Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

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(+) Three Ways to Make PDF Files Searchable - Part #1

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

Some PDF files can be searched for any word or phrase. Other PDF files cannot. Until recently, the ability to allow searches was at the PDF file creator's option: anyone who created a PDF file could decide whether or not to make the files searchable. That option has now become moot as several companies have created solutions to convert any non-searchable PDF files into searchable PDF files, regardless of what the file creator intended.

Why should you care? I would suggest there are many needs for genealogists to search PDF files. For one example, the books you download from Google Books are non-searchable PDF files. Wouldn't it be a help to be able to search every word in those books for specific names, locations, or even occupations? That is but one of hundreds of reasons you might want to search a PDF file.

In a series of articles, I will describe three of those solutions:

Price Wars: Amazon's $139 Kindle

I have written quite a bit lately about ebook readers. I started with an Amazon Kindle several years ago. Amazon has since introduced newer models and has dropped the price several times. Only a month ago, Amazon dropped the Kindle's price from $259 to $189 in response to the introduction of Barnes & Noble's new $140 WiFi-only Nook ebook reader. Today, Amazon announced a brand-new Kindle. The third-generation member of the Kindle family will sell in two versions: a 3G wireless version for $189 and a Wi-Fi-only version for $139.

DNA Casts Doubts on a 100-year-old Murder Case

100 years ago this month, Hawley Crippen was an American homeopathic physician who was arrested for the murder of his wife in London, England. His wife had disappeared and a dismembered body was found under the basement floor of their home Camden Road, Holloway, London. The body could not be identified.

Of course, DNA did not exist 100 years ago. Crippen was arrested, convicted, and later hanged for murder at Pentonville Prison, London. The mild-mannered murderer became a national celebrity and his waxwork stands in Madame Tussauds to this day However, a recent DNA analysis of preserved body parts of the victim have cast doubts on the case. The body found in the basement clearly wasn't that of Hawley Crippen's wife, Cora. In fact, it wasn't even the body of a woman!  The 100-year-old piece of skin skin contains Y-chromosomes, clearly indicating it was a man.

FindMyPast Adds More Chelsea Pensioner Records and Images

FindMyPast.co.uk has just added 184,650 records and 1,003,794 images to the company's Chelsea Pensioners collection for the period 1760-1854. This brings the total amount of Chelsea Pensioner records and images on findmypast.co.uk to 691,520 records and 4,200,729 images.

These records are of men pensioned out of the British Army from 1760 through 1913. It is not limited to residents of The Royal Hospital at Chelsea. The records are referred to as the ‘Chelsea Pensioners’ because the office that administered the pensions was located in The Royal Hospital at Chelsea. That office kept the records for Chelsea Hospital residents (referred to as "in-pensioners") and non-residents (or "out-pensioners") alike. The great majority of pensioned soldiers were out-pensioners and did not reside at the Hospital itself.

Fairbanks Archivist Hosts Historic Garage Sale for Local Charities

I'm almost willing to travel to Fairbanks for this garage sale! If you live in or near Fairbanks, you might not want to miss this event. Candy Waugaman and her friends are again hosting a garage sale of historic proportions this weekend.

The noted Fairbanks collector and archivist of Alaskana will be offering books, photos, postcards, magazines, certificates, brochures, buttons, pins, panoramic photographs, glassware, furniture and “all kinds of ephemera” from Friday through Sunday.

The Coming Genealogical Dark Ages

With all the genealogical information being made accessible on the Internet, some might think this is the golden age of family history. To Curt B. Witcher, however, we may be entering a new dark age where vital records and the memories of people alive today are lost forever.

"At the same time we have more (technological) ability we are losing interest and focus on keeping the thoughts and the words for future generations," Witcher said.

FamilySearch-sponsored Free Photo Detective Consultation for FGS Attendees

Are you planning to attend the FGS conference in Knoxville? If so, bring your old family photographs! The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

Schedule a Free Photo Detective Consultation at FGS with Maureen Taylor!

FamilySearch will be hosting Maureen Taylor, Photo Detective, as a free service to FGS conference goers in Knoxville, Tennessee August 18–21. The Photo Detective services will be offered as part of the FamilySearch booth’s activities in the exhibit hall during the conference.  Interested individuals can register for any available 10 minute session now online.  There are limited sessions available. Don’t delay! Register at http://photodetective.eventbrite.com/.

Ancestry.com Inc. Reports Finances for 2010 Second Quarter

Ancestry.com Inc., the world's largest online family history resource, today reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2010 and the news was all good news:

Ancestry.com Subscriber Growth of 32% Year-Over-Year
Total Revenue Up 36% Year-Over-Year

"Greater than anticipated subscriber additions drove impressive performance in the quarter and boosted our revenue and EBITDA expectations for the full year," said Tim Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer of Ancestry.com. "It's particularly noteworthy that retention rates and customer behavior trends are remaining consistent despite the rapid subscriber growth in the first half of 2010. As we move forward, we will continue our focus on building awareness of the family history category, improving the customer experience and adding important content collections to Ancestry.com."

National Park Service Spends $29 Million on Ellis Island Improvements

The following announcement was written by the National Park Service:

NEW YORK, New York, July 28, 2010 - The National Park Service has awarded more than $29 million in contracts to repair the seawall on Ellis Island in New York Harbor, remove contaminants from one of the island's historic buildings and upgrade the communications infrastructure.

Opened on January 1, 1892, Ellis Island became the nation's premier federal immigration station, processing more than 12 million immigrant steamship passengers before it was closed in 1954. Today, over 100 million Americans, one third of the population, can trace their ancestry to the immigrants who first arrived in America at Ellis Island.

MacFamilyTree 6 Released

MacFamilyTree 6 has arrived. The latest version of the Macintosh genealogy program has been in public beta test for several weeks. (See my earlier article at http://tinyurl.com/2awyyb3.) Now the beta period has ended and the program is declared ready.

MacFamilyTree's new version 6 is claimed to be the most significant update in program's 12 year-long product history. Notable new features include:

GedView 2.14.2

GedView is an iPhone/iPod/iPad viewer and recording tool for your genealogy database when you are out and about researching local records, or visiting locations such as graveyards looking for information. GedView acts as a way to quickly check up on family relationships, dates/locations of events, sources of information, and view your notes, or record newly found information while you are out researching.  It is compatible with all iPhone/iPod/iPad devices running iOS 3.0 or above. Now author David A Knight has released a new version: 2.14.2 .

You can read my earlier review of GedView at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/07/gedview-for-the-iphone.html.

GedView works with any desktop genealogy program for Windows, Macintosh, or Linux. It imports data from standard GEDCOM files. All of today's genealogy programs can create GEDCOM files. GedView will:

Ancestry.com's Earnings Announcement Scheduled for Thursday

Ancestry.com Inc. (ACOM) is scheduled to announce earnings after the market closes on Thursday, July 29th. The consensus amongst most analysts is that ACOM is going to announce a profit of about 15 cents per share.

ACOM has gained 37 cents (2.04 percent) during the past week and is currently trading above its 20-day, 50-day and 200-day moving averages.

Michigan Genealogical Council Issues Clarification of MCIR Board Statement

The following was written by the Michigan Genealogical Council:

Dear Genealogists,

There has been some confusion and some misinterpretation about the MCIR Board report released by Governor Granholm.  With so much uncertainty surrounding the collections and the Library of Michigan this past year, rumors and misinterpretations increase exponentially each time they are repeated.

Ancestry.co.uk Adds the 1802 Perthshire, Scotland Militia Survey

The 1802 Militia Survey is more than just a military record - it's a list of every man in the Burgh of Perth aged 18 to 45 in the area who was suitable for service, 40 years before the first official census. Each return includes the address, the householder's name and occupation, and a list of the eligible inhabitants. It serves as a great census substitute.

In 1802, a form was sent out to householders within the Burgh of Perth requiring them to list the name of every man in their house aged 18 to 45, who was liable for service with the militia. The returns may include:

Former Ancestry.com Senior Vice President Andrew Wait Hired by Art.com Inc.

The following announcement was written by Art.com Inc.:

Seasoned Marketing Executive Andrew Wait Joins as Chief Marketing Officer for World's Leading Online Specialty Wall Art Retailer

SAN FRANCISCO, July 27 -- Art.com Inc., the world's leading online specialty provider of wall art products and services, today announced the hiring of Andrew Wait as chief marketing officer.  Wait brings more than twenty years of marketing, merchandising, and product development experience to this position.  He will oversee Art.com Inc.'s overall marketing operations and strategy, including online marketing, international marketing, user experience and product management, branding and business development.

