Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Family Tree Maker 2010 is Shipping

Several newsletter readers have reported receiving their copies of Family Tree Maker 2010 today. First users' reports can be found at the end of the Family Tree Maker 2010 is now Available article at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/08/family-tree-maker-2010-is-now-available.html.

Update: Tombstones Can't Be Put Back... or Can They?

My earlier article was entitled "Tombstones Can't Be Put Back" but it is now reported that nine of the tombstone indeed have been put back. Nave cemetery trustee Mike Frye reported on Monday that nine headstones have been returned to their rightful sites in one of the area's most historic graveyards.

The action comes after township work crews displaced headstones at the Nave Cemetery in Springfield Township, Ohio this month, upsetting members of the Ohio Genealogical Society. Workers may never be able to find the right spots for other markers, trustees said.

Video Interview: Julie Miller and the NGS 2010 Conference

I recently had a chance to talk with Julie Miller, a professional genealogist, author, lecturer, and newspaper columnist who is well known in genealogy circles.  Julie is also program chair of the 2010 National Genealogical Society's "Conference in the States" to be held in Salt Lake City in 2010. In our conversation, Julie described some of the plans for this major conference, including more than 200 presentations offered in ten simultaneous sessions during most days of this four-day conference.

Roots Television videotaped our conversation and has now made it available online. You can watch and listen right now if you go to http://www.rootstelevision.com/index.html?bcpid=7225568001&bclid=240119644&bctid=31029167001 or click on the image below.

(+) Google for Genealogists - Part 2

This is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

NOTE: This is the second installment of a multi-part article. Part #1 is available at http://eogn.com/wp/?p=6206.

Boolean Logic

All modern search engines use at least some forms of Boolean logic. Named after the mid-19th century mathematician, George Boole, who first defined an algebraic system of logic, Boolean logic allows for the combining of search terms using “elements” or “operators.”

1959

Things can change a lot in 50 years. Here are a few things that Americans were saying in 1959:

I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it is going to be impossible to buy a week’s groceries for $20.

Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long when $5000 will only buy a used one.

If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous.

Legend Seekers Nominated for Television Emmy

The following announcement was written by the producers of Legend Seekers:

Chicago, IL – The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has nominated the producers of The Lively Family Massacre – a pilot for a documentary TV series titled Legend Seekers – for a regional EMMY in the documentary category.

Today's Newsletter is Sponsored by Footnote, Inc.

U.S. Federal Census Records for Free on Footnote.com 

Footnote.com has opened up all its U.S. Federal Census documents for a limited time. Search their available U.S. Federal Census records on the Interactive Census Page. Footnote.com continues to add to their historical collections on a daily basis. View the U.S. Federal Census records by year below.

• U.S. Federal Census of 1860
• U.S. Federal Census of 1900
• U.S. Federal Census of 1910
• U.S. Federal Census of 1920
• U.S. Federal Census of 1930

Click here for an easy way to start your own family history.

(+) Along Those Lines by George G. Morgan: Entertainment Old and New

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

Our ancestors sought entertainment in many ways, depending on the time period and their location. They attended fairs and carnivals and they flocked to see traveling shows of many types. They may have participated in singing groups and choirs, or they may have played an instrument. A piano was an exceptionally popular item to have in a home, and people rushed to buy sheet music for the latest songs. Families spent leisure time singing around the piano or home organ. Some families had a more economical accordion instead, and that instrument enjoyed such nicknames as “squeezebox” or “kitchen piano.” Attending musical recitals was a popular social and cultural activity.

Wi-Fi in Little Rock

One of the things I hated about the "good old days" of ten or fifteen years ago was the feeling of isolation when traveling. I traveled a lot in those days and found that calling home was expensive, whether from a hotel room or from one of those new-fangled cell phones with high roaming fees. A lot has changed since then: most cell phones now offer nationwide access without roaming fees. As a result, I doubt if anyone pays the rip-off fees to hotels any more to place long distance calls from hotel room phones. It is much, much cheaper to pick up the cell phone and make the call.

However, what about e-mail? Or Facebook? And how about checking your home town newspaper's web site for the latest news, sports scores, and even the weather report back home? Again, that is easy to do with a laptop or handheld computer and wi-fi wireless networking, although it is not always cheap. Many hotels do offer free wi-fi networking to guests while others charge $10 a night or more for the same thing. Coffee shops, convention centers, airports, and other public locations do the same: sometimes free, sometimes not.

I always check in advance for wi-fi capability. I won't make a reservation in a hotel that does not offer Internet access to its guests, either wired or wireless wi-fi. In fact, I look first for free Internet access in a hotel. If I cannot find free access, I will reluctantly make a reservation in a hotel that charges for Internet connectivity.

For next week's Federation of Genealogical Societies conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, I have already made a reservation in a suburban hotel that offers free wi-fi access to its guests.

How Not to Preserve Information on Paper

In my recent Plus Edition article, What I Use for Long-Term Data Storage, I pointed out the various issues with preserving data electronically. It is possible to preserve electronic data for centuries, although not by simply putting a floppy disk or CD-ROM disk on a shelf. Data preservation requires a more proactive approach, as done by tens of thousands of government agencies, insurance companies, manufacturers, hospitals, and many other corporations.

In a comment at the end of the article, a Plus Edition subscriber wrote:

In addition to digital backup, what about a hard copy of data? Acid free paper is cheap and available. Paper may be old fashion, but it is durable, and readable by everyone who can read.

Well, maybe...

Former Lorry Driver claims Clan Gunn Title

Clan Gunn is one of Scotland's northernmost clans, with a bloodthirsty reputation that dates back centuries. Clan Gunn claims descent from Sweyn Asleifsson, a warlike Norwegian known as "the Ultimate Viking", and a succession of medieval leaders who skirmished with warlike MacKays and Keiths in the north of Scotland. The Gunns fought with the government against the Jacobites in the 1745 rebellion.

The clan has not had a leader since the death of Morrison Gunn in 1785. Now a 41-year-old former lorry driver has stepped forward to claim his right to be the new chieftain after years of dispute over who should be head of the family.

How to Mine Courthouse Deed Records

Sharon Tate Moody has written a short, but excellent, tutorial on the organization of land records at U.S. county courthouses. I would suggest this be required reading for all genealogy newcomers. In fact, some of us old timers could benefit from it as well. For instance, she explains the Cott and Russell index systems.

New York City Birth Records 1901-1907 Now Online

Thanks to both the German Genealogy Group and the Italian Genealogical Group, an index to New York City births 1901-1907 is now available online. The records were indexed by volunteers representing many different ethnic groups.

The index is a great convenience but, of course, it is only an index. Genealogists should first find the records of interest in the index, then consult the original records on microfilm to obtain all the details. Images of the original birth records are available on microfilm at the New York City Municipal Archives with copies available through the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City and Family History Centers around the world.

Syrian, Lebanese Immigrants arrived in U.S. in 1870s

If you have Syrian or Lebanese ancestry, you might want to read an article by Tamie Dehler published in the Tribune-Star:

Early Syrian and Lebanese immigrants to the United States began arriving in this country in the 1870s. These people were from the areas we now call Syria and Lebanon, but the land was then a part of the Ottoman Empire, and had been ruled by the Turks since 1519. The modern-day nations of Syria and Lebanon had not yet been created. Within the Ottoman Empire, Greater Syria bordered the eastern Mediterranean and was made up of parts of modern-day Iraq, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, and part of southern Turkey. The Mount Lebanon area included primarily the city of Beirut and surrounding areas.

The immigrants had Turkish passports and most often called themselves Syrians. Most were Christians.

Scanning Bound Books

In a comment at the end of my recent Preserving Wedding Pictures article, a newsletter reader lamented, "I would love to digitize [my wedding photos] but the bound book will not fit in my scanner." Actually, there is an easy solution: obtain a scanner that is designed to scan bound books.

I believe there are a number of scanners that will scan books, but by far the best-known book scanner is the Plustek OpticBook series. These have a scanning mechanism that allows you to scan all the way to the book spine without distortion of the scanned image. Take a look at the picture to the right to see how it works.

I Love My Librarian Award

Genealogists love librarians. Now you have an opportunity to recognize your favorite librarian.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award encourages library users to recognize the accomplishments of exceptional public, school, college, community college, or university librarians. The awards program will demonstrate how librarians are improving the lives of the people in their communities.

Up to ten winners will be selected annually and will receive a $5,000 cash award, a plaque and $500 travel stipend to attend an awards reception in New York hosted by The New York Times at TheTimesCenter in December 2009. In addition, a plaque will be given to each award winner’s library. Winners will be announced in November 2009.

Tech Giants Unite Against Google Books

I have written several times about Google Books, in my opinion, one of the greatest online resources available to genealogists. Now Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo will sign up to the Open Book Alliance being spearheaded by the Internet Archive. They will attempt to defeat Google not by offering a better service, but by launching an army of lawyers.

Update: Everton's Genealogical Helper

It looks like sad news for those who enjoyed reading Everton's Genealogical Helper. Former editor Leland Meitzler has posted an article on his blog that says, amongst other things, "We are in mourning for this grand old magazine. We will send you an e-mail when we know more. Please keep us in your thoughts."

You can read Leland's full report at http://www.genealogyblog.com/?p=5679.

Volunteers to Bring Historic Sweden Church Records Online

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

FALKÖPING, Sweden—FamilySearch and Svensk Arkivinformation (SVAR), a division of the National Archives of Sweden, announced today the launch of the largest online indexing initiative undertaken to-date. The two groups unveiled plans to engage Swedish volunteers throughout the world to help create a highly searchable, free online index to the historic parish registers of Sweden—200 years of recorded Swedish history as documented in the Sweden church records—comprising over 400 million names.

In 1608 the Archbishop of Sweden asked the clergy to begin making records of births, christenings, marriages, and burials of all the residents of Sweden. By 1686, they were conducting regular examinations of the population of each parish. The church records (often called “parish registers” or “church books”) span over two centuries and chronicle the vital life events of an estimated 418 million people who moved in and out of parishes in Sweden.

(+) Google for Genealogists - Part 1

This is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

NOTE: This is the first installment of a multi-part article that will be published over the next two or three weeks.

Google is an immensely powerful tool used daily by millions of computer owners all over the world, including genealogists. A complete tutorial on the use of Google could fill hundreds of pages. Indeed, such tutorials have been written and are available at your local bookstore.

I decided to write about the most common functions of Google that will interest the majority of genealogists. This article will not be as long as the printed books; but, by publishing electronically, the information will be current when published and can also be easily updated in the future as Google adds and changes its many offerings.