Good News for Roots Television Viewers
Hundreds of free genealogy and family history videos almost disappeared, perhaps forever, last week when Megan Smolenyak announced that Roots Television would be closing its virtual doors. Luckily, enthusiastic support for the site through emails, tweets, Facebook and messages, has convinced Megan that there is a demand for educational genealogical videos and that Roots Television meets a different need, and even audience, than network reality genealogy shows like Who Do You Think You Are? and Faces of America.
Thank you Megan for continuing to provide us all with such a rich genealogical resource. We're glad Roots Television decided to stick around!
Good News for Roots Television Viewers originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 12:07:39.
Official Minnesota Marriage Index Online
A new free online index of Minnesota marriages from all 87 counties went online last month.The Minnesota Official Marriage System (MOMS) shows the bride and groom's name, the year of marriage, and the county that maintains the record. Marriage certificates can be ordered for a fee. A list of counties with their index dates is available here.
The Minnesota statewide marriage index is a great addition to other wonderful online Minnesota vital records collections and indexes, including the Minnesota Birth Certificates Index and Minnesota Death Certificates Index from the Minnesota Historical Society
Official Minnesota Marriage Index Online originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 11:03:56.
Free Tony Burroughs Genealogy Webinar
World-renowned African-American genealogy expert Tony Burroughs is giving a free genealogy seminar for the Ancestry.com webinar series this coming Thursday, March 11, at 8:00 p.m. EST (GMT +5). In his free webinar, "Avoid Traps in African American Genealogy," expert Tony Burroughs will share his unique wisdom and experience to help you in your search for your Black roots. Visit Ancestry Webinars to learn more and to register.
Free Tony Burroughs Genealogy Webinar originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 17:07:36.
Small Nuggets -The Death of Gold Prospector John S. Hodge
Friday's Who Do You Think You Are? episode touched on a number of interesting research dilemmas - including what to do when you encounter conflicting information. In this case, the conflicting information was an obituary for the son of Sarah Jessica Parker's fourth great grandfather, John S. Hodge, which stated that he died en route to the California gold rush in 1849, while his son, John Eber Hodge, was apparently born in late 1850 or in 1851. How could John S. Hodge be the father of John Eber Hodge?
In this situation, the researchers kept digging. Following the "gold rush" trail brought out in the obituary, they discovered a John S. Hodge from Ohio listed in the 1850 census living in El Dorado, California. From there, I'm not sure of the research path they took, but I encountered a clue to John S. Hodge by searching for "John S. Hodge" and "gold" in Google Books. Read more...
Small Nuggets -The Death of Gold Prospector John S. Hodge originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 08:39:43.
Who Do You Think You Are? To Air in U.S. This Friday!
It's hard to believe it is actually a reality, but genealogy is finally coming to prime time network television in the United States as Who Do You Think You Are? premieres on NBC this Friday, March 5. The media outlets are buzzing which is a very good sign - the more people that watch the show, the greater its success. A win for genealogists everywhere! Look for Who Do You Think You Are? and family history to be highlighed on NBC's Today Show (March 3 and 5), ABC's The View (March 3), Martha Stewart (March 8), Oprah (March 9), The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on CBS (March 9) and Bonnie Hunt (March 19). All dates and times are subject to change.
I welcome the opportunity that Who Do You Think You Are? provides to help show all of America just how fascinating it can be to learn about where you come from. Here's a peek at what you can expect. Excited yet?
Sarah Jessica Parker (March 5) - This Sex in the City star, born to Jewish parents in Ohio in 1965, surprisingly thought of her family as less American than most. "There's no way they let our ancestors on the Mayflower!" she said in conversation with her brother. She was aware of her father's Eastern European roots, and as far as she knew her mother's side was all German. Imagine her surprise to find a branch of the family that connects back to the infamous Salem Witch Trials and other pivotal events in U.S. history! Read more...
Who Do You Think You Are? To Air in U.S. This Friday! originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 10:10:10.
New London Parish Records Available Online
A record of Charles Dickens' marriage in Chelsea in 1836, William Blake's burial in 1827 at Bunhill Fields, and the baptism of Jane Randolph (the mother of American President Thomas Jefferson) in Shadwell, East London in 1721, are among the one million new London parish records available online at Findmypast.co.uk as part of their new 'London Collection,' launched this past week. The collection includes:
- City of London Burial Index - records from all the churches in the City of London from 1813 to 1890
- West Middlesex Marriage Index - detailing 84,863 marriages in 61 parishes from 1538 to 1837
- London Docklands Baptisms - comprising 407,558 baptisms for London's docklands areas 1712 to 1933
- London and West Kent Probate Indexes - mainly detailing wills and administrations from 1750 - 1858
- The Matchworkers' Strike - listing participants of the strike of over 700 men, women and teenage boys and girls working at the Bryant and May factory in East London in 1888, the same year as the Jack the Ripper murders
If you aren't familiar with Findmypast.co.uk, it is a subscription-based site with over 24 million English baptisms, marriages and burials dating from 1538, in addition the the England & Wales Civil Registration Index, all available British census records, and a wealth of other online records and resources for tracing British ancestors. General searches are free, but results in the form of transcriptions and/or images, are available through pay-per-view and subscription options.
