The DAILY genealogy technology newsletter for genealogy
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the vendors like it or not!
Relationship with University is First for Popular Family History Web site
(INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana) – November 8, 2012 - The University of Indianapolis is teaming up with Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, in a first-of-its-kind initiative to encourage students to explore and reflect on how their family history impacts their identity.
The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com.au:
Over the past 200 years, New Zealanders have bravely fought in many wars, on many different battlefields around the world. This long-standing history of military involvement on the world stage has left its mark on New Zealand society; the nation has suffered great human loss while helping to shape New Zealand’s identity and relationship with the rest of the world.
Starting Friday November 9 until 1.59AM Monday November 12, 2012, Ancestry.com.au, the world’s largest online family history resource, will make over 9.4 million New Zealand, Australian, Canadian and UK military records free to search this Remembrance Day to encourage more Kiwis to start exploring their family’s military history. Tragically, many young soldiers who are killed in action do not leave any descendants behind and are often forgotten despite having made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
The following announcement was written by Genes Reunited:
To coincide with Remembrance Day, UK family history site, Genes
Reunited has released a variety of military records taking its
collection to 8.5 million.
The British Army Service Records are just one of the latest records
added to the site and they include the Chelsea Pensioners British Army
Service records from 1760-1913. These records are an important resource
for family historians as they provide rich information on the soldier’s
name, place of birth, regiment and the dates of service within the
British Army.
The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.
On November 4, I published a Plus Edition article entitled (+) A Computer for All Operating Systems. That article is still available at http://eogn.com/wp/?p=22813. A Plus Edition user name and password is required to read it. I described how I now use one computer to simultaneously run Windows 8, Macintosh OS X, Linux, and Android operating systems. In fact, it will run even more operating systems, if I wish, such as Windows 7, Windows XP, MS-DOS, OS/2, BeOS, UNIX, and still others.
I am delighted with the results and am using my new computer to write
this article. However, the solution I used is a bit expensive. A couple
of newsletter readers asked if there is a more cost-effective method
of accomplishing the same thing. The answer is, "Yes, you can
accomplish MOST of the same things for significantly less money,
although not everything will be available. In many cases, you can
create the new system using hardware and software you already own, plus some free software,
meaning no additional expense. Depending upon your needs, the low-cost
method may or may not accomplish what you want. It will operate a
shorter list of multiple operating systems simultaneously.”
This project is working towards the day that users will be able to search any topic – be it the Civil War or the New Deal – and immediately pull up information including pictures, videos, oral histories, manuscripts and more from collections across the country.
All burial and cremation records for Bolton Council in the county of Lancashire, North West England are being made available online. There are seven cemeteries and one crematorium.
Astley Bridge Cemetery, opened 1884 Blackrod Cemetery, opened 1887
Farnworth Cemetery, opened 1876
Heaton Cemetery, opened 1879
Horwich (Ridgemont) Cemetery, opened 1928 Tonge Cemetery, opened 1856
Westhaughton Cemetery, opened 1858 Overdale Crematorium, opened 1954
Was your grandfather captain of the football team? Was your grandmother the senior class president? Now you can find out at Mocavo. Today we are announcing the largest free collection of yearbooks available on the Web. There are nearly 17,000 books in our Yearbook collection representing several terabytes of data, nearly 3.5 million pages, and 100 years worth of fun-filled history. All for FREE! With your help, we are working to bring all of the world’s genealogical information online for free putting everyone’s family history within reach.
Stacy Page's blog describes a new online database available of the burials in the Oakwood Cemetery in Warsaw, Indiana. With the assistance of the Kosciusko County Historical Society, Oakwood Cemetery has photographed and mapped 95 percent of its 70 acres and 18,000 graves. The database is online and available to the public. It also includes GPS locations of each tombstone.
The following announcement was written by ScotlandsPeople:
From inmates of poorhouses to owners of mansions - a fascinating portrait of Scottish life during the early 20th Century and a major new family history resource
A colourful picture of life in Scotland in the early 20th Century is revealed today, with the release of the Wills and Testaments from 1902 to 1925 by the National Records of Scotland on the ScotlandsPeople website.
The new records, 392,595 in total, document the last wishes of 267,548 individuals who lived and died in Scotland during this period. The collection also includes the wills of Scots who died outside Scotland, but still had assets in the country. As inventories of moveable estate (savings, cash, furniture, stock, etc) are also included, you can discover the fine details of people’s worldly possessions in this era.
OK, I don't understand this. I've accidentally left a few things behind in my life, but someone's ashes?
An unknown patron of the OB Suds carwash left behind a heavy metal box labeled “Henry Lefebvre: April 30, 1995” from Secure Crematorium in one of the carwash’s bays. The carwash owner turned the box over to the Ocean Beach MainStreet Association (OBMA) to help solve the mystery. A group of genealogists offered to help track down Lefebvre’s relatives.
The State of Michigan has joined the effort to preserve records with historical value. Officials say Michigan is the first state to sign a contract with Tessella, which specializes in digital preservation solutions, technology, consulting and research.
