The Casey Surname DNA Project

Several countries have enjoyed genealogy television shows for several years. Most noticeable is “Who Do You Think You Are?” in the U.K., a hit series now in its fourth year. A Canadian show of the same name is now being broadcast weekly on CBC. The format has also been sold to television production companies in Germany, Poland, Sweden, Australia, France, Italy, and Spain.

Of course, the United States had the wildly popular Roots series in 1977, based upon Alex Haley’s novel of the same name. However, it was a television adaptation of a novel that was loosely (but not accurately) based upon Haley’s family tree. After all, it was a novel: a fictional work.

Other genealogy-based programs have since appeared on American Television, including two different Ancestors series on PBS. However, I have always been amazed that none of these programs generated the same enthusiasm as the weekly program from the United Kingdom. That may possibly change later this year as an experienced American television company is now planning to introduce a new genealogy-oriented program to the United States.

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It is with sadness that I report that James Sorenson, the man behind the non-profit Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation and the GeneTree family history social networking site, has passed away.

I had a chance to meet Jim Sorenson on two occasions and both of those events left a lasting impression on me. I remember him describing his childhood and his early days in business. He grew up in the middle of the depression in a story reminiscent of the "Grapes of Wrath." As a young child, Mr. Sorenson moved with his parents to Yuba City, California as his father looked for work. Unable to find housing, the elder Sorenson rented a former chicken coop and converted it to a home for his family.

Jim Sorenson went to public school at the age of six. After one day in the classroom, the teacher sent a note home with the child advising the parents to keep the boy at home because he was "unteachable." Jim Sorenson never attended public school again. Many years later, after becoming a multi-billionaire, Sorenson was diagnosed as dyslexic.

After brief military service in World War II, Sorenson entered a local junior college. He lasted less than one semester, again unable to learn. He soon dropped out. Mr. Sorenson was then hired by Upjohn to sell pharmaceuticals to physicians in Salt Lake City. Always alert to opportunity, he finished sales calls early and purchased underpriced land around Salt Lake City as a sideline. Soon his real estate endeavors were more lucrative than Upjohn’s sales position, which Upjohn began to notice. After 8 1/2 years on the job, the company fired him.

James Sorenson then invented many pioneering medical innovations that have became commonplace in operating rooms and intensive care units throughout the world, and have spawned a host of products that have improved or helped save the lives of millions of individuals. He is known foremost for developing the computerized heart monitor, which was the first device able to accurately monitor conditions inside a living human heart. He also invented pioneering disposable surgical masks, non-invasive intravenous catheters, and blood-recycling and -infusion systems. The inventions of this man have saved thousands of lives.

Along the way, James Sorenson became the wealthiest man in Utah with a personal fortune believed to be about $4.5 billion. He has been quoted as saying, “Wealth is an opportunity for further achievement.” Financial success enabled Mr. Sorenson to turn his attention to making the world a better place in which to live. One of his philanthropical endeavors, Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, is creating the world's most comprehensive correlated genetic and genealogical database, which may forever change the way ancestry research is done. By showing how closely human beings are tied by heredity, Mr. Sorenson believed he could promote peace, compassion and brotherhood among humankind.

Sorenson died Sunday morning, January 20, 2008 of cancer. He was 86.

You can read an article I wrote in 2004 about James LeVoy Sorenson at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2004/08/the_man_behind_.html. You can read his obituary at http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080120005047&newsLang=en.

Two major organizations in the U.K. have issued an announcement of an acquisition. Scotland Online has been known in genealogy circles for its ScotlandsPeople service. FindMyPast.com (formerly known as 1837onlone.com) has been a major online genealogy company in England. (Click here to see my many past articles about FindMyPast.com.) Now Scotland Online has acquired FindMyPast.com. Here is the announcement:

SCOTLAND ONLINE CREATES WORLD-CLASS FORCE IN FAMILY HISTORY MARKET WITH ACQUISITION OF FINDMYPAST.COM

Scotland Online, the ISP and IT solutions provider, today announced it has acquired findmypast.com, the leading independent UK-based family history website, from Title Research Group as part of its plans to establish a world-class online network of family history resources.

The merger will see Scotland Online's current online genealogy service, ScotlandsPeople, working closely with findmypast.com to create a dynamic family history resource to serve millions of family history enthusiasts worldwide.

