On Mondays, I often publish brief e-mail interviews with our lookup providers. This week I’d like to introduce you to Ben Hollister, our first provider from Australia.

From benhollister’s profile

Ben’s passionate about teaching, history, and information/knowledge management. His extensive educational background includes a sub-major in Australian Culture and History and a Graduate Certificate in Applied History and Heritage. He’s a member of the South Australian Genealogy and Heraldry Society and NGS. On Genlighten, Ben offers lookups covering South Australia vital records (BMD), Australian Army Service Records, and cemetery photos in the Adelaide area.

Nine Questions with Ben

1) How did you get started doing genealogy research?

I have always loved history. My grandmother had compiled a huge amount of family history research, and for some reason all family papers and heirlooms seem to end up with me. I found out so much that I didn’t know that I just had to do more myself.

2) Do you have a genealogy superpower? If so, what is it?

No superpowers here, just the tenacity to try a variety of searches to see if a record exists.

3) Describe a tricky research problem you’re particularly proud of having solved?

When I first started chasing my BOHLMANN family, I found that previous researchers had identified 2 separate Johann BOHLMANNs in South Australia with 2 separate families. After a certain amount of digging, I proved that it was the same person. He had been widowed shortly after arriving and all of his family had died young, then he remarried and started another family.

4) What are the ideal elements you like to see in a well-formulated lookup request?

Details, Details, Details….and dot points (Ed.: otherwise known as ‘bullet points’.) Don’t leave anything out that may even be vaguely relevant, but make sure that it isn’t buried in too much padding.

5) What’s the most interesting record source or repository you’ve utilized in your area?

The General Registry Office (Old Land Titles Section) is fascinating as the Deeds are produced on parchment and contain a history of so many of the early buildings on Adelaide.

6) What technical tools do you use to produce the digital images you provide to clients?

As much as possible I like to scan at about 600dpi, but luckily my wife is a photographer, so when I have to take photos of documents on site, I sneak out with her digital SLR and table tripod!! I use Adobe Photoshop 8.0 to adjust and edit, and Transcript 2.3 to do my transcriptions.

7) Any new lookups you’re considering offering?

South Australian Land records (old and new system), electoral rolls (all of Australia), and any other series from the State Library or State Archives that I can quantify.

8 ) What advice would you give to someone who wants to get started as a lookup provider?

Be really clear about what you want to offer and make sure that your prices are comparable to others for the service level and quality you provide.

9) What other passions do you pursue when you’re not at the archives doing lookups?

That’s funny!!!! Well I sometimes come home and search archives online(for a change), I am always studying (just finished my 3rd post-graduate degree -one in computer science, one in education, and one in applied history), and occasionally my wife pulls me up for air and we work on renovating our house.

Lookups benhollister offers

• South Australian Death Lookup, 1836 - 1972
• South Australian Marriage Lookup, 1836 - 1937
• South Australian Birth Lookup, 1929 - Current
• South Australian Death Lookup, 1973-Current
• WWI Australian Army Service Records, 1914-1920
• Cememtery Photos - Metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia, Any Range
• Additional Cemetery Photos - Metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia, Any Range

On Mondays, I try to publish brief e-mail interviews with some of our lookup providers. (I apologize that I’ve fallen down on this practice lately.) This week’s interview is with Michael Hait.

From michaelhait’s profile

Michael is a professional genealogical researcher, author of numerous genealogy-related publications and an APG Chapter Vice President. He specializes in Maryland research, African-American genealogy, and Civil War records. On Genlighten, Michael offers a broad selection of lookups, including Maryland vital records, probate records, wills, and land patents. He can also retrieve and digitize Civil War Pension files (Union) from the National Archives in Washington, D.C..

Nine Questions with Michael

1) How did you get started doing genealogy research?

When I was about eight or nine years old, my grandmother showed me a “family tree” that her sister, an LDS convert, had compiled.  This immediately intrigued me, and my grandmother and I began our own “research.”  When I was about twenty, I really jumped into research vigorously, going to the National Archives in Washington DC every Saturday, writing letters to ancestral hometown historical and genealogical societies, etc., and discovered the Rootsweb mailing lists (no message boards yet). I have been researching ever since then.

2) Do you have a genealogy “superpower”? If so, what is it?

I would say that my “superpower” is my ability to locate evidence in records outside of the everyday record groups.

3) Describe a tricky research problem you’re particularly proud of having solved?

I have researched many tricky problems in five years as a professional genealogist.  I am proud of them all, because each of them helps a family understand their heritage more.  But I guess that I would choose a recent case involving an enslaved family, where the official records only offered indirect evidence and confusion ca. 1824. Then I located a family history book that reproduced pages from a family Bible containing all of the slaves’ births!

4) What are the ideal elements you like to see in a well-formulated lookup request?

The most important is to read every word of the offer.  Sometimes there are outside factors that affect a particular lookup, such as years missing in the records due to fire, etc.  If there are special instructions, etc., then there is also probably a reason for them.  But overall, I feel that a well-formulated request should be very specific — it should include an exact name, relatively narrow date range, and specific location.

5) What’s the most interesting record source or repository you’ve utilized in your area?

One of my specialties is African-American, particularly slave, genealogy, so any record group that provides information specific to individual enslaved people or families is of great interest to me.  One of the most interesting record groups I located were registers of claims submitted to the Slave Claims Commissions during and following the Civil War.  These Commissions were established to compensate loyal slaveowners in the border states whose slaves joined the Union Army.

Each register includes the name and location of the slaveowner, and the FULL name (given and surname) of each slave, as well as in some cases other details like the regiment and company in which the slave served.  I am currently in the process of transcribing and publishing these registers.  I have already published the short register of claims of the Delaware Slave Claims Commission, and am finishing up the much larger Kentucky register.

6)  What technical tools do you use to produce the digital images you provide to clients?

I have a scanner with a top-load feeder so that I can scan many pages at once.  I use the free Photoshop alternative GIMP to edit photos, and the free version of PrimoPDF to compile PDF reports.

7) Any new lookups you’re considering offering?

I am thinking of offering several record groups available at the National Archives in Washington, DC. [Update: Michael recently added Civil War pension file lookups to his offerings. See the list below.]

8 ) What advice would you give to someone who wants to get started as a lookup provider?

Knowledge of the records is key to being able to efficiently and effectively search records.  Before offering lookups, be sure to have a lot of experience with the record group.

9) What other passions do you pursue when you’re not at the archives doing lookups?

I am full-time genealogical researcher, so most of my time is spent conducting research, and writing.  When I do have spare time for other activities, I usually spend it with my family, including my beautiful 4-year-old daughter, Mary.

Lookups michaelhait Offers

• Maryland Death Certificates, 1875-1982
• Colonial Maryland probate records, 1635-1777
• Search of Maryland County Deed Indexes, 1635-present
• 1867 Texas Voter Registration List (all counties), 1867
• Prince George’s County, Maryland, Wills, 1696-1963
• Maryland Land Patents, 1637-2000
• Prince George’s County, Maryland Marriage Licenses/Records, 1777-1886
• 1783 Maryland Tax Assessment, 1783
• 1776 Maryland State Census, 1776
• Civil War pension files - Union, 1865-1950

I’m a fan of Picasa, a photo editing program that’s available for free download from Google, and I mostly use it for organizing, tweaking, and sharing scans of genealogical documents.

A Picasa tutorial is beyond the scope of a short blog post, but I thought it would be useful for me share a list of the features I find particularly helpful with some simple directions on how to use them.

ORGANIZING

Select Images to Appear: You can decide which images appear in Picasa by selecting folders under “Tools” then “Folder Manager.”

Organize Images: Move images from folder to folder by dragging and dropping. You can also rearrange images within a folder using the same approach.

Rename an Image: Click on an image to select it, then hit F2. Type the new image name in the pop-up box.

Rename Multiple Images: Select multiple images (holding down Ctrl lets you do that) and then hit F2. Type an image name and the selected images will be renamed in sequential order. For example, decree.jpg, decree1.jpg, decree2.jpg, etc.

TWEAKING

If you open Picasa and double-click on an image and you’ll see three tabbed menus appear on the left: Basic Fixes, Tuning, and Effects. These menus are key.

Rotate an Image: Click “Straighten” under the “Basic Fixes” tab; use the sliding bar to rotate the image left or right, then click on “Apply.”

Crop an Image: Click “Crop” under the “Basic Fixes” tab; draw a box around the portion of the image you want to save and click “Apply” when done. If you’re not happy with how the cropped image turned out, click “Recrop” and try again.

Tweak Brightness and Contrast Automatically: Click “Auto Contrast” under the “Basic Fixes” tab; if you’re not happy with the result, just click “Undo Auto Contrast.” If Auto Contrast doesn’t work, click on the “Tuning” tab. Move the sliding bars to tweak the image.

