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          Readers of the genealogical columns on ACME NUKLEAR BLIMP know that Larry Page, one of Google’s co-founders, is my second cousin.  Larry’s grandmother, Pauline Aquilla (Chipman) Page Moffit, was the sister of my grandfather, Beecher Edgar Chipman.

I don’t know Larry.  I have no influence in Google’s business decisions, or in anything else Larry does.  Having a famous relative… well, has its problems.  It attracts unwanted attention from:

(a) pushy religious cranks

(b) those who want to sell him something

(c) those who want to provoke a lawsuit to see if they can get something out of it

(d) racists

(e) those who lie with the intention of provoking a quarrel

(f) and assorted other malicious types 

This isn’t an ideal world and I finally learned you can’t reason with these people.  The best course is to avoid them when you can, and keep interaction civil and businesslike when you can’t.

I don’t have much material on the Page family, but back in 1988 Larry’s father, Carl Victor Page (now deceased) wrote to me.  I want to share some of his letter with you:

“Bev. [Carl Victor Page's sister] may have told you that I am 50 years old, and have two sons.  Carl Benjamin Page [living], who just graduated from the U. of Michigan with an M.S. in Computer Engineering is spending the Summer looking for a good job.  Lawrence Edward Page, [living] is a computer whiz of course, but is now spending the Summer learning saxophone from the pros at the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan.  He surprised everyone when he had an audition good enough to get in.

“On about August 21, my fiance, Joyce Wildenthal (who works at MSU in a genetic engineering Lab.), Lawrence and I plan to camp our way to St. Paul, Minn. where Lawrence and I will attend the conference of the American Artificial Intelligence Association.  Joyce will visit friends.  I have taught in AI for 21 years now and know everyone in the field because I spent a year visiting Stanford, which is the Intellectual Capitol of Silicon Valley.  In fact, I first studied computers in 1957, so have been in the field for 31 years.  I still like it very much.”

Carl describes how he and Beverly contracted polio in 1945.  Carl’s case was more severe.  When I was growing up, polio was still a threat.  My sister Diane had a friend across the street who had it.

Carl closed his letter by saying:

“This letter is being written on my MAC plus.  My son Carl bought himself a discounted MAC II from the U. of M.  I am trying to get one myself perhaps this Fall.  Lawrence has a knack for layout.  We have a camcorder to computer box and a sound digitizer.  Lawrence just got paid for preparing a political pamphlet for a friend who is running for County office.  He made a disk that can be laser-printed at Kinko’s or another copy shop.  The Atari systems seem to have alot of graphics and picture manipulation capabilities also.  Who knows what you and we will be able to do in a couple of years.”

At the time, I was running an Atari 800, which I bought after an Atari 400.  I had modified the 400 to use a full stroke keyboard, and added some memory to the motherboard, so it had a whopping 48K.  The 800 had very advanced game cartridges for the time and you could use commercial-type arcade joysticks and trackballs.  Early personal computers crashed a lot, so the motto was:  “When in doubt, re-boot.”

Larry Page and Google have nothing to do with the OCEAN/GRID/MEDIA INBOX system described on ACME NUKLEAR BLIMP and haven’t been approached to do anything with it.  Google is into its Internet search engine and cell phone applications.

The best way to get ahold of Larry is to get ahold of Larry.  ‘Nuff said. 

Your next GUI (graphical user interface) could be a Bot / and how a new way to use Vo-R (Voice Recognition) can make words perfect / Welcome to the GRID (and the emulator card)

GRID, MEDIA INBOX, and OCEAN are trademarks of Jeffrey Thomas Chipman.

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When I was thinking about the Media Inbox described in the column “The Age Of Content”, and how users could interact with it, I thought it would be an excellent application for voice recognition (Vo-R)/AI.  I wanted to get rid of clunky log-on routines.  But in a family situation, there will be mulitiple users, so what to do?

Since you’ll have Vo-R, the system will take a “snapshot” (like a fingerprint) of your voice.  When you set up the Media Inbox it will ask, “Who are you?”  You’ll say your first name, or how much of a sample of your voice it needs to identify you.  Then if you say “Wake up!” or “I’m Here,” it knows who you are, and loads your Bot.  That’s the log-on, and after that your Bot responds to your commands.  (If it’s a one-user system, the “voice stamp” wouldn’t matter.)  It’s all local, so don’t worry about Big Brother or the cable company putting your “voice stamp” into some secret database.  If someone else is using the Media Inbox through the audio speakers when you want to log-on, there are various ways you can temporarily mute the system and sign in, so that your Bot appears.  A high quality wireless headset with an unobtrusive mike can allow multiple users.  A lot of listening today is done through headphones anyway, so it’s not an inconvenience. 

What’s a Bot?

It’s a visual representation of a robot, an artificial entity who processes your commands.  It could be something original, or licensed—like HAL from 2001, or R2D2 (you’ll need subtitles for him), or maybe Kermit the Frog.

When the Bot loads, it checks your permission level, so it knows what content you’re permitted to access.  The Bot can scan various tables of content.

There’s a simple Bot language, and it’s your gateway to the operating system I call GRID.

In the morning, you tell the system to “Wake Up” or “Good morning Hal.”  Hal appears and tells you if anything has been dropped into your Media Inbox ™ and asks you what you want to do with it.  If you’re not sure, say “Archive” or “I’ll think about it.”  If you want to think about it, the icon for the content will go into a box, and stays there until you do something with it.  If you want to archive it, there will be a command tree system, and folders you can drop content into.

If you want multiple windows on the display, say “Grid.”  Then you tell your Bot what you want running where, and how big it is, when you want it to run, etc. (like “Nintendo, 50%, 3 o’clock, A2″).  When you’re done, you say, “Thanks, Hal,” and the grid disappears.  The grid can be configured so that the “boxes” are whatever size you want to work with, so that you could run a grid that might be like a tic-tac-toe layout, or something more complex.  It will use a system like you see in a road atlas to identify position, with letters across the top and and bottom and numbers at the sides.  If you want to move the content you say “Grid” and then “Nintendo to C6,” or just “A2 to C4.” 

When someone else wants to use the display and says their name, the Grid appears again and you shuffle things around.  If your son and daughter start fighting over display space their Bots appear and tell them to work it out.  Something like that.  When a working parent dials in from the office via their cell phone, their Bot can appear and say, “There’s pie in the fridge.  I’ll be home at 5:30.  Your videogame shuts down in 30 minutes.  Crack the books.” 

If your 5 year old is working with Kermit the Frog, Kermit’s going to make it easy.  But other Bots can be far more complex.

You don’t have to have a Bot as your GUI for the Media Inbox, but I think Bots will become a reality quite rapidly, and it’s why you don’t want to lock the GUI to the underlying OS.  It will sound (and will look) like Star Wars, but we have the technology to do it now, so this is a good place to use it.  There aren’t any rules.  Imagination is the key, but we need Bots and we need a simple, flexible Bot language.  But if someone wants to write and sell a really complex Bot for propeller heads, they can do that, too—as far as Vo-R technology will allow.

The Media Inbox isn’t something you hunch over like a laptop or PC or Mac.  It’s something you interact with, that you customize to your needs, that brings the mix of media you want into your environment.  For families, it can be something to gather around, to touch base with, to serve the varying needs of family members, instead of a chaotic noise box.

