Vetting Ancestry.com Family Trees

Ancestry.com's interactive family tree database is a nice idea in principle but full of landmines. Researchers make the worst connections, sometimes connecting people born over a hundred years apart and merging children of different families.

I had an email query seeking more information about a listing in my Carr database at Rootsweb for Thomas Story who married Margaret Carr 25 October 1739 in New Jersey.

My information was from this source:
Title: Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey Vol22
Author: William Nelson
Call Number: F133.N42
This book contains the marriage records of New Jersey.
Bibliographic Information: Nelson, William. Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey Vol.22. The Press Pringitn and Publishing Co. New Jersey. 1900.

(Links below are for those with Ancestry memberships.)

I really had nothing but a marriage record, so to find more info on Thomas Story, I tried Ancestry's main search engine, which took me to a matching listing in their family tree collection. It showed Thomas Story and Margaret Carr, both born in 1722, with a daughter Elizabeth Story born 1746 died 13 May 1807 in Cranbury, NJ (Middlesex Co). Elizabeth married William Covenhoven, born 2 March 1742 died 9 May 1803 in Monmouth Co NJ. The database lists a bunch of kids, but Elizabeth, Margaret and Anne, born 1764, 1766, and 1770, respectively, seem most promising as their children.

The Ancestry collection is fraught with perils, though, so caution is warranted. The same database that shows Thomas Story born in 1722 says he died in 1873 (at the impressive age of 152) and that he had a second marriage to a Margaret Storie who died in 1873 in Scotland. Also, Elizabeth's children include both Covenhovens and Conovers for some reason. I picked the Covenhoven girls born in the 1760s (listed above) as likely offspring, but there were also children listed who were born in the 1780s, not to mention a bunch of Conover children.

People make odd connections in that database, so pick through it for possible clues and don't accept the data at face value. You'll have to vet your sources. Proceed carefully.

Time Covers Intellipedia, A-Space

Time magazine has an article in its current issue that praises Intellipedia and looks down its nose at A-Space, two of the more innovative tools of the US Intelligence Community. Wikipedia for Spies: The CIA Discovers Web 2.0 overemphasizes the value of Intellipedia, IMHO, and underplays the true importance of A-Space, the Facebook for intelligence analysts. Both are quite important as collaboration tools and could each rock the foundations of intelligence analysis, but A-Space is the greater revolution and offers the bigger potential for fundamental change.

GPS Tom-Tomfoolery

My wife and I recently stayed at the Marriott Towne Place Suites hotel in Erie, Pennsylvania. This comfortable and convenient hotel is situated on the extended property of a major shopping mall, causing all sorts of problems for today's GPS devices. People use GPS devices to find hotels when they're traveling to unfamiliar places, but sometimes these new gizmos take them on a wild ride to nowhere. Luckily I knew where I was going, so I had the opportunity to just play along with dearest Tom Tom. He's led me astray before, so I've learned to relax and enjoy the insanity.

Here's a map of where the hotel is, at least according to Google Maps. You'll note that the marker points to the entrance of Millcreek Mall, while the hotel is in the far northwest corner of the shopping center lot near Zimmerly Road and I-79.


View Larger Map

On this recent trip, Tom Tom took us off I-79 North at Interchange Road and told us to make a right turn. We should have entered directly into the mall at that point, but so be it. As soon as we made the turn, it began trying to figure out how to get us back to that entrance, suggesting a U-turn on a divided highway, then directing us to make our way over poorly paved roads to get back to the divided highway and make an impossible left turn across the divider on a four-lane highway.

We could laugh because I was familiar with the area, but others weren't so lucky. There was a state wrestling competition in town that weekend, so parents with their children were packed in vans and driving across the state and only wanted to get to the hotel and rest for the next day's festivities. And they were also being directed hither and yon by their GPS devices. The clerk at the hotel apologized for what has become a familiar struggle for her customers. The man in line behind me had a slew of wrestlers and family members, all frustrated at the last leg of their journey to this hotel.

So, what's the story here? GPS looks at an address by marking the entrance from a public roadway. Private lands are unfamiliar territory to Tom Tom. If the hotel is deep in private lands, the hotel gets an address based on the nearby road -- in this case Interchange Road -- and the devil is in the details.

Some day the mapping coordinates for these places will be added to the software. But for now you should expect to drive aimlessly about unfamiliar lands on occasion. You can mitigate your frustrations by going the extra step of looking at the satellite imagery of your destination to see if the lay of the land meshes with what Google and Tom Tom have labeled as the final point of your journey.

My daughter successfully overcame this sort of Tom-Tomfoolery the other day while going to visit our sick cat at Sayrebrook Veterinary Hospital in Sayreville, NJ. She happened to recall my blog article some months ago on how very far off the GPS was on the hospital's actual location, so she was undeterred when she was directed at least a mile off course. Somehow Google Maps thinks that 1400 Main Street is 990 Main Street. You can see the hospital in Google Map's street view below. Then look at the street view at bottom to see the jungle where Google Maps and Tom Tom sent my daughter.


View Larger Map


View Larger Map

Web 2.0 Videos

Here's some videos related to Web 2.0

Web 2.0 - An Intro in 5 Minutes


Web 2.0


Business and the Future of Web 2.0


Web 2.0 Filter Failure


US Intelligence and Web 2.0 - Intellipedia and A-Space


Web 2.0 Collaboration Using Wikis Instead of Email


Web 3.0

Old Phones, Encore Une Fois

I wrote a blog post back in December discussing the problems of doing research in old phone numbers. I heard from the manager of WhereCall.com, who read my post and decided to take on the challenge of determining the location associated with old area codes, exchanges, and/or phone numbers. He added a search engine to his site allowing research into old area codes and exchanges.

Here's how his database works:

If you search the New Jersey area code 201, the search result suggests that the area code could now be 551, 908, 732, 848, 973, or 862. My first phone number in the Matawan area in 1978 had the area code and exchange 201-566. Scott's database suggests four places I might have lived, including Matawan.

Using a New York example, a 212-549 number from the Bronx in the 1970s would now be 718-549. The database results yield five possibilities, most in Manhattan but one in the Bronx.

A search of the oldest area codes for Boston (617), New Jersey (201), Maryland (301), and NYC (212) can yield up to half a dozen possible current locations, but more recent iterations like 908-566 can narrow the search significantly.

What is still lacking is a chronological aspect to the data. I would hope that eventually a search of the area code/exchange 212-549 could be paired with the year 1985 to yield the location Bronx, NY and 201-566 in 1979 could result in the location Matawan, NJ. Or a search of 201 area code might generate a list of the area codes it spawned and when those area codes came into existence. Another challenge?

2009 Anniversaries - Follow Up

As a follow up to my blog article on 2009 anniversaries, I should point out a few anniversaries that I missed at the time.

• 50th anniversary of the Day the Music Died. While the anniversary, strictly speaking, memorializes the day Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash, some say that it was the beginning of the end of early rock and roll.
• 50th anniversary of statehood for Hawaii.
• 50th anniversary of statehood for Alaska.
  
• 30th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution.
• 25th anniversary of overcoming the Orwellian destiny foretold in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Or did we?
  

Darkness Shall Not Prevail

It seems that life has allocated this week as a time to be reminded of the dark underbelly of the Internet. A friend wrote this week, for example, to advise me that he'd gone through the early stages of getting a Facebook account but got scared off by all the privacy warnings FB put before him during the registration process. He thought he remembered that I have such an account and he just wanted me to know that he'd decided against signing up. I guess we won't be friending one another anytime soon.

Then today I got an email from some folks who've written an article about Wiki hoaxes against the rich and famous. They characterize cyber criminal activity as "blunders" that make Wiki less reliable, less trustworthy. And they are quick to advise the reader that professors don't allow you to quote Wiki because it is so rife with errors. They thought I'd like to share that message with you.

I advocate for FB and Wiki because I believe these technologies advance civilization. I'm sure it is somehow helpful to be reminded of their weaknesses, but such cannot be the whole message. Who is edified by that?

