Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Where Was the First Thanksgiving?

Where was the first Thanksgiving held in North America? If you guessed Plymouth, Massachusetts, guess again. In fact, that probably was not even the second or third Thanksgiving.

On April 30, 1598, Spanish nobleman Don Juan de Oñate and a group of settlers traveling northward from Zacatecas, Nueva España (now Mexico), reached the banks of El Rio Bravo (Rio Grande). The first recorded act of thanksgiving by colonizing Europeans on this continent occurred on that April day in 1598 in Nuevo Mexico, about 25 miles south of what is now El Paso, Texas.

Updates at Footnote.com

The folks at Footnote.com have made several improvements to the system today. The changes include:

A revamped viewer

It looks similar to the old viewer, but has an all new back end that is faster, smoother and does a better job with large images. It also allows everyone to get to existing connections or make connections in the viewer, share images (including all-access members sharing free access to premium images).  It also supports smaller monitors.

Improvements in the Gallery

The main addition here is the ability to rearrange items in the main gallery or in an individual collection.

Today's Newsletter is Sponsored by Footnote, Inc.

We’re Now Over 59 Million Documents! 

Did you know that Footnote.com has one of the best collections of City Directories on the web?

Featuring over 2 million pages, the City Directories Collection on Footnote.com has records dating back to 1785. Before phone books came into the picture, many cities and towns published directories of their residents. These valuable records often contain:

• The names of the husband and wife
• Occupation and name of employer
  
• Addresses
  
• and more.
  

On Footnote.com we add millions of new documents every month that are found nowhere else on the web.

Come visit Footnote.com - Where real history just might surprise you.

4th Annual Wholly Genes Genealogy Conference and Cruise for 2008

The following announcement was written by Wholly Genes, Inc.:

ANNOUNCING THE 4TH ANNUAL GENEALOGY CONFERENCE AND CRUISE
The largest family history conference on the seas.

Wholly Genes, Inc., of Columbia, Maryland, is proud to announce the 2008 Genealogy Conference and Cruise, October 26-November 2, 2008.  This extremely popular annual event has a reputation for its unrivaled speaker list, exceeding even that of most land-based family history conferences.  Like the three years before it, this is expected to be a sold-out event.

myfamily.com 2.0 Beta Adds Online Family Trees from Ancestry.com

The following announcement was written by The Generations network, the parent company of myfamily.com, ancestry.com and several other web sites:

Combination of Private Family Networking with Family Tree Building Provides Unrivaled Online Collaboration and Discovery

BELLEVUE, Wa., Nov. 19 -- myfamily.com, the leading private social networking service for families, today announced the launch of its Family Trees application through the integration of Ancestry.com's family tree service, enabling members to create and share family trees right in their myfamily.com sites.

Video: An Interview with Tony Burroughs

Tony Burroughs is an internationally known genealogist, and author, who teaches genealogy at Chicago State University. He is the author of Black Roots: A Beginners Guide to Tracing the African American Family Tree. He is also a Fellow of the Utah Genealogical Association (FUGA), appeared as a guest expert in the PBS series Oprah's Roots, as well as in African American Lives, Ancestors, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS News, ABC World New Tonight, BET Nightly News and The Real Family of Jesus on the Discovery Channel; and in the BBC Special Remembering Roots. He has also been quoted in Time Magazine, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, People, Ebony, and Jet Magazine. He is also well known as a nice guy.

Pickaway County (Ohio) Genealogical Library Seeks Renovation Funding

The Moore House at the corner of Court and Mound streets is a great piece of old architecture. But it doesn't make a good library. And so the Pickaway County Genealogical Library is moving a few blocks north to the former Circleville Herald building on Court Street.

The new building isn't ready to occupy yet and library volunteers have started to raise the $150,000 needed to move.

Report from the RootsMagic Cruise

As I write these words, we are in day #5 of a 7-day genealogy theme cruise sponsored by RootsMagic. The cruise is taking place on one of the largest and most modern of today's cruise ships, the Royal Caribbean's "Mariner of the Seas." We have already stopped at all the ports of call and are now headed back to Port Canaveral, Florida.

The genealogy group on board is a bit smaller than some of the other genealogy cruises this year but also has been one of the most enthusiastic. We have been holding seminars at sea about a wide variety of genealogy-related topics. In fact, most of the days spent at sea have seen three simultaneous genealogy presentations being made from 8:30 AM until 5:00 PM except for a lunch break. Soon after the last presentation of the day, all of the RootsMagic attendees usually dine together in the same area of the dining room. After dinner, I see the genealogists often gathering together in the lounges and elsewhere. Camaraderie seems to be high on this genealogy cruise, and everyone seems to be smiling.

Announcing AfricanDNA.com

The following announcement was written by AfricanDNA.com:

Innovative Partnership Offers African Americans Unprecedented Choices in Search for Roots

BOSTON -- AfricanDNA.com, the first company dedicated to offering both genetic testing and genealogical tracing services for African Americans, is being launched this month by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University, in partnership with the Inkwell Foundation and Family Tree DNA, the world’s leader in genetic genealogy. The precedent-setting site is the only company in the field of genetic genealogy that will provide African Americans with family tree research in addition to DNA testing.

Video: An Interview with John Grenham

John Grenham is perhaps the leading Irish genealogy researcher of today. As a consultant genealogist, he has worked for the Genealogical Office in Dublin and for the Irish Genealogical Project. He is also the author of the leading Irish genealogy reference book of today, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors.

I recently had a chance to talk with John for a bit and he graciously allowed a RootsTelevision.com film crew to videotape the conversation. You can watch the video on your computer if you click on the following link:
http://www.rootstelevision.com/players/player_irishroots.php?bctid=1305003694.

