Digging Up the Past Together

The following announcement was written by the National Park Service: NEW YORK, New York, July 28, 2010 - The National Park Service has awarded more than $29 million in contracts to repair the seawall on Ellis Island in New York Harbor, remove contaminants from one of the island's historic buildings and upgrade the communications infrastructure. Opened on January 1, 1892, Ellis Island became the nation's premier federal immigration station, processing more than 12 million immigrant steamship passengers before it was closed in 1954. Today, over 100 million Americans, one third of the population, can trace their ancestry to the immigrants... Dick Eastman

MacFamilyTree 6 has arrived. The latest version of the Macintosh genealogy program has been in public beta test for several weeks. (See my earlier article at http://tinyurl.com/2awyyb3.) Now the beta period has ended and the program is declared ready. MacFamilyTree's new version 6 is claimed to be the most significant update in program's 12 year-long product history. Notable new features include: a brand-new user interface more and completely rewritten charts more reports integration of "New FamilySearch" for online research (currently in closed beta, available for all users by the end of 2010) To Do management web research greatly improved performance... Dick Eastman

GedView is an iPhone/iPod/iPad viewer and recording tool for your genealogy database when you are out and about researching local records, or visiting locations such as graveyards looking for information. GedView acts as a way to quickly check up on family relationships, dates/locations of events, sources of information, and view your notes, or record newly found information while you are out researching. It is compatible with all iPhone/iPod/iPad devices running iOS 3.0 or above. Now author David A Knight has released a new version: 2.14.2 . You can read my earlier review of GedView at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/07/gedview-for-the-iphone.html. GedView works with any... Dick Eastman

Ancestry.com Inc. (ACOM) is scheduled to announce earnings after the market closes on Thursday, July 29th. The consensus amongst most analysts is that ACOM is going to announce a profit of about 15 cents per share. ACOM has gained 37 cents (2.04 percent) during the past week and is currently trading above its 20-day, 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Dick Eastman

The following was written by the Michigan Genealogical Council: Dear Genealogists, There has been some confusion and some misinterpretation about the MCIR Board report released by Governor Granholm. With so much uncertainty surrounding the collections and the Library of Michigan this past year, rumors and misinterpretations increase exponentially each time they are repeated. The MCIR Board was appointed to serve in an advisory capacity to the Governor. We are pleased with their conclusions and recommendations regarding the genealogical collections at the Library of Michigan (LM); however, the recommendations are just that; advisory recommendations. The Governor will decide if she wishes... Dick Eastman

The 1802 Militia Survey is more than just a military record - it's a list of every man in the Burgh of Perth aged 18 to 45 in the area who was suitable for service, 40 years before the first official census. Each return includes the address, the householder's name and occupation, and a list of the eligible inhabitants. It serves as a great census substitute. In 1802, a form was sent out to householders within the Burgh of Perth requiring them to list the name of every man in their house aged 18 to 45, who was liable for... Dick Eastman

The following announcement was written by Art.com Inc.: Seasoned Marketing Executive Andrew Wait Joins as Chief Marketing Officer for World's Leading Online Specialty Wall Art Retailer SAN FRANCISCO, July 27 -- Art.com Inc., the world's leading online specialty provider of wall art products and services, today announced the hiring of Andrew Wait as chief marketing officer. Wait brings more than twenty years of marketing, merchandising, and product development experience to this position. He will oversee Art.com Inc.'s overall marketing operations and strategy, including online marketing, international marketing, user experience and product management, branding and business development. "We are very pleased... Dick Eastman

The following was written by the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree: 42nd Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree Friday through Sunday, June 10 through 12, 2011 Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel Burbank, California The Southern California Genealogical Society announces a call for lecture proposals for the 42nd Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, to be held at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel, Burbank, California, Friday through Sunday, June 10 through 12, 2011. With over 1700 participants, volunteers, speakers and exhibitors in 2010, Jamboree is the second largest genealogical conference in the United States. Reflecting California's history of drawing people to... Dick Eastman

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman. Hundreds of articles about immigration to the United States have been published over the years in various magazines, books, and online sites. Indeed, a few dozen articles about immigration have been published in this newsletter alone. To my knowledge, the numbers and facts mentioned in all of those articles have been quite accurate. I would suggest, however, the more interesting facts and statistics are the ones that were never mentioned in most articles. (Click on any photo to see a larger image.) Much has been written... Dick Eastman

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch: FamilySearch’s microfilm conversion initiative is beginning to sail. Over 12 million digital images from thousands of microfilm, representing 8 countries, were published online for free viewing this month. FamilySearch’s online image viewer makes it easy for online patrons to view the newest digital images from Argentina, Costa Rica, France, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, and Spain. This week the complete U.S. 1910 Federal Census name indexes for Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Missouri were also published online at FamilySearch’s Record Search pilot (FamilySearch.org, click Search Records, and then click Record... Dick Eastman

I believe that online genealogy programs are the wave of the future. Accessing your genealogy database "in the cloud" makes a lot of sense, especially in research collaborative efforts with your cousins or perhaps as an effort by a family society. Groups of genealogists can work together on projects, even simultaneously, even if some use Windows, others use Macintosh, and perhaps some even use Linux. A new program is now in late beta test and is expected to launch soon as a version 1.0. Best of all, this is FREE software, issued under the GNU General Public License. Please take... Dick Eastman

Someone asked this question today so I thought I would reply here where everyone could read the answers. The question is: "I want to forward an article from this newsletter to a friend of mine by email. How do I do that?" In fact, there are several possible answers, depending upon where you read the newsletter. If you are reading an article online at this newsletter's web site at http://www.eogn.com: At the end of every article, you will notice a small green icon followed by the words "ShareThis." Click on the icon or on the words "ShareThis." You will be... Dick Eastman

The following was written by the Godfrey Library: Godfrey Library continues to make progress on its Connecticut cemetery project. The library now has 135 cemeteries online from Hartford, Middlesex, New Haven and New London Counties with another 10 being processed. Cemetery size varies from two burials to 8,625 burials. In total there are 104,731 burials and 75,925 photographs. Some of these records appear elsewhere but do not include photos. The library is also adding cemeteries that appear nowhere else and that are not part of the Hale Collection. Here is a single example. John Mason was the hero (or villain)... Dick Eastman

Sometimes genealogical research in Oklahoma can be a “tough row to hoe,” but there are some treasures that can aid research that might not be readily known to a new researcher or to an outsider attempting to do Oklahoma research. Writing in the Muskogee Phoenix, Nancy Calhoun lists several valuable resources to be found at the Muskogee Public Library, including: Confederate pensions Interviews Dawes Roll Homestead records 1890 O.T. Census You can read about these genealogical resources at http://muskogeephoenix.com/features/x972389135/Library-holds-Oklahoma-genealogy-treasures Dick Eastman

To all Plus Edition subscribers: The weekly Plus Edition newsletter was sent to your e-mail address a short time ago. It should have arrived by now. If you have not yet seen it in your in-box, check your spam folder. If it is not there, please contact your e-mail provider to see why it was blocked. This week's entire Plus Edition newsletter is also available at: http://www.eogn.com/wp/thisweek.htm. You can always read it there, regardless of what your email provider does to your in-box. Here are the articles in this week's Plus Edition newsletter: - (+) For Once and For All,... Dick Eastman

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman. This is one urban legend that won't die. Genealogists, historians, and many other well-meaning folks will tell each other, "Since microfilm longevity is stated as 200 years and electronic media will become obsolete within a few short years, let's continue to preserve the microfilm masters for as long as possible as a fall-back option." Another comment I read recently claimed, “The problem with digital images is that the media on which they are written become obsolete every few years. Try to find a way to read... Dick Eastman

Many of us have heard of the Granite Mountain vault that is underneath 700 feet of granite outside of Salt Lake City but very few have ever seen the inside of the vault. FamilySearch has released videos that give all of us a view into the operations behind the vault door. I was especially impressed with the comments that not only are microfilms stored and duplicated in the Granite Mountain Records Vault, but efforts now underway will result in all the microfilms eventually being digitized. Future plans include making all images available to everyone, worldwide, in the convenience of their... Dick Eastman

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman. Comments posted to this newsletters' web site in recent weeks have highlighted a common problem: not all the information on the World Wide Web is available worldwide. For instance, web users in the United States are blocked from watching the BBC version of "Who Do You Think You Are?" The BBC wishes to restrict access to episodes of "Who Do You Think You Are?" to U.K. residents. The web server in the U.K. knows whether you are in the U.K. or not by looking at your... Dick Eastman

Volunteers are scrambling to dry out records from the early 20th century after water poured into the basement of the Milwaukee County (Wisconsin) Historical Society this morning. Steve Daily, curator of the research library, said some 50 to 60 boxes containing court records from the 1920s and 1930s got wet. He said about a dozen volunteers are carefully removing the wet documents and laying them out to dry. "We could sure use a few more fans," Daily said, since they only have three to help blow over the sodden records, which are mostly used for genealogical research. You can read... Dick Eastman

When I think back on all the crap I've learned in high school It's a wonder I can think at all Though my lack of education hasn't hurt me much I can read the writings on the walls Kodachrome, they give us those nice bright colors They give us the greens of summers Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah I got a Nikon camera, I love to take a photograph So mama don't take my Kodachrome awayPaul Simon's lyrics seem sadly prophetic. This week, Kodachrome went away. The last roll of Kodachrome film was developed... Dick Eastman