Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Museum in the works for Branford, Florida?

Branford may be getting a museum and genealogical society. The South Suwannee Heritage House, as the facility may be called, would be located in the Presbyterian Manse on the corner of NW Drane Street and NW Haines Ave.

"There's a lot of history here," said Shirley Clark, Branford Town Council president. "It's right on the Suwannee River and we want people to know about Branford and how it came about."

Vandals Strike Historic Kentucky Cemetery

The Ebenezer Church in Jessamine County was one of the first churches in Kentucky. On its property is the Ebenezer Cemetery, a historic site with more than 150 tombstones, some of which belong to Revolutionary War and Civil War soldiers. Some of the tombstones date back to the 1700's.

Everton’s Genealogical Helper is MOST LIKELY About to be Sold

Leland Meitzler has an article on his blog giving details about what has been rumored for weeks: Everton's Genealogical Helper is almost out of business. The employees have been laid off and the company is looking for a buyer.

Leland is a former employee of the company and has the "inside info" at: http://www.genealogyblog.com/?p=4689.

(+) Casefile Clues by Michael John Neill: Bridging the Biography

The following is a Plus Edition article written by Michael John Neill.

Biographies from county histories are an excellent genealogical source. Today many of these county histories, particularly those from the later nineteenth century, have been digitized and placed on the Internet. Thousands of them can be downloaded for free. This week we look at a biography of a Boston native and see what clues it tells us about his life and how to organize the personal details the biography contained.

The 1882 biography of Andrew Trask is fairly short, but full of information:

Saturday Evening EOGN Dinner Photos

My thanks to Harry Benson for sending along photographs taken at the Saturday evening dinner in Raleigh for readers of this newsletter. We all met at The Pit, a restaurant specializing in eastern North Carolina barbecue. 26 newsletter readers enjoyed each other's company. This dinner took place immediately after the close of the 2009 annual conference of the National Genealogical Society.

Harry even took a picture of the customized menu that we had that evening.

Click on a picture to see the full sized version.

Thanks Harry!

 

Celebrate Your Ancestry on Your License Plate

The Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL) has introduced a new custom license plate to encourage Francophone identity and to help raise funds for the French immersion program in public schools.

The design features a Louisiana iris - la glaie bleue - an egret, a marsh landscape and the words "Chez nous autres" across the bottom of the plate. 'Chez nous autres' means 'our home' in Cajun.

CARTaGENE Seeks 20,000 People in Quebec

"For CARTaGENE to be a success, it must recruit 20,000 people between 40 and 69 years of age." -- Dr. Claude Laberge

CARTaGENE seeks to build a genetic map of Quebec. The following announcement was written by the CARTaGENE Project:

Montreal, May 18th 2009 – The CARTaGENE Project, one of the largest health and genomics projects ever carried out in Quebec, seeks to recruit 20,000 people to participate in Phase A of its wide-ranging study on the determinants of health (lifestyles, genetics, environment and nutrition) of Quebecers.

A Genealogical Option for CARTaGENE

The following was written by CARTaGENE:

BALSAC is a genealogical database located at l’Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. It allows rapid contruction of genealogies in Quebec by retracing ancestors all the way back to the 17th century.

Genealogies produced by BALSAC will help researchers find family links between participants, identify shared ancestors and find out where they originate from, etc. This information are useful to understand the demographic and historic factors that have shaped the Quebec genetic heritage and the evolution of genes or certain diseases and their distribution throughout the Quebec population.

Video Interview: Sylvie Tremblay of Library and Archives Canada

I recently had an opportunity to speak with Sylvie Tremblay, manager of the Canadian Genealogy Centre at Library and Archives Canada. She is a well-known expert on all things related to Canadian genealogy. She described the many services of Library and Archives Canada, including services available both in person and remotely. The online records include World War I service records, census records, and a growing number of immigration records.

Brad Pitt And Barack Obama Are Related

Ho hum. Forbes magazine is the latest to run an article that tells how two prominent Americans are related. If you want to read this drivel, go to http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/14/ancestry-genealogy-internet-technology-internet-ancestry.html.

Let's look at realities for a moment. Every person has two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents and sixteen great-great-grandparents. Do you see a progression there? Let's keep going back.

Fire at Massachusetts Family History Center Ruled Accidental

The Mormon meeting house outside Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts was gutted by fire on Sunday. The building housed a local Family History Center that served Boston and surrounding towns. The fire was accidental, said John J. Gelinas, chief of operations for the Cambridge Fire Department.

TGN (Ancestry.com) and FindMyPast.com are Both Bidding for ITV's Friends Reunited

I wrote a couple of days ago (http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/05/tgn-ancestrycom-to-purchase-friends-reunited-or-genes-reunited.html) about a rumor that The Generations Network was inquiring about purchasing Friends Reunited from cash-strapped ITV. Now the Brand Republic web site reports that FindMyPast.com is also interested. This may turn into a true auction.

Google's New Search Options

Google has long been my favorite search engine but now has even more reasons for it to be the best search tool for any genealogist. The company has added new search options. At least one of the new options is very useful for many genealogists.

To use the new options, first perform a search on Google in the same manner as always. However, when the search results page is displayed you might notice a new line just below the search box and above the search results. The newly-added line says "Show options..." Click on that line to see all the new available options.

Author Says Blackbeard was from North Carolina, not England

Despite what the history books claim, a Raleigh, N.C., author claims that Blackbeard and many of his henchmen weren't rogue Englishmen, but sons of North Carolina landowners.

Historical accounts contend that the notorious pirate known as Edward Teach or Thatch was from Bristol, England. But Kevin P. Duffus said his review of archives and genealogical research indicates that Blackbeard was probably Edward Beard, son of a landowner in Bath in Beaufort County. The writer also claims that several of Blackbeard's crew members were not hanged as earlier accounts said and at least three returned to North Carolina to respectable - and wealthy - lives.

(+) Along Those Lines... by George G. Morgan: The Five Types of Internet Resources

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by George G. Morgan.

There cannot be many genealogists left who haven’t used the Internet in some way to help further their family history research. In fact, we are among the most computer- and Internet-literate people in the English-speaking world. Many people, however, have taught themselves how to use a computer, how to use a browser and a search engine, and how to navigate through the many genealogical databases available on the Internet and through libraries. This was brought home to me again this Saturday when Debra S. Fleming presented a program to our local genealogical society about Googling ancestors on the Internet. Questions and comments indicated that some people weren’t as conversant with using Google’s advanced search facilities and some of its tools as they might like.

Report from Raleigh

The annual "Conference in the States" ended last night. This four-day event was co-sponsored by the National Genealogical Society and the North Carolina Genealogical Society. It was held at the Raleigh Convention Center, a state-of-the-art facility that served as a nearly perfect venue for the event. I never heard the final attendance figures but am guessing it was approximately 1,500 people.

This was my 21st NGS conference in the past 22 years (I missed the 1995 conference due to a family conflict), and I believe this year's event was one of the better ones. My hat is off to the organizers.

This year's conference was similar to most past NGS conferences: more than 100 top-notch presentations were given by many of today's foremost genealogy lecturers, along with numerous workshops, sponsored luncheons with speakers, a Friday night banquet, various tours, and more. You can find a list of all the events in the online conference brochure at http://members.ngsgenealogy.org/Conferences/Program.cfm.

You can view Michael Murphy's photos of the exhibits hall at http://blog.eogn.com/photos/ngs2009/.

EOGN Readers' Dinner in Raleigh

I always enjoy genealogy conferences, but my personal highlight is the Saturday night dinners. For years, I have organized dinners after the close of conferences. I must say that this year the dinner was organized by newsletter editor Pam Cerutti as she did most of the work at this conference.

Planning for these dinners is always hectic and performed at the last minute as I find it difficult to plan dinners well in advance in a distant city. I typically wait until I am at the conference, then look around for a nearby restaurant that is willing to handle a large crowd on a Saturday night. That by itself is a challenge, but we have usually been successful. Most of the dinners have turned out to be great events, and this year's Raleigh, North Carolina, event was no exception.

A Video Interview of Graphoanalyst Irene Lambert

What can a graphoanalyst (a handwriting expert) tell a genealogist about his or her ancestors? Actually, quite a lot.

Graphoanalysis is defined as "a scientific system of identifying and assessing the character and personality of an individual through the study of his or her handwriting." Graphoanalysis is used by corporate personnel departments, marriage counselors, attorneys, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and now by genealogists.

TGN (Ancestry.com) to Purchase Friends Reunited or Genes Reunited?

The Generations Network, the American owner of Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com, and Scotland-based Brightsolid, the owner of Findmypast.com, are understood to have asked for the information memorandum on Friends. They are likely to be particularly interested in its Genes Reunited division.

An article published in the Telegraph.co.uk states that the value of Friends Reunited is thought to be in the region of £40m (roughly $60 million U.S. dollars), according to analysts. That is a major loss for ITV which purchased the site in 2005 for £175m (roughly $275 million U.S.).

Scots Encouraged to Trace Roots

First Minister Alex Salmond has encouraged Scots to trace their roots with the opening of a genealogical research centre. The Burns Monument Centre in Kilmarnock is home to extensive family and history archives and literature.