Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

N.Y. Authorities Identify Thieves Who Have Been Stealing Flags from Civil War Graves

Who would steal flags from Civil War graves? Authorities in Hudson, New York believe they have found the culprits in a rash of cemetery flag thefts.

The thieves are... are you ready for this? Woodchucks.

Waymarking for Genealogists and Historians

This article might be subtitled “How to Have Fun with Your GPS Receiver and Simultaneously Provide a Public Service for Others.”

A new hobby has appeared that is a "natural fit" for genealogists, historians, and many others. It is called "waymarking." It is fun, gives you a chance to get a little exercise, and also provides a great public service. If you join in the waymarking activities of today, you can help future genealogists and others for decades to come.

Waymarking is a game/project/obsession which uses GPS coordinates to mark locations of interest and share them with others. You can even post online digital pictures of the location for others to see.

A waymark is a physical location on the planet marked by coordinates (latitude and longitude) and contains unique information defined within its waymark category. Pictures may optionally be recorded as well. Through the use of your waymarking efforts, you can share and discover unique and interesting locations on the planet.

PAWriter Version 101 for Macintosh is Now Available

PAWriter is a popular and free genealogy program for Macintosh. Author Howard Metcalfe has released a new update. The program is now offered in two versions:

PAWriter version 100 (a universal version) will run under OS 10.4 Tiger through 10.7 Lion but NOT under 10.8 Mountain Lion.

PAWriter version 101 (an Intel version only) will run under OS 10.6.6 Snow Leopard through 10.8 Mountain Lion (for which it is code signed).

You should install version 101 if you have an Intel Mac running at least OS 10.6.6; otherwise install version 100. They are functionally equivalent.

(+) CDs Are Not Forever

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

CD discs (often called “optical discs") have been commercially available since the 1980s. Sadly, many computer users have inserted their older CDs into a computer and found that the discs no longer work.

Sometimes it is a software problem: the old software for the CD might not work on a newer version of Windows or Macintosh. However, the most common problem seems to be physical: the CDs themselves have microscopic mold or "rot" that ruins the surface and prevents the data from being read. Even worse, there is no cure. If the data is bad now, it will only get worse. There is no reliable way to restore data from a defective CD.

Windows Home Server is Dead

I wrote several articles about Windows Home Server several years ago. See http://goo.gl/xeNAE for a list of those articles. Windows Home Server allows you to have a server hidden away in a closet or under a desk somewhere, and it provides a central place for storing backups, sharing media files, and remotely accessing your network.

I always felt that Windows Home Server was one of the better products for serious computer users and I ran the software in my home for more than two years. I know from feedback that several readers of this newsletter also use Windows Home Server. However, there hasn't been much publicity about the product in the past couple of years and Microsoft has now announced it is dropping Windows Home Server.

National Library of Scotland Post Office Directories Collection Online

The National Library of Scotland has more than 700 digitized Post Office Directories available online, spanning 1773 to 1911. These directories are similar to city directories on other countries: residents are listed with their names, addresses, yearly rent or values, and (in many cases) occupations.

MacFamilyTree 6.2.14

Synium Software has released version 6.2.14 of the popular genealogy program for Macintosh. Changes from the previous release are minor: the program has been enhanced for Retina displays and several bugfixes and minor user interface improvements have been added.

Details may be found at http://www.syniumsoftware.com/macfamilytree/.

Free Guide to Tennessee Ancestors

Do you have Tennessee ancestors? If you do, you’ll want to check out the free online guide to Tennessee ancestors available at FamilySearch.org.

You can read more in an article by Nathan W. Murphy at http://goo.gl/90PP0.

 

Building a Wall Around Canadiana?

Library and Archives Canada is cutting a program dedicated to helping local archives develop and preserve their collections. As of February, the national archive will no longer be part of Canada's countrywide inter-library loan system. These cuts to Canada's national memory-keeping institution passed last week in the government's omnibus budget bill.

The deputy head of Library and Archives, Daniel Caron, says he's doing his best to keep his department "relevant to a new generation of Canadians," but some archivists fear the cuts will build a wall around the archive's information.

Sorry, We Already Buried A Lady Next To Your Husband

A company in California owns the Mount Vernon Memorial Park in Fair Oaks. The company is named Dignity. Keep that in mind.

Lillas Hawkins found a problem when she went to visit her husband's grave two weeks ago. Another woman was buried next to her husband in the plot that Mrs. Hawkins thought was reserved for her own use someday. When she pointed out the error to a cemetery worker, she says he responded, "We are in terrible trouble."

Google Puts Twentieth Century Italian History Online

The search engine giant has signed a deal with the Italian government to post 30,000 newsreels and documentaries from the twentieth century on YouTube. Many of the films concern Benito Mussolini's rise to power and then the events of World War II.

Many of the newsreels were supplied by Italy's Istituto Luce-Cinecittà, which was founded in 1924 and which became a propaganda tool for Mussolini, regaling cinema audiences with tales of Italian industrial prowess and the oratorical powers of Il Duce. Other films now available on YouTube include newsreels shot by Settimana Incom from 1946 to 1964 which document Italy's economic miracle and paparazzi chasing starlets indulging in Rome's Dolce Vita.

The new Istituto Luce Cinecittà channel on YouTube is available at http://www.youtube.com/cinecittaluce.

findmypast.co.uk Adds 49,184 new Lincolnshire Parish Marriage Records

The records span the period 1700 to 1837 and were added in association with the Federation of Family History Societies. The records cover more than 200 parishes. Details may be found in the findmypast.co.uk blog at http://goo.gl/emjrG.

The Changing Cause of Death in America over the Last 100 Years

You can see some history here, especially regarding the deadly worldwide influenza epidemic of 1918 and 1919. A study by the New England Journal of Medicine looked at human factors like population growth, changing social mores and sexual behavior, migration, war and intravenous drug use in the past century. Changes in environmental conditions and ecological changes also contributed to the most common causes of death.

iGoogle to Go Away

I am disappointed in the latest announcement from Google: iGoogle will be retired in 16 months, on November 1, 2013.

iGoogle, also called a "personalized home page," is one of my favorite uses of Google. When I first fire up a web browser, the first page displayed (my "home page") is iGoogle. It is a page I created, using iGoogle' tools, that displays my new email messages, my calendar, my To-Do List, the local weather forecast, several RSS newsfeeds that I follow closely, and a map showing the current location of several of my friends (using Google Latitude). In short, is is a quick summary of all the information that is important in my life. Now Google is taking away this quick summary.

Irish Family History Foundation Offers Free Online Searches in July

The following announcement was written by the staff at the Irish Family History Foundation:

For the month of July 2012 www.rootsireland.ie is introducing a change to its system for viewing pages of search results to allow you to view more search result pages.

Currently you can avail of 10 free search result page views after registration and once those 10 have been used you are charged a credit to view a page of search results.

In July you can view as many search results pages at NO additional charge based on the number of unspent credits in your account or the number that you purchase in July.

Keep Records Available in Cyberspace

Here is a quote from an editorial in the Pocono Record:

"Why on earth would modern record-keepers want to go back to the old days of destroying public documents after a certain amount of time had passed?

"Yet that's what Pennsylvania state government has done. Officials have removed millions of public records from a state court website, saying they're treating the electronic records in the same way they always treated paper records. Run out of room, dump the old papers to make way for the new."

Another U.S. Presidential Historian to be Sentenced for Stealing Thousands of Documents from Various Libraries and Archives

I wrote last week (at http://goo.gl/8uahX) that sixty-four-year-old Barry Landau was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in the theft of more than 4,000 rare historical documents written by Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Karl Marx and Franklin D. Roosevelt, among others. It seems that Landau had a younger accomplice who now faces a jail term for his role in the thefts.

Jason Savedoff, a 25-year-old former Vancouver, British Columbia, resident and McGill University student, pleaded guilty in November 2011 to carrying out the thefts with Landau.

Happy Fourth of July - I am Taking the Day Off

Wednesday is a holiday in the United States. I intend to celebrate by spending the day with family and friends. I won't be posting any new articles until Thursday.

I hope you have a happy and safe Fourth of July!

Library of Congress' Tangible Media Project

Have you noticed that CD-ROM disks have almost disappeared? At one time, CD-ROM disks were the preferred distribution method of big genealogy databases from companies such as Ancestry.com. Many of these disks required either Family Tree Maker for Windows or the FamilyFinder Index and Viewer software. FamilyFinder Index and Viewer is no longer available while Family Tree Maker for Windows is still very popular but the newer versions do not include the software required to read the older genealogy data on CD-ROM disks. Other companies produced disks in their own proprietary format although I think all of those proprietary products are now defunct. A few companies did and still continue to release products as PDF files, easily read on most any computer.

The moral here is to never produce (or purchase) data that is in a proprietary format. If you do, you will be locked into that format and sooner or later the data will become unusable. The preferred format today is PDF although that is certain to change also to some newer format within a few years. I'm guessing that EPUB will become popular. It is an open standard for e-books created by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF).

Many companies have abandoned CD-ROM distribution in favor of online databases. That trend is certain to continue.

Is This the First American Flag with Stars and Stripes?

Barnabas Webb was a Revolutionary War soldier. Like most other soldiers of the time, he carried a powder horn filled with gunpowder. Also like many of his mates, he carved images on the powder horn that meant something to him. Historians are now interested in what Barnabas Webb engraved on his powder horn: an image of a flag with stars and stripes. Is it the earliest known flag with Stars and Stripes? The historians disagree.

The image on Barnabas Webb's powder horn is tiny: fingernail sized. If those are indeed stars, Web made tiny representations of them that look more like dots. Click on the image above to see a larger picture. Note that the flag is shown on the extreme left of the powder horn and is reversed from the manner in which we would display it today: the stripes are to the left and the stars (if any) are to the right. However, the flagpole is also to the right so it is correctly displayed for a wind that is blowing from right to left.