Suleman Sadiq Gill - Ten Tips For Researching Genealogy Online

By Guest Blogger Christopher Flowers

Researching your family history can be a rewarding and satisfying experience. Here are some tips to make your exploration go smoothly.

1. Gather All of Your Genealogy Information

Before starting any type of genealogical research, it's a good idea to gather all of your known information. This way you will not waste time searching for people that you could have easily found with just a phone call or a letter. You will be amazed at how many names, birthdates, marriage dates and other details about your ancestors you can collect just by talking to family members.

You can also look through old records that family members may have including journals, wills, deeds, baptism records and marriage, birth and death certificates. Spread the word that you're beginning a family tree or pedigree chart, and other family members may want to get involved.

2. Become a Member of an Online Genealogy Chat Room

Computers and the Internet connect thousands of people from all over the world each day and there are tons of genealogy chat rooms. Take advantage--you can learn a lot from other genealogists. This is a great way to learn the tricks of the trade and share success stories.

3. Subscribe to an Online Genealogy Search Website

Genealogy websites come with various features and capabilities. You may want to use more than one during your research. Some websites are free of charge, like Rootsweb.com, while more comprehensive sites, like

Ancestry.com, require a subscription fee. Before choosing a site make sure it's going to provide the information that you need. Remember some sites search by country or ethnic background--these can work to your advantage if you're looking for ancestors from a certain country. However, if you're not, the site will do you little if any good.

4. Make Genealogy Research Fun and Gratifying

There is usually no monetary award for doing genealogy, and knowing who your great-great-great-grandfather is, typically won't get you ahead in life. So--why do people do genealogical research?

People research their past for a number of reasons, but everyone who is involved in genealogy does it because they enjoy it. They find satisfaction in learning about their roots. Remember you are learning about real people who once walked the earth. Instead of just learning names and dates, try to find stories about your ancestors, look for pictures and diaries. In some cases, you may be able to interview someone who knew the person.

5. Use Various Genealogical Resources

There are so many sources available to genealogists it's a good idea to use a number of them during your investigations. Don't put all of your efforts into one website. Use a number of different websites and databases.

There are also genealogy libraries where you can conduct your research. The largest of these libraries, The Family History Library, owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has satellite libraries all over the world and is open to the public at no charge. It houses the records of close to a billion people and offers other resources as well. A library like this can be a great asset if there is one in your area.

6. Involve the Entire Family

Build a family tree and family relationships at the same time--genealogy is a project the entire family can work on and contribute their findings. You can start an email or snail-mail newsletter to share experiences and information with family members. Family reunions are also a time when the whole family can get together, share stories about forefathers and foremothers and work on genealogy.

7. Subscribe to a Genealogy Newsletter

Many online genealogy websites offer a newsletter. Newsletters offer great tips on how to locate those hard-to-find ancestors. Newsletters will often explain how to use different databases or tools and let you know when new databases become available. It's also great to hear motivational and inspiring success stories of others, or share one of your own.

8. Create a hard copy of the Genealogy Information

In today's world of technology, we tend to want to digitize everything, but there are some good reasons to create hardcopy information to go along with your digital data.

Primarily, you're going to come across a lot of hard copy information as you do your research. Remember computers have only been used to store information for a quarter century. You will likely come across old documents, journals, records and photographs.

Making a scrapbook of your findings is a great way to present your research to others. Looking at a computer screen with scanned documents just isn't the same as flipping through a book. It really helps some people to create a giant pedigree chart or family tree in their office or den so they can visualize the entire puzzle at one time.

Binders are a good way to store information. As your library increases, develop a binder system so information is organized and easy to find.

9. Backup Genealogy Data Often

Maybe you've heard horror stories, or have one of your own that ends with the words, "and that's when I lost everything." The importance of backing up computer data cannot be stressed enough. Today's backup software makes protecting and storing your valuable data more convenient than ever. There are a number of different programs to get the job done. Find the one that has the features you need, is user-friendly and in your price range.

There are also various ways of storing data. You can use 3.5-inch floppy disks, zip drives, CDs, DVDs, USB flash drives and external hard drives. Again, choose the one that suits you best. As you gather more information, you may want to invest in a safety deposit box or a fireproof safe to protect your family history.

10. Verify Genealogy Information Found on Web Sources

We like to think that everything found on the web is accurate and true. However, you should always verify any genealogy information found on the web, no matter where you found the information. The best way to verify information is to locate and research the source. Many databases include a list of sources but sometimes you'll come across one that doesn't. In this case, look at dates and the type of information and ask yourself what type of source would provide that information.