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Everyone hates keyboards.  People would like to use Vo-R to “type” documents on a program like Microsoft Word, but I think the problem is really how you look at it.  A comfortable, “formatting” tool held in one hand to work in conjuction with the word processing program (or whatever you’re entering text into) will make it a reality.  Instead of saying “Baseball, the first “b” is a capital letter,” you just hit a key on a remote that does the formatting as you talk.  So you don’t say “Comma,” and worry about some convoluted method of making the program understand you want the formatting comma, not the word.  You could just hit a comma key.  Or a footnote key.  You’ll need some dedicated keys and programmable keys.

Let’s look at a simple idea of how it works:  You’re using a word processing program like Microsoft Word or Word Perfect and you’ve  just finished a sentence using Vo-R.  You hit the period key on the formatting remote.  You hit “Space” once or twice and you”re ready for the next sentence.  The program could automatically make the next letter a capital.  But you could also do this:  as you speak, tapping the ”Shift” key once on the remote makes the first letter of the next word a capital, but holding down the ”Shift” key makes the whole word in capital letters.  It would feel comfortable before long.

Or if you want “1,000.25″ to appear in your document, and you don’t want the numbers spelled out, you hit a “Num” key as you speak.  Programs like Microsoft Word have tables of special symbols, and they’re kind of clunky to use.  You could just hit a “Special” key, and say the symbol you want, like “British pound.”  If you want to change the font, you toggle a “Font” key and say “Arial 10 italic.”  And if you want to return to the previous font you say “Return,” or you say “Courier 12 bold underline” if you want something else.

But there’s one major problem.  What do you do with words that sound alike, such as “read” and “red,”  or names, like “Smith” and “Smythe”?  Or names like “Piatowski”? 

There are various ways of handling that.  I use Microsoft Word 2003.  If I type “I red a book,” the program underlines that phrase with a squiggly green line to let me know it doesn’t make sense.  It’s using context.  “Red” is a noun, not a verb.  That helps. 

The program could default to the most common usage.  When it sees a word that could have more than one meaning, it pastes it into a “buffer” and waits to see what comes next, and assigns the most common spelling.  So you get ”if you’re coming to dinner” and not “if your coming to dinner.”  Conventional word processing programs already do that.

But there are other ways to work with this software.  A word flashes if it could have more than one meaning in context, and you say “OK” if it’s what you want, or toggle a “Variant” key until the word you want appears and then you say “OK.”  You can create variants yourself if you want to—like “Smythe.”  You can always use the backspace key, and then hold down “Spell” and spell out the word.  Or hold down ”Spell” and spell out the word as you go along.   If you’re using names, the program can learn “Piatowski” or buzzwords or catch phrases, and the next time you use it it’s automatic.  When you’re done, you review the document, and visual signs can show existing errors or ambiguities, and you can correct them.

It’s a combination of Vo-R and conventional input.  This type of program wouldn’t require sophisticated AI (artificial intelligence), but when you said a word the program didn’t understand, it could say, “I didn’t understand that word.  Would you spell it?”  And then you press the “Spell” key and spell it, and the program says, “Thank you.  I’ll add it to my dictionary.”  So it’s linking the word to the phonetics.  You can load in dictionaries, specialized stuff, with their phonetic equivalents.  The program would get better the more you use it.  You’ll have some kind of cursor control on the remote, too: a trackball or mini-joystick or maybe a touch-pad.

It won’t operate at the speed of thought; even today’s most advanced word processor can’t do that.  What we’re shooting for here is a program that’s much faster and more comfortable than a keyboard program, and one that learns and adapts to you.  You don’t have to hunch over a laptop or PC/Mac to use it.

But here’s where it gets really interesting: 

You could run a full blown word processing program on your cell phone by loading an app that makes cell phone keys formatting tools (like the remote I discussed above), and then ”write” your document and send it to headquarters or anywhere you want it to go via the cellphone network.  Or a spreadsheet.  Or PowerPoint, that kind of stuff.  Use a noise-canceling mic if you’re on an airplane.

You can have the keys on a touch screen, or pull down a template over the keypad when you want the formatting tool.  I looked at some next-gen cell phones on C/Net, and they were all “me too” products (with lousy cameras and lousy MP3 players), except one.  I don’t remember who made it, but it had a clear keypad.  And then it occured to me that since the keypad is operated by touch, you could load an app for this formatting tool and the formatting keys would appear on this keypad, and you have the formatting tool. 

And now you have your word processing program running on a cell phone, too.  Which is running on someone’s mobile platform.  If you buy my cell phone docking concept, and get an IT/Office Automation manufacturing firm to make it, you’re in the lucrative corporate IT market, with your operating system.  Everything changed just by following the technology.  You sell it on the basis that you’re reducing redundancy, it’s less expensive, and you get incredible management reports.

Although use of a keyboard would be optional (for the deaf, for example), the goal should be to perform even the most complex tasks using Vo-R and a comfortable remote—and when interacting with the Bot, just Vo-R.  Bear in mind that people who’ve never owned a PC or Mac (because they’re intimidated by computers) will have a Media Inbox.

Touch screens are great for cell phones, but you don’t want a 4 year old smearing PB&J on your display.  And people who don’t know how to type (like your 6 year old or your grandmother) can use this software, which opens up markets.  And it could be used for email, too.

But the the following is the best way to implement Vo-R:

Just hit a “Format” key, and use VR to do the formatting.  So when you come to a period in your document, you press “Format” and say “period.”  Or “Font Arial 10 italic.”  Or say “Comma.”  Or “Left paretheses.”  Or “Footnote,”  ”End footnote.”  Or “Exclamation.”  Or “Quotation mark.”   Or “Home.”  Or “Text center.”  That kind of thing.  Because when you hit “Format,” the program isn’t expecting regular text entry, it’s looking for commands.  So at the end of a sentence you press the key and say “Period space space.”  And you’re ready for the next sentence.

A combination of dedicated format keys and Vo-R formatting will make this program fly.  Consumers won’t go back to old style keyboard entry.  Let consumers assign keys on the formatting remote to suit themselves.  You can have macros, anything you’re doing now, but much easier to use.  Looking at a conventional PC keyboard, you can see that it can be replaced with a relatively small remote just by using Vo-R text entry and a FORMAT key and Vo-R formatting commands, and a few dedicated keys, like SHIFT, NUM, VARIANT, SPELL, RETURN, and programmable keys.

You can operate even the most complex tasks with the remote.  For instance, when you press down on the “Format” key and say “Tables and Borders,” that menu drops down with options and you say your option.  If you keep the commands unambiguous (within the command structure), and there’s something to look at as you go along, you don’t need an encyclopedic memory, and you can bail out with some key that returns you to the program proper.   You don’t need to know shortcuts or use a mouse.

To highlight text, position the cursor, press “Format,” and say “Drag,” then highlight the text with the cursor, hit “Format” again and say “Times New Roman 14 center,” and “Format” “Exit.”  Like that.  It’s just organization, and it operates on the principle that the program always knows the difference between ordinary text and a command.  When you press “Format” (or one of the dedicated keys), you’re sending a program interrupt which is routing your speech into a subprogram that recognizes speech as commands, rather than editable text (athough you could enter editable text and work with it within a box created by some command tree). It can be as flexible and intuitive as it needs to be.

It’s not just a speed or convenience issue.  It’s also an ergonomic and health issue.  Carpal tunnel syndrome is a serious problem in the workplace, and this system will greatly reduce it, saving on time off for illness and insurance claims.  I had to give up a conventional mouse for a trackball due to pain, and it really helped. 

The Vo-R/Formatting remote concept is the kind of software the Media Inbox is going to use, and cell phone docking will integrate office systems.  It’ll be easy to implement and you can blow Word and that PBX out of the water, and be positioned for the Media Inbox.  And you’ll get a large part of the business that’s now going to laptops.

What is proprietary here isn’t speech recognition.  The formatting remote can work with any method of speech recognition.

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So OCEAN is the network, the Media Inbox is the digital hardware, Bots are your GUI, and GRID is the operating system.  IF the Media Inbox system is deployed, GRID won’t be something anyone licenses per se (if it isn’t deployed, I’m hanging on to the OS).  The end user pays for a GRID OS on the Media Inbox , but GRID is a set of specs anyone can run with.  The developer doesn’t have to pay a license fee, just respect certain common specs.  And you have an open system that rewards bright ideas.

I want to answer a question that might be troubling some readers:

“Isn’t GRID an infringement on Microsoft Windows because you’re placing multiple panes on a computer screen?”

No.  It isn’t.  Placing multiple panes on a screen is a standard representational method.  It’s used in Picture-in-Picture TV sets, and has been used in TV shows and in film for many years, pre-dating Windows, and even in classical art.  It’s a very common technique.  Different stuff in different panes is also common, and movement in different panes is common as well.  There was a recent movie that was 4 panes of story lines.  The fact is, digital hardware and software has been, and is now, used to load content into panes with systems unrelated to Microsoft.

The interesting thing about Windows—and I’m dating myself here—is that in the beginning it wasn’t an operating system at all.  Microsoft started off with DOS (Disk Operating System).  IBM had it and called it PC DOS.  Then it went generic and was called MS DOS.

DOS raked stuff off the hard drive or the floppy by using a cumbersome command system.  I won’t discuss the legal history of Windows, but basically the bright idea was to replace DOS commands with fun icons which did the DOS drudgery for you.  Over time the Windows desktop sank so deep into the underlying OS that few people remember (or would want to use) the DOS command line.  But In The Beginning, DOS and Windows were separate products. 

What fascinates me is that since Windows became a commodity, nobody else ever mated their GUI to DOS and marketed it.  Occasionally competing operating systems attempted to challenge Windows dominance, but none were a serious rival.  And when the Justice Department filed an anti-trust suit against Microsoft, it wanted them to unbundle Internet Explorer from Windows, so Microsoft didn’t control how people surfed the Web.  After all, the Web isn’t a Microsoft product, but the launchpad is from Windows.

When I was working at AT&T, they brought out a computer and did the same thing that Microsoft did, only they parked a Windows icon type interface on top of a Unix derived OS.  It flopped and wound up being used in an early automated attendant application.

It would be infringement if GRID used the method Windows does to move panes around the screen and orient them.  But it doesn’t.  I realized that when you have GRID in a  multiple user environment, especially families, you don’t want hands all over the display, so touch screen is out (but it’s great for cell phones), and mice weren’t practical either.  A PC can handle multiple users, but not at the same time.  You can set up different accounts for people, but you pretty much have to stand in line to use it.  Even when PCs are networked, it’s you there and me here, and it’s done to share software like a notes program, or printers.

Although I’ve given the above examples of using GRID  with just V-oR, using V-oR and the formatting remote can actually handle the most complex tasks within GRID for advanced users (and you could have separate “channels” for remotes).  So where the rubber meets the road, GRID and Windows are completely different.  The content I’m placing in a pane isn’t low quality compressed stuff, it’s hi-res.  What I do with it when it’s there is schedule, size, and time, and it’s backed by an admin program that has over-arching control on the Bots or other GUI system.  And here’s the thing:  GRID can actually set up a schedule of content to run in order within a given pane.  The content could be a TV show or it could be opening a URL for an Internet radio station—be creative.

If you think about it, you’ll realize that even DOS isn’t going to work here.  Some people are going to fill up TB (terrabyte) hard drives, because this content isn’t MP3s or MPEG video.  There’s no reason to use the file system that DOS uses. 

The GRID system is designed to chain drives until some better mass storage comes along.   So what we’re going to do is have the system read the overall storage capacity and instead of drive letters (like C: and E:) we’re going to have an archive based system that operates across drives.  It’s a logical entity, not a physical entity.  As long as there’s enough storage on your system you can build archives.  When you run out, GRID will tell you to do something about it, which means installing another drive, or wiping content to regain more archive storage.  Scrolling through all those icons or other cute stuff to get to what you want won’t work.  When a better device for mass storage comes along, the read/write routines will change, but GRID as an operating system will continue to function in the same way.  I don’t want to tie the operating system to the type of storage device, so the notation GRID uses is spatial, rather than just directing to the hard disk:  “An icon was clicked.  Here’s what we need to make that work.  Load those files.”  Obviously at some point GRID is writing to or loading files off a drive, but what you need could be located on more than one drive, and loading files off mass storage isn’t proprietary.  When I was at the University of Illinois, engineering students were fumbling with punch cards to run COBOL programs.

Copy protection for premium content is necessary.  Copy protection can be in firmware at the drive level.  A flag in the content tells the drive to scramble it using a randomly chosen algorithm.  Once a drive is initialized in a system, it can’t be removed and installed in another system.  Unprotected files can be sent to someone else, or copied onto removable media.

There has to be a compromise between the legitimate rights of digital content producers and the consumer.  Some people feel copy protection is an infringement of their right to use the capabilities of the product they’ve paid for.  I think it’s really a legal issue.  The law has to face the fact that digital technology allows easy duplication of digital content, and define what separates a digital “product” from a digital “file,”  and are there different classes of “products” and “files”?  The answer isn’t obvious.  Once that’s resolved, the question then becomes:  Is it legal to sell equipment that allows unauthorized duplication of a digital “product”?

I can buy a MP3 of any current hit CD for less than a buck off a rogue MP3 network, use a program like Windows Media Player to write it onto a CD, and hit the streets.  Or you can buy one of the new LP to CD turntables with a USB bus, convert any LP into an MP3, and sell CDs that haven’t even been issued on CD.  To handle this on a case by case basis is absurd—it’s impossible to sue enough people to make even a tiny dent in the pirate marketplace.  Music industry lawsuits are intended to scare off pirates by making an example of some of them.  It’s a very messy issue, and the law needs to address it with something more practical than chasing people around for copyright infringement.

The ultimate solution is the province of Congress and the courts.  The only thing I can say to a content producer is:  “If you want this content copy protected, you can do that.”  Whether you actually have the right to do that is beyond the scope of a designer.  

The Media Inbox should have some kind of expansion bay reserved for mass storage yet to come.  When it arrived, you could start reading off hard drives until the new device was filled, remove the hard drive and then place the device into the vacant bay, and so on, until the hard drives are gone.  So the bus system here could be a selling point.  I’m not an EE, but here’s an opportunity to have a new modular plug and play design, and what’s at stake is a market for cards and drives.  Everyone loves cards, but cards are too hard to install, which hurts sales.

When your kid opens a present on Christmas 2015, he says:  “Wow.  A Class 5 Emulator Card.”  Before you can say Santa Claus he’s got it installed in the Media Inbox. 

This type of card doesn’t exist now.  It’s a sub-system, a virtual circuit board or motherboard of the device, a computer within a computer.  Manufacturers will get a CAD program.  Since the video, audio, memory, power supply, and input chores are off-loaded to system resources, the main concern is custom chips.  I think that could be addressed with a flexible custom chip architecture—something like an IC breadboard for custom chips.  A lot of products are just code in firmware.  I haven’t torn apart a modern game console, but I think most of the custom chips are in the video/graphics controller, which the manufacturer isn’t going to have to develop.  Rather than burden the Media Inbox processor, perhaps use a lower end processor like a Celeron on the board, optimized for this application.

Among other things, this card will run the videogame ”consoles” of the future.  It allows a manufacturer to load and run the proprietary parts of its system in firmware and it will have brickwall copy protection.  Which means limitless new opportunities for manufacturers and a lot more profit.  And for manufacturers to bring new products to market at a fraction of the cost of doing it now.  Modular design will allow new emulator cards to be developed to keep pace with technology.  A major part of GRID is linking this card to other electronics to make a complete virtual product.  The video and audio systems need to be robust, but cost-effective when mass-produced.

We’re not simulating a game “console.”  We’re replicating or creating a game “console.”  And a lot of other products, like home automati0n.  It really just depends on the design of the emulator card (or cards).  As long as the cards are backward compatible, new developments are simple to implement.  The advantage for video console companies is that serious gamers will want all the major systems (minus clutter), bringing companies customers they don’t have now.  The emulated “console” and the games to go with it will be extremely profitable.  The “console” and games are software (content).  The generic “PC” videogame will probably disappear.

I want to make an important distinction:  there is a difference between emulating a product using software and existing PC architecture, and using this architecture, even though in both cases the “product” is software.  Emulating a complex product using existing PC architecture involves many compromises.  Many “PC” videogames today require graphics card upgrades to run smoothly.  Those cards are expensive (in some cases costing as much as a videogame console), because they’re not a high volume accessory.  The Media Inbox is going to run smooth, hi-res, full motion video.  The entry level Media Inbox graphics and sound cards will be high quality, but high volume products, which will bring the cost down dramatically.  That doesn’t mean an end user can’t upgrade those facilities at some point.

The Bot’s job is to access those archives for you using Vo-R.  That will translate into the drive(s) where the content is located, but you can see that an archive can occupy more than one drive, and even a given piece of content could straddle drives.  Let the Bot find it for you, and don’t worry about its location, or where the Bot writes the content—for almost everyone, the “address” of a drive is of interest only to the Bot. 

The Media Inbox will have (probably) optical disk systems to read in software that isn’t loaded off  OCEAN, and you can write to it too, but it will be handled in Vo-R as well.  Over time the optical disk will be more for just storing spreadsheet files and word processing files, because almost all software for the system will come in off the feed and be installed without the optical drive.

This is the skeleton of the GRID OS, but it’s very flexible and adaptable.  I want users to set up their own archives and command trees, in whatever way suits their content mix.  Teach it to the Bot by using the admin panel to set up tables of commands.  There’s a couple of ways to train the Bot, but one way would simply be to reference the command number in the table with your spoken command.  So you get into a sub-program referencing that table and you say:  “Command 1 Hard Bop.”  Like that.  Software is organization and logic.  It sounds difficult, but it really isn’t.  It all goes back to a simple Bot language—you’re not going to discuss War And Peace with your Bot, but within its parameters it can be quite useful.  Archives can contain any type of content, including Internet radio stations, shopping websites, or programs, and they can have sub-archives.  The user really determines what they need.   The archive isn’t a sophisticated database—it’s a command tree with folders, and what you see on the GRID display will be prompts referencing the content you’ve archived, not things to be clicked on.  Macros can be set up to access content you use a lot.

When “Ocean” and the Media Inbox are first deployed, most people will use an existing TV, and many TVs are too small, so as a practical matter the GRID feature set for TVs will be limited.  But it will be there when consumers migrate to large displays.

You can run Windows as a secondary OS on the Media Inbox if you want, but I think if you use GRID you won’t run Windows for very long.  You’ll have to pay for Windows, and drive space will have to be allocated to work with its file system.  You’ll create a virtual “hard disk” to work with Windows.  If the Media Inbox is installed in a home that’s never had a PC, they probably won’t want Windows.

Some of these things aren’t easy for someone with no tech background to understand.  What you need to know is:

(a) GRID isn’t Windows, and no licensing fees are going to be paid to Microsoft.  GRID can use anybody’s browser, including Internet Exporer.

(b) You can run Windows on a  Media Inbox, but if you do, you’re going to pay Microsoft just like you do now.  You could purchase a Media Inbox with Windows pre-installed, and some will be sold that way.  When you operate in “PC” mode, it will be like the Windows computer you have now.  You can surf with IE or some other browser, do Windows updates and all the other things to maintain and use the “PC.”  But unless Windows software (regardless of vendor) is adapted to use Vo-R and the formatting remote, I don’t think you’ll see a lot of it modfied to work on GRID.  It’s easier just to write new programs.

(c)  The BIOS (Basic Input Output System) is designed by the CPU chip-maker.  I run an old Windows XP system, and when you watch the screens start to load, you see the BIOS load before the OS.  That won’t change, but it will be tailored to the needs of the GRID—it worked with Windows, and chip-makers will be happy to work with GRID.

Why am I giving the GRID OS away? Because I want to encourage people to get OCEAN and a Media Inbox, and get content providers to use OCEAN and network traffic is where most of the revenue of the whole thing comes from.

Finally, a simple illustration of how “cloning” and “wiping” would work on OCEAN:

Let’s say two people order the same music album, one person at Node C and another at Node D.  A block of the album passes Node A, and before that block hits Node B, an identical block reaches Node A.  Node A wipes the second block, and a sub-carrier tells Node B to clone the first block and gives Node B the routing information.  This is done on a block by block basis, and doesn’t mean the entire album has to be cloned, but individual parts of it might be cloned.  It’s done using simple header code, and performed at the node, because the exact route content takes to the end user can vary according to network conditions.  But you can see that “cloning” and “wiping,” in addition to being an efficient use of network bandwidth, could also be faster.  This would be especially useful when packages of content (like a TV sitcom) are released on certain days.  For instance, it’s customary to release DVDs on Tuesdays.

This really isn’t classic packet switching.  Breaking the content into blocks is done before the content hits the network.  The blocks are of uniform size to reduce activity at the nodes to a basic level.  Uniform size allows easy “cloning” and “wiping.”  The node doesn’t have to analyze the contents of a block to determine how much of its contents could be cloned.  Processing is done using simple header information.  OCEAN is delivering huge amounts of content, and this design favors fast delivery.  The nodes just keep a running table of content block headers as the blocks pass.  Properly designed, this nework shouldn’t crash.

It’s my policy not to approach companies to market my products.  If you’re interested, contact me directly at:

acmenuklearblimp@gmail.com

and I’ll arrange to discuss it with you.

Compact discs, like the recent Beatles resissue series, can contain embedded video content, and a proposed successor to the MP3 format will allow embbeded content.  While some consumers might find that useful, OCEAN and the Media Inbox aren’t competitors of portable music formats, even if those formats allow accompanying video or text content on a digital portable music device.  Such content could be delivered by OCEAN and read into a portable digital music device if the developer of the format wants to distribute it that way.  OCEAN would be a very cost-effective way to launch a new format.  My personal (rather than technical) bias is that I’d prefer not to convert portable music formats within the Media Inbox unless the artist allows it.  If the consumer orders an album over OCEAN, it could have an MP3 (or whatever format) option, or they could just order the portable version.  It’s largely a pricing issue.  Today’s MP3 is an invitation for piracy.  More than one pirate CD being peddled on street corners is a low-fi MP3 read onto CD format which can be endlessly duplicated.  A would-be pirate can buy that CD from another pirate and re-rip it.

