Latest News Articles

Everyone can read the (free) Standard Edition articles. However,  the Plus Edition articles are accessible only to (paid) Plus Edition subscribers. 

Read the (+) Plus Edition articles (a Plus Edition username and password is required).

Please limit your comments about the information in the article. If you would like to start a new message, perhaps about a different topic, you are invited to use the Discussion Forum for that purpose.

Do you have comments, questions, corrections or additional information to any of these articles? Before posting your words, you must first sign up for a (FREE) Standard Edition subscription or a (paid) Plus Edition subscription at: https://eogn.com/page-18077.

If you do not see a Plus Sign that is labeled "Add comment," you will need to upgrade to either a (FREE) Standard Edition or a (paid) Plus Edition subscription at: https://eogn.com/page-18077.

Click here to upgrade to a Plus Edition subscription.

Click here to find the Latest Plus Edition articles(A Plus Edition user name and password is required to view these Plus Edition articles.)

Complete Newsletters (including all Plus Edition and Free Edition articles published within a week) may be found if you click here. (A Plus Edition user name and password is required to view these complete newsletters.)

Do you have an RSS newsreader? You may prefer to use this newsletter's RSS feed at: https://www.eogn.com/page-18080/rss and then you will need to copy-and-paste that address into your favorite RSS newsreader.



Latest Standard Edition Articles

  • 13 Sep 2022 8:43 PM | Anonymous

    You might want to save this article someplace. I have no idea why, but many of the words used in researching your family tree are difficult to spell. I constantly see spelling errors in messages posted on various genealogy web sites. When someone misspells a word, it feels like they are shouting, "I don't know what I'm doing!"

    Here are a few words to memorize:

    Genealogy - No, it is not spelled “geneology” nor is it spelled in the manner I often see: “geneaology.” That last word looks to me as if someone thought, "Just throw all the letters in there and hope that something sticks." For some reason, many newspaper reporters and their editors do not know how to spell this word. Don't they have spell checkers?

    Cemetery - The letter "a" does not appear anywhere in the word "cemetery." You can remember the spelling by an old saying, "We go to the cemetery with E's." (ease)

    Ancestor - This simple word is often spelled “ancester,” “ansester,” or “ansestor.”

    Ancestry - This word is often misspelled “ancestory.” I often see errors when someone is referring to the ancestry.com online web site.

    History - More than once I have seen someone refer to their "family histroy" or "family histry."

    Descent - Perhaps not as common, but I have seen this spelled as "decent," which sounds almost the same.

    Descendant - it often appears as descendent, descentent and many others.

    Progenitor - I can never remember how to spell this word. I simply try to avoid it when I am writing!

    Two other words often are confused: immigrant and emigrant. Another variation is immigration versus emigration. According to Merriman-Webster Dictionary at http://www.merriam-webster.com, an emigrant is “a person who leaves a country or region to live in another one” while an immigrant is “a person who comes to a country to live there.” To repeat, an emigrant leaves while an immigrant arrives.

    The late Dick Pence was quite a storyteller, and once he told of an online genealogy article he wrote in which he poked fun at common spelling errors by genealogists. He deliberately misspelled ten different words in the article, including most of the words I listed above. In the text of the article, he never mentioned that the article was a tongue-in-cheek attempt at humor.

    Dick soon received an email message from an irate lady who apparently didn't realize it was a deliberate attempt at humor. She scolded him for his spelling errors, writing, “Mr. Pence, you should be ashamed of yourself. I am an English teacher and I want to tell you that I found seven spelling errors in your article!”


  • 13 Sep 2022 12:32 PM | Anonymous

    I have written a number of times about Chromebooks (see https://eogn.com/sys/website/system-pages/?pageId=SysSiteSearchResults for some of my past articles about Chromebooks). I must admit that I have fallen in love with these low-cost, simple to use laptop and desktop computers.

    These low-cost computers do most everything that users want from their computers. If you use your computer primarily for email, Facebook, word processing, and general internet surfing, then you will probably really enjoy a Chromebook.

    Chromebooks (and Chromeboxes) are very stable and fast as well as lightweight and compact.