The amalgamation will enable a wider audience to access the most complete suite of family history records available online in the UK and will benefit the genealogy industry by enabling genealogists and amateur family history enthusiasts to access hundreds of millions of records in one place. Scotland Online recently won the tender for the 1911 England and Wales census records, which will be available during 2009.

Findmypast.com will also continue to add data and functionality to its website, further consolidating the company's long-term commitment to the family history market.

Findmypast.com established itself as an innovative genealogical service with a commitment to customers and quality that have made it the number one destination website for family history researchers. It was the first company in the world to put the complete Birth, Marriage and Death indexes for England and Wales online, later adding its census and unique passenger list records.

Continued improvement in findmypast.com's functionality and user experience will remain a key objective for the business, and customer access to both findmypast.com and ScotlandsPeople's online resources will be unaffected by the merger. Findmypast.com will continue to be based in London.

Chris van der Kuyl, Chief Executive of Scotland Online, said; "We are delighted to welcome the findmypast team to Scotland Online and look forward to working very closely with them on building a wonderful family history resource. Family history enthusiasts the world over will benefit from our experience in developing customer facing services and combining our existing skills within Scotland Online with those of findmypast will be of great benefit to the family history community".

Tom Curran, Chief Executive of Title Research Group, the parent company of findmypast.com, commented: "This transaction will bring together two established and successful genealogy resources to create a world-class network of family history records. I am delighted Scotland Online shares findmypast.com's dedication to making more genealogy resources available to both genealogists and family history enthusiasts and that they share our passion for excellence and commitment to customers."

Boy, the time does fly! Twelve years has slipped by in almost the blink of an eye. It seems like only yesterday that I sent the first e-mail newsletter to about 100 people, mostly members of CompuServe's Genealogy Forums. None of them knew in advance that the newsletter would arrive; I simply mailed it to people who I thought might be interested. In 1996 nobody objected to receiving unsolicited bulk mail; the phrase "spam mail" had not yet been invented. I shudder to think if I did the same thing in today's Internet environment.

In that first newsletter on January 15, 1996, I wrote:

Well, it's started. This newsletter is something that I have been considering for a long time, but I finally decided to "take the plunge." I've subscribed to several other electronic newsletters for some time now and have found them to be valuable. On many occasions I have said to myself, "Someone ought to do a weekly newsletter for genealogy news." One day the light bulb went on, and I decided that perhaps I was that someone.

I hope to collect various bits of information that cross my desk and appear on my screen every week. Some of these items may be considered "news items" concerning events and happenings of interest to computer-owning genealogists. Some other items will be mini press releases about new genealogy software or other products and services that have just become available. I may write a few articles about things that are not genealogy-related but still seem to be of interest to me and probably to the readers. This may include articles about online systems, operating systems or other things that affect many of us.

You will also find editorials and my personal opinions weaving in and out of this newsletter. Hopefully I will be able to clearly identify the information that is a personal opinion.

The expected audience of this newsletter includes anyone in the genealogy business, any genealogy society officers and anyone with an interest in applying computers to help in the research of one's ancestors.

I chose to distribute in electronic format for two reasons: (1.) it's easy, and (2.) it's cheap. In years past I have been an editor of other newsletters that were printed on paper and mailed in the normal manner. The "overhead" associated with that effort was excessive; I spent more time dealing with printers, maintaining addresses of subscribers, handling finances, stuffing envelopes and running to the post office than I did in the actual writing. Today's technology allows for a much faster distribution, and it is done at almost no expense to either the producer or the subscribers. I want to spend my time writing, not running a "newsletter business."

Since the expected readers all own computers and almost all of them use modems regularly, electronic distribution seems to be the most cost-effective route to use. It also is much lower cost than any other distribution mechanism that I know of.

The original plan has been followed rather closely in the twelve years since I wrote those words. The newsletter still consists of "events and happenings of interest to computer-owning genealogists," "mini press releases about new genealogy software or other products and services," and "a few articles about things that are not genealogy-related but still seem to be of interest to me." I have also frequently featured "editorials and my personal opinions."

