A month on Mastodon

by Dianne R

There’s a great genealogy and family history community on Facebook and Twitter. Local societies, links to resources, chats and meets, plus much other information. Twitter has an especially active set of people posting with relevant hashtags. However Twitter has had many changes lately, and some of them have left us wondering how things will go in the future.

An alternative suggested by several people is Mastodon – similar to Twitter, but ad-free, open source, distributed networking. Hey what?

Linux users will get open source – for others, it simply means that the code is open for others to modify and redistribute. Distributed networking – Mastodon isn’t all on one server, controlled by one admin or team. It’s scattered across the world on different servers, each individually controlled, but networked together. Ad-free – yes, no ads! You’ll be welcome to donate towards the cost of running your chosen instance, but it isn’t obligatory.

So before you sign up, you need to decide which server or “instance” you want to sign up to. You can of course create your own “instance” and run it yourself.

Find an instance / server

https://joinmastodon.org/servers lists many of the servers available, organised by location or by topic. Consider what you’re interested in, and look at servers that cover that topic. A huge drawback to this site – no search function, and the topics are rather vague for many items.

I used https://mastodonservers.net/servers instead, which has a search function right at the top – that’s where I found my chosen Mastodon home, by simply searching for genealogy. Clicking on the result gives you details of the server, how many are using it, and a sign-up button right there. You can check the details of @genealysis.social here https://mastodonservers.net/server/8-genealysis-powered-by-mastodon

Before you make a choice, you can check the rules and requirements of each instance that you’re considering. Most will also have contact info for the admin, tell you whether it’s signed up to the Mastodon Server Covenant, where it’s based, and the rules for that server.

Detailed information is available online – I found this site helpful https://uk.pcmag.com/social-media/143985/how-to-pick-a-mastodon-server

One tip I found useful – don’t just join any old instance. The first and still often most chosen is mastodon.social. It has many users, and so has a slower response time than servers with fewer users. It was recently hit with a Ddos – something you may avoid if you join a smaller, more specialised instance.

Get the facts before you jump in

Mastodon does have help pages, but I felt they were a bit limited. However there are increasing numbers of help sites. I found some very useful videos that lead you visually step-by-step.

First of course, Genealogist Daniel Loftus’ Mastering Mastodon: Another Tool in a Genealogist’s Arsenal

A series of three videos which I found very helpful – search YouTube for Explorographer “How to Mastodon”. Clear step-by-step instructions and advice.

The instance I use also has instructions at http://genealysis.com which covered an item that the “official” site didn’t completely explain – how to verify your personal website so it’s highlighted on your Mastodon profile.

Hello (Mastodon) world!

Most tutorials recommend your first post should be a short bio, with hashtags highlighting info you may think is important, such as particular interests, location or places that you have an interest in. This will help other users find you.

You can search both your local instance, and what’s called the Fediverse – all servers, everywhere. So it won’t be a disaster if you sign up to an instance that isn’t entirely on your interest, you can search for others using a hashtag, and using relevant hashtags in your posts will let like-minded others find you. You can always move to another instance if you decide to.

Hope to see you soon!

Now I’m getting the hang of it, I really like Mastodon. Use the power of search engines and YouTube to find helpful tutorials and hints. And be lavish with your hashtags!

If anyone is on the @genealysis.social instance, you’ll find my profile at @diannereuby For those on other instances I’m at @diannereuby@genealysis.social

My favourite photo

by Dianne R
Click for larger image

My paternal grandparents wedding, 7 August 1916. The bride was Gertrude Annie Merritt, the groom was William Ernest Easter. Next to the groom is Gertrude’s sister, Kathleen Merritt, known by my father of course as Aunt Kate, and therefore always called that by myself and my sister, although technically she was our great aunt.

Behind the groom, the gentleman with the bald head and magnificent moustache is the bride’s father, George Merritt. His wife Amelia Hall is to the right, wearing a hat that always looks rather South American to me – no-one else seems to be dressed in a similar fashion!

The groom’s parents, Henry Robert Easter and Mary Ann Whitlock, don’t seem to be in this photo. Most of the people seem to be on the bride’s side, so possibly the groom’s family were taken separately. He was the third of twelve children, so there probably wasn’t space for everyone.

My grandfather was born in Peckham, and at the time of his marriage lived at 106 Haydons Road, Wimbledon with his parents. The house has been demolished, and replaced with a modern block of shops, but the houses next to it remain. They are standard Victorian terraces with small yards at the back, so it may be that this is where the photo was taken. In the 1911 census he is shown as a leather worker. His father owned a boot and shoe repair shop and we know he worked there for some years. Later he worked at the gas works in Wimbledon, maintaining the equipment.

My grandmother was born in Wimbledon, and at the time of the 1911 census was a nursemaid to a missionary’s children, living in Salisbury Street, Brondesbury, London. The only street that might match is Salusbury Road, so possibly an error in the transcription, or maybe a completely different road which has been renamed or demolished.

I’d like to meet …

by Dianne R

This year I’m attempting the challenge set by Amy Johnson Crow – 52 ancestors in 52 weeks. I did little research in 2022, so I’m hoping this will force me to be a bit more diligent. So here we go with week one.

I’d like to meet …

Quite a few ancestors come to mind.

Sir William Blackstone, jurist, Oxford don, MP, writer on common law whose works are still used today by law students. But I’d have to offer up my apologies for the serious state of our modern legal system. I’m sure he’d be horrified.

Samuel Carter, Mormon pioneer, who was born in Thornton Hough in Cheshire long before Lord Leverhulme turned it into a model village for the workers at his soap factory. Samuel sailed for a new continent with his family, making the overland journey to Utah by wagon train.

My father-in-law Charles Leonard Reuby, who served on the Arctic Convoys and died long before my husband and I met. His photos always show him laughing.

Aldeburgh Beach
FreeImages.com/mfisher

Though for the purposes of serious genealogy and family history research, it would have to be my Easter brick wall, William Easter, married in Stow cum Quy, Cambridgeshire in 1700 aged 25, so presumably born in around 1675. But where? They moved to Aldeburgh in Suffolk in about 1710. Some of their children were born in Stow cum Quy, and married there, so they must have kept links to his wife’s family. Most of the Easters are from Aldeburgh, but I haven’t found his birth as the parish records aren’t digitised yet.

So William, where you born? Were you living in Stow cum Quy when you met your wife? What were you doing there? A man from a family of fishermen and seafarers so far inland? Or was she in Aldeburgh – perhaps in service, or living with relatives. Who were you parents? I have the names of your in-laws, David Bradwell and Ann Green, and their marriage. I have details of so many of your relatives, so please be kind – let’s meet up so you can tell me about yourself!

Visiting ancestors

by Dianne R

Eight years today since my daughter and I visited our ancestor, Sir William Blackstone, my 5xggrandfather, in the Codrington Library, Oxford. I hope to visit his grave this year – St Peter’s in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, is a redundant church, so I need to wait for it to re-open in the spring.