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.)

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.

Want to receive daily email messages containing the recently-added article links, complete with “clickable addresses” that take you directly to the article(s) of interest?

Best of all, this service is available FREE of charge. (The email messages do contain advertising.) If you later change your mind, you can unsubscribe within seconds at any time. As always, YOU remain in charge of what is sent to your email inbox. 

Information may be found at: https://eogn.com/page-18080/13338441 with further details available at: https://eogn.com/page-18080/13344724.





Latest Standard Edition Articles

  • 25 Jul 2023 7:32 PM | Anonymous

    Under a Canadian Supreme Court ruling, transcripts will be destroyed by 2027 unless survivors want them archived.

    Geraldine Shingoose was shocked when she opened a report probing what should be done to protect potential unmarked grave sites at former residential schools for Indigenous children.

    Of the thousands of former students who detailed the abuses they suffered to an adjudicator tasked with determining their eligibility for compensation under the historic Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, only about 30 have sought to have copies of their words archived.

    Shingoose — an Indigenous elder and residential school survivor — is among that small group. She said she's heartbroken to think thousands of records will be destroyed within five years unless more survivors also request their preservation, an option she fears most are not even aware of.

    "That's history," she said in a recent interview. "Those are sacred stories."

    The debate surrounding the future of these records has gained momentum since more First Nations began seeking answers about what happened to the children who died and disappeared from residential schools.

    You can read more in an article by Alessia Passafiume and Stephanie Taylor published in the CBC News web site at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/residential-school-records-potential-burials-1.6915983.

  • 24 Jul 2023 4:30 PM | Anonymous

    OOOOPS! This can create a problem:

    A man's entire world has been flipped upside down after discovering he is actually engaged to his cousin. He explained how he bought his 28-year-old fiancé a DNA testing kit for fun after noticing them on sale for half price. 

    He thought it would make a fun and interesting gift - but never expected the results to 'change their lives forever'. Taking to Reddit, the man said: "My fiancé and I are getting married in a few months. We're extremely happy and in love.

    "I'm super into ancestry and have been building out my tree. I saw a promo on Ancestry.com for a 50 per cent DNA kit and I bought one for my fiancé." A few hours ago, on a flight, he got his DNA results back. In the 'view DNA matches' section was my picture.

    "It says we're third cousins. His dad, who I guess did a test years ago, came up as well. We don't know how to feel. We just landed and are now on vacation with a large group." As they're a same-sex couple, there's no concern about this impacting their future children but they're worried how their families will take it. 

    "We're also both Jewish, and I know our gene pools are already shallow. But third cousins? That is a little too close for comfort. There's no scenario where we’d break up or anything, but I just feel so so weird about it. I don't know how to feel or how to process this. Is it insane? Is it no big deal?”

    You can read the full story in an article by Paige Freshwater published in the mirror.co.uk web site at: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/mans-life-flipped-upside-down-30538442 

  • 24 Jul 2023 8:40 AM | Anonymous

    The images from the Skip Gandy Collection of Aerial and Commercial Photography chronicles key moments in local history, from the 1950s to 2010s.

    A project to preserve decades of Tampa Bay area history is in the works.

    The University of South Florida Libraries are digitizing nearly 80,000 photo negatives that document the life and landscape of the Tampa Bay region from the 1950s to 2010s. The images are part of the Skip Gandy Collection of Aerial and Commercial Photography and chronicle key moments in local history.

    A fundraising project aims to raise $41,300 to digitize the entire collection and make these never-before-seen images available to the public under a Creative Commons license. Up until now, a few dozen photos have been available to view online. USF Libraries’ Digital Collections have raised $30,000 so far.

    A man in suit leaning against campaign trailer for Kennedy and Johnson on Bayshore Blvd.

    Skip Gandy

    Skip Gandy Commercial And Aerial Photography. Image 57. Https://Digitalcommons.usf.edu/Gandy/57

    The photograph was taken on Bayshore Boulevard where the Gasparilla Pirate Ship Dock is currently located. In the right of the picture, the backside of a Christopher Columbus, which marks the Columbus Statue Park at 300 Bayshore Dr., can be seen.

    Some of these film negatives are starting to degrade, making their preservation all the more urgent, according to Tampa-based photographer Chip Weiner.

    “We cannot let this history disappear,” said Weiner. “It’s 100 years of visual history that so many cities don’t have and we are completely blessed to have that available to us.”

    You can read more in an article by Nancy Guan published in the WUSF web site at: https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/arts-culture/2023-07-17/photo-archive-documenting-tampa-bay-area-history-being-digitized-public

  • 24 Jul 2023 8:27 AM | Anonymous

    The following is a press release from the Digital Public Library of America, striking a blow for freedom:

    Let freedom read and join President Barack Obama in protecting intellectual freedom with DPLA's The Banned Book Club. 

    NEW YORKJuly 20, 2023 -- The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) has launched The Banned Book Club to ensure that readers in communities affected by book bans can now access banned books for free via the Palace e-reader app. The Banned Book Club makes e-book versions of banned books available to readers in locations across the United States where titles have been banned. The e-books will be available to readers for free via the Palace e-reader app.

    Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) presents The Banned Book Club and is fighting back against book bans.

    Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) presents The Banned Book Club and is fighting back against book bans.

    "At DPLA, our mission is to ensure access to knowledge for all and we believe in the power of technology to further that access," said John S. Bracken, executive director of Digital Public Library of America. "Today book bans are one of the greatest threats to our freedom, and we have created The Banned Book Club to leverage the dual powers of libraries and digital technology to ensure that every American can access the books they want to read."

    Utilizing GPS-based geo-targeting, DPLA has established virtual libraries in communities across the United States where books have been banned. When a reader is within a community served by a library that has been forced to ban a book, they can visit TheBannedBookClub.info to see the exact books that have been banned in their area. Then, they can download those books for free on any handheld device via the Palace e-reader app.

    To access The Banned Book Club now, download the Palace app, and choose "Banned Book Club" as your library, then follow the prompts to sign up for a free virtual library card. For more specific instructions, click here. For more information on The Banned Book Club, readers can visit TheBannedBookClub.info.

    DPLA's The Banned Book Club is supported by FCB (Foote, Cone & Belding) Chicago and Current Global.

    Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) amplifies the value of libraries and cultural organizations as trusted sources of shared knowledge. DPLA fulfills its mission by collaborating with partners to accelerate the adoption of innovative tools and ideas to empower and equip libraries in making public information more accessible. DPLA's e-book work is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. To learn more, visit www.dp.la.

    The Palace Project is a suite of content, services, and tools for the delivery of e-books, audiobooks, and other digital media to benefit public libraries and their patrons. Funded by a multi-year, multimillion-dollar investment from the Knight Foundation, The Palace Project is a division of Lyrasis, working in strategic partnership with Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). To learn more, visit thepalaceproject.org.

  • 21 Jul 2023 6:41 PM | Anonymous

    The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman. 

    WARNING: This article contains personal opinions.

    One thing that constantly puzzles me is why do genealogists keep re-inventing the same wheels? In fact, we have the tools today to reduce this duplication of effort immediately and perhaps to even drive it to zero within a few years. If we do that, the result will be peer-reviewed, high-quality genealogy information available to everyone.

    For decades, the standard method of genealogy research has been to look at original records as well as compiled genealogies, looking for information about each ancestor, one fact at a time. In modern times, we typically have used IMAGES of the original records published on microfilm and, more recently, images that appear on our computer screens. We then supplement these original records with compiled genealogies from many sources, including printed books, online web sites, and even GEDCOM files online or on CD-ROM disks. Experienced genealogists also understand the importance of VERIFYING each piece of information, regardless of where it was obtained. Yes, even original hand-written records made at the time of an event may contain errors.

    Compiling a genealogy typically requires hundreds of hours of work, sometimes thousands of hours, sometimes great expenditures of money, and, when original records have not been easily available locally, we often spend significant amounts of money on travel.

    To be kind, I will simply say that the results have been variable. Some skilled and careful researchers have produced accurate and carefully documented genealogies. Other genealogists, typically those with less-than-perfect research skills or motivation, have produced compiled genealogies containing errors. A few have produced genealogies that I can only describe as "fairy tales."

    The guidelines that we have all learned for years state that experienced genealogists must educate the newcomers in the proper methods of creating accurate and meaningful genealogies. We must teach every newcomer how to "do it the right way." My opinion is that this hasn't worked very well. I see as many errors being cranked out today as I saw years ago. In fact, due to the efficiencies of computers today, we can crank out more errors in a shorter period of time than ever before. I don't think the percentage of errors has changed much over the years, but the VOLUME of genealogies certainly has increased!

    Today, we produce more garbage than ever before. I will suggest our efforts of "educating the masses" in proper research techniques have been a failure. Yet, I believe there is a better way.

    The methods of researching haven't changed much over the years. Erroneous information gets published by well-meaning genealogists who try to do "the right thing" but unwittingly publish and perpetuate errors. Finding and correcting those errors is difficult and frequently never happens. Because the erroneous data becomes widely circulated while corrections rarely receive the same distribution, errors are perpetuated forever.

    The remainder of this article is reserved for Plus Edition subscribers only. If you have a Plus Edition subscription, you may read the full article at: https://eogn.com/(*)-Plus-Edition-News-Articles/13230890.

    If you are not yet a Plus Edition subscriber, you can learn more about such subscriptions and even upgrade to a Plus Edition subscription immediately at https://eogn.com/page-18077

  • 21 Jul 2023 5:50 PM | Anonymous

    The following announcement was written by the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG):

    Elevate Your Genealogical Education to New Heights 

    SLIG Fall Virtual - September - November 2023 

    SLIG (Virtual) - January 22-26, 2024 

    SLIG Spring Virtual - February - April 2024 

    Registration for SLIG 2024 and SLIG Spring Virtual 2024 opens Tomorrow (22 July 2023)

    The Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy wishes to anounce that reigstration for SLIG 2024 and SLIG Spring Virtual 2024 starts tomorrow (22 July 2023).

    Registration for SLIG opens at 10:00 a.m. MDT

    Registration for SLIG Spring Virtual opens at 2:00 p.m. MDT.

    See the answers to some of our most frequently asked questions and details about course offerings below:

    SLIG Account
    If you don’t already have a SLIG account with our new registration system, please be sure to set up your account with your student information BEFORE registration opens on July 22.  You can set up your account at the SLIG registration page by clicking the link below.
      You can find our registration guide here.
     

    Access the SLIG Registration Page Here
    UGA Discounts
    If you find that your UGA discount of $50 has not been applied when you register, please go ahead and pay for your course. Then, email the SLIG Registrar at registrar@slig.ugagenealogy.org to let her know, and she will process a refund. Please note that you must be a UGA member at the time you register for your course.

    Payment Protection
    Our new registration vendor (not SLIG) offers a payment protection plan, which is designed to reimburse a student who cancels unexpectedly for health reasons. The cost is a small percentage of your total order (excluding merchandise). Once paid, the cost for this plan cannot be refunded. You can add the protection plan when you register or afterwards. If desired, you must actively select this plan to add it to your order. Anyone submitting a claim under this plan will work with the company who processes claims (and not SLIG). More information on this plan can be found at https://help.regpack.com/hc/en-us/articles/5834361647131-Registrant-FAQ and https://help.regpack.com/hc/en-us/articles/5834350130587.

