Genealogists, especially those genealogists with Irish ancestry, owe a lot to Steven Smyrl. He’s the guy whose work and campaigning got the law changed in both jurisdictions in Ireland so that death records began to note important bio data. Death records in the Republic of Ireland used to be worthless because they recorded no vital details about the deceased. Mr Smyrl was responsible for greatly improving things by getting the law changed so that all death registrations would include the person’s date & place of birth and their father & mother’s name.

He has also been responsible for numerous other changes to Irish records of interest to genealogists. He has been described as the “most knowledgeable Irish genealogist on the planet.”

You can read all about Steven Smyrl’s contribution to Irish genealogy in an article by Peter McDermott published in the IrishEcho web site at: https://www.irishecho.com/2023/3/smyrl-genealogy.

The following is from FamilySearch:

Hundreds of millions of new searchable genealogy records from 30+ countries

Just in case you missed it, FamilySearch finished 2022 with an amazing number of new, free, fully-searchable genealogy records online. Over 420 million indexed records were added to 30 free online country collections, and millions more were added to over 100 more new collections from archives all over the world. See the list below for the 30 country collections with the largest additions in 2022. Discover your ancestors today for free at FamilySearch.org.

FamilySearch has over 300 camera teams worldwide helping to digitally preserve and provide access to the world's historical genealogical records. It then utilizes a combination of handwriting recognition artificial intelligence and online volunteers worldwide to make those records discoverable online for free at FamilySearch.org.

Top 30 Countries for Records Added in 2022 on FamilySearch.org.

FamilySearch's Top-30 Countries for Indexed Records in 2022

FamilySearch's United States historical record collections led out in 2022 with 114 million new records from almost every state in the union, including expansions in nationwide collections such as the 1950 US Census, US City and Business Directories, Bureau of Land Management Tract books, and military records like the US Enlisted and Officer Muster Rolls and Rosters. The US updates were spread across 94 different record collections. 

The largest country collections expanded in 2022 were the United States, Brazil, France, Ukraine, Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, the Philippines, and Spain. FamilySearch added more than 27 million records from Ukraine, including Church records from Dnipro, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Kiev, Odessa, and Zaporizhzhia.

Millions more records were added for Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, El Salvador, Estonia, Guatemala, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, and Venezuela, Costa Rica and Bolivia. 

The Find-A-Grave Index, a collection of information from the world's cemeteries, added more than 7 million searchable names. 

New records on FamilySearch continue to support fun family discoveries and research around the world.

FamilySearch adds millions of new digital images and searchable indexes to its collections weekly, and historical collection updates are published weekly in the FamilySearch Blog and monthly in the FamilySearch Newsroom. To stay abreast of collection updates frequent the FamilySearch Blog regularly or subscribe to the FamilySearch Newsroom for monthly updates.

For users with a free FamilySearch tree, FamilySearch continues to use its search algorithms to match newly indexed records against user trees. When a high confidence match is made, users are notified through the Hints feature in the Family Tree. Users should continue to expand their trees and check back frequently to make more discoveries. 

Continue to discover your ancestors for free at FamilySearch.org.

The following announcement was written by the folks at TheGenealogist:

These records cover wanted persons, absentees and deserter records in TheGenealogist’s latest release.

Over 56,000 individuals and 20,802 further aliases from The Police Gazette have been released by TheGenealogist covering the years 1901, 1911, 1921 and 1931 and are now available to Diamond subscribers in their UK Court and Criminal Records Collection.

Searchable by name, alias, offence among other keywords, these records have been transcribed by volunteers from UKIndexer to provide an effective resource for discovering descriptions of our wayward ancestors.

MEPO 6 on TheGenealogist includes the Police Gazette for 1901, 1911, 1921 and 1931

These newly released UK Police Gazette records (sometimes known to researchers by its historic name of Hue and Cry) are a part of the MEPO 6 criminal records on TheGenealogist that also include Habitual Criminals Registers and Miscellaneous Papers.

