The Wilson-Bingham Family History Web Log

This is a web log or "blog" about efforts to publish the Wilson-Bingham family history in the form of a single hardbound book. Major family names being researched include Wilson and Bingham. If you feel your family history ties into ours, please post a comment to one of the latest postings. Please subscribe to get instant updates.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Lessons from the dead: Backup, backup and print

I wanted to share the following article with all of you. It's a great "lessons learned" piece about the importance of backing up digital photos and preserving paper and printed photos. We all have pictures and journals and whatnot in our attics or basements. I know I'm now thinking twice about what I've done (or not done) to preserve these.

Lessons from the dead: Backup, backup and print
by Andrew Kantor

"You mean if there's a flood or fire…?"
"It's all gone," he said.

Read more...

Friday, December 02, 2005

Wilson Bingham Book Progress Report - December 2005

In This Newsletter
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I. PROGRESS REPORT
II. THE WISHLIST
III. THANKS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Hello everyone! Time for this month's progress report.

I. PROGRESS REPORT
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1) I now have a loaner laptop from work on which I can do a lot of work during my commuting "free time" on the train. However, a combination of writer's block and the Thanksgiving holiday and Christmas preparations have slowed me down a little. I am now working on the first chapter in earnest, marking up areas that need more research, correcting conflicts, and doing general editing. There is a preface now as well.

2) On November 5th I received a packet from Arlene Edsall with an extensive biography of Elmo "Pose" Wilson and of his children. Included with this bound manuscript were several individual vignettes, pedigrees, and pictures. That part of the outline is much more developed now. I will work on getting these documents scanned into a word processor or manually typed.

3) I found new series of interesting articles about writing family histories on MeridianMagazine.com. Have a look:

An Audience of One: Written Gifts for Those You Love
By Paul Bishop

...don't neglect the impact and power of writing for an audience of one.

Read more...

The Key to your Personal History
By Paul Bishop

As Latter-Day-Saints we are often encouraged to capture our personal histories in the form of journals or written autobiographies. For many this can be a daunting task, especially if viewed from the perspective of starting with the cliché, 'I was born on...'

Read more...

The Book of Mormon, A Latter-day Corrective ― #10: Our Records Are Vital for Our Well-Being
By H. Wallace Goddard

The Book of Mormon itself is a testimony of the vital role of records. If we want our families to prosper in the land, we should keep a record of the blessings of the Lord to us and those we love.

Read more...

II. THE WISHLIST
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Here is the latest list of the items that will help move us towards our publication date of July, 2006.

NOTE: It is now December. December 31st was to be the initial "deadline" for turning in your autobiographies and biographies. If you would like to simply type them up in a reply to this message, that will be fine as well. Thanks!

1) The outline (initialoutline.pdf) has been updated in the "Files" section of our group web site. If you've already submitted information, please have another look because there are some middle names missing. Please review it for any other information you can provide. Everything highlighted in yellow is something that needs attention. Please let me know if you are having difficulties opening or reading the initialoutline.pdf file.

2) If you have any computerized versions of your genealogy information, no matter how complete or incomplete you believe it to be, please forward it to me via e-mail. You can send it as a GEDCOM or PAF file. Family group sheets have been especially helpful in summarizing family info.

3) I would like to start extending our mailing list to the descendants of "the Wilson cousins". If you have email addresses, mailing addresses, and phone numbers for your immediate and extended families, please email them to me and I will invite them to join the list.

III. THANKS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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Thanks to Arlene Edsall and family for their contributions in the packet that was sent to me. There is a lot of great information here.

Thanks to all for your time and willingness to see this through to publication.