So this isn’t just the concept of “Let’s make everything software and use emulators to run it.”  These are specific blueprints of how to do it.  It’s a complete media delivery system for the 21st century, combining innovative methods of working with problems and leverages the best existing technologies.  You can do it without violating the rights of a contemporary OS.  It’s not necessary to seek the permission of any contemporary tech firm to do this.  If this system is implemented, as with anyone else, they’re welcome to make a contribution, but their involvement isn’t necessary, either.

The reality is that every day this system isn’t implemented, content providers (world wide) are losing many millions in profit (from drastically cutting the cost of production, reaching new markets, direct ad revenue, etc.), our economy is sinking deeper into the abyss, good jobs continue to be lost, and the only beneficiaries are those firms heavily leveraged in the status quo.  (And you thought it would never work.) 

It’s OK to rock the boat.  Make waves on “Ocean.”

[The contents of this column and all contents of ACME NUKLEAR BLIMP, except quotations from other authors, is the intellectual property of Jeffrey Thomas Chipman.  All rights reserved.

Nothing in this column or any other column should be construed to mean that my products are to be marketed to any specific company, or that the use of any company's product as an example means the manufacturer has been or will be approached to market my products.]

1/16/2010

Divide et impera (Divide & Conquer)

Kant, Immanuel; Smith, M. Campbell, trans.  (1903).  Perpetual Peace A Philosophical Essay.  London:  Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Lim.

In his essay, originally published in 1795, Immanuel Kant outlined three political maxims:

1.  “Fac et excusa.”  It is easier to justify arbitrary usurpation after the deed than before.

2.  “Si fecisti, nega.”  Deny responsibility for any crime, blaming it on the failure of your subordinates to obey orders; or on human nature, as the enemy may strike first.

It’s the third that interests me here:

3.  “Divide et impera.”  Divide and rule; or divide and conquer.  “That is to say, if there are certain privileged persons, holding authority among the people, who have merely chosen you for their sovereign … bring about a quarrel among them, and make mischief between them and the people.  Now back up the people with a dazzling promise of greater freedom; everything will now depend unconditionally on your will.  Or again, if there is a difficulty with foreign states, then to stir up dissension among them is a pretty sure means of subjecting first one and then the other to your sway, under the pretext of aiding the weaker.”

Kant comments:

“It is true that nowadays nobody is taken in by these political maxims, for they are all familiar to everyone.”

4.  “Delibero incentivus.”  To these maxims may be added a fourth:  To engage in deliberate provocation in order to displace one’s guilt upon another.  [I trust I have given the correct Latin.] 

Immanuel Kant was a great philosopher, but he overestimated modern intelligence.  The governance of many modern corporations and organizations rely upon application of these maxims.  It’s the skill with which they’re disguised that is more sophisticated.       

Page by Page / Lawcie writes to a niece / a well read woman

Pauline Aquilla Chipman was the second daughter and youngest child of James Edward and Allie May (Oxley) Chipman.  Aquilla was a popular Oxley given name dating to the 18th century in North Carolina.

Pauline was born on 5 Apr 1916 and died on 5 Sep 1983.  She married (1) on 21 Mar 1936 Carl Davis Page, born 13 Apr 1905, died 8 Aug 1963.  She married (2) on 24 May 1968 James William Moffit (no children).

By (1) Carl Davis Page, Pauline had two children:

i.  Carl Victor Page, born 26 Apr 1938, died 2 June 1996.  Carl Victor Page was a professor of Computer Science at Michigan State University.  In Dec 1962 he married Gloria Weinstein (a software engineer), and had two sons:  Carl Benjamin Page [living], and Lawrence Edward Page [living].  Larry Page and his business partner launched Google in 1998.  Carl Victor Page was engaged to Joyce Wildenthal of Lansing, Michigan.

ii.  Beverly Ann Page [living].  On 21 Dec 1961 she married John Carl Bertrand, born 12 Feb 1938, by whom she had one child:  Paul Page Bertrand [living].  Paul Page Bertrand is a PhD of Pharmacology residing in Melbourne, Australia. Beverly Ann Page married second Robert Budzynski (no children).  Beverly and Robert are active swing dancers.

__________

In Oct 2006, I received several emails from Donald Gudehus (now deceased), second husband of Gloria Weinstein. Donald Gudehus was a noted academic in Georgia.  He’d found my post on Ancestry.com concerning the Mayflower descent of our Chipman family.  Unfortunately I had no photos to share, but he did ask an interesting question:

“I see that your mother’s name is given as Valerie Berniece (Jeffery) Scarff.  Is Jeffery her original maiden name, or is Jeffery a nickname, or are neither correct?”

My grandfather Jesse Otto Jeffery was the son of Earnest Ervin Jeffery and Effie Viola Huffman.  Effie died when Jesse was young, and he was sent to live with John and Emma (Huffman) Scarff.  Emma was Effie’s sister.  Jesse’s grandfather was Tyler Huffman, a Civil War veteran.  John and Emma adopted my grandfather, but despite Earnest Jeffery’s request not to change Jesse’s name to Scarff, it was changed anyway.  Thus, my mother’s maiden name is Scarff, but I’m named after the Jeffery family to preserve the name.

_______________

While going through my files to prepare this column, I found something of which I was unaware:  a copy of a letter from Lawcie Idella (Chipman) Mason to Beverly Ann Page, written ca. 1983.  It gives information on branches of the family on which I have nothing, so I transcribed part of it, with notes and corrections:

“Allie Oxley—James Edward Chipman

5 children were born

3 boys and two girls

Jewel Vester Chipman married Ruby Bohannon — 2 daughters (a) were born.  Ruby died and he married again.

Beecher Edgar Chipman married Winfred Bailey — one son, Ralph (b).  Then he married Essie Hyde (c) and I don’t know much about how many children were born to them (d) — Beecher is deceased.

Winford Chipman married Ada Hill and had to [sic] sons, Carl & David.  Ada is deceased too.

Lawcie Chipman married Arvil Mason and had seven children, one girl who died at age 16 months.

1.  James Lee Mason [&] Ester Boyd } 2 sons and 3 grandchildren

2.  Harold Mason [&] Jo Metheny } 3 children

3.  Paul Mason [&] Berneita Neely } 3 children and 3 grandchildren

4.  Don Mason — never married

5.  Virginia Nell Mason [&] Joe Mabry } 2 sons and 2 grandchildren

6.  Shirley Mason [&] Jake Manley — divorced about 17 or 18 years go — has 3 children and four grandchildren.

and then your Mother.” (e)

(a)  Jean and June.

(b)  Another son named Donald died in infancy.

(c)  Essie’s maiden name was actually Hyatt.

(d)  Two daughters:  Joyce and Dixie.

(e)  Pauline Aquilla Chipman.

____________________

The following items are Pauline Aquilla Chipman’s high school records from Senath High School in Dunklin Co., MO, obtained by my father in 1996.  They give a fascinating glimpse into a rural high school curriculum in the late 1920s and early 1930s.  Clicking on the images will enlarge them.