The images of the pages from the Police Gazette publication on TheGenealogist were originally published by the Metropolitan Police and circulated to Police forces in the British Isles. They include a number of portraits of the offenders and always give descriptive written details of the individuals. Expect to see the names of persons charged who were known but not in custody, and also the description of those who were not known, their appearance, dress, and every other mark of identity that could help identify the person. Also included in the Police Gazette were the names of accomplices and accessories, with every other particular that may lead to the apprehension of the individuals.

Wanted for Theft and Desertion

Sections of the Police Gazette were devoted to “Deserters and Absentees” from the military and those “Discharged for Misconduct”. These provide interesting details about ancestors missing from the Army and the Navy. As an example we can find Albert Eyre, 45, a Colour-sergeant in the 1st Battalion Royal Rifles Reserve Regiment. He appears firstly in the alphabetical list on the front page of “Deserters and Absentees from Her Majesty’s Service” in January 1901.

Albert Eyre in the portraits of persons wanted and list of Deserters and Absentees from the Police Gazette 

Eyre then warrants several mentions, including a photograph of him, on the inside pages of subsequent editions. He had by then also become wanted, along with a female accomplice, by Portsmouth Police for “Stealing a considerable amount of Money.” The fugitive was described as: age 45, height 5 ft. 5 in., complexion sallow, hair brown, moustache and imperial dark, eyes grey; dress, black overcoat, dark suit, grey cap.

We can read that he had left Portsmouth accompanied by an unnamed woman whose unflattering description is also published: age 23 (looks older) height 5ft. 5 in., stout build, complexion sallow, hair (short) dyed auburn colour, 1 front tooth deficient.

TheGenealogist has an extensive Court and Criminal Records collection that can be used to discover trouble-making ancestors that include the MEPO 6 records that embrace Registers of Criminals as defined by sections 5-8 of the Prevention of Crimes Act 1871, with examples of the Police Gazettes. 

Read TheGenealogist’s featured article where a search of the MEPO 6 Criminal Records discovers female gang leaders known as the Queen of the Forties: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2023/the-queens-of-the-forties-1683/

About TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist is an award-winning online family history website, which puts a wealth of information at the fingertips of family historians. Their approach is to bring hard to use physical records to life online with easy to use interfaces such as their Tithe and newly released Lloyd George Domesday collections. 

TheGenealogist’s innovative SmartSearch technology links records together to help you find your ancestors more easily. TheGenealogist is one of the leading providers of online family history records. Along with the standard Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records, they also have significant collections of Parish and Nonconformist records, PCC Will Records, Irish Records, Military records, Occupations, Newspaper record collections amongst many others.

TheGenealogist uses the latest technology to help you bring your family history to life. Use TheGenealogist to find your ancestors today!

I am not offering this article as medical advice! After all, there is increased risk of children suffering genetic defects like extra fingers and toes. However, if you are seriously thinking about marrying your first cousin, you really need to first check an article by Cassidy Morrison published in the DailyMail web site.

And, oh yes... also check with a lawyer.

According to the article:

"Studies show that children born of two blood-related parents have double the risk of congenital problems such as heart and lung defects, cleft palettes, and extra fingers.

"Children of inbreeding are also twice as likely to be treated for an illness requiring antipsychotic medicines, like schizophrenia.  

"Yet despite the known risks of inbreeding in humans, 19 US states and the District of Columbia still allow marriages between first cousins. They mostly fall on the coasts and in the southern states."

You can learn a lot more at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11934633/The-19-states-marry-cousin-despite-inbreeding-risks.html.

Of course, numerous people have married their first cousins in the past:

Queen Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840.

In 1919, famed physicist Albert Einstein married Elsa Lowenthal, who was his first cousin on his mother's side as well as his second cousin on his father's side.

Jerry Lee Lewis married his first cousin, Myra Gale, when she was 13 and he was 22 years old.

At age 27, American poet Edgar Allan Poe married his first cousin, Virginia Eliza Clemm, while she was just 13 years old.

Composer Johann Sebastian Bach married his first cousin, Maria Barbara, in 1701. She was a vocalist, and together, they had seven children. 

The following is a press release issued by the Library of Congress:

The Library of Congress hosted a special display and press conference to announce a new transcription campaign seeking to learn more about the signers of a rarely seen 1865 petition by Black residents in South Carolina calling for equal rights. 

