Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

NGS Research Trip to Salt Lake City, Sunday 24 January – Sunday 31 January 2010

The following announcement was written by the National Genealogical Society:

The National Genealogical Society is sponsoring a research trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City for the last week of January 2010. This is the eleventh year for this educational event and it will be co-led by Shirley Langdon Wilcox, CG, FNGS, and Marie Varrelman Melchiori, CG, CGL. Both trip leaders have been active in the genealogical community for a number of years and both are former board members of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG). Each has also received APG’s Graham T. Smallwood, Jr. Award of Merit – Shirley in 1995 and Marie in 1999.

On the Road Again

If you read this newsletter regularly, you already know that I travel quite often. By the time you read these words, I should be on a flight to Little Rock, Arkansas. I'll be attending the annual conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies.

The conference is being held Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of this week. It will be a major conference. Some years it is the biggest in the U.S. with anywhere from 900 to 1,600 attendees.

Wi-Fi in Little Rock

One of the things I hated about the "good old days" of ten or fifteen years ago was the feeling of isolation when traveling. I traveled a lot in those days and found that calling home was expensive, whether from a hotel room or from one of those new-fangled cell phones with high roaming fees. A lot has changed since then: most cell phones now offer nationwide access without roaming fees. As a result, I doubt if anyone pays the rip-off fees to hotels any more to place long distance calls from hotel room phones. It is much, much cheaper to pick up the cell phone and make the call.

However, what about e-mail? Or Facebook? And how about checking your home town newspaper's web site for the latest news, sports scores, and even the weather report back home? Again, that is easy to do with a laptop or handheld computer and wi-fi wireless networking, although it is not always cheap. Many hotels do offer free wi-fi networking to guests while others charge $10 a night or more for the same thing. Coffee shops, convention centers, airports, and other public locations do the same: sometimes free, sometimes not.

I always check in advance for wi-fi capability. I won't make a reservation in a hotel that does not offer Internet access to its guests, either wired or wireless wi-fi. In fact, I look first for free Internet access in a hotel. If I cannot find free access, I will reluctantly make a reservation in a hotel that charges for Internet connectivity.

For next week's Federation of Genealogical Societies conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, I have already made a reservation in a suburban hotel that offers free wi-fi access to its guests.

Where Would YOU Like to Go on a Genealogy Cruise?

Want to take a genealogy cruise to some exotic location? If so, where? Dave Berdan and the folks at Millennia Software, producers of Legacy Family Tree, want to know your suggestions.

Dave wrote, "As we plan for our Legacy Genealogy Cruise for next year (2010) we are doing a survey to see where everyone wants to go."

The survey is at:
http://legacynews.typepad.com/legacy_news/2009/07/cast-your-vote-legacy-genealogy-cruise-2010.html.

RootsMagic Announces a Valentine Cruise

RootsMagic has announced a new genealogy cruise, this time to the western Caribbean on one of the largest cruise ships in the world, the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas.  And what better time to go on a cruise to sunny climates than Valentines day week?

The cruise will depart Miami, Florida on Valentine's Day, then visit Labadee, Haiti; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; George Town, Grand Cayman; Cozumel, Mexico; and then return to Miami on February 21.

Why You Want an Irish Passport

It seems appropriate on St. Patrick's Day to celebrate one's Irish ancestry. If you had one parent or grandparent who was Irish, it is possible that you could obtain an Irish Passport. In fact, there is a proposal to grant Irish citizenship to anyone descended from at least one great-grandparent who was a native of Ireland.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, and probably many others can legally obtain Irish passports because of their ancestry. Why would you want to do that?

Ask any of the Irish passport holders who were safely evacuated from war-torn Lebanon a couple of years ago. They were able to get out safely when Americans and others could not, thanks to their passports and the prominent placement of the Irish Tricolours on the front of the two buses carrying them across the Syrian border.

On the Road Again

I will be traveling for the next week and a half so I'll issue the same disclaimer that I write every time I travel: I do expect to be traveling with an assortment of laptop computers, a wireless "air card" and wi-fi equipment, modem, and other gadgets.  I expect to post articles to this newsletter more or less daily during my travels. However, don't be surprised if I miss a day or two because of hardware malfunctions or travel constraints.

