The Wiscasset, Waterville, & Farmington Railway Museum in Alna, Maine is home to a historic two-foot narrow-gauge steam train built in the late 19th century. The train was originally constructed with the goal of connecting Wiscasset to Quebec. That goal never came to fruition but it did serve Sheepscot Valley for roughly 40 years, running from Alna to Albion.

“Back in 1910 the railroad was a lifeline for the people of Sheepscot Valley," said WW&F Railway Museum President Dave Buckowski.

The railroad fell out of service in 1933. Today, the WW&F Railway Museum has rebuilt the steam train, preserving a piece of Maine history. “We’d like to bring people back to that time — where it’s much simpler, said Buckowski. "We can help them relax and let them see what life was like back then."

You can read more in an article by Norah Hogan and published in the WMTW web site at: https://bit.ly/3yGTWUw.

The Wiscasset, Waterville, & Farmington Railway Museum's web site may be found at: http://www.wwfry.org/.

Ah, the good old days. Life was simpler and... The year is 1909.

Here are some statistics for the year 1909:

• The average life expectancy was 47 years.

• Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.

• Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

• There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads in the USA.

• The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

• The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.

• The average wage in 1909 was 22 cents per hour.

• The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year.

• A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist earned $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

• More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME.

• Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION! Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as “substandard.”

• Sugar cost four cents a pound.

• Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

• Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

• Most women only washed their hair once a month and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

• Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering the country for any reason.

• Five leading causes of death were:

• 1. Pneumonia and influenza  

• 2. Tuberculosis  

• 3. Diarrhea  

• 4. Heart disease  

• 5. Stroke

• The American flag had 45 stars.

• The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!

• Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet.

• There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

• Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write.

• Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

• Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, “Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.”

• Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.

• There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.

The following announcement was written by the folks at TheGenealogist:

The 1891 census is now linked to historical and modern georeferenced maps by TheGenealogist to make it easier than ever to find where ancestors lived and see the surrounding neighbourhood.

Family and house historians are able to investigate the streets, lanes and wider areas of where their ancestors lived at the time of the 1891 census in this latest release from TheGenealogist. A release that sees the 1891 census linked up to the Map Explorer™ for the first time.

Census transcript linked to mapping

The 1891 Census joins the 1901 census, 1911 census and the 1939 Register that are already connected to the innovative Map Explorer™. This means that researchers are able to identify, with just the click of a button, where their forebears lived and to see the routes their ancestors used to visit shops, local pubs, churches, places of work and parks. With a historical map it is possible to find where the nearest railway station was, important for understanding how our ancestors could travel to other parts of the country to see relatives or visit their hometown.

With this release, Diamond subscribers of TheGenealogist can pinpoint ancestors’ properties at the time of the 1891 census and so investigate the neighbourhood from behind their computer screen. Alternatively, users may also access TheGenealogist on their mobile phone to trace their ancestors’ footprints while walking down modern streets.

Most of the London area and other towns and cities can be viewed down to the property level, while other parts of the country will identify down to the parish, road or street.

Viewing a household record from the 1891 census on TheGenealogist will now show a map, locating your ancestor’s house. Clicking on this map loads the location in Map Explorer™, enabling you to explore the area and see the records of neighbouring properties.

See TheGenealogist’s article: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2022/from-census-to-map-in-1891-1578/

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!

Are you attempting to research ancestors and other family members in the Mariana Islands? If so, you will be interested in this press release from KWAW Radio in the Mariana Islands (you can listen in from anywhere in the world):

This Saturday, July 2, at 10 a.m., the Chamorro Cultural Talk Show on Marianas Agupa’, KWAW Magic 100.3FM, will feature Herman T. Guerrero who will discuss “Håli’ Familia Giya Marianas” or the genealogy of families in the Marianas.

You can also listen online via TuneIn, YouTube or Facebook. Glenn Manglona is the host of the talk show.

The presentation in Chamorro will be followed by a Q&A call-in and chat with the public via social media.

The public is also encouraged to participate in a survey after the talk show to help improve the show and identify future shows and cultural experts. Details about the survey will be provided during the talk show and posted on the Marianas Agupa’ Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/Marianas-Agupa-Show-278884342457682 and YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5heKROsqcSVHg5ztadbDHA.

The following was written by Killian Downing and published in the Europeana Pro web site:

This week sees the launch of the innovative new digital archive, the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland, which makes a rich array of historical documents available for research, education and enjoyment. Europeana Members Councillor and Dublin City University archivist Killian Downing tells us about how the Virtual Record Treasury was created and its significance.

The newly launched Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland is a digital archive which combines historical investigation, archival discovery, conservation and technical innovation to re-imagine and recreate, through digital technologies, archives lost at the beginning of the Irish Civil War. For the first time in 100 years, researchers will be able to ‘step back in time’ to explore a virtual recreation of the Public Record Office of Ireland and its collections which were destroyed in a fire on 30 June 1922.

In June 1922, the Public Record Office of Ireland stored over seven centuries of Irish records dating back to the time of the Normans in Ireland. Hundreds of thousands of precious historical documents relating to all aspects of Irish life were lost, including invaluable census records dating from before the Irish Famine in the 1840s. 

The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland has been developed by Beyond 2022, an international collaborative research project working to create a virtual reconstruction of the destroyed Public Record Office of Ireland. Beyond 2022 has been developed by historians in Trinity College Dublin and computer scientists in the Science Foundation Ireland ADAPT Centre, in partnership with five core partners: National Archives, Ireland, National Archives, UK, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Irish Manuscripts Commission and the Library of Trinity College Dublin. 

Rich collections and digitally reconnected archives

The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland now provides access to 50 million words of searchable text spanning seven centuries; 150,000+ database records; 6,000+ maps; and 2.7 million knowledge graph triples. It brings together a rich array of replacement and surrogate records digitally repatriated from archival collections around the world, within an immersive 3D reconstruction of the destroyed building. 

You can read more at: https://bit.ly/3bJgfA7.

The Virtual Record Treasury is an open-access resource, freely available online to all those interested in Irish history around the world - explore it now.

The following was written by Findmypast:

According to a new count, 152 cultural sites in Ukraine have been partially or totally destroyed since the beginning of the war. Last week UNESCO published an updated assessment of the damage caused to cultural sites in Ukraine since 24 February 2022, when the Russian offensive began.

According to the checks carried out by its experts, 152 cultural sites have been partially or totally destroyed as a result of the fighting, including 30 historical buildings, 18 cultural centres, 15 monuments, 12 museums, seven libraries and 70 religious buildings.

Among the museums damaged and destroyed are The Military Historical Museum – a branch of the Chernihiv Historical Museum, Building of regional children’s library, Regional Art Museum. G. Galagana, the Ivankiv Museum, Kharkiv Art Museum, and Hryhorii Skovoroda National Literary Memorial Museum, and the Mariupol Museum of Local Lore.

You can read more in an article in the Museums + Heritage Advisor web site at: https://bit.ly/3uertTo.

The National Holocaust Centre & Museum has created a new website which tells the story of four refugees from Nazi Europe, using some of the objects they owned.

Ordinary Objects, Extraordinary Journeys, set up jointly with the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and with sponsorship from the Arts Council, was launched on Tuesday to coincide with Refugee Week.

Marc Cave, chief executive of the NHCM, which has been at the forefront of digital education about the Holocaust, said, “It is the human stories that we venerate”.

The centre gradually became a museum as survivors began to entrust it with their artefacts and it was “now produce to house a collection of uniquely personal meaning”.

When the centre agreed to do a collections-based project with the HMDT, “we wanted to ensure it was in the service of telling the stories of some lesser known survivors of the Holocaust,” he said.

“Some of the objects seem mundane. Some seem beautiful. But all are priceless in what they tell us about the annihilation of normal Jewish family life right across Europe. There is a common misperception that the Holocaust just took place in Germany - and maybe Poland.

“This exhibition tells four stories spanning Greece, France, Austria, Germany, Poland, England and Scotland.”

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

According to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau, the national median age of Americans has increased by 3.4 years to 38.8, with the largest single-year gain of 0.3 years coming in 2021, the year after the coronavirus pandemic hit. The birthrate nationwide has been declining, and decreased immigration levels have accelerated the decline.

You can read more in an article by Tara Bahrampour published in the Washington Post at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/06/30/census-us-population-older-more-diverse/.

This week I decided to take a trip down memory lane. I re-read the first 50 issues of this newsletter, all published in 1996. The genealogy world indeed has changed. Here are a few of the more memorable newsletter items from nine years ago, along with a few comments:

Only the more advanced computer users in 1996 had state-of-the-art software: Microsoft's latest operating system, called Windows 95. However, because I was now writing a "techie" newsletter, I purchased a very high-speed system (a 90-Mhz Pentium I) with a huge amount of memory (32 megabytes) so that I could use the latest professional operating system from Microsoft: Windows NT 3.51. During the year, Microsoft also released Internet Explorer version 3.0. Most of the 30 million users of the World Wide Web used Netscape, however. A few used the older Mosaic web browser.

The annual GENTECH conference was held on Plano, Texas, with several hundred attendees.

The National Genealogical Society held its annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society announced a new online presence on a section of CompuServe. This apparently was the first major genealogy society to serve members online. Things have certainly changed since then!

The New England Historic Genealogical Society held its annual summer conference in Farmington, Connecticut. The luncheon speaker was Dick Eastman, speaking on "The Future of On-Line Computer Communications for Genealogists."

Family Tree Maker version 3.0 by Broderbund added the capability to read genealogy data CD-ROMs produced by a company that Broderbund had recently acquired: Banner Blue.

A previously unheard-of company called Progeny Software introduced their first genealogy product: PAF*Mate.

Bill Harten, GEDCOM coordinator for the LDS Church's Family History Department, announced that GEDCOM 6.0 was under development. (Twenty-six years later, GEDCOM 6.0 is still "under development." According to http://gedcom.org, GEDCOM 5.5.5 is the latest version, released on 2 Oct 2019.)

CompuServe shocked the computer industry when they announced a new offering of UNLIMITED online time for only $19.95 a month. All online services had previously charged by the hour. (It seems ironic that CompuServe was later acquired by its rival, AOL, and later both organizations simply faded away. So much for trying to be the industry's low-cost leader.)

An online genealogist in Scotland was rescued from possible death by a group of other genealogists in the U.S., including this writer, when using a genealogy chat room. Reverend Ken Walker, a Scottish history expert who lived alone, had a seizure while online and was unable to disconnect his computer from the dial-up computer's phone line in order to call for medical help. The online genealogists in the same chat room deduced his location and placed a trans-Atlantic telephone call to the police in Walker's hometown. An ambulance arrived within minutes. The doctors who later examined Walker at a local hospital stated that he probably would not have survived without immediate medical attention.

I wrote a review of the "books" written by Halberts of Bath, Ohio. These contained no genealogy information, only listings from telephone directories. (The company later went out of business.)

"Relations" was a new genealogy program for Apple's handheld Newton devices.

Geni, a Psion 3 genealogy program, was released.

CommSoft, the company that produced Roots IV for MS-DOS and also Visual Roots, announced their latest genealogy program: Family Gathering for Windows. A few months later a Macintosh version was announced. Late in the year, the same company announced the release of Roots V for Windows.

Other genealogy software reviewed in the 1996 newsletters included KinWin 1.1, GENTREE (in French), Family Tree Maker version 3.0, Tree-O, Family Matters, Kith and Kin, Brothers Keeper for Windows, Personal Ancestral File for the Macintosh version 2.3.1, Family Tree International, FamilyBase, PAF*Mate, Ahnenforscher (in German), Genius for Windows, FamilyTree for OS/2 (do you remember OS/2?), Cumberland Family Tree for Windows, The Master Genealogist's new Windows version, Family Origins version 5, Family Matters, Family History Composer for the Macintosh, and Corel's "Family Tree Master." How many of those programs are still available?

Yes, 1996 was a newsworthy year. I must say that I have also enjoyed the succeeding 26 years.