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Ancestry.com has partnered with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to make public documentation that goes beyond name, rank and regiment which reveals some interesting details some of the great figures in United States history, from Abraham Lincoln’s cause of death to records of a jilted fiancé, Vivia Thomas, who went to great lengths to [...]
Continue reading about Lincoln, Custer and a well-disguised jilted lover…
These days with increasing frequency, pundits and political candidates cite the Constitution of the United States as the legal backing for what should or what shouldn’t be done. Although many people studied the Constitution in school or college, we often need to be reminded about things we though it said and it doesn’t. Listed below [...]
Continue reading about What’s not in the Constitution of the United States
Well, maybe. I’ve just come across a different kind of article. As the title suggest the author believes that the Sudoku puzzle is a good way to develop your genealogical skills—an interesting idea. If you’re not good at math don’t worry, don’t let the numbers fool you. You don’t need to be great at arithmetic. [...]
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On November 15, 1867, the first stock ticker was unveiled in New York City. The event was a show stopper which made up-to-the-minute prices available to investors around the country. Up until that point information from the New York Stock Exchange, which opened its doors in 1792, traveled by mail or messenger. The ticker was [...]
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Some of the most interesting articles can be found in unexpected places. This article on the Mayan December 2012 prophecy was posted by a friend on Facebook. The past couple of weeks have certainly been difficult for the folks in New York and New Jersey and comments have been made about doomsday warnings and the [...]
Continue reading about The Mayan Prophecy interpreted by Mayan Elders from Guatemala
The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) recently held the largest human genetics conference and exposition in the world. The 5-day event brought together some of the world’s top geneticists and over 6,000 attendees, which included a big lineup of top AncestryDNA scientists who shared some of their latest research and finding in the field [...]
Continue reading about The American Society of Human Genetics conference held in San Fransciso
In answer to requests from attendees at their 8th Annual Genetic Genealogy Conference, Family Tree DNA has started their year-end sale immediately. The deals are really good: New Kits Current Price SALE PRICE Y-DNA 37 $169 $119 Y-DNA 67 $268 $199 mtDNAPlus $159 $139 mtFullSequence (FMS) $299 $199 SuperDNA (Y-DNA 67 and mtFullSequence) $548 $398 [...]
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Acer is reported to be launching a new 11.6-inch AC700 Chromebook. What is a Chromebook? It’s an internet connected laptop that doesn’t run Windows and instead uses Chrome OS a more powerful version of Google Chrome’s internet browser. There’s no storage and users will store in the cloud by using services like Dropbox or Google [...]
Continue reading about New Acer Chromebook low cost and low power for $199
Discovery is the British National Archives’ new catalog, which provides a more integrated and functional way to explore the collections. It has been designed to host, search and display the many different databases and datasets being held at the National Archives. There’s a newly updated version of Discovery available. It is much improved. The new [...]
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Although we don’t hear as much about Genes Reunited as we hear about Ancestry.com and Findmypast, Genes Reunited has a huge database and recently released a large cache of military records to bring its collection to 8.5 million, including a 16 year old boy convicted for 7 years on the Prison ships for stealing cheese: [...]
Continue reading about New military records added to UKs Genes Reunited database
The following is a news release from Scotland’s People: “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 [...]
“Remember, Remember the 5th of November The Gun powder, Treason and Plot I know of no reason why the gun powder treason should ever be forgot.” Every year on November 5, is remembered in the United Kingdom. It’s known as Guy Fawkes Night, Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Firework Night. It’s a commemoration of [...]
With holiday shopping just around the corner, I’d like to share a list of Do’s and Don’ts to remind you that you need to be cognizant of online cyber crime predator’s who’d like to profit from your online shopping experience or banking transactions. This type of crime uses email, web sites, chat rooms or message [...]
Ancestry.com has revealed that actor George Clooney is related to Abraham Lincoln. If you’re interested in AbrahamLincoln himself, Ancestry.com is offering free access to more than 20,000 documents showcasing Lincoln’s life, his family tree and the most pivotal moments of his presidential career. The press release is as follows: “(PROVO, Utah) – November 1, 2012– [...]
In case you’re interested in the impossible task of predicting Tuesday’s election, the National Archives has launched new interactive Electoral College maps. Many people do not understand the significance of the Electoral College and often debate whether we should go with the popular vote. There are reasons why and the National Archives has also launched [...]
Origins.net says: “The first 25 of 176 Irish directories, covering the years 1636-1900, are now available for searching on www.origins.net. About Irish Directories: Ireland’s turbulent history not only affected those living in Ireland but also affects those of us researching Irish ancestors today. From the 12th century the English crown had a claim on Ireland [...]
