Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

The Imperial St. Landry Genealogical and Historical Society will explore South Louisiana's rich Acadian heritage at a meeting onSaturday.  The 10 a.m. meeting at Opelousas General Health System's South Campus, the former Doctors' Hospital, is free and open to the public.

The forum's guest speaker will be Brenda Comeaux Trahan, curator-director of the Acadian Memorial and Museum in St. Martinville. Trahan will cover a number of topics, including the March 19-20 Acadian Memorial Festival, which will be held that Friday and Saturday in St. Martinville.

The festival, a museum-style celebration of the original Acadian settlers, is free and open to the public.

You can read more at http://www.dailyworld.com/article/20100310/NEWS01/3100311/1002.

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

If your local genealogy society or library is looking for a new project, I have a suggestion: convert some of your microfilm and microfiche holdings to digital images so that they can be easily shared and preserved. 

If you have only one copy of the microfilm or microfiche, you probably already know how fragile it is. Microfilm and microfiche are easily scratched. Have you ever used a roll of microfilm that has already been used many times? If so, you already know what I mean. Constant usage of microfilm induces scratches. Most experienced genealogists have occasionally encountered microfilms so badly scratched that they are almost unusable.

The more you use a microfilm, the greater the damage. For examples, take a look at any the more popular microfilms at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, such as the U.S. Census records on microfilms. New working copies are made frequently because of the constant wear and tear of these microfilms.

The only method of reliably preserving microfilm or microfiche is to have a master copy that is kept isolated from public usage. The master copy is only used occasionally and only to make new "working copies" that are then made accessible to the public. Each master copy is stored in a controlled environment, and handling is kept to a minimum. This method of preserving master copies and only allowing public access to duplicate working copies will provide microfilm access for many, many years.

In contrast, digital copies do not suffer from "handling damage." Unlike microfilm, it makes no difference if the digital images are viewed once or one million times. Each user can see the exact same image as the first user; there will never be introduction of scratches or other "handling damage."

Making copies of digital images is super easy and almost free. Unlike microfilms, a copy of a digital image can be made in seconds and stored on new media at costs so low that you can almost ignore the expenses.

Of course, digital images are also easy to duplicate onto new media every few years as technology changes. The storage medium of choice used to be floppy disks, which have now almost disappeared. Today's tools are CD-ROM disks, DVD-ROM disks, and jump drives, all of which will disappear some day. Tomorrow's technologies will probably include Blu-Ray disks and other storage media that hasn't even been invented yet; and yet, those storage methods will disappear someday as well. Using digital images solves the problem: simply copy the images to the new media of choice every few years, then throw away the original floppy disks, CD-ROM disks, etc. All this is easy to accomplish with digital images.

Copying from old digital storage media to the latest technology is simple, as long as you don't wait too many years. Any active library or archive will periodically transfer digital images to the latest technologies so that the storage media is never obsolete. By copying images to the latest media every five to ten years, librarians and archivists can ensure that their digital images will last for centuries.

Another problem is the disappearance of microfilm equipment from the marketplace. Microfilm readers are still widely available. However, microfilm cameras, duplication equipment, and even the blank reels of microfilm are rapidly disappearing. Microfilm experts tell us that they probably will not be able to make new or reproduced microfilms ten years from now. Microfilm-to-digital scanners will solve many of these problems.

You can find a number of companies that provide microfilm/microfiche-to-digital conversion tools, but some of these tools are rather expensive. Some of them cost $10,000 and more – sometimes much more. One simple device has a modest price and seems to work well. With a price tag of about $1,500 and a bit of manual labor, your library or society can easily convert reels of microfilm to digital images.

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The next episode features former NFL football player Emmitt Smith who discovers his slavery roots this Friday, March 12, at 8/7c on NBC. Lisa Kudrow said his episode is the most compelling of the seven.

You can check out the teaser to the episode featuring Emmitt at http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/clips/emmitt-smiths-date-with-destiny/1205986/.

On February 27, 1995, Newsweek published an article about the future of the Internet. In that article, Clifford Stoll wrote:

Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.

Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.

Hehe, we all know how well THAT prediction turned out, don't we?

Stoll offered some other "predictions:"

How about electronic publishing? Try reading a book on disc. At best, it's an unpleasant chore: the myopic glow of a clunky computer replaces the friendly pages of a book. And you can't tote that laptop to the beach. Yet Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we'll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Internet. Uh, sure.

He also wrote:

We're promised instant catalog shopping—just point and click for great deals. We'll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obsolete. So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month? Even if there were a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet—which there isn't—the network is missing a most essential ingredient of capitalism: salespeople.

I wonder what Stoll is writing about these days?

You can read Stoll's 1995 predictions (online) at http://www.newsweek.com/id/106554.

I recently had a chance to watch a good movie, a murder mystery. Best of all, genealogy played an important part in the solution to the crime. Then, to make it even more interesting, the movie's producers are holding an online scavenger hunt where YOU could win prizes. Details are available at the end of this article.

Since the movie involves genealogy, I was offered a chance to see the movie in advance of its release date. The obvious hope was that I might write about it in this newsletter. After having watched this film, I cannot imagine NOT writing about it! It is that good. This is a movie plot that I will long remember. I would have written about it even if I hadn't been asked to.

Disclaimer: I'm not being paid to write about it. This is simply a good movie that I enjoyed.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (original title in Swedish: "Män som hatar kvinnor" - "Men Who Hate Women") is an award-winning crime novel by the late Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson, the first in his "Millennium Trilogy." The novel won Sweden's Glass Key Award in 2006 for best crime novel of the year; as well as the 2008 Boeke Prize. The book has been on the New York Times' Bestseller list for weeks. Larsson was posthumously awarded the ITV3 Crime Thriller Award for International Author of the Year in 2008.

The novel contains a genealogical table of five generations of a family in Sweden who are under investigation. However, the movie does not contain the genealogy table, and I struggled a bit to keep track of the characters. However, keeping track of this family's genealogy is vital to understanding the subtleties of the plot.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the story of a  40-year-old unsolved apparent murder of a 16-year-old girl. The story revolves around Mikael Blomkvist, journalist, publisher, and amateur sleuth. He is hired to see if he can solve the 40-year-old disappearance of the young girl.

Blomkvist soon teams with Lisbeth Salander, a violent and antisocial, but extremely intelligent, computer hacker and researcher who specializes in investigations of persons. The unlikely couple of Blomkvist and Salander form another classic detective pair where the hunters become the hunted. Together, they soon discover a long string of serial murders over many years, perhaps too many years to be the work of one person. Many family members are suspected, but nobody seems to know the truth.

Not only does the story involve genealogy, but it also involves computers. Amongst other things, you will see some nifty work in PhotoShop that reveals clues that had been invisible to the police 40 years earlier. Salander also spends a lot of time in the archives researching old events.

I have to tell you that I loved this movie. Once I started watching it, I was spellbound. That's saying a lot, as this movie has all the dialogue in Swedish but with English subtitles. It takes a lot to keep me interested in a Swedish movie with subtitles, but this one delivered. I loved it!

The movie includes sex, nudity, and violence. If you object to such content, this isn't a movie for you. You also will not want to take the children to this movie.

I won't spoil the ending, but I am going to give you some advice: if you have an opportunity to see this picture, watch closely as the characters weave in and out of the story. Then stay for the ending. You won't guess it in advance.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opened in Scandinavia in February-March of 2009. So far, more than 2.5 million people in those countries have seen it. In Norway and Denmark, it is the most viewed Swedish film ever, and in Sweden total admissions are above one million. Not bad for a country of roughly nine million. It will appear in American theaters on March 19th.

If you have a chance, see this film. You won't forget it. A list of theaters where it is being shown may be found at http://dragontattoofilm.com/now-playing/.

For more information about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, go to  www.dragontattoofilm.com.

Here is an announcement from the producers of the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo:

Join the Dragon Tattoo Blog HUNT - an internet wide scavenger hunt tied to the feature film launch of bestselling book The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Win great prizes – free movie tickets, books, movie soundtrack, posters and more. To join the contest, start at the beginning of the HUNT by visiting  www.dragontattoofilm.com/contest for full details and the first clue. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is in theaters near you starting March 19th.

THE NEXT CLUE:
Work it! If you’re a working mom like blogger Aliza Sherman, this is the site to visit for community, advice and the occasional film review (cough, cough) from a mom’s perspective, in this case an Entrepreneur Mom.

The Dragon Tattoo Blog HUNT ends on April 1, 2010.

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

I have written many times about the need for backups. Many people make backups to CD disks, to plug-in USB hard disks, to jump drives, or to other devices, and then store them in their homes or offices. They think they are fully protected. After all, "I made a backup." However, just ask anyone who survived Hurricane Katrina or a California forest fire about their backups! They lost their backup data at the same time that they lost their computers and all their other belongings.

Of course, cataclysmic disasters are not the only causes of lost backups. A simple burst water pipe can ruin both your computer and your backups if they are stored near each other. Beyond that are dozens of ways media can be ruined or lost. Suffice it to say that protecting your data needs to be a major concern for all of us.

Data security experts will tell you to always keep at least two forms of backups, stored on different media, and keep them in two different places. Having three or four different forms of backups is even better.

Keeping backups locally is very convenient. There is little work in making them. Should you ever need to recover some files, you simply grab the locally-stored backups and start restoring. However, making backups across the Internet can be equally convenient, probably easier, and, in many cases, cheaper.

Cheaper? Indeed. To make local backups, you may have to purchase a few blank CD or DVD disks (a few dollars) or a jump drive ($5 to perhaps $60) or a plug-in USB hard drive ($70 to $150). If you already have a broadband Internet connection, the costs will vary from free to a maximum of $7 a month. I suspect that most people choose the free option.

If you back up your important files to the Internet, you will not need to pay for any additional software or hardware. You may need to download and install some free software, however. If you already have a broadband connection to the Internet, you are all set.

The Internet has millions of terabytes of disk space available, and you can find several sites that will give you free space to do a backup. In fact, if you already have an Internet page or web site, you can even upload your backup files there, as long as you have enough space.

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The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

Events to include free performance by David McCullough and Mormon Tabernacle Choir

SALT LAKE CITY — Family history will take center stage in Salt Lake City during the week of April 26, 2010, with four genealogy conferences taking place simultaneously. Over 200 genealogy workshops are scheduled through May 1, giving everyone from novices to advanced researchers access to unprecedented learning opportunities.

Conference organizers decided to offer attendees the rare chance to attend more than one of the conferences by conveniently holding them all in one week in Salt Lake City. The marquee event will be the National Genealogical Society’s Annual Conference. This premier conference is returning to Salt Lake City for only the second time in 25 years. Also scheduled for that week are BYU’s Conference on Computerized Family History and Genealogy, BYU’s Family History Technology Workshop, and FamilySearch’s Developers Conference for software developers.

A wide range of U.S. and international research topics will be covered and participants are encouraged to bring and work on their personal family research projects. Conferences will also feature technology sessions and exhibitors spotlighting technologies that offer solutions to genealogy challenges.

Another highlight of the week will be a free program, “A Celebration of Family History,” presented by David McCullough, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and the Orchestra at Temple Square. Free tickets will be available at www.lds.org starting March 23, 2010.

A variety of free events are scheduled throughout the week:

• Family History Consultant Training Seminar. Participants will receive the latest training at the LDS Conference Center Little Theater. Tuesday, April 27, 2010, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon or 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Open admission. Limited seating.
• Family History Consultant Fireside. Elder Allan F. Packer of the First Quorum of the Seventy and an executive director of FamilySearch will address family history consultants in this special setting. Tuesday, April 27, at 7:00 p.m. at the Tabernacle on Temple Square. Open admission. Limited seating.
• Church History Library Open House. LDS pioneer ancestry research assistance, along with fascinating demonstrations of state-of-the-art conservation methods for photographs, audio recordings, and books. Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Located at 15 East North Temple Street.
• FamilySearch and Genealogy Technology Exhibit Hall. Hundreds of vendors and product demonstrations starting Wednesday, April 28 through Saturday, May 1, at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Open admission.
• Mormon Tabernacle Choir with David McCullough and Henry B. Eyring. Do not miss this unique, multimedia tribute to family history and a mini concert. Thursday, April 29, 2010, 7:00 p.m., LDS Conference Center. Free tickets will be available online starting March 23 at LDS.org/events.
• Genealogy Kids Camp. Grades 4 through 12. Fun classes, games, storytelling. Also includes classes to help Boy Scouts achieve their Genealogy Merit Badge. Saturday, May 1, 2010, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Space is limited. Register early at NGSGenealogy.org.
• Free Research Consultation. The Family History Library hours are extended to 11:00 p.m. during the week. Extra staff will be available to provide personal research assistance. (Note: The library will close 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Thursday, April 29, for the Family History Celebration performance at the LDS Conference Center).

More information, including how to register, is available at FamilySearch.org/ngs2010.

The following is an announcement from The National Archives (in Great Britain, not the United States):

The National Archives currently produces a family history magazine, ‘Ancestors’, in partnership with Wharncliffe Publishing Ltd.

The current contract with Wharncliffe Publishing Ltd comes to an end on 31 March. We decided to take this opportunity to look at the magazine and make sure that it is offering best value for money, both for its readers and for The National Archives.

As a result of this review, ‘Ancestors’ will be discontinued and the last publication will be the April issue (no 94), available from Thursday 25 March.

All subscribers are entitled to a refund for any outstanding monies, and all refunds will be handled by Wharncliffe Publishing Ltd. Subscribers should contact the Wharncliffe Publishing Ltd customer services team on 01226 734689 to obtain a refund, or write to Wharncliffe History Magazines, The Drill Hall, Eastgate, Barnsley S70 2EU.

We are currently discussing plans to launch a new magazine from The National Archives in the autumn. This work is being led by Simon Fowler, the current editor of ‘Ancestors’, and his team. If you would like more details please contact him. Further information will also be available on our website later in the year and in our free monthly enewsletter, which you can sign up to at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/enewsletter

Great news! The following was written by Megan Smolenyak:

Dear RootsTelevision.com Viewer,

OK, you convinced me! After getting inundated with emails, tweets, and Facebook postings and messages about the closing of RootsTelevision.com (RTV), I've decided to keep it going. I honestly had no clue how valued it was by the genealogical community, and I agree with the many of you who pointed out that it serves a somewhat different purpose than the prime time programming that's on TV at present (much as I've been enjoying that!). At the same time, I think many had not realized that RTV is a one-person company, but one that's not inexpensive to provide.

Thanks very much to all you who reached out to share your thoughts and experiences. Although I haven't been able to respond to all of you, I hope you realize that your comments made all the difference in the world. Thanks also to the more than 20 individuals, organizations and companies that contacted me to explore the notion of adopting RTV. It's refreshing to know how many were willing to step in and help. I also need to thank Brightcove, the video platform used by RTV, for working with me to find viable solutions.

I should probably clarify one point of confusion. Many were under the impression that even if RootsTelevision.com closed down, the video archive would remain. Quite a few also wrote asking me to send DVDs of the videos, but with more than 700 videos on the site, popping them on a DVD is not an alternative. Hosting and streaming this wide array of videos is one of the most costly aspects, and there are rights issues involved as well, so if RTV had gone, so would have all the videos.

That's why I surveyed genealogists on Twitter and Facebook, asking whether you would be willing to tolerate commercials if it would help preserve RootsTelevision.com. I was beyond relieved how lopsided the response was! So please be aware that I will be adding commercials to help pay the bills. Unfortunately, I don't have the resources to customize them, but I'll experiment with ways to make them as painless as possible. I'd also greatly appreciate it if you let me know of any people, companies or organizations that would be interested in running banners ads on RTV. Boston University and Family Tree DNA have both helped support RTV in the past by sponsoring ads, and more of the same would help ensure that the doors of RTV stay open in the future!

Og and I are going to do a little tinkering under the hood at RTV, so you'll see fewer new videos for a while, but please use that time to explore the hundreds of videos that are already there. Please also consider uploading your own videos (podcasters welcome!) through RootsTube (http://rootstelevision.com/submit_rootstube.php) and let us know of any great genealogical videos you come across in your online travels. If we see something we like, we'll do our best to secure permission to share the video on RootsTelevision.com, so you can have the widest, high quality viewing selection possible all in one place.

And finally, I would ask that you spread the word to your friends, relatives, libraries, and genealogical societies that the lights are still on at RootsTelevision.com! The more viewers, the better – so watch often!

Thanks again,
Megan

P.S. Be sure to follow us online for new videos, announcements and special events:

Megan on Twitter - http://twitter.com/megansmolenyak
Megan on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/megansmolenyak
RTV on Twitter - http://twitter.com/rootstelevision
RTV on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/rootstv

Tony Burroughs is a well-known professional genealogist, college professor, writer, lecturer, television personality, and all-around nice guy. He is best known as an expert in Black genealogy but that statement ignores his many other talents. Now Tony is giving a free genealogy seminar for Ancestry.com on the web (webinar).

The webinar (or seminar, if you prefer) is entitled, Avoid Traps in African American Genealogy. The webinar's announcement states:

Even the most seasoned genealogist can make mistakes, especially when it comes to the complexities of African American research. World-renowned genealogy expert Tony Burroughs has taken wrong paths in his decades of research, but has discovered ways to avoid some common missteps. Benefit from his unique wisdom and experience with Ancestry.com as we present Avoid Traps in African American Genealogy. This free webinar offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance to journey with one of the world’s foremost genealogists and find success as you search for your Black roots.

The webinar is this Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 8pm EST, 7pm CST, 6 pm MST, and 5 PM PST.

This is a FREE webinar. Audience members may arrive 15 minutes before scheduled webinars. The webinar will also be archived and will be available for watching at most any time.

You can learn more at http://learn.ancestry.com/LearnMore/Webinars.aspx.

