Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

You are Invited: Genealogy Jeopardy at the Saturday EOGN Dinner at RootsTech in Salt Lake City

Join us for dinner! Join us for door prizes! Join us for Genealogy Jeopardy!

After dinner, match your knowledge of genealogy technology with that of three prominent genealogists. Do you know what you think you know? Do you know what you ought to know? Come watch this exciting, live, genealogical version of America’s favorite game show. You will know the topics, but will you know the questions that fit the answers? You can find out at the EOGN Dinner.

You are invited to join other genealogists on Saturday evening after the RootsTech conference for dinner, door prizes, fun, and games.

Yes, there will be games. And I know there will be fun. We will play Genealogy Jeopardy.

We will also award door prizes. One lucky attendee will even take home an Apple iPad!

Families for Android Now Available

Another genealogy application for Android handheld computers and c ell phones has been released and it looks good. The following announcement was written by TelGen Limited:

York, UK, 31 Jan 2011

TelGen Limited is pleased to announce the release of the first version of Families for Android. This app provides the same functionality as the popular Families app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, but now on the Android platform. The app works in conjunction with Legacy Family Tree, the leading Windows-based genealogy software from Millennia Corp. You can now transfer your complete family tree, including pictures, to your Android smartphone, and view and edit the information wherever you are. Any changes you make can then be synced back to your Legacy file on your PC.

Families supports the following functionality:

(+) How to Create a Subscription Web Site - Part #1

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

Many genealogy societies and other organizations would like to create web sites that have some pages visible to the general public and other pages that are visible only to members or to paid subscribers. In fact, such a web site can be a very attractive money-maker for individuals or societies that have published books or lists of extracted records.

You or your society can now sell access to records in electronic format to potentially millions of customers on the World Wide Web. Thanks to the high security features available in today's web servers, your records will not be available to "hackers" or others who have not paid for access. The cost of making records available online probably will be much cheaper than printing, packaging, and shipping traditional books that contain the same information. Best of all, your buyers will obtain the information within seconds after making the purchase instead of waiting days or weeks for a printed book to arrive in the mail.

Back Home Again For a Couple of Days

Just a quick follow-up to my previous "On the Road Again" article. I arrived home this evening, after a friend and I drove his truck and a U-Haul trailer 2,350 miles, from Salt Lake City, Utah to my home. I'm bushed. The Plus Edition newsletter will be sent on Monday, one day later than usual.

I'm leaving Wednesday for Florida and will be speaking at the Charlotte County Genealogical Society in Port Charlotte, Florida, next weekend, and then back to Salt Lake City again the following weekend. However, the local weather forecast for Wednesday isn't looking too promising: a "wintry mix."

 

Archivist of the United States Comments on Altered Lincoln Document

Thomas Lowry has confessed that he changed the date on a pardon signed by Abraham Lincoln. The altered document, stored at the National Archives and Records Administration, then appeared to have greater historical value than the original. You can read my original story about the incident at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2011/01/virginia-historian-admits-he-altered-abraham-lincoln-document.html

Now David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, has commented about the incident and talked a bit about steps taken to reduce similar incidents in the future. You can read the Archivist's comments at http://live.washingtonpost.com/altered-lincoln-pardon.html

Vanessa Williams is First on this Season's Who Do You Think You Are

NBC's “Who Do You Think You Are?” is back for more celebrity genealogy searches. The show’s second season features Vanessa Williams, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Kim Cattrall, Lionel Richie, and Rosie O’Donnell.

Vanessa Williams kicks off the second season, which premieres February 4th at 8pm/7 C. as she discovers some interesting facts about her family when she visits the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

You can see video previews below.

Eau Claire Cemetery Records Now Available Online

Until recently, the City of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, kept genealogical records in paper books at each of its two cemeteries, Forest Hill and Lakeview. Now, anyone can access that information online including exactly where someone is buried, their birth date and the date they died. There are also options to add obituaries, stories and pictures.

You can find all the cemetery records at http://www.webcemeteries.com/eauclairewi/search.asp

161-year-old Graveyard to be Bulldozed to Make New Runway at Chicago's O'hare Airport

A 161-year-old graveyard could be bulldozed to make way for a new runway at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. A court ruling upheld an earlier decision which said Chicago had legally condemned St. Johannes Cemetery and could begin removing around 1,000 graves. Thirty graves have already been voluntarily relocated and families have received permits for another 345 to be moved.

You can read more in an article in the Daily Mail: http://goo.gl/YzPzQ

Ancestry.com: Ultimate Family Journey Contest

You could win a $20,000 journey to your family's homeland. Ancestry.com is sponsoring the Ultimate Family History Journey Sweepstakes, timed to coincide with Season 2 of the US-version of "Who Do You Think You Are?" which begins Friday, February 4.

The Grand Prize includes $20,000 in travel money, plus:

U.S. National Archives Microfilm Available for “Donation”

The following announcement was written by the National Archives and Records Administration:

The National Archives and Records Administration has some microfilm that your non-profit organization may be interested in.  To view a complete list, please go to: http://www.archives.gov/northeast/nyc/microfilm-available-for-donation.pdf

Film is available only to non-profit organizations.

 

Is AOL Scamming Its Customers?

PC Magazine has an interesting article about an unethical business practice of AOL with many senior citizens in its list of victims. Since I see a LOT of AOL email addresses amongst the subscribers of this newsletter, I thought I would suggest you double-check your AOL bills. Dan Costa writes in a PC Magazine article:

AOL.com, of course, is free. It used to be a pay service, but has been free for years. You can access the AOL.com, read all of its content, and check your aol.com e-mail without paying a dime. If you already pay for an account, however, AOL will continue to bill you. And evidently, that makes AOL a LOT of money.

You can read the full article at: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2376166,00.asp

 

Google Partners with Yad Vashem to Digitize the Shoah

Today, Yad Vashem and Google have begun an ambitious project to digitize the Holocaust museum's extensive collection of materials. 

I find this interesting for a couple of reasons. First, the technology involved in digitizing and using OCR on any large collection of historical documents is always of interest to genealogists. However, perhaps a bigger factor is Google moving more and more into digitizing documents of interest to genealogists and to historians, an area previous served (mostly) by specialty companies and by FamilySearch. Move over Ancestry.com, FindMyPast.com, HeritageQuest, FamilySearch, and others, you have a new competitor and a big one at that.

FamilySearch Kicks Off 2011 with the Addition of 90 Million New Online Records

 The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

Includes 18 Million Digital Images from 13 Countries

No doubt family history enthusiasts will have a heyday looking over the latest collection updates! The 18 million free, browsable digital images are just a sample of what should be a banner year as FamilySearch continues to plug away at digitizing its massive microfilm collection for online access. U.S. researchers will be excited to begin poring over the 3 million new digital images of U.S. naturalization records included in this update.

FamilySearch January 2011 Bloginar Recording Now Available

The FamilySearch January 2011 Bloginar was held last week. A recording is now available online. You can now listen to and view the free presentation and discussions at FamilySearch Wiki. Go to Wiki.FamilySearch.org, and search FamilySearch Bloginar.

Following is a summary of the January Bloginar agenda.

Google Voice Adds Number Porting

I have written several times about Google Voice, a great service that provides free phone calls to North American numbers and also combines all your telephones (home, office, cellular, etc.) into one phone number. You can read my past articles at http://goo.gl/maRqF. Starting today, Google Voice now offers number porting: you can transfer an existing telephone number to Google Voice for a $20 fee. Now you can use all of Google Voice’s features without having to give up your long-time phone numbers.

Virginia Historian Admits He Altered Abraham Lincoln Document

Thomas Lowry, 78, has confessed that he changed the "4" to a "5" on a pardon signed by Abraham Lincoln. The document was signed on April 14, 1864, but the alteration made it look like April 14, 1865. As a result, the document was assumed to be the last document Lincoln ever signed, on the day he was shot by John Wilkes Booth.

Altering the document is a crime but the statute of limitations has expired, so Lowry won't be prosecuted. He has, however, been banned from the National Archives.

Ancestry.com Kills Expert Connect

About a year and a half ago, Ancestry.com created Expert Connect as a way to provide additional assistance for members. Expert Connect was billed as a "clearinghouse" that allows individual genealogists to find and hire genealogy professionals. In short, it was to be a method to find professional genealogy researchers with expertise in the area you seek. You can read my announcement of the new service in the June 24, 2009 newsletter at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/06/ancestrycom-announces-expert-connect.html

In  my description, I wrote, "I think this new service is going to be a winner." I guess I have to eat those words as Ancestry.com has now announced that Expert Connect will cease to operate on March 18, 2011.

Cancer Victim’s Sister Raises Awareness of Genealogy Research

The following announcement was written by Strategic Book Group, LLC , publishers of Legacy for Donna: A Palliative Death Full of Blessings, A Plea for Preventive Genealogies:

Jan 24, 2011 – SAULT STE. MARIE, Ontario, Canada – January 24, 2011 - Denise Rodda, a physician’s assistant and nurse from Sault Ste. Marie, was inspired to write a book dedicated to her sister, Donna, who died in 2008 following a 12-year battle with cancer. Legacy for Donna tells of the importance of researching your family’s medical history.

The author has donated some of the proceeds from her book to the Sault Area Hospital Foundation’s Cancer Care Fund (for more on the hospital Foundation, visit www.sah.on.ca/sahfoundation.php?pageid=450). An online interview with Rodda on Susan Hunter's Daytime Morning Show on Soonews.ca is at http://www.soonews.ca/viewarticle.php?id=28990.

Report from the Family History Expo in Mesa, Arizona

The two-day Family History Expo in Mesa, Arizona, finished yesterday, and it was a great success. About 1,000 genealogists crowded the grounds of the Mesa Convention Center under clear blue skies. With temperatures in the mid-seventies, it was ideal weather for a genealogy conference. I especially enjoyed eating lunch outdoors. Nobody is doing that this month back home where I live in the northeast! I wandered around the exhibit hall, took in several presentations, and snapped a bunch of pictures, some of which are embedded in this article. Click on any of the thumbnail-sized pictures to see a larger photo.

Notice the crowds!

Wolverhampton City Council's Archives and Local Studies Service Seeks Help

The Wolverhampton City Council's Archives and Local Studies Service in the West Midlands, England, has been awarded a grant of nearly £36,500 to create the Smith, Son and Wilkie Archive by The National Archives. City Archivist Heidi McIntosh said the information would be "invaluable to local historians." The information available includes a wealth of material on well-known local companies, including lock manufacturer Benjamin Walters and Company and brick manufacturers Adam Boulton and Co Ltd.

The plan is to also get local people involved with the project. "As there are so many local businesses involved, we are hoping to involve volunteers and local history societies, particularly former employees or their families who might have memories to share," explained Heidi.