Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Land Records and Genealogy Symposium in Nebraska

The following is an announcement from the Southeast Community College:

The third Land Records and Genealogy Symposium will be held at Southeast Community College in Beatrice, Nebraska on Friday-Saturday, July 29-30, 2005. A partnership between Southeast Community College-Beatrice and Homestead National Monument gives us the opportunity to listen to nationally-known speakers on land records and related topics. 

Ubuntu Linux on a Laptop

NOTE: The following article contains almost no genealogy-related information. However, I know that a number of newsletter readers are interested in open source operating systems. I thought I would post this article here for those who might be interested in one of my recent experiences with what was expected to be a difficult Linux installation.

I had a frustrating experience recently. I was the guest speaker at a local genealogy society. I went to the meeting room well ahead of time to set up my Windows XP laptop and the overhead projector. I loaded the PowerPoint slides that I had prepared and was ready to go. At the appointed time, the program chair introduced me, and I started my talk. My first PowerPoint slide was already displayed on the screen behind me for all to see.

Arkansas State Archives will be open on Saturdays

The Arkansas History Commission and State Archives will be open on Saturdays, beginning June 4, for the convenience of those who can't come during regular weekday hours. Hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and staff, including either an archivist or librarian, will be on hand to assist researchers and visitors.

On the Road Again

This is just a quick note to let you know that I will be traveling this week. I will be attending the annual conference of the U.S. National Genealogical Society. This year's event is being held in Nashville, Tennessee. You can read my earlier article about the conference here. You can also read about the dinner for newsletter readers being held after the conference closes here.

Free Charts at NGS Conference

Here is another reason to attend the NGS conference in Nashville this week. Registered users of The Master Genealogist or Family Tree Super Tools can obtain free large-format color printouts of your genealogy information.

(+) Convert Image Formats on Macintosh, Linux, and Windows

Over the years I have collected all sorts of image files. I have them on my hard drive, on CD-ROM disks, and some older ones on floppy disks. In the early days, I saved images as .BMP (Windows BitMap) files. I later saved images as GIF files, later still as JPG, PNG, and TIFF format files. Some that I took with a film camera and sent to the local drugstore for processing came back as PhotoCD images on a CD-ROM disk. One problem: how do I convert all these thousands of files in various formats into whatever format I wish to use today?

Wisconsin's Online Database of War Memorials

The Wisconsin Veterans Memorials Catalog documents over 680 memorials dedicated to Wisconsin veterans. These memorials are located throughout the State of Wisconsin, the United States, and overseas. The Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center maintains this information and is dedicated to locating new memorials and other designated honors to Wisconsin veterans.

Memorial Day

Monday in the United States is Memorial Day, a day of remembrance for those who died in our nation's service. The origins of this day of remembrance are in doubt, with more than two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War.

The Stranger in a Gray, Maine Cemetery

Memorial Day seems like a good time to remember the story of the "Stranger" buried in Gray, Maine. The Gray Historical Society has been trying to identify this Civil War soldier for years. Perhaps a modern-day genealogist can help.

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 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 in the past few weeks:

Important 19th Century Irish & English Genealogy Collections Now Online

The following is an announcement from The Origins Network

The William Smith O'Brien Petition is list of over 80,000 names and places from 1848/9, the time of the Great Famine. It is a valuable census substitute for that time, as well as an important historical resource. This is now available exclusively, along with other important Irish genealogy collections, on Irish Origins at http://www.irishorigins.com

One-Step Portal for On-Line Genealogy

Searching the various online genealogy databases can be time-consuming and even difficult. Names have often changed in spelling or were recorded improperly over the years. While most genealogy databases can search by Soundex, that method is rather primitive and little changed since 1918, when Robert Russell invented the Soundex Code. Today's computers should be able to do better. Thanks to Stephen Morse, your computer can do better right now.

Chicago Historical Society Lays Off 17

Genealogy societies, historical societies and many other museums and organizations devoted to history are facing a slump in attendance, coupled with growing expenses. Many have downsized. The latest announcement comes from the Chicago Historical Society, which has announced it will lay off 17 workers.

National Archives Thief Sentenced

Like many genealogists, historians and other researchers, Howard Harner was a regular visitor at the U.S. National Archives in downtown Washington, D.C. He spent hundreds of hours there from 1996 through 2002. However, he wasn't simply seeking information. He was stealing.

Great-Grandmother Gives Birth to Twins

This may be an interesting entry in some future genealogist's family database: A 57-year-old great-grandmother who gave birth to a set of twins last month.

Publishers Protest Google Book Scanning Project

In the October 8, 2004 newsletter, I wrote about Google's plans to scan millions of books and to make them available to everyone on the web at no charge. You can read that article here and a more detailed follow-up article in the December 15, 2004 newsletter here. The announcements never specifically mentioned genealogy books but with millions of books to be scanned, one can easily assume that some percentage of the books will have genealogy value. Having this wealth of information easily available to all on the web seems to be a welcome addition to a genealogist's tools. That is, "welcome" to most people but not to everyone.

ProQuest Brings U.K. Library Users A Step Closer To Their Ancestors

The following is an announcement from ProQuest (the owners of HeritageQuest Online):

The people of England and Wales have come one step closer to their ancestors as Ancestry Library Edition, exclusively distributed by ProQuest Information and Learning, launches the complete 1861 Census records featuring 52 counties.

Know Your Ancestors Even If You Don't Know Their Names

The following is an announcement from Marianne Goss: 

If you're as interested in finding out more about your ethnic group as in identifying your ancestors, a freelance researcher/writer in Chicago may be able to help you.

Last Great War British Cavalryman Dies at 108

The last surviving British cavalryman from the First World War has died at the age of 108.

Albert Marshall lied about his age to sign up for service in the Great War and even volunteered to return to the front line after being injured and sent home to convalesce.

Petition for funding: the National Archives and NHPRC

The following is an announcement from the the Council of State Historical Records
Coordinators (COSHRC):

Most of you probably already know about this petition for funding for the National Archives and NHPRC.