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

(+) Publish Your Genealogy Book Online

Smyrl Has Been a Leader in Irish Genealogy for More Than 30 Years

Tennessee Historical Group Introduces Cemetery Map

King Charles Backs Research Into Monarchy's Slave Links

Joe Biden Invited to Galway After Genealogist Uncovers Family Ties to the County

Incredible Interactive New Website Brings Parts of Edinburgh, Scotland Back to Life

Library of Congress Launches Transcription Campaign for Rarely Seen Post-Civil War Petition from Black South Carolina Residents Seeking Equal Rights

Household Dust Harbors Forensic DNA Info

The 19 US States Where You Can Still Marry Your Cousin

Vianne Timmons Removed as President of Memorial University in Newfoundland Because of Questions About Her Ancestry

Qingming Festival 2023

Find your Infamous Ancestors on TheGenealogist

Findmypast Announces Newly-Digitized Records for Essex, Montgomeryshire in England

FamilySearch’s Top 30 Country Record Collection Expansions in 2022

How to Install Google ChromeOS Flex (ChromeBook) on Any Computer

Google Just Made a Big Change to How Chromebooks Apps Work

NOTE: This article is not about any of the "normal" topics of this newsletter: genealogy, history, current affairs, DNA, and related topics. However, I have written often about Chromebooks and want to publicize this article on how anyone can add (an almost exact clone of) the Chrome operating system to almost any Windows or Macintosh computer, including to an older computer that maybe is gathering dust in your closet.

Don't throw away that old laptop just yet.

Chromebooks are a great alternative to traditional laptops and PCs. Running ChromeOS, they are cheap, powerful devices that provide all the functionality you could ask for. Even better, the best Chromebooks on the market are relatively inexpensive. But you don't need to buy a Chromebook to try out ChromeOS. Google lets you experience the operating system on your old laptop or PC through ChromeOS Flex.

What is ChromeOS Flex? And how do you install it on your old PC or laptop? Read an article by Rajesh Pandey to find out. The article is in the Android Police web site at: https://www.androidpolice.com/google-chromeos-flex-install-guide/.

NOTE: Chromebooks (as well as computers with Chromeos Flex software installed) make excellent devices for children, adolescents, senior citizens, and other non-computer-literate adults.  They are easy to use, never get viruses, and automatically install software updates without user actions. I strongly recommend you install Chromeos Flex (it’s easy to install) on an older laptop or desktop computer and then give it to a non-computer-literate person.

All that is required is 2 simple steps:

1. Create a bootable ChromeOS Flex USB drive to try ChromeOS Flex prior to installing it.
2. When you’re ready, install ChromeOS Flex on your PC or Mac to replace your operating system.

You can learn even more about Chromeos Flex  (even for use on Macintosh and Windows systems) at https://chromeenterprise.google/os/chromeosflex/.

Interactive website brings Leith as it was in 1892 back to life using historic street map data interlaced with old photographs, newspaper clippings, post office directory listings and people's own memories.

Using historic street maps, vintage photos, newspaper clippings, post office directory data, and people's own memories, Old Leith Rediscovered allows locals to explore Edinburgh's famous port as it was at the end of the 19th century.

The interactive site features a zoomable version of Charles Goad's 1892 Fire Insurance Plan of Leith, which captured the streets and structures of the old Leith in extraordinary detail, giving information on everything from the names of businesses, what they did there and the construction materials used in individual buildings. 

The Goad map is overlaid on a current map of the city of Edinburgh so that you can see how the 1892 Leith compares with the modern-day version.

Premises noted on the map are brought back to life with the inclusion of clickable points of interest that display historic photographs, news reports and information relevant to the time in question.

Users can also select by building type, and have the ability to highlight old Leith's many pubs, banks and restaurants at the click of a button.

You can read more in an article by David McLean published in the EdinburghLive web site at: https://tinyurl.com/3b7pszzu.

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

Publishing genealogy books has always been an expensive undertaking. Most genealogy books are self-published by the authors. That is, each author pays all the printing costs and then tries to recover his or her expenses by selling individual copies of the book. Publishing expenses typically run several thousand dollars, even tens of thousands if you wish to publish a lot of books. Then the author has to learn new business skills in order to warehouse and advertise the books, take orders, pack them, ship them, and keep track of all the finances. 

Of course, no genealogy book is ever really “finished.” Corrections and newly discovered information should be added, but that is difficult to do with printed volumes. I would also suggest that collaborative efforts are not well served by traditional printed books; many who buy the books could add supplemental information about extended relatives if there was a mechanism for doing so.

Of course, in this day and age we all know that books can be published online or on CD-ROM. In fact, the trend is obviously in that direction. Major genealogy book publishers are now publishing more and more CD-ROM disks or posting new books online. An author also can simply write the book in a word processor, as always, and then have the result converted by various software packages into HTML pages that are ready for uploading to a web server. Such information can be corrected easily, and newly-discovered information can be added at any time. The economics are simple: the printing cost of hundred of books is the equivalent of paying web server hosting fees for thousands of months. An online site makes your “book” available to millions around the globe, unlike printed books. 

Some web servers will even host your book free of charge although they will surround it with their paid advertising. Whatever web hosting service you select, the information in your online “book” is available to and easily searched by many more people than will ever see a printed genealogy book.

In the past few years, numerous genealogy books have been published in just this manner: the entire document is written in a word processor and is then uploaded and published on the web server as a static document. That is, the author creates the electronic version of a printed book. Others on the web can read it. However, I will suggest that there is even better technology available today. You can use this new technology to publish a book about your ancestors, the tax lists of your county, or the muster roll of a Civil War regiment. 

Unlike printed books and static web pages, you can allow others to easily contribute still more information to the publication that you create. In effect, your work becomes a living, breathing publication with a life of its own. Over time, it can be refined time and time again, providing an even better service to all future readers. The technology I am about to describe is inexpensive and easy to use, even for non-technical authors.

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/13160673.

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. 

It’s possible to retrieve forensically relevant information from human DNA in household dust, a new study finds.

A North Carolina State University-led study found it is possible to retrieve forensically relevant information from human DNA in household dust. After sampling indoor dust from 13 households, the researchers were able to detect DNA from household residents over 90% of the time, and DNA from non-occupants 50% of the time. The work could be a way to help investigators find leads in difficult cases.

Specifically, the researchers were able to obtain single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, from the dust samples. SNPs are sites within the genome that vary between individuals – corresponding to characteristics like eye color– that can give investigators a “snapshot” of the person.

“SNPs are just single sites in the genome that can provide forensically useful information on identity, ancestry and physical characteristics – it’s the same information used by places like Ancestry.com – that can be done with tests that are widely available,” says Kelly Meiklejohn, assistant professor of forensic science and coordinator of the forensic sciences cluster at NC State. Meiklejohn is corresponding author of the study.

“Because they’re single sites, they’re easier to recover for highly degraded samples where we may only be able to amplify short regions of the DNA,” Meiklejohn says. “Traditional DNA analysis in forensics amplifies regions ranging from 100 to 500 base pairs, so for a highly degraded sample the large regions often drop out. SNPs as a whole don’t provide the same level of discrimination as traditional forensic DNA testing, but they could be a starting place in cases without leads.”

Meiklejohn and her team recruited 13 diverse households and took cheek swabs from each occupant along with dust samples from five areas within each home: the top of the refrigerator; inside the bedroom closet; the top frame of the front door; a bookshelf or photo frame in the living room; and a windowsill in the living room.

Utilizing massively parallel sequencing, or MPS, the team was able to quickly sequence multiple samples and target the SNPs of interest. They found that 93% of known household occupants were detected in at least one dust sample from each household. They also saw DNA from non-occupants in over half of the samples collected from each site.

“This data wouldn’t be used like traditional forensic DNA evidence – to link a single individual to a crime – but it could be useful for establishing clues about the ancestry and physical characteristics of individuals at a scene and possibly give investigators leads in cases where there may not be much to go on,” Meiklejohn says. “But while we know it is possible to detect occupants versus non-occupants, we don’t know how long an individual has to stay in a household before they leave DNA traces in household dust.”

The researchers plan to address the question of how much time it takes for non-occupants to be detected in dust in future studies. Meiklejohn sees the work as being useful in numerous potential investigative scenarios.

“When perpetrators clean crime scenes, dust isn’t something they usually think of,” Meiklejohn says. “This study is our first step into this realm. We could see this being applied to scenarios such as trying to confirm individuals who might have been in a space but left no trace blood, saliva or hair. Also for cases with no leads, no hit on the national DNA database, could household dust provide leads?”

The work appears in the Journal of Forensic Sciences and was supported by funding from the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine. NC State Senior Vice Provost for University Interdisciplinary Programs Rob Dunn, NC State research associates Melissa Scheible and Laura Boggs, and Darrell Ricke of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Labs also contributed to the work.

Qingming Festival (清明节) is one of the most important traditional festivals in China. It falls on April 4th or 5th. In 2023, Qingming Festival falls on April 5th, when most Chinese people will enjoy a public holiday.

Qingming Festival is also called Tomb Sweeping Day as it is the time for Chinese people to show respect to their ancestors by cleaning their ancestors' tombs and placing offerings.

In addition, Qingming (清明) in Chinese mean 'clearness' and 'brightness'. It is the fifth of the 24 solar terms of the traditional Chinese solar calendar, marking the start of the warm weather of spring and the beginning of farm work.

There are various activities for Qingming Festival. The most popular ones, such as tomb upkeep and repair, spring outings, kite flying, and putting willow branches on gates, have been an important part of this festival since its beginning.

Tomb Sweeping — the Most Important Custom of Qingming Festival

Tomb Sweeping

People commemorate and show respect to their ancestors by visiting their graves, and offering their spirits food, tea or wine, burning incense, burning or offering joss paper (representing money), etc. They sweep the tombs, remove weeds, and add fresh soil to the graves. They might plant willow branches, flowers, or plastic plants on the tombs.

They pray before their ancestors' graves and beseech them to bless their families. However, the custom has been greatly simplified today, especially in cities, where many people only place flowers to remember their dead relatives. Because of their busy work and being far from their family homes, many young people now cannot conduct tomb sweeping in person, and online tomb-sweeping ceremonies now take place in many cities.

With different times observed regionally, ethnically, and even locally to do tomb sweeping in China, the custom mainly happens sometime during the 10 days before or after the day of Qingming Festival.

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

Montgomeryshire Monumental Inscriptions 

This collection can help you uncover not only the final resting place of your ancestor, but how they were remembered. With these 7,412 new records, you could discover their biographical details and what was written on their headstone or urn.  

Middlesex Monumental Inscriptions 

A further 6,233 records have been added to this collection for Hounslow Cemetery, between 1839 and 2022. You may find an ancestor’s birth and death year, place of burial and what was inscribed on their headstone. In some instances, this will include other family members too.  

Essex Baptisms 

Rounding off this week’s new releases are 122,464 baptism records, which have been added to the existing Essex baptism collection. The records span from 1638 to 1922 and cover 154 churches. You should normally find an ancestor’s name, parents’ names, birth and baptism date, residence, and father’s occupation. 

Newspapers 

Five new titles and updates to a further 94 existing titles make the headlines this week.  

New titles: 

·         Flint & Holywell Chronicle, 1999 

·         Hammersmith & Fulham Independent, 1998 

·         Sheerness Guardian and East Kent Advertiser, 1858-1865, 1867-1893, 1897, 1912 

·         St. Ives Weekly Summary, 1893, 1901, 1903-1905, 1907-1910, 1912-1913 

·         Stratford-upon-Avon Herald, 1881-1884, 1888-1889, 1891-1898, 1911, 1936-1938, 1940-1944, 1946-1950, 1969, 1971-1972, 1974, 1984-1986, 1989-1999 

 

Updated titles: 