    Note: A Chromebox is simply a Chromebook computer built into a normal desktop configireation, not a laptop. You can read more about Chromebox computers in a Wikipedia article at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebox

    A typical Chromebox

    Chromebooks (and Chromeboxes):

    • Have a longer battery life than most Windows and Macintosh laptops. The Hewlett-Packard Chromebook 14 G4 is rated at 8.25 hours of normal use before needing a battery recharge.
    • Speed - Chromebooks can power up and be ready to use in around eight seconds.
    • Never get viruses or malware (Malware is short for malicious software).
    • Security - The Chrome OS has built-in virus and malware protection that is continually updated to the latest version, so you never need to worry about malicious files when using a Chromebook.
    • Run faster than similar applications on Windows or Macintosh laptops of similar processing power (and higher prices).
    • Have a default setting of storing all files in the cloud for safety and convenience (although this default can be over-ridden, if you wish).
    • Automatic operating system software updates in a manner that is mostly invisible to the user.
    • Have Offline Productivity for most applications (although not all).
    • Most applications are available free of charge (with a few exceptions).
    • Parental Controls - Chromebook users can create supervised accounts to track or limit online activity for kids online. This makes the Chromebook a great family-friendly laptop.
    • Sync - Chromebooks (and Chromeboxes) sync all your apps and passwords with Chrome browsers on other computers. So, if you use the Chrome browser at work or on another home computer, your bookmarks and other preferences will automatically sync to your Chromebook and vice versa.
    • Cloud Storage - You get 100 gigabytes of Google Drive storage free for two years with all new Chromebooks. This is a considerable amount of space. Comparable services from Dropbox, OneDrive, or Box will cost you an additional subscription. With a Chromebook, you get a decent amount of cloud storage for free.
    • Webcam - a buit-in video camera is included for Zoom and other online video conferencing apps.

    So how much does all this capability cost? $99.99 (U.S.) right now (I am going to round that up by a penny and call it $100.)

    That is the price right now for a Hewlett-Packard Chromebook with a 14-inch screen, available from Walmart (yes, from THAT Walmart). You can see it for yourself and even order it for home delivery at: https://bit.ly/3ddsKVI. (That price even includes free shipping!)

    OK, there are a few drawbacks. For instance:

    At this price, you have to realize you are not getting a high-powered super-computer. It has a 2.16 GHz Intel Celeron processor of modest power (although more than enough power for a Chromebook).

    It has a 14-inch display screen (anyone with vision difficulties might prefer a larger screen). It also does not contain a touch screen.

    While it includes wi-fi (with IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, and Bluetooth), it does not have a built-in ethernet connector for direct connection to a network.

    Again, you can see this computer at https://bit.ly/3ddsKVI.

    Note: I believe this is a sale price and I have no idea how long it will be on sale.

    Please be aware that is not an affiliate URL and I am not compensated in any way by Hewlett-Packard, WalMart, or anyone else for publishing this article. I am simply a very satisfied Chrombook user (see https://eogn.com/page-18080/12840186 for my experiences with my latest Chromebook which is NOT a Hewlett-Packard Chromebook 14 G4). I simply want to notify my readers of a bargain that I probably would buy for myself if I didn't already own a similar Chromebook (and a Chromebox besides).


  • 13 Sep 2022 11:33 AM | Anonymous

    From the MyHeritage Blog:

    We have been growing our content team and ramping up our pace of publishing new collections of historical records, to help our users progress in their family history research and make incredible discoveries. In this post, we’re excited to share our largest collection update yet. The 74 new collections we’ve published include 130 million records of many different types, including birth, marriage, death, census, immigration, civil, military, newspapers, will and probate records. Showing MyHeritage’s commitment to advance genealogy globally, the new records come from many countries: the U.S., the U.K, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, and Spain. Following this update, MyHeritage’s database of historical records has now grown to 18.6 billion records.

    Below are some highlights of the new collections, listed by country. Click the collection name to learn more about the collection and to search it.

    The long, long list of newly-added collections may be found in the MyHeritage Blog at: https://bit.ly/3xkiiCO.
  • 13 Sep 2022 10:37 AM | Anonymous

    British royal expert and genealogist Myko Clellend says he recently discovered Queen Consort Camilla‘s great, great, great grandfather was “responsible for building part of Buckingham Palace”.