Southern California Genealogy Jamboree Call For Papers

The following was written by the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree:

42nd Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree
Friday through Sunday, June 10 through 12, 2011
Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel
Burbank, California
 
The Southern California Genealogical Society announces a call for lecture proposals for the 42nd Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, to be held at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel, Burbank, California, Friday through Sunday, June 10 through 12, 2011. With over 1700 participants, volunteers, speakers and exhibitors in 2010, Jamboree is the second largest genealogical conference in the United States.

(+) What They Never Told You About Immigration

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

Hundreds of articles about immigration to the United States have been published over the years in various magazines, books, and online sites. Indeed, a few dozen articles about immigration have been published in this newsletter alone. To my knowledge, the numbers and facts mentioned in all of those articles have been quite accurate. I would suggest, however, the more interesting facts and statistics are the ones that were never mentioned in most articles.

(Click on any photo to see a larger image.)

Much has been written about the 47 million Europeans and Asians who entered the various ports of entry from 1820 through 1960. For all that, how many of those articles ever mention the fact that more than one-third of those immigrants RETURNED to their homelands?

FamilySearch: Millions of Historic Documents from Microfilms Now Emerging Digitally Online

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

FamilySearch’s microfilm conversion initiative is beginning to sail. Over 12 million digital images from thousands of microfilm, representing 8 countries, were published online for free viewing this month. FamilySearch’s online image viewer makes it easy for online patrons to view the newest digital images from Argentina, Costa Rica, France, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, and Spain.

This week the complete U.S. 1910 Federal Census name indexes for Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Missouri were also published online at FamilySearch’s Record Search pilot (FamilySearch.org, click Search Records, and then click Record Search pilot) and coming soon to Beta.FamilySearch.org.

See the chart below for the complete list of all the newly added or improved collections.

WebTrees - a New Web-based Genealogy Program

I believe that online genealogy programs are the wave of the future. Accessing your genealogy database "in the cloud" makes a lot of sense, especially in research collaborative efforts with your cousins or perhaps as an effort by a family society. Groups of genealogists can work together on projects, even simultaneously, even if some use Windows, others use Macintosh, and perhaps some even use Linux.

A new program is now in late beta test and is expected to launch soon as a version 1.0. Best of all, this is FREE software, issued under the GNU General Public License.

Please take note of the program name: WebTrees. I suspect you are going to hear a lot more about it in coming years.

How to Send Newsletter Articles to Your Friends

Someone asked this question today so I thought I would reply here where everyone could read the answers. The question is: "I want to forward an article from this newsletter to a friend of mine by email. How do I do that?"

In fact, there are several possible answers, depending upon where you read the newsletter.

Godfrey Library Adds to its Online Connecticut Cemetery Project

The following was written by the Godfrey Library:

Godfrey Library continues to make progress on its Connecticut cemetery project. The library now has 135 cemeteries online from Hartford, Middlesex, New Haven and New London Counties with another 10 being processed. Cemetery size varies from two burials to 8,625 burials. In total there are 104,731 burials and 75,925 photographs. Some of these records appear elsewhere but do not include photos.

Library Holds Oklahoma Genealogy Treasures

Sometimes genealogical research in Oklahoma can be a “tough row to hoe,” but there are some treasures that can aid research that might not be readily known to a new researcher or to an outsider attempting to do Oklahoma research.

Writing in the Muskogee Phoenix, Nancy Calhoun lists several valuable resources to be found at the Muskogee Public Library, including:

Plus Edition Newsletter Has Been Sent

To all Plus Edition subscribers:

The weekly Plus Edition newsletter was sent to your e-mail address a short time ago. It should have arrived by now. If you have not yet seen it in your in-box, check your spam folder. If it is not there, please contact your e-mail provider to see why it was blocked. This week's entire Plus Edition newsletter is also available at: http://www.eogn.com/wp/thisweek.htm. You can always read it there, regardless of what your email provider does to your in-box.

