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Wholly Genes Newsletter, 29 September 2008, Issue 2008-14

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Wholly Genes Newsletter

29 September 2008

Issue 2008, Number 14

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In this issue:

 

o UPDATED: PathWiz v8

o TMG Utility - Donorware Deadline

o Producing a Publishable Article with TMG

o New Data CDs from the U.S.

o TMG Companion Products

o Wholly Genes online chat

o How to reach us

 

 

=== UPDATED: PathWiz v8 ====================

 

Bryan Wetton of BeeSoft has announced an update to his PathWiz exhibit utility as follows:

 

PathWiz! Version 8 is an exhibit and path management tool which allows you to access a TMG Version 7 project database table (dbf) containing paths to and information attached to exhibits (graphical images and other files) stored anywhere on your local PC or Network. If you are changing TMG Exhibit storage arrangements or sending your backup (sqz) files to a chart printing service you may wish to consolidate all the required image files into one folder.

 

In addition, the ability to directly edit the Topic, Reference, Description and Caption fields of a list of related exhibits (for example - External Images attached to persons) from one screen with the ability to see the actual images both internal and external provided they are available.

 

On the way a 'Comprehensive Exhibit Catalogue' may be produced or printed both internally (writable to a PDF file with a suitable driver) and in MS Word - effectively an inventory of all exhibits.

 

A comprehensive change log is available on BeeSoft's website:

http://beesoft.soho.on.net/BeeSoft/index.html

 

PathWiz! v8 is available as a download for $20.00 from:

http://www.WhollyGenes.com/pathwiz.htm

 

System Requirements: Windows XP or Vista.

 

 

=== TMG Utility - Donorware Deadline =============

 

Many people are familiar with John Cardinal's "TMG Utility," a powerful database modification tool for TMG projects. John offers this popular program for FREE but describes it as "donorware." suggesting that satisfied users make a contribution in his name to the Jimmy Fund, a cancer research project.

 

This is a reminder for those who have intended to make a tax-deductible contribution to this worthy cause that the deadline is _Wednesday, October 1st_. Contributions support the participation by John and his family in the "Pan-Mass Challenge," a two-day, 192-mile bicycle ride which raises money for the Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

 

Please show your support for John Cardinal and all that he contributes to the TMG community by helping this worthwhile project.

 

For more information, including how to make a contribution, please see:

http://www.johncardinal.com/tmgutil/donorware.htm

 

To read more about TMG Utility or to download a copy, please visit:

http://www.johncardinal.com/tmgutil/index.htm

 

 

=== Producing a Publishable Article with TMG =======

 

Some readers may be familiar with a series of threads on the APG-L discussion list debating whether or not genealogy software was capable of producing a real "narrative genealogy" as opposed to just a list of "compiled begats."

 

Bob Velke, the president of Wholly Genes, asserted that a researcher could use TMG to produce a journal article that, with minor modifications in a word processor, would meet the standards for such publication. He offered, as an example, the winner of the NGS 2006 "Award for Excellence: Genealogy and Family History (published book)." That award was won by Terence T. Quirke, Jr., Ph.D., F.I.G.R.S. for his book, "Quirke Genealogy and Family History of Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland," which he produced using TMG. Despite this award, certain professional researchers continued to dispute that any genealogy software could be used to produce a narrative that included the researcher's thoughful analysis, weaving their ancestors' lives into the context of history, etc.

 

Debbie Parker Wayne, a professional researcher, decided to tackle the question directly and offered a challenge to all software developers or their users. Having received permission from NGS and several authors, Debbie challenged software users to reproduce selected articles that were previously published in the NGS Quarterly. The developers or experienced users of six popular programs accepted the challenge, although only four carried it through to completion. Terry Reigel and Gwen Pryor accepted the challenge on behalf of TMG.

 

The results of Debbie Parker Wayne's project are published in the Sept/Oct 2008 edition of the e-magazine, "Digital Genealogist." Readers can judge for themselves but we think that there's little doubt that TMG outshined all of the competition by a wide margin!

 

Terry Reigel took one step further and published his specific results from the challenge, including side-by-side comparisons of his output with the original article by Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL. As demonstrated on his site, Terry used TMG to reproduce the text from the 22-page article _almost_exactly_ (including citations, introduction, conclusion, and elaborate narrative with historical context, etc.) and in the same sequence as the original. As Terry outlines in detail, there were a few minor exceptions in the text but not of the type that would disqualify it for publication. Most of his post-processing steps in the word processor were to match the specific formatting of the original publication. That is, in every substantive way, the content of the original article was faithfully reproduced.

 

So again, there can be little doubt that Debbie Wayne Parker's project has put to rest the longstanding debate about whether researchers can use genealogy software to produce a narrative genealogy that is worthy of publication in a professional journal -- that is, if you use The Master Genealogist!

 

To see the full article by Debbie Wayne Parker in the Sept/Oct 2008 issue of "Digital Genealogist", please go to:

http://www.digitalgenealogist.com

An annual subscription to DG is $20 or the specific issue in question can be purchased for $4.00.

 

For Terry Reigel's extensive documentation of his part in the project, please visit:

http://tmg.reigelridge.com/publishable.htm

 

 

=== New Data CDs from the U.S. =========================

 

The following new searchable data CDs are now available from WhollyGenes.com:

 

 

John Fiske, NEW FRANCE AND NEW ENGLAND, (1902) 2008.

$19.95 http://www.WhollyGenes.com/find_wg.mvc?ref...WS&p=US0609

Fiske devotes this volume of his series on colonial American history to the French colonies of North America and to related aspects of New England history in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, bringing the story down to 1763, laying the groundwork for his volumes on the Revolution.

 

The first four chapters, comprising about a third of the book, narrate the French voyages of discovery to North America and the French settlements at Quebec, Montreal and the region that became the Maritime Provinces. This part of the story includes the explorations up the St. Lawrence River, through the Great Lakes and into the headwaters of the Mississippi. Along the way, much is learned of the relations between the French and the various Native Americans then living in these regions.

 

Fiske then turns his attention back to New England, first telling the story of the Salem witchcraft scare of 1692 and then relating the coming of the Great Awakening of the 1730s. Interwoven with these tales are accounts of the conflicts between New Englanders and the northern Indian tribes, some of them associated with and encouraged by the French.

 

All of this leads up to an account of the French and Indian War of the 1750s, the North American manifestation of the larger European Seven Years' War. The Acadians were expelled from Nova Scotia, the French were defeated at Quebec and the history of New France came to a formal end with the Treaty of Paris of 1763.

 

 

Ellery Bicknell Crane, HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS AND GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS, (1907) 2008.

$24.95 http://www.WhollyGenes.com/find_wg.mvc?ref...WS&p=US0381

These four volumes collect more than a thousand genealogical and biographical sketches of early twentieth-century residents of Worcester County, Massachusetts. The compilations contain information on more than a hundred thousand individuals of the first three hundred years of New England settlement.

 

As with similar volumes published a century and more ago, many of the sketches in this set focus on a single prominent individual, but in an unusual approach, a large number of the accounts examine many lines of descent from a single immigrant, and so provide information on many individuals alive at the time of publication.

 

As an example, fifteen pages are devoted to the descendants of Thomas Green, who had settled in Malden, Massachusetts, by the middle of the seventeenth century. The sketch gives much detail on each generation of the descent of at least seven prominent men of the years around 1900, some of Worcester County and some living as far away as Chicago and St. Louis.

 

At each generation of each descent, the compiler has given details not just on the person in the line of descent, but on spouses and siblings, so that hundreds of persons are covered by each account. As with other books of this type, the information given on those living in the middle and late nineteenth century should be reliable, and in many cases may not be available elsewhere.

 

The volumes are illustrated with hundreds of engraved portraits of some of the men and women covered by the sketches.

 

 

=== TMG Companion Products ======================

 

The following companion products which were developed for TMG users like you:

 

"A Primer for The Master Genealogist"

A great new book for beginning TMG users by Terry Reigel.

See http://www.WhollyGenes.com/primer.htm

 

"Getting the Most Out of The Master Genealogist"

The popular book compiled by Lee Hoffman - now available in electronic form.

See http://www.WhollyGenes.com/gettingthemost.htm

 

Video training for TMG on DVD

Getting Started, Intermediate, Advanced, or Expert

See http://www.WhollyGenes.com/videotapes.htm

 

Second Site

Web site construction tools for your TMG data.

See http://www.WhollyGenes.com/secondsite.htm

Latest version=2.1 Build 10

 

Pocket Genealogist

The TMG companion program for Pocket PCs and other Windows Powered devices.

See http://www.WhollyGenes.com/pocketgen.htm

Latest version=3.11

 

GedStar PRO

The TMG companion program for PalmOS users.

See http://www.WhollyGenes.com/gedstarpro.htm

Latest version=3.2

 

GenSmarts

The research advisor that reads your TMG data directly.

See http://www.WhollyGenes.com/gensmarts.htm

Latest version=2.1.1.30

 

Map My Family Tree

See http://www.WhollyGenes.com/mapmyfamilytree.htm

Latest version=1.4.11

 

PathWiz!

Exhibit management utility

See http://www.WhollyGenes.com/pathwiz.htm

Latest version=v8

 

Chartform Delivery

An inexpensive chart printing service

See http://www.WhollyGenes.com/wallcharts.htm

 

For the full list of companion products, please visit the Wholly Genes Community forum (http://www.WhollyGenes.com/forums.htm) and click on "Companion Products."

 

 

=== Wholly Genes online chat =======================

 

The next online chat with Wholly Genes will be Saturday, 15 Nov 2008, at 2pm EST and again at 11pm Eastern Time. Don't miss this opportunity to "talk" online with Wholly Genes representatives, as well as with other TMG users around the world.

 

Remember that the Wholly Genes chat room is available to you at any time. Just go to http://www.WhollyGenes.com and click on Public Chat in the Support menu. When you see the security warning, click on or . Then be patient because it could take 30 seconds or more (especially on a dial-up connection) to load the necessary chat tools. When prompted, simply enter a chat nickname and then click on Connect. That's all there is to it. We hope to see you there!

 

 

=== How to reach us ==============================

 

For tech support, please access the Wholly Genes Community message board at:

http://www.WhollyGenes.com/forums.htm

or write to:

support@whollygenes.com

 

Please be sure to note what version of the program you are using.

 

You can also reach us at:

 

Wholly Genes Software

9110 Red Branch Road, STE O

Columbia, Maryland 21045

410-715-2260

410-730-9734 (fax)

http://www.WhollyGenes.com

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