Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

MacGenealogist.com

Ben Sayer has created an interesting a web site for genealogists and family historians who prefer to work on Apple's Macintosh computers. Some of his recent articles include: Secrets to Restoring Family Photos with iPhoto, How to Name Files that Contain a Misspelled Name, A Better Way to Locate Unconnected People in iFamily for Leopard, and What is a Screencast and How Can I Use One?

Increase or Decrease Web Page Text Size

Are you having difficulty reading this web page? or any web page? Many people do not realize how simple it is to increase and decrease the display sizes of web pages. Here's how you can easily zoom in (magnify), zoom out, and reset the zoom level back to its default condition in seconds:

The End of Lloyd Bockstruck's Newspaper Column?

For years, Lloyd Bockstruck written a genealogy column in The Dallas (Texas) Morning News. Thousands of people read his column every time it is published. Now the newspaper has decided to discontinue Lloyd's column.

A number of people are organizing a "write to the editor" campaign to force the newspaper to re-evaluate its decision. If you have an opinion about this column, please contact:

(+) Your Infamous Ancestors by George G. Morgan

Would you rather be related to a U.S. President, a king or queen, or to some other famous person? If you go back far enough, you may very well find some direct or collateral link to someone famous. However, it is also possible, if not probable, that you are related to a more infamous individual, such as a bank robber, a murderer, or some other less illustrious personage.

Call for Papers: 2009 BYU Conference

The following announcement was written by the organizers of the 2009 Brigham Young University Computerized Genealogy Conference:

Call for Papers
2009 BYU Conference on Computerized family History and Genealogy
(http://familyhistoryconferences.byu.edu)

Lecture proposals are now being accepted for the 2009 Brigham Young University Computerized Genealogy Conference, which will be held Friday, 13 March, and Saturday, 14 March 2009, at the Conference Center, BYU campus, Provo, Utah. Each lecture period will be 60 minutes, including questions and answers.

On This Day in History: New Yorker Becomes First U.S. Pedestrian Killed by Car

Technology is a wonderful thing... sometimes. Perhaps we should all take a moment today to pause and remember the death of Henry Bliss, the first pedestrian known to be killed by an automobile in North America.

On this day (September 13) in 1899, Mr. Bliss stepped off a streetcar at West 74th Street and Central Park West and into the path of an oncoming electric taxicab.

My Ancestors Found Call for Papers

The following announcement was written by My Ancestors Found:

FAMILY HISTORY EXPOS
LEARN THE TECH TO TRACE YOUR ROOTS
CALL FOR PAPERS

My Ancestors Found issues this call for papers to those interested in being a Presenter at one of our upcoming Family History Expos to be held in 2009.

No Highway Robbery at the Mesa, Arizona Conference

I recently wrote an article complaining about the high costs of attending some of the national genealogical conferences: hotel rooms of more than $150 a night, $43 a day for parking, $10 a day for Internet access, and admission to the conference itself which nowadays can exceed $200. Judging by the comments posted at the end of the article at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/09/highway-robbery.html, many people agree with me.

My next scheduled genealogy conference will be at the Family History Expo 2008 to be held November 14th-15th in Mesa, Arizona, and the “highway robbery” described in my earlier article does not apply here.

Generations Network Clarifies FamilySearch Indexing versus Ancestry’s World Archives

Two volunteer indexing projects are underway now: FamilySearch Indexing has been in operation for more than a year while last week The Generations Network announced Ancestry’s World Archives. Quite a bit of confusion has been voiced since last week's announcement.

FamilySearch issued a clarification yesterday to clear some of the confusion. Today, a senior manager at The Generations Network has written a loosely similar document to show that company's viewpoint. Taken together, the two documents should clear the confusion.

The following was written by The Generations Network, owners of Ancestry.com:

French Canadian Genealogical Society is Robbed

A burglary was interrupted in progress at about 6 p.m. Tuesday at St. Michael's College, Colchester, Vermont, when a staff member of the French Canadian Genealogical Society walked in to the society's office in Dupont Hall. According to police, the suspect calmly walked past the staffer and left the building in an unknown direction. It was later determined that entry had been forced and that a small amount of cash had been taken.

Today's Graffiti May Be Tomorrow's History

Be careful what you leave behind. Future historians may study your activities in great detail.

Case in point: The Tonoloway Primitive Baptist Church in southern Fulton County, Pennsylvania, is very close to the Mason-Dixon Line. As a result, the area saw a lot of action during the Civil War. General “Stonewall” Jackson’s Confederate troops threatened to cross the Potomac River at nearby Hancock, Maryland, in January 1862. The brick church became one of four locations in the area that were used for hospitals by the Union Army.

Footnote Pages Take Social Networking into the Past

Let's call it "Obituary 2.0."

Footnote introduced a new service this afternoon at the prestigious TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco. The new service is called “Footnote Pages.”

The TechCrunch50 2008 Conference is a leading platform where early-stage companies show their services based purely on merit, without regard to their own financial resources. This annual conference is one of the leading places to display the latest products and services from a company. What makes this so special is that you cannot buy your way onto that stage, where millions are watching the broadcast. In fact, the appearance at TechCrunch50 is free. However, your products are allowed there only if you first convince a panel of judges that your product is worthwhile and unique. The selection process is tough: this year, more than 900 companies applied, but only 50 were selected. Footnote was one of the 50.

The TechCrunch50 conference was broadcast live via streaming video on the web, and I had a chance to watch Footnote CEO Russ Wilding's presentation as he was delivering it 3,000 miles away.

Video Interview of Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak

At the recent Federation of Genealogical Societies, I had a chance to talk with Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, a well-known DNA and genealogy expert. First of all, I had to ask her about her double name, sometimes called "Smolenyak squared."

In this conversation, Megan discussed the Unclaimed Persons project that she started and now has more than 300 volunteers participating. She also described a recent Ancestry Magazine article she wrote, called "King Me." Had history been different, who would be King (or Queen) of America today? Megan gives the answer in this video.

FamilySearch Clarifies FamilySearch Indexing versus Ancestry’s World Archives

I have written a number of times about FamilySearch's Indexing project. It has been underway for more than a year with more than 100,000 involved volunteers who are presently indexing more than one million records per day.

At the FGS conference last week, The Generations Network/Ancestry.com announced a very similar project. In fact, the new project appears to be almost identical to the FamilySearch Indexing project. You can read the original announcement at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/09/ancestrycom-and.html as well as my reaction at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/09/report-from-the.html. Tim Sullivan, CEO of The Generations Network, also talked about it briefly in a video that is available at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/09/a-video-intervi.html.

In the days since the latest announcement, the genealogy community has had a lot of "buzz" with conversations and comments about the two seemingly competitive projects.

Video Interview of Brian Donovan, CEO of Eneclann

At the recent FGS conference in Philadelphia, I had a chance to talk with Brian Donovan. His company in Dublin, Ireland is the largest producer of Irish records and historical information for genealogists.

In this interview, Brian also talks about his expertise in American politics. He and his company researched the Irish ancestry of Barack Obama back to the 1600s. In this interview, Brian talked a bit about Obama's ancestors, their occupations and their lifestyles through the years. (Hint: Obama's Irish ancestors were also involved in politics.)

Free Social Security Death Index Now Available from GenealogyBank

The following announcement was written by GenealogyBank:

Providing the Genealogy Community a Comprehensive, Up-To-Date Resource Essential
for Family History Research

September 10, 2008 (NAPLES, FL) – GenealogyBank, a leading provider of historical and recent newspapers for family history research, announced today that the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) will now be offered free of charge at GenealogyBank.com.

A Video Interview of Melinde Lutz Sanborn, FASG

I recently had a chance to talk with Melinde Lutz Sanborn, FASG, about being a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists, about a new genealogy certificate program available through Boston University, and about next year’s New England Regional Genealogical Conference (NERGC). Luckily, a camera crew from Roots Television videotaped our conversation and you can watch it now on your computer.

Did you know that the American Society of Genealogists is the most exclusive organization in genealogy? Did you know about a new certificate program being offered at Boston University? You can learn about these topics and more at http://rootstelevision.com/players/player_conferences.php?bctid=1781124502.

FGS 2008 Conference: The Video

I've written about last week's annual conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies' Conference. Now you can see the video. I suspect you'll see something in this video that you have never seen before at a genealogy conference.

You can watch my introduction to the 2008 FGS conference on Roots Television at http://rootstelevision.com/players/player_conferences.php?bctid=1780578449

A Video Interview with Tim Sullivan of The Generations Network

At the recent annual conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, I had a chance to talk with Tim Sullivan, CEO of The Generations Network. His company operates Ancestry.com, Ancestry.co.uk, Ancestry.ca, MyFamily.com, and a number of other web sites around the world. The company also produces Family Tree Maker genealogy software for Windows. Tim and I had a rather wide-ranging conversation about several of the company's new products and services. He also described in detail the new World Archives Project launched in partnership with the Federation of Genealogical Societies.

You can watch our conversation on Roots Television at http://rootstelevision.com/players/player_conferences.php?bctid=1780578456

APG Recognizes Genealogists with Achievement Awards

At the recent annual conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) recognized a number of outstanding genealogists for their contributions. I will post each announcement in a separate article.

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

WESTMINSTER, Colo., September 9 –Jake Gehring, president of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), presented this year’s awards on September 5, 2008 at the association luncheon at the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. APG awards are given annually to recognize excellence and achievement within the field of genealogy.