The DAILY genealogy technology newsletter for genealogy
consumers, packed with straight talk - hold the sugar coating - whether
the vendors like it or not!
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a history professor, a DNA expert, and a genealogist. Now he is asking for assistance to identify his great-great-grandfather.
Through genealogical records, the Gates family history can be traced back to Jane Gates, a slave who lived on Greene Street. Jane, who was born in 1819, had five children and took the name and identity of their father with her to the grave, according to Gates.
The National Park Service's Homestead National Monument is seeking people who participated in the Homestead Act of 1862 or are descendents of people who received land through the Homestead Law that have a strong connection to one of the 30 Homestead States.
A May 20 national commemoration event and a Homestead Day parade on June 16 are planned at the southeast Nebraska monument. The volunteer must carry the flag for a mile and a half. A different volunteer may be chosen for each event.
Emerson, a manufacturing and technology company based in St. Louis, will donate $1 million toward a genealogical library to be built in nearby Chesterfield. The Center for Family History is a project of the St. Louis County Library Foundation. The capital campaign goal totals $18 million. The Foundation has now reached more than two-thirds of its goal.
Yes, Americans can be awarded coats of arms. However, in Donald Trump's case, it required a four year battle to earn the insignia.
Trump has won the right to use a coat of arms to advertise his Scottish golf resort. Trump is known for proudly speaking of Scottish roots, often referring to his Lewis-born mother.
Reminder: You are never allowed to claim a coat of arms as your own unless you have been awarded official (written) permission to do so. Just ask Donald.
The Confederate States attempted this in 1861 and failed. BBC News now has an interesting article about the predictions for life 100 years from now. The predictions are interesting to read but one really caught my eye: the break-up of the United States. The BBC article claims this will happen voluntarily, apparently without the need of a civil war or any unnecessary bloodshed.
Ars Technica has an interesting article today by Chris Foresman that predicts Apple will announce tools later this week to revolutionize textbook publishing. The new tools will help create "interactive e-books" which I would assume will be significantly different from static words as we have always published on paper. The new software tools will make it easy for publishers to create content for computer, iPhone and iPad users. Apple is also expected to announce support for the ePub 3 industry standard for iBooks going forward.
The announcement focuses solely on textbooks but I wonder what is the difference between a textbook and any other sort of reference information, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, or even the typical genealogy books? Will these tools be multi-purpose? or will they be useful only for true textbooks? We should know on Thursday when Apple is expected to make the announcement.
A newsletter reader sent an email message asking a very good question. I decided to share the answer with everyone who reads this newsletter. He asked:
I am thinking of purchasing a tablet, and I wonder what genealogy apps are available for tablets. I use two genealogy programs, Legacy and Family Tree Maker. Do you know if either of these programs would be viewable on a tablet? Because of their costs, I am leaning towards either a Nook Tablet or a Kindle Fire, but I am not sure if either of these would permit me to download my information and use it in a library, Family History Center, etc. What do you think?
I will give you two answers: a short one and one longer one.
I was delighted to read the announcement today of the newest addition to Mocavo.com's staff: Michael Leclerc. This looks like a great match.
Quoting from the announcement:
Michael has officially joined Mocavo as Chief Genealogist and will be working with us to help bring you the richest experience that the genealogical world has to offer. We’re ecstatic to be working with such an industry guru, and our entire team is very excited with what Mocavo will bring to the field of genealogy in 2012.
Mocavo CEO Cliff Shaw said, “I couldn’t be happier to have Michael joining our team. As Mocavo continues to grow and innovate in the space, Michael’s incredible expertise will help us build an ever-improving experience for our users.”
The following announcement was written by the Quebec Family History Society:
MONTREAL, January 15, 2012 — The Quebec Family History Society (QFHS) is proud to announce the launch of its new website at www.qfhs.ca. Located at the same address as the genealogical society’s original site, the website features several new sections, such as Gary’s Genealogical Picks, research tips, surname interests, and a bulletin board.
The following announcement was written by the Federation of Genealogical Societies:
Indians, Squatters, Settlers and Soldiers in the "Old Southwest" A Conference for the Nation’s Genealogists
January 16, 2012 – Austin, TX. Registration for the 2012 Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference, scheduled for August 29 - September 1, 2012, in beautiful Birmingham, Alabama, is now open. This year’s conference theme is “Indians, Squatters, Settlers and Soldiers in the ‘Old Southwest’,” and the local host is the Alabama Genealogical Society (AGS).
This is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.
I recently heard a story of a family society that invested thousands of dollars in publishing a book that is valuable to family members. Due to a shift in technology, however, the society may lose its "investment." I decided to share the story with others to hopefully prevent repetition by others.
Thousands of family genealogy books were published from the late 1800s through the early twentieth century. These books vary widely in quality, but many of them are exhaustive reference sources, containing information about thousands of individuals born with the same surname. The most common format is a book that contains information about all the known descendants of an original immigrant or some other individual. Some of these books contain hundreds, or even thousands, of pages of information.