SHARING

Print an Image: Click on the image(s) you want to print. Click on the “Print” icon at the bottom of the page. Use the resulting menu options to assure that the image will appear on the page the way you want it to.

Upload an Image to a Picasa Web Album: Web albums are a great way to keep, backup and share images. Click on the “Upload” button and follow the instructions. Images will be sent to a folder associated with your gmail address and once they’re there you can rearrange them, add captions, and share links to individual images or a folder. It’s a convenient way to back up the files and it’s a nice way to make sure they’re accessible from any place you have Internet access. (The image below says “paid storage” but free storage is also available.)

Emailing Images: The one thing that hasn’t worked well for me is the email option. I find that the documents shrink somewhere along in the process and the resulting images may not be large enough to be read easily. (If anyone has a solution to that problem, please let me know.)

These are just a few ideas but I’d encourage you to explore the program to discover other useful features and if you discover one, please add a comment to this post.

PICASA & GENLIGHTEN

Picasa and Genlighten go great together! Here’s how:

For lookup providers: use Picasa to enhance the quality of the document scans you upload to your clients. Here’s a tip. Upload both your original scan and a second one that you tweak with Picasa. That way, clients can see the difference and appreciate the extra effort you went to. Also, there may be certain details in the image (handwriting, for example) that are discernible in one version but not the other.

For clients: once you’ve downloaded the images your provider posted to your account, use Picasa to bring out details you might otherwise have missed. Experiment with the techniques mentioned in this post and save different versions of your images with descriptive names. Have fun!

On Mondays, I frequently publish brief e-mail interviews with some of our lookup providers. This week’s interview is with Kim Stankiewicz, whose Genlighten username is — you guessed it — kimstankiewicz.

From kimstankiewicz’s profile

Kim’s been doing genealogy research for herself and others for the last ten years. She’s located in the Chicago area and has access to the Great Lakes Region NARA facility, the Cook County Courthouse, the Wilmette LDS Family History Center and numerous Chicago libraries. She can retrieve Bohemian obituaries, criminal court records, naturalization records, probate records and wills. She participated in ProGen2 and is a member of the Northwest Suburban Council of Genealogists and the Polish Genealogical Society of America. She’s committed to treating your ancestors as if they were her own.

Nine questions with Kim

1)         How did you get started doing genealogy research?

After researching my own family history, friends and acquaintances started asking me to help them with their family histories.  I found that I enjoyed researching others’ ancestors just as much as my own and I learned so much through the process.  I get just as excited when I find good information for others as I do for myself!  Solving a genealogical puzzle is always fun!

2)      Do you have a genealogy “superpower”? If so, what is it?

One of my strengths is my persistence in attempting every avenue I can think of to find elusive ancestors.  Sometimes people just can’t be found, but I will always try every trick in the book to track people’s ancestors down.  I do this through a step by step process of searching different records that are available in the Chicago area.

3)      Describe a tricky research problem you’re particularly proud of having solved?

I recently had a client that wanted to find out what happened to her aunt’s baby after her aunt’s divorce.  This divorce took place many years ago and no one ever talked about it and the aunt had since passed on.  After pulling the divorce records, it was discovered exactly where the child was placed and what the child’s new name was.  It was very exciting as my client was able to reconnect with this new found cousin!

4)      What are the ideal elements you like to see in a well-formulated lookup request?

It is helpful when a client can give as many details or stories that they’ve heard about their ancestors.  Sometimes the littlest details can be the biggest clues for looking for documents in the right place.

5)      What’s the most interesting record source or repository you’ve utilized in your area?

My favorite repository is definitely the Cook County Archives.  I enjoy searching court records for either criminal cases, general lawsuits or divorces.  Many people have very interesting stories and so much can be gleaned through these records.  Their narratives are all documented via court records and their testimony.  It’s almost as you can hear them speaking when you read their 100+ year old testimony word for word!

6)      What technical tools do you use to produce the digital images you provide to clients?

I have a new hp computer and a new scanner so that I can easily upload documents and deliver them digitally to my clients.

7)      Any new lookups you’re considering offering?

I plan to offer wills and probate look ups, divorce, law and chancery case look ups and obituary look ups from newspapers that are not yet on-line.

8)      What advice would you give to someone who wants to get started as a lookup provider?

One needs to first start off by offering their favorite look ups so that they will find it fun, fulfilling and interesting.

9)      What other passions do you pursue when you’re not at the archives doing lookups?

I like running, reading, going to the movies and spending time with my husband and five kids.

Lookups kimstankiewicz Offers

• Chicago Bohemian Obituary Index Look Up, 1891-1995
• Chicago Bohemian Obituary and Translation, 1891-1995
• Naturalization Records from Superior, Circuit, County and Criminal Courts of Cook County, Illinois, 1871-1929
• Cook County Criminal Court Records, 1871-1983
• Chicago, Cook County, Illinois Probate and Wills Look Up, 1871-1976 (some wills date from the 1850s)

Here’s what I know (or believe I do) about my SWETLAND line.

1. Dean Richardson

2. David Richardson, born 17 Nov 1935 in Erie, Erie County, PA; died 16 Oct 1998 in Stanford, Santa Clara County, CA

3. Owen Richardson, born 02 Dec 1899 in Baltimore, Baltimore County, MD; died 05 Dec 1993 in Edinboro, Erie County, PA

4. Louise Grant Smith, born 01 Apr 1861 in Detroit, Wayne County, MI; died 01 May 1941 in Saybrook, Ashtabula County, OH

5. James Thomas Smith, born 1834 in Waterville, Oneida County, NY; died 18 Feb 1863 in Detroit, Wayne County, MI

6. Marcia Mahala Swetland, born 1808, Sangerfield, Oneida County, NY; died 05 Jun 1885 in Chicago, Cook County, IL

7. Benjamin Swetland, born 29 Sep 1756 in Bolton, Tolland County, CT; died 29 Sep 1819 in Waterville, Oneida County, NY

8. John Swetland, Jr. born 1708 in CT; died 16 Mar 1783.

Some of the data above is from “Memories”, a typescript family history compiled by Louise Grant Smith. Other details (including the image of Benjamin Swetland’s music, copied into his Revolutionary War roster book) is from “Chapter Sketches” as referenced below.

Bibliographic details from Google Books:

Chapter Sketches: Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution; Patriots' Daughters
By Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution,  Mary Philotheta Root,  Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution
Published by Connecticut chapters, Daughters of the American revolution, 1904
Original from the New York Public Library
Digitized Feb 26, 2008
390 pages

The folks at AppleTree.com have been our booth neighbors this week in the NGS Exhibit Hall. It’s their first genealogy conference as an exhibitor and they’re getting an enthusiastic response from attendees. I’ve only got a few early impressions of their startup at this point, but from what I’ve seen, I think they’re building something that’s going to make a big impact in the online genealogy space. Here’s why:

• AppleTree is aiming to build a single comprehensive “family tree of the world that “we all belong to”, echoing the vision of NewFamilySearch and several private companies.
• Their founder Scott Mueller is a serial entrepreneur, the veteran of several startups that have seen successful exits.
• AppleTree has earned venture backing from a top-shelf VC firm, which gives them the runway they need to hire talented people and develop crucial features at a rapid pace.
• AppleTree’s business model appears to involve a combination of advertising and paid media hosting, while the basic tree functionality will be free to users for the foreseeable future. This differentiates them from Geni, which has pursued a slightly different freemium / virtual goods model and largely avoided ads to this point.
• They appear to be working hard on integration with NewFamilySearch, claiming “We are the only way to link media with people, events, locations and sources in New FamilySearch.” The folks at Photoloom would dispute that point, but such competing claims are to be expected.

I’m excited to see energetic and visionary new startups tackling the goals that AppleTree is going after. I think they’re worth paying attention to, and they’re my Follow Friday recommendation for this week.

Charles Jessop was born 06 Nov 1759 and died 02 Apr 1828. He’s buried in the Jessop Family Cemetery near Phoenix, Baltimore County, MD. The image shown above is from Find A Grave Memorial# 29445078, added by James on August 31st, 2008. The Find A Grave entry gives the tombstone inscription as follows:

Sacred memory of Charles Jessop aged 68 died April 2 1828

The image above is a close-up of the marker that has been placed on his grave by the Fairfax County Chapter of the NSDAR.

Genlighten will be attending the NGS Conference in Salt Lake City that starts this coming Wednesday April 28th. We’ll be at booth 919 in the GenTech area of the Exhibit Hall (in the Salt Palace.) We’d love to meet our blog readers, newsletter subscribers, registered users, lookup providers, Twitter followers and Facebook fans/likers. Please stop by and offer your feedback and ideas for the site. We’ll have our usual generous assortment of chocolates for your indulgence and enjoyment. Hope to see you there!

