Digging Up the Past Together

The Mormon church has changed its genealogical database to better prevent the names of Jews killed in Nazi concentration camps from being submitted for posthumous baptism by proxy. In a joint statement issued earlier today, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors said a new computer system and policy changes related to the practice should resolve a years-long disagreement over the baptisms. Under new church policies, church members will be required to certify names submitted to the database for baptism. Further safeguards include monitoring those names for submissions that don't meet policy... Dick Eastman

The following announcement was written by Ann S Eldredge: In January 2010, a small band of genealogy seekers embarked on a project to make anyone who has roots in the Pittsburgh area jump for joy. 43 volunteers have been indexing marriages, deaths, and divorces from early Allegheny County newspapers and putting it all online at no cost. Over 52,000 death entries and over 11,000 marriages have been indexed and put online through August. The dates of the newspapers range from 1806-1987. Project co-ordinator Ann S Eldredge says the idea of an index came to her as she regularly keeps in... Dick Eastman

The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com: More than 1,700 first-hand audio recordings now available for free online PROVO, Utah, Sept. 1 -- Ancestry.com announced today it has launched a collection of more than 1,700 recorded oral histories from immigrants who arrived in the United States through Ellis Island. This is the first time this collection of poignant recordings has been available online. To celebrate the new addition, Ancestry.com is making its entire U.S. Immigration Collection free through Labor Day. "As immigrants created new lives in the U.S., the stories of their homelands and their remarkable journeys to America were... Dick Eastman

The Upcoming Events section of this newsletter is published as a newsletter article once per month, usually in the first week of the month. You can also view the latest list of events at any time by clicking on "Upcoming Events" in the Navigation menu near the upper right corner of the page at http://www.eogn.com. Each event is listed with the name, location and dates. Click on the name to see the details, including a link to the event's web page or to an e-mail address of someone who will provide still more information. The EOGN list of Upcoming Events... Dick Eastman

The following announcement was written by the Ontario Genealogical Society: The Board of the Ontario Genealogical Society is pleased to announce the appointment of Elizabeth Lapointe as editor of the Society’s journal Families. A graduate of Acadia University, Elizabeth is an author, journalist, and blogger. She has been editor of the OGS newsletter NewsLeaf since 2006 and is the founding editor of its electronic sister publication e-NewsLeaf. She is a Past President of the Ottawa Chapter of the Professional Writers Association of Canada, and a Director of the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors. She is the author... Dick Eastman

The following refers to an article published in this newsletter last week entitled, Hitler was Related to Jewish and Black Families. The article referred to a report by Brussels news magazine Knack that claimed DNA obtained from the Nazi leader’s relatives living in America led to the discovery. The report claimed that the Hitlers possessed Haplopgroup E1b1b (Y-DNA) which is rare in Germany and indeed western Europe. However, it is commonly found in the Berbers of Morocco, in Algeria, Libya and Tunisia as well as among Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews. The report offered conjecture that Adolf Hitler was related to... Dick Eastman

The following announcement was written by the National Genealogical Society: The National Genealogical Society (NGS) announces the appointment of Patricia Walls Stamm, CG, CGL, of St. Louis, Missouri, as Education Manager. In her new position, Stamm will oversee the development of online education courses and will be responsible for keeping the current education courses updated as related to content and technology. Stamm has an extensive background as an instructor at the St. Louis Community College, the St. Louis Genealogical Society, and the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research in Birmingham, Alabama. She has served as conference program coordinator and education... Dick Eastman

Fall Genealogy Series: Getting Starting in Genealogy

Date: Thursday, September 2
Times: 6:30 pm
Where: Lansing Public Library, 2750 Indiana Ave., Lansing, IL
Who: Grace Dumelle

More information: http://www.lansing.lib.il.us
Contact: Sandra Iosue, Adult Services Dept., (708) 474-2447, ext. 122
Online registration here.

This is the first of four presentations geared to beginners and intermediate genealogists. Copies of Grace's book, Finding Your Chicago Ancestors, will be available for purchase after each talk.

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Itching to explore your family history after you've seen those celebrity genealogy shows? Get off on the right foot by attending this presentation by award-winning author and researcher Grace Dumelle. She'll explain the top 10 concepts: working backwards, talking to relatives, looking in the census, using the three building blocks, the importance of citing sources, and more.

Subsequent presentation dates and topics are:

• September 16: Chicago Genealogy 101
• October 14: Tips xamp; Tricks for Cook County Vital Records
• October 28: Uncovering Your Past in Land Records

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman. I have written several times about the method of creating and preserving digital images. I have also written about scanning old photographs as well as scanning various printed or hand-written documents. Today I thought I would discuss the various file formats available and briefly describe the advantages and disadvantages of several of the more popular formats. Today's technology allows for a selection of image file formats, including JPG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, PSD, RAW, PNG, EPS, PDF, and others in a seemingly endless alphabet soup of abbreviations... Dick Eastman

The U.S. Census Bureau counts the number of Americans every ten years. The same government agency also asks a lot of questions of those people, such as how many bathrooms are in their house and whether or not the family owns a computer. The Census Bureau even counts how many people have the same first or last names. The twenty most common surnames in America in the 1990 census were: Smith Johnson Williams Jones Brown Davis Miller Wilson Moore Taylor Anderson Thomas Jackson White Harris Martin Thompson Garcia Martinez Robinson I wonder what it would be like researching the Aalderink... Dick Eastman

The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com: No. 1 Selling Family Tree Software Offers Simplicity and Depth for Recording Family Histories PROVO, Utah, August 31, 2010 – Ancestry.com today announced the release of Ancestry.com Family Tree Maker® 2011, an improved version of the world’s No. 1 selling family history software. For the last 20 years, Family Tree Maker has provided tools that make it easy to build family trees, record memories and organize family photos. Family Tree Maker also enables users to capture stories, and attach videos and audio clips in a way that will help them easily capture and... Dick Eastman

In observance of Labor Day, the Newberry's reading rooms will be closed this Saturday, September 4th. Reading rooms will re-open on Tuesday, September 7th, at 9:00 am. If you need further information, please contact the Genealogy reference desk at (312) 255-3512.

Grace Dumelle's blog article "A City of Early Chicagoans Beneath Our Feet" was awarded third place by the National Federation of Press Women in the "Writing for the Web - Web Content Written for Not-for-Profit or Education Organiazation Sites" category of their annual communications contest. The same article previously won first place in the Illinois Woman's Press Association Mate E. Palmer Communications Contest in the "Writing for the Web and Online Newsletters" category. Congratulations, Grace!

The third annual Angus and Dundee Roots Festival will provide practical help for everyone who wants to find out more about their family history in Angus and Dundee. A special party to mark the milestone will be held at Restenneth Priory on Monday, September 27. For the occasion, staff will be selecting 21 of their favorite items from the archives. This is expected to include books written by monks who were resident in Arbroath Abbey before the Reformation. The Angus and Dundee Roots Festival runs from September 23 to 27. For more information, visit www.tayroots.com Dick Eastman

The U.S. Census Bureau originally planned to use custom-built handheld computers and wireless data to take the 2010 census. See my 2006 article that described those plans at http://tinyurl.com/3xmasvo. After spending $600 million on the plan, the Census Bureau abandoned the idea and went back to paper forms. See http://tinyurl.com/3xdssex for details. Now the government of Brazil plans to conduct a census using handheld computers and wireless data but there will be two major differences: (1.) Brazil plans to use off-the-shelf consumer-grade cell phones to collect the information and (2.) Brazil also plans to spend a lot less money. Brazil... 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: - (+) A Better (Cheaper) Method of... Dick Eastman

Genealogy and geography are set to come together in a new Disney Channel series to premiere in November. “My Family Tree” will showcase kids from around the country engagingly reporting on their interesting ancestors and roots. A quote from Disney spokesperson Patti McTeague stated that the children featured in the series all “have self-esteem and a gift of storytelling.” Look for the series to air on the Disney Channel sometime in November. You can read more in the the Marblehead Patch at: http://marblehead.patch.com/articles/disney-channel-combines-hollywood-and-history Dick Eastman

The second and final day of the Salt Lake Family History Expo was held on Saturday, August 28. In short, it was a continuation of Day #1, as expected: many seminars and presentations were held and vendors presented their products and services in the exhibits hall. The weather was excellent and it looked to me like everyone had a good time. I did snap a lot of new pictures and am showing them below. Click on any image below to see a larger picture. Ideal weather conditions. You can see the towering thunderheads but we only received a few sprinkles.... Dick Eastman

I must say that I had a fun day today, hobnobbing with genealogists all day long. I was at the Family History Expo in Sandy, Utah, for the first day of a two-day event. I snapped a number of photographs which you can see here if you scroll down. Click on any image to see a larger picture. The Family History Expos are held in a number of cities, mostly in the western U.S., although this year the Expos are expanding as far eastward as Atlanta, Georgia. While this week's event is called the "Salt Lake Family History Expo," it... Dick Eastman

I have seen a lot of scanners in the past few years, but this one really caught my eye. Flip-Pal is a portable scanner designed to scan photographs. It fits easily into a briefcase or a ladies' medium-sized purse or into some overcoat pockets. The Flip-Pal is 10.25 inches long, 6.5 inches wide, and 1.25 inches thick. That's small! While it is possible to scan larger photos, it really excels at any black-and-white or color photograph of 6-inches by 4-inches or smaller. The Flip-Pal was being demonstrated at the Salt Lake Family History Expo today, and I must say that... Dick Eastman