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61st EDITION OF THE COGThe topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is:Traditions! - ¤ -Dictionary.com defines "tradition" as, "the handing down of statements,beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation togeneration, esp. by word of mouth or by practice."Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Hanukkah are right around the corner andare typically rich with tradition.- ¤ - Other religious and family traditions go on throughout the year.What traditions were passed on to you from an earlier generation?Do you keep those traditions?What tradition(s) will you or have you…

For several days now I have been unable to post to Blogger. Everything I created, when publish was hit, became a large white sheet of nothing. Four of my scheduled posts completely disappeared.Now I'm not sure it was Blogger, but everything else on my computer worked.To be certain there were no other problems, I did spend an hour on the phone with my cable provider as we ran down the list:CP: Is your computer plugged in?fM: YesCP: Is your computer turned on?fM: YesCP: Are you plugged in to your modem?fM: YesCP: Is your modem turned on?fM: YesCP: Are there four steady green lights?fM: YesCP:…

Good good good good citationsI'm pickin' up good citationsYour giving me excitationsGood good good good citations [1]Here is how I write family history articles and books using citations. This works the best for me and is meant only as a suggestion. When working with citations you must find the method that is the most productive for you.I develop a Word document (or a document in any text editing program) called my Master Citation File. When I purchase a book, find a document, census, etc. I cite it immediately (it only takes a moment and you never have to do it again). Exactly as Elizabeth…

I selected this image for the Alzheimer's Awareness Month poster because it reminded me of my father, head in hand after one of the phone calls.It was simple things in the beginning. My grandmother would have what they called a panic attack. She was confused because she couldn't remember something. Her sister-in-law, Martha, had come to live with her and nurse her. Martha took her job very seriously and wore a stethoscope and carried a blood pressure cuff. She recorded everything.Martha was constantly taking my Grandmother's blood pressure and listening to her heart. So when my Grandmother…

Oh Baby? Alien Baby?Dillon Baby!This is the first picture of my first grandchild. It has hung on the wall in my office since the day I brought it home from the doctor's office. I was going to be a grandma! I could not have been more thrilled.I know it looks like an alien baby, but after examining it closely I found several things about him that looked just like me. Big head comes to mind.Today he is a very handsome young man with a few too many girlfriends for Grandma's liking. We share a lot of interests and he has asked Santa for a camera. Now you know that pleases Grandma fM.I had the…

NOTE from DearMYRTLE: The following was just received from our friends at MyHeritage. Myrt has planned a podcast interview in early December. Please address all inquiries to Daniel Horowitz Daniel@MyHeritage.comMYHERITAGE AND FAMILY TREE DNA PARTNER TO HELP PEOPLE TRACE FAMILY HISTORY USING DNATel Aviv, Israel and Houston, Texas – November 20, 2008 – MyHeritage, one of the world’s most popular family Web sites, today announced a partnership with FamilyTreeDNA, the company that pioneered DNA testing for genealogic research. In addition to MyHeritage’s innovative Smart Matching and…

DearREADERS,We must always be thinking, learning, growing. Ol’ Myrt here may talk, blog, podcast, teach, cajole and brow beat her readers, listeners and study group members -- but she, too, must consider taking advantage of educational opportunities. Accordingly, though I will be serving as the dinner speaker during the 2009 Salt Lake Institute, I’ve also registered to take a number of classes in addition to coursework to assist with my British ancestral quest.English Research with David Rencher (full course)Plenary Session with Dr. Thomas Jones, Ph.D (evening session) Quick, Complete and…

DearREADERS,Just received this note from Lisa Louise Cooke, Producer and host of the Genealogy Gems Podcast, which reads as follows: “I had some fun last night and posted a video on my blog that features several of us genealogy gals. Here's the link. Enjoy!”The ever-creative Lisa has outdone herself. I think you will get a kick out of it -- I know Ol’ Myrt here sure did!Happy family tree climbing!Myrt :)DearMYRTLE,Your friend in genealogy.Myrt@DearMYRTLE.comhttp://blog.DearMYRTLE.com http://blog.TeachGenealogy.comhttp://podcasts.DearMYRTLE.comDearMYRTLE's Facebook® Group Message…

NOTE from DearMYRTLE: The following was just posted by our friends at the Utah Genealogical Association. The annual Salt Lake Institute is considered one of the top-tier educational opportunities for family historians in the US. Please address all inquiries to Geoffrey Morris info@infouga.orgNovember Discount for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy 2009!If you meant to register for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy 2009 before the early bird deadline but just didn’t make it… Good News! A window of opportunity is still available. From now until November 28, 2008, you can register with…

DearREADERS,Ol’ Myrt here just returned from the 2008 Mesa Arizona Family History Expo, where I met with many as you stopped by my booth and helped me tie the baby quilt for Expo organizer Kimberly Savage. (Dick Eastman was the one hold out. He said his sister is the true quilter in the family!) The folks in Mesa were wonderful hosts, welcoming all speakers and vendors with enthusiasm and a great hand of friendship. The 74 degree weather wasn’t hard to take, either.The Expo will return in January 2010. If you couldn’t attend, listen to my 36 Family History Expo podcasts interviews of…

After the announcement on last Wednesday, I downloaded the free trial copy of Family Historian 3.1 and installed it on my computer, and then loaded a 20,000 plus person GEDCOM file into it. I want to demonstrate some basic screens, charts and reports in this series of posts.The first post in this series is here - it demonstrated the basic navigation in the program using the Records Window and the Property Dialog box. The second post is here - it demonstrated some of the charts that Family Historian 3.1 can create. The third post here displays some of the Reports created by FH3.1.There is a…

An article titled "She's at home with history" by Rachel Lebeaux was published in The Boston Globe newspaper today about Marian Pierre-Louis, a genealogist who researches house histories in Massachusetts. Marian's advice for doing this is pretty typical for any genealogy task:Pierre-Louis gives lectures on compiling house histories, and said it's a process anybody could undertake."Finding the information is like a mystery, and the discovery of it is kind of cool," she said. "If I can get more people to research the histories of their own houses, that preserves more history."The first step,…

MyHeritage and Family Tree DNA have announced a partnership to facilitate use of both sites by genealogists and family historians - and are offering a discount on FTDNA services. A press release was distributed this morning - you can read it at Miriam's Ancestories blog or Dick Eastman's blog (among others). The important information is:"FamilytreeDNA created a landing page for MyHeritage on the following link http://www.familytreedna.com/cj.aspx?ftdna_ref=392 to give your readers the MyHeritage discount- which will save them up to $60."The tests they are offering for the reduced price…

