All Posts - Member Blogs - Genealogy Social

Where have all the libraries (and newspapers, telephone directories and etc.) gone?

Posted by James Tanner on October 11, 2009 at 1:39pm

The other day we had occasion to go to a large university apartment house. In the lobby there was a huge pile of telephone books all in plastic bags. Evidently, the local telephone company had delivered this huge pile, one for each apartment, for the use of the residents. There was just one catch, hardly an of the University students had bothered to pick up their directory. I commented on this to the person we were visiting and she said, "Oh, we don't need one, we just look everything up online

Why you shouldn't do genealogy !

Posted by Ken Jones on October 11, 2009 at 1:30pm

Every time I discover something new about family it's exciting as it should be,but some things are down right spooky. It's that instance that sends your mind wondering,you start to question your own existance or wonder how the family line survived for 200 years without imploding.What am I talking about ? I'm talking about cousins marrying cousins !! And not distant cousins as in 5th cousin 10 times removed. I'm talking first and second cousins. In todays world we can avoid inter-family marriage,

Sorting and Storing Digital Photos

Posted by Stefani Twyford on October 11, 2009 at 1:08pm

In previous posts I have talked about sorting and archiving old photos and how important it is to do that. But, I have actually been been daunted by the task of organizing my own digital images. Right now they sit on my hard drive, backed up daily to a second hard drive and dumped into individual folders which are labeled by the date and perhaps the event. Re: Thanksgiving 2007.While I have really expensive editing and organizing software, it has sometimes taken me awhile to find a specific phot

This will be the last post for my wife dawn stringer

Posted by Dawn Evans Stringer on October 11, 2009 at 9:23am

To all the people in this web site, I have some distressing news. Dawn had a heart attack this morning and passed on. She loved this site and she will be missed. Love you guys

Family Tree Connection - Update (11/Oct/2009)

Posted by Illya Daddezio on October 11, 2009 at 8:42am

Family Tree Connection has added the following genealogy items to its database:

Bradford Academy 1839 Catalogue - Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Bradford Academy, for the year ending November 1839. Bradford, Mass.

Topsfield Academy 1830 Catalogue - Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Topsfield Academy, Year Ending August 1830. Topsfield, Mass.

Pembroke Academy 1837 Catalogue - Catalogue of the Officers, Insructors and Students of Pembroke Academy, for the Summer and Fall Terms, 183

GeneJ found the following info from a phone interview to Sacred Heart Cemetery (Monongahela, Penn.)

Posted by Julie Carr on October 11, 2009 at 7:34am

Debbie (_____), Sacred Heart Cemetery (Monongahela, Penn.) office, 9 Oct 2009, interview (telephonic) by GJ; for death of George Shriner; file memorandumThis date TT Debbie at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Monongahela, Washington Co., Penn. Cemetery office address is 97 Sacred Heart Rd, Monongahela, Penn. 15063-3505. According to her records, George Shriner, of Ellsworth, died 23 Nov 1964; was buried 27 November 1964.Cemetery records have his birth as 8 May 1895 (humm... conflicts much with other inf

Digitized British Newspapers 1800 to 1900

Posted by James Tanner on October 10, 2009 at 7:03am

The British Library sponsors a number of huge online resources including digitized copies of the British Newspapers from 1800 to 1900. This mostly subscription Website contains, to quote the site:* Millions of articles from 49 London, national and regional newspaper (1800 - 1900) titles.* Over two million pages - all fully text searchable with keywords in context visible in the results list.* 1000's of illustrations, maps, tables and photographs.Read more...

Great-uncle's death record from Mexico found!

Posted by Beth Gatlin on October 10, 2009 at 12:23am

I just found out that ancestry.com has the database Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1963-1974. Ancestry.com's October Monthly Update e-mail newsletter mentioned the database. I was thrilled to find this out, because my great-uncle died in Mexico in 1974. I had been planning to contact the National Archives to get a copy of his death record, but since ancestry.com has the database I was able to get the record immediately and not have to spend extra money for it. And it turns out th

Friday Fun Stuff from way back WHEN

Posted by Susi (Susan C Jones) Pentico on October 9, 2009 at 6:27pm

Sharing documentation & genealogiesq

Posted by John Gray on October 9, 2009 at 9:39am

Over the past 40 years I have been copying/uploading to RootsWeb family genealogies compiled by myself and other family genealogists who are now deceased and whose work was not found in central Ohio & Ft. Wayne, IN repositories & libraries. In that way I hoped to preserve their work and make it available to new researchers.I have also compiled several data bases on the surnames Schleich/Sly/Slyh/Slye and Gray/Grey. These are extensive alpha lists of families from the early 1700's to 1900. I have

Which is it? Genealogical Proof Standard or Legal Proof?

Posted by James Tanner on October 9, 2009 at 8:15am

In a comment to my recent blog on the Genealogical Proof Standard, the Ancestry Insider raised the issue that the professional genealogical community has rejected the legal standard of a preponderance of the evidence and appears to have moved in the direction of a standard of clear and convincing evidence. Although I heartily approve of the Genealogical Proof Standard, I question whether or not, in the absence of a judge and an adversarial system, it is really possible to personally adhere to a

Speech by the MacLaren of MacLaren to the Clan Convention on 24th July 2009

Posted by William Douglas on October 9, 2009 at 3:32am

Just published on the Panalba website, is the speech made at the time of the Clan Gathering in Edinburgh on the role of the clan chief in modern times.Donald MacLaren of MacLaren tells this story:In his bid to unite Dalriada and Pictland, Kenneth MacAlpine invited all the Pictish princes and nobles with rival claims to the throne to a great meeting and banquet. Disarmed at the door, rather like us, they entered all unsuspecting. But pits had been dug beneath the benches on which they were seated

Another Treasure Chest

Posted by Susi (Susan C Jones) Pentico on October 8, 2009 at 12:43pm

Treasure Chest Thursday

Posted by Susi (Susan C Jones) Pentico on October 8, 2009 at 12:39pm

How to use Windows System Restore to undo changes to your computer

Posted by Geoff Rasmussen on October 8, 2009 at 11:30am

Most of the time when your computer does not do what you want it to do, it is usually because you have not given it correct instructions.For example, if you try to maximize a program's window, but instead the program closes, it's likely that you clicked the tiny close button (the small X in the upper right of the program's window) instead of the tiny maximize button (the button immediately to the X's left). Has this ever happened to you? This is known as "operator error". In other words, your co

Family Ancestors That Were Institutionalized

Posted by William S Dean on October 8, 2009 at 10:55am

In the most recent GenWise newsletter, Gena Philibert Ortega wrote a column about the challenges confronting researchers whose subjects were institutionalized in asylums. This is more common than many people think, particularly the further back in time one goes. My gr. gr. gr. great grandfather, John Winterbourne (1776-1843), for example, was institutionalized and died at the Lainston House Asylum, Sparsholt, Hampshire, England.From 1825 until 1846, the large estate and grounds of Lainston House

Ocean Born Mary, A Londonderry Character

Posted by Heather Wilkinson Rojo on October 8, 2009 at 8:41am

Ocean Born MaryThe Myth:A Ship of Ulster protestant passengers was on its way to Boston, Massachusetts when, on 28 July 1720, Elizabeth Wilson gave birth to a daughter. About this time a pirate ship attacked, and the captain intended to rob and murder the passengers. Just in the nick of time, the captain heard the newborn child’s cries. He said he would spare all the passengers if the child was named Mary in honor of his mother, and he gave a bolt of silk to the baby girl for her wedding dress.

The Digital Librarian: a librarian's choice of the best of the Web

Posted by James Tanner on October 8, 2009 at 5:17am

The Digital Librarian is maintained by Margaret Vail Anderson, a librarian in Cortland, New York and is a very interesting selection of Websites useful to genealogy. This is an alphabetical listing but it is a good list to browse through to make sure you are aware of a number of helpful sites. Libraries and librarians are becoming more aware all of the time of the impact of the Internet on the viability of libraries in the future. In an undated article from the National Library of Australia, by

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Posted by Susi (Susan C Jones) Pentico on October 7, 2009 at 11:46pm

Parade of States -- online digital genealogy resources -- West Virginia

Posted by James Tanner on October 7, 2009 at 8:55am

West Virginia is in the forefront of states with online vital records it may not be almost heaven, but there are good resources. To quote from the West Virginia Archives and History:The West Virginia Vital Research Records Project is a collaborative venture between the West Virginia State Archives and the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU) to place online via the West Virginia Archives and History Web site selected West Virginia county birth, death and marriage records, and statewide death recor

Member Blogs

All Posts (3182)

Where have all the libraries (and newspapers, telephone directories and etc.) gone?

Why you shouldn't do genealogy !

Sorting and Storing Digital Photos

This will be the last post for my wife dawn stringer

Family Tree Connection - Update (11/Oct/2009)

GeneJ found the following info from a phone interview to Sacred Heart Cemetery (Monongahela, Penn.)

Digitized British Newspapers 1800 to 1900

Great-uncle's death record from Mexico found!

Friday Fun Stuff from way back WHEN

Sharing documentation & genealogiesq

Which is it? Genealogical Proof Standard or Legal Proof?

Speech by the MacLaren of MacLaren to the Clan Convention on 24th July 2009

Another Treasure Chest

Treasure Chest Thursday

How to use Windows System Restore to undo changes to your computer

Family Ancestors That Were Institutionalized

Ocean Born Mary, A Londonderry Character

The Digital Librarian: a librarian's choice of the best of the Web

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Parade of States -- online digital genealogy resources -- West Virginia

Note: this page contains paid content.