The DAILY genealogy technology newsletter for genealogy
consumers, packed with straight talk - hold the sugar coating - whether
the vendors like it or not!
This has nothing to do with genealogy, but it is a great story. Perhaps you will enjoy it as much as I did.
Thieves recently stole an Apple laptop from Kait Duplaga, who works at the Apple store in the Westchester, New York, mall and thus knows how to use all Macintosh bells and whistles. What the thieves did not know is that Kait has remote control software installed on the laptop so that she can access it from any other Macintosh. She can sit at any other Macintosh computer, connect to the laptop across the Internet (wherever it is located), enter a user name and password, and then operate her laptop just as if she was typing directly on its keyboard.
The thief apparently connected the stolen laptop to an Internet connection and started surfing the Web. Kait sat at her home, using another Macintosh, and connected to the stolen laptop that apparently was now in use by the thief. She was able to see what the thief was seeing, and she watched as the thief went from web site to web site. Everything that appeared on the stolen laptop's screen also appeared on Kait's desktop screen.
Are you a frequent user of Footnote.com? Or are you interested in learning more about the site? Will you be at the NGS conference this week in Kansas City?
The Footnote.com team is looking to hear from people that use Footnote. As the Footnote.com blog states:
Every time we go to these events, we meet with great people that give us straight talk about Footnote.com; the good, the bad, and the ugly.
If you write a genealogy newsletter or other genealogy-related publication, you already know how difficult it is to constantly find new information to write about. I thought I would take this opportunity to remind you that you may use information from this newsletter in your publication.
I do copyright this newsletter, but then I grant rights to others to republish the articles with some minor restrictions:
The International Tracing Service’s archives have now been opened for the public after more than 60 years.
For genealogists of Jewish families, tracing the 6 million Jewish victims that disappeared without a trace has been a challenge. More than 50 million documents are held at the International Tracing Service (ITS) at Bad Arolsen, Germany. For years, this archive has collected documents to help trace what happened to family members.
The following announcement was written by Footnote.com:
FOOTNOTE.COM ADDS TO ITS LEADING CIVIL WAR COLLECTION BY LAUNCHING THE FIRST-EVER INTERACTIVE 1860 US CENSUS
Footnote.com’s innovative tools enable members to enrich the census records by adding photos, comments, and related documents to names featured on the records.
Lindon, UT – Today, Footnote.com announced the addition of the 1860 US Census to their Civil War Collection. As the largest online collection of original Civil War documents, this new addition to Footnote.com provides a snapshot of America before the bloodiest war in its history.
The 1860 US Census reveals many details about individuals at that time. What was their occupation? Where were they born? What was their marital status? Did they attend school? Could they read or write? Was your ancestor insane, idiotic, or a convict? The 1860 US Census will let you know.
Roots Television now has a short introductory video that was filmed at last weekend's conference in London, England. This 81-second video gives a very quick introduction to the show with quick shots of the various exhibits.
You can watch the video at http://www.RootsTelevision.com. More videos from the same conference will become available in the near future.
Congressmen Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Chris Cannon (R-UT) have issued a “dear colleagues” letter to the members of the House of Representatives, inviting them to sign on as original sponsors to the “Preserving the American Historical Record” (PAHR) bill.
PAHR proposed to increase federal support for state and local archival records held by government agencies, historical societies, libraries, and related organizations. This initiative would establish a program of formula-based grants to states for re-grants and statewide services to support preservations and use of historical records. The program, to be administered by the National Archives, will provide a total of $50 million per year nationwide. Each state would receive a portion of these funds for redistribution to organizations within its borders. This program would be in addition to the existing national grants program within the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Tom Kemp wrote in his blog the first genealogy published in America appeared in a newspaper 284 years ago - today – May 7, 1724. It appeared in the American Weekly Mercury. It was a genealogy of King Philip V of Spain. Genealogy articles routinely appeared in colonial newspapers.
The Catholic News Service has published an article about new Vatican orders to not cooperate with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the microfilming of records. The Vatican wishes to block posthumous rebaptisms by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a practice that Catholics, Jews, and some others find objectionable.
Catholic dioceses throughout the world have been directed by the Vatican not to give information in parish registers to the Mormons' Genealogical Society of Utah.
Ninety-nine percent of the businesses that sell products and services to genealogists are legitimate companies that work hard at supplying the best products possible. This article will focus on the other 1%.
It seems that scam artists have been around forever in the world of genealogy. They existed centuries ago, and they exist today. I have written about a number of them in past newsletters, and you may encounter still more such scams if you use any modern Internet search engine.
As a convenience for newsletter readers, I am compiling a list of alleged genealogy scams. In short, this list will be updated as often as necessary and will contain the name and web site of each company that reportedly delivers less than what they advertise to the genealogy marketplace. Whenever possible, the listing will include a link to other web pages where the reader may find further details. These are the web sites and e-mail messages that generate the majority of messages that I receive from concerned newsletter readers.
