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Ongoing Stories / Editorials
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Researching their roots has become a passion for many Americans |
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Latest Genealogy Tools
Create a Need to Know
By ELLEN ROSEN
(c) NY Times
Katherine Holden’s family had long kept what she called “a deep dark secret.” When the family discussed its roots, there were hints, but no outright discussion, of a great-grandmother who had lived in South Dakota and was the equivalent of native royalty: the putative daughter of an American Indian chief.
But her family never spoke in detail of their heritage, and it was only when Dr. Holden, a Connecticut physician, became interested in her family tree that she verified her lineage.
“I was fairly surprised to find her name in the 1900 U.S. Census in an American Indian orphanage under her childhood name,” she said.
Armed with that knowledge and “bits and pieces of information” she and her sister had gleaned as children, she tried to confirm her hunch. A simple $250 DNA test this year, the latest in the arsenal of ancestry tools, confirmed that she was, in fact, “12 percent American Indian.”
Researching their roots has become a passion for many Americans like Dr. Holden. As Web sites and genealogical societies proliferate and DNA testing becomes more widely available, the tools for tracing a family tree are becoming more accessible — and the hunt is often intriguing. A bit of online detective work can yield a significant amount of information for little or nothing. But for extensive or difficult searches, the cost in money and time can mount.
Robert Kraus, a retired New Jersey businessman who began to research his family’s past in 1985, said, “You can dip your toe in the water for $100 and stop there or you can spend a couple of thousand dollars.”
Genealogy specialists recommend that novices begin by gathering information from relatives. That initial data can be entered on one of several sites that let users create family trees.
Ancestry.com — the most widely used — is the flagship site of Generations Network in Provo, Utah, which also owns Genealogy.com, a rival site, and Myfamily.com, which is essentially a family networking site. According to its chief executive, Tim Sullivan, Ancestry.com has 800,000 paying subscribers and 14 million registered users.
The site has free content, including a family tree maker, but also lets users search immigration, census and military records for fees that depend on the level of records sought. Family Tree Maker, a software program for use in personal computers, is part of the company as well, Mr. Sullivan said.
Another company, Onegreatfamily.com, also lets users create family trees and aims to share work with other genealogists, according to its chief executive, Dale H. Munk. “In genealogy, there is a tremendous amount of duplicated effort,” he said. “You and I could be working on the same family without knowing it.”
Mr. Munk’s company’s site, which charges a range of subscription fees, will automatically merge family trees once it finds a common ancestor.
The proliferation of sites did not deter David O. Sacks, the former chief operating officer of PayPal, from creating a new entrant this year. His interest in his family history inspired him to design a site combining genealogy software with the ability to network with relatives — essentially a Facebook for families.
The site, www.geni.com, allows users to create a family tree and to post photos, send messages and write free profiles. Mr. Sacks says that his site’s success depends on what is known in the online industry as viral growth, as users invite others to join by sending links to the site. Since its January introduction, Mr. Sacks says the site has attracted approximately 500,000 users.
While the Web sites are very popular, they have their limits; some documents, like marriage records or baptism records, are not easily found online if at all. Many of these records have not been digitized or even microfilmed.
To tap all the resources, “you may need to travel and go to where the records are,” like the towns where the original documents exist, says Thomas W. Jones, a professor at Gallaudet University in Washington, who edits The National Genealogical Quarterly.
Sometimes, online resources are not enough. In that instance, dedicated amateur genealogists and professionals alike are likely to turn to the millions of records housed in Salt Lake City at the Family History Library, which has extensive genealogical records from all over the world on microfilm.
The center, run by the Mormon Church, is nondenominational, and has records for many religions and nationalities. It has outposts in other cities as well, where research can be done.
Several firms and genealogical societies sponsor fact-finding trips to Salt Lake City. Avotaynu, an organization based in New Jersey that specializes in Jewish genealogy, has published a host of books on research. Its director, Gary Mokotoff, and his associate, Eileen Polakoff, accompany about 40 people to Utah each year to do research. The trips, apart from airfare, meals and incidental expenses, cost $770 to $985, including hotel accommodations, lectures and research assistance.
Susan Berkson of Minneapolis recently returned from a five-day trip to the library, sponsored by the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies. The trip, excluding hotel and travel expenses, cost $275.
Ms. Berkson said that there were “instructive seminars on how to do general and specialized searches and how to use the library; and the library has staff genealogists and missionary volunteers help you as well at no charge.”
As a result of her trip, Ms. Berkson learned the ancestral town of one branch of her family tree. “I found the ship that brought over my father’s family, how long it took and when it arrived. And I learned that my great-great-great grandfather and his son were in the cigar business in Pittsburgh.”
For those who have neither the time nor the patience to undertake the research themselves, another option is to hire a professional genealogist. Rates range from $25 an hour in small towns to well in excess of $100 an hour in major metropolitan centers.
Finding a professional can be tricky. Experts advise contacting local genealogical societies that often can provide referrals. (A complete list can be found at the site run by the Federation of Genealogical Societies, www.fgs.org.) Additionally, the Board for Certification of Genealogists certifies genealogists who complete a qualification process that includes testing on their ability to research records.
Another source, the Association of Professional Genealogists, at www.apgen.org, does not vet its members, but those who join must agree to a code of ethics and accept mediation of any disputes with a client, says its executive director, Kathleen W. Hinckley.
Before getting started, Mr. Jones, the genealogy quarterly editor, said “clients should collect what they can from the family, like family bibles or oral history.”
Ms. Hinckley added: “Just knowing you’re from Germany or Ireland won’t work. You need a city or province or something specific.”
Family names can be misleading, she said, adding that a common misconception is that families changed their names at Ellis Island. Family names, she said, were changed either before emigration or after families arrived in the United States.
Whether the research is do-it-yourself or done by a professional, expenses can mount because of the time involved. Mr. Jones said that the hours add up because every discovery of a relative leads to two more questions — the ancestor’s parents.
Dr. Holden said she had spent hundreds of hours since she became serious about genealogy. “I do it in fits and spurts,” she explained. For a time, she “spoke on a daily basis to a cousin I had never met.”
“We were consumed by finding our story,” she said. “I felt like Nancy Drew, it was exciting.”
Adds Mr. Kraus: “if you’re successful in the early stages, it’s like salted peanuts. Once you start, you won’t stop.”
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
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VCOG executive director sought |
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Search Continued:
Executive Director
Virginia Coalition for Open Government
Wanted: Energetic access advocate to lead the Virginia Coalition for Open Government
into its second decade.
The mission of the Coalition is to educate the public and government officials about the importance of open government, to advocate access to local and state governments, to monitor access issues, to lobby lawmakers on issues related to freedom of information (within IRS limits), and to be a resource for the public, the press and the government on access-related issues.
The executive director is responsible for leading the Coalition's programs of
education, lobbying and fund-raising. He or she must also manage an annual budget
and an endowment fund. The executive director must also oversee an interactive
Web site and daily listserv, supervise a part-time assistant and produce a newsletter
at least twice a year.
The executive director will also be expected to help the Coalition anticipate emerging issues and devise strategies to address them, to broaden and increase the Coalition's membership and to raise funds.
It is important that the new executive director be a visionary capable of coordinating the open government efforts of affiliate constituencies and developing a strategy for continuing the Coalition's goals in education, lobbying and financial security.
Candidates must have bachelor's degrees in journalism, communication, government, business or related fields and an employment history that reflects compatibility with the mission of the Coalition. An advanced degree is desirable.
Compensation consists of a salary and benefits package of approximately $50,000 per year. Possible benefits include telecommuting within Virginia and a flex-time work schedule. Part-time compensation and a part-time work schedule can be negotiated except during legislative sessions.
To apply: Send a cover letter, resume and contact information for at least three references to:
W. Wat Hopkins
Dept. of Communication * 0311
Blacksburg, VA 24061
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Electronic applications are encouraged as Word attachments to e-mail messages. Application deadline is April 30, 2007.
For more information, visit http://www.opengovva.org, or contact Dr. Hopkins at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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Times-Dispatch editorial |
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VPAP's Role
Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial
Mar 11, 2007
Normally, federal and state Freedom of Information Acts (FOIAs) attract most of the attention during National Sunshine Week, which runs this year from today through March 17. Yet the week celebrates and calls attention to the public's right to know, and FOIAs represent one part of the story. There are other tools citizens can use to stay informed about government and those who direct it -- with one of special importance.
. . .
If money is indeed the mother's milk of politics, the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) stands as an important instrument to show voters which wet nurses keep elected members of Virginia's legislative and executive branches fat and happy.
No matter what procedures so-called reformers invent, money always will find a way to saturate politics. Attempts to limit the importance of campaign cash often do not achieve their goal of purification. "Reforms" usually divert donations to some new (unregulated) vehicle that lawyers eagerly invent as soon as a new loophole becomes necessary. This winds up making the system less transparent, not more.
