The following announcement was written by Scottish Indexes:

Glasgow, Scotland – In a continuation of their Scotland's Criminal Database project, Glasgow based genealogists Emma and Graham Maxwell have released an index to a further 43,000 historical Scottish Prison records. These have been added to www.scottishindexes.com. Their ongoing project to open up historical criminal records to help people trace their family history is moving on apace and opening up more stories to the global research community. These latest prison records are predominantly from the prisons of Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow and Paisley, with some updates to other prisons around Scotland. Scotland's Criminal Database now includes over 30 prisons from across Scotland.

You can see a detailed breakdown of coverage here: https://www.scottishindexes.com/coveragescd.aspx

Emma Maxwell, genealogist at www.scottishindexes.com says, “I love the stories people uncover in these records. These missing pieces of the jigsaw give us the details that help us picture the lives of our ancestors. During this indexing project, we found entries for Dumfries civil prisoners relating to the aliment of children. These could be the clue you’re looking for to discover the father of an illegitimate child. Another entry we found related to James Gunning, a medical student in Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, who was convicted in 1852 for ‘Violating Sepulchres’; better known as ‘body snatching’.”

Join Emma and Graham at the Scottish Indexes Conference to hear more about their exciting projects: www.scottishindexes.com

A Louisiana lawmaker has proposed legislation that would allow adopted people to obtain copies of their original birth certificates once they reach age 24. It would follow a nationwide trend to reform decades of secrecy surrounding adoption records. 

House Bill 450, filed by Rep. Charles Owen, a Republican from the Fort Polk-area town of Rosepine, proposes that an adopted person who is at least 24 would no longer have to petition a court to unseal their original birth certificate. They could instead obtain an uncertified copy upon request from the state registrar of vital records. 

In a closed adoption under Louisiana law, most, if not all records, including the original birth certificate that often contains the identities of the biological parents, are sealed and not accessible to the adopted person. The state issues the adopted child an altered birth certificate with the legal fiction that the child was born to their adoptive parents. 

Closed adoption records can only be unsealed with a court order. Such a process typically requires hiring an attorney and providing a compelling reason to convince a judge to make the records available, Owen said in an interview. 

Owen pointed out access to consumer DNA testing is inexpensive and widespread through websites such as Ancestry.com and 23andMe.com. It allows nearly anyone to trace their genealogy and track down their biological family members for about $100, he said. 

The state doesn’t really have a good reason for requiring an adopted person’s birth certificate to remain confidential forever, Owen said.

“They arbitrarily think they need to keep them sealed,” Owen said. “No one has offered any good reason to me yet, though I’m told that they will come.” 

You can read more in an article by Wesley Muller published in the Louisiana Illuminator at: https://lailluminator.com/2022/03/09/people-adopted-in-louisiana-could-get-access-to-their-birth-certificates/.

The following announcement was written by MyHeritage:

We’re happy to introduce a new feature on MyHeritage: the Family Tree Timeline. The Timeline is a visual representation of one individual from your family tree, that you select, and his or her direct ancestors. The lifespans of these individuals (from year of birth to year of death) are mapped on the same axis to allow you to see them in relation to each other, which can provide refreshing insights into your family history.

The Timeline is a bright and attractive display, with each branch of the family displayed in a different color. The Timeline shows the ages of your ancestors at various points in their lives: how old they were when they had children, how long they lived, and how their lifespans overlapped with those of other family members or major world events. The Timeline can be downloaded and shared easily with your family and friends.

For example, it’s easy to visualize with the Timeline which of your 4 grandparents was born first, how old you were when each of them passed away, and so on.

Family Tree Timeline with 4 generations (Click to zoom)

Let’s dive in and see how it works:

The remainder of this (lengthy) announcement may be found at: https://blog.myheritage.com/2022/03/introducing-the-family-tree-timeline/

A new initiative aims to digitize some 35,000 Jewish texts sitting in the hands of 14 different Jewish community organizations and 25 state institutions across Italy.

Around 10,000 volumes have already been digitized as part of the Italya Books project, an initiative of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, the National Central Library of Rome, the National Library of Israel and the Rothschild Hanadiv Europe Foundation.

Tens of thousands of uncatalogued printed Hebrew books dating back hundreds of years, are held in collections belonging to local Jewish communities, as well as in libraries owned by the state, Italian church institutions and the Vatican. Many are of significant historical importance.

You can read the full story in an article by Giovanni Vigna published in the Jerusalem Post at https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/article-700832.

NOTE #1: This article is off-topic. That is, it does not concern anything to do with genealogy, DNA, or related topics normally found in this newsletter. However, I suspect that many newsletter readers will be interested in this article for many different reasons.

How about a brand-new (not refurbished) Chromebook for sale for $97 (U.S. funds)? BestBuy is selling the brand-new Chromebook IdeaPad 3 for that price, a $122 drop from the normal price of $219. I assume that price is only good in the U.S.

This would be an excellent choice for a second computer for you for use when traveling or for use when watching television or for a gift to a non-computer-expert adolescent or adult in the family. As stated by BestBuy:

"Fast, flexible, and fun, the Chromebook 3-11" brings everyone’s favorite Chromebook features, housed in a slim chassis, running on the lightning-fast Chrome OS that boots up in seconds, updates automatically, and is protected by built-in virus protection. Powered by an AMD A6 processor with up to 10 hours of battery life, the IdeaPad 3 Chromebook can seamlessly run all of your favorite apps at the same time."

You can read more at https://bit.ly/3CtszO3.

NOTE #2: I have no idea how long this price will be available.

NOTE #3: I am not compensated in any way for writing this article. I am simply a very satisfied Chromebook owner and user. I paid for my Chromebook (and for my earlier Chromebook) with my own funds. My Chromebook is not made by Lenovo but it works in the same manner as the one being advertised at BestBuy. It is my primary computer for use while traveling where I don't want to expose my more expensive Macintosh laptop to damage or theft. It performs all the tasks I need when traveling, including writing and posting articles in this newsletter.

All Chromebooks work well for using the more popular computer apps that are web-based: surfing the web, reading and writing email, text messaging, two-way video messaging, using Facebook (now called Meta), playing many computer games (although not all), using FamilySearch.org, MyHeritage.com, Ancestry.com, and most everything else that is commonly used today. A Chromebook would not be a good choice for applications that require heavy duty processing, such as CAD/CAM applications, or some of the graphics-intensive computer games.

You can learn more in the article "5 Ways That Chromebooks Are Better Than Windows Laptops" at https://www.reviewgeek.com/54223/5-ways-that-chromebooks-are-better-than-windows-laptops/.

NOTE #4: At this price, you are not receiving the latest state-of-the-art powerhouse. It has an AMD A-Series A6 processor which is not the latest or fastest available. It also has an 11.6-inch screen which is not the largest Chromebook screen available these days. But, then again, what can you expect for a brand-new laptop with a 32-gigabyte hard drive (that you probably will never fill up simply because Chromebooks default to saving files safely and securely in the cloud), can override the default to save files to different cloud-based file storage services, to the local hard drive, to network drives, to a flashdrive, to a plug-in USB hard drive, or to any other place for storing files), that never gets viruses, that invisibly installs software updates without interrupting the user, and includes a full 1-year warranty, for only $97?

Again, you can read more at https://bit.ly/3CtszO3.

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

Did you want to submit a proposal for the 2022 Virtual Professional Management Conference but needed more time, or did you enjoy RootsTech so much that you completely lost track of time? Well, we have good news for you! The deadline for proposal submissions has been extended through Sunday, 13 March 2022. So don’t fret, you’ve still got some time to get those submissions in!
For more information visit our website: https://www.apgen.org/cpages/pmc-call

The following announcement was written by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG):

FREE BCG-SPONSORED WEBINAR

“Identifying Unnamed Free-born African Americans – A DNA Case Study”

by David Rencher, CG, AG, FUGA, FIGRS

Tuesday, March 15, 2022, 8:00 p.m. (EDT

 

Identifying unnamed individuals using a research plan incorporating genetic evidence takes creativity and patience. This session deconstructs a case study using Genealogy Standards to align and correlate DNA results and fragmentary records for African American families, beginning in 1812 in Virginia and North Carolina.

BCG’s next free monthly webinar in conjunction with Legacy Family Tree Webinars is “Identifying Unnamed Free-born African Americans – A DNA Case Study” by David Rencher, CG, AG, FUGA, FIGRS. This webinar airs Tuesday, March 15, 2022, at 8:00 p.m. EDT.

David Rencher, CG, AG, FUGA, FIGRS is employed as the Director, Family History Library and Chief Genealogical Officer for FamilySearch. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1980 with a B.A. in Family and Local History. A professional genealogist since 1977, he is one of the rare few who have earned both credentials: Accredited Genealogist® with ICAPGen in Ireland research (1981) and Certified Genealogist® with the Board for Certification of Genealogists (2006). He serves as the Irish course coordinator and instructor for the Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research, the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh, and the British Institute. He is a past president of the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the Utah Genealogical Association. David is a Fellow of the Utah Genealogical Association and the Irish Genealogical Research Society, London. He serves as a director on the board of the National Genealogical Society.

