related records (e.g., a birth date and parents for an individual or the marriage of one couple). The IGI is indexed alphabetically by surname within states and generally only available at libraries on microfiche. However, you can now access this database and extract information to a floppy at special PCs in the church's main library in Salt Lake City. The IGI has been put on compact disk and is being distributed for testing to selected stake (local) centers. Later sales to individuals are expected, with the price of search software plus the CD expected to be about $60. The church continues to test and add to a mainframe database it calls the Family Ancestral File. This is a linked (parents-to-child, husband-to-wife) database primarily built from FGS forms submitted by church members or others. This database eventually will have records on tens of millions of individuals. Access likely will be limited to on-line or CD-ROM searching at the Salt Lake City Library, at least until data integrity can be assured. CD-ROM should eventually reach stake libraries. To aid members and to provide a means of simplifying data input to the Family Ancestral File, the church has developed and marketed Personal Ancestral File (commonly called PAF), a genealogical database program. Files generated by PAF can be put on a floppy and submitted to Salt Lake City for direct absorption (after stringent validity checks) into the Family Ancestral File. The cost of PAF is only $35, one reason why it is the most-used genealogy software package available. PAF, along with Family Roots by Quinsept, Inc., and Roots III by Commsoft, Inc., are known as "the big three" and account for the bulk of the sales of commercial genealogical software. All are excellently supported. (Addresses in list.) The LDS Church has also developed GEDCOM (for GEnealogy Data COMmunications), a specification designed to allow interchange of data between dissimilar systems, usually electronically. The GEDCOM specification relies on a series of heirarchical "tags" that identify various events and "levels" beneath these events. For example: INDI Identifies an individual BIRT Identifies a birth event DATE Identifies date information to which it is subordinate PLAC Identifies a place to which it is subordinate An example of the hierarchical levels: 0 INDI [data] 1 BIRT [data] 2 DATE [data] 2 PLAC [data] A 0 level "closer tag" ends that record and begins another. All "serious" genealogical software packages have utilities which support this specification (at least to the degree that they will IMPORT data from other systems) and there are a growing number of user-created utilities that will allow transfer of data between most of the more popular commercial or shareware programs, as well as for creating ASCII files for importation into generic database programs. Support for GEDCOM has become a major criteria among genealogical software shoppers. Both Roots and Family Roots (as well as PAF) have GEDCOM utilities and both have utilities that are approved by the Mormon Church for data submissions to the Family Ancestral File. Some proficient computer genealogists use two or three programs and freely move data back and forth to take advantage of various special features (e.g., easier data entry or record updating in one program, better or easier form generation in another). However, the GEDCOM specification is not yet a "final product." It exists in its "pure" specification form and in "implemented" forms - and the latter are not always fully compatible. Software differs in the kinds of data included and swapping databases can result in field losses. But complete specifications are available to developers for $5 and almost all are climbing on the bandwagon. The BBS Connection The "National Genealogy Conference" is now among the top half-dozen most popular "echoes" on the Fido bulletin board network. (Echoes are topic-specific forums shipped via least-cost phone lines to distribution points, then to participating boards.) More than 200 BBSs, including many in the DC area (see list at end of article), carry this conference and there are an average of about 100 new messages a day. [See Appendix A for help in using the Genealogy Conference.] In recent months, the "National" in the conference name belies its scope. Besides a host of Canadian boards, there are regularly participating boards in England and Scotland and off-and-on participation by BBSs in Australia, New Zealand, Holland, Belgium and Sweden. Links are being put together to France and, possibly, South Africa (which already has its own BBS genealogy conference). As a consequence, the conference now is usually called "the Genealogy Conference." Most of the messages in the conference are of the "query" type ("Looking for information on parents of John Doe, b Anytown, US, in 1814") or seek advice on how or where to research a particular problem ("Does anyone know if marriage records for Blank County, US, exist? Where can I write if they do?"). These are spiced with about equal numbers of perplexed