Author and researcher Dr. Thomas P Lowery, a respected professional in his field has signed a statement admitting that he tampered with date on a pardon signed by President Abraham Lincoln. In an effort to gain recognition, he changed the date on a pardon from 1864 to the same day in1865, to make it appear [...]
Stirling Castle, once the home of Kings and Queens of Scotland, and one of the country’s favorite tourist spots, has recently completed a project to recreate colorful oak carvings in the Royal Palace, of King James V, within the castle. The project cost £12 million Pounds Sterling ($19,108,882.86 USD). The original ceiling, which once held [...]
As a current member of findmypast.com, I’m always happy to pass along any information that will help make a worthwhile project successful: “The Federation of Family History Societies is carrying out a new and exciting transcription project to help trace missing ancestors, in partnership with findmypast.co.uk: the Lost Ancestors project. The FFHS would like to [...]
Ancestry.com will once again be partnering with NBC to help celebrities discover their family histories in Season 2 of “Who Do You Think You Are?”, premiering on Friday, February 4. Viewers can take an up-close and personal look inside the family history of some of today’s most beloved and iconic celebrities including, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim [...]
An article The Charlotte Observer caught my eye yesterday. Written by freelancer Lisa Thornton, it’s a charming account by old-timer Martha Kee of the past 100 years in Concord, North Carolina. The area around Concord is lovely and you can still see remnants of a once thriving cotton industry. Today, many of the well preserved [...]
“In the Middle Ages, the study of the measure of time was first viewed as prying too deeply into God’s own affairs – and later thought of as a lowly, mechanical study, unworthy of serious contemplation.” The calendar we use today is the Gregorian Calendar, first introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in a papal bull [...]
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The following is a notice from the UK Society of Genealogists regarding the “Who Do You Think You Are? Live National History Show” in Olympia, London, sponsored by Ancestry.com.uk: “The Society of Genealogists Family History Show will again take place as part of the Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE National History Show – 25-27 [...]
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I recently informed of the following announcement by Ancestry.com Expert Connect team regarding the termination of their Expert Connect so that they can focus on other aspects of the business: “In March of 2009, the newly formed Ancestry.com Expert Connect team mailed hundreds of invitations to outstanding providers of genealogical services like you, with a [...]
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We are bombarded with so much data these days that we’re apt to overlook some excellent sources of genealogical information. One of these is the passport application. Would you believe, the U.S. Department of State has issued passports to people traveling abroad since 1789, although it didn’t have the authority to do so until Congress [...]
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Imber is a village on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, that was deserted after being taken over by troops for training during the Second World War. The entire population of the village was evacuated in December 1943 and they’ve never been allowed to return. Fifty years ago, in 1961, thousands of people marched into [...]
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Yet another chapter in the saga of Arlington National Cemetery has hit the airways. This time it’s concern over the fate of the 9-foot tall decorative marble urns that for decades flanked the stage of Arlington’s Memorial Amphitheater. The urns, now owned by an antiques dealer, will be put up for sale at the Potomack [...]
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Queen Victoria died 110 years ago today on January 22, 1901, ending the longest reign in British history. Her 63-year tenure saw the expansion of an empire upon which the sun never set. Born in 1819, in Kensington Palace in London, she ascended to the throne upon the death of her uncle King William IV, [...]
This article is the story of a lost treasure of pearls that took place in the California desert 400 years ago. When mulling over the idea of a ship lost in the desert, it’s hard to believe the discussion is not about camels (often referred to as the ship of the desert), but an actual [...]
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If you’d like to attend the RootsTech Conference virtually—you can! Through the sponsorship of Legacy Family Tree Webinars the RootsTech a free seminar, Virtual Presentations Roundtable, will be broadcast on Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 1:45 pm MST (3:45PM EST, 2:45PM CST, 12:45PM PST, 8:45PM GMT). Click here (https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/948007264) to register today! Hands-on experience is [...]
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The following is an announcement from Ancestry.com regarding the election of Mike Schroepfer, Vice President of Engineering at Facebook, as the eighth member to sit on its Board of Directors: “PROVO, Utah, Jan. 20, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ancestry.com Inc. (Nasdaq:ACOM), the world’s largest online family history resource, today announced the addition of Mike Schroepfer [...]