    2nd Course Requests for SLIG Fall 2023 and Spring 2024
    Some students are very interested in taking two courses during the SLIG Fall and Spring programs. The registration system will only permit a student to register for one course. Any request for a 2nd course must be made in writing to the SLIG Registrar at registrar@slig.ugagenealogy.org. The Registrar and Director will work together on approving these requests, and students may be contacted for further information. If approved, the SLIG Registrar will register the student for the 2nd course. Approvals will only be considered after a sufficient amount of time passes after registration day to enable all prospective students to register for a 1st course. Approvals are set up to ensure that students have a great SLIG experience in light of the extra time required by taking a 2nd course. 
    Registration Help Desk Sessions
    Our amazing tech support team, along with other SLIG committee members will be available at the help desk Saturday morning starting at 9:30 a.m. MDT. Details below. There is one session for SLIG and one for Spring.

    Topic: SLIG 2024 (Virtual) Registration Tech Support
    Time: Jul 22, 2023 09:30 AM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

    Join Zoom Meeting
    https://slig-ugagenealogy-org.zoom.us/j/88665923243...
    ---
    Topic: SLIG Spring Virtual 2024 Registration Tech Support
    Time: Jul 22, 2023 01:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

    Join Zoom Meeting
    https://slig-ugagenealogy-org.zoom.us/j/86233697433...
    Course Offerings
    Read Full Descriptions for SLIG 2024 Courses Here
    New Addition for Spring Virtual 2024: Gothic Script and Fraktur: Reading Records of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, and the Czech Republic, plus German-American Church Books and Newspapers, coordinated by F. Warren Bittner, CG.
    Descriptions for SLIG Spring Virtual 2024 Courses Here
    Registration for Fall Virtual 2023 is Still Open
    Act now to reserve your seat in one of the following available courses:
    Course 1: Intermediate Foundations, coordinated by Annette Burke Lyttle, MA
    Course 2: Introduction to Genetic Genealogy, coordinated by Paul Woodbury, MEd, AG
    Course 3: Intermediate Evidence Analysis Practicum, coordinated by Angela Packer McGhie, CG, FUGA
    Course 4: Proving Your Pedigree with DNA, coordinated by Karen Stanbary, MA, LCSW, CG
    Course 5: Discovering Quaker Records - In the US and the British Isles,coordinated by Steven W. Morrison, MPA
    Course 7: Advanced Evidence Analysis Practicum, coordinated by Angela Packer McGhie, CG, FUGA
    Read Full Descriptions for SLIG Fall Virtual 2023 Course Here
    Access the Registration System Here
  • 21 Jul 2023 8:42 AM | Anonymous

    Laura Kempton (pictured right), 23, was found dead in her Portsmouth apartment in 1981.

    A four-decade-old murder has been solved with the help of genetic genealogy technology, New Hampshire officials announced Thursday.

    It was early in the morning of Sept. 28, 1981, when the body of then-23-year-old Laura Kempton was discovered in her apartment in Portsmouth. She had entered alone after a night out with a friend.

    The autopsy determined she died of massive trauma to the left side of her head.

    The evidence revealed a male DNA profile, but authorities -- despite pursuing hundreds of leads and suspects -- were never able to identify the suspected killer. Until now

    Beginning in 2022, authorities re-analyzed DNA samples from the crime scene using forensic genetic genealogy technology and, on Thursday, publicly identified the suspect as Ronney James Lee.

    Lee, who was 21 at the time of the Kempton's death, died of acute cocaine intoxication at the age of 45 on Feb. 9, 2005. If he were still alive, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said he would have charged Lee with first-degree murder for knowingly causing her death in connection with sexual assault.

    "It is my hope that this conclusion and announcement will be the long-awaited first step in providing what closure the criminal justice system can provide for Laura Kempton's family and community," Formella said. "The Portsmouth Police Department should be commended for its commitment and perseverance in seeking justice for Ms. Kempton and her family."

