Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Salt Lake Plaza Hotel Becomes a Luxe Hotel

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The Salt Lake Plaza Hotel has probably been the most popular hotel in the world amongst genealogists. Its location next door to the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City has drawn thousands of guests. On January 11 I wrote about plans to "downsize" the hotel: 70 of the hotel's 226 rooms are being converted to dormitories. The loss of those rooms plus the imminent destruction of another hotel across the street will impact genealogists: rooms will be more difficult to obtain.

Now the Salt Lake Plaza is changing its affiliation and name to become the Plaza Hotel at Temple Square.

Does This Genealogy Site Sell Your Information?

A newsletter reader posed a question this week:

The small historical society I belong to received the following email. Do you know anything about this group? I don't want to see us get hit by one of the genealogy scams.

In fact, I didn't know anything about the site at www.FamilyTrackers.com, so I decided to investigate.

2006 Genealogy Cruise in the Eastern Caribbean

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Is it just my imagination, or are genealogy cruises becoming more popular these days? Perhaps one good reason is because everyone on these cruises seems to enjoy themselves.

Fly Away Travel has announced their "2006 Genealogy Seminar at Sea" to be held October 29 through November 5, 2006. The seven-day cruise departs Port Canaveral, Florida, sailing to Cocoa Cay (Royal Caribbean's private island), St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands, and St. Maarten.

The seminars will be presented by the following speakers:

Genealogy Records in the Guinness Book of World Records

The Guinness Book of World Records says that the Confucius family genealogy is considered to be the longest documented genealogy in the world.

U.S. Census Records Used to Limit Immigration

WARNING: This article contains personal opinion.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

These are the words of poet Emma Lazarus, emblazoned on the base of the Statue of Liberty, erected in New York harbor in 1886. Perhaps one more phrase should have been added to that poem:

As long as they come from predominantly Anglo-Saxon-Germanic stock.

Is This the E-Book of the Future?

E-Books have been around for years. A number of companies have introduced handheld devices, and each promised to "revolutionize" the world of printed books. Each claimed that it could replace printed books.

Most e-book devices quietly faded away within a year or so. Now Sony is bringing out a new device that just might live up to all the promises. The printed page is now facing its biggest threat with the introduction of the first electronic book that people can read for hours without eyestrain.

UK Orders Registry Offices to Remove All References to "Marriage"

Registry offices in the UK are taking down all signs referring to "marriage." The Government has advised regional councils to change sign wording in case gay couples are offended. Homosexual relationships can now be registered as Civil Partnerships under the UK's new legislation.

Indiana Bill to Limit Access to Birth and Death Records

Birth and death records now open to the public would be closed under a bill proposed in the Indiana House, pitting freedom of information against privacy concerns.

The Next Generation Adds a Master GENDEX Database

Darrin Lythgoe has created some powerful genealogy software that installs on a Web server. The software is called The Next Generation, often abbreviated as TNG. You can install The Next Generation on a web server that you own or rent and then upload your genealogy information in GEDCOM format, along with any pictures you wish to use. Unlike most genealogy Web pages, the information is not stored as normal HTML files. Instead, it is stored in a database on the Web server, and pages are dynamically generated "on the fly" when a viewer visits your Web site.

British Database Puts Names on the Map

A new online database may help many people trace their family roots one step further. The Surnames Profiler database contains information on the size and geographical distribution of 25,630 family names across Great Britain. There are plans to expand that number to 280,000 surnames.

First Tornado Ever Photographed

Here is a bit of history trivia: a photograph claiming to be the first picture ever made of a tornado is now available online. It was taken in 1884 by F. N. Robinson of Howard, Dakota Territory.

This one is scary, no matter how old the photograph. Take a look at http://www.1americanatrail.com/images/TORNADO7.jpg

Top Ten Reasons Why Genealogy is Better than Sex

OK, you have to read Chris Dunham's brief article on the "Top Ten Reasons Why Genealogy is Better than Sex." I laughed until my ribs hurt.

Click here.

Freedmen's Bureau Records to be Available

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, known as the Freedmen's Bureau, was established by the U.S. government in March 1865 as the Civil War was coming to a close, to help the almost 4 million former slaves begin their new lives. The new Bureau's assignment was immense: provide food, clothing and health care to former slaves, negotiate employment contracts, and establish schools. The agency was formally disbanded in June 1872.

This Newsletter is Ten Years Old

Boy, the time does fly! A whole decade has slipped by in almost the blink of an eye. It seems like only yesterday that I sent the first e-mail newsletter to about 100 people, mostly members of CompuServe's Genealogy Forums. None of them knew in advance that the newsletter would arrive; I simply mailed it to people who I thought might be interested. In 1996 nobody objected to receiving unsolicited bulk mail; the phrase "spam mail" had not yet been invented. I shudder to think if I did the same thing in today's Internet environment.

In that first newsletter on January 15, 1996, I wrote:

L. Reynolds Cahoon Promoted at National Archives

L. Reynolds Cahoon is well-known in genealogy circles. He was the manager in charge of the Family History Department at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as executive vice-president of the Genealogical Society of Utah. He then went to Washington to become the Assistant Archivist of the United States. His title was expanded to Assistant Archivist for Human Resources and Information Services and Chief Information Officer of the National Archives and Records Administration.

Now Mr. Cahoon has been promoted again, assuming a position vital to the preservation of electronic records. The Archivist of the United States has promoted Reynolds Cahoon to the new position of Senior Adviser on Electronic Records.

(+) Reduce Unwanted E-mail Messages

Several "big name" genealogy sites, along with thousands of other web sites, like to send e-mail to you. The "offending sites" include Amazon.com, Buy.com, BestBuy.com, CompUSA.com, Travelocity, and several of the larger and smaller genealogy sites. If you ever ordered from them or signed up for a newsletter or simply inquired about something, you likely found your e-mail in-box littered with frequent advertising e-mail messages time and again for years. I made a purchase from one online site and then received DAILY e-mail ads from them, until I took actions described in this article.

Disclaimer: This newsletter's site at www.eogn.com does NOT send unsolicited advertising messages.

ScotlandsPeople adds More Data

The following is an announcement from ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk:

We are pleased to announce that this year we have received permission to release the new years statutory data earlier than in previous years. Customers can now access, online, records from the Statutory Register of Births for 1905, the Statutory Register of Marriages for 1930, and the Statutory Register of Deaths for 1955. Almost 100,000 new index and corresponding image entries have been added to the site, amounting to six gigabytes of data.

Oklahoma Historical Society Research Division to Move

Plans for the move of the Oklahoma Historical Society Research Division to the new Oklahoma History Center were announced Monday evening. The effort will be huge, and the society is asking for help. Details are available in an announcement written by Billie Fogarty, President of the Oklahoma Genealogical Society.

You can read the announcement at http://announcements.eogn.com/2006/01/oklahoma_histor.html

Related post: Oklahoma Historical Society Research Division to Move

Confederate Coats of Arms

I have written several times about coats of arms, properly called heraldry. Many people seem to think that each family has a coat of arms issued for use by all people bearing the same last name. Of course, that's not true.

Now a new variation has appeared: Confederate Coats of Arms. An online site has a mission statement "... to advance Dixie culture through knowledge, heraldry artwork and…"

Gee, I didn't even know that the Confederacy issued coats of arms!

DVD and CDR Demystified

Did you know that you can record television video on regular CD disks? Do you know the difference between DVD-RW and DVD+RW? If you are interested in creating CD-ROM and DVD disks but are confused by all the buzzwords involved, I can point you to two great resources: