Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

ohmiGene 4.12.0 for Macintosh and Windows

ohm inProduction has released version 4.12.0 of the ohmiGene genealogy program for Macintosh systems. The primary difference in the latest release is the capability to track your ancestors with Google Earth. It also improves data import of GEDCOM files from other genealogy programs that vary a bit in the interpretation of the GEDCOM standard.

All recent versions of ohmiGene work when installed on a USB jump drive containing a working folder with the three versions of ohmiGene (MacIntel, PowerPC or Windows). ohmiGene is immediately operational, all three versions sharing the same database. Your data is then portable and can be used from most any computer without installing anything to the computer's hard drive.

What Relation is my Cousin's Cousin's Niece's Grandfather?

Figuring out relationships, especially levels of "cousinship" can be confusing. Third cousin? Some number of times removed? What is all that? Now the Wolfram|Alpha search engine can figure those relationships for you.

The Wolfram|Alpha blog shows examples, starting of with "my cousin just had a son, what relationship is the son to me?" To find out, simply enter: "Cousin's son" into the (Answer: he is my first cousin once removed.) Wolfram|Alpha even displays the relationship visually. You can then go on to more complex relationships. For example, try "my cousin's granddaughter."

FamilySearch News: 26 Million new names added for Costa Rica, France, Hungary, Mexico, Spain, and the U.S

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

26 Million New Names Added for Costa Rica, France, Hungary, Mexico, Spain, and the U.S.

Twenty-nine new collections were updated or added this week at FamilySearch.org—with 26 million names and 1.5 million digital images!

The international collections continue to expand with exciting new additions for Costa Rica, France, Hungary, Mexico, and Spain. In addition, nine more indexes were added to the U.S. 1910 Federal Census collection—that means it is 37 percent complete! This project is moving along quickly.

There are now 428 collections from original source records available online at FamilySearch. Search all of these great collections for free online at FamilySearch’s Record Search pilot (from FamilySearch.org, click Search Records, and then click Record Search pilot).

See the chart below for the complete list of all the newly added or improved collections.

Library of Michigan Update

The Michigan Genealogical Council sent the following update to all member societies, delegates and Presidents:

June 18, 2010

Dear Fellow Genealogists:

The Michigan Genealogical Council (MGC) would like to take this opportunity to bring everyone up-to-date on the events surrounding the collections at the Library of Michigan. We would like to thank everyone for their support as talks progressed.

Geni Expands to Twenty Languages With Crowd-Sourcing Translations

The following is from the Geni Blog at: http://blog.geni.com/:

Twenty Languages. One Tree.

Geni's user base is truly international, with family trees extending around the globe. Our largest tree connects users from Israel to Estonia, from Norway to Malaysia, and just about everywhere in-between. Over half of our users come from outside of the United States, even though Geni has only been available in English – until now.

Notice 2010-225, Archivist's Task Force on Agency Transformation

The following announcement was written by David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, and sent to all employees of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration:

This is a notice to all NARA employees.

Attention supervisors: If you have employees who do not have access to a computer, please ensure that those employees receive a copy of this notice. This includes employees on LWOP or paid leave.

June 21, 2010

Since being sworn in as Archivist of the United States seven months ago, I have been listening, observing, and learning. I've visited many NARA facilities around the country, met hundreds of you in large and small groups and one-on-one, participated in five-soon to be six-oversight hearings, met with external stakeholders and advisory committees, and become familiar with our programs and operations.

NARA Offers FY 2012 Budget Guidance

The following memo was written by David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, and sent to all employees of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. You will note that it paints a rather gloomy picture:

We have received guidance from the Office of Management and Budget on funding targets for the FY 2012 budget. As you may have read in the press, the Administration is requiring significant reductions in agency budgets. In an effort to reduce the deficit, the Administration is asking non-security discretionary funded agencies such as NARA to reduce spending. This guidance will apply to all NARA budget accounts: Operating Expenses, Office of Inspector General, Electronic Records Archives, Repairs and Restoration, and National Historical Publications and Records Commission Grants. There are several funding targets we must meet in preparing the budget:

Google Voice is Now Open to All US Residents and Is Free

Google Voice is one of my favorite applications. I use this telephone service several times a day. It has transformed the method I use for phone calls. Google Voice has been in a restricted beta test, available only to those who earned invitations. I got my invitation a long time ago and Google Voice has become a part of my life.

With Google Voice, there is no hardware to purchase and no new telephone equipment required. You can use it with or without a computer. The voice calls are never sent to your computer so you don't have to wear headphones or anything like that. You simply use the normal telephone(s) you already have.

Google Voice is now out of the limited, invitation-only beta test and is available to anyone in the US.

(+) Same Hand Scanner Available at Another Merchant

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

I wrote two months ago about a $99 hand scanner that I purchased and absolutely love. It is one of the most useful gadgets I have ever purchased; I use it a lot. It seems that quite a few other newsletter readers have purchased the same scanner and are also using it, based on comments posted at the end of the article and also from comments I have received at conferences.

You can still read that Plus Edition article at http://eogn.com/wp/?p=9290

I have now found another well-known chain store that sells the same scanner at the same price.

