Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

(+) Calculating Birth Dates from Death Date Information

What day was that ancestor born? It seems like such a simple question, and yet finding the answer can be surprisingly complex, even when you have the numbers in front of you. Exact dates are often found in death certificates and frequently on tombstones. The problem is that these are often written as death dates followed by the person's age at death.

Here is a common example:

Here lies the body of John Smith,
Died August 3, 1904,
Aged 79 years, 9 months, 29 days

How do you tell John Smith's date of birth? You obviously need to subtract 79 years and 9 months and 29 days from the date of death. Simple, right? Well, not as simple as it first appears.

Texas Gives County Clerks Reprieve on Privacy Law

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott this morning issued a letter that allows county clerks statewide to release public documents with private information on them, such as Social Security numbers.

Abbott earlier had issued an opinion on a law passed in 2005 that directed clerks to black out Social Security numbers before releasing copies of documents to the public. Abbott said that, indeed, Social Security numbers are private and warned that clerks who did not redact private information could face jail time and a fine.

Dunne Sounds Caution on New Zealand Marriage Legislation

The following is a press release issued by the United Future NZ (Political) Party:

Thursday, 1 March 2007

Dunne Sounds Caution On New Births, Deaths And Marriages Legislation

United Future leader Peter Dunne is sounding a caution about new legislation on the registration of births, deaths and marriages.

The legislation, which is having its first reading in Parliament, introduces more controls over access to births, deaths and marriages records to prevent the fraudulent misuse of such information.

Mr Dunne says that while United Future supports the intent of the legislation, and will be voting for it to go to a select committee, it is concerned that it could have an adverse impact on legitimate genealogical and historical research.

Comments about the NARA Proposal to Increase Fees

WARNING: This article contains personal opinions.

I've been thinking a bit about the article posted here yesterday about the National Archives and Records Administration's proposal to increase fees. To be sure, I reacted negatively to the news at first. So did many other people who posted comments to the end of the article on the newsletter's web site.

The more I think about it, I wonder if perhaps the personnel at the National Archives have the right idea. In fact, maybe all of us should follow their example.

Here are a few thoughts:

ProQuest CSA Obituaries: A Happy Ending

I love happy endings. ProQuest CSA recently sent this story about a user's success with the company's online obituaries database. Obviously, this story is a bit self-serving for ProQuest CSA, but there is another moral here, too: don't look in the same places where everyone else looks. When stumped, get creative and trying looking in places you had not thought of earlier.

The following is an unsolicited letter received by ProQuest CSA from Carol Anderson, Adult Services Librarian from the Leesburg (Florida) Public Library, about a record she helped one of her patrons find:

Rev. Al Sharpton Wants a DNA Test

This is a follow-up to the Slavery Links Sharpton and Thurmond Families article that I published on February 25. See http://tinyurl.com/2uameq for the original story. Now Reverend Sharpton says he wants a DNA test to determine whether he is related to former segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond through his great-grandfather, a slave owned by an ancestor of the late senator.

"I can't find out anything more shocking than I've already learned," Sharpton told the Daily News, which on Sunday reported the link based on genealogists' findings.

NARA Proposes Major Fee Increases for Photocopies

Warning to all U.S. genealogists! Two rules published in the Federal Register on Monday, February 26, 2007, relate to fees for reproductions of records at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). On page 8327 is a proposed rule revising fees for reproductions to cover NARA's costs for providing copies.  On page 8279 is an interim final rule removing from the fee schedule fees for the reproduction of records of other Federal agencies stored in NARA records centers.

The proposals are written in the finest governmental "legalese" language. However, it is obvious that the proposal is to INCREASE all fees. No surprise there, right? The item that leaps off the page of this proposal, however, is the plan to increase the price of providing copies of Civil War pension applications:  a whopping 338% increase!

The proposals are written in the finest governmental "legalese" language. However, it is obvious that the proposal is to INCREASE all fees. No surprise there, right?

Here is the list:

Problems with Google Book Searches from Outside the U.S.

Google Book Search is a fantastic tool for genealogists. Thousands of genealogy and local history books are available on Google Books. In many cases, you can download entire books free of charge. The books are stored as PDF files on your computer's hard drive, where you can view them time and time again. You can also print entire books or short excerpts on your own printer.

I am delighted with Google Books as I have found and downloaded several books that mention my ancestors, including one 999-page book on my family name. Until recently, I was able to purchase reprint copies of that book on paper for $139.00. I now have the same book stored on my hard drive, free of charge.

Burst Pipe Damages Lexington, Kentucky, Public Library Collection

A broken pipe has drenched books and offices at the Lexington, Kentucky, Public Library on East Main Street. Old books, newspapers, and vinyl records in the library's third-floor Kentucky Room, some of them irreplaceable, have been seriously damaged. However, the staff is hopeful about salvage efforts.

"That collection is probably worth as much as the building is," said Greg Davis, the library's marketing director.

Library spokesman Doug Tattershall said it was too early to estimate the damages or restoration costs - or to even tell how many items got wet. The library has insurance, he said.

UK Genealogy Skypecasts Announced

Robert Dalgleish in Scotland has announced that he will be holding a U.K. Genealogy Skypecast on Saturday, the third of March. Anyone and everyone with U.K. ancestry is invited to join in. Conversation will be limited to topics concerning genealogy research in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.