Continue reading about Dublin Directories now available from Irish Origins
The Celts, who lived about 2000 years ago in what we now know today as the United Kingdom and Ireland, celebrated New Year on November 1st. They believed that on the night before New Year the boundary between the worlds of the living and the world of the dead became blurred. It was at this [...]
Continue reading about The fascinating history of Halloween-not a tall tale
Well, now we know eccentricity and dark humor is not a product of this generation. Ancestry.com has published a cool article for Halloween by Paul Rawlins. Happy Halloween! “Who would name their daughter Halloween? According to the 1920 (and 1930) U.S. census, that would be John and Ollie Hildebrand of Freeborn Township, Missouri, for one [...]
The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands is an excellent and comprehensive work on Scotland’s highland clans and is probably most accurate account of Scottish clans, tartans, and fighting regiments ever published. In the context of Scottish clans, septs are families that followed another family’s chief. These smaller septs would then comprise, and [...]
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Some say that genealogy is America’s second-most popular hobby and some say it’s the first. And, as stated by University of Michigan anthropologist Beverly Strassmann, it’s a hobby that started with the hunter-gathers of the Neolithic Period about 11,500 years ago around the same time that the transition to the agriculture society was taking place. [...]
Bloomberg reported on October 26 that Ancestry.com shareholders are not doing a happy dance over the proposed $1.6 billion buyout by Permira Advisers LLP. The article below includes links for further information: “Ancestry.com the world’s largest family-history website, was sued by shareholders who contend they will be shortchanged in a proposed $1.6 billion buyout by [...]
Continue reading about Ancestry.com shareholders sue over $1.6 Billion Permira buyout
Take two minutes to view and hang on for a fast ride:
If you are hooked on researching your family history and want to consider enhancing your skillset to become a certified genealogist to help others, you could start by looking at The Genealogists Proof Standard. The Proof Standard code t was originally written in 1964 and then updated in 1994 by the Board for Certification of [...]
Continue reading about Certification for Genealogists, the Proof Standard and the Genealogist’s Code
Remember about two years ago when Apple founder Steve Jobs stated on an earnings conference call that it would be impossible to make a good tablet with a screen smaller than the iPad’s 10 inch display? “There are clear limits of how close you can physically place elements on a touchscreen before users cannot reliably [...]
Alan Stewart of Grow Your Own Family Tree has reported that the website Family Relatives has added more than 200,000 records to its collections: “Family Relatives says: “We are delighted to add some unique records to our expanding collection and existing 850 million records. We have added over 200,000 records in a number of directories [...]
Continue reading about African and Caribbean telephone directories go online
Last week I passed through Lenoir in North Carolina on the way to enjoy mountain views of the North Carolina Fall foliage. (Lenoir by the way is pronounced Lenore although Renoir is not pronounced Renore). We did wonder in passing about the location of the new Google data center that did bring some much needed [...]
Continue reading about Peek inside Google’s data centers and see the amazingly beautiful facilities
According to Bloomberg and USA today, Permira Advisers LLP has reached an agreement to buy Ancestry. com for about $1.6 billion, according to someone familiar with the sale. At this time Premira has declined to comment. The AP press release is as follows: “PROVO, Utah (AP) — Genealogy website Ancestry.com has agreed to be acquired [...]
Here’s a good news statement from the office of the Governor of Georgia published yesterday October 18: “Gov. Nathan Deal and Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced today that the state will restore $125,000 to Kemp’s budget to keep the Georgia State Archives open to Georgians for the remainder of the budget year. “Georgia’s Archives [...]
Continue reading about Good news! Georgia’s Archives will remain open to public
Ancestry.com is publishing a daily mystery genealogy death records challenge using the site’s death records collections. If you enter a challenge you’ll be entered in a November 2 grand prize drawing for an iPad. Challenges will be available today, Oct. 19 (the weekend challenge) and again on Oct. 22, 24, 26, 29, and 31st. If [...]
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The following is a release from Genes Reunited and Findmypast with news about free access to all 1911 census transcriptions for the next month: “ALL 1911 TRANSCRIPTIONS ARE NOW FREE ON GENES REUNITED AND FINDMYPAST.CO.UK Leading family history websites genesreunited.co.uk and findmypast.co.uk have teamed up to offer their members free access to all 1911 census [...]
Continue reading about 1911 census free or charge for one month from Genes Reunited and Findmypast
Since I made the decision to cut the clutter and go electronic with books and other paper records I have, like some others, often commented that ebooks appear over priced overpriced. In fact, I’ve even blogged on the subject several times. The article that would pertain to this blog post is about the Department of [...]
Continue reading about $69 million eBook settlement could mean money for you
On October 18, 1867, a mere 145 years ago, the U.S. took possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for the insignificant amount (by today’s standards) of $7.2 million. If the Russians had decided to keep it you can rest assured that they would have been drilling for oil and we would be [...]
Continue reading about U.S. purchase of Alaska from Russia for a mere $7.2 million
When you’ve been researching family history for a few years it’s easy to forget to pass along what seems obvious. I’m talking about those helpful hints for finding your ancestors that seem clear, but are not so apparent to people starting out. Nick Cifuentes has published a blog post on Ancestry that provides some great [...]
According to a new Spanish National Research Council report, a concrete structure nearly 10 feet wide and 6.5 feet tall has been unearthed by archaeologists. It is currently thought to have been erected by Julius Caesar’s successor, Augustus, to condemn the assassination of Caesar on March 25, 44 B.C. The structure was found at the [...]
Continue reading about Discovery of spot where Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Curia of Pompey
In these days of cloud storage the following news release from Genes Reunited could be a welcome solution to storing your family genealogy records if you’re already a Genes Reunited member. If you’re researching family history, Genes Reunited reportedly has 12 million members and over 780 million names listed. One new name is added to [...]
Continue reading about Genes Reunited launches Keepsafe for digitally storing family records
Scotland’s University of Glasgow has announced an 18 month project to produce the first ever extensive database of Scotland’s loved poet Robert Burns manuscripts, which could hold great significance for Burns scholars across Scotland. The Centre (center) for Robert Burns Studies is in collaboration with BurnsScotland to examine, digitize and store all Burns papers. Papers [...]
October is American Archives Month, a time when the efforts of all the great archivists throughout the country are recognized. The work of an archivist at the National Archives is a lot different from what you’ve experienced at the office. You may even have seen the commercial with the file clerk sitting exhausted at her [...]
If you’re a regular Facebook user as well as a family historian you’ll be interested to know about Ancestry.com’s new future that allows members to use Facebook to add information and new people to family trees: “We are excited to announce the release of a new feature that allows Ancestry members to use Facebook to [...]
Continue reading about Ancestry.com’s new feature using Facebook to grow your family tree
A fascinating new website has been launched to explore the history and mystery of Native American artwork. The website highlights the major milestones in the evolution of Native American Indian art of the Southwest and explores the connection between history and today’s culture from basket weaving to jewelry styles with each piece of art illustrative [...]
There’s a brand new Irish genealogy library in Phoenix, Arizona. The McClelland Irish Library (MIL), five years in the making, cost $5 million dollars and holds more than 6,000 books, journals and periodicals on the rich Irish genealogy. Along with reading rooms and computer research resources there’s an exiting ongoing exhibit of the Book of [...]
Continue reading about Brand new Irish genealogy library opens in Pheonix, Arizona
1000memories founded in 2010 is an online photo digitizing technology, which brings sharing capability previously unavailable to ancestry.com users. I wrote about the release of the release of 1000memories ShoeBox App for the Android and iPhone. I believe this is a win-win situation for Ancestry. The following Globe Newswire release was published by NASDAQ: “PROVO, [...]
Continue reading about Ancestry.com’s latest acquisition: 1000memories Inc.
Tonight, millions of Americans and people from other nations will be tuning into as Obama and Romney go head to head in the first of three presidential debates. In case you haven’t noticed each has poured praise on the others debating skills in a the usual effort to lower the public’s expectations for his own [...]
Continue reading about The presidential debates then and, more importantly, now
According to Reuters news service, Permira Advisers LLP has now emerged as the front-runner to take Ancestry.com Inc private with a deal that could top $1.5 billion. This is a result of a request by Ancestry to the private equity firm and its competitors to improve on their offers. It has been reported that the [...]
Continue reading about Update: Permira front runner in Ancestry sale talks
We’ve often heard the opinion that the platform used by Wikipedia in which anyone can contribute is likely to be filled with errors and bias that would make it completely unreliable and unusable. This unfortunate perception continues in spite of evidence that Wikipedia is every bit as accurate as printed encyclopedias. The latest rumble is [...]
Continue reading about Latest Wikipedia controversy: How NARA avoids conflicts of interest
The British National Archives is an amazing online resource. The latest addition to their collection is a project titled “Asia through a lens”. The collection is made up of more than 35,000 photographs, sketches and drawings from across the British Empire and offers a unique insight into life in the colonies from the second half [...]
Continue reading about British National Archives has released online early images of Asia
The following is a flash sale from Family Tree DNA and as the heading suggests you’ll need to be quick to catch it: “It seems every time we run a flash sale a few people e-mail us days later they were traveling, sick or just had not looked at their e-mails in time, so for [...]
Here’s a list of Genealogy and Family History Conferences from FamilySearch.org throughout the U.S. through the rest of the year. You can click on the links to the organizations to find out times, fees, classes, locations and more: “AAHGS www.aahgs.org Place: Greensboro, North Carolina Date: 4-7 October 2012 Logan Utah FHC Conference www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Logan_Utah_Family_History_Center/Conference Place: Logan, [...]
Continue reading about List of Family History Conferences for Fall 2012
The idea of a Family History Information Standards Organization (FHISO) is a welcome one for many family historians who often stick with one group because technology platforms differ along with genealogy products and services. Uniform standards like those in other areas like the ISO (International Standards Organization) are becoming increasingly important. There are at least [...]
Today at sundown, is the beginning of the Day of Atonement, also known as Yom Kippur (יוֹם כִּפּוּר or יום הכיפורים.) It’s the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews and continues until nightfall tomorrow October 8th. The most heard greeting for the Jewish New Year season is “May your name [...]
Family Tree Maker 2012 has released a bonus batch of updates to improve your experience with the software. What they are saying is that this batch is so good they’re not to release a new version for 2013. If you already have Family Tree Maker 2012 you’ll find the following additions very useful. If you [...]
Continue reading about Family Tree Maker 2012 bonus batch of functional user updates
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a critical time 50 years ago and the National Archives and Records Administration and the JFK Library are marking the 50th Anniversary of the historic time with an exhibition “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis”, which features items from both collections. The news release from NARA is [...]
Hot of the press! Microsoft has fixed the security bug in Internet Explorer that hackers exploited to attack customers. It was serious enough for the German government and security experts to urge people to temporarily stop using the browser. The vulnerability in Internet Explorer was identified by a security researcher in Luxemburg, when his system [...]
Continue reading about Microsoft releases updates for serious Internet Explorer flaw
I stay up to date on a much of the current news on Bloomberg and Bloomgerg BusinessWeek. There are actually two headlines this week that are of interest to genealogists and historians. One in particular is this news story for fans of Who Do You Think You Are? who are disappointed over NBCs cancellation of [...]
Continue reading about TLC Network in talks with Ancestry.com to pick up Who Do You Think You Are?
I mentioned in a recent blog post that competition is always good among genealogy database vendors because of the constant pressure to stay ahead of the game. In that instance I was referring to Ancestry and brightsolid’s (lower case b) Findmypast.com, which has an ever increasing footprint in the United States. The very popular Israel-based [...]
Continue reading about MyHeritage introduces automated record matching
There are a lot of online articles about the recent discovery of a piece of papyrus written in Coptic that indicates Jesus had a wife. I’ve decided to add my own blog post to remind us that this type of discussion would not be permitted in some other religions. The fact that the information comes [...]
Continue reading about Coptic Gospel papyrus appears to indicate that Jesus was married
Origins.net offers access to exclusive British and Irish record collections dating back to the 13th century . As stated in their most recent newsletter, Origins has some of the most complete and accurate data on the Internet. The latest addition to the National Wills Index is the Lancashire Wills Index (1457-1748 & 1793-1812) and Surrey [...]
Continue reading about New at Origins.net – Lancashire Wills Index and Surrey PCC Will Abstracts
The last day for members of the public to stop by the Georgia State Archives will be on October 31, 2012. Georgia Secretary of state Brian Kemp announced on Thursday of this week that the state archives will be closed to general public walk-ins. This makes Georgia the only state without a place for the [...]
Continue reading about Georgia State Archives walk-ins to end
Magherafelt District Council has launched a new interactive website which includes a new online genealogy resource to provide accurate historical information both textual and photographic. The council opened a Tourist Information office 15 years ago and receives daily genealogy inquiries from all over the world so the goal is to have uploaded photographs and maps [...]
The ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk website is celebrating its 10th anniversary in September 2012. A copy of the news release follows: “Officially launched in mid-September 2002, ScotlandsPeople was one of the first genealogy sites to arrive on the web. The site now contains over 90 million digital records and corresponding images, and adds new sets of fully-searchable historical records [...]
Continue reading about ScotlandsPeople website celebrates ten years of tracing Scottish ancestors!
Reuters reports Ancestry.com is in discussion with three buyout firms although deal remains illusive
It has been touted since July of this year that Ancestry.com is looking for a sale. The latest update reports Ancestry.com is putting pressure on buyout firms to sweeten their offers after a second round of bids last month. As yet, no deal has been made. As reported by Reuters on September 10, there are [...]
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