Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Dick Eastman Joins Familybuilder Advisory Board

At last! I can now talk and write about this. I am delighted to accept a position on the Advisory Board of Familybuilder™, a software company that builds genealogy and family-oriented applications for online social networks. The company’s flagship product, Family Tree, is the first genealogy application to be introduced on Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, and Hi5.

I suspect that most genealogists have not yet heard of Familybuilder. In fact, I had not heard of the company a few months ago. However, when I discovered this online service, I was impressed. I believe that social networking sites will be the "next big thing" in online genealogy. I am delighted to have a small role in guiding that growth.

Important Announcement for Genealogist Enthusiasts on Facebook

The following was written by FamilyBuilder:

Recently, activities from individuals seeking to explore and expand their family genealogy on Facebook have been met with negative reactions from Facebook corporate and have had their Facebook accounts suspended.

The latest incident involved Rodrigo Sepúlveda Schulz who was accused of breaching Facebook's Terms of Service by apparently emailing his family members found on Facebook, and directing them to a third-party web site outside Facebook.com.   You can read about this incident on Rodrigo's blog:  http://rodrigo.typepad.com/english/2008/04/facebook-has-di.html.  There is also a growing reaction to this incident on Twitter from Robert Scoble, also once suspended by Facebook, among others.

DNA Links 17 Living People to Man Found in Glacier

Here's a fascinating family tree! Scientists have found a direct link between the frozen remains of a man found in a glacier in northern British Columbia, Canada and 17 people living in British Columbia, Yukon and Alaska. The news came at a symposium in Victoria this past weekend, focusiang on Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi', an aboriginal man whose remains were found in 1999 by hunters in Tatshenshini-Alsek Park, which is in the traditional territory of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations.

Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi' means Long Ago Person Found, and he's believed to have died some time between the years 1670 and 1850. His remains were revealed after a glacier started to recede.

Since the discovery, scientists have been studying all facets of the man, including his clothes, tools, migratory patterns, even the contents of his stomach. But it's the DNA link to living people that has created the biggest stir.

Hebert’s Careful Louisiana Work to be Preserved

Writing in the 2theadvocate.com web site, Damon Veach has penned a glowing tribute to the late Rev. Donald J. Hebert. Hebert was an outstanding genealogical preservationist. He is responsible for the publication of many records about the southwest Louisiana area, especially Catholic Church records.

Old Bailey Files Are Now Online

Files never before available to the public are now online. Transcripts of 210,000 trials from across four centuries are now available.

The site is the largest single source of searchable information about everyday British lives and behavior ever published, said co-director Professor Tim Hitchcock. 'Besides the desperate drama of crimes punished, the proceedings give us a new and remarkable access to the everyday. History is full of information about kings and queens and wars, but there isn't much that tells us about the everyday life of ordinary people.'

The web site contains the transcripts of every trial heard at the Old Bailey from 1674 to 1913, a total of more than 210,000 criminal trials. Sadly, it includes the biographical details of around 3,000 men and women executed at Tyburn.

(+) “Demystifying the Family Stories” by George G. Morgan

“Pass it down!” You remember that phrase from your early school years. Someone would hand you a note and ask you to pass it to another person so that it finally reached the addressee at the end of the row of students. That was a reasonably reliable communication system unless, of course, the teacher caught on and intercepted the message. If the message was delivered, at least it contained the original words. Another way of communicating with fellow students was by passing a spoken (or whispered) message down the line. This method is fraught with problems because, as everyone who has ever played the game of “Telephone” knows, the message has been altered by multiple repetitions. Sometimes the end product is nothing like the original.

The family stories and traditions that have been passed down to us through the generations are also susceptible to changes through their having been communicated from person to person. Every family has stories that have been embellished and whose details may have been “stretched”. What do you know to be true and what do you doubt? Some research is needed if you are to ferret out the truth, and then it is possible that you may never find the answers you seek. Let me share some of my family’s myths with you.

On the Road Again, This Time to London

I am headed out again this week. This time it is for an international trip. I will attend the annual Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE! show in London, England. The name of that show is a mouthful, so I'll abbreviate it as WDYTYAL.

I was at this show last year and was impressed to see nearly 15,000 genealogists and history buffs at one three-day event. In fact, you can see the video that I created (with a lot of assistance from Roots Television) at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/05/national_histor.html. This year's show promises to be bigger and probably better.

Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE! is sponsored by Ancestry.co.uk and is also supported by The Times Archive. It will be held May 2nd through 4th in the Grand Hall, Olympia, Kensington.

(+) Storing Data For the Next 1,000 Years

I have written before about the issues that genealogists, historians, and others face when trying to save information for hundreds of years. Floppy disks, CD-ROM disks, hard drives and most other technologies have a life expectancy of twenty-five years or so. USB jump drives probably won't even last that long. The paper most of us use today contains acids and probably will not last 100 years. Even worse, the laser toner and the inkjet inks in common use today will fade long before the passage of 100 years; so, our descendants may inherit blank pieces of paper.

Even microfilm will be unusable within a few years. To be sure, the films will last up to 300 years or so if they are never used (scratched). However, manufacturers of microfilm readers and cameras are now disappearing. You probably will not be able to purchase microfilm equipment 25 years from now.

The Care and Feeding of Flash Drives

It's official: the floppy drive is dead. Dell and a plethora of other PC manufacturers have simply stopped including floppy disk drives, thanks in no small part to the smaller, lighter, and faster USB flash drive that can carry over 1,000 times the standard 3.5" floppy.

In a recent conversation with a newsletter subscriber, I casually mentioned flash drives. These devices are also known as jump drives, thumb drives, USB drives, and probably a few other names as well. The subscriber mentioned that she had purchased a flash drive but didn't know how to use it. This article is for her and probably for a lot of other people who also have not yet used one of these great devices. I am also including information about programs and advanced uses that may be news even for experienced flash drive users.

First of all, flash drives/jump drives/thumb drives are not drives at all. So much for accuracy in naming! These pocket-sized devices contain a tiny circuit board, some amount of flash memory, and some supporting electronics. Flash memory is noted for its storage capabilities; when you turn the power off, the stored data does not disappear. It has been saved in the flash memory. You later can re-apply power and all the data will still be available, identical to what it was when the power was turned off.

Reginald Washington on Roots Television

Reginald Washington is an archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. He is also a well-known expert on African American genealogy and the author of several books as well as a popular speaker on the lecture circuit. Megan Smolenyak had a chance to talk with him at the recent Mid-Atlantic African American Genealogy Conference, held in New Jersey. Roots Television was able to videotape the conversation and make it available to everyone on the Internet.

That's My Family - A Canadian Genealogy Search Engine

A new search tool searches genealogy and family history databases hosted by Canadian federal, provincial or territorial archives centres and libraries, as well as those of several commercial partners. "That's My Family," or "Voici Ma Famille," is free of charge and available in both French and English. It was launched and is maintained by Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) with support from Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and the Council of Provincial and Territorial Archivists (CPTA) of Canada.

"That's My Family" hosts no data of its own. It is a search engine, similar to Google, that indexes data found on other sites. The difference is that "That's My Family" looks only at Canadian sites that contain genealogy information. As such, it can save you a lot of time; you do not have to search each site individually.

APG to Conduct Roundtable on Open Records Access

The following announcement was written by the Association of Professional Genealogists:

WESTMINSTER, Colo. – The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) will conduct a roundtable on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 during the National Genealogical Society Conference at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri.  The topic of the roundtable, which will be moderated by David Rencher, CG, AG, is Into the Future with the Records Preservation and Access Committee. The roundtable will be held from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm in the Chouteau A&B rooms.

Computer Program Reveals Anyone's Ancestry

Imagine being adopted, with no understanding of your cultural or genetic background. You don’t know your heritage or what diseases you are genetically predisposed to. Most of us have some idea about the roots of our family tree, but little understanding of what those lower branches mean in terms of our predisposition to a host of diseases and ailments.

Now, a group of computer scientists, mathematicians, and biologists from around the world have developed a computer algorithm that can quickly trace an individual’s genetic ancestry with only a small sample of their DNA. In fact, the program can trace the genetic ancestry of thousands of individuals in minutes, without any prior knowledge of their background.

A Guide to Genealogical Research at the Louisiana State Archives

If you’ve ever wanted to research your family history at the Louisiana State Archives, you’ll want to check out the latest publication by Le Comité des Archives de la Louisiane. A Guide to Genealogical Research at the Louisiana State Archives will help you navigate through the multitude of genealogical collections at this facility.

This long-needed book was compiled by Judy Riffel, a professional genealogist who has been a regular researcher at the State Archives since the building opened in 1987. Her years of experience are evident in this well-organized and easy-to-follow guide.

A Better Method of Printing the Conference Syllabus

As I was packing for the trip home after attending a recent genealogy conference in St. George, Utah, I was reminded of one thing: the syllabus is published on a CD-ROM instead of on paper. What a great idea!

I’m told that the BYU Technology conference does the same thing: publish the syllabus on CD-ROM instead of paper. Most other conferences I know of still publish on paper, an expensive and bulky process. That’s not too mention “old fashioned.” Dare I say “obsolete?”

Besides genealogy events, I frequently attend various conferences and conventions dedicated to various other topics: ham radio operators, private pilots, VOIP telephony, and more. All of them switched their syllabi to CD-ROM years ago. Nobody publishes on paper these days – except for a number of genealogy conferences.

(+) “More than Just a Will” by George G. Morgan

I’m making a new will. This is, I think, the sixth will I’ve drawn up in my lifetime. As I grow older and my circumstances change, I realize that leaving a valid will accomplishes several things. First and foremost, it expresses my wishes for the legal disposition of the contents of my estate and of my physical remains. Second, it provides guidance for the probate court and for an administrator or executor in performing the duties associated with my stated wishes. Finally, a will provides the beginning of a paper trail that can be researched by other people – including genealogists.

The probate process in most places in the United States is based on the laws we inherited from our English ancestors. Centuries ago, a will and a testament were two separate documents. One addressed the disposition of real property (land and property) while the other focused on matters concerning an individual’s body and his or her personal property. Over time, however, the two documents were combined into the single “last will and testament” used by most people today. Certainly there are other documentary instruments for managing the disposition and distribution of estates. A codicil is a document that alters the directions of an existing will without having to go through a complete rewriting of that document. Another special example is a trust which, when properly drawn up and funded, does not die when the creator dies. A trust allows a trustee to take over management of the trust’s components without the trouble and expense of going to court for the appointment of a conservator if the testator becomes disabled. It also avoids the probate process and facilitates a trustee to immediately take over all management of the trust, payment of bills, and distribution of the assets indefinitely until the trust is dissolved (if ever).

BCG to Co-Sponsor Skillbuilding Lectures at NGS Conference in the States

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

The Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) is pleased to co-sponsor with the National Genealogical Society (NGS) a series of skill-building lectures to be presented at the NGS Conference in the States, Kansas City, Missouri, May 14-17, 2008. These seventeen lectures include topics to help both beginner and experienced genealogists improve their research and writing skills.

Commentary About Social Security Numbers in the SSDI

Note: This article contains personal opinions.

This week's news about a woman fraudulently using Social Security numbers of deceased individuals got me thinking. This woman allegedly used the publicly available records on RootsWeb.com to locate people who had recently died. She then took over their credit cards, submitting changes to the mailing addresses for the deceased victims to one of her many rented mail drops and, in some cases, she'd add her own name as an authorized user of the card.

After the story was released, I read comments from several people stating that they shouldn't release Social Security numbers of deceased people. I have read many similar comments in times past. I have one comment:

WRONG!

In fact, releasing Social Security numbers in the SSDI is one of the most powerful identity theft prevention tools available today! Let’s use the data wisely to prevent identity theft.

Using the Social Security Death Records

The Social Security Administration's Death Index (SSDI) can be a boon to beginning genealogists. The Social Security number is the most valuable piece of information when seeking a number of other documents. It is essential for ordering paper copies of original death records, obituaries, and more. The SSDI is the first step in obtaining this information. If you can only trace your U.S. ancestry back to your grandparents or possibly great-grandparents, the Social Security Administration can help you find where they were born, the names of their parents, and more. The SSDI can be especially helpful for those researching immigrants as the data often shows where the individual was born in "the old country."

The Master Genealogist version 7.01

Wholly Genes Software has released an update to the powerful program, The Master Genealogist. The following is an excerpt from the free Wholly Genes Newsletter. (To subscribe to the newsletter, go to http://www.whollygenes.com/newsletter.htm.)

The Master Genealogist v7.01.0000 is now available. This free update adds a few new features and fixes a variety of issues that were brought to our attention by users.

NEW FEATURES