After the announcement on last Wednesday, I downloaded the free trial copy of Family Historian 3.1 and installed it on my computer, and then loaded a 20,000 plus person GEDCOM file into it. I want to demonstrate some basic screens, charts and reports in this series of posts.The first post in this series is here - it demonstrated the basic navigation in the program using the Records Window and the Property Dialog box. The second post is here - it demonstrated some of the charts that Family Historian 3.1 can create.There is a Tour of Family Historian 3 at http://www.family-historian.co.uk/tour/…

I'm posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they won't be wordless posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.I went out to Mount Hope cemetery in San Diego yesterday, and snapped these pictures of the gravesite of my great-grandfather, Charles Auble (1849-1916).Charlie is buried in Mason Division S, Lot 21, Space 15 at Mount Hope. He is in the open grassy space between the two in-ground grave markers in the center of the picture (view looking south):Here is a closer view of Charlie's burial space - looks like they just cut the lawn,…

Near Pensacola, Florida. March 1974.Copyright © 1974/2008 by Rebeckah R. WisemanCopyright © 2008 Rebeckah R. Wiseman http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/

On the left is the marker for Jacob Wise in Section "J" at the National Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee. On the right is the marker for Jacob and Malissa in the Hively Corners Cemetery (now St. Matthew's Church Cemetery) in Thorncreek Township, Whitley County, Indiana.JACOB WISE / BORN DEC 8, 1827 / DIED MAY 7, 1865MALISSA A. WIFE OF / JACOB WISE / BORN APR 21, 1833 / DIED AUG 6, 1901Melissa Ann Stem was the oldest of six children born to Conrad and Indiana (Sisley) Stem. Malissa and three of her sisters were born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. About 1844-1845 the Stem family moved from…

You know those "extra" columns in the 1870 census, the ones to the right of the place of birth? It might help your research to actually look at them! I know I sometimes have a tendency to retrieve the basic information (name , age, place of birth) and ignore the rest. Probably not a good thing to do.In reviewing all of the information I have on Peter Wise I noticed a hash-mark in the column with the heading "Parentage" and labeled "Father of foreign birth" in his 1870 census record. There is no mark in the column for his mother. Peter is also identified as a "Male citizen of the U. S. of 21…

The other day I was tired of scanning so I spent a few hours cruising the Internet looking for information about Peter Wise of Wayne County, Ohio whom I am pretty sure is my 4th great grandfather. I found a few interesting things. . .A transcription of a land record led me to the website of fellow genea-blogger, Lori Thornton! Her ancestor Christian Lantz sold 76 acres to a Peter Wise in Wayne County, Ohio on August 22, 1829. That land was located in the SW corner of the SE ¼ of Section 21 Township 17 Range 12.My Peter Wise owned 152 acres in the NE 1/4 of Section 1 Township 22 Range 15. I…

Great Sand Dunes National Park & PreserveSouthwest Colorado, May 1979Copyright © 1979/2008 by Rebeckah R. WisemanCopyright © 2008 Rebeckah R. Wiseman http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/

In November 1853, Dan Treadwell, who ran the Nassau Hotel (near the Brooklyn Navy Yard), advertised a race between Amos Saunders and James Dorcy. Handbills were passed out all over Brooklyn. During the race the men were supposed to pick up 100 stones placed 1 yard apart in City Park. The winner would get $100.Amos Saunders was 21 years old, English-born, and was a competitive runner (the Eagle mentions him taking part in other races in the 1850s). According to the 1850 census his day job was "Gold Pen Maker."* James Dorcy was harder to track down, but he may have been the "James Dorsey,…

This will be a quick post today, due to various time constraints - so I thought that an ad about a Victorian mod con would be in order. Here are the washday time-savers of 1866, Colby's Little Wringer and Colby's Little Washer. And here also is one of my favorite advertising slogans ever: No Humbug, No Shoddy![From Dr. Chase's Recipes and Information For Everybody (which we'll return to in the future, as it is jam-packed with astonishing things), published in Ann Arbor, Michigan by the author in 1866.]

William DeWolf Hopper (1858-1935) was a ladies' man with enormous stage presence - with a booming voice, he stood over 6 feet tall and was well over 200 pounds. He was married six times and was known as "the Husband of his Country."He had completely bald since childhood (due to alopecia) and had a blueish tint to his skin from patent medicines. They most likely had mercury in them; this made one of Victorian novelist Wilkie Collins' heroes blue as well, in his 1872 novel Poor Miss Finch.Hopper was a popular matinee idol, singer and producer, whose career began in the late 187os. His fifth…

"Silence in both cases a negative."Well, I should think so! The Berger Family Bell Ringers, late of this post and many other engagements, were looking for a Female Snare Drummer and a Good Male Baritone Singer in 1870, in this wanted ad in the New York Clipper.Note that they wanted an attractive girl (please enclose a photograph with your application) aged 12 to 17, which seems very young to (a) go on the road with a theatrical troupe and (b) to be competent snare drummer.Do you think that they found anyone for the job? I have someone right here who would fit the bill perfectly. Meet…

This just does not look all that portable to me. "Brick-set" and "portable" do not seem to really go together as concepts. And I can't imagine anyone pushing it in front of the kitchen fire and then back across the room.And really, when you think about it, do you want to broil and roast the Rollhaus Range in front of the fire? It doesn't look all that tasty, does it?Coming Attractions in the Museum:The Brooklyn Hoax - a strange game and and even stranger scam from 1853. Can you figure out what the point of all the looniness was?DeWolf Hopper and the Brown Betty - on Silent Movie Wednesday,…

Geography Awareness Week (November 16-22, 2008) is drawing to a close.  I was delighted to learn about it from Lisa, who had several posts at 100 Years in America related to her ancestors’ countries.  Inspired, Jessica also took up the cause and made us all more aware of our own geographical incompetence!  Their posts made me realize how much I enjoy geography.  As a traveler, I love to pour over maps and figure out where I want to go, or even to figure out where I was (maps were useless in Venice, so I was only able to see where we were in retrospect).  Fortunately, I inherited my…