Prime Minister John Key says any moves to merge government departments are driven by efficiency, not ideology. Mr Key says proposals to merge a number of government agencies will be considered by the Cabinet business committee on Monday night, before going to the full Cabinet next week.

The proposals are understood to include merging the National Library and National Archives into the Department of Internal Affairs as well as several other agencies.

You can read more on the Radio New Zealand News web site at http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2010/03/08/1247f7b8fbbd and at Scoop at http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1003/S00120.htm.

If this proves to be true, it could again end the use of mitochondrial DNA for genealogy:

The mitochondrial genome–long thought to be nearly identical in every cell in the human body–actually varies to a surprising degree, according to new research by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) scientists. The research shows that different forms of the mitochondrial genome can be present in different organs from the same individual, and that these forms probably arise during embryonic development.

You can read more in Health News Digest at http://tinyurl.com/yadktpy

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

FamilySearch Indexing Update: Civil and church record projects added for Argentina, Canada, France, Peru, and the UK

8 March 2010

FamilySearch Indexers have a wide variety of records to choose from this week. Civil and church records are available from Argentina, Canada, France, Peru, and the United Kingdom. Six different groups of U.S. census records are also ready to be indexed.

New Projects

• Argentina, Cordoba—Registros Parroquiales, 1722–1924 [Parte B]
• Canada, British Columbia—Deaths, 1872–1986 [Part 4]
• Canada, New Brunswick—Births, 1810–1906
• France, Quimper et Leon, St. Louis—Registres Paroissiaux, 1722–1909 (In partnership with Cercle Généalogique du Finistere)
• Perú, Lima—Registros Civiles, 1887–1921 [Parte A]
• U.K., Bristol—Non-Conformist Registers, Pre-1900 [Part A]
• U.K., Warwickshire—Parish Registers, 1754–1900 [Part 1C]
• U.S., Indiana, Clay County—Marriages, 1811–1959
• U.S., Michigan—1910 Federal Census
• U.S., Military—1920 Federal Census
• U.S., Minnesota—1910 Federal Census
• U.S., Montana—1910 Federal Census
• U.S., Puerto Rico—1920 Censo Federal
• U.S., South Dakota—1945 State Census [Part A]

(See the chart below for a complete list and current status of all indexing projects.)

Recently Completed Projects

(Note: Recently completed projects have been removed from the available online indexing batches and will now go through a final completion check process in preparation for future publication.)

• België, Mechelen—Overlijdens Registers, 1851–1900
• Deutschland, Brandenburg—Kirchenbücher, 1789–1875
• Italia, Napoli, Castellammare di Stabia - Atti di Morte, 1809–1936 [Parte A]
• Perú, Lima—Registros Civiles, 1910–1930 [Parte 4]
• U.K., Warwickshire—Parish Registers, 1754-1900 [Part 1A]
• U.S., Guam and Samoa—1920 Federal Census
• U.S., Indiana—1910 Federal Census
• U.S., Iowa—1910 Federal Census
• U.S., Kentucky—1910 Federal Census
• U.S., Louisiana—1910 Federal Census
• U.S., Virgin Islands—1920 Federal Census

These projects will be searchable online at pilot.familysearch.org in the near future.