beginners trying to find out what's going on (in either genealogy or computing) and accomplished veterans swapping inside tips on how certain software can accomplish wondrous things or imparting their experience to newcomers. Considering that genealogists who use computers comprise a small subset of genealogists, those with modems an even smaller subset - and still smaller is the group that has access to a local genealogy BBS - the success rate of fruitful information exchanges is remarkable. The conference is replete with the cry of "bingo," signifying a genealogical find. Even more worthwhile are the knowledgeable responses to research problems. The very success and popularity of the echo has spawned other echoes. The first of these was the Jewish Genealogy Conference, which caters to the specialized nature of that research. In the past few months, software-specific conferences have been started. Already there are sophisticated message exchanges among the users of PAF, Roots III, Family Roots, Family Edge (a popular shareware program which also has a commercial incarnation) and Family Ties (see list). Usually the software developer or a technical specialist for the company is a regular participant on these echoes. There are also specialized echoes for North Carolina genealogy, Georgia genealogy, Spanish genealogy, genealogy classifieds, one which concentrates on pioneers who used the Oregon Trail in their westward travels, one for missing persons and one for adoptees. Genealogy system operators keep it all going by swapping messages in their own private echo. Often the BBSs which carry these echoes do so only as a service to one of many specialized user groups, but there are several dozen boards which exist primarily for genealogists. Examples of the latter are the Commsoft BBS in Mountain View, CA, and ROOTS-BBS in San Francisco. Commsoft BBS, operated by the publishers of Roots III software, was started by its president, Howard Nurse. Howard's successful regular exchange of messages with Down-East Roots in Rye, NH, marked the beginning of the genealogy echo in 1985. ROOTS-BBS, operated by Brian Mavrogeorge, is likely the oldest operating genealogy BBS. Mavrogeorge now serves as editor of the NGS/CIG DIGEST (published in the DC area), a task he accomplishes via a modem hookup to the NGS - a testament to how much computers are "infiltrating" genealogy. Two local BBSs are strictly "genealogy boards": NGS/CIG BBS, operated by the National Genealogical Society's Computer Interest Group, and CPAFUG BBS, operated by the Capital Personal Ancestral File Users Group. A wide variety of genealogical shareware, utilities and research aids can be downloaded from these and other area bulletin boards (see list). Membership is not necessary to use these two boards, but it does upgrade your access. The Electronic Future Remember "tafel" and "TMS," those befuddling terms in the message quoted earlier? To computer genealogists with modems, these are easily recognized - and in them lies the potential for a great explosion of information swapping. Genealogists, by nature and tradition, are like computer hobbyists: They are a sharing bunch. A researcher seldom worries about what is being given away in that big package of records being sent to a fellow researcher - even though its contents may have taken years of work in libraries and archives or hacking through over-grown cemeteries. Genealogists also operate on the "there's-a-pony-in-there-somewhere" theory: Somewhere there's someone who has that one bit of elusive information needed to solve a genealogical puzzle that's been festering for years. A common way of trying to find that person or information is to post genealogical queries in the more popular or localized genealogical publications or to enroll in surname-match programs operated by businesses or individuals. The advent of the computer and BBS networks is revolutionizing this kind of match-making. In 1985 Paul Andereck noted the growing number of genealogical databases and said that users needed a shorthand way to describe what was in those databases so they could more easily share information. He put forward the concept of "tiny tafels," now commonly called tafels or TTs by computer genealogists. The expression "tiny tafel" was derived from the word "ahnentafel," which is a list of ancestors or - literally from the German - an "ancestor table." In an ahnentafel, a person is assigned the number 1, his father the number 2, his mother number 3, his paternal grandfather number 4, and so on as far back as you can go. The numbering system allows a person (or a computer) to readily identify the relationships for two individuals from their assigned numbers. A tiny tafel, then, is a compact way of describing a family database so that the information can be scanned visually or by a computer. Acting on Paul's idea, Commsoft's Howard Nurse developed the first set of specifications for a tiny tafel, relying on a method called "soundex coding." This coding system was used to overcome the vagaries