    “There’s been a few generations’ gap but it seems that her ancestor must be looking down and really smiling at the fact that his descendent is now occupying the building that he worked to hard on,” he told Sky News Australia.

    “It’s so fresh and new that I don’t think many people know about it just yet.”

    Myko Clellend


  • 13 Sep 2022 10:19 AM | Anonymous

    Note: This article is not about any of the "normal" topics of this newsletter: genealogy, history, current affairs, DNA, and related topics. However, genealogists are major users of books and anything that affects book publishing will sooner or later affect genealogists.

    Rising paper prices are forcing publishers to change. From the Economist: That way, a publisher can find paper for things it wants to print, even in times of shortage. The industry is now going through another period of scarcity, and the war is again the cause (along with the pandemic). The cost of paper used by British book publishers has risen by 70% in the past 12 months. Supplies are erratic and also expensive: paper mills shut down on days when electricity is too expensive. The card used in the hard cover was sometimes impossible to obtain. The whole trade is in trouble. It doesn’t affect every author: the new thriller by Robert Galbraith, better known as JK Rowling, clocks in at 1,024 pages and has reached the top of the UK bestseller lists this week. But the other books have to change a bit. Pick up a new release in a bookstore, and if it’s from a smaller publisher (as they suffer more from price increases), you may find yourself in the hands of a product that, like wartime books, bears the mark of its time.

    Blow on its pages and they may rise and fall differently: some books use cheaper, lighter paper. Look closely at its print and you may notice that the letters are moving closer together: some cost-conscious publishers are beginning to reduce the spaces between characters. The text can also move closer to the edges of the pages: the publication margin shrinks in every sense. Changes of this nature can cause concern for publishers. A book is not just words on a page, says Ivan O’Brien, head of The O’Brien Press in Ireland, it must appeal to “all the senses”. The pleasure of a book that lies easily in the hand – not too light and not too heavy; pages cream; beetle-black fonts are what publishers want to keep. […] Because at the heart of the publishing industry lies an unspeakable truth: most people can’t write, and most books are very bad. Readers who struggle with volume often assume it’s their fault. Reviewers who have read many more books know that this is not the case.

    Comment by Dick Eastman: With all these difficulties faced by book publishers, we all can expect more and more ebooks to be published in the future. I see that as a positive thing.


  • 12 Sep 2022 6:36 PM | Anonymous

    Magnetic audiotape was the workhorse of radio in the 1980s, in KGOU's early days of serving the campus community at the University of Oklahoma with music and a few NPR programs. Local news and feature interviews, and sometimes whole radio shows were recorded on reels of tape and saved for future use, or erased and recorded over with the next episode.

    But audiotape begins to deteriorate after about 10 years, depending on how and where it is stored. If properly cared for, it can last longer, but is likely to start to disintegrate or suffer severe loss of audio quality with the passage of time.

    The American Archive of Public Broadcasting, a collaboration between the Library of Congress and GBH, has been working against time to save and digitize early public radio recordings on tape or other technology that has come and gone since, such as audio cassettes or digital audio tape (DAT). The work was begun in 2013 with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and later, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In 2019, AAPB expanded its efforts, launching a fellowship program to place graduate fellows with university programs to help local public stations preserve their archives.

    “We don’t really know everything we have on reel-to-reel tape, or how far back it goes,” said Jim Johnson, KGOU’s program director. “It wasn’t labeled very well, or the label has come off or faded over the years. But we know we have recordings of KGOU coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, and also some programming by and for Native Americans that is culturally important.”

    You can read a lot more in an article by Laura Knoll and published in the KGOU web site at: https://bit.ly/3U6Qg7e.


  • 12 Sep 2022 6:20 PM | Anonymous
    Here is a list of all of this week's articles, all of them available here at https://eogn.com:

    Here is a list of all of this week's articles, all of them available here at https://eogn.com:

    (+) Where is Genealogy Software Headed?