Current FamilySearch Indexing Projects, Record Language, and Percent Completion

Argentina, Balvanera—Registros Parroquiales, 1833–1934 [Parte A] Spanish 83% Argentina, Balvanera—Registros Parroquiales, 1833–1934 [Parte B] Spanish 3% Argentina, Cordoba—Registros Parroquiales, 1722–1924 [Parte B] Spanish (New) Argentina, Santa Fe—Registros Parroquiales, 1634–1926 [Parte A] Spanish 18% Argentina, Santa Fe—Registros Parroquiales, 1634–1926 [Parte B] Spanish 8% Belgium, Antwerp—Foreigners Index, 1840–1930 English 85% Brasil, Pernambuco, Recife—Registro Civil, 1900–1920 Portuguese 1% Brasil, Rio de Janeiro—Matrimonios, 1900–1910 [Piloto] Portuguese 26% Canada, British Columbia—Deaths, 1872–1986 [Part 4] English (New) Canada, New Brunswick—Births, 1810–1906 English (New) Canada, Québec, Montreal—Régistres Paroissiaux, 1800–1900 French 14% Česká republika, Litoměřice—Matriky, 1552-1905 [část 1] German 22% Chile, Concepción—Registros Civiles, 1885–1903 [Parte 2A] Spanish 19% Chile, Concepción—Registros Civiles, 1885–1903 [Parte 2B] Spanish 4% Colombia, Bucaramanga—Registros Parroquiales, 1649–1959 Spanish 1% Colombia, Marinilla—Registros Parroquiales, 1815–1959 Spanish 18% Deutschland, Baden, Achern—Kirchenbücher, 1810–1869 [Part A] German 51% Deutschland, Baden, Achern—Kirchenbücher, 1810–1869 [Part B] German 4% Deutschland, Mecklenburg—Volkszählung, 1890 [Div 39–69] German 42% España, Avila, Navalmoral—Registros Parroquiales, 1530–1935 Spanish 77% España, Lugo—Registros Parroquiales, 1530–1930 [Parte 1] Spanish 33% España, Malaga—Registros Civiles, 1846–1870 Spanish 10% France, Cherbourg—Registres Paroissiaux, 1802–1907 French 11% France, Coutances—Registres Paroissiaux 1802–1907 French 6% France, Coutances, Paroisses de la Manche, 1792–1906 French 90% France, Paris—Registres Protestants, 1612–1906 [Partie C] French 53% France, Saint-Lo—Registres Paroissiaux, 1802–1907 French 30% Guatemala, Huehuetenango y San Marcos—Registros Civiles, 1877–1900 Spanish 38% Italia, Napoli, Castellammare di Stabia—Atti di Morte, 1809–1936 [Parte B] Italian 2% Jamaica—Civil Births, 1878–1899 [Part A] English 49% Mexico, DF—Registros Parroquiales, 1898–1933 [Parte 3] Spanish 71% Mexico, Jalisco—1930 Federal Censo Spanish 57% Mexico, Michoacan—1930 Federal Censo Spanish 34% Mexico, Nuevo Leon—1930 Federal Censo Spanish 54% New Zealand—Passenger Lists, 1871–1915 English 83% Nicaragua, Managua—Registros Civiles, 1879–1984 [Parte 1] Spanish 68% Perú, Lima—Registros Civiles, 1887–1921 [Parte A] Spanish (New) Russland, Sankt Petersburg—Kirchenbuchduplikat, 1833–1885 German 2% South Africa, Cape Province—Church Records, 1660–1970 English 28% Sverige, Södermanland—Kyrkoböcker, till 1860 [Del 1] Swedish 6% Sverige, Uppsala—Kyrkoböcker, till 1860 [Del 1] Swedish 28% Sverige, Örebro—Kyrkoböcker, till 1860 [Del 1] Swedish 1% U.K., Bristol—Non-Conformist Registers, Pre-1900 [Part A] English (New) U.K., Bristol—Parish Registers, 1837–1900 [Part B] English 53% U.K., Cheshire—Parish Records, 1538–1850 [Part 2] English/Old English 85% U.K., Essex—Parish Registers, 1538–1900 [Part 1] English 2% U.K., Warwickshire—Parish Registers, 1754–1900 [Part 1C] English (New) U.S., Florida—1910 Federal Census English 95% U.S., Georgia—1910 Federal Census English 74% U.S., Hawaii—1920 Federal Census English 35% U.S., Indiana, Clark County—Marriages, 1811–1959 English 93% U.S., Indiana, Clay County—Marriages, 1811–1959 English (New) U.S., Indiana, Dubois County—Marriages, 1811–1959 English 69% U.S., Indiana, Harrison County—Marriages, 1811–1959 English 93% U.S., Maryland—1910 Federal Census English 26% U.S., Massachusetts—1910 Federal Census English 8% U.S., Michigan—1910 Federal Census English (New) U.S., Military—1920 Federal Census English (New) U.S., Minnesota—1910 Federal Census English (New) U.S., Montana—1910 Federal Census English (New) U.S., Puerto Rico—1920 Censo Federal English (New) U.S., Rhode Island—1935 State Census English 72% U.S., South Dakota—1945 State Census [Part A] English (New) U.S., Tennessee—County Marriages, 1790–1950 [Part A] English 19% Venezuela, Mérida—Registros Parroquiales, 1654–1992 [Parte 2] Spanish 5% Österreich, Wiener Meldezettel, 1890–1925 German 8% Украина, Киев—Метрические Книги, 1840–1842 Russian 77%

(*Percentage refers to a specific portion of a larger project.)