Here are the articles in this week's Plus Edition newsletter:

 - (+) For Once and For All, Let's Kill this Misconception that Digital Records Don't Last
 - (+) Hide Your Location, Access More Genealogy Sites
 - Ellis Island and Your Ancestors
 - Linux Genealogy Live CD
 - Granite Mountain Records Vault Videos Online
 - Don’t “Protect” Us from Our Own Genetic Information
 - Google Editions
 - Colleen Fitzpatrick, the DNA Detective
 - Chatham, Illinois Cemetery Listings Going Online
 - Vigo County, Indiana Marriage Records Online
 - Shetland Islands Archives Catalogue Goes Online
 - Scottish Author Seeks Descendants of 6,500 Lost Boys
 - FamilySearch: Online Volunteers Index a Whopping 100 Million Records Already This Year
 - Scouts Document Graves in Forgotten Cemetery
 - Arphax Publishing announces Paperback editions of its Family Maps and Texas Land Survey Maps Series
 - Footnote.com and Lowcountry Africana to Create a Free Interactive Slave Records Collection
 - National Library of Scotland’s Historic Photos on Flickr
 - Documents at the the Milwaukee County Historical Society Damaged by Water
 - New Ohio Genealogical Society Library to be Dedicated Friday
 - Northern New York American-Canadian Genealogical Society Seeks New Home
 - The Internet Archive Mentioned in USA Today
 - Momma, Don’t Take My Kodachrome Away
 - Strong Return for BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are?
 - Never Miss a Plus Edition Newsletter

If printed, this week's Plus Edition newsletter is 47 pages long! Where else will you find this much genealogy news and information, per week? Especially without any advertising?

(+) For Once and For All, Let's Kill this Misconception that Digital Records Don't Last

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

This is one urban legend that won't die. Genealogists, historians, and many other well-meaning folks will tell each other, "Since microfilm longevity is stated as 200 years and electronic media will become obsolete within a few short years, let's continue to preserve the microfilm masters for as long as possible as a fall-back option." Another comment I read recently claimed, “The problem with digital images is that the media on which they are written become obsolete every few years. Try to find a way to read an old 5.25 inch floppy disk today. Also, the programs used to write and read the images are no longer supported after a few years. “

Balderdash!

Normally, I'd use a stronger expletive, but this is a family-oriented newsletter.

Granite Mountain Records Vault Videos Online

Many of us have heard of the Granite Mountain vault that is underneath 700 feet of granite outside of Salt Lake City but very few have ever seen the inside of the vault. FamilySearch has released videos that give all of us a view into the operations behind the vault door.

I was especially impressed with the comments that not only are microfilms stored and duplicated in the Granite Mountain Records Vault, but efforts now underway will result in all the microfilms eventually being digitized. Future plans include making all images available to everyone, worldwide, in the convenience of their homes.

(+) Hide Your Location, Access More Genealogy Sites

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

Comments posted to this newsletters' web site in recent weeks have highlighted a common problem: not all the information on the World Wide Web is available worldwide. For instance, web users in the United States are blocked from watching the BBC version of "Who Do You Think You Are?" The BBC wishes to restrict access to episodes of "Who Do You Think You Are?" to U.K. residents. The web server in the U.K. knows whether you are in the U.K. or not by looking at your IP address.

A second example of location-based blocks concerns web users in Australia who are frequently blocked from accessing some of the books on Google Books in the USA. Google Books has to deal with copyright laws in all countries. Those laws may vary widely from one country to the next. Google doesn't always know all the laws in all the countries; so, the company takes a conservative approach. Google typically complies with U.S. laws and therefore allows U.S. residents to access all content. Users in other countries often are blocked from some books because Google cannot guarantee compliance with all copyright laws in each country.

As one newsletter reader wrote recently, "It is disappointing to see a book mentioned on a genealogy mail list only to find we can't download it because we don't live in the USA."

Documents at the the Milwaukee County Historical Society Damaged by Water

Volunteers are scrambling to dry out records from the early 20th century after water poured into the basement of the Milwaukee County (Wisconsin) Historical Society this morning.

Steve Daily, curator of the research library, said some 50 to 60 boxes containing court records from the 1920s and 1930s got wet. He said about a dozen volunteers are carefully removing the wet documents and laying them out to dry.

"We could sure use a few more fans," Daily said, since they only have three to help blow over the sodden records, which are mostly used for genealogical research.