    WorldCat.org and Genealogy: A Powerful Combination

    How Archives Went From ‘National Treasure’ to Political Prey

    Use This Free Tool to Restore Faces in Old Family Photos

    Family History Down Under 2022

    Registry of Deeds Index Project Ireland: Names Index Exceeds 500,000 Records

    Where Are You From? Find Out Using These Irish Surname Maps

    5 Million Photos of Graves Now Available at Geneanet

    Major New Project to Reveal New Insights Into 19th Century British and Other Immigrant Sailors in the U.S. Navy

    Oxford University Project Aims to Preserve Second World War Memories

    New Digital Archive Protecting Legacy Of Piping In Scotland Goes Live

    Jersey Heritage and Société Jersiaise Combine Forces to Create an Online Catalogue of the Island's History

    Saving the World's Synagogues from Destruction

    Months After Genealogy IDs Victim as Michigan Woman, Her Killer Was Identified in the Same Way

    What’s New Online at the Library of Congress – Summer 2022

    Mapping Company Develops Web App to Provide Context, Resources During Local Wildfires



  • 12 Sep 2022 10:21 AM | Anonymous

    Have you used WorldCat to research your family tree? If not, you are missing one of the best online web sites for use in genealogy.

    Quoting from https://www.worldcat.org/topics/genealogy:

    WorldCat.org connects genealogical researchers to millions of pieces of unique content not found elsewhere.

    Newspapers, family Bibles, cemetery and burial archives, microfilm, and digitized local records—it’s a treasure trove of family history waiting to be uncovered. Learn how to make the most of this powerful, global resource.

    Connecting you to an incredible range of resources

    Genealogists love libraries and archives because they are often the only source for unique, local information about births, deaths, marriages, businesses, and other family histories. WorldCat.org can connect you to a huge variety of sources of information in this topic area including:

    Cemetery and burial records

    United States Civil War and other military records

    Family Bibles, church histories, and records

    General genealogical resources, such as directories, handbooks, and magazines

    Indexes of births, marriages, deaths, wills, and obituaries

    Microfilmed genealogy and local history collections

    Newspapers from many countries

    Photographs

    Slavery and antislavery materials, including slave records

    Town histories and probate records

    In addition to library resources, WorldCat.org also connects you to millions of records from FamilySearch, a nonprofit family history organization with the largest collection of genealogical and historic records in the world.

    You can start at: https://www.worldcat.org/topics/genealogy.


  • 12 Sep 2022 10:02 AM | Anonymous

    Two Jersey heritage organisations have merged their collections to create an online catalogue of the island's history. Jersey Heritage and Société Jersiaise hope to make them more accessible to the public.

    Heritage will provide its archive and museum collections, and Société Jersiaise have brought its photographic and library collections to the website at https://catalogue.jerseyheritage.org/.

    Director of Archives and Collections at Jersey Heritage Linda Romeril said the website was the "culmination of a number of years of work" between the two organisations.

    She said: "Researchers can now search across the collections of both heritage organisations, allowing them to see documents and photographs that were previously held in different places.

    "Linking up the resources available makes them more accessible to the public, whether they are carrying out research about their family history or on a professional basis.”

    The website has more than 800,000 descriptions of items.

    Archivist at the Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive Patrick Cahill said: “The new shared online catalogue is great for users and demonstrates the benefits of taking a collaborative approach to cultural heritage in Jersey."


  • 9 Sep 2022 10:43 AM | Anonymous

    Scotland’s National Centre for excellence in bagpiping has launched a new, free to access digital resource and research hub. The Archives from The National Piping Centre will protect the heritage and legacy of piping in Scotland and make valuable pieces of piping history available for students, scholars and enthusiasts around the world.

    The Archives from The National Piping Centre holds digitised copies of five influential piping periodicals dating back to 1948 - Piping Times, Piping Today, The International Piper, Piper and Dancer and Notes from the Piping Centre - as well as photograph galleries of piping through the years. 

    It also incorporates The Centre’s Noting the Tradition oral history archive, which holds recorded interviews with people involved in piping at all levels and all over Scotland over the past 50 years.

    Available to access at archives.thepipingcentre.co.uk , The Archives from The National Piping Centre keeps the legacy of these publications, information, conversations, images and other materials alive and makes them more easily accessible than ever before.

    You can read a lot more at: https://bit.ly/3DdB7eG

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter









































Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software