 

PROPERTY ROOM

These are the things to which I assert my rights:

1.  The words MEDIA INBOX, GRID, AND OCEAN, as trademarks of a muli-media computer, computer software operating system, and packet switching based data network, respectively.

2.  The use of a remote controlled handset to operate a speech recognition software program by sending an interrupt to the software that distinguishes between speech as editable text and speech as a command, and uses simple speech as commands; and the use of a cellullar telephone set to emulate that remote controlled handset, allowing easy operation of productivity software from that phone or of software installed in some other device which is accessed through a dial-in port.

3.  The use of certain routines to operate a “quasi-lossless packet switching” network:

(a)  To “clone” and “wipe” data blocks on the network to eliminate redundant blocks and increase network efficiency.

(b)  To break software down into standard blocks on the server, prior to being read out onto the network.

(c)  To remove from the software run-time libraries and operating sequences that are standard to all software of a given type, at the time the software is loaded onto the server; and to place markers into the software representing run-time libraries and operating sequences.

(d)  To use the markers placed into the software as decribed in part (c) as instructions to computer systems in cable and telephone companies at the destination point to insert the run-time libraries and operating sequences necessary to make the program operable, from libraries at those sites, before the program is transmitted to the end-user’s computer.

4.  To use an “emulator card” within a personal computer; that is, a subsystem computer, with its own processor, which is used to run operating systems different than the operating system of the personal computer into which it is installed; that enables manufacturers of consumer electronic devices such as videogame consoles and media players (but not limited to those devices)  to emulate their products with software by loading their proprietary software onto the “emulator” card, which is then linked to the memory, sound, and graphics systems etc. of the computer into which the “emulator card” is intstalled, to create a fully functional elctronic device.

5.  To use a cell phone as the CPU of a comprehensive business system by docking the cell phone into a receptacle in PBX telephones, fax machines, computer workstations, and display/keyboard/media drive assemblies; and to provide detailed management reports of the activities of that cell phone.

6.  The use of the GRID operating system:

which when requested displays a grid with numbers and letters laid out like a map to bring software into active memory, and to orient, size, schedule, and move software or any other materials (like Internet URLs) on a display similar to a computer monitor; and the operating system which links the “emulator card” described in (4) to other electronic systems within the computer; and the data structure which takes as its fundamental element “archives” which are constructed across mass storage devices like hard-disk drives; and which allows the graphical user interface to be customized according to the needs of the user of the computer; and which allows control of the rating and access of all software content and Internet URLs installed on the Media Inbox.

7.  A data block of standard size, consisting of assembly language, and not computer languages like C++, into which if the contents are not sufficient to make up a full block, is inserted a marker marking the end of the software content, and then filled with null elements to make the block of a standard size; which allows easy transport over a high traffic network.

________________________

I don’t like people or companies who steal someone else’s ideas.  It happens a lot in the high-tech industry.  It’s a farce that some of these companies, worth billions, rip off someone else for their own R&D.  Would be inventors should know that:

If the inventor describes the invention in a printed publication or uses the invention publicly, or places it on sale, he/she must apply for a patent before one year has gone by, otherwise any right to a patent will be lost.

1/25/2010

A note concerning illegitimate generations in medieval pedigrees

Given-Wilson, Chris; Curteis, Alice.  (1995).  The Royal Bastards Of Medieval England.  New York:  Barnes & Noble Books.

_______________________________ 

There is no acceptable genetic evidence that any medieval royal or noble bastard was actually the child of the alleged father.  Genealogists claiming descents from medieval kings or nobles through illegitimate children rely on evidence such as charters and chronicles.  These sources merely indicate reputed paternity and are not proof of the relationship. 

ALL claims of paternity in cases of illegitimacy that have not been verified with scientific paternity testing should be considered unproved.  The assertion that a medieval king or noble could more accurately identify illegitimate children as their own has no scientific basis.  People in the Middle Ages lacked even rudimentary technology to determine paternity.

According to British scholars Chris Given-Wilson and Alice Curteis:

“In such circumstances it is quite impossible for a modern historian to be completely sure of any supposed royal bastard’s true paternity.”  (p. 57)

John Branch & Dorothy Myra (Branch) Benton battle an Iron Ghost

     One of the more interesting families from whom I descend is the Branch family of Halifax Co., NC.  There’s a little known incident on my “limb” which led me to collect a large amount of material.  I thought readers might enjoy it.

First, let’s set the stage:  John Branch and Dorothy Myra (Branch) Benton were brother and sister, children of William Branch Jr., a deputy sheriff in Halifax Co., NC.  For the purposes of this essay, it doesn’t matter if they had the same mother (they probably didn’t).

Dorothy married Nathaniel Benton, son of Jesse and Nancy (Gooch) Benton.  Nathaniel was the brother of Thomas Hart Benton, United States Senator from Missouri.  Nathaniel and Dorothy Benton were the great-grandparents of Thomas Hart Benton of Neosho, MO (1889-1975), celebrated muralist and painter.  The couple resided in Dyer Co., TN along with John Branch.

On 26 Sep 1835 in Dyer Co., TN, Nathaniel Benton, Dorithy Benton, John Branch, Thomas H. Ham, and William R. Pate bound themselves unto Joel A. Light and Stephen D. Light in the sum of $4,000.00 for a tract of 315 acres, which was part of the grant of 5,000 acres to the heirs of Jesse Benton.  (Dyer Co., TN Deed Book C, pp. 428-429)  Since John Branch wasn’t married to a daughter of Jesse Benton, his partcipation was to assist his sister in the transaction.  Thomas H. Ham married John Branch’s daughter Frances.

William Branch Jr. (who predeceased his father 30 Sep 1793), father of John and Dorothy, was the son of William Branch Sr. (Halifax Co., NC Deed Book 16, p. 133).

William Branch Sr.’s will, proved Halifax Co., NC, Feb Court 1794 (Will Book 3, p. 218), named the following:  wife Elizabeth Branch;  son Nicholas Branch; son John Branch; daughter Elizabeth Marshall; daughter Mary Scurlock; daughter Sarah Hill; daughter Ann Fleuellin; daughter Jane Overstreet; and daughter Martha Dillard.

Elizabeth Marshall wound up a wealthy widow in Williamson Co., TN.  In her will, made 10 Nov 1853, she freed her slaves Manuel, Carey, Phederick, Suckey, Dick, Tom, Becky, John, Margaretts, and Henry.  It was this language that ignited a firestorm:  “I want my land that I live on after my death sold to the highest bidder, on a credit of twelve months and the proceeds of said land to be divided between my ten slaves to support them until they may make a start.”  She also bequeathed the rest of her estate to the same slaves.

This item reveals why Elizabeth Marshall was angry with her family:

The following Lawsuit is recorded in Williamson Co., TN:  “Elizabeth Marshall vs. George A. Conn 1847  She is aged 93 years and was married to -– Marshall and he is now deceased.  She has never remarried and has no children.  She owns considerable estate.  In 1833, Conn who married a distant relative of her’s, persuaded her to let Nicholas Branch live with her as she was living alone.  He was her nephew and without a home.  In 1834, she purchased a slave Fed from Thomas Parham.  Branch and Conn induced her to move to the western district of Tennessee in the fall of 1834 and said they would move to Haywood County where her old friend Joshua Farrington lived.  Branch was to live with her and Conn and his family to live nearby.  They had no money.  She placed money with them to be invested in land in the western district, about $2000.  They went to Fayette County and Branch collected money as her agent in Williamson County.  She sent for Farrington and told him of the situation and he started court proceedings.  Conn sold her land to -– Wilson for $1500 and collected the money.  She resided with Conn 18 months after returning to Williamson County.”  [Lynch, Louise Gillespie.  (1978).  Miscellaneous Records Williamson County, Tennessee Volume 2.  Pub: The Author.  p. 72.]

In court on 28 Mar 1855, the “said Dorothy Benton, John Branch & George A. Conn Nancy Capps & Mary Knight the defendants come and say that said paper writing is not the last will and testament of the said Elizabeth Marshall deceased, and that she did not devise and bequeath as is in and by the same set forth and expressed, and of this they put themselves on the …, and the plaintiff doth the like.”

Dorothy Benton et al had detained the slaves and foiled the distribution of Elizabeth Marshall’s property.  Nancy Caps was Nancy Scurlock who married Benjamin Caps 11 Nov 1824 in Williamson Co., TN.  George A. Conn married Martha Dillard 25 Jul 1822 in Rutherford Co., TN.  I can’t identify Mary Knight, but she was in some fashion a descendant of William Branch Sr.

According to the court papers, “Your petitioners constitute some of the next of kin and heirs … of the said Elizabeth Marshall and they deny that said paper is the last will and testament of her the said Elizabeth Marshall and they desire to contest the same as a valid will.” 

James Hughes, Elizabeth Marshall’s executor, sued in the Williamson Co., TN court.

On 31 Mar 1855, the Williamson Co. court issued its decision:  “It  is therefore considered by the court, that the said paper writing is the last Will and testament of the said Elizabeth Marshall deceased, and valid, and that it be established as such, and that the said Elizabeth Marshall thereby did devise and bequeath, as is in and by the same set forth and expressed.”  The court allowed the defendants to recover their costs from James Hughes.

Sounds like it was over, doesn’t it?  It wasn’t.  The will was overturned.  Accounts dated March 1865 show that Fed, John, Dick, Tom, Henry & Susan, and Margaret had been hired out—that is, “rented” to others, and the payments, which were substantial, duly entered into a register.  The estate of Elizabeth Marshall was an Administration with Will Annexed.

Randal McEwing summed it all up on 15 Mar 1865, just weeks before Lee’s surrender at Appotmattox Court House:

“I was the Attorney of James Hughes as Adminstrator or Executor of Elizabeth Marshall deceased — I know that the settlement of the Estate was attended with great difficulties and there was a large amount of litigation in settling the same Besides these law suits there was land notes to be collected and slaves to be hired out year after year and the hires to be collected &c. have my personal knowledge of the difficulties attending the Administration.  I am of the opinion that six hundred dollars would be a just and moderate compensation for his services as Executor or Aminstrator.”

How had Dorothy Benton et al prevailed?  In 1847, Elizabeth Marshall stated her age was 93; so she was about 100 years of age when she died.  Although I don’t have a court record stating the basis upon which the will was overturned, probably the defendants argued (apparently successfully) that the old lady was not quite right in her mind, causing her to give her wealth to her slaves.

The end of the Civil War rendered the accounts superfluous.  The remaining slaves gained their freedom, but they had to make their own start.

A CHIPMAN GENEALOGY 1970 (pull the plug)

Chipman III, John Hale.  (1970).  A Chipman Genealogy circa 1583-1969 Beginning With John Chipman (1620-1708), – First Of That Surname To Arrive In The Massachusetts Bay Colony – And His Twelve Successive Generations, Today In Alaska, Australia, Canada, And The United States compiled by John Hale Chipman III (#683).  Norwell, Massachusetts:  Chipman historics.

White, Elizabeth Pearson; Coles, Edwin Wagner.  (2003).  Who Were The Chipmans Of Delaware And Maryland.  “Mayflower Descendant,” Winter 2003, Vol. 52, No. 1, pp. 19-38; Summer 2003, Vol. 52, No. 2, pp. 111-118.  Boston:  Massachusetts Society Of Mayflower Descendants (state chapter of General Society of Mayflower Descendants).

According to White and Coles:

“For 150 years the relationship among the various Chipman families of Delaware and Maryland have been misstated and misunderstood.” (p. 19)   And on p. 35, footnote 156, they term A Chipman Genealogy “defective.”  

The article takes these families to the 5th generation from the pilgrim John Howland, with a listing of their children as the 6th generation.  After that, you’re on your own.

________________________________  

I’ve heard from Chipman descendants who are disappointed that the biographies of their ancestors in A Chipman Genealogy are unacceptable.  The nucleus of this book was based on obsolete research done up to 1920, especially by Alberto Lee Chipman.  Only 500 were printed.  Some larger genealogical libraries have copies.  Mine is a little worse for wear.

A Chipman Genealogy was published by a vanity press—a publisher you pay to print anything you want.  The author paid a printing company X dollars for 500 books, which he sold.  He also sold a reproduction of a coat of arms, and a cast replica of a spoon allegedly found in a building that once was a tavern owned by a Chipman. 

Was his text approved by the Mayflower Society?  No.   Are there genuine Mayflower lines in the book?  Absolutely, although you might not recognize them.  Undocumented family histories like A Chipman Genealogy ARE UNACCEPTABLE proof on a lineage society application for any society.  When a line is disproved, lineage societies require subsequent applicants to prove the line again with satisfactory evidence.  Ordinarily, that will be impossible because the line is invalid.  

Many biographies in A Chipman Genealogy cite no evidence at all, and the author didn’t demand any.  Some errors resulted from mistakenly identifying individuals with the same, often common, given name in two different locations as the same person, without any supporting evidence.  Other errors, like giving a Chipman an exact date of death when he really died decades later, or the same children as another Chipman, are more difficult to understand.

In a letter dated January 15, 1967 (see below), the author, John Hale Chipman III wrote:

“If you do not have documentary evidence of facts and dates, but they are generally accepted, will you list them just the same, putting a ? mark side of each.” 

The ? marks didn’t make it into A Chipman Genealogy .  There’s page after page without any documentation.  This stuff is mixed in with the few biographies that cite a will, deed, military or bible record.  The author plugged lines in anywhere and everywhere.

Eugene Aubrey Stratton was burned, as he wrote in 1986:

“There have been several family histories of the Chipman family, a recent one being John Hale Chipman, A Chipman Genealogy (Norwell, Mass., 1970), which, though not adequately documented, is generally good.”  [Plymouth Colony, p. 263.]

I have found Stratton’s Applied Genealogy useful for persons with British colonial ancestry.  Contemporary opinion of A Chipman Genealogy disagrees with Stratton’s assessment.  In my view, A Chipman Genealogy is either a masterpiece of dissembling or incompetence.  It took more than 20 years to correct its account of the Chipman family of the Southern States.

Here’s a flyer John Hale Chipman III sent out:

Direct your attention to the upper left corner, which has a list of organizations the author “belonged to.”  There are nine.  Looks impressive, doesn’t it?

But of those nine, only three are actual lineage societies:  Mass. Society Mayflower Descendants; Sons of the Revolution (like SAR, only your ancestor has to be a soldier, not just a patriot); and The Pilgrim John Howland Society (obviously, if you’re a member of Mayflower Society through Hope Howland, you can waltz into this).

The first society listed, the Society of Genealogists, London (now known as the Society of Genealogists), is one of the six that are open to anyone with a checkbook.  Being a “member,” as opposed to a “Fellow”, has nothing to do with the qualifications or expertise of the genealogist.  It’s a charitable organization promoting family history research in the UK.  But in the mind of the average reader it sounds rather like the College of Arms—a fact not lost on John Hale Chipman III.  Of course, he didn’t claim his efforts had been endorsed by the Society of Genealogists…. 

It is, however, a worthwhile organization if you’re into British research:

http://www.sog.org.uk/

General Society of Mayflower Descendants operates a website at:

http://www.themayflowersociety.com/

NEW YORK STORIES (before the wall)

              Shorto, Russell.  (2005).  The Island At The Center Of The World The Epic Story Of Dutch Manhattan And The Forgotten Colony That Shaped America.  New York:  Vintage Books A Division of Random House, Inc.

According to Shorto, Sarah Rapalje, born in 1625, daughter of Joris Rapalje and Catalina Trico, claimed to be the “first born christian daughter of New Netherland” in what is now New York City. (p. 41)

Sarah Rapalje may have been the first daughter born in the colony, but the following item shows she wasn’t the first child:

Hoff, Henry B., ed.  (1987).  Genealogies of Long Island Families From The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record Volume I Albertson—Polhemius.  Baltimore:  Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. (p. 280)

The Labadists were followers of Jean de Labadie (1610–1674), a former Jesuit priest, leader of a French Protestant movement.

Christina Vigne, sister to Jan Vigne, married Dirck Volckertsen (or Holgerson), a Norwegian.  They were 2nd great-grandparents of Abraham Fulkerson.  He was born 1739 and baptized at the Readington (New Jersey) Dutch Reformed Church on 18 May 1740, the youngest child of Volkert Volkerse and Dinah van Lieuvin (daughter of Frederick Van Leeuwen and Dinah Jans).

Abraham Fulkerson served in the Revolutionary War as a private in Lt. Reese Bowen’s Company, Washington Co., VA militia under Col. William Campbell, and saw action at the Battle of King’s Mountain, South Carolina, on 7 Oct 1780.

Abstracted from:

Thompson, Laila Fulkerson.  (1979).  A History Of The Fulkerson Family From 1630 To The Present (in two volumes).   Bakersfield, CA:  The Author.

The New Netherland Project of the New Netherland Institute is translating 12,000 pages of documents relating to the Dutch colony:

http://www.nnp.org/index.shtml

This is a great website for those interested in exploring New York before it was New York.

John Branch & America’s second war for independence / BRANCH family history & North Carolina politics

      Bounty land warrant files for veterans who served in the War of 1812 often contain useful information similar to pension files.  Most soldiers were deceased by 14 Feb 1871, when Congress passed a pension act for War of 1812 veterans, so bounty land files are a valuable substitute.

The War of 1812 was fought from 18 Jun 1812 to 17 Feb 1815, although the British had ratified the treaty ending the war on 27 Dec 1814.  The celebrated Battle of New Orleans, which made Andrew Jackson a hero, was fought on 8 Jan 1815, after the treaty.

Among the items in the bounty land warrant file for my 4th great-grandfather, John Branch, was this handwritten note:

At the time he applied for bounty land, John Branch was a resident of New Madrid Co., MO (the section which later became Pemiscot Co.).  He stated he had served in a company of mounted horse, and had volunteered in Giles Co., TN in Oct 1814.  Service records like this document his enlistment:

    

John Branch, son of William Branch Jr. * of Halifax Co., NC, served as Postmaster of Cottonwood Point, Pemiscot Co., MO (Pemiscot Co. was formed from New Madrid Co. in 1851).  A brother  to Dorothy Myra (Branch) Benton, ancestor of American painter Thomas Hart Benton, he and Dorothy resided for some years in Dyer Co., TN.   John Branch was a second cousin of Confederate Brigadier-General Lawrence O’Bryan Branch, killed at Antietam.

His grandfather, William Branch Sr., had been captured and paroled by the British during the Revolutionary War, and is qualified as a Patriot by DAR.  William Branch Sr. secured a land grant of 5,000 acres on the Duck River in Bedford Co., TN.  It was inherited by John Branch upon the death of William Branch Jr.

The tract was the subject of much litigation.  In 1812 it was sold to satisfy a court order and purchased by John Warren, who had married Nancy (Bradford) Branch, widow of William Branch Jr.  John Branch was not raised by the Warrens.  His grand-uncle, Lt. Col. John Branch (brother of his grandfather, William Branch Sr.), was appointed his guardian.

Another John Branch, a son of Lt. Col. John Branch mentioned above, had a long and distinguished political career.  He served as Governor of North Carolina, a United States Senator and Congressman, Secretary of the Navy under Andrew Jackson, and Governor of Florida.

See:

Haywood, Marshall DeLancey.  (1915).  John Branch 1782–1863 Governor of North Carolina, United States Senator, Secretary of the Navy, Member of Congress, Governor of Florida, etc.  Raleigh, N.C.:  Commercial Printing Company.

* William Branch Jr. (died 30 Sep 1793) married Nancy Bradford in 1790 in Halifax Co.  There is no date on the bond, but it was numbered 45 of the 69 issued that year.  Nancy Bradford was certainly the mother of Dorothy Myra (Branch) Benton (born ca. 1793).  She was probably not the mother of John Branch (born ca. 1790), as he was raised by his grand-uncle Lt. Col. John Branch.  In the 18th and 19th centuries, “Nancy” was sometimes used as a nickname for “Ann.”  John Branch named a daughter Ann Bradford Branch (wife of William Kimbrow), who was also sometimes called Nancy.  The wife of John Branch was named Elizabeth, but her maiden name is unknown.

The Will of William Bradford of Halifax Co., made 1 Aug 1822, in which he names “my half sister Nancy and her husband Henry B. Bradford,” appears to rule out William Branch Jr.’s wife Nancy as a daughter of Col. John Bradford of Halifax Co.  William Bradford was without doubt Col. John Bradford’s son by 3rd wife Elizabeth Smith.  Col. John Bradford’s daughter Ann was by 2nd wife Dorothea Miriam Burgess.  Since John Warren, second husband of Nancy (Bradford) Branch, died on 24 Nov 1848 in Bedford Co., TN, his wife cannot have been the daughter of Col. John Bradford.

Kinship terms used in old documents often had broader meanings than they do today, but in the instance of William Bradford’s will there is no doubt of the identity of Nancy, wife of Henry B. Bradford.  William Branch Jr.’s choice of the name “Dorothy Myra Branch” for his daughter doesn’t necessarily mean her grandmother was Dorothea Miriam (Burgess) Bradford, despite similarity of names.  That his son John Branch named a daughter “Ann Bradford Branch” might refer to a family connection of John Branch’s wife Elizabeth.  The Bradford family was prominent in Bedford Co., TN, and the marriages for that period are lost. 

Onomastic evidence in this case appeared conclusive, but the weight of other evidence disproves Nancy (Bradford) Branch Warren as a daughter of Col. John Bradford.  This underscores the danger of relying upon onomastic evidence as sole “proof” of a genealogical link, even though it is ostensibly persuasive.   

The origins of the Branch family of Halifax Co., NC are obscure, although they appear to have settled in NC early in the 18th century.  There is no known connection to Christopher Branch of VA.