Organizing the Data

For about twenty years I have been collecting data on my family history. Through those years I have used many kinds of software to store the data. I began like many of us just writing down the information as I found it on paper, later starting notebooks to try and organize it. As time went on and the data became more involved and disorganized I began to separate the families data and try and focus on different branches. Over the years I have created many trees, registers, ahnentafel and other reports. I visited vita records offices and copied data from books when I couldn't afford to pay for the official record. I made trips to look at microfilm at the National Archives for Census, Passenger lists, and Naturalization Records. My interest never wavered though the time I had to spend doing this hobby did. Sometimes years would pass without me doing that much. Other times a few months would go by and other times maybe just a week or two would pass without me being able to look at my hobby. The desire to create this web site grew out of the hope of finding a way of putting all I have learned over the years in one place to share with my family. I thought that if I could do this and maintain the site I would attract more and more family to contribute and become interested in my research. Rainwave.com was the first to go up and it was thanks to my son Joseph that it had the flash it had due to his programming skills. Little content of actual genealogy data made it to the site unfortunately and I was baffled as how to get this dream done. Finally I found myself fully involved again and spending consistent time to sort and work through the data I collected. I began to use Family Tree Maker and GRAMPS at the same time with the thought of comparing them to see which would suit my needs the best. I found excellent qualities with both that to this day makes me continue to use both. It was through GRAMPS that I finally began the plans of a new web site. GoodIrishStock.com has been in it's third year now and I am proud to be the sole person who codes and updates the site. I continue to sort through the massive amount of paperwork I have collected using both Ancestry.com and New England Historical and Genealogical Society to confirm my older research. I try to update the site a couple times a year and as the new year approaches I find myself in the middle of another plan to revise. Communication with living family members continues to amaze me as I find new cousins from different branches of our family and they add their stories and data to the mix. I finish out this month working on my paternal family name: Ferris.
I will be reaching out to many who are out of the loop and do not even know of me. I am hoping to make new friends and family while continuing to document our history. My hope this coming year though is to find someone to share this task with who is computer literate and has the enthusiasm and time to dedicate towards improving, validating, sharing and researching this project. Those are my thoughts.
I hope someone out there shares them with me. So back to work at entering old data into the FTM software. From there I will create a GEDCOM file to transfer it to GRAMPS And compile it there. I will move the data then to code both in Kubuntu Linux and Windows 7 and upload it to the site. I hope this new version will find it's way into some new computers around the world and bring the Ferris Family and it's many branches closer together.

PLANS FOR 2011

As 2011 looms closer, I begin today the task of updating all the data collected this past year and inputting it into FTM and GRAMPS. Another revision of the website should be out before years end. Enough blogging.. Now onto the work at hand ~!!!!

Fall FERRIS

Well summer has passed and fall is fast upon us. The days of lazy mornings with Jeanne and our summer travels are over. Jeanne is back to work and I am beginning to discipline myself to rise by 5am and spend at least 90 minutes each weekday on my genealogy research and hopefully more consistent blogging! Today was good start though not quite 5am I managed to be up with Jeanne and caught up on my emails and began a bit of work on my FERRIS branch. I am formulating questions for my third cousin Larry Allen who I met in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia this summer. We had a wonderful few hours of getting to know each other and discovered a lot in common in spite of quite different life paths! We will continue our relationship and exchange information about our family. I hope he and his wife can manage to visit Boston someday ! I'll email Larry this week with what I need to tidy up the data on his side of the FERRIS branch. I am looking at considerable work on the MURRAY side of Jeanne's family from another unnamed researcher whose research I have obtained from Jeanne's parents. That should cover this week. More as the week goes by ! Happy hunting to all !

2010 Summer Web Site

I am very close on releasing this website!!! A quick visit by Joseph last night solved my CSS issue and I was finally able to fix the margins through pages containing text in the body. ( I am officially dumb for missing this easy fix, but that's why he's the expert. It took him all of three minutes to fix it ) So a quick re-write of four biographies, manually adding all media to GRAMPS and adding new photographs to photobucket will do it. The testing thus far has gone excellent! All other pages appear to be bug free and the genealogy data flows seamlessly. I am hoping everyone finds the new design pleasing and a bit more appropriate to the subject matter. I am getting excited as it has been a long time since I have actually released anything new on this website, due to family and work. The stars have appeared to line up for granting me the giant amount of time needed this year to not only release the new version but to make new releases much less time consuming. I am still not sure how this will relate to just how quick I'll be able to update data but with a bit of luck and some creative coding, I might be actually able to update monthly.! OK ... That's the news .. Now back to the biographies. Just a note... I am not providing footnotes for sources or references on line in the biographies. Those remain in the Ferris Library and are available upon request. It's just easier to show the Biography without all the clutter and let you take me at my word of it's accuracy. Once again sources are available upon request. !!! Thanks and happy hunting. !

2010 Summer Web Site

I have organized the data across the pages, coded the ones that need it so that they will blend with the data. The thirteen main pages related to the site are up and running and I should have them bug tested before mid week, of next week. Still to do are some pesky fixes and the re-writing of the Biographies page. Adding the media to the GRAMPS software from FTM manually is pretty time consuming and I think two days will take care of that. I am very excited to finally have it in the testing status so I can see it in a web browser and view the new design. I am hoping that before end of fall I will have developed a new strategy which will allow for quicker versions to be released. I am going to call on the king of code in our family - Joseph - and ask him to spend a brainstorming session with me for an afternoon. Though I like to be able to call this site my own and be proud of my creation, I am not above consulting the expert in this web software engineering field. His insights and suggestions are always spot on though often also beyond my programming skills !!! I guess in all this the good news is I plan on releasing this new version for all of you to see on the following weekend. Week of June 12-13th. Take a look and as always, please send me you suggestions, additions, and corrections. Thanks again for looking in. Hello to my newest "found cousin" Larry Ferris in Nova Scotia. Looking forward to our future discussions. Happy hunting out there !

Web Site summer Version

After completing the rewrite of Thomas Ferris's biography yesterday I will need to add the citations and sources to the work as well as adding in some local and national historical time lines. I am happy with the new finished work though as I find it an easier read when I keep it written in decades. Maybe later this afternoon I can complete and begin work on rewriting Robert James Ferris I.

This morning is being spent coding the Summer Version of the Ferris Family History and Genealogy Project. I have four pages done and hope to have four more done today. That should leave only three more to be completed tomorrow. Adding in images and links over the weekend should allow me to put this version into testing next week and ( cross your fingers) result in a new version on line before June.

Thanks to Edith Brady who inquired if her great Grandmother Elizabeth Ferris might be a relation. Though it appears we are not related I hope the Census Records I sent you will point you in the right direction of locating your family branch. I am pretty certain we had a good hit on the Wisconsin 1860 Census ! Let me know if I can be of assistance again !

As the Summer Version draws closer and closer I hope family members look at their branch and see if any additions, corrections, or deletions are needed. It is imperative I have them before June in order to get this version out on time. Pictures, Documents, and Stories can all be added easily but hard data means a complete redo of many pages.

Happy Birthday to Jean Selines of the MacDonald branch of my family !!!! I look forward to getting together with cousin Pete MacDonald and you in the future !

Thanks to all for looking in and happy hunting !

Biographies

This post is actually from yesterday. I did a lot of work but neglected to post after wards. Yes, I am sorry I forgot you ! As I rewrite each biography I am beginning to do several things. First I have redesigned the format of the page so that each is consistent and carries a theme. Next I have begun to use the "Chicago Writing Style" for the content especially when it comes to source and citation. Finally as I write the time line history of the individual family member spanning his generation from birth to death, I am being more selective with a historical time line to mark this person's life against what was going on locally and in the world around him that might have affected his daily life. The initial rewrites are done on the two Thomas Ferris's and Thomas 1 will be 100% complete today. I have written first writes for Robert James Ferris 1 and Donald Aneus MacDonald but will have a few edits to do before going into the testing version of the Summer Version. Adding one more biography to those four is my final plan though I am still deciding on whether the final will be Albert Thomas Ferris or Mary Maloney.

I also continued to organize and add media to the Ferris Library both from Ancestry and from previously found documents which either needed to be scanned and added or from already scanned or printed documents that needed to be added. Finally I created a few new files in the Ferris library for individuals not having their own.

Finally I continued reviewing the Ferris Family Book to better organize and present a historical, genealogical and comprehensive view of the Ferris family from Martin Ferris to the present showing Family Trees, Pictures, Family Group Sheets, Biographies, Vital Documents, Census Documents, City Directories, Wills, Deeds, Maps, and other misc material that help to show the individual family member separated from the family.

It's a rainy day and a great one for spending on genealogy today and I plan on just that. So more to come later. Thanks for following and happy hunting. !!

Web Site summer Version

Daniel's graduation is over and time to get back to work. Continued to code the new Summer Version of the Web Site this morning. Planning to rewrite the Biographies using the Chicago Writing Style. Also spent just a bit of time today continuing to organize media in correct folders. This week plans: Continue working on coding web site, rewrite biographies, review family folders for plan to add content to FTM and Ancestry, and finally to begin to organize, scan and add pictures to FTM, Ancestry, Ferris Library, and if chosen to this blog.

Jeanne and I visited the graves of her grandmother and grandfather, Henry and Kate Murray as well as her uncle, Thomas Regan in West Roxbury on Saturday while doing some biking. Later we stopped at the Cambridge Cemetery where we visited the family plots of Thomas and Sarah Ferris, Thomas and Mary Ferris and Richard and Annie Porteus. There are 25 direct blood relationships in that cemetery. I need to find out how I can have Thomas and Sarah's stone restored as it is getting very hard to read.

Finally I might rename the Ferris Family Research Project. I am researching 18 other families, though related to both Jeanne and I, that are NOT named Ferris. I must think this over and come up with a appropriate title.

Finally in an attempt to really organize this project I want to break down my tasks and research into categories and attach levels of importance to them. Well my coffee is finished and other tasks besides Genealogy await me today. ( Can this be true.. this is something else to do BESIDES genealogy? ) Keep hunting !!!

Children of Thomas Ferris 1

This morning I attached all the media I had in my Ferris/Documents file from my Library to their respective names in my published Ancestry Tree. I might get just a bit more organizing done tomorrow before Jeanne and I leave for Daniel's college graduation in Vermont at St Michael's College. We won't be home until Thursday evening. Nice to be recording and actually taking part in an family event that is both happy and that is attached to your own son !!! If I don't get to post tomorrow, see you on Friday morning.

Thomas Ferris

Spending sometime today researching the Will of Thomas Ferris who left his home and possessions to his wife and children when he died in 1887. I'll spend a few hours continuing to trace back his home from the current owners back to when our family owned it. So far I am back to 1972. ( 5 owners so far ) Also think I will visit the Cambridge Cemetery and give a look at almost three dozen ancestors whose final resting place are there. I want to research Porteus, Griffith, Crocker and Ferris graves there again and make sure there is no information I have missed. This cemetery's sextant is very helpful and their records are great for name, age at death, date of death, place of death, date of burial, undertaker, and sometimes cause of death. Often more then one person is buried under a gravestone though not marked on the stone. I found 9 family members under one stone yet only two marked on the stone and 8 others buried ( including my grandfather ) in an unmarked grave.

The more you speak with relatives even just slightly older then you and the more you get them to talk about their memories, the more they suddenly remember as long ago places and things buried years ago are suddenly remembered. You never know what kind of discoveries await you from those memories. Keep hunting out there and thanks for dropping in on me here !

Mary Elizabeth Ferris

Mary Elizabeth Ferris born to Thomas and Sarah Ferris in Cambridge, MA on July 7, 1874 was Thomas and Sarah's last child. Mary married Samuel Griffith on August 3, 1893. Working Ancestry and RootsWeb today I researched Mary and Samuel's Census records from 1900 to 1920 and also printed Samuel's WW1 Registration Card. Save all media documentation to Ancestry Tree and also to Ferris Library. Printed hard copies and added to Ferris Family Book. Found and documented children of Mary And Samuel and began to research them. Will continue work on them tomorrow. Also sent message to Ancestry member working on Griffith Tree to see if they want to collaborate.

Researched Robert J Ferris Jr. son of Robert James Ferris Sr and saved Documentation of 1920 Census and SS Death Index to Ferris Library, Ancestry Tree, and hard copy to Ferris Family Book. Will be researching children of Robert and wife Dorothy during this week.

Sarah M Ferris daughter of Robert J Ferris Sr and Sarah born January 18, 1887 in Somerville, MA married Frank Albion Howard. Researched media documentation of them after marriage and added to Ancestry Tree, Ferris Library, and finally hard copy to Ferris Family Book.

Last and Certainly not least I received a great email from David J Ferris of Canada descendant of Charles Alexander Ferris through his son John Ferris. David provided a brief sketch of his branch and promised to compile a tree to send to me. This communication is extremely exciting in that it opens the lines of communication with a new branch of the Ferris Family and confirms information sent to me through what appears to be David's grandmother Ann living in Truro, Nova Scotia.


Received a answer to my message from Tom Corning who is working in Ancestry on the Frank Howard branch. Frank married Sarah Mae Ferris daughter of Robert J Ferris Sr. I am still hoping to collaborate in working this branch of the family from their marriage until present day if Tom is willing.

Well that was a full morning's research on the Ferris Family. I am continuing work on my surname line this week and will continue to code the Summer Version of Goodirishstock.com next week. I have three pages completed and work will continue each week in testing until the it's release as Summer breaks.

Thanks once again to all who follow this project whether you just look on or contribute. I appreciate every piece of data provided me and answer every email, phone call, letter or message sent me. Happy hunting !

Esther Jane Ferris

Esther Jane Ferris born in 1869 to Thomas and Sarah Ferris in Cambridge, MA, was married in 1869 to George Richard Crocker of ME and had 4 known children, George R. and Frederick both born in Cambridge, MA and Annie and Dorothy both born in ME.
Today I scanned all their Vital Records and Census Records from the Ferris Family Book into Ferris/Documents on my hard drive. I entered all the relevant information into the FTM Software Database and made plans to further research their children and enter all the relevant information into Ancestry.

Tomorrow I will continue work on tightening up the data, media and research of Thomas and Sarah M Ferris's children, Edward, the two Georges, Mary, Charles, Annie and finally Robert.

Today was a good day and very productive. I am getting better organized. Keeping separate records on two different computer using different operating systems and software plus trying to keep the two on line data bases going on Ancestry.com and Goodirishstock.com can be a challenge. I need an assistant ! Thanks for looking in.

Descendants of Charles A Ferris

I received an email from Ann Ferris who turns out to be the widow of one of the Descendants of Charles A Ferris and Margaret L Dearmond. I was most curious about one of Charles and Margaret's sons named John ( like me ) who also shares my October 13 birthday. John it runs out married a woman named Dorothy and had three boys, two of which have children alive today. I am so excited by this communication as it represents the first "touch: from the descendants of Robert James Ferris's brothers or sisters carrying the Ferris name. And it appears that there could be other children alive today descended from Charles and Margaret as they had four children.

I worked briefly on updating the information Ann so generously supplied so that my data would reflect the changes in case any of her family wanted an updated Family Tree. It is just these types of encounters that take the research of history and genealogy away from trying to bring to life ancestors through fact, data, stories and pictures to actually talking to a live cousin who is part of your large extended family tree. I am grateful today that all my research paid off on this one branch and look forward to further communication with them. AND.... I still have more letters out there that have not been responded to !

Ferris Family Media

I received my first response from the letters sent to Canada in search of descendants for Charles A Ferris and Margaret Dearmond. Unfortunately this eliminated one as they were from Sydney NS and not of our branch. At least I know that the letters are being received.

Worked this morning of moving Media Files (Vital, Census and Misc) from my Genealogy/Documents Folder on the Hard Drive to the Family Tree Maker Media file under the correct persons file. Today I did most of Thomas Ferris 1 children including him and his grandchild Thomas 2.

Researched the Ferris information found on RootsWeb from The Sweet and Dacey Project. Always a load of well researched information. Also using the planner of FTM I wrote out a plan for adding additional media needed for that same group listed above.

Finally I began initial ( FINALLY ! ) work on writing the new code needed for uploading the new Good Irish Stock Web Site. Right now I am starting to review and begin transfer of the CSS to create the templates that will carry through each page. I also updated the data being transferred to that page so that as the pages are completed I can drag the data in. Lots of work to do before the summer arrives and I am happy to have finally begun the process.

Continued Organization

Letters to the Ferris branch residing in Nova Scotia sent and now it's the waiting to hear if any of the letters yield another cousin to be added to the tree!

