Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Just What We Need: Google Glasses?

The New York Times reports that Google is working to deliver a heads-up display allowing users access to email, maps and other tools through a wearable interface. You could do all this while at the library, reading census records, or even while playing online games.

The device reportedly will be available later this year, and sell somewhere in the raange of $250 to $600.

Archives.com and National Archives Announce 1940 Census Website

The following announcement was written by Archives.com:

Today Archives.com and the National Archives are revealing the website that will host the 1940 Census beginning April 2, 2012: 1940census.archives.gov. We encourage you to bookmark the website, and watch the informational video providing behind-the-scenes look at the preparations made to publish the 1940 Census.


Please share this website and video with others!

Outrageous Advertisements from the Past

From an ad that claims smoking is healthy to one telling mothers they should give Coca-Cola to their babies, these shocking posters give a fascinating insight into a time gone by. One even tries to promote cocaine a remedy for toothache.

$900 USB-powered DNA Sequencer

This new device won't allow you to analyze DNA tests at home. After all, a DNA lab needs more than a sequencer to deliver test results. However, with Oxford Nanopore about to release a $900 sequencer, the prices for DNA tests performed by commercial labs should drop significantly. In fact, the manufacturer predicts that the price of the sequencer will drop well below $900 once volume production begins.

FamilySearch Adds Free Records from 7 Countries

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

Millions of new records added to England, Italy, and U.S. Collections

This week FamilySearch added 12 million new, free records online (6.5 million indexed names and 5.6 million browsable images) for Canada, England, Germany, Italy, Korea, Netherlands, Spain, and the U.S. The Florida Death Index 1877-1998, received 5 million searchable records and another million records each for Oklahoma and Wisconsin. Find your ancestors now at FamilySearch.org.

(+) Calendars Explained

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

What could be simpler than a calendar? The printed one from the local real estate office shows twelve months, each with 28 to 31 days. Simple, right?

Well, it hasn't always been so simple. After all, I keep stumbling upon genealogy records that are logged with “double dates.” That is, a birth record might state “22 February 1732/3.” Which was it: 1732 or 1733? Well, it actually was both. Just to make things more complex, most of our ancestors didn't know what day it was. You see, most people in the early 1700s and earlier were illiterate. They couldn't read a book, much less a calendar. Most people did not know what day it was or even how old they were. Very few remembered their own birthdays.

Introducing the Mocavo Genealogy Search Widget

The following announcement was written by Mocavo.com:

We’ve all been there: You come across a great genealogy site that has pages upon pages of juicy information, just waiting to be tapped. But the realization of sifting through all this data is too daunting to bear. Sure, sometimes you can use the handy “Ctrl + F” find function, but on hundreds of individual pages? If only the page had its own search engine.

Mocavo has a solution: introducing the Mocavo Genealogy Search Widget, designed and developed specifically for genealogy websites and blogs to help your readers get the most out of your data.

Help Wanted: An Irish Genealogist to Help Evict a Squatter

Here is a weird case. All that is needed is for some good Irish genealogist to find a living heir. The heir will receive a home in Dublin and the government then should be able to evict a squatter who has lived in the house without permission for 30 years.

Desmond Grogan broke into the home of Alice Dolan at Enniskerry Road, Dublin, Ireland, after her death in October 1981. He gained access to the house through the back door in February 1982 after learning, in the course of his employment in the auctioneering business, of Ms Dolan's death and apparent absence of any next of kin. He has lived there since with his wife.

My Presentations at the Central Florida Genealogical Society

I must say that I had fun giving presentations at the Central Florida Genealogical Society in Altamonte Springs yesterday. I thought it was especially nice of the organizers to hold the event only about ten miles from where my motor home is parked! No, I didn't plan that. It just worked out that way.

About 60 or 70 people sat patiently all day long as I gave four presentations. They also asked some tough questions! I take that as a good sign that they were paying attention. I also received an email note this morning from a lady who listened to my talk yesterday about Google for Genealogists, then went home and found an online copy of a family history book that she had been looking for since 1989! It listed her ancestors and provided several new (to her) generations. I'm delighted when these things work.

Review of the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 is heavily promoted on U.S. television these days. I found in my recent conversations at two different genealogy societies in Florida, the same scanner is generating a lot of interest amongst genealogists.

The $295 (retail) scanner is the smaller version of the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 that sells for about $400, depending upon where you purchase it. The cheaper scanner is smaller, lighter, but also significantly slower. Both scanners have document feeders; you can place a stack of papers into the input stacker, push a button, and walk away as both sides of each piece of paper are being scanned.

Ancestry.com Commemorates Japanese-American Internment with Free Access to Databases

The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com:

Largest Online Collection of World War II Japanese American Internment Camp Records Sheds New Light on Lives Under Arrest

In remembrance of the 70^th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 placing more than 120,000 Japanese Americans in internment camps, Ancestry.com, the world's largest online family history resource, is offering free access from February 16-23 to its extensive Japanese internment camp record collections.

Where Was Charlie Chaplin Born?

Even Great Britain's MI5 spy agency cannot find any record of Charlie Chaplin's birth. Although the entertainer is celebrated as one of London's most famous sons, newly declassified files reveal that Britain's MI5 domestic intelligence service found no records to back up Chaplin's claim that he was born in the city on April 16, 1889.

Uncertainty about Chaplin's origins linger to this day — a mystery Chaplin himself may have helped to nurture. The previously secret file, released Friday by Britain's National Archives, shows that MI5 investigated the silent film star in the 1950s at the request of U.S. authorities, who had long suspected him of communist sympathies. To the spies' surprise, there was no record of the performer's birth.

Texas Woman Meets Birth Family After 56 Years

On Monday, Charlesina Mace was united with her birth family for the very first time. And the amazing part is that she is 56 years old.

Charlesina was born in 1955 in Corpus Christi, Texas to a 15-year-old mother who immediately placed her up for adoption. Charlesina grew up having no idea she was adopted. On her death bed, Charlesina's birth mother made her sister promise to find the daughter she had put up for adoption. Another nine years passed but eventually the family identified, located, and met their long-lost sister.

Thank You Lee County Genealogical Society

I'd like to thank the Lee County Genealogical Society in Fort Myers, Florida, for hosting me at the club's meeting yesterday afternoon. I know that I had fun. I gave a presentation to the society and was delighted to meet everyone.


This is a rather active genealogy spciety and has many projects underway. If you are anywhere near Fort Myers, you might want to drop in at the next meeting. You can learn more on the Lee County Genealogical Society web page at http://www.leecountygenealogy.org/.

University of Iowa Yearbooks Now Online

Published from 1892 until 1992 (except for a brief interruption during the 1970s), The University of Iowa's Hawkeye yearbook features student portraits, photographs of the campus, club and team information, and frequently a foreword by the administration.  You can search by years or search for any word in the text of all the yearbooks.

The University of Iowa's Hawkeye yearbooks are available at http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/yearbooks/.

(+) How To Store Data in the Cloud

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

I originally published this article nearly two years ago. However, information in that article became obsolete as facts, prices, and URLs have changed significantly since then. I decide to re-write the article, make numerous corrections, and then I added several new paragraphs about products and services that have appeared since the original article was published.

I received a message from a newsletter reader, asking how to store a genealogy society's huge collection of digital images on a safe and secure online service. The following is an excerpt from a longer message:

Ancestry.com Reports Q4 Results

Today, genealogy research site Ancestry.com reported a mixed financial report for the fourth quarter.

For Q4, Ancestry reported revenue of $104.2 million, up 26% from a year ago, with profits of 40 cents a share. The company said its Web site had 1.7 million subscribers as of December 31, up 22% from a year ago and up slightly from Q3.

Mocavo Announces Plan to Double Size of its Genealogy Search Index

The following announcement was written by Mocavo:

Over the past few weeks, Mocavo has been working on something that is rather extraordinary, and we’re excited to bring it to light in the genealogy world. We’re determined to give you access to even more of the free genealogical Web so over the next month, we’ll be working to double–that’s right, double– the size of our index.

The last few days alone, we’ve added hundreds of new sites, and you’ll notice that per our announcement at RootsTech, Geni.com results are starting to appear in our index. Additionally, we’re “re-indexing” sites we already have in our database to weed out broken links and get the freshest, most up-to-date genealogy information we can.

Archives.com Adds More records

Archives.com has announced the release of more records. I haven't yet had a chance to look at this new offering because I have been traveling all day. (I am in Fort Myers, Florida tonight.) However, it appears that the new release is a re-release of records that have previously been available on www.FamilySearch.org.

The Archives.com blog at http://goo.gl/qHY43 states, "Archives.com has added a phenomenal collection of family trees from FamilySearch International , the largest genealogy organization in the world. These community tree records dating back to circa 1500 are being made available outside of the Mormon Church for the first time..."

Cupid and Friends Reunited Agree to new Website Deal

brightsolid, the online publishing arm of DC Thomson, owns or manages many web sites, including several genealogy sites, such as findmypast sites in England, Ireland and Australia, Friends Reunited, and the British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) amongst others. Now the company appears to be shifting operations of some of its non-genealogy sites to CUPID, the online dating business.

I noticed the sites that brightsolid is giving to CUPID all are non-genealogy sites. Does this mean that brightsolid is moving to focus its efforts on its obviously successful genealogy web sites?