Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Planon DocuPen RC800 Scanner

Here is the device that I want to use on my next visit to a genealogy library or a local courthouse. The Planon DocuPen RC800 looks like a magic wand. Perhaps it is just that. In reality, it is a handheld scanner that scans an entire page at a time. You can almost carry this device in a shirt pocket.

London Signatures

London Signatures is a new service from London Metropolitan Archives. It is a free online index of 10,000 wills from the Archdeaconry Court of Middlesex. You can search the index at no charge.

Trivia of the Day: Ellis Island

Millions of genealogists are familiar with the records of Ellis Island, the immigration portal that processed millions of immigrants to these shores. How many of us know where the island got its name?

Everton Library and Everton’s Genealogical Helper Magazine Now Restored

Everton’s Genealogical Helper Magazine went through bankruptcy some time ago. New owners came in and decided to salvage this genealogical treasure, including a rather large genealogy library acquired by Everton's over the years. You can read my earlier articles about all this here.

Holly Hansen of My Ancestors Found was hired to resurrect the magazine and library. She quickly organized a team to do so. Today, Holly is announcing the completion of the project:

Well-Known Genealogist Murdered

When neighbors in Port Orange, Florida heard the pops, they thought Linda Sue Anderson was shooting off fireworks again. The 54-year-old Gregory Circle resident was known for her erratic behavior. Neighbors said she was "unbalanced."

Even when some peeked outside their homes and saw Anderson holding what looked like a gun, no one suspected what police would later tell them: that Anderson had apparently shot and killed Robert F. and Shirley B. Goerlich.

Genetic Genealogy on MSNBC

MSNBC has created a web page about Genetic Genealogy. Several of the NBC journalists have participated in DNA testing and have written about their experiences.

Articles available now at the new page include:

Canadian Census Day 2006

  The following was written by Gordon A. Watts, Co-chair, Canada Census Committee:

Census Day 2006 is scheduled for Tuesday, 16 May. For the first time in the 340 years Censuses have been conducted in the territory that was destined to become Canada, respondents will be asked to provide consent for the release of information they provide, 92 years after collection. Until now, no such consent was required. The question that will appear on the Census questionnaire is as follows:

(+) Free Picture Organizing Software for Windows

The wide choice of free programs available on the Web can be overwhelming. This week I had a chance to download and use one of the better free Windows programs. It organizes and enhances the digital photo files on your PC to create albums, captions, and slideshows, and perform other tasks that give you a better  viewing, printing, and e-mailing experience. This free program has more power and features than some of the $30 to $50 commercial programs. It is also very easy to use.

Very High Resolution Satellite Imagery

For years, I have joked that satellite imagery is improving so quickly that you will soon be able to use your home computer to read the inscriptions on distant tombstones photographed from outer space. The technology hasn't yet advanced that far, but a new offering from Google Earth was released this week that shows just how close we are to that goal.

World War I Santa Barbara Soldier

A group of Santa Barbara, California volunteers are searching through census records and old directories in an attempt to identify a WWI soldier's remains found last year in Belgium. A wallet found on the body with the inscription "Central Bank Santa Barbara, Cal" is their motivation.

In Memoriam: Richard Dickenson

Dick Dickenson, Staten Island Borough Historian, passed away this week. Dick was known, respected, and loved by so many people in New York City's genealogical and historical communities. He was especially well known for his focus on the island's cemeteries and its black history.

Congressional Supporters Of NHPRC Issue "Dear Colleague" Letter

The co-chairs of the U.S. Congressional Humanities Caucus, Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA) and Rep. David Price (D-NC), have prepared a Dear Colleague letter in support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the grant-making arm of the National Archives and Records Administration that was "zeroed-out" in President Bush's FY 2007 budget. A "Dear Colleague" letter is the primary way that a member of Congress is able to communicate support for a federal agency program to the appropriations committee with jurisdiction over that program.

AjaxWrite

Would you like to try something new? It is a bit buggy, but this looks like the wave of the future. As such, you may be interested in experimenting with it now.

AjaxWrite is a free online word processor. By "online," I mean that you go to http://www.ajaxwrite.com and click on the icon to load the word processor program. A few seconds later, you are using a word processor in your Windows, Macintosh, or Linux computer that operates a lot like any other word processor. It even emulates Microsoft Word in many ways.

ProQuest Cuts Work Force

ProQuest is well known in the genealogy world as the provider of HeritageQuest Online, a large database containing images of original U.S. census records, Revolutionary War Pension Applications, Freedman's Bank records, more than 20,000 genealogy and local history books, and more. On Wednesday the company cut 40 to 50 of its Ann Arbor, Michigan-area employees, or about 5 percent of its local work force.

Missouri Death Certificate Project Now Online

The following is an announcement from Missouri Secretary of State Secretary of State Robin Carnahan's office:

Carnahan Provides Online Access to Over Two Million Death Certificates from 1910-1955

Jefferson City, Missouri -- Secretary of State Robin Carnahan announced that her office has unveiled a new, online death certificate database during an event at the St. Louis County Library Headquarters.

Family 1.2 for Macintosh

Family 1.2 was released on April 1, but this is no April Fool's joke. The program is a new Macintosh OS X genealogy program that features a very intuitive user interface and requires zero configuration. All information, including multimedia exhibits, etc., is contained in a single file.

Top Ten Greatest Moments in Genealogy

Chris Dunham is at it again. Here's the beginning of his latest list:

10. 4500 B.C. -- Genealogy is invented in Mesopotamia when a man asks his parents for their names.

9. Jan. 7, 1847 -- The premier issue of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register hits the newsstands, with handy tips for ridding your family of recent immigrants.

8. June 18, 1860 -- Illinois census taker Jabez Crowley is fired for writing too legibly.

Click here to read more

2010 Census to use Portable Computers and Wireless Data

The Harris Corporation has won a five-year, $600 million contract to update and automate the way the U.S. Census Bureau collects data. It's one of the largest contracts Harris won in recent years -- and the company's largest ever from the Census Bureau. The new contract will help revolutionize how census information is collected.

Witcher Named Fellow of Indiana Genealogical Society

At the 2006 Annual Conference of the Indiana Genealogical Society held in Austin, Indiana, on April 1, Curt Witcher, MLS, FUGA, of Fort Wayne, Indiana was named fellow of the Society. This is the first time in the Society's 16-year history that this award has been presented. Witcher was the founding president of the Indiana Genealogical Society for its first five years and continues to be active on many its committees.

The full announcement is available at http://announcements.eogn.com/2006/04/witcher_named_f.html

Related post: Witcher Named Fellow of Indiana Genealogical Society

2,500 Historical Books and Documents Online

A new web site in the British Isles offers online books and documents, many of which will be of interest to genealogists. The Original Record web site includes 2,500 historical books and documents containing more than 10 million entries relating to families in the British Isles and colonies. The interesting thing is that all this data has been hand-indexed by U.K. nationals who speak English as their native language. The indexes have not been computer generated by OCR (optical character recognition), nor are they generated "offshore" by people unfamiliar with British surnames and places in the manner that many other web sites use.