The DAILY genealogy technology newsletter for genealogy
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I am always amazed at the capabilities of DNA matching. Here's the latest example from an announcement written by Family Tree DNA:
Houston, TX – August 31, 2011 - Family Tree DNA, the pioneer and largest DNA testing company for genealogy purposes, through its Family Finder test, provided the conclusive proof that two National Football League players are half-siblings.
Until a few months ago, Xavier Omon, from the San Francisco 49ers and Ogemdi Nwagbuo from the San Diego Chargers did not have a clue that they were related. Early August, at the request of ESPN, Family Tree DNA performed the Family Finder test on both, and the result was unequivocal: definitely half-siblings. More of the story can be found at the ESPN website, under the “Brother’s Tale” story.
The following announcement was written by Ancestry.ca:
Discover your immigrant ancestors and Canadian roots with free access through Labour Day
August 31, 2011 (Toronto, ON) – For hundreds of years Canada has been the destination for millions of immigrants from around the world seeking a better way of life. Today, Ancestry.ca, Canada’s leading family history website,[1] announced that it will be providing free access to the world’s largest collection of digitized online immigration records, from August 29 through September 5.
This unprecedented access will allow Canadians to 200 million immigration and travel records from around the world, including 13.5 million records specific to Canada. This includes the complete Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935, the official records of the arrival of the majority of people accepted as immigrants in Canada during this key immigration period.
The next time you read a document that contains information about your ancestors, wouldn't it be nice to immediately scan an image of it and email the image to yourself? Even better, how about uploading the image immediately to Dropbox or to MobileMe iDisk? If you own an iPhone, you can do that right now by installing a bit of low-cost software.
Scanner Pro converts your iPhone into a scanner. How well does it perform? Click on the thumbnail-sized image to the right to see a larger picture of a page I scanned today with Scanner Pro on an iPhone 4. The page is from The Book of Dow written by Robert Piercy Dow and published in 1929. I think it is a great image for a cell phone camera! Best of all, I always have the iPhone with me so that means I also carry a scanner with me everywhere I go.
Library and Archives Canada has placed the 1871 census online. 1871 marked the first regularly scheduled collection of national statistics. The information covers the four provinces that were part of the Dominion of Canada in 1871: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec.
The online database provides digitized images of original census returns featuring the name, age, country or province of birth, nationality, religion, and occupation of Canada's residents at the time. The database is searchable by nominal information such as Name, Given Name (s) and Age, and/or geographical information such as Province, District Name, District Number, and Sub-district Number.
The following was written by the Southern California Genealogical Society:
The Southern California Genealogical Society announces a Call for Proposals for the 43rd Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, to be held at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel, Burbank, California, Friday through Sunday, June 8 through 10, 2012. Thursday, June 7 will be a day of hands-on workshops, including the very popular Family History Writers Conference.
Proposals for the 2012 Jamboree Extension Series webinars are also covered by this Call for Papers. The very successful webinars are held on the first Saturday and the third Wednesday of each month.
I haven't had a chance to use this service yet, although the web site looks interesting. Sort Your Story is an organizational tool that stores images of genealogy records on your computer. You can use Sort Your Story to compile genealogy birth records, death records, marriage certificates, photos and more all in one place to instantly see what information is missing and create reports based on the existing information. The Sort Your Story Profiler provides the ability to quickly see what data is complete and which pieces of the puzzle are still missing.
You may also view free video tutorials at sortyourstory.com to obtain hints on organizing and de-cluttering your genealogy information.
The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:
30 August 2011
FamilySearch.org added over six million records this week to its free online database. The new collections include seigniorial records from Austria, civil registrations from Chihuahua, Mexico, and probate records from Kentucky, U.S. Also added this week are records from Brazil, Guatemala, Hungary, Peru, Poland, South Africa, and Spain. View them all now at FamilySearch.org.
FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Imagine winning the lottery without buying a ticket. It was much like that for Glenn Pore when the Fayette County retiree accepted an energy company's offer to pay him and 10 relatives thousands of dollars to lease mineral rights beneath farmland his ancestors plowed a century ago. Pore does not own the land although his ancestors did. When sold, the family retained mineral rights which later became valuable.
In Pennsylvania, property owners can sell surface property but retain control of minerals. That includes natural gas trapped in the mile-deep Marcellus shale formation that was out of reach until the technology behind hydraulic fracturing evolved enough to extract it.
The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com:
Week of Free Access Enables Families to Discover Stories of Ancestors’ International Travels and Passage
PROVO, UTAH – (August 29, 2011) – Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, today announced an entire week of free access to its popular U.S. and International Immigration and Naturalization records. The free access week begins August 29th and runs through the Labor Day holiday ending September 5th. During this time, all visitors to Ancestry.com will be able to search for free the indices and images of new and updated U.S. immigration records as well as selected international immigration records from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden and Mexico. Millions of Americans can trace their family history to other countries, and these collections provide valuable information about the travels and journeys that brought them to America or other countries around the world.
The following announcement was written by Family Tree Magazine:
Family Tree Magazine, America’s No. 1 genealogy how-to magazine, is pleased to announce the addition of Kerry Scott to its team.
She’ll be the magazine’s new online editor, focusing on Family Tree University (http://www.familytreeuniversity.com) online classes, webinars and digital products.
The National Archives and Records Administration is looking for an archivist for the Jimmy Carter Library. The archivist will be responsible, along with other members of the archival staff, for planning, performing and monitoring all archival functions in a variety of media, establishing work priorities, and ensuring that priorities and work assigned to the archival staff are completed in compliance with policies, standards, and procedures.
Hurricane Irene was an "interesting" experience. Damage in my neighborhood was minor, although my next-door neighbor had a tree come down in his yard, narrowly missing my fence. However, there was no significant damage.
We had heavy rain for a while and winds of perhaps 30 to 40 miles per hour, far less than hurricane force. The weather was worse to the south and west of us.
The biggest problem was the loss of power for about 28 hours. I lost Internet connectivity, the old-fashioned telephone service, and the VoIP phone service for the entire 28 hours. However, cell phone service remained available all during the hurricane so I was never without communications.
Vertical Horizon, the Belgian-based software company, has released Calendar Converter for iOS. The app is optimized for iPod Touch and iPhone, but also works on the iPad.
Calendar Converter allows you to easily navigate to a date in the Gregorian, Julian, Hebrew, French Republican or Islamic calendar and get the corresponding dates in the other calendars. You can copy the date to the clipboard and then use the date in another app.
I had planned to start a vacation today. I found a great bargain for an off-season hotel on the beach in Cancun, Mexico, along with an airfare on JetBlue that was too good to ignore. I packed my bag last night and was ready to go to the airport this morning. Then a lady named Irene interfered.
The following announcement was written by the National Archives and Records Administration:
26 August 2011
Washington, DC. . . Assessments are continuing of the earthquake damage at the National Archives Washington National Records Center in Suitland, MD. Based on preliminary review by engineers, the facility will remain closed through Monday, August 29, 2011. A full review will determine when the facility will reopen. During an extensive walkthrough, National Archives Executive for Agency Services Jay Bosanko has determined that there is no known permanent damage to any records.
The following announcement was written by MyHeritage.com:
New API platform helps developers make the web a friendlier place for families. MyHeritage.com to run global competition for best family app
NEW YORK, USA, LONDON, UK & TEL AVIV, Israel – August 26, 2011 - MyHeritage.com, the world’s largest online family network, today announced its continued rapid growth and the beta release of its new Family Graph API platform. Approaching 60 million registered users, MyHeritage.com is the leading online destination for families to explore their family history, share special moments and keep in touch. In order to help families better leverage their connections and relationships across mobile and web, MyHeritage.com is making its Family Graph API platform available to developers at www.familygraph.com in beta, and is running a competition for the creation of the best family app.
A birthday party is planned at a north Georgia nursing home for Besse Cooper, who's listed as the world's oldest person. She will celebrate her 115th birthday. Family members and a researcher from the Guinness Book of World Records will attend the ceremony. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Cooper will receive a plaque from the organization that determines the oldest person in the world.
You can read more in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution at http://goo.gl/mCLla.
The following announcement was written by Ancestry.co.uk:
Registers from golden age of craft & trade digitised on Ancestry.co.uk
One million masters and apprentices listed in comprehensive collection
Britons such as Jenner, Blake and Chippendale included
Records show the large sums of money paid by parents to have their children apprenticed
Females paid more for their apprenticeships than males
Ancestry.co.uk, the UK’s favourite family history website,1 today launched online the UK, Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices' Indentures, 1710-1811, which detail the boys and girls entering trades in the days when apprenticeships were an integral part of the work system.
The following sad news was sent by Cynthia S. Grostick, President of the Michigan Genealogical Council:
August 25, 2011
To All Michigan Genealogists,
It is with great sadness that I have to announce the passing this morning of a beloved friend to genealogists in this state, Mrs. Barbara Brown. Barbara was president of the Abrams Foundation.
Anyone in the community with an interest in researching family history in Michigan has been touched by Barbara and the Abrams Foundation. Barbara leaves a lasting legacy as you cannot go into the Library of Michigan, the Archives of Michigan or visit the SeekingMichigan.org website without touching books or microfilm or seeing scanned images that does not owe its existence to Barbara and the Abrams Foundation.
Feedback I have received from those on previous trips indicates this is a great experience. If you are interested in spending a week in Salt Lake City, accompanied by genealogy experts, you will be interested in this announcement from the National Genealogical Society:
16–23 October 2011
Space is limited to 30 attendees. Registration Deadline: 1 October 2011
The National Genealogical Society (NGS) sponsors two research trips each year to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and one is filling up now for October.
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