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Here is a powerful combination: Steve Morse and the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society (NYG&B). If you are in or near New York City, you won't want to miss this event. The following was written by the NYG&B:
On Saturday, April 27th, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society will present Steve Morse, originator of the ingenious “One-Step” webpages for genealogy research, in a full day of lectures and discussions to help researchers get the quickest and most effective use from online data sources. This is a rare opportunity to learn from one of the nation’s leading innovators in advanced online genealogical research.
The Hennepin County Library in Minneapolis has digitized the Minneapolis City Directories from 1859 to 1917, using a grant from the former Professional Librarians Union of Minneapolis (PLUM) and the Minnesota Legacy Amendment program. City directories allow users to find former city residents, their occupations and local businesses. The city directories are available at http://box2.nmtvault.com/Hennepin2/.
Images are available of each year's directory. The text has apparently also been converted by an OCR (optical character recognition) process. You can search for any words in the directories by clicking on SIMPLE SEARCH. Details about the optimum method of using the search software may be found at http://box2.nmtvault.com/Hennepin2/help/ResCartaWeb.htm.
My thanks to newsletter reader Cindy Lindau for telling me about this online resource.
The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.
Cloud computing is in the news almost daily—and for good reasons. It offers cost-effective capabilities that would have been very expensive only a few years ago. Probably the most popular cloud computing application for consumers is that of making off-site backups to protect your files against hard drive failures or from in-home disasters, such as fire, flood, burst water pipes, hurricanes, tornados, or other tragedies. Companies providing cloud-based backup services include Backblaze, Mozy, Carbonite, CrashPlan, McAfee Online Backup, Norton Online Backup, Jungle Disk, and dozens of others as well.
The Library of Congress recently released an e-publication, Perspectives on Personal Digital Archiving. The e-book contains a compilation of selected blog posts published in The Signal, the blog of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP). All of these posts are written by the NDIIPP staff members or by guest bloggers from inside and outside the Library of Congress. This free publication can serve as a primer for the digital archive novice, as well as a refresher for those with more experience.
The following book review was written by Bobbi King:
Finding the Civil War in Your Family Album. by Maureen A. Taylor. Published by Picture Perfect Press. 2011. 192 pages
Maureen Taylor began thinking about and imagining clothing styles worn decades ago when she was still just a teenager. She was invited to portray Mary Todd Lincoln in the school play for which she researched and re-created the look of Mrs. Lincoln. This could be called the prelude to a successful calling in photo identification. Examining photographs. exposing their details, and offering us the time periods in which they were created has become an important assistance to us genealogists.
Are you about to visit Salt Lake City? If so, one of the best bargains there is to travel around on TRAX, the trolley system. Now Google is providing real-time TRAX public transit updates via cloud-based Google Maps.
TRAX is operated by the Utah Transit Authority, or UTA. Google Maps already includes UTA schedules, but users will now be able to get live departure and arrival times that account for variations in the schedule due to delays. The same system also tracks Salt Lake City's buses and FrontRunner trains. The new service is available to all iPhone and Android users by downloading Google Maps to the device. However, there is no equivalent app available for desktop or laptop computers.
UPDATE: The web site now reports "Sold Out!."
There has been a lot of discussion lately on this newsletter's web site about handheld scanners. (See http://goo.gl/vU1pM for my past articles.) These devices are great for genealogists when visiting libraries or archives as well as for dozens of other purposes as well. For instance, I scan all my incoming printed mail except for the junk mail and then I throw away the paper. I prefer to have a permanent record of everything worth saving in Evernote where I can find and retrieve anything within seconds, even when I am traveling.
Now the VuPoint Magic Wand Portable Scanner is available at the lowest price I have ever seen: $29.99 and that even includes FREE shipping. That's a good price for something that retails for $99 although many discount web sites have sold it for a lot less. I paid $79.95 when I purchased mine a couple of years ago.
Originally announced during the recent RootsTech 2013 conference in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, March 23, 2013, FGS and DAGV will work to “develop technical solutions to preserve and present records and to increase the mutual contact” between both societies and their members.
I recently had a chance to talk with Dirk Weissleder, National Chairman of the DAGV (Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft genealogischer Verbände e. V. ), the federation of genealogical societies in Germany. Dirk talked about his start in genealogy, beginning in 1982, and the work he has done since then. Our conversation took place at the RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Dirk talked about the cooperative agreement that had just been signed between DAGV and the (U.S.) Federation of Genealogical Societies. Our conversation was videotaped and is now available at http://youtu.be/B_Jm71UxPvg or you can click on the image below:
You can now read this newsletter on your "smartphone" or tablet computer. If you go to m.eogn.com, you will see the same great newsletter as always except that it will be formatted especially for your iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, or Blackberry's small screen. Try it: http://m.eogn.com. Please note there is no "www" in the address as that will take you to the web site that is formatted for larger screens. For smaller screens, enter: http://m.eogn.com.
