Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Announcing DavidLambertBlog.com

The NERGC conference in Portland, Maine hasn't even started yet and already announcements about new products and services are appearing. Here is an announcement from the New England Historic Genealogical Society, followed by some of my own comments:

Announcing DavidLambertBlog.com, genealogical thoughts from the NEHGS Online Genealogist

On the Road Again

In a few minutes, I will be leaving home and driving to the New England Regional Genealogical Conference being held Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning in Portland, Maine. This already is shaping up to be a great session with the largest sale of advance registrations that the organization has seen in years. In addition, NERGC typically receives a good number of walk-in registrations during the conference.

Order of the First Families of Maine

The following is an announcement from the (brand new) Order of the First Families of Maine:

Long awaited and much needed is this hereditary lineage society, which will be a repository for Maine lineage and research. The intent of this Society is to honor those hardy and enterprising early ancestors who concentrated their efforts, labor, and skills in building the enduring greatness of the State of Maine. Membership is open to individuals at least eighteen years of age, who are lineal descendants of an ancestor who was a resident of present day Maine prior to the year 1652. Descent in each generation must be from parents who were lawfully married.

Save the British WW 1 Medal Index Cards

The Ministry of Defence in England plans to destroy records that are valuable to genealogists. A "grassroots" effort has been formed to stop the destruction.

Massachusetts History Fact of the Day Online

If you have Massachusetts ancestry, you may well be interested in the new Mass Moments web site. Created by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, the Web site provides fun facts about everything from Framingham's Revolutionary War martyr, Crispus Attucks, to abolitionist John Brown's speech at Concord Town Hall.

NEHGS Weekend Getaway April 7-9, 2005 in Boston

The New England Historic Genealogical Society sponsors "getaways," a time of intense research with one-on-one guidance from some of the best professionals in the field. I talked with those who took part in the last Research Getaway and they all seemed to enjoy it and benefit from the experience.

The following is an announcement from the Society about the next Research Getaway:

Family History Center robber gets 24 years

A woman who blasted two Colorado Family History Center volunteers in the face with pepper spray and robbed them was sentenced Monday to 24 years in prison. Claudia Schauerhamer attacked the women on Nov. 30 at the Columbine stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Genealogy Daily Calendar

One of the fun things about writing this newsletter is that I get to see a lot of nifty new products. This week I had a chance to see one that I really enjoyed: the Genealogy Daily Calendar.

Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation Announces Database Expansion, Upgrade of Free Web Site

The following is an announcement from the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation:

Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF), a non-profit research organization building the world's most comprehensive database of correlated genetic and genealogical information, today announced that it has significantly expanded the data available on its free Web site and enhanced the research tools for visitors.

Update: 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.

The Medicines that Great-Grandpa Took

Legal controls on patent medicines are a relatively recent development. Our ancestors relied on exorbitant advertised claims and theatrical presentations for advice on what to take for medical problems. Looking at the ads they read, it is a wonder that any of them survived long enough to have children.

This Newsletter's Blog

Delivering an e-newsletter via e-mail is becoming a very frustrating experience these days. Three years ago I could send lengthy e-mails containing the newsletters, and 99.9% of them would be delivered to the addressees. Sadly, that is no longer true today. The reason is simple: spam.

Family History Technology Workshop at BYU

Technology experts around the world are racing to create faster and better ways for people to search for and store information about their progenitors. Business and nonprofit organizations are creating better computer images and databases for electronic genealogy projects and collections, and one organization in Salt Lake is compiling the world's largest database of ancestral DNA, which can link generations through the genetic codes of living relatives.

U.S. Census Maps Online

County lines are often a problem for genealogists researching American ancestry. Census records - one of the most valuable sources of genealogy information - are organized by counties. The problem is that county lines have changed frequently over time. More than one genealogist, including myself, has expended hours looking for records, only to discover that they were looking in the wrong county!

That E-mail about Deceased Relatives in Nigeria

I have heard many stories about receiving unexpected e-mails. The usual story sounds something like this: A previously unknown member of your family has been killed in a car crash overseas. You are the only person left who could be related to the deceased, and you might be the sole inheritor of millions of dollars left in a bank account or a safety deposit box.

Free Storage for your Media Files

A new service is available from the people who gave you the Internet Archive. The new site advertises, "We provide free storage and free bandwidth for your videos, audio files, photos, text or software. Forever. No catches."

Sound too good to be true? Well, in my casual perusal of the site, I don't see anything to contradict the claims.

Who Pays the Back Rent at the Cemetery?

This week I received an e-mail from Marilyn Toole, asking a short and simple question. I don't know the answer, however, and thought I'd ask newsletter readers if they have any thoughts on this.

Stagecoach Maine: Channeling the Spirits of a Forgotten Maine Life

The following is an announcement from Ancestral Manor, http://www.AncestralManor.com: 

AncestralManor.com will host Col. David Woods with his Stagecoach Maine exhibit during the New England Regional Genealogical Conference in Portland, Maine from March 31 to April 3 at the Holiday Inn By the Bay, 88 Spring Street. Exhibit hours are: 6-7:30pm Thursday March 31, and 8:30-5pm on Friday April 1 and Saturday April 2. Individuals with any connection to Stagecoach V and its owners or route stops are being sought for oral interviews for a documentary now in production. More detailed information about the stagecoach and its history can be found at http://ancestralmanor.com/?tabid=92.

A brief synopsis of Stagecoach V's captivating journey of discovery is described below.

Australian minister discovers "long lost son" is not his child

Here is a bit of a "genealogy that wasn't." An Australian government minister who thought he had found a child he gave up for adoption 27 years ago is not the father of the young man in question.

British Emigrants in Bondage, 1614-1788

Peter Wilson Coldham is a prolific genealogy author. He was born in England, studied in Rome, England, and Scotland, and entered a Roman Catholic seminary in 1940. Before completing his studies, he joined the Royal Navy in World War II and served in Australia and China. After the war he was employed at the Foreign Office in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, for a while, then later in London.