of surname spellings during indexing of U.S. census records during the 1930s. In short, a soundex code consists of the first letter of the surname, plus three numbers that represent the SOUNDs of the succeeding letters. In it, vowels aren't coded, sound-alike letters are assigned the same number according to a value table, and double letters or side-by-side sound-alikes are coded only once. Thus, the soundex code P520 (for Pence) would locate not only surnames spelled that way, but those which may have been misspelled as Pens, Penns, Pense, Penz, Pans or many other variations. Information on soundex codes and programs for coding surnames can be found on almost any bulletin board which caters to genealogists. These programs represent one of the most basic types of software for genealogy. (Try GENKIT15, freeware which has a soundex coder and a number of other genealogy utilities, including a day/age finder.) Commsoft's TT specification calls for information lines (name, address, etc.), plus any number of data lines. The data consists of a soundex code, year of birth of the earliest ancestor in a line, year of birth of the latest descendant in the line, the family surname and the places of both births. A "Z" line before the data tells how many lines of data will follow, and a "W" line at the end closes the TT and tells when it was created. Thus, a valid TT could consist of just a few lines, as in this example: N Richard A. Pence A 3211 Adams Court A Fairfax, VA 22030 Z 2 P520 1740 1900*PENCE/Shenandoah Co. VA/Warren Co. IN S354 1630 1910*STANLEY/Topsfield MA/Brown Co. SD W 1 May 1988 The asterisk is an expression of relative interest, one of several possibilities. Optional information, such as phone number, genealogy program used, hardware used, BBSs frequented, etc., can be added in additional "header" lines with appropriate initial code letters. You can have as many data lines as you wish, so long as the "Z" line reflects the correct number. Complete specifications for TTs can be found on genealogy bulletin boards in a file generally called TTSPEC.TXT. Using these specs, you can create a TT with a word processor. Most major genealogical software will generate a tafel from information in a family database file, and a stand-alone tafel generator is also available, usually under the name TTGEN12.ARC. Following general acceptance of these specifications, Commsoft developed a program called the Tafel Matching System (TMS). This software will machine-read a submitted TT, compare it with other tafels in its files and generate a report of names and addresses of the submitters of other tafels which contain matches - that is, those which contain the same soundex code. A list of matches is part of the report. Best of all, the system will pass the report on to a succession of similarly equipped computers. You can enter your TT in the appropriate area of a local BBS, request a matching report, then sit back and await the results. The initial board scans for soundex matches, generates a matching report and ships the tafel and report to the next BBS, where another scan is made and the report expanded. In a week or two, the final report is back at the originating board and you are automatically notified the next time you call. Right now, at least a dozen genealogical BBSs - with hundreds of tafels - are participating in a carefully established - and quickly growing - round-robin. Commsoft makes the TMS software available free to any bulletin board participating in the National Genealogy Conference, provided no charge is made for its use. The TMS is available locally on the CPAFUG BBS. There is a help file for new users. Admittedly, a tafel is less than precise and the system often generates a bundle of false leads. But as users gain knowledge of how to taylor their tafels to more precisely define their research needs and as the number of participants increase, the system is bound to improve. Even now it can effortlessly accomplish the equivalent of several Saturdays at the library poring through genealogical "swap" publications! What's Next? Even with the revolutions already underway, computer genealogists are panting for the future. Some day, they hope, the LDS Church will open its vast computerized databases to wider remote access. Seemingly, things are headed that way - but only one agonizingly deliberate step at a time, with checks and double checks to make sure that no gigantic goofs are committed. There are other possibilities, too. For example, the entire 1860 U.S. index for the state of Indiana has been loaded into the mainframe computer of a cooperating university. It's available principally on microfiche, but selected portions (one surname or soundex code, for instance) can be loaded onto floppy disks and transferred to individual family databases with a little manipulation. Right now, though, the price for getting data on floppies includes a rather hefty set-up fee and is probably more than most hobbyists are willing to pay. The notable thing about this project, though, ia that the