At some point in your research, you will encounter conflicting information--maybe different middle initials or birthdates. Carefully evaluate each source and try to find other sources with the same information to shed light on the inconsistencies.

Genealogy is an exciting and rewarding pastime that will link the generations and bring families together.

References

Casselman, Bryce. Why Backup your Computer Data?. [2005] 22 Sept. 2005
http://data-backup-software-review.toptenreviews.com/why-backup-your-computer.html>

Powell, Kimberly. Five Steps to Verifying Online Genealogy Resources. [2005] 22 Sept. 2005 http://genealogy.about.com/od/basics/a/verifying_2.htm>

Sowton, Robin. The History Slice: Getting Organized--Setting Up a Binder System. [1999] 22 Sept. 2005 http://www.historyslice.com/beginners/i0015/index.htm>

Cristopher Fowers

Cristopher Fowers is a Writer/Reviewer for TopTenREVIEWS.com. TopTenREVIEWS features expert reviews for technology and entertainment products and services. For more information and an in-depth review on online genealogy search websites, see http://genealogy-search-review.toptenreviews.com We do the research so you don’t have to™.

Plagiarism not unusual in genealogy

The website Plagiarism.org uses the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary definition to define plagiarism as follows:

• to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own

• to use (another’s production) without crediting the source

• to commit literary theft

• to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

Plagiarism is not only a fraudulent act, it is a lie perpetrated by the plagiarist who passes someone else’s work off as his own.

Read the rest of the story on the Genealogy Today website:

http://www.gvnews.com/get_out/genealogy-today-plagiarism-not-unusual-in-genealogy/article_746f8070-0d90-11e6-94b0-4b2956767f3e.html

Unscripted: PBS celebrity genealogy show unearths hidden roots

By Mary Ellen Wright

If family lore and the online genealogical records my relatives and I have been able to piece together are reasonably accurate, I have some colorful stories hidden in the branches of my family tree.

From what I’ve learned so far, my ancestry apparently includes war heroes and scalawags, blue bloods and moonshiners, people who thrived in the New World’s earliest settlements and ancestors who came to desperate ends in the Old World.

It’s funny how I tend to embrace the heroes, imagining their blood flowing in my veins, while I have so much trouble coming to terms with stories of my slave-owning ancestors and other notorious characters in my family’s past. I view them almost like fictional tales that don’t really have a connection to my life.

I get to watch celebrities experience the very same thing every week on one of my favorite TV shows, “Finding Your Roots.”

Each Tuesday night on PBS, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. traces the ancestry of two or three well-known actors, musicians, comedians, TV stars, authors or government officials, helping them uncover secrets hidden in their family stories — and even in their own DNA.

The celebrities gasp or wipe away tears as they turn the pages of their “book of life” — a scrapbook of photos, archival records and newspaper clippings Gates gives each guest. They learn the show’s researchers have traced their roots back to King Charlemagne, or to the Jewish Pale of Settlement in Imperial Russia.

The DNA tests they’ve allowed Gates’ researchers to conduct might show they have Native American relatives, or tell them in which part of Africa their ancestors lived.

Like me and my relatives, these celebrities marvel at the coincidences and incongruities found in their ancestors’ journeys through life.

Earlier this season on “Finding Your Roots,” actor Bill Hader giggled as he found brave war heroes on his family tree, admitting they possessed the courage he lacks. “Modern Family’s” Ty Burrell was clearly moved to learn he is descended from both a slave owner and a slave.

Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette learned she had a Civil War soldier in her ancestry. The Civil War memorabilia of her grandfather, comedian Cliff (“Charley Weaver”) Arquette, was the founding collection of what eventually became the Soldiers National Museum in Gettysburg.

Political opposites Bill Maher and Bill O’Reilly sarcastically embraced the news that they’re distantly related.

The program often teaches me something new about world history. Through the examination of celebrity chef Lydia Bastianich’s ancestry on Tuesday’s show, for example, I learned about the post-World War II “Istrian exodus,” in which Italians fled the Istrian Peninsula when it was taken over by Yugoslavia.

I think the most moving “Finding Your Roots” episode so far came a couple of weeks ago, when actor and rapper LL Cool J learned that the grandparents he’d spent a lot of time with weren’t his biological relatives.

Through DNA testing and a serendipitous “hit” in a genealogy database, the actor’s mother learned she had been adopted, and who her birth parents were.

LL Cool J, a big boxing fan, found out his biological grandfather was boxer Nathaniel Christy Lewis, brother of hall-of-fame pugilist John Henry Lewis.

