Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Findmypast.com Gets a Makeover

The Findmypast.com blog reports that the website has been given a mini overhaul. Quoting from the blog:

We hope you find it pleasing on the eye and that it allows you to find what you’re looking for quicker.

The enhancements include:

More Than 1.8 Million Native American Records Released on Footnote.com

The following announcement was written by Footnote.com:

-Original records dating back to early 1700s become available on the Internet for the first time-

Lindon, UT – November 19, 2009 – Footnote.com announced today the release of their latest interactive collection of historical records: the Native American collection.  Working together with the National Archives and Allen County Library, Footnote.com has created a unique collection that will help people discover new details about Native American history.

New and Free DAR Online Databases

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

After nearly a decade of scanning, indexing, and other behind-the-scenes work by DAR members and employees, the Daughters of the American Revolution is pleased to announce the availability of the DAR Genealogical Research System on our public website. Here are the direct links:

FamilySearch Record Search Update: New Records for Brazil, Massachusetts, Mexico, Spain, and the U.S.

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

18 November 2009
 
More free online records for Brazil, Massachusetts, Mexico, Spain, and the U.S.
 
The states of Texas, Ohio, and Iowa were added to the U.S. 1920 Census at FamilySearch’s Record Search pilot. Spanish researchers will enjoy new civil registration images for the provinces of Cadiz, Granada, Malaga, Spain, from 1837–1870. Over 500,000 new digital images were added to the Brazil Catholic Church Records Collection. These birth, marriage, and death records are from the states of Bahia, Menas Gerais, Paraná, Pará, Pernambuco, and Sao Paolo. Over 400,000 Massachusetts marriage records were added for the period 1906 to 1915, and Catholic baptismal records were added for the Distrito Federal of Mexico.
 
See the chart below for a list of all the newly added collections.

FamilySearch Indexing Update: Indexing Projects for 25 Countries

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

18 November 2009
 
Indexing Projects for 25 Countries
Canada, Colombia, France, Guatemala, Jamaica, U.K., U.S. Venezuela. Those are the countries for which FamilySearch Indexing has recently added new volunteer projects. In all, FamilySearch has active indexing projects from 25 different countries currently with plans to add new projects from more countries throughout 2010. Volunteers can help 24/7 by registering and downloading a project of interest at FamilySearchIndexing.org.
 
Completed projects and digital image collections can be searched for free at pilot.familysearch.org.

Kerry Church Records to Appear Online

The Clerical Whispers web site has an article of interest to anyone with Kerry ancestry. The site states:

Almost 600,000 Kerry church records have been handed over to the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism as part of a major genealogy project.

They include documents relating to baptism, marriage and death, some of which date back to the 1750s. The records will now appear free of charge on the irish-genealogy.ie website and will allow people to trace their Kerry roots more easily.

Footnote.com Holocaust Collection Update

I published an announcement about the new Holocaust Collection on Footnote.com on 29 September 2009. I am republishing the announcement below. At that time, Footnote.com planned to have these records open to the public for only the month of October.  However, I have been told there is now a change in those plans.

Due to the popularity of this collection, the folks at Footnote.com have decided to keep the records available free to the public through the rest of this year. This is a great opportunity to catch up on research that you missed earlier.

Guild of One-Name Studies Opens On-line Store

The following announcement was written by the Guild of One-Name Studies:

The Guild of One-Name Studies has today opened its on-line store.  The Guild bookstall sells a wide range of genealogical and one-name study books, genealogical software and various well illustrated books about places (typically UK towns) and their history.  These items are currently only available to members of the Guild or can be purchased from the Guild’s bookstall.

However from today there is now an online facility for ordering vouchers www.one-name.org/cgi-bin/vouchers/sales.cgi via PayPal, credit card, or (by post) by cheque. Eventually the range of items available on-line will increase but at present only vouchers can be purchased on-line.

Ancestry.com Publishes Online Collection of Twentieth-Century Navy Records

In honor of Veterans' Day in the United States, Ancestry.com is offering free public access tomorrow through Friday to a new collection of about 600 Navy cruise books from 1950 to 1988. The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com:

Site Celebrates Veterans Day with Free Access to Entire U.S. Military Records Collection

PROVO, UT (Nov. 11, 2009) – Ancestry.com today added more than 600 Navy cruise books to its online collection of military records to commemorate Veterans Day. This historic effort is the result of an agreement between Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online resource for family history, and the United States Navy. As part of the agreement, Ancestry.com set up scanners on location at the Navy Department Library in Washington, DC, and has spent several months digitizing the cruise books for this occasion.

(+) Google Sidewiki for Genealogy

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

Sometimes I think Google releases one new product or service per day. Well, perhaps not EVERY day, but the company certainly is cranking out new products all the time. I recently had a chance to use a new product that Google released about six weeks ago, and I found it to be a great service for genealogy purposes.

