Which One

I descend from John Thompson -- the John Thompson who married Sarah Iglehart in Ohio County, Kentucky, lived in Warrick County, Indiana, Wapello County, Iowa and Adams County, Iowa.

The 1830 and 1840 census records for Warrick County, Indiana include two men named John B Thompson.

1840 Census

1830 Census

THOMPSON Query

I am researching John Thompson who married Sarah Iglehart in 1820 in Ohio county, Kentucky. According to cemetery records, John was born in Kentucky. According to a history of Adams County, Iowa, John resided in Warrick county, Indiana before migrating to Wapella County, Iowa and then to Adams County, Iowa.

John and Sarah's children include

• William Taylor Thompson (1820-1898) md Mary Ann Evans
• Jacob Thompson (1822-1905) md Rhoda Evans
• Benjamin Franklin Thompson (1824-1875) md Catherine Black
• Levi Thompson (1826-1828)
• Martha Jane Thompson (1828-1848) md Alexander Van Winkle
• Andrew J Thompson (1832-?)
• Mary Elizabeth Thompson (1834-1917) md Henry Evans
• John Lowe Thompson (1836-1917) md Martha Ingersoll
• Francis Marion Thompson (1838-1921) md Martha Schooling
• Sarah Ellen Thompson (1841-1844)
• James Allen Thompson (1841-1868) md Margaret Scott

Analyzing Sources

I recently have been working on a 'go over' for my 2nd great grandfather, George Mentzer. In the process, I utilized Scrivener. I had probably heard about Scrivener, but when I saw it mentioned in the recent Twitter #genchat, I decided to try it. In the process of learning more about Scrivener and genealogy, I discovered Lisa Alzo's Ancestor Profile Template along with her 25 Genealogist Hacks Every Genealogist Should Know.

I haven't used my George Mentzer Scrivener project to write his biography (yet). However, I have used it to transcribe the various documents I've collected over the years.  My research folder contains the actual document files.

Same Name

For my genealogy research, 'brick walls' and 'same name' often go hand in hand. Hiram M. Currey and James Crawford are two examples where a 'brick wall' also involves working thru 'same name' issues. In the case of Hiram M. Currey, I have four generations that go by that name. To further complicate the issue, there is another Hiram M. Currey that is about the same age as my Hiram M. Currey of Peoria, Illinois. My James Crawford research is more complicated. I have identified three James Crawford families in the same area of early Kentucky. Histories of the region refer to a Rev. James Crawford who is likely the Rev. James Crawford -- a fourth James Crawford.

Over the years, I have been able to figure out the relationships between the multiple Hiram M Curreys and to separate the multiple James Crawfords. I have found the following techniques useful:

• Perform a reasonably exhaustive research of all people of the same name in the same area and time period
• Research the descendants of all of the people of the same name for at least three generations
• Use land records

TreeShare Hint Issue?

I feel like I'm going in circles trying to eliminate yellow light bulbs for Ancestry hints. I've been working on the descendants of Albert Hutchinson and it feels like I keep accepting the same hints for the same people.

Today, I decided to work with Netta M. Clickenbeard. RootsMagic says I have 4 pending hints. At some time in the past year, I figured out that the hint # doesn't group Ancestry Member Trees but counts them individually. So, this 4 pending hints could be 4 databases, 4 member trees or any combination of the two.

 

Since I don't accept the hints from RootsMagic, my next step was to locate Netta Clickenbeard in my Ancestry tree.  When I clicked on her profile, it indicated that I didn't have any hints to process.

 

I then went back to RootsMagic and clicked on the 4 to try and figure out the pending hints. According to the Ancestry WebHints window, I have rejected 2 hints. All of the other hints -- including all trees -- have green check marks.

 

 

 

The Ancestry WebHints window agrees with the Hints screen on Ancestry. Thus, I'm wondering if there is an issue with the lightbulb. Has anyone else noticed a similar issue with the lightbulbs?

GDPR Challenges for Non-Profits

As a genealogist and an information junkie, I read quite a few genealogy blogs, belong to quite a few genealogy Facebook groups, have a lot of genealogy friends on Facebook and follow a lot of genealogists on Twitter. (Remember, I am an information junkie!) Thus, I have encountered quite a few discussions of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Based on what others - especially the Legal Genealogist - have written, I have tried to understand the GDPR and to implement changes to my blogs and my website. As a volunteer for the Nemaha County Historical Society, I have also tried to inform their board about the GDPR and help them implement changes.

One of the challenges was guidelines on what the historical society needed to do. Other than the genealogy related blog posts, there wasn't an organization or government site providing help for non-profits. When guidance was sought from statewide organizations, the responses received were not as informative as the genealogy blog posts. One response was also somewhat misleading in that it implied that 'it was unrealistic' to expect the society to be in compliant by today. (The regulation was passed 2 years ago.)

Another challenge involves the society's email. The society is located in Seneca, Kansas. Seneca is blessed to have several Internet providers -- including local providers. Almost all of those providers include an email address hosted by the provider. Many users, including the historical society,  utilize that email address. It is doubtful that these local providers have the resources to become compliant with GDPR.

The third challenge is ignorance on the part of U.S. based companies. One vendor that the historical society works with indicated that they did not fall under the GDPR requirements since they did not have 250 employees. If this is true, then why are so many genealogists (and other bloggers) working so hard to learn about GDPR and to implement changes in their blogs, newsletters and websites? The answer to the question is that YES, the GDPR applies to anyone who has dealings with citizens of the European Union. The following articles by Sophos and Forbes magazine speak to this.

• GDPR: what does the new EU data protection law mean for small businesses? 
• Yes, The GDPR Will Affect Your U.S.-Based Business

Not only could the Nemaha County Historical Society be impacted by the GDPR but also area businesses. Even though we are a small Kansas town or county, there are businesses in the county with global markets. Below are examples of how local entities might fall under the GDPR requirements:

• Have a website or blog that tracks how many people visit the site or blog (the tracking involves the use of cookies, thus a 'cookie notice' should be on the site/blog)
• Send out an electronic newsletter where a recipient of that newsletter is a citizen of the European Union
• Have a name and email address for someone from a European Union country in a contact list
• Maintain any personal data (name, address, email address, etc.) in a database for anyone from a European Union country -- This could directly impact schools that have foreign exchange students from a European Union country!

Whether this European regulation applies to U.S. based businesses and organizations will ultimately be decided in court. Until then figuring out and implementing what is required by the GDPR is less costly than a potential fine.