Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Shanghai Library is a Center for Chinese Genealogies

The Shanghai, China Library has more than 15,000 original family tree books. With digital and microfilmed archives, the total collection contains genealogies of 283 family names. This is believed to be the largest collection of Chinese genealogies in the world,

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 like you. If you missed the announcement, you can read it here.

Online Census Substitute for Toronto in the 1850s

The following is an announcement from the City of Toronto Archives and the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society:

Finding those elusive mid-19th century Toronto ancestors is getting a lot easier!

The City of Toronto Archives and the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society invite you to a personal one-on-one demonstration of an indexed online transcription of the Toronto tax assessment rolls for 1853.

Ireland's Memorial Records: World War 1 1914-1918

Eneclann recently released an interesting new CD: Ireland's Memorial Records: World War 1 1914-1918. At the end of that war, the Committee of the Irish National War Memorial compiled the information on this disk under the direction of the Earl of Ypres. The result was eight volumes of information about 49,400 49,000 Irishmen who served in the British Army and lost their lives fighting in the Great War. Published in 1923, it is the most complete record known to exist, but only one hundred copies were printed. Now Eneclann has put these volumes onto CD-ROM, where you can easily search for relatives and then view the page as it was originally published.

Dan Johnson, R.I.P.

Dan Johnson, noted New Brunswick genealogy author and publisher, has died.

The Origins of Nicknames

Here is the trivia word for the day. The term "nickname" originated as an Anglo-Saxon word: ekename. In the Anglo-Saxon tongue, "eke" meant "also" or "added." The term seemed just a bit awkward to pronounce; so, it became slurred, converting ekename to nekename and finally to become nickname.

Genetic Genealogy DNA Testing Dictionary

Charles F. Kerchner, Jr., has published a new dictionary that is going to remain on my bookshelf, within arm's reach, for a long time. I am still in "learning mode" when it comes to DNA and genetics, and I suspect I'll be referring to this dictionary often as I become more and more immersed in the topic

Searching for Descendants of Famous Bostonians

Author Robert Pyles is producing an audio walking tour of Boston, and he is looking for descendants (or, in some cases, near relatives) of the following people to interview and possibly narrate on the tour:

Guide to pre-Famine Longford

An Irish-American man has published a genealogical research guide of County Longford's residents in pre-Famine days. Best of all, this new book is available both in print, as a CD-ROM, and even as two different versions of a downloadable file.

County Longford Residents Prior to the Famine: A Transcription and Complete Index of the Tithe Applotment Books of County Longford, Ireland (1823 - 1835) by Guy Rymsza aims to determine the origins of Famine-era ancestors. Rymsza compiled the work after discovering the ancestral house, complete with relatives still living in it, from which his great-great-grandfather had departed Ireland in the mid-1800s.

So Why Lock Up the Birth Records?

It seems that every week we hear of one more situation in which some politician or bureaucrat is trying to restrict access to public domain vital records. Everybody is trying to lock out everyone, including genealogists. Our right to access to public domain birth, marriage, and death information is being threatened constantly under the guise of "preventing identity theft."

Balderdash!

(That's as strong a word as I will use in this family-oriented publication.)

Alpha to Omega - The Genealogy Bookmaker

Alpha to Omega is a Windows program developed to allow you to print a memorable book of ancestors and descendants that you can display or share with family members. The program creates books and family group sheets in a manner that I have not seen with any other genealogy program. I had a chance to use Alpha to Omega this week and thought I would describe its operation.

Google Maps

What is going on at Google? I think the company is planning to take over the Internet. Normally, I'd say that might be a bad thing; but in Google's case, they seem to be doing a darned good job of developing new services! The latest example is Google Maps.

OtherDays.com is Online Again

In the February 04, 2005 daily edition of this newsletter, I reported that the popular Irish genealogy web site, OtherDays.com, had apparently gone offline. What's more, nobody was answering the phone at the company headquarters, and even the FAX machine was not answering. A few e-mails have floated around in the following two+ weeks, saying that the outage was temporary as the company was having some problems.

Kirtland, Ohio: A Guide to Family History and Historical Sources

Kip Sperry is the author of a new book, Kirtland Ohio: A Guide to Family History and Historical Sources. Kip is a well-known genealogy expert, author, and lecturer. He is especially noted for his expertise in Ohio history and genealogy, so this new book should be a good one.

The Security of Your Mother's Maiden Name

[Warning: This article contains personal opinions of the author.]

I was driving down the road today, listening to a local news station on the car radio. The newscaster was interviewing a so-called security "expert" about proposed legislation supposedly designed to prevent identity theft and credit card abuse. This "expert" claimed that we needed legislation to prevent access to birth records by "unauthorized" individuals. Sound familiar? Yes, we have heard and seen this song-and-dance act before. This guy wants to lock genealogists out of the records that we have used for the past century or so.

1805 Georgia Land Lottery - Fortunate Drawers and Grantees

This week I had a chance to examine a new book by Paul K. Graham, entitled, "1805 Georgia Land Lottery - Fortunate Drawers and Grantees." This book documents certain land transactions for a time and place that is short on records that genealogists seek. It provides the record of title transfer from the State of Georgia to an individual for each land lot distributed through the lottery process in 1805.

Help Save the Archives of Ontario

The Archives of Ontario building on Grenville Street in Toronto has been deteriorating for many years. Inadequate and unsafe housing of existing historical collections has already caused records to be lost. The provincial government's reluctance to provide a purpose-built archival facility will lead to even greater losses. At risk is the tangible evidence of the province's history, as well as all the archives of interest to genealogists.

Genealogy Software Combats Terrorists in Iraq

Strange but true. Coalition forces fighting in Iraq are buying genealogy software and entering data about thousands of known members of the insurgent forces. They may be using the same genealogy program that you use to record your ancestry.

GenealogyBlog.com is (Temporarily) Offline

Leland Meitzler, the owner of Heritage Creations, publishes a very popular web log (blog) called GenealogyBlog.com. That site has been offline for several days. Apparently Leland is home recovering from some minor surgery that is keeping him away from the keyboard.

Easiest Linux Desktop is now available Free of Charge

I have written a number of times about the advantages of Linux over Windows as an operating system. Linux is cheaper, faster, and much more stable. It is also a bit more complex, and there is very little genealogy software available for the Linux operating system. One good genealogy program is available free of charge although it is not quite as powerful as its Windows and Macintosh cousins.