Call for Papers: "Keys to Ontario Research" Workshop

The following announcement will be of interest to many:

The Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society and the Canadiana Department of the North York Central Library will be co-hosting a one-day workshop on Ontario family and local history research on 23 February 2008. We are looking for speakers who would like to participate.

The theme "Keys to Ontario Research" will encompass lectures about broad record types, record repositories, geographic or historical background, and research methodology. A better understanding of the chosen topic should contribute to more effective Ontario research.

Create Your Own Project on Footnote.com

Footnote.com is one of the "up and coming" web sites for genealogists, historians, and many others. The site launched earlier this year and soon became well known as the source for millions of images of original historical documents, many of which had never been available online before. The available documents include Revolutionary War papers, Texas birth certificates, naturalization certificates from several areas of the country, Revolutionary War and Civil War pension applications, the Southern Claims Commission documents (a great source of genealogy information from the post-Civil War American south), and much, much more. In fact, Footnote.com presently has more than 20 million original documents online and is adding another 2 million documents every month.

As valuable as these documents are for genealogists and historians, the availability of such information is only one part of Footnote's many services. In fact, if you are only using the site to look for documents, you may be missing one of the most valuable services available to you today.

Newberry Library Launches Interactive Online Map for Genealogists

The following announcement was written by the Newberry Library:

ChicagoAncestors.org developed for local historians and genealogists to share knowledge and resources

CHICAGO (November 13, 2007) - The Newberry Library announced today a new interactive, map-based Web site for genealogists and Chicago historians - ChicagoAncestors.org. Developed by staff from the Local and Family History department at the Newberry, this online map makes searching and sharing historical information easier than before.

(+) Recording Interviews the Easy Way

Interviewing older relatives is a time honored and very effective method of learning more about your family tree. I well remember interviewing my 93-year-old great aunt a few months before she passed away. She was the last surviving family member of my grandparents' generation. Her mind seemed to be as sharp as it had been in her youth. She remembered nearly everything she had done or seen in the past ninety years or so. She told me stories and "family gossip" about my great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents, and other relatives that I could never find any other way. Such stories are not recorded in census records, military records, or even in a town clerk's ledger.

WorldVitalRecords.com Introduces Scanning Service

WorldVitalRecords.com announced today a new genealogical service to preserve photos, documents, videos and slides. The following announcement was written by WorldVitalRecords.com:

Provo, UT - November 12, 2007 -- WorldVitalRecords.com announced today a new genealogical service to preserve photos, documents, videos and slides.

"The idea behind our Preservation Package was to provide a much broader dimension into helping people preserve their family legacy. With thousands of printed photographs and old videos that can become damaged or deteriorate, it only made sense for us to offer a service that allowed people to convert their items to a digital format. It has never been easier nor more cost effective to do that than today," said Scott Spencer, Call Center Manager, WorldVitalRecords.com. "Customers can experience the piece of mind knowing their precious memories are safe and secure. Best of all, they can share them with family and friends quickly and easily, anywhere, any time, online through FamilyLink.com."

On the Road For a Bit Longer

My travels continue and I must admit that I am enjoying myself. I spent the last week basking in the sunshine in Fort Lauderdale. Now I am about to jump on a cruise ship.

I'll spend next week on board Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas, along with many other genealogists. This cruise is sponsored by RootsMagic, the popular genealogy software for Windows. The cruise will depart Port Canaveral and make stops in St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Cococay, Bahamas. The ship returns to Port Canaveral at the end of the one-week cruise.

Like most genealogy cruises, the RootsMagic cruise combines genealogy classes at sea, daytime excursions in exotic ports, and luxurious accommodations at all times.

(+) Favorite Image Viewer

Every Windows user I know collects a bunch of small utilities and other programs to perform various functions over and over. This week I have been looking at hundreds of digital photographs that I have snapped in the past few weeks, and I would be lost without my favorite file viewer. I quickly displays images as well as plays audio files. I have used this program for years. Every time I purchase a new Windows computer, this is one of the first programs I install on it.

Macintosh Upgrade to OS X Leopard: Great Backups

This week I upgraded my MacBook to Apple's newest operating system, called Leopard. It was a typical Apple experience: it just worked. Everything proceeded as expected. I'll upgrade my desktop Mac when I return home in another week and a half.

Much has been written on various web sites about the new improvements in Leopard, so I won't repeat them all here. If you are interested in the new features, look at http://www.apple.com.

There is one new feature, however, that all genealogists should notice. It is the automatic backup software, called the Time Machine.

2008 Genealogy Seminar at Sea

The popularity of genealogy cruises keeps exploding. That's no surprise, as cruises are educational as well as a lot of fun. Even better, family members who are not "into" genealogy can have fun on a cruise as well.

Announcements for next year's cruises are now starting to appear. Fly Away Travel has just released the following announcement:

Fly Away Travel is currently taking reservations for their Genealogy Seminar at Sea, sailing October 25th to November 1st, 2008.

The Seminar at Sea will be hosted on board Royal Caribbean's brand new, unparalleled, Liberty of the Seas, which will be sailing to the tropical Eastern Caribbean islands of Puerto Rico, St. Maarten & Royal Caribbean's private paradise of Labadee.

BCG Announces Two New Emeritus

The following was written by the Board for Certification of Genealogists:

In the 43 years of BCG's history, nearly 2,000 genealogists have earned certification, but only twelve have earned the Emeritus status that is granted to retired or semi-retired certificants who have had a long and distinguished career with BCG. Two distinguished certificants have been added to the list: Jeanne Hand Henry, CG, and Joy Reisinger, CG.