I see Tammi and Pete continue to add new content to our MacDonald line. How nice is it to see work being done to further our research and history after twenty years of feeling alone in the project. Having several people researching the same family surely lightens the load and allows time to spent in other areas not usually worked

So my organization of media continues. Reorganizing the files in which documents, data, pictures and other genealogical information has been my focus. Renaming file in a consistent manner is finally happening and the moving of files to properly tagged and in the RIGHT file is underway.

Bringing the data base contained in Family Tree Maker and GRAMPS together continues also. This is an important piece of work so that the new summer 2010 version of the Web Site will reflect the latest additions of research found.

Finally continuing with the release of this new version the biographies tab is being changed. The previous written biographies of Thomas Ferris 1 and Thomas Ferris 2 have been reformatted and are in the process of a rewrite. A draft for biographies for Robert James Ferris 1 and Donald Aeneus MacDonald are complete. I plan on more biography of Albert Thomas Ferris Sr for Summer release.

It's been a very productive last two days and I look to continue to get this version rolling and released by the first day of summer. I need to catch up on my PEI newsletters and also the New England Historical and Genealogy Society newsletters. Jeanne on vacation this week and with her mother in the hospital I think my project might slow down a bit. But these life's events are what make up genealogy and living in them and through them are a big part of life. While I truly believe understanding your past can help who you are today, it is very important to not miss what is going on in your present life. After all, it is the one you are living and each day is a gift.

For those of you reading this thanks for your time. Drop me an email, a telephone call or even a letter. Each of you are the lifeline to all the branches of the various families I am researching.

Getting Organized

Six letters to Ferris Family in Halifax and the surrounding area being sent out today to attempt to locate and communicate with the descendants of Charles A Ferris, brother of my great-grandfather Robert J Ferris.

Also worked a little on my MacDonald--MacEcheran -MacPhee branch thanks to Tammi and Pete who continue to add new content to our family tree. Added documents from my cousin Lorraine pertaining to our Nickerson branch.

Focused on my great grandfather Robert J Ferris and his family for a couple of days tightening up time lines for him using census, city directories, and other records to attempt to follow the places he lived from birth to death. There are some strange events that happened there.

Going to try and concentrate on organizing all the various documents I have both as hard copies and as electronic media into files organized by Family Surname and then owner of document in the windows computer. In the Linux computer my goal is to do the same as above and additionally attach all the media to that specific person in GRAMPS so that on the next WebSite version each person will have all the proper documents and media attached to them.

Summer Revision

I worked this morning on the Welcome Page of the planned revision. Also I finalized the letter I plan to send to the Halifax area of Canada searching for descendants of Charles A Ferris. I need to get a book of stamps to get these letters mailed out before weeks end. This revision will once again be written in HTML, CSS and PERL using UBUNTU and KDEs editor KATE. My continuing search for better programming skills has brought me to RUBY and RAILS as a future possibility for code but I am a long way from understanding and using this platform. Pete and Tammi MacDonald continue to do great work on their MacDonald research adding new content weekly and I have linked my Ancestry account with theirs so that we may share our work. Finally I am hoping that Pete, Jean and I can meet soon to organize the MacDonald research we now separately conduct into a team effort that will yield great results without duplication of effort and the sharing of the vast resources, skills and knowledge we each presently have. Again, if you are reading this and think you have something to add I invite you to contact me and join the team !

Updating Data

This morning I created a GEDCOM file from Family Tree Maker on my desktop running Windows 7 to import and merge into my GRAMPS software on my laptop running Linux KUbuntu. What this does is allows me to begin the process of updating my Web Site Data files which run on the GRAMPS software. I will update the CSS and also change all the dates to reflect the next version I am putting out which I believe I will call the Summer Version.

I found a list of Ferris's living in the Halifax area of Nova Scotia and finalized a cover letter to send them and see if any are indeed descendants of my great great uncle Charles A Ferris. One of his children named John has my exact birthday October 13 though his was in 1894. I know the family moved back to Nova Scotia to Margaret L Dearmonds family home since I found them in the 1911 census. And I know at least two of her children married and had children so the possibility is pretty good that at least one branch is still alive up there carrying the Ferris name

There won't be any BLOG post from Friday (tomorrow ) until Monday. I am leaving for Vermont tomorrow morning to attend ceremonies that will honor and celebrate my youngest son Daniel's making both the Dean's List and his induction into Phi Beta Kappa at St Micheal's College. He will be moving on this year after graduation having already been accepted at the University of Chicago for his masters graduate work.

