I am not offering this article as medical advice! After all, there is increased risk of children suffering genetic defects like extra fingers and toes. However, if you are seriously thinking about marrying your first cousin, you really need to first check an article by Cassidy Morrison published in the DailyMail web site.

And, oh yes... also check with a lawyer.

According to the article:

"Studies show that children born of two blood-related parents have double the risk of congenital problems such as heart and lung defects, cleft palettes, and extra fingers.

"Children of inbreeding are also twice as likely to be treated for an illness requiring antipsychotic medicines, like schizophrenia.  

"Yet despite the known risks of inbreeding in humans, 19 US states and the District of Columbia still allow marriages between first cousins. They mostly fall on the coasts and in the southern states."

You can learn a lot more at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11934633/The-19-states-marry-cousin-despite-inbreeding-risks.html.

Of course, numerous people have married their first cousins in the past:

Queen Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840.

In 1919, famed physicist Albert Einstein married Elsa Lowenthal, who was his first cousin on his mother's side as well as his second cousin on his father's side.

Jerry Lee Lewis married his first cousin, Myra Gale, when she was 13 and he was 22 years old.

At age 27, American poet Edgar Allan Poe married his first cousin, Virginia Eliza Clemm, while she was just 13 years old.

Composer Johann Sebastian Bach married his first cousin, Maria Barbara, in 1701. She was a vocalist, and together, they had seven children. 

The following is a press release issued by the Library of Congress:

The Library of Congress hosted a special display and press conference to announce a new transcription campaign seeking to learn more about the signers of a rarely seen 1865 petition by Black residents in South Carolina calling for equal rights. 

In the wake of the Civil War and the emancipation of enslaved people, Black residents submitted petitions to the federal government for equal treatment under the law. One such petition from South Carolina residents is addressed to the U.S. Congress and stretches to 54 feet in length when fully extended. 

Little is known about the creation of this petition, which has been held at the Library since 1939. The petition was recently displayed in an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and featured in the Library’s magazine.

The Library’s By the People crowdsourcing program is launching a campaign at crowd.loc.govseeking to encourage further research and learn more about the petition and its signers.

Since 2018, the Library of Congress has invited virtual volunteers to transcribe pages from history through By the People. To date, volunteers have completed over 620,000 pages. Completed transcriptions enhance collection discovery and access on loc.gov.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov; access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov; and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.

The following announcement was written by the National Library of Israel:

The National Library of Israel (NLI) announced the online availability of its Sephardic Heritage and Spanish-language resources. In time for Passover, these resources include a large selection of Haggadot in the Sephardic tradition, available for download.

On March 31, 1492, the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella signed the Edict of Expulsion ordering the Jews to leave Spain, where the Jewish community had thrived for some 800 years.

After the Expulsion, Jews of Spanish origin established communities wherever safe haven was to be found—in Italy, Greece, the Balkans, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and the Land of Israel. They continued to speak Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) and maintained their deeply rooted traditions.

To mark this watershed in history, NLI has launched a webpage dedicated to the Jewish Expulsion from Spain. The site presents items from its collection of pre-and post-expulsion Sephardic manuscripts, early printed books, Ladino materials, poetry and prayer, and other oral documentation.

Passover Haggadot in this collection include:

New archives of Sephardic Heritage have been added to NLI’s collection of personal archives, including the writings and personal estates of rabbis and community leaders, archives of institutions and Mizrahi-Jewish communities whose members are descendants of the expelled Jews, archives of scholars of Sephardic Jewry and more.

Among the newest archives, cataloged and scanned thanks to the generous support of the Samis Foundation of Seattle, are those of historian Moshe David Gaon (father of singer Yehoram Gaon); journalist Robert Attal; Yechiel Habshush, who helped to bring the Yemenite community to Israel; and parts of the personal archive of Abraham Shalom Yahuda, who established NLI’s collection of Arabic and Islamic works.

The following announcement was written by the folks at the Digital Library of Georgia:

This year, the Digital Library of Georgia will be adding a variety of new newspaper titles to the Georgia Historic Newspapers (GHN) website (https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/).  Below is the list of titles currently slated to be added to GHN in the Spring and Summer of 2023.

Titles funded by the Chattooga County Historical Society

Summerville News, 1949-1979

Titles funded by the Georgia Public Library Service

Augusta Voice, 1995-2007

Hazlehurst News, 1909-1929

Monticello News, 1903-1927

Titles digitized in partnership with Georgia State University

News (Atlanta Gay Center), 1984-1995

Titles digitized in partnership with Kennesaw State University

Southern Voice, 1995

Titles funded by Mercer University Archives, Special Collections, and Digital Initiatives

Mercer Cluster (Macon), 1970-1990

Titles funded by Middle Georgia State University Library

Kernel (Cochran), 1930-1970, 1987

Titles funded by the National Digital Newspaper Program with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Atlanta Georgian, 1914

Weekly Georgian (Atlanta), 1914

Titles funded by the Watson-Brown Foundation

Atlanta Georgian, 1915-1920

In the early days of personal computers, everyone knew why backups were important. Computer storage simply wasn’t as reliable as it is today, and it wasn’t a question of if you’d lose vital files through no fault of your own, but when it would happen. (Possibly today; probably tomorrow; almost certainly by next week.)

The creators of viruses, worms and Trojans hadn’t yet figured out how to make money out of malware, so they often simply deleted or corrupted all your data just for the sake of it.

These days, however, ransomware aside, you could be forgiven for assuming that your data will be there whenever you need it, because “hard disks” (as we still call them) feel as though they’re unbreakable, unburstable, untrashable, invincible.

WHAT IS A BACKUP?

A backup is a copy of all your important files — for example, your family photos, your genealogy information (how many hours did you spend finding all that information?), your home videos, documents, and emails. Instead of storing it all in one place (like your computer or smartphone), you keep a copy of everything somewhere safe.

One small accident or failure could destroy all the important stuff you care about.

Today (March 31st) is WorldBackupDay: the day to prevent data loss!

Obviously, you need to make backups more than once a year. (My computers make backups of all newly-created files once every 15 minutes, even if I am sleeping at the time.) 

There are probably more than a dozen different, effective ways of making a backup. Backing up to a NAS is a good safe way to backup mainly for small businesses, Tech-Savvy PC users, and smart homes. NAS is an abbreviation for Network Attached Storage. A NAS Server is a kind of computer cabinet that can convert one or more hard drives into one network storage device via a wired or a wireless connection.

(I am in the process of building a new NAS and will write about it when I am finished with the project.)

Keep in mind that all computer hard drives and other devices will fail eventually. If that happens to you, will you be prepared? As I wrote at the beginning of this article: "It could happen possibly today; probably tomorrow; almost certainly by next week.""

However you back up your computer data, the important thing is to "Just Do It!"

Repeat after me: “I solemnly swear to backup my important documents and precious memories on March 31st. I will also tell my friends and family about World Backup Day - Real friends don't let friends go without a backup."

Twitter continues to shrink in the number of users and in the reduction in the amount of information being posted daily. All this apparently is caused by the actions of the new owner, Elon Musk.

Now a new web site has appeared that plans to be a Twitter alternative. 

T2 is led by former Twitter employees who want to recreate Twitter’s “public square.”

The site isn’t available to the general public just yet but the developers hope it will become available within a few days. T2 is part of a growing crop of Twitter alternatives that have sprung up in the wake of Musk’s takeover. The platform is smaller than some more established rivals, like Mastodon, but is intent on recreating the “public square” associated with the pre-Musk Twitter. In fact, founder Gabor Cselle has been pretty clear that he intends to create “a pretty straightforward copy of Twitter with some simplifications” rather than an entirely new experience.

For now, users only have a couple days to take advantage of the program, since legacy verifications are set to disappear from Twitter on April 1st. But the company has a plan to offer verification via other means once Twitter’s legacy checks go away. (T2’s form-based verification won’t work for those who paid for the new, Twitter Blue-enabled check.)

Along with the new verification features, T2 is also announcing a couple other milestones. The company has hired a former Discord exec as its new CTO, and is launching a much-needed redesign that will look familiar to Twitter users.

Stay tuned...

The following was initially written in the Estonian language, then translated to English by Google Translate:

The National Library's DigiLabor helps to monetize cultural data

On March 30, the Estonian National Library's research portal DigiLabor started operating. Those interested can create new knowledge and values from the datasets themselves or use the help of a library representative.

The goal of the National Library's DigiLab (digilab.rara.ee) is to help make the data held by libraries more digitally accessible and usable, to promote data valorization, research and innovation. The DigiLabor collection contains metadata of over 12 million newspaper articles and 70,000 books and 785,000 objects, but the datasets are constantly being supplemented.

"Cultural heritage and information technology come together in DigiLabor in the form of data. The target group of the portal is humanities and social scientists, data scientists and other interested parties," summarized Peeter Tinits, chief digital humanities specialist at the National Library of Estonia.

The data comes from the digital archive DIGAR, the Estonian article database DEA, the Estonian national bibliography database ERB and the Estonian keyword set EMS. DigiLabor also gathers data on legal bibliography, bibliography of Estonian presidents, parliamentarism and repros

The datasets are divided into categories such as books, periodicals, image material, sound, multimedia, and also individuals and collectives. The interested party can make inquiries in DigiLabor according to the category of interest.

The announcement is quite lengthy and goes on and on. I'll stop here. However, if you have an interest in Estonia and want to read the entire article, you will need to go to https://www.nlib.ee/et/uudised/rahvusraamatukogu-digilabor-aitab-v%C3%A4%C3%A4rindada-kultuuriandmeid. (Hopefully, you can read the Estonian language. If not, go to https://translate.google.com for a translation.)

The following announcement was written by the folks at Findmypast:

1939 Register  

90,809 new records have been opened on the 1939 Register in this latest update. You can normally find an ancestor’s name, date of birth, address, occupation and marital status, plus extra details such as civilian role and other family members. Findmypast has the most up-to-date version of the 1939 Register online.  

Sussex Burials 

A further 46,567 records have been added into this existing collection, covering the Worthing local authority area for 1850-2012. You’ll normally find an ancestor’s name, birth year, age at death, burial date and church dedication. Sometimes, you might also find extra notes, such as titles, places of residence, occupations, relatives’ names, marital status and workhouse status.  

Newspapers 

Six new titles and updates to a further 96 existing titles make the headlines this week.  

New titles: 

·         Daily Malta Chronicle and Garrison Gazette, 1896-1904, 1909-1918 

·         Egham & Staines News, 1898, 1901, 1904, 1906 

·         Essex & Herts Mercury, 1839 

·         Hammersmith & Chiswick Leader, 1986 

·         New Addington Advertiser, 1998-1999 

·         Newquay Express and Cornwall County Chronicle, 1923-1954 

Updated titles: 

·         Acton Gazette, 1940-1950, 1952-1958, 1960-1966 

·         Airdrie & Coatbridge World, 1998-1999 

·         Ashby Mail, 1998 

·         Ayrshire World, 1998-1999 

·         Beaconsfield Advertiser, 1999 

·         Bedfordshire on Sunday, 1985 

·         Billericay Gazette, 1998-1999 

·         Birkenhead News, 1999 

·         Birmingham Mail, 1894 

·         Bridgend & Ogwr Herald & Post, 1996-1997 

·         Bristol Evening Post, 1979 

·         Bristol Times and Mirror, 1913-1920 

·         Buckinghamshire Advertiser, 1922, 1924-1947, 1949, 1952-1954, 1956, 1986 

·         Burton Trader, 1999 

·         Bury Free Press, 1977, 1981 

·         Cambridge Weekly News, 1999 

·         Canterbury Times, 1999 

·         Cardiff Post, 1997, 1999 

·         Chatham Standard, 1958, 1998-1999 

·         Chertsey & Addlestone Leader, 1998-1999 

·         Clyde Weekly News, 1999 

·         Coalville Mail, 1998-1999 

·         Coleshill Chronicle, 1983, 1985 

·         Crewe Chronicle, 1979, 1981 

·         Crosby Herald, 1999 

·         Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough, 1947, 1974, 1979 

·         Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal, 1851 

·         Dunmow Observer, 1999 

·         East Cleveland Herald & Post, 1997 

·         Exeter Leader, 1998-1999 

·         Formby Times, 1999 

·         Galloway News and Kirkcudbrightshire Advertiser, 1998 

·         Greenford & Northolt Gazette, 1977-1981, 1983-1984, 1986-1987 

·         Grimsby Daily Telegraph, 1916, 1990 

·         Gwent Gazette, 1998 

·         Hanwell Gazette and Brentford Observer, 1900-1910, 1912-1922 

·         Herne Bay Times, 1999 

·         Hertford Mercury and Reformer, 1963-1967 

·         Hounslow & Chiswick Informer, 1999 

·         Hoylake & West Kirby News, 1997, 1999 

·         Leicester Advertiser, 1842-1843 

·         Leicester Journal, 1876 

·         Leighton Buzzard on Sunday, 1998-1999 

·         Lincolnshire Echo, 1986, 1990 

·         Lincolnshire Free Press, 1871, 1874, 1878-1880, 1951-1987, 1989-1999 

·         Liverpool Daily Post, 1884, 1977 

·         Llanelli Star, 1998-1999 

·         Manchester Evening Chronicle, 1956, 1958 

·         Middlesex Chronicle, 1980 

·         Midweek Visiter (Southport), 1998 

·         Nantwich Chronicle, 1979 

·         New Observer (Bristol), 1991, 1995, 1998 

·         North Middlesex Chronicle, 1875 

·         North Tyneside Herald & Post, 1999 

·         Northwich Chronicle, 1988 

·         Nottingham & Long Eaton Topper, 1999 

·         Nottingham Evening News, 1911, 1950 

·         Nottingham Guardian, 1950 

·         Nottingham Journal, 1825 

·         Paddington Mercury, 1990 

·         Plymouth Extra, 1999 

·         Pontypridd Observer, 1964-1967, 1969-1977 

·         Retford, Gainsborough & Worksop Times, 1972, 1974-1976 

·         Royston and Buntingford Mercury, 1998 

·         Runcorn Weekly News, 1981 

·         Rutherglen Reformer, 1986 

·         Salford Advertiser, 1997 

·         Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser, 1978 

·         Sevenoaks Focus, 1999 

·         Shepton Mallet Journal, 1976-1980, 1986-1987 

·         South Wales Daily Post, 1950 

·         Sports Argus, 1999 

·         St. Neots Weekly News, 1999 

·         St. Pancras Guardian and Camden and Kentish Towns Reporter, 1922 

·         Stafford Post, 1998 

·         Staines & Egham News, 1999 

·         Stirling Observer, 1999 

·         Sutton Coldfield News, 1999 

·         Thanet Times, 1999 

·         Torbay Express and South Devon Echo, 1950 

·         Uttoxeter Newsletter, 1999 

·         Uxbridge Informer, 1999 

·         Uxbridge Leader, 1997 

·         Vale Advertiser, 1999 

·         Wales on Sunday, 1996-1998 

·         Walsall Observer, 1973-1979, 1981-1982, 1984-1987 

·         Walton & Weybridge Informer, 1998 

·         Wembley Observer, 1998-1999 

·         Widnes Weekly News and District Reporter, 1986, 1988 

·         Winsford Chronicle, 1979-1980 

·         Wishaw World, 1999 

·         Woking Informer, 1995, 1999 

·         Woolwich Gazette, 1911-1913 

… the first to cross the threshold
Of that isle of hope and tears
Was Annie Moore from Ireland
Who was only fifteen years

Annie Moore was the first immigrant who walked through the doors when Ellis Island opened more than 130 years ago. These days, there are statues of her in Ireland and at the historic US site. Her name is on a pub in New York City, a National Park Service boat and even an AI platform that aims to help match refugees with communities where they can resettle.

Linehan is a 54-year-old primary school teacher and professional singer in County Kildare, Ireland. And as far as he knew, when he started performing “Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears” as part of his repertoire, being Irish was the only thing he and Annie Moore had in common.

“I enjoyed singing the song,” he says, “but it was about a remote historical figure for me.”

A surprising discovery in 2016 changed his perspective on the tune – and changed his life in ways he never expected.

That year Linehan learned the first immigrant to arrive at Ellis Island wasn’t merely a remote historical figure. She was his cousin – more precisely, his first cousin three times removed.

All those years as Linehan had been singing the ballad, an American genealogist had been searching for Annie Moore’s descendants. With the help of a fellow genealogy buff in Ireland, she tracked down several of Linehan’s family members. Linehan says they were as shocked to learn of the connection as she was thrilled to find them.

“This was completely out of the blue. … We didn’t know anything about this,” he says.

More than 4.5 million Irish immigrants arrived in the United States between 1820 and 1930. And now, about 31.5 million people in the US claim Irish ancestry.

The story of Annie Moore captivated audiences from the moment she arrived on American shores. On January 1, 1892, reporters from New York newspapers looked on as Moore walked through the large double doors of the new federal immigration depot at Ellis Island. She’d traveled on the SS Nevada on a 12-day journey from Queenstown, Ireland, with two younger brothers by her side.

Who was Annie Moore? And what became of her after her much-celebrated moment in the spotlight?

Those are questions that professional genealogist Megan Smolenyak has thought about for decades.

“She’s my grand obsession. Every time I reach the finish line, she finds a way to pull me back in,” says Smolenyak, who also works as a cold case researcher for federal investigators, delves into the family histories of celebrities and was once the chief family historian for Ancestry.com.

Smolenyak was working on “They Came to America,” a PBS documentary about immigration, nearly 20 years ago when she started to dive into records as she worked to tell Annie Moore’s story. Popular lore and even a few books had previously told the story of an Annie Moore who’d moved to Texas, married a descendant of a famous Irish patriot, been one of the first White settlers in New Mexico, run a hotel and died in a streetcar accident.

But Smolenyak, who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, says she discovered something surprising when she looked up Census records: That particular Annie Moore was born in Illinois.

For years, historians had been telling the story of the wrong Annie Moore.

So what was the real Annie Moore’s story?

The question is answered and a lot of other information about Annie Moore is revealed in an article by Catherine E. Shoichet published in the CNN web site at: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/17/us/irish-history-ellis-island-annie-moore-cec/index.html

Italian citizenship is one of the most sought-after nationalities in the world. Whilst numerous migrants today secure Italian citizenship and residency rights by investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in Italy or relocating to Italy, those with an ancestral connection with Italy may attain Italian citizenship through a more straightforward and affordable route - Italian citizenship by ancestry ("Italian CBA").

If certain requirements are met, those of Italian descent may apply for Italian citizenship without purchasing a property or making a business investment in Italy. While legal costs for Italian CBA vary depending on the complexity of the case, such costs are typically significantly lower that those required by other immigration options. This is because Italian CBA applicants are entitled to secure Italian citizenship by right of blood and they typically go through a simpler citizenship application process compared to other migrants.

Advantages of Acquiring Italian Citizenship

Securing Italian citizenship can bring a host of benefits. One may not only gain the right to live, work, and study freely in Italy and anywhere in the European Union ("EU") by becoming Italian citizens, but they may also apply for social securities, healthcare subsidies, and education benefits from any EU member states. Additionally, those who qualify for Italian CBA may secure one of the most coveted travel document in the world – the Italian passport. The Italian passport is ranked the third most powerful passport in the world in 2023 and holders of Italian passports are granted visa free/ visa-on-arrival access to 174 destinations around the globe. Moreover, in cases of emergencies, Italian passport holders may seek consular assistance and protection from any EU embassy.

Qualifying for Italian CBA

The advantage of the Italian CBA program is that the program imposes no generational barriers on its applicants, so those with an ancestral link with Italy may qualify for Italian CBA regardless of how far back their ancestral lines extend.

You can read more in an article by Polly Ho at https://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/general-immigration/1296770/obtaining-italian-citizenship-through-your-ancestors.