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About.com Genealogy
Genealogist Megan Smolenyak is always curious, and that curiosity has led her to once again ask for help regarding a mystery surrounding Annie Moore, the first immigrant to arrive at Ellis Island. In an article in this week's Huffington Post, she outlines her case for this photo being one of...
President Obama Related to Massachusetts Senator-Elect Scott Brown
This morning's press release from the New England Historic Genealogical Society linking President Barack Obama with Scott Brown, the newly elected republican senator from Massachusetts, didn't really surprise me. If you go back far enough, it seems that almost everyone with deep New England roots can find a connection to...
This month two nifty new genealogy apps have made their way onto my iPhone, which I thought some of you might find interesting. The first is a great app for iPhone / iPod Touch users of Ancestry.com Family Trees. The free new Ancestry.com Tree to Go iPhone app offers up...
Preview the U.S. Version of Who Do You Think You Are?
I mentioned previously that during Ancestry.com Blogger Day I was privileged to see the preview of the U.S. version of Who Do You Think You Are? which is to air on NBC in March. Now, the preview is online for everyone. What do you think of the show? Look promising? Who...
You're Never Done Learning! Genealogy Education & Scholarship
It took me 30+ minutes this morning to make it all the way through registration for the Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research after over one hundred of us hit the site at the same time (server issues kept timing out pages as I would get partway through and I...
U.S. Version of "Who Do You Think You Are?" to Air in March
They say it's finally official (we'll see), but the air date for NBC's celebrity genealogy show "Who Do You Think You Are?" has been set for March. The new alternative series from Lisa Kudrow will premiere Friday, March 5 (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) and will run though Friday, April 23. p>NBC's "Who...
Granny's Genealogy
Treasure Chest Thursday – The Cat
The Mosaic Cat arrived here at Granny’s at the end of the summer. D3 took a European cruise, and toured several places, including Italy. Whenever I see a many-colored cat I think of my Mom, often repeated: The gingham dog and the calico cat Side by side on the table sat; T’was half...
Blog Presentation at My Society Meeting
I was happy to offer some assistance to some of the Oakland County Genealogical Society members who were interested in the wealth of material that can be found by reading genealogy blogs. The weather did not help our attendance, and it took many of our members much longer than...
Oakland County Genealogical Society Meeting Tuesday!
The Tuesday OCGS meeting is right around the corner! I was in awe of the talent and knowledge of the membership of the Society when I first joined over ten years ago, and that continues today. Among our membership are numerous volunteers at the Family History Center, several members...
The Estate of Susie Melissa (Burdick) Fenton Longstreet Susie Melissa (Burdick) Fenton Longstreet died intestate on 20 December 1931. Her second husband, Harmon H. Longstreet predeceased her on 28 June 1931. The inventory of her estate was limited to undivided ½ interest in three pieces of property in Wexford Co., MI....
Fenton Family Land Records, Wexford County, Michigan Liber 120 page 469
I am posting information gleaned from land records in the areas where our family’s ancestors resided. You can read more about this project in the overview. You may also check my deed record listing, which I will update frequently, but probably not every day. This group pertain to Papa’s...
Fenton Family Land Records, Wexford County, Michigan Liber 119 page 530
I am posting information gleaned from land records in the areas where our family’s ancestors resided. You can read more about this project in the overview. You may also check my deed record listing, which I will update frequently, but probably not every day. This group pertain to Papa’s Fenton...
The Genetic Genealogist
Personalized Genomics: A Very Personal Post
Both 23andMe and deCODEme (using my 23andMe data) have interpreted my SNP results to indicate that I have a greatly increased genetic risk for Type 2 Diabetes. This post interprets the information from both companies and applies some of the primary research that the companies relied upon to predict my...
Just took the @23andMe Longevity Survey - http://bit.ly/8DYAKC about 14 hours ago @tgoetz: http://bit.ly/4rkgsW - looking forward to get a fitbit; finally a scientific way to tell whether it really was a bad night’s sleep about 14 hours ago I would have guessed more - “Americans Consume 34GB of [...]...
Hacking Admixed 23andMe Ancestry Paintings
DAVIDE at the European Genetics and Anthropology Blog has an interesting post regarding 23andMe’s Ancestry Painting, at “Taking a closer look at your inter-continental ancestry results at 23andMe.” In the post, he describes how to “rummage through the Flash data behind the “Ancestry Painting” presentation” to learn more about the...
New Issue of the Journal of Genetic Genealogy
Whit Athey has announced publication of the Fall 2009 issue of the Journal of Genetic Genealogy. This is Whit’s last issue as Editor, and I’d like to extend my sincere appreciation to him and all the work he has put into JoGG over the past 5 years. Every issue requires...
A Review of Familybuilder DNA Testing
Familybuilder, launched in 2007, is a genealogy company that ranks among the top 10 online genealogy services in the world with over 17 million users and over 120 million family tree profiles. Late last year the company began offering a genetic genealogy product, as I wrote about here on the...
Q&A: Everyone Has Two Family Trees – A Genealogical Tree and a Genetic Tree
I recently received an interesting question from a reader (see this comment) about 23andMe’s Relative Finder, and thought it would be worth sharing the question and my answer with all my readers. The Question: I’m a man who recently took a 23andMe test, and I have a question about Relative Finder. Another...
In My Life
Copyright (c) 2010 Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski...
Sharing Memories: A Genealogy Journal Week #9 Birthday Parties
Lorine Massey at Olive Tree Genealogy has created a year-long Genealogy Journey in Genealogy Journal Writing. Having my grandmother's travel journals and a diary among my family papers and treasures, I can appreciate the different perspective someone will have years from now with a glimpse into my life in the early years...
Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Make A Calendar!
Live! From central Wisconsin! It's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (insert applause here).After last week's SNGF step back and learn about our fellow genealogists and family historians, Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings takes us back to research with tonight's challenge:1) Open your genealogy software or family tree program of choice and make...
Maengun Neebageesis - Wolf Moon
Only one thing could pull me away from the warmth of a fire and the promise of an evening spent with a dog curled up next to me, cozy and warm, and send me outside - bundled up against the bitter cold: the chance to photograph Maengun Neebageesis, Wolf Moon.The...
Wordless Wednesday: Elsie Laura Space
Elsie Laura Space, daughter of Allen Zephaniah Space and Nancy Ann Stone. Photograph taken in 1910 while attending the school for the deaf, Clarion county, PACopyright (c) 2010 Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski...
Tombstone Tuesday: William D. Facer
Today's edition of Tombstone Tuesday features my paternal great-great-grandfather, William D. Facer. Born in Port Huron, St Clair, MI, between 1827-1833, depending on what census record or document you access, William was the fourth known child of Lewis Facer Sr. and Susan B. Baker's nine children.Naming patterns in the Facer...
From Axer to Ziegler
Our house from across the street ~ want to buy it?? Jim trying to open Linda F’s gate ~ we finally went around to the garage where we had the garage door opener 1 PM in the afternoon ~ impress you?? Outdoor dining anyone? Not today. . . . . . . and...
Mother’s 90th Birthday Celebration, part two
With cards and supplies for Mother’s party shipped to California, it was time for us to follow them! We left Philly mid-morning on Sunday and arrived around 6PM in Ontario, California to a greeting via the pilot “welcoming Blaine’s father back home!” Yup, our son was on duty at the...
Mother’s 90th Birthday Celebration, part one
As many of you know, I tackled the challenge of planning a 90th Birthday Party for Mother, rather hesitantly. Mother lives in California; I live in Pennsylvania. How on earth could I possibly do this? I procrastinated, I hemmed and hawed around and I had no idea what I was...
Why I’ve Been a Fan of the Yankees
in 1955 the New York Yankees took a six week tour playing exhibition games in Hawaii, Guam and Japan. Any of my readers remember that? or ever heard of it? I have never forgotten it. I was 12 years old and lived on Guam. We looked forward to this game...