Legacy Genealogy Cruise 2009 Announced

The 2008 genealogy cruise season has drawn to a close, but the planning is already underway for next year's cruises. The first one announced sounds like a fascinating vacation. The producers of Legacy Family Tree software are planning a 12-day cruise with stops in Barcelona, Rome, Naples, Dubrovnik, Venice, Athens, Izmir, and Istanbul. The cruise will be on board the Norwegian Cruise Line's Jade cruise ship.

Those planning on joining this cruise will travel on their own to Barcelona, Spain, in order to board the ship. The Norwegian Cruise Line’s Jade ship will leave Barcelona on 5 September 2009 and spend one day at sea before arriving in Rome. The next day the ship will be in Naples, followed by another full day at sea and then a stop at Dubrovnik (Croatia) and the next day in Venice. Another full day at sea will follow, and the remainder of the voyage will feature stops every day: Katakolon (Greece), Athens, Izmir (Turkey), with final arrival in Istanbul on 17 September 2009.

Wholly Genes Software Conference is a Success

The 2008 Genealogy Conference and Cruise sponsored by Wholly Genes Software came to an end this morning in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Two hundred or more smiling genealogists joined the other passengers departing the Caribbean Princess cruise ship at the San Juan cruise ship terminal. All the genealogists that I talked with seemed to enjoy themselves.

The Caribbean Princess left New York City a week ago, on October 26. It seemed fitting that we weighed anchor and immediately steamed past the Statue of Liberty and also past Ellis Island, the focus of so many of our research efforts.

Wholly Genes Conference and Cruise is All Set to Go

The annual Wholly Genes cruise appears to be the largest genealogy cruise of the year. While sponsored by the company that produces The Master Genealogist, a program for Windows, this is not a computer-oriented cruise. About two-thirds of the presentations are about other topics. This cruise has been sold out for months.

RootsMagic Cruise Wrap-Up

Want to have a great vacation and also learn a bit about genealogy? If so, I heartily recommend taking a genealogy cruise! I speak from experience: I just returned from a seven-day cruise along the Mexican Riviera as part of the 2008 RootsMagic cruise.

This year's RootsMagic cruise included stops in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. These are very popular Mexican tourist stops, and for good reason: they are neat, and clean and have great food and entertainment. Many of the genealogists went on various expeditions, including jungle tours, ecology tours, rides on catamarans, skin diving, and more. I mostly enjoyed the authentic Mexican food in all three cities.

Bowzer and the RootsMagic Genealogy Cruise

If you click on the thumbnail image to the right, you'll see a photograph of Jon Bauman, better known as "Bowzer." Bowzer was the bass singer in the ‘70’s band Sha Na Na, which played at Woodstock and later starred in the Sha Na Na television show, the #1 syndicated television show of the time.

As you can see from the picture, Bowzer recently had an encounter with a group of genealogists on the RootsMagic cruise.

Bauman currently tours extensively with his group, Bowzer and the Stingrays, and was an entertainer on board the cruise ship, Vision of the Seas. He and his band played one evening in the ship's theater to a crowd of enthusiastic rockers. I had a chance to sit in the front row and must say that I enjoyed the show. A lot of the folks on the RootsMagic cruise were also in the audience, and I think they all enjoyed it, too.

On the Road Again

...and at sea as well.

I am all packed and about to head out the door. I'll be joining a rather large group of genealogists on the annual RootsMagic Cruise. We will depart Los Angeles and visit the "Mexican Riviera." That's the cities of Cabo San Lucas, then on to Mazatlan and finally to Puerto Vallarta before returning to Los Angeles. We have been promised a vibrant culture, world-class beaches, lush green rain forests, and vividly painted architecture. Of course, sitting in deck chairs in the sunshine won't hurt a bit nor will the gourmet meals that seem to be served almost around the clock.

The days at sea with be filled with genealogy presentations by Elizabeth Shown Mills, George G. Morgan, Diana Crisman Smith, Gary M. Smith, Bruce Buzbee, and yours truly. The topics will vary from traditional genealogy "how to" presentations to techniques for restoring photographs, the use of Google for genealogists, the efficient use of Ancestry.com, using maps, proper identification and use of sources, and more. Bruce Buzbee will offer several presentations on specific RootsMagic topics.

On the Road Again - Indianapolis

This article is being written in a hotel room in Indianapolis. Indiana. I'll be here for the next few days attending the Midwestern Roots 2008: Family History and Genealogy Conference.

This is shaping up to be a good conference. If you can be in Indianapolis on Friday and/or Saturday, you might want to drop in. Details may be found at http://www.indianahistory.org/midwesternroots/.

Zoom Into Your Past with the Magical Ancestry Tour

Now you can take a trip into your ancestry, thanks to a new genealogy firm in Britain, which guarantees to take people on a deluxe tour in the footsteps of their forefathers. But the ancestry ride doesn't come cheap; at £25,000 (roughly $50,000 in U.S. dollars), its billing as “luxury time travel” is appropriate.

The company, Ancestral Footsteps, is the creation of Sue Hills, the director of the hit BBC television series, Who Do You Think You Are? in which celebrities take a trip back into their past. Now Hills has formed this company to offer the same experience to non-celebrities (but with no camera crew involved).

Wholly Genes Cruise Deadline Approaches

One of the better activities of the year is joining a genealogy cruise to exotic locations. One of the more popular annual cruises is sponsored by Wholly Genes. I have been on these cruises and can report they are great. In fact, you can read my written report of last year's cruise at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/11/report-on-the-w.html or watch the video at http://www.rootstelevision.com/players/player_conferences.php?bctid=1332210438.

If you would like to join this year's cruise, now is the time to make reservations. The following is an extract from the latest Wholly Genes newsletter:

On the Road Again, This Time to Kansas City

I am headed out again this week. I will attend the annual conference of the National Genealogical Society. This year's event is being held in Kansas City.

This will be my twentieth NGS conference. I have attended all the NGS conferences in the past twenty-one years except for the one held in 1995. It will be interesting to contrast this year's event against those of former years. This year's event should have 1,500 or more attendees as well as 100 or so vendors. Attendees are expected from all over the United States plus a few from Canada, and I know of one from England who plans to be there. Exhibitors likewise will be from all over the U.S. as well as from Canada, Ireland, and England.

On the Road Again, This Time to London

I am headed out again this week. This time it is for an international trip. I will attend the annual Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE! show in London, England. The name of that show is a mouthful, so I'll abbreviate it as WDYTYAL.

I was at this show last year and was impressed to see nearly 15,000 genealogists and history buffs at one three-day event. In fact, you can see the video that I created (with a lot of assistance from Roots Television) at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/05/national_histor.html. This year's show promises to be bigger and probably better.

Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE! is sponsored by Ancestry.co.uk and is also supported by The Times Archive. It will be held May 2nd through 4th in the Grand Hall, Olympia, Kensington.

Some of the Greatest Tombstone Art in North America

As a genealogist, I have visited many cemeteries. Some people see them as depressing places, full of doom and death. I disagree. For me, a visit to a cemetery is similar to a trip to a park. They vary in details, but the better ones are places of beauty and everlasting memorials that celebrate the lives of now deceased individuals. You can find many beautiful cemeteries, and some of them contain very artistic tombstones, testifying to the artistic skills of the people who converted stones into works of art.

A small town in central Vermont is the home of one of the most unusual and artistic cemeteries I have ever seen. It is almost impossible to stop and admire only one work of art; everywhere you turn in this cemetery, you see four or six or eight works of art, all simultaneously vying for your attention.

The tombstones in this one cemetery are among the most creative to be found anywhere. You can find traditional tombstones with angels, willow trees, and even busts or full-size statues of the deceased. What amazes me even more, you can also find tombstones made in the shape of race cars, barnstormer airplanes, a window, a cat, open books, and one cube-shaped tombstone that seems to balance eternally on one point, looking like a child’s wooden block that has suddenly been spun on one corner.

I recently visited the cemetery and snapped hundreds of digital photographs. I extracted 56 of my best photographs and uploaded them to this newsletter’s web site.

RootsMagic Cruise Early-bird Discount Extended thru April 30

Genealogy Cruises continue to grow in popularity. Genealogists enjoy software presentations, "how to" courses, demonstrations of the latest genealogy techniques, good food, gorgeous scenery, and adventurous shore excursions. What could be better?

One of the best-known cruises is sponsored by RootsMagic. Here is an excerpt from the current RootsMagic newsletter: