The DAILY genealogy technology newsletter for genealogy
consumers, packed with straight talk - hold the sugar coating - whether
the vendors like it or not!
Ancestry.co.uk has posted 3 million names of slaves held across the British Empire in the early 19th century, putting hundreds of thousands of pages of searchable information online to help slaves' descendants research their past. The project uses registers that the British government created between 1813 and 1834 in an effort to stamp out the slave trade by ensuring plantation owners did not buy new slaves. Britain abolished the trade in 1807. Slavery itself was outlawed in the colonies 17 years later.
Information from about 700 registers from 23 British territories and dependencies include Information available on these records includes: name of owner, parish of residence, name, gender, age, and nationality of slave.
Genealogy Cruises continue to grow in popularity. Genealogists enjoy software presentations, "how to" courses, demonstrations of the latest genealogy techniques, good food, gorgeous scenery, and adventurous shore excursions. What could be better?
One of the best-known cruises is sponsored by RootsMagic. Here is an excerpt from the current RootsMagic newsletter:
One of the most interesting ways to learn successful genealogical research methods and to discover information about different record types is by studying a case study. If you are like thousands of researchers, you may just be thinking, “Why should I bother? That’s someone else’s family.” Well, you’re passing up a golden opportunity. I used to skim over (or past) case studies in genealogy quarterlies and magazines, thinking that they were overly detailed personal research stories. They were, but not in the way that I thought. Every case study tells a story not unlike that of our own family. After all, didn’t some our ancestors live in the same time period? Weren’t identical or similar records created for them? And the author of the case study experienced the frustration and joy of an interesting research process.
UPDATE: See the comments posted by Lee White of the National Coalition for History. You can read his words in the comments section that follows this article.
The California Genealogical Society is now taking reservations for a spring Book Repair Workshop to be held on Wednesday morning, April 30, 2008. The popular class, taught by Book Repair Committee Chairman, Bill O'Neil, will be limited to ten enrollees. The fee is $15.00 for materials.
Jana Sloan Broglin is a Certified Genealogist with an interesting way of looking at history. One of her specialties is focusing on those "other people" in the family tree. You know the ones: those who were not fine, upstanding pillars of the community. We all have such people in our family trees although perhaps our older relatives didn't mention them when we were growing up. Jana suggests that these scoundrels also deserve to be remembered, and I think she is right.
Jana has now published two books, entitled "Hookers, Crooks, and Kooks," Parts 1 and 2. These are the first two of what is promised to be a series of books. Here are the announcements of these new books:
I am experimenting with a new "widget." In the menus to the right, you will see a new section labeled "Popular Pages Today." It shows which pages (articles) in this newsletter have been read the most in the past few hours.
I am not yet sure if this new section is a good idea or a bad one. Your comments are invited.
WASHINGTON, April 3, 2008 -- The following announcement was written by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA):
WHAT: The National Archives will host its fourth annual Genealogy Fair. This year's program will highlight Federal records located at the National Archives relating to general genealogy, World War I, and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Sessions will offer guidance on topics including Civil War pension files, Freedmen's Bureau marriage records, World War I draft registration records, and New Deal publications. National Archives staff will demonstrate how to use databases including the Archival Research Catalog (ARC) and Access to Archival Databases (AAD). The fair will provide information and guidance for experienced genealogy professionals and novices alike. This event is free and open to the public. For a schedule of lectures and demonstrations, see: http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/know-your-records/genealogy-fair.
WHEN: Wednesday, April 23, 2008, 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
The National Archives and Records Administration published a proposed rule in the Federal Register on April 4, 2008, to amend its regulations on public use of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, for meetings or special events.
Comments on this rule will be accepted through June 3.
There are many genealogy and history conferences, exhibits, and fairs held all over the world each year. However, my favorite is held in London every May. Where else can you see 12,000 to 15,000 genealogists and history buffs gathered in one location?
Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE, sponsored by Ancestry.co.uk and supported by The Times Archive, will be held from 2-4 May 2008 in the Grand Hall, Olympia, London. Last year's event was its debut although it did replace a smaller event normally held on the same weekend in earlier years and sponsored by the Society of Genealogists. Last year's event attracted “only” 12,500 genealogists and history enthusiasts; this year's event is expected to be significantly larger.
The organizers of Who Do You Think You Are? Live! have kindly agreed to offer a bargain to readers of this newsletter: two admission tickets for just slightly more than the price of one.
Tickets for this event in London normally cost £18.00 per day (£20.00 if purchased at the door). However, readers of this newsletter may purchase TWO tickets for only £20.00!
I have written several times about the upcoming 2010 U.S. census, to be conducted as required by the U.S. Constitution. In the April 05, 2006, newsletter, I wrote about the planned use of handheld computers to "help revolutionize how census information is collected." I also wrote, "For the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau plans to use automated systems to quickly capture information from interviews. That is designed to reduce the need for paper-based processing, improve efficiency and accuracy, and reduce costs."
Today the Census Bureau performed an about-face. Handheld computers are out, paper is in. And âreduced costs?â Well, hardly...
The following announcement was written by Familybuilder:
-- Launches Family Tree Application on MySpace --
New York, NY -- April 3, 2008 -- New York City-based Familybuilder™, the fastest growing genealogy application on the Internet, today announced its members have created over 10 million family tree profiles within its Family Tree application on Facebook and Bebo. The company also announces it has launched its popular Family Tree application on MySpace, enabling MySpace members the ability to easily build and access their family trees online. Familybuilder now maintains presence on all the top social networks on the Internet.
Familybuilder is fast becoming the Internet's favorite social tool for people interested in genealogy and family history. Unlike stand-alone online genealogy services, Familybuilder is positioned to leverage the social graphs of multiple online social networks at once to help people find and communicate with relatives, build family trees, preserve family history, track family activity and more.
The following announcement was written by FindMyPast.com:
Leading UK family history website findmypast.com has completed its project to scan and index the complete set of outbound passenger lists for long-distance voyages from all British ports between 1890 and 1960.
Working in association with The National Archives of the United Kingdom, the project took a team of 125 people over a year to scan in the 1.1 million full colour individual pages - some handwritten, some typed. In total 24 million passengers are recorded travelling between these dates. Their reasons for travelling varied from emigration to diplomatic missions, to business trips or purely for pleasure.
Did you ever think that perhaps some of your ancestors helped build Stonehenge? Maybe they dragged the rocks for many miles or helped set those rocks vertically on the Salisbury plains. I suspect that most everyone with English ancestry is descended from some of the people who built Stonehenge, although there is no way (yet) to prove that. Perhaps a future DNA study on any exhumed bodies might prove a connection but that’s not possible with today’s technology. A new archaeological dig may turn up some other interesting evidence, however.
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