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The following information was posted on the findmypast.co.uk blog today January 20, 2011. It’s a reminder of what was added in 2010 and what’s planned for 2011: “ What’s planned for 2011 on findmypast.co.uk?
With so many family genealogists out there diligently finding tons of important information, many of us unwittingly place our valuable findings at risk and lose our hard work to hard drive crashes, disk death and obsolescence. In the past only royalty kept family records, now everyone can find and store information on their home computer. [...]
The Arizona Family History Expo is scheduled to take place this week in Mesa Arizona on Friday 21st and 22nd January, 2011 and promises to be an interesting two days. It’s certainly noteworthy that these occasions are increasing in popularity from coast to coast and around the world. One event that really caught my eye is scheduled [...]
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I read a very interesting article in the “Nevada Appeal” about a 28-year old Carson City man, Paul Sebesta, who made it a mission to document every historical marker in Nevada from the Las Vegas neon city to the most remote old mining towns to find markers “usually blue, made of steel and shaped like [...]
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A year-long celebration is planned to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the 40th President of the United States of America, Ronald Wilson Reagan, on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois. Inaugurated at age 69, Reagan was the oldest President and, according to some of the trivia out there, he was apparently almost [...]
I wanted to write about the Fortingall Yew, not only because some of my ancestors at one time lived and worked the area, but also because people have asked about it. It’s one of eight pictures that rotate on my blog and each time you visit SpittalStreet.com, or click on another page in the blog, [...]
Continue reading about Scotland’s Fortingall Yew is 2000–5000 years old is the oldest tree in Europe
More than four years ago, Senator Edward Kennedy announced the effort to digitize a selection of the Kennedy Library’s most important holdings. Yesterday, 1/13/2011, to help mark the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy, the Archivist of the United States, David S. Ferriero, along with the President of the John F. Kennedy Library [...]
The following is a Society of Genealogists (UK) notice of an Ancestry.com announcement: “An online archive revealing historic values of London’s famous landmarks is published today for the first time – Ancestry.co.uk Bank of England, Fleet Street and St Paul’s Cathedral found in records Average London property in 1910 valued at just £14,000, compared to [...]
The Library and Archives Canada (LAC) Canadian Genealogy Centre is definitely the best place to visit to begin your Canadian family research. Access is free and the website gives clearly points you to where you need to search. I’m sure most of us appreciate websites that manage to provide a wealth of information and yet [...]
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The Comité des Sages is a reflection group focused on bringing Europe’s cultural heritage online. They have made a number of recommendations in their report “The New Renaissance” to the European Union (EU) Member States to ramp up their efforts to make the collections held in all their libraries archives and museums available online. The recommendation [...]
If you’ve read the header on this post you might already be wondering why I’m writing about the latest technology on a Genealogy and History blog. Anyone who travels, attends conferences and seminars, writes a blog, or worries about storing valuable data on a personal computer hard drive, is likely to be interested in up-to-date [...]
“Today’s Document” is the name given to the newly released first mobile application based on the “popular feature” on Archives.gov. It’s an interactive gallery that gives you access to explore the holdings of the US National Archives through 365 fascinating documents and photographs thorough history. If you want to learn what happened on your birthday, [...]
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If you’ve been using FindMyPast for your genealogical research during the past couple of years, you’ll find that they have become a real competitor when it comes to helping people to find their ancestors ancestors in their database. Here’s a copy of their latest blog announcement: “You can now search 126,967 new parish baptism and [...]
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If you live close to the Walker County Library and are anxious to make a start in family history research, the following announcement about beginning genealogy classes from the county library will help you get started: “LaFayette-Walker County Library will host Create Your Own Story @ Your Library, a series of workshops designed for beginners, to [...]
The publishing world is in serious crisis and the brick and mortar bookstores are in trouble. Many publishing companies have either closed their doors or have changed their business strategy. For example, Dorchester Publishing dropped its traditional print publishing business in favor of an e-book/print-on-demand model. With advent of the eBook reader and the astronomical [...]