The word “Family” can be either all encompassing as in all your relatives that share the same surname and same set of ancestors, or it can mean the family unit which nurtured you, the people you shared a home with. I was born and raised overseas. My father was a Civil...
Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way . . .
The word “WILL,” as defined by Dictionary.com As a verb: to give or dispose of (property) by a will or testament, bequeath or devise. to influence by exerting power to wish, desire or like and as a noun: the act or process of using or asserting one’s choice; volition a legal declaration of a person’s wishes as...
WorldVitalRecords Blog
How to Contact Living Relatives
By Gena Philibert Ortega Researching the dead can be easy. Contacting the living can be a whole different ball game. When you find a new cousin, except for genealogist cousins, the most important thing to remember is that not everyone is thrilled about family history. In fact some people could care...
WVR Database in Review: The Ottawa City Directory 1909
The Ottawa City Directory 1909 A very complete and useful directory of Ottawa and Hull for 1909, including the (then) outlying districts of Ottawa: Billings Bridge, Eastview (Old Cummings Bridge, Janeville & Clarkstown), Mechanicsville and Rockliffe Park. The directory gives an alphabetical list of all business firms and private citizens; a...
WVR Database in Review: Passengers Arriving in New York from Ireland
Passengers Arriving in New York from Ireland 1846–1851 http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/indexinfo.aspx?ix=ireland_famine Historical Context The Center for Immigration Research (CIR) at the Balch Institute created this series to promote access to information about immigrants from Ireland to the United States during the era of the Irish Potato Famine, 1846-1851. It was extracted from ship passenger...
Business and Occupational Records
by Gena Philibert Ortega Employment and business records can provide rich detail about the everyday lives of our ancestors. Even if your ancestor was a “farmer,” details about what farming was like during your ancestor’s era can provide you with a better understanding of their life and lead you to other...
by Gena Philibert Ortega A lot of confusion exists around the subject of cousins. Everyone knows that a cousin (or also known as a first cousin) is the daughter or son of their parent’s siblings. But after that, the confusion begins for most people. When thinking of cousins just remember that...
How did your Ancestor Spell his Name?
By Gena Philibert Ortega Consistency in spelling is a more modern concern, and when searching for ancestors, it is not unusual to have an ancestor whose name is spelled a variety of ways by himself and by others. So how do you find someone whose name seems to change every time they...
Crowe's Nest by Elizabeth Powell Crowe
A government genealogy service lets family history leap off the page - latimes.com
A government genealogy service lets family history leap off the page - latimes.comYes, it’s little known. But it’s covered in my upcoming 9th Edition!!...
Indexing Update: 1910 US Census initiative begins; 8 international projects added As the 1920 U.S. Census project wraps up and the final states are published, FamilySearch has now opened up indexing for the 1910 U.S. Census! Patrons can freely search the indexes for the 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, and 1920...
Genealogy Challenge #1: Santa Rosa County Library System Genealogy Offerings
Santa Rosa County Library SystemAmerica’s GenealogyBank (Library Resource)Quickly find your ancestors in over four centuries of rare documents and records. Search thousands of historical newspapers, books, pamphlets and genealogies. Plus, selected material from the American State Papers and U.S. Serial Set, the complete Social Security Death Index and more than...
The Genealogy Gems Podcast iPhone / iTouch app! Stream the show, get exclusive new Bonus Content and more. Get your app now! It also has extra features such as .pdf files with background information. For only $2.99! ...
Tombstone Tuesday: Monument to Judge Toulmin dedicated today in Baldwin County
Monument to Judge Toulmin dedicated today in Baldwin County. He was also president of Transylvania University (where I attended as a Freshman) 1794-96. In 1804 he was appointed by President Thomas Jefferson as judge for a territory that included what is now Baldwin County, Alabama, where my daughter lives. ...
This New Year’s Eve, write down for your descendants what this decade meant to you. This decade had bad parts, but for me good ones, too! Two editions of the book. Both kids graduated college. I got to move to the Gulf Coast, which is something I’ve wanted all my...
Genealogy News Center
434 Funeral Cards Added (1893-2009)
This week we added 434 images, ranging from 1893 to 2009, from around the United States and Canada. The Funeral Cards Online index now has over 23,100 listings....
387 WWII Ration Book Images Added (1940's)
This week we added 387 images to the Registry of War Ration Books. The database is updated regularly and now contains over 9,800 listings....
Centuries-old Occupational Origins of Modern Surnames
Many of today's modern family names originated in occupations as far back as the Middle Ages. To look at most today, there doesn't seem to be any connection to what they were long ago....
Genealogy 2010 ... Where's the Crystal Ball
Predictions are fun to read, but nobody has a crystal ball. For genealogists there is need for more than a crystal ball. We need resources and time to do research....
469 WWII Ration Book Images Added (1940's)
This week we added 469 images to the Registry of War Ration Books. The database is updated regularly and now contains over 9,400 listings....
Footnote.com Honors WWII Veterans with the First-Ever Interactive USS Arizona Memorial
Footnote.com Opens Their WWII Collection Free To The Public During December. Featuring over 10 million records, documents and photos from the National Archives, this collection helps family members and historians better understand the people and events of WWII....
The Virtual Dime Museum
"With A Juggler You Will Visit Many Lands"
Here is one of the books that fortune tellers like Madame Prewster and Madame Morrow (see links below for more on them) used when New Yorkers ventured into the seedier parts of downtown to consult them in the mid-19th century. The mysterious Madam Le Marchand - or an unknown writer...
Lost and Found in Victorian Brooklyn
I like the little ads and classified in old newspapers very much. They are full of things that you cannot find anywhere else, about the odd little things in people's everyday lives long ago. I will post any extremely odd ones that I find (I'm saving one about a missing...
David Barnett and the Landseer Lion
This is the story of two matched sketches, drawn by one of England's greatest artists, and of two art-loving friends in late 19th century Brooklyn, New York. The friends were a man named Henry Beam and my 3rd great uncle*, an English-born lawyer named David Barnett. Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-73) was...
Some Victorian Drinking Fountains
Here is a little bit of Victorian trivia to start off the week It is really just a sampling of what I was able to find out. I have restrained myself from writing a whole essay, since you and I both have other things to do! In any case...I found this...
Franconi's Hippodrome: New York's Roman Coliseum
Did you know that in for a few years in the 1850s, you could go see a Roman circus and Roman chariot races right in the middle of New York? Welcome to Franconi's Hippodrome, which opened in May 1853 at Madison Square, at the intersection of 23rd Street, Broadway and...
Scouting Out the Brooklyn Bridge
This photograph amused me, because my father was a Boy Scout in Brooklyn in the 1940s, when this photo was taken. He's not in this picture, by the way. These Scouts are on the Brooklyn Bridge, with Milton Ferguson, the Director of the Brooklyn Public Library. I don't know why...
TransylvanianDutch
Third Annual iGene Awards - TransylvanianDutch Chapter
The Third Annual iGene Awards, The Best of The Best! It's Academy awards time... time for the TransylvanianDutch Academy of Genealogy and Family History, aka AGFH, to honor our best blog posts of 2009 in the following 5 categories:Best Picture - Best old family photo that appeared on our blog...
The 89th Carnival of Genealogy has been posted. 18 poets wrote odes to their family history.The topic for the next edition (#90!) of the COG will be: The Third Annual iGene Awards, The Best of The Best! It's Academy awards time... time for the Academy of Genealogy and Family...
Wordless Wednesday: Same Person?
The man on the right had no brothers. Here is an image of his only sonSo...the younger man on the left...click on image to enlargemove cursor over image for more details...
Let it gleam or let it glimmer...
One day, in the course of that winter, the sun had come out for a while in the afternoon, but it was the second of February, that ancient Candlmas-day whose treacherous sun, the precursor of six weeks of cold, inspired Matthew Laensberg with the two lines, which have deservedly become...