Great Lakes Wiki

While I was in Erie, Pennsylvania, I met briefly with a small group of environmentalists concerned about Lake Erie. I suggested that they contribute articles to Wikipedia and begin to collaborate with others with similar interests. I told them they could share information online for free that way. I went so far as to establish baseline articles for them, including the Lake Erie Watershed and Lake Erie Basin articles. But each of the articles has had less than a dozen edits by other contributors in more than a year. This approach towards collaboration might have a long horizon, but I doubt it. In the near term it has not prompted sharing. I was beginning to think some folks are just not meant for Wiki. Lo and behold a new wiki project -- The Great Lakes Wiki -- has emerged. Maybe it will be more successful? I hope so. There is much at stake. I wish them well with their Wiki project.

I'd love to see a similar project started here in New Jersey. In my Aberdeen NJ Life blog I just wrote about how my town council is voting on a contract regarding water diversion rights. The council considers the matter routine, probably because the region is fed by an overused aquifer that has been red-flagged by the state DEP for over 20 years.

The Iranian Revolution: Thirty Years

The Center for Middle East Studies at Rutgers University hosted a major conference this weekend dedicated to an academic review of the thirty years following the Iranian Revolution. There were scholars in attendance from around the world. A friend of mine who is very interested in interfaith issues asked me to join him, and I had a wonderful time.

I provide a summary of only some of the many wonderful speakers below.

Reza Akbari of Freedom House talked about the role of the Guardian Council in Iranian Government. The parliament issues laws, but they have to be found in compliance with Shariya law or they are disallowed. About 40% of the laws that elected officials pass are discarded by this council. Another council exists to try to reconcile disputes between the parliament and the Guardian Council. The whole process is rather disenfranchising.

Kevan Harris of Johns Hopkins University talked about the big role of entitlements in Iranian society. It reminded me a bit of how Social Security is a sacred cow in the US. No one can tinker with entitlements in Iran without getting burned, apparently.

Babak Rahimi delivered a vibrant lecture that included a fascinating discussion of the role of the web in Iranian politics and society.

Sina Mossayeb discussed the intellectual drain (not just a brain drain) that Iranian society has experienced over the past thirty years. (Note that the concept of Iran's brain drain gets its own entry at Wikipedia.)

Trita Parsi, of the National Iranian American Council, gave an interesting lecture on how best for America and Iran to come together to work through their differences. He pointed out that if President Obama can elucidate a substantial endgame to bilateral talks, Iran and the US can likely move forward in small steps with some success. But if there is no ultimate goal in mind and talks proceed only to mitigate tactical problems faced by the US, such as troublesome issues in Iraq and Afghanistan, then Iran is less likely to participate. Parsi believes that Iran's goal is to be recognized as a key player in the Middle East and was burned by the US after helping in Afghanistan after 9/11.

George Sanikidze, of Tbilisi State University, talked about Iran and its relations with the South Caucasus, especially in light of the Russia-Georgia conflict last fall. It was interesting to hear that both Iran and Russia fear NATO enlargement.

Radwan Ziadeh, of Harvard, discussed relations with Syria, breaking up the post-revolutionary period into three ever-warming periods - 1979-1990 (allies), 1990-2000 (friends), 2000-2008 (axis). My impression from how he described the periods in question was that Syria's Hafez al Assad lacked trust of Iran until Khomenei's death and Assad's son, Bashar al Assad, has suffered under Iran's heel ever since his father died.

Be sure to support the center by attending future events you find interesting. This weekend's conference was free. An upcoming comedy night planned for 25 March may involve a fee.

Don't Throw Wiki From The Train

Back in April 2008, an unregistered Wiki editor vandalized the Irving Gordon article that referred to Patty Page's 1950s hit song Mama From The Train. In an obvious reference to a Danny Devito movie, this editor changed the text to read Throw Mama From The Train. Then he added a rather naughty parenthetical note about Mama for good measure. Amazingly, this and an equally naughty note about Nat King Cole's hit Unforgettable remained uncorrected until today - nine months later. A similar assault on the song article was halted in its tracks in only one minute. (That editor might have caught both edits if he'd checked the user contributions and posted a warning like he was supposed to.)

Turns out that the vandal toyed with only two Wiki articles and, like Snagglepuss, exited Stage Right, never to return. I inaugurated the vandal's assigned Wiki talk page and added a less than subtle warning to behave in the future. If he ever returns to the scene and launches a new campaign against the 1950's or any other topic, he'll soon have tried Wiki's patience and he'll be on the outside looking in.

This all came to my attention because my Fifties music friend from yesterday's article wrote to tell me about this Patti Page disinformation campaign. My friend gets around the Web, but it wasn't always that way. I'm proud of his ability to get around the communications superhighway. But he didn't detect the connivance behind this edit. I saw it right away, mostly because I've got some experience and know how to confirm my suspicions.

My friend lamented the article's deficiencies but then passed an equivocal judgment on Wiki, saying,"See why I'm skeptical about that do-it-yourself portal of knowledge? :-) Though I know it does have lots of useful & accurate material in it. I make use of it myself, but know how to approach it with some caution. There's just not enough editorial supervision to prevent such nonsense as the above being put in."

He knows there can be errors in it, but he uses it anyway, but with a degree of caution. I couldn't have said it better myself.

I found some hope in his closing remarks that suggest he'll someday accept his duty to become a Wiki editor. You might see darkness, but I see some light working its way in. "Guess I should write in a correction, but I doubt that I will. It's not my project. "

URL Dead Zones

A friend of mine wrote me the other day to complain about a website that talked up the music of the mid-1950's but offered no contact information. My friend shops the web for sheet music and lyrics and he simply couldn't understand why someone would post lyrics without allowing him to write or make a purchase. There had to be some sort of purpose to the page. He wrote to me in frustration.

I visited the site and found that the page had no hyperlinks. Not back to a main page. Not to anywhere. In that sort of case, you need to look at the URL itself to see if you can follow the trail back from a subdirectory to find the root, in other words you want to find some sort of main page.

In this case the URL was: http://www.mtbrook55.com/1955hits.htm

The page my friend and I have been looking at is called 1955hits.htm. The main page is what is left: www.mtbrook55.com. In most cases, the best way to find the identity of the web host, or at least some kind of raison d'etre for the web site, is to visit that main page. Often non-professionals will create pages that don't link back and forth, only one way. A good case for saying, "You can't get there from here!"

Well, actually you can get to the main page. Simply click into the URL window at the end of the URL and backspace through the characters until the subdirectory characters have been removed and all that are left are the characters for the main page URL. There are lots of links there. The whole thing has to do with a class reunion.

The music page turned out to be a dead zone for my friend, who Googled his way onto the page. His visit was out of context. But for class reunion enthusiasts who entered from the main page, the music page was a logical part of a package. (Although the prospective class reunionists might get lost if they don't know how to use the back arrow to to return to the main page.)

In another case, you might land on a cemetery page while doing genealogy research. You can go back one level and visit the main page for the county where that and other cemeteries are found. We're not permitted to visit the next couple of tiers up the subdirectory chain. You have to go all the way back to the root of the website to get another foothold.

Don't expect to easily find your way from the root page back to where you were originally simply by using links found on the root page. Maybe it will be easy, but then again it may be nearly impossible. On this particular page, you can use the search feature to try perusing the US state in question, but it could take you a few hours to get anywhere that way. The special topics search feature is more useful. It lets you check off "cemeteries" and conduct a search for the county and state in question. The best choice in my search results happened to be the list of county cemeteries I was looking for. Whew!

In some cases a website will have orphaned pages that are parked in the domain but aren't linked to anything. Those pages have to be Googled, unless you can find a file directory within the website. I haven't had much luck finding file lists for this article -- maybe they are old technology? I imagine they are out there still, somewhere. If you have a good example, post it as a reply.

