Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

NYG&B To Sell Its Building

The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society (NYG&B) plans to sell the society's headquarters building in Manhattan. The Society management and the Board of Directors have approved the sale, and the action now goes to the membership for an approval vote, to be held October 12. The Society has been in the building at 122 East 58th Street since 1929.

Genealogist Finds Oldest Living Former Professional Baseball Player

Baseball fan and genealogist David Lambert, the Online Genealogist at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, recently discovered a living professional baseball player who is now 110 years old. The problem was that no other baseball historians knew he existed. David did some research in records that genealogists often use: the World War I Draft Registration. Sure enough, there he was, and everything seemed to match. David then used other records to trace the man's life, right up to today

Silas "Si" Simmons will turn 111 on October 14 and is believed by the Society of American Baseball Research to be the oldest former professional player. Simmons pitched for the New York Lincoln Giants of the Eastern Colored League in 1926. He would become the new standard-bearer for the oldest former players, breaking the mark of Chet Hoff, who was 107 when he died in 1998.

1861 England and Wales Census now available on The Origins Network

The following is an announcement written by the Origins Network:

Origins Network is pleased to announce the 1861 England and Wales Census, powered by 1837online*, is now available on British Origins www.britishorigins.com

For the same subscription price, users now have access to over 20 million extra names and online images including famous names such as Florence Nightingale living in Westminster and Charles Darwin.

My Parents Are Obsessed With Genealogy

The following is from Cary Tennis' column on Salon.com:

Why would healthy adults who are barely in their 60s become so attached to the past?

My parents are obsessed with dead people.

No, not ghosts. Genealogy.

In Memoriam: Ryan Taylor

Ryan Taylor, genealogical librarian at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, took a trip to Toronto. A body found in the Niagara River on Monday morning has been tentatively identified as that of Ryan Taylor. He went missing from his hotel room in Toronto on Sunday. He had been in Toronto for the taping of his television show, Ancestors in the Attic.

Introducing RootsBooks.com

I am delighted to announce the newest addition to this suite of web sites: RootsBooks.com. This new site is an online genealogy bookstore.

RootsBooks.com is opening with an inventory of more than 2,500 books, most of which cover topics related to genealogy, heritage, DNA, heraldry, or royalty. You can find a section for each state in the U.S. plus other sections for Canada, the British Isles, Australia, and New Zealand. In addition, the online store also offers genealogy software, CD-ROM data disks, and genealogy society memberships. You can also see or purchase computer hardware that has been mentioned in past articles in this newsletter.

Computer Guru's Tools Unearth Families' Roots

The personal computer has become one of humanity's common threads, saving and storing all of our current pertinent information, while genealogy is our never-wavering link to the past. One man who works in both of these past and present mediums is Stephen Morse.

New PERSI Release for Local History and Genealogy Research

The following is an announcement written by ProQuest:

Ann Arbor, MI – September 29, 2006.  ProQuest Information and Learning and Allen County Public Library (Ft. Wayne, IN) add another milestone in their longstanding alliance with the release of a significant amount of new data in the Periodical Source Index (PERSI).  With this update, PERSI now contains nearly 2 million citations from over 6,500 periodicals published in the United States, Canada, and abroad. The new release includes indexing for over 235,000 articles from 2004 and 2005.  No other index covers periodical research in local history and genealogy as extensively as PERSI.

(+) Recording the Locations of Your Family Photographs

When going through a box of old photographs or viewing the latest digital pictures on your computer, did you ever ask, “I wonder where this photograph was taken?” Now a free software tool can record the exact location of every digital picture in your collection. This includes old family photographs that you have scanned as well as new pictures that you or someone else takes with a digital camera.

Footnote.com to Sponsor Event at Northern Utah Family History Symposium

On September 24, I wrote about the upcoming Northern Utah Family History Symposium. The event now appears to gathering steam and sponsors. The following is an announcement from Footnote.com:

It's Official: NARA Announces Reduced Hours

As reported in this newsletter several weeks ago, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) proposed to reduce the number of hours the agency's research facilities are open to the public. More than 11,000 genealogists "electronically signed" a petition asking for reconsideration. That petition was delivered on September 9. Click here for details. The Office of Management and Budget apparently received a final listing of 530 letters and 2 signed petitions, including ours.

The petition apparently had an effect although not as much as we had hoped. The National Archives is still reducing its weekly hours, but the agency will be open longer hours once a month. NARA also cut the times of the document retrievals. Now it will be 10 and 11 AM and 1:30 and 2:30 PM.

In short, the National Archives is reducing its services significantly.

Here is the full announcement:

The British Genealogist's Library

I don't recall ever seeing a "book of book reviews" before. However, I saw one just this week and can report that it is impressive. The British Genealogist's Library is billed as "collected book and media reviews from the BIGWILL newsletter appropriate for anyone searching for ancestors in England, Scotland, Ireland, or Wales, or their descendants throughout the world."

Request to Support passage of HR 5216

The following is an announcement written by AfriGeneas:

Support passage of HR 5216 -- the Preservation of Records of Servitude, Emancipation, and Post-Civil War Reconstruction Act of 2006

AfriGeneas needs you to act quickly to guarantee passage of HR 5216 -- the Preservation of Records of Servitude, Emancipation, and Post-Civil War Reconstruction Act of 2006 by calling the leaders of the House of Representatives.

The Smallest Backup Device?

I always keep backup copies of my genealogy information and other information that is important to me. As I have mentioned before, computer failure is the biggest risk to your data. I often receive e-mails from newsletter readers saying, "I lost my genealogy data when my computer crashed. What can I do now?"

The only answer is to "go to your backup copy." Sadly, many people do not have such a copy. The reasons for lack of backups are many, but all reasons produce the same results: your hard work is in imminent danger of being lost.

Of course, it is easy to protect all your information by making backup copies of critical data. What keeps people from taking this important step? Time? Expense? Inconvenience? Storage space? Well, I'm glad to report that technology is eliminating the excuses. This week I purchased a new backup device, smaller than anything I have used before. Much smaller.

Eneclann Announces Genealogy Essay Competition

The following announcement was written by Eneclann:

Why is your Family History  Important to You?

Do you enjoy researching your family history? Have you discovered anything surprising, unusual or unexpected during your research?  What has the experience of finding out who your family were and how they lived meant to you?

If your family history is something that is important to you why not write it down and submit it to Eneclann's  Genealogy Essay Competition.

Ancestry.com Adds Major U.S. Newspaper Birth, Marriage and Death Announcements

The following is an announcement written by Ancestry.com:

PROVO, Utah, Sept. 25  -- Ancestry.com, the world's largest online family history source, today announced the addition of an extensive new collection of birth, marriage and death notices and announcements to its database.  Spanning from 1851 to 2003, these vital record announcements feature more than 30 million names obtained from eight major U.S. newspapers in ProQuest® Information and Learning's digital newspaper collection --ProQuest Historical Newspapers.  This collection leverages the long-standing partnership between MyFamily.com, the parent company for Ancestry.com, and ProQuest, a world leader in the collection and distribution of information to researchers, faculty and students in libraries and schools.

Northern Utah Genealogy Conference & Symposium

The Northern Utah Genealogy Conference & Symposium looks like it will be a significant event. More than seventy classes and seminars are being squeezed into two fun-filled days. Several of the leading genealogy vendors will also be exhibiting their latest products and services.

The conference and symposium will be held on October 6 and 7, 2006, at the Eccles Conference Center in Ogden, Utah, about 40 miles north of Salt Lake City. It is sponsored by the Ogden Regional Family History Center and My Ancestors Found. 

Ellis Island's Little Orphan Annie Has Been Found

I wrote on July 17 about Megan Smolenyak's efforts to answer the question of "whatever happened to Annie?"

The Annie in question wasn't an orphan in the usual sense, but she is in a genealogical sense because her true story had been lost. Annie Moore was the first immigrant to land at Ellis Island and the first to be listed in the rolls when the Immigration Center opened. She arrived from Ireland with her brothers, Anthony and Phillip, on January 1, 1892. She was greeted with much fanfare and a $10 gold coin. It seems that she soon disappeared into America's melting pot. A bronze statue of Annie Moore has since been erected on Ellis Island for millions of visitors to see every year.

New $8 Million Genealogy Center in Independence, Missouri

Is it just me, or are we really seeing a major growth in genealogy libraries? This week I wrote about the new genealogy library about to open in Logan, Utah. On September 1, I wrote about the new Connor-Bishop Historical Resource Center that will open in a few months in the Portland, Oregon, area. (Click here for details.)

Now the Mid-Continent Public Library of Independence, Missouri, is planning to spend $8 million for a brand-new, world-class genealogy center on 6.5 acres of land that the library recently purchased. Construction is expected to start in May and should be completed in the spring of 2008.

104 Years of British Phone Books Launch Online

The following is a press release written by Ancestry.co.uk:

Ancestry.co.uk and BT Launch British Phone Books, 1880-1984 Online

Ancestry.co.uk in association with BT today launched online the British phone books, 1880-1984 - the contents of BT’s historical phone book collection.

The first records to be launched are the phone books for Greater London, which reveal many fascinating insights into the social history of the past hundred years.