Google Sidewiki allows you to compare notes with others about any web page. Yes, ANY web page. Now, any time you want to add information to a web page, you can easily do so, as well as read what other people have to say about it. Whether you're researching advice on heart disease prevention or looking for museums to visit in New York City, many others have done the same and could have added their knowledge along the way. However, for the rest of this article, let's focus solely on genealogy pages.

Google's RSS Reader

I have written a number of times about RSS newsfeeds. Using a newsreader (software that reads RSS news feeds) can save a lot of time per day. For instance, you can read all the new articles on this newsletter's web site and on many other web sites in minutes instead of hours. You save a lot of time because you do not have to keep returning to a number of web sites or entering web site addresses of "http://www..."

With any RSS newsreader, you can "subscribe" to the web sites you want to check frequently. That is, you tell the RSS newsreader software to check a list of web sites, and you create the list. The RSS newsreader software then retrieves all the new articles from all the web sites and displays them for you in a single screen. You simply read all the articles from that one screen. In practice, it is a bit similar to reading e-mail messages: all the messages have been brought to you and displayed in once place. The same is true with RSS newsreaders: all the new articles have been brought to you in one convenient place, either on your computer or on some single web site.

Thumbizy: Instant Website Thumbnail Generator

I know I am going to use this often! If you create presentations for societies, or if you write a blog that mentions other web sites, you will want to take a look at Thumbizy.

Thumbizy is a free, instant website thumbnail generator that can help you to take snapshots of any website. You only need to give the URL of the web site and select the thumbnail size. Thumbizy will instantly provide you a screenshot of your given web site. You can store locally, and then insert it into a web page, a PowerPoint presentation, a word processing document, or anyplace else you might need it.

FamilySearch Record Search Update: Brazil, Indiana Marriages, Italy, Netherlands, and 1920 U.S. Census

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

5 November 2009
 
The Indiana marriages, Netherlands, 1920 U.S. Census, Brazil, and Italy collections were recently added or updated in FamilySearch’s Record Search pilot.
 
FamilySearch applauds members of the Indiana Genealogical Society and FamilySearch volunteers for the great work done on the Indiana Marriages collection. Volunteers are indexing marriage records from 1811 to 1959. The recent update will surely be attractive to those with Indiana roots.

1 Million New Military Records added to Familyrelatives.com

The following announcement was written by Familyrelatives.com:

Familyrelatives.com is proud to announce the addition of 1,000,000 New Military Records spanning over 100 years.

This autumn marks the 201st anniversary of the beginning of the Peninsular War and to commemorate, the event Familyrelatives.com has added over 1 million army records covering a broad range from 1808 through to De Ruvigny's biographical record of World War I soldiers.

GenQueries Updated

At the suggestion of users, the following regions have now been added to www.GenQueries.com:

• Caribbean
• Central & South America
• South Africa
• Rest of the World

ourFamily•ology Web-Based Genealogy Software Program

I have only looked at this web site for a few minutes but it does look interesting. It is a web-based genealogy program. The following announcement is a press release written by Family-Genealogy.com:

Nov 03, 2009 – FRANKLIN LAKES, NJ - ourFamily•ology today announced that, in celebration of the official launch of its website at http://www.Family-Genealogy.com, it is offering a 15-day free trial to all visitors.

Introducing GenQueries.com - The Online Database of Genealogy Queries

I am pleased to announce a new genealogy service on the World Wide Web. I have been building this service over the past few weeks and it has been in a limited beta test for a while with about 100 beta users. The beta testers helped point out needed improvements and most of those are now in place. Now I believe the new web site is ready for everyone.

GenQueries.com is a FREE service that provides an online database for genealogy queries for individuals as well as advertisements for societies, professional and amateur genealogy researchers, authors, publishers, genealogy web sites, adoptee searches, and more.

ProQuest Adds Still More Historical Newspapers

ProQuest has a huge collection on newspapers that can be searched online. In most cases, you need to visit your local library to access this impressive online resource. Some libraries may offer in-home access as well. In all cases, you must make arrangements with your local library, not with ProQuest.

ProQuest has now added even more newspapers to the online database. The following are two announcements written by ProQuest and sent to librarians:

The Historical Detroit Free Press Provides Gateway to the Motor City's Past

The following announcement was written by ProQuest:

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Nov. 2 -- News from the Motor City -- from before statehood to the American Civil War to the birth and growth of the automotive industry -- is now available in ProQuest Historical Newspapers, the definitive digital archive offering cover-to-cover, full-text, and full-image articles for significant newspapers dating back to the 18th Century. The Detroit Free Press (1831-1922) provides one of the deepest historical files and comprehensive coverage of the social, political and economic development of the Midwest, and offers new avenues into understanding the history of Detroit and Michigan.

Ancestors-At-A-Glance from Millisecond Publishing Company

I have seen fan charts before but this one is impressive. Ancestors-At-A-Glance displays fan charts in a web browser in a manner I have not seen from other programs. Millisecond Publishing Company has produced online fan charts of Prince William and a number of other notables.