Tombstone Tuesday: Mandell Newmark (1923-1945)
Killed in Action World War IIMandell NewmarkTec 5, 163 Inf, 41st DivJan 31, 1923April 15, 1945My Great Uncle, Mandell Newmark, was born on Jan 31, 1923, the youngest son of Barney and Bertha (Cruvant) Newmark. He was named after his great grandfather, Mandell Mojsabovski. He was killed in...
Amanuensis Monday: Grammar School, and Child Labor
Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met...
Janet the researcher
Ontario Genealogical Society Conference May 2010
I received the information below about the upcoming Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) Conference. It is a reminder to me to register for the conference. I booked my room awhile back. I will be arriving on the Wednesday and taking part on Thursday in the Ontario Library Association (OLA) - OGS...
Saturday Night Fun with creating calendars
The above is a sample of a calendar created in Legacy. I use Brother's Keeper for my family datbase but it doesn't have a calendar creation program so I exported a gedcom to Legacy. I tried various variations and decided to do only birthdays of those who have died. Even with...
Wordless Wednesday - Salvation Army Home League
My grandmother - Lily (Dudley) Iles is the second from the left - 1938. © 2010 Janet Iles ...
52 weeks to better genealogy - Challenge #4 - Interlibrary Loan
The Interlibrary loan service at my local library is one I am quite familiar with as I have used it from both sides of the desk. Most of my requests are for microfilm but the process is quite similar for requesting a book. Before requesting a book, I make sure that...
Genea-Musings: Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Interests?
Genea-Musings: Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Interests? Tonight's Saturday Night challenge from Randy Seaver is for us to talk about our interests outside of genealogy and blogging. Sometimes, it seems that all my time and energy are focused on genealogy related activities - my own research, research for others, blogging,...
Madeline with her great grandmother Mary Iles
Madeline Litherland with Mary Iles (second wife of George Iles and Madeline's great-grandmother). Photo taken likely in the early thirties. © 2010 Janet Iles...
Genealogy Reviews Online
Diary of a Home Wine Maker Part II
A few days ago I wrote about my first attempt to make home-made wine. Yes, this series does apply to genealogy because home wine making was something my paternal ancestors did probably for centuries. Hey, my family is Italian, and......
Naturalization Documents from Ancestry.com
A few days ago I wrote a post about whether I should subscribe to Ancestry.com. My concern was a recent search of the site produced naturalization documents for my paternal grandfather, but since I did not have a subscription, I......
To Subscribe or Not To Subscribe to Ancestry - That is the Question
I've been following all of the new things at Ancestry.com lately - to include Leland Meitzler's post about the blogger visit. With all the new happenings and excitement, I'm wondering if its time to subscribe again. I let my subscription......
Diary of a Home Wine Maker Part I
Every now and then I dive into projects related to my family history in order to have a better understanding of my ancestors. I know this will sound like heresy, but sometimes I get bored only looking for documents. While......
Has anyone checked out the 2010 Census website? Most federal government websites are complicated, confusing, and not very well put together (look at Census.gov and you can see what I mean). But I like the 2010 site. Its appealing, organized,......
I've read a number of blog posts recently about the West Virginia Archives online records, and it almost seems like folks are discovering it for the first time. I've been using it for a little over three years now -......
Beloved Eleanor
What a Difference a Few Years Make
Just a quick one. I’ve been going through some old sites and services that I joined when I first started blogging. I might delete a few more of them yet, but whilst weeding one I noticed just how many blogs that I added between mostly 2007/2008 had disappeared. I’m not just...
For some reason at the beginning of this week, for at least three nights in a row I dreamt about Venice. Why? I just don’t know. I haven’t watched, read, looked at or otherwise done anything remotely involving Venice. Yet, here we are. I should explain my relationship with Venice, such...
I have a confession to make – I have never eaten Haggis. No, not even the vegetarian kind (yes, there is one). Today is Robert Burns’ birthday, and therefore will be Burns Night, where it is traditional to celebrate by eating Haggis, neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes) as a Burns Supper. Not...
First time I’ve liked a Rihanna song, just find this one really addictive!...
Well it certainly will be… What’s been happening around here? Too much frankly. I have now completed my exams, and am waiting to hear if I have passed them – fingers crossed for that one. For Philosophy the exam involved writing two essays from the areas of Knowledge, Ethics and Religion, there...
Pride and Prejudice at the Theatre
I was lucky enough on Monday to get to see the first night of Pride and Prejudice, which was being performed at His Majesty’s Theatre, and starring Susan Hampshire as Mrs Bennet. Those of you who have been reading this blog for some time will know that I love P&P, so...
Smoky Mountain Family Historian
Reduced Hours for Some South Mississippi Libraries
Resource Shelf blog alerts us to an article that appeared in the Sun Herald. Apparently several libraries in the Pine Forest Regional Library System serving Covington, Greene, Perry, and Stone Counties were closed for most of this month. They will now be reopening with reduced hours. The...
A librarian friend of mine had family members who were missionaries to Haiti. They have been evacuated from the country, but they have received some news of the situation with the libraries in the country.The oldest library in Port au Prince collapsed. This is the Bibliothèque Haïtienne des...
I'm finally back home in East Tennessee. I spent over a month in Mississippi caring for my parents. The good news is that Mom's cancer was caught early, and it appears that they have removed all cancerous tissues. She's still got some recovery time, but things are...
Quick & Dirty Genealogy Research from the Hospital Room
I've been curious for a long time whether or not the Winsteads in Hamblen County, Tennessee are related to my Winstead line or not. My Winstead line is far enough back that I haven't really researched it very much, but I decided to just look at WorldConnect to see...
This morning I was reading the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (Tupelo, MS) before we brought Mom to the hospital for her surgery prep. As I was reading, I noticed that Mississippi Valley State University had announced the top candidates for its vacant football coaching position. At the top...
Thoughts on Libraries and Genealogy
Many persons blogging about genealogy are taking part of a 52 week meme. I may occasionally post a response to one of the weekly themes, but I'm not able to participate in this week's challenge because of my mom's surgery and the fact that I'm nowhere close to home....
Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
Footnote.Com and the National Archives Release New Vietnam War Photos and Records Online
The following announcement was written by Footnote.com: -Over 27,000 Photos And Records Are Added To The Largest Online Vietnam War Collection- Lindon, UT – February 4, 2010 – Today Footnote.com announced a major addition to its Vietnam War Collection: Army Photos and Unit Service Awards. Now totaling over 100,000 photos...
(+) Best of Both Worlds: Windows Genealogy Programs on Linux
In yesterday's Plus Edition newsletter, I wrote about the easy method of installing and using Windows genealogy products on Macintosh computers. This gives Macintosh users the best of both worlds: Mac users can install and use any Windows or Macintosh program. In fact, Linux users have similar capabilities. There is...
One-Star Stocks Poised to Plunge: Ancestry.com?
The Motley Fool investment advisory service has awarded their dreaded one-star ranking to Ancestry.com, the company that only went public a few weeks ago. The Fool, as it is known, questions Ancestry.com's business model and also all its competition from free genealogy web sites. You can read the article on...
Is this Annie Moore Arriving at Ellis Island?
About a month ago, Megan Smolenyak wrote about the recent discovery of photos of Annie Moore, the Irish teenager who was the first to arrive at Ellis Island when it opened on January 1, 1892. On December 29th of last year, the New York Times featured a photo of Annie...
Google Digitizes the Ottawa Citizen Archives
Google has digitized and made available online most of the archives of the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, putting about 2.5 million articles at your fingertips, the earliest from 1890. You may be amazed at the speed and ease with which you can find family history. Most genealogy researchers often have only...
Newfoundland Genealogical Toolkit Receives $1.8 Million Grant
The Newfoundland Genealogical Toolkit has received a major grant from the Canadian government under Round VII of the Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF). In this project, The Memorial University of Newfoundland's Population Therapeutics Research Group (PTRG) will develop the Newfoundland Genealogical Toolkit – a state-of-the-art information technology platform able to generate...