The following is an announcement posted on the National Archives Website dated January 7, 2011, giving information about a number of changes to the Freedom of Information and Public Records Acts. Within the notice you will find links to see details of the changes at the Ministry of Justice website and a link to details [...]
A routine sewage pipe replacement in Ballarat in the state of Victoria, Australia, led to archaeologists discovering a treasure trove of more than a thousand gold rush artifacts, many belonging to a mid-19th century Chinese community. European pottery and bottles were found along with medicine vials stamped with Chinese characters. Well preserved fig jars, coins, [...]
Technology has radically transformed world communication during the last few years and consequently the changes in the rapidly expanding field of genealogy are also radical. For most people the changes at the personal level are significant since it’s now much easier and faster to document family histories using online databases that only a short while [...]
Since Ancestry.com went public (Nasdaq: ACOM) ” The Motley Fool” has had a lot to say on the subject and, although I smashed their first article last year, I tend agree with today’s contribution. Ancestry apparently hit an all-time high this morning tacking on to gains after an analyst upgrade. This is no small thing. [...]
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New York City Sanitation Department union workers are facing charges that workers entrusted with cleaning up after the massive snow storm decided to stage a slowdown as the blizzard hit the city. This was all to protest budget cuts. People actually died because EMTs couldn’t reach them in time. Even the dead couldn’t escape the [...]
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The following is the Society of Genealogists UK announcement on publishing over 9 million records at findmypast.com.uk: “Today the Society of Genealogists in London and leading family history website findmypast.co.uk have published online over 9 million records from the Society’s unrivalled collection at findmypast.co.uk.
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There’s a very interesting post on MyHeritage blog and I’d like to share it with anyone who might have missed it. It actually outlines my own conclusions (and I say this with humility) drawn over three years ago—you’ll see the truth in this statement on my “About” page on this blog. The MyHeritage post is [...]
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I’ve just read a couple of articles on the lack of Irish records and discovered a long list of reasons, all disturbing and sad. In the 1600s Ireland was conquered by the Tudors followed by Oliver Cromwell causing chaos in the Irish record system. There were fires in the 18th century, starting in 1711 with [...]
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Thousands of records written in ledgers, index cards or in paper files, represent the names, family ties and biographical information of each person who passed through the Dale-Riggs Funeral home in Toledo, Ohio since 1912. Apart from the great historical value, the records from the traditionally African American funeral home hold the key to unlocking [...]
The Australian Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) was established on May 17, 1928 when Dr. John Flynn (1880-1951) a South Australian Presbyterian minister recognized the potential for using aircraft and radio to reach the remote outback in Australia. Dr Flynn was in charge of the Australian Inland Mission, an organization dedicated to bringing church services and [...]
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Here’s some helpful tips from Ancestry.com: “You’ve just discovered great-grandma’s maiden name, but following that initial rush, you get this sinking feeling when you realize that researching John Smith isn’t going to be easy. But don’t cast hope aside. Your John Smith was an individual and while challenging, researching ancestors with a common surname is [...]
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When public libraries offer historical documentation online in addition to card catalogue’s this is another sign that they’re starting to get the 21st century big picture aspects of which I’ve covered in my previous article’s More on the subject of CD Books and eBooks and Google launches new eBookstore. The Sylacauga public library now has [...]
Although this is the second day of the month, I know that this post was worthy of passing on through SpittalStreet. I’ve been guilty of not backing up my files and suffering the consequences. The following article is from Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with [...]
I’ve mentioned the rapidly growing interest in history and genealogy several times in SpittalStreet.com and, although your life experience may differ from that of the newly retired bartender Vincent Sirback III, many of us can relate to his story. In retirement many of us are free to pursue what we’d always wanted to do.
I received Chris Paton’s (Scotland’s Greatest Story) newsletter in my inbox today and decided to take a closer look at his “Archive CD Books / Eneclann sale” on his blog which, coincidentally pointed me to a worldwide project called “Archive CD Books”. If you happened to read my December 7 article Google launches new eBookstore [...]
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