By the end of the episode, the actor and his mother were laughing and talking with cousins they’d never known they had. This story of these hidden roots unearthed was more dramatic than any episode of “NCIS: Los Angeles,” the show on which LL Cool J stars, could ever be.

I’m glad “Finding Your Roots” wasn’t slowed down by the Ben Affleck controversy, in which the actor apparently convinced the program not to have Gates mention he had slave-owners in his family tree.

“Finding Your Roots” is a descendant itself, of Gates’s two previous PBS genealogy programs, “African-American Lives” and “Faces of America.” On the latter show, talk-show host Stephen Colbert learned he had farming ancestors who settled in 18^th-century Lancaster County.

My family is, I think, pretty typical in the way my parents passed down the stories of our ancestors. There were proudly told stories of hard-working immigrants opening their own store, along with sordid tales of murder and mayhem in the Deep South that my father was hesitant to share.

“Finding Your Roots” helps its celebrity guests separate fact from fiction in their family lore, and fascinates and entertains the rest of us in the process.

I only wish I had Gates’ access to archivists and scientists, to fuel my family’s own, continuing genealogical journey.

Staff writer Mary Ellen Wright welcomes email at mwright@lnpnews.com. You can learn more about the ancestors on her family tree at bit.ly/LNPFamilyTree. “Finding Your Roots” airs at 8 p.m. Tuesdays on WITF. Unscripted is a weekly entertainment column produced by a rotating team of writers.

Franklin Graham Denounces Obama's Visit to Mosque

The Rev. Franklin Graham denounced President Barack Obama's recent visit to a mosque in Maryland, declaring that "Islam cannot save anyone."

For the first time in his presidency, Obama visited a mosque on Wednesday, delivering remarks at the Islamic Society of Baltimore.

In a post on his official Facebook page, Graham wrote that the trip and the media coverage of it were "an attempt to recast what [Obama] said was 'a warped image of Islam.'"

"The foundations of this nation have nothing to do with Islam, but everything to do with the Church of Jesus Christ. Islam cannot save anyone from Hell or open the gates of Heaven," posted Graham.

"Only One can do that — Jesus Christ, the Son of God who paid the debt of sin for all mankind by giving

His life as a sacrifice on Calvary's cross where He suffered and died for our sins, took our sins to the grave, and on the third day God raised Him triumphantly to life. He's alive today. Muhammad is dead. I worship a risen Lord! Islam can't compete with that."

Graham's comment came in response to Obama's first official visit to a mosque during his presidency, giving a speech at the Islamic Society of Baltimore.

During his speech, Obama said the recent wave of "inexcusable political rhetoric against Muslim Americans has no place in our country."

"We've seen children bullied. We've seen mosques vandalized. Sikh Americans and others who are perceived to be Muslims have been targeted, as well.

"We're one American family. And when any part of our family starts to feel separate or second-class or targeted, it tears at the very fabric of our nation."

Graham's post, which as of Friday morning has garnered over 200,000 likes and more than 63,000 shares, appears to be in response to the portion of the speech wherein Obama said that "Islam has always been part of America."

"Starting in colonial times, many of the slaves brought here from Africa were Muslim. And even in their bondage, some kept their faith alive," continued Obama.

"The first Islamic center in New York City was built in the 1890s. Muslim Americans worked on Henry Ford's assembly line, cranking out cars. A Muslim American designed the skyscrapers of Chicago."

Over the past few years Graham has garnered headlines for his controversial comments about Islam both in interviews and through posts on social media.

For example, last November in response to a wave of brutal terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris and Beirut, Graham wrote on Facebook that "Islam has declared war on the world."

Victorian woman charged over comments about Islam on Facebook

A Victorian woman has been charged with serious religious vilification after posting comments about Islam on Facebook.

Man charged over Facebook messages to MP

 

Read more

The Swan Hill woman, 38, was charged on 15 December for a post on 27 November which police alleged would encourage others to commit harm to Muslims.

The woman used Facebook to defend herself saying she had made the comment on the Stop the Mosque in Bendigo page and said “all mosques should be burnt down with the doors locked at prayer time”.

“Probably not the best thing to write but that’s my opinion, others commented after my post agreeing with it and unbeknown to myself it got a lot of likes, that is where their incitement charge is coming from,” she wrote.

“Yesterday I got a call at work by the detective and he told me I was being charged. I told him how can I be charged for an opinion and how can I be charged with a religious vilification when I don’t acknowledge those that are Muslims and those that follow the Quaran (sic) as a religion but as an evil, hateful ideology.