When you register before March 15 on our partner Legacy Family Tree Webinars website webinars page: (Identifying Unnamed Free Born African Americans - A DNA Case Study - Legacy Family Tree Webinars) you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Anyone with schedule conflicts may access the webinar at no charge for one week after the broadcast on the Legacy Family Tree Webinars website.

“Every month the Board for Certification of Genealogists offers a new webinar as part of an ongoing series that supports our mission to promote excellence in research and working to standards in an ethical manner.” said President LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, JD, LLM, CG, CGL, FASG. “These webinars are presented by certified associates and offer a quality genealogical educational experience.”

Following the free period for this webinar, BCG receives a small commission if you view this or any BCG webinar by clicking our affiliate link: (Webinar Library - Legacy Family Tree Webinars).

To see the full list of BCG-sponsored webinars for 2022, visit the BCG blog SpringBoard at https://bcgcertification.org/bcg-2022-free-webinars.  For additional resources for genealogical education, please visit the BCG Learning Center (https://bcgcertification.org/learning).

Here is a genealogy software challenge to ponder: can your present genealogy program properly chart all families? Can it properly display the relationships of all the people within its database? Can it do so without wasting a lot of paper?

Let's try a test based upon history. Fifteen men and twelve women went to an isolated island in 1789 and lived without outside contact for many years. In fact, even today, the island has few visitors and almost no new immigrants. Every one of today's 55 island residents is related to the other 54 in many, many ways. Everyone is everyone else's second cousin as well as third cousin and probably also a sixth cousin eight times removed. If you were to enter that island's entire population since 1789 into your genealogy program, will it display the relationships properly?

I am describing tiny Pitcairn Island, the final destination of Fletcher Christian and eleven other British sailors who mutinied against Captain Bligh on April 28, 1789. Bligh was set adrift in a small boat, along with many of the men who remained loyal to him. However, there was not enough room in the boat for everyone; so, some men were forced to go back to Tahiti, along with the mutineers on board the HMAV (His Majesty's Armed Vessel) Bounty. Captain Bligh and 18 men made their way across 3,618 miles of ocean to Timor in what is perhaps one of the most heroic voyages of all time. Only one died along the trip; John Norton was killed by hostile savages during a brief stop at the island of Tofoa.

Fletcher Christian and the mutineers were soon reunited with the women they had recently left behind in Tahiti. However, they were in danger as the British authorities obviously would look for them on that island. The mutineers would have been hanged had the British authorities found them. Nine of the mutineers, along with six Polynesian men, twelve women, and one baby, soon set sail on board the Bounty, looking for a safe hiding place.

Fletcher Christian and his associates eventually landed at Pitcairn Island, a tiny island with no beach and no safe landing place for ships. The Bounty was anchored off shore, and everything was transferred to the island in small boats, a hazardous undertaking. The Bounty was then burned, perhaps deliberately or perhaps accidentally.

Pitcairn was shown on British maps of the day but in the wrong location. Any British ship looking for the island probably would never find it. Indeed, all but one of the mutineers never saw a British ship again as long as they lived. An American ship discovered the island in 1808 but had no interest in British mutineers and soon left. Two British man-of-war ships with updated maps visited the island in 1814 and found only one mutineer still living: John Adams had become the leader of the island's population but was in ill health. The two British captains decided that taking John Adams back to England to stand trial for the mutiny would be “an act of great cruelty and inhumanity.” Adams died on Pitcairn Island on March 5, 1829, forty years after the mutiny.

You can read an excellent account of the sailing of the HMAV Bounty, including the mutiny, in many places on the Web, including at: http://www.immigration.gov.pn/history/index.html, https://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/pitcairn/history.shtml, and at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Pitcairn_Islands. Even more articles may be found by going to any search engine and entering:

Pitcairn Island

In 1831, the entire population of Pitcairn Island was forced to move to Tahiti. The experience was a disaster since Tahiti had become infected with European diseases. The Pitcairn islanders had no immunity and soon started dying. The first to die was Thursday October Christian, Fletcher's oldest child. Eleven more died within weeks. The remaining people quickly returned to Pitcairn. In 1856 the population had become overcrowded, and all of the people were moved to Norfolk Island. Very soon thereafter many moved back to Pitcairn. Today, the population of Pitcairn Island is 55, all of whom are very close relatives of each other with intertwined genealogies. A picture of the entire population may be seen at http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/images/PitcairnTour/BountyDayGroup04-smr.jpg.

Now here is the genealogy software challenge: can the program you are using at this time handle this data? Specifically, can it print proper pedigree charts and relationship charts of these people with heavily interlocking relationships?

"Pedigree collapse" is a term that quickly enters into this discussion. In a so-called "normal pedigree chart," a person is shown with two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so on and so forth in a mathematical progression. The number of grandparents doubles approximately every 25 years. In theory, each of us has 281.5 trillion ancestors in the past 1200 years, or 48 generations. That theory assumes, however, that we never had duplicate ancestors -- those that show up in more than one place in a pedigree chart. Of course, the number of 281.5 trillion ancestors is ludicrous since that far exceeds the number of people who have ever lived on the face of the earth.

All of us have pedigree collapse although probably not as severely as the residents of Pitcairn Island. Anyone who can trace ancestry back to small isolated villages in Europe and even some villages in North America will often find the same people appearing in multiple places around the pedigree chart. I have found this often in my own French-Canadian ancestry, and I am sure the same thing exists with other ethnic groups.

The same phenomenon happens in reverse when listing all the descendants of a particular person: a particular descendant may appear in more than one place when distant cousins marry and then have children.

When printing lists of ancestors, descendants, pedigree charts, register reports, books of ancestors, and other, similar reports, a properly designed genealogy program should list the first occurrence of each ancestor or descendant with all the appropriate details of his or her life. Any subsequent appearance of the same person, however, should be brief. The second and later listings probably should only list the name and then "See person #245" or "Already listed on page 35" or similar wording.

Some of the simpler genealogy programs do not handle duplicate listings very well. Instead, they reprint the full details time and time again. If the record of a particular person in question has lengthy details and text information attached, the number of pages consumed grows quickly.

Let's say that you have about a half-page of information about every person in your genealogy database. That database contains information about the descendants of Zacharie Cloutier and Sainte Dupont (two early residents of Beauport, near Quebec City). A full descendant report of that one couple could print more than one hundred pages in a properly designed genealogy program but easily could produce ten times that amount or more in any of the simpler programs. With the wrong genealogy program, you might end up printing thousands of pages, most of which simply duplicate information found in earlier pages.

I shudder to think how big the printouts would be when printing detailed information about all the descendants of Fletcher Christian. Any program that cannot handle duplicates properly would soon consume all the printer paper available!

A list of Fletcher Christian's descendants is rather interesting to compare the relationships. For instance, Ferdinand William Christian is the 2nd cousin once removed of Timothy Christian as well as being his 2nd cousin twice removed, half 3rd cousin once removed, 3rd cousin once removed, 3rd cousin twice removed, husband of a 2nd cousin once removed, husband of a 2nd cousin twice removed, husband of a third cousin once removed, and husband of a third cousin twice removed.

In fact, the same Ferdinand William Christian married Marion Angela Warren. Not only is he the husband of that woman, he is also her second cousin.

Whew! I bet those family reunions are fun.

Can your genealogy program handle this convoluted family tree? Can it create proper printouts and reports? If it can handle the families of Pitcairn Island, I suspect it can also handle your family tree as well.

The Kansas City Jewish Community Digital Archive, jewishkcarchives.org/, is launching with digital issues of The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle’s entire back catalog, plus local history video interviews — and it’s looking to the community to help it grow more. 

Powered by work from Andrew Kaplan, Alan Edelman and Norman Kahn, its first phase was building the web interface so people could access materials, as well as making old microfilm copies of The Chronicle digital and searchable by keyword and issue. That required a partnership with BMI Imaging Systems in Sacramento to get the technical side of the optical character recognition done.

“If you were doing research and you wanted to know what was going on as it relates to Chaim Weitzman, you can get to that very quickly and look at specific information as to what was going on right then at the time [in Kansas City],” Kaplan said. 

With the keyword search, it’s easy to find anyone by name in old copies of The Chronicle. Anything that was already stored in digital, searchable form was much easier to include.

The Chronicle “was the best, most accurate, most available source of information that covered the community,” Kaplan said.

Added to that package is video interviews of locals conducted by Sybil Kahn over a number of years. Hosted on YouTube, they are also currently linked in the archive.

You can read more in an article by Beth Lipoff published in the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle web site at: https://bit.ly/3tV0XxN.

The Irish Government has extended the online availability of birth, death, and marriage records by a further 12 months.

Available at www.irishgenealogy.ie., the Birth Register now includes the years 1864 to 1921, while the Marriage Register has been updated to include records from the years 1845-1946.

The Death Register, meanwhile, now includes the years 1864 until 1971.

The website is free and users do not require any subscription to access the records.

A total of 6,943,532 Civil Death register entries, 6,784,749 Civil Birth Register entries, and 1,939,623 Civil Marriage Register entries are now available to view online.