In the wake of the Civil War and the emancipation of enslaved people, Black residents submitted petitions to the federal government for equal treatment under the law. One such petition from South Carolina residents is addressed to the U.S. Congress and stretches to 54 feet in length when fully extended. 

Little is known about the creation of this petition, which has been held at the Library since 1939. The petition was recently displayed in an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and featured in the Library’s magazine.

The Library’s By the People crowdsourcing program is launching a campaign at crowd.loc.govseeking to encourage further research and learn more about the petition and its signers.

Since 2018, the Library of Congress has invited virtual volunteers to transcribe pages from history through By the People. To date, volunteers have completed over 620,000 pages. Completed transcriptions enhance collection discovery and access on loc.gov.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov; access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov; and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.

The following announcement was written by the National Library of Israel:

The National Library of Israel (NLI) announced the online availability of its Sephardic Heritage and Spanish-language resources. In time for Passover, these resources include a large selection of Haggadot in the Sephardic tradition, available for download.

On March 31, 1492, the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella signed the Edict of Expulsion ordering the Jews to leave Spain, where the Jewish community had thrived for some 800 years.

After the Expulsion, Jews of Spanish origin established communities wherever safe haven was to be found—in Italy, Greece, the Balkans, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and the Land of Israel. They continued to speak Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) and maintained their deeply rooted traditions.

To mark this watershed in history, NLI has launched a webpage dedicated to the Jewish Expulsion from Spain. The site presents items from its collection of pre-and post-expulsion Sephardic manuscripts, early printed books, Ladino materials, poetry and prayer, and other oral documentation.

Passover Haggadot in this collection include:

New archives of Sephardic Heritage have been added to NLI’s collection of personal archives, including the writings and personal estates of rabbis and community leaders, archives of institutions and Mizrahi-Jewish communities whose members are descendants of the expelled Jews, archives of scholars of Sephardic Jewry and more.

Among the newest archives, cataloged and scanned thanks to the generous support of the Samis Foundation of Seattle, are those of historian Moshe David Gaon (father of singer Yehoram Gaon); journalist Robert Attal; Yechiel Habshush, who helped to bring the Yemenite community to Israel; and parts of the personal archive of Abraham Shalom Yahuda, who established NLI’s collection of Arabic and Islamic works.

The following announcement was written by the folks at the Digital Library of Georgia:

This year, the Digital Library of Georgia will be adding a variety of new newspaper titles to the Georgia Historic Newspapers (GHN) website (https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/).  Below is the list of titles currently slated to be added to GHN in the Spring and Summer of 2023.

Titles funded by the Chattooga County Historical Society

Summerville News, 1949-1979

Titles funded by the Georgia Public Library Service

Augusta Voice, 1995-2007

Hazlehurst News, 1909-1929

Monticello News, 1903-1927

Titles digitized in partnership with Georgia State University

News (Atlanta Gay Center), 1984-1995

Titles digitized in partnership with Kennesaw State University

Southern Voice, 1995

Titles funded by Mercer University Archives, Special Collections, and Digital Initiatives

Mercer Cluster (Macon), 1970-1990

Titles funded by Middle Georgia State University Library

Kernel (Cochran), 1930-1970, 1987

Titles funded by the National Digital Newspaper Program with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Atlanta Georgian, 1914

Weekly Georgian (Atlanta), 1914

Titles funded by the Watson-Brown Foundation

Atlanta Georgian, 1915-1920

In the early days of personal computers, everyone knew why backups were important. Computer storage simply wasn’t as reliable as it is today, and it wasn’t a question of if you’d lose vital files through no fault of your own, but when it would happen. (Possibly today; probably tomorrow; almost certainly by next week.)

The creators of viruses, worms and Trojans hadn’t yet figured out how to make money out of malware, so they often simply deleted or corrupted all your data just for the sake of it.

These days, however, ransomware aside, you could be forgiven for assuming that your data will be there whenever you need it, because “hard disks” (as we still call them) feel as though they’re unbreakable, unburstable, untrashable, invincible.

WHAT IS A BACKUP?

A backup is a copy of all your important files — for example, your family photos, your genealogy information (how many hours did you spend finding all that information?), your home videos, documents, and emails. Instead of storing it all in one place (like your computer or smartphone), you keep a copy of everything somewhere safe.

One small accident or failure could destroy all the important stuff you care about.

Today (March 31st) is WorldBackupDay: the day to prevent data loss!

Obviously, you need to make backups more than once a year. (My computers make backups of all newly-created files once every 15 minutes, even if I am sleeping at the time.) 

There are probably more than a dozen different, effective ways of making a backup. Backing up to a NAS is a good safe way to backup mainly for small businesses, Tech-Savvy PC users, and smart homes. NAS is an abbreviation for Network Attached Storage. A NAS Server is a kind of computer cabinet that can convert one or more hard drives into one network storage device via a wired or a wireless connection.

(I am in the process of building a new NAS and will write about it when I am finished with the project.)

Keep in mind that all computer hard drives and other devices will fail eventually. If that happens to you, will you be prepared? As I wrote at the beginning of this article: "It could happen possibly today; probably tomorrow; almost certainly by next week.""

However you back up your computer data, the important thing is to "Just Do It!"

Repeat after me: “I solemnly swear to backup my important documents and precious memories on March 31st. I will also tell my friends and family about World Backup Day - Real friends don't let friends go without a backup."

Twitter continues to shrink in the number of users and in the reduction in the amount of information being posted daily. All this apparently is caused by the actions of the new owner, Elon Musk.

Now a new web site has appeared that plans to be a Twitter alternative. 

T2 is led by former Twitter employees who want to recreate Twitter’s “public square.”

The site isn’t available to the general public just yet but the developers hope it will become available within a few days. T2 is part of a growing crop of Twitter alternatives that have sprung up in the wake of Musk’s takeover. The platform is smaller than some more established rivals, like Mastodon, but is intent on recreating the “public square” associated with the pre-Musk Twitter. In fact, founder Gabor Cselle has been pretty clear that he intends to create “a pretty straightforward copy of Twitter with some simplifications” rather than an entirely new experience.

For now, users only have a couple days to take advantage of the program, since legacy verifications are set to disappear from Twitter on April 1st. But the company has a plan to offer verification via other means once Twitter’s legacy checks go away. (T2’s form-based verification won’t work for those who paid for the new, Twitter Blue-enabled check.)

Along with the new verification features, T2 is also announcing a couple other milestones. The company has hired a former Discord exec as its new CTO, and is launching a much-needed redesign that will look familiar to Twitter users.

Stay tuned...

The following was initially written in the Estonian language, then translated to English by Google Translate:

The National Library's DigiLabor helps to monetize cultural data

On March 30, the Estonian National Library's research portal DigiLabor started operating. Those interested can create new knowledge and values from the datasets themselves or use the help of a library representative.

The goal of the National Library's DigiLab (digilab.rara.ee) is to help make the data held by libraries more digitally accessible and usable, to promote data valorization, research and innovation. The DigiLabor collection contains metadata of over 12 million newspaper articles and 70,000 books and 785,000 objects, but the datasets are constantly being supplemented.

"Cultural heritage and information technology come together in DigiLabor in the form of data. The target group of the portal is humanities and social scientists, data scientists and other interested parties," summarized Peeter Tinits, chief digital humanities specialist at the National Library of Estonia.

The data comes from the digital archive DIGAR, the Estonian article database DEA, the Estonian national bibliography database ERB and the Estonian keyword set EMS. DigiLabor also gathers data on legal bibliography, bibliography of Estonian presidents, parliamentarism and repros

The datasets are divided into categories such as books, periodicals, image material, sound, multimedia, and also individuals and collectives. The interested party can make inquiries in DigiLabor according to the category of interest.

The announcement is quite lengthy and goes on and on. I'll stop here. However, if you have an interest in Estonia and want to read the entire article, you will need to go to https://www.nlib.ee/et/uudised/rahvusraamatukogu-digilabor-aitab-v%C3%A4%C3%A4rindada-kultuuriandmeid. (Hopefully, you can read the Estonian language. If not, go to https://translate.google.com for a translation.)