The following book review was written by Bobbi King:
Better Than Sliced Bread: Genealogy and Technology. Published by the Silicon Valley Computer Genealogy Group, Santa Clara, CA. 2009. 184 pages.
This is a paperback edition of selected-as-best articles from the Silicon Valley Computer Technology Group’s newsletter, the “PastFinder.” Some readers may recognize this group in their earlier incarnation as the Silicon Valley PAF Users Group, originated as an early PAF Users Group. Their previous newsletter was circulated as the “PAFinder.”
The following information was received from Joshua Stahlman, Archivist at the Pennsylvania State Archives:
Archives Without Tears is an affordable workshop for those who do or aspire to work or volunteer in organizations that deal with the past in an archival capacity—whether it’s a museum; private, non-profit, or college archives; the city clerk’s office; the library’s local history room; or a historic site. You’ll get practical archival advice, sample forms and policies, and learn basic practices so that you can collect, preserve, and assist researchers with the archival treasures in your care.
Over 389,000 South London (Surrey) burials for the period 1545-1905, with a handful (18) up to 1957 plus one as late as 1980, are available for searching on www.origins.net.
The South London Burials Index contains surname and forename, age where given in the register, year of burial, parish and additional info / notes, which may include information such as addresses, parents names and other personal details.
The following announcement was written by the National Genealogical Society:
ARLINGTON, VA, 27 March 2013: Speakers as well as organizations interested in sponsoring lectures or tracks are invited to submit lecture proposals by 1 April 2013 for the NGS 2014 Family History Conference, Virginia: The First Frontier, to be held 7–10 May 2014 in Richmond, Virginia. Building on the records and history that draw so many back to their roots in the Old Dominion, we will explore the origins of those who settled within Virginia’s borders whether they came by land or sea.
The following announcement was written by the National Genealogical Society:
ARLINGTON, VA, 27 March 2013: The National Genealogical Society will be presenting a hands-on research trip to Washington, DC, from 3–9 November 2013. Under the guidance of Craig Roberts Scott, cgSM, and Patricia Walls Stamm, cgSM, cglSM, twenty-six researchers will use the genealogical resources at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Library, and the Library of Congress (LOC).
Inside a Catholic convent deep in St. Augustine's historic district, stacks of centuries-old, sepia-toned papers offer clues to what life was like for early residents of the nation's oldest permanently occupied city. These parish documents date back to 1594, and they record the births, deaths, marriages and baptisms of the people who lived in St. Augustine from that time through the mid-1700s.
J. Michael Francis, a history professor at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, and some of his graduate students in the Florida Studies department have spent the past several months digitizing the more than 6,000 fragile pages to ensure the contents last beyond the paper's deterioration.
The following announcement was written by Family Tree DNA, a division of Gene By Gene, Ltd.:
HOUSTON, March 26, 2013 -- Gene By Gene, Ltd., the Houston-based genomics and genetics testing company, announced that a unique DNA sample submitted via National Geographic's Genographic Project to its genetic genealogy subsidiary, Family Tree DNA, led to the discovery that the most recent common ancestor for the Y chromosome lineage tree is potentially as old as 338,000 years. This new information indicates that the last common ancestor of all modern Y chromosomes is 70 percent older than previously thought.
The following was written by Archives.com, a division of Ancestry.com:
Archives.com is thrilled to announce the release of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) birth, marriage and death record collections! These three collections total nearly 4.6 million records. Archives.com, in partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Archives, digitized and indexed approximately one thousand rolls of microfilmed records from churches now affiliated with the ELCA. These records have never before been online.
The following announcement was written by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht of Ireland:
One search on www.irishgenealogy.ie will include census data, land records, military archives, wills and Ellis Island records
Aim is to make it quicker, easier, and less complicated for members of public - from home or abroad - to find information about their ancestors
Tuesday, March 26th - Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, will today launch a newly expanded web portal that is dedicated to helping people search for information on their ancestors.
The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.
I have written several times about my experience with a $19 a month cell phone service. The first article was written when I had used the new phone service for one week. I have since updated some of the technical details in later articles. I now have been using the new phone and the service for nearly three months. I thought I would post what is probably the last update, describing my experiences and focusing on all the drawbacks I found.
On Saturday, April 27th, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society will present Steve Morse, originator of the ingenious “One-Step” webpages for genealogy research, in a full day of lectures and discussions to help researchers get the quickest and most effective use from online data sources. This is a rare opportunity to learn from one of the nation’s leading innovators in advanced online genealogical research.
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