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All opinions expressed in this document are those of Dick Eastman and his alone, unless otherwise attributed. None of his statements are to be interpreted as endorsements by his employer, by the other authors or by advertisers.

Copyright© 2004 by Richard W. Eastman. All rights reserved.

Items marked with a Plus Sign (+) appear only in the Plus Edition newsletter.

I'm not a packrat, I am an archivist!

This is a quick "heads up" message to subscribers of this newsletter: the next few weeks' editions may be delayed from time to time. Do not automatically look for the Plus Editions to appear in your e-mail inbox on Sunday evening or Monday morning. I might be traveling.

Thanks to laptop computers and modem connections to hotel phone systems, I have been able to send past newsletters when traveling. Newsletters have been sent from many different cities in the U.S. as well as from several Canadian cities, several times from London, once from Rotterdam, and once from Hong Kong.

After nearly three months at home, I am now facing an intense travel schedule in the next six weeks, including several genealogy-related trips to four countries. There may be a few "connectivity challenges" in my future. Don't be surprised if the newsletter does not arrive in your inbox at the expected time. Please be patient; it will appear sooner or later.

Thank you.

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- 35th Annual Genealogical Jamboree and Resource Expo in Pasadena

A major genealogy "jamboree" will be held this week in Pasadena, California. The Southern California Genealogical Society's Genealogical Jamboree and Resource Expo begins at 1:00 PM on Friday, April 16. The Jamboree will continue into Friday's evening hours and then on Saturday until 6:00 PM.

The Jamboree always features exhibits by many of the leading genealogy vendors as well as numerous societies. In addition, a number of speakers will be holding forth both days on a variety of topics. A full list of the presentations as well as the speakers' bios can be found on the sponsoring society's Web site.

This has been a very busy and even crowded conference in past years. The "genealogy grapevine" says that this year's event will probably be one of the larger jamborees in recent times.

If you are unable to be in Pasadena this coming weekend, you can still read about it in next week's edition of this newsletter. I will be at the Jamboree and expect to write about it while flying 3,000 miles back home on Sunday. That report should appear in next week's newsletter.

If you do attend the Jamboree, please drop by the New England Historic Genealogical Society's booth and say "hello." I'll be there, along with a couple of the Society's members. We would love to meet you.

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Many genealogy records are indexed by a high-tech algorithm called the Soundex Code. Well, it was "high tech" in 1918, when it was invented by Robert Russell. In a nutshell, Soundex Codes provide a means of identifying words – especially names -- by the way they sound. They were used extensively by the WPA (Work Projects Administration) crews working in the 1930s to organize Federal Census data from 1880 to 1920. Soundex has also been used for many state and local census records and is very popular in genealogy software and databases.

Motor vehicle bureaus in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, and Missouri employ Soundex for generating the initial characters of the identification numbers on driver's licenses. The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics uses Soundex to encode names in its crime surveys and maintain the anonymity of individuals about whom data is collected.

Many improved versions of Soundex have appeared over the years. However, U.S. genealogists still cling to the method created in 1918. Sadly, most genealogists who think they know how to determine Soundex Codes are mistaken. One rule is overlooked by most genealogists and many genealogy programs. If you are unaware of this "special rule," you may never find the information that you seek.

The following is an announcement from the New England Historic Genealogical Society:

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In other news from the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the vital records of Brattleboro, Vermont, are now available online. This online database was created from the handwritten manuscripts compiled by John Elliot Bowman in 1914. It includes all births, marriages, and deaths recorded prior to June 8, 1814. The town of Brattleboro, in Windham County, was organized in 1753.

The original manuscript is part of the R. Stanton Avery Collections at the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The handwritten records can be viewed by NEHGS members at the Society's research library in Boston. The call number is MSS C 3008. Of course, the transcribed database is on the Web and visible to NEHGS members around the world.

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This edition of the newsletter has several announcements from the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Indeed, it has been a busy week at the Society. The third (and last) announcement concerns a new online database containing census information extracted from the Town Register of Sidney, Vassalboro, China, and Albion (pp. 57-134), all of which are in Maine. Information includes name, town of residence, occupation (sometimes with name of employer), and year of birth for head of household, spouse, and children. Maiden names, locations of children who have moved away from the residence, and names of deceased spouses are occasionally included as well.

This original text is part of the R. Stanton Avery Collections at NEHGS, call number MSS ME VAS 25.

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On the night of April 15, 1912, the unthinkable happened to the unsinkable as the most luxurious ocean-going liner ever built sank beneath the icy waters of the North Atlantic. The remains of the Titanic and of many of those who sailed in her first and only voyage have rested there ever since.

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The following announcement was written by Mic Barnette, owner of Barnette's Family Tree Book Company in Houston, Texas. Mr. Barnette also is the author of a weekly genealogical column published in the Houston Chronicle:

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The following is an announcement from the U.S. National Genealogical Society:

• PBS History Detectives host, Dr. Tukufu Zuberi, will open the conference on Wednesday morning to share with you many of the stories, techniques and anecdotes that have made his TV show so popular.

• Well-known author, lecturer and genealogist John Philip Colletta will be featured at the Thursday evening banquet. In his inimitable, entertaining style, he will amuse us with tales of our ancestor's linguistics. "Hacks, Hookers, and Putting up Pickles: Snares of Yesteryear's English" will be a fun evening for all.

• Our hosts, the Genealogical & Historical Council of Sacramento Valley, have planned a relaxing evening of dining on the riverfront at historic Old Sacramento's Railroad Roundhouse. Tour the unparalleled collection of restored locomotives and railroad cars dating from 1862, then mingle with old and new friends at the "Gold Rush Days" buffet. Other exciting tour options include four pre-conference tours plus a Saturday evening Sacramento Old Cemetery Tour.

• A special presentation by Cyndi Howells, creator of Cyndi's List and author of "Planting Your Family Tree Online" has been added to the program. "Googling for Grandma: Tips and Tricks for Making Google Work for You" is sure to make your Internet research time more productive and rewarding.

• New this year are two special plenary sessions. To learn more about latest tool for genealogical research, be sure to attend "Tracking Your Genes in Genealogy: DNA Testing." If California history is your interest, social historian J.S. Holliday will surely capture your imagination with his lecture, "Far From Home and Genealogy: The Origins of California's Risk-Taking Culture."

• Daily workshops with expert instructors on computer software, digital imaging, land-platting and German gothic and early American handwriting.

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According to Eric G. Grundset, Library Director at the DAR Library in Washington, DC, the manuscript collection of the U.S. National Genealogical Society's library was transferred to the DAR Library in late March 2004. The collection filled approximately 150 boxes of genealogical materials. The Society did retain some manuscript material for further study or for other reasons.

The National Genealogical Society offered the material to the DAR Library in order to reduce its own storage space requirements.

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The following is announcement from John Carlin, Archivist of the United States:

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Find A Grave is a Website where volunteers submit the data from thousands of cemeteries worldwide and let others search for free. The site presently has roughly 5.3 million records in its database.

Find A Grave has an interesting section for the graves of celebrities, including movie stars, politicians, and gangsters. As I usually do, I conducted a search for my own surname. To be sure, I found a listing for George Eastman, the chemist from Rochester who started a photography firm and died a multi-millionaire. However, I was more interested to find a listing for someone whom I had never heard of before. It seems that Monk Eastman was the leader of the fiercest street gang in New York at the beginning of the 20th Century. Eastman was sent to prison for a robbery in 1904. After his release, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and fought in the 27th Infantry Division along the Western Front in World War I. Upon his return in 1919, he was restored to full citizenship by the governor of New York. Monk Eastman soon slipped back into a life of crime, however, and was shot to death on Christmas night, 1920, at the entrance to the 14th Street subway station in Manhattan. The article was accompanied by a photograph of this career criminal. Such is the information to be found on FindAGrave.com!

The Web site also has "photo volunteers" in hundreds of communities who will take digital photos of headstones for you. (One woman has cataloged more than 110,000 graves herself, with many others in the tens of thousands.)

This is an interesting Web site. With 5.3 million records in its database, there is always a good chance that you can find a U.S. ancestor listed. While there, check out the site's discussion board.

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The Italian Genealogical Group has just posted a searchable index to New York City deaths from 1891 to 1911. This free database contains more than 1,400,000 records. The NYC Deaths Index project is ongoing, and later years will be posted in the future.

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With the unusual name of a "Virtual Talking Machine," one Web site seeks to preserve early phonograph recordings: those made between the years of 1900 and 1939.

Many of the recordings from the early days are "acoustical recordings," made before the invention of electronic microphones in 1925. Musicians would sing into a tube or box that was directly (mechanically) connected to the wax cylinder that later created the records. No electronic components were used in the production of acoustical recordings; they were made in essentially the same method that Thomas Edison used in 1877.

Using RealPlayer, Dismuke offers digitized music recordings that you can play on your computer's sound card. Many of the songs can be downloaded and stored on your hard drive. The site features classics by Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, "Fats" Waller, Ella Fitzgerald performing with Benny Goodman's band, Bessie Smith, Enrico Caruso, Paul Whiteman, the Original Dixieland "Jass" Band, and more.

The site also features an online radio feature that operates 24 hours a day, as well as a message board.

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The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation has been soliciting donations for several years. In appeals, the Foundation has suggested that one can honor one's ancestors by donating to the Foundation. Now federal investigators have begun an inquiry into the nonprofit foundation's financial affairs. The federal government is involved not only because of financial improprieties but also because the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation is a contractor the National Park Service, the agency that operates Ellis Island.

The inspector general of the Interior Department, which oversees the Park Service, is investigating how the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation spent donations it raised for projects at the monument and whether it followed federal guidelines on competitive bidding for certain contracts, the official said.

The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation already had a strong endowment but then embarked on an ambitious campaign to raise still more funds. The latest fund-raising campaign has collected nearly $7 million from corporations, the public, and from New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who contributed $100,000 of his own money.

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In the past year or so, I have responded to probably more than one thousand e-mails that said, "I didn't receive this week's Plus Edition newsletter." Probably 90% of those messages come from AOL members, but there are others as well. In almost every instance, the newsletter was sent to that person but never made it to his or her e-mail inbox. Most of the time, a spam filter at the receiving mail server deleted the newsletter under the mistaken impression that it was junk, or spam, mail.

The problem is increasing every day as more and more spam mail is sent and then more and more spam prevention "solutions" are installed. The problem is that most of these "solutions" are not perfect. They let some spam through and, even worse, they occasionally delete wanted messages that should not be deleted. E-newsletters tend to be longer than normal e-mail messages, have more "sensitive" words and phrases, and are more susceptible to being deleted than normal e-mails received from friends and relatives. Therefore, newsletters get deleted more often than normal e-mail.

For instance, if I write an article about a genealogy program and mention how you can order the program by using that small piece of plastic in your wallet, that newsletter may be interpreted as spam by your Internet provider's mail server filters.

This is not a problem for this newsletter alone. All other publishers of e-newsletters are struggling with spam filter problems. Several industry studies have proven that 20% to perhaps 35% of all e-newsletters sent never reach their intended addressees. The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Harvard University, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the Ancestry Daily News, and many others have all reported the same problem with their newsletters.

While AOL is the most notorious system for deleting wanted e-mails, plenty of other mail servers have similar issues. Almost all e-mail servers today have spam filters installed. If you think your Internet provider does not use spam filters, call the company's customer service department and ask. I bet you'll be surprised. Most mail server administrators have been forced to install some sort of spam filter in self-defense. If they don't, the mail servers quickly become overloaded and may crash.

Sadly, the reliability of e-mail is degrading. A few years ago I could send an e-mail to anyone and was 99% certain it would arrive. That is no longer true today, because of the spam filters.

I am now working on a method of delivering the Plus Edition newsletters to you in a method that will not be blocked by spam filters. Like many software projects, this one is taking longer than projected and will undoubtedly cost more than I planned on before it is finished. However, once implemented, it will deliver the Plus Edition newsletters to each Plus Edition subscriber via three simultaneous methods:

1. Via e-mail, the same as today. This method will continue to have problems with spam filters but will be available to those who are able to receive the newsletters via e-mail. This method will not work for everyone.

2. Via the eogn.com Web site. Plus Edition subscribers will be able to read their newsletters on the Web, where spam filters are not a problem. A user ID and password will be required. A similar system is already in place today but requires setting up accounts manually. The new Web server system will handle subscriptions, user IDs, and passwords automatically, 24 hours a day. Once you subscribe, you will be able to change your e-mail address, password, and other options yourself.

3. Via an RSS news feed. If you are not familiar with RSS, you can read about it in many places on the Web. I will also be writing about RSS in future newsletters when the new system is about to launch. In short, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is somewhat of a cross between e-mail and a Web browser. It only retrieves information when you tell it to (like a Web browser), but the info received looks more like an e-mail than a Web page. In short, it is perfect for e-newsletters.

RSS is spam-free because RSS is a "pull system," not a "push system." You only receive the information when you ask for it, or "pull it." Unlike e-mail, nobody can ever "push" messages to you without your prior permission. You only receive specific data that you want and only when you ask for it. In the case of this newsletter, you will receive the newsletter only when you specifically want it. (Some RSS readers can be configured to automatically retrieve data every few hours or days, all under your control.)

Finally, there are no spam filters on RSS because there is no need for them and because your Internet provider's mail server is not involved. RSS doesn't use e-mail at all.

There are several ways to retrieve RSS data:

The new implementation I am working on will support all three methods of retrieving RSS data. You will have options. The retrieval of this newsletter will be 100% under your control. If e-mail delivery does not work for you, you will still be able to use the other two methods: read it in a Web browser or read it in an RSS reader.

I have purchased a Content Management System that creates the newsletters in three simultaneous formats: RSS, email, and normal Web pages (HTML). The software is installed on a Web server and is being customized for this newsletter. I am not giving estimated dates of availability of the new RSS server system. All I will say is that it will be announced as soon as it is ready. I anticipate that it will be available within a few weeks.

Thank you for your patience.

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The PR Budget for this newsletter is $0.00. I rely upon "word of mouse" advertising in which you recommend this newsletter to your friends. This newsletter is a private project of mine, and I have a zero budget for a publicity campaign to get more readers.

Thanks.

COPYRIGHTS and Other Legal Things:

1. You do so strictly for non-commercial purposes
2. Articles marked with a Plus Sign (+) are not to be redistributed. Those articles are solely for the use of Plus Edition subscribers.
3. You may not republish any articles containing words attributed to another person or organization until you obtain permission from that person or organization. While you do have permission to republish words written by Richard W. Eastman, you do not have automatic authority to republish words written by others, even if their words appear in this newsletter.

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