Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Ellis Island Approaches Centennial Of Record-Breaking Day

April 17, 1907 was a landmark day in American immigration and ancestry. On that single day, immigration officials stationed in the Port of New York processed 11,747 arrivals through the famed Ellis Island receiving station. In the century that has passed, that single day marks the culmination of a peak period for immigrant arrivals through the "Golden Door" to America.

You can find more information about 1907 immigration at: http://ellisisland.org/genealogy/1907.asp

Immigration “Factoids” can be found on: http://ellisisland.org/Eiinfo/Immigration_Factoids.asp

Here is a press release from the Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation concerning events to commemorate the day:

Roots Television Receives Major Overhaul

Roots Television has just announced a significant change to the web site, introducing 20 channels and RootsTube to allow folks to upload their own videos.  The site is also sponsoring a "Wild Roots!" contest. 

Here is the press release:

SHOW US YOUR ROOTS AND WIN $500!

Roots Television, LLC (www.rootstelevision.com) wants everyone to flaunt their roots!  Launched just a few months ago, this first-ever online home for family history programming boasts 20 channels of great shows for the roots-enthusiast – all available 24/7 and almost all for free.  And now viewers have the opportunity to submit their own video through the freshly introduced RootsTube channel and win $500!

Office Software for the Macintosh

By far, the most popular suite of office programs for Macintosh users is Microsoft Office 2004. This group of programs includes Microsoft Word, Excel, Project Center, PowerPoint, and a rather good e-mail program called Entourage. However, it is a bit "pricey" at $300 to $350.

Savvy Mac users all know that the $150 Office 2004 for Macintosh for Students and Teachers contains most of the same programs. Of course, that lower-priced suite of programs can only be legally licensed by full- or part-time students, home-schooled students, or full- or part-time faculty or staff of an accredited educational institution. I am sure that nobody would ever lie about their student or teacher status when registering this product, right? Nudge-nudge-wink-wink. Of course, that is illegal and immoral. Sadly, I hear of it happening often.

However, even $150 strikes me as being a bit expensive these days. Cheaper alternatives are available to all. In fact, why register something improperly when there are excellent free alternatives?

Genealogy Librarian News

Tom Kemp of GenealogyBank has launched a blog: Genealogy Librarian News. Tom reports that back in the late 90's he began an e-mail newsletter of the same name Genealogy Librarian News. He has decided that the time is now ripe to bring the newsletter back in a modern format: as a blog available both in a web browser and as an RSS data feed.

Extreme Genealogy: Secretly Obtaining DNA Evidence

The New York Times has a rather disturbing story about genealogy. It describes many people who surreptitiously obtain DNA samples in order to prove ancestry. According to the article by Amy Harmon, "They swab the cheeks of strangers and pluck hairs from corpses. They travel hundreds of miles to entice their suspects with an old photograph, or sometimes a free drink. Cooperation is preferred, but not necessarily required to achieve their ends."

One "genealogist" describes staking out a McDonald's. The man she believed was the last male descendant of her great-great-great grandfather's brother had refused to give her his DNA. So she decided to get it another way. "I was going to take his coffee cup out of the garbage can. I was willing to do whatever it took."

(+) Keep Two or More Computers in Sync

An EOGN reader recently posed the following dilemma:

I live in New Zealand 5 months a year and use my laptop.  Then when I move back to San Francisco, I use my desktop during the week and the laptop on weekends and trips. I can access my desktop and my assistant's desktop with www.gotomypc.com, which is part of my sanity.

But I have files on both computers and would like a way to have the same files on both computers.  I know Windows XP has Briefcase, but it looked limited.