·         Beaconsfield Advertiser, 1986 

·         Bebington News, 1994 

·         Billericay Gazette, 1986 

·         Boxing World and Mirror of Life, 1905 

·         Bristol Evening Post, 1987 

·         Buckinghamshire Advertiser, 1955, 1989-1990 

·         Callander Advertiser, 1885 

·         Croydon Express, 1899 

·         Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal, 1889 

·         Dublin Sporting News, 1897-1901 

·         Essex & Herts Mercury, 1838, 1840, 1842 

·         Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 1893 

·         Greenford & Northolt Gazette, 1982, 1988 

·         Grimsby Daily Telegraph, 1989 

·         Gwent Gazette, 1969, 1975-1976, 1981-1984 

·         Hammersmith & Chiswick Leader, 1988 

·         Harrow Observer, 1989 

·         Huddersfield and Holmfirth Examiner, 1880, 1883 

·         Isle of Thanet Gazette, 1875, 1986 

·         Kent Messenger, 1897 

·         Lady of the House, 1890-1894 

·         Leicester Advertiser, 1862, 1986 

·         Liverpool Daily Post (Welsh Edition), 1978 

·         Liverpool Weekly Mercury, 1876 

·         Louth Standard, 1950 

·         Macclesfield Times, 1931 

·         Matlock Visiting List, 1889 

·         Merioneth News and Herald and Barmouth Record, 1891 

·         Newark Advertiser, 1986 

·         Newmarket Journal, 1978 

·         Northwich Chronicle, 1989-1990 

·         Nottingham Guardian, 1861 

·         Rhondda Leader, 1986 

·         Runcorn Guardian, 1948, 1951 

·         Salford City Reporter, 1986 

·         Shepton Mallet Journal, 1975, 1988-1989 

·         South Wales Echo, 1986, 1989 

·         Staines & Egham News, 1986, 1992 

·         Truth, 1938-1943 

·         Walsall Observer, 1980, 1989 

·         Weekly Examiner (Belfast), 1872, 1887 

·         West Hull Advertiser, 1999 

·         Western Daily Press, 1986 

·         Widnes Weekly News and District Reporter, 1989-1990 

·         Wilmslow Express Advertiser, 1988-1990 

·         Woking Informer, 1986, 1993 

NOTE: This article is not about any of the "normal" topics of this newsletter: genealogy, history, current affairs, DNA, and related topics. However, I have written often about Chromebooks and, if you own a Chromebook, this article will be very important for you. (Anyone else can skip this article.)

Chrome Apps on your Chromebook is finally about to be replaced by Progressive Web Apps (PWA), with the latest Chrome stable version 112 as the starting point.

It’s an initiative almost five years in the making, and this change brings a few notable benefits.

Chrome Apps (and by extension, the Chrome Web Store) had been around for more than a decade, believe it or not, installing apps, extensions, and themes for millions of users on the Google Chrome browser. Most people who used Chromebooks had a love-hate relationship with apps found on the Chrome Web Store as many of the apps (such as Zoom, Pocket, Skype, etc.) were websites that had less functionality than their mobile app counterparts and less cross-device support (where apps won’t size properly with a tablet or laptop, for example).

With PWAs — which are essentially more advanced versions of Chrome Apps — almost all the negatives of Chrome Apps are negated. PWAs run technically as a website, but mimic their native mobile application, with most, if not all, of its functionality. PWAs are more scalable for different display sizes. Another big plus is that PWAs, like your mobile apps, are maintained by the developers, so updates are automatic and don’t require users to visit the Web Store for updates

You can read the full story in an article by Aaron Leong published in the DigitalTrends.com web site at: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/google-just-made-a-big-change-to-how-chromebooks-apps-work/.

US President Joe Biden has been invited to include Galway on his itinerary when he visits Ireland next week after a genealogist found links between his family and the county.

Megan Smolenyak said she has found another branch of cousins to the 46th US President, who has long-established family ties in Louth and Mayo.

“I’m an Irish American myself so I have always had an interest in high-profile individuals with Irish heritage. Way back when he was Vice President I decided to look into his roots to learn a bit more,” Ms Smolenyak told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.

“He’s famously proud of his Irish heritage so I was curious to learn the exact details - which family members [came to the US], when did they come and what was their backstory.

Ms Smolenyak said it was tricky to identify the newest members of Mr Biden’s ancestral linkage as it stretched back to the famine era when records created for those who emigrated to the US were “skimpy”.

You can read more in an article by Eoghan Moloney published in the Independent.ie web site at: https://tinyurl.com/mvrx6txy.

King Charles has given his support to research that will examine the British monarchy's links to slavery, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday, after a newspaper report said a document showed a historical connection with a transatlantic slave trader.

The Guardian said an archive document discovered by historian Brooke Newman showed that in 1689 King William III had been given 1,000 pounds of shares in the Royal African Company (RAC) which was involved in the transportation of thousands of slaves from Africa to the Americas.

The recently discovered document was signed by Edward Colston, a slave trade magnate whose history became widely known after protesters pulled down a statue to him in Bristol, southwest England, and threw it in the harbour during 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.

"This is an issue that His Majesty takes profoundly seriously," Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

You can read more in an article by Michael Holden published in the Yahoo web site at: https://news.yahoo.com/king-charles-backs-research-monarchys-114738037.html.