Tobin Family Website

Since posting our Genealogy pages a little over a year ago, I have been amazed by the number of contacts that have been made by people searching the internet for family genealogy information.  I have had people from as far away as Australia and Denmark contact me regarding our genealogical records. 

One of the areas in which I have had little success in is gathering genealogical information on my mother’s side of the family.  My grandmother Klein died when my mother was just 6 years old, and my Grandfather Klein died when she was in her mid-20′s.  As such, we had very little information regarding our Klein heritage and relatives.  My mother and her brother Paul are the only two offspring, and they had lost contact with aunts/uncles and cousins over the years.  That has made the research very difficult, and I have been unable to trace the Klein roots back beyond Jacob Klein, my Great-Grandfather who was born in Hungary circa 1868.

Well, today I had a nice surprise in my inbox as my mother’s cousin (one of Jacob Klein’s grandsons) found our genealogy pages online and contacted me from his home in California.  My mother and her brother had lost touch with him over 40 years ago and did not know if he was even still living, and if so where.  I received a couple of nice e-mails from him regarding his family and we exchanged phone numbers.  My mother is ecstatic to have made contact after all of these years, as is her brother Paul who I also contacted with the information!  We plan to call him later in the week when my parents arrive from Vermont while they are on their annual trek south to Florida.  It turns out his son, who is my age, is an Emmy Award winning editor in the LA area.  Karen and I lived in the LA area for 3 years and never even knew we had relatives in the area.  It just goes to show you what a small world it is!  Although I never knew them, I find it neat to find out a little about others who share your ancestry.  What an amazing resource the internet is, especially in terms of genealogical research!

Tags: Genealogy, Klein, Tobin

I have just officially launched our new Genealogy web interface.  You can access the new Genealogy interface using the sidebar to the right and clicking on the Tobin Coat of Arms.  You can also access it by clicking HERE.  Although the Genealogy information is the same, the graphical interface that is used to display it has been completely replaced.  I used to use a product called PhPGedView.  It was powerful, but could tend to be a bit confusing to use.  My friend Steve (aka Mr Papa) made me aware of a newer program called The Next Generation, which has a much more professional and easier to use interface.  The new program cost $30 to license (whereas PhPGedView was free), but it was well worth the money in my eyes. 

I have spent some spare time over the last two days installing and tailoring/customizing the application to meet my needs.  Hopefully it will be much easier to use and look a lot more professional than the other program.  If you preferred the PhPGedView program, I am still maintaining it and you can access it at http://thetobins.org/Genealogy.  I just won’t be linking to it from this page anymore. 

In addition to updating the interface, I finally added some more photos that I scanned in when my father was here over Thanksgiving 2006.  I intend to do some more Genealogy research when I get chance, so be sure to check back occassionally for updates.