    Formella said during a press briefing Thursday that the case has been officially closed and marked as solved, and noted the news may be "bittersweet" for Kempton's family.

  • 21 Jul 2023 8:20 AM | Anonymous

    The following is a press release from Letterform Archive:

    Letterform Archive announces a significant addition to its trove of graphic design with the acquisition of over 26,000 uniquely colorful and innovative items from the Richard Sheaff ephemera collection.

    The late 19th century and early 20th century saw rapid development in letterform and printing innovation. The first artists and printers to call themselves "designers" advertised their work during this period and the industrial revolution marked a peak of experimentation and extravagance in the trade. Printed ephemera flourished to meet the demands of expanding commerce and increasingly urban populations. Engravers, lithographers, and letterpress printers used a wide variety of opulent colors, lettering styles and typefaces, illustration techniques, and production methods to attract customers.

    Richard Sheaff's personal collection of this material was one of the finest in private hands. Now, thanks in part to a generous donation from Sheaff, thousands of these items will find a home at Letterform Archive. The collection is particularly strong in nineteenth-century ephemera and includes advertising, calling cards, invoices, labels, packaging, postcards, and tickets. The collection also includes typographically rich material from the twentieth century, such as advertising, trade catalogs, car brochures, and Jim Flora-designed record sleeves.

    "I am really delighted that this collection of pieces found individually over several decades will be made fully available to the public at the Letterform Archive," said Sheaff. "Every collector eventually must make a choice: Either put everything out on the open market so that other collectors have opportunities to build their own collections; or place it all in an institutional home. The danger with many institutional homes is that the public may have little or no access. Letterform Archive is dedicated to open access."

    Letterform Archive provides access to its collection through in-person research visits, class and group tours, publications, exhibitions, and the Online Archive. The Archive is working to digitize a large portion of the Sheaff Collection. To date, more than 10,000 images of more than 7,000 items are photographed and will soon be added to the Online Archive.   

    "Our goal is to inspire creative people by giving them hands-on access to material that isn't so common on the internet," said Rob Saunders, Letterform Archive founder and curator. "This was an exciting period for printing and letterform innovation, and it is increasingly a source of inspiration for today's designers. We can't think of a better curated grouping of these gems than Richard Sheaff's, and we're honored to be its steward and share it with our global community."

    For more about the Richard Sheaff Ephemera Collection, visit lettarc.org/sheaff.

    About Letterform Archive

    Based in San Francisco, Letterform Archive is a nonprofit center for inspiration, education, and community. It preserves important artifacts in the history of letterforms and graphic design, and it strives to actively share them with the public. Since it opened to visitors in 2015, the collection has grown in size through the generosity of donors, and now includes over 100,000 items related to the letter arts. The Archive serves a global community through social media, publications, and the Online Archive, and offers a full-year postgraduate certificate program in type design as well as public workshops in calligraphy, lettering, and typography. Additionally, the Archive curates local and international exhibitions, organizes lectures, and hosts salons to showcase collections. Learn more at letterformarchive.org.

    About Richard Sheaff

    Richard Sheaff is a retired graphic and communications designer who worked with numerous corporate clients large and small, universities, book publishers, paper companies, non-profit organizations, and research think tanks. He also designed or art-directed over 500 U.S. postage stamps. Sheaff has collected ephemera and postal history, and written frequent articles with a particular interest in design and typography, especially Victorian. He served The Ephemera Society of America for a total of 18 years as a member of the Board, Vice-President and President, and has been a member of many design, printing, collecting, and philatelic organizations. Sheaff maintains an ephemera-related, non-commercial website at sheaff-ephemera.com.

  • 20 Jul 2023 7:05 PM | Anonymous

    The following announcement was written by MyHeritage:

    We’re thrilled to announce a monumental achievement at MyHeritage. Over the past year, we’ve added a grand total of 347 new collections and updated 18 collections to our ever-growing database of historical records! That’s right — an average of one collection added or updated per day for an entire year, with a total of 373 million records added. Our dedicated team has worked relentlessly to keep adding new, rich, and diverse collections to help our users make breakthroughs in their genealogy research.

    The collections include a wide variety of record types from all over the world — and any single record among these millions could be the key to toppling your genealogical “brick wall”, paving the way to learning more about your ancestors.

    The addition of these new collections, plus updates to existing ones, has significantly expanded our database. We’re making great strides in our commitment to providing you with the best resources for your family history research.

    Search our historical record collections now 

    To celebrate this milestone, we’d love to shine a spotlight on some of the valuable collections added or updated this year from across the globe that you can find on MyHeritage: 

    You can read the rest of the announcement at: https://blog.myheritage.com/2023/07/celebrating-365-historical-record-collections-added-or-updated-during-365-days/ 

  • 20 Jul 2023 8:44 AM | Anonymous

    A press release from FamilySearch offers a valuable new service:

    The FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, has opened a new, free service where guests can bring their personal and family records and artifacts and convert them to digital formats for easier sharing and long-term keeping. The feature is called The Family Memories Preservation Center, or Memory Lane. Visitors can convert family documents, home movies, slides, negatives, video and audio tapes, and other media to digital formats to better preserve them against loss and to make them more readily accessible to other family members or friends.

    “Every family probably has photo albums or boxes of photos or old video tapes and reel-to-reel films they have produced or acquired through the years. The Memory Lane service is a great opportunity to ensure those family memories will be preserved and available for future generations,” said Debbie Gurtler, FamilySearch assistant library director.

    The machines and technology available to convert old media to digital are surprisingly fast. “I brought a box of family photos and did 150 in about an hour and a half or so. You can put them all into a stack without worrying about the different sizes, place them on one of the self-feeding photo scanners, and they just automatically feed through. It’s hard to imagine how quick it can be with the high-speed scanners,” added Gurtler.

    How The Family Memories Preservation Center Works

    Instructions are available with each device, and volunteers and library staff are available to help visitors learn how to use any of the equipment if needed. Thumb (portable USB) drives are available for free but may not have sufficient memory for large projects. Visitors with films, videos, and large quantities of things to digitize are encouraged to bring their own flash drives or portable hard drives. Files can also be loaded directly to a patron’s personal online storage location like Google Drive and iCloud.

    If applicable, digitized files can also be attached to people on the FamilySearch Family Tree via FamilySearch Memories. In Memories, they can be organized by topic, preserved as a slideshow or album, or used as sources for life sketches.

    Why Old Media Should Be Transferred to Digital

    Some people may not be aware that CD-ROMs and DVDs do not have permanent shelf life, showing notable signs of degradation after a just a few years if not stored properly. Not to mention technology needed to view these media types will eventually become obsolete. Once converted, digital files can be transferred quite easily to a home computer or other storage media of choice.

    The FamilySearch Library is a popular tourist destination for people seeking to make family discoveries and personal connections. FamilySearch and its predecessors have been helping preserve and provide access to the world’s genealogical records since 1894. The FamilySearch Library Memory Lane service is a free extension of these services for individuals and families to preserve and share their own family memories for generations to come.

    One guest recently transferred her grandfather’s self-recorded life story from tapes to a digital file. Time had rendered four of the dozen tapes inoperable, but she was able to successfully digitize the rest. She said her cousins and family members are waiting for this—to hear his voice with his distinctive Cockney accent sharing memories. He was born in London and moved to Bountiful, Utah, but he retained his accent, she shared with a smile.

    Walk-ins are welcome, but a reservation is recommended to be sure the needed equipment will be available. For more details about the types of equipment available and how to make optimum use of the facility, go to FamilySearch Memories Preservation Center.

    About FamilySearch

    FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. We are a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use our records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 125 years. People access our services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 5,000 FamilySearch centers in 129 countries, including the main FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter









































Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software