Skypecasts are very similar to telephone conference calls with one exception: there is no telephone. A Skypecast is a free conference call service provided by Skype. A moderator sets up the call in advance. In this case, the moderator will be Robert Dalgleish.

Family Atlas

RootsMagic, Inc. recently released a mapping program for genealogists, called "Family Atlas." I had a chance to use this Windows mapping program this week and must say that I am impressed with it.

Note: Macintosh owners might want to read my "Family Atlas for Macintosh Users" article that appears immediately after this one.

Family Atlas has a dynamic mapping engine. In this case, the word "dynamic" means that you can zoom in and out, scroll, and move the map as you wish. As you do so, the map displayed on your screen constantly rebuilds itself to display fresh information. You are not scrolling around a fixed or "static" map; all information is displayed dynamically as needed.

Family Atlas for Macintosh Users

Macintosh owners might read today's article on Family Atlas software for Windows and wonder, "Why can't someone create a program like that for the Macintosh?" You might be surprised to learn that I wrote that article while running Family Atlas on my MacBook. In fact, I have never run Family Atlas on a standard Windows computer; I only have it installed on a Macintosh laptop. I wrote the article in NeoOffice (a Macintosh word processor) while simultaneously running Family Atlas (a Windows program) in another window.

The entire process is rather simple for anyone using a Macintosh computer with an Intel processor and OS X.4.6 or later. You need two more things: (1.) Parallels software and (2.) a copy of Windows.

Free Gmail for Anyone Who Wants It

If you are unhappy with your present e-mail provider, I suggest that you read this article closely. If your present e-mail address is provided by your Internet provider (Verizon, Comcast, Charter, or whomever you pay for cable, DSL, or dial-up service), you will also probably want to read this article. If your present e-mail provider is deleting legitimate e-mail messages in their so-called "spam filters," you will want to read this article. If your present e-mail provider deletes old messages, this article will describe a better service that is designed to store old messages. If your in-box is full and you cannot store any more messages, this article also will be of interest to you.

Gmail is a free mail service provided by Google. Most people who have compared the various free e-mail services (Gmail, Yahoo, MSN Hotmail, AIM Mail, etc.) agree that Gmail outshines all the rest. It offers the best spam filtering service of all, much better than even most of the "for-pay" mail services. For instance, it works much, much better than AOL Mail.

Slavery Links Sharpton and Thurmond Families

In a revelation that will stun the nation, the Rev. Al Sharpton, one of America's most powerful black leaders, has unearthed a shattering family secret - his ancestors were slaves owned by relatives of the late South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond.

It is an ironic twist of fate that inexorably links one of the most vocal civil rights activists and an icon of Deep South segregation.

Castle Garden Site is Offline

The Castle Garden web site at http://www.castlegarden.org appears to be offline for unknown reasons. At least, the reasons are unknown to me. Does anyone else know why?

This has been a valuable resource for many genealogists. You can read my earlier review of the site at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2005/08/castle_garden_d.html.

A Better Way to Search for People?

Peter Wood wrote this week and offered a suggestion that I have not seen before. He described a better method of searching for people on RootsWeb, Ancestry.com, or even on Google and other search engines. Peter finds that adding one more letter onto the end of the name improves the number of correct "hits" and reduces the number of "false hits."

Peter writes:

Searching for people that cannot be found in the "usual" locations such as Roots or Ancestry?

Search for Descendants of 30 signers of Flushing Remonstrance

The following announcement was written by the Bowne House Historical Society:

Freedom of Religion in America to be Celebrated: A Call for the Descendants of the Signers of the Flushing Remonstrance, Peter Stuyvesant, Too

On December 27, 1657, thirty townspeople of Flushing, Queens signed a "remonstrance" addressed to Peter Stuyvesant, the director general of the Dutch colony, New Netherland.  The two-page letter, set down by a local cleric, protested Stuyvesant's ban on the rights of Quakers to assemble and worship in the colony.  Significantly, it further demanded that all people-regardless of religion or ethnic background-be given "free egresse and regresse unto our Town, and houses, as God shall persuade our consciences."

Freed Slave's Story Uncovered by Owner's Descendant

While Leona W. Martin's forebears were fighting for the British during the Revolutionary War, the freed slave that genealogist David Lambert counts as an adopted ancestor was performing heroically for the patriots at Bunker Hill.

For that, Salem Poor was honored in 1975 with his image on a 10-cent postage stamp. Details of Poor's life after the Revolution -- his troubled marriage, his death as a pauper -- were unknown, however, until Lambert pieced them together over the past decade.

WWI Soldiers' Records Go Online

Service and pension records for more than two million soldiers who fought in the British army in World War I are being put online for the first time. The documents provide a broad range of detail, from name and next of kin to wounds suffered and conduct record.

Sadly, this record set does not contain information about all the five million soldiers from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland who fought in World War I. It seems that about 60% of the service records were destroyed in a German bombing raid in 1940. The surviving records, many badly damaged and known as the "burnt documents", were conserved by the National Archives and filmed.

The pension record details for about 100,000 soldiers are the first to go online. These relate to some of those men discharged on account of sickness or injuries sustained and include the medical records relating to the disability for which a pension was granted.

Update: Encyclopedia of Genealogy

This newsletter sponsors the Encyclopedia of Genealogy, a free online service. While I'm the person who created the "shell" of this new service, much of the information within it is written by newsletter readers like you.

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: