Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

(+) Hands On with the New Microsoft Surface Tablet Computer

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

I purchased a new Microsoft Surface tablet computer on October 26, the first day they became available. I would like to describe my experiences with it so far.

I will also compare the new Windows Surface to the current Apple iPad for two reasons. First, the iPad commands 70% of the tablet computer market; so, every new tablet that appears in the marketplace obviously will be compared with its biggest competitor. Second, I already own an iPad; so, I automatically compare the two systems in my mind.

Hurricane Sandy: Skeleton Believed from Colonial Times Found under Uprooted Tree

New Haven, Connecticut, police say superstorm Sandy has revealed a skeleton beneath the town green. The remains likely belong to one of thousands of people buried there in Colonial times. The remains will be evaluated by the state medical examiner.

The story may be found at http://goo.gl/LB3tz.

Macintosh and Linux Owners: Get a FREE Copy of CrossOver on October 31 Only

CrossOver software enables Macintosh and Linux users to run some Windows programs on their computers without the need of a copy of Microsoft Windows. It doesn't work on all Windows programs but does work well on all the programs listed at http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/toplists/ and at http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/browse/name. CrossOver normally sells for $59.95 but will be available FREE for 24 hours.

I noted that the list of compatible programs includes RootsMagic, Legacy Family Tree, Family Tree Maker, The Master Genealogist, and Personal Ancestral File. Not all versions of all programs are guaranteed to work, however. I'd suggest checking the list online to make sure your genealogy program's version number is compatible with CrossOver.

This is a great way to run a Windows genealogy program on your Mac or Linux system!

Archives in Michigan Damaged by Fire and Water

Cleanup and rehabilitation efforts continue at the Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections after a fire Friday.

The fire was small and quickly contained. However, there was a 200-square-foot area of water damage. The damaged items include mining records, records from the steelworkers union at White Pine and photographs. The most sensitive documents, including genealogy records, were removed immediately before they could be damaged.

You can read more in an article by Garrett Neese in the MiningGazette.com web site at http://goo.gl/JvTzi.

 

HMS Bounty Victim was a Fletcher Christian Descendant

I am sure you have read about the loss of tall ship HMS Bounty in the super storm Sandy. The ship was a replica of the famous HMS Bounty seized by Fletcher Christian and other mutineers in 1789. One crew member of the modern replica, Claudene Christian, has died and the ship's captain is missing. In an ironic twist, Claudene Christian was the great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Fletcher Christian, the instigator of the original mutiny.

(+) Finding Unmarked Graves with High Tech Solutions

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

One of the vexing problems with old cemeteries and historical sites is the difficulty of finding the locations of unmarked graves. In many cases, the desire is to locate the graves so that they may be identified and left undisturbed by new construction. To be sure, the locations may have been marked at one time with wooden or even stone markers. However, the ravages of time, weather, animals, vandals, and acid rain over the years may have removed all traces of those markers. Locating unmarked graves is also vitally important in solving murder cases.

Historically, the only method of finding unmarked graves has been to start digging – not a very practical solution. However, modern technology now allows cemetery associations, historical societies, family societies, genealogists, archaeologists, police departments, and others to identify the locations of buried bodies and other objects with no digging required.

A Visit to Billy the Kid

Where does a traveling genealogist go when he has a day off? To the cemetery, of course!

This week, I found myself in Eastern New Mexico with an extra day and nothing planned. Knowing there was a lot of history in the area, I decided to go see some of it for myself. I decided to visit the area's most famous resident, William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. but better known as Billy the Kid) and take some pictures.

Billy the Kid was one of the more famous outlaws of the American Old West. He is believed to have been born November 23, 1859 (his tombstone says 1860), in an Irish neighborhood of New York City. However, no record of his birth has ever been found. It is not known for sure who his biological father was, but his mother was Catherine McCarty, an Irish immigrant. There is some debate about whether McCarty was her maiden or married name. He also had a brother, Joseph McCarty.

My Weekend in Roswell, New Mexico

I would like to thank the library staff of the Wilson-Cobb History and Genealogy Research Library in Roswell, New Mexico for a great time on Saturday. I was invited to give several presentations in the very modern Roswell Civic Center. More than 100 genealogists attended and seemed to enjoy themselves.

You can learn more about last Saturday's event at http://www.wilsoncobb.org/DEastman.html although it is now a past event; I suspect the library's webmaster will remove that page within a few days.

Will Future Genealogists be able to Read Hand-written Records?

Today's children and young adults often cannot read handwriting. During the past 20 years or so, schools have been deemphasizing the skill. Many school districts are adopting something called the Common Core Curriculum, which eliminates cursive outright. The theory is that cursive is obsolete. Apparently, most writing — including class notes — is being done on laptops.

That's great for today's notes, but how does one read old notes?

Why We Care About Our Ancestry

Tia Ghose has written an article in the LiveScience web site that quotes Beverly Strassmann, a University of Michigan anthropologist, and Eviatar Zerubavel, a sociologist at Rutgers University. The article tries to explain why the study of one's family tree has become so popular and personal.

You can read the interesting article at http://goo.gl/UbDDP.

 

Dysentery Epidemic Killed Many in the 1700s-1800s

In the 1700s-1800s, dysentery was a disease causing many deaths, possibly including some of your ancestors or other relatives. In fact, in some areas in Sweden 90 percent of all deaths were due to dysentery during the worst outbreaks. A new doctoral thesis in history by a researcher at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, presents demographic and medical history of the disease.

Dysentery has almost disappeared in the Western world. Yet prior to the decline in infectious diseases among causes of death in the 1800s, dysentery was a major killer.

Researching Aliens in Roswell

I have a "brickwall ancestor" who has frustrated me for years. I know a great deal about his adult life but have not been able to prove where Washington Harvey Eastman was born or the names of his parents. I have long joked that "he must have been deposited here by a Martian spaceship."

Today I found myself in Roswell, New Mexico, best known for what is now called the 1947 Roswell UFO Incident. An alien spacecraft reportedly was found near Roswell and its occupants were captured. Many people believe the military then engaged in a cover-up. The incident has turned into a widely known pop culture phenomenon, making the name Roswell synonymous with UFOs. One of the better-known local organizations that popularizes the spacecraft theory is the International UFO Museum & Research Center on Main Street in Roswell. What better place to look for documentation about an ancestor who was "deposited here by a Martian spaceship?"

Today, I visited the International UFO Museum & Research Center and consulted with the staff. No, that is not a picture of the staff above. Instead, that is a mock-up of what some artist believes happened in June or July 1947. Any resemblance to my relatives is purely coincidental.

Click on the images to see larger pictures.

Cemetery Photos: Is Permission Required?

Do you need to obtain permission from cemetery owners before taking pictures of tombstones? Writing in The Legal Genealogist blog, Judy Russell has written an excellent article that I suggest should be required reading for every genealogist. She is highly qualified to write about legal issues that affect genealogists, as Judy is both a law professor at a major university and a Certified Genealogist (CG).

I suggest you read Cemetery photos: permission required? at http://goo.gl/abzsi.

 

Australians Urged To Spoof IP Addresses For Better Prices

I published a Plus Edition article a few days ago entitled, "(+) How to Access Television Programs and Other Web Content from Other Countries and Simultaneously Foil Hackers." In the article, I described several technical solutions to appear as if your computer is located in some other country from where it really is. One solution is that of "VPN spoofing" by using a VPN (virtual private network). Now an Australian consumer advocacy group has urged Australians to do the same to beat high IT prices.

Australia is currently in the middle of parliamentary inquiry into the country's disproportionately high prices for technology. Choice also suggested setting up US iTunes accounts and using surrogate US addresses for forwarding packages from American stores. Choice has noted previously that Australians pay 52 per cent more for digital music downloads on iTunes compared to US users.

A Serendipitous Discovery Identifies a Civil War Soldier in a Painting

You identify deceased people wherever you find them. One unusual story has appeared this week: a Civil War soldier depicted in a painting hanging in the Georgetown Neighborhood Library’s Peabody Room has now been identified as Sergeant Hiram Peck. Even better, traditional genealogy research has added much more information about Sergeant Peck's life.

You can read the interesting story in an article by Jerry A. McCoy in the GeorgetownPatch.com web site at http://goo.gl/KO3oW.

My thanks to Claire Bettag for telling me about this story.

 

DAR Library Launches New Series of Revolutionary War Research Source Guides

The following announcement was written by the Daughters of the American Revolution:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The DAR Library has begun a new series of publications that focus on research in each of the original states during the period of the American Revolution. These studies will be offered as downloadable PDF documents and not as printed volumes. Purchasers will be able to download the entire text of each publication for use on their home computer or laptop.

Texas Archives Commission to Loan Travis "Victory or Death" Letter to Alamo

This is a follow-up to my earlier "2012 Battle of the Alamo" article that is still available at http://goo.gl/A7piO:

The State Library and Archives Commission reversed itself Wednesday and agreed to loan the “Victory or Death” letter penned by Col. William Barret Travis to the Alamo next year. Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson requested that the letter return to the Alamo for the first time since Travis wrote it 177 years ago, where the General Land Office would place it on display for a two-week period coinciding with the historic battle there.

You can read the full story in the Dallas New at http://goo.gl/FqUqX.

 

Ancestry.com Inc. Reports Q3 2012 Financial Results

—Ancestry.com Subscriber Growth up 19% year-over-year—

— Q3 Total Revenue $128 million, up 24% year-over-year —

PROVO, Utah, Oct. 24, 2012 -- Ancestry.com Inc. (Nasdaq:ACOM), the world's largest online family history resource, reported today financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2012.

"We are very pleased with our third quarter results that featured strong financial performance and subscriber metrics and solid execution on our content and product initiatives," said Tim Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer of Ancestry.com. "We completed the indexing of the 1940 US Federal Census, a key milestone for Ancestry.com and the family history category, and we continued to make progress with our mobile app platform and AncestryDNA rollout."

Apple Announces One New and Several Updated Products

Apple held a news conference today and announced several products, including one that had long been predicted and others that were surprises.

As expected, the company announced a new, smaller version of the iPad tablet with a 7.9-inch screen. I think that's close enough to call it an 8-inch screen. The new iPad will run almost all, if not all, of the existing iPad software. It's 1024-by-768 pixel display is exactly the same as the number of pixels used on the larger iPad 1 and iPad 2, so all of today's software should run properly on the new, smaller iPad Mini. It weighs only 0.68 pounds so it should be a lot easier to carry and use than the previous larger iPad although obviously with a smaller screen. With a 10-hour battery life, keeping it charged shouldn't be much of a problem. It will sell for $329 for the version with 16 gigabytes of memory. Apple will begin accepting orders on October 26 with hardware shipments scheduled for November 2.

Familyrelatives adds online Telephone Directories from Africa and the Caribbean

The following announcement was written by FamilyRelatives (www.familyrelatives.com):

Discovering Nuggets of Gold

Are telephone directories just about numbers or are they a window into the past?  If we take a closer look they reveal so much that is interesting from a historical aspect. Familyrelatives is delighted to add some truly unique records to our expanding collection and existing 850 million records. We have added over 200,000 records in a number of directories which are from our Rest of the World Collection providing some fascinating insights.