“I am more than happy for it to go public, if I do nothing about it and let them win it goes against everything I stand for and I can’t do that! I didn’t want this or the publicity that will come with it but it is what it is and I’m not about to back down.”

The Stop the Mosque in Bendigo page has put a call out for participants to start their own complaints.

“It is time to start our own discrimination and racial vilification actions on anti-white, anti-Australian and Anti-infidel Australian posts, videos and sermons. If you find them... screenshot or capture them and send them to us,” the post says.

Shopping Mall Apologises After Requesting Giant Wall Mural Not Feature Islamic Veil

A Swedish shopping centre has been forced to apologise after insisting a wall mural they had commissioned did not feature a woman wearing a hijab. The secular organisation said they did not want to display religious symbols.

The shopping centre had commissioned the UNITY Burlov and Ungdomsgruppen Burlov youth groups from the Burlington area to paint a wall inside the local shopping centre, just outside Malmö.

The youngsters decided to draw a “diverse” range of people, but management saw it differently.

“It’s so horrible you almost can’t believe it’s true,” complained Pia Jönsson, whose husband Magnus Heberlein works for a local anti-racism group, in a post on Facebook.

“What kind of message are you sending to customers? How can you play into the hands of racists in such a disgusting way”, she added.

As the mural went up management called the youngsters into a meeting and explained that they did not want religious imagery in their building. The hijab was subsequently replaced with hair.

“The young people are angry and sad. They have grown up in this municipality, and are proud of its diversity and want to show it off as something beautiful. But they have been trampled on”, Ms. Jönsson wrote.

Speaking to SVT News Skåne, Ms. Jönsson’s husband, who works for the ‘Network Together in the Neighborhood’ anti-racism organisation, said:

“We think it’s very upsetting to censor young people’s work in this way… We want to promote solidarity and cohesion, and these young people want to emphasise that everyone has a place and will be accommodated here.

“When it becomes infected, it is very upsetting”.

Grosvenor Fund Management, a London-based firm which owns the shopping centre, put out a press release on Saturday apologising for what had happened.

“We apologise that a mural of a woman in a hijab was considered a religious symbol and was therefore altered,” they wrote.

“That the picture was changed was unfortunate. For us it is important to welcome all customers regardless of their religion, ethnicity or sex.”

Isis 'not my cup of tea' says British woman who went to Syria to join

A British woman who fled Islamic State with her five children after travelling to Syria to be with her husband has told of her experience of life under the group’s rule, describing the “gangster mentality” among supporters as “not my cup of tea”.

Shukee Begum, who fled Isis and says that she was then held by smugglers in northern Syria, said that she wanted to return to the UK but feared what the reception would be from British authorities. She is currently believed to be living in Syria.

“The UK is my home. I grew up there, my friends are there my family are there. That is where I consider to be home but I am just not sure at the moment of the track record of the current government if the UK is somewhere I can come back to and achieve justice.”

Begum travelled from Manchester to Syria with her children to find her husband, Jamal al-Harith, a former Guantánamo Bay detainee who left the UK 18 months ago.

But months after joining him, Begum said that she and her children aged nine, seven, five, three and 11 months, fled Isis-controlled territory and were held for a time by smugglers in Syria’s war-torn city of Aleppo.

Speaking about the reasons why she left the UK to join al-Harith, she said: “He’s my husband and all of a sudden he’s not there. It didn’t feel like home any more. I was trying to manage school runs, things like that.”

“I was thinking about the children’s futures. Was he part of it? Will he come back? All these things go through your mind.”

Insisting that she had never been a supporter of Isis, she said that she had taken her children to Syria because her husband was a family man, adding: “For me to take the children to see him and then come away from there that would have been more powerful than anything else I had to say to him at the time.”

She said that she wanted other women to know about the reality of life in Isis controlled territory.
Begum said: “You have got hundreds of families living in one hall and sharing perhaps one or two bathrooms between them. You have got children crying, children who are sick.”

“There was a gangster kind of mentality among single women there. Violence was talked about, war, killing.
They would sit together, huddle around their laptops, watch Isis videos. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.”

Begum said that she asked her husband to help her get out, to no avail, and permission to leave was denied by Isis courts.

“This is what I want to make clear as well to other women thinking of coming into Isis territory – that you can’t just expect to come into Isis territory and then expect that you can just leave again easily. There is no personal autonomy there at all.”

After managing to flee, she said that she and the children were held by smugglers close to the Turkish border and for a number of months in Aleppo before they were released. The circumstances of her release are unclear, although according to Channel 4 news, Syrian rebels from the Nusra Front intervened to facilitate it.