Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Magic Wand Handheld Scanner for $49.99

I have written before about the handheld VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand scanner. It is a great tool for use in libraries and archives for scanning documents and even pictures up to 8.5-inches wide (A4 size) and any length. I wouldn't use it on any fragile and delicate documents, however, as the rollers built into the scanner do exert pressure on the item being scanned.

I paid $99.95 for my handheld Magic Wand scanner a bit more than a year ago and I have used it a lot since then. I scan not only things of genealogical interest, but also most of the bills I receive in the mail, owners manuals (after checking the manufacturer's web site to see if the manual is already available as a PDF file), and much more. It is portable and easily slips into a backpack, briefcase, or even the smallest suitcase.

Now I see that the same units are on sale on eBay, listed as "manufacturer refurbished," for half that price: $49.99. That price even includes free shipping. Customers located in New York will pay 8.675% tax but the item will be tax-free in all other states. At this price, it only ships to U.S. addresses.

New Online Tool uses Google Maps to Show Historical County Boundaries

How often have you tried searching for an ancestor's historical records for a given county, only to later find that you were searching in the right place but the wrong county? Boundary lines have changed frequently throughout the history of the United States. In order to find records, you must know the county in which your ancestor lived IN THE YEAR OF INTEREST. The result is that there's a very good chance that you are sometimes looking in the wrong county for some of your genealogical records.

Randy Majors has created a tool to help genealogists find the correct county for the year of interest. The new software tool displays data from the Newberry Library's Atlas of Historical County Boundaries on top of Google Maps.

Illinois Database of Freed Slaves

The state of Illinois has compiled a little-known database that can provide a lot of help to genealogists. A freed slave was required to carry a certificate to prove he or she was free and not a runaway. Those certificates, called “free Negro bonds,” had to be submitted to the county and, today, provide some of the information for an online database.

Archivists working under the auspices of the secretary of state’s office maintain the Servitude and Emancipation Record Database (www.ilsos.gov/GenealogyMWeb/servfrm.html) that contains historical records, many of them documenting freed slaves who settled in Illinois.

Sophisticated Swindle at the National Library of Scotland

Founded in 1689 as the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, the National Library of Scotland (NLS) holds almost 400 years' worth of Scotland's written history and culture. In November 2007, consultancy firm GlassHouse Technologies was hired to help NLS make its entire collection available across the Internet. Such a web site would be valuable to genealogists, historians, and many others.

David Dinham, 33, a senior manager at NLS who had control over the historic institution's huge budgets, apparently decided he wanted a piece of the action. Dinham is now facing prison after library staff spotted financial irregularities and called in the police. He reportedly embezzled £500,000 (roughly $820,000 US) from NLS in a "sophisticated and complex" swindle lasting four years.

Eneclann Launches an Updated Web Site and Holds an Online Sale

A leading genealogy web site in Ireland has an all-new appearance and a lot of new information. The new web site includes a lot of interesting new features, not the least of which is the extended treatment of Barack Obama's Irish ancestry. Obama's ancestry earlier had been traced back to Ireland in 1850. Eneclann now has followed the family story back to the 1690s. Eneclann has now traced his closest living relatives and discovered that some of his family were originally religious refugees in Ireland.

Wipe Your Hard Drive Clean

Do you ever have a need to delete all the information on your Windows computer's hard drive? For instance, if you are about to sell or give your old computer to someone else, you might first want to remove all your personal information.

If you search on Google, you can find a number of stories about private data being retrieved from computers purchased on eBay and elsewhere.

Don't let that happen to you!

Many people are surprised to hear that Microsoft Windows doesn't delete very much when told to delete files. Windows simply marks the space as "available for reuse." In other words, when you tell Windows to delete a file, your old information remains on the hard drive for an indefinite amount of time. It remains available until the operating system eventually writes new information in its place. In fact, even reformatting a disk with Microsoft's format command will leave much information behind. This is true of hard drives, floppy disks, flash drives, ZIP disks, and other storage devices.

