The following announcement was written by the (U.S.) National Genealogical Society:

FALLS CHURCH, VA, 7 June 2022—The National Genealogical Society (NGS) is pleased to announce the publication of two, new books as part of its Research in the States series, which now covers research in thirty-one states and the tribal records of Oklahoma’s American Indians. The newest volumes are Research in New Mexico by Karen Stein Daniel, CG, and Research in Oregon, 3rd Edition, by Connie Miller Lenzen, CG, FNGS. The books are available in the NGS store in both PDF and print versions.

Both guidebooks offer family history researchers detailed information about each state’s many genealogical resources, including archives, atlases, and gazetteers; census, county, and court records; military, naturalization, and vital records; and more. The authors include the website address, physical address, and telephone number for each resource.

In Research in New Mexico, author Karen Stein Daniel discusses where to find records of both indigenous and non-indigenous people. The state is home to three Apache tribes, the Navaho Nation, and nineteen Pueblo tribes. Since 1598, Hispanics including Crypto-Jews have settled in New Mexico. By the late 1860s, Black Americans began to arrive along with French, German, Greek, Italian, and Jewish immigrants; Los Árabes from the Middle East; and South African Boers. Research in New Mexico offers readers an extensive review of genealogical resources of the people who have populated America’s 47th state.

In Research in Oregon, 3rd Edition, Connie Miller Lenzen introduces family historians to a wealth of repositories and other archival resources throughout the state. The book covers both Oregon’s many Native American tribes as well as its non-indigenous population, including White pioneers who settled in Oregon in the 1840s. Chinese began to arrive in the 1850s. They were followed by Japanese. By law, Blacks were excluded from the state until 1868 when the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution was ratified. Ethnic groups from Europe included Basques, Greeks, Irish, Swedes, and Volga Germans. Hispanic and Jewish Americans and later Iranians, Russians, and Vietnamese also settled in Oregon. Research in Oregon provides genealogists with a concise guidebook for researching their ancestors.

Research in the States series is edited by Barbara Vines Little, CG, FNGS, FUGA, FVGS. Its newest books, Research in New Mexico and Research in Oregon, 3rd Edition, are available for purchase in the NGS online store.

The Cooper Union introduces Voices from the Great Hall, an extraordinary new public resource that tells the history of New York and the nation through the words of the people who helped to shape it from the stage of the storied Great Hall. Voices from the Great Hall is a digital archive, free and accessible to anyone, and generously supported by The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation. This growing collection presents all known sound and video recordings made in Cooper Union’s historic Great Hall dating back to 1941 and continuing to the present, as well as 8,900 objects, such as photographs, tickets, and fliers, related to more than 3,000 Great Hall programs dating to 1859.

“Our Great Hall, once the largest gathering place in New York City, has been an important destination where people from all walks of life have organized and presented their views on the pressing matters of their time, a legacy that continues today,” says Laura Sparks, President, The Cooper Union. “We are so grateful for the Gardiner Foundation’s leadership and commitment to preserving essential New York history. Their support has made this digital Great Hall archive possible. There is so much that we, as an engaged citizenry, can draw on and learn from these historical perspectives, and that is precisely our hope for the Voices from the Great Hall archive—that it will serve as a resource for shaping the future of our shared civic and cultural life.” 

You can read more in an announcement in The Cooper Union web site at: https://bit.ly/3axCx7r.

23andMe, which has said it plans to hire hundreds of workers in coming years, confirmed that it will move from its longtime headquarters in Mountain View to a new under-development project in Sunnyvale, California.

The company has created the world’s largest crowdsourced platform for genetic research, with 80 percent of its customers electing to participate. The 23andMe research platform has generated more than 180 publications on the genetic underpinnings of a wide range of diseases, conditions, and traits. The platform also powers the 23andMe Therapeutics group, currently pursuing drug discovery programs rooted in human genetics across a spectrum of disease areas, including oncology, respiratory, and cardiovascular diseases, in addition to other therapeutic areas.

23andMe was named by Glassdoor as one of The Best Places to Work. CEO, Anne Wojcicki was also named one of Glassdoor’s top CEOs in 2019 and one of Comparably’s "Best CEOs for Women" in 2021.

In other news, Anne Wojcicki also signed (some time ago) the Giving Pledge – a promise that 236 of the world’s super wealthy have made to donate at least half their fortune to charitable causes.

Other notables who have signed the pledge include Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates, Paul G. Allen (now deceased in 2018), George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, Elon Musk, T. Boone Pickens (deceased in 2019), David Rockefeller (deceased in 2017), Jeff and Marieke Rothschild, Ted Turner, and Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.

In still other news, Anne Wojcicki is the sister of Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of YouTube. Anne Wojcicki also is the ex-wife of Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google.

Anne Wojcicki also has frequently expressed interest in “revolutionizing health care” with DNA testing, as it could provide consumers with enough information to predict potential genetic illnesses.

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

Subtitle: Do as I say, not as I have done.

I well remember the day that I lost about 100 ancestors. It could happen to you.

In my case, early in my genealogy endeavors, I was adding information about “new” ancestors in great haste. Well, they weren't really new; they had always been my ancestors, but their names were new to me in those days. I'd find a new ancestor, record his or her information, then move on and find the parents. In the early days of my genealogy searches, it was easy to add new ancestors. After all, everyone has thousands of ancestors and, when you are new to the game, the records can be easy to find. This is especially true for French-Canadian genealogy as the Catholic Church did a great job in the 1800s of recording almost every christening and marriage and most funerals, usually including the name of the parents in each record. Those records are easy to find on microfilms and in printed books and, in recent years, in online databases.

As a genealogy newcomer, however, I didn't know about the need for double and triple-checking for accuracy.

One day I found a record for one of my French-Canadian great-great-grandfathers. There was but one problem: I had already documented him (or someone else) but with different dates of birth, marriage, and death, and with a different wife. I had no choice but to go back and double-check the original records I had previously transcribed.

I'll skip over the boring details and go directly to the bottom line: I had found and transcribed information about the wrong man! Who knew that two different men, living in the same small town in northern Maine at the same time, would have the same name? Yes, there were two different men named Joseph Theriault living in the same town.

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/12804859

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.

The following announcement was written by the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG):

In the 19 May 2022 edition of this newsletter, I mentioned that Amazon is about to release it's new version of the 7-inch Fire tablet computer at a very low price: $60 (U.S.)

NOTE: I suspect that price is only for customers with shipping addresses in the U.S.

My original article mentioned that the Fire tablet was not available for ordering just yet at the date the article was published. That has since changed: the Fire tablet is now available for order with shipments expected on June 29.

You can read more, including a lot more details about the capabilities of the new tablet, in an article by Elaine Selna published in the Mental Floss web site at: https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/amazon-new-fire-7-tablet-pre-order.

A story by Jim Keithley and published in the WMTW-TV web site will make genealogists green with envy. "Why don't things like THAT happen to me?"

Quoting from the article:

"This is the box," said Valerie Guevara, historian for the American Legion Post 40 in Winthrop as she handed it over to Karen Breton.

"This is my grandmother and my great-grandmother on my dad's side," Breton said. "This means so much because my dad's not with us anymore," she said.

The two women met Thursday in a parking lot near the Maine Mall in South Portland, weeks after the Legion Post 40 received the old cigar box full photos. It was mailed to them from a man in California, another legion member, who saved the box from a junk pile during a renovation project two years ago. The box sat in his garage until he noticed an inscription that mentioned the American Legion Post 40 in Winthrop, ME.

It turns out Breton's brother, Russell Mundi, lived in Orange County, California. years ago. She said when her brother moved, he must have left behind the box of old family pictures. Mundi lives in Sebago now.

You can read the rest of the story at: https://www.wmtw.com/article/box-old-photos-found-returned-home-to-maine/40178871.

The following announcement was written by Find My Past:

With two brand new record sets and substantial additions to two other military collections, there's so much to uncover this Findmypast Friday.

British Army, Recommendations For Military Honours and Awards 1935-1990

This fascinating collection from The National Archives includes nearly 80,000 records. The transcripts include British Army personnel and some dominions armies' personnel. They also contain some recommendations for members of the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Royal Marines. Reasons for recommendations vary, including gallantry in the face of the enemy, 'meritorious service' (not in the face of the enemy), or distinguished service. Covering the years in the lead up to World War 2 and beyond, the records reveal soldiers’ names, units, ranks, home addresses, and often poignant descriptions of the actions that warrant an award.

South Africa, Local Armed Forces Nominal Rolls, 1899-1902

Another entirely new collection from The National Archives, this series comprises over 53,000 records detailing some of the British Army units raised locally in South Africa during the Second Boer War. These local units mainly consisted of British men who had emigrated to South Africa before the war. The record transcripts feature names, ranks, army units and in many cases, enrolment and discharge dates.

Britain, Campaign, Gallantry & Long Service Medals & Awards

Findmypast has added over 51,000 new records to this collection, which details those that showed strength and courage in the face of war.

Specifically, these latest additions cover recipients of:

• • Long Service Good Conduct Medal
  • India General Service Medal Pegu (Army) 1852-53
  • India General Service Medal Pegu (Navy) 1852-53

These records have been collated from multiple sources, including The National Archives and the British Library, but also from musters, pay lists, and other service records. As a result, each record varies in its information but usually includes a combination of regiment and rank, reason for award, any other known medals, discharge date and more.

British Royal Navy & Royal Marines Service and Pension Records, 1704-1919

Findmypast has added over 19,000 more records to this collection, including a shore list of men who joined the Royal Marines in 1810. The records reveal the rank and division of the seafaring servicemen, as well as the date they joined and any remarks made by their superior. 

Newspapers 

In case you missed our announcement, Findmypast has made their entire newspaper archive free until 6 June to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee. Their latest releases are included in the free access promotion, including:

New titles: 

• • Eastleigh Weekly News and Hants Gazette, 1895-1900
  • St Neots Town Crier, 1994
  • Stockport Times, 1989

Updated titles: 

• • Abergele & Pensarn Visitor, 1990
  • Accrington Observer and Times, 1912, 1990
  • Alderley & Wilmslow Advertiser, 1946
  • Aldershot News, 1978-1979
  • Anfield & Walton Star, 1992
  • Ashby Mail, 1992
  • Bebington News, 1991
  • Billingham & Norton Advertiser, 1992
  • Birkenhead News, 1991
  • Birmingham Journal, 1839
  • Burton Daily Mail, 1997
  • Cambridge Town Crier, 1992
  • Cheltenham Chronicle, 1860
  • Crewe Chronicle, 1980, 1994-1995
  • Daily Record, 1988, 1994
  • Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser, 1986
  • East Grinstead Observer, 1991
  • East Kilbride News, 1995
  • East Kilbride World, 1991, 1993
  • Galloway News and Kirkcudbrightshire Advertiser, 1991
  • Gateshead Post, 1994
  • Glamorgan Gazette, 1984
  • Heartland Evening News, 1998
  • Herald Cymraeg, 1952
  • Herald of Wales, 1950
  • Hertford Mercury and Reformer, 1981
  • Herts and Essex Observer, 1980
  • Hinckley Times, 1993, 1998
  • Hoddesdon and Broxbourne Mercury, 1993-1994, 1998
  • Horley & Gatwick Mirror, 1992
  • Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 1993, 1995
  • Huntingdon Town Crier, 1987, 1989, 1996
  • Ilfracombe Chronicle, 1891-1892
  • Ilkeston Express, 1989, 1992
  • Kensington News and West London Times, 1937, 1951, 1964, 1968,
  • Long Eaton Advertiser, 1988, 1994
  • Loughborough Echo, 1912
  • Loughborough Mail, 1990, 1994
  • Macclesfield Express, 1989, 1998
  • Maghull & Aintree Star, 1991
  • Merthyr Express, 1990
  • Middlesex County Times, 1995, 1998
  • Midweek Visiter (Southport), 1995
  • Nantwich Chronicle, 1993-1994
  • Northampton Herald & Post, 1991
  • Nottingham Evening Post, 1994
  • Nottingham Guardian, 1872
  • Nottingham Recorder, 1996
  • Oldham Advertiser, 1992
  • Ormskirk Advertiser, 1876, 1894
  • Perthshire Advertiser, 1919
  • Peterborough Standard, 1986
  • Port Talbot Guardian, 1981-1982, 1984-1985, 1995
  • Rhondda Leader, 1987
  • Ripley Express, 1992
  • Rossendale Free Press, 1987
  • Rugeley Mercury, 1988, 1990, 1992
  • Runcorn & Widnes Herald & Post, 1989-1990, 1993
  • Sevenoaks Focus, 1992
  • Solihull News, 1994-1997
  • Solihull Times, 1994-1996, 1998
  • Somerset Standard, 1980
  • Southall Gazette, 1979, 1995, 1998
  • Southport Visiter, 1989
  • Stafford Post, 1989, 1991
  • Staines Informer, 1988, 1990
  • Stanmore Observer, 1987-1988, 1990
  • Stirling Observer, 1989
  • Stockport Advertiser and Guardian, 1877
  • Stockport Express Advertiser, 1992
  • Stockton & Billingham Herald & Post, 1989
  • Tamworth Herald, 1989, 1997
  • Taunton Courier, and Western Advertiser, 1884
  • The People, 1998
  • Uttoxeter New Era, 1887
  • Wellingborough & Rushden Herald & Post, 1989, 1992
  • West Surrey Times, 1873, 1912
  • Western Evening Herald, 1993
  • Westminster & Pimlico News, 1998
  • Winsford Chronicle, 1996-1997

ExpressVPN has removed its servers from India, becoming the first major virtual private network (VPN) provider to do so in the aftermath of the recent cybersecurity rules introduced by the country's cybersecurity agency.

NOTE: See my earlier article at https://eogn.com/page-18080/12787685 for background information.

The rules require VPN providers to store user data for a period of five years. ExpressVPN said it "refuses to participate in the Indian government's attempts to limit internet freedom." The India Express reports:

In a blog post, the British Virgin Island-based company said that with the introduction of the new cybersecurity rules by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), it has made a "very straightforward decision to remove our Indian-based VPN servers." While ExpressVPN is the first to pull its services from India, other VPN providers like NordVPN have also taken a similar stance.

The guidelines, released by CERT-In on April 26, asked VPN service providers along with data centers and cloud service providers, to store information such as names, e-mail IDs, contact numbers, and IP addresses (among other things) of their customers for a period of five years. The government said it wants these details to fight cybercrime, but the industry argues that privacy is the main selling points of VPN services, and such a move would be in breach of the privacy cover provided by VPN platforms.

ExpressVPN described the cybersecurity rules as "broad" and "overreaching." "The law is also overreaching and so broad as to open up the window for potential abuse. We believe the damage done by potential misuse of this kind of law far outweighs any benefit that lawmakers claim would come from it," ExpressVPN said. It added that while CERT-In's rules are intended to fight cybercrime, they are "incompatible with the purpose of VPNs, which are designed to keep users' online activity private."

More details may be found at: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/expressvpn-services-india-new-vpn-rules-explained-7948845/

Ancestry, has integrated an automatic colorization feature that it says lets users bring make black and white photos more lifelike. The company says it already enables the ability to capture, digitize, retouch, and preserve old family photos, but it is now adding the ability to colorize them with a new tool. This allows users to gain “a more vivid, real-life snapshot of ancestors and their lives.”

The feature comes by a partnership with archiving specialist company Photomyne, whose technology was integrated into the Ancestry app in March to allow users to take photos and attach them to a family tree on Ancestry’s website.

While interesting, today's announcement about Ancestry.com is not the first web site to add such capabilities. Similar capabilities have been available on MyHeritage.com for some time,