Here’s what I think I know about my JESSOP line:

1. Dean Richardson

2. David Richardson, born 17 Nov 1935 in Erie, Erie County, PA; died 16 Oct 1998 in Stanford, Santa Clara County, CA

3. Owen Richardson, born 02 Dec 1899 in Baltimore, Baltimore County, MD; died 05 Dec 1993 in Edinboro, Erie County, PA

4. Allen Chapman Richardson, born 18 Jun 1859 in Baltimore, Baltimore County, MD; died 21 Dec 1908 in Erie, Erie County, PA

5. Sarah Rogers Merryman, born 03 Oct 1834 in Baltimore County, MD; died 14 Oct 1896

6. Mary Jessop, born 1804/1805 in Baltimore County, MD, died 14 Nov 1854.

7. Charles Jessop, born 06 Nov 1759, Baltimore County, MD; died 02 Apr 1828.

The picture shown here is from a color portrait of Charles, donated in 2006 to the Maryland Historical Society. Charles and his wife Mary Gorsuch lived in Vaux Hall, a home Charles is said to have built in 1800, the ruins of which are located near present-day Phoenix, Maryland. [Some data taken from Winter 2007 issue of the Maryland Historical Society News, p. 4.]

This week, Facebook introduced what it calls the “Open Graph” at its F8 conference for developers and entrepreneurs. While some leading lights in the tech community went nuts, labeling Open Graph “evil” or lamenting yet another web-based privacy apocalypse, most Facebook users, including many genealogists, either yawned or didn’t notice.

So Far, I’m A Supporter

Count me among those that are amazed at Facebook’s ambition and awed by its ability to implement it so effectively. Based on what I know so far, I’m with Martin Bryant of TheNextWeb.com, who described the OpenGraph’s potential for good, not evil:

By providing a ‘Like’ button that developers can add to any website, for any content or subject, Facebook is becoming the central hub for its users tastes and preferences.

Imagine the potential. Amazon can recommend films for you to buy based on what you’ve been looking up on IMDB, Pandora in turn can play music you’ll like based on your friends’ Amazon purchases. Suddenly the web is connected in a far more cohesive way than has ever been possible before. Some of it will be used to promote products to you but there will be a lot of scope for developers to create amazing, new, social services that feed deep into your social graph.

How’s It Work?

Here’s what I saw when I headed over to CNN.com this evening: a module on the right-hand side of the homepage offering me recommendations from my Facebook friends for CNN articles. One of them is from Illya D’Addezio, well known in the genealogy community as the founder of Genealogy Today and Live Roots, among other valuable resources. Apparently, by installing one of Facebooks new “social plugins” on its pages, CNN now has gained access to my “social graph” of friends on Facebook.

Instead of being creeped out by this, I immediately grasped its utility. Now I can more easily access web content that has been curated by friends whose judgment I respect and value. Furthermore, I control that curation and filtering capability by selecting the friends I connect with on Facebook and by setting my own privacy controls.

To recommend the “Life more colorful than black and white” article, Illya just had to click on the “Recommend” button displayed at the bottom of the online text, as shown here.

A “Like Button” for the Entire Web

When I visited Illya’s Genealogy Today site tonight, I found another implementation of Open Graph at the bottom of the homepage: Facebook’s new “Like Button” for the entire web. Rather than going to Facebook and posting a link to Illya’s site into my Facebook News Feed, I can just click on the “Like” button on Genealogy Today and that “like” will show up in my feed automatically.

Of course, the “Become a Fan” button has been around for a while, but Facebook has changed the terminology (”Become a Fan” => “Like”) and made it easier for websites to implement it.

How Could This Help Genealogists?

Here’s a quick list of ways I’d like to see Facebook Open Graph utilized across the online genealogy community:

• My favorite geneabloggers could put the “like” button on their homepages and the “recommend” button after each of their posts. [How about it, Randy?]
• The Family History Library online catalog could have a “like” button next to film/book search results so users could share the records they’re researching with their fellow genealogists on Facebook.
• Footnote (already a pioneer of social collaboration around historical documents) could implement Open Graph features to show users which of their friends were currently active on the site and to pull annotations they make back to their Facebook News Feeds.
• Darrin Lythgoe’s TNG could allow its users to easily implement Open Graph on their sites, making it even easier for extended family to get involved in building out their family tree collaboratively via Facebook.

And What About Genlighten?

Here at Genlighten, we’re currently pondering our own response to Facebook’s new features and we hope to begin implementing them within the next several months. If you have suggestions, concerns or questions, please let us know in the comments to this post!