I also did some research into my Father's Mother's side of the family on Ancestry tracing Thomas Maloney and wife Bridget Donnelly through the census records. Born in Carbonear, Newfoundland both lived here in Charlestown, MA, Thomas working as a longshoreman. Both are pictured in the Photobucket widget attached to this BLOG in a color picture of them sitting together.

Well, that's all for now. I have a lot to do to prepare for my trip to Vermont. Hope to continue work on Web Site revision on Monday as well as mail out the cover letters bound for Halifax and the surrounding area. It's been a good productive week. See you next week.

John

I'm Back !!!

Not that you missed me .. but.. After a much needed computer rebuild I am back. Joseph and I basically stripped the old Antec case of the power supply, mother board, processor, memory and hard drives. That left me with just the DVD And CD drives. A new Intel dual-core processor on a Gigabyte MB, 4 GB of RAM and a terabyte of Hard Drive space added to the already existing 2oo gigs plus new windows 7 OS has me back and running and running quicker then ever. I also upgraded my Family tree Maker Software to 2010. With my Ancestry, NHGS, Dotster and Netfirms Subscriptions all paid I am finally ready to put some serious time into some much needed changes in both web site design and content.

Partnership with cousin's Jean and Pete to help make the MacDonald family research going forward will be a tremendous improvement. Pete and wife, Tammie have already contributed much content through their Ancestry page and we have linked our pages for the future. Jean's ties with Prince Edward Island and her data on her branch will be gratefully taken. Most important though will be the expertise each brings to the research from their own experiences and skills. A future meeting to bring it all together is in the works and I am very excited to meet both and have them as part of my research. How lucky can you be to find two members of the same family with such skills and passion for genealogy working on the same thing you are?

Finally work continues of tracking down long lost cousins of the Ferris branch. I am still looking for someone in the Ferris family to work with me to help me sort out the data that continues to be found and to help search for descendants of our ancestors still out there who don't know about this research project.

Please once again feel free to comment, compliment, correct or celebrate this project with me. Your data, pictures, stories, and comments help to drive this project more then anything I do at the computer. Write, call or email me with what's on your mind. Till the next post.... keep searching.. sometimes.. the past is the key to your future.

John

Mary Catherine Crocket (Ferris)

CROCKET, Mary C. (Ferris) Of Arlington, Feb. 4, 2010. Loving mother of Jane Shufro and her husband Richard of Wellesley, Marybeth Crocket and her husband Jim Woodbury of New Mexico, and Laura Munsey and her husband Kenneth of Arlington. Devoted grandmother of Daniel, Amanda, Joseph Munsey and Jordan Shufro. Great grandmother of Rylee Campo. Loving Aunt to many nieces and nephews. Funeral from the Keefe Funeral Home, 5 Chestnut St., ARLINGTON on Monday at 9 am. Funeral Mass in St. Eulalia's Church, Winchester at 10 am. Relatives and friends invited. Visiting hours Sunday 2-6 pm. Burial is private. In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Mary Crockets Memory to: Talking Book Library, 3 Salem Sq., Worcester, MA 01608 or Habitat for Humanity, HFH Greater Boston Inc., 240 Commercial St., Suite 4B, Boston MA 02109. For obituary, directions or to send a condolence visit www.keefefuneralhome.com

MacDonald Research Continues

Received another wonderful email from Pete MacDonald today with an attached email containing two pages of genealogy information regarding our MacDonald family tree from his Aunt Anne. This was a GREAT load of information that I spent a good part of the morning entering into my data. While going through the MacDonald Research Folder I have I also found a descendant GEDCOM file sent to me from a researcher named Tiny in PEI that i never finished entering into my data. Once again I began to enter his information into my research in FTM but finally called it a day in the beginning of the afternoon needing to move on to some other chores. What a great day though for adding so much information all at once to our MacDonald side of the family. I emailed Pete back to thank him and made notes on his email of questions to things written that were unclear to me. At the end of this week I will move off the MacDonald branch and either start new research on the Nickerson or Ferris branch of my family. I will continue entering Tiny's data into FTM tomorrow and start the entry into GRAMPS at the end of the week. It is a great feeling to be so involved in researching family again. I need to make plans to begin a biography of one of the MacDonalds for the Website and finally contact Jean S to make plans for a future MacDonald Clan Reunion in the future. To return to the GoodIrishStock Website please click here

MacDonald

MacDonald / Nickerson Work Continues

Thanks to Pete for writing me to let me know he found my post regarding the MacDonald Tree I am researching. Pete's grandfather is the brother to my maternal grandmother from PEI. I hope we can continue to correspond and help each other fill in the blanks to some missing parts of our tree. Furthermore it was so nice to find another family member who has recently taken an interest in genealogy. Today was spent on that same MacDonald line backing up my GRAMPS ( and website ) data by entering it into my Desktop computer that runs Family Tree Maker. I began with The sibling of Donald A MacDonald and tried to bring that line as close to the present as my data permits. That will allow first for my next update on the website to be improved but also allow me the ability to discuss with my MacDonald branch family members exactly what I know and don't know in order to make my research correct. I hope today to end my research with a list of questions regarding my MacDonald family to track down the answers to. Happy Hunting All !!!!

MacDonald - Nickerson Week

AFter speaking on the phone with my cousin Lorraine I filled in a lot of the blanks in the family tree of my mother's sister's present day family starting with my aunt and her husband and descending to her great grandchildren. I still have some dates to fill in including quite a few marriage and a couple of birth dates. Also places remain a mystery. Hopefully today I will resolve these final questions with a trip up north to visit Lorraine and Barbara. I will bring my data with me and Jeanne and I will drive north to New Hampshire to visit and make the Nickerson/MacDonald tree grow fuller in my research. Later tonight after 6pm it's out to eat with our boys Jack and Joseph (and the lovely Grace) who are taking us out to dinner. I entered all the found data into FTM yesterday and will input it into GRAMPS this evening. I will conclude my week of Nickerson/MacDonald work this week and next week go back to work on the Ferris side. A visit to my Aunt Mary ( my father's sister and the last remaining Ferris child of Thomas Ferris will be nice. I plan on filling in a lot of the descendants of my father's brother Walter who move to Delaware and settled. There are a lot of Ferris's down there to add to my tree! It feels so good to be "hunting" and working on my tree again. Working on genealogy is a very "grounding" feeling. I hope to finish off the week with updating posts on the web to inquire on research for the following week's work.

Seeing as I have a lot more time on my hands lately I have been working to bring my GRAMPS genealogy software data in line with my FTM genealogy software data. I fixed the bug in FTM that wouldn't recognize that I am on the internet thus allowing me to click on the "leaf" hints that Ancestry give. Presently working on MacDonald / Nickerson .

OK enough for today. I must pick up Jeanne and my head is full of integers, floats, assignments, variables and objects and of course proper pointing so that it all happens without error. Somehow this will all make sense on a larger level when I attempt to make it work with genealogy data, graphics and web design. Right?.... Oh come on.. don't look at me like that.. Nod with more conviction. I'll get it ... eventually .. That's all for today.

Ruby

So today to complete my long range goal of revising my GoodirishStock website which I currently write in HTML and CSS and of course PYTHON in gramps data. I would like to make this entirely my own code and thus have today begun to learn RUBY. I will report here my progress as I begin to learn the language of RUBY. I installed it first in Windows on my desk top which I still keep XP on. Later I will install it on my laptop which runs Linux KUbuntu.
My first hours today were spent installing RUBY and learning the very basics of it. Intergers and floats for numbers ....strings with letters... ok . so I have a very long way to go before I can move my site over using this language but one must start someplace. For now I will keep updating the site using what i currently have with an new version coming in Spring , all the while continuing to learn RUBY. It feels good to be learning something new ! So onward into 2010 I go.

Happy Hunting !

New Year's Resolution

Well it's a new year and with it comes a new committment to try and post more in here.. I finally have my laptop up and running again ( which held all the codes to updating my site) so I should be able to do a lot more genealogy again. I'll start over the next couple of months to update and redesign the site in total so that I may have a new version out in spring. Also I am beginning today to input data for the descendants of the MacDonald-Nickerson side of my family. Also I recently heard from Kim ( thanks so much for contacting me ) who is from the Porteus side of the Ferris Family. So off we go into a new year with new events to record and new data to process and more roots to research. Happy hunting to all and Happy New Year !