I have just updated my website and moved my online store. Anyone looking for my publication "Looking into the 1860 U.S. Federal Census" will find it in its new location.If you're not familiar with it, I explain 33 aspects of the 1860 U.S. Federal Census -- plus I provide lots of free inside info on researching!About MeAn experienced freelance writer and new media specialist, Judy Rosella Edwards focuses primarily on genealogy and history. She writes regular columns for GenWeekly. She has publish
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It’s time to recognize ancestors who were born in January:John Johnson, 5x-great-grandfather, born 27 Jan 1783 in North Carolina.Hiram W. Searcy, 4x-great-grandfather, born 07 Jan 1796 in Rutherford County, North Carolina.Jennie McEntire, 4x-great-grandmother, born 06 Jan 1797 in Burke County, North Carolina.Rose Anna Haskins, 4x-great-grandmother, born 20 Jan 1797.Mary Polly Atchley, 4x-great-grandmother, born 11 JanRead moreRead more…
Posted by James Tanner on December 31, 2009 at 8:29am
When I last checked most of the genealogists I know were also people who had to live and do other things besides genealogy once and a while. But it is still interesting how many things I do every day relate to genealogy in some way or another. One of the notable events of this past year has been the phenomenal increase in my ability to find out things. It started with maps. Google Maps revolutionized the way I find places, not just for genealogy, but going to stores or other locations. Part of t
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You may find that genealogy group news feeds now appear on The Genealogy Network Group Ning. One more way the Genealogy Network attempts to make your genealogy reading a breeze! The migration to Grou.ps from NING is complete!
Posted by James Tanner on December 30, 2009 at 9:52pm
If I am scanning old photographs, newer technology is better. It is faster with higher resolution than just a few years ago. If I am searching census records, the new technology that allows me to view images of the census pages online from my home computer is nearly a miracle compared to searching through miles of microfilm. But technology has its place. Unfortunately, not all researchers realize the limitations of the current technology. For example, I now find people who have searched for thei
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Posted by Sherrie Mazon on December 29, 2009 at 9:41am
OMG! I so love the Google News Archive! Not only do they have the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette images included, they have now added the Pittsburgh Press! And, when I did a search for one of my surnames, I found an article detailing the death of my ggrandfather's first wife, for whom I was having trouble finding a death date! Turns out she committed suicide by jumping in front of a trolley. Ouch! But, without Google News Archive, I would still be searching!
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Grad school began in September and my life has been a blur since then. The school year also began in September for my kids and since I homeschool meant more work for me as well. I also worked on developing two courses for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies (www.genealogicalstudies.com). Both should be complete in the next couple of months, I hope. So, with all of this and the normal day to day responsibilities (housework, playing with the kids, scheduling appointments, playdates, et
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Updates from EARLY ST. LOUISWHAT'S NEW: December 28, 20091. Brief Biographical Sketch of Joseph V. Garnier2. Obituary of John Hogan - NY Times 06 Feb 18923. Brief Biographical Sketch of John Hogan (Postmaster, Congressman & Author)4. Photo of Bank of St. Louis; Custom House & Post OfficeThe recent additions are relative to the families of Garnier, Sanguinet, Hogan.Link to the new additions: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~earlystlouis/whatsnew.htmlAs always, when adding new infor
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Posted by James Tanner on December 28, 2009 at 7:28am
Review:In this series of posts, I have been exploring common concerns among genealogists about both the privacy of the information they gather and the risk of being a victim to identity theft. Although there are real concerns in both areas, the media has hyped these topics to the point of gross exaggeration. What we do in our homes and with our family, are for the most part "private" in the classical sense. But anything we do in the public, buying, selling, traveling, working, etc. is more and m
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Posted by James Tanner on December 27, 2009 at 7:47pm
Review:In the past few posts I have been commenting on the fact that privacy and identity theft are both real concerns, albeit not nearly so important as the media would have you believe. Given the reality of the criminal activities included in the umbrella term "identity theft," it turns out that the danger of having your identity stolen, posed by sharing genealogical information, even online, is vanishingly small despite the reportedly large number of instances. Also, in the modern electronic
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Posted by James Tanner on December 27, 2009 at 5:22pm
In the December 24, 2009 update, Record Search added a number of new collections; Washington State County Marriages from 1858 to 1950, England Cheshire Parish records from 1538 to 2000, Cheshire Bishops' Transcripts fro 1598 to 1900 and Germany, Baden, Boondorf Church Book Duplicates from 1810 to 1869. The following collections were also updated; Brazil, Catholic Church Records, Florida State Census for 1935 and 1945, England, Cheshire Non-conformist records from 1671 to 1900 and the 1920 United
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Que ha sido la Genealogia Para MiPara espesar no se escribir, espero hacerme entender, si supiera, estaría escribiendo sobre la genealogía de mis ancestros, ya que estos últimos 10 años he estado estudiando, y a sido mi vida , donde encontré cera de 600 ancestros, y además muchos de sus descendientes cerca de 1500 hasta el año de 1880, que es hasta donde se puede estudiara en Internet, en http://familysearch.org para mi fue un trabajo porque me la pasaba de 6 a 12 horas diarias buscando informac
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Posted by Leeann Boone on December 26, 2009 at 2:38pm
This was my Milwaukee Journal Sentinal on Christmas Eve and I thought I'd post it and remind everyone of their childhood beleifs."Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on
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The holidays really have me thinking about family stories. With relatives packing the house, there are bound to be a few memories stirred and shared, and these always leave me wanting more. So of course, I turn to the internet, and a few more websites that are making an effort to collect personal memories, and other family history treasures.AMERICAN MEMORY - http://memory.loc.govThe Library of Congress’s American Memory project is another online large scale special collection of US ephemera. The
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It’s Christmas eve day, and its snowing here in Dallas, so everyone is just huddled indoors trying to stay warm, and enjoying being in the company of family... which always sets me to thinking about my ancestors and genealogy, of course.Since the presents are all wrapped, and its just a countdown to Santa, I’ll go ahead and write about another site for finding family stories online, and we’ll call it my Christmas present to you :)Internet Archive, at http://www.archive.org is a very large, onlin
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Every third Thursday I give a presentation in SecondLife. December’s discussion was part two of Finding Your Family Stories Online, with an emphasis on using Special Collections that are available online. While last month’s topic focused on digitized texts, part two focused on finding all sorts of other treasures – photographs, letters, oral histories, sound recordings, videos... the kinds of things that can add color and life to your family history.Special collections can be found in libraries,
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I hope everyone enjoys this Christmas season, and has a healthy and happy New Year's day! Don't watch too much football, it's not good for you! LOL.
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Posted by James Tanner on December 24, 2009 at 8:00am
Review:In the last two posts I have discussed identity theft and privacy, two concerns of genealogists working with today's interconnected technology. Privacy is a difficult topic because there are so many aspects to the issue, from personal privacy in daily life, to whether or not banks and other financial institutions can see your personal financial records. Genealogists research families and therefore often encounter personal, private, sensitive topics and information. The main question is ho
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