Category: – Dr. John Elcik, IV

July 24, 2020, 09:44 PM

Beth,

I re-read Terry’s notes, which I have not seen for years. He answers some of my questions. In particular, he gives us the maiden name for Annie’s mom [Pelcarsky – Editor], which I would not have understood the significance back then. I’ll go with his answer. The other documents I have are most likely misspelled.

John, IV

July 24, 2020, 10:47 PM

Beth,

Before I retired, I had a career that included working a lot with computers. The result is I exercise every tool and feature the software vendor provides us. I also have a list of features that I will be asking Ancestry to add. I’ve taught myself web design and created a Family website 12 years before investing time into Ancestry.com. I’m still in the process of migrating data from the older site to Ancestry. I also own two other Ancestry programs: Family Tree Maker 2019 and Roots Magic 7. I have just recently been able to synchronize data between the various programs, which gives me some fancy editing tools. I can let the computer find duplicate records, more readily correct style problems like capitalization and spelling. I can also fix place descriptions, so they adhere site-wide to a consistent format: city, county, state, country.

The tools are only as good as the operator using them, and I am still learning. For me, technology is part of the fun. I suspect that not all of Ancestry’s features were available when you started as I use the Ancestry.com site differently. In particular, I use HINTs, Citations, Web Links, and the Gallery more aggressively. This can be good, but not necessarily. I can work faster, but not necessarily with more accuracy. I’m still cleaning up from earlier efforts. Fortunately, as you said, mistakes are easy to fix. But that is true only if you recognize a mistake is made. Your help is invaluable to me. THANK YOU!

Enjoy! John

Sat, Jul 25, 2020, at 9:12 AM

Beth & Janet,

In 2008 I wrote with the help of Pam, an electronic document called My Cousins. I just stumbled on a copy and am attaching it for you to have. Naturally, it is not as up-to-date as the Family Tree research that we can do today. But it has information in it that goes beyond a Family Tree.

I hope you find this entertaining.

Love,

The Elcik’s

Sun, Jul 26, 2020, at 12:12 PM

Beth,

I’m not sure how useful access to the Blood Relatives tree has been for you. I hope that by having Editor permissions, access to living people, and my notes, you can get information. In particular, I hope you downloaded some of the family pictures and LifeStory documents.

In about ten days, our ability to access information on the Internet will change. I will let my Ancestry.com subscription lapse. My understanding is that as Guests, we will still be able to see records on the site. I’m not sure what the restrictions might be. It may be that living people will be blocked, and it may mean that our ability to download records, images, etc. may get lost. I don’t know. I’m curious to find out.

I will continue working on the Tree using Family Tree Maker software made by MacKiev. I have synched the Ancestry database with my personal computer. I now have a fully functional copy working on my desk. By doing this, I avoid high monthly subscription fees. At any time, I can pay for a month’s subscription and synch the data again. This technology is excellent. Not only do I have a copy of the Tree. I also have copies of all the source documents. Not so long ago, this would not have been doable.

I will still be able to exchange reports and communicate through email. I also can email you pictures.

We will lose the messenger option and its bouncing screen. I won’t miss the bounce.

Let me know if you have any questions.

John, IV