Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

California Woman Uses RootsWeb to Commit Identity Theft

Federal prosecutors this week charged a Southern California woman with aggravated identity theft and other crimes for allegedly using a popular genealogy research website to locate people who had recently died, and then taking over their credit cards.

Tracy June Kirkland, 42, allegedly used Rootsweb.com to find the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of people who, shall we say, had no further need for their consumer credit lines. She then "would randomly call various credit card companies to determine if the deceased individual had an … account," according to the 15-count indictment filed in federal court in Los Angeles Tuesday.

Utah State Archives Posts Prisoner Pardon Application Case Files Online

The following announcement was written by the State of Utah's Division of Archives and Records Service: 

Digital images of thousands of applications from Utah prisoners to the Utah Board of Pardons have been posted online by the Utah State Archives and Records Service.

The Board of Pardon’s Prisoner’s Application Case Files, 1892-1949, is the newest addition to the Archives’ Digital Collections. The series include 8,772 case files.

Bloodlines of Salem

David Nelson has created a very attractive as well as interesting web site about the Salem Witch Trials. David writes:

Bloodlines of Salem is the place where visitors share ideas and information about the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, its participants and their families. Many of us have researched and proved our descents from one or more of the participants. The trials unfolded more than three centuries ago and continue to figure prominently in the studies of history, law and religion. As amateur and professional Salemologists, however, our study of the trials isn't limited to our lineages. While the facts about our infamous ancestors might be the focus of our work, it's the celebration of their memories and mysteries that continue to fascinate new generations of their families and the public. We welcome you to explore with us.

Mesa, Arizona Family History Expo Call for Papers

The following announcement was written by My Ancestors Found:

“Cyber Exchange 101”
Call for Papers
Mesa Convention Center
263 North Center Street, Mesa, Arizona
November 14-15, 2008

My Ancestors Found issues this call for papers to those interested in being a Speaker at our upcoming conference to be held at the Mesa Convention Center.

Presentation submission deadline is April 30, 2008.

(+) Preserving Old Documents Electronically

Old documents often are fragile. Simply handling them can damage the documents or speed their deterioration; so, one must avoid frequent handling. This can be difficult in the case of family heirlooms since many people may want to see them. Equally challenging is the difficulty of sharing those old documents with people who cannot easily travel to the location where the documents and photographs are stored. Even if you could count on those people returning them, the thought of sending irreplaceable original documents in the mail would give a genealogist the willies!

Luckily, within the past decade technology advances have reduced many of these difficulties. It is now possible to reproduce and even improve the appearance of old documents and photographs. Multiple copies are easy to make, and electronic copies can be put on CD-ROM disks, on Web sites, and even in e-mail messages. Best of all, these tasks can be done at home, using modestly-priced hardware and software. In fact, making electronic improvements and photocopies often can be done for prices that rival or beat older methods.

View Your Ancestors' Tax Returns Online

It seems appropriate that Ancestry.com chose April 15 to announce a new online database: U.S. federal income tax records. As part of an agreement in which the company paid $46,000 to the National Archives in Washington, Ancestry.com has digitized and indexed federal income tax records from 1862 through 1918.

37 Million Historical French–Canadian Names Online: Drouin Collection

The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com:

346 years of Quebec vital records searchable online for the first time – largest collection

Ancestry.ca, Canada’s leading family history website, has announced the online launch of the fully searchable indexes for the historic Drouin Collection, which contains Quebec records spanning 346 years from 1621 to 1967.

Starting with 29 million names for the years 1850 to 1967, the indexes will include 37 million names in baptism, marriage and burial records, and also a compilation of church records from Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and various New England states, when complete in mid-2008.

University of Maine Yearbooks on the Web

The Fogler Library at the University of Maine in Orono has digitized the school's Prism yearbooks for 1895 through 1997.

Issues of The Prism vary in content and layout, but seniors are always highlighted. Individual photographs of seniors are arranged in alphabetical order by last name (within each college), and accompanied by information about hometown, major, and fraternity or sorority. Some books also contain photos of members of other classes. The older yearbooks did not contain photographs of individual students, however. Most of them do contain pictures of an entire class, as well as pictures of the athletic teams, the drama club, and more. Also included are sections on the faculty and administration, campus organizations, athletic teams, Greek societies, and events.

The pages of each yearbook are available as PDF files. Every page that I saw was crystal clear and was easy to read. I found it easy to view the images on both a Macintosh and on Windows. (Windows users will need to download Adobe Acrobat or a similar PDF viewer program.) PDF files often have the PRINT function disabled. However, I found that I could print the pages of The Prism on my local printer without any problems.

Man Finds Civil War Grave in Rubble

After years of searching, a Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, man has located the lost gravesite of his great-great-uncle, Lt. Col. Ephraim Anderson, who served in the Civil War. Anderson has been described as a forgotten soldier from the Union Army.

David Cheslock said he and his wife, Donna, learned last weekend that the burial site was in Hanover, Maryland, not far from the BWI Airport. They spent some time to find the exact location, using great detective and genealogical investigation techniques.

(+) “Assessing a Bible” by George G. Morgan

The family Bible can be an important source of information to your genealogical research. Among the so-called “home sources” that you seek out, it can be a great compendium of recorded information. There is always the question of whether the information recorded in a Bible is reliable or not. Most professional genealogists will warn you against placing too much weight on the entries you find there. There is no real way to tell precisely when an event was recorded or by whom. Someone may have transcribed information from another Bible or other source documents, or the person may have entered all of the data at one time. As a result, there may be transcription errors or lapses of memory that may cause names to be misspelled, first and middle names to be reversed, and dates to be misremembered and off by days, months, and even years.

Some of the Greatest Tombstone Art in North America

As a genealogist, I have visited many cemeteries. Some people see them as depressing places, full of doom and death. I disagree. For me, a visit to a cemetery is similar to a trip to a park. They vary in details, but the better ones are places of beauty and everlasting memorials that celebrate the lives of now deceased individuals. You can find many beautiful cemeteries, and some of them contain very artistic tombstones, testifying to the artistic skills of the people who converted stones into works of art.

A small town in central Vermont is the home of one of the most unusual and artistic cemeteries I have ever seen. It is almost impossible to stop and admire only one work of art; everywhere you turn in this cemetery, you see four or six or eight works of art, all simultaneously vying for your attention.

The tombstones in this one cemetery are among the most creative to be found anywhere. You can find traditional tombstones with angels, willow trees, and even busts or full-size statues of the deceased. What amazes me even more, you can also find tombstones made in the shape of race cars, barnstormer airplanes, a window, a cat, open books, and one cube-shaped tombstone that seems to balance eternally on one point, looking like a child’s wooden block that has suddenly been spun on one corner.

I recently visited the cemetery and snapped hundreds of digital photographs. I extracted 56 of my best photographs and uploaded them to this newsletter’s web site.

National Archives Cuts Back on Web Site Archiving

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is coming under fire for discontinuing its policy of taking a "digital snapshot" of all federal agency and congressional public Web sites at the end of congressional and presidential terms.

NARA, which until this year had collected "harvests" of federal Web sites at the end of presidential and congressional terms, said in a recent memo that it would discontinue the practice at the end of George W. Bush's presidency.

(+) How to Install a Second Monitor the Easy Way

Did you know that your computer can have two or more monitors connected simultaneously? You can display different data on each, essentially expanding your available screen space to the combined size of both monitors. For instance, I like to have my favorite genealogy program display my family tree on one monitor while I use the second monitor to search various genealogy sites. I can display each program in a larger window, comparing search results against my existing data at a glance. At other times I’ll keep an eye on my incoming e-mail messages on one monitor while working on a word processing document or genealogy on another.

Indeed, you can have multiple windows open on each monitor to run three, four, or more simultaneous programs with each displaying data on whichever monitor you choose. All this can be done on one computer. Anyone who has ever had the experience of using multiple monitors for a few days will agree that they hate to "go back" to using a single monitor. The extra screen space is a great experience.

Wholly Genes Genealogy Conference and Cruise Line-Up Announced

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

Wholly Genes, Inc., of Columbia, Maryland, is proud to announce the lecture series for the 4th annual Genealogy Conference and Cruise, October 26-November 2, 2008, the largest genealogy conference on the seas.

This year's star-studded lineup of twelve speakers is perhaps the most impressive in the history of this popular event.  An amazing range of genealogical topics will be presented, including U.S., UK, and Irish resources, land records, Civil War records, Revolutionary War records, pension records, DNA, mapping tools and other online resources, as well as expert methodology and problem-solving techniques.  More than 400 people are expected to attend this event which has sold out in each of the previous years because of the quality of the speakers and the surprisingly low cost.  In fact, it is already more than half sold out even though the lectures were not previously announced and it is more than 6 months away.

Down Under: the Flying Zacchinis

Roots Television has a new episode that features a search for the tombstone of Ildebrando Zacchini, the founder of the first "Human Cannon Ball Act," and his wife. If you have ever searched a cemetery for a particular tombstone, you know what this search felt like!

George Morgan and Drew Smith not only found the tombstone, they also pieced the family together by using genealogy techniques. You can watch to see how they did this research. This video provides an insight into a fascinating part of American history.

Herbert K. Zearfoss, R.I.P.

Herbert K. Zearfoss was traveling by train to the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania when he died suddenly. He will be long remembered for his passions for genealogy and for patriotic hereditary societies. He held leadership positions in the Philadelphia chapter of the Netherlands Society; the state Colonial Society; the General Society of the War of 1812; the Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati; the Pennsylvania Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States; the Society of Colonial Wars; the Huguenot Society; the Sons of the Revolution and its color guard; and the Welcome Society.

Mr. Zearfoss was an inspirational leader of organizations such as the Boy Scouts, which honored him with the Silver Beaver Award, and the Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum, of which he was treasurer.

Jacquelyn Ladd Ricker, R.I.P.

Tom Kemp has sent the sad news about Jacquelyn Ladd Ricker's passing. Tom writes:

Long time office manager of the Connecticut Society of Genealogists has passed away.

A prolific genealogist and writer - she was a long time presence in Connecticut genealogical circles. She is best known for her multi-volume re-publication of the Barbour Index to Connecticut Vital Records which was also issued as a CD-ROM under the title: The Ricker Compilation of Vital Records of Early Connecticut Based on the Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records and Other Statistical Sources (Genealogical Publishing, Co.)

See her obituary on my blog post: http://blog.genealogybank.com/

Ford, NBC News and Ancestry.com Partner for "Meeting David Wilson"

The following announcement was written by Ford Motor Company:

DEARBORN, MI.– On the heels of Ford's announcement of the sponsorship of "Meeting David Wilson," the remarkable and inspiring story of a young man's reconciliation with his ancestor's history as slaves, Ford has partnered with Ancestry.com for a special promotion that offers the chance for consumers to discover the keys to their family history. The promotion will kick off on Friday, April 11, following the world premiere of "Meeting David Wilson" at 9 p.m. EST on MSNBC.

Ford's promotion with Ancestry.com will provide visitors to its website fordurban.com/ancestry, the chance to receive one of 1,000 prizes, including DNA Testing Kits and memberships to the Ancestry.com site. The promotion will run for 10 weeks.

World's Oldest Recording

Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877. For years the phonograph cylinder recordings of Handel's choral music made at The Crystal Palace in London on June 29, 1888, were thought to be the oldest known surviving musical recordings. However, scientists have now played the sounds of a French folk song that was "recorded" in 1860, long before Edison ever conceived the phonograph.

Potentially Fraudulent Sites Posing as Genealogy Websites

Writing in the Ancestry.com blog, Mike Ward is warning other genealogists of fraudulent web sites posing as genealogy sites. These sites take your credit card information and provide little in return.

Mike writes: