The 4th annual 24-Hour Genealogy Webinar Marathon will take place on April 13–14, 2023, hosted by Legacy Family Tree Webinars.

The entire event is free and open to all. Pop in for just a session or two, or challenge yourself and tune in to the entire marathon. The event will include live Q&As and door prizes, and will feature 25 back-to-back lectures from the world’s top experts on a wide variety of topics relating to family history research and DNA.

Visit the MyHeritage Blog to check out the full lineup of lectures, and to 

Tina Hwang, slated to be co-leader of Twitter Inc.'s law department until Elon Musk bought the social media company, has taken a job as vice president of legal and chief privacy officer at Ancestry.com LLC.

Hwang succeeds Eric Heath, an attorney who left Ancestry last year to take the top the privacy job at Placer Labs Inc., a real estate data and analytics startup.

She started March 13 and reports to general counsel Gregory Packer, said Katherine Wylie, a spokeswoman for Ancestry.com.

Tina Hwang was part of a legal leadership succession plan that Twitter’s then general counsel, Sean Edgett, put in place before Musk fired him upon taking control of the company last October. Twitter then scrapped the plan, and Hwang, a deputy general counsel for product and intellectual property, joined a slew of legal leaders in leaving the San Francisco-based company.

Within the past few weeks, many of those former Twitter lawyers have started to secure new jobs at other technology companies and law firms.

The C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. Public Library is located in East Tampa, Florida and highlights the community's rich Black history.

The Florida Sentinel Bulletin Collection dates back to the 1940s. The collection highlights African American history that you wouldn't see in other media outlets. Right now, the library is in the process of digitizing all of the items to make them more accessible to the community. 

Raishara Bailey, Administrative Librarian said, "It's so important because a lot of African Americans don't get to, you know, see themselves in other avenues of media. So, a lot of families come to look at obituaries, to find out family history, old sports articles, things like that. So it's very, it's used a lot by the community because they really, really enjoy seeing their families and, and reading articles about things that weren't highlighted in other areas."

The following press release was written by the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation (IPLC):

The Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation is pleased to announce the launch of the Historical Representation at American House Museums Web Archive, curated by librarians, library workers, and professors at Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University. House museums have been a key component of historic preservation in America since the mid 19th century. Until recently, house museums largely interpreted the lives of great men (and, on rare occasions, women), first and second generation settlers in America, or the work of master architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright or Stanford White. More recently, many house museums have begun changing their focus to include the experiences of underrepresented peoples, including but not limited to working people, immigrants, the enslaved, women, LGBT individuals, and indigenous peoples. Websites have in many cases replaced printed guidebooks in disseminating the social history of these sites.

Web archives preserve vulnerable information that may disappear from the live web and capture the ways in which selected websites have evolved over time. The Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation’s Web Collecting Program is a collaborative collection development effort to build curated, thematic collections of freely available, but at-risk, web content in order to support research. Learn more about the program or explore the collections here.

This is a follow-up to a previous article, Beethoven's Genome Offers Clues to Composer's Health and Family History, still available at: https://eogn.com/page-18080/13142695:

For nearly 200 years since legendary musician Ludwig van Beethoven's death, dozens of items from his life have been auctioned for thousands of dollars — including hair that recent DNA testing revealed may not actually be his.

Famous samples of the composer's hair, likely clipped as remembrances around the time of his death in March 1827, have sold for a total of nearly $140,000 in the last 30 years.

However, new genetic testing on eight hair samples thought to be Beethoven's revealed that at least one high profile sample may not have come from the legendary composer. The testing is part of a study into his life and health issues, published this week in Current Biology

The easiest to rule out was a sample known as the Hiller lock, named because it was given to composer Ferdinand Hiller around the time of Beethoven's death. The most famous sample used in the study, the Hiller lock was determined to actually be from a woman. It was last sold for $7,300 in 1994 and has been displayed for decades as authentic Beethoven hair.

Several other locks — with mixed authenticity — used in the Current Biology study were sold in the last ten years, according to a database of auctioned Beethoven memorabilia compiled by San Jose State University:

-- A lock, reportedly given to opera singer Ludwig Cramolini sold for nearly $10,300 in 2015, but researchers said it's unlikely that it was Beethoven's.

-- The Stumpff lock sold for about $14,700 in 2016, and the researchers determined it most likely was authentic.

-- A lock said to have been given to pianist Anton Halm for his wife while Beethoven was still alive, also was verified as authentic by the researchers. It last sold in London in 2019 for about £35,000, or $42,700.

The Current Biology study also revealed that Beethoven had a genetic predisposition for liver disease, and a hepatitis B infection late in life. Both likely contributed to his death, which historians largely agree was from liver failure. But the report did not provide definitive answers about his lifelong progressive hearing loss.

You can read more in an article by Aaron McDade available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/dna-testing-reveals-hair-sold-thousands-beethoven-2023-3. 

Over the course of her 63 year reign, Queen Victoria made an indelible impact not only on Britain, but on the world. And while many effects of her rule are still present in modern society, perhaps one of the most obvious remains the impact of her massive family tree on the current monarchies of Europe. After all, with nine children, 42 grandchildren, and 87 great-grandchildren, she more than earned the title "the grandmother of Europe."

Born on May 24, 1819, Alexandrina Victoria was quite literally born to be queen. The daughter of Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent—fourth son of King George III—and German widow Princess Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Victoria was the result of a succession crisis that left her as the only legitimate heir to the throne. Just a month after her 18th birthday, the petite princess (she was barely five feet tall) became queen following the death of her uncle, King William IV. 

In 1840, she married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, with whom she had a famously passionate connection. Though Albert had no official state powers as Prince Consort, he nonetheless had a major impact on the monarchy. An intellectually driven man—Albert prescribed himself an educational regiment requiring nine hours of study a day during his teen years—he not only served as regent during his wife’s nine pregnancies, he also had a significant role in encouraging scientific and technological innovation, and even helped organize the Great Exhibition in 1851.

Prince Albert and Queen Victoria in 1854. 

Albert likewise played an active role in his children’s lives, seeking to mold their family into an example to the world of what royal families should be. Though he died at age 42 from what many scholars now believe to have been stomach cancer, his values carried down through many of the European royal lines through his children and grandchildren with Victoria.

After Albert died in 1861, Victoria remained in mourning for the remaining 40 years of her life, becoming the longest reigning monarch in British history until her great-great granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II.

Here is how their genetic legacy has shaped the royal families of Europe.

You can read a lot more, including a rather complete pedigree chart, in an article by Lauren Hubbard and published in the townandcountrymag web site at: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a43365889/queen-victoria-royal-family-tree/,

The Department of History at the University of Limerick, Ireland is delighted to invite you to an event entitled Come Learn about the History of Family taking place on Wednesday 29 March, 1600-1700 (for those outside of Ireland click here to see what time this is for you). This event will appeal to anyone interested in history, including genealogists and family historians.

Join Dr Rachel Murphy, lecturer on the MA History of Family at the University of Limerick, to find out more about the history of family and some of the topics that historians of family research.

During the event, which is part of the Limerick Lifelong Learning Festival 2023, participants will be introduced to three graduates of the course who will present findings from their MA research:

There will be time for questions at the end of the session.

The event is hosted by the Department of History, University of Limerick. To attend the event please register here. A link to attend this live event will be sent to you close to the event date. If you have any queries or issues registering, please contact rachela.murphy@ul.ie

We look forward to welcoming you (virtually) on the day.

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

(+) Lost 1820 U.S. Census Records Fou

Enrique Hurtado de Mendoza Collection of Cuban Genealogy

Tulsa Historical Society and Museum Adds 50,000 Photos to Online Archive

Monticello Awarded $3.5 Million Mellon Foundation Grant for Getting Word African American Oral History Project Expansion, Digital Archive

Georgia Historic Newspapers Update Winter 2023

Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery Reveals Identities of Hundreds of People in Early 19th-Century Portrait Album

Augusta Genealogical Society Virtual Genealogical Program: "Call to Arms - Civil War Research"

Beethoven's Genome Offers Clues to Composer's Health and Family History

From TheGenealogist: Five Welsh Counties Tithe Maps Are Now Georeferenced to Modern and Historic Maps

FindMyPast Releases Two New Collections of Irish Probate Records

Newly-Digitized Historic Newspapers Added to Findmypast

Explore Stories of Military Ancestors With Findmypast

Recently Added and Updated Collections on Ancestry.com

Keep Loved Ones Digitally Close with Life360

Your CD and DVD Discs May Fail Sooner Than You Think

Fake FBI Bitcoin Phone Scam Involving “Spoofed” Department of the Attorney General Phone Number

The following announcement was written by the folks at TheGenealogist:

You can now explore Wales in the 1830s with the Welsh tithe maps in the Map Explorer™ tool 

Five Welsh counties Tithe Maps are now georeferenced to modern and historic maps

TheGenealogist has linked the tithe maps for the Welsh counties of Brecknockshire, Cardiganshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Monmouthshire to the Map Explorer™. For the first time TheGenealogist’s subscribers are now able to use these Welsh tithe maps, georeferenced to a variety of historic and modern maps. This will allow the researcher to see how the area has developed from Victorian times through to modern day.

General View Ebbw Vale

The tithe survey came about as a result of the Tithe Commutation Act 1836 designed to change tithes from a payment in kind to a monetary payment. These records are useful for researchers in that they record the names of owners and occupiers, from all levels of society at this time, and give details and value of their holdings. 

Originally tithes were made in kind (crops, wool, milk, young stock, etc.) and were collected mostly for the support of the parish church and its clergy. Generally representing a tenth of the yearly production from cultivation or stock rearing, almost all Welsh parishes were subject to this levy at this time.  

With Map Explorer™ researchers have the ability to display a variety of historical and modern maps so that family, social and house historians are able to view the same plot of land throughout time. Often this will reveal a landscape that has completely changed over the years, as we discover in this week's case study of a house developed in Victorian times. 

    • Total of 421,260 georeferenced tithe plots join those already released for England

    • 570 georeferenced maps have been added in this release 

    • Map Explorer™ now has a total of 5,630,801 georeferenced plots linking to Tithe records across 12,374 total georeferenced Tithe maps

See TheGenealogist’s article: Tracing a House in the Monmouthshire tithes to modern day https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2023/tracing-a-house-in-the-monmouthshire-tithes-to-modern-day-1678/ 

Find out more at TheGenealogist.co.uk/maps/

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!

The following announcement was written by the Augusta (Georgia) Genealogical Society:

When:  Saturday, April 22, 2023

Time:  11:00 am - 12:00 pm  EST 

Where: Online

Price:  FREE  to AGS members or $10 for nonmembers

Click here to register:  https://www.augustagensociety.org/

The registration deadline is April 20, 2023

Limited seating to view the virtual presentation will be offered at Adamson Library. To reserve a seat, please call (706) 722-4073.

Speaker:  Diane L. Richard, MEng & MBA

We often focus on the military service and pension records created due to the Civil War. We’ll take a quick peak at these and then dive into the records most don’t explore. If you don’t look further, you are missing out on some gems like old soldier home, voter registration, Freedmen’s Bureau, Freedman’s Bank, artificial limb records, detailed maps, compensation claims, legislative petitions, relief for indigent spouses, newspapers, and more! As an event that affected every citizen, there are many records we can mine as we pursue our ancestors.

Diane L Richard, MEng & MBA, Mosaic Research and Project Management (MosaicRPM),www.mosaicrpm.com, has been doing genealogy research since 1987 and, since 2004, professionally focused on the records of North Carolina and southern states. She regularly contributes to InternetGenealogy. She has authored over 500 articles on genealogy topics. In 2019 she published, Tracing Your Ancestors -- African American Research: A Practical Guide via Moorshead Publications. Since 2016 she has been the editor of the North Carolina Genealogical Society (NCGS) journal.

As a speaker, she has delivered webinars and in-person talks about the availability and richness of records documenting southerners, pursuing formerly enslaved ancestors and their descendants, genealogical research tips, techniques, tools and strategies, under-utilized resource collections (online and on-the-ground), and much more. She has appeared on "Who Do You Think You Are?" (Bryan Cranston episode).

She is a board member of NC Historical Records Online (NCHRO), http://nchistoricalrecords.org/, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing public access to high-quality images of original records and other relatedinformation useful to researching North Carolina history and genealogy.