One thing that has changed is that the newsletter was converted from a weekly publication to a daily effort more than three and a half years ago. I still send weekly "collections" of all the articles by e-mail to all Plus Edition subscribers as well as shorter e-mails to Standard Edition subscribers. I am delighted with the change to a daily format. There is a lot more flexibility when publishing daily and, of course, I can get the news out faster. Reception of the daily edition has been gratifying. The newsletter is now available on the eogn.com web site, using a professional e-publishing platform, complete with RSS news feeds and other technology, all of which make life easier for subscribers as well as myself.

Another feature that I like about the current daily publication is that each article has an attached discussion board where readers can offer comments, corrections, and additional information. The result is a much more interactive newsletter that benefits from readers' expertise. The newsletter originally was a one-way publication: I pushed the data out. Today's version is a two-way publication with immediate feedback from readers.

The 2008 newsletter does differ from one statement I wrote twelve years ago: "Today's technology allows for a much faster distribution, and it is done at almost no expense to either the producer or the subscribers." If I were to re-write that sentence today, I wouldn't use the phrase, "at almost no expense." I would write, "...at lower expense than publishing on paper." Since I wrote the original words twelve years ago, I have received an education in the financial implications of sending bulk e-mails and maintaining web sites, complete with controls of who can access which documents. I now know that it costs thousands of dollars to send tens of thousands of e-mails. There are technical problems as well. Someday I may write an article about "how to get your account canceled when you repeatedly crash your ISP's mail server."

The truth is I did crash mail servers a number of times in the early days of this newsletter. And, yes, I got my account canceled one day by an irate Internet service provider. I was abruptly left with no e-mail service. The Internet service provider discovered that their mail server crashed every week when I mailed this newsletter, so they canceled my account with no warning. I also have encountered significant expenses for hardware, software, web hosting, bulk mailing services, and office expenses. In order to carry on the effort without breaking the piggy bank, I split this newsletter into two versions: a free Standard Edition and a for-pay Plus Edition. At least the newsletter now pays for itself, including paying for a professional grade bulk mail service.

I was amused a while ago when someone sent a message to me that started with the words, "I hope someone on your staff will forward this message to you." After twelve years, my staff remains exactly the same as when I started: myself plus one very talented lady who edits this newsletter every week. I do the up- front work; she then converts my written words into real English. She also functions as a business advisor, confidante, and good friend. She has done this for nearly every newsletter since the very first edition.

Pam has edited nearly every newsletter article despite the travel schedules of both of us; sometimes we both have been in hotel rooms but in different countries. I well remember one week several years ago when I was writing newsletter articles from a hotel room in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Pam was editing the articles from her hotel room in California. (We both live in Massachusetts.) In fact, tonight she is in Atlanta, but the newsletter is going out anyway, complete with her edits.

As a computer professional, her travel schedule has been at least as hectic as mine. She and I have passed the proposed newsletter articles back and forth by e-mail time and again. Thanks, Pam. I couldn't do it without you.

In the third issue of this newsletter, I answered questions that a number of people had asked. I wrote:

I hope to issue this [newsletter] every week. ... I reserve the right to change my mind at any time without notice. Also, the first three issues have all been much longer than I originally envisioned. I expect that the average size of the newsletter within a few weeks will be about one half what the first three issues have been. Do not be surprised when you see it shrink in size.

Well, I was wrong. The first three issues averaged about 19,000 bytes of text. The newsletter never did shrink. Instead, the average size of the newsletters continued to grow. The weekly e- mail Plus Edition newsletters of the past year have averaged more than 85,000 bytes each, more than four times the average size of the first three issues. In fact, each newsletter today is bigger than the first four issues combined!

So much for my prognostication!

As several people have mentioned recently, this newsletter continues to grow with more and more articles published every week. In fact, you receive more genealogy-related articles in this newsletter than in any printed magazine. Subscriptions for the Plus Edition of this newsletter also remain less expensive than subscriptions to any of the leading printed genealogy magazines.

In twelve years I have missed only eight weekly editions for vacations, broken arms, hospital stays, airplane accidents, and family emergencies. Yes, I broke both arms one day and still missed only one newsletter as a result! I found typing on a keyboard to be difficult with two arms in casts. The following week I wrote about speech input devices as I dictated that week's newsletter into a microphone connected to my PC. Several months later, I suffered bruises and wrenched my neck severely when I landed my tiny, open cockpit airplane upside down in a treetop and then fell to the ground eighty feet below. Yet I missed only one issue as a result of that mishap.

Over the years I hopefully have become more cautious: I stopped flying tiny airplanes. I am cautious when walking on ice. I also have written more than 6000 weekly newsletters, totaling more than 35 megabytes of text. Someday I really do have to learn how to touch type.

Because of this newsletter, in the past twelve years I have traveled all over the U.S. as well as made multiple trips to Canada, England, Mexico, and to the Caribbean Islands. Because of this newsletter, I have met many enthusiastic genealogists. Because of this newsletter, I have had the opportunity to use great software, to view many excellent web sites, and to play with lots of new gadgets. Because of this newsletter, I have discovered a number of ancestors. I am indeed fortunate and have truly been blessed.

To each person reading today's edition, I want to say one thing: Thank you for being there and for making it possible for me to enjoy three of my hobbies: genealogy, computers, and online systems.

Also, one other sentence I wrote twelve years ago still stands: Suggestions about this newsletter are always welcome.

One of the largest genealogy fairs of the year will soon take place in the small city of St. George, Utah. This annual event is a "sleeper:" That is, the expo is not a national event and yet it attracts large crowds and a long list of presenters and exhibitors. The expo location is about a two-hour drive from Las Vegas, very convenient for many of us who fly to the event. I have been to several of the past Family History Expos and plan to attend this year's event as well.

Of course, those of us who live in colder climates always appreciate traveling to St. George in February. While the weather is variable, average daytime high temperatures at that time of year are about sixty degrees with occasional sunny days in the seventies.

The city has become a retirement mecca with a growing tourist business. Scenery is plentiful with red bluffs visible everywhere. The northeastern edges of the Mojave Desert are visible to the south. Zion National Park can be seen to the east, and the Pine Valley Mountains loom over the city to the north and northwest. Unlike my past visits, I hope to spend a few extra days sightseeing in the area this year. St. George is also known for its abundance of hotels, motels, restaurants, factory outlets, and other great shopping opportunities.

The St. George event is an "expo," not a conference. In short, it is an "open house" event aimed at novice to intermediate genealogists. While many presentations are offered at the Family History Expo, most of them are aimed at non-guru genealogists. In my mind, this is a good thing. While genealogists will always have a need for the advanced topics presented at some of the national conferences, the St. George Family History Expo is much more of a “grass roots” event. We need more of these, in my opinion.

The St. George event also features a strong focus on the exhibitors' hall. Indeed, the 50 or so exhibitors are the stars of this show. The exhibitors’ hall is large and attendees will find lots of time to speak with the many exhibitors. The exhibitors this year include: Footnote.com, Wholly Genes Software, FamilySearch, RootsMagic, Family Tree Magazine, RootsTelevision, Legacy Family Tree, USGenWeb, GenealogyBank, Search & ReSearch Publishing , Archive CD Books USA , Genealogy Today, My Ancestors Found, The Genealogical Institute, Geni.com, Everton Publishers, Genline, findmypast.com, Ancestry.com, The Genealogy Shelf, FamilyLink.com (formerly World Vital Records), Incline Software, The Jefferson Project, Generation Maps, the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, Ohana Software, Godfrey Memorial Library and others. The “DearMYRTLE Q & A Booth” will also be in operation. I’m not sure just what answers the “Q&A Booth” will be providing. However, knowing Pat (a.k.a. DearMYRTLE), I am sure it will be first class.

As to speakers, many of the best-known presenters in genealogy make the trip to St. George. The keynote speaker this year is Beau Sharbrough, Vice-President of Content Strategy & Acquisition at Footnote.com. The expo kicks off Friday morning with the keynote address by Beau Sharbrough, speaking on “Pirates of the Pedigree.” I’m not sure what that covers but I suspect it will be an interesting talk. Anyone who has ever heard Beau speak with his mixture of humor and hard facts can tell you about his excellent speaking abilities.

