Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Technology Helps Illinois Cemetery's Role in History

Gone soon will be the typewritten and longhand directions to gravesites that's existed as the cemetery's database since it was founded in 1889. Thanks to a computer software purchase, Bluff City, Illinois will become a place where people can access genealogy information from anywhere in the world, without calling or stopping by the office.

2005 FGS Conference in Salt Lake City

A genealogy conference will be held in a few weeks in Salt Lake City. Of course, any national genealogy event held in that city will attract a large crowd. However, this event looks like it will be the largest genealogy meeting held anywhere in North America this year.

Lutheran Roots Genealogy Exchange

The new Lutherans Online Lutheran Roots Genealogy Exchange helps those who wish to trace their family roots, especially those with Lutheran ancestors. There are two features to this area of Lutherans Online:

Family Tree Legends version 5.0 Announced

Pearl Street Software has just announced the release of a major update to the company's flagship product, Family Tree Legends. I have reviewed this program in the past and was very impressed with its power and ease of use. Now the company has added several desirable features.

Create PDF and HTML Documents at No Charge

Some years ago, Adobe invented "Portable Document Format," or PDF, files. That format has since become the most popular method of representing documents in a manner that is independent of the original application software, hardware, and operating system used to create those documents.

A PDF file can contain any combination of text, graphics, and images in a device-independent and resolution-independent format. These documents can be one page or thousands of pages, very simple or extremely complex with a rich use of fonts, graphics, color, and images.

Newsletters, Spam, and RSS: Get the Baby Out of the Bath Water

What are the two biggest problems facing email users today? Ironically they are: 

1. spam
2. spam filters

 Unsolicited email, or spam, is flooding our in-boxes. Unfortunately, while trying to fix the spam problem, spam filters are often creating worse problems: frequently they are actually blocking some of the mail we want to receive, even (gasp!) this newsletter. It's a classic case of throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Gene Hunters flock to Amish Country

Insular, inbred communities such as the Ashkenazi Jews and several Indian tribes can be a bonanza of genetic information for researchers. Now the Amish and Mennonite communities in the United States are proving to be fertile ground as well for scientists who want to better understand the nature of genetic diseases and how rare illnesses occur more frequently in such closed-off communities.

International (Surname) Family Yearbook from MORPHCORP

NOTE: This is an updated version of a story I first wrote in 2003. The company described apparently is still very active, according to recent reports. It seems appropriate to republish this information now.

A company in Colorado has been selling "family yearbooks" for years. They send advertisements for the "International [Surname] Family Yearbook" or similar titles. In this case, substitute your last name in place of "[Surname]." For instance, an advertisement sent to a person named Smith would be advertising "The Smith Family Yearbook" while someone named Clark would receive an advertisement for "The Clark Family Yearbook."

Missouri Law Could Chill Records Access

Writing in his blog called "GeneaBlogie," Sanford Gines Bowie III offers the following:

In May, the Missouri legislature passed SB 420. This complex bill does a number of things, but relevant here, it prohibits the posting of certain information about public officials on the Internet without the consent of the officials. Read more about SB 420 here [at http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2005/jun/20050609comm001.asp]. See what the St Louis Post-Dispatch had to say on the matter. Jackson County and other local governments in Missouri contend that the type of information in the Jackson County records site would have to be removed under SB 420. They also argue that the bill would impose tremendous management burdens on local records managers. Jackson County Executive Katheryn Shields has written this letter to Governor Matt Blunt, urging him to veto the bill.

There is much more to Bowie's article. You can read the entire article at http://geneablogie.blogspot.com.

AnyBirthday.com: R.I.P.?

AnyBirthday.com is (or was) a controversial web site that allowed anyone to search a free database of well over 135 million records for the names, birth dates, and zip codes of almost everyone born in the United States. The site was cited by many as being an invasion of privacy as well as a source of information for those who wish to commit identity theft. Now the web site appears to be dead.

Canadian Directories / Annuaires canadiens

The following is an announcement from Library and Archives Canada:

(le français suit)

Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce the launch of phase two of the Canadian Directories site (a project funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage through its Canadian Culture Online initiative). The addition of 80 new directories to our growing database brings a total of 95 searchable directories to the site.

UC Berkeley's Transportation Futuristics

It is always enjoyable to speculate about the future. Of course, our ancestors did the same. They made predictions about life in the twenty-first century. Some of the most interesting ones were about transportation.

Accused Bank Robber Identified by Photos on his own Web Site

NOTE: There is no genealogy information in this article, other than perhaps a comment that I hope this sort of thought process isn't inherited. Yet this is too good to not share it.

According to the Boston Herald newspaper, police in Rockland, Massachusetts have some rather good photographs of accused bank robber Kevin Donovan. They got the pictures from Donovan's web site. Even better, the pictures were taken at the Rockland Police Station as publicity shots for his rock band!

Judge says No to Slavery Reparations

Descendants of U.S. slaves will not be receiving reparation checks any time soon. A federal judge served a blow to the modern slavery reparations movement by tossing out a lawsuit on Wednesday that asked corporations that reaped profits from slave labor to pay up. In a 104-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Norgle said slavery has caused "tremendous suffering and ineliminable scars," but an attempt by slave descendants to seek reparations "more than a century after the end of the Civil War and the formal abolition of slavery fails."

Journal of Genetic Genealogy goes Live

In your March 1, 2005 issue of this newsletter, I mentioned the (then) proposed Journal of Genetic Genealogy.  The journal ended up taking longer to implement than  was originally planned. (Where have I heard that before?) However, the JoGG is now available online. Here is the announcement from the Journal's editor, Whit Athey:

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I would like to announce the inaugural issue of a new (free) on-line journal, the Journal of Genetic Genealogy (JoGG).  A number of people, some of whose names you will probably recognize have worked very hard to bring you this journal.  You may see the first issue at the JoGG web site: http://www.jogg.info

Can DNA Reveal Your Roots?

Time Magazine has a new article of interest to genealogists: "Can DNA Reveal Your Roots?" by Anita Hamilton examines the use of DNA for genealogy research. She writes, "More than 100,000 Americans, including such celebrities as Oprah and Spike Lee, have sought to do the same by taking genealogical DNA tests now offered by commercial labs. Starting at $95 and using a sample of cells swabbed from inside the cheek, the tests can answer questions ranging from whether you have Native American or African ancestry to whether you are related to someone with the same last name.

Obituary Registry

One online resource often ignored by genealogists is called ObituaryRegistry.com and, in some places, is referred to as American Memorials. The service has a good collection of online obituaries. 

New Genealogy Column in New Mexico

A new genealogy column has appeared in the Albuquerque Tribune. Mary Penner writes in her inaugural column:

Are you a genealogy enthusiast with a bumper sticker on your car that reads "Caution: I brake for cemeteries"? Or are you fuzzy on things as basic as your grandparents' first names?

Online Cemetery Management Service For Municipal Governments & Genealogists

The following is an announcement from Virtual Town Hall:

Virtual Town Hall® -- a Portland, Maine-based company that provides advanced web services to municipalities throughout the United States – has announced the launch of a new online genealogy and cemetery management service.

Livingston County, Missouri Genealogy Society disbands

The Livingston County Genealogy Society has announced that it will disband after nearly 20 years of meeting and assisting persons in finding family ancestry.