June 1, 1890: the Census Bureau Can Finally Keep Tabs on a Growing Nation

The basis of the computer was invented for use in the census? Yes. It was all the brainchild of Herman Hollerith, a New York statistician. He invented the device for the U.S. Census Bureau for use in the 1890 census. That is the census that was later destroyed by a fire and by the water used to quench the fire.

Determining the results of the 1880 census proved to be a monumental task, requiring eight years to complete. The Census Bureau knew that there had to be a better way and asked for bids from companies to improve the process.

Hollerith invented a tabulating machine to quickly count information that had been entered on punched cards that were the size of an American dollar bill at that time. (The dollar bill was later reduced in size but the so-called Hollerith cards remained at 3.25 by 7.375 inches.)

Vote for the Civil War Officer with the Best Facial Hair

Which U.S. Civil War officer had the best beard, mustache, mutton chops or sideburns? The Smithsonian wants to know.

You can vote for the best facial hair on the Smithsonian web site at http://goo.gl/lfPhy.

Here's a bit of trivia: they weren't called sideburns until General Burnside wore an unusually large set. You can click on the image to the right to see a larger picture of General Burnside.

How to Self-Publish a Book and Sell it on Amazon

Amazon has a service to help anyone self-publish books. It works with genealogy books as well as with almost any other topic. Even better, publishing with Amazon means that your new book is also listed in Amazon's catalog and is available for anyone to order at Amazon.com.  However, I don't think many people know about this service. At least, I didn't know about it until recently and the three genealogists I asked today admitted they had never heard of it. That may not qualify as "many people" but it is enough to motivate me to write this article.

I haven't had a chance to test self publishing on Amazon myself, as I don't have a book manuscript lying around, ready to go. However, I can repeat the instructions:

More than 60 Years & 6,000 Records of Australia's Early Destitute Children now Online

The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com.au:

Ancestry.com.au, Australia’s number one family history website , today launched the Registers for the Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children, 1852-1915 – a collection of more than 6,000 handwritten entries documenting the admission and departure of children in the asylum’s care.

Previously the Society for the Relief of Destitute Children, the Randwick Asylum was first occupied in 1858. Its purpose was to care for abandoned children or children whose parents were considered ‘dissolute characters’.

U.S. National Archives Hires its first "Wikipedian"

The National Archives on Wednesday announced the hiring of its first “Wikipedian in Residence,” following a fledgling trend at cultural institutions that want to bring access to their collections to a wider audience on the Internet.

Dominic McDevitt-Parks is 24, a graduate student in history and archives management at Simmons College in Boston and a prolific Wikipedia contributor, with seven years of contributions, mostly in the area of Latin American history.

The Ultimate Security for Your Data

I have written a number of times about security and online data and similar topics. Many people do not trust the various online backup services. Indeed, I don't trust them either. However, that doesn't mean that I won't use them. By using just a little bit of caution, you and I can safely back up our most sensitive information anyplace without risk of exposing our "secrets" to others.

In fact, in my mind, the biggest risk is not online. I don't have access to any meaningful statistics, but I suspect that more data gets stolen from PCs installed in the home than from any other single source. If you make your data at home secure, you can then safely and securely save it on the Internet as well.

I Ordered a ChromeBook Today

A new computer revolution may be upon us. To be sure, I don't know if this revolution is going to change our computing habits or if it will fizzle out. Either way, I plan to find out. I ordered one today.

ChromeBooks are low-powered (and cheap) laptop computers built and optimized for the web, where you already spend most of your computing time. With a ChromeBook, you get a faster, simpler and a more secure computing experience without all the headaches of ordinary computers.

ChromeBooks also might be called "cloud computers." They have very low-powered processors, very little memory, and tiny disk drives. That doesn't sound very attractive until you realize they are designed to always be connected to the Internet. A ChromeBook boots up in eight seconds or less. That's fast! As the ChromeBook boots up, it quickly connects to your favorite wireless network so you're on the web right from the start.

Of course, the purchase price of $350 to $500 is also very appealing for a computer with infinite storage capacity and hundreds of applications available.

Last Call for SCGS Genealogy Jamboree Preregistration

Today, June 1, is the last day to preregister for the 2011 Southern California Genealogy Jamboree. Preregistration closes at midnight Pacific time.

Details are at http://goo.gl/HD5eT

Generation Maps Changes Corporate Name to Family ChartMasters

The following announcement was written by Family ChartMasters, formerly known as Generation Maps:

Cedar Hills, Utah. — June 1st, 2011 — Generation Maps, the leading genealogy chart printing service, announces today that it is changing its name to Family ChartMasters.

“We’ve decided to rename in order to simplify and focus our message on exactly what we do the best, “said Kim Hovorka, CEO, Family ChartMasters.  “We’re proud of the excellent customer service we provide and the way we can customize any family’s information to any design a genealogist is looking for.  Future users will be able to easily find us now, and future generations will benefit from the family history we are able to display for your family.”

Providence, Rhode Island Charter Found after Being Lost Nearly 200 Years

You never know what you will find in the attic. The vellum (lambskin) document, handwritten in 1648, was believed to be lost. City Archivist Paul R. Campbell, was looking for something else when he noticed an open box containing several documents from the 1960s. Buried under those documents was the city's charter, written not long after Roger Williams founded Rhode Island in 1636 as a refuge from religious persecution.

McNiff said he hoped the find would inspire others to rummage around the dustbins of history to see what’s lurking in the shadows.

More Than 200 Headstones Toppled in Montana Cemetery

Take pictures of the tombstones now! You never know what will happen.

Vandals in Great Falls, Montana pushed over as many as 200 headstones this week, breaking some that were at least 100 years old. Every headstone in the older portion of the cemetery was knocked over.

Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy Opens Registration for 2012

The following announcement was written by the Utah Genealogical Association:

The Utah Genealogical Association (UGA) is pleased to announce the opening of registration for the 2012 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG)! A premier educational opportunity, SLIG is highly regarded among professional and serious researchers. Registration will open at 9:00 AM Mountain Time (11:00 AM Eastern and 10:00 AM Central) and will be accessible via the UGA website at www.ugagenealogy.org. Tuition is $350 for UGA members and $400 for everyone else. You MUST be logged in to the members area of the website prior to registering to receive the member discount. If you are not a UGA member, but would like to receive the discount, you may join the society for $35 for the year. It is highly advisable that members check their logins before Saturday, June 4th, and that new members join prior to Saturday as well. These tuition prices are applicable through October 30, 2011 when the early-bird registration expires. (Non-early-bird tuition is $400 for UGA members and $450 for everyone else.) Two payment options have been provided: pay online with your credit card via PayPal^[1] or pay via check through the mail. Your place in the course is reserved upon checkout.

Win Five Hours of Megan Smolenyak's Research Time and Other Prizes

AARP has a contest for a "genealogy grand prize package" that can help you uncover the mysteries of your family’s past. The Grand Prize Package includes:

• Five hours of private consultation via phone with internationally-renowned professional genealogist, Megan Smolenyak
• Signed copies of Megan Smolenyak’s books – Who Do You Think You Are? and Trace Your Roots with DNA
• One time DNA ancestry testing through FamilyTreeDNA.com
• A one-year subscription to Ancestry.com
• $1000 gift card

Ancestry.co.uk Adds Dorset Parish Registers

The following announcement was written by Ancestry.co.uk:

• Dorset Family Fortunes Revealed – 400 Years of Local History Go Online
• 2.1 million Dorset historic records, spanning more than 400 years published online today for the first time – Ancestry.co.uk
• Records of Thomas Hardy, Mary Anning and Verney Lovett Cameron included
• Details of 2.1 million baptism, marriage and burial records and 27,000 historic local wills now online
• Records span four centuries

Ancestry.co.uk, the UK’s favourite family history website¹, has launched online more than 2.1 million Dorset birth, marriage, burial and probate records, revealing the fortunes of local families from the cradle to grave and beyond.

The Dorset Records, 1565-2001, span more than 400 years and detail baptisms, marriages and burials that took place in the South West county between 1813 and 2001, along with information on the possessions and land they left behind in 27,000 historic wills dating from 1565 to 1858.