Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Podcast: A Conversation with Cliona Weldon and Brian Donovan of findmypast Ireland

I recently had a chance to talk with both Cliona Weldon, General Manager of a brand-new web site, called findmypast Ireland, and with Brian Donovan, Director of the new company. Brian is also well known for being the Director and CEO of the Irish genealogy company, Eneclann. I asked Cliona and Brian about the new services and products being offered by findmypast Ireland.

findmypast Ireland is a joint venture between findmypast and Eneclann, the award-winning Irish history and heritage company. Findmypast Ireland will host the most extensive collection of Irish land records available anywhere online and will be a valuable resource for those 80 million people worldwide who claim Irish ancestry.

FindMyPast-Ireland

Printable Family Trees

The following announcement was written by Savetz Publishing, Inc.:

Several new printable family tree designs have been added to the website FamilyTreeTemplates.net, ranging from colorful illustrated tree designs to detailed ancestor charts.

Popular with genealogy buffs as well as schoolchildren or anyone who enjoys tracking their heritage, these family trees are easy to download and print. There are both free PDF and premium $4 options. The DOC versions can be opened and edited in Microsoft Word, allowing users to type rather than handwrite names, dates and other vital statistics on the lines or in the boxes provided.

Are You My Mother?

DNA is changing a lot of "documented facts" concerning family relationships. A startling example is that of Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman. He is not the son of the woman he thought was his mother, not even biologically related to Karin Bergman. She also apparently was not aware that Ingmar was not her biological child.

This is the sensational result of a new DNA test by the National Board of Forensic Medicine. Freelance journalist Eva Hernbäck has uncovered a story that sets the film director's life and work in a whole new light.

Another Article About Witching (Dowsing) for Graves

I recently wrote about witching, or dowsing, for graves, generating a lot of comments from newsletter readers in the process. You can read the article and all the comments at http://goo.gl/6ifCP. Now the Winnipeg free Press has a somewhat similar article, describing the successes of Jack Mavins at locating unmarked graves.

Mavins has successfully located dozens of previously-unknown burial sites on windy hilltop cemeteries and vacant corners of old farmyards for the past 20 years. Mavins claims to not only find where the bodies are buried but also determine whether it's a male or female, and whether it's an adult, adolescent or child. He says he can also tell whether it's animal or human. The only thing he can't say is why it works.

(+) What I Learned at the BlogWorld & New Media Expo

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

NOTE: This article has little to do with genealogy. However, I suspect it will be interesting to all bloggers, including genealogy bloggers. Thomas MacEntee's list at http://goo.gl/4fR5A now itemizes more than 1,900 genealogy blogs, so I will offer the article here for the genealogy bloggers and for anyone else interested in professional blogging.

I spent three long days this week at the BlogWorld & New Media Expo, held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. It was advertised as the World's Largest Social Media Conference and Tradeshow. I cannot verify that it is "world's largest;" but, after three days of wandering the exhibit hall and presentation rooms, I can verify that it certainly was big. The exhibit hall was a rather modest size, but up to ten simultaneous presentations (tracks) were offered all day long for three days. About 1,000 bloggers, would-be bloggers, authors, online publishers, ad agency employees, and media experts were in attendance.

 

Legacy 2011 Genealogy Cruise is Now Sold Out, Announcing the Legacy 2012 Genealogy Cruise

Do you think genealogy cruises are popular? The 2011 Legacy Genealogy Cruise is now fully booked. There are no more cabins available. However, the folks at Legacy Family Tree have reacted quickly and have already announced the 9th annual Legacy Genealogy Cruise, to be held May 12-21, 2012. It starts and ends in Oslo, Norway, and visits the following ports: Le Havre (Paris), France; Cherbourg, France; Dublin, Ireland; Liverpool, England; and Edinburgh, Scotland.

If you are thinking of taking a cruise, you should attend a webinar, Crusing with Legacy Family Tree in 2012, on Friday, June 3 to have all your questions answered.

Details may be found at http://goo.gl/qWat2.

BillionGraves.com Launches a new iPhone App to Preserve Family History on Memorial Day

This announcement is just in time for Memorial Day here in the U.S. The following announcement was written by AppTime:

PROVO, Utah – May 26, 2011 – Memorial Day is coming soon, and AppTime (http://www.apptime.com), the group behind the family history app MobileTree (http://www.mobiletree.me), has a new project they’re thrilled to share. It’s called BillionGraves.com, it’s as ambitious a project as the word “billion” makes it sound, and they want you to take it with you to the cemetery this Memorial Day.

“It’s a huge opportunity for everyone in family history,” says Rob Moncur, the head developer for the BillionGraves.com website. “We want people from all over the world to be able work together and pool resources so everyone can find the ancestors they’re looking for.”

Project Identifies More Than 4,000 Civil War Graves

The first Civil War casualty to be buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn was a 12-year-old drummer for a New York regiment. Clarence McKenzie, a local boy fatally wounded in an accidental shooting in Maryland, was buried June 14, 1861, two months after the Union garrison at Fort Sumter surrendered to Confederate forces. He was followed to the grave 12 days later by Adolph Vincens, a 23-year-old London-born jeweler who was the first Civil War battle casualty buried at Green-Wood.

By the time the war ended four years later, about 200 other soldiers and sailors who died in the Civil War were buried at Green-Wood, established in 1838 in what was then a rural section of Brooklyn. In the decades after the war, thousands of others would join their comrades, and even some of their one-time enemies, at the historic cemetery.

Filming is Underway for Ireland's "Genealogy Roadshow" Television Programme

Production is currently underway on "The Genealogy Roadshow," a new 4 x 52 minute format from Big Mountain Productions which aims to uncover the extraordinary family histories of ordinary people. The series is set to shoot in Kildare, Meath, Limerick and Galway in May and June and is presented by Derek Mooney.

WikiTree Announces a New "Cousin Connector"

Yesterday, I published an article entitled, "Help Wanted at WikiTree." Today, the position was filled and an announcement has been published. That was fast!

The following announcement was written by WikiTree:

WikiTree is excited to welcome Tami Osmer Glatz as our official Cousin Connector.  Tami will be helping to connect distant cousins and facilitate their enjoyable, productive genealogy collaborations.  She will be suggesting merges so that WikiTree fulfills its mission to be a worldwide shared family tree. And she will be improving the quality of merged ancestor profiles by demonstrating and explaining good genealogical methods.
 

A Comment About Posting Comments

I encourage newsletter readers to post comments about the stories published here but you must treat others with kindness and respect. The primary rule here is pretty simple: If you don't want someone else to write something similar about you, don't write those words here.

All comments remain hidden until reviewed and "approved." I won't approve inappropriate comments.

To add more detail:

175,000 Northamptonshire Burial and Cremation Records Added to Deceased Online

The following announcement was written by Deceased Online:

Data for 7 town cemeteries available now

Char Mccargo Bah Receives Volunteers Award from Virginia Genealogical Society

The following announcement was written by the Virginia Genealogical Society:

"Ancestors are watching and they will take you in the right direction--when it is time."

This is a favorite genealogical quote of Char McCargo Bah, this year’s volunteer award recipient.

A native of Alexandria, Char has been doing genealogical research for more than 26 years. Besides being a published author – having been published in the Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society Newsletter, NGS Magazine, Halifax County, Virginia Heritage Book, and the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society Journal – Char gives back to her Alexandria community.

New Finding Aid for Canadian Federal Voters' Lists, 1935-1980

The following announcement was written by Library and Archives Canada:

Ottawa, May 26, 2011 - Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce the launch of an updated version of its finding aid to locate electoral districts in its federal voters' lists collection from 1935 to 1980. This updated version now provides for each of the 892 microfilm reels of the collection, the electoral year, the province, the exact name of the electoral district and the page numbers for each microfilm. This tool will facilitate the frequent consultation and use of the federal voters' lists collection by genealogists and family historians.

The finding aid can be accessed at the following address: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-911.006-e.html

RootsTech 2012 Call for Presentations

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

Call for Presentations RootsTech 2012 in Salt Lake City, Utah
 
Dates/Venue:     February 2-4, 2012, Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City
Call Opens:     May 25, 2011
Call Closes:     June 30, 2011
Notification:    August 27, 2011
 
The inaugural RootsTech Conference in 2011 was a huge success. Over 3000 attendees filled the presentation venues to learn about technologies and applications that could impact the many emerging facets of family history-related consumer markets worldwide. The Community Zone bustled with technology vendors and demonstrations and the Internet buzzed with blogs, tweets, chats, and articles for a month following the close of the conference. We expect RootsTech 2012 to continue to exceed expectations.

Help Wanted at WikiTree

UPDATE: The position has been filled. See the follow-up article at http://goo.gl/MWxLg

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WikiTree.com is seeking an experienced genealogist to be its official "Cousin Connector." This person will work from home approximately five hours a week introducing distant cousins to each other, helping them merge their ancestors, and facilitating their enjoyable, productive collaborations.

For more information, please look at the full description at http://goo.gl/3avKw.

Dr Bruce Durie Awarded Prestigious Fellowship

The following announcement was written by the Irish Genealogical Research Society:

Dr Bruce Durie, who heads the Genealogical, Heraldic and Palaeographic Studies postgraduate programme at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, has been awarded the Fellowship of the Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS), now in its 75th year.
 
Since the Society's foundation in 1936, only 82 such Fellowships have ever been awarded. In 2011, exceptionally, two Fellowships were awarded - the other to the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, in recognition of her ‘bridge building’ work amongst the peoples and communities of Ireland and its Diaspora.

Cremation Urns That Look Like The Deceased

Here's a new method to honor a recently-deceased loved one and also provide a unique place to store the the remains: an urn that actually looks like the deceased. Cremation Solutions offers just that:

 

Keepsake sized Personal Cremation Urns are the latest in custom personalized cremation urns. They are created from one or two photographs with exceptional attention to details. With advances in facial analysis and the advent of state of the art 3D imaging, these high tech urns can be made to look like anyone. The full sized personal urn can hold all the ashes of an adult. For holding just a portion of the ashes, we recommend the keepsake sized personal urns.

Population Genetics Reveals Shared Ancestries

Want to study your deep ancestry? That's "deep" as in "thousands of years." A new study by Harvard Medical School researchers casts new light on the intermingling and migration of European, Middle Eastern and African and populations since ancient times.

Tim Blevins Receives the P. William Filby Award

The following announcement was written by ProQuest:

Award Sponsor ProQuest presents $1000 prize to winning librarian
 
May 25, 2011 (ANN ARBOR, Mich.) - The National Genealogical Society has presented Tim Blevins, Manager of Special Collections at Colorado’s Pikes Peak District Library with the 2011 National Genealogical Society Filby Award for Genealogical Librarianship for his significant work to support family history research.  The award, which carries a $1,000 prize from award sponsor ProQuest, was presented May 13 during the Society’s annual conference in Charleston, South Carolina.