Current FamilySearch Partner Projects, Record Language, and Percent Completion

Australia, Victoria—Probate Records, 1853–1989 English 84% België—Burgerlijke Stand, 1851-1900 [Deel B] Dutch 27% Belgique—Registres Civile, 1851–1900 [Partie A] French 7% Canada, Ontario, Toronto—Trust Cemeteries, 1826–1935 English 5% Deutschland, Westfalen, Minden—Volkszählung, 1880–1900 German 1% España, Avila, Madrigal y Garganta—Registros Parroquiales, 1530–1935 Spanish 31% France, Quimper et Leon—Registres Paroissiaux, 1772–1909 [Part 1] French 69% France, Quimper et Leon, St. Louis—Registres Paroissiaux, 1722–1909 French (New) Norway—1875 Census [Part 1] Norwegian 95% Norway—1875 Census [Part B] Norwegian 2% Philippines, Lingayen, Dagupan—Registros Parroquiales, 1615–1982 Spanish 9% U.K., Norfolk—Parish Registers, 1538–1900 English 1% U.S., Ohio—Tax Records, Post 1825 [Part 3] English 3% U.S., Utah, Salt Lake County—Birth Registers, 1890–1908 English 7% U.S., Utah, Salt Lake County—Death Registers, 1848–1940 English 30%

About FamilySearch

FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The following announcement was written by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration:

WASHINGTON, March 8 -- On Wednesday, April 14, at 7 p.m., the National Archives will host Megan Smolenyak, author of Who do You Think You Are?, a comprehensive guide for conducting genealogical research and the official tie-in to the NBC show of the same name that traces the genealogy of a famous person. Smolenyak, chief family historian and spokesperson for Ancestry.com, will be joined by Andrew Carroll, editor of the New York Times bestsellers War Letters and Behind the Lines.

This event is free and open to the public and will be held in the William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Building, which is fully accessible. A book signing of Who Do You Think You Are? will follow the program, and the book is available at a discount from the Archives Shop (202-357-5271) before and during the event. The program is presented in partnership with the National Archives Sixth Annual Genealogy Fair, to be held April 14-15th, 2010.  The Genealogy Fair is free and open to the public, and presented in partnership with the Foundation for the National Archives.

The National Archives Building is located on Constitution Avenue at 7th Street, NW.  Winter hours (through March 14) are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Spring hours (March 15 through Labor Day) are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., daily. Admission is free, and the building is fully accessible.  Metro accessible on the Yellow and Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial/Penn Quarter station.  To request an accommodation (e.g., sign language interpreter) for a public program, please e-mail public.program@nara.gov or call (202) 357-5000 at least two weeks prior to the event. To verify the date and times of the programs, view the Calendar of Events online at www.archives.gov.

Background:  National Archives staff in Washington, D.C., and New York City worked closely with the producers and researchers of this genealogy-based program for over a year to identify National Archives documents that help tell the story of famous Americans featured on the programs. 

National Archives records are an abundant resource for genealogical research. "Who Do You Think You Are?" features many such records – including pension applications, census schedules, and Freedmen's Bureau records – that are used by thousands of researchers every year.  A new National Archives web page links to some of the most popular records of genealogical interest, including records used in some of the shows (http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/topics/who-do-you-think-you-are.html).

The web page also includes information about how to begin genealogy research.  Interested viewers can also email questions to National Archives genealogy experts at WhoDo@archives.gov.

NOTE: You can read my review of this book at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2010/03/us-version-of-who-do-you-think-you-are-the-book.html.

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 Windows XP Computer in Your Shirt Pocket
 - (+) How to Recover Data from a Dead PC
 - Upcoming Events
 - I Finally Watched "Who Do You Think You Are?"
 - U.S. version of Who Do You Think You Are? - the Book
 - "Who Do You Think You Are?" Takes 2nd Place
 - "Who Do You Think You Are?" - A Contrarian View
 - FamViewer Version 2.2 for iPhone and iPod Touch
 - GRO to Increase Fees
 - Georgia to Digitize Historical Records
 - Library of Michigan to Drop Genealogy and Federal Documents
 - Maine to Close Birth, Marriage Records
 - So Why Lock Up the Birth Records?
 - Men Cited for Assaulting Census Workers in Maine
 - Popular Science Archives Online
 - Genealogical Atlases from National Geographic
 - Final Days of the British Empire to be Shown Online
 - 1930 US Census Available Free of Charge on the Internet Archive
 - Deceased Online Adds Nearly a Quarter Million Burial and Cremation Records
 - National Archives Hosts 6th Genealogy Fair, April 14-15, 2010
 - Beware the "Census Form" You Receive
 - Census Scam Alert
 - Books in the Age of the iPad
 - Genealogical Tourism Redefining Leisure Travel Market
 - Strathclyde University and IHGS Genealogy Courses
 - Frank R. Binette, R.I.P.
 - Dorothea Kratzer Named Outstanding Woman of Clinton County, Ohio
 - Help! The Faerie Folk Hid My Ancestors!
 - 2010 British Institute, Salt Lake City, October 4-8
 - Ulster Historical Foundation Lecture Programme March 2010
 - Don't Press F1!
 - Another Rogue Program: Security Essentials 2010
 - I Want to Live in Google
 - I Don't Store Credit Card Information
 - New Layout for Newsletter Site
 - Never Miss a Plus Edition Newsletter

This week's Plus Edition newsletter is 54 pages long! Where else will you find this much genealogy news without advertising PER WEEK?

