Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

New Allen County History Book

The following is a joint announcement from the Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society and the Allen County Genealogical Society:

Local Historical Societies to Publish First Comprehensive Narrative History of Allen County in Nearly 100 years

FORT WAYNE, IN -- The Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society and the Allen County Genealogical Society have joined forces to compile and publish the first comprehensive narrative history of Allen County, Indiana, in more than 87 years.

Burial Sites Located with Dowsing Rods

Using the same technique that helps locate water wells, a South Texas woman has been helping find old family graves where headstones were lost. But Marjorie Lee Burnett says she's not sure how the metal rods allow her to find unmarked graves.

New English Genealogy Resources Available

The following is an announcement from the Origins Network:

The Origins Network announces new exclusive online access to British Militia and 1871 census records at www.britishorigins.com, plus a new British Image Gallery, all available on www.originsnetwork.com.

Ninth History Day event to be held at West Virginia State Capitol Complex

Local groups with an interest in history or genealogy are invited to participate in the ninth West Virginia History Day on Thursday, March 17, 2005, at the State Capitol Complex during the regular session of the West Virginia Legislature. Local historical groups are expected to provide displays and reenactments in the Rotunda of the State Capitol.

N.H. Vital Records Gives Out Birth Certificates to Adoptees

A new state law took effect on New Years Day in New Hampshire: adult adoptees are now able to obtain copies of their original birth certificates. Monday was the first day of business in the new year and the first time that many adoptees were able to find the names of their birth parents.

APG Elects Directors

The following is an announcement from the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG). I added a dictionary of terminology onto the end of the announcement:

Members of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) elected 10 directors to its governing board and two members to its nominating committee, President J. Mark Lowe, CG, of Springfield, Tennessee has announced.

Changes at ISFHWE

The following is an announcement from George G. Morgan, President of the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors (ISFHWE):

Dear ISFHWE Members and Mailing List Subscribers,

It is with regret that I announce that Rhonda McClure tendered her resignation as First Vice-President of ISFHWE, effective 1 January 2005.

CousinConnect Adds RSS Feeds

CousinConnect.com is the latest genealogy site to add RSS news feeds. I suspect you will see many more sites adding RSS during 2005. Here is the announcement from CousinConnect.com:

Your Swedish Roots: A Step by Step Handbook

A new book has become available in recent months that will appeal to anyone researching Swedish ancestry. Your Swedish Roots; A Step By Step Handbook by Per Clemensson and Kjell Andersson fills a gap in genealogy how-to books. Several million Americans of Swedish descent live in the United States today, but a step-by-step genealogical handbook of Swedish-American genealogy research has not been available until now. Clemensson and Andersson's new book aims to fill this void.

Ancestry of Howard Hughes

The Aviator is a new film that recounts the life of Howard Hughes. It is an excellent film, especially for aviation buffs. I thought I would write a bit about his ancestry.

Other Genealogy News

I enjoy writing this newsletter but have realized that it is physically impossible for me to write all the genealogy news. However, thanks to the new blog format for this newsletter, I can now offer double or triple the amount of genealogy news every week.

Thought for the Day

Microsoft research chief Rick Rashid recently noted that a terabyte of storage now costs about $500. That's enough space to hold every conversation you will ever have from birth to death, or 2000 photographs taken every day of your life.

PathWiz! Utility for TMG

The Master Genealogist (TMG) is a very popular and powerful Windows genealogy program. As good as it is, someone can always determine some way to make it even better. PathWiz! is an add-on utility written by Bryan Wetton in Australia that adds a lot of functionality. Version 3.1 of PathWiz! was reviewed in this newsletter on July 18, 2004 in an article written by Mark Lang. However, version 4.0 has just been released and this week I spent some time with the newest version.

Update: the Encyclopedia of Genealogy

I recently created a new, free online service for genealogists, called the Encyclopedia of Genealogy. While I'm the person who created the "shell" of this new service, much of the information within it is written by newsletter readers, such as yourself. If you missed the announcement, you can read it here.

I must admit that I am quite pleased with the Encyclopedia of Genealogy. Many newsletter readers have offered new content or have corrected existing information within the Encyclopedia of Genealogy. Here is a partial list of some of the articles added or updated by newsletter readers and myself within the past week:

People of the Year: Bloggers

Blog was an almost unknown term one year ago. Now it is one of the fastest growing technical improvements on the Internet. This newsletter converted to a blog format in May, 2004. Several other genealogy publications and databases are also now available as blog news feeds. Now ABC News has named the authors of blogs as "People of the Year."

Michigan Birth Certificates Fees to Increase

Fees for birth certificates and copies of other records in the state of Michigan are going up. Governor Granholm has signed a bill to increase the fees of: