Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Genealogy Database Reaches 200,000 Name Milestone

The following is an announcement from Genealogy Today:

Genealogy Today (www.genealogytoday.com) announced that Family Tree Connection, a subscription service offering researchers access to unique family history information, has surpassed 200,000 names this month.

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ found at National Library

It sounds like it could be a chapter straight from the pages of the international best-seller The Da Vinci Code. Just like Dan Brown's book, the dusty document contains long forgotten insights into the history and relationships of Jesus Christ.

Now scholars at a Welsh college believe they have unearthed their own version of the Da Vinci code with the discovery of a 400-year-old book.

On the Road Again

By the time you read these words, I should be winging across the Atlantic to London. I will be attending the 2005 Family History Fair in London.

I have attended this fair several times in the past and have always enjoyed it. This event is about double the size of the largest genealogy conferences in the U.S. The Family History Fair also seems to be a much more "lively" than the U.S. events, with the vendors' hall always a beehive of activity and a rather high noise level.

Relatively Yours 3

The following is an announcement from Computability in Australia:

Computability is pleased to announce the availability of Relatively Yours 3, a development of our previously successful genealogy program Relatively Yours II. It represents the culmination of more than twelve month's development effort in our quest to provide you, our customer, with the best possible genealogical software.

Commercial Genealogical Searches Run Risk of Uncovering Infertility

The following is an announcement from the University of Leicester:

A simple DNA test that is available commercially to help people establish their ancestry could in fact disclose male infertility claims a new study from the University of Leicester.

The world renowned Department of Genetics - the UK’s top rated research Genetics department where DNA genetic fingerprinting was discovered - has published a paper, Inadvertent diagnosis of male infertility through genealogical DNA testing,  in the Journal of Medical Genetics.

Update: Genealogist's Address Book

In the January 23, 2005 edition of this newsletter, I wrote about Elizabeth Petty Bentley's fifth edition of the popular The Genealogist's Address Book. Unlike previous editions, this new update is being released only on CD-ROM and for a much lower price than previous versions: $19.95. However, some people apparently wanted a printed version and now the publisher has released the new edition as a printed version as well, although at a much higher price.

Family Fun Day at the East Tennessee Historical Society

The following is an announcement from the East Tennessee Historical Society:

The East Tennessee Historical Society (ETHS) presents Family Fun Day at the ETHS museum on April 30, 2005 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  The event will feature living history, children’s art and crafts, music, and activities in celebration of the new ETHS museum exhibits.

A Genealogist's Search featured in the Wall Street Journal

Tony Burroughs traced his family back seven generations to a slave born in 1781 -- but he didn't search online until he had interviewed as many living relatives as possible. His search is described in today's (April 27) Wall Street Journal.

Spring Cleaning Is A Great Excuse To Preserve The Past

I love this company's name! Here is an announcement from DeadFred.com:

It's the time of year for families everywhere to engage in spring cleaning, and DeadFred Genealogy Photo Archive (http://www.deadfred.com) offers a great solution for all those people who stumble across boxes of old photographs in their closets, garages and attics.

Acadian & French Canadian Ancestral Home

One of the larger French-Canadian web sites around is called the Acadian & French Canadian Ancestral Home. While the word "Acadian" is in the title, I noticed that there is some information about Qubecois on the site as well. Nonetheless, the site focuses on Acadian genealogy.

(+) Password Protect Your Web Site

Placing your genealogy information on the Web is an excellent way to make that data available to anyone interested. It also reduces your workload in that you do not have to make copies and mail them (or e-mail them) to each interested person. You can simply say, "You can find that information on my Web site at http://www ... ."

Boingo's Free Wi-Fi Software

NOTE: This article contains no genealogy-related information. If you are looking for genealogy articles, you can skip this one. However, I know that many readers of this newsletter use wireless network connections on Windows or Macintosh laptops, as I do. This week I discovered an impressive free program for the traveling wireless network user and thought I would describe it.

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, newsletter readers like you write much of the information within it. If you missed the announcement, you can read it at http://eogn.typepad.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2004/12/encyclopedia_of.html.

Automatic Delivery of this Newsletter

If you were to pick between visiting the free Standard Edition newsletter on the Web or having the same articles automatically delivered to you every time a new one is published, which would you choose? For those who prefer automatic delivery, there's a really simple solution. In fact, it's called Really Simple Syndication, or RSS for short. Instead of navigating to various Web sites to read  news articles, an RSS "feed" can automatically deliver the news to your computer so that you can read the news at your convenience. An RSS/XML feed of this newsletter has been available for some time.

Madonna, Celine Dion, and Camilla Parker-Bowles: Relatives

What do pop queen Madonna, Canadian singer Celine Dion, and the new Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla Parker-Bowles, have in common? They are all related.

2005 Family History Fair in London

The Society of Genealogists is hosting two major events in the same location next Friday and Saturday: April 29 will see classes under the title of "A Taste of Family History" while April 30 will be the traditional Annual Family History Show. This Saturday event is considered the premier genealogy gathering for family historians of the United Kingdom. It is by far the largest genealogy conference I have ever attended. Whether you're just getting started or have been researching for decades, you'll find lectures on diverse subjects of interest. In addition, this year Dr Nick Barrett from the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? will be on-hand with a team of experts.

Controversy over the Genographic Project

In the April 16, 2005, daily edition of this newsletter, Ann Turner wrote about the Genographic Project, a major undertaking by National Geographic and others to chart the migration paths of our ancestors by using markers on the Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). You can read that article at http://eogn.typepad.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2005/04/national_geogra.html. However, some organizations are not enthused about the project. The Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism has even asked indigenous people to boycott the project and its sponsors.

(+) Follow-up on the Low-cost Scanning Article

In the April 17, 2005 Plus Edition newsletter, I described low-cost scanning. I even wrote, "Best of all, it is the cheapest of all the gadgets I have tried."

Time does not stand still. Only a few days later, a newsletter reader pointed out an even lower-cost solution.

Scotsman.com to launch a new site on Scottish heritage and culture

The following is an announcement from Scotsman.com:

Scotsman.com, one of Britain’s biggest news websites, on Monday will launch an exciting new site on Scottish heritage and culture - designed to plug a gap in the online market between amateur and academic history sites.

The Heritage site is a living, breathing guide to both the past you did not know and to how it connects to your life today. As well as containing a broad-based review of major moments in Scotland’s history, the site is rich with feature-length content that is informative, provocative and entertaining.

Canadian Post 1901 Census Bill S-18 Passes at Senate Third Reading

A major battle has been waged in Canada for several years now. Some government bureaucrats want to lock up the 1901 census and never allow the records to be examined by anyone. Genealogists, historians, social scientists and just plain concerned citizens have been fighting to allow the records to become public, as dictated by law.