Other presenters at next month’s Family History Expo in St. George will include: Anna Swayne, Arlene H. Eakle, Baerbel K. Johnson, Barry J. Ewell, Betty Lou Malesky, Billy D. Edgington, Bruce Buzbee, Craig Roberts Scott, Cynthia B. Alldredge, D. Merrill White, Dale Bartlett, David Lifferth, (President of FamilyLink.com), DearMYRTLE,
Dennis Meldrum, Derek B. Dobson, Gaylon Findlay, Gena Philibert Ortega, Geoff Rasmussen, Janet Hovorka, Jason McGowan, Jay Burrup, Jean Wilcox Hibben, Jeanette K. B. Daniels, Jessica Pears, Jim Greene, John Vilburn, Jonathan Walker, Kathryn Lake Hogan, Kip Sperry, LaRae Free Kerr, Leland K. Meitzler, Lisa L. Cooke, Marlo E. Schuldt, Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, Michael Booth, Mike Ward
Mindi Stevens, Paola Manfredi, Paul Larsen, Paul Nauta, Raymond W. Madsen, Richard Black, Rose W. Johnson-Tsosie, Ruth Ellen Maness, Stefani Evans, Stephen J. Valentine, Steven Vander Does, Suzanne Russo Adams, Timothy G. Cross, Tracey Bates Long, and Yvette Arts (Director of Content Acquisition at FamilyLink.com)

Some of those names are well known nationally within genealogy circles while others are not well known outside of southern Utah. This should be an interesting mix of presenters!

All in all, this year’s event looks like a good one: plenty of presenters who will give information about a wide variety of genealogy-related topics, a busy exhibitors’ hall, gorgeous scenery and a mild climate. I’m there!

If you can be in St. George on February 8 or 9, stop in at the Dixie Center of St. George. It is conveniently located just off Interstate 15. Admission is $65.00 at the door. Also, please stop by the Footnote.com booth and say “Hello.” I hope to spend a lot of my time there meeting newsletter readers.

For more information about the Family History Expo 2008, look at http://www.myancestorsfound.com/events/upcoming.php?event_id=1.

The following was written by Paula Hinkel of the Southern California Genealogical Society:

We are very pleased to announce the roll-out of the searchable Virtual Surname Wall database, sponsored by the Southern California Genealogical Society. The Virtual Surname Wall is free and open for use by all family historians and genealogists. You need not be a member of SCGS to participate.

Although it took a little longer than we anticipated or wished, entries from over a thousand genealogists from around the world are now searchable by family name, by geographic region, and by each participant's Submitter ID.

Access the Virtual Surname Wall at www.SCGSGenealogy.com.

To see if any of your surnames are listed:

1. Click on the link to "Search the Virtual Surname Wall."

2. Search by surname, location, or Submitter ID or any combination of the three. It is a "begins with" search. For example, if you search for the last name Mill, it will return the names beginning with the letters Mill. (i.e. Millan, Millard, Miller).

3. Be sure to read the search tips that are listed on the search page.

If you haven't yet added your names to the database, or if you want to add more:

1. Have your family information available for reference.

2. Click on the link to "Add Your Surnames"

3. Enter the following information for each surname you are reporting:
Surnames (including spelling variations).
Geographic area in which they lived, or the migration path.
List your geographic information in order by city, county,
state and country. To avoid confusion, please do not use
two-letter state abbreviations.
Time Frame. Use abbreviations (approx., or abt., or ca.) to indicate approximate time frames.

4. Submit as many names as you want. Each entry screen will accept up to 10 surnames but you can enter multiple screens. If you get a message that the survey has already been completed, just click "Take the survey again" and continue adding names. You may add ancestors from any geographic location worldwide.

As entries are added to the database, the Virtual Surname Wall will become an even more valuable resource for family historians and genealogy researchers. You will not immediately see new entries but will be notified when they have been added to the Virtual Surname Wall. Check back often to look for a match.

Your participation in the Virtual Surname Wall project is completely voluntary. Your contact information is not displayed online. You have the option of asking SCGS to serve as intermediary, or authorizing SCGS to release your contact information in the event that we receive an inquiry regarding a possible family connection.

Please feel free to forward this email to your cousins, friends, fellow genealogists or others who would be interested in the Virtual Surname Wall project. Genealogy and historical societies are welcome to post this announcement in newsletters or journals. Reprint permission is granted but please include contact information (phinkel@scgsgenealogy.com).

We thank you for your contributions to the Virtual Surname Wall. Here's to making lots of connections!

Paula Hinkel
Southern California Genealogical Society

P.S. - and while you're at the website, check out the program for the 2008 Genealogy Jamboree, which will be held June 27-29 in Burbank, California!