The 2010 U.S. census was supposed to have been conducted by enumerators (census takers) who were carrying handheld computers. The high-tech equipment got scrubbed, as described in my earlier "'A Lack of Effective Communication Adds $3 Billion to U.S. Census Cost” article at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/04/2010-us-census.html.
All such equipment requires type approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The manufacturer of the handheld computers recently submitted a prototype for approval, even though the project has been scrubbed. I am guessing that the manufacturer still seeks approval so that similar computers can be sold for other projects.
I attended a great genealogy/history/heritage/archaeology conference this past weekend with more than 15,000 attendees. I have been to the same conference in the past, as well as to other genealogy conferences that attracted 2,000 to 4,000 attendees. All the larger events were held in England. Returning to the United States, I see conferences ranging from a few hundred to perhaps 1,800 attendees, all held by organizers who would like to attract many more people.
When I compare the U.S. events to those held in England, I am struck by the fact that there is not a lot of difference in the amount of effort required of the organizers. Attracting 1,000 attendees appears to require about as much work as attracting 15,000. The conference organizers in England simply do things a bit differently, and the result attracts larger crowds. Indeed, I believe the events held in the United States could grow in size to compete with the British conferences.
There’s no doubt that the documents most frequently used by American genealogists are the United States federal population census records. The federal census population schedules are the milestones by which we track our ancestors’ locations between 1790 and 1930. And for the early census years when some states’ and counties’ records are missing or lost, and the 1890 census for which less than 1% of the schedules survived, there are any number of other document types that can be used as partial substitutes.
There are, however, more census records than just the federal population schedules, and these documents can tell you a great deal in addition to the data on the population documents. You need to know just what does exist and where to locate those resources.
The following announcement was written by FamilySearch, a nonprofit organization sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:
FamilySearch Teams with Findmypast.com to Increase Online Access to British Historical Records
Retired servicemen and merchant seamen records are first projects
SALT LAKE CITY-FamilySearch announced today it is working with the UK family history Web site www.findmypast.com and The National Archives of the United Kingdom to increase access to select British historical records. The first major projects will provide access to millions of names of deceased British soldiers and seamen from eighteenth to twentieth century.
Findmypast.com and FamilySearch were recently awarded licenses by The National Archives to digitize and make available both the Chelsea Pensioners retired soldiers records between 1760 and 1914, and the Merchant Seamen's collection of records dating from 1835 to 1941.
If you have been reading this newsletter for the past couple of days, you know that I have been reporting from the "Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE!" event in London, England. Today was the third and final day of this exposition, and I have just returned to my hotel room. I'm exhausted, so I know that it must have been a successful event!
The final day was essentially a repeat of the first two. The crowds were a bit reduced today compared to Saturday although bigger than Friday's numbers. I never obtained a final count of the attendees as a few last-minute folks were still arriving when I was leaving. However, the crowds appeared to be significantly bigger than last year's report of nearly 13,000 people. I'm guessing the total attendance at this year's event was well over 15,000 paid admissions, perhaps 17,000 or more. I'll report the final numbers when I hear them. Whatever the final count, this has to be considered a successful show and one for others to emulate.
Hello again from London. Today was the second day of the three-day genealogy/history/heritage conference held at the Olympia Exhibition Hall. The doors opened at 10 AM and, like yesterday, I approached the building at 9:55 AM. This time there was one major difference from yesterday: the queue of people waiting to get in was at least five times as long as yesterday's line! It went from the front entrance, up the street, around the corner and then stretched back for another long block on the next street. What’s more, the queue also stretched for some distance in the opposite direction. I never did see the end of the second queue; I have no idea how long it was.
I went for coffee.
Some time later I returned and was able to walk in into the exhibition hall without waiting. The place was already mobbed.
Hello from London! Today I had an opportunity to attend the “Who Do You Think You Are? Live” exhibition held in Kensington. This is the second year of this huge show, and I believe it is the largest genealogy/history/heritage show in the world.
I arrived at the exhibition hall a few minutes before the 10:00 AM opening and found a long line of people patiently waiting to get in. I went for coffee rather than wait in line. I returned about twenty minutes later and found the queue had disappeared, the doors were open, and the show was underway. I already had a ticket, so I walked straight in.
Thieves recently stole an Apple laptop from Kait Duplaga, who works at the Apple store in the Westchester, New York, mall and thus knows how to use all Macintosh bells and whistles. What the thieves did not know is that Kait has remote control software installed on the laptop so that she can access it from any other Macintosh. She can sit at any other Macintosh computer, connect to the laptop across the Internet (wherever it is located), enter a user name and password, and then operate her laptop just as if she was typing directly on its keyboard.
Recent Comments