New London Parish Records Available Online originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 10:58:47.
Fab Forty Genealogy Blogs
I can't honestly say that I wasn't disappointed not to find my About Genealogy blog included in Family Tree Magazine's list of 40 Best Genealogy Blogs, but not so disappointed that I'm going to pass up an opportunity to point out all of the delightful genealogy blogs that did make the list! Since I didn't do any self-promotion during the voting process, I can't even remember what category my blog was included in. I think it may have been "News & Resources," while I would have classified it as "How-To" or, possibly, "All-Around."
Disappointment aside, the Fab Forty Genealogy Blogs list really highlights the best of genealogy, covering the gamut from research guidance and news to heritage and heirlooms. Most of my favorite genealogy blogs are on the list, and I personally enjoy reading each and every one of them. Check out all of these very deserving genealogy blogs (including the "runners-up") and feel free to share your favorite genealogy blogs in the comments below.
Fab Forty Genealogy Blogs originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 14:24:20.
Who was Ella Burnham?
Once I uncovered the name of the author of my mysterious 1874 pocket diary, I of course wanted to learn more about her family and, hopefully, track down a living descendant so that the diary can find a good home.
I began by searching for Ella Burnham in the 1870 Vermont census and quickly found an Ella M. Burnham of about the right age living in the household of Loomis S. and Luthera Pierce in Calais, Washington, Vermont (not far from Barre, Vermont, listed as the place she visited her mother in 1874). Tracing the family back through marriage and census records, I discovered that Luthera was born as Luthera Nelson to Alva Nelson and Millie Ainsworth. She first married Charles Burnham and is found living with him in the 1850 census of Woodbury, Washington, Vermont. According to this post on the Washington Vermont message board hosted by RootsWeb, Charles Burnham and Luthera Nelson married on 16 Oct 1850 in Calais, Washington, Vermont. This is a bit of a conflict with the 1850 census entry which has Luthera listed with the last name of Burnham as of the June 1 census date, so I would pursue further by obtaining the original marriage record (except that this actually isn't the correct family as you'll see below). Charles apparently died prior to the 1860 census, where Luthera is listed as a head of household in Woodbury, Washington, Vermont with children Harriet, Ella and Harry. On 2 Sep 1867, Luthera married her third husband, Louis Pierce - the "Loomis Pierce" she's living with in 1870.
This Ella M. Burnham, however, seemed just a few years too young to be my M. Ella Burnham, so I was not at all confident that I had the right family, despite the coincidence of name, age and location. Good thing, too! Read more...
Who was Ella Burnham? originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 08:23:07.
Can Genealogy Searching Make You Smarter?
As genealogists we often spend oodles of time searching the Web, so I find it promising (and somewhat justifying) that research suggests that Web searching is excellent for stimulating your brain (makes sense, doesn't it?). According to Gary Small, M.D., author of iBrain and director of the Center on Aging at the University of California, Los Angeles, Web searching appears to activate areas of the brain responsible for decision making and reasoning, more so than reading online. Brain activity more than doubled during Internet searches compared with levels recorded when reading in book format (P<0.05), according to a research study reported by Dr. Small and colleagues in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. In the functional MRI study, searching for information on the Internet also activated a greater range of brain regions, but only among subjects already accustomed to using the Internet.
In a second, followup study, participants with minimal Internet experience were able to boost brain function and cognition with minimal training and practice in Web searching.
Just one more reason I love genealogy! The increased mental stimulation will hopefully help to stem some of my age-related cognitive decline...
Can Genealogy Searching Make You Smarter? originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 15:25:29.
Excerpts from Ella's 1874 Pocket Diary
The diary kept by Ella Burnham during her time living in Williamstown, Orange County, Vermont in 1874 is full of names and interesting tidbits of her life and the life of town residents. While traditional records can tell us a lot about our ancestors, there is no substitute for reading about their life in their own words. Ella's diary also highlights the importance of using records created by other people to learn about your ancestors. Not only do we learn a lot about Ella, but we also learn about her family, her scholars, the people she boards with and her friends.
31 January 1874
"There is no school today so I did not get up very early this morning. I washed out my clothes after breakfast did not get my head combed till dinnertime. It has snowed all day. Mr. Bohonon's folks have tried hard to make me enjoy myself today, especially Wille, and I have enjoyed the day and evening but I received a letter from William on this evening that makes me feel bad he does not want to be married for six or seven years. Why I cannot tell unless I give a reason which appears to me evident but which I do not want to think of him. I laid awake and thought about till it seemed as though I should never get to sleep. I made up my mind it should be just as he wishes but he will probably never marry me."
21 March 1874
"The last day of school has again come around and how have I dreaded it. I went up in the woods with Barnet Jane and Alma this mornin and enjoyed a nice ramble and picked my first beechnuts there before school. Read more...
Excerpts from Ella's 1874 Pocket Diary originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Friday, February 12th, 2010 at 14:43:30.
Ella's 1874 Pocket Diary
After leaving a fun antique store in Fort Ann, New York, this past Sunday, my husband surprised me with a great early Valentine's Day present - an 1874 pocket diary filled with handwritten entries. A first glance offered no name or location for the author, but did mention other names and places throughout the pages. I was instantly intrigued...
Flipping through pages in the diary, one of the first things I ran across was a postscript near the end, stating that it was written nine years after the rest of the diary entries.
"Nine years have passed and I am a contented happy wife and mother among these very people among whom I spent a large share of this year [apparently referring to the year 1874 when she kept this diary]; the same yet has changed. 8 years ago Emma Martin passed triumphly over the river and had an abundant entrance into the mansion over there. Her husband Gurdon Martin is now my husband. I am living in her home, and would that I was taking care of her three boys. I am the mother of four children of whom one little girl goes to school in the same schoolhouse where I taught so long ago. Of my scholars, Albert, Barnet, Alma, Satira and Lucy are married. All are living Christian lives except Will Bohonon, Charles Roberts and Charlie Davis."
I wasn't sure on the spelling of "Gurdon" or if I was just misreading "Gordon," but it turned out to indeed be Gurdon which made my search much easier. I began by searching the 1880 census for a Gurdon/Gordon Martin in the Vermont/New York area because Barre, Vermont was mentioned as a nearby town in one of the diary entries, and the diary itself was found just across the New York/Vermont border in Fort Ann, New York. Sure enough, a simple search brought up a Gurdon Martin living in Williamstown, Orange County, Vermont, with wife M. Ella, and five children from the age of 10 down. M. Ella was listed as "keeping house" and not as a school teacher, but this wasn't surprising given that she was married and had four children of her own by this point if she is indeed my diary's author.
Ella's 1874 Pocket Diary originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 11:01:30.
Is this Annie Moore?
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 Annie Moore with her brothers upon their arrival at Ellis Island and asks for help from anyone who might be able to provide a clue. What do you think? Can you help?
Is this Annie Moore? originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 16:10:12.
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 one another. In this case, the connection is 10th cousins. According to NEHGS staff genealogists Chris Child and David Allen Lambert, Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham and Brown's mother, Judith Ann Rugg, both descend from Richard Singletary of Haverhill, Massachusetts, who did in 1687 at the age of 102. President Obama descends from Richard's eldest son, Jonathan Singletary, who later changed his surname to Dunham. Scott Brown descends from Jonathan's brother, Nathaniel Singletary. Child and Lambert also found that Brown is related to six other U.S. Presidents including George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Richard Nixon, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Rutherford B. Hayes.
President Obama Related to Massachusetts Senator-Elect Scott Brown originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 10:41:52.
Two New iPhone Genealogy Apps
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 a lighter version of your family tree that you can easily access on the go. You can search or browse your family tree while at the library, easily add a new tombstone photo right after you take it at the cemetery, or add interview notes directly to your tree as you talk to your relatives.
You can't begin a new Family Tree via the Ancestry.com Tree to Go app (at least not yet), but you can actually scroll through your existing trees a bit easier than is offered online. The navigation is different than what you're used to online (no more pedigree view for example) due to the need for streamlining for the iPhone. You also can't yet search Ancestry.com databases and upload your finds to your tree through the app (thought that will hopefully be available in the future). But even with these limitations, I love the new Ancestry.com Tree to Go app. Download it now for free in the iTunes store and let me know what you think.
The second is an iPhone / iTouch app for Lisa Louise Cooke's Genealogy Gems Podcast which streams her free genealogy audio and video content on the go (a nice feature for genealogists like me who are always on the go!), and also offers exclusive Bonus Content. The app streams all Genealogy Gems podcast episodes, which cover everything from research strategies to celebrity and family history expert interviews; new episodes are downloaded automatically. While Genealogy Gems podcasts are free online, the new Genealogy Gems app is available for $2.99 from the iTunes Store with exclusive bonus content such as custom genealogy themed wallpaper as well as Cooke's 20 page e-book, 5 Fabulous Google Research Strategies for the Family Historian. More bonus content will be released with future episodes.
Two New iPhone Genealogy Apps originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 11:07:03.
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 Do You Think You Are? Preview Video
Preview the U.S. Version of Who Do You Think You Are? originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 11:15:36.
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 would have to start over....and over...and over). I was one of the lucky ones, and did end up in my first choice class at the end of it - Elizabeth Shown Mill's Advanced Methodology & Evidence Analysis, although I also had several very tempting backup options in mind. Despite the frustration, it is absolutely wonderful to see so many people interested in a quality genealogical education!
Whether you've been researching for two years or twenty, there is always more to learn. To be the best genealogist you can, it is imperative that you Read more...
You're Never Done Learning! Genealogy Education & Scholarship originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 10:56:56.
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 Do You Think You Are?," an adaptation of the hit BBC television documentary series created and executive-produced by Alex Graham, gives viewers an up-close and personal look inside the family history of celebrities, including Matthew Broderick, Lisa Kudrow, Spike Lee, Sarah Jessica Parker, Susan Sarandon, Brooke Shields and Emmitt Smith. I was able to see a preview during the Ancestry.com sponsored Blogger Day and the new series shows a lot of promise; the celebrities appeared to really enjoy the things they learned about their ancestors, the places visited include multiple countries for some celebrities, and several of the celebrities stories were truly touching, such as that of Emmitt Smith. Knowing the researchers behind the stories, I can also say that the research for this show is truly sound. I can't wait until it airs! "Who Do You Think You Are?," as well as the new PBS series, "Faces of America", will hopefully excite a whole new set of genealogists, so please tell all of your family and friends to watch. Their success will benefit us all!
U.S. Version of "Who Do You Think You Are?" to Air in March originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Friday, January 15th, 2010 at 08:32:21.
Ancestry.com's "New" New Search
I've tried many times to love Ancestry.com's standard ranked search - dubbed "New Search" by most of us who have been subscribers for years, despite the fact that it was released over a year and a half ago - but I'm still one of the 13% of Ancestry users who prefers and uses the old search on a regular basis. I can just make it do what I need most of the time better than I can navigate the "fuzziness" of the newer "ranked" search. Apparently, I'm not the only one, as Tony Macklin, head of Ancestry.com's Search team, says that a greater percentage of members using the old search tool find the records they are looking for, although this number is likely skewed by the fact that many of these users are the power users of Ancestry.com - the ones who really know how to manipulate search options to get the results they need.
Old search does have its limitations, however, which is why the demonstration of a "new" new search tool at the Ancestry sponsored "Blogger Weekend" really piqued my interest. I'm pretty sure I'm really going to like this one, and can't wait until it's released on the site for users.
Ancestry.com's "New" New Search originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 10:14:43.
Insights from Ancestry.com's Blogger Day 2010
It's now an annual event, as Ancestry.com invited a number of genealogy bloggers out to company headquarters in Provo, Utah, for the second annual Blogger Day this past Friday. I was unable to attend last year due to a death in the family, so was delighted to join the group this year. Other genealogy bloggers in attendance included:
- Ancestry Insider (I've been sworn to silence!)
- Craig Manson, GeneaBlogie
- Diane Haddad, Genealogy Insider at Family Tree Magazine
- Dick Eastman, Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
- Leland Meitzler, GenealogyBlog
- Lisa Louise Cooke, Genealogy Gems
- Pat Richley-Erickson, DearMYRTLE
- Thomas MacEntee, GeneaBloggers
Coming in 2010...
There are a number of exciting new databases and image collections planned to come to Ancestry.com sometime in 2010... Read more...
Insights from Ancestry.com's Blogger Day 2010 originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Monday, January 11th, 2010 at 22:49:02.
Celebrity Genealogy - New PBS Series
Poet Elizabeth Alexander, who composed and read the poem at President Barack Obama's inauguration, chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Louise Erdrich, writer Malcolm Gladwell, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, film director Mike Nichols, Her Royal Highness Queen Noor, actress Eva Longoria Parker, actress Meryl Streep and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi will all appear in a new PBS television series FACES OF AMERICA airing in the U.S. next month. Hosted by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. of African American Lives and African American Lives Two, Faces of America turns again to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 11 renowned Americans.
The Faces of America series airs Wednesdays, February 10 - March 3, 2010 from 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET on PBS and includes the following four episodes: Read more...
Celebrity Genealogy - New PBS Series originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 14:47:44.
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