Virginia's campaign finance laws recognize that fact. In the commonwealth, donors can give an unlimited amount of money to support a candi-date, but donations are made public so that the voters can factor into their decision-making the implications of who has given what to whom. Yet as the VPAP's Web site explains, before the organization's founding in 1997, "the Virginia system had a fundamental flaw: The public had no real way to learn what had been disclosed . . . .Though reports were available for inspection at the State Board of Elections in Richmond, it was virtually impossible to tease meaningful information from the thick documents."
For example, if a group of residents in Bristol wanted to find out about the finances of those vying for the local House of Delegates seat pre-1997, they would have to either go to the State Board of Elections in Richmond or have copies of the documents sent to them from Central Virginia -- neither of which was free -- then parse through the documents to identify useful chunks of information. In the process, they might discover they needed another set of documents to satisfy a hunch or confirm a suspicion, and the process would begin again.
The goal of the VPAP's founders -- which has been met spectacularly -- was to open campaign finance records electronically so as many Virginians as possible can know who stuffs checks into the accounts of those running for statewide office and the General Assembly. If a person has access to the Internet, he can log on to www.vpap.org and easily call up a wealth of information about who funds political campaigns. The electorate can find out, for instance, how much money a candidate has collected, how much remains on hand, and which individuals and industries have given the most to the pol in question. One can find such information for elections dating to the late 1990s.
The Web site also breaks down similar information about donors. This includes: the total amount given and to whom, what proportion of support goes to which party's candidates, the industry in which the donor primarily works -- and much more.
Poking around can teach the curious a lot about politics. For example the VPAP's information provides context for battles during this past legislative session.
The future of payday lending set off a tussle during the Assembly's 46 days in Richmond; payday lending's sibling, the car-title loan, tried to gain a foothold. Some, including these pages, believe such loans are usurious and cause more harm to Virginians than good. The foes of payday lending comprised an interesting portfolio: It's not many issues that pull together almost every editorial page in the state, the conservative Family Foundation, and the NAACP, which normally advances a left-of-center agenda -- but ending payday lending did. Even the sponsor of the Payday Lending Act of 2002 called it a mistake.
So why did the session conclude with payday-lending reform on the Assembly's cutting-room floor? Perhaps a slice of a story written by The Times-Dispatch's Pamela Stallsmith and Jeff Schapiro offers an explanation: "Payday and car-title lenders gave a total of $180,000 to 110 of the state's 140 lawmakers last year, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, with donations jumping almost sevenfold between the first and second half of the year" (emphasis added). Thanks to the VPAP such information is out there not only for Stallsmith and Schapiro, but for everyone.
During this session legislators also ended their flawed plan to deregulate the state's electric utilities. When consumer advocates claim the Assembly passed a plan too favorable to the industry (a position with which the Editorial Page disagrees), they can point to this passage from a story by The Times-Dispatch's Greg Edwards: "Dominion Virginia Power, the state's largest utility serving two-thirds of Virginians, has been a generous contributor to Virginia House and Senate candidates, giving a total of $1.4 million since 1993. For 2006, the utility gave $130,727 to House candidates and $78,693 to State Senate candidates, according to the Virginia Public Access Project" (emphasis added).
Did money given by Dominion and payday lenders influence legislation designed to regulate their industries? That's for voters to decide. The VPAP allows that decision to be based on cold, hard, unprocessed facts.
The VPAP receives financial support from, among other sources, the state's newspapers -- including The Times-Dispatch. The Web site also shows which politicians welcome, by their actions, the openness found in the VPAP. In 2006, all three statewide officials and 88 members of the Assembly provided personal donations to the VPAP. Two Richmond-area politicians deserve note: Gov. Kaine has been a major VPAP donor since at least his swearing in as lieutenant governor in 2002 -- always grabbing a share of the top ranking among executive and legislative officeholders. Powhatan State Sen. John Watkins has given money to the VPAP every year since 2001; he's the only lawmaker with such a long track record.
. . .
Sunshine Week is about shining a light on all aspects of government. The FOIAs are great, but they aren't everything. Sources such as the VPAP are also there to help keep the big boys honest. |
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David Poole |
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VPAP's Latest Goal Is to Shine Light on Local Elections
By David Poole,
Times-Dispatch guest columnist
When it comes to money in politics, Virginia is one of the few states where the sky is the limit. There are no restrictions on corporate giving to state and local candidates and no limits on how much any single donor can give. Anything goes in Virginia -- as long as the donations are disclosed.
Virginia stands in contrast to federal elections, in which the government has enacted laws and promulgated regulations aimed at limiting the influence of money in politics. An argument can be made that the 2002 McCain-Feingold reform has not only failed to stem the tide of money in politics, but has driven money into hard-to-track groups that are beyond the reach of the Federal Election Commission. Many Virginia legislators have concluded that federal campaign finance reforms at best have been ineffective and at worst counterproductive.
In Virginia, politicians remain self-regulated. Candidates for state office can accept donations from nearly anyone and in any amount. The theory behind the Virginia system is that candidates will conduct their campaign fundraising in a way that avoids the perception of being captive to special interests. The idea is that campaign finance disclosures will create an efficient marketplace where voters will punish any politician who is seen as more responsive to "cash constituents" than to the citizens he represents.
Anything Goes in Fundraising
Virginia's disclosure-based system is not perfect. Critics say the anything-goes approach gives wealthy individuals and profitable companies an inside track to elected representatives. And millions of dollars that flow through nonprofit groups and labor unions go unreported. But there has been no serious movement within the General Assembly to impose limits or to consider reforms such as public financing. For Virginia's free-market experiment to work, voters must be able to learn where candidates get their money and how they spend it.
The nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project provides transparency by taking candidates' campaign finance reports and making them available free to the public at VPAP.org. Anyone with a computer and modem can sort and slice donations to state legislative candidates by amount, name, occupation, and ZIP Code. The VPAP does not interpret the data, but allows citizens to draw their own conclusions. One newspaper has called the VPAP's database a "remarkable cyberplace" where the public can "learn a lot more about the candidates by tracking their money than by listening to their stump speeches."
Visitors who are familiar with the transparency that the VPAP provides in state legislative elections have come to expect the same ease of access to information about money in local politics. Sadly, this is not the case.
Rules Make Research Difficult
In most counties, citizens who are interested in money raised by candidates for local office must present themselves at the county courthouse during normal business hours. There, citizens are presented with a stack of paper campaign finance disclosure reports. (The stack can be quite thick in places such as Loudoun, where candidates for chairman of the Board of Supervisors raised a total of $750,000 in 2003.) Because candidates are required to file eight reports during 2007, citizens must return time and again to keep up with the latest information. This is too much to ask of even the most committed voter.
This year, VPAP will mark its 10th anniversary with a pilot project aimed at bringing "digital sunlight" to money raised by candidates for local office. The VPAP will distill paper documents from about a dozen counties into an online database and update the information through the November election.
The long-term goal is to bring about the day when citizens no longer have to trudge down to the courthouse for campaign finance information. As has been learned in state elections, electronic disclosure is much easier to achieve if candidates file the information electronically. Currently, candidates for local office have no choice but to hand-deliver paper disclosure documents to their voter registration office. The 2007 General Assembly passed legislation that empowers local candidates to e-file disclosure reports starting in July 2007. The VPAP will work with the State Board of Elections to recruit the first generation of local candidates willing to take the progressive step to paperless campaign finance filings.
David Poole is the founder and executive director of the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit dedicated to improving public understanding of money in politics. |
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MWAA: Disclosure laws don’t apply |
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William C. Flook, The Examiner:
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, an interstate agency slated to take over the $4 billion extension of Metrorail to Dulles, says it is completely exempt from federal and state information disclosure laws.
The group, which oversees Dulles International and Reagan National Airports, claims its status as an “interstate compact” similar to Metro puts it outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act, a law used by media and others to leverage records from public agencies. MWAA instead follows an internal policy in receiving and responding to requests for information, said spokeswoman Tara Hamilton.
“If people request information, following those guidelines, we will provide the information,” she said. “It’s our business practice to honor those guidelines.”
The claim of exemption from disclosure laws, along with MWAA’s unelected leadership, has raised eyebrows about the agency’s public transparency on the eve of the impending transfer of the 23-mile Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project and the Dulles Toll Road. Critics say the agency is ill suited to take the reins of such a massive public project.
“It simply reinforces our contention that the Airports Authority is too unaccountable to be given responsibility over the toll road, its revenues and the Dulles rail project,” said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the D.C.-based Coalition for Smarter Growth.
The Airports Authority is now in negotiations with two private firms to design and construct the first phase of the rail. MWAA, once it fully takes control of the project from the commonwealth, plans to use toll revenues to fund the rail extension. A spokesman for Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said the agreement is structured to “ensure an appropriate level of transparency.”
The transfer has prompted a lawsuit from two Northern Virginia residents.
MWAA’s assertion runs counter to the opinion of the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, a state legal entity that concluded in 2004 that MWAA is, in fact, subject to constraints of the law in Virginia.
“We are aware [of the opinion],” Hamilton said. “We disagree.”
Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas, has tried unsuccessfully in recent years to bring MWAA under Virginia’s Freedom of Information statutes.
MWAA is governed by a board appointed by Virginia and Maryland governors, the District’s mayor and the U.S. president. Its headquarters are in the District.
Jan 26, 2007
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