Here is an event I don't think I have heard of previously: focusing on Aeolian ancestry.

The Aeolian Islands are a group of seven islands situated north of Sicily. These include the islands of Lipari, Salina and Stromboli.

From the late 19th century there was large migration from this archipelago to USA, Australia and other parts of the world.

The seminar is being run online from Melbourne Australia.

Last year people from many countries attended a series of presentations live by Zoom.

Recordings are available (for a limited time) for those who cannot attend live.

The cost of AUD $45 is approximately $US 33.

You can learn more about this event at https://eoliemelbourne.com.au/familyhistory/. There is even a video of last year's genealogy seminar available on the same web page.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT--Find more ancestors this week on FamilySearch in newly added records for the Liberia Census 2008, tax assessment rolls for Canada 1834–1899, Finland 1809–1915, and expanded country collections for Brazil (Paraná 1852–1996), France (Ardèche 1481–1924), and Venezuela (1873–2003). Look for missing family connections in new cemetery records for Brazil 1850–2021, and thousands more Catholic Church records for Bolivia 1566–1996, Mexico (Distrito Federal 1514–1970, Hidalgo 1546–1971, Michoacán 1555–1996, Morelos 1598–1994, Nuevo León 1667–1981, Zacatecas 1605–1980), and Peru 1603–1992. 

New US content was added for Arizona, Washington, South Carolina, and Texas.

Search these new records and images for free by clicking on the collection links below, or go to FamilySearch to search over 12 billion names and record images.

Find and share this announcement in the FamilySearch Newsroom.

About FamilySearch

FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 5,000 family history centers in 129 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

We are thrilled to announce the publication of 463 million historical records from France in 5 collections: birth, marriage, death, and two censuses. The collections provide the most comprehensive coverage available for vital records from France in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. Until now they have been available exclusively through Filae, a leading French genealogy company recently acquired by MyHeritage. The collections cover nearly every department in France and include a high-quality index of the transcribed records and digital images of the original documents. Millions of these records are exclusive to MyHeritage and Filae and cannot be found on other commercial sites. By the end of the year, MyHeritage will publish hundreds of millions of additional records from Filae, further solidifying its position as an invaluable resource for anyone researching their French heritage. These new collections significantly bolster MyHeritage’s historical record offering in France, with a total of 514 million French records, and bring the total number of historical records on MyHeritage to 15.6 billion.

You can find more information about each of the collections in the MyHeritage Blog at: https://bit.ly/3iVATxt.

This week's newsletter is being sent one day later than usual (it is being sent on Tuesday rather than the normal Monday email messages). The reason is my traveling. I spent all day yesterday and the day before traveling cross-country.

This week's newsletter is being composed on my laptop from a relative's home in Maine. Everything else should be the same as usual.

There is no promise for next week's newsletter. It might be sent on Monday or Tuesday or possibly even some other day, depending upon my travels, dictated by weather and other factors  beyond my control.

The following announcement was written by the National Genealogical Society:

FALLS CHURCH, VA, 11 OCTOBER 2021—The National Genealogical Society (NGS) invites individuals, societies, and organizations to participate in its 2022 Awards and Competitions program. The deadline for submission of nominations is 15 December 2021. Award recipients will be honored at the NGS 2022 Family History Conference in Sacramento, California, 24-28 May 2022.

The NGS Awards program recognizes scholarship, service, excellence, and achievement in the fields of genealogy, history, and biography by presenting awards to individuals, societies, and organizations. The Society’s competitions challenge individuals and societies. 

“The NGS 2022 Awards and Competitions season is a perfect opportunity for individuals and organizations to enter a society’s newsletter in our newsletter competition or submit an archive or library’s promotional initiative for our Genealogical Tourism Award,” said NGS President Kathryn Doyle. “It also is a wonderful chance to nominate a member for a scholarship or service award and to encourage teens to participate in our Rubincam Youth Writing Competition.” 

Doyle continued noting, “This year NGS welcomes a new Awards Committee Chair, Judy Nimer Muhn. Judy brings to her position a long career as a professional genealogist and international speaker. She specializes in French Canadian, Acadian, Native American, and Michigan research and is the president of the Oakland County Genealogical Society and vice president of the Michigan Genealogical Council.”

For more information, visit NGS 2022 Awards and Competitions.

The following was written by the Board for Certification of Genealogists®:

BCG offers Emeritus status to a Board-certified genealogist who has had a long and distinguished career with BCG and who is retired. The Board of Trustees voted on 4 October 2021 to award this designation to Barbara J. Mathews, CG®, Retired (2021), FASG.

Barbara J. Mathews became CG no. 388 on 12 January 1996. She served as a trustee of BCG from 2002 to 2013, as secretary from 2004 to 2005, and as vice president from 2005 to 2008. Mathews was also BCG’s representative to the Records Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC).

Mathews served as a trustee of the BCG Education Fund from 2002 to 2013. In this role she helped establish the 2005 Putting Skills to Work hands-on workshop. She also was the Conference Coordinator between the BCG Education Fund and the NGS conference coordinator chair.

Barbara has supported BCG’s mission to inform and educate by authoring several articles for  SpringBoard, the BCG’s blog. Her efforts include “The New Renewal Requirement: What Does It Mean for You?”, “Skillbuilding: Structural Elements of a Good Genealogy,” and “Insight: Lineage Work, An Inside Look.”

Besides her support to BCG, Barbara is also a distinguished scholar, author, and educator. Mathews contributed to excellence in genealogical education by serving as an instructor in Boston University’s Genealogical Research Program, as mentor to ProGen Study Groups 6 and 21, and as a mentor to the GenProof study group.

Her genealogical scholarship was recognized by her election as a fellow of the American Society of Genealogists in 2014. She has published several books, including the three-volume Descendants of Gov. Thomas Welles of Connecticut and his Wife, Alice Tomes. She has authored many articles for a variety of publications, such as The American Genealogist, Connecticut Ancestry, Connecticut Nutmegger, and The Virginia Genealogist.

She co-authored, “Lineage Applications,” in the 2018 version of Professional Genealogy: Preparation, Practice, and Standards. She is a popular columnist and author of methodology articles in professional publications such as the NGS Magazine. She actively blogs under the handle The Demanding Genealogist.

On behalf of BCG and the entire genealogical community, thank you, Barbara!

Ancestry.com Operations Inc. and affiliated defendants have asked the U.S. magistrate judge overseeing a right to publicity case against it to decline the plaintiffs’ invitation for an indicative ruling. In last Friday’s opposition, Ancestry argues that the intervening change of law the plaintiffs highlight does not actually modify existing precedent and therefore warrants no different decision.

Previously, the court dismissed the case with prejudice for want of Article III standing. Despite their pending appeal to the Ninth Circuit, the plaintiffs requested what Ancestry refers to as “extraordinary relief” in the form of an indicative ruling under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 60 and 62. At the end of September, the plaintiffs asked the court to either grant a motion to reconsider its dismissal ruling or make an indicative ruling that the motion presents a “substantial issue” and that the judge would accept remand from the Ninth Circuit to hear it. 

You can read the details at: https://bit.ly/3DxSIur.

The following was written by the Society for Armenian Studies (SAS):

The Society for Armenian Studies (SAS) is pleased to announce the creation of the International Association of Armenian Librarians and Archivists (IAALA), a new organization operating under the umbrella of the SAS, with the goal to provide an international forum for information specialists working broadly with Armenian topics and materials. IAALA plans to host online events and create standing committees to address acquisitions, cataloging, research and reference, preservation and digitization issues. It also intends to be an advocate for the need of Armenian expertise in the libraries of public institutions throughout the world.

IAALA was born through discussions that followed the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the United States Congress, when Nora Avetyan of UCLA and Ani Boyadjian of the Los Angeles Public Library spearheaded a successful effort to change the official subject heading of the Library of Congress from “Armenian Massacres” to “Armenian Genocide.” Two other members of that committee, Levon Avdoyan (Library of Congress, retired) and Seda Aykanian Matevosian (Vahan and Anoush Chamlian Armenian School) joined Avetyan and Boyadjian in the efforts to realize an association of Armenian librarians and archivists. In conversation with the Executive Committee of the Society for Armenian Studies, they established IAALA under the aegis of SAS as an organization that would support librarians and archivists of Armenian material and to bridge the divide between the librarian and scholarly worlds.

You can read the full announcement at: https://bit.ly/3AD96bg.

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

There are quite a few graphics programs available for Windows, Linux, and for Macintosh. They have a multitude of uses, including restoring faded or damaged family heirloom photographs. By far the best-known graphics program is Adobe PhotoShop, a high-end powerhouse with a price tag to match. PhotoShop sells for about $600 or so. Adobe also sells a "junior version," called PhotoShop Elements, for a much more reasonable "street price" of about $90.00. PhotoShop Elements leaves out a number of features that are of interest to professional graphics artists but still retains all the core capabilities. PhotoShop Elements is very popular among home computer users and hobbyists. Adobe also has numerous competitors who sell similar graphics programs with varying capabilities for prices ranging from $35 to more than $500.

However, I use a FREE, high-powered graphics editing program. The one that I like is available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. The one I have been using includes:

• • A full suite of painting tools including Brush, Pencil, Airbrush, Clone, etc.

  • Image size is limited only by available disk space.

  • Sub-pixel sampling for all paint tools for high quality anti-aliasing

  • Full alpha channel support

  • Layers and channels

  • A procedural database for calling internal functions from external programs

  • Advanced scripting capabilities

  • Multiple Undo/Redo (limited only by disk space)

  • Virtually unlimited number of images open at one time

  • Extremely powerful gradient editor and blend tool

  • Load and save animations in a convenient frame-as-layer format

  • Transformation tools including rotate, scale, shear, and flip

  • File formats supported include gif, jpg, png, xpm, tiff, tga, mpeg, ps, pdf, pcx, bmp, and many others.

  • Load, display, convert, save to many file formats.

  • Selection tools include rectangle, ellipse, free, fuzzy, bezier, and intelligent.

  • Plug-ins allow for the easy addition of new file formats and new effect filters.

  • Over 100 plug-ins already available

  • Supports custom brushes and patterns

  • Much, much more.

I have to admit that I am not an expert in graphics software. In fact, I have no idea what "Full alpha channel support" means. Some of the other terminology in the above list also confuses me. But I can tell you that I am impressed with this program. In short, it is a very powerful program that even this graphics-challenged person has used successfully to touch up photographs. I am just learning to use its many capabilities. I am very impressed with what I have used so far. I am also very impressed with the price tag of this program: zero. That's right: it is free of charge for all users, even for commercial use.

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/11211578. 

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.