I'm opening a bottle of champagne. I rarely drink champagne but today is a time of celebration.
Boy, the time does fly! Sixteen years has slipped by in almost the blink of an eye. It seems like only yesterday that I sent the first e-mail newsletter to about 100 people, mostly members of CompuServe's Genealogy Forums. None of them knew in advance that the newsletter would arrive; I simply mailed it to people who I thought might be interested. In 1996 nobody objected to receiving unsolicited bulk mail; the phrase "spam mail" had not yet been invented. I shudder to think if I did the same thing in today's Internet environment.
Here is an excerpt from the first newsletter sent January 15, 1996:
Well, it's started. This newsletter is something that I have been considering for a long time, but I finally decided to "take the plunge." I've subscribed to several other electronic newsletters for some time now and have found them to be valuable. On many occasions I have said to myself, "Someone ought to do a weekly newsletter for genealogy news." One day the light bulb went on, and I decided that perhaps I was that someone.
I hope to collect various bits of information that cross my desk and appear on my screen every week. Some of these items may be considered "news items" concerning events and happenings of interest to computer-owning genealogists. Some other items will be mini press releases about new genealogy software or other products and services that have just become available. I may write a few articles about things that are not genealogy-related but still seem to be of interest to me and probably to the readers. This may include articles about online systems, operating systems or other things that affect many of us.
If you are in or near the Phoenix, Arizona area, you will want to know about a great genealogy expo to be held at the Mesa Convention Center in Mesa, Arizona on January 20 and 21, 2012. This annual event typically attracts more than 1,000 attendees. I have attended several of them and can vouch that they have all been great events.
An "expo" is a bit different from a conference, such as those hosted by many genealogy societies. An expo focuses on vendors and also on attracting genealogy newcomers. However, I do know that the Family History Expos also offer a number of programs for intermediate to advanced genealogists as well. As stated on the Expo's web site, attendees will benefit from "genealogy skill building, professional research assistance, technology developments, vendor interaction, networking opportunities and unlimited fun."
Patrick Dunae, a former archivist and now a director of the Hallmark Heritage Society and a member of the City's Heritage Advisory Committee, has been piecing together some unlikely records. Old maps, early directories listing residents' names, insurance underwriters' studies, property records and census data are all coming together to create pictures of what Victoria looked like during the Edwardian era.
The following announcement was written by GHCS Software:
GHCS Software of Rochester Hills, MI, USA, announces updates to its GedStar Pro genealogy viewer product for Android smartphones and tablets. Android app V2.1 and the accompanying Windows program V4.3 are available from the Google Android Market and from GHCS's web site at http://gedstarpro.com.
More than two years ago, I wrote at http://goo.gl/HhAhV about a project of the University of Maine at Presque Isle and the Fairmount Cemetery Association to link generations of the past with the future. The project is thought to be the first large-scale, comprehensive cemetery mapping with GPS and GIS technology in Maine. The goal was to create a cemetery GIS database for historic, cultural and social research that offers access to anyone on the Internet and that will serve as a model for cataloging historic and cultural landmarks. The project has now been completed and is available to anyone with an Internet connection.
Susan Gregory Henry, was named 2011 Genealogist of the Year at the annual banquet of the Clinton County Genealogical Society. A citation for Susan Henry was read on behalf of the committee composed of Shirley Lakatos, Beth Mitchell and Joyce Peters in recognition and appreciation for her outstanding service to the Clinton County Genealogical Society. She was presented a certificate and a plaque.
You can read more in an article in the Wilmington News Journal at http://goo.gl/7LP1L
When NBC's genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? returns with its third season Feb. 3, a new crop of celebrities will explore their family history.
Martin Sheen, Marisa Tomei, Blair Underwood, Reba McEntire, Rob Lowe, Helen Hunt, Rita Wilson, Edie Falco, Rashida Jones, former NFL running back Jerome Bettis, Jason Sudeikis and Paula Deen will be featured on the series executive produced by Lisa Kudrow and Dan Bucatinsky.
In September 2011, the White House launched an online petition web site, We the People, where anyone can post an idea asking the Obama administration to take action on a range of issues, get signatures, and get a response from their government. It’s an experiment in democracy, which is generating new ideas and improving on old ideas every day. One of those rising ideas is “Yes We Scan.”
Yes We Scan is an effort by the Center for American Progress and Public.Resource.org to promote digitization of all government information in an effort to make it more accessible to the world.
The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:
FamilySearch Ushers in New Year with 119 Million New, Free Records from 33 Countries
FamilySearch was extra busy during the holidays. It added 119 million new, free records online (about 64 million indexed names and 55 million browsable images). This latest round of record updates makes 1008 historic record collections online boasting 2.58 billion searchable names and 466 million digital images of historic documents. The numbers are actually very staggering and very exciting for family history enthusiasts! Search the records online now at FamilySearch.org. See the list below for details of the latest additions.
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