Articles marked with a Plus Sign (+) are for the exclusive use of Plus Edition subscribers.

NOTE: This week's entire Plus Edition newsletter is available at: http://www.eogn.com/wp/thisweek.htm. Don't forget that you can always read the latest Plus Edition newsletter individual articles at any time at http://www.eogn.com/wp/ (your user name and password are required to read the Plus Edition online).

A PDF version of this week's Plus Edition newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com/wp/thisweek.pdf.

Last week's entire Plus Edition newsletter is available at: http://www.eogn.com/wp/lastweek.htm

The entire two-week old Plus Edition newsletter is available at: http://www.eogn.com/wp/twoweeks.htm

In order to read the Plus Edition newsletter, you will need to know your user name and password. If you have forgotten your user name and password, you can retrieve them at: http://www.eogn.com/amember/member.php

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Dick Eastman at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy//contact-us.html

To all non-subscribers:

If you would like to read this week's Plus Edition newsletter, you can sign up for a subscription by looking at the menus above (in the white boxes) and clicking on "Subscribe to the Plus Edition." Once you subscribe, you will be given immediate access to the Plus Edition web site and will be able to read the latest Plus Edition newsletter, along with the two previous editions.

The following article was written by and is copyright by Dick Eastman.

NOTE: This article does not contain any genealogy information although it can retrieve such information. For instance, a friend of mine recently suffered a PC failure. She was left with a PC that would not even boot Windows. She told me that she had lost her genealogy information as a result. I replied, "Not so. You can probably recover that data with just a little bit of work." She gave me her PC and, within a couple of hours, I retrieved all of her genealogy information, along with her checkbook data, income tax records, correspondence, and much more. I thought I would share the recovery techniques with you.

Many people believe that, when a computer dies and will not boot any more, all data is lost forever. They assume that all the files on the hard drive have disappeared and that nothing can be done about it. In some situations, that may be true. However, after repairing many computers over the past 40+ years (starting long before the invention of the PC), I can assure you that data can be recovered in a high percentage of computer failures.

The problem may be a hardware failure or a software failure. First let's look at hardware failures.

The remainder of this article is for Plus Edition subscribers only.

If you have a Plus Edition user ID and password, you can read the full article right now at no additional charge in this web site's Plus Edition at http://eogn.com/wp/?p=8635. This article will remain online for several weeks.

If you do not remember your Plus Edition user ID or password, you can retrieve them at http://www.eogn.com/wp/ and click on "Forgot password?"

If you decide to subscribe to the Plus Edition right now, you will be able to immediately read this article online.

For more information about subscribing to the Plus Edition of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, visit http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/plusedition.html.

Two men in Maine face charges in separate incidents for allegedly assaulting two women who were working for the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Washington County Sheriff's Department said 61-year-old Wesley Storer of Bar Harbor was charged last Monday for allegedly ripping an identification badge off a 50-year-old census worker's lanyard and preventing her from leaving an apartment building he owns in Harrington.

Police told the Bangor Daily News that 53-year-old James Swift of Brooksville was summoned Friday for allegedly assaulting a 39-year-old woman. Police said Swift is accused of grabbing the woman by the wrist and pushing her backward while she was preparing to leave Census papers on his door.

Popular Science magazine has been published for 137 years. Now, every issue ever produced has been scanned and posted the archives at their website, at no charge.

Each issue appears just as it did at its original time of publication, complete with period advertisements.

While it is a great resource for science buffs, it also will appeal to genealogists and historians. Those advertisements will provide great insight into changing life styles over the years. Want to see what great-grandpa and great-grandma used to cook their food or to heat the house? You probably will find ads and even pictures of these "conveniences" online at the Popular Science magazine web site. Start at http://www.popsci.com/announcements/article/2010-03/new-browse-137-years-popsci-archive-free.

This sounds like a winner for genealogy in the classroom. National Geographic’s Genealogical Atlases lesson plan for students in grades 3-5 asks students to “interview their parents or other relatives about what it was like where they grew up." Students then utilize maps found online to make their own “genealogical atlases” showing their family ancestry.

Genealogical Atlases lesson plans may be found at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/17/g35/genealogical.html.