input was accomplished under direction of a historical society by volunteers using PCs. It could serve as a model for computerizing other census records using armies of eager PC volunteers. A missing ingredient for many state or local groups is the mainframe needed to handle the full database. And there are questions about ownership of and access to such databases. Here in Washington, the National Archives has embarked on experimental programs involving scanning and computerizing many of the old records entrusted to it. Such scanning doesn't make the document contents a part of a database, but computer-aided enhancements can make badly faded documents legible. Also, there's less worry about long-term preservation. Another dream of genealogists is on-line access to the vast Archives resources. Meanwhile, computer genealogists are already using their "toys" to do much more than store and manipulate their family databases. They use them to communicate, to organize research needs for field trips, to answer correspondence, to analyze problems - and to help with their income taxes. Are You Ready to Be a "Computer Genealogist"? Perhaps genealogy is something you're interested in as one more use for your computer. For starters, you may be cut out for it. It appears that both computers and genealogy require similar inclinations. Inquisitiveness and a knack for analyzing and solving problems are just a couple. (Stubborness is another.) Whether your computer is ready is another matter. Keep in mind the complexity of what needs to be done. A genealogical database is far from simple and it takes a lot of software and hardware power to usefully manipulate it. Growing numbers of genealogists are finding their first computer isn't really up to handling today's memory-gulping software and their expanding databases. The First Law of Genealogical Computing is: "Memory and disk space are just like money: Plenty is never enough." An XT-type machine is likely adequate, but an AT-type 286 will save a lot of time if you have a large family database. A hard disk (the bigger the better) is almost a must and you'll want 640k for the better programs (extended databases may need more). Color support is common in genealogy programs and some users like graphics for maps or other diagrams. A new and growing facet of genealogical computing is scanning and storing original source material or old photos. You'll probably want a modem (at least 2400 baud). And, of course, a printer to suit your fancy. With a program such as Roots III, for instance, you can generate a quality genealogical book on a laser printer - complete with table of contents, text, charts, footnotes and index. Surveys show that computer genealogists usually have about $3,000 tied up in hardware. The amount has stayed the same over the years, but the power it buys has greatly increased. Thousands of genealogists are getting by on much less, but this usually means splitting the database and intricately juggling floppy disks or long periods of waiting for data to be manipulated or reports to be created. One last thought: If you think your computer swallows up huge hunks of your free time, stay away from genealogy. It's as bad or worse. Looking at it from the other side of the fence is the Second Law of Genealogical Computing: "The time saved by computerizing genealogical records is equal to or less than the time spent monkeying around with the machine." As Andereck once put it, "Who with a computer has time to do genealogy?" ------ Popular Genealogy Programs Choosing a genealogy program is a lot like choosing a restaurant: An awful lot depends on what you want. Below are listed some of the more popular commercial and shareware genealogy programs. All have special features that endear them to their users and most will do much of what you need done. All of the following shareware programs and demos of some of the commercial programs are available from several local BBSs. BROTHER'S KEEPER - Shareware by John Steed, 6907 Childsdale Rd, Rockford, MI 49341; $25 registration. Latest version is 4.5. FAMILY EDGE - Shareware ($10 registration and $5 for disks, s&h if ordered by mail) and commercial version ($99) available from Carl York, 150 E 30th St #2E, NYC, NY 10016. Shareware data limited to one disk. FAMILY HISTORY SYSTEM - Shareware from Philip E. Brown, 834 Bahama Dr, Tallahassee, FL 32301; $35 registration. Disks with either interpreted or compiled basic versions of the programs available for $6 each (two disks) from Brown. FAMILY ROOTS - Commercial program for IBM and compatibles from Quinsept, 20 Grassland St, PO Box 216, Lexington, MA 02173, Steve Vorenberg, president; 617- 641-2930 (MA or foreign) or 800-637-ROOT (elsewhere in U.S.); $185. MasterCard, Visa and AmEx. Works with one or more disk drives and with hard disks. Trial disk and guide, $9.50; full manual (no disk), $18.50. Quinsept BBS on line 6pm- 8am at 617-641-1080. Versions available for Apple, Commodore, TRS, CP/M, others. Macintosh version, not a port, being released in increments. Specify