Momma, Don't Take My Kodachrome Away

When I think back on all the crap I've learned in high school
It's a wonder I can think at all
Though my lack of education hasn't hurt me much
I can read the writings on the walls

Kodachrome, they give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera, I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away

Paul Simon's lyrics seem sadly prophetic. This week, Kodachrome went away. The last roll of Kodachrome film was developed at Dwayne's Photo Service in Parsons, Kansas. We have witnessed an historic shift in technology.

Google Editions

Google is about to merge two success stories:

1. eBook readers are selling like hotcakes. The Amazon Kindle, Sony Digital Book Reader, Barnes & Noble Nook, Borders Books' Kobo, Apple iPhone, and the Apple iPad collectively have sold millions of units. Consumers are reading more and more books on screens as they find the ebooks are easy to use and easy to read. Even better, obtaining books in electronic format is usually cheaper that purchasing them on paper as the publishers save printing and distribution costs. Google has been watching these trends closely.
2. Google Books has become a very popular service, offering millions of books online that can be read on a PC, Macintosh, or Apple iPad. Some other ebook readers are also capable of displaying books found on Google Books.

Now Google is combining the two and will soon offer millions of new and old books in a format that can be read on any Windows computer, Macintosh computer, Sony Book Reader, Nook, Kobo, iPhone, iPad or probably any other ebook reader to be introduced in the future. Google plans to become a digital marketplace, acting as a limitless warehouse and storage system for digital books. The new service will be called Google Editions.

Scottish Author Seeks Descendants of 6,500 Lost Boys

Scottish author Gordon Douglas, who wrote the book We'll Send Ye Tae the Mars, is searching for relatives of 6,500 homeless and destitute boys who served on the Mars Training Ship which was moored on the River Tay, near Dundee, Scotland for sixty years between 1869 and 1929. He has almost completed a second book about the fate of many of the boys, Sons of the Mars, and would like to discover and hear from some of the boys' descendants.

New Ohio Genealogical Society Library to be Dedicated Friday

The Ohio Genealogical Society will dedicate its new 19,000 foot Samuel D. Isaly Research Library in Bellville, Ohio at 10 a.m. Friday. Tours of the facility will be available Friday and Saturday.

Funded partially through an Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission grant, a Richland Foundation matching gift, and a Rural Development loan from the United States Department of Agriculture, the vast majority of funding for the $2.5 million project came from hundreds of individual donors.

FamilySearch: Online Volunteers Index a Whopping 100 Million Records Already This Year

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

FamilySearch Indexing is excited to announce that our dedicated volunteers have completed 100 million records in the first half of 2010, and is on track to complete a targeted 200 million by the end of the year. Patrons can search the completed indexes and images at pilot.familysearch.org.

More volunteers are always needed—particularly on international, non-English projects. New projects were added for Brazil, Canada, Jamaica, Mexico, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, and Russia.

Interested volunteers can start helping any time by registering at www.indexing.familysearch.org and selecting a project.

New Projects in the Past Month

Ellis Island and Your Ancestors

Close to the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor is a small island that is forever etched in our country's history. Formerly known as Oyster Island, Ellis Island was the gateway to the new land for more than 10 million immigrants between its opening in 1892 and its closing in 1931. For most of these “huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” processing through Ellis Island often required several days.

As each ship entered the Lower Bay of New York Harbor, it was diverted to a quarantine area. Here medical inspectors would board the incoming ships to check for possible contagious diseases: cholera, plague, smallpox, typhoid fever, yellow fever, scarlet fever, measles, and diphtheria. The quarantine examination conducted aboard ship was reserved for first- or second-class cabin passengers. U.S. citizens were altogether exempt from the examination, so for them this was just an aggravating pause. However, passengers in steerage had to wait for their examinations later at Ellis Island. For them, quarantine was a time of heightened frustration and ever-increasing anxiety. Ships were examined from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. This meant that any vessel arriving after 5 p.m. had to anchor for the night, yet another day’s delay for the weary immigrants.

Northern New York American-Canadian Genealogical Society Seeks New Home

The former Keeseville High School, now called the Keeseville Civic Center, will close on October 1, displacing several groups who presently occupy space in the building. One such organization is the Northern New York American-Canadian Genealogical Society.

The society moved to the Civic Center in Keeseville in 1985 with three storage cabinets. The society has since expanded to fill two full rooms of research materials in what was the high school library.

Finding a place suitable for the group with sufficient storage and research area as well as handicap access has become difficult.

National Library of Scotland's Historic Photos on Flickr

From the last letter written by Mary, Queen of Scots, to First World War photographs in the personal collection of Field Marshal Earl Haig, images from the National Library of Scotland's historic collection have been shared worldwide through the website Flickr. The NLS has released more than 2,000 archived images, in one of the biggest-ever groups of photographs placed on the Flickr's "The Commons" website.

They are mostly from the library's Haig collection, but also include more than 100 evocative photographs of tenements on the south side of Edinburgh taken in 1929. They include another historic milestone from the library's collection, the order for the Massacre of Glencoe.

Don't "Protect" Us from Our Own Genetic Information

At today's FDA public meeting regarding Oversight of Laboratory Developed Tests (LDTs), Katherine Borges, Director of the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG), spoke against proposed legislation to expand FDA authority to include non-medical DNA testing. Katherine represents a 7,000-member organization spread throughout the US and 60 other countries. Hopefully, her words will be noticed by the legislators.

Megan Smolenyak has published Katherine Borges' full remarks in her column. You can read those words now at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/megan-smolenyak-smolenyak/dont-protect-us-from-our_b_653474.html

Strong Return for BBC's Who Do You Think You Are?

Writing in the ATV News Network, Doug Lambert reports that BBC's Who Do You Think You Are?  got off to a great start for the new season on Monday evening. The show captured the number one spot with 6.6 million viewers.

It's nice to see a genealogy television show get such high ratings. You can read Doug Lambert's article at http://www.atvnewsnetwork.co.uk/today/index.php/atv-today/3366-strong-return-for-who-do-you-think-you-are-

Colleen Fitzpatrick, the DNA Detective

A former nuclear physicist, Colleen Fitzpatrick once designed equipment for NASA to send to Jupiter. Now she scours the earth for missing persons, dead or alive.

More.com has an interesting article describing Colleen's more recent work as a forensic genealogist, tracking missing people through vital records, family history and DNA. Author Lynn Rosellini writes:

Scouts Document Graves in Forgotten Cemetery

The city of Hattiesburg, Mississippi had no idea who is buried in the Scott Street Cemetery. Now the city will be able to help family members looking for the graves of loved ones, thanks to a group of five Boy Scouts.

When 16-year-old Boy Scout Michael French heard about a cemetery that had sank into the ground because of Hurricane Katrina, he thought he might have the beginnings of an Eagle Scout project. He went to his Scoutmaster and asked if he and some friends could record the graves in the Scott Street Cemetery.

Vigo County, Indiana Marriage Records Online

The Vigo County Public Library's web site now offers an index to all Vigo County marriages recorded between 1818 and 1951. The index will be a great help to anyone doing genealogy or family research, said Nancy Dowell, director of the library.

There are nearly 35,000 marriages in the index. Many marriage records include digital images of documents beyond a simple marriage license.

You can access the index at http://www.vigo.lib.in.us/subjects/genealogy

Linux Genealogy Live CD

Would you like to try Linux but you don't want to reformat your PC's hard drive? There's an easy way to take Linux for a "test drive" without affecting your PC. It's called a Live CD.

A Live CD, (or DVD, or USB external disc) is a CD containing a bootable computer operating system. With most Live CDs, that operating system is a version of Linux.

A Live CD contains a complete version of the operating system and (usually) a number of applications. You insert the CD into any standard Windows PC and reboot the system, and then your computer will boot from the CD, not from your hard disk. (You may have to change the settings in your computer's BIOS to change your computer's boot order.) The operating system on the Live CD (normally Linux) will load and become operational without touching any information stored on your hard drive. It is a great way of taking a new operating system for a "test drive."

The Internet Archive Mentioned in USA Today

Two days ago, I published Free Genealogy Books on The Internet Archive at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2010/07/free-genealogy-books-on-the-internet-archive.html. Today, USA Today published Millions of books get digitized for the disabled. The new article describes several of the services of The Internet Archive.

The article by Stephanie Steinberg provides some interesting statistics:

Shetland Islands Archives Catalogue Goes Online

Researchers can now access the entire catalogue at the Shetland archives from anywhere in the world. The archives' staff have spent the past five years recording details of the huge collection of material onto the Internet, amounting to 75,000 records containing more than 100,000 documents.

The archives contain information about life in Shetland dating back as far as the 15th century. The archives' contents include council papers, court records, books, oral history recordings and the contents of journals such as the New Shetlander, Shetland Life and Shetland Fishing News.

Chatham, Illinois Cemetery Listings Going Online

I wish all communities would do this! Information about who’s buried in Chatham’s municipal cemeteries, including date of death, grave site location, and military service, will be available via the village website at www.chathamil.net. The web site even includes information compiled by the village’s geographic information system (GIS) software.
 
The village sees the new online database as a method of saving money, specifically, employee labor costs. Municipal employees previously used handwritten information on 3-by-5 index cards. That required a lot of time to find information. The new system will be much faster to search. A side benefit is that information will also be available to the general public, most of whom previously had to call the town's offices to request information, adding still more labor expense. Using the new "self-service" web site will reduce labor expenses significantly.

Arphax Publishing announces Paperback editions of its Family Maps and Texas Land Survey Maps Series

The following announcement was written by Arphax Publishing:

Norman, Oklahoma, July 19, 2010 -- The nation's largest publisher of original landowner maps, Arphax Publishing Co., announces today that its two primary book series are now available in soft-cover editions. In its first five years, Arphax has published books for over 500 U.S. counties which display maps of original landowners. Before today, these volumes were available only with a spiral-bound or library-bound cover option. But beginning right now, every current title is also available in a high-quality paperback edition.

Footnote.com and Lowcountry Africana to Create a Free Interactive Slave Records Collection

The following announcement was written by Footnote.com And Lowcountry Africana:

-Newly Digitized Records Preserve the Names of More Than  30,000 Slaves -

SALT LAKE CITY - July 19, 2010 – Today Footnote.com (www.footnote.com) and Lowcountry Africana (www.lowcountryafricana.net) announced the launch of a new free collection of historical records from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History containing estate inventories and bills of sale for Colonial and Charleston South Carolina from 1732 to 1872.  FamilySearch International donated the copies of the microfilm of the original historical documents.

Charleston’s role as a port of entry during the Atlantic Slave Trade means many thousands of African Americans may have ancestors who came from, or through, South Carolina. This new collection on Footnote.com will assist African American genealogy research by forming, in many cases, a seamless paper trail from Emancipation to the 1700s. 

(+) Staying Legal When Digitizing Printed Books

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

I wrote recently (at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2010/07/converting-my-personal-library-to-digital.html) about my efforts to digitize my personal library and then to throw away the physical books I have collected. Several people wrote to suggest that I not throw away the books. They suggested that I donate the books to a library or to some other person who could use them. For most of these books, I don't think I can legally do that.

New Series of Who Do You Think You Are? on BBC

A brand new series of Who Do You Think You Are? will start on BBC1 at 9pm tomorrow (Monday 19 July). The first celebrity to have his tree researched by the programme’s experts is Bruce Forsyth. The research centres around Bruce’s great-grandfather, a prominent 19th century landscape gardener, who may have been a bigamist. Watch the programme to find out more.

Details may be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007t575

Ancestry.com's Tree to Go for iPhone Version 1.1

Ancestry.com Tree to Go has uploaded a new version of its popular iPhone genealogy program to the iTunes App Store. Tree to Go for the iPhone (and iPod touch) reportedly now has improved performance and can also "handle trees of all sizes, including trees with over 2,000 people," according to information posted in iTunes.

You can read more at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ancestry-com-tree-to-go/id349554263?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D6 and at http://landing.ancestry.com/iphone/

Marblehead Museum Trying to Identify Hundreds of Revolutionary War Veterans

According to Dick Carlson, president of the Marblehead (Massachusetts) Museum board, "At the end of the war, Marblehead had 500 widows and 1,000 fatherless children." A metal plaque erected at Marblehead's Old Burial Hill in the 1920s celebrates the fact that "Six Hundred Revolutionary heroes" are buried there. Now the museum and the Marblehead Historical Society are trying to identify all the veterans.

Complicating matters, many of the stones on Old Burial Hill have become illegible; some are lost, and others, nothing more than wooden crosses to start with, have disappeared entirely.