Officials say the move provides significant cost-savings. Details of the agreement were not disclosed.
You can read more in an article in the Detroit News at: http://goo.gl/p1CWq.
The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.
This has been a technical week for me. I haven't accomplished any genealogy research, but I have progressed technically.
Anyone thinking of purchasing a first computer or an upgrade to an existing computer faces the classic question: "Which operating system should I use?"Today's technology offers several very good options. Those who decide to use normal desktop or laptop computers can choose from Windows, Macintosh, Linux, or even the new Chrome operating system from Google (see http://goo.gl/RW3nk). Another popular choice these days is to skip the bigger, more powerful computers and instead use a more flexible and much more portable handheld computer, such as an Apple or Android tablet.
I wanted a new, more powerful computer and asked myself, "Why can't I have them all?" Indeed, I almost can. This week I purchased a new computer and installed five different operating systems on it: Windows 8, Macintosh OS X Mountain Lion, Google Chrome, Ubuntu 12.04 (Linux), and even Android 4. The only one missing is iOS, the operating system for Apple iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. I haven't yet figured out how to install iOS on my new computer.
Sue Ericksen, Washington State Genealogical Society President, has written an editorial article in the Society's newsletter warning that genealogists and others may soon be locked out of Washington's birth, marriage, and death records. Ericksen writes:
"The Washington State Department of Health has sent a request to the Public Records Committee that all WA Vital Records have limited access: births for 125 years, marriage, death & divorce to 50 years.
"This is devastating news to genealogists as well as other businesses and industries that use these records for legitimate purposes."
The American Revolution museum in in Exeter, New Hampshire, is facing an uncertain future after laying off its entire staff and cancelling its fall programming as it works to develop a new strategic and operational plan. The museum’s board of governors hopes to re-open in the spring, but might not due to the museum’s financial troubles.
Holdings at the American Independence Museum include the 1721 Ladd-Gilman House, a National Landmark property, and the Folsom Tavern, built in 1775. The museum's permanent collection of documents chronicling the nation's founding includes an original Dunlap broadside of the Declaration of Independence and early drafts of the U.S. Constitution.
Rob and Kathy Brown are starting on the adventure of a lifetime. They sold their home in Orem, Utah, and on Friday they piled their five children, ages 10 years to 18 months, into a motor home hauling a 20-foot trailer and started a six-month trip throughout the United States. That's seven people, one motor home, 40 states and zero potty breaks.
Kathy Brown has been researching the family tree on Ancestry.com. The family plans to visit places around the country where their great-great-grandparents came from.
Many sad stories are coming out of this week's storm in the northeastern United States. Homes were lost and damage is obviously in the billions of dollars. On a personal note, many families lost family photographs, momentos, and even genealogy records.
A marathon project is under way in New Orleans to digitize thousands of time-worn 18th-century French and Spanish legal papers that historians say give the first historical accounts of slaves and free blacks in North America. Yellowed page by yellowed page, archivists are scanning the 220,000 manuscript pages from the French Superior Council and Spanish Judiciary between 1714 and 1803 in an effort to digitize, preserve, translate and index Louisiana's colonial past and in the process help re-write American history.
The documents tell of shipwrecks and pirates, of thieves and murderers, of gambling debts and slave sales, of real estate deals and wills. One finds pages signed by historical figures like Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, better known as Bienville, the founder of New Orleans, and Louis XVI, the king of France. And the bizarre, as in the case of a man accused of selling dog meat to Charity Hospital.
I wrote some time ago about the new "Certificate of Irish Heritage" at http://goo.gl/atPdL and at http://goo.gl/Dlnxt. The purpose of the certificates is to "enable people who have a strong Irish connection to assert their Irishness and their heritage." Now Chris Paton has written in his blog at http://goo.gl/MUQaZ that the plan has fizzled: only 1042 people applying for a certificate in its first year - or 0.00167 per cent of Ireland's 60 million diaspora.
Click on the image to the right to view a larger version of the certificate.
Writer and editor Jason Rodriguez is an experienced writer, editor, and comic book illustrator. His books have been nominated for eight Harvey Awards honoring excellence in the comics industry and a Will Eisner Comic Industry Award. Rodriguez is now editing graphic novels about colonial New England brought him to the Massachusetts Historical Society.
In an online interview, Rodriguez described his latest project this way:
The following announcement was written by WikiTree:
2 Nov 2012: WikiTree.com is excited to announce the release of “MatchBot”, a new automated matching tool.
WikiTree members are dedicated to growing a single, shared family tree with one profile for every ancestor. There are currently over four million profiles. However, some of these are duplicate profiles that have been created unintentionally, especially via GEDCOM imports.
Until now, WikiTree members have relied on traditional searches and WikiTree’s FindMatches tool which searches a member’s entire Watchlist for matches. While FindMatches will continue to be an important WikiTree function, the process of performing periodic searches to check for new duplicates can be a burden. The solution: MatchBot.
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