Changes....

I found out this week that, in three months, I will be unemployed.

Eeek.

After a few days of trying to figure out what my next step is (and contemplating career changes), I decided that I have to stay in the computer field.

After being at the same company for six years, my web development skills may be a bit stale.  I've decided to fix that the best way ever: by developing the best genealogy website I can.  The website I've been dying to build for years but couldn't for whatever reason.

This website will overwrite what I currently have at GarrisonFamilyRoots.com.  I will also be eventually be moving this blog over there (and onto the WordPress platform).  

This will be a process... but it will also be incredibly therapeutic and rewarding for me.  I'm looking forward to it!  

On one hand, I'm hoping it's a great way to showcase my talents and possibly gain the attention of possible future employers (if my snarky attitude doesn't frighten them off).  On the other... I really hope to make it THE place for others researching my lines to meet, share, and learn!

Sunday Obituary: David J. Davis, 1866-1937

Sudden Death of Ald'n Davis

Alderman David J. Davis, of 269 Wallace St., Fishbach, died suddenly at his home, Tuesday morning.  He has been ill for the past week with a heart ailment, although his death come sudden and unexpected.  He was in his 70th year.

For the past 20 years he has been a member of the Minor Judiciary, representing the Sixth Ward, the Fishbach and Jalappa sections of the city.  He maintained offices at his home address, and until forced by illness a few years ago, took his regular turn at City Hall, presiding as committing magistrate in police court.  To his friends, of which he had many, Alderman Davis was better known as "Die" Davis.

He was born in Wales, and came to this country at an early age.  He was a son of the late John and Betsy Davis.  A brother, Jack Davis, died suddenly a few months ago.  He was a member of the Schuylkill County Magistrates and Constables Association, the Loyal Order of Moose, Pottsville Lodge and the Episcopal Church.  His funeral will be held Friday, with Funeral Director C. A. Lord in charge.

Alderman Davis was married to Lillie Morgan, of this city, who preceded him in death.  Since the death of his wife, a daughter, Mrs. Rachel Bath, and a granddaughter, Betty, had been at home.  He is survived by these children: Bessie, wife of Robert Miller, of Bethlehem; Loretta, wife of Richard Schoenberger, of Bethlehem; Mrs. Rachael(sic) Bath, at home; Griffith, Tudor, and John Davis, of Pottsville.  Thomas Davis, of Pottsville, a brother, and two sisters, Rachael and Mrs. David Thomas, living in Wales, also survive.  There are 12 grandchildren.

My note: David J. Davis was my great-great-grandfather.

Tudor Davis, 1901-1953

Tudor Davis was born 5 Sep 1901, Pennsylvania, United States; died 18 Feb 1953; was buried Bath, Steuben, New York, United States.

Tudor married Louise Ann Gainer Abt 1921. Louise (daughter of Frederick Goerner and Christina Everly) was born 28 Aug 1900, Pottsville, Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, United States; died 17 Sep 1974, Pottsville, Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, United States. [Group Sheet]

Children: Claire Edna Davis   was born 2 Apr 1926, Pennsylvania, United States; died 8 Dec 2010. David John Davis   was born 21 Apr 1923; died 23 Apr 1923; was buried Pottsville, Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, United States. Other children living A picture of his grave can be found on FindAGrave at http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=563176. According to my family notes given to me by one of his children, he served in both the Army & Navy during WW1.

Genealogy Goodness

You know what I love most about my brother getting married?

A new branch to the family tree I can research without seeming all stalky!

Example: she just willingly handed me binders of family documents, news clippings, and stories!  Win!

That sound you just heard was me squealing with joy!

Beaman Dever Bruner, 1893 - 1940

Beaman Dever Bruner was born 7 Dec 1893, Fort Gaines, Clay, Georgia, United States; died 11 Jun 1940, Randolph, Georgia, United States; was buried Clay, Georgia, USA.

Beaman married Mary Louise Ragland 18 Jan 1916, Jernigan, Russell, Alabama, USA. Mary (daughter of Edward Gilmer Ragland and Susie Florence Perry) was born 17 Aug 1897, Russell, Alabama, USA; died 28 Sep 1985, Dougherty, Georgia, United States; was buried Clay, Georgia, USA. [Group Sheet]

Children: Mary Florence Bruner  was born 29 Dec 1916, Cottonton, Russell, Alabama, United States; died 11 Apr 1998, Dougherty, Georgia, United States; was buried 13 Apr 1998, Randolph, Georgia, United States. Edward Wilson Bruner  was born 16 Aug 1918, Pittsview, Russell, Alabama, United States; died 8 Jul 1962, Albany, Dougherty, Georgia, United States; was buried 9 Jul 1962, Albany, Dougherty, Georgia, United States. Gary Beaman Bruner  was born 27 Aug 1920, Eufaula, Barbour, Alabama, USA; died 24 Sep 1935; was buried Clay, Georgia, USA. Thomas Perry Bruner  was born 20 Jul 1922, Lumpkin, Stewart, Georgia, USA; died 31 Dec 1995, Worth, Georgia, United States. Dirlie Bruner  was born 9 May 1924, Coleman, Randolph, Georgia, USA; died 1 Jun 1971, Albany, Dougherty, Georgia, United States; was buried 3 Jun 1971, Albany, Dougherty, Georgia, United States.  Henry Lester Bruner  was born 14 Jun 1926, Coleman, Randolph, Georgia, USA; died 2 Jan 1949, Albany, Dougherty, Georgia, United States; was buried 3 Jan 1949, Fort Gaines, Clay, Georgia, United States Other children living. His grave can be found on FindAGrave at http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=40101101 . Notes about his death (I believe these were written by Mary Louise Ragland Bruner): Beaman Dever Bruner husband of Mary Louise Ragland died Jule 11, 1940 at Coram place 13 miles below Cuthbert, Ga.  Born Dec 7, 1893, moved there winter of 1939 from Dozier place where he had lived 16 years.  Mr. Ralph and Wallace Rish owned both places.  "Dude" was overseer for both places at times of his death.  Mr. Ralph Rish was there all day and they had ridden over all of both farms about 20 mule [note from Daphne: might be mile?] farm.  Died of heart attack.  Not very well several years with reumatism [sic] in one leg supposedly from tonsils, removed and seems to be fairly over.  Didn't know of any heart trouble.  Buried in family lot at Wesley Chapel Methodist Church a short distance from his home. He died several years before I was born.  I have seen pictures of him though and he bears a striking resemblance to my brother. Sources are available at GarrisonFamilyRoots.com.  You may have to register for an account to view additional data.

Making Money in Genealogy... the Perfect World

Why did I start a new genealogy blog, you say?

Because of this article by Thomas MacEntee: How Do You Make Money in Genealogy? A 2012 Update.

(I said "new" genealogy blog because I've started blogs before that faded after a post or two.  I'm flaky and have the attention span of a small child.  Based on my blogging past, this is probably my last post.  It was fun, y'all.)

I've always been fascinated by Thomas's story.  From what I can tell, he was laid off from a tech job (hey!  I work in a tech job!), basically said, "Enough of that... I'm doing what I love" and somehow finagled a myriad of talents into a sort of genealogical jack-of-all-trades.

Someday, when I'm laid off, I hope I can make the best of the situation like he did.  I'm betting, though, what'll actually happen is: I'll call my husband, start screaming random nonsense about how we're never going to have enough money to eat again EVER and spend a few weeks drinking while surfing the net and playing World of Warcraft.  After a few weeks, the glares from my husband and the emaciation of my toddler would force me to find employment.  Due to the massive hit my self-confidence took, I would probably go find work at a craft or game store, or try to be a stay-at-home mom.  My daughter would have to take out student loans to go to college and we'd never take a vacation again.

In  other words, I certainly wouldn't have the mental stability to turn a crappy situation into a dream job.  A lower-paying, low-stability dream job, but a dream job nonetheless.

However, maybe I can take baby steps towards a goal of at least making a supplemental income using genealogy:

1. Blog regularly.  I have to acknowledge that a.) my blog won't be awesome from the start... I have to work at it and b.) I need it to become a habit.
2. Write more.  I'm not a bad writer.  You might have different opinions from reading this, but I've been told I'm good at conveying information via text (a part of my day job includes having to explain technical issues to non-technical people) and I can spell, so that's half the battle.  Unfortunately, my brain goes foggy when I have to write anything substantial.  Which is why I haven't written the zombie novel that's in my head.  I need to learn to work through that fog instead of freaking out about it and just write.  
3. Use Twitter better.  I need to get involved in more conversations.  I always fear that if I respond to someone's tweet, it's like butting into a conversation at a bar.  I can't seem to remember that they're posting in a public forum and if they get ticked off that someone read and commented, they need to consider not using Twitter as their personal journal.  
4. Volunteer more.  This is hard for me.  Not only do I have extremely limited free time (full-time job, toddler, husband...) but I am ridiculously introverted.  It takes a lot of energy for me to be around people.  I have attempted indexing from home before but I get behind because of the lack of free time issue and then I feel bad and just stop.  I do help facilitate a Computer Interest Group for the Genealogical Forum of Oregon... I need to start focusing on that more.
5. Up my tech abilities.  Because I am a programmer/database person for my day job, I should figure out how I can use this for genealogy.  

Let's see how this goes...

My Changes to TNG

(TNG as in "The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding," not Star Trek, the Next Generation. Because NOTHING NEEDS TO CHANGE ABOUT ANYTHING STAR TREK.  Except maybe the fashion.)

Any discussion about privacy and online family trees can put me in the fetal position pretty quickly. On one hand, I bow down to everyone who has put a well-documented family tree online that I can easily find via Google.  In return, I try to do the same thing.  On the other hand, if one more person visits my site, gets the info they need, and leaves without so much as a, "Hey!  We're cousins and researching the same lines!  Wanna swap GEDCOMs?" I will scream very, very loudly.

Basically, I want my research to be available, easily Googled... but I want to capture my visitors so I can stalk, er, contact them later.

TNG is so easy to customize if you know PHP (which is one of my favorite programming languages).  However, out-of-the-box it's either locked down or wide open (with some additional options for privacy for living relatives).

Ideally, there'd be a way that you could list all the people in the database that Google can index.  Then, when the visitor finds someone they want more information about, they have to register to find out the details <evil laugh>.

I did the next best thing, and, so far, the result is pretty clean.  I removed the login check on the search results pages.

1. Find the file tng_begin.php.
2. Find the line that looks like this (on my clean install, it was line 21):
   
   if(strpos($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'],"/changelanguage.php") === FALSE && (strpos($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'],"/suggest.php") === FALSE || $enttype))
   
3. I do not want the site to check the login on any pages where the name has the word "surname" (a few of the search results pages include this word [surnames.php, surnames-all.php, etc]) so that, if someone is looking for a specific surname they can verify it's here before clicking through (and therefore having to register/log in).  Also, the search results appear on a page "search.php," which we also want to keep open... as well as searchform.php, the actual search form.
   
   So, I replaced the previously mentioned line with:
   
   if(strpos($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'],"/changelanguage.php") === FALSE && strpos($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'],"surnames") === FALSE && strpos($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'],"searchform.php") === FALSE && strpos($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'],"search.php") === FALSE && (strpos($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'],"/suggest.php") === FALSE || $enttype))

There!  So, now, you can search my genealogy database and see if it's useful to you before you register.

Check it out at http://www.garrisonfamilyroots.com!