Does Recent Changes at Ancestry.com Matter?

Another point to remember is you still own the copyright to your content. Therefore, Ancestry cannot violate any copyright laws if they use you’re your content. They would be foolish to do so without asking your permission.

The current dilemma points to the fact that we need to consider how we use the online family trees and how careful we should be in posting content to our trees.

• What is your goal in posting an online family tree?
• Do you use your tree as the central depository of your family history?
• Should you be posting all information?
• Do you consider privacy issues before you post?

Online family trees are an essential communication tool, and they must be very public to be effective towards this goal. Nevertheless, we do not have to post everything for it to be effective. I use my online trees to connect with unknown cousins and exchange information with them. My trees are not complete. They may mention information but not include the documents. I use my online tree to attract unknown cousins to contact me.

The new issue with Ancestry unmasks the problems when using online family trees as the primary tool in saving and compiling our family history. Family trees are just the skeletons of our ancestors. A family history is much more. It should contain stories that bring our ancestors alive. Please consider, there are better and more private tools than online trees to compile, save and share the stories and documents associated with your family history.

Contemplate compiling your research offline into notes and summaries of your ancestors. This method gives you the flexibility to add stories and facts in a readable format. The format allows you to embed the documents and add the needed citations. Using the summary of facts will help your research be more efficient. As a text document, you can share it at any time with your family because it is readable in a language they understand and not in our genealogy jargon and forms. Offline, your family history is on your computer and can remain private and within your control. You decide who sees your pages.

Online family trees are important but remember they are public. Most family members do not refer to them because they are difficult for the non-genealogist to understand. Save your family history using another method that remains private and understandable by your family.

Scotch-Irish Emigration

The largest group to leave Ireland in the 1700s was the Scotch-Irish. Their ancestors had just arrived from Scotland about 100 years before, but by the early 1700s, they had enough of the British discrimination against them. They decided to leave and then packed everything they had – clothing, personal items, tools, farm implements, and weapons. They were never returning to Ireland. The English laws did not allow the Scots to own any land. So, their only ties to Ireland were the family members they left behind. Many were prosperous farmers and skilled tradesmen who were the backbone of Ulster agriculture and the linen industry. They were farmers, but many were active in the linen trade to supplement their farm income. However, the continued threats of higher rents and fluctuating prices drove even the prosperous tenant farmers to emigrate to America.^[1]

Many had money and could afford the passage. If the Scotsmen did not have the 3 pounds 10 shillings needed for the passage, they willingly agreed to be indentured workers in America. They signed contracts with agents or ship captains. They knew the shipping company would sell their indenture contract after arriving in the colonies to farmers, merchants, or tradesmen who needed workers. The agreement was for five to seven years of labor in America and paid for their passage.

Ironically, the Ulster linen trade established the overseas trade routes between the Ulster ports and the American colonies that enabled their immigration to America. Ships hauled many tons of flaxseed and other materials from Pennsylvania to Ulster and were eager to fill their empty cargo holds for the return trip to America. The captains willingly accepted the Scottish emigrants’ money to pay for their passage to America, thus generating new revenue for the ship’s owner.

After the Scots in Ireland made arrangements for passage to America, packed their belongings, they said goodbye to friends and family, loaded their carts, and made their way to the Ulster ports of Londonderry, Portrush, Larne, Belfast, and Newry. Their small ships sailed for Philadelphia and Charleston with about fifty passengers on-board.^[2]

Filling the cargo holds with immigrants also solved a desperate problem for the American colonies who needed more workers. Many governors and land promoters in the American colonies offered land, tools, and seed to the immigrants. They sent out advertisements and hired agents to recruit workers to come to America. Charleston, South Carolina, and Philadelphia became the primary destination for the Ulster immigrant, and during the mid-1700s, Charleston rivaled Philadelphia as the port of entry for the Ulster-Scots. After arrival, the immigrants found cheap land without a landlord. They discovered the English Penal Laws did not exist in the colonies, and they did not have to tithe to two different churches. America offered the Scotch-Irish a new beginning and hope for their families.

[1] Blethen, H. Tyler; Curtis W. Wood Jr. From Ulster to Carolina: The Migration of the Scotch-Irish to Southwestern North Carolina, North Carolina Office of Archives and History.

[2] Blethen, H. Tyler; Curtis W. Wood Jr. From Ulster to Carolina: The Migration of the Scotch-Irish to Southwestern North Carolina, North Carolina Office of Archives and History.

What Name Should We Use?

The name of our ancestors can lead to confusion when we find possible variations in the documents. So, what name should we use when we document our research?

I think the question comes up for most people when referring to how to enter the name on a family tree. I tend to use the name most people will use in recognizing the individual in my family tree. In most cases, I will put the baptismal name in parentheses if different.

I place more importance on writing a narrative of the individual for my family history. In the narrative, I can give the various names used in chronological order as I found them on the documents. We may never know why the variants were used. Many may be from the clerk’s understanding of what the name should be – right or wrong and with inadvertent misspellings. In some cases, it is the preference of the individual. Call the individual by the name they prefer but record all rest noting where you found that variation.

Writing a family history narrative for each ancestor gives me the flexibility to list all the names used and lessen the confusion found in the documents. Knowing the name variations helps us find more documents and stories because we have more choices to use in our search criteria. However, let the focus of our research be on our ancestors’ lives and their stories. The narratives make my family history come alive for other family members and give a complete view of their lives.

Tips on Writing Family History

My Plan of Action

1. Focus my research and then log information for one person, one location, and one time period
2. Next, research the family group,
3. Next, research collateral friends and family,
4. Next, move on to my next direct ancestor,
5. Revisit each ancestor as I find new sources of information.

Save information by adding details to a summary for each person.

Below are three examples showing one of my statements and how I expanded it after finding more related details.

Step One: Encyclopedic Statement of Fact

My grandfather Stefan Zuchowski was born on December 26, 1893, to Leopold Zuchowski and Anny Dmochowski in Dmochy Kudly, Poland.

Step Two: Improved Statement of Birth

The baptismal certificate for my grandfather Stefan John Zuchowski listed that he was born in Dmochy Kudly, Russia, on December 26, 1893, to Leopold Zuchowski and Anny Dmochowski. He was baptized the next day at the nearby Catholic Parish Church, Peter and Paul the Apostles, in Czyzew.  Steve’s parents were descendants of minor Polish nobles who had owned large estates.

Final Narrative: Expand interest by adding descriptions from pictures and other accounts

The birth of my grandfather, Stefan Zuchowski, was in a small cottage in the farming village of Dmochy Kudly, Poland, on December 26, 1893. The next day, his parents Leopold Zuchowski and Anna Dmochowska, carried him five miles down the dirt road to the Catholic Church of Peter and Paul the Apostles to be baptized in Czyzew. Steve’s parents were descendants of minor Polish nobles who had owned large estates.

Where Did I get my information for my final narrative? I was creative in my words, but I did not make up the details.

• Birth and Baptismal Dates – from Stefan’s baptismal record
• Birthplace and location of church – from Stefan’s baptismal record
• Descendant from Nobility – notation in the baptismal and marriage records of his parents
• Size of the cottage – from vintage pictures of the village
• Condition of roads – from a vintage picture of the village

Points to Remember:

• Record your facts in chronological order
• Be accurate but let your personality be part of the narrative
• Try to vary your information flow
• Add descriptive information when you can
• Think of documents as information representing an experience for the family
• Find other accounts to expand the details of an experience that will give life to your ancestor. The accounts may be of different people as long as they describe the place and time for your ancestor. Use the information from the account to describe the background and history surrounding your ancestor. Use specific information not general history and it must show a direct effect on your ancestors.

New Book, Irish Immigration to America

My new book, “Irish Immigration to America,” is now available on Amazon. This should become a great resource and a must-have when writing your Irish family history. When did your Irish ancestors immigrate, where did they leave, why did they leave, how did they get here? The author hopes you find the answer to some of these questions. The book will give insight into the immigration of your ancestors. Irish immigration had many factors, and the Great Potato Famine only magnified the main causes.

Available on Amazon