The following is a press release issued by the U.S. Census Bureau:

JAN. 5, 2022 — Robert Santos was sworn in today as the U.S. Census Bureau’s 26th director, becoming the first Latino person to serve in the role. This appointment follows the U.S. Senate confirmation Nov. 4, 2021, with Santos’ term set to last for five years.

“Mr. Santos is a tremendous leader and I have full confidence that he will lead the Census Bureau with integrity in the years ahead,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo. “The Census Bureau is an invaluable asset to our government and the American people, providing essential data for businesses, government leaders and policymakers to make informed decisions. I look forward to working with Mr. Santos and congratulate him on his appointment.”

Santos’ career spans more than 40 years in survey research, statistical design and analysis, and executive-level management. He specializes in quantitative and qualitative research design, including program evaluation, needs assessments, survey methodology and survey operations. He also has expertise in demographic and administrative data, decennial censuses, social policy research and equity issues in research.

“I’m deeply honored and humbled to lead the federal government’s largest statistical agency,” Santos said. “I’ve spent the majority of my career with organizations dedicated to delivering credible and informative statistical analysis for the public good. Census Bureau data have been essential to that work. It is such an immense privilege to join the Census Bureau and its very talented team.”

Santos previously served for 15 years as vice president and chief methodologist at the Urban Institute and directed its Statistical Methods Group. He was executive vice president and partner of NuStats, a social science research firm in Austin, Texas.

Santos has held leadership positions in the nation’s top survey research organizations, including the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, where he served as vice president of statistics and methodology and director of survey operations; the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, as director of survey operations; and Temple University’s Institute for Survey Research, as senior study director and sampling statistician.

Additionally, Santos served as the 2021 president of the American Statistical Association (ASA) and is an ASA Fellow and recipient of the ASA Founder’s Award in 2006. He was the 2014 president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and received the 2021 AAPOR Award for Exceptionally Distinguished Achievement. Santos is also an elected member to the International Statistical Institute, and he served from 2017 to 2020 as a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He was a longtime member of the editorial board of Public Opinion Quarterly.

Santos was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He earned a B.A. in mathematics from Trinity University in San Antonio and an M.A. in statistics from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

In the United States, the Nationwide Gravesite Locator is a powerful resource for finding burial locations of veterans and their family members in VA National Cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries, various other military and Department of Interior cemeteries, and for veterans buried in private cemeteries when the grave is marked with a government grave marker.

The information in this database includes burial records from many sources. These sources provide varied data; some searches may contain less information than others. Information on veterans buried in private cemeteries was collected for the purpose of furnishing government grave markers, and does not have information available for burials prior to 1997.

The database of burial information is updated each day.

The Nationwide Gravesite Locator is available at: https://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/ngl/index.jsp.

In addition, other, similar resources include:

The Arlington National Cemetery provides information at http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/GravesiteLocator/GravesiteLocator.aspx on service members buried there.

The American Battle Monuments Commission provides information on service members buried in overseas cemeteries at http://www.abmc.gov/.

At its recent Annual General Meeting, Accredited Genealogists Ireland elected its tenth President. The incoming office holder succeeds Joan Sharkey, who has completed a three-year term.

The incoming President is Nicola Morris. She began undertaking work as a professional genealogist in 1999 after obtaining a degree in history from Trinity College, Dublin. She joined AGI in 2010 and has served on its governing Council as an ordinary member, as Hon. Secretary and most recently as the Association’s Vice-President.

Over the past decade Nicola has worked closely with the production companies for the TV programme Who Do You Think You Are?, facilitating the discovery of the ancestry of many well-known public figures and celebrities with Irish forebears. She has also appeared on several Irish TV shows involving genealogy and history, the most recent being RTE's The Great House Revival.

Nicola is a talented and proficient public speaker with a deep knowledge of sources and methodology for Irish genealogy. She lectures at on the Family History diploma course at City Colleges, Dublin, which is delivered by Accredited Genealogists Ireland. She also lectures on similar courses at University College Cork and University of Limerick. Nicola is a frequent speaker on the various lecture series run by National Archives of Ireland and National Library of Ireland. She is a regular contributor to Who Do You Think You Are? and Irish Roots magazines. 

In 2017 she was appointed to the Board of the Irish Manuscripts Commission and in 2022 joined the Genealogy and Heraldry Committee, which advises the Board of the National Library of Ireland.

In welcoming her successor, out-going President Joan Sharkey said “I wish Nicola all the best for her term as President of AGI. Despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, AGI has been very active, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the past three years. I have no doubt at all that Nicola will do the same. Her clear head and ability to instantly grasp detail will serve her well in guiding our Association in the years ahead.”

The following announcement was written by the National Genealogical Society:

FALLS CHURCH, VA, 5 JANUARY 2022—Today, the National Genealogical Society (NGS) announced the launch of Forum, a new membership benefit.
 
Forum is a private, online platform that allows members to engage with fellow members, share knowledge and best practices, and discuss a wide range of family history topics. Forum features groups called communities that connect individual members as well as delegates from member organizations including genealogical societies, libraries, archives, and museums.
 
At launch, unique communities exist for general discussion and specialty topics such as methodology, libraries, and reference resources. Over time, NGS will add additional communities to meet a variety of needs. Members also have access to libraries of resources specific to each community and can post images, videos, and documents.
 
“Forum provides a dynamic, interactive environment for our members,” said NGS President Kathryn M. Doyle. “It’s their new online home to exchange practical tips and information, help solve challenges, learn from other members, and enjoy fun conversations with people who share their love of family history.”
 
To learn more, visit Forum.

The following is the introduction to an announcement written by MyHeritage:

2021 was an exciting and challenging year. This year we saw private citizens jet off to space, COVID vaccines administered worldwide, major events slated for 2020 that took place a year late, and global supply chain issues that disrupted our lives. Through it all, these past two years have taught us that flexibility and resilience are key.

Here at MyHeritage, we’ve been riding the rollercoaster with you and continuing to do what we do best: innovate to improve your experience on MyHeritage for easier and more successful family history discovery.

You can read the full announcement in the MyHeritage Blog at: https://blog.myheritage.com/2022/01/2021-myheritage-year-in-review/

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

FREE BCG-SPONSORED 2022 WEBINARS

Registration for the Board for Certification of Genealogists’ twelve monthly webinars in 2022 is now live at our partner website Legacy Family Tree Webinars, BCG Upcoming Webinars (https://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=2619).  Dates, topics, and speakers are shown below:

January 18, 2022 Beth A. Stahr, CG Using Historical Fiction and Social History to Support Your Narrative

The remains of a murdered California woman, found buried in a shallow grave in the Coachella Valley desert nearly 30 years ago, have finally been identified with the help of DNA evidence.

Her name was Patricia Joan Cavallaro.

On Oct. 24, 1994, scrap metal collectors near Thousand Palms, California, stumbled upon a makeshift desert grave containing a partially nude body, the Riverside County District Attorney explained. The older woman was wrapped in a white plastic sheet, and investigators estimated she’d been dead for approximately three weeks.

Her death was subsequently ruled a homicide by the Riverside County Coroner’s Office, even though her autopsy results proved inconclusive. At the time, DNA from the woman’s decomposing remains yielded no evidentiary leads as to her possible identity.

“They came out and processed the scene, and gathered whatever they could possibly get, which was really not much,” according to Ryan Bodmer, Regional Cold Case Homicide Team supervisor for the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.

Details may be found at https://www.oxygen.com/crime-news/slain-california-mom-found-in-desert-in-1994-idd-by-dna.

The following announcement was written by Louis Kessler:

The following is a press release written by by the Wisconsin Historical Society:

Explore your family history and learn the basics of genealogy research with this engaging workshop hosted by the Wisconsin Historical Society. With the rise of services such as AncestryDNA and 23andMe, DNA has become one of the most popular genealogy tools, but interpreting the results is not always easy. Presenter Dana Kelly will help you navigate this data and provide information about the key aspects of using DNA results to find more about your family history.

Date: Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, 9:00 a.m to 3:00 p.m. CDT (includes a 15 minute break between lectures and a 30 minute lunch break.) Registration deadline: 12:00pm Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. A recording of the webinar will be available to registrants for 30 days following the event. All ticket sales are final and non-refundable.

Topics covered

• Introduction to the World of Genetic Genealogy.
• Ethnicity Estimates: Why is Mine Wrong and Does it Matter?
• Using Cousin Matching to Confirm Your Research and Find New Ancestors.
• Ethics, Privacy, and DNA.

About the presenter

Dana Kelly serves as the Executive Director of the Norwegian American Genealogical Center & Naeseth Library. She oversees the daily operation of the center and is active in outreach activities and educational programming. Dana’s passion for family history led her to a Scandinavian Studies degree from UW-Madison where she learned to speak, read and write Norwegian. She has presented and lectured to historical societies, genealogical societies, libraries and Norwegian cultural organizations throughout the Midwest and was a virtual presenter at RootsTech in 2021. Dana serves on the Board of Directors for the Dane County Area Genealogical Society and is a member of several genealogical and Norwegian cultural organizations. A Wisconsin native, she lives on a dairy farm with her husband and three children.

Know before you go

An email link to the webinar will be sent after registration closes. If you do not see the email, please check your spam or junk mail folder.

A computer with internet access is required to participate. If you do not have internet access, you may be able to call in for audio-only access.

A recording of the webinar will be available to registrants for 30 days following the event.

Buying multiple tickets? Each registrant is advised to check out individually to ensure that the webinar link will be emailed to the customer name entered at checkout.

Discounts

Discount codes must be applied during checkout. They cannot be applied after checking out.

Society members: Enter your WHS member number in the discount field at checkout.

WSGS members: Use the discount code WSGS at checkout.

NOTE: This article is not one of the usual articles in this newsletter. It doesn't discuss genealogy, history, DNA, or legal events. However, it is about a topic that I believe we all will see within the next few years.

I paid 3 personal bills this morning. I didn't use cash or any checks. Instead, I paid with EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer or e-payments). In fact, I haven't written a check in six months or more. Like many other people, I pay my bills online.

How do you pay for your online purchases?

Although most people still use cash or cash on delivery, the increasing popularity of online shopping made e-payments more acceptable.

If you’re still using cash when shopping online, it’s time to consider joining the cashless society. Here are five reasons to go cashless today:

1. It’s more convenient - you don't need to leave home to pay bills or to go shopping.
2. It makes budgeting easier - when you’re paying online, you can account for how much you’ve spent down to the last penny.
3. It limits your exposure to COVID-19 - not spending time near other people means you won't become infected by them.
4. It saves your cash for when you need it - by going cashless whenever possible, you’ll have more cash on hand when it’s necessary.
5. There’s no need to always have cash available - if all your purchases are paid online, you don’t have to withdraw so much cash all the time. With less money lying around, you’re also unlikely to misplace it.

So the next time you go shopping, go cashless! Perhaps even better, do your shopping online.