computer type, disk type, model, etc. FAMILY TIES - Shareware by E. Neil Wagstaff of Computer Services, 1050 E 800 S, Provo, UT 84801; 801-377-2100; registration $50; versions for DOS and CP/M available. Order blank and latest shareware version (1.19a) available on FAMTIES BBS, 801-374-8080. A demo/tutorial file and an IBM evaluation copy may be downloaded by anyone. VISA or MC ($2 fee); allow personal checks 14 days to clear; COD via UPS or USPS ($2 fee); shipped next day when ordered by certified check or MO. FAMILY TIES II, a major upgrade, is a commercial product and not available as shareware. Commercial version available from dealers or Wagstaff for $139.50. A port of the DOS program is available for the Mac. GENEALOGY ON DISPLAY - Shareware by Melvin Duke, P.O. Box 20836, San Jose, CA 95160, phone 408-268-6637; $35 contribution suggested; basic program for IBM and compatibles. NOTES AND SOURCES, also by Duke, allows additional documentation for data in GoD. Both programs available on many BBSs; latest version is 5.x. PERSONAL ANCESTRAL FILE - Commercial program from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake Distribution Center, 1999 W 1700 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84104; $35. Specify MS-DOS (Stock # PBGS 1642 for 5', PBGS 1788 for 3'), Apple (PBGS 1653) or Mac (PBGS 161A). Sales tax required from many states. Make check payable to "Corporation of the President." Toll-free orders: 800- 537-5950. Visa or MasterCard. New version (2.2) expected in December, For information, write the church in care of Family History Department, Ancestral File Unit 2WW, 50 E N Temple St, Lake City, UT 84150, phone 801-240-2584. Technical support, 801-240-2585. BBS, 801-240-3909. ROOTS III - Commercial program from Commsoft, Inc., 2257 Old Middlefield Way, Mountain View, CA 94043, Howard Nurse, president; for DOS computers, at least 512k RAM and hard disk recommended; $250 plus CA tax and $7 s&h. Toll-free number (outside CA, inc. HI and VI but not AK) 800-32-ROOTS; normal business line, 415-967-1900; tech support, 415-967-3678; BBS, 415-967-6730.Often called the "Cadillac of genealogy programs." Demo disk and sample book, $10 (plus CA tax and s&h), deductible when program ordered directly from Commsoft. Visa, MasterCard, AmEx or personal checks. Supports GEDCOM and the Lotus-Intel- Microsoft (LIM) expanded memory standard, which is required for databases larger than about 3,000 individuals. Users get newsletter, ROOTS RAP. Updated version being shipped December. ------ Area Genealogy Bulletin Boards Two local bulletin boards are devoted exclusively to genealogy: The NGS/CIG BBS, operated by the National Genealogical Society, Arlington; 703- 528-2612, Don Wilson, sysop (9600 Baud ONLY: 703-528-8570). Part of the Fido network; carries all available genealogy echoes and has a wide range of genealogical shareware programs and utilities available. SEARCH.ARC or .ZIP is a beginner's guide to genealogy and other help files are available. Recently upgraded to two lines on new equipment. CPAFUG BBS,operated by the Capital PAF Users' Group, Columbia; 301-290-9530 (long distance from DC), 301-989-8960 (DC local call), Barbara Bennett, sysop. Fido network; specializes in PAF help and utilities, but has other utilities and programs available. Carries the PAF echo and the Jewish Genealogy echo in addition to the National Genealogy Conference. Following are other area BBSs which have recently carried the National Genealogy Conference echo. These are not limited just to genealogy, but they may carry some of the other genealogy echoes and have genealogy files available. City & State BBS Name Phone No. Sysop Baud --------------- ------------------ ------------ ------------- ---- Alexandria VA Write Only Memory 703-548-7849 Joe Salemi 2400 Chevy Chase MD Chips & Dip 301-588-9465 Richard Klein 2400 Chevy Chase MD Mystery Board 301-588-8142 Richard Klein 9600 Crofton MD TCS 301-261-3877 Pat McDonald 9600 Columbia MD No Place Like Home 301-730-9069 Mark Oberg 2400 Columbia MD No Place Like Home 301-506-6450 Mark Oberg 2400 Falls Church VA GreyEagle 703-534-0177 Ken Taylor 2400 Falls Church VA Pedaler's Palace 703-532-3051 Dan Garnitz 2400 Falls Church VA Pedaler's Palace 703-538-6540 Dan Garnitz 2400 Gaithersburg MD 3 Winks 301-670-9621 Stan Staten 9600 Gaithersburg MD 3 Winks 301-590-0629 Stan Staten 9600 Herndon VA Zephyr 703-620-5418 Miles Hoover 9600 Manassas VA Wheels and Spokes 703-335-9064 Carl Rehling 2400 Pikesville MD Nerve Center 301-655-4708 Alan Hess 9600 Seabrook MD BUG 301-794-9036 Chris Stevens 2400 Washington DC Typographer's 202-265-9872 Mark VanOrder 2400 Some calls may be long distance from certain local exchanges. A complete list of U.S. and other genealogy BBSs is available on the NGS/CIG BBS as GBBSyymm.TXT or GBBSyymm.ZIP (where yymm is the year and month of the latest version. In fact, it's best to check this list often, as it changes frequently. ------ On-Line Subscription Services GEnie Genealogical RoundTable - Phone 1-800-638-9636 for