One of the great loves of my life has been science fiction.  After just one sentence, I can guarantee that about a quarter to a third of you readers are nodding your head in agreement, or saying, “I knew I liked her for a reason!”  But the rest of you probably groaned - that is, assuming you didn’t skip the post totally based on the title alone.  To all of you groaners - this post’s for you! Many people dislike science fiction (sf) because their image of it consists of spaceships, aliens, and other planets.  But sf is much more than just those topics, and its range…

Today is Veterans Day in the United States, a day set aside to remember and honor all veterans.  I have many relatives and friends who have served in the U.S. military.  On this day, I’d like to honor my father (USN), my brother (USMC), Frank (USN), Frank’s Dad (USN), Uncle Ken (USN), cousins BG Mike (USA) and Suzanne (USAF), friends Bob (USMC), Rick (USMC), Joe (USA), Tim (USA), and Tim’s son Danny (USA), chaplains Ron (USAF), Chappy (USAF), Ralph (USA), and Sherrill (USA), and numerous bosses and co-workers over the years including active duty military and many veterans…

Veterans Day is celebrated tomorrow in the United States.  The holiday was first established by President Wilson as Armistice Day on November 11, 1919.  The holiday originally celebrated the end of the “War to End All Wars” which formally ended at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918.  To those of us generations removed from this war, it is difficult to realize its impact on the world.  It is estimated that nearly 20 million people died globally as a result.  At war’s end, four European empires disappeared: Russian, Ottoman, German, and…

The word prompt for the 7th Edition of the Smile for the Camera carnival is Oh, Baby! The only hard thing about this topic was choosing which photos of my babies!  Well, not my babies, my NAN: Nieces and Nephew.  The acronym also conveniently fits their names as well - Natalie, Ava, and Nicholas.  That works until April/May, when the as-yet-unnamed next nephew arrives!  I can’t wait to see him, but until then I can’t get enough of my other NAN.  Here they are as babies, and I think you’ll agree with the proud aunt that they’re as cute as can be. [Submitted for the…

I just love a picture with personality! This woman wears a velvet cape and a dark colored feather boa. Both would be perfect for going out in the 1890s. The hat on her head really stands out because it's suitable for sportswear. This c. 1897 accessory doesn't match the rest of her attire. Did the photographer dress her up or did she go to the studio that way. In either case, it's a lovely picture. Too bad the owner, Ann Short, doesn't know who this is. She thinks she's either a member of the Childs, Brewer, Easter, Simpson, Duncan or Wigginton family who lived in the southeastern U.S. If…

My Dad, James William Taylor, Jr., was a man of few words. When you’d ask him a direct question you’d rarely get a full answer. Towards the end of his life he spent a day mentioning 1943. I don't know why. He really didn’t want to talk about it. Like so many of his generation, Dad enlisted in the United States Army during World War II. From October 22, 1942 to February 5, 1946 he served his country as a member of Company D of the 389th Infantry regiment as a Heavy Machine Gunner. He spent 18 months in Hawaii and several more in Japan. As kids we heard about the geishas of Japan and the…

I just love a story like this. Two brothers rediscover footage shot by their grandfather during World War II. The video story appeared on the MSNBC.com website today. Here it is.

A couple of weeks ago, I gave an Ancestry.com webinar on Saving Family Treasures and mentioned a ready-made photo studio. An attendee wrote to tell me that she saw this studio in a box advertised in a recent Brookstone catalog for $99. In case you're interested I also found it on the store's website. This is a great tool for photographing small artifacts at home.If you're handy, you can make one of these studios yourself. The directions are online at DIY Photography. The instructions seem fairly simple and there are photographs to help you see how the set-up works.

This is not a political statement, but I'd like you to take a look at some gorgeous photos taken by Bradford Washburn in 1937 and then compare them to images taken recently of the same areas. David Arnold and Gabriela Romanow have brought together these photographs in an online exhibit about global warming. It doesn't matter how you feel about the climate change issue, just take a peak at Doubleexposure.net. The pictures are beautiful!

I wanted readers to know what I've been up to the past few weeks and why such activity has impacted the postings here at DAF and my other blogs. Such activities deal with a blogging alter-ego that I created back in mid-September when I realized that the law firm where I worked, Heller Ehrman LLP was sliding towards an implosion very similar to Enron.Since it seems I have "mad skillz" when it comes to blogging, I decided to set up a Wordpress-based blog entitled Heller Highwater which would help my 1200+ co-workers deal with issues such as unemployment, proper payment of back wages, accrued…

Liberty Central School, 5th Grade Class Photo, 1972. Photograph. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.

LIFE photo archive hosted by Google via kwoutToday Google announced that they have made available about 2 million images from the archives of Life magazine with a goal of posting the other 8 million images during the next few months.I remember that while we never received Life magazine at home, I was always able to read it over at my great-grandparents' house and occasionally when I went to the doctor or dentist. Yes, even at the young age of six I eschewed Highlights and other children's magazines in favor of the fabulous photos offered by the over-sized Life magazine. Goofus and Gallant had…

Headstone of John W. McEntee. Digital photograph taken by Thomas MacEntee on July 14, 2008 at New Paltz, New York. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.John W. McEntee, my 2nd great-grandfather, was born on January 21, 1840 at Gardiner, Ulster County, New York, the son of Edward McEntee and Ann Freer.On March 11, 1874 at Guilford, New York, he married Elmira Wood, daughter of William and Elizabeth Wood.John enlisted as a Private in the Union Army on April 20, 1861 at the age of 22. He fought with the 11th Infantry Regiment New York, Company C…

I know this might seem out of place, but stay with me - this truly is a means of looking at a new technology and combining it with genealogy!Spoonflower is a new website that allows you to print your own fabric. Based in North Carolina, it advertises the ability to have your own designs printed on cotton fabric for $18 per yard with no minimum. The site already has 10,000 crafters signed up, has its own blog, and has Gart Davis who used to run LuLu on its board. Now Spoonflower is out of closed beta and is available to the public plus it appears that many Etsy users are now big fans of…

Today, November 19th, would have been my paternal grandfather's 114th birthday. ISAAC LEE SWANAY was born in Jearoldstown, Greene County, Tennessee, and was the son of William Franklin Swanay and Deluna Frances Brown. "Lee," as he preferred to be called, was the 3rd of William and Deluna's 11 children. His siblings were: WILLIAM MURRELL SWANAY, b. 04 Jan 1892, Tennessee; d. 09 Jul 1973, Greene County, Tennessee. WINNIE I. SWANAY, b. Mar 1893, Greene, Tennessee; d. Aug 1980, Tennessee. GEORGE...

Speaking of blog carnivals... for the first time EVER, I am hosting a carnival (she said, shaking in her boots... "Oh what have I done???). That's right, I'm going to be the "guest host" of the 13th Edition ~ Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy! In honor of Thanksgiving, the topic for this edition is: "What resources are you thankful for in your Central/Eastern European genealogical research?" A resource could be a web site, book, family member... anything or anyone that has...

The 7th Edition, Smile for the Camera ~ A Carnival of Images: Oh Baby! has been posted at Shades of the Departed. 42 participants shared photos of beautiful, bouncing babies in varying states of dress, undress, and bear skin rugs. My submission is here: Oh Baby: My Mom, featuring one of the few photos I have of my mother as a baby. Please drop by Shades to check out more sweet baby photos. You'll also want to read up on the requirements for submissions for the 8th Edition: "Stocking...

"Stars and Stripes," (Santa Maria, Santa Barbara Co., California). Digital Image. Photographed by Elizabeth O'Neal, November 11, 2008. About Wordless Wednesday. Copyright © 2008 by Elizabeth O'Neal

I'd like to wish a very happy anniversary to my in-laws, Ben and Pat, who were married on this date 47 years ago. Here's wishing you both a wonderful day and many more years of happiness together! ____________________ Photo of Ben & Pat taken at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, Los Angeles Co., California, on July 4, 2008. Copyright © 2008 by Elizabeth O'Neal

Oh, my.I can't remember the last time I've such fun with graphic design. Maybe a number of years ago, when I created my family tree website. Or when I purchased Paint Shop Pro and learned how to pixel paint.Except when I was building my website, I was still new to HTML coding (which I taught myself, with the help of online tutorials like Lissa Explains All), and when I was pixel painting, I was trying to figure out how to create I-frames (what I did worked with Internet Explorer, but not with Mozilla Firefox--my browser of choice).So my creativity was tempered with a lot of learn-on-the-fly…

Tel Aviv, Israel and Houston, Texas – November 20, 2008 – MyHeritage, one of the world’s most popular family Web sites, today announced a partnership with FamilyTreeDNA, the company that pioneered DNA testing for genealogical research. In addition to MyHeritage’s innovative Smart Matching and Research technologies, members can now also use information contained in their DNA to find present-day relatives who share a common ancestor from many hundreds of years ago. FamilyTreeDNA users can take advantage of MyHeritage’s site to not only further research family history, but also stay…

A FamilySearch News Release:Volunteers Discover Fun Facts Transcribing Historic Canadian CensusesCompleted Indexes Will Be Free OnlineOntario, Canada—FamilySearch International announced its plans to make the indexes to available Canadian censuses accessible online for free with the help of online volunteer indexers and an agreement with Ancestry.ca. The first censuses completed will be those from 1861, 1871, and 1916. Online volunteers are needed to help transcribe select information from digital images of the historical documents into easily searchable indexes. The completed indexes will…

Last summer, I subscribed to the Everton's Genealogical Helper online edition, for an over 50% savings of the cost of their print edition. I downloaded the July-August 2008 issue and enjoyed reading the articles and being able to click right on the links to be taken immediately to the corresponding websites to which they referred.About a month ago, I realized I hadn't accessed the September-October issue. I went to the website, but was having difficulty. I could log in, but when I clicked on the link to access the online edition, I was brought back to the login screen. So using the "Contact…

"Frugal Genealogy: or How Not to Spend a Fortune on Your Family Tree" is my most-sought after presentation by area genealogical societies when requesting me as a speaker. Recently, I've realized I need to update it; free genealogy how-to videos are showing up all over the Internet faster, it seems, than I can keep track. I've provided a round-up of what's out there, below. In order to watch these, you'll need speakers or a set of headphones, and most likely, high-speed Internet service (Have dial-up? Plan ahead to spend some time at your local public library or other free or low-cost public…

It seems that phones are getting lots of attention this week. There was a thought-provoking article from Tim O’Reilly pointing out, “In India and around the world, there is a whole new generation that accesses the internet, and they have never seen a PC. To them, it’s all on their phone.” From simple to sophisticated, these mobile apps give their users the ability to communicate and compete in a world that will never see the land-based communications infrastructure we have. Living here in hurricane country where that infrastructure gets blown away on a semi-regular…

With the holiday season upon us, people are looking for ways to connect with distant loved-ones.  Lifehacker has one solution at Hive Five: Five Best Video Chat Applications, When you really want to stay in touch over a long distance, a simple phone call or voice chat pales in comparison to a face-to-face video chat. You can look your long-distance significant other in the eyes while you talk; your parents can watch their grandkid grow up; and under the right circumstances, video chat can also be an excellent tool for work-related calls and collaboration. The question is, what tools should…

No, I’m not in therapy although my husband has been threatening intervention. I’m talking about all the good stuff you’ll find in the genealogy-related groups at Diigo. A portion of the main page of the Genealogy Research Resources Group at Diigo. The Group feature offers Diigo users with common interests a place to collect bookmarks supporting those interests, share notes, meet others with the same interests and generate all kinds of collaboration. It costs nothing to use Diigo or join groups. While there is no monetary cost, the value of a group is a direct result of its…

I’m not a big cell phone user. I have a pay-as-you-go phone that costs less than $8 a month to keep the service up and provide x-amount of call/sms/email time. Right now my balance is close to $250 which tells you that the chances of you finding me holding up a checkout line while I chat on the phone are slim to none. Having said that, the iPhone has me drooling. It’s small enough to fit into a pocket or pocketbook but has a screen that I can actually read and a touchscreen keyboard. It includes a camera and GPS system and also has wi-fi capability. So far, it doesn’t sound…

I stumbled on this article the other day and found it quite intriguing.  I have never planned a trip that could be supported by just one guidebook and then there’s the issue of my tastes (particularly in restaurants) not anywhere near those of most travel guide writers. Technorati Founder Dave Sifry Officially Launches OffBeatGuides.com: DIY Guidebooks On the Go The site allows you to enter your name, travel plans, and hotel. The system then pulls information from various sites including data from Accuweather and notes and articles by professional travel writers along with Creative…

Anybody a "Black Friday" holiday shopper like me? I love to hit the stores the day after Thanksgiving for all the great sales. If you'd like to know what will be on sale, check out the Black Friday web site where they have all the sale items listed by store. :-) It's never too soon to plan your shopping strategy!

Ta-Da! I finally got that book for my daughter finished at 3:40pm yesterday (Monday). I worked on it 2 solid days and part of a third day. If I'd known it was going to take so much time I don't think I would have done it, at least not right now. But it's done now and I got a confirmation email indicating it has been printed and will be shipped to me soon :-) Here's the cover... If I'd been using

Welcome to the November 18, 2008 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. The topic for this edition is: Alzheimer's Disease. November is Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month and this edition is dedicated to our friends and family members who have suffered or are suffering from this mentally debilitating disease and the care givers whose task it is to do for them what they cannot do for themselves.

We're getting our first accumulating snowfall this afternoon. I've got a brief (20 second) video of it for you shot with my point and shoot camera. The view is through the bay window in my dining room. My little Vladi cat is in it too. (I obviously need an image stabilized camera for shooting video, sorry!) Anyway, this is for all my warm weather blogging buddies, Randy, Denise, Terry, Lori, Tex,

I thought you might be wondering how my Christmas projects were coming along. Here's one from the set of ornaments I made for my mother in law on Monday. The most time consuming part of this project was trying to find good, straight-on photos of all the grandchildren. I ordered the ornaments from CostCo and I've already received a confirmation email indicating the set has been completed and

My apologies for being slow with blogging this month.The time has come," the Walrus said,"To talk of many things:Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--Of cabbages--and kings--And why the sea is boiling hot--And whether pigs have wings.From : "The Walrus and the Carpenter," Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, by Lewis Carroll, 1872. Obviously, there have been far too many things for me to deal with lately, and blogging (along with cabbages) has fallen by the wayside.But, I can't let this next weekend (11/22 & 11/23) go by without promoting the annual Yulefest at the…

As my mother grew up on her grandparents' farm in rural Minnesota, she looked forward to the picnics held, typically twice each summer at Clearwater Lake (in Clearwater County). Grandpa Ole Johnson owned a cedar strip boat and kept it at the lake in order to go fishing.Picnic at Clearwater Lake, Minnesota, ca. 1923. L to r: Elmer Rinde's sister-in-law; Mabel Johnson (2nd from left); Malla Johnson (in background, seated on steps wearing a dark sweater and light skirt); Mrs. Rinde; Cora Johnson (with coffee cup); Mabel Rinde; Thea Johnson (seated at right), and (Marie Rinde?-standing at right).

For those of you who have been checking up on the latest in Norway via "Aftenposten"--the Norwegian online news, be forewarned that their nine-year old English news service will shut down any day now. Worldwide financial woes are having many unexpected impacts, it seems.Read more at "Aftenposten to shut down English news service," but don't delay, because any day now it will be in Norwegian only!Oh well, at least we can continue to look at the pretty pictures...

...It sounds a little more promising than "Death by Chocolate," in any case.In the following video, an antique dealer tells how "chocolate molds capture history." It's just at the time when our sweet-tooths are kicking in for the holiday season. What's in your grandma's trunk; could there be a chocolate mold that tells a story?http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1655717405

Gads, Becky at Kinexxions tagged me on this about a week ago, and John of TransylvanianDutch, a couple of days later, not to mention Linda of From Axer to Ziegler shortly after that! And, I've just now noticed, thanks to Randy's "Keeping Up With the Taggers - Part 3" post on Genea-Musings. I'm soooo behind!10 years ago I...--completed a history degree--applied to grad school--got my car totaled in a rear-ender (not my fault!)--began planning my 1999 "trip of a lifetime" to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Prague--was busily earning my "mountain woman" status learning how to navigate all…

If you use a computer in your genealogy research, then you likely have a large collection of digital files. Digital photos, downloaded census records or wills, scanned documents, emails... If...

Public interest in genetic ancestry analysis as a means of supplementing traditional genealogical research methods has grown dramatically in recent years. The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) estimates that...

Seven new indexing projects have been released to volunteer indexers at FamilySearch Indexing during the past two weeks including the Argentina 1869 census (Buenos Aires and Cordoba y San Luis),...

Every veteran looks at war differently, offering a unique perspective and memories of these important periods in world history. So for each one of you who has a veteran somewhere...

Somewhere in your house is a box or drawer full of videotapes -- aging home movies full of birthdays, dance recitals, holiday gatherings, a child's first steps and other special...

Genealogy Today has reached an agreement to purchase Genealogy-Links.co.uk, an innovative site focusing on central England research developed in January 2001.

A Court TV series hosted by NBC News anchor John Seigenthaler. It profiles cases that have caught the public's imagination.

Genealogy Today has launched a new program which enables its members to earn points that could be exchanged for products from its marketplace.

CBS is offering up a new reality series this fall that allows participants to step back to crucial crossroads in their lives.

Genealogy Today announced the availability of a new search portal designed to simplify the task of searching free online information resources.

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…

I love those glossy photographs that Life Magazine is famous for. Now the magazine has placed 10 million photographs on Google's servers. The photographs range from Margaret Bourke-White's harrowing depictions of the just-liberated concentration camps to Dorothea Lange's haunting photo of a migrant mother to pictures of men walking on the Moon. One picture that I especially like is that of a parade on Pennsylvania Avenue in 1865.On many of the photos, you need to click on the link labeled "View Full Size" in order to see the high resolution version. You can start exploring here:…

The following announcement was written by the   Association of Professional Genealogists:WESTMINSTER, Colo., November 21 – The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), the world’s leading professional organization of family history and related professionals, announced the results of its 2008 election. Ten board members were elected to two-year terms for 2009-2010. Two nominating committee members were elected to one-year terms.Region 1: West: Trish Hackett Nicola, CG (Washington) is currently a Region 1 director on the APG Board and chapter representative for the Puget…

Broadmoor Hospital at Crowthorne in Berkshire, England has housed thousands of mental patients, including a Jack the Ripper suspect, the artist Richard Dadd, a would-be assassin of Queen Victoria, one of the contributors to the first Oxford English Dictionary, and thousands of every-day citizens. Now the hospital has opened its Victorian archives to the public for the first time, having spent the last two years listing and repairing the hospital's records with a £200,000 grant from the Wellcome Trust.Previously known as the Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane, the hospital was built…

Two companies in the genealogy world have now partnered to expand their offerings: MyHeritage and Family Tree DNA. In addition, the two companies are offering a discounted price for readers of this newsletter. If you go to http://www.familytreedna.com/cj.aspx?ftdna_ref=392, you can receive a discount from  MyHeritage that will save you up to $60, depending upon the package selected. Here is the announcement:Tel Aviv, Israel and Houston, Texas – November 20, 2008 – MyHeritage, one of the world’s most popular family Web sites, today announced a partnership with FamilyTreeDNA, the…

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My Family’s Letters, Preserved with Digital PhotographyAPPLEAPPLE'S TREEI have had an interest in genealogy since I was in my teens but really had no idea how to go about discovering more than what had already been recorded by other family members. In 1999 we connected to the Internet and I became obsessed. I really had no idea how to use search engines effectively but I started searching for Hannah Carlisle, who I knew to have been a nurse during the Civil War. I had lots of patience back then and hunted though page after page of results until I found a link to the Carlisle Family at…

KIM O'NEILL SCREENKim Screen, GOOD STOCK and the 26 September Friday From The Collectors, is featured in the current issue of Real Simple Magazine. Kim can be found in the article "Preserving family history: inspiring ideas from real women," p. 196.Kim discusses the article in her post - real simple. Her inspiring idea is a tribute to her grandparents. If you'd like to read the article there's a link in Kim's post could my grama be any cuter? And, no Kim, she couldn't.While at GOOD STOCK check out Kim's article my obama mama where she shows early photographs of her mother and the new first…

APPLEAPPLE'S TREEI am a fan of Apple and her Tree. Apple is one of the GeneaBloggers that has been here from the beginning, the very beginning. She adds pure joy to our community. I visit just to see what new slideshow she's created.She is a wife, mother of three and much too young to be the grandmother of six. Raised near Syracuse, NY, she now lives well north of that city in “Snowville”. Ten years ago Apple started on a quest to see how many names she could collect and add to her gedcom file.Four years ago she realized that the names were meaningless without the stories behind them.And…

Shades apologizes for the delay in posting regularly scheduled articles to this publication. We have been experiencing technical difficulties posting to Blogger.Shades is working to correct this problem and update postings.Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

CAPTURED MOMENTS BY JASIA A Monthly - Weekend With Shades - ColumnCreating a great scrapbook page is like so many other things in life... you get out of it what you put into it. If you take your time, think before you start, and put some planning into it, you're almost certain to come up with a better page than one haphazardly thrown together in a few minutes. However, over thinking the project may seriously curtail your creativity. You should leave some things to be decided on the fly.

I am trying unsuccesfully to find info on the grandfather of Joseph Henry Robert COOPER, b. 1892, d. 1958.

Some people knit. Some people bowl. Linda K. Lewis hangs out with the dead. Lewis has spent five years exploring and documenting all of Johnson County's cemeteries, from Antioch Pioneer Cemetery in Merriam -- ...

I am looking for any information regarding the Cordier Family. Grandafather Was Antoinie Louis Cordier married to Susanna De Wit.Living in the 1920-1930s in Brooklyn Cape Town South Africa.

SEARCHING FOR BIOLOGICAL FAMILY OF A CHILD BORN ON 4/7/1964. HE WAS BORN AT AN UNKNOWN HOSPITAL IN LA PUENTE CALIFORNIA.

I am researching the descendants of William Buckley and Ellen Toomey, both born abt 1811, who came to St.

An actor in Britain auditioned for and won the role of a relative.When actor Tom Goodman-Hill auditioned for Channel 4’s lavish new Civil War drama The Devil’s Whore, he kept one vital fact from the producers: he is a direct descendant of the historical figure he was hoping to portray.Luckily he landed the role of firebrand activist ‘Freeborn’ John Lilburne, and will now be able to tell his ancestor’s story to millions of viewers.‘I would have felt silly if I hadn’t got the job,’ says the 40-year-old. [Link]

Estelle Reiner—wife of Carl, mother of Rob, and the real star of When Harry Met Sally—died this week.On what date did her parents marry?

Jason Kottke writes that "comparing my distorted recall of childhood favorites to the oldies of the time jogs my memory in unpleasant ways."For example:Listening to Michael Jackson's Thriller today is equivalent to listening to Elvis Presley's first album (1956) at the time of Thriller's release in 1982.When I was a kid, my mother's record collection (Paul Anka, Bobby Vinton, Bobby Vee) seemed horribly dated, but it was no less contemporary than, say, Nirvana is today. The effect is exaggerated in my case, because my musical tastes have always been a little out-of-date. I've been introducing…

A 250-year-old murder case is under review in Scotland.The murdered man was Colin Campbell of Glenure, the Red Fox, a government agent who was on his way to evict local tenants, Stewarts of Appin, and replace them with his own relatives. The murder was central to the plot for one of Scotland's most celebrated novels, Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped.Despite a lack of evidence and strong alibi, James of the Glens was convicted of the crime. Now someone has come forward to divulge a long-held family secret, clearing James of the charges.Anda Penman, 89, a descendant of the Stewarts of Appin,…

The funeral of Maggie Ward, grandmother of 172, drew a crowd.Although they have never all been together in one place before, every single one made sure they were at the ceremony to give the 87-year-old a good send-off.In life, staunch Irish Catholic Mrs Ward and her husband Charles created one of Britain's largest families with 15 children of their own.All 12 surviving children - Joan, Patrick, Martin, Margaret, Mary, Catherine, Charlie, Bernard, Bridget, Helen, Anne and Lawrence - were at her funeral yesterday.The vast clan also includes 36 great grandchildren and 18 great-great…

I just found one more thing to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season! Ancestry has posted 1,100 U.S. city directories to its U.S. Deluxe Collection. This addition, with an estimated 50 million names, covers some large cities and I was thrilled to see some for New York City and Brooklyn. (I know what I’ll be doing tonight!) There are directories for quite a few large cities, as well as some smaller ones, with coverage typically from the 1880s through around 1900, which neatly bridges that gap left by the missing 1890 Census. They are in fact part of the 1890 Census Substitute…

“Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” ~ John Barrymore

Posted This Week U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1940 - Updated  U.S. Army Indian Campaign Service Records Index, 1815-1858  U.S. Index to General Correspondence of the Record and Pension Office, 1889-1904 (browseable)  View a list of all new and updated databases  Learn more about what’s new at Ancestry.com  Search the Ancestry.com Card Catalog  

The holiday season and family get-togethers provide a great opportunity for family historians to glean information from relatives that can further your research. Whether you are planning on conducting formal interviews or just a little discreet prying, a little pre-planning can go a long way. Take some time to review what you know and what information you need to know. Then come up with a list of questions, the answers to which may give you some guidance. Check out the list of interview questions in the Ancestry Library for some ideas.

This year our daughter began taking pre-Algebra in school and she didn’t really get off to a smooth start. Accustomed to figuring out problems in her head or on a separate piece of scrap paper, she turned in her first homework assignment only to get it back with points taken off because she didn’t show her work. She was crushed. I tried to explain the rationale behind the grade and the importance of showing her work. It was a tough lesson for her but something that she’ll need for years to come. And if she chooses to follow her mother’s footsteps (Hint!), showing her thought…

The California Genealogical Society offers a FREE "Genealogy for Beginners" class on the first Saturday of every month, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the society's library at 2201 Broadway, Suite LL2, Oakland, California, in the historic Breuner Building."Genealogy for Beginners" is part of the "First Saturdays Free" policy that allows open access to the library and resources to non-members and the general public on the first Saturday of every month. The library is a benefit of membership and is available to non-members for a $5.00 day fee during the rest of the month.Vinnie Schwarz,…

CGS member Jeremy Frankel sent this announcement: The San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society will close its 2008 lecture series with two presentations by Steve Morse - DNA and Hodgepodge. We extend a welcome to all genealogists to attend our lectures, which are always free and open to the public. When: Sunday, November 16th, 2008 Where: Jewish Community High School, 1835 Ellis Street Location: Auditorium on 2nd floor Doors open at 12:30, meeting begins at 1:00 pm Note: there is FREE secure parking in the garage on site Note: lectures are free, as are the cookies and coffee! After…

California Genealogical Society and LibraryBeginning Genealogy Series, Class FourCensus Records - Dick ReesSaturday, November 1, 2008Photographs courtesy of Jane Knowles Lindsey.

Last Saturday, November 8, 2008, the California Genealogical Society transformed the usual membership meeting into a special Thanksgiving celebration to honor member volunteers. The event was a dual wine reception and book sale and filled both rooms of the society. CGS Events Coordinator Carolyn Steinberg and her committee put together a sumptuous buffet of hors d'oeuvres. About fifty volunteer members were on hand to share in the festivities.Barbara Hill, Arlene Miles and Laura Spurrier handled every aspect of the successful book sale. Not shown is Ted Miles who did most of the heavy…

November 14-15, 2009Friday and Saturday9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.Marriott Courtyard Oakland EmeryvilleCGS member Lisa B. Lee sent word about the upcoming, inaugural session of the Got Genealogy Academy:This two-day, hands-on class promises to help students master the world of online genealogy, to help make doing research online second nature, and to help them find information about their ancestors they'd never found before. During the class, each student will be research his or her OWN FAMILY FILE.The Got Genealogy Academy is the" brainchild" of Lisa, a professional genealogist and self-described…

Today, I got into my cedar chest to pull out the hand-made quilts we have from my husband’s grandmother. There were five all together. I’ve already given my children one each for use in their homes now that they are grown and gone. Three are now in the guest rooms waiting for loved ones. These [...]

Tel Aviv, Israel and Houston, Texas – November 20, 2008 – MyHeritage, one of the world’s most popular family Web sites, today announced a partnership with FamilyTreeDNA, the company that pioneered DNA testing for genealogic research. In addition to MyHeritage’s innovative Smart Matching and Research technologies, members can now also use information contained in their [...]

Volunteers Discover Fun Facts Transcribing Historic Canadian Censuses — Completed Indexes Will Be Free Online Ontario, Canada—FamilySearch International announced its plans to make the indexes to available Canadian censuses accessible online for free with the help of online volunteer indexers and an agreement with Ancestry.ca. The first censuses completed will be those from 1861, 1871, [...]

Several news sources (see below) are reporting this morning a family dating back 4,600 years, found by archaeologists in Germany, were killed in a struggle. DNA shows that the family, huddled together, are a mother, father and two children, with some aunts and cousins nearby. The BBC story says in part, The son and daughter were buried [...]

Social media takes on the family network with family history / genealogy-based social network, www.Genoom.com. Genoom recently added Chinese language support - the network is now fully accessible in 17 different languages, letting users connect with, and stay in touch with, family across the globe.Barcelona, Spain (PRWEB) November 17, 2008 — Family networking site, www.Genoom.com, [...]

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Four new categories on Cyndi's List:Free Stuffhttp://www.cyndislist.com/freestuff.htmThe Mayflower, Pilgrims & The Plymouth Colonyhttp://www.cyndislist.com/mayflower.htmU.S. - Presidentshttp://www.cyndislist.com/us-presidents.htmU.S. - Puerto Ricohttp://www.cyndislist.com/puertorico.htm

Well, the Christmas decorations are almost all put away. It is time to tackle the piles of paperwork in my office and work on some filing so that I can start on the taxes. It is January, so I have started my list of all the things I'm going to do differently this year than last. I'm sure you all do the same. It is a new year, so we have a clean slate to develop some new habits, right? Following are some new habits, new routines, and new tasks I would like to challenge you with for this new year:Set up a daily (or at least weekly) backup routine on your computer. You can use backup software to…

When you use Google you are searching an index of web pages found on the Internet. Keep in mind who publishes those web pages: fellow genealogists, cousins . . .human beings. Are human beings consistent with spelling? Nope. Do human beings make mistakes? You bet. Does every human being use his or her spell-checker? I wish.Variant Spellings, Misspellings, and Typos:When searching on names we have learned (or are learning) to look for all variant spellings of given names, surnames, and place names. For example, when looking for Anderson you should also look for Andersen, Andersson, Anderssen,…

At what point did it become acceptable to pass off live people-finding search services as "genealogy" and "family tree" resources? I'm thinking it is mostly an Internet phenomenon. I'm talking about web sites on which you look for living people through searches in databases with things like phone books, reverse phone directories, address directories, directories of names of living people, criminal background checks, court records, utility records, property records, etc.Yes, genealogists and family historians with any level of experience or expertise enjoy meeting cousins and finding long-lost…

