Rootstech Thoughts and Remarks

On Thursday I had the day to take in the scene at Rootstech, meet with the participants for Friday's FHISO panel on open standards, and check out a few of the sessions. I'm glad I skipped the evening event at the Leonardo for three hours of time at the wonderful Family History Library.

In the brief time I had to research, I focused on Tennessee, and found a key piece of information to verify First Families of Tennessee status via my 6th-great-grandfather, Thomas Jones. I'll have more on this in a separate post, but Thomas appears in the 1 August 1796 Jefferson County Court files, when he was appointed to oversee a road to Dandridge, Tennessee.

Unfortunately on Friday morning I had to make an unexpected trip back to DC, causing me to miss the FHISO panel. Below are the remarks that I would have made on the panel:

Remarks For Rootstech on FHISO - 23 March 2013

Yesterday I had to leave Rootstech early and unfortunately missed the FHISO panel during the Developer Day track. These are the remarks I would have made.

My name is Patrick Jones, I am Senior Director of Security at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN, https://www.icann.org/). ICANN is a global organization that coordinates the Internet's unique identifier system (domain names, such as .com, .info and .us; Internet protocol addresses and numbers; and protocol port and parameter numbers). We do this for worldwide public benefit, enabling a single interoperable Internet. ICANN works through a multistakeholder model, facilitating participation by all interested parties, to foster a healthy, stable and resilient Internet ecosystem through coordination and collaboration.

I make these remarks in my personal capacity, from the perspective of someone who has worked in a multistakeholder environment for the past 13 years and from the perspective of an individual family historian.

Last summer I read the FHISO introductory paper, describing the need for a community-driven effort to develop information standards in the family history space. The premise sounded a lot like the multistakeholder environment in Internet coordination, so I reached out to the organizers, asked some questions and made some suggestions for strengthening the concept. They took those suggestions on board and have continued to grow support for collaborative standards development in the family history environment. It has been great to see some of the largest commercial entities in the space come together with a growing number of genealogical societies.

Between the members of this panel (Ancestry, Brightsolid, FGS and RootsMagic), they host billions of images and records, important historical data that is valuable on its own. But once users add context and connections to that data, it becomes even more valuable - not just to these entities, but for users, who want to be confident the information is secure and stable, and for the greater community who may look for this knowledge in the future. Having an open, collaborative environment for family history information standards strengthens that data, and makes it easier for users to transfer it among operators. This effort may help increase accuracy, stability and interoperability for the larger family history community.

There are two developments in the international arena that make it a good time for FHISO to launch its efforts to a broad audience.

First, in August 2012, the Open Stand initiative (http://open-stand.org/) was announced. This is a joint effort by the Internet Society, Internet Architecture Board, IEEE, Internet Engineering Task Force and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), supported by hundreds of individuals worldwide. Open Stand promotes a set of principles for modern standards development:

1. Cooperation
2. Adherence to principles (due process, broad consensus, transparency, balance, openness)
3. Collective empowerment
4. Availability (standards specifications that are accessible to all)
5. Voluntary Adoption

The Open Stand principles align with the mission of FHISO to bring together stakeholders from the genealogy and family history communities to develop open, international technology standards, and provide an example for the family history community to follow.

The second major development occurred in January 2013. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) published its Vancouver Declaration (see PDF at http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/mow/unesco_ubc_vancouver_declaration_en.pdf), providing a set of recommendations for a multistakeholder approach to the digital preservation of cultural heritage and historical information and encouraging closer collaboration among international professional associations, regional organizations and commercial enterprises to ensure that recorded information in all its forms is preserved.

FHISO is kicking off at the right time to build from Open Stand, UNESCO's Vancouver Declaration and other efforts in the greater Internet community as a collaboration point for information standards in the family history space. I look forward to where it is headed next, and I encourage the Rootstech community to look closely at FHISO as an opportunity to work together.

Thank you.
--
I wish I had been able to stay on for Friday's sessions as planned and had another 3-4 hours of time at the Family History Library. It looks like next year's Rootstech will be 6-8 February 2014. This falls in a good spot on the calendar, between big meetings in Buenos Aires and Singapore. Perhaps I'll be able to go back in February.

From my brief time there, it was an enjoyable event. There were some interesting vendors in the Expo Hall (the fan charts from genealogywallcharts.com were pretty cool). Last year I was able to watch the main sessions via the webcast, and I'll have to go back can watch the recordings for 2013 when I have some time.

Off to Rootstech

I'm heading out to Rootstech. I think I'm set for the panel tomorrow and look forward to meeting many from the Geneablogger community who will be on site. I don't have a good plan for the Family History Library tomorrow evening but will make the best of my short time in SLC.

Here's a couple sessions I am going to try to catch this afternoon:
- Tell It Again (in the Story@home track)
- Genealogy Industry Web 2.0 Report Card
- Putting the World's Cultural Heritage Online with Crowdsourcing
There are so many interesting options in the 4:15 time slot, it will be difficult to chose among these:
- Collecting the Fabric of a Life
- Finding the Obscure and Elusive: Geographic Information on the Web
- Mapping Ancestral Migration Trails and Their Stories

On Friday, I'll catch the morning keynote, the main hall sessions and meeting people in the Expo Hall. Friday's panel is from 3-4pm in the Developer Day track, titled What it means: Open Standards Development from the Perspective of Developers and Standards Professionals.

This should be an interesting & whirlwind two days. See you in SLC.

A Glimpse of an Active Life

I've previously seen how my 2nd-great-grandfather Vicente Campuzano participated in Liga Protectora Latina in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, but I did not know that my great-grandfather Plutarco had also participated in political activity and contributed to activities as Vicente had done. The El Tucsonense newspaper from 26 September 1929 shows Plutarco Campuzano among the supporters of Mexican Presidential candidate Pascal Ortiz Rubio in the Club Tucsonense Pro-Ortiz Rubio.

Source: Univ. of Arizona

In the 16 July 1935 issue, Plutarco is listed as a contributor to a fund for an Alberto Garcia.

Plutarco lived to age of 96. These articles provide a small glimpse into a long, active life.

Bait Shop by the Sea

Following my January post on artwork from my Gumpy's 1997 book Vanishing Landmarks, here is another sketching titled Bait Shop by the Sea.

Art by Keith D. Jones, 1997

Case of the San Pedro Mine

From the University of Arizona Special Collections, is a copy of an article appearing in La Constitucion from Hermosillo, Sonora on 8 September 1899. My 2nd-great-grandfather Vicente Campuzano appeared as a witness in a case involving the sale of the San Pedro Mine. The news article appears at http://content.library.arizona.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15399coll8/id/6910/rec/34.

A rough translation of the case via Google Translate is as follows:

Judicial NoticesThe corresponding stamps duly canceled - 1st Instance Court of the District of Altar.
Number fifty-nine
In the town of Altar, the two days of the month of September 1899. Before me, Ignacio Bustillo, 1st Deputy Judge receivership Instance acting as notary public and to the instrumental that finally expressed, appeared Licenciado Antonio Richards, in its capacity as guardian of Julio Foucault, I credit according to the instrument public that attest to have seen, and said he has come to his knowledge that the Representative of the Mining Company of San Pedro de Altar, is selling or looking to sell all or part of the mineral properties and other work tools such Negotiation, by order and instructions, it is assumed, the Board of Directors of Paris, France, and as the said company owes his principal a large sum of money due and payable, the sum, the aforementioned company, through its representative in this District, has repeatedly offered to settle, without verifying it so far, protest again and as often as necessary against all and any mortgage enagenaciones retroventas CAS or to be made, or charges related impognan the property, either by the company representative on the Board of Directors of Paris or any other person, and made known to the public, that on behalf of his principal Julio Foucault, judicially pursue any real estate, furniture, chattel rights and actions that recognize or have been recognized by the Company and held repitida and possession of who they are.
And in order that this protest takes legal effect, is the issue asks her testimony. So said firm, being instrumental Messrs. Juan Reina S. and Vincent Campuzano, present, old and neighbors, before the undersigned Judge and witnesses assistance.
--
--It integrates copy of his original work in the public instruments Protocol of my office, which authorize and sign in Altar to September 3 of 1899, by the witnesses to my regular attendance. I attest.

Funeral Announcement for Teresa Diaz

This afternoon I received a nice surprise email from a librarian in Special Collections at the University of Arizona. The library is making searchable digital copies of historic newspapers, including El Tucsonense, the Spanish language newspaper of Tucson. Their full site launches in late April 2013, but the librarian was kind enough to provide a preview link.

Below is the announcement of the funeral for my 2nd-great-grandmother, Teresa Diaz de Portillo, who passed away on 16 June 1940. This appeared on page 3 of El Tucsonense on 18 June 1940.

Source: U. Arizona Special Collections

There are many more articles on the Campuzano family in El Tucsonense. This is a great resource and I'm looking forward to further reading.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

The photo below is from the Old Town Alexandria St. Patrick's Parade, which is not run on the 17th of March, but instead on the first Saturday of March each year. This shot is from March 2002.

Photo by Patrick L. Jones - Alexandria, March 2002

Personally this day is less a celebration of the Irish but a continuation of yesterday's birthday celebration, the excitement of college basketball, and the heralding of Spring. The day is also a reminder that I do have Irish heritage (and I have more work to do on the Irish lines).

For my Irish friends and colleagues, I raise a virtual pint and wish them a Happy St. Patrick's Day too.

Rootstech Panel Info Posted

It's time to nail down my brief talking points for next week, now that the panel bios have been posted for the FHISO at Rootstech panel next Friday. I'll be with an esteemed group. This is a cool opportunity and I'm looking forward to it.

I may share some advance thoughts here on the blog before I head out to SLC for Rootstech. I've been kicking around some ideas about big data and context, and the need for interoperable family history information standards for users. It would be interesting to see numbers on how much data (in petabytes or larger) the big family history players such as Ancestry, FamilySearch & brightsolid have available online. That data is valuable on its own, but when users add context and connections, assuming those are accurate, the data becomes that much more valuable to these entities. And this information also becomes important for cultural and historical preservation.

Some of the bits from my October post on Information Standards in the Family History Space might make it into the talking points. I'll need to weave in references to Open Stand, UNESCO's work on knowledge societies and its Memory of the World project, and the need for collaboration.

In many ways this is a subset of the issues in my primary field related to an Internet ecosystem and fostering a multistakeholder environment. In the family history context, there is also a multistakeholder environment of entities and users, so a collaborative standards model is needed to encourage a sustainable, robust environment for the benefit of all.

I didn't intend to this post to kick start some talking points, but writing it out this way has helped.

Friday Photo - Act Up

The photo below is a section of the Berlin Wall on display at the Newseum in Washington DC.

Photo by Patrick L Jones - Newseum, Washington DC

Wordless Wednesday - Del Ray Community Mural

Mount Vernon Rec Center Mural, Del Ray, Alexandria, Virginia

In Matilda's Own Hand

Picking up from the earlier postings, in the probate of the estate of Henry Donham Lee Lambert in Oklahoma County Court, my 2nd-great-grandmother Matilda Jane Lambert O'Brien sent a letter to the court in August 1919 asking that her father's property be sold by public sale rather than private sale. Before seeing the probate file, I had never seen her signature or a letter in her own hand.

There's a lot to like about this letter. To me it shows she was a strong lady, a smart person who understood the value of land, and of the proximity of Henry's land to Oklahoma City. Perhaps she had visited in person. She wrote persuasively, clearly and politely. The court accepted her argument, and the land later sold for several thousand more than the appraised value. I'm very glad this was part of the court's file.

Matilda received two distributions from the estate, one in the amount of $1,083.66 and a second in the amount of $176.96. Had she not intervened, the amount distributed to all the beneficiaries would have been much less.

There are a few more documents of interest to share showing Matilda's signature. There are receipts for the distributions, along with a bank check, signed by Matilda and cashed at her bank in Shelbyville, Illinois. The back of the check is also copied in the probate file, showing the route that the check took through the US banking system in 1919 to Oklahoma.

There's one more post from me on the probate file. I'm leaving out description of the other beneficiaries in order to focus on Matilda. I am also going to check the files to see if there is further distribution of the land after Drusilla acquired the property in 1919.

The Probate File of Henry Lambert, Pt 3

Continuing with the probate of Henry Donham Lee Lambert's estate in Oklahoma County Court, in July 1919 the court ordered the sale of Henry's 160 acres. Matilda objected to the private sale of the land, and asked the court to direct the land be sold by public sale, so as to get a better price. The court agreed.

On 6 September 1919, the property sold for $7150.00, above the appraised value of $4500. The buyer was Drusilla Burrows.

I'm building up to Matilda's letter, which will appear in Part 4.

The Probate File of Henry Lambert, Pt 2

Following my earlier post of the probate file of Henry Donham Lee Lambert in Oklahoma County Court, I looked ahead through the rest of the file. It contains about 250 images, some are the front and back of checks paid to the Lambert beneficiaries. It is a wonderful find, and includes a handwritten letter from my 2nd-great-grandmother Matilda Jane Lambert in Illinois to the court in Oklahoma. This gives a whole new insight into her personality, which I did not have before.

The Will - 9 November 1899

Henry died in March 1909, either on 20 or 22 March. Cordelia Lambert passed away on 28 November 1918, triggering the probate of Henry's estate in December 1918. Henry listed his remaining heirs as:
1. Eva Emeline (Lambert) Wilson
2. Matilda Jane (Lambert) O'Brien
3. William L. Lambert
4. Mary Alice (Lambert) Cunningham
5. Olive V. (Lambert) Phillips
6. Drusilla (Hensley) Burrows

Henry also stated that Olive was to give 1/3 of her part of the estate to her first born, Leoney Lambert. Olive was the first born daughter of Henry and Cordelia Lambert, who also had a son, Elmer Lambert.

The executors were William Lambert and A. W. Burrows. William passed away on 4 December 1911, so his executor duties fell to Burrows. William's portion of the estate would be divided among his wife and children.

A. W. (Arthur) Burrows was the husband of Drusilla Hensley Burrows, daughter of Cordelia from her first marriage, making her Matilda's step-sister. It took a little time to see how Drusilla fit into the family until I looked back at Cordelia and her first marriage to Samuel Hensley in Illinois.

Burrows filed a motion with the court to sell Henry's property in order to pay the creditors and beneficiaries under the will. Henry's property, consisting of 160 acres in Oklahoma County from the original land grant, was appraised at $4,500. He also had a mule.

Matilda filed an objection to the sale of Henry's property at private sale, as she thought the appraised value of the property was lower than what it could be sold for at a public sale. Her letter is worth its own post, so I will share it next.

The Probate File of Henry Lambert, Part 1

Back in October 2012, I posted photos of the tombstones for my third-great-grandfather Henry Donham Lee Lambert and his second wife, Cordelia Lambert. Henry had settled in Luther, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, before passing in March 1909. After poking around in the FamilySearch Oklahoma Probate Files, I found Henry's probate record. It is a big file and will take a few days to sort through. The file begins on Image 608 of 949 in the Probate Case Files for 1918, packet number 3629, filed 13 December 1918 in Oklahoma County Court.

I had wondered if my 2nd-great-grandmother Matilda Jane Lambert ever saw her father again after he moved west to Oklahoma before 1880. She must have stayed in contact with him. Matilda is listed as an heir, living in Shelbyville, Illinois, on the second page of the probate file.

Henry's will was written on 9 November 1899. I'll have a separate post on the will to follow. Matilda was provided notice of the hearing to probate the will in Oklahoma.

Further review of the file shows that notice did reach Matilda, and she moved to object to the sale of Henry's property by private sale in August 1919.

A Return to the Blog

I'm back in the US after participating in a workshop and meetings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This was not my first visit to the continent, as I've previously been in Morocco, Egypt, Senegal and Tunisia. Each experience to Africa has been different. On this trip I saw little beyond the drive from the airport to the hotel and the offices at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

It is unfortunate that there was not time to see more. Addis Ababa appears to be a city on the rise, or least the area around UNECA is under major construction in preparation for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the African Union. But, even without seeing the city, I did have the opportunity to meet some great people. Establishing relationships and connections with people was more important than seeing a place. That goal was met, and I look forward to continuing conversations with these people in the future ahead.

A major document was released during the week, so I may now have some spare brain cycles to return to the blog. There are a few threads that I want to explore before heading out to Rootstech in a few weeks. I don't have a lot of ambitious writing goals for the month. Perhaps returning to daily writing itself should be the goal, and the stories will unfold from there.

Welcome to March

It's tough to get back in the habit of regular blogging when you take a break. February was a busy month. I have been writing, just not so much on the family history. I have a big document to be released soon, and will be on the road in Ethiopia.

March did bring some surprise news - the 1993 Wabash College Swim Team is being inducted with 8 other teams as part of the first slate of teams to be included in the Wabash College Athletics Hall of Fame. I was very lucky to swim with such an outstanding group, for a Hall of Fame coach. The induction will be over Homecoming Weekend in September. I have a whole set of news clippings and photos from 1992-1996 buried somewhere in a box, so this is a reminder to dig that out later this spring or summer.

If you're headed to Rootstech later in the month, you'll find me on a panel about open standards and FHISO during the Developer Day track. This is the rare opportunity to bridge my worlds of Internet security & governance with family history.