If The Shoe Fits

I just tracked a Carr family back through the England Census from 1901 to 1841 in response to an email query. They were mostly boot makers and shoemakers. When I got back to the 1841 England Census (by subscription), I couldn't make out the occupation listed for the patriarch, James Carr. His job title looked sort of like the word container but it started instead with cord. What could it be?

I went to Wikipedia, of course. I took what I was relatively sure of and used an asterisk to represent the parts I couldn't make out. The asterisk, as in many software programs, will serve as a wild card or place saver. My search for cord*ainer pointed me right away to what I needed. A cordwainer is a shoemaker. The term goes back to the 13th century and led to the formation of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers two centuries later. These artesans often worked in Cordovan soft leather, thus the name. The English eventually stopped distinguishing between shoe repairmen and shoe makers, so terms like cobbler and cordwainer disappeared.

So when you're stuck in your research because you can't make out a terminology or a name, remember that you can use an asterisk in Wiki to represent the section you can't make out. Like Bedf*shire will point you to Bedfordshire, Bar*illai will give you a list of people with the first name Barzillai, and *ama bin laden will find the notorious Osama bin Laden. (Someone needs to find him, that's for sure. Might as well be you.)

The image of the cordwainer above was found at the Honorable Cordwainers Company website, which provides a formal definition and more information.

Relatives South of the Border

When you have a surname database posted at Rootsweb WorldConnect instead of your personal family line, you occasionally get emails from people who think you're a newfound cousin because their relatives are in your online file. Once in a great while it truly is a cousin, but most of the time I doublecheck my records and have to write back to explain the surname database concept and how we're not related as far as I know. I always offer to help them with any Carr surname connections they might have that need fleshing out.

By the way, I've noticed that more and more people use the expressions to flesh out and to flush out interchangably. It creeps me out when I hear them used inappropriately. You can flesh out an idea by putting meat on a bare bones concept. Or you can flush out an idea using brainstorming to draw it out. (I'm not sure you ever want to talk about flushing out your relatives, at least not in a genealogical sense. Save that expression for the hors d'oevres table gossip at your next family reunion.) But I digress.

This weekend I had an email suggesting that I was the cousin of a Mexican living in El Paso in the 1930s. Since my roots are mostly English and German, I haven't had much experience searching Hispanic genealogies. After we exchanged some messages and sorted things out a bit (we're not related), I was able to find her ancestor entering the US in the summer of 1918 at the El Paso/Juarez border crossing. I ended up finding him in Ancestry.com's Immigration Service border crossing record images online.

The record (paid subscription only) showed that this man was 23 years old and born in San Julian, Jalisco, Mexico. The form gave his height and the color of his hair and eyes. It provided his wife's name but didn't say whether she was accompanying him. The form asked all sorts of questions regarding his purpose of visit. He wasn't crossing the border for temporary employment but planned to stay in El Paso for a year.

I received a nice note back from this weekend contact after I sent her a summary of what I found. "Wow thanks so much! That is exactly what I was looking for!"

Image found at http://www.bailadoresdebronce.org/dances.html

Sorting Out A Conflict Is Never Easy

It's always difficult to assign the blame for "starting it" when you're looking at a long-running struggle. If you pick a side in any conflict, you can always latch onto the latest atrocity of the opponent and begin to carry a banner.

I have my favorite in the Gaza struggle, for example, but I don't really know anything. Why do I have an opinion? Because of the media coverage that has come my way. There's no foreign press in Gaza at the moment, so everything I'm seeing is controlled.

If we go back to the June ceasefire, we can assume that all the parties are starting with something of a clean slate. Hamas still had an Israeli prisoner of war that Israel was hoping to have returned, but we have to start somewhere.

It wasn't long after the June ceasefire was signed that Hamas began lobbing missiles into Israel. Two in the first week. Despite calls for retaliation, the Israelis were hoping to get back their captured soldier and instead went to Egypt for further talks with Hamas. (New York Sun)

The June ceasefire got a serious jolt in November when Israel destroyed a tunnel between Gaza and Israel. There were plenty of sparks after that. Hamas had continued to fire rockets into Israel now and then, but the rocket attacks blossomed with three dozen launchings after the tunnel incident. Hamas claimed the tunnel incident was an attempted incursion by the Israelis, while the Israelis saw it as an effort to stop Hamas militants from coming into Israel to kidnap more soldiers. (MSNBC)

This is the Israeli explanation for the tunnel attack back in November:

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that while Israel wanted to continue the truce, it could not tolerate tunnel digging.

"When Israel agreed to the truce it didn't agree that while there was calm, Hamas would exploit it to dig tunnels, whether they are for smuggling weapons, for perpetrating attacks or kidnapping soldiers," she said. "Therefore, if it becomes clear that is what's happening, it is the government's responsibility to act."

"The [Tuesday night] operation was necessary in order to preserve Israel security," she continued. "Israel cannot tolerate such blatant violations of the truce." (Jerusalem Post)

Wikipedia says the truce ended a little over a week ago and that the ceasefire was only one part of a longer ongoing struggle. Who's to say the truce didn't end back in June, the week after it began, with the resumption of Hamas rocket fire? Or maybe it ended in November when Israel attacked the tunnel?

You can always find information online, but the truth is rarely in the details. So, the blame game can become complicated pretty quickly. Probably best not to play. David Quigg, a blogger at Huffington Post, wrote a piece that suggests that we not be so quick to cast blame. He's got the right idea.

.... So few of us would be able to face the ghosts of the dead and justify why we cheered on Israel or why we made excuses for Hamas. We should shut up.

Aberdeen NJ Life

I've just started a new blog that deals with living in and around Aberdeen, New Jersey. The new blog offers me a place to discuss issues that don't precisely fit here in Musings, where I focus on research methods. I expect the new blog will attract a different audience and that's fine. My emphasis here will remain on local history, genealogy, and Wikipedia.

The holidays are over; it's time to get to work.

The historic image of the Matawan Railroad Station is from http://64.106.243.185/matawan/General/RAILROAD%20INFORMATION/

Wiki Roles

I believe that group collaboration leads only haltingly towards logical structure. That is why the history of the Blagojevich articles mentioned in my previous blog piece can be difficult to follow. Articles tend to become more organized only after many people deliver data and a few people take a stab at sorting things out.

I'd say that Wiki articles are launched by a combination of data providers and data sorters. The providers collect the data and toss the results loosely on the pile, while the sorters pick through the take, order the information, and try to make it flow logically so it is retrievable. (In intelligence, these roles would be labeled collectors and analysts.) The final touches are added by editors, those who pick at the smallest details for accuracy or form or challenge the whole text as irrelevant or biased. They may be text editors fixing sentence structure, source checkers looking to see if the data providers have done their homework, and format stylists who categorize, hyperlink, add or touch up images and maps, and those who otherwise dress up Wiki articles.

Articles that are heavily trafficked by data providers, data sorters, and editors can become very detailed and accurate. They can also be influenced by media coverage, as most of the third party sourcing used in Wiki articles comes from online news sources. Statements may occasionally be marked citation needed, which indicates that the data are unsourced.

While you may not wish to get into the details, you should at least read the Blagojevich article and test its objectivity.

Rod Blagojevich in Wikipedia History

Sometimes Wikipedians need to make room for all the information that is coming their way. "This town just ain't big enough for the two of us!" the gun slingers used to say to one another. Wiki can be like that.

You'll see a useful example of why some Wiki articles must spawn offspring when I show you the edit history behind the current media circus regarding the Illinois Governor. Wikipedia already had an article on Rod Blagojevich when news of a Federal investigation broke in the news. In fact, there was already a lengthy Controversies section in the governor's article.

The earliest edits to the Blagojevich article to mention the investigation were made soon after the news conference. After all, someone needed to add this important element to Blago's biography. Within hours, that article had a distinct corruption section. (Check out how furious the editing was taking place in the first 24 hours.)

But it was becoming clear that this was going to be a complex news story, so the next morning a wise Wikipedian created a wholly separate article just for the corruption scandal. In six hours, the corruption article had really begun to take shape as Wikipedians scoured the web for more details, by then citing seven good sources. After only twelve hours, the article had three times the detail and sourcing. Presently, the corruption article has multiple sections and sub-sections plus over 80 sources.

Note that the Blagojevich article has a temporary warning across the top of the page:

This article is related to a current event: Rod Blagojevich corruption charges.
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

The corruption article also contains a temporary warning:

This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

These notices are to help remind you to edit the right article in such circumstances. If his biography needs to be modified, edit the article on him. If the scandal story needs updating, edit that article.

Image found at http://www.chicagomag.com/core/pagetools.php?pageid=7444&url=%2FChicago-Magazine%2FFebruary-2008%2FMr-Un-Popularity%2F&mode=print

2009 Anniversaries

At the start of a new year, you might want to know what events from history will be marked this year. You could always wait for CNN to tell you what happened 50, 100, or 200 years ago, but what if you wanted to check it out yourself by using Wikipedia? How would you do it?

Wikipedia is chock full of dates, so you can use sophisticated category searches to find what you're looking for. You can search a particular year right from the search window. But Wiki categories might be a better option. To move around freely among the years in Wiki categories, click the years category or put Category:Years in the search window. If you happen to be on a year category page, go to the bottom of the page and click the years category. Once you're on the main Years page, you can readily move between centuries using the box at the top, then use the list of years within a century to move about.

So, in our case, click on 1500 in the box on the Years category page. Once you have a list of individual years, select 1509 to see events that will have their 500th anniversary this year. You'll see in 1509 Births that John Calvin was born, certainly a major event that will be celebrated among some Christians this year. Maybe you'll see something in those lists that interests you?

Let's take a look at the Wiki category for the year 1809. Across the top of the page is a convenient time line, which allows you to move between years within the decade 1800-1809, as well as to move one decade either way -- 1790s or 1810s. The 1809 page lists some common subcategories for 200th anniversary events for the coming year.

• On the second page of 1809 Births, for example, you will see a listing for Abraham Lincoln, as well as the father of Oliver Wendell Holmes.
  
• 1809 in Law lists the Treaty of Fort Wayne signed September 30th led to Tecumseh's War. Oklahoma State University hosts a site with the text of Indian Affairs:Laws and Treaties, edited by Charles J. Cappler in 1904, which shows the text of the 1809 treaty. (Someone may wish to add the dates of signature and proclamation to the Wiki article.)

I did a similar search of 1009 to see what might be a millenial event this year. (Note that there are fewer and fewer known events the further back in time you go.) You'll see that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was destroyed in 1009 in a local effort to discourage Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Lands at Easter time. This provoked a backlash in Christian Europe that eventually led to the Crusades in 1099. Don't be surprised if current day terrorists seek to mark October 18th, the day that a Fatimid caliph began carrying out the destruction of the memorial to Christ's tomb by hacking down the edifice to its 4th century foundations.

If you want to try some websites other than Wikipedia, try WordPress's IdeasForWriters blog, which lists forthcoming historic events. (I stumbled upon the April 2009 blog page, but you can dig around on the site for other tools.) The British Society for the History of Science also has a 2009 Anniversaries page. NPR's All Things Considered points out that we're coming upon the 200th anniversary of Edgar Allen Poe's birth and the 50th anniversary of Alaska's statehood. The Washington Post's Travel Log adds Henry VIII's ascension to the throne and the fall of the Berlin Wall as notable anniversaries in 2009. (The Berlin Wall is categorized in Wiki as a 1989 disestablishment, btw.)

I checked my FIOS system after writing yesterday's blog piece and found that I can set up favorite places. There is a cute little heart on the remote that switches Favorites on and off. Unfortunately, FIOS switches the option off at the drop of a hat for who knows what reason, so I have to keep checking to see whether I am plowing through a thousand channels or just the ones I want to check.

Thanks to all you who read my blog. I wish you the best in the coming year. Have fun and work hard in whatever might be your endeavors. Pursue your genealogies and local histories, and be sure to support Wikipedia.

The artwork above is called Celebration 3 and can be found at http://www.abm-enterprises.net/fractals/celebration3wallpaper.html.