I hate November.  I always have.  The days are short and overcast. Even the thought of the annual Thanksgiving feast is not enough to cheer me. As a child, I can’t tell you the number of times my family sat feasting on the luscious bird with all of its trimmings, while I lay moaning in my bed, bedroom door closed, completely nauseated by the smells that managed to filter their way into my sickroom.  Having the flu seemed, at times, like an annual November ritual.  Something you could count on in the same way you could count on my mom grinding up the cranberries the…

I wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone at the Sandusky County Kin Hunters who let me ramble on today about one of my favorite subjects, my Pomeranian roots.  You each made it a thoroughly enjoyable experience for me.  A special thanks to Dave Golden for inviting me to speak.  Here are the links that I promised I would post.  Enjoy! I. EAST OF THE ODER/NEISSE LINEA. Eastern Europe1. http://www.kartenmeister.com/preview/databaseUwe.aspKartenmeister“Database of locations are EAST of the Oder and Neisse rivers and are based on the borders of the eastern…

This Sunday, November 9, the Sandusky County Kin Hunters will be holding their monthly meeting at 2:00 PM at the Sandusky Township Hall on Rt 19 North.  I will be there chatting about the topic “Researching My Pomeranian Roots.”   The meeting is free and open to public with ample parking available.  If you have any questions please contact Dave at 419-502-7620.  Hope to see you there!

I just read a piece in the New York Times which said that the election with the largest voter turnout happened 100 years ago, on November 3, 1908 when 66% of the registered voters showed up at the polls and elected Ohioan, William Howard Taft, the Republican candidate, as President.   Of course, women could not vote in that election.  Today will be the 23rd time that women of the United States will have voted in a Presidential Election. November 2, 1920 was the first election in which women could exercise their right to vote.  This was a mere 72 years after the birth of the…

Karma is a ... well, you know.  I made a funny ha, ha about not wanting to drive to Michigan this week, and I may have said something along the lines that Michigan drivers were maniacs.  I should have known that saying something like that, even in jest, would come back to bite me. Predictably, it did.    No, I didn’t get into any accident, at least not an automobile accident.  But owing to the fact that I did not inherit either parent’s physical prowess, I managed to get into another kind of accident.   Yesterday, klutzy me ended up kissing…

The other day, Roger Bell, President of Footnote told me about one of his friends who died at age eleven. Tonight I remembered his story and thought about my own friend, David Burgess, who was killed along with his mother in an auto accident when he and I were five. My memories of his last two hours of life haven't dimmed much in the intervening years. His hand waving out of the car window as they drove away... I can still see his hand waving... He would be dead in just a few more minutes. I found the old newspaper clippings that I'd cut from the Salt Lake Tribune the day after the accident…

I was out on the front lawn playing with my dog when I heard someone whistling. Looking up, I saw my great uncle Si Bennett walking down the road toward our house with a shovel over his shoulder. He wore his old sweat stained Stetson hat, bib overalls and work boots. I don't think he stood much over five foot five or six inches tall. Dark hair, hands like knurled oak brush roots and a face with canyons on it in place of wrinkles finished the picture. One of the old-time standards could be heard coming from his puckered lips as I watched his eyes latch on to the six year old boy ahead. Nodding…

Not that long ago, or so it seems, I built a computer with 8k of RAM memory.  Coupled with a little cassette player, I had all the data storage in the world.  I wrote my own little genealogy program in basic and my research life was great. Skip forward 'a while'.  After an all night session of scanning photos and documents, I named an image and hit save only to receive an out of space error.   What?  Out of space?  How could a 750 gig drive that was less than a year old be out of space?  Looking at its properties, it really was full.  All that was…

"How'd you do that?"  I probably hear that question ten times a week and am a little surprised that folks don't already use the same tools themselves.  You may not be using these tools in your own ancestral research, documentation and presentations but you should give them a try.  I think you'll like them. Irfanview.  Other than Legacy, I use this tool more than any other.  Crop, resize, resample, tweak, massage and save your images in 22 formats with Irfanview.  Get it.  Get the plugin's too.  It's fast to load, easy to use and its free.

Since you are interested in family history, you need to be sure to keep your own living history on a regular, hopefully daily, basis. The sad news we see today of bank failures, stock market plunges and countries falling into bankruptcy bring back memories of a very bad time in the world in the late 1920's - early 1930's. The Great Depression destroyed many fortunes and seriously impacted the lives of millions of people worldwide. My siblings were alive at that time, but but being considerably younger I only know about its impact through family stories. Or so I thought. Recently, I reviewed…

This fall, I have had a few articles published which you might find interesting to read - Everton's Genealogical Helper (Nov/Dec) - This article, "Canada Remembers the Arrival of American Loyalists in 1783", celebrates their 225th anniversary, which was commemorated throughout Canada this year.Internet Genealogy - The Dec/Jan edition will feature an interesting article entitled, "Chinese-Canadian Records", written after I met the librarian of the Vancouver Public Library, Janet Tomkins, at the International Federation of Librarian Association (IFLA) Conference held this August at the Library…

Canada's Parliament opened today, and in the Honour Guard was my husband (he has gone on lots of parades this year) as part of the Air Force Guard, amidst the Army Guard, the Naval Flag Party, the Canadian Forces Band, the Artillery (as it performed a 21 gun salute) and a small but brave and hearty contingent of civilian onlookers.(He found it a "bit chilly"—there was snow on our lawn this morning with a temperature of -10 Celsius or so—as they stood at attention waiting for Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, to inspect them. But other than…

Another newsletter has arrived - this time by email - and it is the Shelburne County Archives & Genealogical Society Newsletter in Nova Scotia .Shelburne County is my "home" genealogical and archives society, and it produces a newsletter three times a year, and a couple of years ago they starting producing the newsletter electronically.In this edition "From the Doan(e) Family" recounts the grand time that was held at the reunion in Barrie, Ont this summer.They are busy with DNA testing to find out what part of the British Isles that progenitor John Doan(e) came from (not much luck there as…

As a part of the Irish Symposium which took place at the LAC Monday and Tuesday at the beginning of this month, the LAC has put 84 images of the Irish-Canadian connection on www.flickr.com/photos/28853433@N02."The objective of the project is to explore new ways to improve access to Canada's documentary heritage," said Ian E. Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada. "Library and Archives Canada is excited about the opportunities that social media sharing communities provide for Canadians to discuss and contextualize an important selection of our collective hist