About the Website

  • The first version of Bob’s Genealogy Filing Cabinet went online way back in the ’90s using Microsoft FrontPage and my internet service provider’s host.
  • In 2003 I bought the genfiles.com domain, moved the files over, and christened the new and improved site as “Bob’s Genealogical Filing Cabinet II”.
  • I switched from Microsoft Expression Web to Dreamweaver in 2007 to gain more control over appearance and formatting.  A few years later Adobe decided to stop selling products like DreamWeaver and instead rent them at annual fees.  Ridiculous for private individuals like me who maintain non-profit websites.   So…
  • In late 2013 the entire site was converted to WordPress on a new host, going live a few days before Christmas 2013.  Rather than calling it the “Filing Cabinet III”, I’ve returned to the original title.

The purpose of this site has always been to share my files of records and written genealogies with others.  This material is intended for the personal use of genealogists who are interested in these families.  If you want to re-publish a significant portion of any of these pages in print or on the Web, please request permission.  You are free to quote a small section of a page, perhaps a few paragraphs, without permission. But please give credit if you use more.

This website and all its pages are copyrighted.  That means the material as presented here is my legal property.  I have no copyright to public records, of course, only to the narrative I’ve used to present them.  In essence, this website contains a series of genealogical research papers.  You should treat the content of this website as you would treat any printed book.

More to Come

As of May 2014 the site has more than 200 webpages plus another 100 or so  downloadable files that are too large for a webpage — altogether comprising perhaps 3,000 or more printed pages.   I estimate that I have transferred more than half of the information in my files.   I’ve been working since January 2014 on adding information pertaining to two of my eight great-grandparents and half of my great-great-grandparents which was never published on the previous version of the website.  I have plenty of work left to do.  One of the reasons I enjoy genealogy is that it never ends.   I hope to continue to transfer files onto the site over the next few years.

Contributing Your Own Information

Over the years, I have been helped enormously by the work of others who have shared their information and ideas with me. I welcome anything you’d like to share, including links to your own pages. You can email me from any page within the site by clicking the “contact” button on the main menu.

Taxonomy

Because I work with Microsoft Word and my family genealogies are organized “top down”, I use a taxonomy based on outline numbering.   This is called the d’Aboville System, a modification of the pre-computer era Henry system.  I think it is simple to understand and marvelously intuitive.  The progenitor is number 1.  His children, in order, are 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and so on.   The children of the eldest child (for example) are 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, and so forth.  This system has the considerable advantage of being easy to maintain because Word automatically renumbers everyone whenever individuals are moved, added, or deleted.

How This Site Was Created

All my files begin as Microsoft Word documents (currently I use Word 2011 for Mac)  that are then converted to display on the site.   The website itself is now powered by WordPress and hosted by GoDaddy.  This is the third generation of Bob’s Genealogy Filing Cabinet, having been converted from a Dreamweaver CS4 site in November and December 2013.  WordPress should make it much simpler for me to add pages and make changes.  If that proves true, then maybe I will finally get around to posting research that never made it to Bob’s Genealogy Filing Cabinet I or II.

Although this is a WordPress site, I have not implemented the ability of readers to leave comments and I don’t plan on using it like a blog.  Perhaps in the future.  Although famous as a web platform for bloggers, WordPress is a also a fine content management system for static websites.

Tablets and Smartphones

The website is usable on tablets and smartphones.  Try it.