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Even though, as far as I know, no Campbell Cousins married Spragues or
Sprage descendants, many of us know Spragues and some are interested in
Sprague genealogy.
So I figured some of our readers would be interested in the following --
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Subject: Sprague Project: 1st Quarter Update
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 16:29:06 GMT
From: Richard E. (Dick) Weber <REWeber(a)sprague-database.org>
To: <REWeber(a)sprague-database.org>
As I prepared to write this Sprague Project Update, I was reminded of
the opening sentence of “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens when
he said, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Some
very positive progress has been made in the past three months and the
list of things that need to be done for the project continues to grow.
Let’s start with the most visible portion of the project, the Sprague
Web Site. A. Arnold Sprague, the Sprague Project Web Master has worked
diligently to make the web site accurate, user friendly and easily used.
The web site is quite large and contains nearly 38,000 URL links. A
recent audit of the site showed that every link on the site is correct
and functional. Compare this to the many sites you visit which contain
invalid links. Its a pretty nice accomplishment. Arnold very recently
introduced a “Quick Links” box near the top of each of the introductory
web pages to make navigation to other portions of the web site quicker
and easier. You may want to check out the quick links. Nearing an
introduction as I write is a new feature page that will provide an
alphabetized list of all Heads of Sprague lines. Clicking on any of the
names of the heads of lines will take the website visitor directly to
the Family Group Sheet for the head of line. This is similar to the
function provided by the Heads of Sprague Lines page but contains much
less information about the line and thus is a smaller list to navigate
and it provides a slightly different entry point to the family It is
expected that this new feature will be used by return visitors who are
simply checking to see what is new in their Sprague line of interest. As
always we encourage you to let us know of any problem encountered in
using the web site. We also solicit any suggestions for improving the
web site. Any of you who want to comment on the web site may do so by
clicking the Webmaster link found on the website.
The heart of the Sprague Project is the Sprague Database, a lineage
linked family history file that contains nearly a quarter million
individuals associated with the Sprague family. Only about 100,000 of
these individuals are on the Sprague web site because of our policy on
not displaying living individuals and because we do not show Sprague
spousal ancestral lines. I am the only person with access to the Sprague
Database because of security concerns. During this quarter, I completed
an audit of the database looking for such errors as children born after
the mother turned 50, children born when the parents were less than 13,
and other such problems. All such audit messages were reviewed, and
corrective research completed to allow elimination of the problem. In
many cases, the error was as simple as changing the year by a century
(born 1823, married 1945) or some such obvious correction. In other
cases, the error was repeated in many publicly available sources. In
such cases, explanatory comments were added to highlight the error.
Quite some time ago I mentioned the possibility of producing a Sprague
Research Aid CD (SRA CD) which would provide research material for all
non-living individuals in the Sprague database. Content of the SRA CD
would include a lineage linked set of family group sheets searchable
with a web browser and a variety of PDF reports. The PDF reports would
include a location report where it will be easy to find any individual
with a reported presence in any location, and other research types of
information useful in trying to extend Sprague family research project.
It will be self loading and have a very unique feature in that all
material whether reports or lineage linked browseable data will be
commonly indexed in one master index. The only prerequisites to using
the CD will be a web browser and the Adobe Acrobat Reader. During this
quarter, a prototype of the CD was generated using my Weber family
material. The CD will go through extensive testing to uncover usability
problems. When that is done, a full Sprague Project version of the CD
will be built. In a future update, I will solicit comments on this
project. Some challenging business and legal decisions must be made
before that time.
The above has been “the best of times” section of this report. Now for
the “worst of times section.’ As of this moment, I’ve responded to all
e-mails received since January of 2004. I still have a large (nearly
500) stack from before that date. I’m working on them. Having made a
significant investment in computer resource has helped me in that task.
I also have over 250 Sprague obituaries that have been sent to me
awaiting efforts to integrate into the Sprague family history. This is
in addition to much material on the Sprague family found in a fairly
extensive genealogical library that I’ve assembled. I also have many
large boxes of material that has been sent to me via U. S. Mail that
would add still more content to the Sprague family history. I truly feel
bad to have such valued contributions sit in stacks; I’d rather have the
material in the Sprague database. I’ll keep working at it.
I’d be remiss in not saying thank you to the many significant
contributions that have been made to this project. Contributions have
come in the form of shared research, encouragement, and financial
support. All are appreciated. Others have invested significant time to
support the project. Obviously Arnold, without whom the web site would
not exist, is key. Thank you all for your kindness, support and
understanding.
In closing, I should apologize to anyone who objected to the Plaxo
mailings they received. My Sprague Project Address Book was in very bad
shape with dozens, probably hundreds of obsolete e-mail addresses. Plaxo
has been a major help to me in getting that address book more up to
date. This is a good thing when I want to contact any of you.
I wish you all success in your Sprague family history efforts and hope
that the Sprague Project has been able to repay you for the support you
have provided. Have a wonderful spring and summer. As the saying goes,
“I’ll be back to you around the end of June, the good Lord willing.”
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