New to DigitalNC is our primary source set on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which traces the history of this popular tourist destination from its initial creation and construction in the 1930s to the building of its final “missing link” decades later. The Parkway is a well-loved and widely visited attraction today, but its history shows that conflict, especially disputes over land and route planning, played a key role in preventing the Parkway’s construction.

The Blue Ridge Parkway set consists of various written (newspapers) and visual (photographs, maps, postcards) material to demonstrate the history of the road through primary sources. Other sections of this set include background information, context statements, discussion questions, outside resources, and a timeline. Here is a brief look at the primary source set for North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Parkway:

Yonahlossee Trail on Blue Ridge Parkway, Western North Carolina

North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Parkway

Time period: 1933-1962

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a scenic road that stretches 469 miles across the states of Virginia and North Carolina. Since the 1940s, the Parkway has been a favorite destination of tourists, who travel the road to experience its mountain views and visit nearby towns and attractions. The project to create the Parkway was first funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1933. As one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal agencies, the PWA was established to fight the impact of the Great Depression by providing funds to large public works projects where young men could find employment.

After the Parkway project received funding from the PWA, conflict over route planning began. The Parkway was meant to connect two national parks together: Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee. Officials from North Carolina and Tennessee gave conflicting proposals on the Parkway’s route, giving way to a long fight over which proposal would receive approval. Other conflicts soon followed, most related to Parkway routes or land ownership. Eminent domain issues troubled Appalachian landowners; the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians fought against routes that would cut through important sections of their land; one businessman pushed back against a route that would impact his mountain tourist attraction, preventing the Parkway’s completion until 1987.

Although the Blue Ridge Parkway was created to connect two national parks, increase tourism in the region, and provide jobs for the unemployed, conflict played a part in preventing the achievement of these goals and in extending the Parkway’s construction. 

Teachers, students, researchers, and anyone who is interested in learning more about the history of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina can find the primary source set on our resources page. If you would like to provide feedback on the sets, please contact us here.

The following Book Review was written by Bobbi King:

The Genealogical Publishing Company publishes these condensed, well-structured guides designed to help genealogists plan and navigate their research either as beginners or as refresher guides for experienced researchers.

These 4-page, laminated, 8x11 folders highlight various records, such as censuses, military documents, online resources, unique church records, specialized archives, vital records, and any records unique to the topic’s time and place, along with information on how to interpret the records.

Each guide introduces its topic with historical background, a table of contents, and key dates and/or quick facts that illustrate the content. Links to digital resources and repositories offer fast access to further research. 

While the guides excel as quick references, their limited length cannot cover every aspect of research, so advanced genealogists may find these too elementary for their use. However, as starting points or refreshers, they serve their purposes well.

Recent updates include: 

Genealogy Research (updated edition) by Carol McGinnis

War of 1812 Research (updated edition) by Rebecca Whitman Koford and the War of 1812 Preserve the Pensions Project

Pennsylvania Genealogy Research (updated edition) by John T. Humphrey

Ontario, Canada, Genealogy Research by Lorine McGinnis Schools

Russian Genealogy Research by Vera Ivanova Miller

Welsh Genealogy Research by John Rowlands and Beryl Evans

Ukrainian Genealogy Research by Vera Ivanova Miller

These are useful additions to the genealogy toolkit, particularly for those who want a streamlined guide.

The following is a press release from TheGenealogist:

Comprehensive collection offers unprecedented access to early 20th-century property records across 1,400 square miles

TheGenealogist has announced the release of the Lloyd George Domesday Survey for Essex, a significant addition to its growing collection of historical property records. This extensive dataset contains 356,265 records of occupiers, owners and organisations, all meticulously pinned to annotated maps.

This brings the total coverage of the Lloyd George Domesday Survey to over 11,000 square miles, exclusive to TheGenealogist!

Named after David Lloyd George, the Chancellor of the Exchequer responsible for the 1910 Finance Act, the Lloyd George Domesday Survey was a comprehensive land valuation of England and Wales. The resulting records offer genealogists and historians an invaluable insight into property ownership and occupation in the early 20th century.

 The Lloyd George Domesday Survey Map for Maldon, Essex

"From the coastline, the countryside and up to the capital, these records provide an invaluable resource for those researching family and social history in Essex," said Mark Bayley head of online content at TheGenealogist. "By combining detailed records with precise geographical data, Map Explorer enables researchers to visualise exactly where their ancestors lived and understand the area they called home."

The collection features:

• 356,265 individual records of property occupiers, owners, and organisations

• Annotated maps covering 1,400 square miles of Essex

• Detailed property descriptions and valuations

• Names and addresses of both owners and occupiers

This release forms part of TheGenealogist's ongoing commitment to digitising and preserving these historically significant records. The Lloyd George Domesday Survey is particularly valuable as it records the exact locations of properties, making these property records an essential source for genealogical, social and historical research.

Researchers can access the Lloyd George Domesday Survey records for Essex through TheGenealogist's Diamond Subscription, where they can be searched by name, address, or through MapExplorer^TM, allowing for precise research across this historic county.

For more information about TheGenealogist's Lloyd George Domesday Record Collection or to begin searching these records, visit: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/1910/

The Courtauld family, one of Britain’s greatest industrial success stories can be found in this release - read their story here: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2025/courtaulds-a-crape-british-industry-8018/

For a limited time, you can get our Diamond Subscription for just £99.95. You’ll also receive a 12 month subscription to Discover Your Ancestors’ Online Magazine plus four eBooks; Discover Your Ancestors' Occupations by Laura Berry, Regional Research Guidebook by Andrew Chapman, Researching and Locating Your Ancestors by Celia Heritage and Discover Your Ancestors Periodical Compendium, giving you a combined saving of over £100.

Explore these new records and start your genealogical journey today with TheGenealogist by claiming this offer here:https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/MGBLGD325

Offer expires 30th April 2025.

About TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist is an award-winning online family history website, who put 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!

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For more information on TheGenealogist, please contact Paul at paul@thegenealogist.co.uk

On September 25, 1988, an unknown victim was found dead 30 feet off the side of CR 272 in a rural and heavily wooded area of Clermont, Florida. Now, after years of difficult work from genealogists, the identity of the victim has officially been identified.

According to a release from the Lake County Sheriff's Office (LCSO), the victim had been deceased for about two to four weeks before being found. They appeared to be female with breast implants and wearing a skirt; further evidence suggested they may have been taking female hormone injections. It wasn't until 2015 when improved DNA technology revealed the victim to be biologically male.

With the victim's true identity still shrouded in mystery, LCSO, with support from Dr. Barbara Wolf and the District Medical Examiners for Districts 5 and 24, had the case evaluated by the DNA Doe Project — a non-profit organization that uses investigative genetic genealogy techniques to identify unidentified remains.

After 10 years of difficult work, DNA Doe Project genealogists were able to connect DNA from the cold case to possible relatives of the victim. LCSO contacted the potential relatives, who then sent in their DNA for comparison. These comparisons confirmed the relation, identifying the 'Julie Doe' as Pamela Leigh Walton.

Pamela Leigh Walton was born a biological male; at a young age, he was put up for adoption in Kentucky. Once adopted, he received the name Lee Allen Walton. At some point in Lee's adult life, he changed his name to Pamela and began transitioning from male to female. It is unknown whether or not Walton underwent any additional gender reassignment procedures.

While the discovery of Pamela Leigh Walton's identity marks a major milestone in solving the cold case, some details still remain uncovered. As of publication, it remains unclear how Pamela came to be in Florida, and the manner of her death is still undetermined. 

LCSO state that they continue to put effort into gathering information regarding Pamela's death circumstances and encourage anyone who may have information to contact their non-emergency line at 352-343-2101.

The digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi service recently surpassed the 30-million-page mark. The service contains newspapers, journals, ephemera, maps, library card indices, music notation and manuscripts. The digitised collection grows by two or three million pages each year.

Collection built around 20 million pages of newspaper material  

Newspapers have been comprehensively digitised for the periods from 1771 to the end of 1949 and from 2017 to the present year. In addition, the service includes other material sets digitised with separate funding, such as all Swedish-language newspapers published in Finland. Current efforts focus on the retroactive digitisation of newspapers from the 1950s.

Page views increase 

Last year, digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi recorded 16.9 million page views, up slightly from 16.3 million in 2023. The service was accessed from all continents. The highest number of users accessing the service in Finland were from Helsinki, Tampere and Vantaa. Year after year, Helsingin Sanomat and Hufvudstadsbladet remain the most popular newspapers, while Suomen Kuvalehti tops the statistics for journals and magazines.

Journals, books, maps, music notation and recordings also available

While not as comprehensively digitised as newspapers, the most frequently accessed journals have been digitised until the end of 1944. The digitised book collection includes Finnish classics, old doctoral theses and literature from the period of Swedish rule. Introducing users to maps of the world is the collection of Ptolemy atlases, which features map publications from the advent of the printing press to the 18th century. Music notation can be, for example, printed for personal use. To safeguard fragile material, the National Library digitises sound recordings, with most of the digitised content available only in the library facilities.

Four-year programme guiding digitisation

The latest digitisation programme for 2025–2028 was published in January this year. It covers not only newspaper and journal digitisation, but also material from various National Library collections selected with a view to its utilisation rate, customer requests, research needs and sustainable development.

The National Library will make all public-domain material available to everyone. Copyrighted material can be used at legal deposit libraries.

Digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi(opens a new tab)

Use of legal deposit materials

National Library of Finland Digitisation Programme(opens a new tab)

Launched in 1920, the Gazette was utilized by the British Mandate for official publications until it was discontinued in 1948, following the establishment of the State of Israel.

The Israel State Archives published on Sunday the digital collection of the Palestine Gazette, the official newspaper for the British government during mandatory Palestine.

The collection was published to mark the uploading of the 50 millionth paper to the archive’s website.

L

aunched in 1920, the Gazette was utilized by the British Mandate for official publications until it was discontinued in 1948, a few months following the establishment of the State of Israel.

''Palestine Gazette'' July 1, 1921 issue in Hebrew.  (credit: ISRAEL STATE ARCHIVES)

The mandatory government used the Gazette to publish regulations, municipal laws, and government announcements in addition to information regarding sanitation and transportation, among other subjects.

The Gazette was published in English, Hebrew, and Arabic on an infrequent basis. However, those currently available to the public are in Hebrew and English.

Digitization efforts

According to the archives, the collection includes some 700 files and constitutes an important historical, legal, and genealogical source.

The archives noted the efforts to complete the digitization that have been ongoing for a decade, with 250 million papers digitized so far.

The Maine Irish Heritage Center helps people learn more about their ancestry through DNA testing and historic research.

Helen Donahue Frazier, right, and her daughter, Elizabeth Frazier, left, try on matching hats at a shop in Galway. Photo courtesy of Helen Donahue Frazier

In 2018, Helen Donahue Frazier visited the genealogists at the Maine Irish Heritage Center. She knew her father was Irish, but he died when she was 3 years old and had no living relatives.

“I had no Irish family before I walked in the door that day,” she said.

She found her family — and her passion. Frazier has since joined the team of volunteer genealogists at the Maine Irish Heritage Center who helped her do her own research. She answered five questions about their services. This interview has been edited for length.

How did you get in touch with the Maine Irish Heritage Center for the first time?

I didn’t know at the time that most everybody in the Portland area come from an area in Galway called Spiddal. In medieval times, it was a hospital, and it was set way outside city limits. As Irish like to do, we do too, we hack up our words some. They just changed it to Spiddal. Now it’s a town.

I did a DNA test from Ancestry, and I got 8,000 matches, and I have no idea who’s who here. My husband said to me, “You really need to go into the Irish Heritage Center.” So I went in, and Maureen and Margaret said, “We run a test through FamilyTreeDNA, and we have a project with them.”

I went to Portland High School. Looking through my list of matches, I’ve found six, maybe seven, people that I went to school with that I’m related to that I had no idea I was related to, and they didn’t know I was related to them either.

What did it mean to you to find more information about your family tree?

I never knew my father, really. I was too young. Even though I knew my mother, I didn’t know anything about my father. And there’s something about the Irish, it’s just a pull. It’s amazing. I went to Galway with my daughter, and I was walking on, it’s sort of like down in the Old Port, on Key Street. It’s right in the center of the Claddagh. I was walking on a street there, and all of a sudden, I got this tingling rush all through me that I have never sensed anything like this in my life. It was very strange to stand there and look at people and go, ‘Oh my God, I could be related to some of the people on this street.’ And I am related to a whole lot of them. I have cousins over there now. I was just talking to one this morning — 83. I have a lot of cousins that I talk to, which is so cool. It brings tears to your eyes when you start to realize that there’s so much that you missed out on that you never knew before. I missed out on a half of my family that I’ve never known, and I’m hurrying to catch up with knowing them now.

What are the steps if people want to get advice or start their research at the Maine Irish Heritage Center?

A lot of them come in with just a tree. A paper trail. And they’re stuck. Because the records are so incomplete. They’re lost, they’re burned. We recommend that if these people are trying to narrow it down, to take a DNA test with us.

A lot of it is confusing. They find records that say their great-great grandparents came on a ship from Cork, we’ll say. So they say, I’m from Cork, because that’s where my great-great-great-grandfather came from. He got a ship there. But actually, they didn’t. They went anywhere they could to get a ship.

We take two appointments on Fridays, and we charge $100 an hour to go over anything you want. We’ll go over your ancestry. We’ll go over FamilyTreeDNA. Margaret has the trees. Maureen can tell you who the people are. Matt can tell you the history of some of them. You get four of us talking to you, and sometimes it can be mind blowing. I know because I was there once.

What kind of records are you looking for in addition to the DNA information?

Dates are important. Birth dates, death dates, marriage dates. And when you find those, then you can move on to census reports. In the census reports, you can figure out when they immigrated, how long they’ve been married, how many children they had and the list of their children’s names. It’s just a trail.

I was so desperate one day to find out about my great-great grandfather from Island Pond, Vermont. I had come back from Ireland, and nothing. I was getting nothing on Ancestry. So instead of putting in all this information that I had, I just put “Martin Donahue” and “Island Pond, Vermont.” One thing came up. It was a Boston Pilot. It was a newspaper, and it was published so anyone here in the New England could put a notification in that they were looking for their family. Because they got off the boat and went different directions. So my great-great grandfather had put in a notification saying he was looking for his two brothers — Thomas, and I think it was Patrick — and the last time he had seen them was 18 years earlier in New York City. And that my great-great grandfather was from the Aran Islands.

We’re coming up on St. Patrick’s Day. Do you tend to get a lot of requests at this time of year?

Yup. There was a woman who wrote me a few weeks ago who wants me to go over her father’s Y-DNA because she doesn’t understand it. I said, “Don’t wait, because it’s going to start filling in, right?” I keep getting more and more people who want to come in.

The Maine Irish Heritage Center is located at 34 Gray St. in Portland. Visitors can do self-guided genealogy research in the library from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday. The cost is free to members and $25 for anyone else. The genealogists are available by appointment from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays. The rate for a consultation is $100 per hour, and members get 50 percent off the first hour. For more information, visit maineirish.com or call the center at 207-780-0118.

The Just History Project website, an initiative aimed at uncovering and documenting the often-overlooked histories of Black, Indigenous, and people of color in Kennebunk and the surrounding towns of Wells, Kennebunkport and Arundel, has been launched by the Brick Store Museum.

The resulting Just History database can be found on the museum’s website at www.brickstoremuseum.org/justhistory. The site intends to tell the stories of individuals who lived in the region before European colonization and through periods of enslavement and oppression.

A photo from the New Hampshire Gazette and Historical Chronicle, appearing in the Dec. 30, 1774, Jan. 6, 1775 and Jan. 13, 1775 editions Contributed / Brick Store Museum

According to a news release, “the complex relationships between interconnected groups dramatically shaped this region’s past, and continue to impact us today. Through extensive research now published in the online database, the project has uncovered hundreds of names and stories of people whose lives were previously undocumented or forgotten.”

Bill Grabin of Kennebunk has been the lead researcher on the project. A free, public launch of the database, with a presentation about its use, is scheduled for Wednesday, March 26, at 7 p.m. at the Brick Store Museum.

“This project has been years in the making and is an example of how history can expand to tell every person’s story,” said Cynthia Walker, executive director of the Brick Store Museum, in an email. “The more we know about all people who lived in our region – the stories, the struggles, and the resilience – the more we can understand the complexities of history.

“I give my thanks to the dedicated volunteers fueling this work and documenting these stories, much of which has been fragmented or lost. Everyone, across time and space, has a right to be a part of our shared history.”

The website, according to the news release, includes information based in primary and secondary source research on individuals who lived in the area during the colonial era, when enslavement existed in southern Maine and throughout New England; and then extends through the mid-20th century. Though slavery in the North did not match the scale of that in the South, it was still a harsh reality. Even after slavery was abolished, many formerly enslaved individuals continued to work under conditions that mirrored involuntary servitude. The website also features information on the Indigenous peoples who lived here, and their interaction with colonists who settled here.

“When I began this project, I did not anticipate how many stories I would uncover and how many of the early settlers of our towns would be involved,” Grabin wrote. “I was particularly impacted by the primary source documents that I was able to locate.”

The goal of the Just History Project is not only to shine a light on these historical truths, but also to provide access to primary source documentation whenever possible, Walker said. The project will continue to expand as new information is uncovered, continuously offering a more complete picture of the region’s past. The museum welcomes contributions regarding individuals that could be added, or related information.

The database includes hundreds of people; as well as a search and index page. Additionally, the website contains a section for research articles that complement and expand on the information included in the database. It is designed to be an educational resource for students, researchers, and community members alike.

Work to develop the technology behind the database was supported by a grant from the Kennebunk Savings Bank Foundation and additional advisory contributions from the museum’s community partner BBsquared.

For more information about the Just History Project, or to access the database, visit www.brickstoremuseum.org/justhistory.

The global family discovery event RootsTech is underway in Salt Lake City and online at RootsTech.org. It will run through March 8, 2025.

"We've learned, as you have all learned, when we find out how we're connected, we then treat each other differently."

Thousands of participants gather in Salt Lake City for RootsTech on Thursday, March 6, 2025. The theme of RootsTech 2025 is “Discover.” "Our ultimate goal is to simply unite families — past, present and future," said Steve Rockwood, president and CEO of RootsTech sponsor FamilySearch, an international genealogy organization and popular website sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Speaking to news media on the morning of Thursday, March 6, 2025, in the Salt Palace Convention Center, Rockwood noted the "amazing thing" that happens when we find ways we are connected. "We've learned, as you have all learned, when we find out how we're connected, we then treat each other differently," Rockwood said. "You're going to feel that and see that throughout the conference."

The theme of RootsTech 2025 is "Discover," which points to the potential of new technologies.

"[Genealogical technology is] something that's happened in a significant manner in the last 100 years and now is at an accelerant pace in just the last 10 years," Rockwood said. "Last year, we saw incredible potential of what generative artificial intelligence (AI) can do to accelerate this work of allowing people to discover who they are. This year, it's not just buzz. You're going to see actual applications. You're going to see how it's accelerating the work in the back office that you and I usually don't see and how it's allowing us to take these incredible records, oral or written, and digitize them and make them searchable and deliver them to individuals."

As with previous years, the 2025 conference has offerings for seasoned genealogists and beginners. The event features hundreds of in-person and virtual classes (some available in more than 40 languages), interactive activities, and entertainment designed to inspire and educate family history enthusiasts of all levels. See the full class schedule. In the expo hall, patrons can learn more about the latest genealogical innovations and products Rockwood alluded to.

As of Thursday morning, registration for both the online (in the millions) and in-person events (15,000–20,000) was set to exceed previous years.

"Our attendee base is ever growing globally, with millions of people coming from over 230 countries and territories around the world," said RootsTech Director Jonathan Wing. "We as organizers never anticipated the type of appetite there is for this conference. We are thrilled by those who come."

This year's in-person keynotes are author Ndaba Mandela (grandson of Nelson Mandela), prominent artist Dana Tanamachi, Olympic and Paralympic gold medalists Tara Davis-Woodhall and Hunter Woodhall, and Emmy Award-winning singer and songwriter Rachel Platten, who will take the main stage to share their unique and inspiring personal, family and historical experiences.

The pre-recorded virtual keynotes are Latin American social media family Los Chicaneros, Filipina musician Ysabelle Cuevas, and Italian TV personality Marco Lui.

RootsTech is also an opportunity to connect with old friends and make new ones. In 2024, RootsTech attendees made more than 350 million new family connections.

"Why do people want to participate in a family history conference?" asked Elder Kevin S. Hamilton of the Seventy, the executive director of the Church's Family History Department. "The answer to that is that this is hardwired into our DNA. This is something that we all care about. We want to connect. We want to belong. We want to be part of a family. We want to know where we come from. We are just delighted to be able to facilitate this."

Saturday's Family Discovery Day

Saturday, March 8, is Family Discovery Day, a free event at the Salt Palace Convention Center featuring live music and family history activities for all ages.

Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Kathy, will speak at 1:30 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. They will share personal messages focused on accessing the blessings of the temple and family history. Elder Andersen plans to take attendees on a personal virtual journey with him back to the dairy farm of his formative years.

The session will include a performance by Piano Guys on the main stage. The music performance and the Andersens' address will be streamed live and available on demand on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Also, on Saturday, attendees can enjoy free RootsTech classes from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. In-person class seating will be limited. T. C. Christensen, John and Kimberly Bytheway, Scott and Angelle Anderson and others will present. Topics covered will include engaging teens in family discovery experiences, using your ancestors' stories to build emotional resilience, a Q&A panel on temple and family history callings, and Latter-day Saint genealogy.