Privacy, Web Servers and a Database Update

 If you mouse over to the right-hand side of this page you will see a link to the latest update to our master family tree. This update was several months in the making, and since earlier versions required a lot of manual hand coding in HTML, I was not in a big hurry to open that can of worms. Best to wait for the next big snow day. To make matters worse, my local ISP retired its free server space. So once the source files were deleted there was to be no turning back.

What finally greased my gears into action was an unexpected email I received from a distant relative. It seemed he was concerned that his family sheet could be used for targeted phishing attacks. If this were 1990 I would say that holds water, but this is 2021 and the amount of personal identifiers available on just the open source web is astounding and way above anything that could be harvested from a family tree. I'm afraid the cows left that barn many years ago.

In earlier versions of our on line tree I was careful to exclude the birth dates of living individuals. Now-a-days those are easily harvested from your local PTA or HOA directory. And if you want just one example of a very powerful association aggregator, check out Family Tree Now. It's amazing what you can find here on living individuals with just a little digging (although some associations, addresses and phone numbers are bogus or out of date). I even used this site to confirm some of my past addresses the last time I had to put in my paperwork for a security clearance.

Our current tree was published with the web page functionality built into the Roots Magic genealogy software I use for my day-to-day research. In early trials it seems to do the job and it looks like future updates will be much easier. But it will take me time to go back and fix broken family page links in prior posts. So please be patient.

You also will notice that this newer version no longer has entries for living individuals. The Roots Magic software does not allow for birth date exclusion, only living person exclusion. Hopefully this will allay future security fears you might have.

I rarely use open source trees posted on such sites as Ancestry.com. These are riddled with errors and wishful thinking. Most all of my entries come from trusted fellow researchers or census, birth/death certificates, deeds, family bibles and grave markers. But even those sources are never perfectly accurate. So if you come across an incorrect spelling, date or family association, please let me know. But also include your source for the correction. When conflicting dates or spellings are encountered I always opt for the public record first.

Guest Post: The Pearson House in Haymarket Virginia

The Pearson House depicted in the 1940s

Editor's note: This post comes to us courtesy of Lee Pearson of Manassas, VA. It is a vignette about his childhood home and a painting he did from memories of living there in the 1940s. Lee descends from Baldwin through his son Wormerly (Judith Creel line). In a future post we will examine his line in greater detail when we feature a significant heirloom in his possession..

Nestled among the honeysuckle lies the Pearson House, one of four structures that escaped the rapture of the Northern armies during the Civil War.

Passing is a steam locomotive the likes of which would have carried Southern soldiers and horses rushing from the Shenandoah Valley to be in the Great Battle of Bull Run/Manassas on July 21, 1861. The first time in history of the world soldiers and horses were delivered to battle by train/railroad.

Behind this house is St. Paul’s Church on Fayette Street. With the doors wide open on that very hot day. Church services were in progress during which time cannon were heard by the congregation, echoing from battle in Manassas, but would not have been heard by the troops on their mission due to the iron clatter and steam from the locomotive.

Undoubtedly, many would have glanced at this house on passing that day, but with little thought of it at this time, as their concerns were of their fate minutes away in battle.

Lee Pearson

Manassas, VA