info. Address: GE Consumer Services, 401 North Washington St, Rockville, MD 20850. Melvyn Magree is RoundTable sysop. CompuServe Genealogy Forum - For info call 1-800-848-8990; in OH, 614-457-8650. Address: 5000 Arlington Centre Boulevard, P.O. Box 20212, Columbus, OH 43220. Forum sysop is Richard Eastman. Type GO ROOTS after you access CompuServe. ------ Area Computer/Genealogy User Groups CPAFUG - The Capital PAF User Group meets at 1pm 3rd Sa each month at the Washington Stake Family History Center, 10000 Stoneybrook Dr, Kensington. For all Personal Ancestral File users; not associated with LDS Church. Membership $15 ($20 overseas), includes newsletter, ABT-PAF. CPAFUG, P.O. Box 177, Bowie, MD 20715. Information: Joe Adams, secretary, 301-464-8323; address 13312 Vanessa Avenue, Bowie, MD 20715. NGS/CIG - National Genealogical Society/Computer Interest Group, 4527 17th Street North, Arlington, VA 22207; 703-525-0050. Dues $5/yr, includes subscription to bi-monthly newsletter, NGS/CIG DIGEST; members must first join NGS ($30/yr). Meets 10am 3rd Sa each month (except Dec.) in the Fifth Floor Theater, National Archives, 8th & Pennsylvania, N.W., DC. Meetings open to all. QUINSEPT USER GROUP - Quinsept User Group Newsletter, Bob Mitchell, editor, 102 Broadfield Ln, Spotsylvania, VA 22553; 703-898-7767. (Family Roots software.) Bi-monthly, national; price not given in newsletter. RUG - ARLINGTON, VA - Roots Users Group of Arlington. Usually meets 1st Tues. each month at Kenmore Junior High School, 200 S Carlin Springs Rd, Arlington, VA. Dues, $10/yr (includes newsletter), send to Robert Williams, Treasurer, 2606 S Hayes St, Arlington, VA 22202. For additional information, contact John A. Wiegard, President, 3605 Lakota Rd, Arlington, VA 22303, phone 703-960-3547. ------ Other Genealogy/Computer Sources HEARTHSTONE BOOKSHOP - 8405-H Richmond Highway, Alexandria (Potomac Square Shopping Center, U.S. Rt. 1); phone 703-360-6900; hours 10am-5pm M-Sa, closed Su. Caters to genealogists and local historians; handles genealogy software, generally not available through regular software outlets. GENEALOGICAL COMPUTING - Now a quarterly published by Ancestry, Inc., 250 S 400 E, Suite 110, Salt Lake City, UT 84111. Subscriptions $25/yr ($30 in Canada, Mexico; $35 overseas). Usually about 48 pages, with reviews, updates, tips. ------ Richard A. Pence, a DC-based association executive, writer and editor, has been "computing his family tree" since 1978. His main computer/genealogy interest is building a dBase database of all U.S. Pence families. He is co-author (with Paul Andereck) of Computer Genealogy (Ancestry, Inc., Salt Lake City, 1985), is a past editor of the NGS/CIG newsletter, and was the founding sysop of the NGS/CIG BBS. Dick can be reached through that BBS or found ensconced in front of his AT clone almost any weekend. Call 703-591-4243 (Fairfax). ### APPENDIX A +-----------------------------------+ | THE GENEALOGY CONFERENCE | | What It Is . . . | | Using It Effectively . . . | +-----------------------------------+ | Prepared by Richard A. Pence | +-----------------------------------+ The GENEALOGY CONFERENCE, one of numerous conferences that are a part of the Fido bulletin board system. The Fido system is a volunteer network of some 3,000 personal computers located throughout the world. The owners (system operators or "sysops") of these machines have tied them together with the automatic message routing system first developed in the Fido software (no one seems to know exactly where it got the name Fido). These sysops usually absorb the cost of the long-distance calls needed to transfer messages from board to board and, of course, of the equipment dedicated to the system. Messages left in the conference are automatically "echoed" each night to more than 200 other bulletin boards across the country via FIDONET EchoMail. +----------------+ | QUERY PROTOCOL | +----------------+ You'll get better, faster response to your queries if you follow these simple suggestions: HEADER: Address your message to "All". Put the SURNAME(s) you are searching in the SUBJECT line of the message in all caps. This is important, because some people check only the TO, FROM and SUBJECT lines and only read those messages they think might be of interest to them. A message with the subject "Family Information Wanted" won't attract anyone's attention. BODY: Enter the body of the message in caps and lower case, with ONLY surnames capitalized. Messages in all caps are hard to read and draw constant complaints from users. The capitalized surnames will stand out. Provide full names, dates, places and as much other detail as necessary. Make the message brief and to the point. As with queries to genealogical publications, you should try to limit them to one specific family and event. Enter separate queries for other problems; don't try to pack everything into one message. SAMPLE MESSAGE (ficticious) +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | TO: All | | FROM: Jerry Baker | | SUBJECT: BAKER SMITH CARRINGTON | | | | Robert BAKER, born 1827 Warren County, OH (son of James BAKER & Serena | | SMITH), married Effie CARRINGTON 12 Jul 1853 Marion County, IN. Who were | | her parents? Have a good record of their descendants if you are interested. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ It takes about a week for messages to get across country and back. If you don't get a response the first time, try again in a few weeks. The person who can help you may have missed it the first time. Don't get discouraged, keep trying. +-------------------+ | RESEARCH MESSAGES | +-------------------+ The Genealogy Conference has proven to be a most successful medium for getting quick answers to tough "little" research questions. What's the county seat of Blank County, OH? Does anyone have information about a certain Civil War battle? I can't find Outoftheway, ND, on my maps; what county is it in? In what European country was a certain locality before World War II? Where can I get a topographical map of a certain area? A host of experienced genealogists, many with special areas of expertise, regularly read and respond to messages on the conference. Many can - and will - translate from foreign languages. One apparently has an exhaustive collection of European maps and can pinpoint towns in geopolitical areas at any given moment of history. Some will take the time to check a certain reference for you during their next trip to their local library. +--------------------+ | SOFTWARE QUESTIONS | +--------------------+ Also regular participants on the conference are a number of users experienced with various genealogy software programs. They will try to answer specific questions about software. However, questions such as "What is the best genealogy program?" probably won't net you much. The answer is - it depends. It depends on your personal preferences, the type of equipment you have, the type of data you have, how much data, what your end product will be and other many other variables. Such a question will also spawn comments from partisans of various software packages - each touting various virtues without really telling you what you want to know. A file called GENSOFT.TXT (or .ARC or .ZIP), available on many bulletin boards, has an overview of some of the most commonly available genealogy programs and is a good starting place for someone shopping for software. The publishers of Roots III, Family Roots (planned) and Family Ties all maintain bulletin boards that participate in the conference. There are also conferences devoted exclusively to the above three, plus Personal Ancestral File and Family Edge. +----------------------+ | PRE-CREATED MESSAGES | +----------------------+ You can save time and have more accurate messages by writing and editing them in advance, then "uploading" them to the Genealogy Conference. Create your message with an ASCII (plain text with no special characters) text editor. Most word processors (including WordStar and WordPerfect) allow you to save messages in ASCII format; so does the widely used shareware program, PC-Write. Your margins should be set at 0 (left) and about 72 (right) to prevent extra line feeds. The BBS software will "word-wrap" the last word in a lengthy line and your word processor may have a line feed inserted after that word, thus creating a one-word line. (This break point may be slightly different on some bulletin boards; you may have to experiment a couple of times to get the optimum line length.) Save the file to the disk or - if you have a hard disk - in the directory where your communications software is. Begin entering the message as you normally would by filling in the TO, FROM and SUBJECT lines. When the BBS is ready to receive your message, invoke the file upload (send a file) feature of your communications software and select the ASCII transfer protocol. When it asks you the name of the file to send, type in the name of your message and begin the transfer process. Your message will then scroll onto the screen. If you don't want to save your message file on your communications software disk, you can usually (if your communications software supports it) create a "path" to tell your software where to find the file. When asked for the name of the file to be transferred, you would then enter, for example, B:MESSAGE1.TXT (for a two-floppy system) or C:\TEXT\MESSAGE1.TXT (for a hard disk system). ----- APPENDIX B Other Aids by Richard A. Pence GENKIT15.ZIP is a collection of genealogical utilities, including a day/age finder, ahnentafel/tiny tafel information, a "cousin finder," explanations of genealogical numbering systems, soundex coder, land description notes and measurements. SEARCH.ARC is a beginner's guide to genealogy. GENSOFT.* is a brief rundown of various genealogy programs available and contains names and addresses of suppliers. NUMBERS.* is an explanation of numbering systems used in genealogy. GBBSyymm.ZIP (or .TXT) is the latest "consolidated list" of genealogy bulletin boards (international). THE ABOVE FILES AVAILABLE ON THE NGS/CIG BBS