Ancestry.ca Offers Free Access To Drouin Collection of French-Canadian Historical Records

The following announcement was written by Ancestry.ca:

37 million records spanning 346 years now open to all Canadians in celebration of Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day
 
Montreal, QC (June 22, 2010) Ancestry.ca, Canada’s leading family history website, today announced that in honour of Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, it will be offering Canadians three days of free access to the fully searchable indexes for the historic Drouin Collection.  This is the most comprehensive collection of French-Canadian and Quebec historical records in existence,  spanning 346 years from 1621 to 1967.

Ancestry.ca Announces Addition to Historical Canadian City and Area Directories

The following announcement was written by Ancestry.ca:

7 Million Names Now Available For First Time

Pre-telephone era equivalent of Yellow Pages provides wealth of information on ancestors of millions of Canadians

June 22, 2010 (Toronto, ON) Ancestry.ca, Canada’s leading family history website, announces the completion of Canadian City and Area Directories, 1819-1906, a rich collection of more than 150,000 pages of historical records, the largest collection of historic Canadian directories available online. The collection includes the names of more than 7 million Canadians who lived during this 87- year-period of national growth.

Old Buncombe Genealogical Society Will Index Cherokee Censuses

The Old Buncombe Genealogical Society of Asheville, North Carolina has signed a letter of agreement with Ancestry.com to index certain Native American (mostly Cherokee) censuses, according to the society’s June newsletter.

The members who choose to participate will be sent a link to a “society kit” which will include instructions on how to get started and all information needed.  The indexing will then be done from the actual images which will be made available to each participant.  In return, the society will be able to access these indexes including images, free of charge. 

You can read more in an article in the Old Buncombe Genealogical Society newsletter at http://us1.forward-to-friend.com/forward/show?u=92bc450dd040640d3187643dd&id=1c7727e6d3

Warner Brothers in Takeover Talks with Shed Media, Producers of "Who Do You Think You Are?"

Warner Brothers is in talks to buy "Supernanny" and "Who Do You Think You Are?" producer Shed Media, the companies said Monday. Note that this is the company that produces the U.K. version of "Who Do You Think You Are?", not the U.S. version.

Certificate of Irishness Open to 70 Million People Worldwide

The Irish government has announced plans to introduce a certificate of Irish heritage for up to 70 million people of Irish descent around the world who do not qualify for citizenship. The certificates will be issued by a third party agency acting under licence from the Department of Foreign Affairs, which is considering charging a fee for each document issued.

The certificates are not intended as proof of Irish citizenship. Instead, they are certificates of Irish heritage.

A Genealogy Splog

What is a splog? It is a spam blog or web site in the same vein as spam email. Splogs generally contain no original content. Their content is mainly an assembly of links or stolen material from legitimate blogs.

The footnoteMaven blog has an interesting article about a recent run-in with one genealogy splog. In this case, the splog owner steals content from many bloggers (without permission and without attribution), including eogn.com, and then displays advertising on the page as well. The site's owner apparently wants to dupe you into reading the stolen articles and then hopes you will click on an ad, thereby earning a commission for the site owner without creating any original content at all. The splog's owner simply leeches off others who take the time and effort to write original content.

There's a biological term for this: parasite. There's another word for using someone else's words without permission: illegal.

Ancient Egyptian City Located by Radar

An ancient Egyptian city believed to be Avaris, the capital of the Hyksos people who ruled 3,500 years ago, has been located by radar, Egypt's culture ministry says. The Hyksos were foreign occupiers from Asia who ruled Egypt for a century.
 
The radar images show the outlines of streets, houses and tombs underneath the green farm fields and modern towns in Egypt's Delta.

Calling All Teen Genealogists

The following announcement was written by the U.S. National Genealogical Society:

Dear Fellow Genealogist:

Young people with an interest in the history of their family, in search of a summer project, seeking to satisfy a school assignment or club project will want to see the videos of Thomas Adams, the 2009 winner of the National Genealogical Society Rubincam Youth Award.  Created by award winning filmmakers Kate Geis and Allen Moore, the videos go live today at the society’s website, www.ngsgenealogy.org and will soon appear on YouTube.  The three short segments are:

Barnes & Noble's New $149 WiFi-only Nook eBook Reader

I have written often about ebooks and ebook readers. I believe these are the wave of the future as the cost of publishing on paper continues to escalate while the price of electronic publishing continues to drop. The biggest problem to date has been the expense of purchasing a dedicated eBook reader, such as the $259 Amazon Kindle, the $199 Sony BookReader, or the $249 Barnes & Noble Nook. Today Barnes & Noble launched an attack: the newest Nook ebook reader is shipping later this week at the price of $149.

Update: Experts Verify the Bones of 10th Century English Princess Eadgyth

In the January 20, 2010 newsletter, I wrote about a team of scientists who say they thought they've found the body of Princess Eadgyth (pronounced Edith), a 10th-century noblewoman who has been compared to Princess Diana. She reportedly was a beautiful English princess who married one of Europe's most powerful monarchs and dazzled subjects with her charity and charm. Now the scientists have found proof of her identity.

The following announcement was written by the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at Bristol University:

Census Taker: A High-Risk Occupation

The 2010 census takers have been shot at with pellet guns and hit by baseball bats. They have been confronted with pickaxes, crossbows and hammers. They've had lawn mowers pushed menacingly toward them and patio tables thrown their way. They have been nibbled by ducks, bitten by pit bulls and chased by packs of snarling dogs.

So far, the Census Bureau has tallied 379 incidents involving assaults or threats on the nation's 635,000 census workers, more than double the 181 recorded during the 2000 census. Weapons were used or threatened in a third of the cases.