Updated my page on Sweden

I usually don't link to a site that is completely in a foreign language, so I was pleased to learn that the SVAR website has an English language portal and I updated the page to add that link. I also added a link to the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center. I don't have Swedish ancestors -- if I did, I'd be busy planning a trip to that facility!

Bobbie's Genealogy Classroom

My website is intended as a background for classes I teach and talks I give, as well as a handy way for me to keep track of important websites and information. I don't yet have pages up for every topic and even when a page is up, it constantly needs to be updated. I keep plugging away at it, bit by bit... but it's hard to keep track of what has changed. At the bottom of some (and eventually all) pages is a date last updated, but that doesn't give any information about changes. I thought I'd use this blog to track changes. I hesitate to add something because each time I work on the blog, that's a change I'm not making. But I will try to use it to track some of the major changes I make. In the meantime, I hope you visit my website and find something useful. I appreciate notification of bad information and suggestions of material I might want to include.

I already knew that...

This is an etc. blog, with only a slight genealogy connection. A few days ago a friend sent me a a tip that the Sanborn maps are available electronically at our University Library. She prefaced it by saying "You probably already knew this..." (I didn't) and today at coffee mentioned that she almost didn't send me the information, since I probably already knew it.

I've been noticing lately, with some irritation, how quick people are to inform the bearer of any information "Yes, I knew that." Now why would you announce that? Is it to be sure everyone knows how much you know? Is it to chide the person for wasting your time by saying what you already knew? Is it to cut the conversation off, then and there? I can't think of one gracious reason for making such a statement.

When I said it was only slightly genealogy related, the connection was not the Sanborn maps. It is that often at the LDS library, where I volunteer, or at conferences or in discussions, people say things that I -- and a lot of other people who have been doing genealogy a long time-- already know. This is especially so when talking to someone who is new at research and just learning these amazing and varied bits of information that make research so challanging. In my opinion, it behooves us all to refrain from announcing that we already knew that and rather encourage the discussion and passing of information necessary to enable people to become proficient users.

You probably all already knew that.

Average Time of Indenturship

Today I had to find out approximately how long one could expect an ancestor to work as an indentured servant. I had heard an average of 7 years, but could I find a source for that information? Anthing that explained it in more detail? I did a quick and dirty search of my reference books and found nothing, so I turned to the web. I googled the word and found a helpful defintion on a Houghton-Mifflin site, "The Great American History Fact Finder" Here is the definition given there:

" a person who worked without wages, usually for a period of five to seven years, in exchange for payment of the person's passage to the American colonies. The contract, called an "indenture," entitled the servant to food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention. Devised by the Virginia Company in the late 1610s, the system provided cheap labor. It is estimated that one-half to two-thirds of all European immigrants to the colonies participated in the system, some voluntarily, some as victims of penal servitude. The practice disappeared after 1800."


An entry at Wikipedia / The Free Dictionary.com makes this note, indicating an indenturship of ten years was not uncommon.

"Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons".

Well... here it is 2004 and I still haven't figured out blogging. But something brought it to my attention lately and I remembered that I had started a blog somewhere, so here I am again. Still trying to get junk from the past out of my life, which means I've come to know and depend on Purple Heart, Recyle Ann Arbor and any other place I can find that might find a use for accumulations of various sorts. By far my BIGGEST accumulation, though, is paper... mostly genealogy info I've collected over the years. I'm trying to get it in all in the computer, but so far I've not come close and I'm getting carpal tunnel syndrome. Since three years have gone by, I suppose I should change the name of the blog. It started out "Life at 56" Given my track record, I don't think it is a good idea to rename it with any numbers. I think I'll make a genealogy blog out of it.